Lisa B at The Sound Room, Uptown Oakland, Sat. 6/27/15: 8 pm - 10 pm

It's been 2-1/2 years since I've performed in a Bay Area club, so I'm thrilled to be singing, and performing poetic spoken word, again this Saturday night at the wonderful Sound Room in the burgeoning Uptown Oakland, Calif., neighborhood. 

In the interim, I've been busy with lots of creative work: new studio recordings, new poetry, and a nonfiction book in progress, not to mention nurturing my clairvoyant reading practice (see www.lisabintuitive.com) and undergoing two surgeries (the latest leaving me way hipper, with a new right hip). 

But it's time, already! 

The trio I'll have playing with me is fantastic, all titans in their own rights, not to mention creative, likeable fellows to work with.

Here are the details. Come on down!

Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) 
at The Sound Room in Uptown Oakland
 
with 
Frank Martin, piano
Peter Barshay, bass
Jeff Marrs, drums
 
Saturday, June 27
8 p.m. - 10 p.m.
$15
2147 Broadway, Oakland CA
soundroomoakland@gmail.com
(510) 496-4180
http://www.soundroom.org

Get: tickets here

• All ages
• Delicious small plates
• Nonprofit vibe meets fun-night-out
• Drinks alcoholic and non-

And swinging, creative originals and standards, often with poetic spoken word woven through them...

What's not to like? 

See you there!

Lisa B's (Lisa Bernstein's) version of "What's New, Pussycat?" on YouTube

My version of the ever-delightful Bacharach/David song "What's New, Pussycat?" came out in 2006 on the album of the same name, subtitled "Tunes and Tales About Cool Cats." 

I recently put the tune up on You Tube with the marvelous CD cover Julie Ann Yuen created. I've neglected to post about it here, though. 

What better time to think of all things pussycat than the warming days of April? (Don't you want to go out and lie in the sun, stretching your paws?)

As the All Music Guide puts it, "Bernstein uses the word cat as a metaphor — as hipster/beatnik/bebop slang — and she is really singing about human situations… from Bernstein’s own material to an intriguing arrangement of Graham Nash’s 'Our House,' 'What's New, Pussycat?' is infectious…memorable, and clever.” 

You can read more press about the record here (scroll down): http://www.lisabmusic.com/press_quotes.html

If you'd like to own the track (and I'd be grateful for your support and the knowledge of your reliably ongoing pleasure), you can get it here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lisab3 (mp3s and higher-quality digital files as well as actual CDs) or here:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/whats-new-pussycat/id167824648?i=167824654&uo=6&at=&ct=

the poem "Genesis" by Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein)

"Genesis" appeared in Caliban Online #4 (2o11). The online Caliban is a resurrected version of Larry Smith's imaginative hard-copy Caliban magazine of the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. It in many ways was a successor to kayak, the groundbreaking magazine edited by George Hitchcock, who was one of my professors at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Caliban went on to publish a range of esteemed, exploratory writers (http://lisabmusic.blogspot.com/2011/02/poems-in-caliban-online-2.html). Now, Caliban Online describes itself as" an internationally recognized literary and arts magazine featuring avant-garde writing" and other media, notably visual art. I'm honored to have had a number of poems in three different issues.

This one belongs to a group of my poems exploring Biblical themes and characters. Mild warning: it's not quite "safe for work." 

Genesis

Face down on the green and brown bed

I put my hand under my pelvis

and feel the bone plowing a little, like a plow into the earth.

I can’t redo the Garden of Eden,

can’t recreate the errors, the judgment, the rows of plants and herbs,

the animals mutely watching God’s imposter

“the Lord” consign man and woman to post and field.

But I feel the original bone tip

meeting the earth through my palm’s flesh.

The bone wants to fuck in sorrow and rage

as if to plow up earth’s punishment like sod and copper.

And my hand nuzzles and takes

the heated plowing from my body.

And the plowing is so strong I smell the wet earth,

the parted moist ground,

the mist rising from where Adam’s old plow entered,

melting into manna and gold honey in my hand.

And as I close my eyes to the brown and green bed

and the sweat of my brow, I see the creamy, withered pages

of the false Lord’s creation

ignite and burn above my head.

The beings who sang at the true creation of the world

stand witness again,

their faces recalling the face of the God

who hovered over the waters.

I come into my hand

and breathe out a mist

which rests on my face,

my own face,

like God’s, the one I know.

copyright 2011 Lisa Bernstein (aka Lisa B)

poem "The Yoke" by Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein)

Most of the poems in my current unpublished poetry manuscript, "The Rhythm of Forgiveness," have been published separately, in literary magazines or other types of periodicals. I've been wanting to start posting these poems here.

In this Biblical season, "The Yoke" seems a good place to start.

This poem appeared in the wonderful magazine Lilith, in its spring 1999 issue. http://lilith.org/current-issues/page/62/ The same issue featured a second poem by me, to come in a later blog post.

Along with featuring a poem or two, Lilith covers a wide range of topics. Here's how it describes itself: "Independent, Jewish & frankly feminist since 1976, Lilith magazine charts Jewish women's lives with exuberance, rigor, affection, subversion and style." What's not to like? (I'm tempted to adopt those last five qualities as my personal writer's mission.) 

"The Yoke" also appeared in the July 1996 issue of the monthly newspaper Psychic Reader, which was published for many years by the Berkeley Psychic Institute, where I first trained as a clairvoyant reader.

The Yoke

Somebody’s yoke around my neck—

how can I think about God now

and what a kvetch he became in Genesis?

He walked there calling for Adam.

Then the verses fell down like a ladder on the dirt

smashing all that had been planted.

Adam stopped to be yelled at

but the actual Adam was off somewhere else

dancing and fornicating with Eve.

About all the pain and suffering that followed—

was it worth the neat rows of vegetables,

each with a picture-name?

I’m more interested in the snake in the dust

and the shimmering pyramids.

The goddess that came before them

shaking her stiff serpent at the tree.

I’m as tired of the One Dad God as he was with his trying children.

Let the cypresses be trees in my hungry city,

let the dusty roads be my littered streets.

God, this agreement to plow and to plead—

it’s enough already, don’t you think?

And this yoke—take it.

Go on without me

rearranging yourself, green into red

into blue. I feel better already.

I forgive you too.

copyright 1996 Lisa Bernstein (aka Lisa B)

Mind-Body-Spirit Tools on Creativity, Communication, and Confidence: for Singers/Performers

Being a performer is so much about letting others see and hear who you really are. Which can be terrifying  — and liberating.

I realized this all over again last night while on the road to an audition, with exhausted vocal cords from overpracticing and thoughts of pulling over, calling the bandleader, and feigning a flat tire. 

Three things kept me going: the fact that I didn't want to waste having put on make-up, the fact that I didn't want to be seen as a flake by this band I wanted to join, and (maybe most important) using the tools that I and my co-teacher would be teaching in our upcoming workshop for performers.

By the way, I made it. And the audition was a success! 

Daria and I are offering our fourth workshop on mind-body-spirit tools for performers since we inaugurated them in May 2014. This time we're focusing on creativity, communication, and confidence.

Past participants of these offerings have raved about them. A couple of comments from our most recent workshop, in February at Blue Bear School of Music in San Francisco: 

"Thanks for reconnecting me to my spirit self. I forgot the little girl who just loved to sing." 

"I thoroughly enjoyed it and greatly appreciate the marrying of technique and spiritual/emotional awareness."

Want to be seen and heard as who you really are, as a creative person and performer? Treat yourself to this workshop on March 21.

  

Mind-Body-Spirit Tools

for Creativity, Communication, and Confidence

A Workshop for Singers and Other Performers

All Levels Welcome

taught by

Daria and Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein)

Saturday, March 21st

12:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Piedmont Piano Company

1728 San Pablo Ave., Oakland, CA

$90 ($85 for Registration by March 9)

 CREATIVITY

·        Reconnect with your inner creative self

·        Release invalidation and judgment from your creative and performance  abilities

·        Practice vocal/performance creativity in the moment through improvisation

·        Tap into your verbal creativity with fun writing exercises

 COMMUNICATION AND CONFIDENCE

·        Feel more comfortable communicating to a group or audience

·        Learn how to protect your personal space while communicating with others

·        Learn fundamental tools to feel more relaxed, confident, and present

·        Apply these techniques to performance and get supportive feedback

Includes guided visualization, fun group & one-on-one exercises, practical instruction & tips, sharing, and performance

Bring a song or performance piece to work on

Maximum 10 participants, all must pregister:  Contact lisabmusic@hotmail.com

Daria is an acclaimed vocalist, recording artist, and educator who has performed and toured internationally with her trio and Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks. She has taught at the Jazzschool, College of Marin, Blue Bear School of Music, and elsewhere. See www.dariajazz.com

"Gives you new experiences and insights beyond the ordinary...

songs that speak to the heart and spirit."- Jesse "Chuy" Varela, Music Director, KCSM FM

"Daria's masterful and compassionate vocal coaching style, coupled with her ability to provide a safe and respectful environment, has transformed me from a shy, quiet individual to a more confident, vocally present participant in the world and in my own life. I am eternally grateful for our work together." - Darla Holst

Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) is a singer, poet, and clairvoyant reader, energy healer, and coach. She has five CDs and two books to her credit. She received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Headlands Center for the Arts, and Money for Women. She has taught at San Francisco State University, the Jazzschool, and Allendale Recreation Center. See www.lisabmusic.com.

“Lisa Bernstein's mix of spoken word poetry...and passionate jazzy, high-register vocalizing is …hard to resist.” - All Music Guide

“I know Lisa as an accomplished poet and singer. Recently I had a chance to experience her other skill as an intuitive. I would recommend her without reservation to anyone who is curious to know more about themselves.” - Ben Flint, pianist and educator

Mind-Body-Spirit Tools for Singers Comes to San Francisco! 2/1/15

The Complete Singer:

Spiritual, Technical, and Practical Tools to Help You Realize Your Musical Dreams

Vocalist-educator Daria and I are excited to bring our workshop on mind-body-spirit tools for singers to San Francisco after the enthusiastic response it received in Oakland and Novato, Calif., last spring and summer.

We'll be giving it at the wonderful Blue Bear School of Music, where I began my vocal training more than two decades ago!, and where Daria has taught intermittently for many years.

SUN. FEB. 1ST

1 p.m. - 4 p.m., $75

Blue Bear School of Music

Fort Mason, Bldg. D, San Francisco

Are you a singer, whether in the shower or on stage? 

Start the new year right with this revitalizing workshop!

* Reconnect with your original dream of becoming a singer

* Identify and fine-tune your goals and activities

* Get tools and information to increase your confidence, ease, and well-being

* Get personalized feedback on vocal technique

* Includes guided visualization, meditation, instruction, sharing, and singing

Open to those at all levels. 

Maximum 10 participants, so reserve your place now!

Please email lisabmusic at hotmail.com to reserve your place now or ask any questions!

**********************************************************************************************

"The information presented helped me to connect with my spirit and improved my confidence. I would recommend this workshop to all singers." - M.G.

"The workshop covered a wide range of topics and techniques that I can apply to my singing. The information was understandable from every level, beginning to advanced, and adaptable." - J.B.

"I really enjoyed the combination of energy and vocal work." - C. R.

"What a wonderful workshop today! What I appreciated most was that it was not your typical vocal workshop — exercises, sing a song. It truly was a complete overview — mind, body and spirit." - O.J. 

"The workshop was amazing. I really enjoyed the guided meditations and learning about the chakras. Still thinking about it all!" - J.T.

"Great start to discovering the artist in myself." - T. H.

__________________________________________________________

The workshop will help you:

Vocalizing:
- Feel more relaxed and connected to your breath support
- Feel more "in your body," confident, and clear
- Reduce stage fright, resistance, confusion, insecurity
- Expand your vocal exercises and terminology
- Draw on your different chakras or major energy centers when singing
- Learn helpful tips on your key vocal issues

Your singer's life:
- Reconnect with your own joy of singing
- Identify goals you want to keep, revise, or add
- Stop competing with yourself and others
- Explore how diet, sleep, allergens, medications, and stress affect your voice
- Set your own tone/agenda for your singing activities

__________________________________________________________

Daria is an acclaimed vocalist, recording artist, and educator who has performed and toured internationally with her trio and Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks. She has taught at the Jazzschool, College of Marin, Blue Bear School of Music, and elsewhere. See www.dariajazz.com

"Gives you new experiences and insights beyond the ordinary...

songs that speak to the heart and spirit."- Jesse "Chuy" Varela, Music Director, KCSM FM

"Daria's masterful and compassionate vocal coaching style, coupled with her ability to provide a safe and respectful environment, has transformed me from a shy, quiet individual to a more confident, vocally present participant in the world and in my own life. I am eternally grateful for our work together." - Darla Holst

Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) is a singer, poet, and clairvoyant reader, healer, and coach with five CDs and two books to her credit. She received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Headlands Center for the Arts, and others. She has taught at San Francisco State University, the Jazzschool, Anna Yates Elementary School, and Allendale Recreation Center. See www.lisabmusic.com.

“Lisa Bernstein's mix of spoken word poetry...and passionate jazzy, high-register vocalizing is …hard to resist.” - All Music Guide

“I know Lisa as an accomplished poet and singer. Recently I had a chance to experience her other skill as an intuitive. I would recommend her without reservation to anyone who is curious to know more about themselves.” - Ben Flint, pianist and educator

"Love Poem to the Printed Text": Poem by Lisa Bernstein (Lisa B) in "Warning the Stars" Blog

A young, Kentucky-based writer, Stacy Lynn Mar, reprinted in her blog a poem of mine from my first (and so far, only) full-length poetry book, which came out in 1989 (The Transparent Body, Wesleyan University Press, new poets series). The poem is "Love Poem to the Printed Text." 

I was thrilled to stumble upon it (I don't know Ms. Mar), not only because I was glad she enjoyed it and was moved to write about it, but also because of the synchronicity with my recent reimmersion in poetry for the page. I had been thinking in the previous couple of weeks that I needed more of my poems to appear online. And I had just emailed Wesleyan the night before asking them to take a look at a new poetry manuscript. This writer apparently heard me.

http://warningthestars.blogspot.com/2014/10/love-poem-to-printed-text-by-lisa.html?showComment=1416653026207#c3255049114998570479

Thanks, Stacy Lynn Mar! I'm wishing you the best in your own writing! 

More than 40 poems from my newest manuscript have appeared in wonderful literary magazines and anthologies: American Writing; Atlanta Review; Bastard Review; Brilliant Corners; Caliban; Caliban Online; Field; Ironwood; The Kenyon Review; Lilith; Pivot; Ploughshares; Poet Lore; Poetry International; Socialist Review; Tikkun; War, Literature, & The Arts; ZYZZYVA; Beyond Lament; Poets of the World Bearing Witness to the Holocaust (Northwestern University Press); Homeless Not Helpless (Canterbury Press); Ladies Start Your Engines; Women Writers on Cars and the Road (Faber and Faber); and Orpheus & Company: Contemporary Poems on Greek Mythology (University Press of New England).

But you can't find the poems online, as far as I know.

This blog, though, contains three posts with my poems in them; the first two are from my newest manuscript, and the last is from The Transparent Body:

http://lisabmusic.blogspot.com/2013/06/rupaul-poem-transvestite-god.html

http://lisabmusic.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-new-war-in-current-issue-of-war.html

http://lisabmusic.blogspot.com/2009/06/25-years-of-successful-diabetic-care.html

"Our House" composed by Graham Nash

One of my favorite songs to perform is "Our House." It feels like a very October tune. The windows are still "illuminated by the sunshine" (at least here in California) but we're drawn indoors to start "staring at the fire."

I do it as a ballad in a beautiful arrangement by Grammy multi- nominee Wayne Wallace (http://www.walacomusic.com/), who's now known mainly as a Latin jazz composer and player but who has a deep capacity for all kinds of arranging and performance.

This recording, with lovely piano by Frank Martin and acoustic bass by John Shifflett, is from my "What's New, Pussycat?" record: mainly songs about cats actual and metaphoric, but also including a few songs on the theme of home. Jim (James) Gardiner of Pajama Studios in Oakland recorded, mixed, and mastered it (http://www.gardinermusicmentoring.com/).

If you are moved to possess or support this music, I'd be very grateful! Please download or purchase it from CDBaby (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lisab3) or iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/our-house/id167824648?i=167824739&uo=4). You can also download from Amazon, but please don't purchase CDs from it because I won't see any proceeds.

"I'll light the fire..."

"You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To"

Here's a video (for lack of a better term, as it includes just a single photo) of my version of Cole Porter's great song "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To." I do it as a bossa. The marvelous players are Frank Martin, keyboard, Troy Lampkins, electric bass, Paul van Wageningen, drums, and John Santos, percussion.

I'm gearing up to create a show/album of Porter songs. The other song from his repertoire that I've done is here, with dynamic footage galore: http://lisabmusic.blogspot.com/2013/10/newvideonightanddaythecatgoddesscoleporterlisab.html