Music & More
by Mark Maxwell Abushady • New York City

CDs

Shaman’s Vision Journey
David & Steve Gordon
Sequoia Records
www.sequoiarecords.com
This CD, with four extended tracks, ‘East Wind Awaken,’ ‘South Wind Meeting,’ ‘West Wind Receiving’ and ‘North Wind Renew,’ lives up to its name in visionary, hypnotic Native American beats and musical flavors. David and Steve Gordon, masters of “musical relaxation,” take their art one step further, incorporating Native Flute; ancient Lakota, Aboriginal, Buddhist, Mayan and Sanskrit chants; guitars; nature sounds; and crystal bowls.

The Village Lanterne
Blackmore’s Night
Steamhammer/SPV GmbH
www.blackmoresnight.com
“Renaissance rock” with “Folk and Balladesque influences” is how former Deep Purple guitarist and composer Ritchie Blackmore describes the style of his contemporary offerings, the newest of which is The Village Lanterne. Romantic in overall feeling and sprinkled with medieval and celtic instrumentals, this album also gives a nod to Mr. Blackmore’s 70’s Rock roots on several of the cuts; while ‘The Messenger’ features some especially beautiful acoustic guitar work. His partner, Candice Night, sings with clarity and pleasant tone and is nicely showcased in ‘Faerie Queen.’ ‘Mond Tanz/Child in Time,’ a new rendering of the Deep Purple standard, is probably the definitive cut, and quite well done.

Bears, Bees & Butterflies, A Musical Journey
Paul Helou
Loungin’ Cat Music
www.paulhelou.com
As a breaking news story last week announced that the proliferation of sex in music and music videos has now positively been shown to contribute to teens & pre-teens engaging in sex (surprise!), it was a welcome chore to review this CD. Created for children, the cuts are part storytelling/ part song, with lyrics well thought out to help teach young ones a reverence for nature, life, themselves, and their position in the natural world. Lyrics like: “We are part of the earth from the bear to the bird, so respect each other and say a kind word,” gladden the heart, and make this CD a joyful experience.

Film

From Science to God
Peter Russell
Hartley Film Foundation; Distributed by Elf Rock Productions
www.peterussell.com
An intriguing look at the question of consciousness, ultimately inexplicable under the current scientific paradigm, this short film, abundant in theory and alternative viewpoints, should further a welcome
dialogue amongst its viewers. Mr. Russell’s scientific theorizations are simple and accessible, and the film’s “scenes” are interspersed with quotes from philosophers and spiritual texts. ‘God’ in the title is the place the film leaves you at its much-too-soon ending; a portal to our search for inner peace with clues as to how that may be obtained. A well-conceived film.


An Inconvenient Truth
Featuring Al Gore
Paramount Classics and Participant Productions
www.climatecrisis.net
Remember those science films we used to watch in High School? That’s the format for much of An Inconvenient Truth, a film within a film, and the lecture that Mr. Gore has been touring to different venues around the world in an attempt to awaken the common man to this serious issue. Interspersed with asides regarding family triumphs and tragedies/awakenings, the election, and other political maneuvers, it is also a tribute to a college professor of Mr. Gore’s who spoke of this impending problem years ago, but received little if any attention from those other than his students – a situation reminiscent no doubt to many of us who studied the environmental sciences with professors wide-eyed at the prospect of a solar and wind-power take over which was never to occur in an economy driven by oil and gas interests. As Mr. Gore points out, using Upton Sinclair’s words, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

Convincing photographic comparisons are made (which had the audience gasping) of the glaciers and lakes of northern regions from the early 1900s and those same areas today. Why these photographs aren’t breaking news on the network stations is incomprehensible. As Mr. Gore states, this is not a political issue, but rather one of conscience. Arguments made against the severity of global warming are also addressed quite clearly, as are issues many are not aware of, such as insect pest expansion and the concurrent spread of disease.

Does the film leave you disillusioned, depressed and feeling helpless? No. It ends with a plethora of ideas and suggestions for ways we can both individually and collectively work to halt the progress of global warming. They continued right through the credits! SEE THIS FILM. Visit the website, too.

Mark Maxwell Abushady is an actor, singer, designer and photographer based in New York City.