I really wanted to link to a fantastic website that I visit a few times a week. In the spirit of mind expansion and all things unusual or original you really should check it out.

http://www.crookedbrains.net/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o-d2fxH3yo

Also, check out their website at www.rochesterroots.org

Part 1 of 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPuhKA8FPhQ

Part 2 of 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKCWoooAi1g

Part 3 of 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCzzvduPip4

Part 4 of 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzXAtOLfYS8

Bonus solo guitar performance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dhTqorJGEk

To learn more about Bernie, check out is website

http://www.lehmannstrings.com/

 So, the most obvious question…why animal bones?

I’m not sure why animal bones really. I’ve always loved them since I was little and just found them beautiful in their own strange way. They seem like such simple little knobby things, but when you actually sit down and take a good look at them they’re extremely detailed.

How did you get the idea for this kind of art?

Inspiration from more primitive things I suppose. For many people through out time wearing bones holds a lot of symbolic meaning, and I think in some ways that still rings true today. My personal reasons however may be a bit more shallow. I simply enjoy the aesthetics of it, the “style” of the Hollywood witchdoctor, the ‘savage’, and even the Texas Chainsaw crazies just hit home with me. I’ve worn bones often and received more compliments than disgust, so I decided to do something with it.

How long have you been doing this type of jewelry?

I’ve made and worn bone things for myself and friends for years, only recently have I started to think about making it for other people too.

Can you talk about the process of using owls and moths to make the jewelry? Do you “own” the owls and moths?

That whole process kinda came about by accident. I don’t own owls but I do find pellets in old buildings, as well as have then donated from the Birds of Prey shows at the Faires I travel to. I had a big collection of owl pellets and planned to go through them for the bones, which is a really long process. It’s a lot of digging through old fur for tiny pin head size things and it took so long I kept putting it off. Eventually I noticed hundreds of these little cocoons in my pellet container. I didn’t know what it was and sealed it up before it spread. A few days later I popped the container back open to do some work. All these little moths flew out and at the bottom of the box was perfectly clean bones and a few little caterpillars. Now I just keep a lid on the box and toss in some pellets, and about two days later I hove clean bones. I see that, in addition to using owl pellets to find bones, you also use roadkill.

Do you “harvest” your own animal or does someone else? What is the process of converting fresh road kill to jewelry?

 I don’t think I could hire someone to harvest the road kill for me. It’s a rough job, and not always so fresh. Wherever I drive I always make sure to have a few plastic bags, some latex gloves, and a sharp knife. Whenever I see something good I just pull over and toss it in the bag. When I get home I clean off most of the flesh and toss it in a corrosive bath which eats away the rest of the meat. When it’s too big (or stinky) I put it under chicken wire in a field, which lets it rot but keeps other critters from stealing it. Eventually you’ve got nice, meatless bones. I so a quick treatment to preserve sterilize and, and ta da, nice clean bones.

Who do you think your target clients are?

The types of people interested in my jewelry always surprises me. I was thinking I’d only get the younger, alternative crowd, or the pirate people, but folks from all walks of life have expressed interest. How long does it take, start to finish, to make 1 piece of jewelry. It’s really hard to tell exactly how long. I get so many bones from one animal it can seem to take a very short amount of time. But when you get into finding the animal, cleaning it, treating it, preserving it, it adds up to a few days to a few weeks for each piece.

I notice on some of your pieces, you have combined bones from different parts of the body to create a new form (mouse skull and scappula to make horns? or ears?) Where did this idea come from?

 Haha! Ears! It’s an homage to a beloved icon, I’m going to force them on Pirates of the Caribbean fanatics. I started out making sculptures of fantastical creatures from various animals, and bones are just like puzzle pieces anyway, you can fit them together to make anything.

What does this work mean to you? Is it just jewelry that you’re making? In other words…if you were to wax philosophical about what you’re doing, how would you describe it?

I love bones, and art, I don’t know if any of it could be ‘just jewelry’ to me. Very few people have shed tears over a short supply of raccoon penis bones, so I suppose it’s reached a different level. Waxing philosophical, I suppose I see bones as one of the ultimate connections between people, animals, whatever. When you get down to it people and all animals share a very similar skeletal structure, it’s all based off the same concept. You’d be stunned at how many people are surprised that deers have toes, much less five of them, like we do. Aside from that it’s a confrontation with death. Many of the animals in my jewelry have died not so pleasant deaths, torn asunder by owls or hit by trucks, but it’s not a horrific thing. There’s beauty to it. And there’s acceptance. One day we will all die and this is what we’ll end up like. And god willing, someone will find us and turn us into a bracelet.

 It’s really hard to tell exactly how long. I get so many bones from one animal it can seem to take a very short amount of time. But when you get into finding the animal, cleaning it, treating it, preserving it, it adds up to a few days to a few weeks for each piece.

  What does your family think of your art?

 My family has been very supportive of all this. Even more so now that I no longer use the lawn or the cooking utensils to process the bones. My dad helped me out on my first store front, and my mother is known to call me at 6am to let me know there’s a good clean kill beaver on the side of the road. Even my little sister picks up good bones on hikes for me.

 Do many people have custom orders and what sorts of things do they ask for?

Most of my work is done in custom orders. Mostly people are trying to find something in a specific animal, modeled off another piece they see. A lot of other people have pets that have passed on that they want me to make into something they can wear. My boyfriend has a bracelet made from his Rottweiler, my friend has a domestic cat necklace, and I’ve made a dog skull lampshade for another friend.

I see a warning on your site to not send dead pets to be memorialized…do you have horror stories?

 No real horror stories yet thank goodness! I do get a lot of questions and offers. I’ll take your pets if you can pack them in dry ice and mail them next day, or I can pick them up. Most people just want to mail them in Tupperware or wrapped in a bag. I have a strong stomach for dealing with rot, but there’re limits. Plus, I don’t think the post office is too keen on that.

 What would you say to your critics that this kind of thing is grotesque or worse?

 Bite me. Just kidding. It’s the ultimate in recycled art. I don’t kill any of these animals, and even my strictest vegan friends approve. Besides, it’s far more dignified than allowing them to decompose on an interstate. Not everyone is ready to face death though, much less wear mememto mori on their body. That’s ok, it kinda makes me a niche market.

 How do you see your artwork/ jewelry evolving over time? Are there new projects that you’d like to take on?

In the future I’m hoping to put out a line of cast silver bones as well as the natural ones. Aside from that I’m hoping to start making rings as well as some sculptures. I’ve got a “Caterpillar” in the making made from the hips, legs, and spines of about 20 animals.

  I have to say, your prices are incredible. Many people would charge much more for a similar piece. Why did you make your pricing choice in the manner you did?

 I believed that you mentioned something about trading on your site. Is this a popular option for people and what sorts of things have people traded…or what sorts of things are you interested in taking as trade for the jewelry?

  So you’re doing an event in NY and then going all the way to LA. That is quite the distance to travel- what is it like selling art all across the nation? How do you connect with you different host vendor events?

  I’ve worked and traveled with Renaissance Faires for a little over a decade. When I started to post my jewelry on the internet a few of the other Faire vendors I knew all pushed me to sign up as a vendor at the next show. It was a little late in the season to be applying, plus Sterling said they wouldn’t take anymore jewelers, but they helped me get connected to the right people and put it all together. I seriously owe them. My boss of many years kept telling me “All the crafters are getting old, we need young blood!” So, really, anyone can get in too if you think you have an appropriate craft. The Sterling Festival website should have some phone numbers to call. Vending outside of Faires is something I’m still working on establishing connections for, so I’m pretty open!

Can you comment on making a living out of doing what you love (if, that is, you love to make bone jewelry).

I do love making bone jewelry, but I don’t know if you can call it a living quite yet. I’m still building the business. I haven’t gotten it to where it pays my tuition. But it’s good, it’s worth all the stress. Even if I do put in more time and energy than I might doing something else, it’s pretty satisfying.

  Any thoughts for people who want to get started in jewelry making? Did you take any classes? Did you teach yourself? 

  I haven’t taken any classes, mostly self taught, but I’ve learned a lot from other jewelers on the faire circuit. I try to always listen to advice and tips, even if they seem unrelated. You never know when you need it. Just go to craft shows or even Faires and just start talking to someone whose work you enjoy. You may not expect it but people can be really helpful and tend to give advice freely. Unless they’re jerks. 

So people, go check out Cat’s awesome shop online and tell her that curiositycure sent you.  She is a really cool chick and can make all sorts of crazy custom pieces for you! www.drybones.etsy.com

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji6fMSpBV94

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YkJGaA7wnw

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc7Tw9HpAoo

Father and son team Ron and Shelby greets me as I walk in the door. The lights are low…perhaps a quiet lunch reprieve from 20 enthusiastic campers as they vent their energy on the nearby playground. “Thanks so much for meeting me today!” I gush, practically overflowing with excitement. Pitching the idea of interviews for some no-name blog isn’t the easiest thing but Ron and Shelby graciously agreed to talk with me.

“So what is your story? Why chess?” Ron pauses for a moment, reflecting. “Well, let me see. I guess I’ve always wanted to open a chess facility in my retirement and when I was retired early, it seemed like the perfect time.” Ron is a local guy. He went to the local high school (Edison Tech), grew up in the suburbs (Penfield) and got a local job (Kodak). “I’ve been playing since high school” he continues. My father has to drive me to school early so I had a lot of extra time on my hands in the morning. All of us early birds would sit around in the cafeteria waiting for the bell to signal first period. Some kids would gossip, some would read or play cards, but there was this one group…”displaced persons” they used to be called. So this group of eastern Europeans would all sit together not hardly speaking any English and they would play chess. Well, long story short, I wound up joining them.”

Thus began Ron’s life long love of this game of kings. “You know, when I picked up bike riding I wanted to be the best bike rider. When I was in softball, I wanted to be the best player. The same went for chess.” In fact, it was this drive that won Ron the 1967 amateur chess championship. Shelby brings me a faded magazine with a much younger man proudly holding a trophy. This pride in their accomplishments translates easily to the current day when Ron and Shelby begin to talk about the young people who attend their camps. “Some of these kids come to us and they’re not the jocks, they’re not the popular kids…but some of them are. Either way they are able to find a community of people here that won’t tease them about being ‘geeks’ or ‘brainiacs’.

This is a big problem today with the kids. I had one girl,” Shelby reflects, “12 years old and her friends were telling her that she could either play chess or be friends with them, but not both. This is the kind of stigma that people are putting on these kids. Parents do it too. Sometimes we’ll get parents who say ‘Oh, God no. Please, anything but chess! They think that they’ll send their kid to chess camp and they will come back home wearing horn rimmed glasses. But what they don’t know is that colleges are offering full ride scholarships to these kids. We had a kid who was faced with a real dilemma…should he go to MIT or Yale? So why are we trying to punish these kids for thinking, for learning to use strategy, and for developing discipline? These are the future leaders we’re talking about. I had another kid who won a chess championship and begged the lady who does the announcements at school to not mention it over the loud speakers.”

So why is there such a big backlash against this culture? “Well if you think about it it’s ok to be smart, but not too smart. It’s ok to be good at chess, but not really good.” Anyways, once the parents learn that more and more colleges and universities are offering full ride scholarships for chess, they usually are a lot more receptive to chess camp.

The father/ son team relates another story of a child whose teacher made him stand on a soccer ball during class just so that he could stay focused and quiet…something to occupy his mind. This teacher learned that the student was going to learn chess and scoffed. “You are going to need to FORCE that kid to play chess. I can just see him now bouncing off the walls.” “Actually, why don’t you come and see him at the tournament this weekend” Shelby replied. Sure enough, the teacher stood in the room for 2 hours and watched this kids use laser like focus totally attentive and behaved.”

As if running full day camps, attending tournaments, and shaping the leaders of society weren’t enough- Ron and Shelby also develop their own chess products…things like a new chess timer, score book, chess bags, etc… They are adamant that their products last 3-4 times longer than their competitions. “We live in a society of consumables. It used to be that you’d buy a thing one time and you’d be fine. Now people will buy a thing, use it, and throw it away. We really believe that if we give our clients a high quality item that will last them a lifetime, they will be happier and come back to see us again.

As I am concluding the interview, I scratch out my blog address on a note card to give to Ron and turn around to see a stream of 8-14 year old kids pouring through the door. Lunch is over, playtime has ended, and now it’s time, once again, to cultivate the minds that will lead us into the decades to come.

A special thanks to the guys at the Rochester Chess Center. Check out their great selection of products at http://www.chessset.com/

Learn more about their camps and other events at http://www.nychess.org/

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/28/spinal.injury.blue.dye/index.html

Ants:

Did you know that you can trick an ant into believing that a kicking and moving live ant is dead?  How?  An ant’s world is ruled by chemicals.  When an ant dies and it’s body begins to decompose there is an acid released.  This chemical signals the other ants to dispose of the body.  Well, if you take the live ant and cover it with same chemical the other ants will carry the still living ant to the rubbish pile.  How about that?!

In fact, Fire Ants use between 10 to 20 different chemicals to signal various things including what sort of enemy they may be facing.

Ok on to the really cool thing now.  Have you ever wondered about the massive variety of life on this planet.  While scientists have catalogued 1.8 billion different life forms it is believed that we have only barely scratched the surface!  1.8 billion is nothing to laugh at, however.  Which ones have we got covered?  Check it out for yourself.  This is a catalogue of every known species on this wonderful planet earth.  www.eol.org  Literally, the Encyclopedia of Life.  You can search by name or just explore.  What a hoot (no pun intended)!

Jay is a jazz man. He is a musician and loves to take music apart to see how it works and how HE can make it work. “It’s actually a lot like storytelling” he says. “In Jazz music you play off of a lead sheet which gives you the basic cords and melody. It’s the job of the musician to improvise off of that to create their own art. This is what a good storyteller can do. Once you know the basic characters and the plot, the rest is just details.” And, oh what details he provides.

Consider this. You are working as a music teacher at a local school when you get a call from the local library asking you to come in to tell stories. “Our scheduled magician had a last minute cancellation and wouldn’t you consider coming in?” she says.
“I think you’ve got the wrong number” Jay replies. “I’m no magician.” As it turns out, the head of his school was standing at the librarian’s desk when the magician cancelled and told the worker that he knew someone who told stories.

“Aha! So you were telling stories back then right Jay?”

Actually, no. What he was doing was teaching choreography to elementary kids. Huh? “Think of it this way. I would start a piece of music and begin to speak the story. It was up to the kids to move around as the different story characters as we went on to help unfold the tale.” Instant choreography. “So when the librarian asked me to tell stories, it struck me that really the choreography was the vehicle for storytelling…or vice versa. When I went in to tell my stories that day, it was the hottest day of that summer and the library was blessedly air conditioned. “There must have been 300 people or more listening to me talk, simply because the building was pleasantly cool.”

Within weeks he was booked at every library in Western New York. It wasn’t long before he was doing shows all across America and even internationally.

He pauses to reflect that this makes a good life…not just a living.

I ask him what serves as the biggest obstacle for a storyteller. He knows the answer immediately. Stereotypes. In America when a person hears about a storytelling event they think that its for kids. Admit it. You do. Jay went on to state that in European countries…in fact in most countries, the storytellers are for s. Drawing conspiratorially close, he murmurs that he has heard stories that chilled him to the bone. He remembers a Jamaican woman whom he describes as a “standing mountain” with her head dress and wide flowing traditional garments. “She told such horrifying and graphic stories that any parent would shudder to have their children hear. And so there is a real place for stories,” he finishes, breaking the air of tension.

But what is it that s need to hear in a story?
“Adults need stories about themselves. They need characters with whom they can relate. It is so important to have a connection and to have accessible characters. You see, s miss the point of stories. When an goes to a movie they will enjoy the action and drama and suspense and when it is over they get in their car and drive away. But this is a terrible waste,” Jay asserts. “Stories are a mirror for ourselves. They are our gateway to learning, to epiphany, to the power to shift who we really ARE. If we simply get in our cars and drive away without reflecting on the lessons, then we become somehow more 2 dimensional…more flat. The job of the storyteller is to focus the lens of perspective to allow us to take from each story that which we most need. Sometimes we need other people to help us to see that.”

Jay relates the story of the man who had a wife and child. They lived happily on a slope of a mountain for many years. But one day there was a great landslide and the wife and child were killed. The man withdrew into his grief and agony cloistered himself in his cabin. The man had liked to play his fiddle but he took it and smashed it on the fence post out front vowing, in his pain, that there was nothing left worth playing for. Well as it turns out, there was a neighbor who had grown up living next to this man and had enjoyed listening to his music each evening. The neighbor was getting married and he couldn’t imagine having a wedding without the music of the man. And so he asked the man to play the fiddle at his wedding to make it complete.

“You see,” Jay concludes in a lowered voice, “we need people to help us to break out of our pain and stories have the power to break down our walls.”

Consider the archetypes and consider how they can help us to access our own power. Take the Fool. The fool is seen as pretty one dimensional. He is supposed to be silly and jovial, but the fool who entertains the princess can see her more clearly than man of her royal family. Why? Because she allows him to be close to her and he can really see her. It is just that she chooses not to look past his fool’s face paint. He who is most foolish can sometimes have the deepest heart.”

Or how about the King energy.
There was once a young prince who was unhappy. You see, he didn’t want to become king but he knew that he had no choice. Well eventually the day came to pass when the old king died and they prince must ascend the throne. Disheartened, he went to his advisor and confided that he was unhappy because he didn’t know how to be kingly. “Don’t worry,” the advisor replied. “I can help you.” Retiring to his chamber for the evening the prince found his advisor had left him a gift. It was a beautiful mahogany box with inlaid pearl and gold. Opening the box he found a beautiful silken cloth. After uncovering the cloth the prince found a huge pill next to a small scroll. The scroll was actually a message from the prince’s father, the old king. “This is the pill of royalty” it read. “Like royalty, it is difficult to swallow and you’ll find that it is sour and sometimes bitter. But swallow it we must if you are to be a king. You will also find that many of your choices are difficult to take. This is part of being the king.” The king is the intersection of humanity and duty. We see politicians who fall from grace after being elected and we think that they have lost their humanity. But consider also that the bag-lady has humanity. She has a story and is someone’s daughter or lover or mother. Once we can see the humanity in the lowest of us, we can enter the king.

I found that several times during our conversation Jay would take my initial question and launch into 2 or 3 fantastic teaching stories that were seemingly worlds away from our topic and then WHAM! The last 6 minutes would coalesce into a startlingly simple and beautiful lesson about my original question…and who we are as people.

The time is beginning to run late but I have time to sneak in one more question. “What do we need to know? What would you tell people who want to learn from the stories and embrace them. How can we live with a storyteller’s heart?

“It’s all about the stories that we tell. Consider our previous president. The message that we were receiving was that the world was a scary place and we needed to be protected from dangerous people. That has a real effect on the culture. Now consider our current president. His message is that we must create relationships and focus on opportunity. Same office- very different story.”
“Life is really a series of stories,” Jay muses. “Take the Odyssey. It is about several thing, but each chapter is really an individual story. Challenges need to be faced. Scary things must be confronted before the hero can return home. But with each challenge comes someone who can help us face those challenges. Use each chapter in your life to grow. What is the real message here? How can I learn from this experience and what is below my knee jerk reaction. If your fiancée and you have a fight about the wall color…look deeper. Is it truly about the color or could it be something else? Could you really be afraid of losing? Could you be afraid of losing your place? You see, everyone needs an anchor and a place to belong. That is what relationships are really about. Finding a place in the world and a place to belong.”

Jay has certainly found his place with a vita that reads like a who’s who in the business and academic world. He boasts several storytelling cds and can be heard every day on the radio (105.9 Rochester). Look at his brilliant website. It is full of information including samples of his work and how to learn more. Bravo Jay.
http://www.jaystetzer.com/index.htm

So take a moment and consider your chapter. What lesson is the great storyteller unfolding for you right now, and do you have the courage to see it? The story continues.