Snowflakes Blanket Sandy Hook in Love

Lift your spirits with this beautiful look at the outpouring of love from 50 countries and tens of thousands of children who made unique snowflakes to cheer up the children, parents and teachers of Sandy Hook...

 Watch the CBS news report here.

Here is a list of ongoing activities and needs: http://www.ctpta.org/SANDY-HOOK-FUND.html  

CTPTA shares snapshots from the snowflake collection process!

FOR OUR CHILDREN: Digital Music Compilation Benefits Sandy Hook for $1+

Cover art by Jessica Waters.

In my life, I've found that music helps me in the space when the shock of a tragedy subsides but healing still feels a long way off.  When there are just no "right" words to say, it is MUSIC that often makes the silence more bearable.  

In the wake of Sandy Hook, I'm not ready for the anger-filled debates underway, I'm still in a place of mourning and introspection, remaining open to guidance and wisdom far beyond my own.  To me, it is still a time for prayers, for mourning kaddishes, for meditation, and sympathy.

However, it is inspiring to see some finding a way out of the sorrow with positive action. I found a wonderful compilation on Bandcamp today, and chose to contribute while also filling my world with healing sounds and thoughts. While surely there will be mainstream music tribute concerts for Sandy Hook in the near future, the quiet pensiveness of this album strikes me as striking the right note for now. 

For Our Children is a digital-only compilation from an organization called Sound for Good: Good Music for a Good Cause. Apparently, they create compilations for fundraising, attracting people with a very low minimum of $1, and then donating all the proceeds to the cause. In this case, they've teamed up with 30 artists from various genres and HEALING NEWTOWN (healingnewtown.org) a division of the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission. 

The collective message from the artists reads "Our message in the album is to shine your light. We have come together as artists to support the healing process of those impacted by the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy of December 14th, 2012. This album serves as sound healing comfort for children and adults throughout the world."

This is a soothing compilation, punctuated by spoken word and chant.  Ironically, I feel that those who would most benefit from this sound healing are those who've pushed aside the healing process and jumped into the angry fray over their own issues.  I do hope this music will find its way to them, and they'll save some precious time for the mourning and community building that is so necessary. 

Please read more and explore the generous artists at: Bandcamp's designated site for the album.

L.A. Premiere Announcement: THE BLUE JEWEL

This week, the beautiful award-winning documentary The Blue Jewel will premiere on Thursday Jan 10, 2013 at the Laemmle's MusicHall Theatre in Beverly Hills, CA, with other local screenings to follow.  Preview it now, and learn more about the film and ticketing in the story below...

Below, enjoy a Note from the Producer, who will attend the Premiere for a Q&A, along with Pepper Lewis:

THE BLUE JEWEL – A documentary movie about Planetary Healers 

by Oliver Hauck

We all live at a time of great change and transformation, be it regarding our global climate, our economical and financial thinking, break-ups in our sentimental relationships or in our daily work life.

Structures which have held so far seem to be crumbling, and we begin to question them. As a result, a lot has lost its balance.

The film „The Blue Jewel“ proposes new solutions to restore this balance. This equilibrium is so important to be able to live in peace, which is what each and every one of us wishes in the end. In peace with oneself, in peace within one’s relationship, with other people and, last but not least, in peace with our Earth, the planet we are sharing – simply because there is no second Earth, no third one, just this one we need to find a way to share

How might our world look if human beings were to realize that they are one with the Earth? We human beings are made of the same materials as a volcano or a raincloud, and the pulse of the Earth is one with the heartbeats of mankind. We must understand that we human beings are also conscious, intelligent beings with free will, who can take responsibility for ourselves and our planet at any moment.

Imagine if human beings were to discover this unique feature within themselves, and to understand how important each one of us is to create a peaceful and loving World together.

Tickets

Live Concert Review: TWO GRAND, I'M YOURS

* Featuring Fiona Joy Hawkins and Trysette*

I’d known of Fiona Joy Hawkins’ solo piano work, and stumbled across a series of hysterically wry YouTube videos that she and her concert touring partner, Trysette, produced to help promote their U.S. tour titled Two Grand I'm Yours.  Tickled, I surreptitiously followed the progress of these two dynamic Aussie gals, both indie artists, on their meandering tour of the U.S., wondering how it was they could manage to be on the road for so long.  After all, they’re both gorgeous pianists who compose original music, sing and tell stories; it’s not like they can just throw their guitars over their shoulders and hitchhike cross country Guthrie-style.  There are venues to be booked, piano deliveries to schedule, guest lists to manage, hats to sign...well, more on that later.  Anyway, kudos to them, because apparently they did it pretty much on their own over three months, quite successfully, with good humor, and the kindness of their U.S. concert hosts along the way.

I attended one of the final concerts on the tour, in the greater L.A. area, at the prestigious Thousand Oaks Civic Center.  The show opens with a warm welcome for singer songwriter Karen Nash, clearly a favorite of the locals in the crowd, which includes famed new age musician David Arkenstone.  Previously unknown to me, Nash is an alt-country songstress known for her songs about social justice and troubled love, which she shares with a passionate voice, a guitar, and a touch of edginess. 

Fiona Joy Hawkins

After Nash’s set, Fiona Joy Hawkins enters the stage.  Her stature is striking; she’s a tall, graceful blonde with cheekbones for which she should surely phone home daily to thank her mother.  Upon being seated, even the impressive grand piano looks no match for her. Her reach easily spans its width, and she takes control of it in her opening piece “Moving On” (from Blue Dream, a co-production with WillAckerman), then wrings out of it all the pain of a challenging life with “Contemplating,” which tells her life story and incorporates her Celtic heritage.   Hawkins shares brief stories behind the music, perhaps too brief, leaving the audience wanting to know more, to understand the passion – and often pain – behind her lush, complex and moving pieces. In one telling bit, she explains that her music is often categorized as New Age because it is emotionally driven. “There is no integrity greater than the intention of a single note,” she says. 

Despite all this emotion, one doesn’t feel the need to pity or console her, for Hawkins is not afraid to show her resulting strength.  The primary feeling one gets is solidarity, with her, and her music, capturing and releasing all of our anguish.  She has clearly mastered her coping tools: composing, performing and communing with the piano....and if that doesn’t soothe her, she can always take to the brushes, as she is also an accomplished painter with a gallery full of artwork to show.    After “Love in Winter” (LIVE at the Q) -- part of “Opus for Love” written for her Grandmother who passed away before its conclusion – we’re uplifted by the happier tale of meeting her husband and the resulting piece “The Journey,” which will be on her forthcoming album 600 Years in A Moment (2013).  The set continues with “Freedom/Joy,” “Earthbound” and “Ceremony” which she wrote for her wedding.  I particularly love how she described “Earthbound” as being “about leaving everything you know, everything you own (or thought you owned) and everything you love – and in that process finding yourself.”  Powerful stuff, and thankfully for her, a comment on the past.

Modeling their signed S4TP hats in NYC
with Rhina Valentin of Bronxnet

Post-intermission, the performers join an auctioneer on stage along with Julie Bach, founder for Spa4ThePink to auction off the hats on which the two artists had gathered signatures throughout the tour. The proceeds benefit Spa4ThePink, and signatures included a who’s who of musicians like Bob Malone (John Fogerty's keyboard player), Mike Baird (drummer for everybody including Journey), Denny Seiwell (drummer for Paul McCartney's band Wings), Kenny Aranoff (drummer for everybody, but currently John Fogerty), Randy Ray Mitchell (guitarist for Donna Summer - 30 yrs), Ben Mauro (guitarist for Lionel Richie), Larry Antonino (bass player for Air Supply) and Marty Rifkin (pedal steel player for Bruce Springsteen).

Trysette

When Trysette (nee Trysette Loosemore)  next takes the stage, slim in a white summer dress, she seems downright tiny compared to Hawkins, but any assumptions of vulnerability evaporate as she begins to connect with the audience, all warm voice, sassy red bobbed hair, and witty humor.  Wisely, she opens with a treat, a new piece, “Keep Me Dancing” to be recorded and released in the U.S. in 2013.   Her core is in Pop/Rock, although one somehow gets the feeling she’d make a heck of a jazz chanteuse with her husky vocals and subtle sensuality. 

As she continues through “Already” (Le Cafe Ancien), “Inside My Dreams” (Neutral Bay Sessions), and “Too Much” (Le Cafe Ancien), it becomes apparent how different these two pianists are from one another, and yet totally complementary. With that, an unexpected dimension of the show evolves, and I find myself wishing that young pianists everywhere could witness this show as an example of the broad artistic freedom open to them and their future in music. Trysette sails through the rest of her set, a mix of uptempo pop/rock and introspective ballads that beg for a drive up the coast with the top down. Fiona Apple, Sarah McLachlan and even a touch of Kate Bush come to mind.  But be warned, after the romance and sensuality in “Sweep Me Off My Feet” (Le Cafe Ancien), “That Face” (Le Cafe Ancien) and a preview of the forthcoming works “Like Water” and “Under My Skin,” you just might feel like falling in love again.

The audience demands an encore, and rightly so.  After Hawkins and Trysette sing “Impossible,” all three artists, joined by Marty Rifkin, perform Trysette’s “Silky Fingers” off Le Cafe Ancien, giving all a sexy, sultry send-off into a warm California night seemingly full of new possibilities for living and loving. 

Trysette and Fiona Joy Hawkins at the Thousand Oaks Civic
Auditorium on their 2012 U.S. Tour: Two Grand I'm Yours.
There is another tour in the works for 2013.

Music Therapy Was # 6 on Spa Finder's Top 10 Trends of 2012...where will it go in 2013?

Looking back to 2012, SpaFinder predicted "VIBRATION, SOUND, MUSIC, LIGHT AND COLOR THERAPIES" as #6 in their list of Spa Trends, so it will be interesting to see how the category fares as this year's predictions approach.  Of course, this is focused on the spa business, so they don't touch on the most accessible and elemental approach to music therapy, which is quiet at-home listening to meditation and relaxation music created by leaders in the field like Steven Halpern and his GRAMMY-nominated relaxation album DEEP ALPHA. 

How many trends did you hit or miss in 2012?

AsiaSpa Names the World's Top Ten Power Places

Since prehistoric times, sacred places have exerted a great attraction for millions of people around the world. Within many cultures, different physical locations on earth are believed to have power since they possess an unexplainable high level of energy. How many are on your travel list?

Click to see all 10...