"When Things Fall Apart" -Pema Chodron

In daily life our instinct is to put "ground" under our feet... to find concrete security and sometimes hold on with a death-grip for dear life. We cling to our schedules, our TV shows, and to our understandings of our loved ones and ourselves. But the truth is that there is no "ground"... there never was or will be any "ground", and this is a gift. By leaning into our fear and our discomfort... by savoring its bitter taste.. we can move closer to the truth and find out that the only real source of pain is our own resistance to the way the world is.

In "When Things Fall Apart", Pema Chodron eloquently communicates, through a series of brief chapters or "talks", the principles that help me (on my good days) to remember to release my grip when things get dark and embrace the lessons in front of me.

BBC Planet Earth

Fall in love again...
...with your mother!

Plenty has already been said about this series but it's honestly ..that good.
Planet Earth is absolutely stunning... stunning in the high level of artistry that went into its making... and stunning because you never knew to what level, how freakish and awe-inspiring the planet you live on truly is.

TuneBoard WARNING! -do not watch the American version with Sigourney Weaver... it falls flaccid in the face of the BBC version narrated by David Attenborough.

Alan Ferber Nonet

Alan Ferber and his nonet synthesize vibration and beauty into elastic aural sculpture that regularly fills the hipper corners of NYC's burrows. If you can, seize the opportunity to hear the music and musicians who define New York as an artistic fountain head.
CheckOut:

~The Compass
Amazon
~Scenes From An Exit Row
Amazon
~Playground
Amazon

Maria Schneider Orchestra - SkyBlue

If mother earth could sing...
I think she would sound like Maria Schneider.

space, beauty, strength

there is a maternal sound in her music that is getting stronger with each album...

sound as organism... organism as sound...

...the experience of living can be heard inside of Maria's music...

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

...the nature and truth of our connections...

If you haven't checked this film out...
If this movie is old news to you...

...Watch It..

it's a well-made reminder of the fragile collection of experiences and patterns we all actually are...

ILAD - National Flags

The second record from ILAD is perhaps their first...
On National Flags, ILAD's philosophies and influences begin to align into music that can only be defined as music. Less snack-sized hooks and more like ordered sound that has always been there... you just hadn't heard it yet... Compositional subtleties weave a cloth that offers more... the closer you look into the multi-colored thread and diverse textures. ...sound that arises out of meaning.... not visa-versa.

www.iladmusic.com

Alex Grey

...from the spirit
...through the mind
...of the universe

Alex Grey's art can show you that the separation between the universe and ourselves is an illusion.... although this sentence implies the opposite... Spoken language is a poor tool for illustrating the nature of the world.. but Alex Grey is the perfect tool.
A visit to CoSM (27th street bewteen 10th and 11th ave, NYC) ...is worth far beyond the $5 price of admission. It's truly an understated treasure of the city... and of anywhere...on earth,..

If you can't get to the city check out Sacred Mirrors.

Kneebody

The beautiful crystalline structures that are found throughout nature are smashed into the saturated color and texture of the humanity-mural that is New York City... it's a food that I can't resist eating with the furor of a sex-starved 19 year old in a southern California high school...

Kneebody is refreshing, inspiring, and the music it creates points in an interesting... beautiful direction...

CheckOut:
~Break Me
Amazon
~Low Electrical Worker
Amazon
~Kneebody Live: Vol. 1
Amazon

FakeSteveJobs

"DUDE, I INVENTED THE FRIGGIN IPHONE. HAVE YOU HEARD OF IT?"
I am a self-admitted Apple-geek, and for whatever reason I love technology news and the personalities that have formed around it.
"The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs" is a daily blog of satirical commentary on the dynamic tech industry and those personalities that move it forward.... and it happens to provides one of the many bricks in the wall that give me something to squash the otherwise productive hours of my days on earth..... rejoice!

...and oh yea, there's a Book too

TheBeatles - Love

U know the music.. and if you really know the recordings of the Beatles this is a clever mashup that will tickle all those "Beatles" synapses that you've been cultivating your whole life. Originally done for Cirque du Soleil, Love is a satisfying way to breath life into the Beatles catalogue and into your desire to hear it.

JesusCamp

Jesus Camp
..a film thats scares the hell out of me.

This documentary explores the world of the middle-America Evangelical Christians... as they raise their children inside the church, and essentially build a "faith"-based army.

Really a very well-done film that is enjoyable to watch and begs to become a "every time they say Jesus" drinking game!
.....join me.... in fear....

AniDifranco - Knuckle Down

Ani continues to evolve from album to album painting words and frequencies together into music that always leaves me feeling.... thats it.. thats enough... just... feeling...
feeling = living.
Listen to Studying Stones

RadioLab - Musical Language

What is music? How does it work? Why does it move us? Why are some people better at it than others? RadioLab examines the line between language and music, how the brain processes sound, and meets a composer who uses computers to capture the musical DNA of dead composers in order to create new work. RadioLab also re-imagines the disastrous 1913 debut of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring…through the lens of modern neurology.

This and all of RadioLab's podcasts use superb storytelling and color-rich production to paint pictures on your eardrum and your brain.... worth a listen... or four...

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