In 2011, I became obsessed with the idea of going to Copenhagen to experience something extraordinary; Restaurant Noma under the auspices of Chef Rene Redzepi. On 9/25, the dream begins - departure from Orlando to Miami, then England, then Copenhagen, thanks to your support. But we are only at 83%. I must achieve complete and unmitigated victory, audacious total win, uncompromising PROOF that dreams can be made manifest with a passionate singular epic goal: to show people it can be done, and that along with your sacrifice, your friends will help you do it!

Chef Rene Redzepi's restaurant (several times voted Best in the World) is going beyond simplistic ideas of cuisine. Chef Redzepi's philosophy is one which can be shared with the Performance Artist. He fearlessly pushes the envelope. He wishes to take what he does further, and to defy convention. He works tirelessly to advance ideas about the relationship between where we are and what we consume.

He wants to preserve a moment in time and place on the plate.

In the same fashion, I have strived to push the envelope, challenge boundaries, explore the relationship between performer and audience, and preserve moments in time and place with the recording and archiving of original music, art, theatre, poetry and cinema.

So it is with a pure sense of adventure that I seek to put myself in the company of a like-minded spirit, someone who is operating at a profoundly passionate and emotional level, so that I can transcend my own limits of thinking and become an artist who can not only explore the uncharted, but can do so in ways that will benefit my environment and ultimately, my audience.

I am orchestrating this dream as a performance art piece: "All I ask is that I be treated by my friends and fans to a reasonable dinner in a small town for my 50th Birthday!"

I never imagined it would even be possible just to obtain reservations. In the first ten seconds of booking, one competes with 20,000 people from around the world all with the same notion: to experience Noma.

With the help of friends equally passionate, we put forth a remarkable effort at 4am U.S. time. For forty-five minutes of redailing and a couple computers working the online reservation interface, it all seemed futile. And then, the door opened. There was an answer: "Noma, may I take your reservation?"

Only days later did it even occur that the redailing of a location in Copenhagen would result in phone bills of over two-hundred dollars. All this, before the journey even begins. So we had accomplished what it is said to be virtually impossible in the press: we scored reserations at Restaurant Noma.

Now for the easier part--to raise the funds. This event nearly coincides with what will be my 50th birthday. This kind of wacky syncronicity is common in Gainesville, Florida, the known Center of the Universe.

Help me achieve this little dream, this little demonstration project that says, "If you have the audacity to believe in something, and you follow a passion, your friends will be there to show you the way inside.

I am asking for a contribution to help me accomplish this artistic mission. I need to raise several thousand dollars, and part of that will come from me selling a couple things I've grown much too attatched to. Some of this mission will be about letting go.

Part of that will come from friends, the curious, lovers of the Bohemian way, those who appreciate the products and plights of artists who adventure upon the non-commercial path, those who understand that by achieving the dream--no matter how wacky or obscure--this lets others know they can achieve their dreams too, with the help of a few committed friends and fans.

So when people ask me why? Why this? Why Copenhagen? Why Noma? I quote from two people who greatly inspire my creativity and sense of adventure:

"Don't be chicken." ~Chef Rene Redzepi. (Think about that one.)

"A poet makes himself a visionary through a long, boundless, and systematized disorganization of all the senses." ~Arthur Rimbaud.

We must not fail.

CLICK--> Operation Copenhagen in the Independent Florida Alligator