Ravi Shankar, Transitions at 92

The world has been forever-impacted by this talented, passionate, daring, loving spirit.  His music is considered by many, including me, a conduit.  The mathematical beauty of his music is inspirational and healing.

He introduced North America to Hindustani music; a true sitar virtuoso.  He is survived by his wife Sukanya and his daughters, Norah Jones (singer) & Anoushka Shankar Wright (sitarist) with her husband, Joe Wright; 3 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren.  You can read a lovely obituary and tribute here.

When I did a news search on him, these were the first 3 healines to appear:

USA Today: Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar dies

CNN: Sitar legend Ravi Shankar, father of Norah Jones, dies at 92

WashingtonPost:  Ravi Shankar, Grammy-winning Indian sitar virtuoso, dies at 92

Ravi and his daughter, Anoushka:

George Harrison and Ravi during a sitar lesson:

 

I will always consider you in high regard, sir. Thank you for your contributions and your beauty. You will always have a special place in my life & my heart and the lives & hearts of many I know and don't know.

Namaste guru.

Sigh No More

Love; it will not betray you

Dismay or enslave you

It will set you free

Be more like the man 

You were made to be

There is a design

An alignment, a cry

Of my heart to see

The beauty of love

As it was made to be

May love set us all free!!!


If you have difficulty viewing on my site, click here to watch on YouTube. 

Mumford & Sons

Danielle Ate The Sandwich - Morning Music

The lovely Danielle sings Someone Like You (Adele Cover).

Tinariwen

"Listening to Tinariwen is like dropping a bucket into a deep well."

~Robert Plant

Tinariwen's website is here.

The Labyrinth

Kyla La Grange @ SXSW Tonight!!!

Tonight at Klub Krucial.

9 pm

612 E 6th Street-Right next door to Emo's!

Kyla La Grange!!!

You have to hear her in person to really understand.

Kyla began playing music when she was five years-old, started her first band at thirteen, and resolved to do this for the rest of her life while studying philosophy at Cambridge University – "I realised I loved writing and performing more than anything." 

Kyla has been recording her debut record with exciting newcomer Brett Shaw (South, UNKLE). Not an easy artist to pigeonhole, Kyla’s influences range from Cat Power, Bat For Lashes and Stevie Nicks to American indie faves Modest Mouse and folk heroes like Beirut and Elvis Perkins. Having said that, Kyla’s sound is genuinely original. Whether it’s the heart on sleeve lyrics and violent acoustic strumming of Vampire Smile or the euphoric choruses of Walk Through Walls and Lambs, Kyla La Grange is never one to stay in her musical comfort zone. The final few months of 2010 see Kyla going on tour with I Blame Coco as main support for half of her UK tour. Kyla's debut single is released on the NOIR label in March 2011

Manifestation Blossom

Meditations are what meditations are
Each attempt - something else
Soaking in the sun, one soaks into the sun
A pineal explosion of light and sound

No fears, no wants; just being
Forgiveness sweeps clean the way
And prepares for glowing thankfulness
The space in which manifestations blossom

Birthday @ Rutamaya's

I Hope This Gets To You

This is a love letter with a twist.

A young man has created this video with The Daylights in hopes that it would be passed around and reach her organically.

He makes this request on his site:

"WITH YOUR HELP, we can meet this goal and it can stand as a symbol of what we can do as an digital social community. This is dedicated to anyone who is separated from people they love."

May this find it's target and have the desired effect.

Be Love.

Want To See My Artwork In Person?

Come visit me at the East Austin Studio Tour between 11:00 am and 6:00pm on November 13 & 14 and 20 & 21 at 809 East 16th Street in Austin, TX. It is listed as Studio #102 on the tour map.

I will be displaying photography and art and will have a large screen to display additional work available by special order.


There will be 10 artists showing their work throughout The Village and a DJ/Dub artist spinning tunes to match the day.

Austin Gypsy Picnic Trailer Food Festival

Join us at the Gypsy Picnic Trailer Food Festival Saturday 11 am to 8pm at Auditorium Shores.

(All photos from the Gypsy Picnic website.)

There will be lots of samples under $3 for purely Austin trailer fare.

30+ eclectic trailers

Sample portions for $3 or less

Live music all day

Trailer's represented:

86 THIS •Bananarchy •Chi'Lantro BBQColibri Cuisine •Conscious Cravings •Coolhaus Cutie Pies •Elixer Coffee Gourdough's - Big Fat Donuts •Hat Creek Burger Co. Holy Cacao •Izzoz Tacos •Juan Pelota Coffee Truck Kate's Southern Comfort •Kronic Krave Arepas Man Bites Dog •mmmpanadas •Patika Coffee Pick Up Stixx •Royito's Hot Sauce Streamer Short Bus Subs •Sugar Shack BBQ •The Best Wurst The Flying Carpet •The Jalopy: Rotisserie and Press the Mighty Cone •the peached tortilla The ZubikHouse •Torchy's Tacos Turf N Surf Po' Boy

Live music on the ZiegenBock Stage:

Junior Brown •J Roddy Walston And The Business Gary Clark Jr. •Ruby Jane •English Teeth •Noise Revival Orchestra

Ascension Mantra

I was doing a massage when this came out of her ipod...I froze and listened to the entire thing.

She said, "Yeah, that's what happened to me too.".

If you wish to have a .pdf of this mantra, click here.

The Wailers

Another shot from the Komasket Music Festival.

We No Speak Americano

"Hand Dancing"

Performed and choreographed by Suzanne Cleary & Peter Harding

Film by Jonny Reed

Music: Yolanda Be Cool & D Cup Ft. Cleary & Harding

The Wikilink is here.

Here's a live version presented as a conversation:

A Minute of Mayhem for Malcolm

Your impact will be loved and hated for years to come. You were a punk rock revolutionary.

On the Humanade website, Mr. McLaren’s son, Joseph Corré, wrote:

“In celebration of Malcolm’s life we are asking people to observe a MINUTE OF MAYHEM at midday on 22nd April. Put on your favorite records and let it RIP!”

Here's a quick tribute from a "gin-sodden" Uke musician.

Reuters reported. Mr. McLaren died of mesothelioma on April 8. He was 64.

Thank you Malcolm.

Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy

I don't necessarily follow well or encourage anyone to follow me. There is beauty in being a lone nut; with or without followers. Here is to the pursuit of truth, love and beauty and the movements that form around those pursuits!

A word of caution: sometimes a lone nut is just a lone nut and not a leader (not that there's anything wrong with that), no matter how many followers there might be.

Morning Music - Homer & Jethro

A lil' Homer & Jethro to get you goin'. Here they are performing, "Jam Bowl Liar"; their version of the Hank Williams classic, "Jambalaya".

Homer is the man layin' the rhythm down and Jethro's playin' lead. I was looking for a tune they did called, "You tell her, I stutter" and found this ol' favorite. Sometimes you jus' need a lil' "H&J" to start the day. I know it's a lot of apostrophes, but that's how it is on the bayou.

Of course, what I was really craving is the home-cooking of country music for me: Hank Williams Sr. I had to include his version of "Jambalaya" too.

Morning Music - Sly and the Family Stone

My favorite part of this performance on the Ed Sullivan show was unfortunately left out of this video. It is when Sly announced at the beginning:

"Don't hate the black, don't hate the white. If you get bit, just hate the bite."

Hope it gets your butt rockin'. It worked for me!

Morning Music - Nortec Collective

A friend and co-worker of my brother offered to let Arlene and I go to see Nortec Collective on her dime! It was a very generous gift for which we are very appreciative.

I had not heard of them before the night of the show. They are an intriguing fusion of Ranchero and Techno. The only contemporary of theirs I can think of is, one of my favorite groups, Gotan Project.

The music is more for fans of techno than it is of Ranchero/Norteño music, but worth checking out:

Jake Shimabukuro: My Ukulele Gently Weeps

Jake Shimabukuro is performing 2 shows tonight in Austin at the Cactus Cafe!

The first video has quite the Latin flair. He has a very recognizable style.

By 5 min 30 seconds into "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"he is in rock star mode.

Check him out if you can...you won't be disappointed!