This past summer, two very good friends of mine and Michelle’s, Joshua Dean and Benjamin Franklin, performed in the Goodspeed Opera House production of Carnival!

Co-founders of Suspended Cirque (along with Michelle, Angela and Kris), Josh and Ben were featured aerialists in the show — adding a strong cirque aesthetic to the production. Josh created all of the aerial choreography.

Check out the highlight reel of Carnival! from the Playbill website:

Michelle and I went to see the show twice! It was a beautiful production, and the entire cast were absolutely fabulous.

There’s an article on Playbill’s website about the show here, and you can read a very nice interview with actress Lauren Worsham, who plays the show’s lead character Lili, here.

Below are a few official press images from the show (by Diane Sobolewski) that I have collected from Internet.

Thanks Ben and Josh!

By the way….

Suspended Cirque, featuring Josh, Ben, Angela, Kristin, and Michelle can be seen at the Galapagos Art Space in their 2010 Holiday show, Under The Tree: An Aerial Holiday Celebration.

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 at 8:00pm
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 8:00pm

More info at: www.suspendedcirque.com

Say no more!

It’s… Monty Python’s Flying Circus!

No it isn’t.

Yes it is!

How exciting! My wife Michelle’s Unnata Aerial Yoga class was written up in the NY Times “Thursday Styles” section this past Thursday! You can see a copy of the print article over on the Aerial Yoga website. Or if you like, you can read the article on the NY Times website.

As I have mentioned before, the Aerial Yoga class is now in its new location on Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg, and was recently featured on NBC’s First Look NY. In fact, Michelle’s segment on First Look NY was syndicated, and played in the little TVs in the back of NYC Taxi Cabs for about two weeks! Many people called to say that they saw Michelle in their Taxi Cab!

FYI: Tonight (Sunday Oct. 12, 2008), Michelle is doing an Aerial Acrobatic performance at the Zipper Theatre on 37th St. (b’twn 8th and 9th Aves) at 7PM. Come on down for an exciting evening of mixed aerial performances by some of New York City’s leading aerial acrobatic performers!

It’s been a busy week over at my wife Michelle’s Aerial Yoga class! Last night was the grand opening party at the new home of Unnata Aerial Yoga. And tonight, Unnata Aerial Yoga was featured on NBC’s 1stLook NY, on channel 4 at 7:30PM here in New York City.

As I mentioned in June, Michelle moved the class over to a great new space on Bedford Avenue, in the heart of Williamsburgh, Brooklyn. Last night we finally had a house-warming party to introduce the space to everyone. Since Aerial Yoga is a hybrid of traditional yoga and aerial acrobatic training, the evening featured two aerial acrobatic performances (by Michelle, and Angela Jones), one on-the-ground dance performance (by Ede Thurrell), and lots of Unnata Aerial Yoga demonstrations.

The Aerial Yoga TV piece was taped in August, and was featured this evening on NBC’s 1stLook NY, a half-hour life/styles program produced by LXTV.com. The theme of tonight’s program was “Back to School” — different classes for adults to partake in now that the kiddies are all back in school. Aerial Yoga was one of the super-interesting classes available in the New York area that were featured on the show. Also included were: Skydiving and SCUBA diving lessons, Sushi making and Sake tasting, cooking and bar tending lessons, and more. How fun!

You can see the Unnata Aerial Yoga segment on NBC’s “1stLook NY” website, and of course it’s on the Unnata Aerial Yoga website too.

WOW! I just came across these beautiful 360 degree panoramic images taken inside of the famous CBGB club in New York City. The images (by Jook Leung) were taken 2 days before the club closed its doors forever on October 15, 2006.

If you’ve never been inside CBGB, here’s your chance to see it in all its glory, with 33 years of personality applied to every square inch of the place.

You can read the history of CBGB here on the official CBGB website.

Oh, and just in case you’re wondering what CBGB and OMFUG mean, here’s a clip from the CBGB website:

The question most often asked of me is, “What does CBGB stand for?” I reply, “It stands for the kind of music I intended to have, but not the kind that we became famous for: COUNTRY BLUEGRASS BLUES.” The next question is always, “but what does OMFUG stand for?” and I say “That’s more of what we do, It means OTHER MUSIC FOR UPLIFTING GORMANDIZERS.” And what is a gormandizer? It’s a voracious eater of, in this case, MUSIC.

360 VR pictures of CBGB (by Jook Leung) from the 360VR.com website.

Happy New Year everybody!

I spent New Year’s Eve watching my wife Michelle Dortignac perform in an amazing show called Cirque Le Masque: Carnivale.

Cirque Le Masque performed six shows over three days at the beautiful Patchougue Theatre, on Long Island. The late show on New Year’s Eve featured a New Year’s party at midnight (during the intermission) replete with Champagne toast and hors d’oeuvres for the whole audience! Nice way to ring in the new year!

Michelle performed a fabulous duo trapeze act with fellow aerialist Kristen Olness; and she also choreographed and performed in a triple silk act along with Kristen Olness and Hilary Sweeney. Michelle, Kristen and Hilary were brought together for this show by Laura Witwer and Angela Jones of ImaginAerial.

All of the performances in this show were STUNNING!

I took a few pictures from the wings on stage-left during the early show, and then more pictures from the balcony during the late show. You can see a mix of my pictures of the Cirque Le Masque show after this:

NOTE: Click thumbnails below to enlarge; then click the RIGHT or LEFT EDGE of enlarged images to move though the gallery of images. (You may also use the right or left arrow keys on your keyboard, once you have opened the first image.)

WOW!

The Baby Janes rocked the house at La Mama for the past two weekends!

This aerial, singing, dancing, musical holiday celebration was put together by Kristen Olness, and starred The Baby Janes: Kristen Olness, Michelle Dortignac, Angela Jones and Laura Witwer, with special guest Terry Beeman. Sara Moore was the eccentric hostess in her character, Pearl Claus.

SEE LOTS OF PICTURES from the closing night performance on Sunday, after this…

Click on the first image below, and then just click the RIGHT-SIDE of each large image to advance through the pictures.

Matt Keating played next door at the Brooklyn Lyceum on Sunday night. The set featured songs from his upcoming release, QUIXOTIC. I took a few pictures, and above is a slide show of those shots. It’s built using the cool flickrSLiDR, and the images come from my new Flickr account. I’m totally new to Flickr, but loving it so far. I’m such a tech/photo-head that I can’t believe I never checked Flickr out before.

For anyone who does not yet know; Flickr is a place where you can host and share all your images online. But the really great part is that you can embed slideshows and galleries of your pix in your blog or website. All of the image are stored on Flickr, and just show up in your web page. Enjoy!

BTW: Matt Keating was great! You can hear samples (or even buy some) of his current and past records here.

Chris Brown, Canadian musician-singer-songwriter-producer extraordinaire, has just released OBLIVION, his second solo album.

But this is far from Chris Brown’s second recording; he has been making great music for over 20 years. Chris was a member of the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir (1985-1995), a Canadian alternative rock band that formed in Toronto, Ontario. Since then, he has recorded and performed steadily with singing partner Kate Fenner as Chris and Kate (1997-present). In 2004, Chris formed “The Citizens’ Band” as a vehicle for his solo material. Joined by Kate Fenner on vocals, The Citizens’ Band features Anton Fier (drums), Tony Scherr (bass), and Teddy Kumpel (guitar). Chris has played with numerous other musicians, including Ani DiFranco, Barenaked Ladies, Broken Social Scene, Crash Test Dummies, DJ Logic, Po’ Girl, Rheostatics, The Tragically Hip and Tom Jones.

My wife Michelle discovered Chris Brown for us. He was a student in one of her Yoga classes here in Brooklyn, and had given her one of the Chris and Kate CDs to listen to. One day, I heard the most beautiful, powerful, soulful music coming from our living room; “Who is this?” I asked. It was Chris and Kate, from the CD, O Witness. I was blown away.

Chris’s songwriting is stunning. His are not the oh-so-typical “she broke my heart, and I want her back” songs. Not even close. Chris writes poetically, philosophically, and strongly about life, love, frailty, family, duty, God and politics, all from a spiritually human standpoint, not a self-centered one. Even I, who never “listens to the words” in songs, am moved by Chris’s lyrics. Supporting his lyrics are wonderfully crafted songs (acoustic folk, funk, rock, blues and/or gospel inspired ), which deliver the perfect aural context for his words.

OBLIVION is much more than a collection of 10 individual songs–it is a true album. OBLIVION’s songs combine to create something magical and unified as a whole; you’ll definitely want to listen to this record all the way through in one sitting.

I HIGHLY recommend getting OBLIVION, the new album from Chris Brown & The Citizen’s Band. You can purchase it directly from Chris, over at the Chris Brown Music Store.

——–

“Amen” from OBLIVION

Was it the old sun that turned you around?
Did you begin to love the river’s sound?
What woke you up? What changed your plans?
Who knew beneath all your success and failure
lay a different man…

Seeds in the old husk, put them to use
It’s time to build useful things
It’s time for the truth
You feel the danger in living free
But now every stranger opens his heart
and presents a key

This love exists
Now hope does too
This thought insists
You follow through
It might be silence
It might be space
It might be the end of you
and the dawn of grace

When the architect of light
To the birdsong, gives reply

It was the old sun that turned me around
Then I began to love the river’s sound
It woke me up and it changed my plan
And it knew beneath all my success and failure
lay a better man.

“The Return” from OBLIVION

The door is open wide and you step in–
Shake the snow and ice outside, leave it to the wind.
Feel the warmth and kind relief
As all the fear that was love’s thief rescinds

There’s a quiet light around you and me
On this quiet night

Winter frozen like a lock
Beneath the ice the old lake knocks
Wind is weaving through the trees
Moonlight on the snow agrees

With this quiet light
Around you and me
On this quiet night

Oh the falling snow
As gentle as your breath
Moments come and go

You tell me we’ve met before
But not this night and not this shore
And not this conversation’s spark
To hold your profile in this dark

Not this quiet light around you and me
On this quiet night

I’ve been holding out
Waiting for some spring
To melt this wanting into giving
And melt this longing into living

The door is open wide, and you step in.

“The Gates” from OBLIVION

The rapture came, and it only let them down.
Questions remained in the cities and the towns
What had they wanted? An end to everything they scorn–
Now nothing’s over, but capacity to mourn

The lie was total- society was spent
We did as we pleased, while the soldiers came and went
I took a lover, but all she wanted was my fear
I know to some people, it’s the only thing that’s clear.

Did you march here, or were you dragged here on your knees?
Compelled by orders, or the shackles at your feet?
Was it in a dungeon, or on the highest floor,
that you received these sacraments of war?

The streets were filled, long before the towers fell,
and most presumed that it was meant for us as well.
Kind people pray, poor people do what you must do–
What’s really wretched in this world is letting others sin for you

Freedom came my way in the form of nervous friends
who felt they had less to betray than to defend.
Love is no burden, love is no sentence, love is no trial–
Love is the final freedom

So did you march here?
Or were you carried by the chain
that links every stranger’s cruelty to every martyr’s name?
Satan and St. Peter tend to dress the same.
Through these gates–
everything and nothing are exchanged.

WOW! I can actually ride a unicycle fairly well, but watching this video of Kris Holm scared the CRAP out me!

I started riding unicycles in about 1978. My next door neighbor Cliff’s friends all rode unicycles, and he got his own unicycle that summer. Cliff’s sister Stephanie and I would practice riding his “wheel” when he was wasn’t using it. She then got her own unicycle, and I bought it off of her at some point. By the next summer, all of our friends either had or could ride a unicycle. Cliff and I both got really good, learning many tricks; riding backwards, riding with one foot only, spinning, up curbs, down stairs, hopping up and down, and even riding the tall “giraffe” unicycle. We all rode for years, but life goes on and there were new (career-type) skills to learn.

Fast forward to 2005 and I find out about the New York Unicycle Club. They meet twice per month (first Sunday, third Saturday) at Grant’s Tomb on 122nd street and Riverside in NYC. I dusted off my old trusty (crusty) Schwinn Unicycle and went to Grant’s Tomb. It’s perfect for unicycling with its large, flat plaza in front. What a blast! There were little kids, big adults, and a range of different types of unicycles that I had never ever seen before. Apparently, there is a huge unicycle riding world out there that blossomed when I wasn’t looking! If you’ve ever wanted to try riding a unicycle, just head on over to Grant’s Tomb (first Sunday, third Saturday of every month) and I’m sure that someone will let you try theirs.

Unicycle.com has a great selection of unicycles, gear and accessories. I got my amazingly comfortable Kris Holm unicycle seat there.

Here are a few more videos of some amazing unicycling:

Universe 1 teaser

1st place pair freestyle expert at unicon XIV