He has 2 big pieces of property, one is his house, and the second one near the first is a studio, workshop and a lovely space for performing that he has built for himself. Both lots are 10 acres in size, they are fenced, and they are outside Desert Hot Springs off Dillon Road in the desert.
We arrived about 6:30 PM Sunday and were invited into his workshop, the flute inventory there is stupendous, and he has lots of "didges in waiting", yucca stems being dried for didges. We could try out his new flutes if we wanted to. He is a flutemaker who does wood burned artistry on his flutes and didges, I have 4 of his flutes, and Lary has one, we both adore his flutes, their sweet sound is lovely, and they even smell good as they are made of fragrant woods like redwood and cedar.
He has a circular fenced area that is a sweat lodge area, and he had built a big bonfire in a firepit, we all sat around surrounded by wonderfully varied cacti and desert plants, as the sun set in the west, and we played our drums, didges and flutes.
Al had a 'mike' set up for flutes, and he and Annie played their didges, several people from our own flute circle were there, and some we didn't really know, but had seen at the Crystal Fantasy flute circle a couple weeks previously.
To our right were the lower hills of the Indio area, the Little San Bernardino Mtns, and ahead of us, far in the distance was the Palm Springs area with the magestic Mt San Jacinto behind it. The sun set slowly over Mt San Jacinto to the sounds of flutes, drums and didges, and the night was a bit windy but not with the chilly teeth it often has, and Al lit the bonfire and the desert sage smudges, it was just lovely.
Of course one by one the stars came out, with a nearly full moon, Al did a bit of throat singing, Annie chanted, then we 3 ladies Annie, Terry and me started to chant, Lary dubbed us the 3 Graces, it was such fun under the dark black sky full of twinkling stars.
4 of us played flutes one by one at the mike, Annie and Al played their didges, and there were perhaps 10-16 drum players at a time around the circle, playing a variety of drums in our big circle with the fire inside it, warming us up as the desert night crept in.
The energy but serenity too was magic, just incredible, calm but stimulating, peaceful and energizing at the same time. It became chilly but not cold, the enchantment quotient was way, way up there for this island girl.
I hadn't taken my flutes as the last time we played at an indoor drum circle we were pretty well drowned out by the drums, but this time the balance of flutes and drums was very different, and I found myself longing to play my flute and express myself to the night sky, so I borrowed Lary's special ceramic flute made by John Kulias, I think he is Meadowlark Flutes, it is an E flat flute, and is a lovely piece of ceramic art, as well as a very functional instrument. Its clear true sounds really spoke to me joyfully.
How it played out longingly to the stars and the night sky, it felt enchanted to me. I had a blast and felt so happy to reconnect with a flute, I had kind of tapered off my playing recently, but this was the kicker I needed, that longing to play had seized me, and wouldn't be satisfied til I played once more.
We took a friend Terry with us from our park here, she lives almost beside us, and enjoys the same things as we do, so we 3 had a very nice mellow time together, and with the larger group. Another Annie evening of enchantment. And it's not over yet, because we have several more flute functions to attend before we leave.
Hooray, there is an Art show this coming Sunday that Annie has been asked to play at, so she has asked her friends and students to join her midday downtown at Frances Stevens park at the Palm Springs Art Center annual show.
And this coming Thursday is VillageFest downtown, the usual Thursday evening downtown street fair, but this week it is also a drum event there, we can take our drums and play, the organizer Scott of Crystal Fantasy hinted that some Cirque performers may also be there in attendance. My oh my, the fun is just breaking out all over.
Friday March 30th there is another indoor drumming circle at Crystal Fantasy, the metaphysical store downtown, and April 3rd up at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto monument, high up above Palm Desert in the higher desert along Highway 74 there is an art show on Saturday. A friend of Annie's and now ours up there at the monument, Judy, a ranger, will be leaving her employment there, so we will gather to play for her, and play for the art show at the same time.
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