Monday, August 27, 2012

Venus Rx Dance

Venus Rx Dance by Postcards from UAC
Venus Rx Dance, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.

At UAC 2012, the Venus Retrograde Dance, photo from Vancouver's AstroGuild!

Friday, July 13, 2012

So It Goes: Recurrence Transits at Work by Nick Dagan Best









 "A transiting aspect that mirrors an aspect found in a given nativity is called a recurrence transit. These can be extremely powerful, even if they don't actually make zodiacal contact to any point in a given chart. An old astrological concept that is rarely covered in books, articles or classes, yet is truly central to understanding not only how birth charts resonate with transits, but also what aspects might actually mean in daily life." ~ Nick Dagan Best


I have some wonderful news!

The fabulous Montreal based astrologer, Nick Dagan Best, has very generously shared his UAC 2012 talk on Recurrence Transits with us. You can find the complete PDF file  HERE

Even better you can purchase the entire talk in either CD or MP3 from UAC HERE 

and while you're there don't forget to look at the other UAC talks available for purchase.


Namaste' Y'all,
Robin








Saturday, July 7, 2012

1,200 Astrologers Can't Be Wrong by Jeff Jawer

This is a link to a post published on Tarot.com by Jeff Jawer while he was at UAC 2012. I somehow missed it when it first came out but was a lucky enough to see it on Chris Brennan's Horoscopic Astrology Blog. [robin]

1,200 Astrologers Can't Be Wrong: I'm in New Orleans for the United Astrology Conference (UAC),...


Here's a short excerpt which I really liked:

UAC and the many smaller national and regional conferences are exciting events and unique ways to begin an astrological education, learn advanced techniques, and make connections, many of which will last a lifetime. Our unconventional field may still seem a bit strange to the general public, but gatherings like UAC not only build our community, but expand our outreach to the rest of the world. A hard-working public relations committee has gotten extensive television, radio, online and print coverage of this conference.

It's very heartening to see how much Astrology has grown since I began practicing way back in 1973. The range, depth and maturity of the presentations is incredible. Even though there are over 150 teachers on the faculty, it's a tough selection process in which an equal number of applicants, all professional astrologers, did not make the cut. The breadth of talented practitioners and teachers is a testament to the growth of our field. The maturity of the lectures that address the ethical and practical issues of astrological counseling is also inspiring.

Friday, July 6, 2012

UAC Lectures Now Available For Purchase

This is just a quick note to let you know that the lectures from the United Astrology Conference 2012 held in New Orleans are now available for purchase from their website (talk about a treasure trove of information and teaching!):

 

   UAC 2012 Conference Recordings: CDs and MP3s




Thursday, July 5, 2012

United Astrology Conference 2012 Recap by Chris Brennan

 

Chris Brennan, who I am sure you already know is a very talented professional astrologer from Denver, just posted this amazingly comprehensive recap of UAC 2012. I'm absolutely stunned at the amount of work he put into it. You won't want to miss it, not least of all for all the links to coverage from other astrologers out there in the blogosphere.

Plus, all of us here at Postcards from UAC are very excited about the wonderful mention we received from Chris. I know I speak for all of my helpers when I say this project was so much fun to do and we wouldn't have missed it for the world. However, the generous acknowledgement and gratitude from the astrologers out there is gratefully received [note preening Postcards from UAC Elves]. Of course, it could never have happened at all if the UAC attendees hadn't been so generous with their time and creativity. The only down side is that well, technically, UAC 2012 is over. I keep looking for things to post. I have a Cancer Ascendent. I have trouble letting go... or is that my Scorpio Moon? So please don't hesitate to send in any memories you may be keeping close to your heart.

 

Now I'm going to post part of Chris Brennan's fabulous blog post with a link to read the rest on his site at  The Horoscopic Astrology Blog 

Robin


United Astrology Conference 2012 Recap

Posted by on July 5, 2012 at 7:42 am
united astrology conference
The eighth United Astrology Conference, otherwise known as UAC, took place in New Orleans from May 24-29, 2012.

The conference was wildly successful, although it was such an intense week that many attendees were kind of burnt out afterward, and so a lot of the reviews of the conference have been trickling in slowly over the course of the past month.

At this point I think that it has been long enough since the conference ended that the majority of the coverage is in, and so the purpose of this article is to try to give a recap of the conference by providing links to a variety of different reports and other media related to the conference from around the internet.

Conference Stats

Let’s start off with some basic stats on UAC 2012:
  • It was held at the Marriott hotel at 555 Canal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, which turned out to be a pretty good hotel.
  • The final estimate put the attendance at 1,458 astrologers, including about 200 speakers (also including the free speech lecturers).
  • A total of about 295 lectures over the course of the week, plus 22 pre and post-conference workshops.
  • There were five sponsoring organizations: the American College of Vedic Astrology (ACVA), Association For Astrological Networking (AFAN), Council of Vedic Astrology (CVA), International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR) and National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR).
  • The three head coordinators of the conference were Madalyn Hillis-Dineen (NCGR), Linda Lehman (AFAN), and Gisele Terry (ISAR), who have to be given a lot of credit for successfully pulling off such a large and memorable conference.

Social Media at UAC 2012

UAC 2012 was a milestone from a technological perspective, because it was the first major conference in which participants were really actively engaged in sharing what was going on through social media websites.
If you do a search for UAC on Google right now you will find hundreds of pictures, videos, audio recordings, tweets, Facebook posts, and other types of media that was generated during the week of the conference.  As a result of that, this was one of the first conferences where even if you didn’t actually attend, you could still get a pretty clear picture of a lot of the things that happened that week, just by following the trail of social media that emanated from the conference.
uac postcards 02 

In particular, I would like to mention the Postcards from UAC project, which played a very active and important role in encouraging attendees to post reports from the conference, and then organized and aggregated them in a central location.

The founder of the project and the main organizer was Robin Dalton, who sadly wasn’t able to attend the conference, so she used several different social media sites in order to collect reports from conference attendees. Here is part of the call to (digital) arms that her group sent out just before the conference:
UAC, the world’s largest gathering of astrologers, is being held in New Orleans from May 23 to 29.  We will miss every single one of you who cannot make it… which is why we’re going to do our best to bring the party to you!  In a divinely chaotic grassroots effort, we’re encouraging all tech-savvy UAC attendees to send your images and videos out to our astro friends around the world as “Postcards from UAC.”  We’ve organized a worldwide network of volunteers to collect your postcards and share them with the global community.
Robin and the others involved in the project worked tirelessly that week, and even in the weeks after the conference, and the result is a pretty fantastic collection of media from the event. If you are interested in checking it out then here are the websites associated with the Postcards from UAC project:

Twitter Coverage

Speaking of social media, one of the things that was interesting about the conference is that this was the first UAC in which smartphones were almost ubiquitous, and so there were a number of people who were posting tweets about the conference as events were happening.

Read the rest of this great post at:  UAC 2012 Recap by Chris Brennan

Trust me. You'll be glad you did.

Namaste' Y'all,
Robin




Monday, June 25, 2012

April Elliott Kent: UAC 2012 (Part Two): The Conference

I'm a little late getting these up. I put them up on our Facebook Group but completely forgot to post them on the blog. Fortunately, Lisa sent me a reminder, so here's a partial look. Don't forget to click on the link to read the entire post.

This is Part Two of April Elliott Kent's (of Big Sky Astrology) blog post on her time at UAC in New Orleans this year:

 

THE CONFERENCE

UAC presented a classic conference-goer’s dilemma: one ass, many potential seats. I tried live-tweeting the sessions I attended, but the hotel wi-fi was spotty at best (and I have thus far managed to resist the siren call of the smart phone). I went to a few sessions, but not as many as I have at past conferences. I find I don’t have a lot of patience anymore for sitting still and listening to much of anything for an hour and ten minutes; or perhaps it was all those transiting planets in Gemini. In any event, here were a few of the sessions I sat in on (most of them before my own talk blew me out of the water, energy-wise), along with some of my fairly shallow notes, tweets, and observations. (The lectures should be available for purchase at the conference website by the end of June.)
  • Richard Tarnas (What is the Relationship of Myths to Planetary Archetypes?), who spoke about the nexxus where the names assigned to the planets do and don’t intersect with mythology. At the time I didn’t think I was keeping up. Weeks later, though, this is the talk that keeps popping into my mind and supplying little nuggets to chew on.
My tweets from the session, which reveal my vacuousness:
  • Richard Tarnas – myths, planetary archetypes, and at one point *jazz hands*.
  • Tarnas: Astrology of modern planets don’t nec reflect myth so much as the era in which discovered. You, Uranus, are no rebel.
  • Greco-Roman gods = patriarchal thugs. Heh. Good one, Richard Tarnas.

To continue reading the post go  HERE

April Elliott Kent: UAC 2012 (Part One): Hola From Nola


What makes New Orleans awesome.

I'm a little late getting these up. I put them up on our Facebook Group but completely forgot to post them on the blog. Fortunately, Lisa sent me a reminder, so here's a partial look. Don't forget to click on the link to read the entire post.

This is Part One of April Elliott Kent's (of Big Sky Astrology) blog post on her time at UAC in New Orleans this year:



I began this post three weeks ago in New Orleans. Hence the title, which I like too much to change it even though I’ve been home for two weeks and am actually bidding you “Hola” from San Diego at this point. Part two, with deets about the conference itself, is here.

The City

We arrived in New Orleans after two hours sleep and a long, tedious day of flying, and I’ll admit, I was underwhelmed. The muggy heat and the din of street noise were a bit … something. And not a pleasant something. My impression of the city began to improve over dinner with Kelly Surtees, her charming fiancé Peter, and their delightful friend Kira Sutherland. We found a barbecue place on a small sidestreet, where we gorged on fish and red beans and rice and numerous cocktails while flames occasionally erupted from the kitchen a few feet away. Good times.
The next morning Jonny and I rolled out of bed early and wandered the six blocks to breakfast at Cafe Du Monde – because apparently when you’re in New Orleans, it’s the law. We daintily sidestepped rivers of goo from freshly hosed sidewalks and wrinkled our noses at the city’s distinctive bouquet, the tang of a place that never really dries out. “The Virgos in Hell!” we dubbed ourselves. But the funk was worth it, because the place is not to be missed. Outdoor tables crowded together under ceiling fans, covered in a dusting of powdered sugar and dripping with sweaty touristas like us. Beignets were everything I’d hoped they would be, and my frozen cafe au lait was a delight. I was charmed.

Read the rest  HERE

Friday, June 15, 2012

Kate Petty: The Power of Antiscia

The Muse of Astrology, Urania
  

I have the most fabulous news!

Kate Petty, astrologer extraordinaire, has made her UAC Lecture on Antiscia available on her website: Urania Designs!

Not only is her lecture there, but her web site is pretty cool, as well. I highly recommend you go spend some time there!

You can find her lecture here: The Power of Antiscia 

 

 

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Demetra George and Dorothy Oja

From Toni Thomas

Panel Discussion

Panel Discussion by Postcards from UAC
Panel Discussion, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.

With Chris Turner, Jack Fertig, Donna Woodwell, Eric Francis Coppolino and Roy L. Gilgert ~ submitted by Toni Thomas

Evelyn Roberts and Rob Hand

From Toni Thomas

Evelyn Roberts and Rick Levine

This uber cool photo was kindly given to us by Toni Thomas

Kim Rogers by Toni Thomas

Kindly sent to us by Toni Thomas

From Toni Thomas

From Toni Thomas by Postcards from UAC
From Toni Thomas, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.

At Check-In with David Cochrane, Fei and Michael

Toni Thomas and Cece Stevens

From Toni Thomas

Toni Thomas with Fei at Avalon

From Toni Thomas

New Orleans Oyster Bar

From Toni Thomas

Ann Clancy

Ann Clancy by Postcards from UAC
Ann Clancy, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.

This is from Toni Thomas ~ [I love this photo. rd]

Rick Levine from Toni Thomas and Anne Clancy

This is actually an Ann Clancy pic that I pilfered off of Toni Thomas' Facebook Feed. I am so hoping I don't get in trouble for this. However, just how cool is this photo of Rick Levine. This UAC elf is a big fan of Rick's :) rd

Goddesses with Rick Levine

From Toni Thomas ~ Kim Rogers, Roxana Muise, Paula Dare and Rick Levine

Glenn Perry UAC 2012 with Na Na from Japan and William Stickevers on the right from Toni Thomas

From Toni Thomas: Glenn Perry with Na Na from Japan and William Stickevers on the right.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Andrea Gehrz, the Astrological Detective Radio Show

Seriously cool! You won't want to miss this!





Andrea Gehrz, the Astrological Detective, has just shared the link to her latest uber cool radio show, where she talks about her experiences at UAC 2012!

Links: News Coverage

Some of these links will contain articles we've already posted. Some of them are duplicates of each other. I thought it might make more sense just to do a page of links. However, don't miss the Picture Gallery with none other than one of the Postcards from UAC elves: Donna Woodwell!!

 


Media Gallery USA Today: Astrology Gathering   [this is the picture gallery (don't forget to look for Donna Woodwell) and was also distributed by UPI... rd]



On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 8:12 PM, 

Note: AP and Reuters placements yielded over 200 media placements


Presidential Election 2012 Panel
Reuters May 29 2012

Bayou Buzz May 27


Compilation of most media hits


May 25

Reuters: (landed in many outlets including cbs, more than  20 placements)


Times Picayune (hard copy out Friday 5/25)

 

First of AP stories hit early Thurs 5/24

 
 YES, we're in the AP Day Book!
Enjoy!


Fox News Latino: Predicting the World – and the Next President, Maybe


This is a news article that was "Based on reporting by The Associated Press."  I'll leave you to work that one out for yourselves. There is a photo of a woman with a crystal ball which will probably annoy you. It did me. However, no news is bad news??... robin]


Predicting the World – and the Next President, Maybe




Video: Associated Press~ Astrologers Predict Outcome of Presidential Race

Watch video on Yahoo News HERE

and USA Today HERE

Astrologers predict outcome of presidential race

Thu, May 24, 2012 - AP 1:38 | 7,447 views

Heraldnet: Astrologers gaze into the future in New Orleans

[This is the long version of the Associated Press release.  robin]

NEW ORLEANS -- Will President Barack Obama win re-election? Will the world end Dec. 21, as some say the Mayan calendar predicts? Will the economy ever improve?

If you ask the 1,500 astrologers contemplating planetary alignments this week in New Orleans, the answers are yes, no and yes.

The astrologers, representing 30 countries, are in the city's famed French Quarter for the United Astrology conference held every four years. They say their work goes beyond the entertainment of horoscopes, tarot cards and palm readings, instead relying on in-depth study of the solar system.

This year, there is no shortage of predictions.

"If you thought that the election of 2000 race was crazy, that's nothing compared to what's going to happen in November of 2012," said astrologer Michael Lutin, an astrology columnist for Vanity Fair magazine for 25 years. "Don't count on anything being smooth."

That's because Mercury -- the planet of communication, tabulation and transportation -- goes into what's known as retrograde on Nov. 6, Election Day. Retrograde in astrology refers to the optical illusion of a planet moving backward, causing changes or disturbances in areas of life represented by that planet.

In 2000, Mercury was in retrograde when controversy swirled in Florida over the recount that took center stage in the race between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Florida was a swing state, and the outcome of the election wasn't known for more than a month after balloting.

"There could be tabulation problems, problems with the polling machines. Vote absentee to make sure your vote is counted," said New York City astrologer Shelley Ackerman.

Read the rest of the article


HERE

CBS News: Astrologers Gaze Into the Future

[I have recently been given a list of the various new coverage UAC2012 received. Some of them, the postcard elves managed to find, but some slipped through our diligent fingers. So the next few posts will consist of news coverage I (and possibly you) may have missed.
 Robin, Postcards from UAC~United Kingdom Branch]

 
May 24, 2012 11:24 AM

Astrologers gaze into the future in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — Will President Barack Obama win re-election? Will the world end Dec. 21, as some say the Mayan calendar predicts? Will the economy ever improve?

If you ask the 1,500 astrologers contemplating planetary alignments this week in New Orleans, the answers are yes, no and yes.

The astrologers, representing 30 countries, are in the city's famed French Quarter for the United Astrology conference held every four years. They say their work goes beyond the entertainment of horoscopes, tarot cards and palm readings, instead relying on in-depth study of the solar system.

This year, there is no shortage of predictions.

"If you thought that the election of 2000 race was crazy, that's nothing compared to what's going to happen in November of 2012," said astrologer Michael Lutin, an astrology columnist for Vanity Fair magazine for 25 years. "Don't count on anything being smooth." 

Read the rest of the article  HERE





Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Michelle Gould with Hula Hoop

Michelle Gould takes a turn with the hula hoop at Rock and Bowl. From Donna Woodwell

Hal Bahr On His Way Home


This is another update we received from Hal Bahr on our Postcards from UAC Facebook Group. You can find him on Facebook HERE  and also on his Wordpress Site: Soul Journey Design

 

 

Hal Bahr is in the Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans sitting next to Kelly Lee Phipps and Alan Oken waiting for our flight to Denver and then I keep going on westward to Medford Oregon and my sweet home and garden in the little town of Phoenix a few miles away.

UAC was an interesting mix for me. So many brilliant people all together in a hotel that was more than a little toxic. Too much air conditioning keeping the place too cold led to a lose/lose situation with the hotel spending more than they needed, the environment suffering, and a great number of the attendees catching respiratory bugs. I took refuge in the tropical outside air of the pool as much as I could during the main part of the conference. Many of the lecture rooms were cell-like and the set-up lent itself to a fractured feeling instead of really drawing everyone together. When the masses did get together there was a distinctly high school vibe present so I'm hoping next time we gather in a different way and more fully embrace our cooperative efforts here in the world with less need for ego gratification and one-upmanship. I'm sure everyone will leave the event remembering the particularly diabolical elevator system which seemed designed to serve the inanimate much more than the animated people trying to use them. But enough of the gripes.

I got to spend a good amount of time with a number of my favorite astrologers and friends and even managed to make some new ones. I was inspired by some of the speakers and got to meet a number of my Facebook friends. I even got a chance to see some of New Orleans and had a couple surprising and very pleasant personal encounters.

As I went to the airport I only felt incomplete in one thing and that was the promise I had made to Carola Eastwood to introduce myself to Alan Oken and give him a hug from her....so who do I end up sitting next to here in the airport but Alan. Enjoy the Ride? Mission Accomplished.


Hal Bahr at Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans on his way home...

The REAL Next Generation

Of astrologers found at Cafe Du Monde enjoying beignets at on Monday at midnight. From Donna Woodwell

Hotel Take Out

Hotel Take Out by Postcards from UAC
Hotel Take Out, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.

Rebecca Crane cautiously displays her hotel dining take out bag. From Donna Woodwell

Astrologers on a Bus

On our way to the Rock 'n Bowl. From Donna Woodwell

Paula Dare

Paula Dare by Postcards from UAC
Paula Dare, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.

Paula Dare considers becoming a stage astrologer at Rock 'n Bowl. From Donna Woodwell

From Michael Erlewine: Going Home

[This is Michael's final installment to The New Orleans Journal, as we all say good-by to this indescribable gathering of astrologers from around the world. There was one line in it that resonated quite deeply with me, so I wanted to single it out here:

"I understood once again that in any mandala offering, it is the 'offering' process that is auspicious and meritorious (what we gave of ourselves), the giving itself, and not the result --"

Namaste' y'all.
Robin
Postcards from UAC~The United Kingdom Branch]


GOING HOME


In a just a little while I will be on my way home from UAC, the United Astrology Conference, here in New Orleans. For someone who does not travel and, aside from nature walks and photography, does not even go out all that much, this has been a trip in more ways than one. In other words, you will seldom see me in large social groups.

At 2 PM yesterday the Marketplace closed and we deconstructed our booth. As we packed our freight boxes it was only too clear that the mandala of UAC was disintegrating very literally by that point. No, we did not sweep it into the river, but as I surveyed the now-empty space where our booth was, I understood once again that in any mandala offering, it is the 'offering' process that is auspicious and meritorious (what we gave of ourselves), the giving itself, and not the result -- what we got from the process.

Of course I personally got a lot out of the conference, but it probably cannot be measured in dollars earned in the Marketplace. Immersed real-time in the stream of astrologers from all over the world, I once again have a real sense of how things are with us and where we are going. And as wonderful as we are as a group, I cannot say that all is rosy.

It is clear to me that astrology is still struggling to be properly recognized as a profession by society and that making a living through astrology remains a hard row to hoe. At the same time, I see that our intent and heart is in the right place and our compassion to be of use to others is very much alive and well.

Being here has been something of a wild ride, one that I will long remember. I certainly have ridden in enough elevators (some packed to the limit) and walked enough hallways for a while. And I will not miss the stinging in my eyes from the strong rug shampoo these hotels use that apparently has no way of being absorbed, except by our bodies.

But I will cherish the very many friends I have met here and the meaningful conversations we have had with one another. Isn't that what this conference is really all about? Of course I enjoyed the lectures I attended, but when I spontaneously think of this last week, it is the friendship of my fellow astrologers that comes to mind, and all my Facebook friends that I had never met before. We are many!

I include here a quick iPhone photo of our dog Molotov that my wife took yesterday. There he is amidst some poppies in our yard. I know that he is (and has been) waiting for me to come home all this time. My wife tells me that he has been spending most of his time in my office.

Anyway, I am on my way. Thanks to all of you who read this and I will return to my regular blog tomorrow (as they say around here), "If the good god is willing, and the creek don't rise."

Molotov, Michael Erlewine's dog

Giselle Terry

Giselle Terry by Postcards from UAC
Giselle Terry, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.

ISAR President Giselle Terry struts her astro diva stuff at rock and bowl. From Donna Woodwell

Carriage Ride in the French Quarter

Evening carriage ride through the French Quarter, haunted buildings and all. From Donna Woodwell

Markus Kuenzel and Samuel Bowling

Markus Kuenzel and Samuel Bowling testing the beignets at Cafe Du Monde. From Donna Woodwell

Cafe Du Monde

Cafe Du Monde by Postcards from UAC
Cafe Du Monde, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.

Midnight Monday at Cafe Du Monde. From Donna Woodwell

Leaving on a jet plane


All good things come to an end.... Time for the next adventure.  From Donna Woodwell.

O! Vegasm!

O! Vegasm! by Postcards from UAC
O! Vegasm!, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.

Final ever brunch! From @Jupitergeek

Fortune Teller Miracle Fish

From @Jupitergeek

Curried Tofu Scramble

From @Jupitergeek

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pancake

From @Jupitergeek

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

CONTINUING COVERAGE OF UAC BY ERIC FRANCES AND PLANET WAVES FM

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to take a moment to share this message from Eric Francis and the people at Planet Waves. Click on the link for some fabulous interviews with astrologers at UAC!

Photo from Planet Waves FM (c)



"This page contains the still-growing Planet Waves coverage of the United Astrology Conference -- more than 20 hours of interviews conducted by me with conference participants, as well as some other stuff. The page is still developing." ~ Eric Francis

Einstein and Newton

Einstein and Newton by Postcards from UAC
Einstein and Newton, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.
Steven Forrest as Einstein and Andrew Morton as Newton. From Lynda Hill on Facebook
From "The Mayans Were Right..." Show

From Michael Erlewine: The Mandala Is Breaking Up


THE MANDALA IS BREAKING UP

The UAC mandala is dissolving. The last day is already here. I have to remind myself that, like the intricate sand mandalas of the Tibetan Buddhists that once finished are swept into a pile and tossed into a river, it is not the colored sand that is the mandala and blessing, but the act of offering and making the design. We have all offered ourselves to one another here; how inspiring.

When I first arrived in New Orleans, time seemed to crawl by and each day was an endless display of promising events. But each succeeding day has gone by faster and faster, like two trains passing, until today we are suddenly at the end. I already see that leaving all of this is going to somewhat painful. I was afraid of that.

Much of my experience here has been like a dream or movie in which the cast of my many astrological friends appear one after another in succession. I am awake in my own dream. As for my Facebook friends, I have met scores of you in person for the first time and, although we have never seen each other face-to-face, we were already old friends. It has been such a treat to meet you!

In my life I wear several hats, including being a musician. I had to skip the UAC banquet I was looking forward to when I received a dinner invitation from Ben Jaffe (the owner and creative director of the Preservation Jazz Hall), and the son of Hall founders Allan and Sandra Jaffe. Ben also plays tuba and bass for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. This was an offer I could not refuse. It was a wonderful evening, just a few folks meeting at an incredible home for food and conversation. 

Attending was acclaimed musician John Boutte, who wrote the theme song and other music for HBO's original series, "Treme." I had lunch with Boutte earlier in the week. Also there was the legendary musician Charlie Gabriel, a 79-year-old clarinetist who also plays in the Preservation Hall Band. Luke Winslow-King, who  played music at our UAC booth twice this week, was also there, along with Celia Sinclair (who helped out in our booth). Celia is the daughter of my long-time friend, poet, and activist John Sinclair. My old friend Bill Lynn picked me up at the hotel and brought me back. We had a delicious and vegetarian (mostly vegan) meal, so it was almost like home, what a wonderful time.

Today I will be tying up loose ends and (quite symbolically) taking down our booth sometime around 2 PM. After that I have no idea what I will do, probably say goodbye to as many folks as I can and prepare to head to the airport early Wednesday morning. I will soon be back home in a small town in mid-Michigan with my family, so far away from all this. Au revoir to New Orleans and to all of you at UAC.

Michael
 
 [Photo of Charlie Gabriel, not by me]
 
Charlie Gabriel, Clarinetist and member of the Preservation Hall Band
 

Goddesses Backstage

Goddesses Backstage by Postcards from UAC
Goddesses Backstage, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.
Sent to us by Dorothy Oja on Facebook: Michael Lutin's Play
L to R: Kim Rogers-Gallagher, Paula Dare, Dorothy Oja, Madalyn Hillis-Dineen, Susie Cox, Demetra George, Suellen Ruben, Kelley Hunter

Monday, May 28, 2012

Regulus Awards Banquet

From @chrisbrennan7

Jackie Slevin Essential Dignities

Jackie Slevin and the Ptolemic Table of Essential Dignities. From @empoweringastro

Nick Dagan Best

Nick Dagan Best by Postcards from UAC
Nick Dagan Best, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.

Nick Dagan Best - So It Goes: Recurrence Transits at Work. From @empoweringastro

Tony Parinti Serious

Hey kids! Vote for which Tony Parinti picture you like best. First is Tony looking serious. Second is Tony smiling. From Tom Canfield

Tony Parinti Smiling

Hey kids! Vote for which Tony Parinti picture you like best. First is Tony looking serious. Second is Tony smiling. From Tom Canfield

Alphee and Carol Lavoie

Alphee Lavoie having a wild time at the NCGR hospitality suite. From Tom Canfield

NCGR Hospitality Suite

From Tom Canfield

Margaret Cahill

Margaret Cahill by Postcards from UAC
Margaret Cahill, a photo by Postcards from UAC on Flickr.

Margaret Cahill takes a drink. From Tom Canfield