The Wallflower Gallery

TOMORROW Sun, Feb 16 @ 2 pm - Celebrate Valentine’s Day with the Love The Everglades Clean-Up 2025 with Love The Everglades Movement, Love Hope Music and FL Cleanup! We will be meeting at the Miccosukee Casino & Resort parking lot back corner @ Raccoon 7. There will be a set of music before and after the clean-up hosted by Love Hope Music! We are looking for people with trucks to help haul the trash! Even if you can’t attend, please spread the word! Hope to see you all out there! Thanks!
www.facebook.com/events/1150915206659309

I am saddened to share that Tom Fleming has passed on Sun, Jan 19 after a spiral following a severe stroke. Many people may know Tom as part of The Wallflower Gallery Family - he was one of the event photographers and he worked the snack bar for many years, as well as managing the various websites. I was introduced to Tom many years before from mutual friends and he got involved in the H**p Awareness Council at the University of Miami. Tom was a good friend and he cared about the people around him. He will be missed by those who knew him and hopefully remembered by those who saw him in passing as an honest and creative brother.

At 76, Tom was not in the best health and his walking had become more wobbly recently. Following some recent falls and hospital visits, Tom eventually made it to the VA after a stroke paralyzed the right side of his body - from there he was stabilized and eventually placed in hospice care. Both Alonso and I have visited him in the hospitals over the last couple of weeks - and we have been taking care of his apartment and his cats. We are now looking for new homes for the cats - if anyone is interested, please let me know. We will have a Memorial Gathering for Tom somewhat soon, so stay tuned. Safe travels, Tom! See you on the other side!

Love On The Dance Floor

Flash

Do you want to dance?
Can you savor the flavor of music flowing around you?
Frequencies uplifting, rhythms throbbing,
the convergence culminating!
Energy amped electric, or raw acoustic kinetics,
depth penetrating,
resonating as sensations cascade careened!
Harkening the liberation beckoning,
a sacred space reckoning,
rejuvenation from melodic manifestations,
channeling cosmic transcendence.
Let our spirits connect,
as tempos reflect an instinctive psyche set,
exploring receptive enhancements
with meditative movements,
tuning into each other!
Absorbing and injecting, personal inflections,
reaching out with communal intentions,
eyes, minds and spines, directing divine,
third optics sublime, revealing reveled jubilance!
So don’t hold back,
let your muscles soothe and slack,
release and relax,
feel that bass bellow in your bowels,
arousing a carnal growl,
energizing dimensional senses!
Embody the grooves to improve the mood,
intestinal fortitude imbued as you move,
root chakra vibrancy, hips loosening while shimmying,
opening glowing eminence!
Bodies rocking radiant replete, from fingers to feet,
beings balancing between,
likewise as we ride that high, our essence designs,
peaking at new levels!
Tapping into the history of soliloquies and symphonies,
summoning sonic epiphanies,
each musical moment strives glorious,
yet some meander nebulous,
a nexus for the listeners.
We internalize the vibes,
talents and technology combined,
live or studio refined,
it’s a stimulation fascination
that emanates with extreme variations,
and many welcome more!
The musical meldings never end,
whether blending antiquities or the latest trends,
so let’s embrace a harmonic pace that lingers with a trace,
like making love to a song.
Lean in and open your soul full fold,
let the melodious tones take control,
roll with the ripples and sway,
inhale beyond a conscious cage,
then spark the magic imbibed.
Wiggle with bends in the knees,
slither with the shoulders shaking lean,
articulating twirls with hands and wrists,
fluidity with hair flips, surging when the beat drops!
So now, it’s time to get down, pound that ground,
nurtured with sweat and sound,
twisting tasty instrumental licks,
weaving vocal shifts with intoxicating lyrics,
tickling your core.
Curl your chest relinquishing stress,
with a wardrobe to impress,
let your affection undress,
showing the contours juxtaposed
between your elbows and toes,
like learning a new language.
Pelvic thrusts and balls swinging,
lust gushing with hormones flushing,
momentum rushing,
inspiration coalesced,
expressed within the bounce of breasts,
enthusiasm’s timekeepers!
Heartbeats on repeat,
seeking a symmetry so sweet,
a combination complete,
an artisan while gyrating,
elevating endorphins stimulating,
the stature of prowess endeared.
Love on the dance floor,
for some found from before,
others don’t know what’s in store,
yet the chance of romance simmers with a sultry stance,
a glimmering glance, magnetized pulses.
Orbits observing, synching while swerving,
the cycle curving when inviting, shared delighting,
offering a synaptic splash,
will it blast or crash in a dire dash,
depends on the mutual attitudes?
We could all dance alone,
appreciating the oneness of the zone,
the singular nature honed,
yet the surprise sighs from thrilled thighs,
awakens aligned, when the pairing is a matched mix.

art credit - Bettina Kim Simpson Young

TOMORROW - Sat, May 11, Love The Everglades Movement hosts the Love Your Mother Everglades Clean-Up 2024 - sponsored by World Of Smoke & V**e - meeting at the Miccosukee Casino & Resort at 3:00 pm! We are looking for people with trucks to help haul out more trash! This is a group project - even if you can’t attend, please spread the word! Contributions are needed to help cover costs - donations are tax deductible! Join the adventure and make a difference!
http://www.zeffy.com/.../39e8da0c-9ae3-4ded-8fce...
www.facebook.com/events/1480175006041848

Some time last year, I had optimistic notions of The Wallflower Gallery’s 25th Anniversary happening this May, but the plans are not to be and now I am hoping something can be arranged for next year. The largest factor in the non-plans starts with Churchill’s continued closure. I had glimmers that they would have been opened by now, although I still hear rumbling of potential re-emergence. While I know other venues are out there, I have not been active enough to pull something together under recent conditions. In addition, I don’t have a budget since I have not really been working as before. Fortunately I am getting back into street promotions again, so that helps with funding, scoping potential venues and reconnecting on a few levels. Elements of a more formatted motion are coming back into play, so that may include The Wallflower Gallery’s 26th Anniversary for 2023!!??

CALL TO ARTISTS - TIME SENSITIVE!!
Proposal for Mural 10' H x 40' W
Completion Date: January 15, 2022

Requested Themes:
Honoring the Communities of Lake Okeechobee: the plants, animals and people

Dimensions:
10' High x 40' Wide

Deadline to Submit Your Proposal:
5 pm, Wednesday, December 29. 2021

Selected Artist will be notified:
Friday, December 31, 2021

Painting will start:
Monday, January 3, 2022

Mural Completion Date:
Saturday, January 15, 2022

Aguaculture LLC will provide up to $2000 of painting supplies needed

Love The Everglades Movement is offering $2,000 as Artist Fee

The mural will be applied to a large tank sitting on a barge which will float on Lake Okeechobee. This project will enhance a water quality improvement program which removes invasive aquatic vegetation from Lake Okeechobee, thereby contributing to Everglades Restoration.

The machine will be located near Lake Okeechobee and the mural will be done on site.

Please include the following info with your proposal:
Images of past work on a similar scale
A sketch of your proposed mural

This project is a collaboration between:
Aguaculture, LLC
Mike Elfenbein
Rev. Houston R Cypress, Otter Clan
Love The Everglades Movement

For more information, or to submit your proposal;
[email protected]

PLEASE SHARE - THANKS!!

While it is not a surprise, we are disappointed to announce that The Wallflower Gallery 24Th Anniversary Celebration will be postponed this year - again. Even though some events are happening and performers are able to work, this type of gathering is designed for interaction and reconnection. When we postponed last year’s celebration, I had high hopes that we would be back within a few months - things didn’t work that way. We lost too many people in the last year and their memories are ingrained in our collective history. It is my hope that we will be back to a more interactive mode soon and next year we will celebrate our creative convergence with The Wallflower Gallery’s 25th Anniversary!