Haciendas in the sun and the Power of Quiet

Thoughts of sunny haciendas and social media-ocrity sweep through my mind…

Hey aspirational! Hey blookup! Hey all you dog gone great followers and fans! Let’s Face-book it:

Oh yes, this is a truly virtual blog now! I talked to Mike.Brown and he creates the post. These are my words coming through him! Thanks, Mike. (You’re welcome! 😜 )

When I’m out with my love dove, Bill, we frequently have to contend with the horrors of corporate background music. Last night we endured two hours of repellant looped robotic music that only drinking could improve. Oh I guess that’s the point, isn’t it?

Hey, come on… We’re human beings… We want to feel! To be touched… To imagine! It’s sinister how corporate decides which satellite (sat-elite?) channel will hold sway over the diners and the rest of us can just lump it. While it’s true I’m extra sensitive and still recovering from my head bonking last December, I think I’ve always been sensitive. Silence – you know, the space between the notes – can be powerful. Then, I want to put in a video clip of oh no nonononononononono leave it it’s wonderful. We will find this on YouTube…

Can’t wait to play with my Naturals again! And also check out Randall’s splash cymbal on “We are Golden”! My camera did something cool and unusual.

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The late Canadian composer Harry Freedman said it best:

Are you an informed listener? Do you take the trouble to protect your ears and your musical appetite? Do you cancel your order and leave a restaurant if the manager does not turn down the Muzak?

It’s a Beautiful Day

Did you know that we have one hundred billion neurons in our brains? As many as the stars above us. What does this have to do with sumac? I went to Bill’s gig at Kay Meek last weekend – it was Steve Dawson’s tribute to David Bowie – there were about twelve people on stage and the sound just got more and more massive! I found myself slinking down in my seat and putting my head down and my fingers in my ears in crash position and then I just excused myself and slunk out to the lobby… and who did I see but Dave Watson, the amazing emerg. doc. whose daughter I taught years ago! When Dave heard my concussion story he whipped out his phone and said, “look, I want you to go see this guy.” It turns out that both Dave and Brian Hunt are mountain medical emergency doctors. I saw Brian today and he was very encouraging. He advised me to meditate four times a day, avoid all screens, and reduce obvious stressors like driving in Vancouver! I have a lot to be thankful this Thanksgiving and I am wishing you all a tasty, yummy, colourful Thanksgiving. Best wishes to all!

Flames of Sumac

The fall brushed air swirls around my face and ruffles my hair

I see runes written in the moss that grows

Along the old stonewall by the lagoon.

There are dandelions still standing

Stretching themselves as long as they can

Toward the falling green and gold light.

Flames of sumac

Be inside it

We welcome the change

And the wind lifts these pages

Holly Burke, September 2015

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Bloggity Blog

I think I’m getting better! I spent 12 hours yesterday on the set of “Wonder”, a film with Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson, among others. I had the great pleasure of chatting with Owen and meeting his radiant mother. This was the highlight of my triumphant return (lol) to “union film background” 😉 I made a new friend. A 79 year old woman named Elizabeth who was recovering from a stroke and was out for a day of work. She was a spritely spirit who could only speak a few words. We had wonderful conversations savouring these words. The word of the day was “beauuuutiful”. I noticed her difficulty with pronouncing “crazy” – her crazy came out as “crouuzy”. My inner ESL teacher came out and I was able to help her with her pronunciation so she could enjoy saying “crazy”. We put those two words together so that we could go around saying “crazy beauuuutiful.” It really was tremendous fun. I wanted to stay in touch with her but she was wrapped before me and vanished!

This is an interesting mixture of seasons… Isn’t it?

White morning glories popping out of tangled vines with red blackberries tumbling over a blue spruce. 

I am here
in my spot

thanking the sun for warming my back
a humming bird drops by to check up on me.

Damsel flies – a low hovering wasp
and dried grasses all around me
you can feel the fall this summer.

The young girl who borrowed her father’s oil paints and walked out into a field to become a painter one summer day is all grown up now and still enthralled by nature. I didn’t become a painter but I did become an artist!

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Here’s dad doing two things he loved – sailing and singing.

And here’s my tune, Seraphina, named after my flute. Let’s all enjoy this last part of summer! 🌞

The Rapture of Cherry Blossoms on the Wind

It seems to me the cherry blossoms are even more beautiful as they fall. Long lines of pink along the streets. Hallways of rosy colours and small petals that tickle the road as they pass before you. This Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival is a wonderful thing. Thanks to Linda Poole for creating it.

cherry tree
even the blind woman
picks blossoms

-Rosa Clement, Manaus, Brazil

Before I leave you with a fantastic photo of Yayoi and I, and a video clip, I’d like to let you all know I’ll be returning to the garden once again May 28-29 with the amazing bassist Dino DiNicolo.

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Yayoi and I performing haiku.

This is a video of our performance at VanDusen Garden.

Cherry Blossom Festival

Holly Burke performs at the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival this week, and in April!
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It’s Cherry Blossom Time!
Hello Dear Friends, and happy Haiku to you! What is haiku? Well if you’d like to know more, you absolutely have to join internationally acclaimed dancer Yayoi Hirano and I to experience the poetry, petals, movement and music. Read on…
You’re invited to a delightfully intimate performance I am involved in. This will be the world premiere of Haiku Mime, a whimsical physical interpretation of haiku poetry submitted from around the world. Weaving text read by yours truly around the expressive movements of Yayoi Hirano, I love our spontaneous interplay as we illuminate these modern haiku poems together. Please join us and be a part of the blossoming of this novel cultural collaboration.

Performance Dates and Times:

Burrard Station Courtyard
March 24: 12:30 pm
(Free Admission)

Van Dusen Gardens
April 9: 11:00 a.m.
April 10: 3:00 p.m.
(Japan Fair Admission $8-$14)

And lastly, thanks to everyone who kindly contributed to our Indiegogo campaign, moving Holly Burke and The Naturals closer to completing our second recording. We’ll resume work on “Playground” as soon as I’m over my concussion. Thank you for all your good wishes!

Copyright Š 2016 Holly Burke and The Naturals, All rights reserved.
You are one of my beloved fans!yayoi mime 2 square small

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April 9-10 Sakura Festival

 

 

It’s Cherry Blossom Time!

You’re invited to a delightful intimate performance I am involved with. This will be the world premiere of Haiku Mime, a whimsical physical interpretation of haiku poetry submitted from around the world. Weaving text read by yours truly around the expressive movements of Yayoi Hirano, I simply love the quick interplay we are able to discover as we illuminate these modern haiku poems together. Please join us and be a part of the blossoming of this novel cultural collaboration.

March 24th, 2016; 12:30pm-1:00pm at the courtyard above Burrard Skytrain Station.
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April 8-9 Sakura Festival

The Sound of Waves and Words Come to Me

Driving along Long Beach

at last, the sound of waves

and words come to me…

YAZ YAZ  airport. norfolk pine. eucalytptus tree. fish taco!

I look across at The Manny,

motoring powerfully beside me…Longbeach_prnp

We’re a million miles away now,

returning to the singing sands of Middle Beach,

our Tofino home, wider than a mile.

To Blog or Not to Blog…that is the question

To blog, or not to blog – that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die-to sleep-
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die-to sleep.

Act 11 sc.1 Hamlet, Bill Shakespeare

Well, the answer is TO BE silly…it always is!

I received my new instructions just this morning.

The right answer is, ” TO BE.”LIGHT