Planetary Gig Talk

Chrissy Kirkwood is the founder of the Music Monastery, A Spiritual Home for Artists, in Nashville, TN. With special guest: Chrissy Kirkwood

Nico Moore is a heartfelt musician, sharing, expressing, finding freedom, living, moving, and speaking free. He and Jefferson Glassie met at The Sanctuary Summit at The Farm in April 2024 and discovered they have much in common. With special guest: Nico Moore

Caron Collins has been a music educator basically all of her life, and she used a collaborative method of teaching music and conducting musical groups. She is the creator of the Curiosity, Collaborative, Creativity program and website, and recently also developed a course for music educators titled Peace Building through Music Education. She joins host Jefferson Glassie of the Planetary Gigs Society for a wide ranging conversation about the power of music, and also discussions of Musicians without Borders and Women Frame Drumming.

Lionel Cole is an amazing Grammy nominated musician, with the music business being part of his life as the son of Freddy Cole and nephew of Nat King Cole. He toured with Mariah Carey and has played with many famous musicians. Lionel became good friends with Jefferson Glassie recently through their mutual friend Tara Gorman, who met Lionel years ago through Up With People. Lionel is a brilliant music shaman and eloquent spiritual guru.

Eileen McKusick is a pioneering researcher in the fields of electric health and therapeutic sound, as well as the creator of the sound therapy method Biofield Tuning, founder of the Biofield Tuning Institute and Tuners Without Borders, and the author of Electric Body, Electric Health and Tuning the Human Biofield. She and Jefferson have a fascinating discussion about the biofield and music, and how we can open up and tap into coherence. With special guest: Eileen McKusick

Natalie Glassie is a ballet dancer, who is also Jefferson Glassie's niece, they talk about the essential role of music in dance.

Marshall Thomas and Jefferson Glassie met at Victor Wooten's Spirit of Music camp at Wooten Woods and engaged in some interesting discussions about the connection of music and plant medicines, which they discuss further in this podcast. With special guest: Marshall Thomas

Jefferson Glassie met Melani at the Devi Music Ashram in Rishikesh, India; they had a lot of synchronicities! Melani is into the book When the Drummers Were Women, knew Biko Casini and Rising Appalachia, works on indigenous peoples issues, and ended up singing with Jefferson for his 70th Birthday celebration in Rishikesh. She also is a founding member of the Council of Music Shamans. With special guest: Melani GG

Tara Divina left her job in the music business to become a musician and also a coach for musicians, artists, and others to help them find their core message. She and Jefferson talked about her views of music and life, her vedic astrology work, and the role of shamanism in her mystical coaching practice. For more information, please visit www.taradivina.com

Brian Festa is an accomplished musician but also focuses on helping musicians with their musical, personal, and professional lives. He describes many of the holistic aspects that musicians can learn about and focus on to improve their practices and also his vision for retreat centers built around musicians and their needs. Please check out www.musicianmedicine.com.

Rudy Colombini has been a singer and musician all his life, and has been the lead singer for the Unauthorized Rolling Stones among many other performance roles. He is also the Founder of Music City San Francisco, a multifaceted music and arts performance and community space. www.musiccitysf.org. It mission is provide a self-sustaining music-focused hub in the heart of San Francisco that music fans, performance artists, and professional musicians can discover diverse, music-centric experiences that inspire, educate, and entertain. Rudy is also a very spiritual musician who leads study of A Course in Miracles and has been guided by many synchronous experiences in his life, including meeting John Lennon on the streets of San Francisco.

This is the first video version of the Planetary Gig Talk podcast, appropriately, with podcast guru and musician Blake Althen. Blake was responsible for helping host Jefferson Glassie set up the Planetary Gig Talk podcast and Paula Bellenoit with Human Factor distributes the shows. Blake talked about the basics of podcasting and options for musicians who might want to get started with their own podcasts.

Verdell Primeaux is a two-time Grammy award winning vocalist in Native American Music. He was brought up with music in his family; he is a third generation recording artist. He met his musical brother Johnny Mike in 1986 and they launched a successful career with 30 records as Primeaux and Mike. Their music was inspired by and performed in connection with the Native American Church, which Verdell talks about in this podcast. Verdell says the music can bridge divisions, including ethic gaps and religion. “This music has a universal outreach, it has a purpose.” He says, for the Native Americans, music and everything they do is a prayer, and for prayer to be most powerful, it should be in the form of a song. Verdell says, “Now is the time to bring people together,” with books, movies, songs, about the spirit and power of music. He says, “Everyone is blessed with their own voice.”

Jon David Gorman has been playing music his entire life. His father was a guitar player and Jon David remembers listening to his dad play when he was very young. His father unfortunately passed soon after, and his mother Tara Gorman, goddess of Awesomeness and co-founder of Planetary Gigs Society, began hosting Music Nights at their house practically every month. The idea was to invite anyone who wanted to come play music at the Gorman house, and many fine and talented musicians routinely showed up. Jon David considered himself very lucky and was grateful for the Music Nights with so many ‘super encouraging' friendly musicians who helped him learn to play. He first took guitar lessons, then saxophone in 4th grade, before settling on bass as his main instrument. The Music Nights became like organic lessons, learning tips here, chords there. Music Nights taught him to be a very versatile player. He says music is powerful because it conveys emotions and ‘music builds empathy.' Jon David wants to use music to help build community. He got some good advice at one point, to learn a song that means something and play it, and he tries to follow that advice. He believes music is just as worth it as learning any other language.

Bruce Blaylock began piano lessons when he was very young, but he wasn't that into it because the teacher never asked him what Bruce wanted to play. Later, his friend Chip encouraged him to start guitar, and Bruce hasn't stopped playing since, currently with his band Beat Hotel. He says he has met so many remarkable people in his life through music and it has opened many doors. Bruce went to college and law school in New Orleans, and got to experience and play a lot of music from that fascinating city. Bruce says, “Music helps you find your people and your people find you, and that's powerful.” He says music is literally magical, and he has seen magical performances on stage in many shared experiences over the years. Music creates a “connective tissue” with others in the music community and the audience, and Bruce also says music can help make life meaningful even when there are dark clouds. Please give a listen to Bruce's fun and interesting storytelling about growing up with music.

Congressman Jamie Raskin is a Member of Congress representing the 8th District in Maryland, the home of the worldwide headquarters of the Planetary Gigs Society, and also plays piano. So, Jefferson Glassie caught up with him to ask a few questions about music. Raskin says there was always music in his home growing up, because his father was a classical music prodigy on the piano. His father saw the world through music and it was essential to who he was, and he thought society should be organized in a way that connected people just like music does. Raskin professes that he is not a musician, but only plays by ear, fools around, and improvises on the piano, but also said his entire family plays music, so music is always around. He says that with all the issues we are having, such as the covid pandemic and the January 6 insurrectionary violence, one can despair sometimes. However, he says, “When you listen to music, you understand where humanity is actually going and what we're really capable of.” He says so many of the pathologies of our time result from people being separate, but music brings people together. Raskin says he is a big champion of science and math, but if we lose touch with literature, music, the arts, we could be headed to a dangerous place.

Peter McClard was born of the 60's, that time when black and white became color and music exploded. He had a voracious appetite for music even when very young. He took lessons on viola in first grade, moved on to guitar when 9 years old. He remembered listening to his brother's twelve string acoustic with a stethoscope and was blown away. There was a "rainbow of overtones, and the sound of metal and wood and vibration just made me so happy and I was just in love with sound at that point." He eventually went on to play in many bands, but also became enamored with other aspects of music, fractals, math, patterns, new overtones, which ultimately led to development of his theory of holistic tonality, sort of a unified theory of music. Peter says the power of music is so deep, vibration is everywhere, in everything, and goes to the most primal part of our being. Music and sound can be used for any purpose, good or bad, so its important for us to elevate music so that it can create shifts in consciousness that can better society. He says we need to reduce some of the noise and bring out the good stuff, including the silence and peace. Peter has developed lots of software, but check out a couple of his apps, including Pixound and Different Drummer, and other software at www.technemedia.com. Peter is an amazing, smart thinker and musician.

Fia was ten years old when she went to a Christmas concert at a cultural school in Sweden and first heard an oboe. “I got so enchanted, I said I want to learn,” and she started taking lessons. She began writing songs, in both Swedish and English, and as a writer she writes about her life, the people she meets, and the stories they tell. She was in many bands and different genres, but a few years ago began on a solo track, and started writing about spirituality, which resonated with people and there was a ripple effect, where she gained a following. She crowd-sourced her first album, Made of Stars. She calls her music “transformational music” that inspires self-reflection and serves as reminders of who we are, which calls us back to our most inner core and connecting us to source, universe, and God. She says we like to see ourselves reflected, and the role of the artist or musician is to put words to emotions that can interact with and lead to a deeper understanding of the self. Writing and singing songs is her way of making contributions and she trusts that she will make a positive mark on this world. She says, inspiration is found everywhere, it is a divine spark, and when we follow it, it opens the possibility to create so much magic that is unique from our soul. What she is passionate about is to invite people back to themselves and ask who are you, what is your truth, let me see you. And they can be more in touch with themselves. I also see women rising to their own magic and becoming a force on the planet. People should reconnect with their authentic voice - not just talking but singing; what if we sang more? We need to dance, to sing, to tell stories, or we can become sick. “We all have the ability to be light beams ... change makers, on a big scale, small scale, it doesn't matter. We have a lot more power than many of us might think.” You can find more about Fia here: https://fiasmusicofficial.com

Billy Presnell started playing music when he was really young, about five years old. Piano was his first instrument, and he got a guitar when he was eight. Billy says, “Music has always been a part of my life,” and he was still learning to talk practically when he first started. He has played many different styles and instruments, though he says, “when I read The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten, it changed the way I approached accompanying people; kinda changed my priorities in making the entire musical piece the goal, as opposed to me playing well with somebody.” He also began attending and volunteering at Wooten Woods music camps, and made so many connections. He learned that being a good person leads to good musicianship, and that will change your life in a positive way. He understood that he didn’t have to impress people, but that it is more about serving the music. Billy says that, when you play, if you put the intention of healing and providing positivity and peace into your music, it can change the world. He hopes after the pandemic that people will really going back to seeing live music.

Julie Rust grew up in a house where there was a lot of music; her father played trumpet and her mother was a big band singer, and Julie grew up with a piano in her room! She realized that she wanted to play piano at age seven, and was writing songs by the time she was sixteen, majored in Music at college, and ended up playing coffee houses all over the country. She says that she writes songs by listening to her heart; her music is like a thread of love that flows through her and helps her stay connected. She says music healed her and taught her that she is love, and she hopes her music can help other people realize the same thing. She also says that even if a musician is just playing at home, even that music makes a difference and is changing the world. Julie says things really started happening for her when she stopped trying to force her career. She started doing what she calls Sacred Space Experiences with particular songs and meanings for individuals in a room. Now she also creates virtual Messages from the Light for individuals., and recently Audible Insights on various and random topics. Please check out https://www.julierust.com

Vivienne Aerts grew up in The Netherlands, and started piano at age 5, and by age 12 was the choir conductor. After performing all over, she got a scholarship from Berklee College of Music, majored in voice and the global jazz program. While there, she met Kenny Werner, author of the book Effortless Mastery. Since then, she has performed often with Kenny and administers the Effortless Mastery Institute at Berklee. She says that, as Kenny writes in the book, to become a master musician, playing needs to become effortless, where the music plays itself "from the space." She says one can train their mind to play from that space, from the now, which is similar to mindfulness, where you watch yourself play. "It is really a cognitive exercise in letting go," she says. The western world has forgotten wthat we can practice effortlessness. She feels there is a community building around Kenny's concepts of effortless mastery. More about Vivienne is at www.vivienneaerts.com.

Qiaoli Wang remembered the old Buddhist music from growing up in China, but then she had to opportunity to help preserve the music for posterity, and she did it. She listened to the call to make a movie about the monks in an ancient monastery who still played music that was over 1,000 years old. She says, "The music itself refused that I make it short." There had been no audio or video of this old music, and she said the process of making the film was like a pilgrimage. The monks saw their beauty in the music. Qiaoli says, "The essence of music actually is to make people appreciate their own existence." The film opened prior to the pandemic, but will continue in theaters hopefully soon.

Peter de Koning from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is a drummer and also the creator of Live Earth 2020, which will happen on August 29-30, 2020. Peter was only 6 years old when he started tapping on everything and was 8 when he got a drum kit. His sisters were in the marching band and it inspired him, so he joined marching bands and then the drum and bugle corps and it became his passion. He says, when he is not able to play for a while, he can really feel it; he needs to play and move with music and there are moments of flow with the marching band that are so great. His new project, Live Earth 2020, came about when he was doing sustainability work in Montenegro and decided to ride a bike back home to Amsterdam with his drum kit trailing behind the bike, as he rode through Croatia, Bosnia, Italy, and Austria. “The purpose of it,” he says, “was to give some concerts at beautiful locations for the earth.” He would get his drum kit out at a place that he felt was good and play to honor the earth and things that had happened at those places. Then, he came up with the idea of Live Earth 2020; “Why not organize … a concert for earth to pay tribute to the earth?” He says that Victor Wooten talks about the intention of playing music and Peter believes that playing for Mother Earth with the intention of honoring her and showing gratitude will be very beneficial. The goal is to gather 1,000 musicians and indigenous peoples from around the plant to perform and conduct ceremonies almost at the same time. He hopes artists will find nice places in nature, or wherever feels good, to give a concert, or dance, or make some art to pay tribute to Earth with that intention. It is free to sign up and participate at the website www.liveearthconcert.org. Peter says that he feels music and dance are the closest spiritual connections we can have. He sees in the future also addressing reconciliation with the earth for all of the awful things that humans have done and to focus on the good after the pandemic. He believes it is important to pay attention to the artists and the freedom thinkers to achieve a better world.

Anni Beach grew up in a musical family; her mother was a harpist, her sisters were musicians, as was her husband. She took piano lessons as a child, but the mandolin really grabbed her at age 50. She would take her mandolin to class as a substitute teacher, and one day a couple young boys came to her house and asked her to play some more music. That was the start of the Jam Pak Blues 'n' Grass Neighborhood Band, which has been playing, learning music, and performing from Anni's home as a base. Her goal, and that of the some 25 or more kids in the band for the last 25 years, has been to bring joy and make themselves and others happy through music! One important key is that they all have a common purpose to be happy and help other people be happy, and learn music and songs and be together. Also, she says, "There are no stars, everybody is on an equal footing; ... we help each other." She also encourages others to start music communities, however big or small; "Don't worry about it; just start," she says! "If you have your music and you can be happy, what a joy!" Anni emphasizes that we all need a purpose, and that even right now, in the pandemic, we have great virtual platforms to really talk with people, to keep learning and doing. She says, the more we try to create musical communities, share resources, learn from and help one another, the better we will do. "I believe our lives are going to change for the better," she says.

Dr. Pramod Kumar is the Founder of the Devi Music Ashram in Rishikesh India. Dr. Kumar is a philosopher, but his focus is not on metaphysical matters but on solving practical problems. He does not play music, but loves music. Dr. Kumar says music is the highest form of harmony of sound, which is very powerful. Harmony in music brings peace to the mind. Dr. Kumar’s children were very good musicians growing up, and he supported them and gave them the space to learn music; many in India do not encourage their children to play music because of the economics. He later wanted a place where all aspects of humans can grow, from the musical to the practical to the spiritual. Dr. Kumar says that music can solve many problems of man. Indian classical music in particular can uplift consciousness. He wanted a place where people from all over the world could come to learn music, art, yoga, etc. and the Devi Music Ashram provides an environment for them to do that while spreading love, music, and service. He believes we can combine the best parts of the West with the best parts of the East.

Biko Casini is the percussionist with my favorite music group, Rising Appalachia. Biko turned me on to The Music Lesson book by Victor Wooten and that changed my life and led to the founding of the Planetary Gigs Society. Biko is a profound player and spiritual thinker. Biko grew up in an intentional community outside Nashville, where he lives now, and he says it gives him the space to dream about what is possible when humans come together, sharing responsibility of stewarding the land. Biko’s father played guitar – all the time, many different songs, from many different countries and in many languages, like a troubadour. When Biko was 15, his brother carved him drumsticks and that started his lifelong craft as a drummer and percussionist. Through several interactions and his travels, he realized that for him music was a way to be of service rather than strive simply for personal success, and his quest has been to find a place or situation where music could be a key to unlocking healing energy. He has found that with Rising Appalachia, which is like a spiritual community because they are all working on similar goals. So many musicians have been funneled and co-opted by the music industry to serve the profit motive. Rising Appalachia focuses on the experience and the wild magic of music. “Music has given me more than anything else in my life, but it has also taken more than anything else,” he says. Biko is focused on an intention to create cultural and ecological learning and rejuvenation centers, with music being a huge part of that. He says concerts and festivals can provide energy for restoring ecology. Arts and creativity, he says, should feed the ecological restoration of the world and cultural renewal, which is the great work of our time. Biko says we all carry cultural trauma and music’s job is to connect us to what’s real inside of ourselves and then to help us be able to restore the external ecology. This also seems to me to be very much consistent with the music and message of Rising Appalachia, led by sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith, and they have all meant so much to so many people.

I met Neeti Kumar at the Devi Music Ashram in Rishikesh, India. She teaches classical Indian singing and dance at the ashram. I have been so enamored by the concept of music ashrams; there should be millions of them! I posted some short videos of performances at the ashram, including a couple of Neeti singing. Neeti’s family has been coming to Rishikesh for most of their lives. Neeti and her sisters were always singing when they were little. Their father had a music teacher come to their home. About eight or nine years ago, they decided to start a music ashram to celebrate music, to create a nice atmosphere to develop oneself through music, art, and culture. Neeti says that humans have many different aspects – ethical, spiritual, biological, rational, etc. – and the Devi Music Ashram allows people the freedom, space, and opportunity to develop all these aspects through music. The Devi Music Ashram is different than most ashrams, which have a guru or teacher who sets the rules and the way of thinking. But there is no guru at the Devi Music Ashram. There are many teachers at the ashram, such as yoga, singing, sitar, meditation, dance, etc., but the gurus are music and nature. She says Indian music is like an ocean, every day there is a news opportunity to be better and have more understanding. She says it is very important for humans to have music in their lives, because music heals in so many ways. She also thinks it would be wonderful for there to be more music ashrams; people need that very much, she says.

Sandro Shankara is a very spiritual musician from Brazil, who leads musicians, pilgrims, and seekers on tours to sacred places like the Amazon, the mountains of Peru, and India. I met Sandro in Rishikesh at the Devi Music Ashram. We really connected and I was able to interview him on zoom. When Sandro was 17, he found Indian music, having played classical guitar before that. He plays many instruments, including guitar, ukulele, and table, sitar, and harmonium. Since a very young age, he has prepared himself through music to bring people peace. His mission is to unite the scientific knowledge of healing with mantras, and to connect more and more people with their inner being. He says it is important to drop the individual me, the ego, and join the global harmony. With so many modern distractions, “the most powerful tool to connect us to a space of calm and inner peace is music.” Sandro believes a new moment has arrived and together we will create a better world. Follow him on Instagram, where he posts about his trips and music. Also, he has four CDs on Spotify.

Raj Sagonakha is with the Devi Music Ashram in Rishikesh, India. I met Raj when I walked into the ashram almost entirely by chance in March 2020. I had gone to Rishikesh to visit the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, where the Beatles visited in 1968, and I felt a profound connection with all this. As background, Raj started playing music when he was ten years old, learning the tabla, or Indian drum. He and his sisters became musicians and Raj transitioned to the sitar. His family had traveled to Rishikesh, and he says there is “something in the air, in the environment, here that is so amazing.” They gradually developed the idea of starting a music ashram, making a space for people to share music, and for them to share what they know about Indian classical music. At the Devi Music Ashram, there is no guru or master, but music and nature, and knowledge, says Raj, are your master. “You are free to discover your own divinity through music.” At the ashram, they offer all sorts of music, sound healing, chanting, singing, dancing, and learning to play instruments. Raj says that, “In India, music is not just entertainment; it is also a part of spirituality, peace, and harmony in life.” He says there is a metaphysical concept where we believe that everything is a vibration, a cosmic vibration, an unending sound, the sound of the cosmos. And then there is also the sound that we create. Indian classical musicians were saints, spiritual seekers, and Indian music developed that way, where you try to connect with the ultimate source or reality through music. There are also different moods of notes and tones, and those are how the ragas were developed by the Indian saints so when you listen you can experience that deep connection. The Devi Music Ashram is a very special place and Raj says that everyone is welcome there. Personally, I believe there should be millions of music ashrams around the world and I urge people to support the Devi Music Ashram and more music ashrams around the planet.

Ria Marie’s mother was a singer and voice teacher, and Ria used to listen outside the lesson room at her house. “I was just captivated by singing,” she says. She has always loved powerhouse singers who had soul, like Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston, and Christine Aguilera. Ria says music can teach you so many things. “Music puts you in the present moment,” she says. She also has learned through music not to compare herself to others. Ria says that music and Source came together for her and Source has really helped her singing. She says it’s important to surrender to Source when writing or singing; “sometimes you just have to let it go, … the beauty of it is in the imperfections and not being perfect and just letting it flow.” She also says, “Music teaches you how to be vulnerable with people and yourself and forgive yourself and forgive others.” Also, Ria says, “You have to let that ego go in music; … you can’t have the ego and be vulnerable at the same time.” She also says singing and breathing go hand in hand, just like meditation and breathing. Vibrations of sound can help change attitude and she knows there is more to learn about how frequency and vibration impact our emotions.

I met Hubert Gonthier-Blouin at the Spirit of Music camp at Wooten Woods and we hit it off right away. Both of Hubert’s parents were musicians, and his mother knew she was going to play piano at the age of three. Hubert’s father gave him a guitar when he was young, but later Hubert started on bass and realized that’s what he wanted to do. He says it is a gift to play music, and he has gotten to know so many people through music; people and community are so very important. He wanted to discover who he was through music, and he thinks it takes courage to speak your voice through music. Hubert says there is a magic in music that goes hand in hand with living and growing. He says being honest with yourself and looking at where you are and being able to give back to the listener is magic. He says, “I think music is a gift of peace. … Music is a doorway to peace, connection, cooperation. I’d just say people need to play more music.” When you are really playing music and putting your heart and soul into it, you can’t be angry; you can only be creative, peaceful, and happy, he says. “Whatever happens, I’m just going to keep playing music.”

Allen Holmes is an excellent musician and good friend, and was one of the first interviewed for the Planetary Gig Talk podcast. He remembers me saying that Victor Wooten talked about music being a living entity and he has reflected on that a lot recently. Allen says, “I believe that music is a living spirit, it’s alive, and that some people that devote themselves to it, that practice, are able to have a relationship with this spirit and learn from it.” He also believes there is another living entity whose purpose is to destroy or counter music; like yin and yang, they co-exist and help each other grow. Allen calls this, for lack of a better term, anti-music. He says some musicians choose anti-music. Allen says each of these have their own minions; the minions of music are things like pitch, tone, rhythm, skill, passion, emotion, and collaboration. Anti-music also has minions, such as passion without skill, materialistic and ego-driven playing, that pollutes music. The intention behind music is a key ingredient. Allen says, “I feel like I am an instrument for the entity of music.” Allen also says, “I believe everything is one; everything is interdependent in the biosphere of earth. We are all biospheres … we are all one. … I think it’s important to recognize that. … I believe that Mother Earth is a living entity.” And Allen says a change is coming. “I believe that mass consciousness is growing. … This is my new goal. … I want to write and make music that is going to help mass consciousness grow. … The people are rising. … I think there is a shift.”

Brent Paschke was co-founder of Spymob and is best known as Pharrell Williams’ guitarist, having worked with Pharrell since 2001. Brent was introduced to me by Linda Helms, who is a friend of Brent’s. Brent says that, “Music was just in me.” He knew the first day he got a guitar when he was about 12 years old that playing guitar is what he wanted to do with his life. He was always drawn to art and music, so he understood kids who struggled with school. As Brent got more into production, be began to see a lot of kids wanting to be in production, but there wasn’t much available in the schools. So, Brent started Tuniversity, to teach how to use an iOS device and the Garageband app to deconstruct and reconstruct songs. Brent says that the computer is really the instrument these days and he wants kids to be able to tap into music because you can really find yourself and learn how to express yourself through music. He says, as we get more comfortable with music, it is better for us. Brent also does a lot of mindful meditation, which parallels with playing music. Music provides such life lessons, he says. You can learn to forgive mistakes and yourself through music; it teaches you to be present, just like mindful meditation. “That’s life; it’s all about being present, forgiving, loving, caring. It all lines up with music, it’s all in synch with music.”

Kevin Roy Kramer has been listening to the Planetary Gig Talk podcasts, has attended Victor Wooten’s camps, and reached out to me so I invited him to do a podcast interview. What a smart, eclectic, thoughtful, cool guy! Kevin started with the recorder in 4th grade, trumpet in 5th grade, guitar in 8th grade, and now also plays drums and other instruments. Kevin says, “Music is a way for people to just express themselves as themselves.” He also says music “is a great way to connect and reconnect with yourself and it’s a source of renewable joy.” Kevin is a very spiritual human too, and has been practicing yoga for some time and also setting mantras to music, i.e., cosmic chants. He says we have been in a visually oriented society and the auditory has been overshadowed. He says sound and vibration are building blocks to our material world. “Music actively enriches our lives.” “I know how music has helped me and inspired me, and so if I can make music that down the road helps other people and inspires them, then mission accomplished, I suppose.” Kevin says that the power of music is really the power of love. It’s more than just the love of two people; “we have so much in common, we’re all in this together.”

I met Linda Helms at Victor Wooten’s Theory of Music camp; she’s a sound bowl practitioner. I had brought my sound bowl, so the energies brought us together. She says she always loved music, and could tap into something IN the music, some vibrational essence. When listening to music, she could feel the energies around her and the musicians and, by tuning in, could deepen the feeling of the musicians. She says, “Music is a conversation,” and when you listen deeply you give the musicians space. She says deep listening leads to deep connections. When she first heard a sound bowl, also called a singing or healing bowl, she just knew that was something she had to have and experience. She has a sound bowl teacher, who is from Nepal. She says that our bodies can get out of tune, and the bowls can help remedy that. She says intention is the key to the healing, and the bowls really help people heal themselves. She has worked with students with depression and anxiety, and the sound bowls really help them; she says their whole spirit and attitude have been uplifted by using the bowls. She says sound is a formidable, powerful treatment for depression and anxiety. Linda says Western medicine is great, but there is a separateness to it and another level that is missing that can help treat us. Linda also says there is an awaking happening on the planet, as people are becoming more aware of our connectedness and our common source energy.

Val Carter was referred to me because she wants to do a podcast on mid-adulting and asked if I would show her about producing podcasts. So, she came over to Studio 1 of the worldwide headquarters of the Planetary Gigs Society and we talked and did a test podcast. She asked a lot of questions about creating and hosting a podcast, and in this raw and unedited discussion, we talked about some of the things that go into doing a podcast and Planetary Gig Talk in particular. We also talked about considerations for someone wanting to do a podcast. I am hopeful that more people will consider starting podcasts, blogs, etc about the power of music, and this podcast conversation covers some of those issues. Enjoy this fun and different conversation that hopefully will also be informative. In addition, we talked about the upcoming house concert with Gaye Adegbalola on Nov 23!

I met Nathan at Victor Wooten’s Spirit of Music camp. We were talking about random stuff and Nathan said he runs a research firm and investment fund in which he focuses on volatility to understand the dynamics of markets, which he said relates to music in that volatility is really just vibrations, like music. So, I knew we had to do a podcast interview. Nathan grew up in a musical family; both of his parents played music. Nathan distinctly remembers seeing some kid play a drum solo in a talent show in 5th grade and knowing instantly he was going to play drums the rest of his life (he also plays bass and guitar). He is into listening, and sometimes hooks up to an EEG when playing, where he can observe his heart rate, brain waves, and internal rhythms. Nathan says, “The groove emerges from listening.” And being present starts from listening, too. “Everything emerges from listening and feeling.” Nathan says money is like a language; it’s a medium of exchange that conveys economic intent. Exchanging value is fundamental to cooperation, he says, and that we can express ourselves through money. “Money is a tool of communication,” he says. Music and money are both about expression. Nathan believes we can think of music as a life form, as Stephen Jay says, and then also as an organism, and the same could be said about money. How markets change is musical, he says. The market is like macro vibrations arising from micro vibrations, and is interrelated to so many things, just like music. He also says fear manifests in markets, and that humans are often playing out of tune in the markets, because of different national versions of money and tribal mindsets. To get the system operating better, Nathan believes that it starts with listening and understanding flows of money or blocks to the money flow. He says there is a lot of overlap in dynamics of money and music, how things change, the vibrations of the world, and Nathan thinks the markets are more natural than people think. He says we can be more in tune with our vibrations through this understanding.

Great conversation with Dylan Hughes at Victor Wooten’s Spirit of Music Camp! Dylan’s parents were theater actors and his father really loved music; even named him after Bob Dylan! Dylan knew he wanted to play music very early; at first it was the flute in 4th grade, which he played until 8th grade. But in 7th grade, Dylan got a bass, and that was it. “I just wanted to play … I just wanted to make music. … Music is always tapping me on the shoulder.” He played in a band in high school named the Missing Link; he had some great music teachers, including his friend Tyler Hamilton. Dylan got away from music for a while recently, but deciding to go to Spirit camp made a big difference this year, and he is back! Dylan currently plays a lot around Seattle, and his brother is a great guitar player, too. Dylan recently did a big show featuring John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. We agreed that trying to learn a song or put on a show can give one’s life meaning. He was particularly taken by what Michael said in the Planetary Gig Talk interview about having the intention of bringing healing vibrations when playing. You can say or think before playing, “I offer you this healing vibration.” He told this to the audience prior to the Love Supreme show. “If you can do basically whatever you’re doing with the intention of healing, offering the vibration in a healing manner, I just believe that can make the world a better place, maybe that the ultimate intention,” Dylan says. He encourages other musicians to try that, offering healing vibrations when they play. He also thinks that one of the best things people can do is to find their passion and purpose, and to follow it; that would lead to a better world too, he says.

Chris Anander is an amazing musician. His earliest memories are musical memories, such as when he was in a stroller at age two with Tchaikovsky’s B flat piano concerto in his brain. We had a great conversation at Victor Wooten's Spirit of Music Camp. Chris started violin in kindergarten and was always an avid listener. He went to Berklee College of Music for trumpet, but played a lot of guitar and now considers himself a bassist. He has played all sorts of music, from classical to heavy metal. He says the power of music “might be greater than any of us can describe. … There is a primal thing to music that defies explanation.” He is aware of the profound effect remembering music has had on him and he says, “I want to impart the passion” of music to others. “I try to use my own experience as a guide for what is possible, what music can do. When the memory of a song can bring me to tears without hearing it, I would like to show people how to get there.” There are more great musicians now than at any time, he says, but the problem is with compensation, that everyone is getting paid but the musicians. The secret, Chris says, is that “everybody is important.” He says, “Music is truly one of the last things I have faith in.”

Stephen Jay is a fabulous musician, composer, and really smart and spiritual guy! He has played based in Weird Al Yankovic’s band for decades, but also has amazing insights and stories, such as music in Africa during his younger years. He also is working on new discoveries about rhythm and pitch, as he explains in this podcast. We recorded this under the Pavilion one afternoon at Wooten Woods during Spirit of Music Camp. Stephen’s mother was a beautiful pianist and his father played several instruments. So, seeing his mother in such joy while playing, Stephen knew when he was only about 5 years old that he wanted to be a musician. Music was simply paramount around the house when he was young, he says. He started piano first, then guitar when he was about 10, and bass when he joined a band at 13. His high school group Covington Tower was good enough to get a record deal! He majored in music and composition in college, and was fortunate to hang around with some real luminaries on the cutting edge of music, including John Cage! Nonetheless, he’d always been inspired by African drumming, so he and his wife Barbara left for West Africa in 1971. It was quite a trip to get there, which he describes in the podcast, but central to the experience was that the Africans he met in the villages were really still of the hunter/gatherer culture and they had a really special relationship with music. Musical instruments were seen as living beings, and “music nourished every phase of life; … music was everywhere, and it was alive and beautiful.” Everyone did music, and musicians were not in some rarefied atmosphere as today in modern areas. Stephen says, they had no written religion, other than “a sanctity and respect for all things, including inanimate things.” He says quantum physics has shown this to be correct. There was also no money or ownership out in the wild; everyone shared everything. He says Africans felt “music was a life form, not an art form. Gigantic, spanning the entire universe, and all know time, that lives, and needs musicians to help it live, at least in the audio realm.” He is currently exploring pitch and rhythm and you will have to listen to understand it. Essentially, he says, harmonic intervals each have their own signature rhythms. You can check out www.stephenjay.com for an article on this topic, among others. Stephen says that we have tapped into music to make a better world; look at how much peace, fellowship, and brotherly love music has brought to us. He says music has an inescapable beauty. When you witness something so beautiful and so much larger than yourself, it diminishes ego, and with that you worry less of things that are to come, have less fear of the unknown, and so we can get to more love and peace. “Music is sacred; it’s not a commodity.” He also says, “Music can help us distrust our fears.” “Music, and art, is our savior,” says Stephen Jay.

Roy “Futureman” Wooten has been playing music with his brothers his entire life. I was fortunate to be able to talk with him for the 100th Planetary Gig Talk podcast at Wooten Woods while there for Victor Wooten’s Spirit of Music camp. Please check out this amazing performer and futurist thinker. Here are some of the conversational tidbits for you: - Roy says artists and musicians are carrying the weight of the world, because what we do with art will speak for the ages. - His mother loved music, especially listening to Nina Simone on the Sunday morning radio, and she said that music helps people get through the week, and could carry people through tough times. - Roy says, “Music is taking us on a journey, and … if we have a question about something, the question is the beginning of the quest; … if you stick with your questions, it’s gonna take you on a quest with intention.” He says, “You don’t know how you’re influencing people when you are doing what you love.” - Roy discovered the seminal book A Course in Miracles when he was young; he still remembers the line in the ad he saw from the Course: “Only the veil that is drawn across reality is lifted, nothing has changed, yet the awareness of changelessness comes swiftly as the veil of time is pushed aside.” - Roy says he and his brothers used to discuss spiritual principles like those in the course quite a lot. Victor mentioned the Course to me when I interviewed him last year for this podcast. - The Course says, according to Roy, there is only love and fear, and love has to take the form of forgiveness, which is the axis of the world. - Roy also talked about the principles of the Hawaiian principles of Ho’oponopono, based on the book Zero Limits. Roy says it is really about forgiving ourselves first. Ho’oponopono says everything is in you, and if you can look at life in a different way, it can change you. - Roy says the world often leans toward a chaotic place, but that the artist is the centering thing; the artist has a role in society that is more than most artists know. There is a heroic journey for artists. - He says, “The only thing that will create cohesion and order is frequency.” Music has a sacred quality, and “when we are dealing with music, we are dealing with the theory of everything.” - He says, “Musicians are magicians; there is magic happening [in music].” - He talked about the theories of the Dogon tribe in Africa, where Stephen Jay visited, who believed that, “Music is a conscious force and what we call god is really music.” - “Music knows who you are … when you join music, music joins you, and you begin to be able to speak your voice.” - “Some people are afraid of their truth … a lot of times your genius is residing in you, but it’s in a comfortable place, and you have to get uncomfortable before it can come out, before you are willing to let it come out.”

Vance Umphrey says, “Music was there before I can start remembering anything.” His mother was a singer and his grandfather was a choir director. Vance began playing with the family’s electric piano when he was 5 and started lessons when about 10-11. He joined the middle school band and took percussion. So, when he went to Humboldt for college, he ended up with a double performance major in percussion in piano, but more importantly, he was introduced to the steel pan and it’s fair to say his life has never been the same. Vance has played the steel pan ever since. It is really a complex diatonic instrument, and is often played in large steel pan orchestras, with up to 120 pan players! The steel pan was originated in Trinidad and Tobago, where the African population was prohibited from playing drums from the 1880s until the 1940s or so, and based on the need to play, they came up with the steel pan instrument made out of the hammered bottoms of steel oil drums.  “When I hear a steel orchestra,” says Vance, “I hear the elements of triumph and overcoming oppression.” Vance says, playing the steel pan is “super meaningful” and that, “I am just following music; … music is directing me. …Most of my decisions are actually guided by music.” He says that the philosophy of Victor Wooten as brought out in The Music Lesson has really impressed and influenced him; “it opened my eyes to the enchantment and magic of music.” “Internationally, pan has been a huge gift of bringing people together. … Everyone is trying to become one in the band.” He says music gives an appreciation for different cultures. Vance also likes the community aspect of music, and has a vision for music-based community centers for people.

Dan played music at school growing up in California, and was in several bands, but also conducted music. He says music education is very important, like team sports, but it is not competitive, and helped him get in touch with his emotions while growing up. Although he dropped out of college to be in the music industry as a session musician and record producer, he eventually went back to get his degree and became a college professor primarily researching the neuroscience and psychology of music. His bestseller This is Your Brain on Music opened many doors for him, including meeting and becoming friends with Victor Wooten.  He says that recent research on music and the brain confirms that music activates pretty much every region of the brain that has been mapped. Music also can reduce pain and pre-operative anxiety in hospital settings. Music can also combat depression and has great therapeutic benefits, including reducing anxiety in people with dementia. Dan says that preforming, writing, or even appreciating music requires very complex memory modulations and sophisticated brain mechanisms that other animals don’t have; it requires being able to hold an idea in one’s mind that is not in front of you. Dan says that music can lead to mutual cooperation, passing on education through schools, and creating systems of justice. When people play or listen to music, their brain waves synchronize, which also can lead to cooperation. Dan Levitin is truly a trailblazer in the science of music and has a new book coming out titled Successful Aging. Please check out www.daniellevitin.com. 

Greg Crossfield started with music in church, played trombone from 4th grade through high school, and later came back to music with guitar. He says, "I have a belief about music, that music has an interest in what it wants us to do with it." He likes to share music with people who don't play by showing them how to play Ode to Joy on two strings of the guitar. "To be a musician means to facilitate a WE of people, versus just the I of myself in a fairly I-centric society." He also says, "Music is very powerful and builds community quickly and helps foster energy that other things don't."

Mester Bo and Tina Israni form the group Ritual Sound in Copenhagen, and conduct sound baths by playing singing bowls, gongs, and the handpan. Their goal is for every home on the planet to have at least one singing bowl. Bo’s mother played piano, and Bo played various instruments through his life, guitar, piano, and saxophone, but a few years ago found the handpan, which is like an inverted steel drum instrument. He said the handpan came into his heart and he knew this was the instrument for him; “the instrument was waiting for me.” The handpan makes a very beautiful sound. Tina was born in New York but her family was from India, where she has lived. As a child she did a lot of dancing and moving her body to music, using her body as a musical instrument. She played a few instruments, but lost touch with music for a time. Recently, when dealing with some mental health issues, she got into sound healing and reiki, found a woman who played gongs, went to some sound baths, and at a gong training, she met Bo. She said that was sort of magical, there was amazing energy and she and Bo then started playing together. “We played (one time) and lost track of time and space and were just one with a sound wave.” During their sound baths, they play singing bowls, gongs, and the handpan, which helps tune the human body, because the human body is an instrument and sound can flow through us. Check out Ritual Sound on Facebook and http://mesterbo.dk/.

Singing has been Sara Wood's passion her entire life; she just happens to also be an association executive. She started singing with a children's chorus when she was 11 years old and sang classical and opera, before beginning to sing Barbershop harmony six years ago. When singing Barbershop, you're focused entirely on singing together, she says. "For those few minutes, I feel a freedom and peace that I don't feel other places. ... Music forces me to slow down and be present." She also loves the community aspect of Barbershop harmony singing. She loves the performance aspect of singing, "it's you and the audience with a shared experience." She feels that she has a duty and obligation to bring the music and the best of herself. She urges musicians to put it all out there for the collective experience that you can have. "If you can take ten minutes a day for a musical activity, your blood pressure will go down," she says. She also encourages everyone to make space in their lives for music, and it will impact how you see life, and the more who do that, the better the world will be.

Chef Daniel Ben-David is currently a chef at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego and has a passion for music, art, and cooking. His father was a chef growing up in South Africa, and music was always playing in their house and at parties. Chef Daniel says that when you put music and food together it becomes more of a unity rather than an event and it is very natural. Chef says there is almost always music playing in kitchens, and the chefs and food preparers often sing to enhance the rhythmic chopping and sounds of cooking. There is always sound and rhythm with people working and creating, says Chef Daniel. However, in a very large kitchen like at the Hotel Del, the power of music is so strong and there are so many people moving around with knives, heat, and hot oil that music is not permitted for safety reasons. Chef Daniel is very passionate about music and listens to music all the time. For example, when taking time off with his dog and listening to music and eating good food near the ocean, he says “I find myself at peace this way.” He says that chefs are often called kitchen pirates because they are rugged, but they all love food, art, and music. He also says, “Food is art, and music is art, and art is art, and you can’t judge somebody on it, just try to relate to it, figure out what can tie you to their art and don’t be so quick to judge it.” Please check out Chef Daniel’s Instagram account @chefdbd616. 

Dave “Razz” Rasmussen grew up in a family that played music around the house all the time. His mother was a pianist who played piano until very late in life. His father played the gut bucket, and Razz’s brother and sister played music too. He remembers living in Hawaii at the Navy base where everyone was playing ukulele, but he liked guitar because it had two more strings. He was constantly playing gigs and with people, and when he was twenty-nine went to the Guitar Institute, which really opened up his playing.  Razz says that, “people come together through music … they can’t help themselves.” He says everyone can play some instrument, that it lowers personal barriers, and helps people get in the same harmonic resonance. He says that music can even relax animals, and Razz at one point remembers playing with a parrot named Wilbur, who would bob his head and whistle and sing along with the music! He believes that meetings of world leaders would be much more productive and beneficial if they started off conferences with jams to set the tone! Razz has wanted to implement a movement that he refers to as the Harmonic Unity Musical Ministry (HUMM), which would be a global network for musicians to hang out and play together in cities all over the world. Instruments would be provided to those who needed them along with screens and chord charts so everyone could play the same songs together. HUMM would also use, promote, and instill collaborative precepts so that players would be able to play and jam cooperatively, such as “those that know, help others to grow!”

Zach had a lot of music around his house growing up, as his mother is a musician and music teacher. He focused on sports when young, but then his parents got him an acoustic guitar when he graduated from high school. It was in college in the mountains near Boulder, Colorado, he says, when he “really started writing from my heart and my soul.” It helped him get some peace and tranquility in his life and he committed to music in a way that was real and deep. Zach says, music allowed him to find himself; “It allowed me to step past my own confines and barriers because there was something bigger than me on the other side of it. … Just letting go … and honoring this craft is my conduit. … It’s transformed my perspective.” He also says, “I will tell everyone and their mother that they would be good at some musical instrument or singing.”  “What I think we are doing as musicians, as artists, is finding a way to double down on who we are, believing that if we’re ourselves, if we invest in that, if we really live that fully, people feel that, they see that, and a lot of people need that, and I needed it for a long time, I was inspired by a lot of musicians and artists.” His current band is Lunar Eclectic in Austin, Texas.

Tara Linhardt is a musician, educator, photographer, event coordinator, and movie maker. She didn’t have a lot of music in her house growing up, but started playing guitar at seven just because it was fun! She then played music with friends in high school and began playing the mandolin. She got serious about music when she spent time in college in Nepal and Thailand, even using music as meditation as a way to get into and stay in the moment. She says, “music can be for everyone” and that “helping people meet other people is great.” She spends a lot of time putting people together, whether bluegrass music jams or by conducting music tours. She says so many people just sit around passively and she likes to help set up jam sessions where people can play together and learn how to play together to create a sense of community. She and some friends several years decided to make a film in Nepal and ended up with a movie titled the Mountain Music Project. The film highlights the gandarba musicians in Nepal and also the similarities with Appalachian bluegrass players in Virginia, who surprisingly have some songs in common! Tara also has tours to Nepal, where travelers can meet musicians, artists, woodworkers, and work with orphanages and schools. Please visit www.TaraLinhardt.com for more information on the tours and movie. 

Elijah Wald is a American folk blues guitarist and music historian, and 2002 Grammy Award winner. He says there was always music around when he was young. He started playing when he was seven and, after seeing Pete Seeger when he was eight or nine, he decided he wanted to be a musician. He also was influenced by Woody Guthrie's book Bound for Glory and, after studying with Dave Van Ronk in New York, spent 15 years playing guitar and traveling the world. He has published more than a thousand articles, mostly about folk, roots and international music for various magazines and newspapers, including over ten years as "world music" writer for the Boston Globe. Elijah says that music can connect people and that it is important to go out and find other types of cultures and music.