Hi There,

Greetings to you from the air, en-route to California for some hybridized time with wine, art, and Ted’s family (more on them in a minute!)

Lots of you know I’ve been developing my original one-woman musical show, “Beyond the Frame”, for years now. (It’s an exploration of Édouard Manet’s art through his muses and models, told through story and song.)

Today, I'm thrilled to announce Gaye Taylor Upchurch is our director! Finding the right person to helm the show and bring it to the next phase has been the primary work of me and my producer, Cassandra Csencsitz, over the last nine months or so, and the work and the wait have been well worth it.

GT's credentials are so impressive I’m tempted to write reams about them — but the New York Times has already done that plenty. I'll just say, I am relishing her candor, humor and spirit of inquiry that are already bringing the piece to a fuller blossom.

Her arrival has catalyzed a lot of movement — we’ll now be doing an industry workshop in mid-August for potential producers and theaters, and then a larger staged reading with fully arranged songs in January.

With that in mind, I’ll be taking a hiatus from pairings until September to focus on this crucial moment. However, I do have something pretty great for you to read in the meantime:

Ted’s sister, Nikki Nash (best name ever) has written a memoir about her experience growing up in L.A. in front of and behind the cameras, connected by a fascial thread of her long relationship with Warren Beatty. Do I need to say any more to entice you? Booklist and the Kirkus Review have done that plenty:) I know this will make for a peerlessly delicious, insightful and moving summer read for you.

"Collateral Stardust" will be released on August 19th --- you can preorder a copy here.

I’ll surely be popping back here and there with updates as I add concert dates, report on projects-in-progress, and of course anything oenological that's pressing...;)

Thank you always for reading and writing back!

Truly,

Kristen

P.S. Some 4th of July thoughts that helped orient me today.

P.S.S. I couldn’t leave you with NO Jazz nor Juice, so here’s a few things I loved this past week:

The Berthollier's “Coup de Théâtre!” (bought for the name as you might have guessed.) It delivers drama in contrast, complexity and enjoyment. I found it here.

Amaranthine Mary Halvorson PREVIEW   ​

A cut from a new release from Mary Halverson that has made some sweltering subway rides odysseys of sound. Plus, this one taught me a cool new word. 🤓