Women You Should Know - Beatrice Wood

BEATRICE WOOD

Personally,  I've never thought about living to 105.  Maybe Beatrice Wood didn't either.  She seemed to live her life with style, flair, individuality and a unique sense of being in her moment.  Ceramicist, artist, performer, writer, bon vivant, she lived the longest life you might imagine, and all of it productive, interesting, and on her own terms.

I found out about her from a friend, who had visited her studio in Ojai, where she crafted her pottery.  While in NY on a trip, I discovered there was an exhibit of her watercolors at an Upper East Side gallery.  Her paintings were delights.  The lines reminded me of Joni Mitchell's, but they had a sense of humor, playfulness, and sexiness about them, too.  You could tell she had great stories to tell.  I've still not read her autobiography, I Shock Myself, but it's hard to resist a title like that!

Jules et Jim

Her relationships with Roche and Duchamp may or may not have been the inspiration for the triangle in the novel Jules et Jim - which yielded the incredible classic film by Truffaut.  And was the inspiration for Old Rose in Titanic!

"My life is full of mistakes. 

They're like pebbles that make a 

good road."

So - what do you learn in over a century?  How to make the mistakes into perfection.   Like this:

I wholeheartedly embrace her philosophy on longevity:

"I owe it all to chocolate and young men."

And thank her for the signposts, and the pebbles, in the road.  Beatrice Wood is definitely a woman you should know.


(If you'd like to be a guest blogger in the Women You Should Know series, contact me with your idea for who you'd like to profile!  Ground rules:  Non-living female, not a household name, no more than 500 words.)

The Alternative to Corporate Black Friday Shopping Guide (Part 2 - Sounds)

Wondering how to avoid the machine on Black Friday weekend?

Go indie.

SOUNDS

Soundcloud.  Bandcamp.  LastFm.  All of these and, yes, even iTunes, will get you plugged in to distinctly un-corporate music.  It's great to listen to up and coming acts on Spotify or Pandora, but take the extra step and support the artists by putting money in their wallets!  Some of my favorites...

KAL LAVELLE - Fantastic voice and songwriting, the aptly-named Shivers EP gives a hint of things to come from the wonderful Kal.

ELEVATERS - I.  Just.  Love.  This.  Band.  

KEVIN SANDBLOOM - The tireless troubadour has just recreated Joni Mitchell's Blue album - cover to cover - for its 40th anniversary.

ALI WHITTON - Ali's gorgeous new EP Ruapehu is available now.  Here's a sneak peak:

DEF SOUND - Don't sleep on Def Sound.  You may wake up wondering what happened.

KCRW  is just perfect.  LA's local NPR station has an awesome line-up of DJ's, as well as provocative and fun cultural programming.  Membership is inexpensive, comes with a load of levels and benefits, and even if you're not an Angeleno, you can get everything KCRW has to offer live streaming and archived on their website! Not to mention Eclectic 24 a separate 24-hour streaming music channel!  G'won!

Practivist of the Week - YOU! Helping Kevin Sandbloom!

So here we go...

I know of some great projects you can get involved in just by clicking and donating.  Easy.  As much or as little as you are moved to give.

Tireless troubadour Kevin Sandbloom has been pounding the pavements of our souls for some time now.  He's more than put in his 10,000 hours and perfected his craft as a singer, songwriter, and interpreter of songs closest to our hearts.  Besides massively moving songs like "Sweetness" off his new album Under Pink and Bourbon Skies, he is known for killer covers of songs from Sade's "Is It A Crime," to Al Green and Marvin Gaye.

When I heard he planned to record Joni Mitchell's album Blue in its entirety, I couldn't have been more thrilled.  The pairing of Sandbloom's vocals and guitars with Joni's lyrics and melodies, the idea of reclaiming this still dangerous and raw material and giving it out to another cultural generation and crossing it over to new audiences captivated me.


Says Sandbloom:

The idea of covering a whole album has been germinating with me for a long time. Joni Mitchell's Blue is one of those special records that hold a lot memories and feelings for so many and it's probably her most soulful work. In the end it seemed like the perfect choice. The fact that it's starting to unfold into reality is really exciting and I think it will be a landmark project for me.

Where do you fit in?

You can check out Sandbloom and Joni, for sure, and you can wait for the album to surface, but you can also help make it a reality.

Sandbloom has started an IndieGoGo campaign to raise money to complete the project.  IndieGoGo specializes in micro-funding of projects - people have a project and they put it out there, and hope that all the $5, $10 and occasional $100 donation will add up to them getting their project out in the world.  Donations go to a non-profit, and the artist or producer receives the money once the project is fully funded.  Based on the microfinancing models so successful in helping families out of poverty with small business loans across the world, it is empowering artists to take their careers in their own hands, and enabling them to bring you their true visions.

I think it does have potential to be his biggest project yet, and is certainly worth doing well.  Click this link to DONATE!

And if you know Joni, I'm thinking she should paint the cover...just saying.  ; )