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COMMUTING

A day in the life of an American based Drone operator – a modern breed of warrior ‘Commuting’ examines the dramatic changes in the way modern battles are waged and questions the banality of remote, commuter warfare.

Written, Directed and Produced by James Canty

Chicago 1893 Overview

“The future is now Old Man!”, he said to himself.

Official Website: http://chicago1893.com

Documentary Film: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JCPFJ54

Paperback/ebook/audiobook: https://amazon.com/dp/1082413585

Merchandise: https://teespring.com/stores/1893-chi…

Soundtrack: https://chicago1893.bandcamp.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chicago.1893

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chicago_1893

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chicago.1893

PORTERSVILLE & GREENMANVILLE

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 AT 5:45 PM

Mystic River Park

Join us for this special presentation on the unique history, arts, and culture of Mystic during the 1990s at Mystic River Park featuring the local artists, writers, and musicians who were there: Matthew Tarbox, Arden Levine, Michelle Gemma, Stephen Chupaska, and djshecky.

Matthew Tarbox, co-editor of Hozomeen Press, will present. Hozomeen Press published over 30 magazines and poetry chapbooks throughout the 1990s in Mystic. He will show the audience the Mason’s Stoup process, and how the originals were also used as promotional material.

Arden Levine, poet, author, literary editor and urban planner. Originally from Washington, DC and now living and working in New York City, she was saturated in Mystic and New London culture during her years as a Connecticut College student. She will be reading new work, including poems from her recent collection Ladies’ Abecedary (Harbor Editions, 2021), and discussing how the various art forms of female identity-assertion in the 1990s (from pop music to photography to politics) influence her approach to writing in the current moment.

Michelle Gemma, owner of Mystic Army Navy in Downtown Mystic. She became a fine art photographer and contributed to the iconic Mason’s Stoup and the Root of Twinkle, as well as being a founding member of Greenman Collective, where she housed her darkroom throughout the 1990s. She will discuss the impact of the Root of Twinkle on the Mystic art scene, and read from her forthcoming photography book, and show her most recent artistic creation: WEATHERALL- a music video which highlights the dance culture in Mystic in the 1990s.

Stephen Chupaska, writer, reporter, and producer. A member of The Day reporting staff from 2004 to 2011 and a former radio host, Stephen covered arts, culture, and politics in Southeastern Connecticut and San Diego, CA after growing up in the New London and Mystic music scene in the 1990s, including spending hours in front of the bins at Mystic Disc. Now a resident of New York City working as a communications professional, Stephen has developed and performed live storytelling (featured on Netflix and NPR) exploring the humor of ‘90s young adulthood.

djshecky, one of the house DJs at the famed Mystic dancehall “Mars Hall”, which is featured tonight in the “Weatherall” video production helmed by Michelle Gemma. He hosted a weekly radio show “Radio Post” on WCNI from 1990-1996, honing his layered style of mixing up to six sources into one cohesive mix. In addition, he has produced demo recordings for local bands at his Centraal Studio since 1997, spanning hip-hop, electronica, art rock, and indie rock bands from Mystic.

This event is free and open to the public.
Date:
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
Time:
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Contact:
Michelle Gemma 860-536-1877 mgemmaphoto@gmail.com
Location:
Mystic River Park
http://www.eventkeeper.com/mars/xpages/xp_newpopevent.cfm

I made a music video!

Weatherall is the first music video from Ellery Twining’s debut solo album “Revenge”, released 17 January 2022.
It is a deep dive into intergenerational relationships…
Written and directed by Mystic photographer Michelle Gemma, featuring archival photographs from Mystic’s 1990’s underground dance party scene at Mars Hall, alongside video footage from last decade’s recreation of scene at the Workshop.
Edited by Jim Canty.
The song and video are a tribute to British producer/DJ Andrew Weatherall (1963-2020), who passed as Twining was writing the songs for “REVENGE.”
Song credits: Ellery Twining (all Noises) Dave Bentley (the Bass Guitar) Brad Bensko (Electric Guitar) Jason Curland (Percussion)
Produced by Eric Lichter at Dirt Floor Recording & Production Haddam, CT
Engineered by Guido Falivene
Video credits: All photographs and video by Michelle Gemma Except two indoor Mars Hall dance party photos by Kerry Niering and Mars Hall demo photos by Erin Pipping
Models: Carly Straub and Jane Anderson
Photographed March 2022 in Mystic, CT, USA

1 Comment

https://youtu.be/2Nr_hx_9jiQ.

Bringing the Columbian Exposition Back to Life in Augmented Reality

On May 1st 1893, President Grover Cleveland opened the Columbian Exposition on the shoreline of Lake Michigan in Jackson Park on the south side of Chicago. No matter how strong our sense of nostalgia is, the past is gone. But what if we could bring pieces of it into the present?

On the 129th anniversary of that opening, we released the first views of Chicago 1893’s augmented reality experience. Chicago 1893 has been working for the last year to do just that by recreating the largest buildings from the event that were originally located around the Grand Basin. This project aims to create museum-like digital assets focused on historical integrity and architecture with the intention of expanding broadly toward experiences focused on learning and richer functionality for entertainment.

These structures are being rendered in 1:1 scale. The goal is to allow people to perceive the scope of the buildings the way those in 1893 did, if sculptures loomed from 100 feet above they will within augmented reality as well. Just imagine: classical architecture, anywhere in the world — No matter where!

Ever since HG Wells published “The Time Machine” people have been fascinated with the idea of time travel — the Chicago 1893 XR project begs the question: “what if you could bring the past to back life?”

The Columbian Exposition is arguably the most notable World’s Fair of all time but very little of its architectural legacy remains. Over the last four years we have been diligently scouring archives to compile the documentation required to render the buildings in digital 3D for augmented reality which were created by some of the finest architects of the Gilded Age.

Now we are in the final stages of Phase 1’s buildout which includes the major structures located around the Grand Basin. The plan is to make the first asset available to the public this summer. It will be the Administration Building, a Beaux-Arts structure designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt who is also responsible for the entrance facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

You can expect more details as we approach this initial release.

Join us and see the Columbian Exposition come back to life.

For More:

Documentary Film: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JCPFJ54

Book: https://amazon.com/dp/1082413585

Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/1893-chicago-columbian-expo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chicago.1893

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chicago_1893

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chicago.1893

Full Moon in Sagittarius at 23 degrees

“The body’s wisdom musically in touch and in tune, sensing the resonance of cellular awakening. Eager and enthusiastic and bright, you have given over to the process. Always in midstream. Seizing upon opportunities, challenges, openings. Needing to know just how it feels at the micro levels. What is it like to be free, to be joyous, to be unrestricted, here in the body, in the world? You seek the full-on motivating spark of knowing what it feels like to be tuned out and discovering what it really means to be tuned in all the way.” from Sagittarius at 23 degrees by Ellias Lonsdale

In much the same way in which he characterized planets and asteroids as powerful, gendered beings in Inside Planets, Ellias Lonsdale gives new depth and nuance to degree analysis, an area often seen as technical or reduced to cliche.

Lonsdale builds on three main degree interpretations: Dane Rudhyar’s concept of the Sabian Symbols described in The Astrology of Personality and An Astrological Mandala, Marc Edmund Jones’s Sabian Symbols in Astrology, and John Sandbach’s recent Chandra Symbols. Beginning in 1988, Lonsdale worked with his wife Sara in tracking the Sabian symbol, the Charubel Symbol (the most useful of the other sets of degree symbology) and the Chandra Symbol. After Sara died in 1993 Lonsdale worked with her (as Theanna) and their friend Alita “to pierce through the veil,” as he says in his Introduction, “to find the angel behind each degree. This ultimate version is won from death and fused with rebirth and each word shows this power.”

The degree symbols are most useful in elaborating a personal birth chart. One can learn about personal cycles from studying the place of a transiting or progressed planet by degree at a given time, revealing collective as well as personal timings. The Zodiac degrees also act as an oracle. One can open the collection anywhere for a given day, or in reponse to a question. The degrees will reveal what is happening now and if we are attentive and responsive to the cues, what is required of us. Comparing charts of friends and famous people who are known for certain qualities, one can gradually discriminate among the degrees.

These beautifully written and fully imagined readings of the Chandra degree symbols speak to a deep level of personal change and authenticity.

Ellias Lonsdale is the author of Star Rhythms, The Book of Theanna, and Inside Planets. He lectures widely on astrology and is an astrological counselor in Santa Cruz, California.

https://aquaorfire.net/astrology/inside_degrees/inside_degrees.html#sagittarius

featuring Model: Titus Abad
as Sagittarius for the Personal Universe Series
Photograph by Michelle Gemma