Quick Update...

Hi ALL!!

I'm sorry I have not been too consistent with the posts but i've been crazy busy with work, dance rehearsals, classes, development work for an NGO I'm working for based out of Tanzania, development work for a non-profit performing arts society and everything else!! Oh by the way, I decided to form a production a company too...

I know, I know, I know...it's crazy...

But I want to have control over my art and promote others too...

Yes, i'm crazy...

I love it and I hate it...in terms that I have to work a regular job too at a law firm during the day....UGH! I can't wait till one of these things takes off, in particular my music, so I can quit the regular day job..

Oh yeah too, I have a small gig August 24 and I'm a trying out a new guitarist named Michael. He's awesome it's just that this is the very first time I'm working with someone besides my regular guitarist/teacher, Marija, who is in a class by herself. She's going to be away on vacation so she can't accompany me at my gig.. :( But she will return and take her regular spot. Oh that's Marija in the picture to the right.

It's good though that I'm working with other musicians because I need to learn how to work with other musicians.... it's that simple... it helps me with my creativity, how to communicate my music, my voice...especially with Flamenco!!!! Flamenco is an intimate language between, the dancer, singer, and guitarist. I'm not being poetic here it is the truth...in particular when you are doing improv.

The gig, I'm performing a Flamenco Tangos piece with Michael on guitar. He will be accompanying me as I sing. Additionally I will be dancing a fusion Tribal Bellydance/Flamenco piece too. It will be a short gig but good experience nonetheless.

I'm at the gym non-stop, and at rehearsals. Me and Michael have only met a couple of times but we'll be cranking it up soon enough if our schedules allow...well they're gonna have to...it's coming up soon!

The gym!!! Ugh...My performance outfit! I think I've picked out my dancing outfit. Of course I will have my belly out cuz it's BELLYDANCE!! I'm buying it online Friday and hopefully I'll love it and it will love me when I put it on!

Oh yea....I've started taking photography lessons...hehe...I know it's crazy!....I've been doing digital photography for a little bit...teaching myself really.. Saturday, the teacher saw some of my photographs and he loved them so much he showed several of my photographs as examples for the class!! He was so blown away by my pics..... I was so excited.....

I won't write for too long. I promise to visit all of your blogs during the weekend. I have neglected you all but I've been crazy busy...

Please watch this video from beginning to end! It's my main bellydance instructor...the incomparable SUHAILA SALIMPOUR! This is completely improvisational. Watch the level of muscle control she has....no one can do this! This is her in Cairo last year. Watching this video makes me want to practice so much...but sigh my schedule...in particular work...

anyhow...talk to you soon...

AVIANA

P.S. Suhaila Salimpour doing improv....live in Cairo, Egypt...

I was going to put a happy post...but...

A 25-year-old New York City graduate student is threatening to sue a T-Shirt designer after being assaulted for wearing one of his designs.
The woman bought a $69 shirt from Apollo Braun's Manhattan boutique that bore the words, "Obama is my slave." When she wore the shirt on Tuesday, four teenage girls accosted her -

The designer pictured wearing the shirt.
Photo by Fashion Indie

and spitting in her face, according to the New York edition of Metro News.
The unnamed woman is reportedly seeking solace by suing Braun - born Doron Braunshtein - for "all he's got," the designer claims. He, of course, is shirking any responsibility for the incident and says that the shirt reflects the views of "ordinary WASPs."

“For a lot of people, when they see Obama, they see a slave. People think America is not ready for a black president,” the Israeli-born designer said.

“I can’t stand Obama,” Braun says, but claims that it's not because the candidate is black. “That’s the only thing I like about him. He opens the door for other minorities.”

“He reminds me of Adolf Hitler,” Braun explained, adding he does not like the Illinois senator because “he is a Muslim” — a myth that Obama apparently cannot escape.

The designer has sold several other anti-Obama styles from his boutique, including shirts with slogans such as “Jews Against Obama,” “Obama = Hitler” and “Who Killed Obama?”

http://www.livesteez.com/news/news_detail/934

___________________________________________________________________

The Rev. Jesse Jackson used the N-word during a break in a TV interview where he criticized presidential candidate Barack Obama, Fox News confirmed Wednesday.

The longtime civil rights leader already came under fire this month for crude off-air comments he made against Obama in what he thought was a private conversation during a taping of a "Fox & Friends" news show.

In additional comments from that same conversation, first reported by TVNewser, Jackson is reported to have said Obama was "talking down to black people," and referred to blacks with the N-word when he said Obama was telling them "how to behave."

Though a Fox spokesman confirmed to The Associated Press that Jackson used the slur, the network declined to release the full transcript of the July 6 show and did not air the comments.
Jackson, who is now traveling in Spain, apologized in a statement last Wednesday for "hurtful words" but didn't offer specifics.

"I am deeply saddened and distressed by the pain and sorrow that I have caused as a result of my hurtful words. I apologize again to Senator Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, their children as well as to the American public," Jackson said in a written statement.

"There really is no justification for my comments and I hope that the Obama family and the American public will forgive me. I also pray that we, as a nation, can move on to address the real issues that affect the American people."

A spokeswoman for Jackson's civil rights organization, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, said she could not confirm that Jackson used the slur.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/16/jackson.nword.ap/index.html

P.S. Katie Melua with "Spider's Web"....the song is about the US invasion into IRAQ/the Iraq War.....but thought it is still fitting

Check this out...

Hi All,

Please watch this video! The singers in the video are Lori and George Schappell. They are real life conjoined twins. They have a music video they released. They have acted on TV shows. I just found this video. Check it out. Amazing...