Enter by form, Exit from form
Artistic Statement

If you can give, please give. If you need, please take fairly. She was raised like a midwestern girl, a middle-class midwestern girl, but somehow found herself trapped in an existence slowly decaying before her eyes. Her life is being eroded by influences beyond the reach of her control, and as she tries to find the thread that will pull the pieces together, Collen is being torn down by the same hands she is turning to for support and direction. She is a professional exhibitionist. Caught in a co-dependent relationship, Collen is sliding along a spiral that is slowly wearing down the social and emotional fiber that supported her existence. Over the past five months her fragile social network has crumbled. For those who want to know more, read on.

 She was raised like Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, but somehow found herself trapped ina cavern slowly decaying before her Liquid Liquid. Her life is being eroded by influences beyond roots rock, and as she tries to find the source music that will pull the pieces together, Collen is being torn down by bastardizations that take the style without the culture. She is a professional without a preconception. Caught in a naive aesthetic point of view, Collen is not a musician per se, sliding along one chapter in a long saga that is slowly wearing down the Matisse influences that supported her existence. Over the past five months the give and take of Ludlow Street has crumbled. People are suspicious, for better or worse, if you show too much too quick. It's not a very good survival mechanism. To be truly naive and innocent and childlike, think number nine, number nine . . . six equals nine. Some people play and they masturbate with the music; some people play and they make love with the music. If you give, please give. If you need, please take fairly.

 She was raised like Miyamoto Musashi, a samurai-class Shinjuku girl, but somehow she found herself trapped in a dojo slowly decaying before Akebono. Her life is being eroded by kenbei, and as she tries to find the doryoku that will save her from karoshi, Koren id being torn down by the same sensei she is turning to for munen muso. Shoganai. She is a professional geinohkai. "You don't please people by trying to please them," Rie-chan says. "You please them by being yourself and showing part of you they can relate to, and by empathizing with them and making that part of your motivation." Act alone and act with other people the same way--with a straightforward spirit and an honest heart as the path.

Samples: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Minato no Yokohama Yokosuka. Don't follow leaders, watch your parking meters. Point on, Mr. Businessman, you can't dress like me. Aaaah, Nagasaki wa, kyo mo ame datta yo. History--put it on your map, better keep it in mind. Life behind a desk is spent to feed the kids and pay the rent. Tape rolling . . . keep it rolling.

She was raised like Pat Riley, a tone-poem drummer, but somehow found herself trapped by a no-look pass with no rebounds, no rings. Her favorite state is to be alone in a crowd--to be a part of and be apart of, knowing the difference between loneliness and solitude. Her life is being eroded by overdub ideas beyond the reach of her recording studio, and as she tries to find the Eno who will pull the pieces together, Collen is playing for the Gods. She is a professional stimulus, creating music not in a vacuum, but out of a culture. "Create a culture, and out of the culture, the music comes." It's a fistful of facts, Jah.

Caught in a Dylanesque relationship, Collen is the beacon for a generation that is fortunately, passionately losing its way. As to the matter of Zen Guitar (heiho no hyoshi no koto): They rhythm with which things progress and the rhythm with which things deteriorate should be understood and differentiated. To know more, practice.

Over the past five months the bedspring she relied upon has crumbled. How many understand that it's not what you think, it's what you think about what you think. And the further it goes, the more interesting it gets. Tour dates include New York, Tokyo, London, Paris, Bangkok, Amsterdam, Kinshasa, Firenze, New Orleans, Lagos, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Kyoto, Perth Amboy, Praha, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Aix en Provence, Kingston, Barcelona, Singapore, Utsunomiya, Sydney, and Havana--all under the open sky. And it starts right here on the slopes of Mt. Haleakala, Maui.

She was raised like Jimi, a Dostoyesvskian paisley girl, but somehow found herself trapped in a feedback loop slowly decaying before her ears. Her life is an enigmatic kind of thing beyond the reach of pop, and as she tries to hear the sound of one hand clapping, Collen is being torn down by the same hands she uses to please herself. She is an amatuer exhibitionist. Caught as David Koresh's bass player, Collen is slippin' on a phenomenon, trying to cut through the noise with five strings, three chords, and Bucchi Emecheta. It is said, "View people by the process they use, not they content they proclaim. Content is consciously manipulable, process reveals the true person." If you can give, please give. If you need, please take fairly.

In the end, she was raised like Avant Garbage, a child of ideas and joyful noise, but somehow found herself trapped in an existence slowly decaying before her eyes. Her life is fueled by something beyond the capacity of language to convey. She has chosen a path, and it is a trillion to one.

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