Jan 12 + *Feb 16*: Songs in Your Body On This Land @ Northrup King Building

We'd like to welcome People of the Global Majority (Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Color, and Mixed Race) to these song circles.

When: Friday, January 12, and February 16, 6-8 p.m.
Where: Studio #240***, Northrup King Building, 1500 Jackson St. NE, Minneapolis (map)

Facebook event link


Led by GOOD TROUBLE, Conie Borchardt and Liz Digitale Anderson. We teach songs for joy, courage, grief, hope, and justice in the oral tradition, call and echo. You don't need to "be a singer" or "know what you're doing", you just gotta be willing to breathe and open your mouth and echo back. Maybe even move your hips if you're feeling it

**We will be requesting that folx mask up for the sake of collective community health indoors. Thank you for understanding**

***This is in a new accessible location.*** For those new to the Northrup King Building, it is a huge former seed warehouse, so you may want to take extra time to find us.  Here's some navigational tips:  

If you need to use the elevator, 

1. Park at northern end
2. The ramp is between dock 8 and 9
3. Enter Door F (between dock 5 and 6)
4. Once inside, the elevator is around the corner to the left (an old industrial one is ahead of you; a modern one is behind you)
5. On the 2nd floor, turn left off the elevator and go straight a ways.
6. When you get to a corner, turn left (it's the only way).
7. Then follow the descending room numbers until you get to 240! 

Wanna take the stairs?  There's a few entrances you can pick from.  Floor maps are abundant inside.  If you take the main entrance (with the awning), you can pickup the directions from step 5 once you're on the second floor, i.e., turn left once you get to the main long hallway.  

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Photo by Mankwe Ndosi: Preparing the Unburdening Ground, Say Their Names Cemetery at George Floyd Square, Minneapolis

Setlist for Leslie's Birthday Gathering

If you're reading this, you might have been part of a private birthday "Songs for Celebration and Liberation" song circle for Leslie in St. Paul recently. 

Here's the setlist from that gathering. May it encourage your heart and spirit in this work and life.  

• Let my soul dance in the rain* (unknown; learned from Scott Skoog) 
• We do better when we all do better* (words: inspired by Paul Wellstone; music: Liz Digitale Anderson)
• I did not come here alone (The Peace Poets) 
• Get Into Your Body (Lea Morris) 
• Healing is Possible (Orion Johnstone) 
• Happy Birthday (Bird Day) to you (Matt Carlson & Opal McCarthy) 
• Love, Serve, Remember (John Astin, adapted by Adam Burke)
• Every step toward joy (words: Andre Henry; music: Liz Digitale Anderson)

* No online recording exists, that we've been able to find. Please let us know if you've found one in the comments! 

We, Liz and Conie of Good Trouble, are honored to weave community song and movement with a wish for collective liberation to celebrate birthdays and all occasions. Reach out if you'd like to add participatory, fiercely heartfelt singing and movement to your gathering. 

A Christmas Carol Dance: Joy to the World!

In the summer of 2019, I took a workshop on liturgical dance from Susan Mendenhall at the UCC Musicians Association Conference and it inspired me to create and lead a Christmas Carol Festival later that year.  This year I got the invitation to offering music and dance for an Advent (pre-Christmas) Sunday morning worship on Joy and I gleefully offered lead us in a circle dance for the traditional Joy to the World.

Here's the movements.  I believe they are Susan's (I'll need to find my materials to check!)

Feel free to use whatever verses that fit your context.  The hymntune is ANTIOCH, which is from a theme in the oratorio "Messiah" by George F. Handel, adapted by Lowell Mason in 1742.  Please source Susan Mendenhall for the movements and point folks to this page if you can. https://plm.tiny.us/DanceJoy2World

Setlist for Dec 1 Songs in Your Body On This Land @ Beautiful Studio

Here are the songs we sang at Songs In Our Bodies On This Land at the Beautiful Studio on Friday night, December 1, 2023 with links to online recordings for your at-home remembering pleasure.

1. Welcome here (Rachael Weasley)
2. Into the River (first line: I wanna lay my bones down in the water) (Chloe Smith/Rising Appalachia)
3. Well Held (Lyndsey Scott)
4. Earth You Hold Us (Lyndsey Scott)
5. Loosen, Loosen (Aly Halpert)
6. Courage, My Friend (anti-Apartheid movement, South Africa)
7. Reworked Nursery Rhymes (ead)
8. The Feelings Song (Heidi Rojas)
9. Oxygen (Wendy Luella Perkins)
10. Love from the Inside Out (Moon Clementson)
11. Linger (traditional American camp song)

Thank you to the crew who sang with us! The right people were there, tenderness, grit, and support were shared. Community was tended. This is part of the dream Liz and Conie are working towards!

It takes more than desire to keep this BIPOC song circle going. Your contributions, energetic, trades, and financial, are welcome and needed! If you missed the big blue-green tip jar in the dark (lol), contributions can be sent through Paypal or Venmo or a check can be mailed to P.O. Box 11791, St. Paul, MN 55111.

The 2024 dates for Songs in Our Bodies On this Land are in the works and not yet ready for publication!  Stay tuned here or signup for the "Soul Songs BIPOC/Mixed Singing Space" list here.

Keep singing and stay warm, hydrated and creative!

Love, Liz and Conie, a.k.a. Good Trouble