More Blues from the White House tonight… Five Long Years, featuring Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy, Gary Clark Jr, Mick Jagger & Booker T Jones:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check your local PBS listing for the entire program to be aired Feb 27, 2012.

** Cross posted from The Democratic Daily…

Bruce Springsteen’s new single “We Take Care Of Our Own,” off his upcoming CD, Wrecking Ball was released today.

ABC News notes, “judging from the names of the other tracks listed on the singers website — “This Depression,” “Easy Money,” and “Death to My Hometown” — Springsteen is once again wading in political waters and returning his focus to working-class issues.”

“We Take Care Of Our Own” is a hard hitting rocker, in true Springsteen / E Street Band style. As longtime readers here know, I am a big Springsteen fan and I have to say this new single simply blew me away musically and lyrically.

Watch the video debut here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Springsteen’s long-time manager Jon Landau said of Springsteen’s new work, “Bruce has dug down as deep as he can to come up with this vision of modern life. The lyrics tell a story you can’t hear anywhere else and the music is his most innovative in recent years. The writing is some of the best of his career and both veteran fans and those who are new to Bruce will find much to love on ‘Wrecking Ball.’”

Washington Post’s Click Track blog notes, Wrecking Ball is the 17th album of Springsteen’s career:

The social commentary is evident on the lead single: “From Chicago to New Orleans, from the muscle to the bone/From the shotgun shack to the Superdome/There ain’t no help, the cavalry stayed home/There ain’t no one hearing the bugle blowin’,” he sings on the title track. It’s not hard to see a thematic similarity between the song and Springsteen’s work on “Someplace like America,” a recent book by Washington Post photographer Michael Williamson and writer Dale Maharidge to which Springsteen contributed a forward.

You can check out Springsteen’s reflections on “Someplace like America” here.

Springsteen’s new Wrecking Ball CD will be released on March 6. U.S. tour dates have not yet been announced, but it is reported will be a full U.S. tour with the E Street Band in 2012. Rolling Stone has more on Springsteen’s new CD here.

Wrecking Ball track list:
1. “We Take Care of Our Own”
2. “Easy Money”
3. “Shackled and Drawn”
4. “Jack of All Trades”
5. “Death to My Hometown”
6. “This Depression”
7. “Wrecking Ball”
8. “You’ve Got It”
9. “Rocky Ground”
10. “Land of Hope and Dreams”
11. “We Are Alive”

The so very troubled and talented Amy Winehouse is dead, at 27.

Amy Winehouse “found worldwide fame with a sassy, hip-hop-inflected take on retro soul, yet became a tabloid fixture as her problems with drugs and alcohol led to a strikingly public career collapse.” She was found dead today in her London apartment, the police said.

Although the cause of death is at this point “unknown,” the news of Winehouse’s death stunned me and made me feel a sense heartbreak that she had most likely lost her battle with drugs and alcohol.

With her “husky, tart voice and a style that drew equally from the sounds of Motown and the stark storytelling of rap, Ms. Winehouse became one of the most acclaimed young singers of the past decade, selling millions of albums, winning five Grammy Awards and starting a British retro-R&B trend that continues today.”

I didn’t want to like Winehouse’s music because the lurid details of her self-destructive, troubled life were such a turn-off. Yet, her talent could not be ignored. Her life was vividly portrayed in “Rehab” but with so much soul that you couldn’t help sing along and groove to the Motown-esque beat.

Born in Southgate, London on Sept. 14, 1983, Amy Jade Winehouse is survived by her mother, Janis, a pharmacist, and her father, Mitch, a cab driver “who nursed a love for music,” and her brother, Alex.

Ms. Winehouse showed an early talent for performing, as well as an eclecticism that would characterize her later work. She loved her father’s Sinatra records, but she also liked hip-hop; at age 10 she and a friend formed a rap group called Sweet ’n’ Sour that Ms. Winehouse later described as “the little white Jewish Salt-N-Pepa.” (Ms. Winehouse was the “sour” half.)

She attended the Sylvia Young Theater School in London and later went to the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, a free performing arts school there that counts several other recent female pop stars among its alumnae, including Ms. Allen and Adele, another young singer who is sometimes seen as picking up the neo-soul mantle from Ms. Winehouse.

In 2003, at age 19, Ms. Winehouse released her first album, “Frank.” Influenced by jazz, it established her as a rising star in Britain. But “Back to Black,” recorded with the producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, and the Brooklyn retro-soul band the Dap-Kings, made her an international sensation. With thick horns and club-ready hip-hop beats, the album was a darkly stylish update of classic 1960s R&B, and it was adored by critics and the public alike.

Nielsen SoundScan, a company that tracks music sales, reports that “Ms. Winehouse has sold 2.7 million albums and 3.4 million tracks in the United States.”

The true peak of Winehouse’s career was the 2008 Grammy Awards when she “was nominated for six prizes and took home five, including Best New Artist.”

Yet even days before the show, her appearance there was uncertain because of visa problems. In the end, she performed by satellite from London.

Although Ms. Winehouse has not made an album since “Back to Black,” she tried to revive her career several times. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Ms. Winehouse’s father, who released a jazz album this year, said she had been in good health lately. (Mr. Winehouse was scheduled to perform at the Blue Note jazz club in New York on Monday, but canceled after learning of his daughter’s death.)

Her most recent comeback attempt was a bust, as Winehouse canceled a European tour last month, “after a performance in Belgrade on the first night, during which she appeared to be too intoxicated to perform properly.”

Her death is a tragic loss to the world of soul music as Winehouse becomes another talented and troubled musician to pass away at 27.  Winehouse joins Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin as part of the 27 club.

R.I.P. Amy Winehouse…

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Cross posted from The Democratic Daily.)

Dear Readers, I just posted the following on my political blog, The Democratic Daily, it explains why it has been so quite around my 3 blogs:

As readers have no doubt noticed it has been pretty quite around here in the past couple of weeks. I have a very full plate since my recent move back home to Massachusetts and I am juggling way too much.

When I first started The Dem Daily nearly 4 years ago, my business was far more stable and I had much more free time on my hands, as I actually could afford part time help to fill orders. The recession has taken a huge toll on my business, as it has on many small businesses. After moving to Maine from Los Angeles 7 months ago in attempt to save some money on living expenses, I found that in order to stay afloat I needed to find a job and run my business on the side.

So, here I am in Massachusetts, where I grew up, with a full time job, a business suffering from the recession and not 1, but 3 blogs (5, if you count my business blogs). Sadly, somethings need to go on the back burner, and that means the blogs get less of my time until the economy picks back up.

All that said, once I more acclimated to my new schedule, I hope to be back here posting more frequently again. And in the meantime, I hope some of the other writers that have posted here in the past will be able to jump in occassionally and keep readers up to date.

Stay tuned…

As a wholesale supplier of natural bath and body products to small retailers, I wasn’t at all surprised to read the news this morning that “Retail sales fell for a second straight month in April.”

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that retail sales fell 0.4 percent last month, much worse than the flat reading economists expected. The April weakness followed a 1.3 percent drop in March that was worse than first estimated.

Cottage industries like my own have taken a big hit in this recession. My clients are all lagging in sales, as am I. Which brings me to another piece of news…

I moved to Maine about 7 months ago, hoping to save some money living in an area that is cheaper to live than Los Angeles, where I had lived for nearly 19 years. Unfortunately my daughter has been out of work since we got here, and there isn’t much opportunity here for her, or me for that matter. I find for the first time in 12 years, I need to find work to help supplement my business income. So… I am moving again — on May 22.

I’ll be packing up and moving to New Hampshire for a bit to stay with friends and then the ultimate destination is Massachusetts (the Newburyport area).  The good news is, we’ll be back in home in Massachusetts in short time and I’ll be officially a constituent of my 2 favorite Senators — Kerry and Kennedy!

Stay tuned… I’m taking all this change in stride — it’s the next chapter in my great Mid-life Crisis Adventure, fueled by the recession!

[Originally posted at The Democratic Daily]

Last week, I drove down to Massachusetts so that I could attend the inaugural event at MIT’s Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values.

My interest in attending the event was two fold:

• First –  To hear the Dalai Lama speak because I feel he is one of the great spiritual leaders of our times.
• Second – Because I feel strongly about the objective and mission of the Center, which is to “inspire a new generation of 21st century leaders with compassionate responsibility for the global and long-term social, economic, and environmental impacts of their decisions.”

The Center’s inaugural event at MIT was quite different from the large event at Gillette Stadium on Saturday that drew a diverse crowd of nearly 16,000.  

Peppering his talk on promoting ethics and compassion, with his wonderful sense of humor, my first impression of His Holiness, was that he possesses a quality of pure happiness and joy, that I would liken to the happiness that is reflected in a small child. When we are young we are far more open and joyful than we are as adults, because we are not burdened and encumbered with the problems that age and responsibility set upon us.

The Dalai Lama said that he thought the world is experiencing “some disturbances due to global economy,” and though the economy is “human created” it is beyond “human control.” There is he said, “too much greed” in the world and the environmental and ecology problems that we are faced with today, are “intertwined with the economy.” Add to that mix, the fact that “millions of people” are  genuinely “fed up” about violence.

He said that “education can increase our knowledge,” but he also believes that compassion and affection matter too and we must learn to be “compassionate without attachment.” The “objective is unbiased acceptance” as all humans “deserve love, compassion.”

“The infinite unbiased seed comes from compassion — the seed of the potential to increase that comes from compassion.”

A point he pressed upon was that it is not enough to have compassion for your loved ones and friends, what is important is to foster compassion for all, including those who you do not agree with. A prime example of this is the fact that the Dalai Lama has said he “loves” George W. Bush as a person. Some conservative journalists and bloggers have hit upon this and used that to press the point that Bush is a good person.

However, the Dalai Lama has made it clear that he does not agree with Bush’s policies, saying “I have reservations” about them. I know some of my liberal friends and readers might find the Dalai Lama’s affection for Bush hard to swallow, however, the Dalai Lama personifies compassion and acceptance and “loves” everyone. That is his nature, that is the crux of the Buddhist principle, that we can all practice tolerance, compassion and acceptance and in that the world would be a better place. 

In stressing the need for a more diverse secular approach to ethics, the Dalai Lama said that ethics are in “all religions” and in “no religions.” Family values do not comes from religious ideas, but by “nature.” To make his point he asked a Catholic monk in the audience whether secularism meant “rejection of religion.” The monk replied that “it depends on your experience of secularism.”

Laughing the Dalai Lama responded “Very wise answer,” and added, “We need to promote secular ethics through education.” He also stressed that he respects all religions and does not believe Buddhism is best for everyone. “Non believers are really wonderful,” he said, “Secular respects all religions and non believers.”

Imagining a more compassionate world in which science plays a role, the Dalai Lama mused that MIT scientists might someday “invent an injection of compassion” and shops might sell compassion. “I would want that,” he said.

“One good thing of human nature is the mind can change,” he said. “We must find ways to promote ethics and values in a secular way.”

“Religious persons, must be honest. Politicians, must be honest. Scientists, must be honest. Honesty is a rare quality. Religion is compassion. Equality of leadership comes from compassion.”

The Dalai Lama finished his talk at MIT by taking some questions from MIT students. One student asked if he felt there is a comparison of the Native American situation to that of the Tibetans. He responded with a great lesson is understanding past, present and future:

“The past is past. Buddhists – much suffering. No use to keep grieving. Past is past. Future is important. Future depends on present. Present is the seed of our future.”

Another student asked about how someone could apply ethics to working in the weapons industry. The Dalai Lama said he hoped for global demilitarization in this century and went on to say that he wished that scientists could invent a “bullet with consciousness that would not hit innocent people, but decision makers. That kind of bullet needs to be developed.” He wiggled his hand in the air like a traveling bullet and said “Wonderful.”

We may never come to see the day in our lifetime that compassion will come from an injection or bullets will avoid striking the innocent and aim instead for the decision makers, but we can all participate in striving for a more just and compassionate world where our leaders will make decisions based on honesty, understanding and true compassion.

“Ultimately,” the Dalai Lama said, “all trouble is created by humans.” The message that the Dalai Lama stressed throughout his talk at MIT is that through education coupled with science and ethical leadership, we can change that.

[*AP Photo/Steven Senne]

[Originally published at The Democratic Daily.]

I’m heading to the Boston area tomorrow morning for a 3 days so that I can attend the inaugural event at The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT on Thursday, April 30. 

I’ve been granted a press pass from The Center, so I will have a substantial piece on the event when I return from Boston which will be published on The Democratic Daily. I’m very excited about the opportunity to hear His Holiness, The Dalai Lama speak on the topic of Ethics and Enlightened Leadership. I believe The Dalai Lama is one of the great spiritual leaders of our time and in my quest for inner peace his teaching have always resonated with me.

The Center “will promote the Dalai Lama’s vision of a better world by sponsoring interdisciplinary programs and deliberations on ethics.”

A collaborative think tank, the center is supported through the generosity of friends who recognize its potential to help shape tomorrow’s leaders. It will invite distinguished researchers, educators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, artists and others from diverse cultural, religious and educational backgrounds to contribute to its objectives through workshops and lecture series.

There’s more info on The Center here.

I grew up with a large vegetable garden (which was all organic) in our yard in West Newbury, Massachusetts. Every year my father would till the soil and we would all go out and help with the planting, weeding and then when the time came, the picking. The memories of the taste of the just picked vegetables is still ingrained in my mind and now that I have moved back to rural New England, I am anxiously awaiting the last frost so that I can plant my own little vegetable garden here in Eastport, Maine.

Needless to say, I think it’s awesome that the Obama’s are planting a White House kitchen garden, in effort to promote healthy eating.

Today at the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack helped a group of school children, from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, plant seedlings in the White House Kitchen Garden.

Michelle Obama told the children that “the first question she had been asked on her recent trip to Europe was about the garden.”

“Every single person from Prince Charles on down was excited because we are planting a garden,” she said. “In many countries, they believe in the importance of planting a garden and raising your own food.”

AG Secretary Tom Vilsack “gave Mrs. Obama credit for a significant increase in seed sales.”

Both emphasized how inexpensive it can be to have a garden — the White House has said its garden cost $200.

When one child guessed that it would cost “over $100,000,” Mrs. Obama replied, “My husband would go crazy if he thought we were spending that kind of money.”

Sadly, the chemical industry is up in arms over the Obama’s organic garden. The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA), who represent big agribusinesses like “Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Crop Protection,” are “less thrilled about the fact that no chemicals will be used to grow the crops.”

The MACA wanted stressed to the Obama’s:

“As you go about planning and planting the White House garden, we respectfully encourage you to recognize the role conventional agriculture plays in the U.S. in feeding the ever-increasing population, contributing to the U.S. economy and providing a safe and economical food supply.”

Contrary to what the MACA would like to stress about the use of chemicals in gardens, the White House Kitchen Garden is however the perfect example of how people can can grow safe and economical food, organically.

It’s time to stop putting chemicals in our food supply and getting back to basics. If more families grew some of their own fruits and vegetables, they would not only save money but they would also improve the quality of their lives. Good for the Obama’s for setting this example.

[Cross posted from The Democratic Daily]

Greetings Readers… I wanted to check in briefly and let you all know that I have not dropped off the face of the earth since embarking on my journey across country to move to Maine. I am settling in here in Eastport, Maine, my new home, which my daughter has dubbed the ‘end of the middle of no where.’

The air is clean and fresh here (and cold), the scenery is just spectacular and the people are friendly and welcoming. The entire trip across country was quite an adventure, which I will write more about once I am settled in and election day is over.

Many thanks to Stuart, Hart, Michael and all the writers at The Dem Daily for keeping The Dem Daily buzzing in my stead. I promise I’ll be back online more regularly soon, once I am unpacked and back on track.

[Originally posted at The Democratic Daily.]

Over the past few weeks I have noted in a few posts that I am preparing to move across country. I’ve kept meaning to write more about the move and let readers know what’s up but have been so busy with all the preparations, that I haven’t had time to blog about much of anything some days (once I am re-settled in my new home Down East, I’ll be writing more).

So here’s the scoop, readers…

After 19 long years of living in Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley), I am moving back to the East Coast. I am originally from a small city on the coast of Massachusetts — Newburyport. I am heading further North in my move however, and will be living in Eastport, Maine:

Eastport, Maine is a beautiful small coastal community on the border of Canada. It’s a fishing port and artist community that is surrounded (as you can see from the map above) on three sides by water. I’ve missed living near the ocean, so I am thrilled to be moving back to my roots in New England, and particularly to move to Maine which has been a dream for many years.

I will be setting out from Los Angeles three weeks from today (October 19) with my daughter (and our cat, Zeus) and a friend to embark on a great adventure, driving cross country (from the South West corner to the North East corner) to our new home in Eastport, Maine. Thankfully, my business is a wholesale internet based business that I can run from just about anywhere.  

The economy has made it nearly impossible for me to afford to live (and run my business) in Los Angeles any longer. The latest turn of events in the economic mess has reinforced that the move will be a positive one. Housing in the Eastport area is a fraction of the cost here in Los Angeles. I’ll be renting a little 2 bedroom duplex from my niece and her husband to start and hope that in a year or two, I finally be able to buy my own home.

My new home will be about 1/2 mile walk to the ocean. On any given day in Eastport, Maine you can see Whales off the coast, Seals basking on the rocks and Canadian Geese, Eagles and other Raptors over head. And, there’s deer, racoons and bobcats in the woods and absolutely gorgeous views of seasmoke, sunrises and sunsets over the water.

An artist by nature, I used to paint years ago and I look forward to taking that up again and finally finishing my novel I started years ago. I’ll be living in just the right peaceful atmosphere to re-inspire my artistic nature and I’ll be among community rich with artisans.

While I’m on the road, I’ll be offline most of the time, I hope that all of The Dem Daily writers will keep readers up to date on all the election and political news during that time. There’s lots of incredible photos of the Eastport area at EasternMaineImages.com for any readers interested in seeing what the draw is for this small town New Englander to head back to her roots. Ironically, Eastport, Maine “was first settled in 1772 by James Cochrane of Newburyport, Massachusetts,” which adds to the sense that I belong there. And of course there is the opportunity to live near family which is something my daughter and I have missed out on here in Los Angeles for years.

I will miss all my wonderful friends here in Los Angeles, including the bloggers here like SteveAudio and his lovely wife Pam, Skippy and Brad Friedman - to name a few. I’ve had a rich and wonderful life while living in Los Angeles, but now it’s time for a new chapter in my life. Stay tuned…

[Cross posted on my political blog: The Democratic Daily]