November 26, 2005, Thanksgiving here in the USA. My favorite holiday, because of simple goal of the day. No gifts, only re-affirming the bonds of family and friendship and as a whole. No guilt, only shared expression of the bounty of things we have to be thankful for – represented by a bounteous feast. Thanksgiving is all about putting aside the petty, and looking into your heart and head and realizing that no one makes it alone, everyone has at least one person to be thankful for.
But something I expected to happen didn’t …
The notion that the thanks we offer others connects our gathering, spiritually perhaps, to scores and scores of other gatherings. All of those gatherings’ expressions of thanks reach hundreds and hundreds of other gatherings, etc. An ephemeral network of connections -based on thanks and gratitude – lives for a short while on the ethereal plane. And it’s not just for Americans. There is always thanks given to people and groups in far off places. How do we nurture this phenomenon to be more inclusive of the whole earth? How do we make the gratitude network permanent? How can we make the warm embrace that this symbolizes more tangible? How can we make it more accessible?
I started this project as an open ended exploration of gratitude and thanks, as represented by the phenomenon in which people would open their windows at 7pm and clap and cheer in thanks for all those who were keeping us alive, those on the frontlines and those doing essential jobs. I am fairly certain that many of the gatherings, though much smaller that usual, officered thanks to those workers, but they probably expressed it at the table and not out the window.
That’s Correct, in my little patch here, there was no clapping and cheering at 7pm on Thanksgiving.
That a phenomenon designed to celebrate those who are working to keep the rest of us going did not manifest on a day dedicated offering Thanks and Gratitude – in a time when the virus continues to spike (so they are still at risk) and to top it off, are working on a holiday when they should be with loved ones. Seemed like a moment for a massive outpouring. It was not to be.
This was a real wake-up call for me. I have been toiling, in fits and starts on this project since last April. Last month or slow I have not been doing and posting much work. There are always excuses. My response to the lack of cheering is that I am going to begin spreading the word of this project – unfinished as it is. Why would I hold back the real expressions of gratitude made by many, anonymously, with nothing but thanks and good wishes to fellow humans.
And so, I would like to invite you to explore and share the 7pm Project
Anyone who takes the time to explore will have my gratitude and anyone who explores the project and shares it with a friend (building that ephemeral network of connections -based on thanks and gratitude) will have my gratitude and thanks. For those who would like to participate, in any way… welll… you’ll get MORE gratitude and thanks ;^ ).
Please understand that this is still being developed. There are rough edges and it may seem a little confusing. Fear not. Here are some initial links to help get you oriented. From there, you are free to explore.
Start Here:
7pm The Clappy Hour Project | katsivelos.com
These are good example of what a content page should have:
Friday May 8th @ 7pm | katsivelos.com
Saturday May 9th @ 7pm | katsivelos.com
Sunday May 10th @ 7pm | katsivelos.com
(this is actually where I paused the audio work, the May 20 & 21 pieces were the first ones I did.)
This next one doesn’t have any processed recording, but it lays out a vision of how this project could become some sort of digital manifestation of the that network that envelops the ethereal plane.
7pm Project Update – Nov 10, 2020 | katsivelos.com
Thanks for reading this far, go ahead take the plunge!
I would be very grateful if you would leave a comment or two
All the best to you and yours and thanks for all you do
Nick Katsivelos
November 27, 2020
I’ve spent the last hour reading through the posts and listening to a number of your pieces. Very interesting to hear the results of the different processing applied. What I found interesting was understanding the context of the raw data, being the collective voices, sounds, claps and of course tambourine and how the processing that you selected painted a different picture in my mind of the participants. Great Stuff
Thanks Tom! Be well.
A friend of mine who was in recovery spent a year writing one thank you letter a week to people whose lives has touched his. He was cultivating a habit of, making a space for, gratitude and the expression of that gratitude. I’d guess that in more tan one spiritual tradition such a habit is a measure of maturity and even wisdom. And who doesn’t want to cultivate wisdom?!
Your new project feels like a spiritual practice in the making, especially since it originates in your wanting to “make the best of this scourge that is COVID-19… slow things down a bit, get more connected at home, and be little more mindful, it is my hope that we will come out of this as a more humane, loving, accepting…” – inviting us all to take advantage of this opportunity to be mindful. I am not able to connect all the dots of your project (sound, gratitude, mindfulness, a time grid), but in your Agile development approach its probably not important that I can or do just yet. I’m happy to go along for the ride.
An offering: what if at 7 every day you recorded a sound, then blogged what it made you mindful of and/or grateful for? Sharing your own journey into self-reflection.
Thanks Daniel – I like the suggestion – will add that to the mix of things I am considering as I move forward. Perhaps we need to have more open air concerts like on https://web4k.azurewebsites.net/2020/10/05/friday-may-8th-7pm/
Be well
Looking GOOD Nick! So much fruitful content to soak in, I love that you took my advice about letting us peek into the black box. The additional information (weather data, news stories, etc.) also give great context to the temporal nature of the piece. I also love seeing different production/editing techniques pop up as time goes on. Well done.
Thanks Lucas, your early insights were so helpful, glad you like the execution. Onward!
Nick over the last 10 years I’ve been collecting maybe 100 hours of recordings made with my portable Zoom H2 Handy all over the world. Trains in Tokyo, street sounds in Sydney, interiors at museums, wind on a high bluff overlooking the Pacific, tourists by the lion fountain in Singapore, on and on. The missing ingredient now is time, to do what you’re doing, I would love nothing better.
For me the venue where the produced work is played is just as important, and I’ve always wanted to design the work to play in public spaces, actually just infuse it into the sounds of a location, through hidden speakers or matrices of speakers. Like the Very Large Array Sound Sculpture by Aaron Ferrucci at Burning Man 1998.
What I love about venues is that they firm up the objective function a bit. I mean, the goal for me is to cause an experience, but without a defined venue, I find I drift rudderless in my projects. As soon as I conjure a venue, then an audience, the environment, the surfaces and the emotional variety of people take on real dimensions. I can work with that. If I had time.
Thanks for opening this box for us, and hey you just got another follower on Soundcloud!
Michael – apologies for the slow reply – I agree that venue is super important and your POV has given me a lot to think about – so thanks so much. Glad to have you following me on Soundcloud.
Best,
Nick