the main things on the radar in this moment are mentorship and ensuring the multi-lingual aspect of the brand.  its a significan commitment, to run all texts through a translator application and post them into the side in tabs/accordions formatting.  but as of now it seems essential .. language, healing the earth, uplifting the oppressed, neighborliness .. these are all what its about.  the neighborliness thing especially, having a multilingual presence seems essential.

as far as attaining mentorship, i'm looking today at a few web sites:
https://www.tucsonaz.gov/business/small-business-assistance
https://howtostartanllc.com/local-resources/arizona-tucson
https://www.azcommerce.com/programs/small-business-services
https://www.usgrants.org/arizona/small-business-grants

the last one isnt about mentorship so much as it is about funding for small business startups ..

this week saw me on the phone a fair bit, communicating with potential collaborators.  I am looking to develop a community of collaborators and ensembles around Tucson.  And I've been fortunate to be able to connect with some of the most creative, experienced and committed musicians in Arizona.

This week I spoke with Enrique "Hank" Feldman, Erika May, Brian Luce and Heidi Wilson.  In addition to the above qualities, Enrique and Brian have lots of teaching experience and experience with 'kids' of various ages.  Erika and Heidi meanwhile, both work in the healing and wellness fields when not doing music.

I feel deep gratitude for these new connections, as well as for the connections already working with Tani, Yacouba, Elijah and Djam.

The main angle that I am emphasizing in 'pitching' the project to potential collaborators is 1) that they will own the rights and eventual royalties based on the promotion of the musical stories they make.  2) we are seeking to develop a reliable 'factory' to be able to release 3-4 new stories/week within a couple of months time in order to develop our reputation as a solid competitor to netflix and other subscription entertainment services which may lack in our degree of meaning, aesthetics, and virtue.

We are also focused simultaneously on developing a core ensemble to begin to perform live shows in larger auditorium settings, as well as smaller more intimate venues.

On saturday, I am meeting with Enrique and Erika in the afternoon, and then playing a show with yacouba and a reggae band in the evening.  Then on sunday, playing a dance class with yacouba, and then heading over to the local drum circle to meet the members of baba marimba .. and then adjourn to this guy Michael's place to meet and jam with him (a local percussionist) and a flamenco guitar player collaborator of his.

A lot of people have said that 'less is more' and in many ways I can see how that mantra makes sense.  however, when it comes to momentum for a large scale project there needs to be a critical mass of motivated professionals to lay the foundation.  And that seems to be where we're at.

yacouba and I wrote and began recording on two new pieces this week as well.

For a project with ambitions to reach the global audience, how many languages should the words appear in?  the obvious trade-off is in the  cluttered appearance.   maybe a good solution is to use a 'tab' system like this one.

hier soir on a travaille une nouvelle histoire, qui releve des guardiens du feu sacre, dans un village .. cette histoire et originaire du 'natchez peuple' du sud-est USA .. la region qui maintenant est 'louisianna' .. pour ceux qui lisent anglais, on vous propose de aller voir le lien quivant pour en savoir un peu plus sur ces peuples

yesterday we worked on a story from the natchez tribe in the southeastern USA .. we highly recommend taking the time to educate yourselves a bit on them, for the english speakers out there:

https://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/indian-tribes/natchez-tribe.htm

we also started to develop a new song, dedicated to yacoubas partner and daughter back in africa

on a commence aussi a developper une nouveau chanson, dedie la copine et fille de yacouba, tjrs en afrique .. qui lui manquent tellement tout les jours

the tucson enseble has been working to get things set up to be able to record in a simple yet also relatively good quality way.  we know that perfection is the enemy of progress.  we also aren't ready to simply post terrible recording quality items into the main site!

we've been working on a piece about a bear who's had a long day, a long month, a long few years .. the bears habitat has suffered mightily and the bear is hungry and sad.  so he finally makes bold to try his luck in the big city.  hoping, perhaps, to find some decent food or maybe even some kindred spirits there.