alisonboston.com

I got a page about my dad going on MySpace.
Henry Boston on Myspace
I’m looking for pictures of Dad in his BC Anti-Prohibition role. He was always at the legislature peace rallies in Victoria with a table, and I’d love to have some pics of him in this activity.
Also copies of his newsletter, […]

One of these days I’ll update this site and put an audio widget on it! Until then, you have to go to DigitALIS to hear my latest track.
It’s about my father posted the day before his birthdate.
The track is a remix of a performance of the poem/song Easier Said recorded live […]

Now and then I adapt a recipe with such success I want to write it down before I forget and today is one of those days!
Saute in a little hot olive oil:
3 plump white mushrooms, sliced and diced with stalks
1 clove garlic, finely diced
6 or 7 green olives, finely diced
1/2 small white onion, finely […]

November 9
Jazz Jam Session (socios de AMJM y Societat de Blues), Sala Monasterio, Barcelona. Keep the Music Alive improv with Andre Sumelius (drums) , Raynald Colum and Auden (trumpet), Alexis Leaden (percussion) , Alexi Tuomarila (piano), Marko Lohikari (bass).
November 8
Wolly VonHaus Birthday Fiesta, Crossroads, Terrassa. Fever, Vocal Improv, When the Music’s Over, Let the […]

I have to spend some time on this website. I’ve been so busy just living my life and building networks on FaceBook and Myspace that I’ve neglected alisonboston.com - and it desperately needs a face lift!
The one page where I have been diligently entering new data over the past two years has somehow […]

You can visit bcantiprohibitionleague.

September 29
…with Llibert Fortuny at WTF

WTF, Jamboree Jazz Club, Barcelona - Too Crazy to Dance and Fever vocal improvisation with Adriano Galiante (vocals), Aurelio Santos (Beat Box), Llibert Fortuny (saxophone), Raul del Moral (guitar), Matias Miguez (bass), Dani (drums), and Antonio Torres and others as the improvisation advanced…who was the woman playing keyboards? I […]

October 6

WTF, Jamboree Jazz Club, Barcelona - Tell Me that you Love Me - vocal improv and with Menorca (vocals), Aurelio Santos (Beat Box), Pablo Schvarzman (Argentina, synthesizer), Michel Morales (guitar), Matias Miguez (bass), ??? (drums).
This was a vocal improv following Sandra Ortega and Paula Domingues who introduced the theme: “Tell me one more thing, […]

October 13

Photo by Davidarnoldiblogspot.com
WTF, Jamboree Jazz Club, Barcelona - Musical Universe, vocal improv and with Aurelio Santos (Beat Box), Pablo Schvarzman (Argentina, synthesizer), Raul del Moral and Michel Morales (BCN, guitars), Martin (Argentina, bass), Mariana (Argentina, piano) Antonio Torres (Huelva, drums)

…90% of the singing page with a chronological record of jam sessions and open mics , listing all the musicians I played with and what I sang…has vanished!
The moral of this story is, I should be blogging the information rather than making a single page…..and from this day forward that is what I shall […]

An excerpt from a post I wrote in an interesting thread we have going over at Rebecca Fine’s forum:

Tonight I manifested one of the targets set during the course. I sang on stage at the WTF jam at Jamboree. This is famous Barcelona jam session and I have been going there for […]

My latest from Rebecca Fine’s forum
Posted Apr 25, 6:40 PM
“I hold the advancing thought…” what do you think this means?
Wally follows it up with “..so that the impression of increase is given to all…”
..and taken independently from that, what do you think he means by “…the advancing thought…”?
Abraham Hick’s quote of the day suggests a […]

Well, I put a link to this guy in my Free Stuff section, and now I’m so sold in him, I’m telling you about it here!
I’ve been doing Brad Yate’s Tap o the Morning for the past 10 days or so and I’m thrilled with the results.
I’ve also recently added his Tap […]

More of what I wrote today on Rebecca Fine’s forum:

Isma
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Your website is great for a first effort! Congratulations! You have created what you set out to do. Excellent.
When I saw your reply to Proud Mary, I went back to visit again, and looked further and saw the link to […]

Another of my entires from Rebecca Fine’s forum.

Hi there Lesly
Thanks for writing such in depth reply to my response!
You say:
quote:
Now as for what do I want, I want some money to fix my car and gain the feeling of freedom and independence again. I […]

Another of my musings from Rebecca Fine’s forum; this one about how APPEARANCES influence (or not) our state of mind. Taken out of context it’s very incomplete. The idea is - of course - to provoke you to visit the website. And yes, if you buy something I get a kickback.
[…]

As any writer knows, most good writers have an excellent editor. How about editing the words we use before we speak or write them? And take it one step further, how about editing our THOUGHTS. Yeah…
I practice something called ‘The Certain Way’. It’s a way of thinking and being in the […]

Another post from ‘Rebecca Fine’s forum , this one from a thread on the topic of Marketing is relation to the principles of SOGR:
Sometimes all it takes is doing what you do with so much passion and power that people can’t help but notice!
My mother sent me this quote from […]

Another post from Rebecca Fine’s forum :
Aha!
A long post, perhaps will help you receive…
LL 20 - Prepare to Receive
Disbelief blocks the doorway…
Self-rejection trips those who cross the threshold..
“Be consistent in your training, receive all things. Remember as you become more consistent in your ability to receive, the opportunities for you to receive more and […]

The artist of course, is Janis Joplin. People have compared me with her. I was stunned the first time a young American man compared me to her after hearing me sing in Big Bang. He said: “I thought Janis was alive again. I heard you singing this radical anti-war song - […]

More from Rebecca Fine’s forum :
I had a very interesting experience with LL22* today…
I was certainly fired up with my CMI when I approached LL22, and after reading the the LL over , I went back to my CMI, then just seemingly flowed into working on learning a song I had started learning yesterday…
Now […]

Here’s something I posted in a thread on ‘Rebecca Fine’s forum about song lyrics. I refer to two songs, first the song posted by Tig Wallis, and second, my song ‘Techno Toys Blues’ (available on Mole Records, Listening Pearls, credited to Anima Sound System)

that’s when i take
one more step
got no time […]

Originally posted on Rebecca Fine’s website ‘The Science of Getting Rich’ about the book, The Science of Getting Rich.
I think it could easily be renamed “The Science of Enriching Your Life” - for me that has been the most dramatic change.
Yes, my financial situation is - for the most part - easier. […]

1) That I can lose 15 kilo in the next 10 seconds
2) and open my closet and have a whole new wardrobe that fits my 15 kilo smaller size
okay now let’s get ridiculous…
3) that I can shave my hair off every morning and mentally choose a style which instantly grows my hair back in with […]

I don’t write much about this topic. It is one of those taboo topics. It upsets people.
Yesterday I spent almost one hour in the street with a 25 year old girl from Poland who I came across, covered in her vomit, collapsed on the street in the pouring rain. Four men - […]

Click here to read about Barcelona Jam Sessions

I just got my Vodaphone bill for the last month and it’s over €100, and I still haven’t found a place to live. Everybody who posts ads on loquo gives a mobile number and asks you call, and call we must or we’ll never find a place to live. So I call, […]

I forgot to mention that while in Hastings this past summer I entered the Town Cryer competition and came second. This to say, I have a big voice. Singing - on the street or on the stage, and the Town Cryer competition - are the only places I’ve ever felt I […]

Same Rain: Different Town
I’ve managed to get to four small music festivals in-between my 6 weeks of work here in England this summer, and each has provided something unique.
At Finsbury Park’s FREE Rise Against Racism Festival earlier in the summer, it was three poets and a French duo (names and photos to follow). A […]

Today is my birthday and I had an email from an old friend, someone I seldom hear from and see even less, but every year he sends me birthday greetings. He asked what I am up, said not much news on the website these days, and he’s right. I write for the monthly […]

New page with digital images and photographs.

Dad, Original Digital Art Image, copyright 2006 Alison Boston
See more here: Images of Dad

Happy Easter, 2007, original digital artwork, copyright Alison Boston

Spannabis Magazine held its annual fair this weekend in the Fira de Cornella - with 118 exhibitors offering various hemp and cannabis products - everything from seeds to classic-styled clothing, including hemp bread mix, hemp facial masque, and De Verdamper BV a smoke-less vaporiser smoking apparatus.
Each day of the 3-day event, forums were […]

So, I put together this event with Phamie whom I met on one of the rare evenings that I left my bike at home and decided to walk. She was playing in the street.

That’s a custom-built, one-of-a-kind harp she’s playing. She’s sponsored by Camac Harps, France.
She plays on this […]

After moving ten times in five months, and finally landing in a place I thought was relatively quiet, you can well imagine my frustration when I discovered a family with a seemingly endless supply of energetic, jumping, bouncing, running children living above me!
After enduring the rough-housing sound effects for two weeks less a day, […]

There is no doubt the housing market in Spain is corrupt. Here are some links to related stories.
Stories on the Abusos Urbanisticos No website links the problem to money laundering by drug lords. Canadian, Charles Svoboda, is on the executive of Abusos Urbanisticos No.
Housing is
over-priced.

ALA - Associacio Lliure Antiprohibicionista - runs regular events…
and this website.
The cafe operates on the ground floor of C/dels Salvador, 20 in the Raval. Enter through a small black door, the name ALA painted in large, white letters above a green canibas leaf.
Just inside the door you will find […]

Smog hangs over the Mediterranean
Barcelona air pollution exceeds the Kyoto Protocal limits by 40%. The air here stinks - literally.*
Though I did find a pocket of fresh air beside Mont Juic Park when I looked at an apartment there yesterday. I would like to sleep next to that park, and I’m interested in […]

Pick of the Week…

Sunlight Plays on Wall in 15th floor luxury apartment in Diagonal Mar

View from the Balcony, looking towards the sea

The apartment blocks surround a futuristic park.

The Diagonal Mar shopping plaza is steps away…
and the beach is just 10 minutes walk.

Metro, tram and bus are outside your front door…cycle paths take you to the […]

Christmas Spirit 2006, original digital artwork, copyright Alison Boston

Well, I’ve been in Barcelona just over 3 months now and I have just moved into my sixth accomodation (seven if you count the crazy woman I left my bags with for 1/2 a day, then chose not to sleep there for even one night!) […]

Updated: October 31,scroll down past the pics
Barcelona lights up its waterfront at night…

While on the walking street Las Ramblas, the living statues create a unique theatre…

More pics to come…
…I have just completed the first two legs of the Barcelona triathlon: Accomodation, Work, Residency
The Accomodation and Work were done in reverse order: work then accomodation. […]

Notre Dame Cathedral (the back)
I stopped in Paris for two days and one night on my way to Barcelona. It really is a beautiful city. I think it’s the footpaths along the river and canals that make it so special. You can walk along the river and not hear the traffic above, […]

Barcelona’s biggest festival of the year la Mercé is on this weekend. It started with a parade of dragons in the street, interspersed with marching percussion bands, raising the energy in a way I’ve only imagined!
Each district is represented. I caught photos of 7 dragons before I was swept up by […]

Never-ending blue skies, that fade to lavender sunsets at Clover Point, Victoria.

Drumming in Beacon Hill Park with men whose sweaters match the flowers…

The drummers meet every Wednesday evening, opposite the Petting Zoo. I’ll miss this group who have accepted my beginner percussion skills!

We are always joined by the fire dancers…

David spins fire and […]

It’s time for me.

Ari Up and Paul Zasky of Dubblestandart on stage at the Bayou Bar
….plus MPG at Fisherman’s Wharf (keep reading….it’s there)
Austria’s Dubblestandart had an instant crowd of dancers last night at the ICA Folk Fest in Victoria. It was great to hear this band live and move to the rhythm. When Ari Up joined […]

Life Form by Alison Boston
Mixed textile on tree-free paper.
(25%hemp, 75%recycled, 100% acid free)
One of 60 original art works celebrating the diversity of life on our planet that I have just completed. They are currently being matted and mounted on foam core board and wrapped in cellophane for selling.
(Not a great photo, just posting to […]

Tumi and the Volume delivered a jazz-punk-hip hop fusion that had the Victoria audience hopping on the Bayou Barge at ICA Folkfest. Even the security guards couldn’t stand still. Cute website (cute? hip hop? Yeah really - check it out.) The Volume
Okay, so I have to learn how to […]

Niyaz (USA/Iran) were the closing main stage act last night for the opening of the Victoria ICA Folk Festival. Azam Ali entranced the audience with a sweet voice spinning poetics of Sufi wisdom. Even the most reluctant dancers were on their feet moving to the seductive rhythms of this blend […]

Memorial Service Floral and Photo Display
Dad passed away Monday morning at 7:15 AM.
This is the obituary we ran in the newspaper:
BOSTON, Henry On June 12, 2006 at Mt. St. Mary Hospital, Henry, dearly loved husband of June, father of Stephen, Tom (Ellen) and Alison, and grandfather to Nicholas, Christopher, Katharine and Sonja. Henry is […]

Why did I call my painting (see previous post) Spray Noszel? Well…
My father - who believed profoundly in the individual’s right to choose what substance went into their mouth - chose to swallow a plastic spray nozzle as his last meal.
It’s a funny story and when I told one friend, she said: “OMG […]

Spray Noszel (house paint and chalk on paper) Artist: Alison Boston
I painted this picture today while visiting the studio of local artist Frances Semple.

But why would I call my painting Spray Noszel?
TO BE CONTINUED

The law is a curious thing. The rationale regarding drug laws in particular can twist one’s mind. Take for example Canada’s laws regarding medical cannibas.
A doctor can prescribe cannibas for medical use, providing the cannibas product has a pharmaceutical DIN number. Alternatively, an individual can fill out a lengthy document to […]

There’s an update on Dad’s page with a recent photograph.
I’ve also been editing and linking the posts about the workshops at Open Space, so now most of the artists I refer to are linked to related biographical pages.

Photoa: Alison Boston
Robert Randall stands beside his artistic vision of Domestic Bliss. Just how ephemeral this work will be, reamins to be seen. Will Open Space paint over it when the exhibtion is over? Or will it remain as a home for visiting artists in future shows?
By far my favorite work in this […]

Today was my birthday. I got a digital camera. I hope this means this website will start to have more images.
This is crazy. I just noticed the time stamp on this post is all screwed up.

Coming just two weeks after the New Music Voice festival at Open Space, and a week of voice workshops with three different artists, I’ve just immersed myself in yet another workshop. This time a four-day intensive SoundScape residency with Hildegard Westercamp.
This has been an ear-opening experience. I was able to participate […]

So it seems I’ve been sampled. Listening Pearls features Technotoys Blues - which by the way is actually called Techno Toys Blues (three words, not two). They credit Anima Sound System with the song and neglect to mention the writer and vocalist - who just happens to be me - Alison Boston - […]

Two more workshops and one evening of performance later….
Yesterday afternoon I did a Sound Poetry workshop with Paul Dutton. This ended up as a great opportuntity to experiment with my resonating apparatus as just that: a resonanting apparatus.
Paul started the workshop by talking for about 50 minutes about Sound Poetry, including a discussion about overtone […]

I’ve been doing a voice workshop all week with Wende Bartley from Toronto. It’s part of Open Space’s New Music Voice Festival. The results of the voice workshop - a collective creation* by the workshop participants - will be presented tomorrow (Saturday) evening as part of the evening’s line up. Tonight the […]

I’ve just done a three day workshop with River Chandler of Theater Works. River is a social worker cum theater artist who has picked up on the power of Augusta Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed as adapted by David Diamond.

I first got interested in using theater in this way when I was studying […]

Ahh, there is a night life in Victoria. There is a scene. It seems. Perhaps it’s just so cold it’s hard to enjoy it? Freezing…brrrr.
Tonight I checked out an art opening at the Martin Batchelor Gallery on Cormorant.
Then I heard punk rocker DOA guitarist, singer, songwriter Joey Keithley at the Lucky […]

…on the subject of, read this:
Sacred Coca Leaf Threatened by War on Drugs
….and if that doesn’t get you riled, try this

Even though all Latin American countries have signed the Ottawa treaty which prohibits the use of these fatal, economical, horrifying weapons, in Colombia they remain the weapon of choice for the guerrillas and drug traffickers.
Landmines […]

I took my Dad to hear retired police chief Norm Stamper speak at Victoria City Hall today about ending the war on drugs.
That was my father’s issue and still is, it seems, because in spite of his dementia he was able to follow along and clapped at the appropriate times. After the […]

Yup, it’s true. I’m back in Canada.
In keeping with this site’s focus on my daily cultural activities, I feel some sort of comment is in order.
Yesterday I took my 88-year-old father for a stroll in his wheelchair through downtown Victoria. A few observations I made (besides how very odd it feels to […]

I’ve uploaded some pics from this performance I did as artist-in-residence at Sziget Festival, Art Agora, 2004. Go here Sziget Silk Fire to view.

Well I did it. I went running today through the slums of the 8th district and along the litter ridden Duna to the decadent Palace of Arts…and back. I plugged my nose, and closed my eyes and turned away from the lusty stares as I bounced along.
On the plus side, I ran through, […]

Raday Street Performance Delivers Hope and Forgiveness
HOPE: A collaborative effort
We wanted to perform the piece we have been working on Georgi, Andras and I, before I leave so, we gave a performance last night in a cafe on Raday utca. I was lucky to get a room at the last minute, several places we […]

AppleSeed, a work in progress, Making New Waves Festival workshop performance, February 2006, Photo:Kai Niggemann
View more photos of me in performance here
View more Kai Niggemann photos from the festival here.

Yes, it’s true! The Hungarian band Sziami broke the Guiness Book of World Records for the longest concert given by a band - they played, non-stop for 48 hours!
Non-stop: the rules permitted a 5 minutes break every hour, and if they played more than one hour, non-stop they could accumulate the minutes to take […]

I don’t have much writer in me these days even though I’ve been out and about and have things to write about. In fact, I have a CD that was given to me over a month ago that I haven’t written about. Not because I don’t like it; on the contrary - I love […]

Thank God for parties like the Junior Kelly party at Vienna’s WUK. …whilst in Vienna, I was slipped a promotional copy of Dubblestandart’s soon to be released CD Are You Experienced A double CD, disc 1 being a compilation featuring an assortment of voices, among them Ariup.

…that’s the name of the compilation CD I am on. My first CD. Now I have to join one of those songwriter’s associations so I can get my 50% of 1/13th of proceeds (after all the admin type people have taken their bite) from the sale of the CD. I need a manager […]

I performed at Labyrinth’s monthly reading on Friday night in Vienna to a packed house at Cafe Kafka. My poems were very well received. I performed: Wake up Time, Tribute to Ani, Easier Said and Bad Choices.
Rebecca Fromherz, an opera singer from Vienna, read some of her own poems during […]

Jasch gave me a copy of his CD after his performance last Thursday at Trafo, and I finally got a chance to listen to it Sunday morning at about 4:00 am. It was the perfect background music for a late-night/early-morning talk with one of the other workshop participants. With the exception of some […]

Out walking about last evening, Edith and I bumped into a couple of young Hungarian women who had seen Sunday evening’s performances…They recognised me (yikes) and said how much they liked what I had done.
“What did you like?”
“Your energy.”
“Did you understand it?” I asked.
“I got my understanding.”
“What was that?”
“It was a comedy about […]

Perhaps the most important thing I got from the workshop and the festival is the complexity of creating a meaningful work of art using modern technology. While the workshopping artists were able to realise partially satisfactory technical results, it was the invited artists presenting at the festival who managed to say something with the medium (Max/Msp/Jitter).

The most successful of these isKo Kon nashi, presented on the first evening of the festival (written about in my first post about the festival) and realised by an international collective. Also, last night’s Bridges - presented by quintet.net

In any case, what I love about Max/MSP/Jitter is how straight forward and visual it is. The ability to construct a patch to do what you want, within the capabilities of the software. Jasch compares it to Lego, which I always enjoyed as a kid. But it’s what you can do with a few words, symbols and numbers within all those little boxes that I like so much; and how the numbers give you such precise control over what is happening.

Right. The compilation CD I am on was released last night. There was a CD release party on the a38 ship. I have no idea what any of it is like other than my song, as I have not yet seen, or heard the CD! All I know is that I […]

Yesterday I continued in Jasch’s workshop. He started us off with a little Max/MSP/Jitter demonstration that had me spellbound, mesmerised and completely enraptured. (I’ll let you know if I come up with any more adjectives.)

The Making New Waves Festival continued yesterday with workshops during the day and performances in the evening.
I participated in Swiss artist, Jasch’s Eye and Ear workshop where I teamed with a young musician/composer from Pecs and was introduced to working with the Max/MSP/Jitter software I mention in my preceeding post. We are working […]

Another highlight for me, was the fluid, multi-colored, inkblot-like image created by cycling74.com’s Max/MSP/Jitter software - manipulated at this concert by Austrian composer Johannes Kretz. What started as a simple purple circle, flowed, bounced, and morphed into a constantly evolving psychadelic inkblot. It literally flowed with the music - as the Jitter program is designed to directly respond to the intensity of sound.

My friends are asking me for this recipe…it’s a hit with the fellas:
Here’s my own recipe for fast and easy, healthy snacks you can bake at home and carry with you.
Alison’s Granola Cookies
Turn the oven on and set the temperature at 350F or 180C
While it’s warming up…
Mix together:
1/3 cup/85ml canola or sunflower oil (may […]

Alison–
I clicked the link immediately and read it start to finish. Your poetry is like eating M&Ms. Can’t stop ’til they’re gone. I’ve always been kinda stupid where poetry is concerned, so I probably don’t even get it all, what it means, but it did make me feeeeeeel! And that’s the […]

I submitted my website to a Portfolio Exhibition in Frankfurt Germany and received this message today from the organiser:
This is a message for all who helped make the Portfolio Exhibition a success at the Städelschule Rundgang 2006 in Frankfurt, Germany from February 10-12.
In all, 55 participants from 13 countries contributed real or fictional portfolios […]

I wrote Hope in 1989 when I was living in Montreal, Quebec. All through the 80’s I had written angry, feminist poetry and I said “No More!” I want to write something beautiful and hopeful. So I locked myself in my Fabre Street apartment on the Plateau, Montreal and scoured my notebooks […]

I made this to go with a post I wrote last week about using poetry in the ESL classroom, but for some reason it is just getting uploaded today.
I have so many images stored on my computer. I am making them faster than I can process them. And I’ve got […]

Here’s an entry I posted this evening in Lee Hobbs English Blogg…
Although I am a writer, I haven’t taught much writing, but I do use pictures.
The beauty of using images - and in this instance a highly visceral one - rather than words to teach a foreign language is it provokes the students […]

“Listen to your inside…” Bumper Sticker, copyright Alison Boston
(not actual size)
Alison Boston’s Cafe-Pressed Art and Poetry is now open for your shopping pleasure! My first - and so far only - product is a unique, bumper sticker!
Why did I make a bumper sticker when I don’t even have a car?
Because as […]

Digital Self Portrait, copyright Alison Boston
View more art in the Gallery
What a night mare that was! I nearly went cross-eyed reading the Coppermine Photo Gallery help forum with these obnoxious little people standing with their hands on hips making me feel like an absolute dweeb. You should go look at the Coppermine forum. The figures […]

Sorry! I updated my gallery software and now we can’t look at the pictures I hope things will be up and running again very soon!
LATER: Well, we can all look at it, but the template has changed - from a black background to a white one and it no longer […]

“..to the ends of Being” is like the soul. Remember we talked about the soul? The soul is and the soul never ends.”

She nodded and drew the infinity symbol on her paper, and said: “Does it mean this?”

Hólyagcirkusz is a company unto itself. The show I saw last Friday - CSŐDCSICSERGŐ - is set in a theater. The characters are all musicans, playing bizarre instruments - conceived by Szőke Szabolcs, based on a dream he had, which arose from his work experience in a music shop where antique instruments were built.

I believe we need some kind of global body that will standardize accreditation, and negotiate with countries to recognize an accredited native speaker teacher as a type of global citizen, and thereby permit that person to work in signed countries, issue invoices to their employers, and pay taxes in their home, or ‘native’ country as a self-employed person, complete with legitimate business expenses and yes, appropriate tax and social contributions.

Mike01, digital art, copyright Alison Boston

…built from sandbags.
Every now and then a good idea gets through and gets realised.
I love this…
Housing for a Sustainable World
Honey House

Good Bye Mike, digital artwork, copyright Alison Boston

This kind of Thought Recording is also used in creating positive affirmations. You write down - stream of conscious - all the reasons why you are no good, or why you can’t do something - and then turn those thoughts into positive statements which become affirmations.

The shoes I wore when I placed first in the Panorama Classic Triathlon

…and which I do NOT wear when cycling in the winter in Budapest!!!
but they have a story, which I will tell another time!
Meanwhile, here’s the winter cycling tale…
Something else I enjoy about Budapest is cycling in the winter. Even though […]

Now I know I am spending too much time in cyberspace…Art Attack

Highlights of the evening for me were delivered by Donarier when he played a frenzied solo on his bass clarinet, and by Blondiau when he closed the concert with a number that started with him playing a solo on flugel horn and trumpet, played simultaneously - one horn on either side of his mouth.

I finally got to hear the Váczi Dániel Trio. last Thursday on the a38 concert boat. Playing together since 2001, the trio serves up the meandering compositions of alto and soprano saxophonist Dániel Váczi. Balázs Horváth on double bass, and Zsolt Sárvári Kovács plays drums, adding colro with a few percussion instruments. […]

New category added today: CD reviews.

Mike Austin Stirs the Fire
Since coming to Budapest, Hungary I have developed strong bonds with the poetry group Labyrinth, the Association of English Language Poets in Vienna. On my many - yet not frequent enough - visits to Vienna, I have always enjoyed the conversation of Mike Austin.
Mike’s funeral is on […]

One of the things I enjoy most about Budapest and Hungary is the music. I think the country’s geographic location lends itself to a natural fusion of ethnic influences creating a unique Magyr sound.
The world music quartet Ektar is no exception.
I stumbled on them almost by accident, and that is another magical element […]

I used to sleep over at her place, and there is something of the quality of her house in that piece of art. She lived in a small country house in rural Nova Scotia, heated with a wood burning stove. It was such a cosy place. We’d sleep upstairs in her room, in little bunk beds opposite each other, and talk long into the night the way high school girls do.

This was a photograph of a squirrel sitting next to a piece of chocolate layer cake. I manipulated it using ACDSee FotoCanvas 2.0. I have never read the instructions.

Squirrel Flower digital artwork, copyright Alison Boston
Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary - which I encourage my English students to use because it includes a handy dandy audio component […]

…for a full moon.

Moon Heads, digital image, copyright Alison Boston

I’ve just switched the site over to Permalinks to start the process of maximising my presence in search engines. I’ve scratched my head over using these since I started this website and every time I started to read the ‘instructions’ at the Word Press Codex site I’d get blurry eyed and my third […]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Notes for digital artwork 05, copyright Alison Boston
I am pleased! When I started this slog, my intention was to create a website that would function as a type of archives for my work as an artist, and I quickly realised I also had a a great publishing […]

Digital Image 09 d, copyright Alison Boston
The principal image I worked with to create Gathering Souls is in this composite image. Can you find it?

Gathering Souls
digital artwork 09, copyright Alison Boston
Digital Artwork 9 is a series. This is 1 in the series. I think this is 9 (c) or (d). The others are notes from which I cut and pasted the two pieces which went together to make the single image which is pasted
38 (?) […]

Make a conscious effort to express thanks each and every day of 2006 and witness the power of gratitude.

Happy New Year
digital artwork 08, copyright Alison Boston
This one started with the text ‘Happy New Year’ written on a blank white canvas.
In the words of one friend:
“Have a safe a happy slide into the new and uncertain.” WL
It was certainly slippery here last night with freezing rain.

The more I hear - and see - of Erzsi Kiss the more admiration and respect I have for her as an artist. This is a big step for one who did not like her the first time I heard her. That was during Budapest’s French festival along the banks of the […]

Looking into My Third Eye
digital image 07, copyright Alison Boston

Maple Leaf Rag:
Textile Art for the New Millenium,
digital artwork 06, copyright Alison Boston
This started as an image of a red maple bonsai tree in a blue pot, now I think it looks like an embossed satin, hence the name.

Meeting of Minds in the New Millenium,
digital artwork 05, copyright Alison Boston
I can’t stop making these images. I fear I will vanish into cyberspace, disappear into a black hole, and never see daylight ever again.
This one took four hours…I still haven’t read the instructions!!
Oh yeah, it […]

…with Protector

Tree Seed for the New Millenium,
with Protector
digital artwork 04, copyright Alison Boston
I’m obsessed.
This was originally a photo of some fern trees in the rain forest, hence the title: Tree Seed for the New Millenium, with Protector.”
The Protector is a shadowy figure standing at the base of the seed. Can you […]

Chocolate Fairy Christmas Card
digital art work 03b, copyright Alison Boston
I am so pleased with my Chocolate Fairy I made this Christmas card… I sent it to all my friends in my address book, and a few people I’d like to be friends with, and a few others who just happen to be there. […]

After dinner, and the brief visit to the cathedral last night, we went for a late night walk round the castle. This is one of my absolute favorite things to do in Budapest: walk round the palace at night when there are fewer annoying tourists and the lights transform the city and the area […]

After dinner last night - which we finished at midnight - also typically Hungarian (unlike the Brits who do it on the 25th) we went to St. Stephen’s Basilica - which is right next door to my friend’s flat.
The service - which was being conducted in Hungarian - was in process and the entrance was […]

Last night I had a traditional Hungarian Christmas meal with a friend and her guests from Italy. My friend is actually Rumanian Hungarian, and the table was covered with a beautiful linen tablecloth trimmed with hand made lace, in a way that is typical of Rumanian artisans.
We started the meal with wine […]

Chocolate Fairy

Chocolate Fairy
digital art work 03, copyright Alison Boston

Life Chocolate 02,
digital artwork 02, copyright Alison Boston

Life Chocolate
digital artwork 01, copyright Alison Boston
(my first digital artwork)
“Life is a box of chocolate covered possibilities: the filling and flavor are created by our mind.”
Alison Boston
I’m going to contemplate this today, and perhaps I will not crave quite as much chocolate!

I met this artist from Moldova a couple of weeks ago at Ari Kupsus’* monthly salon concert. Ari was exhibiting Alex’s paintings which are mostly bold, striking colors.
I am intrigued by how Alex’s work will be viewed in a hundred years. I ask what it will say about painting from this […]

I first heard these guys last spring downstairs at the Pesti Est Cafe.
When I heard them at Pesti Est, they were just plain too loud and I couldn’t really appreciate them. When I heard them last night, I was impressed with what a tight, polished sound they have developed in the past 9 […]

Last Saturday, after looking at Tamas Waliczky’s animations at Millenaris, I went to Godor Klub to hear Balaton Club - creation of Hungarian film score composer (Bela Tarr’s films), singer-songwriter, and writer Mihaly Vig.
I had never seen himperform - mostly because anytime they were playing before 2:00AM I was somewhere else.
Balaton Club is a […]

Not sure if this means I have been spending way too much time at home alone with my computer, or if looking at Tamas Waliczky’s animations sparked something, but I stumbled on NYC’s 1-20 gallery’s website today and while cruising the artists, Kiki Seror caught my eye with her eye…but it was this […]

‘Sculptures’ Tamas Waliczky
A 20-year retrospective of Hungarian media-artistTamas Waliczky’s work opened this evening (Saturday) at Millenaris Park. It’s his first major exhibition in his home town, having left Budapest many years ago for the advantages of living and working in London, Paris, Tokyo and Berlin. Tamas is currently a professor in […]

Image: Courtesy Quiz Farm
QUIZZICAL NONSENSICAL FUN TO WASTE TIME WITH!
Well, well, well…it’s been confirmed, I am indeed a Faery! and it’s not surprising that being a mermaid runs a close second as I have always thought that I must have been a dolfin in a previous life. I get no kick-back for linking […]

I was awed by Dennis’s performances: slide shows accompanied by readings from his writings - presented with the unshakeable confidence and surety that he had a right to be there and do what he was doing. And I’ve always remembered the words he spoke to me after my first performance at Gallery 101 - a reading of my work called ‘Nurse Mary Meets the Sassy Squash’ - accompanied by slides of some surrealist drawings I had done. He said -in that very direct and matter-of-fact way he had of speaking - that made even me pay attention:

The Poet

Fairies
VIEW MORE ART IN MY VIRTUAL GALLERY
I got the prices put up today.

How to make a thumbnail that I can post here that will open to a full-size image and link to my gallery?
Anybody?

Balaton
VIEW MORE ART IN MY VIRTUAL GALLERY
Thursday: I got everything posted in my virtual gallery. The only things missing are the prices; they will come. Meanwhile, interested buyers can contact me with queries. A big thank you to Hungarian photographer Acsai Miklós who did the photography.
I finally got a proper art gallery […]

Poet, performer, visual artist, socio-cultural commentator seeks patron. (For Real)
Description:
Provides financial/material support necessary to maintain a comfortably luxurious lifestyle befitting a modern day, mature female artist. Immediate needs include a bright, sunny, warm, quiet place to live and work with a water/green view and ready access to pleasant running trails.
This place should […]

I performed last evening on stage at the a38 as a member of Hungary’s newly formed National Howling Theater (Nemzeti Orditoszinhaz). As the only non-Hungarian in the 8 member choir, I feel like last night’s premier was a kind of rite of passage. I’ve performed on Hungarian stages with Hungarian jazz musicians, […]

I went to hear Steve Coleman at Trafo last Wednesday (Nov. 30th). With the warm up act it was almost four hours long! For this European tour, Steve has invited four Hungarian musicians to join him on stage: Zoltan Lantos (violin), Mihaly Borbely (reeds), Miklos Lucacs (cimbolom) and Gabor Winand (vocals).
We […]

The Godor Klub is home to Globefest this weekend. Essentially a left-thinking, consciousness-raising event where they screened The Corporation and held discussions to find solutions. The talks are continuing today.
I stopped by there last evening and spoke with a young woman who is involved with Centrum Group, a collective […]

Saw the documentary film ‘The Corporation’ last evening. I am sure there are some who call it left wing propaganda, and others who call it catastrophic. I found it uplifting and inspiring.
It truly shows the power of the individual to shape their world by how they think, and […]

Canadian politician and humanitarian Dr. Lloyd Axworthy spoke here in Budapest the week before last at Eötvös Loránd University, by invitation of the International Committee of the Red Cross. I went to hear his talk and it has provoked some interesting reading and thinking.
It’s difficult to summarize his talk; he […]

Since first writing the preceeding post late last evening, I’ve gone back and edited it two or three times, refining my words. It still isn’t where I want it to be, but rather than tampering with it any further, I’ve decided - for the time being any way - to continue my thoughts on […]

I haven’t posted much in the past couple of weeks. I’ve had a cold and I’ve been thinking. Colds are good for that, don’t you think? They make us hibernate, and with hibernation comes reflection.
I performed my poetry last Saturday evening at a private party. It was great. The […]

I was talking to my mother earlier this week via Skype and at the end of the conversation she read me a monologue she had written about her feelings about my father’s illness.
You know, my father - the Reverend Henry Boston - who spent the last 30 productive years of […]

In the two years I’v