Podcasts about avakian

Send us a textTAYLOR AVAKIAN embodies the heart of an entrepreneur. Avakian is a Nor Cal native (who graduated from Jesuit High School in 2014 and the University of Alabama in 2018). Still, his latest work occurs in Southern California, where he helps multifamily owners buy and sell properties. And at age 28, with just six years in the business, Taylor has amassed over 300 million dollars in sales. He founded Group CRE and recently joined forces with Lyon Stahl Investment Real Estate. Simply put, Avakian is a force regarding Southern Cal properties.So how did he do it? I'm glad you asked because if you are a young entrepreneur, you are going to get an inside look at Taylor's journey to success. Get ready to know what hard work and honoring the grind looks like. There are no shortcuts. Avakian is proof of that.HOST STEVE BUZZARD on Taylor: "As an entrepreneur, it brings me joy to see what Taylor is doing with his life. He is showing that old-school values never go away. He had a passion. He found a way to get in. And with hard work and many dedicated hours, he paved his path. That gets me fired up!"Our Connection | Taylor and my oldest son Toph went to school together, starting in Kindergarten at Mariemont. They graduated together from St. Michael's (2010) and Jesuit High School (2014). When it comes to youth sports, Avakian was on every one of the teams that I coached. You will see why I act like a proud dad during this episode! The video version of this episode is ALSO AVAILABLE on YOUTUBE.  Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE to get notified of ALL new ETB episodes as they are released. ETB with Taylor AvakianWebsite | TheGroupCRE.comYouTube| Taylor AvakianLinkedIn | Click HereTwitter | @TayVay_Instagram | @Taylor_AvakianENJOY THE CONVERSATION!

Send us a Text Message.Help Support Full Spirals and give the Arts a Voice!Join the community of "Spinners" on Patreon and contribute to the production of our impactful content HERE!Make a one time donation of your support in any amount HERE! Work with host Stacy ParishIts been a little over a year since I first interviewed recording artist Helen Avakian–the artist behind much of the music here on Full Spirals. (Including the tune Paige's Jig, which Helen played live last time she was here.)And the anniversary aside, I  really like to checking in with Helen because, well because I love her, but also because…she effects so many lives in such rich and unique ways.  She's an inspiration–especially to folks who maybe have never really given themselves permission to express themselves through the arts.She does such meaningful work and has always been so generous to us here on the pod, that any chance I get to promote her work and her career, I take it.Come along as we spiral back to the music and career of songstress Helen Avakian.Support the Show.

This text analyzes the claims of Bob Avakian's “New Synthesis,” the line of the RCP-USA party and its cultish degeneration. Against Avakianism is a powerful and systematic debunking of the idea promoted by Avakian that Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is outdated. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support

Today, Steve is speaking with Erik Avakian, who served as CISO for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States for more than twelve years before moving into the private sector, where he currently works as the technical counselor at Info-Tech Research Group. Erik brings his passion and experience to a lively conversation in which he and Steve discuss coping with change through multiple leadership turnovers, practical examples of how security leaders can demonstrate their department's value to an organization beyond theoretical breach prevention, and overcoming challenges in the public and private sectors. Key Takeaways: 1. Embracing change in state/local government requires technical architecture and common architecture. 2. Public sector security faces unique challenges, including political considerations. 3. It's critical for public funds to be used efficiently while also reducing duplication of work and building knowledge sharing across agencies. 4. Security testing and phishing simulations can demonstrate return on security investment, saving time and money in the long run. Tune in to hear more about: 1. Embracing change in security leadership in the public sector (0:00) 2. Building security foundations in public sector organizations (4:45) 3. Funding challenges in security, with tips for effective resource utilization, building strong teams, and collaboration (8:48) 4. Demonstrating security value to business leaders through cost-benefit analysis and service metrics (14:02) 5. Demonstrating security value to non-technical stakeholders through practical examples (18:33) Standout Quotes: 1. One of the reasons I love the industry and I loved the position of CISO is you're constantly trying to just improve, right? You're not trying to rebuild every, all the time. You know that the business might want to rebuild, but you're there to constantly improve that foundation, continuingly building your team, and continually building your capabilities. So regardless of who comes and goes, you have that foundation, and you continue to grow it. - Erik Avakian 2. It's really about enabling the business. How can we say yes, but do things more securely and put a positive spin on it? Whereas, you know, in the past, you know, security is looked at oh, these are the guys that say no. So really, a CISO's a partner to the business, a collaborator building relationships, and really, that's been the change, right? It's gone from less of a technical kind of a thing to being a coach, being a leader, and really working and building those relationships at the business level. - Erik Avakian 3. I look at it as almost like a baseball team. So in the baseball world, you have a catcher, you have a pitcher, you have all these people on the field. And it's identifying what are the strengths of your team, and letting those players — if we look at it from that perspective — letting them thrive, letting them grow in the position that they're passionate about. And then you can just grow in that passion, give them the training, give them extra training, helping them build where they're really good at and what they really like to do. And then the baseball world is that example. We wouldn't necessarily make the pitcher catch — they might not be comfortable with that — or the catcher pitch, and all sorts of other things. Because they do what they do well, that's their position on the field. And what I've found is that if we can do that, we can build our teams and build rock stars out of them in the places where they really are passionate about, then we have retention. I think my retention throughout my tenure was almost 99%, because I looked at people as to what drives them. - Erik Avakian Mentioned in this episode: ISF Analyst Insight Podcast Read the transcript of this episode Subscribe to the ISF Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts Connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter From the Information Security Forum, the leading authority on cyber, information security, and risk management.

Today, Steve is speaking with Erik Avakian, who served as CISO for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States for more than twelve years before moving into the private sector, where he currently works as the technical counselor at Info-Tech Research Group. Erik brings his passion and experience to a lively conversation in which he and Steve discuss coping with change through multiple leadership turnovers, practical examples of how security leaders can demonstrate their department's value to an organization beyond theoretical breach prevention, and overcoming challenges in the public and private sectors. Key Takeaways: 1. Embracing change in state/local government requires technical architecture and common architecture. 2. Public sector security faces unique challenges, including political considerations. 3. It's critical for public funds to be used efficiently while also reducing duplication of work and building knowledge sharing across agencies. 4. Security testing and phishing simulations can demonstrate return on security investment, saving time and money in the long run. Tune in to hear more about: 1. Embracing change in security leadership in the public sector (0:00) 2. Building security foundations in public sector organizations (4:45) 3. Funding challenges in security, with tips for effective resource utilization, building strong teams, and collaboration (8:48) 4. Demonstrating security value to business leaders through cost-benefit analysis and service metrics (14:02) 5. Demonstrating security value to non-technical stakeholders through practical examples (18:33) Standout Quotes: 1. One of the reasons I love the industry and I loved the position of CISO is you're constantly trying to just improve, right? You're not trying to rebuild every, all the time. You know that the business might want to rebuild, but you're there to constantly improve that foundation, continuingly building your team, and continually building your capabilities. So regardless of who comes and goes, you have that foundation, and you continue to grow it. - Erik Avakian 2. It's really about enabling the business. How can we say yes, but do things more securely and put a positive spin on it? Whereas, you know, in the past, you know, security is looked at oh, these are the guys that say no. So really, a CISO's a partner to the business, a collaborator building relationships, and really, that's been the change, right? It's gone from less of a technical kind of a thing to being a coach, being a leader, and really working and building those relationships at the business level. - Erik Avakian 3. I look at it as almost like a baseball team. So in the baseball world, you have a catcher, you have a pitcher, you have all these people on the field. And it's identifying what are the strengths of your team, and letting those players — if we look at it from that perspective — letting them thrive, letting them grow in the position that they're passionate about. And then you can just grow in that passion, give them the training, give them extra training, helping them build where they're really good at and what they really like to do. And then the baseball world is that example. We wouldn't necessarily make the pitcher catch — they might not be comfortable with that — or the catcher pitch, and all sorts of other things. Because they do what they do well, that's their position on the field. And what I've found is that if we can do that, we can build our teams and build rock stars out of them in the places where they really are passionate about, then we have retention. I think my retention throughout my tenure was almost 99%, because I looked at people as to what drives them. - Erik Avakian Mentioned in this episode: ISF Analyst Insight Podcast Read the transcript of this episode Subscribe to the ISF Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts Connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter From the Information Security Forum, the leading authority on cyber, information security, and risk management.

Associate Vice President Taylor Avakian is one of the top multifamily brokers at Matthews Real Estate Investment Services. He has worked on countless transactions, both as an advisor and a principal. He is adept at managing the process from beginning to end, including due diligence, financing, marketing, and sales.   Avakian's extensive knowledge of the market and his ability to identify opportunities are what make him stand out from other agents. While most agents take a two-pronged approach to business, he takes a different stance. His unique perspective allows him to identify opportunities that most agents would miss, setting him apart from the rest of the industry. He is not only able to help his clients make smart investments but also helps them avoid costly mistakes.     What You Will Learn: Who is Taylor Avakian? Taylor describes what is he doing for the business and the investor. What is his target property? How he can describe the market in California? Taylor shares how he gets the majority of his deals. Every building makes sense at a certain price. How can landlords maximize the property value when you're under rent control regulations? What other strategies are there for property value enhancement? Taylor shares about the market trends. How can people prepare themselves right now when there's uncertainty in the world? Tayor shares how everyone can contact him. Additional Resources from Taylor Avakian: Website: https://www.matthews.com/ Phone: +1 (916) 996-4421 Email: taylor.avakian@matthews.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tayloravakian/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/tayvay Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Taylor_Avakian/ Attention Investors and Agents Are you looking to grow your business? Need to connect with aggressive like-minded people like yourself? We have all the right tools, knowledge, and coaching to positively effect your bottom line. Visit:http://globalinvestoragent.com/join-gia-team to see what we can offer and to schedule your FREE consultation! Our NEW book is out...order yours NOW!   Global Investor Agent: How Do You Thrive Not Just Survive in a Market Shift? Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3SV0khX HEY! You should be in class this coming Monday (MNL). It's Free and packed with actions you should take now! Here's the link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sNMjT-5DTIakCFO2ronDCg

Greg Avakian, Director at City of San Luis Obispo Parks & Recreation, previously worked at Cal Poly for Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) from 2000-19, served as a lecturer in the Experience Industry Management Department (EIM/RPTA) from 2013-18, and earned a Master of Arts degree in Higher Education-Student Affairs from Cal Poly in 2011. Greg talks with Dr. Brian Greenwood (Cal Poly EIM) about his life and career to date.

ALLsportsradio doet deze week dagelijks live-verslag vanaf het ABN AMRO Open. De uitzendingen van ALLsportsradio LIVE! staan geheel in het teken van dit grootste indoor tennistoernooi van Europa in Rotterdam Ahoy. Tijdens de zesde dag, zaterdag 17 februari, ontvingen we in de studio ballenmeisje Esra Akinci en begeleider Hanneke Lodewijks over wat er allemaal bij deze taak komt kijken, hoorde je de reactie van Tallon Griekspoor na zijn gewonnen kwartfinale tegen Emil Ruusuvuori, spraken we over de wedstrijden en de dag van vandaag met tennisjournalist David Avakian en schoof ook directeur van Rotterdam Ahoy, Jolanda Jansen, bij ons aan in de studio. Presentatie: Robert Denneman en Daan Prins

ALLsportsradio doet deze week dagelijks live-verslag vanaf het ABN AMRO Open. De uitzendingen van ALLsportsradio LIVE! staan geheel in het teken van dit grootste indoor tennistoernooi van Europa in Rotterdam Ahoy. Tijdens de vierde dag, donderdag 15 februari, spraken we in de studio met tennisjournalist David Avakian over de hoogtepunten van dit toernooi tot nu toe, namen we met toernooidirecteur Richard Krajicek onder meer de dag van vandaag door en ontvingen we met Reinier de Jong de designer van de spelersbanken. Daarnaast hoorde je ook een reactie van Botic van de Zandschulp na afloop van zijn partij tegen Jannik Sinner. Presentatie: Daan Prins

Are you interested in Multifamily Real Estate? Let's dive deep into the nitty-gritty of it! From regulatory challenges in LA to tenant-buyout strategies - this episode will be brimming with insider knowledge!Join us on Average Joe Finances as our guest Taylor Avakian shares his experiences navigating the escalating changes in the market, demystifies some common myths about the California real estate market, and offers invaluable advice for investors.  In this episode:Recognize the opportunities in LA's multifamily market, driven by renter demand, despite the state's strict regulations and high housing costs.Learn about the importance of becoming a "value add investor" and building relationships to navigate and thrive within the regulated market.View these challenges as opportunities for investors who comprehend the "art and science" of LA's investment market.Embrace optimism and creativity in the face of tightening regulations and shifting market trends in LA.And so much more!Key Moments:00:01:03 Taylor's Journey into Real Estate00:02:39 Understanding the Multifamily Market in California00:04:22 Overcoming Challenges in LA's Market00:08:20 The Impact of COVID-19 on LA's Real Estate Market00:15:15 Predicting Future Opportunities in LA's Market00:18:42 Finding Hidden Gems in the Real Estate Market00:21:13 Taylor's Superpower as a Real Estate Broker00:24:49 The Unexpected Rise in Property Values00:25:05 The Importance of Making Educated Projections00:25:34 The Power of Building Relationships in Real Estate00:26:17 Overcoming the Challenge of High Interest Rates00:27:13 Strategies for Landlords in LA for Future Growth00:27:56 The Art of Controlling the Controllables00:29:30 The Stoic Approach to Life and Business00:32:06 The Power of Knowledge and Skills00:33:23 The Importance of Self-Awareness in Business00:35:27 The Power of Organization in Business00:44:14 The Value of Consistency and DisciplineFind Taylor Avakian on:Website: https://www.matthews.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tayloravakian/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taylor_avakian/?hl=enTwitter: https://twitter.com/tayvay_?lang=enAverage Joe Finances®All of our social media links and more: https://averagejoefinances.com/linksAbout Mike: https://mikecavaggioni.comShow Notes add-on continued here: https://averagejoefinances.com/show-notes/*DISCLAIMER* https://averagejoefinances.com/disclaimerSee our full episode transcripts here: https://podcast.averagejoefinances.com/episodesSupport the show

A special new edition of Roqe focused on a feature-length interview with Iranian-born Armenian-American musician, producer and music arranger, Schubert Avakian. Schubert joins Jian from Los Angeles for a career-interview discussing his youth in Iran, his discovery at a Vigen gig in Germany as a teenager, and his evolution into one of the most sought-after composers and producers in Persian pop music today, working with everyone from Ebi, Googoosh, Shahram Shabpareh and Sepideh, to younger developing artists, newer acts like 25 Band and his hit-making mainstay band, Black Cats

Welcome to the RE Social Podcast, your source for real estate investing tips! In this episode, hosts Andrew and Vince invite Taylor Avakian, Associate Vice President at Matthews Real Estate Investment Services and a broker specializing in selling apartment buildings in Los Angeles, to discuss real estate investment in California.  Taylor delves into the challenges of investing in tenant-friendly states, the impact of regulations, and the potential of the California market.  He also covers the importance of focusing on one's strengths, understanding an investor's risk profile, and the current market conditions for multifamily properties in California.  Key Takeaways 00:00:00Who is Taylor 00:01:44Challenges in Investing 00:05:04The Game 00:06:33Rent Control 00:10:42Regulations Impact 00:15:15Taylor's Assets 00:18:49Focus on Strengths 00:20:07Singular Focus 00:29:33Multi Family in LA 00:32:16Tenant Issues 00:35:04Cap Rate 00:38:34Delinquency and Squatting 00:42:51Predictions for LA 00:44:08Success Story 00:46:19Interest Rates 00:48:55Bridge Loans 01:00:00Book Recommendations 01:04:58Upsides of Investing in California 01:09:09Cash Flow Perspective 01:13:44Contact Information Resources and Links Book:  "California Real Estate Principles" https://www.amazon.com/California-Estate-Principles-Dennis-McKenzie/dp/0538739657  "Who Not How" by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Ben Hardy https://www.amazon.com/Who-Not-How-Accelerating-Teamwork-ebook/dp/B0867ZJ151  "10x is Easier Than 2x" by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Ben Hardy  https://www.amazon.com/10x-Easier-Than-World-Class-Entrepreneurs/dp/140196995X  "Awareness" by Anthony DeMello https://www.amazon.com/Awareness-Opportunities-Reality-Anthony-Mello/dp/0385249373  Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss https://www.amazon.com/Never-Split-Difference-Negotiating-Depended/dp/0062407805  David Senra's podcast "Founders" https://www.founderspodcast.com  Antonio Garrido Sandler Way https://www.sandler.com  Connect with Taylor https://www.instagram.com/taylor_avakian/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/tayloravakian/  https://www.matthews.com/agents/taylor-avakian/  Learn more about AnVi Invest

This week, I interview my first international guest, Kambo practitioner Vatche Avakian. Vatche was born in Ethiopia to Armenian parents, and with a deep-rooted connection to his heritage and a passion for natural healing methods, Vatche has dedicated his life to helping others on their journey towards physical and spiritual well-being. Kambo is a powerful, natural medicine derived from the secretion of the giant monkey frog, and has been used for centuries by indigenous tribes in the Amazon rainforest for its remarkable healing properties. Through extentive training and apprenticeship with experienced shamans to master the art of administering Kambo, Vatche combines his knowledge of Kambo with his innate intuition and compassionate nature to provide personalized healing experiences for his clients. I had the privilege to partake in a 3-day Kambo retreat in the Dominican Republic, where he now resides. Alongside his healing sessions, Vatche conducts workshops, seminars, and retreats where he educates participants about the benefits of Kambo, empowering his participants with the knowledge for self-care and personal growth. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: Vatche's path towards finding his purpose What is Kambo? How it's extracted from the Amazonian Monkey Frog. The benefits of Kambo Kambo and its relationship with other plant medicines How to get over the fear of the Purge Having the right intentions when doing Kambo Find Vatche on Instagram. Get in touch with Stephanie: www.listeningwellpodcast.com | @listeningwellpodcast Thank you for Listening Well!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Matt is joined by Jacques Avakian, Send City Missionary to Montreal, with the Send Network. Jacques shares about his personal journey of coming to know Christ and coming to the province of Quebec.  Jacques does a deep dive into the history of Quebec and why this history is so critical in understanding the spiritual condition of the Quebecois. Jacque can be reached via. the Send Network.  If you would like to learn more about Send, you can visit http://www.sendnetwork.ca . 

There's nothing more fun for us than bringing back an innovative guest two years later and seeing how their idea has blossomed to reality. The company Cooler Screens has spent more than five years setting the bar for creating human-centered digital experiences in physical stores. The combination of vision, strategy, and smart technology, along with innovative retailers and brand partners, is now bringing the ease, relevancy, and transparency of the digital world into a human's shopping journey, at an impressive scale, including hundreds of stores at Kroger. And selling more product as a result. Arsen Avakian, CEO and Founder of Cooler Screens, rejoined the podcast to fill us in on what's now and what's next in this transformative collaboration between brands and retailers.

Back in action, Josh and Corey return with a dynamic episode featuring Alex Avakian, the Co-Owner behind 3 Birds Accessibility and Enlightened Remodeling. The first specializing in accessibility-focused construction and the second in transformative kitchen/bath/home remodeling. We delve into Alex's journey, from his early experiences with Daily Bread, where he transformed a blog into a clothing brand. Join us as we explore the art of discovering your niche within a business, the courage it takes to initiate new ventures, the whirlwind of startup beginnings, embracing calculated risks, and the invaluable lessons borne from mistakes. Tune in for this inspiring episode of Thoughtful Discussions!   Check out Alex, Enlightened Remodeling, and 3 Birds Accessibility at the links below. https://www.instagram.com/alexavakian412/?hl=en https://www.3birdsaccessibility.com/ https://www.enlightenedpgh.com/   Don't miss out on the chance to follow Corey's exciting journey by clicking on the links provided! https://www.instagram.com/muve_78/ https://linktr.ee/1028podcast_studio   Make sure to stay connected by following Josh, PGH Print Ship, as well as Thoughtful Discussions for more captivating content! https://www.instagram.com/joshsnider86/ https://www.instagram.com/pghprintship/ https://www.instagram.com/thoughtfuldiscussions/ Or visit PGHPrintShip.com today! Thumbnail Photo Credit: @mi_parente on IG

Project: I'm Speaking, featuring HELEN AVAKIANAn Award-winning songstress and International Fingerstyle Champion Helen Avakian has moved audiences for decades with her haunting voice and versatile guitar playing.Speaking with Helen and hearing her incredible stories—was so enriching that we spent a lot of time just sort of talking and meandering through her life–which by the way is punctuated with these FANTASTIC Full Spiral moments!Lauded a number one “Favorite Acoustic Act” four times by Rhythm and News magazine and winner of eight first prizes from the NewSongs Contest, she has performed on PBS radio and television, on stage with Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul, and Mary), and as an opener for luminaries ranging from Stanley Jordan, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Imuh-gen Heep to the New York Philharmonic. I left our time together SO inspired and reminded of the importance of supportive mentors and taking chances in this life! (Like when Helen met and jammed with founder and lead guitarist of Fanny, June Millington!)My  wish for you is for you to listen to Helen with the same childlike wonder with which Helen sees the world and seems to approach her whole life.   In JOY!Become a "Spinner" and support Full Spirals in an ongoing way,  for as little as $1/MONTH.Or you can  Support the show with a one time Donation to help cover production costs.PBS Documentary LINK:“Fanny: The Right to Rock”, PBShttps://www.pbs.org/show/fanny-right-rock/Support the show

Joining us this week is Taylor Avakian, a Los Angeles-based broker specializing in the multifamily sector. Taylor's expertise lies in building his funnel, cold outreach, sourcing opportunities, and delivering exceptional service to his clients. With a unique perspective, he identifies hidden gems that most brokers miss, guiding clients toward smart investments and helping them avoid costly mistakes. We also discuss why investors should consider investing in supply-constrained markets (like LA) - a contrarian POV compared to the national commentary around market selection. Key points from the episode: Welcome to the podcast 00:00 - 3:18 Taylor's journey into the brokerage world 3:18 - 11:10 His first year in the business 11:10 - 21:40 How the brokerage commission works 21:40 - 24:25 Ways to grow your business 24:25 - 28:12 Qualities of a good client for a broker 28:12 - 32:07 Expectations for feedback 32:07 - 35:43 Taylor's business activities 35:43 - 41:42 Reasons to invest in Los Angeles 41:42 - 47:22 Ways to contact Taylor 47:22 - 48:31 Are you tired of competing with other buyers and waiting on brokers to send you deals? Want to learn exactly how you can find more discounted multifamily deals than you know what to do with? Click here to check out our Off-Market Multifamily Deals course, where we teach investors how to develop a robust pipeline of discounted, off-market multifamily deals in six weeks or less.  Are you looking to invest in real estate but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners partners with passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits investing in real estate offers, but not the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.  Connect with Axel:  Follow him on Instagram  Connect with him on Linkedin  Learn more about Aligned Real Estate Partners   Connect with today's guest: Connect with him on LinkedIn Check out his website Follow him on Instagram Follow him on Twitter  

Episode 99 Crosscurrents in Electronic Tape Music in the United States Playlist Louis and Bebe Barron, “Bells of Atlantis” (1952), soundtrack for a film by Ian Hugo based on the writings of his wife Anaïs Nin, who also appeared in the film. The Barrons were credited with “Electronic Music.” The Barrons scored three of Ian Hugo's short experimental films and this is the earliest, marking an early start for tape music in the United States. Bebe told me some years ago about a work called “Heavenly Menagerie” that they produced in 1950. I have written before that I think this work was most likely the first electronic music made for magnetic tape in the United States, although I have never been able to find a recording of the work. Bells of Atlantis will stand as an example of what they could produce in their Greenwich Village studio at the time. They were also engaged helping John Cage produce “Williams Mix” at the time, being recordists of outdoor sounds around New York that Cage would use during the process of editing the composition, which is described below. The Forbidden Planet soundtrack, their most famous work, was created in 1956. 8:59 John Cage, “Williams Mix” (1952) from The 25-Year Retrospective Concert Of The Music Of John Cage (1959 Avakian). Composed in 1952, the tape was played at this Town Hall concert a few years later. Premiered in Urbana, Ill., March 22, 1953. From the Cage database of compositions: “This is a work for eight tracks of 1/4” magnetic tape. The score is a pattern for the cutting and splicing of sounds recorded on tape. Its rhythmic structure is 5-6-16-3-11-5. Sounds fall into 6 categories: A (city sounds), B (country sounds), C (electronic sounds), D (manually produced sounds), E (wind produced sounds), and F ("small" sounds, requiring amplification). Pitch, timbre, and loudness are notated as well. Approximately 600 recordings are necessary to make a version of this piece. The compositional means were I Ching chance operations. Cage made a realization of the work in 1952/53 (starting in May 1952) with the assistance of Earle Brown, Louis and Bebe Barron, David Tudor, Ben Johnston, and others, but it also possible to create other versions.” This was a kind of landmark work for John as he explored the possibilities of working with the tape medium. It is the only work from this period, created in the United States, for which there is an original recording of a Cage realization. He also composed “Imaginary Landscape No. 5” in 1952 for 42-disc recordings as a collage of fragments from long-playing records recorded on tape (he preferred to use jazz records as the source), put together with the assistance of David Tudor. Though some modern interpretations exist, there is no recording from the 1950s of a Cage/Tudor realization so I am unable to represent what it would have been like at that time. 5:42 Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky, “Moonflight” (1952) from Tape Music An Historic Concert (1968 Desto). This record documents tape pieces played at perhaps the earliest concert of American tape music at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 28, 1952. Realized at the composer's Tape Music Center at Columbia University, the precursor of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 2:54 Otto Luening, “Fantasy in Space” (1952) from Tape Music An Historic Concert (1968 Desto). Realized at the composer's Tape Music Center at Columbia University, the precursor of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 2:51 Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky, “Incantation” (1953) from Tape Music An Historic Concert (1968 Desto). This record documents tape pieces played at perhaps the earliest concert of American tape music at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 28, 1952. Realized at the composer's Tape Music Center at Columbia University, the precursor of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 2:34 Henry Jacobs, “Sonata for Loudspeakers” (1953-54) from Sounds of New Music (1958 Folkways). “Experiments with synthetic rhythm” produced by Henry Jacobs who worked at radio station KPFA-FM in Berkeley. Jacobs narrates the track to explain his use of tape loops and recorded sound. 9:29 Jim Fassett, track “B2” (Untitled) from Strange To Your Ears - The Fabulous World of Sound With Jim Fassett (1955 Columbia Masterworks). “The fabulous world of sound,” narrated with tape effects, by Jim Fassett. Fassett, a CBS Radio musical director, was fascinated with the possibilities of tape composition. With this recording, done during the formative years of tape music in the middle 1950s, he took a somewhat less daring approach than his experimental counterparts, but a bold step nonetheless for a national radio audience. He hosted a weekend program called Strange to Your Ears to showcase these experiments and this album collected some of his best bits. 8:15 Harry F. Olsen, “The Well-Tempered Clavier: Fugue No. 2” (Bach) and “Nola” (Arndt) and “Home, Sweet Home” from The Sounds and Music of the RCA Electronic Music Synthesizer (1955 RCA). These “experimental” tracks were intended to demonstrate the range of sound that could be created with RCA Music Synthesizer. This was the Mark I model, equipped with a disc lathe instead of a tape recorder. When it was upgraded and called the Mark II in the late 1950s, it became the showpiece of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Here we listen to three tunes created by Harry F. Olsen, one of the inventors, in the style of a harpsichord, a piano, and “an engineer's conception of the music.” 5:26 Milton Babbitt, “Composition For Synthesizer” (1960-61) (1968 Columbia). Babbitt was one of the only composers at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center who composed and produced works based solely on using the RCA Music Synthesizer. Most others took advantage of other tape processing techniques found in the studio and not controlled by the RCA Mark II. It took him quite a long time to work out all of the details using the synthesizer and his meticulous rules for composing serially. On the other hand, the programmability of the instrument made it much more possible to control all the parameters of the sound being created electronically rather than by human musicians. This work is a prime example of this kind of work. 10:41 Tod Dockstader, “Drone” (1962) from Drone; Two Fragments From Apocalypse; Water Music (1966 Owl Records). Self-produced album by independent American composer Dockstader. This came along at an interesting period for American elecgtronic music, sandwiched between the institutional studio work being done at various universities and the era of the independent musician working with a synthesizer. Dockstader used his own studio and his own devices to make this imaginative music. This was one of a series of four albums featuring Dockstader's music that were released on Owl in the 1966-67 timeframe. They have all been reissued in one form or another. Here is what Dockstader himself wrote about this piece: “Drone, like many of my other works, began life as a single sound; in this case, the sound of racing cars. But, unlike the others, the germinal sound is no longer in the piece. It's been replaced by another a guitar. I found in composing the work that the cars didn't go anywhere, except, seemingly, in circles. The sound of them that had interested me originally was a high to low glissando the Doppler effect. In making equivalents of this sound, I found guitar glissandos could be bent into figures the cars couldn't. . . . After the guitar had established itself as the base line of the piece, I began matching its sound with a muted sawtooth oscillator (again, concrete and electronic music: the guitar being a mechanical source of sound, the oscillator an electronic source). This instrument had a timbre similar to the guitar, with the addition of soft attack, sustained tones, and frequencies beyond the range of the guitar. . . . The effect of the guitar and the oscillator, working together, was to produce a kind of drone, with variations something like the procedure of classical Japanese music, but with more violence. Alternating violence with loneliness, hectic motion with static stillness, was the aim of the original piece; and this is still in Drone, but in the process, the means changed so much that, of all my pieces, it is the only one I can't remember all the sounds of, so it continues to surprise me when I play it.” (From the original liner notes by Dockstader). 13:24 Wendy Carlos, “Dialogs for Piano and Two Loudspeakers” (1963) from Electronic Music (1965 Turnabout). This is an early recording of Wendy, pre-Switched-on Bach, from her days as a composer and technician. In this work, Carlos tackles the task of combining synthesized sounds with those of acoustic instruments, in this case the piano. It's funny that after you listen to this you could swear that there were instruments other than the piano used, so deft was her blending of electronic sounds with even just a single instrument. 4:00 Gordon Mumma, “Music from the Venezia Space Theater” (1963-64) (1966 Advance). Mono recording from the original release on Advance. Composed at the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This was the studio created by Mumma and fellow composer Robert Ashley to produce their electronic tape works for Milton Cohen's Space Theater on Ann Arbor, which this piece tries to reproduce. The original was a quad magnetic tape. It was premiered at the 27th Venezia Bianale, Venice, Italy on September 11, 1964 and comprised the ONCE group with dancers. 11:58 Jean Eichelberger Ivey, “Pinball” (1965) from Electronic Music (1967 Folkways). Realized at the Electronic Music Studio of Brandeis University. This work was produced in the Brandeis University Electronic Music Studio and was her first work of electroacoustic music. In 1964 she began a Doctor of Musical Arts program in composition, including studies in electronic music, at the University of Toronto and completed the degree in 1972. Ivey founded the Peabody Electronic Music Studio in 1967 and taught composition and electronic music at the Peabody Conservatory of Music until her retirement in 1997. Ivey was a respected composer who also sought more recognition for women in the field. In 1968, she was the only woman composer represented at the Eastman-Rochester American Music Festival. Her work in electronic music and other music was characteristic of her general attitude about modern composing, “I consider all the musical resources of the past and present as being at the composer's disposal, but always in the service of the effective communication of humanistic ideas and intuitive emotion.” 6:12 Pauline Oliveros, “Bye Bye Butterfly” (1965) from New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media (1977 1750 Arch Records). This was composed at the San Francisco Tape Music Center where so many west coast composers first found their footing: Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Jon Gibson, Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster, Morton Subotnick, Ramon Sender all did work there around this time. Oliveros was experimenting with the use of tape delay in a number of works, of which “Bye Bye Butterfly” is a great example. 8:05 Gordon Mumma, “The Dresden Interleaf 13 February 1945” (1965) from Dresden / Venezia / Megaton (1979 Lovely Music). Composed at the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music (Ann Arbor, Michigan). Remixed at The Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College (Oakland, California). This tape piece was premiered at the sixth annual ONCE Festival in Ann Arbor where Mumma configured an array of sixteen “mini speakers” to surround the audience and project the 4-channel mix. The middle section of the piece contains the “harrowing roar of live, alcohol-burning model airplane engines.” (Mumma) This anti-war piece was presented in the 20th anniversary of the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden near the end of World War II. 12:14 Kenneth Gaburo, “Lemon Drops (Tape Alone)” (1965) from Electronic Music from the University of Illinois (1967 Heliodor). From Gaburo: “Lemon Drops” is one of a group of five tape compositions made during 1964-5 referencing the work of Harry Partch. All are concerned with aspects of timbre (e.g., mixing concrete and electronically generated sound); with nuance (e.g., extending the expressive range of concrete sound through machine manipulation, and reducing machine rigidity through flexible compositional techniques); and with counterpoint (e.g., stereo as a contrapuntal system).”(see). 2:52 Steve Reich, “Melodica” (1966) from Music From Mills (1986 Mills College). This is one of Reich's lesser-known phased loop compositions from the 1960s. It is “composed of one tape loop gradually going out of phase with itself, first in two voices and then in four.” This was Reich's last work for tape before he transitioned to writing instrumental music. 10:43 Pril Smiley, “Eclipse” (1967) from Electronic Music, Vol. IV (1969 Turnabout). The selections are works by the winners of the First International Electronic Music Competition - Dartmouth College, April 5, 1968. The competition was judged by composers Milton Babbitt, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and George Balch Wilson. The winner was awarded a $500 prize. Pril Smiley was 1st finalist and realized “Eclipse” at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Smiley had this to say about the work: “Eclipse” was originally composed for four separate tracks, the composer having worked with a specifically-structured antiphonal distribution of compositional material to be heard from four corners of a room or other appropriate space. Some sections of “Eclipse” are semi-improvisatory; by and large, the piece was worked out via many sketches and preliminary experiments on tape: all elements such as rhythm, timbre, loudness, and duration of each note were very precisely determined and controlled. In many ways, the structure of “Eclipse” is related to the composer's use of timbre. There are basically two kinds of sounds in the piece: the low, sustained gong-like sounds (always either increasing or decreasing in loudness) and the short more percussive sounds, which can be thought of as metallic, glassy, or wooden in character. These different kinds of timbres are usually used in contrast to one another, sometimes being set end to end so that one kind of sound interrupts another, and sometimes being dovetailed so that one timbre appears to emerge out of or from beneath another. Eighty-five percent of the sounds are electronic in origin; the non-electronic sounds are mainly pre-recorded percussion sounds–but subsequently electronically modified so that they are not always recognizable.” (From the original liner notes by Smiley.) 7:56 Olly W. Wilson, “Cetus” (1967) from Electronic Music, Vol. IV (1969 Turnabout). The selections are works by the winners of the First International Electronic Music Competition - Dartmouth College, April 5, 1968. The competition was judged by composers Milton Babbitt, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and George Balch Wilson. The winner was awarded a $500 prize. Olly W. Wilson was the competition Winner with “Cetus.” It was realized in the studio for Experimental Music of the University of Illinois. Olly Wilson wrote about the work: “the compositional process characteristic of the “classical tape studio” (the mutation of a few basic electronic signals by means of filters, signal modifiers, and recording processes) was employed in the realization of this work and was enhanced by means of certain instruments which permit improvisation by synthesized sound. Cetus contains passages which were improvised by the composer as well as sections realized by classical tape studio procedures. The master of this work was prepared on a two channel tape. Under the ideal circumstances it should be performed with multiple speakers surrounding the auditor.” (Olly Wilson. The Avant Garde Project at UBUWEB, AGP129 – US Electronic Music VIII | Dartmouth College Competition (1968-70). 9:18 Alice Shields, “The Transformation of Ani” (1970) from Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center Tenth Anniversary Celebration (1971 CRI). Composed at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Alice Shields explained, “The text of “The Transformation of Ani” is taken from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, as translated into English by E. A. Budge. Most sounds in the piece were made from my own voice, speaking and singing the words of the text. Each letter of the English translation was assigned a pitch, and each hieroglyph of the Egyptian was given a particular sound or short phrase, of mostly indefinite pitch. Each series, the one derived from the English translation, and the one derived from the original hieroglyphs, was then improvised upon to create material I thought appropriate to the way in which I wanted to develop the meaning of the text, which I divided into three sections.” (see). 8:59 Opening background music: John Cage, Fontana Mix (1958) (1966 Turnabout). This tape work was composed in 1958 and I believe this is the only recorded version by Cage himself as well as the only Cage version presented as a work not in accompaniment of another work. An earlier recording, from the Time label in 1962, feature the tape piece combined with another Cage work, “Aria.” This version for 2 tapes was prepared b Cage in February 1959 at the Studio di Fonologia in Milan, with technical assistance from Mario Zuccheri. From the Cage Database website. “This is a composition indeterminate of its performance, and was derived from notation CC from Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra. The score consists of 10 sheets of paper and 12 transparencies. The sheets of paper contain drawings of 6 differentiated (as to thickness and texture) curved lines. 10 of these transparencies have randomly distributed points (the number of points on the transparencies being 7, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 22, 26, 29, and 30). Another transparency has a grid, measuring 2 x 10 inches, and the last one contains a straight line (10 3/4 inch). By superimposing these transparencies, the player creates a structure from which a performance score can be made: one of the transparencies with dots is placed over one of the sheets with curved lines. Over this one places the grid. A point enclosed in the grid is connected with a point outside, using the straight line transparency. Horizontal and vertical measurements of intersections of the straight line with the grid and the curved line create a time-bracket along with actions to be made.” Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz. Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes. See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation. For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.

In 2014, GOALS (Girls of Armenia Leadership Soccer) was formed to instill confidence and build future well-rounded leaders. Join us as we interview Teny Avakian, CEO of GOALS, to learn more about life for girls in villages throughout Armenia and how sports is now an integral part of instilling a strong female future for Armenia.    Get involved here: https://www.goalsarmenia.org/ Follow GOALS here: https://www.instagram.com/goalsarmenia/    

This episode is sponsored by Bitstamp and the Galaxy Brains Podcast.The most valuable crypto stories for Monday, Dec. 12, 2022."The Hash" hosts discuss a report from Bloomberg that former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison recently hired Stephanie Avakian and law firm WilmerHale. Avakian is a former enforcement division chief at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who worked on several high-profile cases against figures like Elizabeth Holmes and Elon Musk. Plus, Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management said in an email it bought 78,982 shares in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN), its first investment in the crypto exchange in a month.See also:10 Questions for FTX CEO John J. Ray III From a Securities LawyerSEC Strikes Back in Grayscale Suit Over GBTC ETF ConversionArk Invest Adds Coinbase Stock as Crypto Exchange's Price SlidesFirst Mover Americas: Cathie Wood's Ark Buys More COIN; Do Kwon is in Serbia-This episode has been edited by Michele Musso. Our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “Neon Beach.”-Bitstamp is the longest-running crypto exchange and was recently rated #1 in the world by CryptoCompare. Regulation, transparency, and security are pillars that ensure customers' funds are safe; it's the Bitstamp way. Learn more about how your crypto is always yours at bitstamp.net.-Galaxy Brains: Whether it's breaking down market volatility or analyzing the latest development, come for the latest market insights from our in-house trading professionals and renowned experts from across the industry. Stay for the occasional rap from host Alex Thorn. Check out the latest episodes here: https://www.galaxy.com/research/podcasts/galaxy-brains/?utm_source=Hash&utm_medium=podcast&utm_id=CoinDeskSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

George B. Thomas and Arsen Avakian dive into the end of third-party cookies and how it affects digital advertisers, as well as how important it is to connect to people's emotions during their buyer's journey--even moreso than collecting data

Het zit erop. Althans, bijna. Roger Federer, de populairste tennisser aller tijden, stopt ermee. Op 'zijn' Laver Cup wacht de komende dagen een fraai vaarwel, aangezien zijn grote rivalen/vrienden Nadal, Djokovic, Murray én Avakian er bij zullen zijn. Steffan hing op zijn beurt in de lucht tussen Glasgow en Amsterdam toen het nieuws brak...

This week, Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking Arsen Avakian CEO and Founder of Cooler Screens and Founder of Argo Tea. The focus of today's conversation is the sophisticated digital add platform known as Cooler Screens, but Arsen shares how building his challenger tea brand, Argo Tea, helped him to understand the consumer experience gap (CX Gap) between the information available online and the information deficit of brick and mortar shopping. Cooler Screens bridge that gap by using AI to deliver ingredient information, allergens, calories, etc. as well as vibrant images of the actual products within the case. 

https://rivermontrecords.com/ (Rivermont Records), a Virginia-based label that specializes in early jazz and ragtime, is proud to announce the premiere release of One Step to Chicago, a 14-track album that features an all-star lineup of jazz music legends. Recorded in 1992 and then laid aside until now, the album is the product of legendary producer George Avakian. Avakian brought three generations of jazz giants together in RCA's New York studio to record the exciting music of Frank Teschemacher (a pioneering jazz clarinetist of the late 1920s) and the Austin High Gang. The album features a Who's Who of notable jazz instrumentalists, including pianist/arranger Dick Hyman, clarinetists Kenny Davern and https://www.danlevinson.com/ (Dan Levinson), guitarist Marty Grosz, Grammy-winning bass saxophonist Vince Giordano and nearly a dozen more. http://www.bryanswright.com/wpdir/ (Bryan Wright), the founder and executive producer of Rivermont, says about the album, “This extraordinary recording documents the once-in-a-lifetime meeting of so many jazz greats — all playing in top form and recorded in state-of-the-art sound under Avakian's personal guidance. All-star bands don't always work artistically, but here, the chemistry is palpable. The musicians blend beautifully and sound as if they are having the time of their lives.” https://rivermontrecords.com/products/2260?variant=39963518173245 (One Step to Chicago) was released on July 15, 2022, in deluxe CD and vinyl packages. [00:50] Background [02:12] Definition of Ragtime [04:15] We don't use the word Dixieland [07:45] Discovering the recordings George Avakian Dick Hyman New York Public Library [14:27] More on George Avakian and Chicago Jazz [18:05] Two different bands performed Dick Hyman's band-note for note creation Kenny Davern's band-spirit of the original but their own interpretations [22:11] https://rivermontrecords.com/products/2260?variant=39963518173245 (Details of the package) Photos Details of the performers and sessions in an 80-page book CD, digital, or vinyl [26:37] Surprise it was never released [27:53] Jazz Styles [31:34] Bryan Wright's interest in ragtime https://www.scottjoplin.org/ (Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival) [36:07] Jazz songs and the lyrics [39:49] Show-Me the homeland of ragtime [40:44] Great Jazz musicians working together Thoughts on why this worked Behind-the-scenes information about the sessions This is Season 5! For more episodes, go to https://stlintune.com/ (stlintune.com) #jazz #georgeavakian #danlevinson #bryanwright #chicagostyle #ragtime #clarinet #rivermontrecords

In this week's episode of Fresh From the Field Friday's with Dan The Produce man Avakian and we're a week and two days away from Summer!!!! Dan tells us how to peel tomatoes without diluting the flavor, a great tip for marinating tomatoes and adding to pizza. Tips on buying Boysenberries, blackberries apricots corn! Get in the summer produce groove! As the weeks go by trying something new is a must!!!! What have you tried new this year? FANCY SPONSORS: Ag Tools, Inc.: https://www.agtechtools.com, Flavor Wave, LLC.: https://flavorwavefresh.com, Noble Citrus: https://noblecitrus.com, Buck Naked Onions/Owyhee Produce, Inc.: http://www.owyheeproduce.com and John Greene Logistics Company: https://www.jglc.com CHOICE SPONSORS: Indianapolis Fruit Company: https://indyfruit.com, Equifruit: https://equifruit.com Arctic® Apples: https://arcticapples.com Sev-Rend Corporation: https://www.sev-rend.com and Golden Star Citrus, Inc.: http://www.goldenstarcitrus.com STANDARD SPONSORS: London Fruit Inc. https://londonfruit.com, Fresh Cravings: https://www.freshcravings.com/ and Freshway Produce: https://www.freshwayusa.com

În această seară la Art Cultura vorbim despre personalitatea marelui pianist Radu Lupu, cu profesorul și criticul muzical Dumitru Avakian. citiţi mai departe

Episode one hundred and forty-eight of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Light My Fire" by the Doors, the history of cool jazz, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "My Friend Jack" by the Smoke. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources As usual, I've put together a Mixcloud mix containing all the music excerpted in this episode and the shorter spoken-word tracks. Information on Dick Bock, World Pacific, and Ravi Shankar came from Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar by Oliver Craske. Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, and Robby Krieger have all released autobiographies. Densmore's is out of print, but I referred to Manzarek's and Krieger's here. Of the two Krieger's is vastly more reliable. I also used Mick Wall's book on the Doors and Stephen Davis' biography of Jim Morrison. Information about Elektra Records came from Follow the Music by Jac Holzman and Gavan Daws, which is available as a free PDF download on Elektra's website. Biographical information on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi comes from this book, written by one of his followers. The Doors' complete studio albums can be bought as MP3s for £14. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript There are two big problems that arise for anyone trying to get an accurate picture of history, and which have certainly arisen for me during the course of this podcast -- things which make sources unreliable enough that you feel you have to caveat everything you say on a subject. One of those is hagiography, and the converse desire to tear heroes down. No matter what one wants to say on, say, the subjects of Jesus or Mohammed or Joseph Smith, the only sources we have for their lives are written either by people who want to present them as unblemished paragons of virtue, or by people who want to destroy that portrayal -- we know that any source is written by someone with a bias, and it might be a bias we agree with, but it's still a bias. The other, related, problem, is deliberate disinformation. This comes up especially for people dealing with military history -- during conflicts, governments obviously don't want their opponents to know when their attacks have caused damage, or to know what their own plans are, and after a war has concluded the belligerent parties want to cover up their own mistakes and war crimes. We're sadly seeing that at the moment in the situation in Ukraine -- depending on one's media diet, one could get radically different ideas of what is actually going on in that terrible conflict. But it happens all the time, in all wars, and on all sides. Take the Vietnam War. While the US was involved on the side of the South Vietnamese government from the start of that conflict, it was in a very minor way, mostly just providing supplies and training. Most historians look at the real start of US involvement in that war as having been in August 1964. President Johnson had been wanting, since assuming the Presidency in November 1963 after the death of John F Kennedy, to get further into the war, but had needed an excuse to do so. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident provided him with that excuse. On August the second, a fleet of US warships entered into what the North Vietnamese considered their territorial waters -- they used a different distance from shore to mark their territorial waters than most other countries used, and one which wasn't generally accepted, but which they considered important. Because of this, some North Vietnamese ships started following the American ones. The American ships, who thought they weren't doing anything wrong, set off what they considered to be warning shots, and the North Vietnamese ships fired back, which to the American ships was considered them attacking. Some fire was exchanged, but not much happened. Two days later, the American ships believed they were getting attacked again, and spent several hours firing at what they believed were North Vietnamese submarines. It was later revealed that this was just the American sonar systems playing up, and that they were almost certainly firing at nothing at all, and some even suspected that at the time -- President Johnson apparently told other people in confidence that in his opinion they'd been firing at stray dolphins. But that second "attack", however flimsy the evidence, was enough that Johnson could tell Congress and the nation that an American fleet had been attacked by the North Vietnamese, and use that as justification to get Congress to authorise him sending huge numbers of troops to Vietnam, and getting America thoroughly embroiled in a war that would cost innumerable lives and billions of dollars for what turned out to be no benefit at all to anyone. The commander of the US fleet involved in the Gulf of Tonkin operation was then-Captain, later Rear Admiral, Steve Morrison: [Excerpt: The Doors, "The End"] We've talked a bit in this podcast previously about the development of jazz in the forties, fifties, and early sixties -- there was a lot of back and forth influence in those days between jazz, blues, R&B, country, and rock and roll, far more than one might imagine looking at the popular histories of these genres, and so we've looked at swing, bebop, and modal jazz before now. But one style of music we haven't touched on is the type that was arguably the most popular and influential style of jazz in the fifties, even though we've mentioned several of the people involved in it. We've never yet had a proper look at Cool Jazz. Cool Jazz, as its name suggests, is a style of music that was more laid back than the more frenetic bebop or hard-edged modal jazz. It was a style that sounded sophisticated, that sounded relaxed, that prized melody and melodic invention over super-fast technical wizardry, and that produced much of what we now think of when we think of "jazz" as a popular style of music. The records of Dave Brubeck, for example, arguably the most popular fifties jazz musician, are very much in the "cool jazz" mode: [Excerpt: The Dave Brubeck Quartet, "Take Five"] And we have mentioned on several occasions the Modern Jazz Quartet, who were cited as influences by everyone from Ray Charles to the Kinks to the Modern Folk Quartet: [Excerpt: The Modern Jazz Quartet, "Regret?"] We have also occasionally mentioned people like Mose Allison, who occasionally worked in the Cool Jazz mode. But we've never really looked at it as a unified thing. Cool Jazz, like several of the other developments in jazz we've looked at, owes its existence to the work of the trumpeter Miles Davis, who was one of the early greats of bop and who later pioneered modal jazz. In 1948, in between his bop and modal periods, Davis put together a short-lived nine-piece group, the Miles Davis Nonette, who performed together for a couple of weeks in late 1948, and who recorded three sessions in 1949 and 1950, but who otherwise didn't perform much. Each of those sessions had a slightly different lineup, but key people involved in the recordings were Davis himself, arranger Gil Evans, piano player John Lewis, who would later go on to become the leader of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and baritone sax player Gerry Mulligan. Mulligan and Evans, and the group's alto player Lee Konitz, had all been working for the big band Claude Thornhill and his Orchestra, a band which along with the conventional swing instruments also had a French horn player and a tuba player, and which had recorded soft, mellow, relaxing music: [Excerpt: Claude Thornhill and his Orchestra, "To Each His Own"] The Davis Nonette also included French horn and tuba, and was explicitly modelled on Thornhill's style, but in a stripped-down version. They used the style of playing that Thornhill preferred, with no vibrato, and with his emphasis on unison playing, with different instruments doubling each other playing the melody, rather than call-and response riffing: [Excerpt: The Miles Davis Nonette, "Venus De Milo"] Those recordings were released as singles in 1949 and 1950, and were later reissued in 1957 as an album titled "Birth of the Cool", by which point Cool Jazz had become an established style, though Davis himself had long since moved on in other musical directions. After the Birth of the Cool sessions, Gerry Mulligan had recorded an album as a bandleader himself, and then had moved to the West Coast, where he'd started writing arrangements for Stan Kenton, one of the more progressive big band leaders of the period: [Excerpt: Stan Kenton, "Young Blood"] While working for Kenton, Mulligan had started playing dates at a club called the Haig, where the headliner was the vibraphone player Red Norvo. While Norvo had started out as a big-band musician, playing with people like Benny Goodman, he had recently started working in a trio, with just a guitarist, initially Tal Farlowe, and bass player, initially Charles Mingus: [Excerpt: Red Norvo, "This Can't Be Love"] By 1952 Mingus had left Norvo's group, but they were still using the trio format, and that meant there was no piano at the venue, which meant that Mulligan had to form a band that didn't rely on the chordal structures that a piano would provide -- the idea of a group with a rhythm section that *didn't* have a piano was quite an innovation in jazz at this time, and freeing themselves from that standard instrument ended up opening up extra possibilities. His group consisted of himself on saxophone, Chet Baker on trumpet, Bob Whitlock on bass and Chico Hamilton on drums. They made music in much the same loose, casual, style as the recordings Mulligan had made with Davis, but in a much smaller group with the emphasis being on the interplay between Mulligan and Baker. And this group were the first group to record on a new label, Pacific Jazz, founded by Dick Bock. Bock had served in the Navy during World War II, and had come back from the South Pacific with two tastes -- a taste for hashish, and for music that was outside the conventional American pop mould. Bock *loved* the Mulligan Quartet, and in partnership with his friend Roy Harte, a notable jazz drummer, he raised three hundred and fifty dollars to record the first album by Mulligan's new group: [Excerpt: Gerry Mulligan Quartet, "Aren't You Glad You're You?"] Pacific Jazz, the label Bock and Harte founded, soon became *the* dominant label for Cool Jazz, which also became known as the West Coast Sound.  The early releases on the label were almost entirely by the Mulligan Quartet, released either under Mulligan's name, as by Chet Baker, or as "Lee Konitz and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet" when Mulligan's old bandmate Konitz joined them. These records became big hits, at least in the world of jazz. But both Mulligan and Baker were heroin addicts, and in 1953 Mulligan got arrested and spent six months in prison. And while he was there, Chet Baker made some recordings in his own right and became a bona fide star. Not only was Baker a great jazz trumpet player, he was also very good looking, and it turned out he could sing too. The Mulligan group had made the song "My Funny Valentine" one of the highlights of its live shows, with Baker taking a trumpet solo: [Excerpt: Gerry Mulligan Quartet, "My Funny Valentine"] But when Baker recorded a vocal version, for his album Chet Baker Sings, it made Baker famous: [Excerpt: Chet Baker, "My Funny Valentine"] When Mulligan got out of prison, he wanted to rehire Baker, but Baker was now topping the popularity polls in all the jazz magazines, and was the biggest breakout jazz star of the early fifties. But Mulligan formed a new group, and this just meant that Pacific Jazz had *two* of the biggest acts in jazz on its books now, rather than just one. But while Bock loved jazz, he was also fascinated by other kinds of music, and while he was in New York at the beginning of 1956 he was invited by his friend George Avakian, a producer who had worked with Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, and others, to come and see a performance by an Indian musician he was working with. Avakian was just about to produce Ravi Shankar's first American album, The Sounds of India, for Columbia Records. But Columbia didn't think that there was much of a market for Shankar's music -- they were putting it out as a speciality release rather than something that would appeal to the general public -- and so they were happy for Bock to sign Shankar to his own label. Bock renamed the company World Pacific, to signify that it was now going to be putting out music from all over the world, not just jazz, though he kept the Pacific Jazz label for its jazz releases, and he produced Shankar's next album,  India's Master Musician: [Excerpt: Ravi Shankar, "Raga Charu Keshi"] Most of Shankar's recordings for the next decade would be produced by Bock, and Bock would also try to find ways to combine Shankar's music with jazz, though Shankar tried to keep a distinction between the two. But for example on Shankar's next album for World Pacific, Improvisations and Theme from Pather Panchali, he was joined by a group of West Coast jazz musicians including Bud Shank (who we'll hear about again in a future episode) on flute: [Excerpt: Ravi Shankar, "Improvisation on the Theme From Pather Panchali"] But World Pacific weren't just putting out music. They also put out spoken-word records. Some of those were things that would appeal to their jazz audience, like the comedy of Lord Buckley: [Excerpt: Lord Buckley, "Willy the Shake"] But they also put out spoken-word albums that appealed to Bock's interest in spirituality and philosophy, like an album by Gerald Heard. Heard had previously written the liner notes for Chet Baker Sings!, but as well as being a jazz fan Heard was very connected in the world of the arts -- he was a very close friend with Aldous Huxley -- and was also interested in various forms of non-Western spirituality. He practiced yoga, and was also fascinated by Buddhism, Vedanta, and Taoism: [Excerpt: Gerald Heard, "Paraphrased from the Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu"] We've come across Heard before, in passing, in the episode on "Tomorrow Never Knows", when Ralph Mentzner said of his experiments with Timothy Leary and Ram Dass "At the suggestion of Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard we began using the Bardo Thödol ( Tibetan Book of the Dead) as a guide to psychedelic sessions" -- Heard was friends with both Huxley and Humphrey Osmond, and in fact had been invited by them to take part in the mescaline trip that Huxley wrote about in his book The Doors of Perception, the book that popularised psychedelic drug use, though Heard was unable to attend at that time. Heard was a huge influence on the early psychedelic movement -- though he always advised Leary and his associates not to be so public with their advocacy, and just to keep it to a small enlightened circle rather than risk the wrath of the establishment -- and he's cited by almost everyone in Leary's circle as having been the person who, more than anything else, inspired them to investigate both psychedelic drugs and mysticism. He's the person who connected Bill W. of Alcoholics Anonymous with Osmond and got him advocating LSD use. It was Heard's books that made Huston Smith, the great scholar of comparative religions and associate of Leary, interested in mysticism and religions outside his own Christianity, and Heard was one of the people who gave Leary advice during his early experiments. So it's not surprising that Bock also became interested in Leary's ideas before they became mainstream. Indeed, in 1964 he got Shankar to do the music for a short film based on The Psychedelic Experience, which Shankar did as a favour for his friend even though Shankar didn't approve of drug use. The film won an award in 1965, but quickly disappeared from circulation as its ideas were too controversial: [Excerpt: The Psychedelic Experience (film)] And Heard introduced Bock to other ideas around philosophy and non-Western religions. In particular, Bock became an advocate for a little-known Hindu mystic who had visited the US in 1959 teaching a new style of meditation which he called Transcendental Meditation. A lot is unclear about the early life of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, even his birth name -- both "Maharishi" and "Yogi" are honorifics rather than names as such, though he later took on both as part of his official name, and in this and future episodes I'll refer to him as "the Maharishi". What we do know is that he was born in India, and had attained a degree in physics before going off to study with Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, a teacher of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism. Now, I am not a Hindu, and only have a passing knowledge of Hindu theology and traditions, and from what I can gather getting a proper understanding requires a level of cultural understanding I don't have, and in particular a knowledge of the Sanskrit language, so my deepest apologies for any mangling I do of these beliefs in trying to talk about them as they pertain to mid-sixties psychedelic rock. I hope my ignorance is forgivable, and seen as what it is rather than malice. But the teachings of this school as I understand them seem to centre around an idea of non-separation -- that God is in all things, and is all things, and that there is no separation between different things, and that you merely have to gain a deep realisation of this. The Maharishi later encapsulated this in the phrase "I am that, thou art that, all this is that", which much later the Beach Boys, several of whom were followers of the Maharishi, would turn into a song: [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "All This is That"] The other phrase they're singing there, "Jai Guru Dev" is also a phrase from the Maharishi, and refers to his teacher Brahmananda Saraswati -- it means "all hail the divine teacher" or "glory to the heavenly one", and "guru dev" or "guru deva" was the name the Maharishi would use for Saraswati after his death, as the Maharishi believed that Saraswati was an actual incarnation of God. It's that phrase that John Lennon is singing in "Across the Universe" as well, another song later inspired by the Maharishi's teachings: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Across the Universe"] The Maharishi became, by his own account, Saraswati's closest disciple, advisor, and right-hand man, and was privy to his innermost thoughts. However, on Saraswati's death the leadership of the monastery he led became deeply contested, with two different rivals to the position, and the Maharishi was neither -- the rules of the monastery said that only people born into the Brahmin caste could reach the highest positions in the monastery's structure, and the Maharishi was not a Brahmin. So instead of remaining in the monastery, the Maharishi went out into the world to teach a new form of meditation which he claimed he had learned from Guru Dev, a technique which became known as transcendental meditation. The Maharishi would, for the rest of his life, always claim that the system he taught was Guru Dev's teaching for the world, not his own, though the other people who had been at the monastery with him said different things about what Saraswati had taught -- but of course it's perfectly possible for a spiritual leader to have had multiple ideas and given different people different tasks. The crucial thing about the Maharishi's teaching, the way it differed from everything else in the history of Hindu monasticism (as best I understand this) is that all previous teachers of meditation had taught that to get the benefit of the techniques one had to be a renunciate -- you should go off and become a monk and give up all worldly pleasures and devote your life to prayer and meditation. Traditionally, Hinduism has taught that there are four stages of life -- the student, the householder or married person with a family, the retired person, and the Sanyasi, or renunciate, but that you could skip straight from being a student to being a Sanyasi and spend your life as a monk. The Maharishi, though, said: "Obviously enough there are two ways of life: the way of the Sanyasi and the way of life of a householder. One is quite opposed to the other. A Sanyasi renounces everything of the world, whereas a householder needs and accumulates everything. The one realises, through renunciation and detachment, while the other goes through all attachments and accumulation of all that is needed for physical life." What the Maharishi taught was that there are some people who achieve the greatest state of happiness by giving up all the pleasures of the senses, eating the plainest possible food, having no sexual, familial, or romantic connections with anyone else, and having no possessions, while there are other people who achieve the greatest state of happiness by being really rich and having a lot of nice stuff and loads of friends and generally enjoying the pleasures of the flesh -- and that just as there are types of meditation that can help the first group reach enlightenment, there are also types of meditation that will fit into the latter kind of lifestyle, and will help those people reach oneness with God but without having to give up their cars and houses and money. And indeed, he taught that by following his teachings you could get *more* of those worldly pleasures. All you had to do, according to his teaching, was to sit still for fifteen to twenty minutes, twice a day, and concentrate on a single Sanskrit word or phrase, a mantra, which you would be given after going through a short course of teaching. There was nothing else to it, and you would eventually reach the same levels of enlightenment as the ascetics who spent seventy years living in a cave and eating only rice -- and you'd end up richer, too. The appeal of this particular school is, of course, immediately apparent, and Bock became a big advocate of the Maharishi, and put out three albums of his lectures: [Excerpt: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, "Deep Meditation"] Bock even met his second wife at one of the Maharishi's lectures, in 1961. In the early sixties, World Pacific got bought up by Liberty Records, the label for which Jan and Dean and others recorded, but Bock remained in charge of the label, and expanded it, adding another subsidiary, Aura Records, to put out rock and roll singles. Aura was much less successful than the other World Pacific labels. The first record the label put out was a girl-group record, "Shooby Dooby", by the Lewis Sisters, two jazz-singing white schoolteachers from Michigan who would later go on to have a brief career at Motown: [Excerpt: The Lewis Sisters, "Shooby Dooby"] The most successful act that Aura ever had was Sonny Knight, an R&B singer who had had a top twenty hit in 1956 with "Confidential", a song he'd recorded on Specialty Records with Bumps Blackwell, and which had been written by Dorinda Morgan: [Excerpt: Sonny Knight, "Confidential"] But Knight's biggest hit on Aura, "If You Want This Love", only made number seventy-one on the pop charts: [Excerpt: Sonny Knight, "If You Want This Love"] Knight would later go on to write a novel, The Day the Music Died, which Greil Marcus described as "the bitterest book ever written about how rock'n'roll came to be and what it turned into". Marcus said it was about "how a rich version of American black culture is transformed into a horrible, enormously profitable white parody of itself: as white labels sign black artists only to ensure their oblivion and keep those blacks they can't control penned up in the ghetto of the black charts; as white America, faced with something good, responds with a poison that will ultimately ruin even honest men". Given that Knight was the artist who did the *best* out of Aura Records, that says a great deal about the label. But one of the bands that Aura signed, who did absolutely nothing on the charts, was a group called Rick and the Ravens, led by a singer called Screamin' Ray Daniels. They were an LA club band who played a mixture of the surf music which the audiences wanted and covers of blues songs which Daniels preferred to sing. They put out two singles on Aura, "Henrietta": [Excerpt: Rick and the Ravens, "Henrietta"] and "Soul Train": [Excerpt: Rick and the Ravens, "Soul Train"] Ray Daniels was a stage name -- his birth name was Ray Manzarek, and he would later return to that name -- and the core of the band was Ray on vocals and his brothers Rick on guitar and Jim on harmonica. Manzarek thought of himself as a pretty decent singer, but they were just a bar band, and music wasn't really his ideal career.  Manzarek had been sent to college by his solidly lower-middle-class Chicago family in the hope that he would become a lawyer, but after getting a degree in economics and a brief stint in the army, which he'd signed up for to avoid getting drafted in the same way people like Dean Torrence did, he'd gone off to UCLA to study film, with the intention of becoming a filmmaker. His family had followed him to California, and he'd joined his brothers' band as a way of making a little extra money on the side, rather than as a way to become a serious musician. Manzarek liked the blues songs they performed, and wasn't particularly keen on the surf music, but thought it was OK. What he really liked, though, was jazz -- he was a particular fan of McCoy Tyner, the pianist on all the great John Coltrane records: [Excerpt: John Coltrane, "My Favorite Things"] Manzarek was a piano player himself, though he didn't play much with the Ravens, and he wanted more than anything to be able to play like Tyner, and so when Rick and the Ravens got signed to Aura Records, he of course became friendly with Dick Bock, who had produced so many great jazz records and worked with so many of the greats of the genre. But Manzarek was also having some problems in his life. He'd started taking LSD, which was still legal, and been fascinated by its effects, but worried that he couldn't control them -- he couldn't tell whether he was going to have a good trip or a bad one. He was wondering if there was a way he could have the same kind of revelatory mystical experience but in a more controlled manner. When he mentioned this to Bock, Bock told him that the best method he knew for doing that was transcendental meditation. Bock gave him a copy of one of the Maharishi's albums, and told him to go to a lecture on transcendental meditation, run by the head of the Maharishi's west-coast organisation, as by this point the Maharishi's organisation, known as Spiritual Regeneration, had an international infrastructure, though it was still nowhere near as big as it would soon become. At the lecture, Manzarek got talking to one of the other audience members, a younger man named John Densmore. Densmore had come to the lecture with his friend Robby Krieger, and both had come for the same reason that Manzarek had -- they'd been having bad trips and so had become a little disillusioned with acid. Krieger had been the one who'd heard about transcendental meditation, while he was studying the sitar and sarod at UCLA -- though Krieger would later always say that his real major had been in "not joining the Army". UCLA had one of the few courses in Indian music available in the US at the time, as thanks in part to Bock California had become the centre of American interest in music from India -- so much so that in 1967 Ravi Shankar would open up a branch of his own Kinnara Music School there. (And you can get an idea of how difficult it is to separate fact from fiction when researching this episode that one of the biographies I've used for the Doors says that Krieger heard about the Maharishi while studying at the Kinnara school. As the only branch of the Kinnara school that was open at this point was in Mumbai, it's safe to say that unless Krieger had a *really* long commute he wasn't studying there at this point.) Densmore and Manzarek got talking, and they found that they shared a lot of the same tastes in jazz -- just as Manzarek was a fan of McCoy Tyner, so Densmore was a fan of Elvin Jones, the drummer on those Coltrane records, and they both loved the interplay of the two musicians: [Excerpt: John Coltrane, "My Favorite Things"] Manzarek was starting to play a bit more keyboards with the Ravens, and he was also getting annoyed with the Ravens' drummer, who had started missing rehearsals -- he'd turn up only for the shows themselves. He thought it might be an idea to get Densmore to join the group, and Densmore agreed to come along for a rehearsal. That initial rehearsal Densmore attended had Manzarek and his brothers, and may have had a bass player named Patricia Hansen, who was playing with the group from time to time around this point, though she was mostly playing with a different bar band, Patty and the Esquires. But as well as the normal group members, there was someone else there, a friend of Manzarek's from film school named Jim Morrison. Morrison was someone who, by Manzarek's later accounts, had been very close to Manzarek at university, and who Manzarek had regarded as a genius, with a vast knowledge of beat poetry and European art film, but who had been regarded by most of the other students and the lecturers as being a disruptive influence. Morrison had been a fat, asthmatic, introverted kid -- he'd had health problems as a child, including a bout of rheumatic fever which might have weakened his heart, and he'd also been prone to playing the kind of "practical jokes" which can often be a cover for deeper problems. For example, as a child he was apparently fond of playing dead -- lying in the corridors at school and being completely unresponsive for long periods no matter what anyone did to move him, then suddenly getting up and laughing at anyone who had been concerned and telling them it was a joke. Given how frequently Morrison would actually pass out in later life, often after having taken some substance or other, at least one biographer has suggested that he might have had undiagnosed epilepsy (or epilepsy that was diagnosed but which he chose to keep a secret) and have been having absence seizures and covering for them with the jokes. Robby Krieger also says in his own autobiography that he used to have the same doctor as Morrison, and the doctor once made an offhand comment about Morrison having severe health problems, "as if it was common knowledge". His health difficulties, his weight, his introversion, and the experience of moving home constantly as a kid because of his father's career in the Navy, had combined to give him a different attitude to most of his fellow students, and in particular a feeling of rootlessness -- he never owned or even rented his own home in later years, just moving in with friends or girlfriends -- and a lack of sense of his own identity, which would often lead to him making up lies about his life and acting as if he believed them. In particular, he would usually claim to friends that his parents were dead, or that he had no contact with them, even though his family have always said he was in at least semi-regular contact. At university, Morrison had been a big fan of Rick and the Ravens, and had gone to see them perform regularly, but would always disrupt the shows -- he was, by all accounts, a lovely person when sober but an aggressive boor when drunk -- by shouting out for them to play "Louie Louie", a song they didn't include in their sets. Eventually one of Ray's brothers had called his bluff and said they'd play the song, but only if Morrison got up on stage and sang it. He had -- the first time he'd ever performed live -- and had surprised everyone by being quite a good singer. After graduation, Morrison and Manzarek had gone their separate ways, with Morrison saying he was moving to New York. But a few weeks later they'd encountered each other on the beach -- Morrison had decided to stay in LA, and had been staying with a friend, mostly sleeping on the friend's rooftop. He'd been taking so much LSD he'd forgotten to eat for weeks at a time, and had lost a great deal of weight, and Manzarek properly realised for the first time that his friend was actually good-looking. Morrison also told Manzarek that he'd been writing songs -- this was summer 1965, and the Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man", Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", and the Stones' "Satisfaction" had all shown him that there was potential for pop songs to have more interesting lyrical content than "Louie Louie". Manzarek asked him to sing some of the songs he'd been writing, and as Manzarek later put it "he began to sing, not in the booze voice he used at the Turkey Joint, but in a Chet Baker voice". The first song Morrison sang for Ray Manzarek was one of the songs that Rick and the Ravens would rehearse that first time with John Densmore, "Moonlight Drive": [Excerpt: Rick and the Ravens, "Moonlight Drive"] Manzarek invited Morrison to move in with him and his girlfriend. Manzarek seems to have thought of himself as a mentor, a father figure, for Morrison, though whether that's how Morrison thought of him is impossible to say. Manzarek, who had a habit of choosing the myth over the truth, would later claim that he had immediately decided that he and Morrison were going to be a duo and find a whole new set of musicians, but all the evidence points to him just inviting Morrison to join the Ravens as the singer Certainly the first recordings this group made, a series of demos, were under Rick and the Ravens' name, and paid for by Aura Records. They're all of songs written by Morrison, and seem to be sung by Morrison and Manzarek in close harmony throughout. But the demos did not impress the head of Liberty Records, which now owned Aura, and who saw no commercial potential in them, even in one that later became a number one hit when rerecorded a couple of years later: [Excerpt: Rick and the Ravens, "Hello I Love You"] Although to be fair, that song is clearly the work of a beginning songwriter, as Morrison has just taken the riff to "All Day and All of the Night" by the Kinks, and stuck new words to it: [Excerpt: The Kinks, "All Day and All of the Night"] But it seems to have been the lack of success of these demos that convinced Manzarek's brothers and Patricia Hansen to quit the band. According to Manzarek, his brothers were not interested in what they saw as Morrison's pretensions towards poetry, and didn't think this person who seemed shy and introverted in rehearsals but who they otherwise knew as a loud annoying drunk in the audience would make a good frontman. So Rick and the Ravens were down to just Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, and John Densmore, but they continued shopping their demos around, and after being turned down by almost everyone they were signed by Columbia Records, specifically by Billy James, who they liked because he'd written the liner notes to a Byrds album, comparing them to Coltrane, and Manzarek liked the idea of working with an A&R man who knew Coltrane's work, though he wasn't impressed by the Byrds themselves, later writing "The Byrds were country, they didn't have any black in them at all. They couldn't play jazz. Hell, they probably didn't even know anything about jazz. They were folk-rock, for cri-sake. Country music. For whites only." (Ray Manzarek was white). They didn't get an advance from Columbia, but they did get free equipment -- Columbia had just bought Vox, who made amplifiers and musical instruments, and Manzarek in particular was very pleased to have a Vox organ, the same kind that the Animals and the Dave Clark Five used. But they needed a guitarist and a bass player. Manzarek claimed in his autobiography that he was thinking along the lines of a four-piece group even before he met Densmore, and that his thoughts had been "Someone has to be Thumper and someone has to be Les Paul/Chuck Berry by way of Charlie Christian. The guitar player will be a rocker who knows jazz. And the drummer will be a jazzer who can rock. These were my prerequisites. This is what I had to have to make the music I heard in my head." But whatever Manzarek was thinking, there were only two people who auditioned for the role of the guitar player in this new version of the band, both of them friends of Densmore, and in fact two people who had been best friends since high school -- Bill Wolff and Robby Krieger. Wolff and Krieger had both gone to private boarding school -- they had both originally gone to normal state schools, but their parents had independently decided they were bad influences on each other and sent them away to boarding school to get away from each other, but accidentally sent them to the same school -- and had also learned guitar together. They had both loved a record of flamenco guitar called Dos Flamencos by Jaime Grifo and Nino Marvino: [Excerpt: Jaime Grifo and Nino Marvino, "Caracolés"] And they'd decided they were going to become the new Dos Flamencos. They'd also regularly sneaked out of school to go and see a jug band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, a band which featured Bob Weir, who was also at their school, along with Jerry Garcia and Pigpen McKernan. Krieger was also a big fan of folk and blues music, especially bluesy folk-revivalists like Spider John Koerner, and was a massive fan of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Krieger and Densmore had known each other before Krieger had been transferred to boarding school, and had met back up at university, where they would hang out together and go to see Charles Mingus, Wes Montgomery, and other jazz musicians. At this time Krieger had still been a folk and blues purist, but then he went to see Chuck Berry live, mostly because Skip James and Big Mama Thornton were also on the bill, and he had a Damascene conversion -- the next day he went to a music shop and traded in his acoustic for a red Gibson, as close to the one Chuck Berry played as he could find. Wolff, Densmore, Krieger, and piano player Grant Johnson had formed a band called the Psychedelic Rangers, and when the Ravens were looking for a new guitarist, it was natural that they tried the two guitarists from Densmore's other band. Krieger had the advantage over Wolff for two reasons -- one of which was actually partly Wolff's doing. To quote Krieger's autobiography: "A critic once said I had 'the worst hair in rock 'n' roll'. It stung pretty bad, but I can't say they were wrong. I always battled with my naturally frizzy, kinky, Jewfro, so one day my friend Bill Wolff and I experimented with Ultra Sheen, a hair relaxer marketed mainly to Black consumers. The results were remarkable. Wolff, as we all called him, said 'You're starting to look like that jerk Bryan MacLean'". According to Krieger, his new hairdo made him better looking than Wolff, at least until the straightener wore off, and this was one of the two things that made the group choose him over Wolff, who was a better technical player. The other was that Krieger played with a bottleneck, which astonished the other members. If you're unfamiliar with bottleneck playing, it's a common technique in the blues. You tune your guitar to an open chord, and then use a resonant tube -- these days usually a specially-made metal slide that goes on your finger, but for older blues musicians often an actual neck of a bottle, broken off and filed down -- to slide across the strings. Slide guitar is one of the most important styles in blues, especially electric blues, and you can hear it in the playing of greats like Elmore James: [Excerpt: Elmore James, "Dust My Broom"] But while the members of the group all claimed to be blues fans -- Manzarek talks in his autobiography about going to see Muddy Waters in a club in the South Side of Chicago where he and his friends were the only white faces in the audience -- none of them had any idea what bottleneck playing was, and Manzarek was worried when Krieger pulled it out that he was going to use it as a weapon, that being the only association he had with bottle necks. But once Krieger played with it, they were all convinced he had to be their guitarist, and Morrison said he wanted that sound on everything. Krieger joining seems to have changed the dynamic of the band enormously. Both Morrison and Densmore would independently refer to Krieger as their best friend in the band -- Manzarek said that having a best friend was a childish idea and he didn't have one. But where before this had been Manzarek's band with Morrison as the singer, it quickly became a band centred around the creative collaboration between Krieger and Morrison. Krieger seems to have been too likeable for Manzarek to dislike him, and indeed seems to have been the peacemaker in the band on many occasions, but Manzarek soon grew to resent Densmore, seemingly as the closeness he had felt to Morrison started to diminish, especially after Morrison moved out of Manzarek's house, apparently because Manzarek was starting to remind him of his father. The group soon changed their name from the Ravens to one inspired by Morrison's reading. Aldous Huxley's book on psychedelic drugs had been titled The Doors of Perception, and that title had in turn come from a quote from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by the great mystic poet and artist William Blake, who had written "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern" (Incidentally, in one of those weird coincidences that I like to note when they come up, Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell had also inspired the book The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, about the divorce of heaven and hell, and both Lewis and Huxley died on the same date, the twenty-second of November 1963, the same day John F. Kennedy died). Morrison decided that he wanted to rename the group The Doors, although none of the other group members were particularly keen on the idea -- Krieger said that he thought they should name the group Perception instead. Initially the group rehearsed only songs written by Morrison, along with a few cover versions. They worked up a version of Willie Dixon's "Back Door Man", originally recorded by Howlin' Wolf: [Excerpt: Howlin' Wolf, "Back Door Man"] And a version of "Alabama Song", a song written by Bertholt Brecht and Kurt Weill, from the opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, with English language lyrics by  Elisabeth Hauptmann. That song had originally been recorded by Lotte Lenya, and it was her version that the group based their version on, at the suggestion of Manzarek's girlfriend: [Excerpt: Lotte Lenya, "Alabama Song"] Though it's likely given their tastes in jazz that they were also aware of a recent recording of the song by Eric Dolphy and John Lewis: [Excerpt: Eric Dolphy and John Lewis, "Alabama Song"] But Morrison started to get a little dissatisfied with the fact that he was writing all the group's original material at this point, and he started to put pressure on the others to bring in songs. One of the first things they had agreed was that all band members would get equal credit and shares of the songwriting, so that nobody would have an incentive to push their own mediocre song at the expense of someone else's great one, but Morrison did want the others to start pulling their weight. As it would turn out, for the most part Manzarek and Densmore wouldn't bring in many song ideas, but Krieger would, and the first one he brought in would be the song that would make them into stars. The song Krieger brought in was one he called "Light My Fire", and at this point it only had one verse and a chorus. According to Manzarek, Densmore made fun of the song when it was initially brought in, saying "we're not a folk-rock band" and suggesting that Krieger might try selling it to the Mamas and the Papas, but the other band members liked it -- but it's important to remember here that Manzarek and Densmore had huge grudges against each other for most of their lives, and that Manzarek is not generally known as an entirely reliable narrator. Now, I'm going to talk a lot about the influences that have been acknowledged for this song, but before I do there's one that I haven't seen mentioned much but which seems to me to be very likely to have at least been a subconscious influence -- "She's Not There" by the Zombies: [Excerpt: The Zombies, "She's Not There"] Now, there are several similarities to note about the Zombies record. First, like the Doors, the Zombies were a keyboard-driven band. Second, there's the dynamics of the songs -- both have soft, slightly jazzy verses and then a more straight-ahead rock chorus. And finally there's the verse chord sequence. The verse for "She's Not There" goes from Am to D repeatedly: [demonstrates] While the verse for "Light My Fire" goes from Am to F sharp minor -- and for those who don't know, the notes in a D chord are D, F sharp, and A, while the notes in an F sharp minor chord are F sharp, A, and C sharp -- they're very similar chords. So "She's Not There" is: [demonstrates] While "Light My Fire" is: [demonstrates] At least, that's what Manzarek plays. According to Krieger, he played an Asus2 chord rather than an A minor chord, but Manzarek heard it as an A minor and played that instead. Now again, I've not seen anyone acknowledge "She's Not There" as an influence, but given the other influences that they do acknowledge, and the music that was generally in the air at the time, it would not surprise me even the smallest amount if it was. But either way, what Krieger brought in was a simple verse and chorus: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire"] Incidentally, I've been talking about the song as having A minor chords, but you'll actually hear the song in two different keys during this episode, even though it's the same performance throughout, and sometimes it might not sound right to people familiar with a particular version of the record. The band played the song with the verse starting with A minor, and that's how the mono single mix was released, and I'll be using excerpts of that in general. But when the stereo version of the album was released, which had a longer instrumental break, the track was mastered about a semitone too slow, and that's what I'll be excerpting when talking about the solos -- and apparently that speed discrepancy has been fixed in more recent remasterings of the album than the one I'm using. So if you know the song and bits of what I play sound odd to you, that's why. Krieger didn't have a second verse, and so writing the second verse's lyrics was the next challenge. There was apparently some disagreement within the band about the lyrics that Morrison came up with, with their references to funeral pyres, but Morrison won the day, insisting that the song needed some darkness to go with the light of the first verse. Both verses would get repeated at the end of the song, in reverse order, rather than anyone writing a third or fourth verse. Morrison also changed the last line of the chorus -- in Krieger's original version, he'd sung "Come on baby, light my fire" three times, but Morrison changed the last line to "try to set the night on fire", which Krieger thought was a definite improvement. They then came up with an extended instrumental section for the band members to solo in. This was inspired by John Coltrane, though I have seen different people make different claims as to which particular Coltrane record it was inspired by. Many sources, including Krieger, say it was based on Coltrane's famous version of "My Favorite Things": [Excerpt: John Coltrane, "My Favorite Things"] But Manzarek in his autobiography says it was inspired by Ole, the track that Coltrane recorded with Eric Dolphy: [Excerpt: John Coltrane, "Ole"] Both are of course similar musical ideas, and either could have inspired the “Light My Fire” instrumental section, though none of the Doors are anything like as good or inventive on their instruments as Coltrane's group (and of course "Light My Fire" is in four-four rather than three-four): [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire"] So they had a basic verse-chorus song with a long instrumental jam session in the middle. Now comes the bit that there's some dispute over.  Both Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger agree that Manzarek came up with the melody used in the intro, but differ wildly over who came up with the chord sequence for it and when, and how it was put into the song. According to Manzarek, he came up with the whole thing as an intro for the song at that first rehearsal of it, and instructed the other band members what to do. According to Krieger, though, the story is rather different, and the evidence seems to be weighted in Krieger's favour. In early live performances of the song, they started the song with the Am-F sharp minor shifts that were used in the verse itself, and continued doing this even after the song was recorded: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire (live at the Matrix)"] But they needed a way to get back out of the solo section and into the third verse. To do this, Krieger came up with a sequence that starts with a change from G to D, then from D to F, before going into a circle of fifths -- not the ascending circle of fifths in songs like "Hey Joe", but a descending one, the same sequence as in "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" or "I Will Survive", ending on an A flat: [demonstrates] To get from the A flat to the A minor or Asus2 chord on which the verse starts, he simply then shifted up a semitone from A flat to A major for two bars: [demonstrates] Over the top of that chord sequence that Krieger had come up with, Manzarek put a melody line which was inspired by one of Bach's two-part inventions. The one that's commonly cited is Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779: [Excerpt: Glenn Gould, "Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779"] Though I don't believe Manzarek has ever stated directly which piece he was inspired by other than that it was one of the two-part inventions, and to be honest none of them sound very much like what he plays to my ears, and I think more than anything he was just going for a generalised baroque style rather than anything more specific. And there are certainly stylistic things in there that are suggestive of the baroque -- the stepwise movement, the sort of skipping triplets, and so on: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire"] But that was just to get out of the solo section and back into the verses. It was only when they finally took the song into the studio that Paul Rothchild, the producer who we will talk about more later, came up with the idea of giving the song more structure by both starting and ending with that sequence, and formalised it so that rather than just general noodling it was an integral part of the song. They now had at least one song that they thought had the potential to be a big hit. The problem was that they had not as yet played any gigs, and nor did they have a record deal, or a bass player. The lack of a record deal may sound surprising, but they were dropped by Columbia before ever recording for them. There are several different stories as to why. One biography I've read says that after they were signed, none of the label's staff producers wanted to work with them and so they were dropped -- though that goes against some of the other things I've read, which say that Terry Melcher was interested in producing them. Other sources say that Morrison went in for a meeting with some of the company executives while on acid, came out very pleased with himself at how well he'd talked to them because he'd been able to control their minds with his telepathic powers, and they were dropped shortly afterwards. And others say that they were dropped as part of a larger set of cutbacks the company was making, and that while Billy James fought to keep them at Columbia, he lost the fight. Either way, they were stuck without a deal, and without any proper gigs, though they started picking up the odd private party here and there -- Krieger's father was a wealthy aerospace engineer who did some work for Howard Hughes among others, and he got his son's group booked to play a set of jazz standards at a corporate event for Hughes, and they got a few more gigs of that nature, though the Hughes gig didn't exactly go well -- Manzarek was on acid, Krieger and Morrison were on speed, and the bass player they brought in for the gig managed to break two strings, something that would require an almost superhuman effort. That bass player didn't last long, and nor did the next -- they tried several, but found that the addition of a bass player made them sound less interesting, more like the Animals or the Rolling Stones than a group with their own character. But they needed something to hold down the low part, and it couldn't be Manzarek on the organ, as the Vox organ had a muddy sound when he tried to play too many notes at once. But that problem solved itself when they played one of their earliest gigs. There, Manzarek found that another band, who were regulars at the club, had left their Fender keyboard bass there, clipped to the top of the piano. Manzarek tried playing that, and found he could play basslines on that with his left hand and the main parts with his right hand. Krieger got his father to buy one for the group -- though Manzarek was upset that they bought the wrong colour -- and they were now able to perform without a bass player. Not only that, but it gave the group a distinctive sound quite unlike all the other bands. Manzarek couldn't play busy bass lines while also playing lead lines with his right hand, and so he ended up going for simple lines without a great deal of movement, which added to the hypnotic feel of the group's music – though on records they would often be supplemented by a session bass player to give them a fuller sound. While the group were still trying to get a record deal, they were also looking for regular gigs, and eventually they found one. The Sunset Strip was *the* place to be, and they wanted desperately to play one of the popular venues there like the Whisky A-Go-Go, but those venues only employed bands who already had record deals. They did, though, manage to get a residency at a tiny, unpopular, club on the strip called The London Fog, and they played there, often to only a handful of people, while slowly building in confidence as performers. At first, Morrison was so shy that Manzarek had to sing harmony with him throughout the sets, acting as joint frontman. Krieger later said "It's rarely talked about, but Ray was a natural born showman, and his knack for stirring drama would serve the Doors' legacy well in later years" But Morrison soon gained enough confidence to sing by himself. But they weren't bringing in any customers, and the London Fog told them that they were soon going to be dropped -- and the club itself shut not long after. But luckily for the group, just before the end of their booking, the booker for the Whisky A-Go-Go, Ronnie Haran walked in with a genuine pop star, Peter Asher, who as half of Peter & Gordon had had a hit with "A World Without Love", written by his sister's boyfriend, Paul McCartney: [Excerpt: Peter and Gordon, "A World Without Love"] Haran was impressed with the group, and they were impressed that she had brought in a real celebrity. She offered them a residency at the club, not as the headlining act -- that would always be a group that had records out -- but as the consistent support act for whichever big act they had booked. The group agreed -- after Morrison first tried to play it cool and told Haran they would have to consider it, to the consternation of his bandmates. They were thrilled, though, to discover that one of the first acts they supported at the Whisky would be Them, Van Morrison's group -- one of the cover versions they had been playing had been Them's "Gloria": [Excerpt: Them, "Gloria"] They supported Them for two weeks at the Whisky, and Jim Morrison watched Van Morrison intently. The two men had very similar personalities according to the other members of the Doors, and Morrison picked up a lot of his performing style from watching Van on stage every night. The last night Them played the venue, Morrison joined them on stage for an extended version of “Gloria” which everyone involved remembered as the highlight of their time there. Every major band on the LA scene played residencies at the Whisky, and over the summer of 1966 the Doors were the support act for the Mothers of Invention, the Byrds, the Turtles, the Buffalo Springfield, and Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. This was a time when the Sunset Strip was the centre of Californian musical life, before that centre moved to San Francisco, and the Doors were right at the heart of it. Though it wasn't all great -- this was also the period when there were a series of riots around Sunset Strip, as immortalised in the American International Pictures film Riot on Sunset Strip, and its theme song, by the Standells: [Excerpt: The Standells, "Riot on Sunset Strip"] We'll look at those riots in more detail in a future episode, so I'll leave discussing them for now, but I just wanted to make sure they got mentioned. That Standells song, incidentally, was co-written by John Fleck, who under his old name of John Fleckenstein we saw last episode as the original bass player for Love. And it was Love who ensured that the Doors finally got the record deal they needed. The deal came at a perfect time for the Doors -- just like when they'd been picked up by the Whisky A Go-Go just as they were about to lose their job at the London Fog, so they got signed to a record deal just as they were about to lose their job at the Whisky. They lost that job because of a new song that Krieger and Morrison had written. "The End" had started out as Krieger's attempt at writing a raga in the style of Ravi Shankar, and he had brought it in to one of his increasingly frequent writing sessions with Morrison, where the two of them would work out songs without the rest of the band, and Morrison had added lyrics to it. Lyrics that were partly inspired by his own fraught relationship with his parents, and partly by Oedipus Rex: [Excerpt: The Doors, "The End"] And in the live performance, Morrison had finished that phrase with the appropriate four-letter Oedipal payoff, much to the dismay of the owners of the Whisky A Go Go, who had told the group they would no longer be performing there. But three days before that, the group had signed a deal with Elektra Records. Elektra had for a long time been a folk specialist label, but they had recently branched out into other music, first with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, a favourite of Robby Krieger's, and then with their first real rock signing, Love. And Love were playing a residency at the Whisky A Go Go, and Arthur Lee had encouraged Jac Holzman, the label's owner, to come and check out their support band, who he thought were definitely worth signing. The first time Holzman saw them he was unimpressed -- they sounded to him just like a bunch of other white blues bands -- but he trusted Arthur Lee's judgement and came back a couple more times. The third time, they performed their version of "Alabama Song", and everything clicked into place for Holzman. He immediately signed the group to a three-album deal with an option to extend it to seven. The group were thrilled -- Elektra wasn't a major label like Columbia, but they were a label that nurtured artists and wouldn't just toss them aside. They were even happier when soon after they signed to Elektra, the label signed up a new head of West Coast A&R -- Billy James, the man who had signed them to Columbia, and who they knew would be in their corner. Jac Holzman also had the perfect producer for the group, though he needed a little persuading. Paul Rothchild had made his name as the producer for the first couple of albums by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band: [Excerpt: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, "Mary Mary"] They were Robby Krieger's favourite group, so it made sense to have Rothchild on that level. And while Rothchild had mostly worked in New York, he was in LA that summer, working on the debut album by another Elektra signing, Tim Buckley. The musicians on Buckley's album were almost all part of the same LA scene that the Doors were part of -- other than Buckley's normal guitarist Lee Underwood there was keyboard player Van Dyke Parks, bass player Jim Fielder, who had had a brief stint in the Mothers of Invention and was about to join Buffalo Springfield, and drummer Billy Mundi, who was about to join the Mothers of Invention. And Buckley himself sang in a crooning voice extremely similar to that of Morrison, though Buckley had a much larger range: [Excerpt: Tim Buckley, "Aren't You the Girl?"] There was one problem, though -- Rothchild didn't want to do it. He wasn't at all impressed with the band at first, and he wanted to sign a different band, managed by Albert Grossman, instead. But Holzman persuaded him because Rothchild owed him a favour -- Rothchild had just spent several months in prison after a drug bust, and while he was inside Holzman had given his wife a job so she would have an income, and Holzman also did all the paperwork with Rothchild's parole officer to allow him to leave the state. So with great reluctance Rothchild took the job, though he soon came to appreciate the group's music. He didn't appreciate their second session though. The first day, they'd tried recording a version of "The End", but it hadn't worked, so on the second night they tried recording it again, but this time Morrison was on acid and behaving rather oddly. The final version of "The End" had to be cut together from two takes, and the reason is that at the point we heard earlier: [Excerpt: The Doors, "The End"] Morrison was whirling around, thrashing about, and knocked over a TV that the engineer, Bruce Botnick, had brought into the studio so he could watch the baseball game -- which Manzarek later exaggerated to Morrison throwing the TV through the plate glass window between the studio and the control room. According to everyone else, Morrison just knocked it over and they picked it up after the take finished and it still worked fine. But Morrison had taken a *lot* of acid, and on the way home after the session he became convinced that he had a psychic knowledge that the studio was on fire. He got his girlfriend to turn the car back around, drove back to the studio, climbed over the fence, saw the glowing red lightbulbs in the studio, became convinced that they were fires, and sprayed the entire place with the fire extinguisher, before leaving convinced he had saved the band's equipment -- and leaving telltale evidence as his boot got stuck in the fence on the way out and he just left it there. But despite that little hiccup, the sessions generally went well, and the group and label were pleased with the results. The first single released from the album, "Break on Through", didn't make the Hot One Hundred: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Break on Through"] But when the album came out in January 1967, Elektra put all its resources behind the album, and it started to get a bit of airplay as a result. In particular, one DJ on the new FM radio started playing "Light My Fire" -- at this time, FM had only just started, and while AM radio stuck to three-minute singles for the most part, FM stations would play a wider variety of music. Some of the AM DJs started telling Elektra that they would play the record, too, if it was the length of a normal single, and so Rothchild and Botnick went into the studio and edited the track down to half its previous seven-and-a-half-minute length. When the group were called in to hear the edit, they were initially quite excited to hear what kind of clever editing microsurgery had been done to bring the song down to the required length, but they were horrified when Rothchild actually played it for them. As far as the group were concerned, the heart of the song was the extended instrumental improvisation that took up the middle section: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire"] On the album version, that lasted over three minutes. Rothchild and Botnick cut that section down to just this: [Excerpt: The Doors, "Light My Fire (single edit)"] The group were mortified -- what had been done to their song? That wasn't the sound of people trying to be McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones, it was just... a pop song.  Rothchild explained that that was the point -- to get the song played on AM radio and get the group a hit. He pointed out how the Beatles records never had an instrumental section that lasted more than eight bars, and the group eventually talked them

Cooler Screens is a developer of interactive digital displays to replace glass doors in retail stores. They bring the power of digital advertising to the brick-and-mortar retailer. They make available in-store what consumers like about shopping online. Arsen Avakian is the Founder and CEO. Prior to Cooler Screens, he founded Argo Tea in 2003 and had a successful exit to Golden Fleece Beverages in 2020. Learn More about Cooler Screens

Cooler Screens is a developer of interactive digital displays to replace glass doors in retail stores. They bring the power of digital advertising to the brick-and-mortar retailer. They make available in-store what consumers like about shopping online. Arsen Avakian is the Founder and CEO. Prior to Cooler Screens, he founded Argo Tea in 2003 and had a successful exit to Golden Fleece Beverages in 2020. Learn More about Cooler Screens

Amy Glasscock and (guest co-host) Meredith Ward talk with Pennsylvania chief information security officer Erik Avakian all about his work in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We touch on state and local collaboration, identity and access management, the changes he's seen after twelve years on the job, and how his rock and roll background prepared him for his career in cybersecurity. 

In this episode of The Produce Industry Podcast w/ Patrick Kelly we have Dan Avakian and Ross Nelson co-host this episode to recap the Global Organic Produce Expo in Fort Lauderdale, FL hosted by The Packer/Farm Journal. Happy Valentines Day to you and all of you Valentines out there!! Patrick, Dan and Ross review the entire show over 2 days giving you an idea of the Bourbon Tasting and what to know, they cover most all of the education session, and the show floor! We also find out what Ross and Dan's favorite booths were and their close 2nd!!! There were a lot of great people, companies and produce to learn about! Join these 3 while talking about the Global Organic Produce Expo during this Valentines Day Holiday! Grab some produce and some floral and treat all of tour loved ones. Don't forget to leave some comments on FB, IG or LinkedIN if your favorite team won the Superbowl! FANCY SPONSORS: Ag Tools, Inc.: https://www.agtechtools.com, Flavor Wave, LLC.: https://flavorwavefresh.com, Noble Citrus: https://noblecitrus.com & Buck Naked Onions/Owyhee Produce, Inc.: http://www.owyheeproduce.com CHOICE SPONSORS: Indianapolis Fruit Company: https://indyfruit.com, Equifruit: https://equifruit.com Arctic® Apples: https://arcticapples.com Sev-Rend Corporation: https://www.sev-rend.com and Golden Star Citrus, Inc.: http://www.goldenstarcitrus.com STANDARD SPONSORS: John Greene Logistics Company: https://www.jglc.com London Fruit Inc. https://londonfruit.com and FoodStory Brands, LLC.: https://www.foodstorybrands.com

This week we are joined by longtime friend of the show Nicole to discuss her favorite moments on the Bridgerton show, insights into the books, and give her best Regency Romance recs! We also dip into the real-life gossip and scandal of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, find out who may have been the historical inspiration for Lady Whistledown, and even work in references to the TV show Friends, the movie Moulin Rouge, and of course Pride and Prejudice. What Bridgerton gets right about gossip in Regency London. Who was the "real" Lady Whisteldown? Scandal and the English opera. Follow us on Instagram for book recs and memes! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pop-dna-podcast/message

Twitter: @CarolineAvakian*********For further information: www.susannemueller.bizMonday & Wednesday: Podcast “Take it from the Ironwoman” more than 200 episodesWednesday: Facebook live with "From the Lipstick Leadership Living Room” 1 pm ETFriday: weekly blogInstagram: susanne_mueller_nyc // take_it_from_the_ironwomanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanne-mueller-ma/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHuxdEscM0y0IQIFsRhVqDA Both Take it from the Ironwoman and Lipstick Leadership are also books, order them on Amazon.Book a time with me for your 1:1 coaching session or group session. Now is the time to elevate your profile, if not now, then when? 

In this special Groceryshop edition of our Omni Talk Spotlight Series, sponsored by Cleveron and UntieNots, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga sit down to chat with Cooler Screens Founder and CEO Arsen Avakian. Cooler screens, as its name implies, is one of the cooler companies around. It specializes in helping retailers amplify their in-store touch points by getting the right message in front of the right customers at the right time, and in a brand safe way. Starting with digital cooler screen doors, with companies like Walgreens, their solution helps to digitize the physical shopping world and provides the same metrics to retailers that one would find in e-commerce. Everything on Cooler Screens' displays can change to the specific customer shopping in-aisle -- e.g. the products on display, the promotional messaging, and even the marketing team's creative expressions. And based on Cooler Screens recent success, they now even have plans to expand into other categories, like beauty. Cooler Screens is an intuitive concept at its core, and listen to this podcast and you will hear a careful examination from Chris and Anne of why it is finding so much quick success.

WELCOME TO SA'S NUMBER 1 PODCAST

The holy grail of omnichannel marketing is merging the informative richness of the online experience with the see it, feel it, touch it experience of the brick and mortar store. The grail is on its way. Arsen Avakian, formerly CEO and CO-founder of Argo Tea, and now CEO and Co-founder of Cooler Screens, joined Peter to talk about how his company is providing a new digital retail media opportunity in stores that is driving tremendous growth and consumer delight.

Former SEC Director of Enforcement, Stephanie Avakian, explains how legal actions are brought against those alleged to have engaged in market misconduct, the role of politically appointed Commissioners in deciding the actions, and how the process is changing with the new administration.

This past year saw a resurgence in conversations about race and power in the West; particularly here in the United States. We reflect with our guest Kohar Avakian, an American Studies Ph.D student at Yale University, on Armenian Racial Identity. Armenian identity is layered and complex, as our exile has forced us to become citizens of the world. Having an immense and beautiful diaspora also means having nuanced interpretations of what that Armenian identity looks like - most notably, Armenian racial identity. In the Cartozian Case of 1924, Tatos Cartozian was initially denied citizenship in the U.S, after physically arriving in court and being deemed not white. Upon contesting, he was given citizenship under the pretense that Armenians were majority Christian and the expectation that they would be able to assimilate right away. Important historical bookmarks like these help contextualize the evolution of Armenian racial identity and inform how we and others view our own identity, today.

Arlene Avakian of the Movement Voter Project fills us in on the mechanics of grassroots organizing, what happens on the ground once elections are over and how organizations like hers fundraise for the future. Avakian is an emeritus professor from UMass Amherst, and she is one of the founders and former chair of the university's Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality.

In this episode of The Produce Industry Podcast w/ Patrick Kelly we chat with Cristina Lihaceanu Sales Manager of Terra Exports Europe Division and Dan The Produce Man Avakian! Between these two we travel across two continents starting in Italy and making our way all the way to the coast of California. Our Fancy Partner Terra Exports Cristina Lihaceanu kicks off episode 52 off from Italy chatting about some of the main commodities she handles, the imports and exports in and out of Europe, and the diverse team that makes it all happen behind the scenes. Next, we Dan Avakian and I chat about his time in the produce industry, YouTube and other media outlets, as well as his old store that he recently sold! We also discuss some current trends Dan has adapted to during COVID-19. Terra Exports: https://terraexports.com Indianapolis Fruit Company: https://indyfruit.com Ag Tools, Inc. : https://www.agtechtools.com Dan The Produce Man: https://dantheproduceman.com

In conjunction with UW Cinematheque's view-at-home presentation of the newly restored Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959), this episode of Cinematalk takes a close look at the influential concert documentary filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. In the first segment, UW Madison Film Professor Jeff Smith talks with the Cinematheque's Mike King about the cultural and historical significance of the artists who appeared at Newport and the influence of Jazz on a Summer’s Day on subsequently made concert movies. In the second segment, Cinematheque's Ben Reiser talks with his fellow SUNY Purchase classmates, filmmakers Jeff Kushner and Bob Gosse, about their Film Professor, Aram Avakian, and Avakian's contributions to Jazz on a Summer's Day.

What are the SEC enforcement stories behind major cases of fraud such as the Fyre Festival and Elizabeth Holmes’s Theranos, or famous settlements such as with Elon Musk and Wells Fargo? Stephanie Avakian is the Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. She has worked on some of the most complex and intriguing investigations, settlements, and financial regulations in recent years. 
In this interview, we discuss how the SEC and the greater financial regulatory community handle complex fraud cases while putting forth policy innovations for the fintech space. We first touch on the technical aspects for judging when a virtual currency is a security and when it’s not. It has been a poignant point of debate whether the SEC should treat cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as financial securities and thus directly regulate them. It has also become more and more difficult to regulate the cyber space at large, such as when celebrities from DJ Khalid to Floyd Mayweather touted cryptocurrencies on social media. It’s been a long-time debate in the law community what the point of punishment is. When a financial institution commits fraud or crime, what level of punishment should the regulators seek? Do we want to hurt them, cripple them, or merely warn them? In the case of Wells Fargo’s settlement with the SEC, for example, the $500 million fine announced in Feb. 2020 was more about warning and deterring the company from further fraudulent practices than for the purpose of crippling it. Bio: Stephanie Avakian was named Co-Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement in June 2017, after serving as Acting Director since December 2016. She was previously the Division of Enforcement’s Deputy Director, serving from June 2014 to December 2016. Before being named Deputy Director, Ms. Avakian was a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where she served as a vice chair of the firm’s securities practice and focused on representing financial institutions, public companies, boards, and individuals in a broad range of investigations and other matters before the SEC and other agencies. Ms. Avakian previously worked in the Division of Enforcement as a branch chief in the SEC’s New York Regional Office, and later served as counsel to former SEC Commissioner Paul Carey. Ms. Avakian received her bachelors degree from the College of New Jersey and a law degree from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, both with high honors.

In the latest installment of our Not One Step Back reading series, we look at Domenico Losurdo's "Towards a Critique of the Category of Totalitarianism" and as a bonus we look at the RCP's "Re-envisioning Revolution and Communism: WHAT IS BOB AVAKIAN’S NEW SYNTHESIS?" a piece (probably) written by Avakian himself.

In the second installment of the FemExec podcast, Aakruti Desai (host) sits down with Loreen Avakian, the CEO of So Low Drugs, a small business pharmacy based in Los Alamitos. In this, Avakian discusses how small business pharmacies deal with break ins and competing with corporate giants like CVS. She offers great advice on being a pharmacy owner and gets real about her experience in this industry. Tell us what you think! - Follow us on Instagram @femexec - Like our page on Facebook @femexecpod - Email us at contact.femexec@gmail.com Also available on all podcasting platforms including Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Pandora, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and more. Founded by Aakruti Desai. (@aakrutidesai)

The past twelve months have been anything but a cake walk for religious bakers. First, we had the seven year fight of Masterpiece Cakeshop's Jack Phillips that initially led to a victory at the Supreme Court, only to be followed by ongoing harassment by Colorado officials and a transgender activist. They seem intent on proving that they really are driven by animus. Then there's the recent story about a bakery in Ohio that was targeted for protests and slander. They were just awarded $11 million by a jury after Oberlin College officials were shown to have instigated their students to believe that the owners of the bakery were racists. Finally, on Monday, the Supreme Court gave what is, to many, an unexpected kind of victory to Melissa and Aaron Klein, the owners of “Sweet Cakes by Melissa” in Gresham, Oregon. Now technically, the Court didn't rule in their favor. The justices instead declined to hear the case, telling Oregon's courts to rethink their ill-treatment of the Kleins in light of the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision. The Klein's ordeal began back  in 2013 when Rachel Bowman-Cryer visited their Oregon bakery to order a wedding cake for her upcoming wedding to her partner, Laurel. The Kleins told Bowman-Cryer that their religious beliefs wouldn't allow them to fill that request. Seven months after the visit, Bowman-Cryer and her partner filed a complaint with Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries. The administrative law judge there appointed by the then-Labor Commissioner, Brad Avakian, sided with Bowman-Cryer and her partner and awarded them $135,000 in damages. The ruling was then reviewed by Avakian who, even before his Bureau filed a formal complaint against the Kleins, publicly stated “Everyone has a right to their religious beliefs, but that doesn't mean they can disobey laws already in place.” Not surprisingly, Avakian not only affirmed the financial award, he prohibited the Kleins from ever speaking “publicly about not wanting to bake cakes for same-sex weddings based on their Christian beliefs.” An Oregon appeals court upheld the Bureau of Labor's actions, and the Supreme Court of Oregon declined to hear the case. So the Kleins, represented by the First Liberty Institute, appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court. On Monday, the Court declined to hear the case, at least for now. Instead, it decided to vacate the decision by the Oregon appeals court and ordered it to reconsider the matter in light of the Supreme Court's ruling in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. In Masterpiece, of course, the majority on the high court declared that “religious hostility on the part of the State itself” is a factor that violates the “State's obligation of religious neutrality" under the Free Exercise Clause. That opinion cited numerous examples of conduct by Colorado officials that clearly demonstrated “religious hostility.” By vacating the Oregon court's decision and instructing it to apply Masterpiece to the Sweet Cakes case, the Supreme Court did at least two things. First, as the First Liberty Institute put it, the Court “reaffirmed an essential principle: that everyone is entitled to a fair trial before an unbiased judge”—a benefit the Kleins clearly did not enjoy in Oregon. The second thing the Court's ruling does is leave open the possibility of hearing the case in the future. Given the record of hostility toward the Kleins and their beliefs, the Oregon court could rule for them on narrow grounds without addressing their broader religious freedom claims. But if it doubles down, like the state of Washington did in the case of Barronelle Stutzman, the Kleins could once again appeal to the Supreme Court. The current makeup of the Court seems much friendlier to religious freedom than the court that Jack Phillips visited. All of this makes the Court's actions on Monday good news. Not only for Melissa and Aaron Klein and the First Liberty Institute, but for anyone who cares about religious freedom, which should be all of us.

JAZZ INTERVIEW mardi et vendredi à 14h. Cette semaine, Serge Mariani rencontre le saxophoniste de jazz, Alexis Avakian. C’est le 3ème album d’Alexis AVAKIAN "Miasin" qui est le fil rouge des 3 sets de cette nouvelle Jazz Interview. Confortablement installé en face de lui dans la pièce qui lui sert à la fois de studio de répétition, de salle de cours pour ses élèves et de centre d’archives, j’ai pu suivre le saxophoniste et multi-instrumentiste dans l’univers de son inspiration, entre jazz moderne et traditions de l’Arménie de ses origines. Miasin signifie "ensemble" et pour nous faire découvrir sa musique avec lui, Alexis AVAKIAN et ses musiciens seront au Sunside le 19 mars prochain. Il nous invite à l’y rejoindre pour une célébration de la musique improvisée et des beaux thèmes traditionnels qui invitent à chanter et danser comme dans un vrai quartier populaire de Yérévan, capitale de l’Arménie mais aussi de Yaoundé, au Cameroun. Et l’on peut déjà partager tout cela "ensemble" au fil de cette Jazz Interview consacrée donc à l’album Miasin d’Alexis Avakian.

My interview with Dr. Staci Avakian-McManus covers what chiropractic care is and how it will affect your overall health and wellness. As a fellow oil friend, we also discuss the use of Young Living products and how it has enhanced her health and the health of her family. To connect with Staci, you can do one of the following- Facebook: Staci Avakian-McManus Website: https://www.backpainrc.com Phone: 856-690-8883

Apologies for the audio trouble.  We are still working out the kinks of our sound for interviews.This week, we interview Bruce Neuberger.  A 60's radical, who unlike many of his generation, has stayed radical all his life.  He is a Maoist who still exposes and fights Capitalism and all the inequality that comes with it. He has also written a book on his time organizing in the fields of Salinas CA in an excellent book, entitled "Lettuce Wars". Here Bruce shares his thoughts about struggle of the 60s and today as well as his conception of Socialism. What's Left? Website: Podcasts: iTunes:    Googleplaymusic:  stitcher:Readings/links recommended by Bruce.There's a new video just out by Avakian called Why We Need An Actual Revolution and How We Can Make Revolution I'd like to draw attention to.The one title I can think of would be in the beginning with my name, Author of Lettuce Wars, Ten Years of Work and Struggle in the Fields of California. The New Communism by Bob Avakian  Science and Revolution An interview with Ardea Skybreak  The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. By Edward E. Baptist. New York: Basic Books, 2014. Pp. xxvii, 498 A People's History of the United States by Howard ZinnBIRDS CANNOT GIVE BIRTH TO CROCODILES, BUT HUMANITY CAN SOAR BEYOND THE HORIZON PART 1: REVOLUTION AND THE STATE  BIRDS CANNOT GIVE BIRTH TO CROCODILES, BUT HUMANITY CAN SOAR BEYOND THE HORIZON Part 2: BUILDING THE MOVEMENT FOR REVOLUTION  The Unknown Cultural Revolution by Dong Ping Han Monthly Review Press 2009 The Battle for China’s Past by Mobo Gao Pluto Press, 2008

This episode features Stephanie Avakian (@das_athlete) - a mother of 2, wife, graphic designer and a triathlete based in Canada who recently completed her first 70.3 race while managing everything that comes with living & dealing with the chronic pain and fatigue of diseases such as Fibromylagia & Arthritis, and even degenerative disk disease. Had a fun and insightful conversation with Stephanie about how she's come to accept her body for what it is, adapt her dream to fit what her body allows her to do and be grateful for it. Loved everything about her, her journey and what she had to say!

0.00 Discussion about recent rule changes, 25-seconds shot clock and 16 seeds.18.30 ATP Finals thoughts.22.00 Interview with David Avakian.50.00 Russian word 'miach'.

0.00 Discussion about recent rule changes, 25-seconds shot clock and 16 seeds.18.30 ATP Finals thoughts.22.00 Interview with David Avakian.50.00 Russian word 'miach'.

In September of 1955, Louis Armstrong recorded an unlikely blockbuster song that had originated in the late '20s in Germany. Sara Fishko talks to George Avakian, who tells the story of how "Mack the Knife" became an American hit. (Produced in 2002) Fishko Files with Sara Fishko Assistant Producer: Olivia BrileyMix Engineer: Paul SchneiderEditor: Karen Frillmann

The most surprising thing when becoming a founder? Watching her company's culture develop.

Avakian is the creator/producer of the constantly evolving musical project, Heavy Machinery. On this episode of Ani Vibes, tune in to learn how sound healing and energy help shape our world, and how music can be an expressive form of healing in itself. Gigo Avakian, the multi-talented musician, and producer of Heavy Machinery gets deep... The post Gigo Avakian Joins Ani Vibes! appeared first on Ani Vibes.

Bryan and Peter interview psychotherapist and life-long runner David Avakian. They tackle the question of what makes a runner a runner and what happens when a runner can no longer run. Plus, the awesome power of electricity. http://fundraise.childrenshospital.org/site/TR?px=1303520&fr_id=1470&pg=personal

Talin is a busy girl with lots of interests and hobbies, but she always makes time  to stop and smell the roses. She is a young filmmaker, visual artist, dancer, foodie, and lover of fashion. When she isn't working her 9-5 in advertising, she is teaching Zumba®, conducting a photo shoot, sipping on coffee, scrolling through fashion blogs, or searching for inspiration. For a long time, she felt the need to have a place where she could organize and share her daily thoughts and diverse interests. After lots of thinking and many coffee date discussions later, she realized her life does in fact have “a theme,” among all of my scattered interests. One thing that has always been important to Talin is living in the present and learning how to savor moments, among all the chaos. And so became the birth of “The Half Full Mug,” a blog centered around the idea of living a cozy life, seeing things as “half full” (as opposed to half empty), and learning how to savor moments. We had a great time chatting with Talin about her career as a filmmaker as well as how her blog "The Half Full Mug" came to be. As we do every week, we start out by asking Talin what success is to her, and her answer is of course awesome! "For me being successful means recognizing your given gifts, strengths, and your weaknesses, which we all have, and using those to contribute to a greater purpose that is close to your heart so you feel motivated to do it day by day." YES, YES YES! We are so happy Talin mentioned recognizing your weaknesses along with your strengths!  So often we think that if we admit we are weak in an area then we are a weak person overall. So not true! Admitting you have areas that you are not strong in will help you to know here to reach out for help, where to outsource etc. "Sometimes being successful doesn't necessarily mean having all of your original expectations met." Talin shares how success shifted for her when you she began making films.  She also shares how trust and relate-ability are two attributes that she credits to helping her get to where she is today.  We love that she mentions trust! She shares how being a filmmaker means you have to trust people to help you carry out your vision. We wrap up the episode chatting about how and why her blog, The Half Full Mug got started. ***we had some issues while recording this episode but in keeping with our philosophies we made the best of it and the content is more important than the quality.*** Listen to the full episode now!

Minter Dialogue Episode #152 — This interview is with Caroline Avakian, founder and CEO of SourceRise, a news media startup connecting journalists and NGOs. Caroline, an Emmy-nominated TV correspondent, is a social entrepreneur, forging a new path for foreign and crisis news reporting by increasing the media’s access to on-the-ground expert sources in the developing world. In this podcast, we discuss the state of journalism, the opportunity for new forms of collaboration and of finding new sources via Caroline’s startup. SourceRise also happened to be the winner of GEN’s Startup for News Media award. Definitely an initiative worth checking out. Meanwhile, you can comment and find the show notes on myndset.com where you can also sign up for my weekly newsletter. Or you can follow me on Twitter on @mdial. And, if you liked the podcast, please take a moment of your precious time to go over to iTunes to rate the podcast.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/minterdial)

Photojournalist Alexandra Avakian has been published in National Geographic, Time, LIFE, The New York Times Magazine and more. Her photographic and written memoir, Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World, was named as one of American Photo’s year-end  Her work is currently part of the War/Photography Exhibit being exhibited at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles.  Alexandra Avakian recommends the work of Susan Meiselas http://alexandraavakian.com/ http://alexandraavakian.com/blog/ http://www.susanmeiselas.com/ http://www.annenbergspaceforphotography.org/ www.thecandidframe.com info@thecandidframe.com

In this episode of the YWAM Teaching Podcast Joseph Avakian tells us about the journey that God took him on in Discovering and Restoring the Identity that God created him with. Joseph Avakian has been working with Youth With A … Continue reading →

Young argues that Mass Incarceration + Silence = Genocide and calls for a National Day of Action against mass incarceration. An excerpt from Avakian's speech "Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About" reveals the racist terror against Black people that's the spinal column of this system. Thomson & Pickett talk about the film "Who Bombed Judi Bari?" and the forces behind this brutal attempt to silence the movement to save California's ancient redwood forests.

In an excerpt from a recorded speech, Avakian describes a world of rape and sexual assault and who's to blame. Taylor digs into the current high octane war on women - from attacks on abortion and birth control to the tsunami of violent and degrading porn- and calls for launching a new movement against this war. Filmmaker Sam Pollard and author Doug Blackmon discuss their new film, “Slavery By Another Name,” based on Blackmon's Pulitzer Prize winning book of the same name,

Interview series – Brad Avakian Click here to download Steve Forrester from The Daily Astorian interviews Brad Avakian, Oregon Labor Commissioner, who is one of the Democrats running for the North Coast seat in Congress vacated by David Wu. The … Continue reading →

To celebrate the 92nd birthday of George Avakian, the veteran record producer joins Alyn Shipton to pick his personal favourites from a long career in supervising record sessions, starting in 1939. From the Chicago jazz of Eddie Condon and Jimmy McPartland, the programme covers a vast stylistic range including Erroll Garner, Miles Davis's quintet and his Gil Evans collaborations, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Dave Brubeck's most famous quartet and the Louis Armstrong All Stars.