Vancouver, BC visual artist and author Olga Campbell published DEAR ARLO – letters to my grandson, her third book. Like her previous one, A Whisper Across Time, it is filled with art, poetry, prose, and her family’s story of the Holocaust. This one includes old family recipes. Olga sent me a pdf of the book for review purposes. I found it culturally rich and emotionally authentic and ordered a copy of the 218-page hardback book with colored images. She is offering a special introductory price until July 31st. You can purchase a copy on her website https://olgacampbell.com/dear-arlo. From th ..read more

I just discovered a beautiful love song, “Twenty-Five” by Lake Street Dive. It was written by bassist Bridget Kearney and sung by Rachel Price with Akie Bermiss on piano. I was so moved I had to post a comment: Songwriting at its best, as is the singing of it and piano accompaniment. Nostalgic story and sound. A masterpiece! I first listened to the Lyric Video and then found two live concert performances of the song. While I was preparing this post a new video of a studio recording was published for promotional purposes. I added all four videos. You’ll want to hear it again anyway it’s that co ..read more

Carlos Santana recently told musicians their role was to help people open up to feel their totality, to claim back their divinity, their light, concluding—it’s church. Leonard Cohen fulfilled this responsibility by courageously standing for the complexity of his own emotions at the center of his song giving audiences everything he had. Together they revealed the purpose of playing music—creating holy moments. Artists who listened to Leonard Cohen sing “Hallelujah” confirmed this: “It felt like a beautiful, holy moment. It was a church moment. You get this feeling of having a modern prayer.” Wh ..read more

There are many YouTube performances of these two beautiful pieces of classical music for piano—Passacaglia by Händel and Halvorsen, and Mariage d’Amour by Paul de Senneville. They’re usually played at a faster tempo, but I prefer a slower version, especially when performed by the two classical guitarists I recently discovered and posted—Passacaglia by Boris Björn Bagger and Mariage d’Amour by Iva Kosić. Passacaglia was written by the great German-British Baroque composer George Friedrich Händel (1685-1759) HWV 432, and later adapted by Norwegian composer, conductor, vi ..read more

Another well-known classical piano piece of music is Passacaglia by George Friedrich Händel (1685-1759) HWV 432 and Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935). It is even more beautiful when played on classical guitar, as performed here by Boris Björn Bagger. This Nov 2020 live rehearsal in Ettlingen, Germany is also available on Spotify and Apple Music. Händel & Halvorsen: Passacaglia After Keyboard Suite No. 7 In G-Minor, Hwv 432: VI. Passacaglia (Arr. For Guitar) – Single Boris Björn Bagger. Sheet music http://www.edition49.de. This piece is available in several arrangements, played and arranged by P ..read more

I discovered a wonderful young classical guitarist on YouTube. Iva Kosić is a Serbian musician studying classical guitar at a German university. She recently graduated with a Masters degree in music. She performs concerts, teaches online, and is active on social media where she creates and posts her own YouTube videos. This performance of Mariage D’amour – Paul de Senneville played by Iva Kosić is so beautiful I had to post it. On Dec 24, 2023, Iva Kosić gifted her followers with this YouTube video and holiday message: “For Christmas Eve I am sharing with you my performance of this well-known ..read more

This blog post is thanks to Ellen Metropole for telling me that Markus K, a busker I follow on YouTube, attended the 10,000 course in Hyderabad, India! I didn’t know he was a TM-er. He wrote a song about the course while he was there and premiered it when he went to Morocco. It’s a catchy tune and tells the story of why everyone from so many countries attended. He performed the song on Feb 21, 2024 in Casablanca at his first Moroccan busking session. Enjoy ‘Consciousness is All there Is’ written by Markus Koehorst, aka, Markus K, during an international Peace Project in Hyderabad, India c ..read more

Friends emailed me to see the premiere episode of Season 3’s NCIS: Hawai’i. NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) is a popular TV series. I was able to stream it on Paramount+ and now watch new episodes each week. Here’s how they describe the show. NCIS is more than just an action drama. With liberal doses of humor, it’s a show that focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team forced to work together in high-stress situations. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties ..read more

Trinis join global peace mission in India NEWSDAY | FEATURES | JANELLE DE SOUZA | Feb 25, 2024 Some of the Trinidadian participants of the 10,000 for World Peace Assembly (standing) and their facilitators. Photo courtesy Shelley Hosein. – Concerned by the state of the world, eight Trinidadians joined over 10,000 people in India to try to bring about a decrease in the level of conflict around the world. From December 29, 2023-January 13, over 10,000 people gathered at Kanha Shanti Vanam outside of Hyderabad, India for the 10,000 for World Peace Assembly, organised by the Global Union of Sc ..read more

The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai* (1760-1849). The Great Wave off Kanagawa is a woodblock print by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai, created in late 1831 during the Edo period of Japanese history. Aka, The Great Wave or The Wave, the print depicts three boats moving through a storm-tossed sea, with a large, cresting wave forming a spiral in the centre and Mount Fuji visible in the background. The print is Hokusai’s best-known work and the first in his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, in which the use of Prus ..read more