Heading into 2014

We've been working in the studio on mixing songs from the past year, pas part of a new album project.   Fukushima, Sugar Pie, Head Heart, Truth Will Set You Free, others...

"Hey There Sugar Pie"  This song and music video was inspired by an interaction I witnessed between a girl who looked like she was feeling sad and a street musician who said hi to her. The musician saw that she was down, they exchanged a few words, and she walked on. It became a story about a girl who had lost everything in Hurricane Sandy. She was feeling the weight of the world, when a street musician gave her some kindness or words of wisdom -- which set her on a different path. I ran back to the studio to write and record a rough demo of the song I was formulating. 

The video includes pieces of the  original writing process, piano part and lyrics being sung and recorded as I wrote them that evening of Nov. 30, 2012. I added the drums and bass the next day. Nik Green has put in his aura with some extra keyboards and drum programming, and a demented lead in the middle and end.  Then, later the next evening, I found a bunch of video clips I had shot in NYC. and a couple stock footage clips, and put quickly together the video from what I had at hand. One rainy night in SB before Christmas I got some low rez shots.  I tried to get funding through IndieGogo, to find  a way to pay street musicians to participate in my video, to reshoot the "iPhone footage" with the storyline narrative. Although I will use some clips from this rough montage, eventually most will be replaced by new footage. 

I feel  sad that I have not seen Jami - one of the homeless women in the video - for months.   She was not doing well the last time I saw her.    

The Away Team at Summer Solstice Celebration 2013

(photos by Victor Rocha)

Penny Little and Nik Green aka the Away Team performed on the main stage for Summer Solstice Celebration 2013, as part of the largest 3 day arts festival in Santa Barbara County.  Solstice artist Pali-X joined the Away Team, with another dancer dressed as a Unicorn.  

This celebration of life and art brings 100,000 people to the streets to see the colorful people-powered parade dancing up State Street to Alameda Park. 

We shared the stage with a fantastic lineup including Creed Bratton and the Rubbermen.  For those who are not familiar, Creed is most recently known for playing himself in NBC's comedy "The Office" which just ended after 9 years.   He is also a former member of 60's chart topper "The Grass Roots".

The Festival each year begins Friday with performances from ensembles from the parade - continues through the weekend, with the Parade at NOON on Saturday.  

October 16 Deadline for Healing Journey Fundraising Campaign

I am grateful for those of you who pledged to help with my Kickstarter Campaign, even though I did not reach my goal of $1500, which meant that campaign was unfunded.  

However, the good news is that some who pledged on that Kickstarter Campaign have independently donated and as of October 5,  this fund is now at $975. I am continuing this fundraising campaign using “Chipin” until October 16, and hope to reach the original goal amount of $1,500 to cover some of our out of pocket expenses from the premier, for replication, fliers, posters....

Anyone who donates $100 or more will be included in the rolling credits as part of the special thank you and on the website - unless you wish to remain anonymous.   $50 or more also gets you a mention on the website.   Everyone who donates at least $25 will receive a copy of the 2 DVD set, which will help me achieve my goal of $1500.   

You can donate an amount of your choosing, using the Chipin button on the donate page.

http://www.911dust.org/donate.htm

Now that I’m settled in back at home from the premier in NYC, and we got some initial exposure for the film “9/11 Dust: A Healing Journey”,  I’m feeling a sense of accomplishment.  I am happy that the film was so well received, especially by those for whom it was made -- the people who are still suffering from WTC syndrome.   One of the first responders who was at the premier said, “This is my life! This is our film.”

Thanks again for taking the time to look at this.   It is my hope that this film will be used to help those who are still feeling the effects of 9/11 daily as health survivors of the toxic dust at Ground Zero.

-- Penny Little, Dir. People to People TV

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Report Back from NYC Film Premier

Pause || Press < Play                                   

New York City - September 9-13 at the Kraft Center at Columbia University, my film “9/11 Dust: A Healing Journey” was the centerpiece of a four day event which included a fantastic roster of speakers and presenters -- including Dr. Lee Vickers, AmaLia Wai Ching,  Olga Meylakh, Jonathan Talat Philips, Christopher Riano , Dr. John P. Salerno, Twee Merrigan, Helen Kramer, Richard Gage, Luca and Monica Bertini, each of whom offered something to our overall vision of providing a holistic, integrative symposium around the showing of the film to give people solutions, begin dialogues, and to reach out to new audiences.

The press conference on September 11 was honest, emotional, and there were tears in the eyes of some members of the audience as John Devlin and Kirk Arsenault both of whom who have 9/11 related cancers, talked about how they haven’t received anything from the Federal government.  They related how the Zadroga Bill, which now will cover cancer, may not be adequately funded. With the current funding their award may not come through until 2015 or 2016, and will definitely not cover 10 or 11 years of medical expenses which they have incurred.

The art installation curated by L-M-N-T Miami featured the Pause Towers, a plexiglass sculpture filled with medical packaging from ten years of prescription based treatments of a health survivor of the WTC illness.   The artwork has found a temporary home in NYC, but we still need to find a more permanent home, a gallery space, or place to store it.  Anyone with ideas in NYC?  The exhibit includes a large airplane wing, and quite a few pieces.  Download PDF about the art 

The event website is here:  http://pausepressplay.wordpress.com

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Paying Attention

Long Story Short: I'm in NYC, Brooklyn to be exact, and my film is on it's way to the duplicator. 

Long Story:  I did something really stupid; it just goes to show how important "paying attention" aka “mindfulness” is.  Not paying attention costs a lot. 

I thought the film was finished at 1:30 am on the morning of my flight to NYC.  I gave the DVD master to Nik so he could overnight the film to El-Man Productions (who has replicated my films and CDs since 2004.)  I took one copy with me on the plane. 

So, I arrived in NYC (after one substantially delayed flight - about 16 hours of travel and airport time) and discovered the next day that there were major problems with the sound.   It was partly the rush and partly the encode process exaggerating my mistakes in sound levels and balance.  "I hate it! It can't go out like this!" I shrieked.   I sent an urgent message to Elman to stop the presses.

I had to do a complete sound remix of the entire film, and re-encode, and re-author, which meant another night without sleep   

So the really stupid part is that at the end of that long day, I went to the corner shop to get a gallon of water.  As I left the shop, I was looking at the water bottle, not the sidewalk, trying to figure out how to hold it, at which point the little 2” ledge was not observed.  I heard bones crack, and suddenly. ... Big ouch,  hobbling around, hopping ouch!  And when I got upstairs, crawling seemed to work much better than trying to walk.   I couldn’t put any weight on the foot without pain. 

Two days later, I am looking back at my moments of non-attention, and lessons to be learned.  Even though it hurt to distraction, and I could not walk on my foot, now it seems mostly healed.  This was after using ice packs, an oil called Balsam Fir, and me telling the foot “Heal NOW!” over and over, while breathing and tapping.    I’ve broken my foot twice -  “ballerina” hairline fractures --  in approximately the same place, and it felt a lot like that.  Nik sez the twist & fall probably just snapped a bunch of cartilage temporarily out of place. It was definitely seriously traumatized.    I’m just feeling relieved and thinking this was a miracle because right now, I’m not crawling to the fridge for ice, and I can walk -- not skipping just yet.  

So here’s to mindfulness, paying attention in advance or it will cost you in arrears.   

The cost:  $45.00 to send the corrected version via UPS (they deliver on Saturday), loss of sleep, and a few stressful moments.  I think I’m lucky!

Me, bleary eyed and weary, having just completed the rework of the film “9/11 Dust:  A Healing Journey”   Such lovely red indoor light, late in the night. This shows about the way I really felt.  So done

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Composer hard at work

Nik is working on music score for "9/11 Dust: A Healing Journey".   Nothing like a looming deadline to stir the juices!

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9/11 Dust: A Healing Journey

The deadline draws near for completion of my new film "9/11 Dust: A Healing Journey"  and the date of the preview premier also gets closer (September 8).  In order to fill the gap left by the primary funder pulling out "due to philosophical differences and the direction of the film", I launched a Kickstarter campaign to feed the rest of the process and get me to NYC for the premier.  Please check it out and if you like what you see, please consider a donation to help me meet my goal of $1500.       

 

This short documentary is a followup to my 2006 film “9/11 Dust and Deceit” about people who have suffered from the health effects of the toxic dust of September 11, 2001, many of whom are still not getting the health care they need.   The film seeks to show solutions, and asks how those directly affected by illness, and all of us still grieving, can heal from 9/11.   

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