He will light us from the sky!
A tribute to BURNINGdAN and HitRECord
I have to re-blog this because not only is this a beautiful and touching story about BURNINGdAN, it is also a testament to how incredibly powerful his spirit is. (I speak in present tense because his tremendous spirit will live in all of us forever and ever).
I just want to say that I have lost people in my life unexpectedly and it hurts like hell and nothing really can fix it, or make it hurt less. That being said, I feel this need to write something about how an incredible idea thought up by two brothers has changed my life.
It’s funny how many RECords I have seen that express how HitRECord feels like home. For me, I thought I was okay, going through life, day by day not living it to the fullest but just being… It wasn’t until I found HitRECord that I began to feel more alive than I ever have in my 21 years. At the time I joined HitRECord on August 3rd, 2010, I was an unemployed college graduate who moved back in with her parents to care for her very sick mother. I was overwhelmed, lost, and felt this huge weight on my shoulders. It’s extremely hard to express my feelings towards this community with only words but what I have learned through HitRECord is there are millions of ways to express what you are feeling. I can’t think of anyone who better embodied this sentiment other than BURNINGdAN himself. I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person but just as I have never met any of you, I feel so incredibly connected to this community in the short time I have been a part of it.
The transcendent nature of HitRECord is just a testament to the incredible spirit of BURNINGdAN and RegularJoe and I will NEVER be able to THANK YOU (all of you!) enough.
Rest in Peace BURNINGdAN, Burn On
A memory of Burning Dan
The first time I met Daniel Gordon-Levitt in person was last year at Sundance. I remember stumbling into the REC room and noticing his larger-than-life smile and his warm greeting. A greeting one usually reserves for old friends, but one that he had generously just given to me. I suspect that was how Dan greeted everyone, based on the way he carried himself that week. With so much going on, most of the Hit Record team worked nearly around-the-clock without much thought of food or sleep, but Dan would consistently show up handing out sandwiches, drinks, and smiles as if it were his personal mission to look after the whole crew.
As I’ve thought about Dan’s life and death, one memory from that time at Sundance jumped out in particular. I was using a recently gifted melodica for the main melody in the developing score for Morgan M. Morgansen’s Date With Destiny. One evening (or morning - who knows), Dan popped in to see me with a question about the melodica. He disappeared with it for a while and soon returned with the proud discovery that it could be played using circular breathing. Circular breathing is what wind instrumentalists (or didgeridoo players, I suspect, in Dan’s case) use to produce a theoretically endless note. The idea is that you breathe in through your nose while simultaneously pushing built-up air out of your mouth. Recently, a saxophonist set the world record for a 45-minute sustained E-flat. As you can imagine, it is a rather tricky endeavor.
So Dan excitedly asked if I wanted to learn, and although I was pretty sure it would be a wasted effort, I agreed. I once had a homemade didgeridoo in high school and I already knew that the circular breathing trick wasn’t easy, no matter how excited about it Dan seemed to be. I know many people have been struck by Dan’s belief that anyone can be awesome. He seemed to believe that anyone could accomplish anything they set out to do. What I am struck by is that for Dan, this wasn’t just a hollow platitude. It was backed up by his innate gift as a teacher and his ability (and availability) to help or teach you to do what you didn’t think you could.
So there I stood with Dan offering me the melodica and sort of smiling and bouncing in his shoes.
In the three minutes that followed, Dan proceeded to give me the only clear, concise tutorial in circular breathing I’ve ever heard. And then, in the following minute (and to his great delight), I actually surprised myself. Thanks to Dan’s explanation, I immediately (and finally) understood exactly how to move my muscles and when to breathe in. I can still picture that glint in his eye - the one I imagine was there every time he successfully taught a teenager or a businessman how to spin poi or play with fire.
He was someone who loved seeing people become more than they thought was possible, and more importantly, someone who was ready to help out wherever he could along the way.
“FALL FORMAL - ALL AGES”
by riistan from an idea by RancitaThe Summer in the City shows were at a downtown bar, and thus 21-and-over. So we wanted to make sure The FALL FORMAL would be all ages. I remember how annoying it was when bands (not that we’re a band, or not exactly) I liked played 21-and-over places. I used to go to way more shows and stuff when I was a teenager than I do now.
I also wanted to post this to show how things work over at hitRECord.org — how riistan built on Rancita’s great idea. Never know what might happen to your RECords if you let them go :)
And yes, this show is so big that we have no choice but to sell them through Ticketmaster (GET YOURS HERE! :oD) who takes a big old cut, raising ticket prices from $29 to $39. But still, as always with a hitRECord production, half of the profits will get split up amongst all the contributing artists whose work is part of the show.
Just like any woman, we weave our stories out of our bodies. Some of us through our children, or our art; some do it just by living. It’s all the same.
I believe that two people are connected at the heart, and it doesn’t matter what you do, or who you are or where you live; there are no boundaries or barriers if two people are destined to be together.
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.
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