Christa Bell

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR: IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

the new year doesn't begin officially for me until january 17th, my birthday! so, on my birthday eve, let's take time for a little reflection on what i did last year: I WRECKED IT!!! woop!! woop! congrats to me for making 2006 a stellar year in the history of years!

1) i headlined my first international spokenword tour (wordmedicine 2006) and had my first patron who paid for the whole damn thing!
2) i wrote my first one-woman show, "COOCHIEMAGIC: A SPOKENWORD MUSICAL COMEDY featuring my beatboxstra
3) i fell in love no less than FOUR times (the last time was with a digital yogi i met on myspace, and the time before that was with this amazing poet via text!)
4) i reconnected with four of my bestest friends from my bay area days: lake louise, s. horton, and t'kalla as well as my ex-soulmate k.s.k.
5) i organized, by text message, and three days before i went on a ten day vipassana retreat, an entire spoken word benefit for the national orginization Common Ground for victims of the Katrina disaster, starring: rives, tallam acey, roger bonair-agard, xero skidmore, iyeoka, and new orleans slam master asale devon. WHAT??
6) i attended two, count 'em, TWO vipassana retreats and got my soul right for the new year.
7) i left pc world and bought a mac!
8) i lived in nYc for almost three months!
9) i vacationed in the hamptons (woop! woop!)
10) i watched every episode of the sopranos, lost, the L word, desperate housewives, prison break and the flava of love. what can i say? i'm a cultural critic.
11) i'm going to save the next few spots for amazing things i did but can't remember tight now.
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shoutouts for a year well done go to:
-heidi jackson who single-handedly organized my tour and my life for the first six months of the '06. i couldn't've done it without her!

-all the slam masters all over the country who invited, housed, fed, picked me up, made sure their audience bought my merch, loved me and loved me some more and put up with my occassional bouts of divaliciousness! special thanks to kealoha of the hawaii slam who taught me how to swim, and in the ocean no less! also to taylor mali for issuing my first official invitation to feature in nYc way back in 2005! (nathan p., formerly of the nuyo, says that he was first but taylor wins cuz he put it in WRITING! which isn't a diss to the oral tradition...i'm just sayin, a brova was organized about it!! lol!!)

-my little sister who always let me know that if i ever ran out of money, i could always get down on my knees and beg her for it!

-imani and iyeoka for encouraging me.

-mo browne for being a great friend and for listening to me bitch and whine about other people being negative-lol!

-timeca briggs for agreeing to direct my show the moment i told her i'd written one.

-michael cirelli for having my back whenever it was time to cut a nyucka loose!

-thai freedom ford for her down-ass hospitality.

-mrs. mali for being a wonderful new friend and for making me feel special by including me in her bomb-ass world!

-my mom who housed me for two months during the summer when i couldn't take new York city anymore even though i'd sublet my apartment through august. and also for supporting me so much that she could write me off on her taxes if she wanted to!

-jennifer lisa vest for being crazier than me! lol!!

-denise cooper for taking care of my home while i was gone.

-THE DUMBA ARTS COLLECTIVE!! oh my god! the only place in nYc that felt like home.

-the spirits of the planes, trains, and automobiles that got me to and from my destinations safely and on time!
voici dance for writing a grant to bring me to florida!

-all of the amazing artists, healers, fortune tellers, spiritualists, intellectuals, memoirists, story tellers, lovers, yogi's, geniuses, foodies, musicians, professors, massage therapists, novelists and poets who inspired and supported me on my path.

RIP: alice coletrane, octavia butler, james brown, ronald isley, coretta scott king, ed bradly and lou rawls!!


this year is gonna be amazing and i'm very glad to be here!

more later...cbell