tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4333571497164576622023-11-15T07:05:39.014-08:00joe culleyEducator and performer of tabla drumming and visual artsjoe culleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15524815082069571571noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433357149716457662.post-91231991841402196972010-06-12T08:09:00.000-07:002010-06-02T09:16:51.040-07:00Up Coming PerformancesThursday May 6th 5:15pm<br />Holden Elementary School<br />"World Cultural Fest"<br />(330) 673-6737<br />(330) 289-1460 for details<br /><br /><br /><br />Friday May 21st<br />with Craig Wise @<br />Green Tara Yoga Center<br />2450 Fairmount Blvd. Cleveland Heights<br />Contact Karen Allgire for Details<br />(216) 382-0592<br />http://www.greentarayoga.com/<br /><br /><br /><br />The Wedding Singer<br />Weathervane PlayHouse<br />1301 Weathervane Lane Akron, Ohio 44313<br />June 3 to 27<br />Thursdays at 7:30p.m. Fridays and Saturdays at 8p.m. Sundays at 2:30p.m.<br />Tickets call 330/836-2626<br />I'll be playing drumset and percussion on this gigjoe culleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15524815082069571571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433357149716457662.post-24322998552675138662010-06-02T08:05:00.000-07:002010-06-02T09:12:40.300-07:00A Drummer's JourneyMy latest gig takes me to the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Weathervane</span> Playhouse in Akron Ohio off <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Riverview</span> road. My musician friend Michael Curtis who I perform with in our calm and quiet <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">kirtan</span> music group, Breathing Room <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">refered</span> me for the gig. It's funny because he hasn't played electric guitar for 2 decades and I haven't played drum kit in a decade. The last time we talked before I took the gig was how he really hates snare drums, yikes now I'm his nemesis. The musician's pit is where he and I've been sentenced, which is a small cramped room under the stage with all my percussive toys, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">waterbottles</span>, coffee cups, massage cream and a beautiful red light <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">worklamp</span>. It's as if, as our conductor Margaret <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kneeper</span> ( great person to work with, nice sense of humor and an enthusiastic positive spirit) says, Joe has been put into time out, I liken it to an Old Fashion film developing darkroom. Instead we'll be developing 1980's Rock-n-Roll grooves. The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">ceilling</span> above my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">drumset</span> is about 5' 11" and to get into the room itself you need to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">crooke</span> your neck with an Igor hunch, if not you'll ram your head into a 6" piece of concrete, thus physically understanding the importance of your brain's frontal lobe. I think I'm going to wear a hockey <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">helment</span> and a neck brace for the rest of the show. I've been told the stage is up to Broadway specs, so the 6" thick concrete floor can allow for up to 2 elephants to do walk on parts, I wonder if they get paid in peanuts HA!<br />The sound dude DJ is a great guy to work with, calm, cool and helpful to my logistical and sound quality wants, needs and desires. The music for the show is pretty <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">drumset</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">agressive</span> ranging from a Kim <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">Carns</span>/Motley <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">Crue</span>/Joan Jet/Temptations/Billy Joel/Earth Wind and Fire/Police/Guns and Roses and the Cars, all compiled in a medley of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">anthemic</span> stadium concert "whose your mama? snare drum driven grooves". The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">wierd</span> aspect for me is that I will never see the show. I'm completely encased in this <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">Abugrave</span> Dungeon, with a stylish <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">plexiglass</span> wall, snaking its way around my kit. This adds to my longing for companionship as well as turning my booth into a little bit of a Costa <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" class="blsp-spelling-error">Rican</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" class="blsp-spelling-error">Rainforest</span>. During one of our full show run rest breaks I began practicing my rudiments on the wooden floor beams and plywood above my head, then a resounding tap dance answer came from one of the actors above. We did a bit of dueling banjo <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" class="blsp-spelling-error">ala</span> floor board and shoe call and response, it's one of the few ways I get to connect with the actors above. I still don't know who it was tapping out those beats? I'm excited because tonight is our first selected audience preview. This is the first time in about 10 years I've played drum kit in public, which is odd because I'll never see the audience or the show. I feel a bit like the wizard of Oz, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" class="blsp-spelling-error">makin</span> all those explosions and crashes for the big <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_23" class="blsp-spelling-error">ol</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_24" class="blsp-spelling-error">talkin</span> head to appear all the more menacing. I told DJ I should have left my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_25" class="blsp-spelling-error">drum set</span> at home and had my set mic via phone line. Someday that just may be the case, if it has not yet already been done. Overall it has been fun to rekindle my joy of playing kit. Taking my designer series <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_26" class="blsp-spelling-error">Sonors</span>, fixing drum peddles and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_27" class="blsp-spelling-error">hihat</span> stands, figuring out all the right sounds, trying to magically bring back sight reading as quickly as I can humanly do, all <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_28" class="blsp-spelling-error">amongst</span> teaching full time and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_29" class="blsp-spelling-error">makin</span> sure my wife and kids remember who I am with late night <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_30" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">rehearsals</span>. There really is something to living out full <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_31" class="blsp-spelling-error">fledge</span> chaos...because as my wife has put it to me many times, "this ain't no dress <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_32" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">rehearsal</span>"joe culleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15524815082069571571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433357149716457662.post-64063359670836792542010-05-19T08:19:00.000-07:002010-05-19T08:36:05.167-07:00Artists Who Have Profoundly Inspired and Influenced MePainter etc.- Robert W. Culley "My Dad"<br />Tabla Master - Ustad Alla Rakha Khan<br />Painter - Mark Rothko<br />Painter - Agnes Martin<br />Painter - Jack DeJohnette<br />Tabla Wizard - Ustad Zakir Hussain<br />Guruji - Ty Burhoe<br />Sarangi Master - Ustad Sultan Khan<br />Tabla Master - Arup Chattophadya<br />Tabla Master - Pradip Ghosh<br />Sitarist - Pandit Ravi Shankar<br />Classical Composer - Phillip Glass<br />Classical Composer - Steve Reich<br />My Buddy Tabla Groove Master - Steve Brossjoe culleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15524815082069571571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433357149716457662.post-47639232788440435882009-05-06T09:23:00.000-07:002009-05-06T09:25:40.469-07:00Fog AwakeSun’s light woven into the warp and weft <br />Of a morning fog’s inhalation<br />I am reminded<br /> “I Am That” <br />The names of actors, producers, grips and such rise<br />Folding into the Tao<br />House lights fade awake<br />A child tugs and pulls <br />“I Am That” <br />Living between heart and mind <br />Between all the words written and spoken<br />The child leaps with eager anticipation <br />To stay infused with all the brilliance they sense <br />Seizing what they will always have<br />Expecting others to see the same <br /> “I Am That” <br /> joe culley 5/6/09joe culleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15524815082069571571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433357149716457662.post-81136924177635593902008-01-18T06:37:00.000-08:002008-01-18T06:47:31.299-08:00Sound of SnowflakesAir moves through space<br />Star light echoes forgiveness upon freshly furrowed fields<br />Warming Earth's womb ready to unfold another<br /><br />Ebbing branches dance in a soup of slow silence like an Alexander Calder Mobile<br />Ohm they chant<br />With a leaf's calming breath<br />I exhale into Earth's frozen skin covering ground and sky<br />heart hugs<br />heart lets go<br />heart feels its myssterious intent<br /><br />Coffee sipped quickens<br />Slow morning begins to be pulled<br />Thousands of ice encased limbs snap<br /> with the sound of a hunter's shot<br />Blending their sound with the memory of quasars<br />Sending their codes to consciuosness witnessing<br /><br />Snow flakes are unbable to doubt<br />They float and melt everyday<br />Looking for a place waiting<br />a seat to sit unknown<br />a seat waiting without hesitation<br />a seat without reservation<br />a seat becoming<br />melting back<br />upon the sun's undebatable command<br /><br />joe culley 2005joe culleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15524815082069571571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433357149716457662.post-23873157358345247552008-01-15T19:22:00.000-08:002008-01-15T19:38:10.422-08:00Corcovado DreamPeering into the valley of my heart<br />It melts<br />Midnight clouds float<br />Luminously through moon glow rain<br />All stretches outward with completeness of being<br />I witness<br />I witness the breath<br />I am earth<br />I am music, light color, shape, taste, and texture<br />Singing the ancient songs of <br />Na<br />Dha<br />Dhin<br />Ti Ri Ki Ta Dha!<br />Guru’s awaken my talc cacked spirit<br />Whispering quietly its intention<br />Scrapping skin bark peeling<br />Red mud crying down the mountains of eternal stillness<br />Mother is here<br />Between the light and shadow<br />Between flow and stagnation<br />Between hugging my bones and radiating my soul<br />Between ego and no time<br />Dreams seep into being <br />Looping air looping Earth<br />Resonating to a crescendo of inner fire<br />Colliding with the low vibrato growl of the howler monkey’s chant<br />A small plastic turtle given along with this journey<br />Sits upon my palm from my beloved wife<br />Reminding me to be still and to slow with quick alertness letting go<br /><br />Allowing the flow to waterfall from my eyes<br />Everything I have ever loved is awakened<br />Skipping on a tight rope above bottomless chasms<br />Diving into faith<br />Landing upon a grass runway in the middle of our ancient heart<br />I melt<br />And fade into nothingness.<br /> joe culley 2004joe culleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15524815082069571571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-433357149716457662.post-58244233704425650742008-01-13T14:48:00.000-08:002008-01-13T14:49:10.899-08:00Slide Show<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://www.smilebox.com/play/4d6a49774e444d794e513d3d0d0a&campaign=blog_playback_link" target="_blank"><img width="386" height="303" alt="Click to play joe's+montage" src="http://www.smilebox.com/snap/4d6a49774e444d794e513d3d0d0a.jpg" style="border: medium none ;"/></a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://slideshows.smilebox.com" target="_blank"><img width="386" height="46" alt="Create your own slideshow - Powered by Smilebox" src="http://www.smilebox.com/globalImages/blogInstructions/blogLogoSmileboxSmall.gif" style="border: medium none ;"/></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://slideshows.smilebox.com" target="_blank">Make a slideshow - it's easy!</a></td></tr></tbody></table>joe culleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15524815082069571571noreply@blogger.com0