Dance Web

Just a quick note to let those concerned know that there is a replacement camera on the way, and I’ll be jumping on that learning curve as fast as I can around the rest of life.

I do want to take a few moments to acknowledge some important people…

Thanks to Karima, Amustela, Bijou, Antonia, Aliya, Yucy, Masani, Latifa, Belladonna, Laura, Beth, Melissa, Shadiyah, Dianna, Amanda, Bonnie, the performers and audience at the Five Seasons a few months ago, when I wasn’t there… and all the people that called and offered any sort of support this year. Thanks. A lot. I mean that.

I’m still very, very behind on email; so if you haven’t heard from me, and there’s something important or time-critical, please do send it again.

the rumors will circulate quickly, i’m sure… so let me get a few things out before they do.

my camera gear (and cell phone) was stolen this weekend, so i’m effectively out of the photography business (at least as far as new photographs) for the near future. i’ll be spending some time with stuff i’ve already shot, but obviously, i won’t be doing any new work until the gear is replaced - and that could be a while.

on the upside, since i won’t be spending time “out in the field,” this is a good time to let me know if you want some work done on material i’ve already shot. on the other hand, my inbox is completely overwhelmed right now, and i can’t even tell how far the backlog goes at the moment, so please bear with me…

i don’t mean to be down, but 2007 is very un-fun so far, so i need to think about what’s gone on, and where i should go from here.

It’s a bit early to be the thanksgiving season, but I wanted to say a quick thanks (despite the fact that doing so can get me into much trouble) to the dancers of this past weekend - both individually and collectively - for providing some measure of faith in my work with belly dance. I won’t name names here, but if you happen to stop by - thanks.

official “cut time” is 4:30. I’ll be in the neighborhood (and you’re welcome to drop by) anytime after about 3pm. the salon closes at 5pm, so after being sheared, i figured we’d find a local place in the area to drop in for dinner and hang out for a while.

ok, it’s official. 17th is out, 31st is in… thanks for your opinions

the 17th is getting a lot of complaints about conflicts through the back-channels, and i have a conflict on the 24th, so, if you’ve got some thoughts on the 17th versus the 31st, get in touch…

many of you that know me know that i’ve been putting off the “Grand Cut” since around the end of last year, with great global events (tsunamis, popes, wars, etc) and minor personal events conspiring to ruin the best laid plans and best intentions… now that the spring crunch is [mostly] over, it’s time to get this done.

for those that don’t know, i’m cutting off about 16 inches of hair.

i’m looking for people who will play with me on a sunday toward the middle of july (july 17 would be perfect), and i’m going to bring myself and hopefully a bunch of amazing dancing girls in full dance regalia into adams morgan (washington dc) to take off some hair for locks of love.

i have a salon in adams morgan willing to work with me, so we’re back on track… plans are afoot, as it were.

i’d like to turn this into a bit of a media event, so we can make it into some sort of fundraiser for the charity, have an all-day party… pretty much anything goes. for me, it’s a chance to lighten my load and spend the day with some great people for a good cause. i’ve got some silly ideas myself, but i want to give everyone some time to brainstorm.

so, tell me what you think. tell me if you’ll play along. tell me if the 17th is good for you, or if the 24th is better for some reason. tell me if you’ve got great ideas for this event, or if you’ve got some special skill that would help make this happen. tell me if you’ve got connections with local media (newspapers, radio, tv, websites).

creativity counts, and there are scissors involved, so it should be fun.

if you’d like to participate in some way, say so in the comments below and we’ll get something organized. thanks!

ok, just something to put out here, while i try to track this down. i’ve now found the “email black hole” is affecting multiple accounts (multiple servers, multiple systems, multiple addresses), and still no pattern. i’ve even had one report of mail to a gmail account gone missing - and anecdotal comments about hotmail losing stuff (but i’m not in the hotmail loop). part of the problem is that i don’t know how long this “black hole” situation has been going on, so i don’t know how far back i need to dig into hanging conversations.

oddly enough, some email is coming in delayed - i just saw stuff that was sent several days ago, so there may be some hope for your messages. outbound messages have also apparently been lost, but so far i’ve only been able to find that in one case (could be an individual spam filter.

for now, i’ve turned everything i’ve got down (and oh, boy, the spam flood is on), looking for people that i know.

if you’ve sent me something and you have not heard from me yet, chances are i didn’t see what you sent. try a backup approach. i’m not ignoring you intentionally!

thanks!

just a quick note to any dancers that have been trying to reach me lately - i’ve tracked down at least two different people who tried to send email recently that didn’t make it to me. no explanations, no pattern - two different people in two different states. so, just to get on the record here, if you haven’t heard from me, it’s not because i’m ignoring you… i probably don’t know you’re waiting.

to compound issues, i’ve had [paper] mail trouble lately (surprise letters from a month ago showing up) and phone trouble. kinda having a general communication breakdown, i suppose.

please try again. don’t give up on me.

update: with the public announcement, there are now four people suffering from email black holes. one is partially resolved (sending again did work) - the rest are still a mystery.