Elena's Newsletter - 2024 No. 03
Dedicated to Entertaining * Educating * Enlivening: A monthly newsletter about the creative arts, culture, psychology, health and current issues; it's geared toward creatives in all genres
2024 No. 03
Bernardo Palombo (middle) 2014
(with Esperanza Spalding and Leo Genovese)
In this issue:
Introduction: Bernardo Palombo: A Bright Light
Creative Corner
* Substack: Triumph Over Evil
* Guest Post: Art Stands Apart (The Good Men Project)
* Behind the Scenes: #14 The Recording Session; #15 The Instrumental Edits; #16 The Vocal Overdubs; #17 The Mix; #18 The Demo; #19 The Rights
* Resources: Guided Visualizations
* Playlists: Irish Spring-The Light ReturnsRecommendations: Comedy
Quote: Simone Weil
[Note: This is my first time offering Elena’s Newsletter on Substack. The formatting options are spare and present issues in spacing around images. Please excuse the appearance as I search for a workaround to these problems.]
I'm going a little dark in this month's Newsletter. Let me know how you feel about it.... And if you have thoughts, I'd love to hear from you!
I make up (I think?) for the somber tone with some recs for comedy shows below!
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March 27, 2024
A bright light has left the earth. Bernardo Palombo, you will be missed by so many.
Bernardo was a brilliant musician, poet, songwriter, artist, activist and innovative language teacher with unique vision. Most of all, he touched people and changed their lives. I believe that’s what we’ll all remember most about Bernardo. And creativity just happened around him!
He helped me re-connect with my creative self about eighteen years ago after a long stretch of dormancy, when I had given up on my life and probably would have ended it. I would not be who and where I am today without his special connection. And that is a statement you will hear over and over from the people he touched throughout his life.
When you had a conversation with Bernardo, he had a special way of making you feel that you were all he could see or hear at that moment in time, that you had value to him, that he respected you. He saw deeply into people and with so many of us, helped us to see the potential within ourselves. What I remember most about my conversations with him is the deep respect he showed me, something I’d never experienced before, and I’d be willing to bet that everyone he connected with would say the same. That was his nature; it almost seemed like a mission….
Click HERE to continue reading this on my Blog….
I wrote the above recently after learning of a mentor’s death which affected me deeply. Reflecting on Bernardo’s life gave me much to think about. He positively affected, even transformed, the lives of literally hundreds of people through his simple encounters with them. How does my life stack up next to his? Do I make it a point to connect deeply with people in my life so that they feel seen and safe and respected and encouraged to use their gifts? These are questions I’ve been with all of this month.
Bernardo’s great light, which affected the lives of so many, contrasts starkly with a different sort of experience I had this month with a man who came onto my Substack bringing darkness. I had just posted my weekly article on my Substack page when he used the Comment feature below my article to showcase five paragraphs(!) of his own writing pointing out (mansplaining) how wrong I was, acting as if I had written about a topic other than the one which I had, beginning his condescending post with, “thanks for opening this up for debate,” which I most certainly had not done.
Normally, I would simply have deleted his post and blocked him. But he belongs to a creative community with which I participate regularly, so I wanted to give him another chance, while letting him know that I would not tolerate his bad behavior. I posted one sentence indicating that I didn’t believe he had understood or perhaps read my full post, as he had missed the point. His response was to denigrate me misogynistically and call me names.
Because bullying, name calling and gaslighting are stifling of vitality and creativity, and also sometimes a signal of potential danger, I deleted his remarks and blocked him anywhere he could access me online. Picture me dusting my hands.
That would usually be the end of that scene in my mind, but somehow it kept coming back to me as a contrast to the life that Bernardo led, which was much on my mind. How can humans choose such two diametrically opposed ways of being on this earth?
I have a hard time understanding how people at this point in time in our particular culture have not learned the basics of good communication, and how they are seemingly unaware of—or don't care about—the effect we have on each other, which effect can be used positively or negatively. Why would anyone choose the negative path?
I don't tolerate harmful behavior in my own life. But some people have no choice but to be at the effect of such negative intention—people in certain other countries and cultures, for example, or those who are under duress in some way in our country. I wish I did not have to say this, fifty years after I witnessed the beginning of women's rights here in the US, but women, even in our country, are still very much at the receiving end of this sort of behavior on a daily basis, personally and publicly. And many people around the world are brutally killed on a daily basis simply for being who they are or where they are.
This makes me horribly sad. Why do people behave this way? Do they not understand what they’re doing, just reacting automatically and remaining unaware without contemplating their actions? Or are they actually choosing the negative path?
I think again of the article I posted on my blog and Substack last month, Triumph Over Evil (click to read). To have the healthy world that is absolutely possible now, we really must triumph over evil of all sorts at this point in time, and that includes not only blatant atrocities committed globally, but bullying, gaslighting, name calling, denigrating and other harmful behavior. We should have evolved by this point, both nationally and globally, beyond subjugating, harming or minimizing other humans. We have not. How can we change this?
And I'm reminded again of Bernardo. His life was not an easy one. Yet he chose not to complain or retaliate, but instead to offer a safe space to anyone from any walk of life who came his way, with a smile and a joke (he had a wicked sense of humor!), a little music, and warm acceptance.
May we all become more like Bernardo in his incredible ability to hold the space for others to feel safe and to grow and shine and express themselves.
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Here are two charming and inspiring videos of Bernardo performing with a local children's choir at a Lincoln Center Memorial concert presented in honor of Pete Seeger, a long-time friend and supporter of Bernardo. (I recommend Theater Mode.) Bernardo is doing here what he did best: bringing people together through music.
Pete Seeger 2014 Memorial-Guantanamera-Bernardo Palombo and Castle Bridge choir
Pete Seeger 2014 Memorial-Ana Ocarina-Bernardo Palombo and Castle Bridge choir
(starts with commentary by Pete Seeger; Bernardo wrote the lyrics to Ana Ocarina, a children's song)
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And Happy Spring, everyone! It's a sweet time of year, when the light returns.
Note: I have some really exciting news that I'll be able to share with you in the next Newsletter, along with something I think you'll enjoy! I can't wait....
To read the previous issue of Elena's Newsletter, click here:
Issue 2024 No. 02
CREATIVE CORNER
All things related to creativity and the creative arts
ELENA'S SUBSTACK
ELENA'S SUBSTACK (click link) offers a different slant
on the creative arts, culture, psychology, health and current issues.
First Tuesday of the month: A new general post
Other Tuesdays: A new installment of the current series (currently Behind the Scenes)
Monthly: Elena’s Newsletter is about the creative arts, culture, psychology, health and current issues; it’s geared towards creatives in all genres.
Subscribe to my Substack (it's free!) to receive new entries weekly.
Triumph Over Evil (Substack)
"I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this country and what small thing I might do to contribute to its protection in these dangerous times. What keeps coming up for me is an extraordinary event in our past, how it correlates to the present, and ...." click HERE continue reading
Art Stands Apart (The Good Men Project)
I was very happy to appear as a guest writer on Eric Maisel's blog on The Good Men Project's website this month. (Thanks, Eric!) Enjoy my guest post!
Click HERE to read
BEHIND THE SCENES
BEHIND THE SCENES (Elena's Substack) is a peak behind the curtain of self-producing an album. The stories and information are relevant to almost any music production, whether recording or performing.
Subscribers (it's free!) receive the latest series post every Tuesday (except for the first Tuesday of the month, when I publish a general post).
Since my last Newsletter I've written the following posts and added them to this Substack series:
#14 The Recording Session
We're coming up on the next phase of the recording project, one which might seem a little surprising, so do catch up if you've gotten behind 😉!
RESOURCES
My RESOURCES page offers recommendations to help you
live powerfully and creatively.
RESOURCES: Visualizations
(click on link above)
This week, take a look at the Visualizations section of the page.
Kenny Werner and Peter Russell have some wonderful free visualizations!
PLAYLISTS
Although for everyone's enjoyment, I create the Playlists with classical crossover, musical theater, jazz and cabaret singers in mind. I encourage you to hear beyond the decade, style or arrangement to the meat of the song. There are great songs in every decade and every generation, and they can always be made to feel current.
On this month's March Playlist you'll hear, among many others, Irish-American folk singer Danny Quinn. When you listen to Danny's lovely voice, it's not hard to believe that his tenor grandfather came over from Ireland to sing at the Metropolitan Opera and that his father studied and taught at Juilliard.
Playlist: Irish Spring-The Light Returns
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RECOMMENDATIONS
Because the Introduction this month was a bit heavy, I thought I'd share some of my favorite comedy shows below in case you've missed them. My taste is perhaps a bit odd, sometimes raucous and dirty, and yes, I like slapstick! I also love a well-produced show in any genre, which these are.
You've probably watched the classics—MASH (Hulu), Seinfeld (Netflix) and Monk (Netflix) (and if you haven't, you should!), but have you seen After Life and Loudermilk (Netflix) or the new-ish comedies on Britbox, No Offence, The Cleaner and Miranda (slapstick)? And do not miss the classic British show, New Tricks (Hulu and Britbox)!
(Helpful hint for British shows: Turn on captioning if the dialects give you trouble.)
New Tricks (Hulu and Britbox)
Amanda Redman, Alun Armstrong, Dennis Waterman, James Bolam
After Life (Netflix)
Ricky Gervais
© Elena Greco