A day or two after the news, my partner asked me what I needed. I said, “a time machine.” I’m pretty sure he knew what I wanted to do with it. I’ve watched and read enough time travel fiction to know that this is usually the one thing you’re not allowed to do with a time machine if you get your hands on one. You’re not supposed to use time travel to prevent someone’s death. I know. But grief can make a person reckless and I might not worry too much about the butterfly effect if I could save my brother’s life. I imagined showing up at the side of the road that night and delaying him long enough for that fatal motorcycle to speed by and then he could go on about his life, none the wiser. Or I could just walk him companionably further down the road to a safer intersection, maybe cross with him, after thoroughly vetting the streets. To read more of Non-Regulation Time Machine Dream visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 275 Song: David Bowie's "Let's Dance" Image via Wikicommons Normally on the blog, in this spot, I tell you about my patrons on Patreon. But today, I’d rather direct you to some things my brother cared about. He was very interested in radical mycology, which you can learn about here, here and here. This organization, Kiss the Ground, works on soil regeneration which was very important to him. Also, this is a small scale cause my brother donated to and could be easily fully funded.

Songs for the Struggling Artist

Non-Regulation Time Machine Dream

Y’all know me. I love to reflect. Reflecting on stuff is my favorite thing and I do it on the regular. But I’m having some trouble reflecting on this 20th anniversary of 9-11. I want to. It seems important to, especially as this is also the 20th anniversary of the birth of my theatre company, but –  like, my brain just sort of dances around it and will not settle. I’m much more interested in the three young women next to me at this outdoor patio of this café. They were recently college students so they are unlikely to have any real memory of 9-11. Today is more or less meaningless to them. That’s how long it’s been. It’s been long enough for these young women to grow up. To read more of In Which I Attempt to Reflect on the 20th Anniversary of the Things visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 274 Song: I Need, I Want, I Crave by Bright Red Boots Image of Steak Fries by StockSnap via Pixabay. To support this podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis or PayPal me: https://www.paypal.me/strugglingartist Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! Listen to The Dragoning here (it's my audio drama) and support via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany As ever, I am yours, Emily Rainbow Davis

In Which I Attempt to Reflect on the 20th Anniversary of the Things

Music can be a time machine. Play Duran Duran’s “Rio” and I am instantly transported to a carpeted spot in front of the Barbie doll mansion I’d created in my closet in the mid 80s. Put on Primus’ “Nature Boy” and I’m in a cargo van in 1997 with several Shakespeare dudes who are wildly flinging themselves around, while the Shakespeare dude driver nods his head in time. I did not like this song at the time but now I do, not just because I’m angrier these days, but because of how quickly it can return me to the past. Music can evoke a time and place more directly and precisely than just about anything. (Smell can be a direct line to the past. It’s maybe more immediate but, it’s also often less specific about time.) Music is an incredibly powerful tool – which is why I’m entirely flabbergasted at a trend I’m noticing on television. Why would you use music from a different era than the one you’re trying to evoke? To read more of The Time Machine of Music visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 273 Song: Un Sorbito de Champan I reference a lot of music in this post so I made a playlist of it so if you’re curious to hear any of it, it’s here. Image: Steam Concert by J J Grandville To support this podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis or PayPal me: https://www.paypal.me/strugglingartist Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! Listen to The Dragoning here (it's my audio drama) and support via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany As ever, I am yours, Emily Rainbow Davis 

The Time Machine of Music

After the death of an old friend, I went on an excavation of old writings in my computer. I went back 24 years to find a poem I’d written about this friend and waded through so much writing I hadn’t thought about in decades. The thing that stood out to me about this process and encountering the self that made it all was how much I used to believe that what I made would eventually be read or seen. I didn’t necessarily think all those poems would be published – certainly I didn’t feel that poetry was my best medium – but I did think, oh, one day I’ll have a partner who’ll want to read everything I ever wrote or some writerly soul friend who’ll comb through my entire oeuvre and help me bring things to light. I used to imagine that everyone would want to hear every detail of my trip abroad, as well. People used to give slideshows of their journeys overseas! Now I can’t imagine burdening anyone with all of that. There is no one who wants to read every word I ever wrote. It’s too much reading! To read more of Every Word I Wrote visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 272 Song: Piece of Sky by Emily Rainbow Davis Shark Image via the British Library To support this podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis or PayPal me: https://www.paypal.me/strugglingartist Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! Listen to The Dragoning here (it's my audio drama) and support via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany As ever, I am yours, Emily Rainbow Davis 

Every Word I Wrote

One thing I’ve always been mildly obsessed with has been creating a body of work. It’s an odd thing for a theatre person – given that the art form is so deeply enmeshed in the present and is mostly ephemeral – but I’ve been concerned with it for as long as I can remember. I think I only started to understand how unusual it was in recent years, while looking at other theatre company’s websites. They will often only feature their current show – with no information or photos or descriptions of shows past. This is usually what I’m interested in seeing so I notice its absence – but I think I may be alone in this interest in a theatre’s (or artist’s) history. To read more of A Body of Work visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 271 Song: Walk Around - Bright Red Boots Image - my company's Body of Work To support this podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis or PayPal me: https://www.paypal.me/strugglingartist Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! Listen to The Dragoning here (it's my audio drama) and support via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany As ever, I am yours, Emily Rainbow Davis

A Body of Work

One thing I’ve always been mildly obsessed with has been creating a body of work. It’s an odd thing for a theatre person – given that the art form is so deeply enmeshed in the present and is mostly ephemeral – but I’ve been concerned with it for as long as I can remember. I think I only started to understand how unusual it was in recent years, while looking at other theatre company’s websites. They will often only feature their current show – with no information or photos or descriptions of shows past. This is usually what I’m interested in seeing so I notice its absence – but I think I may be alone in this interest in a theatre’s (or artist’s) history. To read more of A Body of Work visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 271 Song: Walk Around - Bright Red Boots Image - my company's Body of Work To support this podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis or PayPal me: https://www.paypal.me/strugglingartist Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! Listen to The Dragoning here (it's my audio drama) and support via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany As ever, I am yours,

In response to my post about the $5k arts grant, several sweet well-meaning people offered some suggestions for stuff I could do to take advantage of it. There were project suggestions and ideas for ways to game the system. But the parts I can’t stop thinking about are the suggestions that featured “making something” because that “something” is exactly the thing that’s at issue. The art happens in the “something.” That’s the place where the idea happens. Deciding what the “something” will be is the hard part. If you have a good something – a lot of things can start to fall into place. But finding a good “something” is not easy. To keep reading Making "Something" visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 270 Song: Something in the Way She Moves Image by 41330 via Pixabay To support this podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis or PayPal me: https://www.paypal.me/strugglingartist Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! Listen to The Dragoning here (it's my audio drama) and support via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany As ever, I am yours,

Making "Something"

All day, it had been threatening to rain but we decided to risk it and go to the park to see the opera performance. Neither of us had seen a show in person since the shut down so it felt like a big event. We showed our vaccine passports at the vaccine entrance of the Bryant Park lawn and were directed to the folding chairs and tables we could take and place anywhere in the area. There was a cordoned off section way at the back for the socially distanced chairs set up for the non-vaccinated. (This event, btw, was the first time I got to show my vaccine passport. I was so excited.) We found a table and settled in. Almost immediately, we were reminded of what New York audiences for free stuff are like. (Very annoying – there’s always some intense rule enforcer who’ll enforce rules that don’t even exist.) Several people asked if we were using our table and were miffed when we said yes, despite the fact that were many freely available scattered around the edges of the lawn. There was a family in a line in front of us who seemed to be playing musical chairs and they were taking non-stop selfies with one another. And then it started to rain. Only a little bit at first. The selfie family started trading umbrellas around instead of just chairs. And almost no one left the park. The show was about to start after all! To read more of A Night at the Wet Opera visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is episode 269  Song: I Love a Rainy Night Image of the ACTUAL Wet Opera night by yours truly To support this podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis or PayPal me: https://www.paypal.me/strugglingartist Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! Listen to The Dragoning here (it's my audio drama) and support via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany As ever, I am yours, Emily Rainbow Davis 

A Night at the Wet Opera

We had a hopeful politician come to our door, campaigning, and so we asked her about what she’d do for the arts. She said she understood the value of the arts, that they kept kids out of trouble, the way sports had for her as a kid so she supports them. It’s a sweet story, really. I enjoyed that story and I like this politician a lot but I hate this reasoning. First, supporting arts programs for kids is not supporting the Arts. It’s great and I spent many years in those trenches but Arts Education is not the entirely of The Arts. This is a common conflation, though – and artists do it as much as anyone, usually when they’re trying to raise money for an arts program. To keep reading The Arts Save the Children visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 268 Song: Pie in the Sky by Joe Hill Image: The Startled Swarm by Peter Newell via Old Book Illustrations To support this podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis or PayPal me: https://www.paypal.me/strugglingartist Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! Listen to The Dragoning here (it's my audio drama) and support via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany As ever, I am yours, Emily Rainbow Davis

The Arts Save the Children

You know how certain roads just seem to be extra dangerous? At some intersections, you see heaps of flowers and other tributes to people who were lost there. Governments attempt to put up traffic lights or stop signs but some of those intersections are just relentlessly dangerous. The places where patriarchy meets capitalism are like that, metaphorically speaking and they seem particularly dangerous for Gen X men. The day I watched the memorial service for my Gen X actor friend, I also saw an obituary for a Gen X visual artist. Both of these tributes paid homage to the generosity of their artistry, the dedication to their crafts and both seemed to suggest that these men just never really figured out a way to effectively make decent money. To keep reading The Intersection of Capitalism and Patriarchy Is a Killer visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog.  This is Episode 267 Song: Joni Mitchell's Trouble Child  Image by Paultristis via Wikicommons To support this podcast: Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review! Rate it wherever you listen or via: https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist Join my mailing list: www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/ Like the blog/show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/ Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis Or buy me a coffee on Kofi: http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis or PayPal me: https://www.paypal.me/strugglingartist Follow me on Twitter @erainbowd Instagram and Pinterest Tell a friend! Listen to The Dragoning here (it's my audio drama) and support via Ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/messengertheatrecompany As ever, I am yours, Emily Rainbow Davis

The Intersection of Capitalism and Patriarchy Is a Killer

I blogcast about Artist stuff. And Arts Related stuff. Also feminism. *In each episode, I read a post from my Songs for the Struggling Artist blog and play a song at the end. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/songs-for-the-struggling-artist/support