Podcasts about louie armstrong

It's a no-holds-barred and epic Davey Mac Sports Program as Dave discusses the breaking news of Juan Soto turning down the Yankees to join the Mets!   Insanity!   What does this nightmarish turn of events do to Yanks fans and Davey Mac?   What is Hal Steinbrenner's role in all of this?   Why is Brian Cashman still the general manager of the Yankees?   How are Mets fans feeling after this crazy coup and are they in fact hypocrites?   Sports Robot drops by to talk about the Soto deal as well!   Plus, some football, the Doors, Pearl Jam, Louie Armstrong, Ethel Merman, Jerry Lewis and more!   Enjoy this action-packed episode today!   BAM!

Raised by a Jewish Family and became an American icon

Happy Holidays from Mup-It-Up! Jack and Isaac get festive in this episode as they talk about the 1987 television special, A Muppet Family Christmas. They also play a Mad Lib, listen to a song, play tag, and get a strange visit from jazz legend Louie Armstrong. All that and more on this Muppet holiday spectacular. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mupitup/support

In this episode, the boys just keep talking about the Hunger Games. They also talk about wine that burns the throat. Fascinating stuff. Patreon - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/WeAreSuchABlessing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Merch - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://we-are-such-a-blessing.printify.me/products⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram @wasabpodcast - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/wasabpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vivino - We Are Such A Blessing - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.vivino.com/users/mfahqkrbqrwi12bidfuim2a⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Logo - Cait VanderVeen Music - “Dewey Square” by Hugo Contini, Free Music Archive, CC BY-NC-SA

When you think of Jazz, you think of "Satchmo" --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rocky-seale7/message

Dude, We SLack'n! More me, then the other too, regardless we are still OFF THE RAILZ!!! Episode 15, "The Nu Nu Testament" contains conversations about Jonathan Majors being replaced by Marvel, unruly Uber passengers for Mike, AL suggests Raz watch Matt Rife's stand up, Elon Musks plays favorites on Twitter, plus size travelers on planes, Rich sings Louie Armstrong, Frank Ocean drops out of Coachella, and much more! We Love Yall, thanks for listening, and God Bless!!! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/offtherailz/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/offtherailz/support

LeBron made waves this week standing up against the media and Jerry Jones love, but before that he made sure to troll the world with inaccurate gems in his interviews, they guys wanna know - is he trollin'??? Android tells Apple to stop playing games and let's end the separation between iMessage and YuckMessage and we question our loyalties in friendship and relationships surrounding the status icon of "green texts". Elon tries leveling the social media playing field and it kinda backfires. This leads the guys to discussing what the whole big deal is with social verification and why is society so obsessed with it? And whole lot more! ENJOY!

Orson and Jazz?  He never ceases to amaze me!

Queen has a new song, plus the Elvis soundtrack is out and Music Documentaries for Louie Armstrong and Johnny Cash. Holly brings all the Dirt and Lori tells us about Black cats, cell phones and fly puke.

Segment: Richie Zie Takes the Mystery Out of Chicago History Topic: This week Richie tells us how Louie Armstrong started in Chicago in 1922, by following his mentor, Joe "King" Oliver, to Chicago to play in the Creole Jazz Band. In Chicago, he spent time with other popular jazz musicians. Topic: Skanking Lizard originated in Chicago in 1978 by a group of friends who had a deep love for reggae music, and by the 80's this line up of northside musicians became Chicago's original performing reggae band.

We highlighted the longest Day in last week's show, now the Shortest Day for this week's show. It is Wednesday, December 21st - for 2022. I imagine it means the same to the places with winter as the longest does to us. Shorten the days in Phoenix and lengthen in Chicago! We have a cool request this week from Rebecca D. from Mohave Storage. She requested 'The From Fram Sauce' by Louie Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald recorded in 1946! Happy to play it for you.  Great Deuces are Wilder goes out to Jeff Helgeson with Def Leppard covering David Essex's 'Rock On.''My buddy Ty Grimes weighs in on his time touring with Ricky Nelson in' Travelin' Man.' All kinds of other good music, New Dollyrots, some Willie Nile, and a brand new one from The Black Keys, 'Burn the Damn Thing Down.'. Shoutouts to Roam RV and Boat Storage, Spanish Springs Boat and RV Storage, and Ultimate Boat and RV Storage. 'Baby Ruth' promises an on-time arrival at 3:00 Eastern. So, get ready to rock! We are still bubbling over our 'Communicator Award of Distinction,' and thank you, fans, for help making it happen!

The other morning, I got into my nice dependable car, it's a Toyota, but it has leather seats. And I drove to the grocery store and I hit zero potholes on Paxton avenue and I rolled the windows down and I played some Louie Armstrong on the radio and I filled my car with gas, and I didn't even calculate how many miles I'm getting to the gallon these days. I rolled on over to that Kroger entrance. And it just so happened that the best parking spot in the whole lot was open right there waiting for me. I mean, man, I must be living right? Then there were frappuccino samples at the Starbucks counter, right when I walked in the door, streams in the desert. I mean, seriously, you guys, am I a saint or something? ... I love that Luke is there to let us wonder more deeply about what makes for good fruit. Because without the parable, it's easy to assume that we're the good guys and they're the bad guys and good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. And the world is really pretty black and white. And I like that narrative because it's so safe for me. It's safe for me to think like that. Because things can get really messy in the Gospel. Things can get messy when I have to admit that my dad was friends with that salesman at the Toyota dealership and the potholes on Paxton avenue got fixed right after a rich guy made a call. And I can feel like I totally get Louie Armstrong, even though I have never walked a day in this city with black skin. Things can get messy when gas prices soar, and we have to contemplate our dependence on a non-renewable foreign source. Things can get really messy when pure dumb luck got me that parking spot at Kroger, when a single mom with five kids and three jobs will never get that spot because she does not have the luxury of going to the grocery store at 2:00 PM on a Tuesday.

Celebrating the life and work of Felix Cahppottin. Chappottin is often compared to Louie Armstrong because of his virtuosity and Influence. He has influenced generations of Cuban trumpeters. Hear how he took over Arsenio Rodriguez's work after he left Cuba, his rise to stardom and his influence that continues to this day!   Mariquitas Y Chicharrones  Yo Soy Tiburon  Quimbombo Rompe Saragüey  Micaela Me Boto Mi son, mi son, mi son Sazonando Mentiras Criollas Alto Songo Fue un espejismo  Camina y prende el fogon  Adversidad Bonito Y sabroso --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anani-kaike/message

Before he plays Hoyt Sherman on 2/10, Comedian, Lewis Black dropped by to discuss his last trip to Des Moines, the passing of Bob Saget, Norm Macdonald, Betty White, Louie Armstrong and more.

Trying to write a post about Ryszard Horowitz has proven to be tougher than I had imagined. Ryszard Horowitz is a legend, literally. His life, and his journey through the art of photography, is almost impossible to distill down to a blog post. There is simply no way I do him, and his legacy, justice here. Still, I will try... Ryszard Horowitz was born in Krakow, Poland four months before the Nazis invaded his homeland, and his entire family ended up being sent to a series of concentration camps. Miraculously, they survived, and at the war's end they were amongst the few Jewish families who were able to re-establish their lives in Krakow. Ryszard is one of the youngest known survivors of Auschwitz, and to be listed on Schindler's list. His path to becoming the artist that he is started with studying art at the High School of Fine Arts in Krakow, before going on to mjor in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1956, when the government awarded subsidies to encourage new and original art forms, Krakow emerged as a center of avant-garde jazz, painting, theater and filmmaking. Ryszard, who was seventeen at the time, took full advantage of being at the heart of the action and consequently became fascinated with American photography. In 1959, he finally achieved his ambition of immigrating to the United States and enrolled at New York's famed Pratt Institute. While still a student at Pratt he was given a scholarship to be apprenticed to Alexey Brodovitch, one of the most influential figures in the world of editorial design and photography at the time. In 1967, having worked for a number of film and design companies and as an art director for Grey Advertising, he opened his own photography studio. Photography would be his lifelong career and passion. Ryszard's work has been exhibited, published and collected around the globe, and he has been awarded every major accolade that can be bestowed on a photographer. Take a few minutes to scroll through the list on his Bio page, it's amazing. His awards include the Gloria Artis Gold Medal of Merit to Culture Awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Poland, and Doctor Honoris Causa Awarded by Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. As a music photographer, his images of American jazz legends like Dave Brubeck, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, Thelonios Monk, Count Basie, and Louie Armstrong are amazing. His creative works, in both analog and digital will blow your mind. He is recognized as a pioneer of special effects photography predating digital imaging - yes, before digital and photoshop - using techniques such as darkroom retouching, multiple film exposures and manipulation of his camera. His complex photographic composites have been compared to the surrealist artworks of Magritte and Dalí. A former Canon Explorer of Light, Ryszard is a current member of Canon Legends, and he was inducted to the International Photography Hall of Fame in November 2017. Go look at the names in the Hall of Fame... Ryszard is one of the best to ever practice this art. Join International Photography Hall of Fame Inductee, and Canon Legends member, Ryszard Horowitz and me as we chat about his life, his photography, and his complex photographic composites, on this episode of Behind the Shot. Connect with Ryszard Website: ryszardhorowitz.com Facebook: @RyszardHorowitzStudio Instagram: @ryszardhorowitz_studio International Photography Hall of Fame Inductees of Photography: iphf.org Documentary on Roman Polański and Ryszard Horowitz Polański, Horowitz. Hometown: imdb.com Ryszard's Books PHOTOCOMPOSER, 2009 All That Jazz , 2012 Ryszard's Photographer Picks Yasuhiro Wakabayashi: wikipedia.org Irving Penn: irvingpenn.org Richard Avedon: avedonfoundation.org Behind-the-Scenes Video Allegory: YouTube.com Behind-the-Scenes Photos

Legend and Fox return to talk about Astro World and Kyle Rittenhouse. Apologies Fox sounds like Louie Armstrong.

Welcome back to TLR! It's Season 4 baby! With a new season comes new additions to the podcast. New Interviews. New Concepts. In The Lituation Report, we talk Lil Nas X and his debut album, MONTERO. We touch on Chloe's ICONIC debut hit, Have Mercy and so much more/ In our Spotlight, we talk with Louie Bagz about his journey as a creative visionary and how he is Louie Armstrong reincarnated! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thelituationroom/message

This week we're talking about the jazz instrumentalist, Lillian Hardin Armstrong. Often referred to as the "First Lady of Jazz," she was mostly known for her connection to her husband, the famous Louie Armstrong. However, with a very impactful career and jazz presence long before Louie, she is worthy of the deep dive this episode provides. We also dive a little into the potential conspiracy surrounding her sudden death, and what little we have left of her legacy today. Want to check out some of our favorite books? Check out our booklist Follow Us on Instagram @morethanamuse.podcast 

Its always fun to do the annual Father's Day Show! This year, we pay particular attention to Don "Gaga" Gardner of Providence Rhode Island. Listen and you'll understand why! To do so, we've shared tracks from Frank Sinatra, Phish, Eric Clapton, Eartha Kitt, Louie Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Bonnie Raitt Pink Martini and many others! It's not all Rock and Roll, but it all works!!!! Plus, special 'in studio' guest Martin Hanlin shares some valuable insight into the world of Scottish football! Enjoy and HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!

A talk programme dedicated to films and television shows, presented by Marcus Ako, Laura Sampson and David Campbell, on Resonance 104.4FM  at 7pm (UK) on Fridays.  Podcast episodes available from Monday morning at 00:30 (UK). #ItsAllAboutThe3Way #ShootTheBreezeShow #LittleSatchmo #LouisArmstrong #CannesFilmFestival2021  Reach us on Twitter, on Facebook, email shootthebreezonresonance104.4@gmail.com or Instagram  In the 9th-season's twentieth episode, Marcus and Producer David speak with friend and filmmaker Jenna Suru about the Paris Int'l Festival being at the Cannes Film Festival Market in July 2021. Also on the show, they recap the interview with director John Alexander and producer JC Guest - the filmmakers behind the music documentary LITTLE SATCHMO (2021) about the secret daughter of the late, great Louie Armstrong. The world-wide premiere will be June 29 2021 at the Oscar-qualifying Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in Greece. No #Top5Favourites topic this week:

It's common to hear that a good diet and exercise can significantly improve our health. But health is more than that. Your thoughts and beliefs can change your genes and brain structure! 85% of our genes are malleable, and you can change them for the better with good practices.   In this episode, Dr Dawson Church joins us to talk about the benefits of meditation and EFT tapping. He shares that changing our mental states can significantly impact our bodies and even our environment. The key to happiness and calm is in our hands; we just need to invest time to achieve it.  If you want to know more about the benefits of meditation and the science behind EFT tapping, then this episode is for you.    Customised Online Coaching for Runners CUSTOMISED RUN COACHING PLANS — How to Run Faster, Be Stronger, Run Longer  Without Burnout & Injuries Have you struggled to fit in training in your busy life? Maybe you don't know where to start, or perhaps you have done a few races but keep having motivation or injury troubles? Do you want to beat last year's time or finish at the front of the pack? Want to run your first 5-km or run a 100-miler? ​​Do you want a holistic programme that is personalised & customised to your ability, your goals and your lifestyle?  Go to www.runninghotcoaching.com for our online run training coaching.   Health Optimisation and Life Coaching If you are struggling with a health issue and need people who look outside the square and are connected to some of the greatest science and health minds in the world, then reach out to us at support@lisatamati.com, we can jump on a call to see if we are a good fit for you. If you have a big challenge ahead, are dealing with adversity or are wanting to take your performance to the next level and want to learn how to increase your mental toughness, emotional resilience, foundational health and more, then contact us at support@lisatamati.com.   Order My Books My latest book Relentless chronicles the inspiring journey about how my mother and I defied the odds after an aneurysm left my mum Isobel with massive brain damage at age 74. The medical professionals told me there was absolutely no hope of any quality of life again, but I used every mindset tool, years of research and incredible tenacity to prove them wrong and bring my mother back to full health within 3 years. Get your copy here: https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/books/products/relentless. For my other two best-selling books Running Hot and Running to Extremes chronicling my ultrarunning adventures and expeditions all around the world, go to https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/books.   Lisa's Anti-Ageing and Longevity Supplements  NMN: Nicotinamide Mononucleotide, a NAD+ precursor Feel Healthier and Younger* Researchers have found that Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide or NAD+, a master regulator of metabolism and a molecule essential for the functionality of all human cells, is being dramatically decreased over time. What is NMN? NMN Bio offers a cutting edge Vitamin B3 derivative named NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) that is capable of boosting the levels of NAD+ in muscle tissue and liver. Take charge of your energy levels, focus, metabolism and overall health so you can live a happy, fulfilling life. Founded by scientists, NMN Bio offers supplements that are of highest purity and rigorously tested by an independent, third party lab. Start your cellular rejuvenation journey today. Support Your Healthy Ageing We offer powerful, third party tested, NAD+ boosting supplements so you can start your healthy ageing journey today. Shop now: https://nmnbio.nz/collections/all NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 250mg | 30 capsules NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 500mg | 30 capsules 6 Bottles | NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 250mg | 30 Capsules 6 Bottles | NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 500mg | 30 Capsules Quality You Can Trust — NMN Our premium range of anti-ageing nutraceuticals (supplements that combine Mother Nature with cutting edge science) combat the effects of aging, while designed to boost NAD+ levels. Manufactured in an ISO9001 certified facility Boost Your NAD+ Levels — Healthy Ageing: Redefined Cellular Health Energy & Focus Bone Density Skin Elasticity DNA Repair Cardiovascular Health Brain Health  Metabolic Health   My  ‘Fierce' Sports Jewellery Collection For my gorgeous and inspiring sports jewellery collection ‘Fierce', go to https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/lisa-tamati-bespoke-jewellery-collection.   Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode: Discover the ways you can influence and change your genes and body. Understand the benefits of meditation and achieving a flow state. Learn how to become a force of good in the world by being an emotional contagion.   Resources Gain exclusive access and bonuses to Pushing the Limits Podcast by becoming a patron! Harness the power of NAD and NMN for anti-ageing and longevity with NMN Bio. More Pushing the Limits Episodes: 183: Sirtuins and NAD Supplements for Longevity with Elena Seranova 189: Increasing Your Longevity with Elena Seranova Pushing the Limits Episode with Dr Don Wood Connect with Dr Dawson: Website | Twitter | Facebook Check out these amazing books and resources from Dr Dawson Church   The Genie In Your Genes   Mind To Matter. Get it for free here!  Bliss Brain. Get it for free here! You'll also get eight meditations that accompany each chapter of the book.     The EFT Manual The Immunity Meditation: Receive Your Complimentary EFT Mini-Manual and BONUS Immunity EcoMeditation! EFT Universe Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler  Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill  ABC's Catalyst - Meditation The Muscle Intelligence Podcast with Ben Pakulski: Using energy therapy to heal trauma and illness, increase productivity, up-regulate gene expression and build character traits with Dr Dawson Church   Episode Highlights [05:52] The Benefits of Meditation and Alternative Practices Dr Dawson shares how his research shows that our minds can turn thoughts and ideas into reality.  People who practice meditation become really happy.  Dr Dawson shares that he studied meditation, energy healing, and psychology.  Through this, he transformed from a miserable teen to the happy character he is today.  Dr Dawson believes that his purpose is to give the gift of happiness to others.  [10:18] Quantifying Ancient Traditions with Science  Dr Dawson shares how he was able to measure acupressure points using the galvanometer.  His findings proved the integrity of the Chinese practice of energy flows.  Energy treatments have shown astronomical results. Listen to the full episode to hear the breakthroughs in these treatments.  [13:55] How to Influence Your Genes While we can influence our genes with diet, recent research shows that you can also change it with your beliefs and attitudes.  15% of our genomes are fixed, while the remaining 85% are malleable.  In his practice, Dr Dawson learned how anxiety spikes cortisol levels, depletes the immune system, produces calcification in the brain and more.  This finding shows that it's important to manage our thoughts and beliefs.  Through this, we're able to influence our physical bodies positively.  [16:36] How EFT Tapping Addresses Trauma EFT tapping has shown its effectiveness in resetting your emotions, especially when you're feeling stressed, anxious, or angry.  Normally, your stress response creates re-traumatisation by sending high levels of signals in your body. Over time, this can shrink the brain.  When you remember a traumatic event while tapping, you can reduce the signals and break traumatic associations.  Once you break the association between your traumatic memories and fight or flight response, it stays broken.  EFT Tapping is a powerful tool. Learn how Dr Dawson uses this to help war veterans in the full episode!  [25:44] Break the Trauma Loop and Calm Down When traumatic memories and experiences haunt you, you fall into a trauma loop.  We have evolved to become highly attuned to potential dangers, even if they're just possibilities.  Our modern world doesn't help with this condition, where people say that it's hard to find time to meditate and calm down.  Dr Dawson shares that a few minutes of mediation will pay off. Not only will you be calmer physically and physiologically, but you will also perform better.  You cannot afford not to meditate.  [31:55] How to Get into the Flow State Scientists found that when someone is in flow, they have a characteristic brainwave state.  They sought to re-engineer this and train ordinary people to achieve the same state. We can achieve the flow state through mediation like the mystics do or through peak performance.  Once you hit this state repeatedly, your brain will be naturally addicted to the boost in anandamide. You get into the same state of bliss that you achieve through drugs.  There are several other benefits of meditation. Listen to the full episode to hear what it can do.  [37:10] Letting Go of Local Reality Dr Dawson shares that great figures throughout history have let go of ordinary states to achieve the extraordinary.  In meditation, you have the opportunity to let go of local reality and go to a field of consciousness.  This place is where we can deliberately change our belief systems and then affect our local reality.  When you enter the non-local reality, you can change the hardware of the brain.  Immerse yourself in meditation, and it will change your mind and brain. Then it starts to change your whole life.   [44:18] Mindset Changes on Sports and Exercise Athletes often get injured when they're not in the flow state. Athletes who have a long career tend to know how to pace themselves.  For people looking to lose weight, it's important to associate exercise with pleasure rather than pain. This strategy helps to stretch people's limits without burning out.  Learn to listen to your body and stop when it tells you to do so.  Athletes are typically expected to push themselves. It's the same principle: they need to learn to listen to their body and understand their limits.  The way we build strength and endurance is through recovery. Don't forget this part of the training.  [56:11] Be an Agent of Positive Emotional Contagion People can affect their environment. Our emotions and moods are contagious.  We don't know how far our positivity can reach. It can affect hundreds and even thousands. It can even save lives.  Become an agent of compassion and love. Not only will you help others, but you also help yourself.   Listen to the full episodes to learn about the research on spreading positivity and happiness.  [1:05:36] Living Longer On average, optimists live ten years longer than pessimists.  Negative emotions are like corrosive acids that will damage your body.  You need to work on being optimistic and healing your trauma simultaneously. Note that this is a continuous process.    7 Powerful Quotes from This Episode ‘I just said, “You know, universe, what is your purpose for me in the coming year?” And the universe, I heard these words, they said, “We've given you the gift of happiness. Now, go give it to everyone else, too.” So that's really what I see myself doing now and where I came from originally and where I am today.' ‘It's [EFT] like pushing the reset button for your emotions. So you're upset, you're angry or you're stressed whatever way, then you simply tap on these points very, very quickly.' ‘You cannot afford not to meditate. The gains in productivity, problem solving ability, and creativity is so enormous that if you don't spend that hour or that half hour, you are missing out on your biggest single leverage point for success in your life.' ‘In meditation for a little while, you let go of local reality, and you simply identify with the field of consciousness that is the cosmos. There's this huge information field in which we swim in it. We're like fish looking for water when we're looking for God or spirituality.' ‘I wrote in my journal, “My heart is just burning with love and bursting with gratitude”. Because you come down in the states of such ecstasy and the rest of the world in your life, and it is a world of magic. You then create that magic all around you.' ‘Athletes, first of all, when they're in the zone, when they're in flow, they injure themselves less and their performance goes up. It's that old Yerkes-Dodson law, currently referred to a little bit of stress is fine.' ‘Jesus said, “Love your enemies,” to go to them that hate you. Yeah, very good advice, even though it's 2,000 years old. And when you do this, you're producing emotional contagion around you. You have no idea how far it's going.'   About Dr Dawson Church Dr Dawson Church is a leading health writer and researcher whose principal work includes The Genie In Your Genes, Mind To Matter and Bliss Brain. His research linked the connection of consciousness, emotion and gene expression. Moreover, he has looked into the science of peak mental states, flow states and happiness.  With his research, Dr Dawson conducted clinical trials and founded The Institute for Integrative Healthcare to promote groundbreaking new treatments. To date, his largest program is the Veterans Stress Projects which has offered free treatment to over 20,000 veterans with PTSD.     Dr Dawson further shares his research through EFT Universe, one of the largest alternative medicine websites. In addition, he is the science columnist for Unity magazine and has written blog posts for the Huffington Post.   In his undergraduate and graduate courses at Baylor University, Dr Dawson was the first student to graduate from the University Scholar's program in 1979. He earned his doctorate from the Integrative Healthcare at Holos University under the famed neurosurgeon Norman Shealy, MD, PhD, the American Holistic Medical Association founder.  Are you interested to know more about Dr Dawson's work? Check out his website and EFT Universe.  You can also reach Dr Dawson on Twitter and Facebook.   Enjoyed This Podcast? If you did, be sure to subscribe and share it with your friends! Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning in, then leave us a review. You can also share this with your family and friends so they learn the benefits of meditation and the science behind EFT tapping. Have any questions? You can contact me through email (support@lisatamati.com) or find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. For more episode updates, visit my website. You may also tune in on Apple Podcasts. To pushing the limits, Lisa.   Full Transcript Of The Podcast Welcome to Pushing the Limits, the show that helps you reach your full potential with your host Lisa Tamati, brought to you by lisatamati.com.  Lisa Tamati: Welcome back to Pushing the Limits. Your host, Lisa Tamati, here with you and today I have another very, very special guest for you that is perhaps going to change your life. A really very interesting man. Dr Dawson Church, PhD,  who is an award winning science writer with three bestselling books to his credit. The Genie in Your Genes was the first book to demonstrate that emotions drive gene expression. So that's all-around epigenetics, epigenetics and how your emotions can actually change the way your genes are expressing. The second book Mind to Matter, which is really something that you must read, shows that the brain creates much of what we think of as objective reality. And his third book, Bliss Brain demonstrates that peak mental states rapidly remodel the brain for happiness.  Now, Dawson has conducted dozens of clinical trials and founded the National Institute for Integrative Healthcare to promote ground-breaking new treatments. Its largest program, the Veteran Stress Project has offered over free treatment to over 20,000 veterans who are suffering from PTSD. All for love, no money involved, an absolute amazing project. Dawson now shares how to apply these health and performance breakthroughs through his EFT universe. It was just an absolutely fascinating conversation with him. I'm very, very interested always in neuroplasticity because I was told, with my mum story, as you all know, that there was no hope that her brain would not be able to remodel and not be able to learn again and that is so far from the truth. In his new book, A Bliss Brain, award winning science writer Dawson Church focuses on the positive and negative mood and negative thinking and how it's associated with activation of brain regions like the prefrontal cortex - the state of yourself, and positive emotions such as altruism and compassion.  He blends cutting edge neuroscience with the stories of people who've had first-hand experience or brain change. And Bliss Brain really examines the effects of emotional states on brain structure. Suffice to say, you have to listen to this episode. I think if you're struggling with anxiety, struggling with stress, feeling the effects of ongoing long-term stress on your body and with illnesses and sicknesses and depression and all of these things that hamper just so many of us, so many of the people that I work with, and certainly I struggle with it on occasion, as well, then this is a book for you.  Dr. Dawson really emanates happiness and joy. But that wasn't always the case, he was someone who had suffered from depression quite badly in his early years. And this is what sent him down this great path. He manages to marry the science with the traditional things like Chinese medicine and Meridians and energy medicine. He's been able to quantify it so that people like me who love science in general open minded sceptics, I like to call myself, can actually understand why these things work. And that's really, really important.  Before we head over to Dr. Dawson. I just like to remind you, we have now our Patron membership for the podcast. If you'd like to get involved with the podcast, if you'd like to support what we do here at Pushing the Limits. We've been doing it now for five and a half years, and near on 200 episodes. I can tell you, into each episode goes a heck of a lot of work and a lot of research, and a lot of book reading, a lot of time. And we really need — to keep this on air — we really need your help. So if you'd like to come and support us and get a whole lot of extra member benefits, then head on over to patron.lisatamati.com, that's patron.lisatamati.com. You can join us in our tribe there. I would really, really appreciate you doing that. And as always, please give us a rating and review for the show because that really does help us as well and share it with your family and friends if you get benefit from us. I'd also love to hear from you, if you've got a question about one of the guests. If you want to dive deeper into one of the topics, please reach out to me, support@lisatamati.com.  I'd like to remind you too, that we also have our epigenetics program, which is our flagship program that we have that looks at your genes and how to optimise your genes, and how to understand the nuance of what foods, what times of the day, what types of exercise, what are your dominant hormones, what are your dominant neurotransmitters and how that plays out in your life. So if you'd like to join us for that, please head over to lisatamati.com and go under the Work With Us button and you'll see all the information there.  Now over to Dr. Dawson Church. Lisa: Hi everyone, and welcome to Pushing the Limits. I'm super excited to have you here with me today. I have an absolute legend, a man who has done so much research and so much good in the world, Dr. Dawson Church with me. Welcome to the show. Dawson, it's really, really exciting to have you with us today. Thanks for taking the time.  Dr. Dawson Church: For me, too, Lisa. We have had such fun now and the next hour. We just had off the air, this would be a fabulous time for you and me and everyone else combined. Lisa: Exactly. We already had a couple of really good connections. That's fantastic.  So, Dawson, well, you are an incredible man with a number of books. You have your research, you're an expert on the brain and the mind and body connection. Can you give us a little bit of background about how did you get into the space and what you've been studying? I mean, it's a big question, but we'll start there anyway. Dr. Dawson: Well, let's start right in the middle. I worked at a book about five years ago called Mind to Matter. It was really off the cuff project — I was interviewing scientists, I was trying to trace all of the scientific pieces, the links, the chain between having a thought and a thing. And I thought, “Well, I'll find some links to the chain, not others.” But I found all of them. It was so interesting to see how our thoughts literally become things, how our brains function like transducers, from the universal field of information and we then manifest those things all around us. While I was doing that I got into —  so I've been meditating everyday for like 20 years plus — but I own some really esoteric forums, our meditation practice by masters who've done it like 10,000 hours. By the end, I find myself getting really, really, really, really happy. I was already a really happy person. But at the end, I had to find myself getting super happy, no matter what the circumstances. But we had to look at all why people who do certain styles of meditation gets so happy. That's why I wrote the book, Bliss Brain. I began the process, 50 years before that, as a teenager, when I was so toxically depressed and anxious and miserable. I was suicidal, I mean, I want to just kill myself when I was 12, 13, 14 years old. And I looked into my own eyes, walked past a full-length mirror one day when I was 15, looked into my own eyes, and I said to myself, those are the saddest eyes I've ever seen. I realised I was so messed up inside. So, I went to live on a spiritual community for many years. I learned meditation, learned energy healing, studied psychology. Wanted to figure out how I could make myself happier, and got a little bit happier over the years. And then when I began to meditate every single day, I didn't have to use energy therapies like EFT tapping, suddenly I got a lot happier. After Mind to Matter, doing these esoteric meditations, got super happy, I want to then just tell it to the world. So I had this epiphany. But I don't want to retreat every New Year's Eve and spend about two, three weeks just really getting quiet meditating, asking the universe, “What are my marching orders for the coming year?”  I was walking the labyrinth with a group of about 40 people at a meditation centre in New Year's, couple of years ago. I stood at the centre of the labyrinth at the stroke of midnight. And I just said, “Universe, what is your purpose for me in the coming year?” And the universe, I heard these words, they said, “We've given you the gift of happiness. Now, go give it to everyone else, too.” So that's really what I see myself doing now and where I came from originally and where I am today. Lisa: Oh, wow, that is beautifully put in. So, Bliss Brain because you've written a number of books. Mind to Matter was the last one and then Bliss Brain is this one. And when people are listening to this, a lot of people will think, “Well, yes.” But is this, especially a lot of the people that are scientifically, believe in the science and they want evidence. What I found so interesting with your work is that you've met managed to marry the science, the quantified effects of energy medicine, of meditation, of pressure points, of EFT, all of these things is energy, things and actually quantified those with science in very rigorous-based, evidence-based, which for me is always a fascinating thing. Because I'm very much an open minded person, but I like to have that rigor, that sceptical mind, that prefrontal cortex that often jumps in and goes, “But is this real?” And you said, on the cusp between, being open minded and being scientific and you've seem to marry these two, just beautifully in your work and being able to quantify some of the ancient traditions the Chinese medicine, the Meridians, these types of things that have been known for thousands of years, but are now actually being shown to be correct and with science. Can you tell us about that?  Dr. Dawson: What's amazing is if you're taking a pedal instrument, handheld instrument, called the galvanometer. It's battery powered, it picks up the electrical resistance on your skin. And so, at my live workshops, I will run this over people's skin, and the little muscle device makes beeping sound whenever it hits an acupuncture point. And it's because those points are very, very high conductance, low resistance. You'll run this little deal over the person's face, nothing's happening, it'll hit an acupuncture point like this over here is on the bladder meridian, this point over here, and suddenly the machine goes crazy and starts beeping and flashing only in this tiny point about a millimetre in diameter, and no other surrounding skin. That's the exact point shown in a 2400-year-old Chinese scroll.  These ancients knew about all these points, energy flows, the chakras, the meridians, and so on. Now, we have instrumentation to measure them. At least the cool thing about the measurement process is, as we're measuring the effects of energy therapies, energy treatments, we're finding that as we quantify them, the effects aren't tiny. They aren't 3%, 5%. Sometimes they're astronomical. Like for example, the EFT. So in meta-analysis, meta-analys-s gathered together 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 studies into a bundle. And then, they extract all the information on a scale of how effective a therapy is. An effective therapy gets a score of two. A really effective therapy gets a score of five, and an extremely effective therapy is a score of eight. So two, five, eight, those are the three points in a meta-analysis that tells you whether a therapy has some effect or a huge effect.  In studies in meta-analysis of EFT tapping for anxiety on that 2-5-8 scale, the effect of EFT is 12. It's off the odds, off the scale, off the chart. Same thing for depression, same thing for PTSD. So now that we're quantifying these therapies, meditation, EFT, other kinds of therapies, we're applying some of them, have incredible results at the level of the genome, proteins, proteins expression, enzymes, all kinds of processes in our bodies. Lisa: Wow, that is, okay, because you've written a book called The Genie in Your Genes. It was a marvellous title because I studied epigenetics and genetics. I know that you collaborated on the book with Dr. Bruce Lipton. I was like that's one of my favourite books of all time, and actually got me down this rabbit hole of epigenetics. And so, I've looked at epigenetics in relation to the food and the nutrition and the social environment and your neurotransmitters and these sorts of things. But when I heard you talking about how it affects, like meditation — you're able to see, I think it was 72 genes or something, where it actually changes the expression of those genes in real time, when you're doing these meditations. And these were areas, I mean you know the areas better than me, perhaps you can talk about it. Because I think a lot of people don't understand that we have a DNA that we've inherited from mum and dad, that's our code if you like. But all throughout life and throughout every day and with everything that we do, we're turning genes on and off for the want of a better description, up regulating or down regulating certain genes with our environment. So what sort of things can we influence through meditation and through EFT, and so on? Dr. Dawson: That is the key question to ask me, Lisa. We can influence our gene expression with things like diet. You eat certain foods and eat really healthy foods is to turn on certain genes and result and certain processes in your body. And so, the early after they studied and study, 1999, 2002, were all about introducing dietary factors usually in experimental subjects of rats, mice, and then seeing how that affected their gene expression. But what I am much more interested in than things like drugs and external factors like food, is I am super interested in what we can do with this thing behind our bars over here and our beliefs and our attitudes and our energy. It turns out, I mean, that's funny you just mentioned, by done by remarkable, insight-filled therapist called Beth Maharaj. And she found that in an EFT session, a one hour EFT session of psychotherapy using EFT acupuncture tapping, all those acupuncture points, 72 genes were changed. And again, about 15% of our genome is fixed, like I am two metres tall, I have grey eyes and brown hair, not very much of that anymore, and I just have certain physical characteristics that are what they are. Those are fixed genes, but those are only about 15% of the genome. The other 85% is changed. When I have a negative thought, I start producing cortisol, I send a signal down to the medulla on my adrenal glands, my adrenal gland starts producing cortisol, and adrenaline. Adrenaline is your fast-acting, stress hormone; cortisol is your slow acting, but still, it hasn't two minutes and two minutes is turning everything on and off all kinds of other processes off in your body.  And so I'm doing that with my mind alone. If I'm having high cortisol day after day because I'm worried, because I'm stressed, because I'm anxious. Now, what I'm doing is I'm driving my body into this fight or flight state over and over and over again, chronic stress. It's depleting everything else, my body, my immune system, it results in muscular wasting. It literally, over time, produces calcification of the brain's learning memory centres. And you want a lot of calcium in your teeth, a lot of calcium in your bones. You do not want calcium in your brain, but it does. It literally deposits calcium in your brain's memory centres. So that is the effect epigenetically of our thoughts and our beliefs. So, it's so important that we take control of this, like there's a saying in the biology of belief that has positively positive thoughts releasing the ones going our way as having a dramatic effect on our physical bodies. Lisa: And this is like, because I've seen those scans where you have the shrunken brain that's been exposed to a lot of stress. The hippocampus shrinks and the prefrontal cortex and then you have the healthy brain that's nice and plump on the other side, if you like. It is a very good visual because this is very much like we tend to think, ‘Well, yes, I'm stressed and but that's neither here nor there, toughen up and get on with it' type of attitude. I think that this, I think we need to distinguish between short term hermetic stressors, which are good for us - the things like going in the sauna, or going into cold water or going for a run and exercise and things like that, that are slightly outside the comfort zone. But not these long-term or even medium-term stressors that are going on day for day and week upon week, and month upon month. Those are the ones that really, when you are affecting the genes on a daily basis and your cortisol, and your adrenaline are just pumping all the time.  And this is something like with my genetic makeup, I have a deficiency in receptors of dopamine, so I'm constantly after dopamine. I'm always chasing the source that I can never reach, right? And I have a lot of adrenaline and I was exposed to a lot of testosterone in the womb. So I have that personality that take action, risk taking, jumping, still playing, no strategy, that type of a personality. And these things really affect us.  However, I can take control of that through practice. I can do things that can actually help me control my innate biology if you like. So, how can people, I wanted to ask, because I think a lot of people won't know what EFT is, per se. Would you explain what that particular type of energy work is?  Dr. Dawson: EFT is very popular. It's used by over 20 million people worldwide. It's grown purely by word of mouth, there is no drug company, there is no advertising campaign, people study each other on EFT. It is often called tapping because you simply tap like this on acupuncture points. There are about 13 W's, commonly they're linked to the 13 meridians of the body. It's amazing. I'm working on a video now where I have to describe EFT in two minutes. And it's like the body's reset switch. A therapist used that in a paper, in a peer-reviewed journal recently. It's like pushing the reset button for your emotions. So if you're upset, you're angry or you're stressed whatever way, then you simply tap on these points very, very quickly and it resets you.  So, there are several of these points. While you are thinking about the bad stuff in your life, you combine that reflection of ruminating on the stuff that bothers you with the tapping. And if you ruminate on the bad stuff, what happens normally, if you're just thinking about the bad stuff, is you're sending a signal through those neural bundles and they're getting bigger and bigger and faster. That's what we call re-traumatisation. That's when you re-traumatise yourself and we find over time, that shrinks the brain; the brains of people who are traumatised as children are on average 8% smaller than those who weren't traumatised as children. Traumatic stress is, it isn't psychological, it's physiological. So that's what you're doing if you're retraumatising yourself.  If you remember that bad thing at the same time you tap, then what we see in MRI EFT studies is that the emotional midbrain gets all upset, it's all aroused as a result of thinking about the bad things. When you start tapping, all that arousal just goes down. For example, one veteran I was working with, because we work with over 20,000 veterans, giving them free treatment free of charge. What one veteran was really bothered by a memory when he was in Iraq, he was a medic. And right in the beginning of his tour of duty, one of his friends was shot. And so, he had to deal with all the gruesomeness of that friend's death. One of the things he had to do was he had to clean the uniform of his dead friend to send back to his mum and dad back in the US. Cleaning the human remains and tissue out of the uniform was tremendously triggering for him. He remembers this event, he was cleaning them out in the medic's hut. And then he'd have to run outside to take a breath of fresh air because the smell was so bad that he'd run back in a little more cleaning, run back out again. We tapped on this terrible traumatic memory. He just then had this complete sense of relaxation. He said, ‘I'm so glad I was the person who got to clean that uniform because it was my way of honouring my friend'. And as his emotional midbrain calmed down, his story changed to where it was no longer one of tragedy, but one of honouring and one of love and one affection with his friend, and you do this act of service. So if he shifts brains function that way, and it shifts it in just a few seconds like that. There's no therapy, there's no elaborate attempt to understand how you are the way you are, you just tap while you're remembering the bad stuff, while all of those new neural pathways are fully engaged, that then calms the brain down immediately. And then I met this young man again, I saw him again, about three months later, talked about the uniform, talked about his dead friend, he was still totally calm about it. And we find in long-term studies, that once you break the association in the brain between that traumatic memory and going into fight or flight, the association stays broken, and people find later on down the road. Lisa: That is absolutely amazing because I think, the longer we all live, we all end up with traumatic, hopefully not as horrific experiences as that.  Are you aware I had last week on the show Dr. Don Wood, who I'd love to introduce you actually to. He is also a trauma expert who works with vets and PTSD and everything, addiction and so on. He has a four-hour program that he takes people into the, out of beta into alpha brainwave states and takes that high definition sort of movie that's playing in people's heads around this event or events. And he says, as a description, puts it into black and white, and it's no longer triggering. So probably a different direction to get to a similar result. But you think we can do this actually, in minutes with EFT, where you can actually take away the power of that memory. Because I mean, I've been through, unfortunately, my listeners know, I lost my dad, just seven months ago, eight months ago. It was a very traumatic event and process that we went through. The intruding memories, the recurrent nightmares, all of the horror that surrounds that event is very powerful, how much it drains your daily life and your energy. I've found, since that event, I've been doing various things, but it's still very, very raw and very real to me. You are triggered a hundred times a day, and it's just draining your power to be able to work fully in the world, and to be the best version of you that you can be. I sort of know that and I'm trying to work out ways. So this is definitely one that I'm going to jump into. Dr. Dawson: Sorry, you lost your dad and what you'll find is that you don't have to let go at the normal sense. In fact, we encourage people to really grieve, really get into their feelings, that and then do the tapping as well. What happens is you process them very quickly. So we aren't telling these veteran, ‘Don't think about the bad thing. Don't think about the death. Don't think about all the trauma'. We say, ‘Do think about it, but tap while you're doing it'. And then that breaks the association in the brain between that traumatic memory and going into that stress response.  So I really encourage you to do that because we've seen so many people do this now. We work with examples, with kids who lost their parents in the Rwandan genocide. Many of them, still 25 years later, have severe PTSD. We work with victims of school shootings in the US and various places. And again, mothers and fathers who've lost their kids in school shootings. We work with them successfully with EFT. So it's not like we're just working on superficial stuff, but it is that we're trying to work on what you're being worried about in the report you have to turn it into your boss next week, and it also works on severe psychological trauma. Lisa: This is so exciting. And it is like resetting the brain. I mean, Dr. Woods mentions that it's sort of like a error glitch, and you're just going round and round and you can't get out of this sort of pattern of things.  Dr. Dawson: Yes. The trauma loop, we call it the trauma loop. The trauma loop, it's literally a loop between the thymus, thalamus, hypothalamus, the hippocampus, the amygdala in the centre of the brain. What's supposed to be happening is that input associated be referred to the prefrontal cortex and other regions to moderate emotions. And it isn't; it's stuck in an emotional midbrain, looping and looping and looping. Here's the thing is, you can't talk yourself out of it. Like I was worried about a situation at work a few weeks ago, and I would say to myself, ‘It's time to meditate now. It's 6am in the morning, I'm meditating. I will not think about that thing at work'. Well, of course, within nervous sighs, obsessed with a theory, I say that ‘Dawson, I'm going to let that go. It's meditation time now. I'm not thinking about thing at work, I'm going to return my mind to the meditative state'. Now, the thing at work, we cannot talk ourselves out of it, our conscious minds hard, because our brains didn't evolve that way. Our brains evolved to be extremely attuned to the tiger in the grass, or the remotest possibility, the tiger in the grass. And if you had an ancestor who took her mind off the potential threat to focus on smelling the flowers — Lisa: You wouldn't be here. So it makes sense that we have this hyper vigilance. When you've got a PTSD situation going on, you're really hyper vigilant, and you're in this constant state. But it is even all the little things, like in preparation for this interview yesterday, I was just so into researching and stuff. And then all night, my brains just going about Dr. Dawson and what he's doing. Like at three o'clock in the morning, I had to get up and read, keep reading one of your books because it was just, it's not leaving my brain. And then I did my breathing exercises, I did my meditation and eventually went back to sleep. So, you gave me a bit of a sleepless night last night. Dr. Dawson: I'm so sorry about that.  Lisa: But in a good way.  Dr. Dawson: At least you're reading something good. Lisa: Yeah, well  in a good way, because I was excited about all this stuff. I think it's very powerful. As a health coach, and I work with people on a daily basis. Probably the first thing that people come to me with is depression and anxiety. And then all the health problems and in follow on from that, and that seems to be what so many people are dealing with on an absolute day to day basis. In our modern world, I think that a lot of these things, not that our ancestors didn't have stressors, because they obviously did. But we have perhaps, a hundred tigers coming at us a day in the form of grumpy emails from our bosses or whatever. The amount we have to process in a day for many of us, especially people working on computers and all that sort of stuff with a thousand things coming at you all the time. And it can feel like and so, often, I say when I say to people, ‘You need to do some meditation, and you need to calm the mind. You need to get out in nature'. But they go, ‘I haven't got time. I haven't got time. I'm working 17 hours a day, and I'm a mom of three, how the hell am I going to find time to meditate?' What's your answer to that?  Dr. Dawson: Actually, you don't have time to meditate. In one piece of research, I talked about several of these in my book, Bliss Brain. One piece of research done by really forward thinking US agency called the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, they've been at the forefront of all kinds of parts of the human potential movement for the last 50 years. They did a study of complex decision-making. Now, this isn't whether I should have grilled cheese or macaroni for lunch, this is when you have to do a scenario that's meant to solve global warming, or reduce the deficit or solve racial violence in a city. It's the really complicated problems. What they found was that when you're in a kind of flow state, generated by meditation, that people are 490 times better, percent better at solving complex problems; five times is good. Another study by the McKinsey Consulting Group found a 10 year study of high performance executives found that they are five times as productive when they're in these flow states. We're measuring flow now as people meditate, we're finding the same thing. So that even 15 minutes, 20 minutes spent at the end of the day will literally pay dividends. Another series of studies done by Harvard University found that if you do that for only an hour, meditate for an hour, you are more productive and more creative for 48 hours in the future. So you cannot afford not to meditate. The gains in productivity, problem solving ability and creativity are so enormous that if you don't spend that hour or that half hour, you are missing out on your biggest single leverage point for success in your life.  Lisa: Well, that's a really good argument for it. Have you read the book, we're talking about Steven Kotler, have you read Stealing Fire? Dr. Dawson: I love Stealing Fire, I've seen Steven Kotler several times on that and I use — and I have five books, in Bliss Brain and the acknowledgments say, ‘This book, Bliss Brain, was based, there five people really influenced me'. As Steven Kotler's Stealing Fire was one of those five.  Lisa: His book really influenced me, too. It was like, ‘Wow, this is incredible stuff, understanding how to get into the flow state'. As an athlete and my background as a ultra-endurance athlete, we did stupid distances. I would sometimes get into that flow state, and I still can't do it at will, unfortunately. Maybe I need to meditate more. But the performance that you could bring when you were in that state was far beyond what you normally could bring, and understanding how to tap into that on an actual day to day basis. I find it, too, in a previous life, I was a jeweller as well, so I was a goldsmith in head shops, retail shops. And that I would get into the flow state making jewellery when I was creative, now in painting. So when I get time, do those types of things like painting and making something, do they qualify as meditation? I mean, what actually qualifies as meditation because a lot of people seem to think you have to be sitting on your floor or with your legs crossed and humming or something, doing a chant. Is that the only way to meditate? Dr. Dawson: After World War II, there was a British engineer who worked on the radar system in the defence of Britain and his name is Maxwell Cade. And he put together a simple EG, and they had hook up spiritual masters. This EG, he was reading the five basic brainwaves — now, we know there are more than that — but he was reading the simple brainwaves. What he discovered is that he took up a Pentecostal faith healer, or a Taoist healer from China, or he hooked up a Confucian or in like a Buddhist or a Hindu or kabbalistic Jewish mystic. What he found was that even though their religious backgrounds and religious practices were totally different, they all have the same brainwave pattern. So that was the pattern of the mystics, we now knew what it was.  I talked about this in Bliss Brain,  this void of discovery, as Maxwell Cade was doing this in the 50s and 60s. And then he had a student, at a wise he had hooked out. They said, ‘Well, let's hook up other people. Let's hook up Louie Armstrong. Let's look up jazz musicians in flow'. And they found same bliss brain pattern in them. They said, ‘Well, let's hook up some high performing executives and business people who are at their peaks and scientists'. So they found that regardless of the profession, whether in flow, they all have this characteristic brainwave state. The next thing that we had to realise over the last 20 years of MRI research is, now this is crucial, we used to think that it was just one of those happy accidents. There are only a few Louis Armstrong's. There are only a few Hussein Bolts. There only are a few Swami Vivekananda's. We used to think these were special people. Once we discovered the brainwave state, some smart scientists then said, ‘Let's reverse engineer this. Let's train ordinary people to attain the same brainwave state'. And lo and behold, bliss brain, they could. We now like — I do seven, eight retreats sometimes. I'm doing virtual retreats now, but we do live retreats, usually once or twice a year. And the first day, it's going to take people, maybe we can induce that state, usually within 30 minutes. By the end of the retreat, start four minutes, they have learned to hit the state of a 10,000-hour meditation master. And they're doing it in under four minutes at the end by the end of the retreat.  So they're trainable now that we're reverse engineering them. And so one state, one way into the flow state is through meditation like the mystics do. The second way is through peak performance. Either way, you can get to that same state and be ignited by flow triggers that put you into that state, and they're reliable. They put you in that state every single time. And once you hit that state, Lisa, over and over and over again, the cool thing in bliss brain is all about addiction. For example, the one molecule that you generate in your brain in these deep states is called anandamide. It has the same chemical structure as THC, the active molecule in marijuana, docks the same receptor sites in your brain.  So you're flooding what are called your endocannabinoid receptors in your body and your brain, with natural THC, just generated by your own brain. It's a very big boost of serotonin. You're mentioning dopamine earlier, and I'm going to send you a meditation that, I've just been playing with this recently. This isn't available to the public and won't be for about two years. But Mind Valley is working on a huge new program, and we're training people in this one meditation. They literally feel the rush of dopamine they get because dopamine is the same reward system as engaged by cocaine and heroin. So they're sitting there doing this meditation. They're getting serotonin, which is the same as suicide and magic mushrooms. Same Lego structure, they're getting anandamide, THC. They're getting the same molecules that are getting in ayahuasca cocaine and heroin and alcohol, all in one meditation. And so what we're now having to do, it's so crazy, we're bringing people to these ecstatic states, when you read Rumi and St. Catherine of Sienna. I mean, these people were in absolute bliss. Essentially their brains were full of these endogenous drugs. And so, we're actually learning to generate these in people's brains. What we now have to do at the end of my meditations is you have to spend a few minutes, talk people down, talking them down off this high. They are so spaced out, they can't drive a car, they open their eyes off meditation, they don't know what planet we're on. So we spend some time doing some orienting. ‘By the way, your name is what's the name again? What time of day, is it? Which country do you live in? What's your job?' So we have to help them back into reality because they get so far out there, in just a few minutes of meditation. We're now able to do that. Lisa: Without any extraneous sort of, chemicals and things that can damage your impulse?  Dr. Dawson: No, none whatsoever.  Lisa: I have to ask this — because and this maybe outside the wheelhouse a little bit — when you're in those sorts of states, do you think you can connect? Is there a spiritual, wouldn't you know? Do you believe that there's a spiritual dimension to what's on the other side, when people pass away, when we die? Is that what the mystics and some of the spiritual healers are tapping into something higher? I mean, I know we probably can't measure this, although I've just read some books on NDEs like near death experiences and the scientific rigor that a couple of these amazing scientists have spent years studying. What's your take, just your personal take on these higher states and being able to connect perhaps, to something beyond us? Dr. Dawson: Albert Einstein wrote in the 1930s, he wrote that also the big discoveries have been made in that altered state of oneness with the universe. In chapter 15 of his book Think and Grow Rich, people think that Napoleon Hill's book from the 1930s Think and Grow Rich is about money, but it's actually about spirituality. It's about letting go. Napoleon Hill says, ‘I let go of my ordinary states, I enter an altered reality. And there I commune with St. Francis of Assisi, and Thomas Edison, and Napoleon Bonaparte, and all these great figures from the past. And that's where I download all of my answers, these questions from'. So throughout history, people have been letting go of — what I call, now in my books, I call this local reality and non-local reality. And so in meditation, for a little while, you let go of local reality, and you simply identify with the field of consciousness that is the cosmos. There's this huge information field in which we swim in it. We're like fish looking for water. When we're looking for God or spirituality, we're like the fish looking for water. We're swimming in consciousness, and our brains are not generating consciousness. Our brains are transceivers of consciousness from this universal field. They then translate this universal appeal information into what we think of as local reality. But we're making up or making it up and we change our minds. When we shift our belief systems, when we orient ourselves deliberately to non-local reality, our local reality shifts dramatically and super quickly. Our brain shift, Lisa, in one of the examples I give in Mind to Matter, I talk about a TV reporter called Graham Phillips, who has a show called Catalyst. He went on an eight-week meditation retreat. They took his whole TV crew into a lab. They did a whole work up on his brain, his body. They use the high resolution MRI to measure the volume of neurons in each part of his brain. He then learned to meditate over the next eight weeks, and they brought him back to the lab after eight weeks ran the MRI scans again and the piece of his brain that is responsible for coordinating emotional regulation across different brain regions called the dentate gyrus — it's really tiny, it's about the size of a little fingernail, but it's right in the centre of your brain. It has tentacles going all over the brain and helps regulate being upset, being irritable, being angry, being annoyed, being stressed. That, the hardware of his dentate gyrus grew 22.8% in eight weeks. When you enter a non-local reality, it's changing the hardware of your brain, and it's not taking 10,000 hours, it's doing it in just a few hours. And he then started to see very different as your transceiver, transducer changes, then it is very different results outside of yourself.  So we are pure consciousness, we happen to be the body for a little while. We won't have a body forever. What you can do is every morning meditation. You can simply let go of local reality, you become one with non-local reality. The other cool thing there is when you come down from that space, Lisa, you are so full of love. I mean, I just cry when I come down. I walked on the beach the other day after meditation, I was just weeping with gratitude. I wrote in my journal, ‘My heart is just burning with love and bursting with gratitude'. Because you come down in the states of such ecstasy and the rest of the world in your life, and it is a world of magic. You then create that magic all around you. That's how I write my books. That's how I live my life, how I do my marriage and children and friends and everything. Well, I just can't tell you how let's call this brain. It isn't like I'm feeling a little bit of hay brain, it is an ecstatic brain. I mean, in this exciting state, and becomes your new normal. Every day, it starts to change your physical brain. It starts to change the hardware of your brain, and then that starts to change your entire life. Lisa: That sounds like a piece of something that I want. And I think, everybody who is listening will be like, ‘I want what that guy's got'. Because you emanate this. I've listened to many of your lectures and your talks and your podcasts and stuff, and you emanate this beautifulness — for want of a better description — it just seems to pour out of you. That is obviously the work that you've done. What I find, I was listening on Ben Pakulski, my amazing man. You're on his podcast, that was one of the ones that I listened to. He was talking about, as an athlete, and I've had an athletic background. As a young athlete, especially, and he said he was the same, we're actually running from stuff and we were fighting and we were forcing and actually probably brutalising our bodies in order to deal with something that was going on in our brains and trying to prove things. I think a lot of athletes live in that state and it's actually encouraged to live in that state, if you have a burning and I've even propagated the state and others. Where you're using the fire of anger, of being put down, of being let down to fuel your performance. And into a certain degree that works. I mean, being obviously, an incredible bodybuilder in my life that turned into running ridiculous kilometres and across deserts and so on. I don't run any more though stupidly long distances. One of the reasons is, I don't have the massive issues in my brain anymore. I have not needing to run away from something, prove something. I'm not saying that all athletes are doing this. But I do think that there is a large number of people who are handling things through expression of this sports, and how do you change that mindset? Because I still very much have that mindset. When I go to the gym, I'm there to smash myself, I'm going to punish myself, I'm going to work hard. I'm going to push through the pain barriers because that is the culture we've grown up as athletes. You work hard. If it's not hurting, then you're probably not doing it enough. How do we change that conversation and reach still these very elite levels without having that type of a mentality? Sorry for that.  Dr. Dawson: If you aren't in flow, you will injure yourself. I remember interviewing members of American football players and these are usually very large men. They're very large men and they're very athletic, and they can jump like a metre share, vertical jump, and they reach remarkable speeds. They can start running and running really, really, really quickly, the catching. I remember this one young man said, ‘This is my million-dollar hand'. He was going to pay a lot of money as an American football star and he said ‘I've broken my fingers, at least one sometimes two or three times every season. And I can't afford to have this happen to my million-dollar hand'. After he learned EFT, after he learned to meditate, after he learned centring, getting into flow each game, he never broke another finger. He had one injury when he was just learning to meditate and do EFT. And they said, ‘Oh, it's the Achilles tendon injuries. You'll be out of the game for at least 12 weeks or maybe 16 weeks.' Three weeks later, he was fine. And so, athletes, first of all, when they're in the zone, when they're in flow, they injure themselves less and their performance goes up. It's that old Yerkes-Dodson law, currently referred to a little bit of stress is fine. Anyone has a little bit of stress. Now what I'm what I'm getting at right now, I mean, to you and me, if I didn't have a fair amount of cortisol and adrenaline, I'd be a really boring guest.  Lisa: To some degree, we want that when we're ready.  Dr. Dawson: We want that. Absolutely, but not too much of it. Lisa: And like we're in a flow state, I'm in a flow state right now. Because I feel like I am because I just love learning from people like you. I'm just, give me more, all the heroes and stuff, because I'm learning and that is for me, one of my flow states studying and science. That really helps me. But how do we change that conversation for athletes? So that they're not going out to deliberately hurt themselves, but still able to reach those. I remember one story if you don't mind sharing, I think it was with your niece? Was it Jessica or something? Dr. Dawson: Yes, Jessica.  Lisa: Do you mind sharing that story?  Dr. Dawson: Yeah, she is the national champion at rhythmic gymnastics. She meets me out there after the rank every year. So four years in a row, she was the US national champion. But again, she was pushing herself, she was collapsing inside. She was not doing it all well. On the outside, her performances look great. On the inside, she was just suffering and she eventually just couldn't go anymore, and just had withdrawn from the sport and collapsed. So that's not sustainable. What you find for the athletes who have a long-term career usually is they've learned to pace themselves. They've learned to reach that state of flow and stay there over time, they aren't pushing themselves.  The other cool thing that happens, I've done a lot of work with women who are overweight or obese. They are often at war with their bodies, they have been ignoring their bodies, turning their bodies out, hating their bodies for over four decades. They don't like exercise on the whole. And it's hard for them to exercise. Like if you're heavy, there's strain on your joints and your muscles. It's difficult to exercise, there's no great reward for exercising. So what we try to do, we don't even call that module of our program exercise, we call it joyful movement. Joyful movement. And so I say, ‘Go to the gym. Grab that maybe a 10-pound weight. And if you're just doing dumbbells and doing 10-pound weight, that's fine. If you have a goal of doing 10 reps, do as many reps as you feel good doing. Wait for the endorphin rush to kick in when you feel good. And the moment you feel bad, stop'. Now what they do is they then do eight and then they start to feel bad or stray, they stop at eight. Now they're feeling an endorphin rush today. And maybe in the next week they feel the endorphin rush, and they're doing 11. But what has then happened is that they are associating going to the gym with pleasure neurochemicals, not with pain. And then you can't keep away from exercise. I mean, once you've learned to rejig your neurochemistry, to re-associate those exercise bands, or that piece of exercise equipment, or your kayak or your mountain bike with pleasure, rather than with compulsion and pain, then you find people are highly motivated to exercise. So we retrain them to do this. It also has the effect of listening and listening to their bodies. No longer is your body a threat and a problem. It's now something to listen to. It's a signal, ‘Hey, this doesn't feel good'. You stopped right away. So in my own workouts, if I decided to do 20 reps or something, and after 17, I'm no longer feeling good. I stopped at 17, then my body is saying, ‘Wow, 17 feels wonderful'. And then you completely change your conditioning to make that exercise a joy and a pleasure. After a while, you can't stop people going to the gym, if you use your own neurochemistry in an intelligent way like that. Lisa: Well and you don't limit your performance when you do that? Because like, as an athlete you know that you have to endure a certain amount of pain to reach the next level, or that's what we've been told at least.  You have to high intensity interval training and better back in CrossFit and rah, rah rah. The gentle approach, I can see being super good for somebody who's never exercised and just wants to break into this field, does the same apply for elite athletes wanting to get to the best that they can be? Because you're up against the competition that are training in this way of brute force training type of way. Is that as well?  Dr. Dawson: Yeah that too is a way of training, one way of training is the brute way of training. The other way is the supported way of training. That's a very good question. So that way works great for people who are getting into exercise for the first time. But what about people who are at that elite level?  There is a time to push yourself and there's a time to back off. Only you know that. No one else can really tell you what that point is. But you know yourself. Like me, for example, I do a lot of mountain biking. There are sometimes where there's a long, steep hill. I'm exhausted and I think, ‘I'm exhausted, there's a steep hill ahead. I am just kind of go for it'. And it feels so exciting to do that. But if I had a coach saying, ‘Go for it'. If I was riding with somebody, and they would say, ‘Go for it'. I was trying to keep up with them. And I wasn't listening to my body, then probably I'd injured myself. That's what I have injured myself actually, in the past. So, you tune into yourself, and no one else is something no coach knew for you.  Are you meant to just put in that extra burst of effort? And then transcend yourself. We don't know for another person, we only know for ourselves. So it's really an interesting meditation. And again, it means being sensitive to yourself to know when to do that. The other thing is, it's not the same every day, we have by rhythm. Sometimes, we are just so in rhythm. That's the time to say, ‘I was planning on this 35-minute routine, I need to do the 55 minute routine instead.' And you just know that day, ‘I'm so in-sync, my body wants to do that.' You get good at reading your body and you know. I think the best lead athletes and how are some football players, the average football player in the National Football League in the US has about a 4-year career. How does someone like Tom Brady have a career that spans decades? You want these great athletes often, or great musicians or great scientists. They aren't a flash in the pan, they're sustaining peak performance over time. I think they're the ones who are pacing themselves.  Lisa: Yeah. And are the ones that are listening to the body. I think, with training athletes, I often say, ‘If you start, you have to sort of look at how has your day been? How much sleep did you get?

What do Louie Armstrong, The CIA and a baby boom in France have in common?... The rumour that the Scorpian song, Wind of Change - one of the biggest rock singles EVER,  was actually written by the CIA.Tune in this week as Ollie introduces James to a podcast that embarks on a journey to find the truth. A podcast that explores the possibility that a song that ended the Cold War was a CIA activity spreading propaganda through pop music. An original series from Pineapple Street Studios, Crooked Media and Spotify, Wind of Change is researched and presented by the fantastic Patrick Radden Keefe.  From Moscow to Ohio, spies doing the unthinkable to leather clad rockers performing in Russia and a maze of government secrets, We discuss all the reasons Wind of Change is a must listen!

Donate or Subscribe for exclusive content and deals: https://pod.fan/iwantallthesmoke     On This Episode: Toilet Paper Shortage Before COVID Joe Budden v Rory & Mal (Empty Seat Gate) Canada Cancels AstraZeneca Vaccines The Israel, Palestine Conflict     And we review Havoc & Nyce Da Future's “Future of the Streets” 3.5 PUFFS OUT OF 5!!!!!       Follow I Want All The Smoke's Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WfFuzexuzKHznaNQyyWgA?si=Eo5OTSW5S2avZC2Oms_S2A   Instagram: @_IWantAllTheSmoke // @Eydolverse // @W1lluminati // @JThaddeusMusic   Facebook Pages: www.facebook.com/IWANTALLTHESMOKETHEPODCAST www.facebook.com/digitaldiamondnetwork/   Brought to you by: Digital Diamond Network     #PodcastingWhileBlack #ddn  #IWantAllTheSmoke #Top10Podcasts  #PodcastJunkie #PodcastersOfIG #MoneyMindset #EmpoweringPodcast #CurrentEvents #ComedyPodcasts #FunnyPodcasts

Donate or Subscribe for exclusive content and deals: https://pod.fan/iwantallthesmoke     On This Episode: Toilet Paper Shortage Before COVID Joe Budden v Rory & Mal (Empty Seat Gate) Canada Cancels AstraZeneca Vaccines The Israel, Palestine Conflict     And we review Havoc & Nyce Da Future’s “Future of the Streets” 3.5 PUFFS OUT OF 5!!!!!       Follow I Want All The Smoke’s Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WfFuzexuzKHznaNQyyWgA?si=Eo5OTSW5S2avZC2Oms_S2A   Instagram: @_IWantAllTheSmoke // @Eydolverse // @W1lluminati // @JThaddeusMusic   Facebook Pages: www.facebook.com/IWANTALLTHESMOKETHEPODCAST www.facebook.com/digitaldiamondnetwork/   Brought to you by: Digital Diamond Network     #PodcastingWhileBlack #ddn  #IWantAllTheSmoke #Top10Podcasts  #PodcastJunkie #PodcastersOfIG #MoneyMindset #EmpoweringPodcast #CurrentEvents #ComedyPodcasts #FunnyPodcasts

Happy (late) Mother’s Day! On this episode we talk about: Miki’s got a BALD head (00:04:29) Husky’s corner (00:11:17), the Snow White Ride Controversy (00:16:49), Venom’s Voice sounds Familiar (00:23:37), Elon Musk on SNL (00:31:58), Kid Falling from Ski Lift (00:46:12), QUERIES (00:55:12), Is Cereal Soup?/Oatmeal rant (01:01:30), Invincible on Amazon Prime (01:24:15), Mothers and Birthing People (01:33:15), and MORE!Like and Subscribe to Hey Plebes on YouTube!Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @heyplebesEmail us your hate mail at heyplebespod@gmail.comWe love 5 Star Reviews on Apple Podcasts! If you don’t then you must not be a birthing person.

Ella and Louis is a studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Quartet, released in October 1956. Having previously collaborated in the late 1940s for the Decca label, this was the first of three albums that Fitzgerald and Armstrong were to record together for Verve Records, later followed by 1957's Ella and Louis Again and 1959's Porgy and Bess. Please follow this link for more entertainment. https://wp.me/p4VWqA-aM1 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stringer5/support

What Speakers Can Learn From Miles Davis James Taylor interviewed Jeff Ponders and they talked about What Speakers Can Learn From Miles Davis In today's episode Jeff Ponders talked about, What Speakers Can Learn From Miles Davis. Jeffery Ponders is a keynote speaker, tech entrepreneur and jazz musician who helps organizations and individuals unlock their best performance. Previously he has led marketing and innovation strategy for leading brands such as Walmart, Campbell', and General Motors. Today, using a mix of live performance, real-world stories, and techniques from jazz masters, he helps teams develop underutilized talents, boldly tackle challenges, and collaborate more effectively to discover their big ideas and achieve results. What we cover: Reaction vs Response What speakers can learn from Miles Davis Phrasing and rhythm Resources: Jeff Ponders's Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/what-speakers-can-learn-from-miles-davis-sl094/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor. And I'm delighted today to be joined by Jeff Ponders, Jeff Ponders, is a keynote speaker, tech entrepreneur and jazz musician who helps organizations and individuals unlock their best performance. Previously, he has led marketing and innovation strategy for leading brands such as Walmart, Campbell's and General Motors today using a mixture of live performance, real world stories and techniques from jazz masters. He helps teams develop under utilized talents, boldly tackle challenges, and collaborate more effectively discover their big ideas and achieve results. my great pleasure to have Jeff join us today. So welcome, Jeff. Jeff Ponders Thanks so much, James. It's a pleasure to be here. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Oh, wow, Jeff Ponders there's a whole lot going on right now. So wrapping up into really kicking this speaking platform off using jazz to help others unlock performance, which is a ton of fun. For me, it's given that up and playing professionally. I'm kind of I'm not that old, but almost 30 years. James Taylor Early, what's what Jeff Ponders I have here back then I can tell you that about two feet shorter. Um, but so it's been a lot of fun to see the response to you know, bringing a saxophone on stage. And talking about the same concepts become proficient as a musician, not just not just proficient, but really become really good professional, as a musician, and how those same processes apply to the, to the professional world. And legitimately every professional. It's been a lot of fun. So watching that platform has been great. I'm releasing an album in the next two months. And that's been really exciting. So created an album called Spark, which is designed to actually spark creativity and performance, oddly enough. And so it's been an interesting journey. My family has been very supportive, because there have been a lot of late nights. That stated and also, my wife and I are expecting our third kid in a couple months. And so yeah, yeah, yeah, we are out here doing things. So you've got a lot, you've James Taylor got a lot going on just now in your life and your work. And let's take us back. How did you how did a jazz musician end up on stages as a keynote speaker, talk to us about that journey. And I split the interest as well, when you were making that transition into going on stages as a speaker as well, who are those mentors in your life? Jeff Ponders I guess, I think I can do an abbreviated version. So in 2007, I was watching PBS. Cuz you know, that's what guys do. We watch PBS Yep, which is when you're 24 years old. And so I'm watching PBS. And I see this guy playing jazz guitar. And like, just like playing the guitar. He's really good. Man. He went to Berkeley. And then turns out, he's an entrepreneur. He's running an agency and he's on a second startup, exit off the first one. I was like, that guy's amazing. I have to meet this guy. And literally the next week, unbeknownst to me, I end up in a rehearsal with him. And we and so for the last 11 years, we play music together. That guy is Josh Linkner, I think is actually on, on the conference as well. Josh is amazing. Josh is an amazing human being. And so literally, from the moment I met him, Josh has mentored me, through many phases of my life, everything from entrepreneurship to, you know, what does it mean, to be a good speaker wasn't mean to be a speaker who isn't just a professional. I've been an executive and agencies. And that's cool. And I've started companies. But I love music just as much as I love building value in a corporate setting. And what does it mean to bring all of yourself into whatever it is you do, and in finding ways to create value that don't leave you saying I left something on the table. So just been a great mentor. So that's that stated, I kind of went to the corporate world knowing that I wanted to play music, but also knowing that I was entrepreneurial. And so as I navigated the world of starting companies, making some money losing some money, at the same time playing music, it was always How can I find a way to merge my passions? And being a student of business models, and then obviously saying Josh's work and seeing folks like Michael gold, like, Hey, I can really take what I you know, that they're they're processing, there's science behind Music that has actually impacted who I am as a professional, I can even look back two lessons early in my career in marketing, where improvisation was a critical, critical component to being successful, you know, things never go exactly how you want them to go as much as you can plan. And I would never be shaken. Like, I could look at some of my teammates, just like, Oh, my God, this guy is fun. And I started recognizing that those those lessons were translating in ways that I just hadn't had paid attention to. And, you know, one of the things I think is really important is the idea of how do we how do we tackle failure? Because, you know, failure is anything in life that that that can throw us off. It's what happens when things go wrong. And I know as a musician, things may not be perfect, but they never go wrong. Yeah. And so how can I start from that? How can I take that if others do that, too, James Taylor it reminds me of there's a line which says, in jazz, there's no such thing as failure only opportunities is a very, is a very different mindset, because and knowing a lot of being involved, like you and I like being involved in jazz music for a long time as a jazz drummer, and having a father and a grandfather, both jazz musicians, there was there was always that sense of not only you know, did you learn from sleep, but sometimes you would actually put yourself in positions musically put yourself down avenues alleys, you weren't quite sure how you were going to get out of musically. And you were doing it live in front of an audience. So there was a there was a heightened sense of risk when you're Jeff Ponders doing it. Absolutely. Right. It's funny, Miles Davis has a quote, he said, fear no mistakes, there are none. And there's a really good story behind that with him and Herbie Hancock. And I believe that, you know, what we consider mistakes are really opportunities to create magic. I mean, imagine if you were talking about magic in real life, there's no, there's no, without suspense, magic isn't just somebody doing something. But it's that suspense that oh, my God, what's going to happen? On the embracing of risk that makes it real a powerful moment? It's, look, look what happened when we tackle this challenge. And then amazing things happened. James Taylor Now the audience can sense that as well. They can sense that whether you're a speaker, or whether you're a jazz musician, when you're taking those risks, and you're going, and it feels and it obviously is unique to every every performance. But I'm also guessing that you don't go in go into like a, like a speech, let's say you're giving a keynote or something going in there saying, I have no idea what I'm going to be saying today. You you have you have your you have your, your your ABA or your bridges, you have your thing. So tell me, I mean, what other things can speakers learn from how jazz musicians, they have this lightness of foot when they're when they're going into giving a performance? But at the same time, there's huge skill, huge practice behind there as well. And there is a structure even if you don't necessarily see it first. Absolutely right. It's Jeff Ponders funny. You know, I think there's a lot of fun, like white wall, calamity can kind of be seen by the audience, you never really know what's what's happening. I'm example, I did a keynote a couple of weeks ago. And when I started playing, my read crapped out. And so I listened back to the audio, and it sounded fine. But I know that I was handicapped in terms of what I was able to actually execute. But you never know that there were, there were bad things happening. And subsequently, as a musician, jazz musician at that, it was I see what's happening. I'm skilled enough to understand how to navigate these waters. So one of the cool things about improvisation, a lot of folks think that it's random action. And that's, it couldn't be farther from the truth. You can't be a good improviser without having a good basis of skills and techniques. In fact, improvisation is really the application of known skills and techniques and unknown circumstances. And so, you know, if you're an accountant, you you understand life or FIFO, and you understand how to navigate numbers. If you're a marketing person, you understand how to manipulate graphics or words. But what happens when constraints happen, that's effectively what a challenge is, there's a there's a new constraint. And when a constraint happens, you've got to be able to apply your skills, your experience and maturity mean, how you how you make decisions, in order to make the best decision in that moment to get to a better outcome. And in the James Taylor in those moments. Because I think about in terms of music and jazz, you're not really thinking it's it's there's there's difference between or you could be saying, I'm thinking I need to go to this next part. And I think you obviously see that with, with speakers, there's not really a they often are thinking but they're not thinking is a strange kind of, well, they're, they're, they're reacting. I don't know, I mean, what's your take on that? Because that feels like there needs to be this step beyond thinking that you need to get to in order to be able to express yourself. Jeff Ponders Absolutely. I mean, we could talk about muscle memory all day, but that's what I think about is the difference between reaction and response or reaction is, somebody happens to not flinch. Right. But a response that is a measure of thought behind it. You know, I think one of the things with music that's really powerful is this concept of listening. In fact, actually, I have a, I have a segment that I do about listening to the kind of talks about a variety of forms of listening, listen to yourself to understand what's happening with you, in the moment, listening to the folks around you so, so you understand how your team is, how your team what your team is doing. But also listening to the audience and see how they're responding to the product that you're presenting. And honestly, as a musician, listening is the most important skill. And so when you apply listening along with the actual skills that you develop, so what happens now is you're no longer reacting or you're not flinching. But there is thought that happens. It's just really, really fast. And the thought is based in experience, experience, knowledge and maturity, it's, I understand what this chord sounds like, I know, I naturally know because I've rehearsed enough, what types of patterns and scales work on top of that chord. And, you know, on one hand, because it's structure, I know what the chord progression is, I know where the music should be going. But because I'm listening, I know that the piano keyboard player who's actually laying the structure of the sound, he may do something different. And so I'm anticipating one thing, anticipation being thing, I'm, because I'm actively listening, I can hear when something else happens that allows that sparks a different type of idea. And again, because I'm responding, and I've got this, just Well, well founded skill set, I can in turn, go where the music is going to, James Taylor and that that unlike if you're playing in a jazz club with, you'll have a quartet, for example. So you've got other people on stage with you, a speaker is just you, usually, it's just you're on stage, so you're kind of having to use them the audience as, as your fellow band members is, it is a different relationship that goes on now. Jeff Ponders Absolutely. But it's funny, I will even look at it like this, that there's the audience and their meaning for this word, they're your best mirror. But there's also the technology, what happens when, when the slides go out? Right? I mean, you're you're, you're listening to your environment as well, what happens with the audio guy stops paying attention, and you can hear feedback or something like that. There's so many things are happening again, you're listening is just, it's your spatial awareness ultimately. And so you're pulling off of what you should be pulling off a lot of things not to mention me What happens if you're doing a speech and, and it's a huge, it's a huge ballroom and a bird is in there. Yeah. It's really random. But again, environmental, can you take that and make that and turn it into a magic moment? Again, it's not a mistake, but it's something that's happening and listening with your eyes at this point, and turn it into a magic moment for the audience. Because how often does the bird fly in your keynote? James Taylor Yeah, so there's other things I think about, like for speakers and jazz musicians. I mean, we hear you know, for example, I was I was, I think, in America, especially a lot of the great like, the zigzag was of this world of great speakers, I think of a lot of it comes from the frankly, the preaching tradition, the gospel tradition, in jazz obviously comes from gospel as it blues and gospel can have roots as well. So they use a lot of things like cold call and response gets used a lot with and musicians will use that between each other. They'll have little phrases that they'll copy. And then they'll take that phrase, almost like Mozart used to do a theme and variation. So it's not really impressive, but theme and so you can go in on one I've seen, I saw someone who actually was I think it was Oprah saying she did the the big awards ceremony. And she had this amazing speech that she gave, as part of I think it was the Golden Globe Awards. Last year, I saw. And she used a number of devices, which I think they have a lot of resentment to the music. And one of the ones I had it used to in particular, and I thought of one was that she was using 10 tension release. So it says, as musicians, I mean, we talked about how musicians do there's not really speakers. So that was one I heard you like 10. And then there was released. And the other one that uses incredibly well is pause, pausing breath, you know, like Louie Armstrong, for example, is very, very good at that. It's the spaces in between what you do and what you say and what you play is as powerful as actually what you say. So, I really like those two things like what we as speakers can learn from, like tension and release and what we can also learn from from intentional pausing. Jeff Ponders So tension and release is such a powerful tool. You know, if everything is good, you don't recognize how good it is. And so the idea of, again, we mentioned magic earlier, the idea of creating the oh my god moment, whether it's what's going to happen or I feel that pain, and then coming in and offering not just the release of it but truly the comfort and the restoration. One, it allows you to have good motion in your in your talk, but more importantly For the listener, it allows it creates a euphoric moments that make your make your sweets memorable. It's the idea that you made me feel good. And they don't think that it's but chemically, that's what's happening. You're making somebody feel good consistently. It's almost like dating it's, it's the flowers and candy that happened unexpected if you had an argument and then you had a makeup moment if you have and those things are powerful and they make they make things memorable. On the flip side, you don't make it I don't, I don't miss a second point. Essentially release. James Taylor Like pausing like the fall. I mean, I think about someone like something like Louis Armstrong is jazz musician. He used pausing this, it was almost like the space between the notes were more important than the notes themselves as well. So I'd like you know, how does that relate to speak? Yes, Jeff Ponders it's funny, there's Miles Davis had a cold, he said, sometimes the most important note is the note you don't play. And what's powerful about that is the idea that if you hit somebody with a wall of content, how much can they actually retain there's, you know, we talked about the magic number three there, three, you know, in any point in time, we're gonna remember three things from what somebody says to us. If you allow pause, you allow the listener a moment to stop and actually process what just happened, rather than hit them with 45 minutes to an hour worth of words. At that point, you can have the most amazing takeaways ever. But you just gave 25,000 words Yeah. How many can somebody really remember? James Taylor It's like one of the things with AC with with guitarists, which one of the downsides that in why more guitarists, I think should listen to a horn player sax players, and also singers is because as a sax player, you have to breathe. So unfortunately, get to get the guitar players haven't quite learned that. And so the it's just like this flurry of notes they're going on. And we're probably already experienced with speakers as like these, this flurry of information and no point do I get charged as the audience member to go there to breathe, take a pause. And it's great singers are good thing because they have to do this you as a horn player, you have to do this, you have to breathe, and it means you will play certain things. And there's also certain things that you can't do as well. So you have to find ways to kind of compensate for that. Jeff Ponders Oh, man, that was that was really well satisfying. We talked about you mentioned Oprah and using Zig Ziglar. And using, you know, preaching style. Yeah, preaching is part of this delivery style. So I grew up in a church and I'm not good at hooping anymore. there's a there's a technique that preachers use, and it sounds absolutely insane. But it gets audiences incredibly excited. It gives it forces them the it literally forces them to breathe. And after they get done, they have to stop and drink water because it's throat burning. Um, but again, so I referenced that one in terms of pause, but also the idea of recognizing what you do and what you don't do. I don't who, um, and so, as a speaker, I'm naturally excited. I'm easily excited as a human being. I'm high energy, but I'm not gonna I'm not the guy who's gonna yell at you. You got to do it. You can. That's not my style, probably. But even doing that right now. I feel a little tickle in my throat and I might pay for it. Yeah. But I recognize there are other things I can do that can just as effect that can just as effectively get somebody excited and get them to, to really embrace the passion of a moment, whether it's how I use my facial facial expressions, or my body language, or even the fact that I might use a saxophone and scat James Taylor that's one of the understand that doesn't you know, scatting What is scatting? Jeff Ponders So if you've ever heard somebody say DB Abba, Dabba Doo better about it ever. Did you get better, better, better, better, better? Bah, bah, bah. It's almost like it's singing like an instrument. Yeah. It's kind of fun. Everybody can do it. Come on. Yeah. James Taylor And in fact, funnily enough, where I'm speaking from Scotland. We have a tradition that similar to that because a lot of scouting has come from oral fish. India has the same thing like tabla players learn stuff orally, so you have to be able to sing it before you can. You can play it in Scotland, they had to it was an orchard nothing was written down. So you have to do that as well. But actually, it's almost like an art form in itself. Doing scattering. Jeff Ponders Absolutely. Is there are there folks who are masters getting elephants journal? Yeah. Amazing. If you look at Layla Hathaway in terms of modern singers, Laila Hathaway, her father was Donny Hathaway, amazing solo artists, Laila. She's, uh, she's she's like, she can sing chords by herself. It's crazy. But as as a vocalist, she's a better musician than most musicians. It's interesting. You talked about oral tradition and the idea of listening and listening to learn. Even going back to Zig Ziglar. And how how we borrow from folks, again, that that concept of listening as a musician, one of the things that's really important for us when we listen to our stuff, Listen to our bandmates. We listen to the audience, but we also listen to the greats. And as we are listening is education is the idea of not just what it's not what can I steal? But what do I hear? How do I learn the language of the of the art, just like with speakers, you know, if you're watching this, this, this this interview right now, this is you're studying this so you can learn the language of art form of speaking and motivation and inspiration and instruction. And it's how we intentionally apply our listening to folks who come before us or folks who have different perspectives, in order to enhance our skill sets and make ourselves better. James Taylor And sometimes it's not necessarily the thing that they say, you know, there's exactly a certain type of thing. And the spokesperson kind of thing is not literally what I speak about, or you speak about. But you can learn also things that I think about, like phrasing, and articulation, there'll be certain lines that he would say, where it would just, it would be like building upon itself, you'd use a lot of like classic rhetorical devices, in terms of repetition, musicians use all the time, they'll say a phrase, and then they'll repeat the phrase slightly different, and then repeat phrase slightly different as well. So sometimes you can learn from these people, even if they speak in a completely different topic from you, then there's always something there, there's something it could be in the way that they phrase something, the way they build up to something, it could be in their physical gestures, the physicality on stage. And it can also be, I mean, under some visitors, I've seen this, you can watch them with a musician or a speaker. And you say, that's what I don't want to do. Jeff Ponders It's so funny, you see this. So I went to a talk. So Les Brown gave a talk in my hometown a few weeks ago. And so, you know, les is one of the great speakers of our time. And so I went for the sake of I'm studying what he's doing. And so less than an amazing job with pause, he did an amazing job of calling response, how he leveraged his slides, if he wasn't selling on stage, which I'm not a I'm not a selling speaker. But he did a great job of providing really cool, next best action and calls to action for the audience to stay connected with them. That were, they weren't obtrusive, they were just subtle as Hey, sign up here for for free, you know, free daily inspiration, which is a lot in line with what he does. On the flip side, there were other speakers I've seen over the last few weeks, you know, one guy and one of them. And one of my one of my speaking coaches, he reiterates to me make sure you you find your base, and you plant yourself. And again, they don't paste the stage. And so there's a gentleman and the speaker, he paced the stage. And so I grew up with a WWF. We're not it's not a WWE WWF. And the way he paints the stage reminded me of a WWF wrestling, I was like, I get it, I don't want to do that, or is another speaker and he had really amazing content. But his body language, he kept his head down, his chin was buried to his chest. And again, delivery wasn't bad to use vocal inflection, even for his facial expressions. But because his head was down the whole time, it was hard to connect with him. And so listening, at that point, I'm listening to my eyes like you, I don't want to do those things. But I appreciate how you how he, how he leverages inflection to highlight important points. James Taylor And you can do this we had Elizabeth McCormick great speaker. And she, whenever she, her educated, didn't have any mentors around her where she lived at the time when she was becoming a speaker. So she just watched videos, your YouTube videos and other speakers and she had a yellow pad legal pad and she drew a line down the center. And on the left side, you put the things that she liked about a speaker, it could be the style or articulation or presentation where the thing was, but on the right she used to put things that she didn't want to emulate as well. So it can be useful, you know, to look at one thing I often think is, I think great musicians do this might we've mentioned Miles Davis, great speakers do this, their their presentations, their speeches, their music, it almost operates at different levels, you can even get into in different levels. So listening something like sketches of Spain, Miles Davis, you can you can listen to that background music, making dinner, really nice, very chilled, very relaxing, you could listen to another level up, where you could just get really like listening lives like that. And then there's a completely different level you can listen to if you're if you're a musician, especially a jazz musician, because you're listening in slightly different ways. And I think the great speakers, they can they can do this, they can appeal to that person is just new in an organization and speaking conference there. You know, the the new person has just gotten started, they could speak to that, that middle manager who has a different set of challenges and what they're trying to do, and they can speak to the CEO and the C suite. But the speech works, it works all different levels. I think that that requires real mastery to be able to do to do that. Jeff Ponders It's so funny to talk about mastery. I think that's one of the things that I think music teaches you that most professional Tracks don't teach you is the idea of mastery. For example, a part of the framework that I teach is practice rehearsing perform practices, development of individual individual skills. Rehearsal is how you apply those skills with teams. Performance is how you deliver those skills and talents to your marketplace. But the thing with music is that it doesn't stop with performance. There's literally a cycle of practice worse perform, you're consistently feeding your skill set, you're consistently learning how to work better with folks in consistently assessing your performance. So that example betters that go back, there's no such thing as perfect. It's always How can I be better, whereas in day to day, most folks, they go and they do their jobs, and they just do their jobs, and it's not consistent. They're not feeding that skillset, they're not feeding their ability to the capacity to perform better. And for me, that's a big deal. It's a huge part of the idea of peak performance is well, you have to keep feeding it keep beating in order to perform better. But that comes from music, because that's what we have to do. If you talk about the speakers. How we think it's one thing to say let's refresh our content. It's another thing to say, How can I How can I make myself more marketable? How can I reach broader audiences? Meaning How can I take one talk, and within this talk, have concepts that are, that are simple enough for a fifth grader to get it and find value, but have the depth and the depth of content, that if I present this to a CEO, you know, with some nuance, I think part of part of being a musician is also the idea of recognizing who your audience is, and making modifications to your setlist to fit to play the right to play the right stuff at the right gig subsequently, when we you know, as we look at our audiences of speakers, you may have your talk. But how did you talk needs to be tweaked in a way that's, that's natural, who you are and how you deliver to make sure that's appropriate for the audience. Because your sales folks don't need the same talk as your CEO. And it may be the same base talk. But how do you tweak your examples? How do you tweak your body language? Do you put on a blazer now instead of you wear a blazer with no tie instead of wearing the full the full tuxedo? Yeah, nobody was James Taylor nobody was thinking about, you know, that can relate to how you structure your your set, whereas music set or your your 15 minute keynote, or however long it is. And we think about something like Duke Ellington used to do, he would usually start a mid tempo like little dial in or something at that tempo. And then he would take the audience up that that's, you know, how you see he was doing it, because he was doing a lot of concerts. But if you were maybe playing a different type of venue, let's say be more of a, a club or something. You might start like hearing people right between the eyes blinking. Yeah, so that's right reactor. And I think then we also kind of get into like the audience is, is the is like a partner and what you're creating, but actually, I think a lot of times the venue, the place that you're playing in itself, you know that that small room that you're speaking to maybe 100 people is going to, you're going to give a different type of talk probably to the room that you're giving 1000 people like music musicians know this kind of instinctively, when you go and play in a jazz club, you know, certain things will work better than others, because it's a small place, low ceiling, the bass will carry very, very well. But if you're playing, let's say, if you're playing a church, like a big Cathedral type church, doing fast things just doesn't really work in those places, you have to be much longer notes, because you have the reverb in the place as well. So so you can also kind of apply those things about listening to the actual, the place where you're presenting also has an impact as well as the audience Jeff Ponders ask me that. That's a really, really, really good perspective and absolutely true. It's when I think about that, what I what I think about ultimately, as speakers, we're doing more than giving a talk, we're delivering an experience. And it you know, I come from a marketing background and experience design is a big part of what I've done in my life. And as a musician, as a speaker, as an entrepreneur, I think about what's the experience that I'm delivering right now. It's not what's the talking because what's the experience in delivering because it in real life, most folks don't remember most of what we say, but they do remember how we made them feel they remember, aesthetically what happened when they walked in. And it while we don't have control over all these elements, we can think about how can I craft a memorable experience. And that can be everything from for me, the fact that I might have a saxophone on stage is memorable, because most folks can't do that. Yeah, um, if we, if we create a song together, if I create a song with the small group, or I bring up five people and you're going to be the drummer, you're going to be the basis you're gonna play the melody and I'm gonna sit here and conduct you guys or better yet you're going to conduct us that's a memorable experience, whether you're a participant or an observer, and so becomes how can based off of your platform How can you take what you do and make it inclusive of your audience? And that doesn't mean that doesn't mean do what I just talked about in terms of bringing them on stage. But it's how can you create this symbiotic experience, that leaves somebody not only walking away with really, really valuable tangible points, but feeling like, but actually feel like, Hey, that was really good for me, I want to tell somebody what just happened, because that's how we ultimately build sustainable careers as speakers. James Taylor I think in order to do that, and this has me below, like mental thing that maybe some speakers have to go through, you have to essentially treat the audience like everyone in that room is equal, in the sense that everyone has something that they can they can bring in, frankly, if you're speaking to a room of any more than 20 people, there'll be someone in there that knows a lot, maybe a lot more about your subject than maybe you even think you know, so I think it's kind of being humble in that sense. But I think the other thing if you start to do that, and that's maybe not right for all speakers and all events, but you know, we think about someone like me, it's jazz as an example there. So jazz does require that the audience works a little bit harder than if they were going to list a rock concert, because the things are being said, it's like going to a poetry a little bit less of a Leanback is more of a lean end type of experience of going to jazz cake. So if you treat people in the audience, like everyone is my equal in that room. And, and also, I want to, I think there's people, the people in that room, I can make them work a little bit with their brain, too. So I'll give an example of this. Art Tatum, great jazz pianist, one of the amazing things that he used to do was, he made it sound like he was doing a lot more than he was actually playing. And he was able to do that by essentially making you as a listener, the audience member, fill in the blanks, using your imagination, he wasn't actually playing those. So you'd hear a lot of time, he would recall as a jazz musician, implying time, he wasn't playing, like exactly four beats to the bar or anything, he would be implying it by certain things he was he was playing. So you as the audience member, were essentially filling in the blank. So as a speaker, you might be as you're crafting your speech and working with an audience, they may be almost thinking, so you're saying something or, but you're not actually saying it. It's them. They're filling in the blanks, and people that do NLP and stuff of that are masters at this kind of stuff. And this week, I'm actually seeing Tony Robbins, he's gonna be speaking at something. And he's very good at that of essentially having you do workers as the audience member, is there anything like you know, on on that that topic, having the making sure that the audience are not just sitting back, but they're actually leaning into the experience, and actually an active participant in in, in the keynote, there's been given anything that we could be doing better speakers? Jeff Ponders And the answer is always Yes. We can all be doing things better. So this is a no, this is to me, this is really, how do you create engaged audiences? Or how do you stimulate engaged audiences? That that's the question to me. At least, that's the way I that process that and I don't think that there are, there's no cookie cutter for this. I mean, I can talk about jazz techniques for it. But the, you know, the technical that ultimately talked about is, Alright, hey, if you're Charlie Parker, you play fat. versus if you're a Coltrane, who's not in his bass playing state, and is really playing these more spiritually induced sounds. You're doing different things. And so first things first is understanding who you are, what you do, what you do and what you don't do, too. It's funny, I've got a model on my whiteboard over to my right here. I don't want to show it yet. I'm miked up, that I use to help help individuals really build their brand identity, individuals and brands. And so part of that is understanding what your mission is why what's Why are you Why are you here? Why are you talking? In our case? Why are you Why are you speaking to what's your message? And three, it's alright, what do you want somebody to feel? What are those brand attributes you want somebody associated with you? And how do you ultimately craft an experience that does that example for me? My big why's I want people to create lives that worth remembering. And that means when something's worth remembering, you write it down, you take a picture, you do something to record and that says you don't forget what happened. And so the brand attributes I'm hip smart and creative, meaning I'm cool enough that I'm relatable, but hip is like a little bit cooler. And so in a smart, which is, you know, makes sense and creative is, which is more than music is the idea that finding unique ways to do things example jazz to talk about professional performance is a unique spin on that. And so for that it gives me a lot of latitude to figure out how can I create hip smart, creative experiences for audiences. So really kind of digging into what your unique sauces and then outside it is awesome at that point else becomes, okay, I'm doing a talk for 100 people versus 5000 people 5000. audience participation is a little different, is a lot more risk and saying, Hey guys, let's make a song together versus with 50 people where I can say, hey, James, I can see your name tag. Yeah, James, can you help out. And, man, that's not always the right way to do it either. But it's understanding who you are, James Taylor that's important as well, because we can often feel like bigger is better playing the bigger venues is stadiums and things is the way to go. But in doing that, you also lose, you lose some of the intimacy and being able to try and try something. So I think I think every speaker kind of has to find this the I mean, we all probably sense it, this is our, this is my ideal size, this is I love speaking that side, if that is your ideal size, do you have photography on your website that has you speaking to audiences of that size, because that's so cuz you'll get more, you'll probably get more bookings or that kind of size, the kind of places that you want to be be speaking in planning. And I just want to as we kind of start to finish up this this interview as well I'm, I mean, treat what is in your, your speaker bag, what is in that bag you carry with you to all of your speaking engagements. So you obviously, you can have your saxophone, which is kind of an unusual thing to have in a speaker bags. But what else what else is gonna be in there, Jeff Ponders I don't think I have a whole lot honestly, my phone is there. Um, cuz I, I use my phone to take notes, I use my phone to take pictures, I probably get a better camera on my phone. But my phone is kind of like the center of life. And I'll even do website updates and stuff like that. So my phone is a big, big, big, big deal. Um, this is gonna sound crazy, in my speaker bag is space. And so the to take us to take them to take three minutes before talk, and just go and be quiet. And just, you know, hone in I I've ever been performing mind literally my entire life. And it's not butterflies always happen. But that three minutes before before talk is invaluable. Just to settle on, refocus, you know, I know my stuff. But having looked at the room and say, Okay, let me not spend too much time on this one. That that time that space is probably that's probably more valuable than my phone. But it's a big deal. Um, I keep lotion, because my hands get ashy. And I just, you know, that's the thing for me. I like my hands to feel softer. So that doesn't really matter too much of my talk, but it makes me feel James Taylor I think when you're traveling a lot as well, you know, those things are I mean, forget like this. We are an instrument our body is an instrument our voices we are we are our instrument in that sense. So if you see if you take your saxophone player sax to certain places, certain countries climates, ticker guitars, and it's going to react well or not so well in different places. And you need to kind of look at it you need to ensure just keep an eye on it. Same thing with our voice. So like, you know, those motion those look those kind of lotions, water, all that stuff is actually really pretty critically important because Jeff Ponders I'll click it too. I bring that up. Yeah, I do. I've definitely seen experience. It was like, Oh, this isn't gonna work out too well. And I'm the very, very first talk I gave. I try I tried to use one. There's a second one. I tried to use my phone and my phone was distracting. It was. Don't do that. Yeah, it's crazy. It looks so unprofessional. So that was like, Hey, I'm using keynote. I've got keynote on my phone. I'm like really trendy. Now, not it was not the thing to do. So I went and a good buddy of mine, Ryan foland. He made a recommendation for an amazing clicker. And I can't run anymore right now i can i can send it to you. But it's awesome. Just having James Taylor like, in some ways that there's an instrument there as well. So having that thing you feel confident in you know, Jeff Ponders I know it's gonna work, everything else is James Taylor maybe going to hell, but you have a couple of things. What about a book is there one book you would recommend to to maybe an aspiring speaker or professional speaker could be a speaking they can maybe I know your your background. You speak a lot as on marketing creativity as well. Jeff Ponders So there's a is a pastor in Atlanta named Andy Stanley. Andy Stanley's father's Charleston, Andy Stanley's a bad he's a bad dude. He's good. He wrote a book called communicating for change. And he wrote it. I guess it's designed to build sermons. But there's a really good framework there and smart science behind it. And it's a way of capturing attention relating to the audience, pulling them in, helping nail down the key insight and make it memorable, and then giving helping them walk away feeling like something changed. superpower. It was amazing. Wonderful. James Taylor We'll put that link here as well. What about a tool is that you mentioned you've taught your firm before? Is it an online app or like a mobile app or an online tool you find really useful for yourself as a speaker. Jeff Ponders I don't have one I don't have I don't I don't have like a go to tool as a speaker I've done. I've a example, I've used grant Baldwins platform. And that's been that was that was, I think he did a great job putting together a speaker platform form. There a couple of them testing out right now. But nothing was like that's the one you got to have. Though a smart CRM CRM system is a good thing, too, isn't one in particular you would recommend is is the one that a CRM that you tend to use. So I ran, and I'm using nimble. But I've seen powerful things with HubSpot as well. James Taylor Yeah, HubSpot is great, especially on the content, the content marketing side as well. What but I'm gonna kind of just finish up here. If you had to start again, tomorrow, I'm gonna let you imagine, choose whichever city you want to start in, you have to restart your career, you have all the skills you've acquired over the years, but no one knows you. And you know, no one, you have to completely restart. What would you do? How would you restart? Jeff Ponders I think it'll be it'll be, it wouldn't be that crazy for me. Only because I can take a saxophone somewhere and say, Hey, and I can make a kind of fun. So I'd probably pick a city that embraces jazz. So a New Orleans or Chicago, New York is huge. And it's like it'd be warm, but it's huge. And so it's easy to get lost there. But in New Orleans, or Chicago may be a Dallas. And so in Atlanta falling into, so I pick up so I'm a corporate speaker. And so I'd be looking at company areas with lots of corporations and a warm chassis. And I would leverage the musical experience in mind as well as about corporate relationships to, to kind of kickstart things. Um, that's it too. So the other thing that I would do, and it's actually it's, oddly enough, is we didn't talk about this before, but there's a so I'm big. I mentioned creating experiences, right. And so as speakers we we hustle hard to get beautiful relationships and to find relationships with event planners and conference planners to get booked. I've never been a believer in waiting, waiting on an opportunity to find you though. And so, for example, what I've done is I've created a lunch and learns workshop series where, where a company or you know, a client can buy a package that's a two hour experience with that includes launch live performance, and a workshop, a keynote in a workshop that I can take as a product and sell the experience. So part of what I would do is starting over will be outside of making friends and playing music would be develop a product that's easy to that's easy and warmly received and using that to kind of spark the next level James Taylor fantastic. And if people want to reach out to you maybe to refer you for a speaking opportunity or just do it can reach out with a really enjoyed what you've been sharing today. where's the best place for them to go and do that? Jeff Ponders Do you go to Jeff Ponders calm that is the center of my universe right now. If you look on social media, if it's Jeff Ponton, it's probably me. And as partners with an S so je FF er, je FF p o nd ers, you'll find me. Yeah, that would be the best thing. It'd be great. I'm looking forward to hearing feedback from you guys. And hopefully, this conversation has been helpful. James Taylor Well, Jeff has been a pleasure speaking with you today. I look forward to sharing the stage together. I don't know where it's going to be as musicians or whether it's going to be your speakers, but I'm sure will be Jeff Ponders a good idea. James Taylor We can combine them both as well. But thanks so much for coming on today. Jeff Ponders pleasure speaking to you. I wish you all the best with your new member of your family and all your speaking as well. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

In anticipation of Groundhog Day, a holiday that is as much about repetition and time travel than it is about anything else, we're doing our most repetitive episode yet - two requests by a repeat requester, featuring two versions of songs we've discussed before, performed by two artists we've discussed before! We discuss "Baby, It's Cold Outside" AGAIN, this time as performed by Louie Armstrong and Velma Middleton. And then we reluctantly dig back into the big steaming pile of Bob Rivers' parody tracks, and unfortunately experience "Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire". The ranking music this week is the theme song of the 1980s Chipmunks cartoon, which was initially called "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and later simply "The Chipmunks". Thank you to Tom for these requests!

Listen in to an entertaining chat with Comedian Heath Harmison. Heath's Dry Bar Comedy Special has been viewed more than 30 million times, he has appeared with comedians such as Dennis Miller, Roseanne Barr, Louie Armstrong and Brad Garrett. He is a regular in Las Vegas and can be seen at the Tropicana, Bally's and MGM. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joann-johnson/message

I air a few grievances about a chess opponent and Louie Armstrong's lyrics. I honestly cannot stop hitting it seems cause this one is also excellent. PodTalk ColorCast Updates:Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/podtalkcolorcast/Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pm-mirror-podcast/id1487333301Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0OVEMmYmjwkmHGaL6UFz1A?si=rRzEkez9Q1i5lWCZokx-zQStitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=481821&refid=stpr PM Mirror (songs and vids to analyze yourself to):Website - www.thepmmirror.comInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/pmmirror/Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmV5TVV9q2PBuwbhtE570twSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/3kbZvYrDviAFo1hZE8Bg9DApple Music - https://itun.es/us/B2nGgbBandCamp - https://pmmirror.bandcamp.comTikTok - https://vm.tiktok.com/31w2o2/Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/pmmirrorlive Will's Notebooks (daily digital doodles):Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/willsnotebooks/TikTok - https://vm.tiktok.com/c4E8bp/Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/291dIvXLxbb4oPGYUTbu1y?si=zne8NZ-zRwiDwFtEQPDuZgApple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/artist/wills-notebooks/1504628257Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/user-848969169Support the show (https://open.spotify.com/artist/3kbZvYrDviAFo1hZE8Bg9D)

It's Thanksgiving week! Ledra & Pam discuss thankfulness, food, etiquette, along with the weekly dose of CRAZY! Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall during their holiday?! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/girlwhat/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/girlwhat/support

Orson's podcast is usually on the Judy Garland and Friends OTR Podcast at https://judy-garland.podomatic.com/

Orson's podcast is usually on the Judy Garland and Friends OTR Podcast at https://judy-garland.podomatic.com/

Orson's podcast is usually on the Judy Garland and Friends OTR Podcast at https://judy-garland.podomatic.com/

In this episode we get literally -one sentence- that isn't a lyric to a Louie Armstrong bop. The good news is that every other word of this minute is a Louie Armstrong bop. Write in and tell us about your first internet relationship!

The theology of "What A Wonderful World" by Louie Armstrong.There is a lot going wrong in the world today, but there are also a lot of wonderful things. Which wonderful things point us to God? 

This episode has more voice memos than ever, more pickleball talk than ever, and also introductions to Louie Armstrong and Bhagavan Ellis. WE WANT YOU McGUFFIN! Follow us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/33WAq4P  Leave us a voice memo and ask a question: https://anchor.fm/jake-triplett/message Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Segment) Surviving the Stay Home, Stay Safe order any way possible. Thank God for Netflix is a parady song from Louie Armstrong, What a Wonderful World. This is part of Rob Byrd's Moondog Saturday Morning Show, episode 64.  

Where else would you get this sort of selection and all on 78rpm records. Intriguing labelled blues from The Sonny Terry Trio- Parlophone refer to it as 'novelty instrumental.' In the mix: three from Tennessee Ernie Ford- (Ford started his career as a radio presenter), Kay Starr( she achieved success in every field of music she tried-jazz, pop and country), Michael Holliday, Louie Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey,  the great Frankie Laine( Old leather lungs himself- had hit records 60 years apart), Humprey Lyttleton, Ted Heath, Lou Busch, Ken Mcintosh and Dorothy Squires.

Welcome to another set of QuietStorm's #FlashbackFriday (#FBF) Series - where we turn back the clock and reminisce to my old radio playlists from Oct 2006 to Oct 2007 (RMN DWNX 91.1). In this #FBF Mix 124 recorded in Feb 25, 2007 (Hour 5), here are the tracks: 0:00 QuietStorm-91.1 WNX - Introduction 0:01 Astrud Gilberto - Who Can I Turn To? (When Nobody Needs Me) 0:04 Frank Sinatra - Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado) 0:06 Kenny G - What A Wonderful World (ft. Louie Armstrong) 0:09 Chuck Loeb - Spanish Nights 0:14 David Benoit - Remembering What You Said 0:19 Bass X - All Inside 0:23 Brian McKnight - Here With You 0:27 Nelson Rangell - Grace 0:33 Tim Janis - Night Walk 0:37 Danny Wright - The Prayer 0:41 Sarah Brightman - Nella Fantasia 0:45 Earth, Wind & Fire - Love Is Life 0:50 New York Voices - Baby Come Back

Welcome to another set of QuietStorm's #FlashbackFriday (#FBF) Series - where we turn back the clock and reminisce to my old radio playlists from Oct 2006 to Oct 2007 (RMN DWNX 91.1). In this #FBF Mix 124 recorded in Feb 25, 2007 (Hour 5), here are the tracks: 0:00 QuietStorm-91.1 WNX - Introduction 0:01 Astrud Gilberto - Who Can I Turn To? (When Nobody Needs Me) 0:04 Frank Sinatra - Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado) 0:06 Kenny G - What A Wonderful World (ft. Louie Armstrong) 0:09 Chuck Loeb - Spanish Nights 0:14 David Benoit - Remembering What You Said 0:19 Bass X - All Inside 0:23 Brian McKnight - Here With You 0:27 Nelson Rangell - Grace 0:33 Tim Janis - Night Walk 0:37 Danny Wright - The Prayer 0:41 Sarah Brightman - Nella Fantasia 0:45 Earth, Wind & Fire - Love Is Life 0:50 New York Voices - Baby Come Back

It’s holiday season and the perfect time for a podcast about gifts. The story of an extraordinary gift – a very special piano – is a favorite of Cal’s and will bring good cheer to all who listen. The story revolves around songwriter Jimmy McHugh, who was highly successful until the stock market crash in 1929 that set off The Great Depression. McHugh was forced to sell everything he owned to survive, and the loss of his piano left him unable to work because he could no longer write songs without one. He moved into a flat and was sleeping on a straw mattress, wondering how he was going to get through the calamity. And then, a gift came along that changed his life, and a lot of other lives. That gift – an upright piano – led McHugh to write an optimistic song that helped America get through The Depression. The song turned into an anthem. It’s called: On the Sunny Side of the Street. It would come to be performed by Frank Sinatra, Louie Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Rod Stewart, and the lesson in the lyrics is just as relevant today, as told by McHugh’s grandson, Lee Newman, and the musician Dave Damiani. Please pass this episode on, for everyone it touches will feel better and be a little bit luckier for it.

My guest today is Warren Odze. Warren is a successful drummer who has had a rich, versatile career; he has played, recorded &/or toured with Rod Stewart, Judy Collins, Bernie Leighton, Milt Hinton, Hank Jones, Peter Allen, Henry Gross as well as played on countless Broadway shows. Warren appreciates that his parents introduced him to quality music, listening to legends like Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong. Jo Jones (aka Papa Jo Jones) was a family friend and actually played Warren’s bar mitzvah! He shares honest insights of the world of a professional musician, wisdom that applies to life in general. He talks openly about his own sobriety and lessons he learned after his divorce to be a better father. He  marvels at musicians who, regardless of the intense pressure they are under, can bring chill to the gig. Warren names ‘the magic cats’, inspiring musicians like Steve Gadd, Elvin Jones, Frank Sinatra and Chick Corea, who embody being in the zone. He describes his personal journey of stage fright and anxiety and his determination to learn to relax, get out of his own way, so he could perform from a more grounded, intuitive place. Here’s a taste of some of Warren’s wit & wisdom: “I’m a first generation spoiled Long Island brat!” “When you are 18-20 years old, you are supposed to feel like you are going to change the world!” “I never really wanted to practice, I just wanted to play!” “I’m not famous and I’m not the best, but I’ve had a charmed life.” “Knock it out of the ballpark, wherever you go!” “There is no bad gig!” “All roads lead to Carvel” “Build it and they will come!” “The real sign of success is a dental plan.” “If you can’t chill there is no gig” “I have an acute case of wanderlust.” “I want to get to the finish line with peace and honor.” "(Broadway is) like a recording session where you never get a take but keep trying over and over again." Enjoy the podcast! Links: Internet Broadway Database All Music Facebook

A talk programme dedicated to films and television shows, presented by Marcus Ako and Laura Sampson (David Campbell stepping in for Laura) with special guest; Ariana Ryan on Resonance 104.4 FM at 7pm (UK) on Fridays.  Podcast episodes available from Monday morning at 00:30 (UK) Reach us on Twitter, on Facebook @ShootTheBreezeOnResonance104.4FM,  email shootthebreezonresonance104.4@gmail.com or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ShootTheBreezeShow/  On the show today: - Intro sound clips (FIREFLY, MOULIN ROUGE!, O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?)  - Film/TV News (Theme from 30 ROCK) Channing Tatum brings Magic Mike Live! to the UK Greg Berlantti gets $400 million contract with Warner Bros Atlanta renewed for Season 3 - Musical Interlude - Hello Dolly! - Louie Armstrong and Barbara Streisand) - Top 5 Film/TV discussion: (Theme from PARKS AND RECREATION) Top 5 favourite film musicals . Guest - Ariana's picks: 5. Les Miserables (2012) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707386/reference    4. Everyone says I love you (1996) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116242/reference   3. My Fair Lady (1964) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058385/reference 2. The Little Mermaid (1989) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097757/reference 1. Romeo + Juliet (1996) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117509/reference David's picks: 5) Hellzappoin (1941)  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033704/reference / Bugsy Malone https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074256/reference 4) Blues Brothers (1980) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080455/reference / Straight Outta Compton (2016) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1398426/reference 3) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073629/reference 2) Carmen Jones (1954) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046828/reference 1) All That Jazz (1979) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078754/reference4 Marcus' picks: 5) The Jungle Book 4) Hello Dolly 3) Dreamgirls 2) O Brother, Where art Thou? 1) Moulin Rouge! Sign-off (Theme from SANFORD AND SON)

Is "Welcome to the Jungle" actually an allegory about pubic hair? Probably not, but that won't stop Miel and Demi from trying. Internet superstar Grace Helbig (@gracehelbig) joins to help break down the Guns N Roses classic.UNPUNCHABLE JAMS: "Who Let the Dogs Out" by Baha Men, "Dream A Little Dream of Me" by Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong, "Only You" by Yazoo/Yaz

We end as we began: With the ghost of Louie Armstrong summoned from a brick wall. Watch this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h1X5Mir85M) and see the Summer of Scat fade into the review mirror.

This week we go from Big Mama Thornton to the Mercury Project! Along the way we learn about Louie Armstrong's lip scars and who IBM's Watson was really named after.

Rememberinghistory.com Podcast Show January 2017   Hello and welcome back to rememberinghistory.com where we are remembering history and we’re making it. I’m Robin Lofton, the host of this great and groundbreaking show that inspires YOU and YOUR family with stories, experiences, lessons, traditions, and celebrations—all from African American history. That’s right—it’s inspirational. History—in all its forms--can be inspirational. American history, ancient history, European history, music history, history of medicine, history of technology, history of law, women’s history. All kinds of history can be inspirational, instructional and entertaining. And African American history fits the bill in all of these ways.   I remember taking a course on the history of jazz when I was in college. Confession time, I took the class because I heard that it was easy and that I would easily get a good grade. What do you think that I discovered when I actually took the class? It WAS easy and I DID get a good grade. But it was easy because it was so interesting. I listened to and learned about great jazz musicians like Muddy Waters, Louie Armstrong, Count Basie, Chet Baker, Miles Davis and so many others. I learned about how and why jazz (and the blues) developed, how it changed over time and heard amazing true stories about the people who created this form of “folk music”. Yes, history of jazz was easy for me because it was absolutely fascinating. And I’ve been something of a jazz maniac ever since, going to jazz festivals throughout the United States and Europe. One class—one history class—changed me forever. That’s what history can do. I hate “boring stuff”. So you won’t ever find boring stuff here. Okay, let’s get back to the show!   Every month, the rememberinghistory.com podcast show (which is actually called Wiki History) focuses on a theme. The theme for January is: civil rights. I know that you’ve heard of them but what are “civil rights”? Broadly, civil rights (as defined by Wikipedia—and a big shout out to them for their work) is a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. That’s pretty general but it’s accurate. So, this month, the Wiki History podcast show will have two shows on civil rights.       The first show on civil rights is about the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act prohibited discrimination in voting based on race, gender, religion and other characteristics. I think that this is a particularly important time to discuss the Voting Rights Act because the right and ability to vote are (in my humble but educated opinion) at the very heart of democracy. If there is no voter equality then there is really isn’t a functioning or legitimate democracy. So, this will be discussed in the podcast coming later this month.   The second show on civil rights will not focus on the law but on the modern civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s. The show will focus on a group that is often neglected though they had an enormous impact: college students. College students were often on the front lines of civil rights activities. These student-activists were marching, engaging in sit-ins, writing articles and making speeches, registering people to vote and so many other activities. They were often threatened, beaten and sometimes worse. But their impact is undeniable. Stay tuned for this important show. Students can make a difference.   But today’s show is a slightly different—only slightly—because it is about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He fought hard for civil rights; we all know that. But his birthday is also in January—January 15th to be exact—so I felt that it was important to have a show that gives a “shout out” to him and remembers his birthday, which is celebrated as a federal holiday in the United States on the third Monday of January. Today’s Wiki history show about Dr. King won’t focus so much on what he did—though that will be discussed—but rather on how he can continue to inspire us, long after his early death in 1968. This show and every Wiki history podcast show is history at its finest. We’ll go beyond the names, dates and death counts of your high school history classes. (Remember, there is no “boring stuff” allowed here!) Instead, we’ll use history as a stepping stone to greater heights of wisdom and inspiration. We’re gonna get to it after just a bit of important information that you might find helpful.   First, if you enjoy this show, you can get more information at the Remembering history podcast page on Facebook. You will find pictures, short videos and a community of history lovers. There is also a place for comments, which I hope that you will leave for me because I really appreciate them and I do respond. Also, if you enjoy this show, please let others know about it. They might like it and find it inspirational too. Let’s change the way that we think of history—one friend at a time. By the way, you also find a short animated video of this podcast on the Remembering history Podcast Page (again on Facebook.)   Finally, I just want to remind you that 2017, the Wiki History podcast show is dedicated to the National Museum of African American History & Culture. Located in Washington, DC as part of the Smithsonian, the National Museum of African American History & Culture opened in 2016. This kind of museum was long overdue but it finally happened and it is a place that everyone should visit and explore. Museums are a great way to bring history to life and to keep it alive for future generations. Wiki History is honored to be a part of this important process. For every person that listens to this podcast show, rememberinghistory.com will donate $1 to the National Museum of African American History & Culture. I also donate personally and I hope that you will too.   That’s enough for now. Let’s get started with this great and groundbreaking Wiki history podcast show. Today’s show is called “Lessons from a King.”               “I have a dream” (speech excerpt) Play excerpt   August 28, 1963. I think that we all recognize this speech by Dr. Martin Luther King—one of the most famous speeches ever—given at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It’s also one of the most important glimpses into the heart and mind of Dr. King. The strength to dream, to envision a better world. The depth to let his spiritual side lead and encourage him to new heights. The audacity to challenge everyone to dream and work towards a world where equality, justice and peace are the norm.   And this speech is so inspirational that people want to wake up from their dreams to stand up and cheer. I certainly wanted to while I was listening to this recording.   We gonna hear more quotes from Dr. King throughout this podcast—he was one of the most quotable people on the planet—and his speeches inspired a generation. And continues to inspire people. There is so much that we can still learn from Martin Luther King and that is the focus of today’s podcast. We are gonna focus on the lessons learned from and inspirations acquired from Dr. King. His legacy will never die.   By the way, this is one of the joys of history. We can be inspired by people who are no longer here. We can continue to learn from their lives, the mistakes and their victories. Their stories never die. They become part of the never-ending human drama.   So, what lessons can we get from Dr. Martin Luther King? How can he inspire us?   So many ways but we will focus on just three.   Lesson #1: Be Maladjusted. Lesson #2: Work together. Lesson #3: Take action.   He spoke about these lessons. But, more importantly, he lived these lessons. And they inspired the world!           Let’s talk first about lesson #1. Be maladjusted.   That doesn’t sound right, does it? Why should we be maladjusted? Maladjusted means “failing to cope with one’s social environment or norms.” Did Dr. King really encourage us to be maladjusted? In a word, “yes!”   In a speech to the YMCA on June 4, 1957, Dr. King spoke to a group of students. He said,--and I gotta apologize that I’m not have a lot of audio recordings of Dr. King’s speeches. Instead, I will read an excerpt. Hope that’s okay. He said, “There are some things within our societal order to which I am proud to be maladjusted and to which I call upon you to be maladjusted. I never intend to adjust myself to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to adjust myself to mob rule. I never intend to adjust myself to the tragic effects of the methods of physical violence and to tragic militarism. I call upon you to be maladjusted to such things.” Later, speaking a Western Michigan University in 1963, he further said, “I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few. I am proud to be maladjusted.”   Wow! Here is Dr. King encouraging you to question societal norms that are inconsistent with your values and rights. Of course, things that Dr. King was fighting like segregation and discrimination are no longer legal but there are certainly other things happening and accepted today that you might not want to accept as normal, even if society does such as continued racial discrimination, LGTBQ discrimination, police violence, religious intolerance, economic inequality to name just a few.   Being maladjusted takes courage and conviction. It means going against an impassioned and fearful majority and deciding right and wrong on your own terms. This can be difficult but, as Dr. King said, “Our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter.” Being maladjusted means not being silent. It means speaking out. It means taking a stand. It means doing something. It can even be dangerous if others who disagree with you feel threatened and become violent. But it is definitely the “high road.” Creative maladjustment does not ask “is it safe?” “is it expedient?” “is it popular?” or “is it efficient?” Creative maladjustment simply asks “is it right?” Only your conscience can answer that question. And, as Dr. King said, “The time is always right to do the right thing.”       Being maladjusted can be expressed in so many ways that can improve your life. It can encourage you to go to college or start a business when others are telling to get a low-paying, dead-end job. It can encourage you to travel and meet new people when others are telling you that it’s better just to stay home. It can encourage you to follow your dreams to be a writer, musician or any other career ambition when others are telling to remain in your comfort zone or take something safe and steady. Being maladjusted can help you to live YOUR life rather than limiting yourself to what other’s say is possible for you.   What an inspirational and courageous concept! With all the difficulties that we face today—things can be quite confusing!—we can all follow the enduring legacy of Dr. King and remain true to our values and let our conscience to our guide.   "There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right."    Let’s move on to the next lesson. Lesson #2 is to work together.   At the commencement speech at Oberlin College in 1965, Dr. King while discussing the importance of unity said, “We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”   When many people talk about the civil rights movement, they focus on the work of Martin Luther King. There’s no doubt that he was at the center of the movement. But he was not alone. There were many organizations and people of all races, ethnicities, genders and backgrounds involved in the civil rights movement. And each person and organization played an important role.   Dr. King was not just a single person leading the movement. He was a founding member and the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, formed in 1957* following the successful 381-day Montgomery bus boycott. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (or SCLC) was a group of Baptist ministers who recruited members from churches to participate in civil rights demonstrations.       There was the NAACP—working nationally and locally to ensure economic, social and political equality, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (or SNCC)—you will hear more about them in a podcast on students in the civil rights movement later this month, there was the Nation of Islam whose most famous member was Malcolm X who focused on Black nationalism, CORE—the Congress of Racial Equality who were instrumental in the freedom rights to register Blacks to vote in the southern states, NAACP Legal Defense Fund led by William Hastie and Thurgood Marshall working hard to document disparate education between schools for Blacks and whites and to abolish the federal and state segregation laws. There were many other organizations involved and thousands of people working at the national and grassroots levels during the civil rights movement. I’m reluctant to mention any names because I can’t say them all and I don’t want to imply that any one was more important than another. But I can’t resist mentioning the “mother of the civil rights movement” Rosa Parks had worked to document and report incidents of white men engaging in systematic and unprosecuted sexual assaults against Black women. She had been involved in this risky work even before she refused to give up her seat on the Montgomery bus on December 1, 1955. There was Harry T. Moore* working in Florida to desegregate schools and demand equal pay for Black teachers. He and his wife were unfortunately killed in a bomb attack by the KKK. His story is amazing but often neglected. There was Viola Davis, a white housewife killed for transporting people during the March on Washington. (Remembering history has made an interesting but sad podcast about people killed fighting for civil rights. You can find it on the Facebook page.) And, of course, there were thousands of people who participated in the marches, sit-ins, freedom rides, boycotts and demonstrations. So many people. All working together.   Of course, there were conflicts and disagreements. Organizations had different approaches to achieving civil rights. Individuals had different motives and visions. But everyone ultimately wanted the same thing: freedom, justice and equality. I think that Dr. King: “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” They had to learn to work together.   No, Dr. King did not act alone. The lesson here is that we must work together towards our common goal. Whether that goal is the cause of justice and equality, fighting for the environment, helping the poor or displaced persons, passing a law, stopping violence or raising a family, nobody walks alone. We must work together. It takes a village!   The lesson is clear: Look for ways to live and work together. Or else everyone loses. Everyone will be defeated. There really is strength in numbers.   Now, let’s turn to the third lesson (and arguably the most important and inspirational lesson of all). Lesson #3 is that you MUST take action.   Martin Luther King was a philosophical man, an educated man, a thinking man and a deeply spiritual man. But he was also a man of action. He was at the forefront of the modern civil rights movement from the beginning. Sometimes, we like to think of him as a man with dreams—and he certainly had dreams and visions of a better world. But he was absolutely committed to working—and I mean working hard—for change in the United States and around the world. And he always encouraged others to take action.   He once said, “Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.”   Is there any doubt that Dr. King was a man of action?   He organized and participated in numerous marches, sometimes in the front of the line. He also organized and participated in demonstrations and boycotts, gave speeches, wrote letters and sometimes just made an appearance to give people hope.   Dr. King was acutely aware that the work also had to occur in the political arena. He met with U.S. presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and Bobby Kennedy (who was attorney general under President Kennedy) constantly pressuring them for legislation on civil rights and voting rights, pressuring them to use federal troops to protect peaceful demonstrators and to enforce the desegregation orders in public schools.   He faced attack dogs, fire hoses and billy clubs in demonstrations. No, he wasn’t present at the Bloody Sunday march from Selma to Montgomery in which the police and local citizens brutalized the nonviolent demonstrators. Afterwards, Dr. King stated, “If I had any idea that the state troopers would use the kind of brutality they did, I would have felt compelled to give up my church duties altogether to lead the line.” He was arrested numerous times, risking getting beaten or killed in jail. Even when he was imprisoned, he wrote his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail in which he stated firmly that Blacks can’t be patient and wait for change. Change had to happen NOW.   This podcast is just too short to list all of Martin Luther King’s work for civil rights. I just mention a few activities to reinforce the lesson that you must act to make things happen. Whether it is working for a cause, building a business, attending school, looking for a job or anything that is important to you, you must take action to make it happen. Sure, dream about it, envision it, plan it out. But also get to work to make it happen! And remember the words of Dr. King, “If you can’t fly then run. If you can’t run then walk. If you can walk then crawl. But whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”   So, you have the 3 lessons from Dr. Martin Luther King.   To recap:   Be maladjusted—don’t accept the norm if it conflicts with your values. Dare to be different. Work together—the more, the merrier and the more powerful. You don’t need to do it alone, Take action—work, work and keep working to achieve your goals.   That wraps up this Wiki history podcast. I hope that you enjoyed it, learned a little something and felt inspired. If you did like it, I would be grateful if you would tell others about this podcast and about the Wiki history show.   I realize that I mentioned a lot of quotations, names of people and organizations who were instrumental in the civil rights movement. You can get more information, see iconic pictures, find the quotations and even good a book list at the remembering history podcast page on Facebook. You will also find a link to a short animated video about “Lessons from a King”. It’s only 2 minutes and I think that you’ll find interesting and fun. And it’s great for kids of all ages.   The next show is about the Voting Rights Act. Dr. King was absolutely committed to the passage of this important law. You’ll learn about it and how effective it remains today. (Spoiler alert: The Supreme Court has not reigned supreme in protecting voting rights!)   And the final show for January is about the role of student-activists during the civil rights movement. They were bold, brave and didn’t back down. You definitely don’t wanna miss that show!   Come back soon to Remembering History where we ARE remembering history and we’re making it. Every day!   Bye for now!

Emmy®-winning actor and WICKED’s very own Wizard, Peter Scolari, sits down with Dawn & Zach to talk about his journey from an apprentice in the New York Theater scene to the Broadway stage. Don’t miss Dawn, Zach, and Peter perform a moving live rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Old Friends & Bookends.”

Luke Jaconetti, Andrew Leyland and Paul Spataro return to the world of JAMES BOND to talk about the theme music for 53 years of James Bond themes. They are all here, the good, the bad and the ugly! Louie Armstrong, Madonna, LuLu, Duran Duran, Shirley Bassey, Carly Simon and MANY MORE have all graced the opening credits of a James Bond movie and now you can find them all HERE! It's a DOUBLE SIZED, GATEFOLD ALBUM STYLE episode of LONG PLAY!Feedback for this show can be sent to: twotruefreaks@gmail.com

Luke Jaconetti, Andrew Leyland and Paul Spataro return to the world of JAMES BOND to talk about the theme music for 53 years of James Bond themes. They are all here, the good, the bad and the ugly! Louie Armstrong, Madonna, LuLu, Duran Duran, Shirley Bassey, Carly Simon and MANY MORE have all graced the opening credits of a James Bond movie and now you can find them all HERE! It's a DOUBLE SIZED, GATEFOLD ALBUM STYLE episode of LONG PLAY!Feedback for this show can be sent to: twotruefreaks@gmail.com

Programa Calabaza's Club 1x04 Fecha Emisión: 23-11-2015 Espacio dedicado al mundo NBA en su lado extradeportivo. Dirigido por Paco Atero y con Álvaro Alonso, Victor Duran y Jordi Broncano Contenido: EL INFORME PELÍCANO - En este cuarto programa visitamos Nueva Orleans, Lousiana. - Crónica en rosa con Josh Smith, J. R. Smith, Gilbert Arenas,Ty Lawson, Metta World Peace y Lebron James entre otros como protagonistas. - Conoceremos a la Reina del Vudú en New Orleans, Marie Laveau, así como lo más reseñable tanto de la ciudad como de su equipo NBA (New Orleans Pelicans) comiendo en el Frenchmen Street uno de los lugares mas ídílicos de la ciudad. - Por último conoceremos el Winner de la semana y repartiremos la Calabaza semanal tomando unas copas en el Snug Harbor y disfrutar del mejor Jazz de Nueva Orleans. Música a cargo de nuestro RockMaster José Lameiro: - Ram Jam; "Black Betty" - Guns N´Roses; "Night Train" - John Fogerty; ”She´s Got Baggage" - Louie Armstrong; "What a wonderful world" - Louie Armstrong; "La vie en rose" - Louie Armstrong & Danny Kaye; "When the saints go marching in" - Platero y Tú; "Un abecedario sin letras"

Ep. 129 -  Iconic Chef Wolfgang Puck is this week's guest on the Food is the New Rock podcast.  Zach met him at CUT in Beverly Hills to talk about the music he listened to as a child, the music he plays in his restaurants, and the musicians he's gotten to cook for over the years. (Warning: There's a a lot of name dropping in this podcast.) We also ask him whether or not inspiration is a young person's game, and he tells us about the time that he saw Louie Armstrong as a kid in Austria. We're dropping our episode a little early this week because... we're featured on iTunes!  So if you want to thank somebody for getting this podcast 12 hours early this week, you can thank them.  

The Mocking Her Jay Edition. You should never gossip about your own diseases. The creepiest zoo in America. It's sad to hear what happened to Louie Armstrong. Another world class review of the new Hunger Games movie. Plus, Rosie O'Donnell, Scott Stapp, The Hollywood Dime, Black People Newz, Un-Fun Fact Trivia, and more! www.beyondserious.com

On this week's show, we set two records with one mysterious tune, and Quincy Jones discusses his roots. Plus music from Billy Joel, Junior Byles, Dave Brubeck, Issac Hayes, Hot Club Roma, Lenny Breau, Louie Armstrong, Drum and Bass, The Bahama Soul Club, and Pelican. SUBSCRIBE: iTunes  TWITTER: @MusicFirstPcast FACEBOOK: Music First Podcast EMAIL: MusicFirstPodcast@gmail.com

With her ability to banter with the audience and outspoken sense of humor Sarah Vaughn was best described as “sassy.” Her first big break came after she won an amateur night at the famous Apollo Theatre.  She would go on to work with such great jazz musicians as Louie Armstrong, Miles Davis, and Count Basie,...

With her ability to banter with the audience and outspoken sense of humor Sarah Vaughn was best described as “sassy.” Her first big break came after she won an amateur night at the famous Apollo Theatre.  She would go on to work with such great jazz musicians as Louie Armstrong, Miles Davis, and Count Basie,...

With her ability to banter with the audience and outspoken sense of humor Sarah Vaughn was best described as “sassy.” Her first big break came after she won an amateur night at the famous Apollo Theatre.  She would go on to work with such great jazz musicians as Louie Armstrong, Miles Davis, and Count Basie, […]

Pastor Jeff Williams: November 22, 2009 Meet the Ephesians, Part XIII: Blocking the Son. How many of you can do an imitation, somebody whose voice you can do? Nobody? Okay, Im not going to call on you and ask you to do your imitation here. When I was a little boy, my first impression was Louie Armstrong. I remember meeting Louie Armstrong at a fair when he came to Rockford, jumping over a fence and going to meet him. My family used to laugh at me when Id do, Hello, Dolly. This is Louis, Dolly. What a wonderful world. Im doing a concert tonight, so come on back, but it says in the Bible here that we are called to imitate God. Ephesians 5:1 (page 1159 of pew Bibles)-imitate God. How do you imitate God? Have you thought about that? I mean do you speak in a booming voice in King James? Is that how you imitate God? Do you talk like this to imitate God? Thank you, Jim. Bless thee. How do you imitate God? Do you go around smiting people or what do you do? What does it mean to imitate God-because thats who were called to be like? He says, Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love… So he defines imitating God as living a life of love because that makes sense, doesnt it? If God is love, therefore, if we live a life of love-because God is love-we are therefore imitating God. When we live a life of love, Gods power is released in our lives, and change takes place. Now Im going to have these two glasses represent two different lives. This glass over here represents a person who really is just consumed with themselves, really consumed with their priorities, their agenda, and their need. Theyre pretty self-centered, and that really is the natural inclination of all of us, isnt it? You dont have to teach your child to be selfish. You have to teach your child to share, but you dont have to teach your child to be selfish. They come around to being selfish quite naturally, dont they? But this represents a life where maybe you know the Lord. Youve trusted in Christ, but youre really not living for Him. Youre pretty much living for yourself, and as far as spiritually-speaking, youre not passionate about the things of God. We would not characterize your life as living a life of love. This glass over here is going to represent a person who loves the Lord and is passionate about the things of God. You use the expression, They are on fire, in their faith. This tea bag is going to represent the Holy Spirit. Its going to represent the power and the change the Holy Spirit wants to bring in our lives. When I put it in this glass, youre going to notice over time that the change over here is barely noticeable. The change in this glass, where the heart is passionate about the things of God and is living a life of love, youre going to notice that its going to begin to change the water. The waters actually going to become something entirely different. Its going to be transformed; its going to be changed because when we live a life of love and were passionate about the things of God and about the things God cares for, we cannot help but to be changed. When we are changed, we become literally different people. We are not the same people we were before. The Holy Spirit begins to permeate, fill and change your life; and when He changes your life, that begins to change the lives of other people. We change the temperature of this church. We raise the temperature of this church. So that we grow in our passion and our love for God, we change this church. We change this church; we change our community, and we are doing that. You are having a part in doing that. But which of these glasses here characterizes you? You know the same bag is in both; but in one its making a tremendous impact and making a tremendous difference. In the other, its hardly doing anything. The Holy Spirit can reside within a person who is barely making an impact in the world because their heart is cold to the things of God. That same Holy Spirit in a life that is on fire for God is going to change and is going to make an impact. Whats the temperature of your heart today? Is it a heart that is cold, or is it a heart that is on fire for God, is in love with God and passionate about the things of God. Thats my goal today-as you say, This is me-that we can raise the heat. We can turn up the heat. If you say, Well, this is me. Im really on fire for God! I really love the Lord! then this message will encourage you to keep up the good work. What does it look like to live a life of love? Its said if youre imitating God, youre going to live a life of love. What does that look like? The next verse says, …just as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. The result of his love was He did what? He gave. In the Book of Matthew 20:28 (page 977 of pew Bibles), Jesus utters a purpose statement. Hes telling us what Hes about. Hes defining Himself. Hes defining His mission. He says in Chapter 20:28, …just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. So a life of love is characterized by two qualities, two gauges, two measurements: servanthood and giving; so love is action; love is demonstrated; love is a choice. It is not a feeling. It is not an emotion. Living a life of love does not mean you be gooey, syrupy, or a sweet, fake kind-of-thing. It is a life that is spent in service. It is a life that is spent in giving. It is a life that is faithful and honoring to God. Its a decision you make. What does God say in James 4:8 (page 1198, although Pastor is paraphrasing)? He says, Draw near to Me, and I will..? Draw near to you. God says, If you take a step of faith towards Me, I will move towards you. So this is not something we manufacture in and of ourselves. To imitate God is not something you can do in and of yourself. It is a cooperative team effort. As I cooperate with the Holy Spirit, as I move towards Him, He works in my life as well. You know, this is not the way it was for the Ephesians. This is a radical change for them. When it came to matters of faith for the Ephesians, it was an entirely different story; so Paul is having to relearn them. He is having to teach them anew because their religion was not about relationships. Their religion was not about relationship. Their religion was about certain hoops that they would go through. We see in the banner over here, hes holding up a statue. Of course, the statue of Artemis was much bigger than that. We have it; its in one of the museums. We can go and look at it, but she was the fertility goddess. Her name was Diana-Artemis. She was worshipped in all of Asia Minor. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. You would come to Artemis, and you would pray to her. You would give gifts to her. You would say certain spells and incantations, hopefully, that Artemis would give you a lot of children and healthy children, that she would give you a good harvest, and that she would give you a successful hunt. So I say the right things; I do the right things. Other than that, it doesnt matter how you live. As long as youve gone to the Temple and as long as youve taken care of the ceremony and ritual, then hopefully Artemis will take care of your needs. So when they came to Christ, Paul had to train them to say, Thats not the way it is. God is not an idol. God is the living God. He is a person, and He wants to have a relationship with you, so how you live does matter. We talked in Ephesians 4 last week about things that cause your heart to be cold-things like unforgiveness-things like unwholesome words that proceed out of your mouth that tear people down, a selfishness and deceit. Those things keep your heart cold. Then he talked about forgiveness, and he talked about giving. He talked about serving, and he talked about speaking words that edify, that keep passion for God strong in our lives and keep life change happening. Notice theres some change here. Its not that this is void of change, but nowhere near the change, nowhere near the impact of the heart that is on fire for God. So Paul is telling them, Look, God is a person, and it matters how you live. You cannot just simply say, If I say this ritual, if I say this incantation, if I give this gift, then the goddess will bless my life. Yet, there are some Christians who do that same thing with Christianity. If I just say this confession… If I just give this… If I just give this… If I just do that, then Gods going to bless my life. It doesnt matter how I live; it doesnt matter about my attitude; the Bible says, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Since God is a person, ritual and ceremony are not the ways that we please Him. What pleases Him is a life thats lived in love. So some people want the blessing of God, but they think they can have the blessing of God without the passion, without living a life of love. I want the blessing of God, but yet I want to live for myself, and it doesnt work that way. It doesnt work that way. In the Book of 1 Samuel 7 (page 268), if youll turn there, were going to look at a story in the Old Testament this morning about a people who thought they could use God. They thought they could have Gods blessing without having a heart for God, without having a passion for the things of God. While youre finding 1 Samuel 7, I want to tell you the story of whats going on. Israel is now in the Promised Land that Moses had promised them. Joshua has led them into it. They received a command to not turn to the right or the left, to follow the commands of God and not follow after the other gods; but they did. Right now, their lives were characterized by compromise. They did not worship the true God, yet they wanted the God of Heavens blessing. They were following after the foreign gods and worshipping the foreign gods. They had a period of whats called the judges where they were led not by a king, not by David or Solomon or Saul, but they were lead by these charismatic leaders who God would raise up and deliver them because their lives would be characterized by sin. They would cry out to God, and then God would send a deliverer. Then things would be okay, and then theyd fall right back into the same patterns. Then theyd cry for mercy. God would raise up a judge, a deliverer and deliver them from their oppression, from their enemies. Things would be great. Then theyd fall back in the same spiral of sin, and it was just a cyclical pattern. Some of you might say, Well, that sounds familiar to me. That's my life. Thats the way it is. So here they are. There is a man by the name of Eli, and he is a judge. Hes also the high priest. He has two sons that are knuckleheads. These guys just dont have a clue. Not only do they seem like they dont have too much going on, they are corrupt. They are corrupt in how they misuse the temple offerings. They are corrupt in their having sexual relationships with all kinds of women. Its bad. Their father tries to correct them, but these guys-they dont want to be corrected. Theyre just an embarrassment to their father, an embarrassment to God. So they go to war, and these two guys lead them into battle. Theyre going to fight the Philistines. You remember the Philistines, David and Goliath. This is before that. So they fight the Philistines, and it goes terribly. They lose 4,000 men in this battle. It does not go well. They come home with their tales between their legs; and theyre like, We got defeated. Were supposed to be the people of God. If God is with us, how can we lose to the Philistines? One of the sons, whose name is Phinehas-if you could pop that slide up for Brenda-says, I have a great idea. Lets go to Shiloh and get the Ark of the Covenant, and we will take the Ark of the Covenant in with us to battle. If we have the Ark of the Covenant, we cannot lose. We will win. You remember the Ark of the Covenant, right? They were looking at it like in the movie Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Remember in the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, it was taught that lightning bolts shoot out of the Ark of the Covenant and consume the enemies. The Nazis open up the ark, in the movie-not in the Bible. They open up the ark, and ghosts fly out. The guys face melts and all that stuff. They start looking at the Ark of the Covenant like its some sort of a magic thing. It doesnt matter how we live. We can worship the foreign gods, but if we just bring the Ark with us, were going to win. Oh, that's a great idea. Fantastic idea! So they go and they get the Ark of the Covenant, and they march it on to battle. Oh, yeah! Were bringing the big guy now. Lets see if you can beat us now that weve got God here, the Ark of the Covenant! Youre going down! They start shouting at the top of their lungs. I mean just making this tremendous roar like a team that has their star player come on the field. Then you start to cheer; its like, Youre going to get it now, man! We have the big guy here. When the Philistines hear this, they go, Whats going on? Why is Israel shouting? They were just defeated by us. Why are they shouting? Why are they so confident? Why are they so arrogant? They go out in the field, and they find out that the Ark of the Covenant is there. The spies go back to the Philistines as they go, Were in trouble, man! Theyve got reinforcements. They go, How many? Its not a matter of how many. Its who. Theyve got their gods with them! No way! The God of Israel had a reputation. He was the same God that had triumphed over Pharaoh in Egypt, the most powerful civilization at the time. They knew those stories. They knew about the Ark of the Covenant. They were like, What chance do we have against a God? We are doomed. Were going to lose because they have a God! You know what? We have a god too, so well call to our god. Hopefully our god will lead and triumph over their God, but you have to fight like youve never fought before-even if they have that Ark there. So there stands the Ark of the Covenant. Its gold; its glimmering in the sunshine. They just know theyre going to win, and the battle is on. What do you think happens? You think God is going to allow them to just use Him like that? You think Gods going to say, Well, you know, you can forget about Me, and you can worship other gods; but as long as youre bringing the Ark of the Covenant in this battle, Im going to have to win it for you. It doesnt work that way. Not only are they defeated, but they lose 30,000 men-30,000 men! God says, Im not going to have any part of that. Dont think Me for a fool. Dont think you can live any way you want to live and be cold and insensitive towards My commands and then want My blessing too. Its not going to work that way. So they are defeated soundly. Elis sons are killed in the battle, and the Ark of the Covenant is taken into enemy hands. The Philistines take it. It becomes part of their prize for defeating Israel. News is brought back to Eli, the high priest. He says, How did it go in the Battle, and how is the Ark of the Covenant? Hes nervous about it. Thats his job as the high priest-to watch over the Ark of the Covenant, and he lets his sons talk him into letting it go out into battle. Hes nervous about it. That's his job. They said, The battle went terrible. We lost thousands of men. Your two sons are dead. He said, What of the Ark of the Covenant? They said, The Ark of the Covenant is in the hands of the enemy. Its been taken. Eli falls over in his chair, breaks his neck and dies. His daughter-in-law is there-Phinehas wife-and she is pregnant. She is so traumatized by the loss of her father-in-law and by the loss of her husband that she goes in to labor. The labor is not going well. She gives birth to a son, and she is just grieving over whats going on. The midwives are trying to console her, trying to comfort her and say, Its okay. Youve a healthy baby boy! She will not be consoled. She says, His name is Ichabod, for the glory of the Lord has left Israel. She names her son Ichabod, meaning no glory, and she dies. This is a really sad story. Its really a dark time in Israel. Its this period of Ichabod. Its this period of no glory. Theres no Ark of the Covenant. Its like Gods presence-it was a way… Even though God didnt live in the Ark of the Covenant because He is God, it represented His presence with them; and now that is gone. Israel feels alone. Israels God is in a foreign land. Now, well get back to Israel in a second, but I want to tell you what happens with the Ark of the Covenant because its not related to our subject matter, but it is interesting. I find it a little bit humorous as well. The Philistines take the Ark of the Covenant, and theyre thinking, Our god just scored a knock-out and defeated the God of the Israelites, so now we have this cool golden Ark of the Covenant. Lets just take it home. They put it next to their fertility god, whose name is Dagon. Dagon is a god-we have a slide for that as well for Brenda. Dagon is the fertility god who has a mans face, a mans hands but kind a fish-like body. Hes kind of the male equivalent of Artemis of the Ephesians. They put the Ark of the Covenant next to Dagon. When the priests of Dagon arrive the next morning, Dagon is lying next to the Ark of the Covenant on the ground. Well, how did that happen? How in the world did Dagon get on the ground like this? They cant figure it out, so they pick the idol back up. They put it back on its pedestal. They go about their priestly activities. The next morning, they come in. Dagon is on the ground again, only this time his head is removed and his arms are removed. He has no power. He is a helpless Dagon, and he is lying there on the ground. Nobody did that, right? Nobodys going to dare do that. They look at the Ark of the Covenant, and they look at the decapitated Dagon; and they say, Uh-oh. We have to get this thing out of here. We think our gods greater than this God, but now were not so sure. Then things start to happen physically to the people. They start to get tumors, and its not good. Theyre like, We have to get rid of this Ark of the Covenant, and it ends up going back to Israel. They said, Take this thing. We dont want it! They march it out of their city, and theyre like, Here! People are dying. Idols are getting maimed. No! You take this back. It ends up going to a young man by the name of Eleazar. It stays at his home. This young man watches this for about 20 years. Israel is going through this period of Ichabod, this period of no glory. When you are in this state where youre living for yourself, youre doing whatever you want to do, and youre disregarding the things of God, its fun for a while; but after a while, its not fun anymore. After a while, that kind of life takes its toll, and you start to reap what youve sown. You think, I remember when we were on fire for God. I remember, and you want to change. So they start to desire the Lord. They start to want to live for God. Samuel goes, I can work with this because the principal of draw near to God and He will draw near to you was just as true back then as it is now, so Samuel has a word of counsel. Samuel the Prophet speaks to them in Verse 3 of Chapter 7 (page 268). And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. What did they do? They decided to live a life of love. Were going to serve God. Were going to serve God because its the right thing to do. Were not going to serve God because we want victory in the battle, but were going to serve God because we love Him, because we miss His presence and His love. We miss His blessing-because Hes worthy of our praise. Samuel, youre right. Were going to live for God. They take this compromise, these idols, and they destroy them. They say, Were going to worship the God of Heaven. Remember how they were so cocky and arrogant when they were living ungodly lives and they brought the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield and get pummeled? They were so cocky and arrogant, and this time they are humble and meek. They say to Samuel, Pray for us. We dont have the ability to beat the Philistines. Pray for us that God will be with us. We dont want to live subservient to the Philistines any longer. Verse 12, Then Samuel took a stone… I will tell you the story. They fight the Philistines, and this time they triumph. This time they win. Samuel takes a stone, and he says, We will name this place Ebenezer, for God has been with us and helped us. He names the place Ebenezer, which means rock of help or stone of help. Would you say your life is characterized by Ichabod or by Ebenezer? Would you say your life is characterized by a life that is passionate for God or a life where the glory of God seems like it has departed. What would you say? Ichabod or Ebenezer? Some of you recognize that name-Ebenezer because of The Christmas Carol. You watched Ebenezer Scrooge. Every Christmas I watch The Christmas Carol. Its just one of our family traditions. It just gets me in the mood for the season. What happens to Ebenezer? When he starts off his life, hes really an Ichabod. Hes living for himself. He is a miser; hes greedy; hes selfish. He turns a blind eye to the needs of the poor. He turns a deaf ear to the cry for help, and he lives only for himself. He begins to see the consequences. He is shown visions of his past, of his present, and of his future; and he sees the direction his life is heading, and he starts to have an awakening. Ebenezer says, Im going to live up to my name. Im going to live a life of love. Im going to change. Im going to become a giver. Im going to become a servant, and Ebenezer changes and is transformed into a new person; and he changes his community and impacts lives. Its my prayer for you this morning that if you say, Im an Ichabod. Theres no glory in my life, its my prayer for you today that youll receive the Lord, Jesus Christ, that youll give your life fully to Him. If youre already received the Spirit of God, you will make a choice to take a step toward Him, that He might draw near to you and say, I want to live for the things of God and not for myself. Heres the deal: when you live for God, you get everything else thrown in, Seek ye first the kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Seek all these things, and you miss everything, but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and then all these things will be added unto you. When they sought the Lord, their God, all the blessings of God came with it. When they lived for themselves, they experienced the consequences of that decision as well. Would you join me in prayer this morning? Father, our time together goes so quickly. As I look at the clock, it seems like we had just begun. Its already time for us to go. Yet, I pray that the words of this Scripture, the meaning of this story, will last long beyond our time here today. Paul was trying to get the church in Ephesus to wake up, to realize the great potential that they had, that if they would live a life of love, characterized by service and giving, that You would transform them and that they would transform their world. The same message was communicated by Samuel to the children of Israel, Devote yourself fully to God. Remove that from your life, which is compromise, which is self-centered, which is causing you to be defeated. Draw near to God that He can draw near to you. I pray today for those who have not yet received Christ Jesus as Lord, that this morning they would take that step of faith and receive the Gospel, invite You into their lives-the good news of Christ. I pray for those who name the name of Christ today, whose faith has grown cold. I pray that You would rekindle a fire in their hearts, that Your Holy Spirit, that the influence of Your Spirit, would begin to permeate every aspect of their lives, that they would change. Lord, for those of us who are living for You and are passionate about the things of God, that we could not grow weary in well-doing, that we would press on and persevere and allow You to live through us. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen. Amen.

Referred to by Duke Ellington as “not only the world’s greatest drummer...(but also) the world’s greatest musician!”, Louie Bellson has expressed himself on drums since age three. At 15, he pioneered the double bass drum set-up. At 17, he triumphed over 40,000 drummers to win the Gene Krupa drumming contest. He has performed on more than 200 albums with such greats as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Woody Herman, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Louie Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, James Brown, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Joe Williams, Wayne Newton and Bellson’s late wife Pearl Bailey.

Composer/trumpeter, Randy Sandke, talks about playing jazz from Louie Armstrong and Bix Beiderbeck to his own "Metatonal Music".