Hi all!
Keeping busy doing all sorts of things-like putting a table and 2 chairs together,
and other appts. for me and my daughter. 

It's a beautiful day here, sunny and bright-puts me in the mood for spring cleaning!
Have lots to do.

How is it in your world?!

Elder's Meditation of the Day - May 3
"But I have learned a lot from trees: sometimes about the weather, sometimes about animals, sometimes about the Great Spirit."
--Walking Buffalo, STONEY
Nature is the greatest teacher on the Earth. Nature produces many different plants, animals, trees, rocks, birds, insects and weather patterns. Nature designed all these various things to grow and multiply while at the same time live in harmony with each other. We can learn a lot of we observe and study Nature's system of harmony and balance. Today, go sit on a rock and quietly observe and ask to be shown the lessons.

Great Spirit, Nature is my teacher. Today, let me be the student.

If Only
Locating The Underlying Cause

Often, when we’re unhappy, we fall into the habit of thinking that, if only one or two particular things in our life would change, everything would be fine. We might focus on the fact that we need a new car, or a raise, or a change in our living situation. We dwell on this one thing and strategize, or complain, or daydream about what it would be like to have it. Meanwhile, underneath the surface, the real reason for our unhappiness sits unrecognized and unaddressed. And yet, if we are able to locate and explore the underlying cause of our discontent, all the surface concerns have a way of working themselves out in the light of our realization.

Maybe we really do just need a new car, and maybe moving to another city would improve our life situation. However, it can only help to take some time to explore what’s going on at a deeper level. Sometimes, when we take a moment and stop focusing on external concerns, we get to the heart of the matter. We might realize that all our lives we’ve been dissatisfied, grasping at one thing after another, only to be dissatisfied about something else once we get what we want. Or perhaps we’ll notice a pattern of running away from a place, or a relationship, when things get too hard. We might then wonder why this keeps happening, and how we might work through the difficulty rather than just escaping it. The point is, slowing down and turning our attention within can save us a lot of energy in the long run, because it is very often the case that there is no external change that will make us happy.

Once you’ve taken the time to inquire within, you can begin to make changes that address the deeper issue. This can be hard at first, especially if you’ve grown used to grasping for outside sources in order to quell your discontent, but in the end, you will be solving the problem at a deeper level, and it will be much less likely to recur.

Hugh Masekela Presents the Chisa Years 1965-1975
Hugh Masekela
2005

Having scored with his 1968 instrumental, "Grazing in the Grass," and his blazing number at the Monterey Pop festival, Hugh Masekela was an in-demand producer who too often found himself turning out watered-down versions of the steamy Afro-fusion he longed to create. Chisa Records was Masekela's own small label, his chance to break out on his own, to create and market the spirited African-pop sound that would one day fall into the catch-all category of World Beat music. Hugh Masekela Presents the Chisa Years, then, is a collection of unreleased tracks and B-sides from the label's heyday, and the stuff on display here ranges from rock-steady proto-acid jazz to buoyant African-pop, the wellspring from which would one day come Paul Simon's Graceland, and so many others.

The most energetic band here is the amazing Baranta, which rocks a steady Afro-pop vibe with a twin guitar effect—one doing a low-end wah-wah and the other in full fuzz mode. Vocalist Miatta Fahinbulleh belts out high-end African lyrics, soaring over a waterfall cascade chorus on the manic "Tepo," and there's an incredible fuzz freak-out guitar solo in the middle of "A Cheeka Laka Laka." During this last song, Fahinbulleh sings out in English for celebration of the unity between Africans and countercultural northerners: "The blackbird is calling for justice / The white bird is calling for peace." A muscle-heavy backing-vocal harmony mixes with chugging, spacey guitar to fuse the two spirits even more closely together.

The most instantly funky and irresistible track here, though, will likely be "Afro-Beat Blues," which features Masekela on horns and a nonstop, percolating soul-funk groove. The singing is low and half-spoken over crunchy guitar, drums, and a low and in-no-hurry heavy, throbbing bass that's so tight and sanctified no amount of police or rioting could stop it. Masekela's Chisa record imprint eventually folded up shop, but not before the 10-year run celebrated in high style on this worthy album. It's a must for students of the global beat, fans of Masekela, and any intrepid explorer looking to shake those "Afro-Beat Blues."

	Listen to all sound clips from this CD
"Afro-Beat Blues" "Tepo" "A Cheeka Laka Laka"

Buy this CD

Huge rosary, art creation

A working vehicle

Elephant polo, in Thailand

Famous ferris wheel for sale, in Santa Monica

My interview is on Wednesday, May 7th!!
Hope I get this job, and other projects coming up, after November!



Have a great Tudesday!!

Why people in Colorado don't use trampolines!

for dinner!  Had the famous Monte Christo sandwich---mmm, good!
They have wonderful French Onion soup.  For dessert I had the Brownie thing.
They have Death by Chocolate, but it sounded like a little much!  I brought half of the sandwich home.  We had a great time.  Trisha's cousins Scott and Brian came along,
as well as Brian's girlfriend, Anne.  It was really busy on a Friday night.





Goddess Chants
by Padma Previ
2005

A talented singer from the West who discovered her inner passion for yoga as a young visitor to Mumbai, Padma Previ is the best sort of New Age music artist. Never straying too far into either the earthly or purely spiritual realm, she offers a hand on either side of the veil, mixing down-to-earth vibrancy with crystalline beauty, the music of a true dweller on the threshold, a trickster dancer in the flame who brings earth to sky and sky to earth. Goddess Chants functions as a heart-soothing backdrop to one's earthbound life, organically steering its listeners to their inner centers of calm, while still (sort of) rocking out on occasion.

That rocking out you can hear best in sinuously, slow, and gyrating jams like "Ganairindrasya," a heady mix of Indian, Middle Eastern, and—if you let your headphones take you deep enough—1970s Western rock flavors. Deep bass, psychedelic sitars, crashing cymbals, and fading echoes of Gobi desert winds provide the Bolero-style backdrop for the sexy and mystical vocalizations, which are Previ's unique gift to the world. Under the knowing third eye and ear of producer J. Deere, the sound is full and rich throughout the soundscape. (He got his start producing Australian didgeridoo music, which is renowned for posing challenges in bass reproduction.)

Similarly sexy is the opening track, "Om Shri Rama," which carries Previ's vocals into your speakers on an ornate caravan of moog synths, buzzing tamboura, and drum cymbal thunder. This relatively devotional chanting gives way to a more Westernized melody with "Om Shrim Swaha," which opens on an eerie, childlike melody. Gradually, layers of Previ's vocals slide in as glittering shadows in the dark, and the gongs and cymbals keep crashing, keep breaking up the inertialike accrual of ego and obsession. What Padma Previ has on Goddess Chants is one anklet-adorned foot in the genuine mystic, the raw archetypal energy that precedes symbols and language—and one without. With the help of some friends, she opens the doorway into our own possibility and hangs there, waiting for us to cross over or back when we would like, comforting like a mother, beguiling like a lover, and yearning like a seeker of the truth beyond all these illusory differences.

	Listen to all sound clips from this CD
"Om Shri Rama" "Om Shrim Swaha" "Ganairindrasya"

Buy this CD