On the Air
Silver City has an important new resource called Gila Mimbres Community Radio. Anyone can listen online at gmcr.org. It’s a breath of fresh air to hear real news and commentary from concerned individuals rather than the commercially sanitized messages that permeate even National Public Radio.
KURU fm is right on Silver City’s main drag, Bullard Street, across from the food co-op. We can wave at passing friends through the station’s large picture windows.
I’ve enjoyed several recent on air opportunities. Greg Renfro and Jean Eisenhower asked me to host their Silver City Acoustic show while they attended a Folk Alliance conference. I prepped all day, listening to tracks by the visiting artists I was going to interview, organizing my notes, questions, and station identification breaks. That process gave me tremendous respect for anyone makes a weekly hosting commitment. Though I madly shuffled papers throughout the two-hour program, some friends who listened indicated we sounded seamless enough. Whew.
A few weeks later, Greg and Jean had me on as a guest. Here’s that appearance. I was happy to have the chance to discuss not only my music, but also my healing work, retreat center and activism.
This month, Andrew Dahl Bredine and I came to the station to play our Gila river songs. We were promoting the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in support of attempts to resist the river’s diversion.
The following morning, Bija Aranow and I joined Paula Geisler’s radio show to discuss the threat of geoengineering. Chemtrails poison our air, earth and water, and we must build awareness of this problem if we are to have any hope of sustaining life on the planet. For more information on that topic, please visit geoengineeringwatch.org.
Untamed Gila
The Gila River is the life-blood of the desert southwest. It has been dammed elsewhere, but still flows free in New Mexico. Now there is a move to dam the Gila in New Mexico as well. Anyone who loves the river is upset that this project is moving forward. While public opinion is against the diversion, the government has given it the green light.
Because It will take many years for the dam to be built, there is still time to stop the project. To that end, the Gila Resources Information Project, or GRIP, has released a fundraising CD/DVD of river songs and films called Wild Gila: Forever Free.
My song, Untamed Gila, is on that album. I had the privilege of recording it in Nashville. Gary and Robin Earl produced it, assembling a top-flight group of musicians.
with Gary and Robin Earl at their Nashville studio.
All of the songs on Wild Gila: Forever Free are well produced and worth hearing. If you care about the environment, you’ll enjoy the recording, and can obtain one by writing grip@gilaresources.info.
Please sign this petition to save the Gila.
GRIP held a Wild and Scenic Film Festival at the Pinos Altos Opera House last week, and used the occasion to launch their new CD. I got to perform my song between films. Here’s the video of Dale Rucklos backing me up on guitar.
Dale and I will reprise that performance in a few weeks. GRIP will have a float in the 4th of July parade. I’ve never touched a float, let alone played and sang on one, so let’s hope we offer a positive contribution to the cause.
Taking it to the Streets
Pictured left to right: Shems Nickle, Azima Lila Forest, Pamela Morgan, Samira Johnson, Azaima Anderson. Out of camera range to Shems’ left is Paul deMarco on flute.
I’m now planning to play these songs for others as I drive back east in September. If you’re anywhere between New Mexico and Maine and are interested in hearing this music, let’s talk about setting up a house concert in your area.
I’m also offering workshops in my Heart Lightning method of quickly clearing emotional, mental and even some physical blocks. You can learn all you need in 90 minutes. It’s often helpful to combine Heart Lightning with the Emotional Freedom Technique (sometimes called tapping), so I’ll teach you that as well. If you’d like to learn this and you’re between NM and ME, please let me know, and we’ll make it happen.
If you’re near my route back to Maine, I’d be happy to administer a healing session for you in person. I’d highly recommend the Heart Lightning special combination as the most comprehensive and effective method. It includes a half hour of astrology, a half hour of heart lightning work and a half hour of shamanic healing.
As any astrologer would do, I checked the planets to see which would be the most auspicious time to hit the road, and September looks great. Hope to see you on the way.
Come to This House
Silver City, NM is a magnet for artists, athletes and eccentrics. We’re not on anyone’s way anywhere, so you really have to want to be here to visit. But with a great collection of art galleries, top-flight restaurants, and beautiful hiking and biking trails, anyone’s visit is well rewarded.
Last month, I listed the Heart and Wings Retreat Center on airbnb.com and made several fun new friends as a result.
Because people can book a room and show up with barely a moment’s notice, I have a great incentive to keep the place clean.
One would assume from that airbnb’s name that I would have to serve breakfast, but you can select the amenities you provide. I offer guests their own kitchenette and they can feed themselves. I have never liked eggs, and it would be presumptuous to assume that anyone would go for one of my green smoothies first thing in the morning.
If you want to check out the Continental Divide Trail, I’m 15 minutes away. Here’s my airbnb listing. Stop by some time.
Chapel of Love
Last month, I had the privilege of marrying a couple of men who had been together for 46 years. One was 70 and the other was 80. It was a powerful and moving experience for all in attendance.
Someone told me a few years ago that my house was on sacred ground, and that the Apaches who used to live here held many weddings on the land. It seems more than fitting to revive the tradition, and to support marriage equality as well.
Here’s the wedding video. Grab a hanky and enjoy. It includes Aretha Franklin’s amazing recording of “My Cup Runneth Over.â€
Mercury Retrograde
Have you wondered why the simplest things are going wrong these days?
Recently, my dogs’ invisible fence containment system stopped working. After I closed the door to the room that contained its transmitter, I couldn’t open it, even with a key. These back-to-back malfunctions made me wonder whether Mercury was retrograde. Indeed it was.
Yesterday I went into Mexico, charged some items on my credit card with no problem and then had it refused on the basis of attempted fraud the next time I tried to use it. Last night three hours of my blog copy disappeared from the computer before I had the chance to save it. This morning, none of my outgoing mail was saved in the sent folder, despite apple’s promises to do so automatically. I expect this beat to go on for a couple of weeks, so it’s time to breathe deeply.
You may be besieged by minor annoyances such as these from now until June 30, but at least you’ll have a convenient scapegoat.
Mercury rules communication. It goes retrograde three or four times a year for about three weeks. This time, Mercury is retrograde in Gemini, the sign it rules.
What you can do:
- Beware of silver-tongued devils. They may sound convincing, but, more than likely, they will be missing a vital piece of information.
- Check your facts.
- Confirm appointments.
- Keep your appliances in good repair.
- Take nothing for granted.
- Allow extra time to correct things that will inevitably go wrong.
- You will do better finishing old projects than initiating any.
Consider each mishap a lesson in humility. Against the backdrop of the life-threatening and chaotic Uranus Pluto square, Mercury retrograde is nothing. But the little things can get to us while the big things may be so inconceivably horrible that we refuse to entertain their validity.