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Not Everyone Is Good Like That – ConArtistE w/ Bassist Wade Craver

Hopefully we all have someone in our lives that supports and loves us unconditionally. In my case, it’s my long time best friend, husband and bassist, Wade Craver.  We first met when we were 12 years old and the first thing that I noticed about him was the fact that he went completely out of his way to ride his bike just so that he could see me at my bus stop every morning and say ‘hi’ as he rode his bike to school. At first, I thought that he lived right down the road but later, I discovered that he took an alternate route which added an extra 3 miles to his bike ride to school!  Honestly, if you want to impress a girl, do that for an entire school year!

Epic, Old Photo of Us:

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As most of you may or may not know, we have been happily married for 22 years now. I wrote this poem for him in my first book, ‘Coyote’s Digest’ and years later, I have adapted it to a Spoken Word performance. The bass in this track was  previous recording of him and then, I later added my voice track over it. It’s a nice combination of our talents and I’m happy to share it with you all! Thanks for checking this out. . .

 

What does – “ConArtistE” mean?

The words “Con” and “ArtistE” (pronounced Arteest), were combined to create my pseudonym, “ConArtistE“.  I did this because Con is the beginning part of my name, Constance and is defined in the modern dictionary as “a deceiver, an artist, a CON artist”. ConArtistEAlso, the modern definition of ArtistE is “A public performer”.

So, my “Con” is treating my Spoken Word as a performance art. When really, it’s just me memorizing my writings to record and speak with or without music and the result is ConArtistE!

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However, after finding much older definitions in dictionaries from the late 1800’s to early 1920’s, I can tell you that a “Con” is not “a deceiver”, as modern day definitions often suggest. Instead, (to my absolute delight) it is “To make one’s self mastery of; to fix in the mind, or commit to memory.”  In that case, that is exactly what I do! I write and memorize my own words and then expertly recite them to record or perform at anytime. That is my talent. Memorization. My art is the delivery. This is what I call Spoken Word.

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The next word that I use, ArtistE, is also defined differently in antique dictionaries. It is, “An expert in an art other than the fine arts.  To be peculiarly dextrous and tasteful in this art”. Wow! So, you can say that I am exceptionally good at memorizing and speaking words. Although, not a fine art, it is, an art, nonetheless.

If you didn’t know this about me, now you do. it is the most noticeable part of my performance, that is, most people can’t believe that I memorize my words so thoroughly and abundantly.

But it didn’t stop there! I recently took on a big task and nearly memorized The Declaration of Independence. (I say “nearly” because I purposely left out 472 words in order to update it). I call this new version, “Human Events” and it is of my own design. I did this because I found some truth in this document and realized that it was my right and my duty to ConArtistE it. Audio Coming Soon. . .

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