A fine concert composed and performed by Rita Sahai and her Choir

Mom and Dad attended this concert in Berkeley yesterday night. They met many people they knew, including Swami Mangalananda Ji from the Badarikashrama Temple in San Leandro. 

The actual performance surprised them because Rita Sahai was accompanied by a large choir. Below is the press release for the event. I posted it for your sake. It is quite nice...

NavaGraha Ustav: Rita Sahai & the Vasundhara Choir with Jennifer Berezan

Saturday, October 27, 2012, at 8:00 pm

Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse

Utsav means celebration. Navagraha means nine planets. Tonight’s Navagraha Utsavis a celestial celebration, offering classical Hindustani ragas to bring harmony to the universe. Rita Sahai is an accomplished composer and singer from Allahabad, India who performs internationally and teaches classes in Hindustani vocal music throughout the Bay Area and at the University of California, Davis. She has released five albums, including Meera, which India Currents described as “artful” and “first-rate,” and has recorded with Grammy-winning banjo master Bella Fleck and with Alonzo King, whose album Sacred Texts won the Isadora Duncan award for music excellence. The Vasundhara Choir is comprised of 40 singers of all ages, including many of Rita’s students, as well as guest musicians. In 2010, Rita and her choir performed a celebration of Mother Earth, which the newspaper India-West called “a fabulous performance that created not just thoughts of nature’s beauty, but the experience of nature’s ability to refresh our spirits.”

Singer and songwriter, teacher and activist, Jennifer Berezan has a decades-long history of making music that blends her political commitment and spiritual sensitivity with her inspiring voice and intrepid guitar playing. Her recent album In These Arms, A Song for All Beings, is based on the Buddhist practice of loving kindness and compassion, and features voices from around the world, including 250 Buddhist nuns from Korea, Dechen Shak-Dagsay from Tibet, Katia Cardenal from Nicaragua, Jack Kornfield from Berkeley, and tonight’s host and musical guide, Rita Sahai. 

Chill with a scare flick!

Aye, aye, matey! Grrrrrr…………

The season of witches and ghosts, goblins and monsters, is upon us. What better when to enjoy it than with the best Halloween movies you can find. What makes them the best? Well, I suppose that is different for everybody, but for me, the best movies have to be something I can watch that don’t give me vertigo…ok, and which are mighty entertaining. Based on this criteria, I present you with my list.

 Hunchback of Notre Dame (animated)

Black Swan
Sherlock Holmes
The Village (Shyamalan)
The Ring
Single White Female
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
The Addams Family
Lake Placid
The Haunted Mansion
Hook
Sleepy Hollow (Johnny Depp)
Dark Shadow (J. Depp)
Gosford Park
Poltergeist
The Others (Kidman)
Jumanji
What Lies Beneath
Interview With A Vampire
The Day After Tomorrow
Shutter Island
The Good Son
The Silence of the Lambs
Beetlejuice
The Happening

Can you add to the list? If so, use the “Comments” section… Hope to hear from you. Cherio!

American culure....

“There’s nothing in our culture that credentials you quite like a published book.”

   I know I said I would talk a lot about Barack Obama and why I think he is the best candidate for president of this great nation. But I am also delving into the wide and varied world of the “writer”. In this post, I intend to discuss the quote I provided you with above. So here goes…

    Everywhere you look, newscasters and newspapers and periodicals and strategist all tout the benefits of an education. It is important…it will open doors for you…it will expand your mind and widen your perspective…all of these may be true, but ... it doesn't always get you a better job! I learned this the hard way after I earned my bachelor degree in business. I applied for TONS of fascinating jobs that I was finally qualified for…but I received not one interview. So I ended up taking a job as an administrative assistant two towns down the road.  What I am trying to get at is that even a bachelor’s degree couldn’t land me a decent job. And let me tell you, I did all they told me to do for the job search…
    Then, much later, I finally got it through my thick head that American culture favors the underdog, not the affluent or privileged.  He who gets arrested for banding together and staging a sit-in in protest of something or the other (it doesn’t really matter what) is applauded. She who works two jobs to make ends meet is sympathized with. He who pays child support is considered an “exceptional” father. She who replaces a Board member because she is the niece of the general manager is on par with corporate culture. All these examples exemplify those who DO NOT have an education (some of whom haven’t even finished high school). And yet, many of us stubbornly hold on to the premise that an education will get us the lifestyle and recognition we want. Now the first goal may be realized (if we are good at managing our money!), but the second goal isn’t…usually.
    Going back to the quote I presented at the beginning of this post… You can be the one who didn’t even finish high school, as long as you have a good story to tell and you can tell it in such a way that people will want to read it...go figure!