A blog post about the concept of Christmas in July

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We are creating a christening bead bracelet along with the other women in the new life of Annabella Patton McCoy. Amidst my collection, I found some beautiful rose quartz beads that I think will suit her well. A healing stones jewelry website shares the healing qualities of rose quartz for my little Bella.

"Rose quartz projects soft, soothing vibrations that resonate with the frequency of unconditional love, stimulating the heart chakra. Rose quartz is a gently healing stone, allowing for the slow opening of the heart to love and healing. Rose quartz supports the wearer or bearer in all spiritual practices and daily activities that promote the development of compassion for all beings -- and especially for oneself. Rose quartz has often been used in the treatment of wounds to the emotional body, and especially a wounded heart, but can also be used effectively in treatment of the throat, third eye and crown chakra."

A team of artists and arts educators from the UVA School of Architecture, The Bridge PAI, and Piedmont Council of the Arts are collaborating on a unique public art project for Charlottesville Parks and Recreation. After a series of hands-on workshops with Parks and Rec summer campers, the team will repaint a school bus, transforming it into an exciting, kid-friendly vehicle. Already in gestation, the bus design weaves together visual elements of urban life and the natural world, highlighting a young person's unique perspective of and experience in the world.

The newly painted bus, to be unveiled to the public on Friday July 18th, will transport young people to and from recreation programs throughout the year. Additionally, The Bridge will be hosting a three-day exhibit on August 1-3 to showcase the rough drafts, visual excercises, and preperatory studies created in the FunBus youth workshops.

Monday, July 7th at 8pm

The HzCollective returns to the Bridge to present an evening of experimental and improvised music with live electronics. NanoHz No. 16's line-up will include performances by Richmond duo Insects With Tits, Norgwegian collaborators Nernes/Skagen, and Cville favorites Pinko Communoids. The show will begin at 9pm, with a suggested donation of $3-$5. Read below for more information on each band.

Insects With Tits is Kenneth Yates [HarmStryker / Caustic Castle / 804noise / HzCollective] and Roger H. Smith [Chefkirk / 804noise]. This collaborative project brings together two very different but complimentary approaches to improvised no-input style mixing and processing that results in a colorful spectrum of frequencies and harsh tones and low rumbling bass.

[click here for an mp3 of Insects with Tits]

In 2006 Kjetil Nernes and Stian Skagen started collaborating, their aim was to bring Nernes' noiserock band Årabrot further into the experimental Noise genre, looking for a unifying sonic expression between hard Melvins like riffing and Burzum wise structures, layered upon Skagen's drones and electronic soundscapes. The result became an Årabrot [concept.virus] ABS.NEG EP. As a side project, Nernes/Skagen started to develop and shape the sound of what was to come in future releases by the collaboration Årabrot [concept.virus]. Inspired by artists such as Glenn Branca, Tony Conrad and Pauline Oliveros, the song Ad undas took shape. On the West-coast of Norway, Ad undas is referred to as a state beyond. Out of memory. Where the self is controlled by the drift of primal human behavior. Unpredictable. Logical paradoxes. And this is what NERNES/SKAGEN wants to pull in under their control, a sound phenomenon, rising from the depths of minds beyond. A glimpse into a world forgotten, or not yet discovered. A sacrifice in the cave of darkness. Reaching for truth outside logic.

[click here for an mp3 of Nernes/Skagen]

Pinko Communoids is an improvisational trio based in Charlottesville, Virginia. The trio consists of Carey Sargent, Kevin Parks, and Wendy Hsu. We create both free and structured improvisations using conventional instruments including guitars, accordions and percussion, found objects, circuits, microphones, and other electronics. We enjoy the quiet interplay of small sounds and often employ a restrained sonic palette of diverse timbres. Though we like occasional loud cathartic noisy workouts, we play at appropriate volumes and always invite our audience to savor our sounds without ear plugs. Our recent explorations have led us to investigate aspects of tuning and timbre and the relationship between the two.

Pinko Communoids have collaborated with artists including Jonathan Zorn, Kenneth Yates (Caustic Castle), Alice Hui-Sheng Chang (of 12 Dog Cycle), Aurie Hsu, Lee Alter (watercolorist), and Chia Chi Charlie Chang (photographer/videographer).

Saturday, July 19, 9:30 a.m. to 5 pm
Cost: $95 (includes refreshments, snacks and Saturday lunch)

In this workshop led by Rachel Mann, we will engage our natural spontaneity and courage to be ourselves and to release ancient traumas and patterns that no longer serve us. Shamanism and indigenous healing practices are rooted in the use of art, ritual, storytelling and play to engage directly with the unconscious and the energies in our lives.

In the western model of working, we use talk therapy to bring us to deeper understandings of ourselves and to change old patterns. In shamanic work, we work with more primal processes natural to our body’s healing mechanisms to develop insight and facilitate transformation. Working at this level can bring dramatic changes in ourselves and the world around us with great ease. We will be enlightened and rejuvenated. For those of us who work in the role of helper in our homes or workplaces, this workshop will be restorative and will help us rediscover the ability to play as a path to good self-care.

Rachel Mann, MA, PhD, owner and founder of MettaKnowledge for Peace, is a teacher, healer, scholar, trainer, & activist. She brings loving kindness, knowledge, creativity, and vision to her work with people and animals. Her personal search for healing began as due to the challenges of growing up with and taking care of a mentally ill mother. As a profesor and adminstrator at the University of Virginia for over a decade, Rachel developed innovative methods to teach about violence, trauma, and other related topics. She is a student of Buddhism, of Cherokee spirituality, and shamanic healing from the Q’ero laika of Peru. In collaboration with the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, she obtained two grants from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities for The Art of Surviving, a traveling exhibit of art and poetry by survivors of sexual violence. Rachel lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with her two dogs, Wee and Sym, and is available for phone and in-person consultations.

For more Information and to Register:

Call 434-878-3210
Email: info@mettaknowledge.com
www.mettaknowledge.com

Fridays-Saturdays, July 18th-19th and 25th-26th, at 8pm



The Bridge PAI is proud to host the Charlottesville premier of the Traveling Jones Theater’s “Edgar Allan Poe Comes Alive!” starring Scott Craig Jones. This mesmerizing one-man show includes word-for-word hair-raising performances of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-tale Heart, The Raven, Annabel Lee, The Conqueror Worm, Spirits of the Dead, Eldorado, The Masque of the Red Death and A Dream Within a Dream. For four Fridays and Saturdays nights this summer: July 18th-19th, and 25th-26th. The curtain is at 8pm each night – come early, seating is limited. Tickets are $10.00 at the door.

The result of a lifelong study, yoga, its most famous teacher says, has given him the gift of life. He says if he hadn’t found it, he simply wouldn’t have been alive. This week on Being Legends, CNN-IBN’s Anuradha SenGupta meets BKS Iyengar at his Pune residence.

I've been intending for a couple of months to pick up our story line with Sri Yogendra, one of the unsung heroes of modern yoga. Born Mani Desai in 1897, he became in his late teens a disciple of Paramahamsa Madhavadasa, who at the time was reputed to be 118 years old. Paramahamsa, which means "great swan" (or "goose") is an honorific title given to highly enlightened beings (why is an enlightened person compared to a swan? That's a long story for another time). Mani's father threw a fit when he found out his son-a bright kid destined for great things in the world-had dropped out of college to become a yogi, which in those days meant a life of renunciation and celibacy. Pop and the guru finally came to a most unusual resolution: they decided that the boy would stay with Madhavadasa for yoga instruction, but eventually would marry, get a job, and carry on the family name.

In 1919 Mani, who by this time was calling himself Swami Yogananda (four years later he switched to Yogendra to avoid confusion with another Yogananda), traveled to the US to promote yoga. He put on some spectacular exhibitions of yogic expertise for skeptical physicians-he expanded one lung to three times the size of the other-and opened a medical clinic in upstate New York . But Yogendra never really liked this country, he thought Americans were too materialistic and superficial-imagine that!-and when called back to India in 1923 to tend to his ailing father, he never to set foot in America again.

In 1927 Yogendra married Sita Devi, a woman-or maybe we should say "girl"-half his age. In those days Indian women didn't have many opportunities for working outside the home or to study yoga. But Yogendra was something of a rebel and, in current lingo, a feminist. Women, he wrote, were traditionally "subjected to cultural insults and injustices," and that in his mind, the "study of practical Yoga can be undertaken successfully by one and all," which definitely included women and I suppose, despite evidence to the contrary, Americans. So Yogendra trained Sita Devi in yoga and eventually handed her the reins of the medical clinic he'd established in 1918. Sita Devi took to yoga like, well, a swan to water, and in 1934 she wrote the very first book of yoga directed specifically to women, Yoga Physical Ed ucation, which you can still find today. All of you folks of the female persuasion might keep a warm spot in your heart for her, since she faced and triumphed over the usual prejudice and criticism faced by many pioneers and ground breakers...and hey, you non-females might want to thank Mr Yogendra for standing up to tradition and showing us the way.

So what would a yoga class with Sita Devi be like? Here's a session modified from Yoga Physical Ed ucation that should take about 25 minutes (the number in brackets [] following the pose references the same pose in Light on Yoga): Tadasana with hands in Anjali Mudra [1] (30 seconds) > Vrkshasana [2] (30 seconds each side) > Utthita Hasta Padangushtasana [11] (1 minute each side) > Trikonasana [4] (1 minute each side) > Garudasana [23] (1 minute each side) > Padmasana [45] (1 minute each side) > Parvatasana [47] (2 minutes each side) > Yashtikasana (Stick Pose, like Shavasana [200] with the arms stretched overhead) (1 minute) > Bhujangasana [31] > Matsyasana [51] > Halasana [91] > Paryankasana [42] > Ushtrasana [16] > Makarasana (each of these poses 1 minute each) [26] > Shavasana [200] (3 minutes).

September 5-28, with an opening reception on Friday, June 5



Throughout the month of September, The Bridge will display new works by painters Dave Moore and Andy Acquero. Their recent works-in-progress are started on raw canvas, and later mounted on panels and hung as diptychs and triptychs. The idea is to generate surprise, both for the artist as he works, and for the viewers of the finished product. Paintings are started with single sections of canvas and randomly-applied paint, with the intention that they will grow and expand, but without the foreknowledge of how or in what direction. Results have been exciting. Who could have predicted a painting called "Shark Scientist"?

Other works are more traditionally conceived and executed-idea-based, symbolic images that set the tone and context for the abstract explorations. These include "Red Projector", "Heart Growing a Vegetation" and "Crown or Crowd (the king's red ermine, all across the land)".

Saturday, June 21 at 5pm

In conjunction with the annual Graves St. summer block party, the Bridge will be holding our own little cookout this Saturday evening, in honor of Danny Shea (former music booker for the recently-departed Satellite Ballroom, poster-maker extraordinaire, long-time Plan 9 employee and WTJU disc jockey, and cornerstone of the contemporary Charlottesville music community).

You can expect food catered by Hamdingers, and music by the Modern Things, Cinnamon Band, The Invisible Hand, and DJ BaconFat. Wear your Chicago Cubs hat and be prepared to embarrass Danny in front of his friends. Things start at 5pm in the Bridge parking lot this Saturday!

  Wednesday, June 25 at 7pm

Charlottesville Photo Night is a casual monthly gathering of local photography enthusiasts; their meetings are open to the public, and they get together every month at The Bridge to discuss each other's work. This month, special guest Richard Lord will present The Passionate Photographer, which is the opening session of workshops that he offers. He will discuss the relationship between personal and commercial work, illustrating his talk with photos from his archives.

Richard Lord is a corporate, editorial and stock photographer. Shooting in a photojournalistic style, his work is published extensively in annual reports, corporate identity advertisements, brochures and non-profit appeal posters. Working in this specialty since 1986, he has made photos in urban and rural US, Europe, and over 70 Third World countries. His work has been exhibited in 17 countries and the major art centers of the US. It is on permanent display in museums as well as private and corporate collections. He has been honored as one of “2000 Outstanding Artists and Designers of the 20th Century.” His clients include Pfizer, Chevron, Travel and Leisure and the United Nations.

John is the beloved teacher to countless students and in this interview, John shares with us some of his insights from over 35 years of teaching yoga, including a memory of his first time studying with Yogacharya BKS Iyengar and what the Iyengar method has to offer beginning and more advanced practitioners of yoga from any tradition. John discusses the fragmentation and commodification of yoga with one of his apprentice students and Iyengar Yoga teacher, Shaaron Honeycutt.

We've got a bunch of 'em and no time to pick 'em. I am going to do my best, but I found a great post about making cherry preserves from AOL's food blog. Enjoy!

Most people know yoga as a physical exercise system that increases flexibility and teaches them how to relax. However, yoga is a comprehensive discipline that encompasses principles for living in the world and practices to deepen spiritual life, in addition to achieving physical well-being. Yoga is a nourishing practice on all levels!

Yoga means “yoke” in Sanskrit, a technique to yoke or unite all aspects of one’s being and to come into union with the greater energy which forms the basis of the Universe. Yoga was first codified and written down by Patanjali around 220 B.C. He devised an eight-limbed system of yoga that included: yamas (ethical behavior), niyamas (personal disciplines), asanas (yoga postures), pranayama (breathing), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (the state in which consciousness becomes totally absorbed in the soul, described as a state of truth and bliss). The yoga postures Patanjali referred to were primarily seated poses for meditation. The familiar poses of hatha yoga that we practice today did not evolve until about a century ago.

The yamas and the niyamas are the foundation of the spiritual path of yoga in Patanjali’s system. The yamas include nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, moderation, and non-covetousness. They are principles of right living aimed at creating a better world. Each of the yamas is worthy of an in-depth examination, which is not possible in the short space of this article. However, I would like to elaborate on a few of the ideas. For instance, nonviolence obviously means not harming anyone or anything. However, it extends beyond that to the point of not harboring negative feelings, such as malice or hatred, toward others, and includes developing a love for all living beings. The goal is to see the spirit or soul within each person.

The yama of non-stealing includes not only refraining from theft, but also honoring and caring for whatever things are under our guardianship. The yogic attitude is that nothing in this world really belongs to us; we are merely borrowing it for a while.

The Niyamas are personal practices. They include cleanliness of body and mind, contentment, self-discipline, study of the self, and surrender of all thoughts and actions to God/Universal Consciousness. Cleanliness is based on the recognition that the body is the temple of the soul and external cleanliness is a method of honoring the indwelling spirit. Mental cleanliness is of great significance, and includes remembering constantly the deeper reality, the spirit, residing within each person.

Self-discipline is a major element in a yogic life, and surprisingly, true discipline is considered to be moderation in all things: moderation in eating, recreation, activity, sleep, and wakefulness. It is balance and self-control, always remembering the purpose of discipline, which is to experience the underlying essence within ourselves and others.

Contentment is another subject worthy of contemplation. Cultivating a sense of contentment in life means accepting what is, being free of worry, and developing trust in the Universe that what is happening in our lives is just what we need in order to grow and progress on our spiritual path. Another form of contentment is to smile… to develop the habit of having a faint smile on your face at all times. This simple spiritual discipline can transform your daily life!

Yoga is a complete system for personal development that encompasses ethical principles, personal disciplines, and physical and mental techniques to unite the body, mind, and spirit for health and fulfillment, bringing greater contentment and joy in our daily lives.

I wish you a beautiful summer to experience the deeper nourishment of yoga.

During Elvis Presley's 23-year career on stage, in films, and on records, he continually used established gospel groups among his back-up musicians. The three major groups that dominated were the Jordanaires (1956-67), the Imperials (1969-71), and J. D. Sumner and the Stamps (1972-77). In each case, the group worked very closely with Elvis in developing the texture of his sound.

My special favorite of these was J. D. Sumner's Stamps, mostly because of Sumner's powerful voice. At the time, Sumner had the most famous voice in gospel music. He had joined the Blackwood Brothers in 1954, and founded the National Quartet Convention, bringing it to Memphis in 1955. In 1965, Sumner left the Blackwoods to become a manager and singer for the Stamps Quartet.

Elvis Presley had grown up listening to Sumner. As Sumner has said, "Like me, Elvis was raised listening to gospel music in the Pentecostal church where they have always had great feeling in their music. He got his beat in his music from the Pentecostal church."

On Elvis' later '70s recordings (most of which are vastly underrated), Sumner's voice comes through like a holy booming beam of light. By 1974, some of the King's older fans were entering middle-age, and so, were responding more favorably to Elvis' gospel sound.

Sumner and the Stamps performed about 100 concerts annually with Elvis in the mid-'70s. "During the last six years of his life," Sumner testifies (and he should know), "Elvis just didn't sing much rock and roll."

During the last year of his life, Elvis planned to do a benefit concert to raise funds to build a Gospel Music Hall of Fame in Nashville to parallel the established Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.

In a speech before the 1978 National Gospel Quartet Convention, Sumner stated that he felt, as a close musical friend, that had Presley lived another six months, he would have converted into a full-time gospel singer.

About four hours northeast of what used to be Gomorrah, South Carolina (formerly the wretched home of Heritage U.S.A. founded by Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye), rests a haven for the weary of heart.....Rocky Mount, North Carolina.  For pilgrims who travel to pay homage to the sacred shambles  of the former Praise the Lord (PTL) empire, the town offers solace and sustenance in the form of barbecue and grace.

The Red Budd Holy Church remains an old landmark in downtown Rocky Mount.  Since 1959, the pastor of this church has been the great Rev. F. C. Barnes, and for several years, he was assisted in his ministry by the stately Rev. Janice Brown.  Their church remained a holy and solid institution, firm in its beliefs and nurturing to one and all.  Many of its members share the Barnes name.  Few shadows darken the brick walls of the church, and those that do pass through healed.

This anchor in the community owed much of its stability to the preaching, praying, and especially singing of the Reverends Barnes and Brown.  As messengers of the Holy Ghost, both ministers once held an apparent bond, their voices surrendered to God.  Their singing together was not planned.  There was not even the slightest acumen of what was to come the Sunday morning that Rev. Brown was scheduled to sing a solo on Rev. Barnes' radio broadcast in the 1980s.  As God willed it,  Rev. Barnes offered to assist Rev. Brown, and this solo became a duet.

The rest of the story is best told by the gospel authority Anthony Heilbut from his definitive book The Gospel Sound :  "By far, the biggest gospel hit of the 1980s was "(I'm Coming Up) The Rough Side of the Mountain," a duet by F. C. Barnes and Janice Brown, the pastors of Red Budd Holy Church in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.  This was traditional gospel with a vengeance, without form or fashion--basic rhythm tracks, simple tune, sturdy vocals.  "Rough Side" was as much a product of the Reagan Administration as Jesse Jackson's campaign; its message confirmed by the latest unemployment figures.  In fact, in many ghetto record shops, the record outsold Michael Jackson's Thriller."

For years after this record hit, I would see Barnes and Brown whenever and wherever I could.  I never tired of their uplifting message and powerful stance.  It was as if Dr. Martin Luther King's message had finally been encapsulated in a hit song.

Proverbs 23, verse 10, reads:  "Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless."

The old landmarks are still there, all around us.  Me, that's where I'm headed.

Combining the Joy of Laughter and the Bliss of Yoga, Laughing Yoga is fitness friendly and emotionally uplifting. A session of Laughing Yoga, followed by a period of deep relaxation will leave you feeling revitalized and energized. It's a ho-ho-ho-listic approach to wellbeing. Get ready to open your Clown Chakra! No experience in Yoga necessary.
St. Mark's Yoga Center
June 22, 2008 2:30 - 3:30 PM.
301 A Street, SE; upstairs in the Arts Studio.
$10 preregistered / $15 at the door
Contact: 202-546-4964
http://www.stmarks.net/arts/yoga.html

This is a question I have been getting more and more of lately, so I think I will write a bit...

Yoga is technically a science, specific formulas as how to become closer to God. It comes from a culture heavily steeped in the Hindu Religion, and so there is some overlap. However, because it is a science, I feel that Yoga can enhance any religion or belief because it is about trusting in God, surrendering to God, loving God with all your being, and seeing God in all beings. I understand how some might think Yoga a religion because of the Sanskrit chanting, or mysterious ceremony with incense, alters, bowing, and Om. However, in my experience of teaching for 20 years, I have met many Christians, Jews, Catholics, and Buddhists, who seem to find peace by enhancing their religion with yoga. They often remark how much deeper they can experience their faith because of Yoga. I think it is all the opening that happens in Yoga. Not just the body opening, but many energy meridians, stubborn thoughts, and stuck emotions open up as well, making more space, in all the layers of who we are. Once there is space, there is the recognition of God, the remembering of God, for within us all is the Divine (peace, love, harmony, forgiveness).

Yoga teaches us we are all truly one together on this planet, and loving God is the best thing we all have in common!

I hope that the next person for whom your eyes fall, is the exact image of God that you have manifested for your own spiritual growth,

love all ways, Stephanie

Keep cool this summer with this wonderful item on sell somewhere in Alabama....the perfect cure to global warming.

Hey, here's another dead guy we all love, right?

.....may he rest in peace.

WikiPedia and Amazon and All Music Guide almost make this unnecessary, but for the record, I want to argue that the combo package of The Beach Boys Today! with Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) [love those exclamations points--although I don't think the Beach Boys ever released an album with three (!!!) exclamation points in the title] [I do think, however, that is because of the Beach Boys' abuse of !  that I learned to do the same thing on my own writing---or maybe it was Mad).  Anyway, the point being that this remarkable CD combo, with some editing, still sends shivers down my backbone even though I have gone way way past the age counting-up fadeout on "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)"....(they end it when they get into their twenties, of course).

So, I'd get this thing if you don't have it.  And then create a new CD with these cuts, and you will own one of the greatest albums ever made!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Do You Wanna Dance   2. Good To My Baby  3. Don't Hurt My Little Sister  4. When I Grow Up   5. Help Me, Rhonda (use LP version only)   6. Dance, Dance, Dance   7. Please Let Me Wonder   8. I'm So Young   9. Kiss Me Baby  10. She Knows Me Too Well   11. The Girl From New York City   12 Then I Kissed Her   13.  Salt Lake City  14. Girl Don't Tell Me   15. California Girls   16. Let Him Run Wild   17. You're So Good To Me   18. Summer Means New Love   19. The Little Girl I Once Knew  20.  And Your Dreams Come True

No shit, pal.  Create that and you have one helluva a summer album.

Lull your students into deeper relaxation by integrating singing bowls to your teaching.

I sank into Savasana, wholeheartedly melting into stillness. Eyes closed, the once-distinct boundaries of my skin
dissolved while thoughts evaporated into a sleepy haze. Post-asana energy hummed and whirled through my limbs. My teacher sat in the front of the room, quiet, erect, cross-legged. With a singing bowl in hand, he circled the wooden wand around the bowl's rim, radiating a lullaby to the blissful yoginis in the room.

Those moments always felt like magic to me. Somehow the all-pervading sound of the bowl, like the mysterious
embrace of a whale's song, never failed to seduce me into deeper surrender.

Now, as a yoga teacher myself, I too look for ways to help deepen my students' engagement with yoga. Sometimes I do this by playing calming music during Savasana, leading a full-body relaxation technique, or simply letting students rest in the silence of meditation. But what they love most are the times when I pick up my Tibetan singing bowl, rest it in the palm of my left hand, and serenade them into vibrant stillness.

The Lure of Resonance

Traditionally used throughout Asia to enhance Buddhist and shamanic rituals, today singing bowls are ubiquitous.
Around the world, many use these healing instruments to enhance meditation, relaxation, or religious practices.
Jeannine Dietz, a yoga instructor, Reiki practitioner, and vibrational healer of Om on the Bay in Annapolis, Maryland, specializes in incorporating crystal singing bowls into her work. Like many, her inspiration arose from experiencing their power for herself.

"I first was introduced to singing bowls during a yoga teacher training," Dietz remembers. "One evening we did a
chakra meditation accompanied by a frosted crystal singing bowl. The first sounding of the bowl had me hooked. It resonated with the deepest part of me, and I immediately knew my path."

Since then, Dietz has researched the interrelationships between yoga, singing bowls, chakras, chanting, and
affirmations. As a result, she developed a workshop that incorporates all of these components into a full-spectrum therapeutic experience.

The Healing Power of Sound

"We are all vibrational beings," Dietz declares. "The vibration [of singing bowls] heals not only on a physical level but also on mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. The sound they produce is ethereal, haunting, and magical—probably like nothing you have ever heard before."

Frank Perry sounds the same note. Based in the United Kingdom, Perry, an accomplished musician with more than 30 years of experience working with singing bowls, now owns nearly 250 of them.
"Sound transcends words and can allow us to enter our higher mind and receive spiritual teaching," he maintains. "As we listen to the bowl, we can more easily enter the world of stillness and silence deep within."

Download the Entire Article through Four Mermaids.com.

Download this Sampler of new tracks I am finishing.


[audio:http://www.abelokugawa.com/music/mp3s/DLAS_Collage1.mp3]
Name: DLAS Collage1 - Artist: Abel Okugawa
Length: 10min. - Size: 11.8MB
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Friday, May 30 at 9pm


This evening of dance music will be a benefit for the new OurSpace Community Centre, with music provided by DJ Double E, Bristol, Loki, DJ MikelPanda, Cadence and Clinc. There will also be visuals by Color Boy. All Ages, Suggested Donation, No Alcohol allowed. Come out for a night of dancing to help benefit your community!

On Hvar
Suncokret Body & Soul Retreat Center and Harmonia Health invite you to join us on the spectacular Croatian island of Hvar for a week of yoga, rejuvenation & relaxation, July 13-18, 2008. Enjoy sunrise and sunset yoga sessions on the terrace and on the beach. Treat yourself to natural health treatments & services including private yoga lessons, nutritional counseling, meditation, consultations, and Reiki & Quantum-Touch.

On Samoa
Kelly is pleased to announce Finding Your Inner David, a yoga retreat on the idyllic Pacific island of Samoa from Nov. 5-10, 2008. When Michelangelo was asked how he was able to carve such an exquisite statute out of a piece of marble he replied that David was already inside the marble--he just chipped away the excess. That’s what we’ll do in this retreat: chip away our excess, releasing all of the stuff we don't actually need to become more of who we really are inside. This retreat will rejuvenate your mind, body, and spirit amidst the lush beauty of Samoa.

For more information visit

Saturday, May 31st at 8 pm


This Saturday The Bridge will be hosting the release party for the long-awaited third issue of the acclaimed local zine Mildred Pierce, complete with live performances, food and drink, and people who want to meet you.

The opening will feature readings by local prose writer Tyler Magill, poet Jennifer Connor, fiction writer Leeyanne Moore, a puppet show by Sean Samoheyl, and headling writer Sandra Newman who will be visiting from New York. The event is free, although donations are welcome, and you should bring some bucks to buy a copy of the zine.

Mildred Pierce is a culture and criticism zine edited by Megan Milks and John Bylander, providing shark-tooth-sharp commentary on music, literature, art, and the State Of Culture As We Know It. The Notorious Issue Three will contain int