Planetary Gig Talk

Caron Collins has been a music educator basically all of her life, and she used a collaborative method of teaching music and conducting musical groups. She is the creator of the Curiosity, Collaborative, Creativity program and website, and recently also developed a course for music educators titled Peace Building through Music Education. She joins host Jefferson Glassie of the Planetary Gigs Society for a wide ranging conversation about the power of music, and also discussions of Musicians without Borders and Women Frame Drumming.

Lionel Cole is an amazing Grammy nominated musician, with the music business being part of his life as the son of Freddy Cole and nephew of Nat King Cole. He toured with Mariah Carey and has played with many famous musicians. Lionel became good friends with Jefferson Glassie recently through their mutual friend Tara Gorman, who met Lionel years ago through Up With People. Lionel is a brilliant music shaman and eloquent spiritual guru.

Eileen McKusick is a pioneering researcher in the fields of electric health and therapeutic sound, as well as the creator of the sound therapy method Biofield Tuning, founder of the Biofield Tuning Institute and Tuners Without Borders, and the author of Electric Body, Electric Health and Tuning the Human Biofield. She and Jefferson have a fascinating discussion about the biofield and music, and how we can open up and tap into coherence. With special guest: Eileen McKusick

Natalie Glassie is a ballet dancer, who is also Jefferson Glassie's niece, they talk about the essential role of music in dance.

Marshall Thomas and Jefferson Glassie met at Victor Wooten's Spirit of Music camp at Wooten Woods and engaged in some interesting discussions about the connection of music and plant medicines, which they discuss further in this podcast. With special guest: Marshall Thomas

Jefferson Glassie met Melani at the Devi Music Ashram in Rishikesh, India; they had a lot of synchronicities! Melani is into the book When the Drummers Were Women, knew Biko Casini and Rising Appalachia, works on indigenous peoples issues, and ended up singing with Jefferson for his 70th Birthday celebration in Rishikesh. She also is a founding member of the Council of Music Shamans. With special guest: Melani GG

Tara Divina left her job in the music business to become a musician and also a coach for musicians, artists, and others to help them find their core message. She and Jefferson talked about her views of music and life, her vedic astrology work, and the role of shamanism in her mystical coaching practice. For more information, please visit www.taradivina.com

Brian Festa is an accomplished musician but also focuses on helping musicians with their musical, personal, and professional lives. He describes many of the holistic aspects that musicians can learn about and focus on to improve their practices and also his vision for retreat centers built around musicians and their needs. Please check out www.musicianmedicine.com.

Rudy Colombini has been a singer and musician all his life, and has been the lead singer for the Unauthorized Rolling Stones among many other performance roles. He is also the Founder of Music City San Francisco, a multifaceted music and arts performance and community space. www.musiccitysf.org. It mission is provide a self-sustaining music-focused hub in the heart of San Francisco that music fans, performance artists, and professional musicians can discover diverse, music-centric experiences that inspire, educate, and entertain. Rudy is also a very spiritual musician who leads study of A Course in Miracles and has been guided by many synchronous experiences in his life, including meeting John Lennon on the streets of San Francisco.

This is the first video version of the Planetary Gig Talk podcast, appropriately, with podcast guru and musician Blake Althen. Blake was responsible for helping host Jefferson Glassie set up the Planetary Gig Talk podcast and Paula Bellenoit with Human Factor distributes the shows. Blake talked about the basics of podcasting and options for musicians who might want to get started with their own podcasts.

Verdell Primeaux is a two-time Grammy award winning vocalist in Native American Music. He was brought up with music in his family; he is a third generation recording artist. He met his musical brother Johnny Mike in 1986 and they launched a successful career with 30 records as Primeaux and Mike. Their music was inspired by and performed in connection with the Native American Church, which Verdell talks about in this podcast. Verdell says the music can bridge divisions, including ethic gaps and religion. “This music has a universal outreach, it has a purpose.” He says, for the Native Americans, music and everything they do is a prayer, and for prayer to be most powerful, it should be in the form of a song. Verdell says, “Now is the time to bring people together,” with books, movies, songs, about the spirit and power of music. He says, “Everyone is blessed with their own voice.”

Jon David Gorman has been playing music his entire life. His father was a guitar player and Jon David remembers listening to his dad play when he was very young. His father unfortunately passed soon after, and his mother Tara Gorman, goddess of Awesomeness and co-founder of Planetary Gigs Society, began hosting Music Nights at their house practically every month. The idea was to invite anyone who wanted to come play music at the Gorman house, and many fine and talented musicians routinely showed up. Jon David considered himself very lucky and was grateful for the Music Nights with so many ‘super encouraging’ friendly musicians who helped him learn to play. He first took guitar lessons, then saxophone in 4th grade, before settling on bass as his main instrument. The Music Nights became like organic lessons, learning tips here, chords there. Music Nights taught him to be a very versatile player. He says music is powerful because it conveys emotions and ‘music builds empathy.’ Jon David wants to use music to help build community. He got some good advice at one point, to learn a song that means something and play it, and he tries to follow that advice. He believes music is just as worth it as learning any other language.

Bruce Blaylock began piano lessons when he was very young, but he wasn’t that into it because the teacher never asked him what Bruce wanted to play. Later, his friend Chip encouraged him to start guitar, and Bruce hasn’t stopped playing since, currently with his band Beat Hotel. He says he has met so many remarkable people in his life through music and it has opened many doors. Bruce went to college and law school in New Orleans, and got to experience and play a lot of music from that fascinating city. Bruce says, “Music helps you find your people and your people find you, and that’s powerful.” He says music is literally magical, and he has seen magical performances on stage in many shared experiences over the years. Music creates a “connective tissue” with others in the music community and the audience, and Bruce also says music can help make life meaningful even when there are dark clouds. Please give a listen to Bruce’s fun and interesting storytelling about growing up with music.

Congressman Jamie Raskin is a Member of Congress representing the 8th District in Maryland, the home of the worldwide headquarters of the Planetary Gigs Society, and also plays piano. So, Jefferson Glassie caught up with him to ask a few questions about music. Raskin says there was always music in his home growing up, because his father was a classical music prodigy on the piano. His father saw the world through music and it was essential to who he was, and he thought society should be organized in a way that connected people just like music does. Raskin professes that he is not a musician, but only plays by ear, fools around, and improvises on the piano, but also said his entire family plays music, so music is always around. He says that with all the issues we are having, such as the covid pandemic and the January 6 insurrectionary violence, one can despair sometimes. However, he says, “When you listen to music, you understand where humanity is actually going and what we’re really capable of.” He says so many of the pathologies of our time result from people being separate, but music brings people together. Raskin says he is a big champion of science and math, but if we lose touch with literature, music, the arts, we could be headed to a dangerous place.

Peter McClard was born of the 60's, that time when black and white became color and music exploded. He had a voracious appetite for music even when very young. He took lessons on viola in first grade, moved on to guitar when 9 years old. He remembered listening to his brother's twelve string acoustic with a stethoscope and was blown away. There was a "rainbow of overtones, and the sound of metal and wood and vibration just made me so happy and I was just in love with sound at that point." He eventually went on to play in many bands, but also became enamored with other aspects of music, fractals, math, patterns, new overtones, which ultimately led to development of his theory of holistic tonality, sort of a unified theory of music. Peter says the power of music is so deep, vibration is everywhere, in everything, and goes to the most primal part of our being. Music and sound can be used for any purpose, good or bad, so its important for us to elevate music so that it can create shifts in consciousness that can better society. He says we need to reduce some of the noise and bring out the good stuff, including the silence and peace. Peter has developed lots of software, but check out a couple of his apps, including Pixound and Different Drummer, and other software at www.technemedia.com. Peter is an amazing, smart thinker and musician.

Fia was ten years old when she went to a Christmas concert at a cultural school in Sweden and first heard an oboe. “I got so enchanted, I said I want to learn,” and she started taking lessons. She began writing songs, in both Swedish and English, and as a writer she writes about her life, the people she meets, and the stories they tell. She was in many bands and different genres, but a few years ago began on a solo track, and started writing about spirituality, which resonated with people and there was a ripple effect, where she gained a following. She crowd-sourced her first album, Made of Stars. She calls her music “transformational music” that inspires self-reflection and serves as reminders of who we are, which calls us back to our most inner core and connecting us to source, universe, and God. She says we like to see ourselves reflected, and the role of the artist or musician is to put words to emotions that can interact with and lead to a deeper understanding of the self. Writing and singing songs is her way of making contributions and she trusts that she will make a positive mark on this world. She says, inspiration is found everywhere, it is a divine spark, and when we follow it, it opens the possibility to create so much magic that is unique from our soul. What she is passionate about is to invite people back to themselves and ask who are you, what is your truth, let me see you. And they can be more in touch with themselves. I also see women rising to their own magic and becoming a force on the planet. People should reconnect with their authentic voice - not just talking but singing; what if we sang more? We need to dance, to sing, to tell stories, or we can become sick. “We all have the ability to be light beams ... change makers, on a big scale, small scale, it doesn't matter. We have a lot more power than many of us might think.” You can find more about Fia here: https://fiasmusicofficial.com

Billy Presnell started playing music when he was really young, about five years old. Piano was his first instrument, and he got a guitar when he was eight. Billy says, “Music has always been a part of my life,” and he was still learning to talk practically when he first started. He has played many different styles and instruments, though he says, “when I read The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten, it changed the way I approached accompanying people; kinda changed my priorities in making the entire musical piece the goal, as opposed to me playing well with somebody.” He also began attending and volunteering at Wooten Woods music camps, and made so many connections. He learned that being a good person leads to good musicianship, and that will change your life in a positive way. He understood that he didn’t have to impress people, but that it is more about serving the music. Billy says that, when you play, if you put the intention of healing and providing positivity and peace into your music, it can change the world. He hopes after the pandemic that people will really going back to seeing live music.

Julie Rust grew up in a house where there was a lot of music; her father played trumpet and her mother was a big band singer, and Julie grew up with a piano in her room! She realized that she wanted to play piano at age seven, and was writing songs by the time she was sixteen, majored in Music at college, and ended up playing coffee houses all over the country. She says that she writes songs by listening to her heart; her music is like a thread of love that flows through her and helps her stay connected. She says music healed her and taught her that she is love, and she hopes her music can help other people realize the same thing. She also says that even if a musician is just playing at home, even that music makes a difference and is changing the world. Julie says things really started happening for her when she stopped trying to force her career. She started doing what she calls Sacred Space Experiences with particular songs and meanings for individuals in a room. Now she also creates virtual Messages from the Light for individuals., and recently Audible Insights on various and random topics. Please check out https://www.julierust.com

Vivienne Aerts grew up in The Netherlands, and started piano at age 5, and by age 12 was the choir conductor. After performing all over, she got a scholarship from Berklee College of Music, majored in voice and the global jazz program. While there, she met Kenny Werner, author of the book Effortless Mastery. Since then, she has performed often with Kenny and administers the Effortless Mastery Institute at Berklee. She says that, as Kenny writes in the book, to become a master musician, playing needs to become effortless, where the music plays itself "from the space." She says one can train their mind to play from that space, from the now, which is similar to mindfulness, where you watch yourself play. "It is really a cognitive exercise in letting go," she says. The western world has forgotten wthat we can practice effortlessness. She feels there is a community building around Kenny's concepts of effortless mastery. More about Vivienne is at www.vivienneaerts.com.

Qiaoli Wang remembered the old Buddhist music from growing up in China, but then she had to opportunity to help preserve the music for posterity, and she did it. She listened to the call to make a movie about the monks in an ancient monastery who still played music that was over 1,000 years old. She says, "The music itself refused that I make it short." There had been no audio or video of this old music, and she said the process of making the film was like a pilgrimage. The monks saw their beauty in the music. Qiaoli says, "The essence of music actually is to make people appreciate their own existence." The film opened prior to the pandemic, but will continue in theaters hopefully soon.