CREEL SCOOP is HERE!

ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!

i am proud, honored, excited to introduce you all (some of you know her already) to a beautiful, kind, and ORGANIZED human being, one....MS KAYLA KUZBEL.

kayla and i met 154 years ago when i was doing THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE. what started off as a simple friendship between a sweet 17 year old fan and a broadway newbie, has now developed into a relationship between two slightly older versions of the same people, who both give each other support, joy, and tests/laughter.

i call kayla my "sass-istant" because she is sassy and she assists me...with very many things.  you may have met her at one of my gigs, where she sells cds and keeps track of all merchandise-y type stuff.  you may also have partaken of her incredible fan website that she built me one christmas, long ago:  www.gavincreel.cjb.net

but also, if you follow me on the facebook  ANY TIME there is a news article that looks like it is coming from 'me' well....that is actually ms kayla!  i don't enjoy reading about myself all that much, so she has been finding posts and slapping them on there so you all can check stuff out if you want.

i am happy to announce that KAYLA will be starting a page called "CREEL SCOOP" (naturally named that because it rhymes with poop) this page will be dedicated to the news items that might apply to yours truly.  not much will change, except, you will be able to see them coming from CREEL SCOOP, and not from my actual page anymore.

SO...when you see GAVIN CREEL making a comment or posting something, that will actually be ME! and if you see CREEL SCOOP posting, it is the sass, sassing it out.

thank you KAYLA

and thank YOU ALL for your support.

peace

g

HELLO AGAIN, MIAMI

about 12 years ago i visited miami for the first time.  i was on the FAME tour through north america and i was 22 years old.  we had been on tour for about 6 months at that point, i think, and the week before, the tour docked in naples.  my grandparents were still living then so i was able to spend an amazing week with my sister allyson and my goo and gramps.  it was truly incredible.  then allyson and i rented a convertible and drove across the everglades to miami when the tour moved.  

at the time i didn't really know what to make of it.  i was fresh out of college at that point, i hadn't really lived in new york yet, and i was still....SO young.  so, big cities and wild life, were still intimidating to me. i remember spending a lot of time by the pool at the hotel, seeing the beach  a bit and walking around the shops and other areas.  but i didn't REALLY get into the vibe of miami properly.  

i'm back here again as a guest of barton g (staying at his incredible VILLA by Barton G - the old versace mansion) and it is truly one of the most incredible places i have ever seen.  i'm doing a couple concerts at his space Prelude by Barton G, and, this time around, miami is looking so different.  so much more manageable.  

i get hard on myself and i guess on other people for not being able to adjust or be ready for something...someone...maybe even a city....and this lesson comes to me today, in fabulous south beach....we can only be where we are, when we are.  sure, i wish i could have been a little less fearful or a little more courageous when i was in miami at 22.  it certainly feels like a city that would LOVE a wild and daring 22 year old :)  but, i'm here now, and i am enjoying myself and life is still chugging along.  so...i'll do that dead poet's stuff and seize the carpe diem lalalala.  i will also forgive myself for being tough and me, and ask the forgiveness of those who i may have not been patient with along the way.  be where you are....

i'm heading out for the day, gymmin it, juicing it, then after a quick song for a friend, i'll hit the beach.  after that, dinner at the villa (holy balls, if you are anywhere near miami....COME TO THE VILLA FOR DINNER.  it's pricey, but i would have paid triple for those flavours.  the chef is a genius)  after dinner we'll head over to do our last concert, and then....my inner 22 year old is coming out and the whole gang is going to a dance club and cutting a rug.

gotta live baby!

peace

g

ART ART ART

on this fine wednesday morning i procrastinate a touch, just to wish you all a happy day.  i also wanted to share with you a discovery i made, thanks to the NPR website.  

my online life is quite limited, but like everyone, i think, i do have a few websites that i frequent. my home page is www.npr.com.  i always love when i have to drive somewhere and a national public radio station is within signal.  it just soothes me.  since i live in nyc, however, i don't get to drive that often, so i decided to follow my friend celia's lead and to have NPR greet me whenever i logged on.  cnn used to hold that spot, but i just got tired of the overwhelming over-reporting of the news giant.   i still get my news stories that matter on NPR, but....i am treated to a bit more consistent culture along the way.

well, on the website one day they were reporting about art and artists coming into fashion.  there were pictures and stories from many different contributors, including a report on a man who had had a web cam installed in the back of this head and it was taking a picture every minute for a year.  the pics are then streamed online and i suppose act as a sort of 'truman show' esque art installation of this man's life...or rather, the back of his life.  you can check it out at www.3rdi.me

but the artist that really grabbed me, for some reason was Youssef Nabil and this was the picture that did it:

this portrait was near the end of the website's slide show featuring the words of the different artists.  i scrolled through most and didn't take pause, but this arrested me.  apparently mr nabil take pictures on old film, and then painstakingly paints over the film to bring his own color to the scene.  i don't know much about his technique at all really, but much like when i go to an art museum (which isn't often enough) i spend my time with the painting and less time on the little plaque of information next to it.  i'm intrigued by the life of the artist, but i realize the intent of the painter is most likely on his work and less on his own story.  ironically, i feel like nabil does tread a bit on both sides of that line, however, as he is often the subject in his work. 

i'm not sure what it is about this particular picture.  i think the point of entry for me is the elder man's hand connecting with the stomach of the man lying there.  it is almost as if i can feel it on my own belly.  the light fighting to get through the closed sutter, the sense that something greater is happening here... something almost forbidden or other worldly...i don't know.  i love this shot.  also, there is an inherent sensuality too.  not SEXuality, but for me, an arousing sense that if the subject on the floor were to get up when this moment is over, he will feel a certain release throughout him.  i think i desire that sensual calm right now in my life.  perhaps it is just lining up with me in my existence, right now....heady?  maybe.  but i am seriously into this portrait.  love it.  

the top shot is also neat, in a different way.  apparently nabil has an obsession with movies and hollywood.  that shot speaks to me specifically as i feel it captures my feelings toward la and the business out there.  i can recognize the color and vibrancy of it all, but i also feel so far away from it....like i am experiencing it all merely from a distance.  

i also loved this.  

again, it seems forbidden yet irresistible somehow.  there is something happening here that is against the rules of an outside world, but it must happen.  it IS happening.  exciting!

just thought i would share.  

peace

g

2011: RELEASE

well...i hope i don't have to wear THIS costume.

so excited to get started on my next theatre adventure, PROMETHEUS BOUND by steven sater and serj tankian, directed by diane paulus.  this piece is unlike anything i have read or heard or been a part of, and that is exactly why i want to do it.

this new year is doing something to me.  i don't know what.  but i like it.

i feel ready to lean into it, to open up, to see what happens.

RELEASE.

LET GO of these plans and these 'discoveries' and rules.  SET FREE my mind and heart to roam wherever i see fit or wherever the good lord sees fit.  RELAX my sense of duty, of spiritual obligation, of 'work.'  i just want to pick my feet up from this river bottom and float/fly/coast through these streams or rapids or waterfalls.

i don't get to steer the tide.  i'm not in any control of this flow.  it IS.  and i am within it.  i can fight it...or flow.  i wanna flow.

something about this new year, is making me so happy.  so BETTER.

i'll start it off, creatively, playing this character.  this first prisoner of conscience...the first to act out against tyranny.  if claude showed me how to awaken to a world that is unfair, perhaps prometheus will light a fire within me to smash it to pieces and revel in the chaos.  who knows.  i just be's flowin and seein where it takes me.

the result....i can't explain why...but that 'result' feels completely inconsequential to me now.  it is about this complete RELEASE into the unknown.  into the grey.  into the whatever.

i do find it hilarious that with my new sense and desire for freedom, the first place the universe will put me....is in chains.

yeahhhh....bring it on....

peace

g

THE EVER HILARIOUS INTERNET

so sometimes when i want to write you all a little blogBLAB, i zip up to the ever helpful GOOGLE bar, enter in the first thing that pops into my mind, and see what images come up.  then, i get inspired from there, and use that as a jumping off point to share my ever ridiculous thoughts.  this picture, i like.  it doesn't have anything to do with anything really, but ....it's neat, no?  apparently it was made out of construction paper. creative.

but this is what happened today when i popped up to that google bar.

i typed into the normal search field, "images of...."  and right when i was about to think of something, the autofill came up, and what it completed for me, i found utterly hilarious....and enlightening.

i don't know how the internet works really, and if YOU typed in "images of..." on YOUR computer i don't know what would autocomplete....but mine said: (in this order)

images of jesus
images of america
images of bed bugs
images of fall
images of money
images of christmas
images of dogs
images of the sun
images of hearts
images of 9 11

now....

WHAT?!  like i said, i don't really know how it works, but i would assume, as we type things in, it tries to figure out what we might want to see, based on what everyone online has been typing in.  i assume this, because sometimes, when i am trying to find things about myself for example, i am slightly annoyed or perplexed as to what follows my name.  but THIS LIST!?

are we really looking for visual proof or confirmation of THESE THINGS??? in THIS order?!

is this what people on the internet are 'trending' on?  (i don't think i used that twitter term correctly)  who ARE we?  what is this telling me?  and...

BED BUGS!?!?!?  has it gotten to be that big of a problem/issue/neurosis/fear?  i know they are real.  i know friends of mine who have suffered through them.  bed bugs have become a topic of conversation over drinks more than once....but....#3?  right behind jesus and the USA?  for cryin out loud, where's justin beiber on this list?  i mean sheesh.  i just discovered last night that he has the most viewed youtube video on the internet (i obviously have more time to putter around/kill precious brain cells online as i am actually letting myself relax on break...it's amazing....no, i didn't need to know this about j beibs, and no, i couldn't make it past about 50 seconds of the 'baby' video....but....good for him)

i don't know.  i just find it amusing/amazing that THESE are the things we are looking for on the internet.  naturally, jesus would be up there....but....he got to number ONE!  wow, way to go dude.... you beat beiber.  and then not surprisingly/a bit nauseatingly narcissisticly patriotic, there america is....right behind the supposed son of god.  but then...

BED BUGS?!?!?

i'm sorry, i just can't get over that.  it is hilarious.  i mean come on, hearts and puppies got pulverized, money was shut out, and one of the worst days of the world was trumped by....insects.  fear.  boo.

here's hoping we start looking for other things in 2011.  here's dreaming that our obsessions become less focused on paranoia or pride or gain.  maybe we can get down with a little joy....hell, maybe even a little sexiness, or possibility.

i at least hope that the sun makes a climb in the coming months....in all ways.  let it shine :)

and i also hope pudding pops make their way back onto the market.

peace

g

FREAKY BALLET MOON MARTIANS

i typed into google image search, "lunar ballerina" and this is what came up.  pretty cool, eh? a bit of a blend of both i thought.

it's  a lunar eclipse tonight....and i saw BLACK SWAN finally today.  i think it is only appropriate that there is some weird moon thing going on when i would see that movie.  honestly, as it was going along, i think the hype i had heard almost destroyed it for me.  i thought, yeah, it is provocative and made me cringe here and there, but i didn't find it 'surprising' necessarily...though i did leave the theatre feeling like i had done something wrong....and natalie portman's face was burned in my head.  she's something else.  wowsers.

the only other time i remember a movie making me feel like that was THE TALENTED MISTER RIPLEY.  something about that movie gave me guilt.  like, i left thinking i was going to get in trouble....like i had been a very bad person and i was going to get caught, and nothing was ever going to be the same...like...it was going to be worse from now on.  

it was an icky feeling.  and miss SWAN did that to me today too.  so....BRAVO to darren a and the gang!  lol

now about this eclipse.  i think it is aliens.  i feel like science has decided to 'explain' this for us so we don't all freak out.  i think these blood red changes to big balls of light in the sky, or flashes of green they call 'northern lights' or meteor showers or shooting stars or bizarre weather patterns....

all of it.

aliens.

and according to THE EVENT....they are getting pissed off and want to go home and we better back off.  you hear me?  or jason ritter and his weird ass girlfriend with the perfectly curled hair in each scene (that annoys me, ps) are gonna get EVEN MORE postal and take us down, while they never age a day.

i'm just saying.

happy holidays earthlings.

peace

g

HISTORY

i am so grateful today.  no, i'm not in the military, so, i'm not directly effected by the decision that the senate made today.  i could never do what those courageous civilians do who willingly offer up their lives for service,  but i am gay and i do spend a lot of my living and breathing feeling like the government and the country in which i live does not have my best interests at heart.

well, today....is a different day.

watching CNN and seeing all those suited up politicians talking about and voting on this issue that is ALL ABOUT the interests of gay citizens and our being recognized and set free......well....i am so happy for the service men and women who are able to stand up and be proud and be themselves, and now just get on with life and do what they have always been doing, without asking for any fanfare.   no, they were simply asking for fairness.  or rather...they weren't ALLOWED to ask for it.  

well now they can and now...they have it.  

i am grateful and confident that this is a MAJOR step in the process that will lead to FULL EQUALITY for all citizens regardless of sexual orientation or identity.  

we have so much work to do, and the backlash will be out there.  but ...

justice.  and a glimmer of hope for what is BOUND to come.

proud of my country.  proud of my elected officials.  proud of reason.

peace

g