Events and Classes
"God's Away on Business" LIVE at the Hamilton Studio
Join us for a special performance at the Hamilton Studio featuring the music of Tom Waits, performed by jazz and opera singer Madeline McNeill. Experience the ambiance of a speakeasy with cocktail table seating, and wine and charcuterie offerings. An incredible band of musicians—Olivia Brownlee (guitar and banjo), Beth Rainey (piano), Andy Bennett (drums), Robert Folie (saxophone)—and burlesque dancer Miss Nickie B will serenade you with underground grit and heart-swelling lyricism, blending the irreverent with the reverent in songs like “Chocolate Jesus,” “Way Down in the Hole,” “Time,” “Martha,” and of course, “God’s Away on Business.”
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"I’ve always loved songs of adventure. Murder ballads, songs about shipwrecks and terrible acts of depravity and heroism. Erotic tales of seductions. Songs of romance, wild courage and mystery. Everyone has tried at one time or another to live inside a song. Songs where people died for love, songs of people on the run, songs of ghost ships or bank robberies. I’ve always wanted to live inside songs and never come back."
Tom Waits
FILM SCREENING "God's Away on Business: The Music of Tom Waits Performed by Madeline McNeill"
THE DOCUMENTARY FILM
Join us December 16th for a special screening documenting an event that happened on Friday the 13th in January 2023. Jazz and opera singer Madeline McNeill, with a band and a burlesque dancer, performed the gritty music of Tom Waits to a sanctuary of saints and sinners at the West Central Abbey. Filmmaker Ira Gardner made magic with his camera capturing the shenanigans to create a full length documentary with interviews of the artists and the presiding vicar. Together they wove a story of the West Central neighborhood in Spokane, Washington, delving into the dark and light of the spiritual, the sensuous, and finding community.
THE FUTURE PROJECT
Tom Waits' publisher arranged with our cohort the rights to screen the film for one year starting this December - no easy feat - with an opportunity to renew depending on how we do. We plan to send this film to festivals.
Embodied Cognition and Breath Mapping
Workshop at Madrona MindBody Institute in Port Townsend. Click here to register on Madrona Website
In recent years, the interplay between the body and mind has received a growing amount of attention in relation to our understanding of human emotional experiences, how we address mental health, and how we understand the mind itself. A primary example is the emerging field of embodied cognition - the theory that cognition is formed through the interaction of the brain with the sensory and motor systems of the body - which is finding roots in neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and performing arts.
Madeline integrates breath and voice practices to investigate emotions and cognition in a way that includes the body. She focuses on the anatomy and physiology of the breath musculature - defined here as muscles of the torso, neck, and head - and teaches students to explore movements and sensations of the breath muscles, then conceptually relate them to emotion and mental states as they are perceived in the body.
This awareness training serves as a tool to embody the concepts. One implication of this work is that the health (agility, stress, and coordination) of the breath musculature reflects and influences emotion and mental states, an awareness which provides the opportunity for integrating body-work, including techniques of music training and the performing arts, into models for health and healing. These tools can also help us learn to understand processes of cognition through studies drawing from embodied practices.
Embodied Cognition and Breath Mapping
Workshop
The field of embodied cognition explores how the brain and body collaborate to come to know the world and ourselves. It particularly emphasizes movement as important to the process. In this workshop, you will learn what embodied cognition is and also explore new concepts through practice. We'll focus on the breath musculature - muscles of the torso, neck, and head - and explore internal movements as they relate to emotion and mental states. This work could be for personal development and can also be applied to career development in a variety of fields such as psychology and mental health, philosophy, education, spirituality, and arts practices. An exciting implication of this work is that the health (agility, stress, and coordination) of the breath musculature reflects and influences how we think and behave, an awareness which provides the opportunity for integrating body-work, including techniques of music training and the performing arts, into models for health and healing. $45
Embodied Cognition and Breath Mapping
Workshop
The field of embodied cognition explores how the brain and body collaborate to come to know the world and ourselves. It particularly emphasizes movement as important to the process. In this workshop, you will learn what embodied cognition is and also explore new concepts through practice. We'll focus on the breath musculature - muscles of the torso, neck, and head - and explore internal movements as they relate to emotion and mental states. This work could be for personal development and can also be applied to career development in a variety of fields such as psychology and mental health, philosophy, education, spirituality, and arts practices. An exciting implication of this work is that the health (agility, stress, and coordination) of the breath musculature reflects and influences how we think and behave, an awareness which provides the opportunity for integrating body-work, including techniques of music training and the performing arts, into models for health and healing. $45