"I’m not content with much that we have given up.
Even less content with what we have given it up for.
Taken starlight from the surfaces of water,
stolen from the night and the eyes of our kids by streetlights,
empty office buildings, and constant progress.
Whatever the forest had in mind
before the wooden axels rolled up,
that’s the voice I’m listening for..."
-Ben Weaver
Ben Weaver/Jonathan Miles
I Would Rather Be a Buffalo Tour
Tomorrow Night (Thurs, Nov 6th)
Sunflower River Frosty Beaver Moon Bonfire
Frosty Beaver Moon
Bonfire and performance behind Quapaw Canoe Company in downtown Clarksdale! Fundraiser for the Mighty Quapaw Apprenticeship Program with the help of Ben Weaver and Jonathan Miles.
Please Note: Change of Venue:
Due to circumstances, we’ve made a change of venue for the Full Frosty Beaver Moon with Ben Weaver and Jonathan Miles:
Thursday November 6th
Full Frosty Beaver Moon
with poet and recording artist Ben Weaver
and author/musician Jonathan Miles
on their “I Would Rather be a Buffalo” Tour
5-7pm Quapaw Canoe Company
Clarksdale, Mississippi
On the Sunflower River at 291 Sunflower Avenue in downtown Clarksdale
$25 each suggested donation fundraiser for the Mighty Quapaw Apprenticeship Program. BYOB. BYOP (Bring your own plate -- of food!).
We’ll have the music. We’ll have the bonfire. Bring yourself, a plate of food, and a libation. Bring a donation for the Mighty Quapaw Apprenticeship Program. Enjoy the Full Frosty Beaver Moon on the banks of the Sunflower River! (PS: You can grab a plate of BBQ to go from our friends across the street at Jerry Dreamboat... tell them we sent you! Our neighbors Corner Grocery and Downtown Liquors have endless selections for refreshments!)
Full Frosty Beaver Moon on the Sunflower River with poet and recording artist Ben Weaver, and author Jonathan Miles, enroute down the length of the river on his "I would Rather be a Buffalo" Bike tour.
OAR Northwest
Adventure: Mississippi River
Friday Nov 7th The guys from OAR NW are rowing our way from Minnesota and will arrive in time for a Full Moon performance by Ben Weaver. They will be visiting the schools and bringing virtual river-time to the school children of Eastern Arkansas/Northwestern Mississippi. See below for more details. On their schedule for Friday: the DeWitt Middle School, and a day on the river with 5th and 6th graders from the Presbyterian Day School.
If you are a teacher interested in our OAR Northwest's Adventure: Mississippi River program all you need to get started is at: www.rowboatclassroom.org
Find out more about who we are at www.oarnorthwest.com.
Check the latest at www.facebook.com/oarnorthwest.
If this is about a school visit or logistical question relating to Adventure: Mississippi River please text at 253-678-5863 or my teammate Greg Spooner at 206-795-4184 and we will try and get to you as soon as possible.
More from Ben Weaver:
I Would Rather Be A Buffalo Tour
The Journey
To support my upcoming release, I Would Rather Be A Buffalo I am riding my bicycle 1,400 miles with author Jonathan Miles (Dear American Airlines, Want Not, who will be covering the tour for Bicycling Magazine) from Minneapolis, Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana. I am curating event performances along the way that will pair music with bicycling, farms and food, historical walks, volunteerisms, readings, tree plantings and more. I feel strongly that audiences deserve to be offered more from performances and I believe artists need to take more active roles within the communities they visit. This tour will be my effort to begin implementing a new infrastructure that will allow me and other musicians to have greater impact and on the communities we visit.
Where
The route we have chosen will follow the Mississippi River making several diversions. I will be performing in spaces that have not likely had live music before. Bookstores, libraries, art galleries, nature centers and farms. I will collaborate with local authors, chefs, nature specialists, farmers and other community members to offer diverse shows that address issues of sustainability, food and environment, while providing information and alternative ideas to people seeking new stories and ways to live their lives.
Why
I’m not content with much that we have given up. Even less content with what we have given it up for. Taken starlight from the surfaces of water, stolen from the night and the eyes of our kids by streetlights, empty office buildings, and constant progress. Whatever the forest had in mind before the wooden axels rolled up, that’s the voice I’m listening for. Not as an activist or provocateur, but a steward for what little is left. I Would Rather Be A Buffalo came from the thin places, in the forests I wander and the cities I ride. On most days if there is a few feet of space between this world and the spirits, the places where I found I Would Rather Be A Buffalo, were worn down to an inch or less. I’m willing to risk sentimentality or an over sincere jest to say these things, to preserve the rivers and box canyons, the needlework light in the tall pines, and the blank spaces on the map for the wolves, bears and my heart to wander. I’m going to ride my bike to support this record because when I am on my bike I am most comfortable in the world.
Background
I Would Rather Be A Buffalo is my 8th musical release. In addition to my recording career, I have spent 5 years cooking in farm to table kitchens and learning whole hog butchery and charcuterie. I have published two poetry collections—2007’s Hand Me Downs Can Be Haunted and 2008’s The Talking Comes Later—My short story “Humaneque” was included in the anthology Amplified: Fiction from Leading Alt- County, Indie Rock and Folk Musicians alongside works by Jim White, Patty Larkin, Rhett Miller, Laura Veirs, Mary Gauthier and others. I am currently working on a third poetry collection, an epic book poem titled Ragged Ass Joy, sections of which have been published in Dark Mountain Journal. A limited edition printed excerpt of Ragged Ass Joy will available for purchase at these events.
Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana:
Help us welcome our river friends Buffalo Bicyclers: Ben Weaver, Jonathan Miles, and OARS NW Greg Spooner, Jordan Hanssen, Markos Pukonen and Pat Fleming to the WILD MILES of the Deep South! What are the WILD MILES? GO visit www.wildmiles.org!
