May 20: PoLiMu recommends Grief + Gratitude Community Ritual

Grief + Gratitude: A Ritual Evening for These Here Times
With songs by Liz Digitale Anderson

Tuesday May 20th
Arrival + settling in 6 pm
Singing 6:30-8:30 pm

IN-PERSON**:  

New City Center for Healing Justice

3104 16th Ave S, Minneapolis

LIVESTREAM OPTION:  

*Friends in other places, the event link will livestreamed on Zoom - it's not going to be a true interactive hybrid, but more a way for folx elsewhere to sing along with us and add to their toolkit of grounding and resilience in these times. It's a bit of a trial run for some equipment we're testing out and we'd love your feedback on how this goes!

Register in advance for this event & reminders:

https://us02web.zoom.us/.../register/xEuBLonlRLO9e3As55nSbw

Free and open to all; suggested donation $0-$25

**Masks up for singing indoors please, thank you <3**

**********************************
"What are we gonna do with all this grief?"-- Prentis Hemphill
"We're gonna sing our way, sing our way through."-- Liz

How can singing meet this moment to usher in personal, cultural, and structural change?
How can singing serve our collective liberation?
How can our community bring this vision to life?

These are the questions I’ve been asking over the past few years, and the songs I've been catching and writing to sing together to try and answer them. I'd love you to join me for an evening of teaching some old and new songs and weaving them together in ritual. We'll use the space, somatics, and song to help us process these here times we're living in together.

More info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1213267597158685/

May 30: Songs for Tending Our Hearts

When it feels like the world is falling apart, when everything is literally on fire, singing in community together heals and centers us—we’re not alone.

Our culture desperately needs spaces where it is safe to feel your sorrow and the weight of the world. Come sing through the small and large griefs in your life and give them space to breathe.

When: May 30, 7:30-9p
Where: Yess Yoga
105 E 26th St, Mpls

Song leaders Conie Borchardt and Liz Digitale Anderson (aka GOOD TROUBLE) hold care-filled circles for you to find freedom in your voice, de-stress your nervous system, and move your body.

Every voice is welcome! We teach all the songs call and response- just open your mouth and echo back. We’ll sing songs to ground you, heal you, and help you breathe in the days to come.

Pre-register + pay what you can here: https://www.yessyogastudio.com/yoga-workshops/
$5-$20 sliding scale (No one turned away for lack of funds; we want you there!) You can also pay on the door.


**Notes**

- Masks May Be Required when Covid is surging. Masks will be available.
- Parking can be kind of tight around this block - leave yourself some extra time to find a spot!
- As we're in a yoga studio, we ask people to leave their shoes at the entrance to keep the studio clean. If you want to bring a clean pair of indoor shoes to support your feet that's fine. Thank you!

May 22-25: MMC in New England

We're be in New England later this month!  Join us for ...

• a Community SING in Hartford, CT on Thursday evening, May 22
• a 1-Day Community Singing Workshop in Hudson, MA on Saturday, May 24
• a Community SING in Boston, MA on Sunday afternoon, May 25

Find all the details to register on the MMC website.

May 18: Street Song Concert

Good Trouble has been delighted to be the co-directors for Street Song, a choir of folks who have experienced homelessness and those who love them. We're having a season finale concert soon with Chorus Polaris and Ken Medema.  Join us!

When:  Sunday, May 18, 3 p.m.

Where:  Westminster Hall at Westminster Presbyterian, 1200 S. Marquette Ave, Mpls

Tickets:  https://givebutter.com/A-Place-to-Call-Home

Apr 22: Spirit of Peace Meditation [In Person]

What:  Spirit of Peace Meditation - In Person!

When:  Tuesday, April 22, 2025, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Where:  South Minneapolis, email for location

--

What is this?  Read more about this practice here and join us in practicing seeing the love and light in each other and recommitting our strength to the cause of love.  

*May 13*: Retrain Your Lizard Brain

What: Retrain Your Lizard Brain: Somatic Singing for Trauma Awareness and Resilience
When: Tuesday, April 15 + May 13, 2025, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: New City Center, 3104 16th Ave S, Minneapolis
Register: Eventbrite.  Sliding scale.  

Masks up please!

See details from previous events here.  

We welcome walk-in registration, so come even if the Eventbrite is closed.  You can make a donation on Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute's GiveMN site with a note "Lizard Brain" and the date.   

--

Apr 24: Dances of Universal Peace in Dubuque, IA

 

What:  A Taste of the Dances of Universal Peace

When:  Thursday, April 24, 7-8:30 p.m.

Where:  Shalom Spirituality Center, Dubuque, Iowa

RSVP here.

An offering associated with the Blessing Way Aramaic Jesus Retreat on April 25-27.

*Apr 24*: MSP MMC Gatherings

Music that Makes Community Twin Cities Metro Gathering

 

When:  Thursday, March 13, 2025, 3:30 p.m.

Where:  University Lutheran Church of Hope, Minneapolis

When:  Thursday, April 24, 3:30 p.m.

Where:  St. Timothy's Lutheran, St. Paul

Last Mondays: Singing for Liberation

 

What:  Singing For Liberation

When: Last Mondays of the Month 2025, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
- NOTE:  May's session is rescheduled for Mon, June 2

Where:  CTUL/IX, 3715 Chicago Ave, Minneapolis

*May 4*, Jun 1: Dances of Universal Peace in St. Paul

 

What:  Dances of Universal Peace, aka Sufi Dancing

When:  First Sundays, 6:30-8:45 p.m.

Upcoming Dates:  April 6, May 4, June 1, 2025

Where:  Twin Cities Friends Meetinghouse, 1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul, MN

More details on Meetup.com

Mar 27: Retrain Your Lizard Brain in St. Paul

 

What:  Retrain Your Lizard Brain: Somatic Singing for Trauma Awareness and Resilience

When:  Thursday, March 27, 2025, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Where:  Dendros Group, University Ave, St. Paul

Register:  Eventbrite

Mar 6: Visiting Songleader Lu Aya

 

What:  Come Sing + Learn with Lu Aya

When:  Thursday, March 6, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Where:  CTUL/IX, 3715 Chicago Ave, Minneapolis

Suggested Donation: $10-20, no one turned away for lack of funds

Come sing and learn with Lu Aya of The Peace Poets!

Lu is a legendary movement songleader and hip-hop/spoken word artist, and one of the co-founders of The Peace Poets. The short, singable, memorable songs that The Peace Poets have been seeding throughout movement organizing work have supported Black Lives Matter, the climate crisis, Stop Line 3, Palestinian liberation, and more. Lu is the author of the HARMONIZING ORGANIZING manifesto our local movement songleaders have been learning from - we are so grateful he is coming to Minneapolis! Come sing with him and learn from him (we will probably wind up writing a song on the spot together!)

Masks strongly encouraged

***Childcare available!***

Setlist from 2025 Tending Your Heart, Tending Your Fire Retreat

Dear Friends,

If you're reading this, you might have attended the Tending Your Fire, Tending Your Heart retreat for Twin Cities Organizers + Mutual Aid Folx from Friday, February 21 through Sunday, February 23, 2025. Thank you for carrying a load for your community in a season of deep service and to lay it all down for a weekend to receive some spaciousness and care.

Here is a list of the songs we sang over the weekend with links to online recordings.

• Carry This All (Ahlay Blakely) 
• Come and Gather Round the Table (adapted from Fly Away Home) - ask Liz for a recording
• Endless Boundless Gratitude (Samara Jade)
• Gather / We Are Not Alone (Joanna Laws Landis)
• Healing is Possible (Orion Johnstone)
• (Hey There) Abolish (adapted from Hey There Delilah by Plain White T’s) - Video-chorus: Video-verse: 
• I am receiving (Lyndsey Scott) 
• I did not come here alone (The Peace Poets)
• I think you shouldn't do more (Gloria's song) - see the link in the post-retreat email
• I send my hope (Jordan Mudd) 
• Liberation, Solidarity (adapted from Earth My Body) - ask Liz for all the words
• Loosen, Loosen (Aly Halpert) - OR https://youtu.be/X-_7XfaS7Mc
• Net of Remembrance (Ahlay Blakely) - youtube
• O Bless the Food* (Okie Dokie Brothers?)
• Open Sentences (Ahlay Blakely)
• The Way Knows the Way (Lyndsey Scott) - plus https://thebirdsings.com/thewayknows/; and new album https://lyndseyscott.bandcamp.com/track/the-way-knows
• There is enough (Kerri Meyer) 

* no known recording online. Please share in the comments if you find one!

** the composer/catcher of this song is not known to us. If you do know, please pass it on in the comments. :)

Here's a list of Resources:

Oracle Card Decks 

Having a tangible tool to sit with and reflect our feelings back to us helps us slow down, process, and make space for emotional work and intentions we otherwise tend to ignore. 

• Rest Deck by Tricia Hersey (https://thenapministry.com/rest-deck/) based on Hersey's book "Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto"
• Sacred Incantations: rituals of trans wisdom for every season - from Enfleshed.

Buddha Board 

https://buddhaboard.com/

Instruments

• CajonTab by Louson Drum - Liz has one of the Pro series. Get to know a bit of the cajon's musical history here. Use Liz's affiliate link to get 10% off.
• Shruti Box, literally "sound" or "singing" in ancient Sankrit, replicates the sound of the Tambura, an East Asian Indian drone instrument. Part of the family of drone instruments that show up in many cultures, related to bagpipes and harmoniums. Conie's instrument is from Shrutibox.com run by Ron Kravitz of https://www.musicinthemoment.com/ in Philadelphia, PA

Gratitude for Episcopal House of Prayer at Collegeville for providing the gift of this Community Retreat.  

May all of these resources support you in your work and in your rest.

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