Every musical act has influences. The Beastie Boys and A Tribe Called Quest influenced each other. Punk bands from the U.K. influenced garage bands in Southern California and vice versa. Reggae and dub influenced each other.
What are your influences? That’s what we talked about in Helping and Listening Skills this week. We came up with a great list and I liked it so much I took a picture of it.
I asked the students to tell me about the things that influence them. What do they value? Why do they do what they do; love what they love? This is the list they came up with:
Parents
Environment
-Friends
-Neighborhood
-Peers
-Religion
Culture
Schools
Food/Nutrition
Media
Mental Illness
Life Experience
-Observation
Socio-Economic Status ($$$)
Books
Music
Relationships
Friendships
Family
-Uncles
-Aunts
-Brothers
-Sisters
-etc.
Role Model
-Coach
-Minister
-Teacher
Law
Government
Health
Medication/Drugs
Language
Sleep
Fashion
Freedom
Travel
Pets
Sex
Arts
-Pictures
-Painting
-Dance
Entertainment
Perception
The point I want to make in this class is that you cannot know any of these things about yourself or anyone else unless you first learn how to listen.
A great Master Mind group is one that’s committed to honoring and respecting each other and that includes listening unconditionally and without judgment. It is honoring a person to trust that they know what’s best for their own life.
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When you think about it, every musical act you know of is using the Master Mind principle whether they realize it or not. They are joining together as a team with a combined vision. You can use the same principle and make some truly rockin’ things happen in your life.
Do you have a creative project you want to complete? Do you want to find a purpose for your life?
If so, I invite you to come over to my brand new page called Start a Master Mind Group.com. I’m offering 4 freebies to get you started so you can get a sense of what the Master Mind is all about.
What a crazy weekend this has been. Actually, it started on Thursday with The Sheri and Erin Show. I’ll fill you in on the details later. But let’s just say that after a wild night at Funk Fest, a fun day in L.A. for a photo shoot and a Master Mind breakfast with Erin, I am pumped up.
When my energy is too intense to contain, I put my iPod on shuffle and go for a walk. It’s awesome how the songs that come up at random are always in line with where things are in life right now.
Here’s what I heard today on my walk, do you notice a theme? (Click on links to preview or buy these songs on iTunes).
The song of the week is brought to you by Michael Zampelli, former owner of Southern California punk rock icon, Zed Records. For almost 30 years, this mecca of punk and alternative music kept Southern California enthusiasts adequately supplied with unique, original and innovative music.
Currently, Zampelli manages a hockey fan message boards at www.letsgokings.com with thousands of subscribers. He takes photos for the LAist and the LA Derby Dolls. Each week he will contribute a song with a theme, a message and a beat. Enjoy and stay tuned.
“Get Rel!g!on” is the current rally cry surrounding the latest hip hop producer, who’s already began dazzling artists and record labels with his skilled creations and innovative beats. Utilizing a fascinating mix of live playing and assorted sampling, the young producer from Vancouver, British Columbia is generating buzz in Canada as well as the U.S. Rel!g!on is already releasing his own material, as well as working with other artists to build his reputation as a bona fide hit machine in the hip hop game.
Released in January 2010, his first official release, Revelationz I garnered positive attention from reviewers and fans across the web. Featuring heavy hitters such as Chuck D of Public Enemy as well as Planet Asia and Moka Only, Rel!g!on’s first record was nothing short of an instant hip hop success. His inspired, imaginative tracks laid the foundation for ultra skilled MCs to spit their finest rhymes and create memorable, catchy songs.
“Rel!g!on has a nice sound to his production, and it shouldn’t be too much longer before his congregation of followers grows,” said Emmanuel Wallace of RapReviews.com on Revelationz I.
Born in Ottawa, Rel!g!on grew up listening to his father’s musical influence, which included a variety of instruments, singing, and an extensive record collection. Fascinated by keyboards and organs, the fledgling hip hop perfectionist began experimenting with records and a Casio SK 1, beginning the journey of honing his incredible skills. While he started with an old keyboard and entertaining diss tracks about his high school classmates, Rel!g!on rapidly progressed into a respected producer working with artists from Vancouver to New York.
The future is bright for Rel!g!on, as he shows absolutely no signs of slowing down, with a number of impressive projects currently in the works for hip hop fans across North America. He produced two tracks on Planet Asia’s upcoming record Black Belt Theatre, which also features Raekwon of Wu-Tang, DJ Babu and Evidence of Dilated Peoples, Ras Kass and many more. Rel!g!on will also be at the helm for Planet Asia’s entire next full length, slated for 2011. This summer will also see the anticipated release of a collaboration record between Rel!g!on and one of Pittsburgh’s finest MCs, Jasiri X and New Orleans rapper/producer Dain. Check out his MySpace page for music videos and streaming audio, and Facebook for the latest information and updates.
I just downloaded The Struggle by Urban Voodoo. It’s a song about the struggle of growing up in a chaotic, abusive environment and trying to break free.
There are many people who want to be a positive force in this world but find themselves bogged down by depression and anxiety that is directly related to living a life of trauma. It is important for us to support the adult children who want to uplift the youth of today if we ever hope to break these destructive cycles.
If you are bold enough to admit that abuse happens and that it leaves a lasting impact. If you are bold enough to support the children and not the adults who abuse them, spend 99 cents on this single. Go to: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/urbanvoodoo
I submitted an audition tape to Oprah on Sunday. I’m hoping that you will vote for me to get my OWN T.V. talk show. We taped the audition in front of a live audience. Between takes I did a little dancing, a little rapping and a little jumping up and down. All caught on video.
I want a show that’s a mix between Soul Train and old school Oprah. You know, when you used to have real-life, everyday people on and they’d tell amazing stories and experience transformation before your eyes. How about if we do that with fun stuff like music and roller derby and stories? That’s what I want to do and you can help me by voting today. Voting ends June 3.
This week’s song is a hip hop response to the Arizona Immigration bill SB1070 by Chuck D (Public Enemy). You can listen to the MP3 here or you can “right-click” on the link and download the MP3 to your computer or iTunes library.
Below is a public statement from Chuck D (Public Enemy) and his wife Dr. Gaye Theresa Johnson Professor Of Black Studies and Chicano Studies UC Santa Barbara:
“Jan Brewer’s decision to sign the Arizona immigration bill into law is racist, deceitful, and reflects some of the most mean-spirited politics against immigrants that the country has ever seen. The power that this law gives to police, to detain people that they suspect to be undocumented, brings racial profiling to a new low. Brewer’s actions and those of Joe Arpaio, Russell Pearce, the Arizona State Senate are despicable, inexcusable, and endorse the all-out hate campaign that Joe Arpaio, Russell Pearce, and others have perpetrated upon immigrants for years. The people of Arizona who voted for this bill, as well as those who crafted it, demonstrate no regard for the humanity or contributions of Latino people. And for all of those who have chosen not to speak up, shame on you for silently endorsing this legislated hate.
In 1991 I wrote a song criticizing Arizona officials (including John McCain and Fife Symington) for rejecting the federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The same politics I wrote about in “By the Time I Get to Arizona” are alive and well in Arizona today, but this time the target is Brown people.
These actions must stop. I am issuing a call to action, urging my fellow musicians, artists, athletes, performers, and production companies to refuse to work in Arizona until officials not only overturn this bill, but recognize the human rights of immigrants. This should include the NBA playoffs, revisiting the actions of the NFL in 1993, when they moved the Superbowl to Pasadena in protest against Arizona’s refusal to recognize Dr. King. We all need to speak up in defense of our brothers and sisters being victimized in Arizona, because things are only getting worse. What they’re doing to immigrants is appalling, but it will be even more damning if we remain silent.”
The song of the week is brought to you by Michael Zampelli, former owner of Southern California punk rock icon, Zed Records. For almost 30 years, this mecca of punk and alternative music kept Southern California enthusiasts adequately supplied with unique, original and innovative music.
Currently, Zampelli manages a hockey fan message boards at www.letsgokings.com with thousands of subscribers. He takes photos for the LAist and the LA Derby Dolls. Each week he will contribute a song with a theme, a message and a beat. Enjoy and stay tuned.
This song by Blackalicious is about living in the flow of life which is exactly what the Law of Attraction is. But in some ways it’s more enjoyable to listen to this song and feel it than it is to sit around and think about it.
[Floetry]
It’s automatique– now
So here bring my speak– style
Show y’all how to freak– star
Is automatique– now
So automatique– now
The sound you gon’ keep– down
Come listen and peep– how
It’s automatique
[Gift of Gab]
It’s automatic sporadic movements on the brake
The moment’s magic the last thing that I should do is think
I burst the energy that hints that really it’s no time
At birth you start to think that after death back to no mind
A rest that makes you new again now you embrace the planet
And stand in all of all the thing you daily took for granted
The trees are posin’ all unique in form make this perfection
The most important time is now tomorrow’s a projection
A co-creator if you only just believe in that
Right here today inside is where I find my freedom at
Is simple as a lyric from my soul to yours as felt
I didn’t write this I just let the pen move by itself
It’s ART-o-matic
[Hook]
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Get a free Create The Life You Want
Hypnosis MP3 at icreatehabits.com, TODAY.
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[Natalie of Floetry]
So blessed we rest in a space over-standin’
This breath’s so unique we must trace where we landed
Magnetizin’ minor tracks is subliminal
So fiend-in to the evidence is evident I’m bein’ true
True to the moment the channelin’ the callin’
True to the heartbeat the passion and the formin’
This rollercoaster’s the one I stood in line for
Hands in the air these upside downs here are paid for
Make this relevant and here what you gotta hear
I’m recordin’ all the secrets of my silent shed
Don’t think about it just absorb everything you taste
If it set you free you gonna find the ways
You’re who you gonna be unless you choose otherwise
If you let it flow the universe will empathize
Check your programs they monitorin’ your sanity
Now close your eyes inside you find the clarity
It’s automatic!
[Hook]
[Floetry]
Free your body know this ought to be open
Then lose control just let it happen then
Live at it and set it
Move again your clarity start to assume again
I know this one twist will feel it in
You think you don’t know the engine (???)
But it’s so automatic
So so so automatic
[Gift of Gab]
It’s automative, beyond the common logic native
Beyond the ball around my drama now I’m divin’ waitin
So stop and wait this, now operate it on the wavelength
A thought of way is presented by true laws of nature
Across the nation a lost of patience is cost inflation
So caught in waitin’, and contemplatin’ obligations
Read up inaugurations politrations violatin
And all the haters all up it cannot invadin’
The honest tension, two orders sacred not created
Good thought I made it!! I’m born beyond the constellations
So concetratin’, and follow man we all are awakin’
It’s automative, you gotta make it follow faith in
Come on come on!
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When you think about it, every musical act you know of is using the Master Mind principle whether they realize it or not. They are joining together as a team with a combined vision. You can use the same principle and make some truly rockin’ things happen in your life.
Do you have a creative project you want to complete? Do you want to find a purpose for your life?
If so, I invite you to come over to my brand new page called Start a Master Mind Group.com. I’m offering 4 freebies to get you started so you can get a sense of what the Master Mind is all about.
Today I got an e-mail from Adam Yauch of The Beastie Boys (read it below). He’s calling on all fans to meditate twice a day and visualize “smashing apart all of the cancer cells in the world.” Hmmmm. That would be nice. For those of you who don’t know, Adam Yauch was diagnosed with throat cancer in July, 2009. Below is a video of his public announcement.
hello,
wanted to send this out to you guys in case you were into it, or wanted to give it to anyone who you think might be.
a few friends and i are meditating at the same time twice a day. 9:30am and 6:30pm eastern standard time, for about an hour and half.
we are picturing smashing apart all of the cancer cells in the world.
we are visualizing taking the energy away from the cancer, and then sending it back at the cancer as lightening bolts that will break apart the DNA and RNA of the cells. if you have the time, please join us in whipping up this lightening storm. mind over matter……
if you prefer to sit then sit, but if you are not used to meditating, or sitting quietly doesn’t sound like fun, put on some music and dance while you do the visualization, and if you want to do it at some other time, or picture curing some other illness that’s fine too. yoko will be joining the meditation by visualizing all of us dancing with joy to celebrate the world without cancer. all variations are welcome. this is really just being done with a wish for all beings to be cured of all illnesses and to find true lasting happiness.
i’ll also be saying prayers for the earthquake victims in tibet, so join in on that if you can too.
please feel free to pass this onto anyone who you think may find it interesting.
with all my love,
adam yauch
P.S. Another great way to shield yourself from cancer cells is laughter. Here’s a YouTube link to one of the funniest Beastie Boys songs there is : Netty’s Girl. Enjoy and don’t forget to meditate.
When you think about it, every musical act you know of is using the Master Mind principle whether they realize it or not. They are joining together as a team with a combined vision. You can use the same principle and make some truly rockin’ things happen in your life.
