Divinity Rising: All Part of the Show -

Hey Everyone!

I know I’ve been missing in action for a while, but it’s been for some very good reasons! I’ve been taking some time away from performing live to handle some family matters and also to plan/negotiate some upcoming projects. I really miss hearing from you and finding the connection with you at shows.

The last few years were at a very crazy pace for me, and I found myself sacrificing quality sometimes and the type of projects I really wanted to be involved with to keep up with such a hectic pace and all the opportunities headed my way. I’ve been busy laying the groundwork for some projects I’ve been developing in the background for a while now, and can’t wait to share them with you. It’s been tough for me to focus so much on some very big things and be so quiet about it, but I’ve been refining my work so it will be even better! I’m not quite ready to share yet, but it will be very soon! I promise! The wait will be worth it!

On another note, I know my newsletter is not always upbeat or focused on just my performing, but it is always real. This newsletter began in 2008 as a blog to document and share my dream journey, not just to let people know when my shows are or what I am currently working on. I am very open about the things that I go through sometimes because I want others to know they are never alone and I need the connection with others, too.  Following your heart and dreams is a tough process with ups and downs and a lot to learn along the way. I’ve learned a tremendous amount about humanity; My conclusion so far: We are strange creatures.

As a performer and writer that wants to make a positive impact on the world around me, I’ve found that it can be very tough to do when you are constantly on the move. I moved at a very fast pace for three years straight (over 400 shows!), and was met with a bit of unpleasantness
last winter/spring. If you remember, I dealt with backstabbing and gossiping. I took it pretty hard.  I’ve really spent a lot of time in meditation since then, examining myself and how I can be better about being supportive of others and being less critical or feeling less responsible for the things happening around me. I’ve also worked to understand why I took it so personally even though I knew it was that person’s own insecurities. I can’t control how other’s act, but I can work to make sure I don’t exhibit any similarly hurtful or unpleasant behavior, thus attracting it from others.  It is much harder to look at ourselves than it is to just get upset about what others do to you. Most of all, I’ve had to really work to just laugh at people and not let them get to me. Then, I have to laugh at myself. I signed up to try to be a positive force in the world, but took it really hard when I met when some opposition. HA! Aren’t I brave? Lol. I took it so personally because I felt I had worked so very hard to uplift others through Sub Rosa: The Gypsie Courtyard. When I moved away from that to work on my own projects more, I felt that I lost 90% of the people who were supposed to be “friends” and that I had invested a lot of energy into.

Also, I found myself overwhelmed with all of the people I was trying to help.  I wanted so badly to lift up and inspire others that I see potential in, I sometimes found myself trying to drag them to the top of their personal mountain. I wanted them to be as in love with the journey of becoming  as I am.  Doing that just ensured I had no time to really work on my own projects the way I really wanted to. How silly of me!! I have found that I inspire others far more when I focus on creating my dreams than constantly trying to help others with theirs. It’s so easy for creatives to want to beautify everything around them. So, a lot of my time away has been redirecting my energies back into my own projects instead of “people projects”.  As someone pointed out to me “Believing in myself and being as good to myself as I am to everyone around me.”  What about you? Have you ever been in these situations? Hit me up on my face book page and tell me how you handle people who backstab you, or finding yourself tempted to meddle in the affairs of others “to help them” (or getting distracted by the requests of others).
One of the things I’m currently working on is an addition to my web site that will involve each of you! I want my creative work from here on to be an interactive process that allows those near and dear to me (those of you who are so supportive and mean so much to me) to be able to interact with me as I develop my creations. I also want each of my creations to do something to create a healthy world around us. I think each of you have a unique perspective on what makes a healthy world, so I want you to be able to help decide how each of the creations will do that.  Be on the lookout for more information about this in the next month! I hope to be back on the stage by summer, and I can’t wait to see you all there.

I hope you guys can make it out to the Mighty Kindness Earth Day Hootenanny! As you probably know, Mighty Kindness is a local non-profit that is very important to me! It connects local farmers, artists, activists, and informs the public on environmental health! It’s a free music festival with free booths, vending space. If you think the world is full of people to be afraid of, that people suck and that no one cares about you or the world around them – you NEED to visit this festival. It is a gigantic gathering of people who are caring, conscious of the environment, non judgmental and respectful of others – and want to empower each other. They’re creating a Mighty Kind wave across Louisville and have grown like mad in the last six years or so. Check out their site at http://www.mightykindness.org.  The next Hootenanny is Sunday, April 22 at the Louisville Nature Center.

I hope each of you are making tremendous headway in following the whispers of your own hearts. My hope is that each and every one of you continually strengthen your connection with the very source of everything around you, learning to listen to the guidance that is constantly speaking.  Most of all, I hope you follow.

Love,

D Rose

Need a web site?

Speaking of web sites, my host is offering a special right now to friends of mine! It is $10 for the entire first year of hosting, and it includes your domain name registration . (Hosting is where you store your files, your domain name is how people find your site – like www.yourname.com.) This is a great deal! It is usually between $4 and $10 per month (Some companies even charge as much as $30 per month -highway robbery!)! The company also has all kinds of tutorials, videos to help know how to use their web builders and open source programs. You can install WordPress or other site set ups with just a few clicks of the mouse. Web sites or blogs are great ways to show off your skills, your art, your business resume, etc or keep up with family and friends. I’ve been with them for 6 years now and have never had any downtime! They’ve offered great customer service when I’ve goofed up!  To top it off, I get some free hosting out of it when you use this link to get your hosting, which goes

a long way to stretch my single parent artist budget. If you’re going to purchase hosting anyways, I greatly appreciate you using my link to save money and help me out in the process.  I also appreciate if you pass this link along to any of your friends who might need a web site
or want to transfer their website to a cheaper host.  http://www.siteground.com/friends.htm?referrer_id=83768

I’ve been away from the stage for a while, as I’ve been withdrawn and developing my performance and story lines a little more. I’m preparing to begin raising funds, and I want everything in order.  I hope you’re all doing well. Being a little withdrawn has allowed me to also pull back and remember why I set forth to share my writing to begin with.

I want to inspire, motivate, and spread love as a way of life. Mighty Kindness is a great non-profit that really practices that by getting into the community and gathering people together to learn about their community, artists, musicians, local farmers and how to be environmentally friendly. They hold two music festivals per year and wanted a new “Hootin’ Annie”  owl mascot costume made from recycled materials. I am no costumer, but the end result was not half bad.

You can view the details and making of the costume and me running around like a nut in it ALA Yakkity Sax here:

Divinity Rising

Make sure to subscribe to my  Divinity Rising youtube channel so you don’t miss an episode  :D

I had a chance to do some of my Doomsday Lover performance at the Mighty Kindness festival, and at Dance on the Dark Side, another non-profit event. DOD was a fundraiser for Pagan Community Ministries and Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge.  The silent auction raised over $500 for the no-kill animal sanctuary.  My son had an awesome vending table set up for some of our art, and I sold a collage of some of my Doomsday Lover photo shoots.  It was a long but awesome day, performing at two such different events that are both focused on making a difference in our local community.

I also recently had fun in the Louisville Halloween Parade, which fell on my birthday October 14! How Perfect!

As we near Thanksgiving,  I have taken some time for reflection to see what my spirit needs.  I strive to remain grateful each and every day. Most recently, I was overwhelmed with gratitude as I eased in to a hot bath. I had not had time to just soak in a tub of warm water in a while, and it is one of my favorite things to do.  I was overwhelmed with just how big of a blessing it is to have the ability to soak in a hot bath when I am sore or need the relaxation. So many people don’t have that opportunity. It touched me in that moment that so many people all over the globe don’t have the chance to enjoy something that happens several times a day in most American households.

In the performing and entertainment industry and any business matter, it is often easy to get caught up in things that don’t really matter.  What really matters to me is that I treat others with kindness and inspire more community, love and cooperation. Sometimes, I think I fail miserably in what I am trying to accomplish.  I am grateful for the reminders that come my way to just be more childlike, live for exploration, continue to do my best at unconditional giving and receiving, and focusing the crazy amount of energy I have.  Above all, I am eternally grateful for my friends, my family, and each and every person who takes the time to read my updates, watch my videos, listen to my poems, support me and lift me up. I would truly be nowhere without you. I hope my efforts do the same for you.

This weekend – Friday, August 19, I’ll be do a quick appearance during Peak Summit Festival at 9 p.m. on the Bearnos stage, and then Saturday, 8/20 I’ll be singin’ a number during a drag show at Starbase Q at 6 p.m. Come out for this wild time, all proceeds go to a good cause:  Pagan Community Ministries!

This past Saturday, I was on Crescent Hill Radio for a really great interview! You can check it out in the archives by clicking here! It’s an interview about writing, poetry, how to market yourself, venues, and some of my work. Sheri Wright is a great host and also hosts a monthly open mic called Stone Soup on the last Sunday of each month at the Bardstown in Louisville, Ky.

And I’m super excited that I am the featured artist of the month on Tenacity Radio’s homepage! Check out a video montage and the interview that they did by clicking here!

Coming soon: It’s almost zombie time!! August 29 is the annual Zombie attack in Louisville. Genna Yussman, Austin Woosley and I will be at Role of the Die on Bonnycastle across from Cafe 360 to help you get zombified from 3 pm to 8 pm – Do not wait till the last minute to come down, there are 65 people RSVP’D on Facebook. Cost is $10 -$20 depending on level of degradation, coverage that you need.  The earlier you come the sooner. Better yet, you can RSVP on Facebook, and we will know if we need to add artists.

Coming up! I will be emceeing a show at the Rudyard Kipling on Monday, August 8 with The Rusty Crowes and the Grayson Wray Project from Los Angeles, CA.  This is going to be one awesome, high quality show!! Only $5!! Check out them out! The Rusty Crowes can be heard here:

It will be fun to take the stage again after a nice long break.
I’ll also be taking the stage August 19 at Peak Summit Music festival and August 20 at a drag show to benefit Pagan Community Ministries – 6 pm at Starbase Q. In the distant future, I’ll be at Mighty Kindness Music Festival (YAY!) and the Dance on the Darkside Festival of Fantasy -both on October 29!
Hope to see you out and about!

I recently got to do an awesome photo shoot with Genna Yussman, Jada Parks, Bob Cheever, Jessica Neamon and Benjamin Wood for some concept art I am putting together for Doomsday Lover.

Here’s a Collage of the photos Im not using in the concept art:

Time to let it go

let it go

let IT GO
Time may not heal the pain, but it reaches a point where you realize it’s been so long thatit’s ridiculous to hold on to it any longer.
Let it go.There almost seven billion people on the planet.

I’ve not shared any of my writing in a while.  I’ve been a little busy. Mostly I’ve been in hiding. I’ve found myself a little relieved with a less demanding schedule since I let go of Sub Rosa, but I’ve also found myself wading through a bit of darkness as I move into the next phase of my creative evolution. I’ve also been knee deep in my writings, sorting them and developing the net steps I’ll be taking in releasing my Diaries of a Godling storyline and first album.
At the beginning of the year, I found myself devastated by someone close to me turning their back on me and had reports of said person talking badly about me, smearing my name, my actions – all the while, happy to be a part of my production and being nice to my face.  Towards the end of the friendship, I noticed my own attempts at friendship met with suspicion, territorial behavior, and overall rudeness. Since then,  I’ve dealt with rumors, lies and even personal attacks such as someone messaging people I’m close to telling them I have herpes and to stay away from me. I can’t even begin to describe how horrified, shocked and hurt I felt by these lies or the reaction of people I considered friends.
Since then, I’ve been wading around, trying to decide what is important. Mostly I’ve been trying to remain open and not closed off. It hurt in a way that has made me not want to be as open to working with others. There was a lot of anger, confusion, and most of all an inability to trust. Being in the spotlight makes you an easy target. At first, I wanted desperately to have things right again between us, but knew they will never be the same. We can never go back…and after becoming aware of what was going on, do I really want to? Are those the kind of people I want to be surrounded by?
It has been a very important lesson to me on how a wagging tongue can create waves of destruction and how hurtful it can be: also that it is imperative to go directly to someone you have a problem with and be honest/direct even if it risks hurting feelings. IT is a great reminder to keep my own tongue from wagging, and I find myself studying myself and looking for areas where I can improve myself and try to focus daily on trying to keep my words uplifting…but I am just human, and I feel the burning frustration – how do I deal with the anger/emotions?
It’s interesting how the slightest introduction of information can change you. I find that we are all made of information, and sometimes we can trace a behavior back to the piece of information that introduced it. I think about the H2o molecule – water. Something we all need to survive – it gives us life. Then I think of H2o2 – Hydrogen Peroxide – poison if we drink it. Just the one extra atom of oxygen turns life into death. How easily are our opinions of someone swayed? How easily has my own confidence in what I am doing been swayed? How easily was a “friendship” broken? How easily was my ability to trust others broken? It happened over time. This is just one of many instances that have left me…grumpy. Yet, I also find myself wavering on which way to go from here.  On one hand, I can’t let this little bit of information stop me -but maybe I can let it change me in a way that uplifts me. I set out on a journey to create something knowing the trail would be rough at times. I guess the reality of betrayal hurts a lot more than knowledge of it or expecting it.
Coming across the following passage has indeed been wonderful manna for my soul. As always, I am grateful for the WORD that arrives when needed.
The Original Version:
The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.Love them anyway.If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.Do good anyway.If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.Succeed anyway.The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.Do good anyway.Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.Be honest and frank anyway.The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.Think big anyway.People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.Fight for a few underdogs anyway.What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.Build anyway.People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.Help people anyway.Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.Give the world the best you have anyway.

If you missed it, you missed a great show! It was so much fun! The performances were stellar, the body paint was awesome and the art was something to behold! Here are some photos! These images/videos are not really safe for work and/or young eyes due to bodypainted models in thongs/pasties and some adult language.

See the rest of the intro videos from the event by clicking Here.

If you missed this one, Mark your calendars for July 30, the next big event!!

I hope you are all staying cool out in this hot weather!  Here’s some tips for cutting costs and staying cool

Love, Light, and Blessings to send you through your dreams <3

It’s true this weekend is packed with amazing activities if you are in Louisville– from reggae to Beatersville to deconstructing fashion. I have to say I am a little disappointed to be missing out on the amazing car show at Beatersville. I love classics, hot rods and muscle cars so much they make me want to hump things. I said that once as I walked up next to an old man to admire a 1935 Auburn that was sooo beautiful I thought my pants might fall off. My friend said his face was a wonder to behold. A smile just appeared on it as I said “That makes me want to hump things”. I suppose therein explains the male fascination with cars. I can’t help it. I love them.

I guess I am a little biased in my excitement, though. Tomorrow is the release of the insanity known as Poetry, Pop and Paint. There was an awesome write up in the Leo, Courier Journal, and the KFW hot flash newsletter. While the doors don’t open until 8 pm, we will begin painting beautiful ladies at 1 pm. It’s going to be a full day of preparing, so we can give you magical people something awesome to talk about for years to come

This show is at Saint’s Skybar – 131 Breckenridge Lane – Doors open at 8 pm, show starts at 9 (don’t want to miss a minute..the awesome starts right away) – Cost at door is $15.

Hope to see you there!!

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, I would love love love love love love x’s infinity if you would go to The Mighty Kindness Fundraiser at Monkey Wrench in Louisville. The Mighty Kindness is an amazing nonprofit that has had tremendous impact on our community in Louisville. They connect local farmers, businesses, individuals from the community and teach the community about sustainability and putting the unity back in community. After four years of festivals and work, this is their first fundraiser that I am aware of. Please support! If you can’t make it, you can make a donation at the link. We need more might kindness! We need it to spread out over our country!!!

In preparation for Poetry, Pop and Paint, I’ve been on quite a face painting binge!  I’ve been doing my absolute best to look like a freak at every chance I get! Special thanks to my partner in crime Genna Yussman! Here’s a video to show you some of the facepaint used recently for photo and video shoots for Poetry, Pop and Paint. The video includes some test footage of the video that will be projected at the event! The best part of this video was going out to eat in full paint/make up during all the Derby madness.

If you can’t see the video above, you can view it here:

I have found that many times “freaks” have a lot to say that we could all use a good dose of. I have learned many a life lesson from people that have been tossed aside from the majority of others. Often times, people are labelled freak just because the person labeling them doesn’t understand them…and usually because that person lacks the desire to even try to.

I had a great show at Stevie Ray’s in Louisville this past Wednesday, and I was in full freak mode with several different costumes.  One of the numbers I performed was “Broken”. Beverly Frederick recently gave me a copy of some partial video she shot of “Broken” at Artography last month.  You can’t see the video below, you can view that video here:

In sad news, A poet/author who performed at Sub Rosa when it first began recently took his own life. It saddens me that someone who inspired so many and brought them joy felt so alone. He was best known for his one line poems such as “TIGHTROPE: You’d have dropped her, too, if you had to hold up both ends of the relationship the way I did.”  His book “Aha, Aha, Ahum” was a collection of these wise witticisms that made you think as you rolled with laughter.  He gave them out freely to all, and I know that many enjoyed them.   In honor of his passing, I wrote one for him.

Lifeline

I wish you would have known that you could have called me when you were under the gun and didn’t know the answer to the million dollar question.

RIP JP, you will be missed.

(Expressions to: Wellspring or Bridgehaven. Please leave a condolence for the family at www.archlheadyeastoak.com)

I know what it is like to feel alone when surrounded by people and not be able to see how much you mean to them. If you ever feel alone or down, I hope you realize you are not alone, and that all you have to do is let people know how you feel and that there are others who will love and help you without judging you. Please be kind to those around you. You have no idea what they are carrying with them.

On another note of all time freakiness, we often call people who speak out of “conspiracies” or things they see as troublesome freaks: one of these things being people who are worried about police states.  While we may have many freedoms, in this country, I am troubled that I see many things slowly taking place that seem to infringe on the very rights and principles this country was founded on. Indiana recently passed a law that states police can enter your home with or without a warrant, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.  At what point will we begin to stand up and tell our “leaders” what we think and remind them that they are supposed to work for us? Come on, Indiana! Contact your representatives and let them know that this is not ok!!  Tell your friends, talk about it! be vocal! Don’t let these types of things go unnoticed! You never know when it will affect you or someone you care about!

It is for reasons like this that I believe organizations and communities like Mighty Kindness are increasingly important…we must learn to begin to strengthen our communities so that we can lean on each other, become more self sufficient, be able to make a stand  and live in more sustainable ways. We can not just sit back watching our favorite tv shows and expect governments or employers to do everything or  what is best for us.

Love, light and blessings to send you through your dreams.

I missed Thunder over Louisville this year for the first time in a while. I love fireworks. Thunder over Louisville is our Derby opening celebration and a mess of over 800,000 people crowded together for an air show and the really big attraction: a half hour long fireworks show. Some of you might remember that we went to Thunder over Louisville as Space Pirates last year as was captured by the Louisville Eccentric Observer. It was to invite people to our Space Pirate Disco, held Derby Eve. I had some trouble at the time converting the video, but recently came across it again and was able to get it converted.

For those of you that don’t know, Derby is like Louisville’s Mardi Gras. It is when anything can and will happen. One of the most amazing moments of random unity came through at Derby a couple years ago. I was belly dancing inside a hoola hoop as Nick Lehman shouted on a megaphone and John Lewis drummed on a djembe. The crowd outside the bar we were taunting was in total unison and cheering us on…we had people coming from the crowd to try the hula hoop as the entire crowd joyfully praised each person who did…Some guy got so caught up in the energetic moment that he picked up my sandals that I had kicked off and begun beating a store front window in unison with the djembe drummer. The whole crowd was at one with the turning of the hoop and the beat of the drum. Out of nowhere, a stretch hummer limo pulled up and a lavishly dressed forty something year old in a tube top dived out the window, crowd surfed over to us, took the hoop and proceeded to hoop for several minutes until her top fell down and the crowd went wild. She took a bow, crowd surfed back to the limo, dove back in through the window and they drove on. I stood in awe pondering that I may have just reached the pinnacle of my career. How would I ever top that?

Here you go: in honor of the coming derby and from the archives of Subrosa, I give you web lubbin cyber pirates this bit of booty (because nothing says DERBY like a night of sexy pirate gear and dancing/music from outer space):

If you can’t see the video above, you can view the video by clicking HERE

And if you’re feeling really lucky but ponies aren’t your thing, you might want to submit for a chance to win free tickets to Poetry, Pop and Paint!

You can win by submitting a poem, a bodypaint design (Drawing or photography) or by voting on the submissions. Here’s your chance to come to one of the hottest events this summer for Free! Details can be found by clicking here! I look forward to seeing your entries!!

I am busy do some web reconstruction and transferring everything over to my wordpress installation to make my site easier to navigate. I just realized that some of you may be subscribed to my posts. I’ve been busy transferring posts from one part of my site to this one and you might be getting them in your email. I apologize if you’ve gotten a flood of emails from me. Please bear with me. I’ll be done in the next day or so.