Melissa Richardson Banks is Downtown Muse. During 2013, she produced and hosted 13 episodes of "The A.D. Live." Follow Downtown Muse at www.instagram.com/downtownmuse.

The A.D. LIVE by Melissa Richardson Banks

It's 1959, and tobacco smoke snakes across the bustling café from its prized corner table, where artists and students debate political treatises, muse on philosophy, and share thrilling new poetry.

Place/Settings: Berkeley: 9 - "Suicide on Telegraph" by Richard Montoya

PØST (2009 to present), and its predecessor POST (1995-2005), is a subversive venue in the Arts District for contemporary art in Los Angeles, where nearly four hundred exhibitions have been hosted. For the past five years in July, the venue has hosted daily Kamikaze Shows. Each day during that month, a new show is installed (and the previous day's one removed) and an opening is held that evening from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Every show is curated by an artist to feature his/her work and/or works by a group. On Day 17, Downtown Muse spoke with artist Jonathan Hornedo who curated that day's show. 

The founder and director of PØST is HK Zamani. The venue is located at 1904 E. 7th Place in Los Angeles. LA, CA 90021. To learn more about PØST and its July Kamikaze Shows, visit www.post-la.com, www.postlosangeles.org, or https://www.facebook.com/NotPOST. 

THE A.D. LIVE: Post Kamikaze Show-Day 17

Thursday is the NEW Friday at Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles with the 2013 "Out of Office" summer concert series. Curated by Edgar Varela, the series included indie bands The Rebel Light, Holly Conlan, and The Young Romans. For information about Grand Park, visit www.grandparkla.org.

2013 PLAYLIST
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5a8GZjLMUEi1tih0xP3RO8

PRESS
https://westsidetoday.com/2013/07/18/grand-parks-out-of-office-concerts/

The A.D. LIVE: Grand Park "Out of Office" Concert 8-1-2013

If you've been to Handsome Coffee Roasters in the Arts District, you may have occasionally seen a taco cart set up along Willow St. Chef Wes Avila runs Guerrilla Tacos with his wife Tanya Mueller. On this day, Downtown Muse had a chat with the couple who just launched their new truck, replacing the cart.

Wes and Tanya use seasonal ingredients sourced from local farms, so their menu changes daily. Currently, they serve their tacos through their new truck parked near Handsome Coffee Roasters (582 Mateo St, Los Angeles, CA 90013 near Willow St.) on Tuesday mornings, Wednesday evenings, and Friday mornings (until 2 p.m.). Before going, check on Twitter @GuerrillaTacos or @Wes_Avila to be sure they are there!

The A.D. LIVE: Guerrilla Tacos

StoryCorps Interview: Melissa Richardson Banks and Christy Addis Gutierrez (10-25-2013)

For the Fourth of July, Jessica Fuentes and William Sarradet discuss recent Texas exhibitions in which artists made work about what it means to be an American.

"The act of taking apart the American flag and reconstructing it is an act of an artist using their First Amendment right...and shows how fortunate we are to be in a country where we can make those kinds of statements."

See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2022/07/03/art-dirt-discussing-recent-exhibitions-about-america

If you enjoy Glasstire and would like to support our work, please consider donating. As a nonprofit, all of the money we receive goes back into our coverage of Texas art. You can make a one-time donation or become a sustaining, monthly donor here: https://glasstire.com/donate

Art Dirt: Discussing Recent Exhibitions about America

Brandon Zech talks with actor, comedian, and art collector Cheech Marin about how he came to collect Chicano art, the Texas artists he's looking at today, and his museum, The Cheech, in Riverside, California.

"The other great center of Chicano art was San Antonio, because they had a lot of artists and they supported them, but there was no director of any major museum that wanted to put their neck on the block and say yeah this is Chicano art. They loved me as a comedian but they weren't so sure about me as an authority on Chicano art, because these guys had studied it all their life and had unpaid student loans to prove it, so who is this doper comedian to say what's what about Chicano art?"

See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2024/03/10/art-dirt-cheech-marin-talks-texas-art

If you enjoy Glasstire and would like to support our work, please consider donating. As a nonprofit, all of the money we receive goes back into our coverage of Texas art. You can make a one-time donation or become a sustaining, monthly donor here: https://glasstire.com/donate

Art Dirt: Cheech Marin Talks Texas Art

written and recorded tonight on my phone <3

Who Broke Your Heart? (live/demo, Montreal 2017)

Now I’m no shaolin monk, but meditation is something that is a key part of my mental and physical health and provides the perfect contrast for my movement practice.

Meditation sometimes gets a little over complicated and surrounded with dogma, and it often means people turn away from it and miss out on the potential benefits. 

So I’m just gonna share a stripped back, simple version that’s really worked for me and I think is practical for most people. It’s only five minutes of your time - let’s just commit to it, and get started!

HERO Movement Beginner Guided Meditation

I DIDN'T MENTION IT IN THE AUDIO, BUT YOU NEED TO HAVE YOUR EYES CLOSED THROUGHOUT THESE AUDIO MEDITATION INSTRUCTIONS.

BEFORE USING THIS GUIDED MEDITATION, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING:

After following these guided meditation instructions to the letter a few times, I do encourage you to do this meditation guiding yourself without the use of this audio.
 
The purpose of meditation is to come to stillness of body & mind & in doing so to connect to a state of nothingness through focus & concentration. By pausing thought you come into direct contact with the Creative Intelligence of the Universe, the Absolute. Thoughts are usually about the problems of yesterday & the possible solutions of tomorrow & are a distraction from the moment, the place & time in which we really are. Meditation brings you into the moment, helping us to overcome the transient & to rest in the Absolute.
 
Meditation is best done within the 1st hour of waking up to start your day & again in the 1st hour or so after finishing a day's work before you relax, whatever hours you may keep.

This Mindfulness Meditation technique that you will now learn to do is very powerful and best for us in the western world as it brings us into touch with our 5 senses. When this happens we feel, taste, smell, see & hear much better as we're more focused & in the moment rather than being absorbed by distracting thoughts, which means we can complete our work in half the time as we're more tuned in to our senses.
 
With this meditation, we therefore start by bringing the body to stillness. The mind will not come to complete stillness if the body is un-still. Once the body is still we bring the mind to stillness. This we do by concentrating first on our weakest sense and then progress though the senses to our strongest sense. This way we become truly connected to our senses.
 
Before we do that, we need to relax & get our bodies into the correct position. 
So, firstly, sit upright on a comfortable chair with your feet resting on the floor or, cross-legged on a cushion. Do not lean against the back of the chair; let your body support itself.
Your back must be upright, dead straight, aligning our Chakra points which will then give us a better connection to the Absolute. Imagine your spine being connected by a piece of string with the string going from the bottom vertebrae right up the spine & out of the top of your head. Imagine pulling the string from above your head to straighten your whole back & make your back as straight as possible. Your Chakras will then be completely in line.
 
Next, hold down your index fingers with your thumbs. This is to hold down ego as ego comes through this finger.
The other 3 fingers should be straight. These 3 fingers represent the 3 Guna, Tamas (rest / ignorance), Ragas (movement) & Sattva (Truth) that are the 3 energy sources that make up the Human Spirit. Holding these fingers outward is offering the Guna back to the Universe from where it came.
With your hands in this position, rest them, palms up, on your knees.
 
Now roll your shoulders from forwards to backwards in a slow movement opening up your chest & Ethereal heart.
 
Then bring your attention to your ethereal heart in the centre of your chest & instruct it to get warm. Then instruct it to get warmer still & melting away the frostiness of the day.
Observe the energy that is life permeating your whole body. Be aware of the Self as the Observer of this energy being aware that we cannot be that which we can observe!

Once you finish the meditation thank the Universe for allowing you connect as all of the information herein, is Universal information & belongs to no one.

Enjoy this mediation, that will improve your spiritual, mental & physical health, as this will de-stress you completely & in the presence of no stress, you immune system will become much stronger, making you physically more healthy.

WELCOME TO THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR AMAZING LIVES. OM.

Guided Meditation Technique by Mr.C

Host Melissa Richardson Banks speaks with artist LaMonte French about art, life and dreams on her podcast "MUSED: LA 2 HOU."

MUSED: An Unexpected Conversation with Artist LaMonte French

buy digital

Pavel Milyakov — mx live 4

Brandon Zech and Christina Rees take an optimistic view of a more collaborative future for Texas art, artists, and institutions, and their more appreciative audiences.

"There’s a lot of sweat equity that artists are willing to put into their own shows if you give them the space in a museum."

Art Dirt: Is it Time for Texas Art to Get Hyperlocal?

Melissa Richardson Banks visits the inaugural Parachute Market in the Arts District on Saturday, June 22, 2013. This episode features her interview with local resident and artist Michael Faye who brews KombuchaDog, a new line of beverages; proceeds of which support adoption of shelter dogs. To learn more, visit http://www.kombuchadog.com.

https://roaminghunger.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ParachuteMarketReleaseFinal5.pdf

The A.D. LIVE: KombuchaDog @ Parachute Market in the Arts District

The A.D. LIVE: Urban Radish Grand Opening

MUSED: LA 2 HOU is a podcast series hosted by Melissa Richardson Banks. In late 2016, she left Los Angeles where she lived and worked for 25 years, and returned to her home state of Texas ... but to a new frontier for her -- Houston! Episodes range in focus on the concept of journeys to the literal and figurative connections between Los Angeles and Houston. #MUSEDla2hou

StoryCorps Interview: Melissa Richardson Banks and Christy Addis Gutierrez (10-25-2013)

MUSED: LA 2 HOU

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