In 1996, Ambersunshower recorded a duet with Tricky called «Chaos» for a British charity compilation called «Childline» (Polygram UK cat. no.: TV 5530302). That musician from Bristol (UK) remembered her a couple of years later to let her participate on his new album works ...

Back from "the verge of insanity," as he put it, trip-hop pioneer Tricky hooks up with a serious list of guests for his latest collection released in 2001.

But not even the eclectic presence of such artists as Ambersunshower, Jamaican - born new reggae artist Hawkman, Alanis Morissette, Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis, John Frusciante and Flea, or Cyndi Lauper can make up for this album's scattered nature. Supposedly looking for a harder sound since relocating from Bristol to New York City, Tricky comes up with only a few real winners here.      

Worth checking out is the sinister opening track, Excess, featuring Morissette on backing vocals, the slinky ballad You Don't Wanna featuring female vocalist Ambersunshower, a funky reworking of the Wonder Woman theme called #1 Da Woman, believe it or not, with Frusciante and Flea, and the mid-tempo Five Days featuring Cyndi Lauper. Also good is his gentle duet with Ambersunshower on the silly little song Your Name.

Tracklisting of «Blowback»:

 1. Excess
 2. Evolution Revolution Love - featuring Ed Kowalczyk and Hawkman
 3. Over Me - featuring Ambersunshower and Hawkman
 4. Girls - featuring Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante
 5. You Don't Wanna - featuring Ambersunshower
 6. Wonder Woman - featuring John Frusciante And Flea
 7. Your Name - featuring Ambersunshower
 8. Diss Never (Dig Up We History) - featuring Hawkman
 9. Bury The Evidence - featuring Hawkman
10. Something In The Way - featuring Hawkman
11. Five Days - featuring Cyndi Lauper
12. Give It To 'Em - featuring Hawkman
13. A Song For Yukiko

On its surface, Sharon Bridgforth's latest play, "Con Flama," is about a little girl growing up in balkanized Los Angeles during the turbulent 1960s and '70s. She takes the bus across lines marking different neighborhoods, cultures, languages and types of music.

But the semi-autobiographical journey in Bridgforth's "word opera" is also about her attempts to see things from her religious mother's perspective, even as she begins to grow into her own identity.

"As a mother myself, as a spiritual person, as a lover of women, I really wanted to understand my mother," Bridgforth said. "I believe that you are shaped by your world and I wanted to go back to explore hers."

For Bridgforth and her collaborators - including performer Ambersunshower Smith and her mother, director Laurie Carlos - "Con Flama" is about a young girl tapping into her community's power. It's also Penumbra's first production with openly gay characters.

The production, which previews Tuesday and premieres Friday in St. Paul, expands the theater's repertoire and brings into its doors "people from other parts of the family," said Carlos. "It's important that we tell more than just black male stories. Sharon has found a beautifully chiseled voice to speak about American life, and to speak about these characters as integral to the fabric of a community. It's a real blessing for us to be able to share it."   

Seeking to wholeness

Con flama, Spanish for "with fire," is an expression used by members of the black gay community to signify a certain confusion and heat, as in "con flama drama." And the show is not something you can plot on a graph, with predictable spikes and dips. Populated by real characters and by spirits, it traverses geographical and temporal boundaries, moving between California and the American South, between the 1970s and the 1940s, and among languages as diverse as English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Malay.

"Con Flama" uses the choreopoem form - mixing the music of composers Lourdes Perez and Annete D'Armata with gestural movements and sung poetry - pioneered by Ntozake Shange in "For Colored Girls Who've Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf." Director Carlos originated one of the roles in "Colored Girls," molding the text and setting the template for future actors.

"This form is about how we live," Carlos said. "When we walk into a room, we bring all our history with us, all our dreams, our memories and spirits. It doesn't mean that we're heavy with stuff, just that we're drawing life from this very female form, one that's circular and full of energy."

The play shows people of different genders, races and sexual orientations living ordinary lives. They are not divided into categories. "This is a story of reclamation, really, about getting back to a time when were were whole - aunts, sisters, cousins, friends," Bridgforth said.   

The playwright, who has won awards from the Jerome Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation, said that it's a pleasure to work with Carlos, who helped develop an earlier version of "Con Flama" for Frontera@Hyde Park theater in Austin, Texas.

Bridgforth's first professional theater experience was a touring production of "Colored Girls" in the late 1970s in San Francisco.

"It blew me away," she said. "It gave me a vehicle that gave me a voice, that allowed to me to speak."

Bridgforth calls "Con Flama" a "word opera" because she's trying to create a new form. "I respect everything that Shange did for me but this is a different thing," she said. "It's like musical notation - like jazz - you need a communal effort to make it live."     

Ambersunshower

The Texas workshop version of "Con Flama" had four actors. This production has seven, with a cast that includes Djola Branner, Aimee Bryant, Zell Miller III, Mankwe Ndosi, Ana Perea and Sonja Parks, whose credits include a memorable performance in Penumbra's stunning production of August Wilson's "Jitney."

But the cast member who stands out is Ambersunshower Smith - and not because she is the director's daughter. Smith, whose multiple roles include the song-filled spirit of the young girl, is an arranger, composer and vocalist, with an alternative rock 'n' soul style that suggests the achy wispiness of Dido and Portishead, two acts that later became better known. Smith released an album on Gee Street, "Walter T. Smith", in 1996. She has toured with Tricky and Tool, and performed at First Avenue as an opener for alternative hip-hop group Digable Planets. That was a sobering experience.

So, how does one play a spirit?

"The same way you play every damn thing else," Carlos said. "With passion, with freedom, with enough life to honor the history and dreams that go with you."

'Con Flama' was written by Sharon Bridgforth with music composed by Lourdes Perez and Annete D'Armata. Directed by Laurie Carlos and produced by Lou Bellamy. Performed by Penumbra Theatre Company, 270 N. Kent St., St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.