The Senses

Greetings, exquisite beings of light!

Fine imagery.

A moment made tangible. A picture speaks a thousand words, and volume. We tend to orbit with accomplished, talented photographers of the performing arts.

Recently, Michael was randomly called to a unique performance opportunity at the Long Center in Austin - On March 13, she will be modeling for a lighting seminar / photoshoot held in Austin by Houston-based advertising photographer Robert Seale. The seminar is an all-day event targeted at professional photographers, entitled "Thriving in Uncertain Photographic Times," and is being put on by photoshelter.com. Please take a minute to look at the event agenda, and see a sampling of Robert's spectacular photography. Did we mention that it's completely sold out?! Imagine Michael in a photo shoot in front of 150 photographers...

In case you missed the live TV performance on Fox 7 Austin's "Good Day Austin" show, it's been archived here. We apologize in advance for the sound quality!

As an advocate of the arts, one of Michael's goals is universal design. This concept is to make art accessible to all people. More on this in future newsletters... In order to become proficient at universal design, it is necessary to heighten the senses to their fullest potential - sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, balance, temperature, pain, direction, time, proprioreception, intuition. I've written much music musing on the nature of light, and visual art on the stage is a major creative outlet for Creature Rock. The reason I love doing all sorts of creative work, is because it allows alternative access to expression to the senses, outside of music.

I'm very supportive of people learning how images are created, and how light works. In reality, humans can handle and achieve much more than our default senses. We must master the most accessible senses, and then others will be revealed - new dimensions with which to experience the universe. Already, many women would argue that they can sense phases of the moon. Twins regularly defy time and space, as if macroscopically quantum entangled. And many animals, and a few astute people, can sense a person's character.

Create a Masterpiece with your life! -----

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2010 - Let There Be Light

Holiday's Light was the First Creation - along with the emergence of light came the core revelations that all of humanity share. We know that light is the fastest thing in the universe, and therefore the fastest way to travel to your heart's center.

In honor of the living light in us all that brings us together in spirit with our family, friends, and fans, we celebrated holiday light with a Creature Candle Ceremony. Michael has a personal tradition of lighting coloured candles to remind her of where she needs to be focusing. (that and she wears red knickers..) A physical affirmation and representation of energy she wishes to bring close to her heart...A yellow candle represents creativity, pink to travel towards love.... we lit white candles for spirit. Tiny beacons of light shone from our creature compound, out into the universe, honoring our sacred connections to the people we love. There was a candle in our circle for our fans!

In 2009, we transitioned from San Francisco to Austin, we recorded the Creature Sessions, won an award, played some great festivals, forged a lasting musical relationship, and bought a house. This year, we'll release the album, tour the East Coast, construct the Pink Elephant Studio, and explore further the forms of artistic media that will carry our message to many, many people.

As the mixing is wrapping up, we're finally metamorphosing from studio rats into performers again! Don't forget that it's you guys who make up our Creature Community! We have fun shows lined up and great musicians! We tell you to come see us, but we perform to see you!

Flamingo Cantina, Jan 21st A mostly female line-up of thunderous rockers including Moonticca and the Texas Clock. This is our first time rocking this venue. It's always good to be at the first of anything! Show starts around 9:30pm.

If you can't make it to the Flamingo Cantina, or you are more of a morning person, then stay in and watch us live on the telly!

Feb 4 at 7:30AM , CR will be LIVE on TV!! Fox 7, on Good Day Austin!! ON-AIR interview and musical performance hosted by news anchors Joe Bickett and Katherine Kisiel. It will be on youtube afterwards, but you can stream it here. Creature Rock TV.....it really is meant to be!

Lambert's, Feb 6 - One more opportunity to see Creature Rock live in Austin on West 2nd St. downtown.....We love this classy spot! Fifth Nation, is returning to Austin from an extended tour of the east coast and we are psyched to have them back!!! We've been burning candles for them regularly. They are our band of kindred spirit. This gig is going to melt some brains and it will be a show you don't want to miss!

As always, we love you all, and love to get your feedback. Write us a message, check out all our other on-line presences and see what other fans are saying and doing to stay connected with Creature Rock.

One last special thanks to the MUSIC GATOR in South Carolina for making a special display of Creature Rock Creations in your store! We hope to see our Carolina fans there in the Spring!

Create a Masterpiece with your life! -----

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Creatures on Parade

Hello beautiful people!

The blackbirds are back in the pink sunset skies of Austin. They migrate here in the winter, carrying souls through the etheric journey of timeless energetic experience. This is a metaphor of life and death... embodied by emotional frequencies embedded in the recording of the Creature Sessions. The birds are a visual reminder to transcend our concept of limitation and treat our time as valuable - we should be cognizant of how, and with whom, we are spending our fleeting moments.

A musical experience is a unifying experience. We are rhythmic creatures, from the beat of our hearts to the fundamental patterns we live by. It is essential to give ourselves the opportunity to be in a place where rhythm and melody were created to exalt the feeling of freedom and passion in you. Climactic sonic messages to carry your vision higher and transcend limited perspective with the birds! You are valuable! You are valuable to us!

Come be with Creature Rock performing in the flesh

Extending to you from
Back Alley Social in Austin, TX,

The journey begins this
Saturday, November 14th
9:30-10:30PM!

Sound carries through all forms of matter and our physical and energetic bodies respond vibrationally to the oscillations, intensity, speed and frequencies through which sound waves are characterized. The word for today is cymatics - the study of visible sound and vibration and its effects on various mediums. Think of ripples in a water surface when deep thunder occurs. Our bodies are made of 70% water. Image in your mind what the soundtrack of your life literally looks like, in physical visible patterns. What sounds should you try to be avoiding or getting more of to activate your brain in a more articulate way?

Speaking of rhythm...

Halloween is the birthday of one James Ichabod Harwood, drummer extraordinaire. Creatures everywhere traditionally come together to celebrate this glorious event, and accordingly, we marched with the Krewe du Coeur Maudit through downtown Austin. Each year, James leads the cadence of the zombie drum corps. Michael with a birds eye view and homemade stilts entranced onlookers as the lone female stiltwalker among a 60,000-strong crowd of costumed revelers. Together they led a 40-foot long dragon down 6th Street, through a tunnel of camera flashes and amazed pink monkeys!

The Back Alley Social SHOW THIS SATURDAY NOV. 14 9:30 PM is right in the heart of downtown Austin!! Fifth St. near the capital building!

We're playing with Fifth Nation and our performance is going to tear the very fabric of space and time. And you know how the creatures love their costumes! This show is also the triumphant return of dancing comet Emily Boykin. The Creature, the Comet, The Ichabod... OH MY! Oh My! Music that is!

Love you all!

Create a Masterpiece with your life! -----

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Prepare to be Rocked

Hello beautiful people! Pack your tents and sunscreen, because...

Creature Rock will be performing LIVE at the
Art Outside Festival in Rockdale, TX,
(APACHE PASS)

on the Variety Stage
Friday, October 9th
6-7PM!

Art Outside is rapidly becoming the premier arts and music festival in central Texas. The lineup of musicians and artists in attendance at this event is INCREDIBLE. If you are into creative art rock, which you are if you're reading this, then you need to come see us.

OCT. 9th-11th Rockdale, TX
In the spirit of Burning Man, Art Outside is one of Texas' most anticipated annual art events. Presented by the Art Seen Alliance - Held this year on the beautiful grounds of Apache Pass: three stages over 100 artists across all genres. Incredible band lineup, performance art, film and comedy, and some of the most ingenious makers bringing their interactive earth-friendly projects to share with appreciative creative souls. But most importantly, your very favorite Creature and a set list of brand new tunes!!! Oh my god, oh my god.....

Tickets are now available online! Artoutside.org

Please get your ticket and come early to get your camping spot.

The Creature will have a table set up with new merchandise throughout the festival. You will most likely see her on her stilts off stage! You can't miss her even in the largest of crowds! Make sure to go say hello, she wants to greet you all personally!

Create a Masterpiece with your life! -----

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Creatures Take the Stage

Wow, time really flies like the birds!

Hello beautiful people!!!

After living in the studio all summer, Creature Rock is booked and ready to play! Art Outside 2009: A 3-day Festival of Radical Self-Expression!!

OCT. 9th-11th Rockdale, TX In the spirit of Burning Man, Art Outside is one of Texas' most anticipated annual art events. Presented by the Art Seen Alliance - Held this year on the beautiful grounds of Apache Pass: three stages over 100 artists across all genres. Incredible band lineup, performance art, film and comedy, and some of the most ingenious makers bringing their interactive earth-friendly projects to share with appreciative creative souls. Sponsored by MAKE Magazine, the Onion, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap (the soap all of us crazy creatures have been using at the campgrounds since high school!) and others. Camp grounds filled with creative spirits, while sleeping and dancing under the stars! A true Art and Music adventure!

Creature Rock will be playing the Variety Stage on Friday, October 9th, 6-7PM.

Tickets are now available online! Artoutside.org Please get your ticket and come early to get your camping spot.

Drumroll, please!

At long, long last, the Creature Sessions tracking is complete! We've been shopping the mix around and have met with some great engineers and toured some great studios along the way.

The album should be in our hot little hands by year's end, and then comes the release party and serious gigging!

Bring Creature Rock to your town!

Adding to our already busy schedule, the creatures have actually bought a house and are planning the construction of a new Pink Elephant Studio!! In the midst of all this performing and mixdown action, we are actually learning about sound proof building materials, monolithic domes and their effects on acoustics, home inspection, paint, colour, architecture.. building on a large scale with function and artistry. What we learned this week is the concept of sprezzatura (thanks Derek).

Sprezzatura is an Italian word that means "to hide conscious effort and appear to accomplish difficult actions with casual nonchalance."

We've taken on several ambitious projects simultaneously and are completing all of them. It's quite magical to see things unfold with grace and ease. 16-hour days of laughing and learning and doing! Walking the tightrope of sprezzatura is an experience we all can relate to, if we allow ourselves to feel the grandness of space that exists within us. That space is sometimes not obvious. It is a discipline of building character, where you embrace the attitude of effortless ease, and that act becomes the reality. Difficulty truly is only in your mind, for a single thought can transform your choices, values, challenges, obstacles, and efficiency instantaneously. What a freedom we have, if we exercise it!

Create a Masterpiece with your life! -----

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A Deeper Understanding

Creature Rock is the artistic side of the music community. Since arriving in Austin 8 months ago, we have only scratched the surface of Austin's resources. With a vision to cultivate creative collaboration across all media - including dance, videography, fashion design, performance art, and of course, MUSIC, Creature Rock sings to give a voice of self expression to fans and creators alike!

That is why it has been such a huge honor have been a part of the Media Arts and Literacy Festival this past week! We had so much fun performing on all the different stages in Austin and never once repeated a song! And the preparations and community building projects that led up to the event were just as rewarding as the performances themselves.

The MALI Festival was filled with incredible, top-notch filmmakers, poets, and musicians from all over the continent; performers and directors from Seattle, New York, Canada, Arkansas, New Orleans, and California graced the stages for 4 solid days. The opportunity to meet and listen to these amazing women in the arts was a great learning experience for us.

The pool of talent assembled was unbelievable! Which made it even more humbling when Michael and her rotating cast of performers in Creature Rock took home the Community Choice Award!!!! Core Creatures very deserving to share this awesome accolade include Michael's brilliant stick smith- James "Ichabod" Harwood* the fearless dancing comet- Emily Boykin*, at the Austin International Youth Hostel with celestial choreography, Jessica Gaby, and at the Long Center caressing the upright bass, Mr. Scott Yates! Our vision of a Creature Community is really manifesting. And it's really exciting to get billed with other Austin based bands, including Framing Strangers, One Eyed Doll, Patrice Pike and Joanna Barbera. We are definitely looking forward to rocking with these ladies again.

But now the band is going back to the Pink Elephant Studio to lay down the second half of the upcoming album The Creature Sessions. Michael is organizing her evocative imagination. Album art intertwined with her musical rhapsodies and preparations for showcasing its release!!

We're currently looking around for interested collaborators to shoot music videos for the Creature Sessions, so if you know anyone in Austin who's looking for a creative project, let us know!

We have two new Creature stickers for beautifying surfaces everywhere. Both are available here!

Thanks to all of you, generous community! We are making constellations.

Create a Masterpiece with your life! -----

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Michael on the Radio

Creature Rock Week!!!!

TOMORROW, May 25th, tune in to KOOP 91.7FM, at 11am Central Time, to hear Michael Scott Parker do an in-studio interview and performance on "What's a girl to do?", a free-form Women's Music radio show in Austin, hosted by Lisa Schneider. Getting you ready for the hottest week of women in the arts, at the M.A.L.I. Women's Film and Performance Arts Festival! You can listen online to a LIVE STREAM!

Michael and crew hosted an informal get-together at the South Congress St. bat bridge, where roughly 1 million mexican freetail bats dwell. At dusk each day, they emerge from underneath the bridge, and pour out into the Austin sky, doing the community the invaluable job of lowering the mosquito population. They consumed and we created!

Michael performed a enticing acoustic set with upright bassist Scott Yates at sunset while locals contributed to the Creature Community Canvas and enjoyed Michael's home baked brownies. Dottii and her apprentice seamstresses from Sudan and the Congo, shared creature creations and passed out free CDs to an appreciative audience! Come see Creature Rock on Friday,May 29th at the Green Muse for a rocking 10am brunch and make your addition to her canvas. It will be there!

Creative Creature recently has made a connection with bassist Scott Yates, and is so pleased to have have him in her talent bank! And talented, he is! Scott will be gracing the stage with Michael and her time keeper, James, at the Long Center Performance on Saturday, May 30th, for the M.A.L.I Festival!! Don't miss this show!

And don't forget Thursday, May 28th, opening night of the M.A.L.I. Festival, at the Austin International Youth Hostel. Michael has her two wonderful dancers, who have done a phenomenal interpretation of Michael's music into movement. Emily Boykin, our stellar body and woman of vision, dances all three unique shows next week! But the Thursday show is a special treat, with Jessica Gaby, the dancer of synchronous and curious coincidence, accompanying Emily, dancing their co-choreographed elixir to Michael's 9 and a half minute Rhapsody, "Live to Sing". Beautifully Brilliant!

It's been a blessed and wonderful month of connection and creation! Hope to see you all, out at the shows of our joyful labors. May you execute your labors this day from the just place of your holy spirit.

Create a Masterpiece with your life! -----

Come out and support!

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Creative Creature Community

Vision is a powerful tool. A great musician once told Michael, "If you can visualize your fingers playing the song, it is more effective than practicing hours and hours a day." The more we can imagine and visualize, the greater our accomplishments can be. As a visionary, Michael "sees" how she wants to be involved and ways she can connect and grow. The bigger the community you have, the more vision you can create!

As you know, we have been sharing in a greater mission by cultivating a mind state of sustainability, with our sisters in the arts, for the M.A.L.I. Festival. The festival catalyzed opportunities to connect with the Austin community. We've pulled together resources with the artists at GAGA, repurposed materials in a creative way, making our show attire from donations, got the kids involved with the process of being in a creative community, making band merchandise and learning music with Michael.

The GAGA GALA was a special event. Michael contributed her time and creativity to appreciative participants, who brought her vision into reality.. the construction of her performance materials with the talents of her fans.

This Thursday, May 21, South Congress St. Bridge, 7PM - We are having one final public appearance before the MALI Festival. We'll be hanging out together underneath the South Congress Bridge, with the Austin Bat Colony. Yes, real bats! They were kind enough to pose for our band poster. We'll be jamming, selling festival tickets, and painting together on the Creature Community Canvas! Come out and paint at sunset with the band. They might give you some cake.

And tomorrow, tune in to KOOP 91.7FM, at 11am to hear another local artist, Joanna Barbera and the director of the M.A.L.I Festival, P.O.W., do an in-studio interview on "What's a girl to do?"

And tune in again on May 25th, 11am for Michael's on-air appearance!! P.O.W. and Michael share their mission and their vision and set the stage for the Women's Film and performance Arts Festival, just 10 days away!!

Infinite thanks go out to our many collaborators/contributors who are essential to Creature Rock-

The short list includes James Harwood, Mikey McKevitt, Emily Boykin, Jessica Gaby, Lisa Stevens, and Albert and the Enchanted Forest. You can read about these and other singular creatures on the collaborators page recently updated at creaturerock.com.

Creature Vocabulary: Explicate your lexicon!

explicate- to expand or clarify.
lexicon- collection or inventory of words or a vocabulary. Like Michael's lexicon of her star language, Euthinethany.

Create a Masterpiece with your life! -----

Come out and support!

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The Temple of Creativity

The Universe is the Great Artist of Natural Abundance. A Self Sustaining consciousness that, in its smallest physical particle, cannot be destroyed. It uses what it already has to constantly create what has never before existed. As artists, our mission is to promote sustainability through creativity. We are creators, not consumers! And artists love other artists! Creature Rock is experiencing a natural state of abundance, giving us so much to share! What blessings, another great album review, inclusion in an art magazine, a creature community building collaboration, events and shows galore!

As promised, we have information about the 9th annual MALI Women's Film and Performance Art Festival show dates - And the shows are selling out fast! Come see the best female rockers all sharing the same stages... Patrice Pike, One Eyed Doll, DJ P.O.W. to name a few... spoken word artists, 87 Dance Production, and a fantastic line up of independent films! Michael Creature is booked for 3 consecutive days at 3 different venues, doing 3 unique performances:

Thursday, May 28, 7-10PM at the Austin International Youth Hostel (map)

Friday, May 29, 10AM-2PM at the Green Muse (map)

Saturday, May 30, 7PM-11PM at the illustrious Long Center (map)

Tickets can be purchased here! Remember this event is a benefit! The Media Arts and Literacy Institute is raising money for the at-risk teen girls camp. Great news! The Greater Austin Garbage Arts (GAGA) is sponsoring Creature Rock, in hosting events to promote our common goals in this year's festival theme, sustainability!

Michael is learning so much from joining forces with GAGA! They are a co-op comprised of a group of artists and visionaries concerned with the effects and impact of waste materials on our environment. Teaching our community how to repurpose, live/work creatively and resourcefully. The GAGA Gallery represents about thirty artists, whose works use at least 50%-100% reclaimed materials!

MALI Festival tickets will also be available on hand at GAGA sponsored Creature Collaborations to come! Some of the events you can look forward to:

• Creature Community Costume Creations- come make your inner creature costumes to wear to our show! Reuse your old fabric, and help Michael Creature build her stage prop finale!
• Double Birthday Celebration Donations- May is Michael Creature's birthday! And on April 24th GAGA is having their 1st anniversary!
• Creature Tower Cake Bake
• Educate, Create, Cooperate, and Make! So much fun to come!

And right now there is a red "Creature Creations Collection" box, out front GAGA, located at 2214 South 1st St., across the street from End of an Ear Music, where you can drop off your art supply donations. When you have stuff to get rid of, you feel how naturally abundant you are... Please help out. We are looking for fantasy fabrics, clothes, old sewing supplies, arts/crafts, paint, adhesives, sequins, glitter, feathers, and any other unusual items! The color scheme is black/pink and gold/silver. But drop it all off! Straws, bottle caps, tin foil, plastic containers...and Dottii, the fairy-godmother of recycling will show the kids how to party sustainably.

Sustain your heart through sustaining your art. Expression opens the deeper self. Michael has been profiled in Temple, a concept magazine of Denver-based fine artist Matthew Paul Corley. In a series of interviews he showcases artists he feels are truly living the creative lifestyle. You can buy it online or download it for free, Get a hard copy, it's easier to share. To read Michael's interview click here.

Last but not least, check out the lovely new review for Naked at www.womensrising.com! "This is female rock at a high. Sultry, deep, fast and furious, Michael (yes she’s a girl) Scott Parker, really steams it up on her 2007 release, Naked."
Read the whole review here.

Create a Masterpiece with your life! -----

Come out and support!

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Friday the 13th

Greetings fellow creatures,

The first half of the Creature Sessions transpired in February. The creature crew lived in the studio together for a week and the splendiferous chemistry of musicianship and creativity crystallized into an immanently powerful recording!

Michael introduced her harmonious, euphonious cronies, James "Ichabod" Harwood (drums) of Austin,TX and Mike-E McKevitt on bass (E standing for "eminent" today) of San Francisco, CA, for the first time, to work together in proper session style with our luminary Creature. There is a congruence of meaning and sound in the music that has has stayed true to her vision while interconnecting the diligence and experimentation of her players.

Michael has taken it upon herself to completely engineer the record! Her creative intent is guiding all aspects of artistic execution. She is always in service to the work while challenging her talented collaborators. Fortunately, she is spiritedly supported by her soul-mate and couterpart, Mathew, who helps with assisting the board and is contributing harmonica! These are the creative creatures who are preparing for the last half of the anticipated Creature Sessions album, which we would like to announce will be released on pink vinyl later this year!

Other-worldly delights inspired our all star players. Alongside Mike-E's night sky, sparkle purple, Rickenbacker bass (say it 7 times really fast), a propitious meteorite fireball streaked across Austin while the song "Star Child" was being tracked. It was originally suspected to be remnants from the recent satellite crash. Oh yeah, and our little mercury spill, but we won't talk about that!

Get your ticket money out your elephant pinky bank! The 9th annual M.A.L.I. Women's Film and Performance Arts Festival is showcasing the hottest women in fashion, film, and music! So of course, Michael Scott Parker will be there! All the proceeds go to at-risk teen girls. "This event is the number one source to experience innovative multi-media art in Austin,TX. Festival dates are May 28-31." We will update you on the stages and times Creature Rock will be performing!

Michael is humbled to be recognized as a luminary to so many people. Recently, she fulfilled another request to a scholar of numeral systems from Slovene, by the name of Janko Gorenc, who asked Michael to contribute her "dream language" Euthinethany's numbers to his research database of various natural and con-language systems. Janko's project consists of numbers in 14,000 sets (languages / dialects in both natural and conlangs together)! There is an update of the numbers Michael contributed on her art page.

We have had such an outpouring of appreciation from our international fans recently! We would like to thank all of you who have been writing to Michael! We are so happy to hear the music is spreading all the way out to Germany, Poland, the UK and China! Due to popular demand, with the huge number of requests for autographed photos for those of you who don't get to see Michael perform in the US, we are offering them for a limited time with purchase of a CD, T-shirt, or small print of Michael's art (see art and music pages). With the cost of shipping mail around the globe, this helps us get Michael to all of you! Michael hopes to reach all her fans with autograph requests. And keep writing in! We love hearing about all you creatures rocking out there!!

So many amazing polymaths out there! One of our favorite places to read about intelligent art is the wonderful MAKE magazine. We want to send big love and congratulations to our steampunk artist compatriots featured in the current issue MAKE:17 - Molly Friedrich and Jake von Slatt! Jake (on the cover with his Incredible Wimshurst Spark Generator) reviewed the album Naked back in 2008. Molly "Porkshanks", a Seattle-based costume / jewelry artist, made Michael's creature goggles for stage, that we've had so many compliments on! Be sure to read her article on building the "Discreet Companion" ladies' raygun! There is also a great article on one of Michael's all time favorite creators, William Blake, and his process of "illuminated printing."

Enhance your eloquence with a trio of homonyms plus one...

immanent - of God, permanently pervading and sustaining the universe.
eminent - Exalted in dignity, character, quality: majestic in sound.
imminent - Impending, soon to happen.
luminary - A source of intellectual, moral, or spiritual light.

Create a Masterpiece with your life! -----

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