The Yes Mom

The Mammary Chronicles are at it again.  If you happen to be in the deep wilds of Orange County on Monday, February 4th, please join us  for an evening of poetry and prose with some truly talented poets including Thea Iberall, Raundi Moore-Kondo, Eric Morago and Paul Suntup.  Proceeds to benefit the Susan G. Komen foundation as I am preparing, yet again, to walk another 60 miles in the 3-Day Walk in November.

Not only will we be celebrating the spoken word, amazing poets, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation, I will be celebrating two years cancer free.  I have to say it again.  Two years cancer free.  Woohoo!!!  And, who better to celebrate it with than all of you who have given me such tremendous support.  Truly, I could not have done it, or continue to do it, without you.

RSVP to my E-mail:  Deanne.Brown@roadrunner.com

Hope to see you all there! 

   

 

“Try to be inspired by something every day. Try to inspire at least one person every day.” …Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Saturday night, The Mammary Chronicles performed at Pondwater Society.  My kids call it Bongwater, where 1967 meets 2012, swimming pools have been turned into fish ponds and creativity grows like weed, ignites and fills the air with inspiration.  A cacophony of eccentric artists, poets, and musicians make this monthly event an experience everyone should have at least once in their lifetime.  And, you have to meet Joanne and Ed, the hosts and visionaries behind this magical happening.

This was our third Mammary Chronicles performance; each show as unique as a woman’s breasts.  Our mission:  A night of poetry and prose dedicated to the celebration and preservation of breasts, the woman who survived them, and honoring those who haven’t.  It was a great night.  Our performance was in Raundi’s words, “rad.”  I shared stories from my adventures in breast cancer, Raundi read her poetry and sang her own rendition of Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Breasts.”  And, to top it all off, we sang, “Check, check, check your breasts.” 

Click below to watch us sing:

Check, Check, Check Your Breast Song

The grand finale of the night, Helicopter played.  They rocked, we danced, and Sean burned.

 

 

Sean is an artist and a regular at Pondwater.  Inspired by the Mammary Chronicles, he created a very powerful work of art.  It is so stirring I just had to share it with you.  Above is a picture of him finishing the final touches at Pondwater with hot coals.  He posted it on Facebook adding a sweet note, “Thank you Deanne and Raundi for the mammarian inspiration. Your words definitely influenced the direction of the piece.”

 

 

You inspire me too Sean.  Your piece is beautiful.  It captures the emotions of the experience of breast cancer perfectly. 

I can’t begin to tell you the excitement I feel when someone tells me that I have inspired them.  It feels so right, so good, reminding me of why I am on this planet.  I am here on Earth to write a book, tour with The Mammary Chronicles, and walk in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day walk.  I am here to inspire and be inspired.  I am here to stir things up a bit and shine a light on what seems like the impossible.  I am here to help motivate, encourage, egg-on and trigger-off.  I am here to show people that when something bad happens to them, it is not a time to throw in the towel and give up.  Like Winston Churchill said, “Never, never, never, never give up.”

I am also here to heal.  Writing, walking, and performing are great outlets for me.  They help me to mend my scars.  And, I have some big scars.  But these outlets, they are channels to health and happiness.  Not only do the help me heal, they help me get in touch with myself and unlock the mystery of both my inner psyche and the outer universe.  That is the magic of performing on stage.  That is the magic of writing.  That is the magic of art. 

For example, when I write, I enter into another world.  I leave my ego behind, tap into something deep and divine and write from my true self.  Usually inspired by some personal story, lesson or truth, and originating from some mysterious place inside, I feel a desperate need to get it out.  Ideas travel down my arm, through my fingers and onto paper.  Words appear, sentences form and eventually an entire story emerges right before my eyes.  It feels incredible when it all clicks.  Pure satisfaction! 

I am certain that this is what Joseph Campbell meant by “bliss.”

But getting to this tantric state of bliss takes work.  Ideas don’t always appear like a bolt of lightning.  I can’t speak for Sean but I am sure most artists agree.  There are times I have to force myself to sit down and write.  I have to say “yes” when I feel like saying “no.”  I can’t just sit at home and hope to be inspired; wishing ideas will be delivered to my door like a pizza.  I have to go after it, put myself out there, experience life and live fully.  Jack London knows this.  He writes, “You can’t wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club.”

So, I am going after it.  Day after day, I write, I walk, I work, I play and I work some more.  It’s not easy but the satisfaction I feel makes it all worth it.  The harder I work, the more energy I have.  The more I play, the more my imagination soars.  The more I am inspired, the more I inspire.  And, the more I say “yes” to life the more life says “yes” to me.  It’s a win win situation.

I can’t believe I actually thought I would make a good accountant once upon a time.  I dabbled in the arts a bit but was afraid I could not make a living at it.  I thought it was something other people did, that I was not a part of that world.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  I am an artist through and through.  And this is not to put down accountants in any way, because even accounting is an art, I just personally wouldn’t do it any justice, unless I could turn numbers into prose.     

So it seems I am a bit of a late bloomer, but that’s ok, better late than never.  And, the weird part about all of this, cancer helped me to come to this realization.  It opened doors for me that I did not know were there waiting to be unlocked. 

But just having a door opened is not enough.  I learned you have to walk through it.  This is the most crucial step. 

We all have a door.  Life is hard.  Shit happens.  The trick is to not run the other way or go back to life as before.  Instead, put on your most durable shoes, and start walking.  Grab a pen and start writing.  Turn off the T.V. and start living.  Be an inspiration or get inspired, whether it is through some form of art, music, walking 60 miles in 3 days, swimming pools converted to fish ponds or accounting.  Try them on for size and walk through that door.  You will be amazed at what you will find on the other side.

You are invited to

THE MAMMARY CHRONICLES:  BEARING BREASTS TOUR

 

 A NIGHT OF POETRY AND PROSE

DEDICATED TO THE CELEBRATION AND PRESERVATION of BREASTS

and THE WOMAN who have SURVIVED them and honoring those who haven’t.

 

RAUNDI MOORE-KONDO & DEANNE BROWN

Will be performing pieces from their chapbook:

 THE MAMMARY CHRONICLES EPISODE I:

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE

(A bodacious little book of boobs)

 To order yout own copy of the book, please E-mail

RaundiMooreKondo@gmail.com

 

All proceeds will benefit:

Deanne Brown and Patricia Burkhardt’s

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Team

To make a donation to the team, click on the link below

http://www.the3day.org/goto/Deanne.Brown2012

 

 

SHOW DATES

  October 2nd –

  THE GYPSY DEN, 7pm with SAVANAH KONDO!

  Hosted by SUPERHERO Jaimes Palacio

  125 N. Broadway, Artist’s Village, Santa Ana;   714.835-8840.

 

 

 

October 23^rd –

The Ugly Mug, 8pm

Hosted by Two Idiots Pedalling Poetry – Ben Trigg and Steve Ramirez

261 North Glassell, Orange, CA; 714-997-5610

 

November 3rd –

Pondwater Society, 4pm

WITH HELICOPTER playing songs from their NEW ALBUM – LOVE REMAINS http://helicopterband.com/loveremains.cfm

Hosted by Ed and Joanne Baines

(The King and Queen of Raundi’s heart)

16504 E. Masline, Covina Ca

https://www.facebook.com/pages/PondWater/169019323137990

 

November 13th –

BARNES AND NOBLE, Marina Pacifica Long Beach, 7pm

with the flipping gorgeous and talented Ricki Mandeville

hosted by G. Murray Thomas (who’s worth is about a billion G’s)

Long Beach, Marina Pacifica Mall, 6326 E. PCH, L.B. 90803; 562.431-2253.

 

November 14th –

SHOUT!!! , Half off books, 7pm

Hosted by Eric Morago. (The reason you will never see Spiderman anywhere on the 2nd Wednesday of every month)

6708 Greenleaf Ave., Whittier 90601.

 

November 27th –

COBALT CAFÉ, 9pm

Hosted by Rick Lupert. The man who contains more poetry per cubic inch than any poet alive or dead.

http://poetrysuperhighway.com/PoetLinks.html

 

December 1-

Friends Café, 8pm

425 S. Myrtle, Monrovia, CA, 91016

OPEN MIC – $3 entry fee – SIGN-UP starts at 7:30PM

Hosted by MOMS WRITE featuring Laura Henneforth, Angela Moore, Jennifer Morford,

www.meetup.com/Moms-Write-Southern-California

 

Acoustic Set by MOTHER FUNCTION

(Casey Brown, Harrison Moore, Jaron Moore & Trevor Moore)

www.motherfunctiontheban.wix.com/motherfunction

 

Art available by local artist LAURA HENNEFORTH

http://www.laurahennefoth.com/

 

January 19th-

Saturday Afternoon Poetry, 3-5pm

Hosted by Don “The King of Poetry” Kingfisher

http://saturdayafternoonpoetry.blogspot.com/

 

 

Can’t make any of tour dates?

Stay tuned, more are being added everyday

 

 

Bio’s

Deanne Brown is the lead singer in a rock band and has a tattoo of a phoenix on her left shoulder.  More than just a symbol of the city from which she hails. This bird rising from the flames is also a symbol of her spirit. Whether she is homeschooling, carpooling, training for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for a Cure, or writing her anthology about her adventures in breast cancer, she emerges wiser, stronger and more empowered to find a better way of life. Her courage to say “yes” to her passions as often as possible, even if it means bucking convention every step of the way, is an inspiration to everyone who knows her. Her unique philosophy on education made the front page of the Chicago Tribune, the California Homeschooler and taught Dr. Phil a thing or two about parenting. She is also a contributing writer for Self Esteem E-Magazine and has been published on Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Life blog. You can read about some of her greatest adventures with her family, friends and all-girl band “Daisy Chain” in her blog www.Theyesmom.com.

 

Raundi Moore-Kondo is a wife, mother, writer, teacher, bass player and body boarding buddy who is convinced the zombie apocalypse is just another metaphor for poetry–which explains her compulsion to want to infect everyone she meets. Alas, she founded For The Love of Words, offering creative writing and poetry workshops for writers of all ages. She is published in Don’t Blame the Ugly Mug on Tebot Bach, Aim For the Head on Write Bloody Press, and recently in the blog My Poem Rocks. She has been the feature at throughout Southern California as Well as KPFK’s Poet’s Café. Most recently she was the Poet of the Month for Moon Tide Press and the winner of The Lightbulbmouth Literary Adventure Part V. Her first poetry collection, Let the Ends Spill Over Your Lips, will be available in Fall of 2012.

 

If you would like to book THE MAMMARY CHRONICLES for show, charity ball, or hell-raising

give Raundi a call at

949-939-6029

www.theloveofwords.com

https://www.facebook.com/TheLoveOfWords

RaundiMooreKondo@gmail.com