Summer’s here, friends! Many peoples of the northern hemisphere have for centuries observed the summer solstice and Midsummer’s Day by lighting raging bonfires, and at this time of year the heat of the raging bonfire is something we in the Sonoran Desert can relate to. Since folk-culture is a reflection of the soul of a people and their place, I’ve always thought some kind of monsoon festival would be really cool and appropriate for Tucson. What would a good celebratory expression of summertime in the desert southwest look like to you? I’d like to hear about it!
Meanwhile, on to a little news. With All Souls season just three months out, plans are already well underway for this year’s event:
• The poster artwork for All Souls Procession Weekend 2010 has been created by Philip J. Felix, artist and proprietor at Red Sky Studio.
• Musical evocation for this year’s All Souls finale ceremony will be made by a collaborative effort between local prog rock ensemble Ensphere (fronted by long time Flam Chen performer and All Souls Spirit Group fire dancer Randall Swindell) and Tucson’s premiere taiko troupe Odaiko Sonora. I’m told we can expect a lengthy ambient intro as we all begin to gather in the finale space, moving into a three-part composition of Ensphere’s hypnotic rock sounds supported by the drums of Odaiko. I should add that Ensphere has an album on cd coming out this summer, “Corpuscle”, and their cd release party will be held at Plush on July 9th, so come on out and support them at the kick-off of their summer tour!
• Construction of the new ceremonial Urn tower is currently underway, headed up by MMOS board member Paul Weir. A big thank you to Paul and everyone helping in this effort!
• And last, this year’s summer Circus Camp hosted by our own Tucson Circus Arts at Rhythm Industry has been a huge success, with a total of nearly 60 students between both two-week sessions! Many new co-inspirators are coming into their own, and you’ll be seeing them soon out at All Souls, Little Angels, and elsewhere. Look forward to a feature article on the TCA Circus Camp in July, here on The Mouth!