Unstill Life

Fanfare please!!!  Announcing our next Side Work project:

There will be visual art, live performances, free wine and cheese, and tons of great art available for purchase!  It's not your average gallery show.  Come out and support local art - you definitely won't want to miss this!

Teaser

Can you guess what we're putting together for your entertainment pleasure?  Here are some hints...

[source]

Any ideas?

AND stay tuned for an announcement about the maybe exciting, definitely unexpected location of this next Side Work venture...   All I'm gonna say is, you're gonna love it.

It's Electric

We had our first meeting in a long time tonight (my first meeting besides a dodgy Skype call since I left for Australia in October), and I can't even describe how inspired I am.

I have so much love for my fellow Side Workers. And for the creative energy that drives and surrounds us all.

Once again, you got my rusty gears turning and we developed an exciting idea out of thin air. Once again, I have the privilege of creating with you all. Once again, my leaving determines our timeline. And, I'm sure, once again, we'll surprise ourselves with what we are able to accomplish.

Side Work is growing and morphing, staying true, as it always has, to who we are. It's going to be incredible. Again. So stay tuned & watch the sparks fly...

nikki

creation

this is SO Side Work.

Air Quality

Along with the "car payment, credit card bills, and LA-sized rent," one thing that seems to be a built-in price to pay for adult life in Los Angeles is the rapid and persistent way in which good ideas and serious talk evaporate into just so much thin, smoggy air. The ability to hook those within earshot is a commodified skill here, from nameless wannabes holding court in nightclub corners, to CEOs of billion-dollar advertising agencies. Everyone mines for attention with hyperbole-sharpened drills from time to time, yet--like bad freethrow shooters--so many people in Los Angeles remain mostly unconcerned with the follow-through.

It's easy to become victimized by this paradigm, and even easier to enlist in it. A litany of unreturned calls, lukewarm responses, disappearing acts, and interminable holding patterns seems best dealt with by dishing them out in return. I've always maintained that no one resents a cynic more than a cynic, and similarly, no one resents a flake more than a flake. Encountering someone who has had their hopes dashed as often or more as one's self is a familiarity that breeds contempt.

Yet I've discovered, over the last several months, that there is no such thing as salted earth when it comes to making good on intentions. No matter how much of your inner fire has gone up in smoke, if you're alive, you've got fuel left to burn. And while it may seem simple to some, within the deflector-shields up milieu of Hollywood, just a small dose of integrity can blast away years of built-up heartache and disappointment.

Doing what you say you are going to do, and surrounding yourself with people who do the same, is no miracle. I hesitate to even say it should be considered rare. There are plenty of people out there that make good on their intentions every day, even if their amibitions are simply to clean the house or make it to work on time. Though when the stakes are higher, and the vision is grander, there are perhaps more opportunities for integrity to be challenged, results still come down to keeping your word.

I've been privileged over the last six months to live and work with a collection of people--six fellow artists and a galaxy of local stars who lent their gifts and support--that have forever altered my perception of Los Angeles. No more do I assume that my words or the words spoken to me are weightless. From out of thin air, together we made something wonderful simply on the basis of saying we wanted to.

Breathe deep. That's fresh air.

Opening night

Sold out show & a standing ovation. God, that's a good feeling.

Side Play

I'm sure Jamey will outblog me later, but I wanted to post a little something the day of opening...

I know all of us have great aspirations. Some of us want to be starring opposite Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the next Best Picture. Some of us want to be working alongside Spielberg on the other side of the camera. There are dreams of late night talk shows, comedy clubs, art openings. And while many of these things are still off in the distance... this is it. Here and now. While it may not be on the biggest stage, each of us is right now accomplishing what we have always dreamt of accomplishing. We are doing what we love to do, surrounded by people experiencing the same, and we are going to make people in our audience laugh, cry, and stare in wonderment.

I know it's easy for people to get hung up on where they're going, and not recognize how amazing the present can be. But this is one of the most amazing presents I have ever known.

Break a leg, everyone. Let's make this a night we'll never forget.

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."