Hear the Birds Singing?

Beautiful rendition of a classic calypso song with birds joining the chorus at the end!

From Green Roofs to Green Walls

(CNN) -- Walk past the southern face of the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, and you will be greeted by a massive wall of brilliant green foliage -- an 8,600 square feet plant installation by the designer Patrick Blanc, featuring more than 170 different species.

The mass of leaves and flowers seems to be swallowing the building -- and provides a proud symbol of resurgent nature in this busy, downtown district.

The amazing spectacle is one of the largest in a growing number of "plant walls" or "vertical gardens" that are taking root across the world, as architects search for environmentally friendly ways to create beautiful buildings.

Some visionaries even believe that soon we could be harvesting our food from the places where we live and work....

to see the rest of this story click here

I'm really excited to see what happens with the Paris Experiment.

Thanks to my roommate Dillon for this find!

Update Troy Davis

SCOTUS just contacted Troy's attorneys: there will be NO DECISION (which also means no execution date) until their court reconvenes in September.

posted on facebook
by Lynn Hopkins who is in the picture above!

Thanks you Lynn

Global Warming Victory

Dear Thomas,

Last Friday evening, the House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the first-ever bill designed to unleash clean energy opportunities, create millions of jobs and combat global warming.

Al Gore called this showdown "the most important environmental vote of this generation." And President Obama promised that a Yes vote would "open the door to a better future."

Still, the bill's passage defied expectations. Back in January, few people believed that six months into a new session and a new administration -- and in the midst of an economic meltdown -- we could pass transformative clean energy legislation in the House.

Well, we did it! And we did it because millions of people like you made their voices heard on Capitol Hill. You fought alongside the NRDC Action Fund because you know that this is America's single best chance to defuse the climate crisis and create a greener, more prosperous future.

House leaders Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman, and Ed Markey deserve a great deal of credit for this success. This was no easy fight. The bill touched off regional differences and challenged Big Oil's and Big Coal's stranglehold on America's energy supply.

Waxman, the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, had to corral many opposing interests to create a bill that would get out of committee and survive the bumpy journey through the Senate and on to the White House. One of the keys to this bill's success was that Americans from all walks of life urged their lawmakers to back climate action.

I saw it for myself. In the past year, I traveled the country to help build momentum for national climate legislation, and the people I talked to -- from clean energy entrepreneurs in Cleveland to labor organizers in Chicago, from national security experts in Georgia to religious leaders in New York -- all believe that building a clean, sustainable energy future will unleash enormous opportunities for America.

I know you agree. And that's important because we're going to need you to make your voice heard again and again in the months ahead. We'll be fighting to make this bill even stronger -- and advance it through the Senate and on to the president's desk. And we need to do all that before the international climate negotiations begin in December in Copenhagen.

The fight in the Senate will be challenging. But just as we defied expectations in the House, we can defy them in the Senate -- especially if we have your strong support.

In the coming weeks, the NRDC Action Fund will be turning all its attention to this final push. The House's historic passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act just gave our efforts powerful momentum.

Sincerely,
Frances
Frances Beinecke
President
NRDC Action Fund

In Memory of MJ

People gathered at the Liverpool station for a mass moonwalk in honor of Mike!



Dwele put this together on the spot as a tribute to Mike! Amazes me to watch someone build a song one layer at a time by themselves.



Got the Dwele video off of Senor Kaos's site, The Kaos Effect. Gracious Senor.

MTV Got One Right!

Chicago singer/songwriter/violinist Andrew Bird updates the traditions of small-group swing, German leider, and New Orleans jazz, mixing gypsy, folk, and rock elements into his distinctive style.

A Universal Message of Peace!

Mason Jennings and Jack Johnson make a wonderful point. I'm sharing this one because LOVE is the only religion I know, and this is in the spirit of keeping this site secular. Looks like it might be time to stop fighting over names and dogma! Maybe then we can stop fighting over invisible lines.

The Bird Whisperer!

Today's hero is a friend of mine who I haven't seen in many moons. Cheers Erin, keep up the good work!



Erin Leach I rescued this little guy from drowning at the Fellini's Pizza in Buckhead today. He fell in the fountain and swam in circles until he was tired and appeared to be in some kind of trouble. Once I rescued him he sat with me for the duration of the meal. People were clapping and the kitchen staff even came out to see the bird whisperer! When I put him down he stayed by my side until we were about to leave. Fun stuff!

Food for Thought

Gaia

The Gaia hypothesis is an ecological hypothesis proposing that the biosphere and the physical components of the Earth (atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere) are closely integrated to form a complex interacting system that maintains the climatic and biogeochemical conditions on Earth in a preferred homeostasis. Originally proposed by James Lovelock as the earth feedback hypothesis,[1] it was named—at the suggestion of his neighbor William Golding—the Gaia Hypothesis, after the Greek supreme goddess of Earth.[2] The hypothesis is frequently described as viewing the Earth as a single organism. Lovelock and other supporters of the idea now regard it as a scientific theory, not merely a hypothesis, since they believe it has passed predictive tests.

-Wikipedia

Playing For Change Update!

Playing for Change has a new video!

The Vocapeople...

Thanks to Marilyn Schertz (aka "Mom") for this post:

The Voca People is a new international vocal theater performance combining vocal sounds and an acapella singing with the art of modern beat-box.

Artistic Director: Lior Kalfo
Music Director: Shai Fishman
Producers: Revital & Lior Kalfo
Performers: Eyal Cohen, Oded Goldstein, Liraz Rahmin, Adi Cesare, Adi Kozlovsky,, Naama Levi, Boaz Ben David, Inon Ben David
Video Photographer: Shlomi Albo
Video Editing: Peleg Netanel
Light design: Roy Milo



Here is the website

Emily Bear

Wow! What an amazing and incredibly cute little girl.

Seed Bombing, Guerrilla Gardening

Wikipedia definition:

Seed bombing, also known as "Seed Grenades" is a technique of introducing vegetation to arid soils or otherwise inhospitable terrains. A seed bomb is a compressed clod of soil containing live vegetation that may be thrown or dropped onto a terrain to be modified. The term "seed grenade" was first used by Liz Christy in 1973 when she started the "Green Guerillas". The first seed grenades were made from condoms^[1] filled with local wildflower seeds, water and fertilizer. The seed grenades were tossed over fences onto empty lots in New York City in order to make the neighborhoods look better. It was the start of the Guerrilla Gardening movement.

Losing With a Smile

Let others cheers the winning man,
There's one I hold worthwhile;
'Tis he who does the best he can,
Then loses with a smile.
Beaten he is, but not to stay
Down with the rank and file;
That man will win some other day,
Who loses with a smile.

MOS DEF for President!

Words to the Wise

"Life is just a chance to grow a soul"

A. Powell Davies

"To be moral is to discover fundamentally one's own being."

Simone De Beauvoir

"Love life and life will love you back, love people and they will love you back."

Arthur Rubinstein

"To be alive, to be able to see, to have houses, music, paintings-it's all a miracle. I have perfected the technique of living life from miracle to miracle."

Arthur Rubinstein

"When you truly feel this equal love for all, when your heart has expanded so much that it embraces the whole of creation, you will certainly not feel like giving up this or that. You will simply drop off from secular life as a ripe fruit drops from a tree. You will feel that the whole world is your home."

Ramana Maharishi

"When you come right down to it, all you have is yourself. The sun is a thousand rays in your belly. All the rest is nothing."

Pablo Picasso

"Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."

Kahlil Gibran

"See as if for the first time a beautiful person or an ordinary object."

Shiva

"I am free when I am within myself."

George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up."

Paul Valery

"It is through creating, not possessing, that life is revealed."

Vida D. Scudder

"In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into a crystal clearness. Our lige is a long and arduous quest after Truth."

Mahatma Gandhi

Long Story Short

This is a story I came up with after a conversation between myself and the one and only purveyor of all things silver, may they or may they not be attached to gigantic and horrific cumulonimbus clouds.
The idea is that, as an artist, we start out with a great idea, then a plan, which, by the time we are half way through, has reduced our lofty goals to a simple and oftentimes distant hope of completion.
So I wrote this story. I put constraints on myself, I wanted it to be around 200 words, and I wanted the story to be told from God’s point of view. While this limitation severely limits what kind of story can be told, if any at all – it at least ensures conclusion.
Here it is – a finished product!
I decided to call it “Gods Complex”


Charlie P. Donovan isn’t going to hit the strike. He wants to, there is nothing more important to him right now. Hitting it would signify the first time his score ever exceeded 200. He flips his hair from his bright, young eyes as he waits, ball perched in front of his face. Charlie steps forward gently swinging his arm in a backwards arc. He thrusts it forward, the ball smashing into the polished wooden floors causing an ominous “Bang!” as his awkward release drops the ball too heavily. Three pins down.
Not today. Not ever, for that matter.
Tomorrow he is going to be drafted. He is going to war!
I’ve decided to throw a war and tomorrow my little ball tossing buddy is going to be sent to kill some strangers. He won’t win, but he won’t die either.
That lovely young thing that stares at him so lustfully, running her thin fingers through her golden hair, smiling and concocting plans to spend the rest of her days with him, she doesn’t really care if he hits the strike. She will soon forget about their love. It’s not really him she loves anyways it’s just the attachment, and the attention. You could sub him out for anybody really.

David Freeman
DSF
Americas Ambassador of Awesome

Perfect Imperfections

From Alice,

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.
At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream .
I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.'
The old woman smiled, 'Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?'
'That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.'
'For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.
Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.'
Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.
You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.
SO, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

One Size Fits All

"The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity."

Francis Maitland Balfour

Saving the World Made Easy!

You can help save the planet with the click of a button...just click on the "make your own voice heard" link. Once again NRDC makes it very easy for us to take an active stance in saving our planet! I strongly suggest signing up for their Email list. It doesn't cost a penny.

		Dear Thomas, We're at a critical juncture in the fight to cut global warming pollution and defuse the climate crisis. I urge you to make your own voice heard right now in support of strong pollution controls. As you know, the Obama Administration took a huge leap forward in April by recognizing that carbon pollution leads to killer heat waves, stronger hurricanes and many other threats to human health and the environment. At that time, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson proposed an "endangerment determination" under the Clean Air Act -- a finding that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping air pollutants "may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." Then, last month, President Obama ordered EPA to follow up this proposal with tough standards to reduce global warming pollutants from new cars and trucks – standards that will save consumers billions of dollars at the pump even as they protect the planet. But before that can happen, EPA must adopt its proposed "endangerment determination." Powerful lobbies like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are trying to stop EPA from acting. That's why Administrator Jackson needs to hear from concerned Americans like you right now. Tell her to adopt the proposed "endangerment" finding -- and to follow up with tough standards for global warming pollution from vehicles and power plants. We already have the technology to cut global warming pollution by making and using energy more efficiently, and by using renewable and cleaner energy sources. This energy technology revolution will help our economy recover, create millions of green jobs, save consumers billions of dollars and cut our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. Please call on Administrator Jackson to slash global warming pollution and begin the clean energy revolution now! Sincerely, Frances Beinecke President NRDC Action Fund

Manu Chao, I Love You

Solar Surge

Excerpts from a Reuters article:

U.S. demand for residential solar power installations is surging despite an economic recession...

Geogenix LLC, a New Jersey-based residential solar company with 20 employees, installed about 150 systems in the first six years of its existence until 2008, and expects to do about that number this year alone, said managing member Gaurav Naik. He predicted the company would install at least 300 systems in 2010 when it plans to expand into Pennsylvania and some surrounding states.

"There is unprecedented demand for residential solar systems," he said.

Faced with a cost of about $50,000 for installation of a 7-kilowatt system on a typical 2,500-square-foot house, a New Jersey homeowner can defray the expense with a $12,500 rebate from the state and a federal tax credit of $11,000, Naik said.

After the first year, the homeowner can also expect a refund check for about $3,200 from the local utility in return for installing the solar panels, Naik said. The owner can expect to save about $1,700 a year in electricity bills, and should recoup the initial investment within five to eight years, he said.

Another Reuters solar story.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Solar stocks rallied on Wednesday as investors bet that increased Chinese interest in solar power, higher oil prices and signs of improvement in lending and financing will help spur demand for the clean energy source.

Guru

This track helps put it all in perspective.

July 3rd Collective Efforts live at Lennys

For all of us without a lake house, CE Crew is headlining at Lennys friday July 3rd.

Something new for you till then

Stand Up for What You Believe In

Words of Wisdom

"At each critical juncture in life... choose love."

-Martin Luther King Jr.

Urban Farming... in Atlanta!

Credit L. Tate with this find!



Urban Farming is all about using empty land for growing food to feed the hungry. Started by Taja Sevelle and supported by the likes of Prince and T.I., everyday this movement makes the world a better place.

Free Urban Farming Starter Kit only cost $4.99 for shipping


Sign up and get involved with Urban Farming.

Compassion is Mightier Than the Sword!

Credit Alice Collins with finding this bright story from the AP

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – A Long Island convenience store owner confronted by a bat-wielding would-be robber said Tuesday he decided to show mercy on the man after he collapsed in tears claiming he was only committing the crime to support his starving family.

Instead of getting loot from a stickup, the store owner provided the man with $40 and a loaf of bread, but only if he promised never to rob again.

"This was a grown man, crying like a baby," Mohammad Sohail, owner of the Shirley Express convenience store about 65 miles east of New York City, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

The man dropped the bread, picked up the bat and tucked the $40 into his waistband before fleeing, said Suffolk County Police Sgt. John Best.

Sohail, who moved to the United States from Pakistan about 20 years ago, said he was getting ready to close his store shortly after midnight on May 21 when the man in his 40s entered with a bat in his hand. Sohail said he tried to stall for a moment and then grabbed a rifle he keeps behind the counter and ordered the assailant to drop the bat.

The would-be thief dropped to his knees and begged for forgiveness, Sohail said.

"He started crying that he was out of work and was trying to feed his hungry family," he said. "I felt bad for him. I mean, this wasn't some kid."

He said he tossed $40 to the man, who then stood up and told Sohail he wanted to become a fellow Muslim. Sohail said he then pretended to swear the man into the Muslim faith and two ended up shaking hands.

Sohail said he went to the back of the store to get some milk to give to the man, but when he returned the man had fled. He said he called police and reported the attempted robbery, but doesn't want to press charges if the man is ever caught.

Best said detectives have reviewed a store surveillance video of the attempted holdup, but said it would be difficult for anyone to identify the suspect because he was wearing a mask.

Sohail, who said he had never been the victim of a robbery attempt, said he didn't expect any accolades for what he had done.

"I'm a very little man. I just did a good job," said the married father of one. "I have a good feeling in my heart. I feel very good."

Musicians Climb to Clean Water

HIP HOP HYDRATES
L. Tate

Lupe Fiasco and Kenna are teaming up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa in an effort to raise awareness about the water crisis.

"My dad almost died as a child from waterborne diseases in Ethiopia, and he had talked to me about digging a well there, and I thought, 'I have too many friends who would be concerned with the subject of clean water. Maybe I can help out,' " Kenna told Elle magazine in a recent interview.

The MC and the experimental rapper/singer have been training up to four times a week to prepare for the trek. They are focused on getting their oxygen consumption levels up and getting in fitter shape. The climb is at least a week long, and the lyricists will climb carrying approximately 30 pounds of equipment on their backs. The mission will bring the artists to the highest point in Africa, which boasts breathtaking views and three inactive volcanos. Though the climb is popular among tourists, the altitude and low temperature make this a difficult and dangerous hike. Those who make the climb typically suffer from shortness of breath, headaches and discomfort due to the limited amount of breathable oxygen. They are set to embark on their journey this fall. Props!


Hey you! Yes you. By the way, you dont have climb 15,000+ feet to help solve East Afica's extremely severe water problem. Often water is a several hours walk away from villages. Once retrieved, the water is often painfully carried back home to needy families via the efforts and strong backs of local women, only to be crawling with bacteria. This water is desperately consumed and used for cooking et cetera while still unsanitary. Last year, more than 2.2 MILLION children under the age of 5 died from water-born illnesses like diarrhea. Check out www.globalwater.org and www.wateraidamerica.org to get more information and MAKE A DONATION. WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBILE. You can also google key words such as water+crisis or africa+organizations to discover well over 10 other organizations' websites and region-specific efforts for this cause. You'll be suprised how much change $10 per pay check can make in the WORLD. For the price of a cheap car, YOU can literally
save thousands. Let's get it.

The Week In Rap

Our roommate Dillon (also a contributor on the SSL) has been involved with these cats from Flocabulary, who publish a weekly news recap in the form of a two minute hip-hop track. They call it The Week In Rap and it is dope...I'm all about educating the kids through music! Much respect!

Learn more about this brilliant organization by clicking the banner below:



Here are a couple of the pieces our lil' homie Dyelon contributed:

Eli Sweet on NPR

This story is from last year...fellow Grady High alumni, A-Town born and raised rapper and intellectual Eli Sweet gets a nice story on NPR. Props to hip hop all over the world...

Read about Eli Sweet on NPR.org:



You can check out Eli Sweet on MYSPACE to hear some of his most recent work and see what he's up to now. Support local independent artists!

Peace, fam.

Kevin Griggs is Moving On Up!

Kevin Griggs, a.k.a. KG$, is one of my favorite people and is for sure my favorite photographer! This guy has been a hero of mine since just out of high school. As long as I have known him, KG has been his own person, blazing many trails. He attended Creative Circus, a really cool visual arts school, which doesn't take many photographers. Since then he has made a living doing what he loves. He has been featured in many publications. Cheers to Kevin for spreading positivity through photography.

Green Roofs Growing!

Thanks are due to my friends Robyn Polinsky and Lorraine Norris for teaching me about this beautiful, useful, and very positive revolution. Lorraine told me about this 5 or 6 years ago when she was exploring starting a green architecture and construction company. Robyn gave me a real education when I splashed around with her thesis, which is a model of Georgia State Campus with green roofs. She is hoping to use her thesis as a catalyst to inspire Ga. State to go green. This isn't sci-fi people:

Chicago City Hall

Wikipedia defines a green roof as:

"A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and soil, or a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. This does not refer to roofs which are merely colored green, as with green roof shingles. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems. Container gardens on roofs, where plants are maintained in pots, are not generally considered to be true green roofs, although this is an area of debate. Rooftop ponds are another form of green roofs which are used to treat greywater. The term green roof may also be used to indicate roofs that use some form of "green" technology, such as solar panels or a photovoltaic module. Green roofs are also referred to as eco-roofs, vegetated roofs, living roofs, and greenroofs."

Green roofs are used to:

* Grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers
* Reduce heating (by adding mass and thermal resistance value) and cooling (by evaporative cooling) loads on a building — especially if it is glassed in so as to act as a terrarium and passive solar heat reservoir — a concentration of green roofs in an urban area can even reduce the city's average temperatures during the summer
* Increase roof life span
* Reduce stormwater run off — see water-wise gardening
* Filter pollutants and carbon dioxide out of the air — see living wall
* The soil and plants on green roofs help to insulate a building for sound; the soil helps to block lower frequencies and the plants block higher frequencies.[2]
* Filter pollutants and heavy metals out of rainwater
* Increase wildlife habitat in built-up areas — see urban wilderness

A green roof is often a key component of an autonomous building.

A 2005 study by Brad Bass of the University of Toronto showed that green roofs can also reduce heat loss and energy consumption in winter conditions.[3]

In a recent study on the impacts of green infrastructure and in particular green roofs in the Greater Manchester area, researchers found that adding green roofs will help keep temperatures down, particularly in urban areas: “adding green roofs to all buildings can have a dramatic effect on maximum surface temperatures, keeping temperatures below the 1961-1990 current form case for all time periods and emissions scenarios. Roof greening makes the biggest difference…where the building proportion is high and the evaporative fraction is low. Thus, the largest difference was made in the town centers.” [4]

Dekalb Neighborhood Celebrates Delay of Marine School!

AtlantaProgressiveNews has the story!

R.I.S.E. Up! Thank You L. Tate.

I had the pleasure of walking into the 5 spot on a random night and caught one of the better shows that I have ever seen. These two local sisters bring fun times, positive energy, and soulful sounds with them on their journey which takes them around the world. Universal is a term that comes to mind every time I hear them. The main dish of their music is very primal or earthy with the perfect amount of funk spice sprinkled through out.


"Sisters Leah and Chloe tear into sound with sensual prowess as stages ingnite revolutions and words light soul fires... listen for poetic voices in divine harmonies, spoken word rallies, banjos, fiddles, many beats of many drums, kalimbas, spoons, washboard rants, and waves of bridge buildings... With an array of incredible collaborations they are joined by everything from the stand up bass, to the jazz trumpet, djembe, baliphone, congas, didgeridoo, tablas, harmonica, beatboxing, poets, trapeze, burlesque, and more as their style branches out to form entirely new ways to make the stage electric... Using sound as a tool to ignite a cultural revolution and birth a whole new movement, come join as we each create our own media in the making...."

Wondering where they created this sound...
Influences:
Ali Farka Toure, Talib Kawli, Mum, (Smog), Jill Scott, Outkast, Ray Charles, Tom Waits, Joanna Newson, Sunni Patterson, Sufjan Stevens, Bonnie Prince Billy, Louis Armstrong, Lila Downs, The Books, the Orishas, Los Van Van, Bjork, Choco Orta, Portishead, VOCO, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Mos Def, The Be Good Tanyas, Ani Difranco, DJ Shadow, the Duhks, M.U.G.A.B.E.E., Assembly, Afroceltic Soundsystem, Morcheba, The Avett Brothers, Strange Fruit Project, Saul Williams, Dervish, Olabelle, Ottis Redding, Dirk Powell, Marta Sebestyen, Calexico, Iron and Wine, Wild Asparagus, Beethoven, Bach, Mstislav Rostropovich, The Roots, Buju Banton, Dead Prez, Billie Holiday, Bruce Molskey, the Buena Vista Social Club, Celia Cruz, Sigur Ros, the Horseflies, Martin Hayes, Coco Rosie, Meshell Ndegeocello, Erykah Badu, Solas, Jaromir Nahavica, Questlove, Dirk Powell, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Taj Mahal, The Zulu Connection, Your Mommas Big Fat Booty band, The Dirty Dozen Brass band, Regina Carter, Nina Simone, more more more...


Video from a show at the 5 spot.



One of my favorites, booties for Obama!

Thank You Marilyn!

This video spoof of a very cheesy 80's video is sure to give you a giggle!

Laughter Takes Flight!

The first time I heard Flight of the Conchords I hurt myself laughing. These two guys from New Zealand have completed two seasons on HBO.

This was the video that introduced me:



The second season wasn't as funny to me but this song is great.



The Grand Finale

Who Doesn't Love A Good Brownie?

Personal hero of mine, Martha Brown, "Brownie", was the daytime bartender at The Righteous Room before me. I recognized the obvious very quickly, this is a brilliant, kind and conscious soul. She is a perfect representation of a shining silver lining in that even when things look dark, her positive perspective is a light to those around her. Martha is very talented in healing through body and energy work. She is also a wonderful artist. Well known and loved in the Little 5 Points area of Atlanta. Hooray for good people like Martha Brown! Stay tuned for pictures of her and her man Vinh's artwork!

Collective Efforts Showing Growth!

The brand new, long awaited and highly anticipated Collective Efforts website is up as of today. This website is full of positive music that reaches across genres, uplifts the downtrodden and even heals the ill. This music has given me hope through many troubled times by providing a healthy perspective through spoken word/soulful singing, jazzy global beats and positive vibrations. If you are new to these guys, I strongly suggest track #9 (1 through 6)
The baby laughing on the song is my man Gripplyaz baby boy. If he grows up to be anything like his daddy, then this world has a lot of good energy to look forward to. Collective Efforts is really growing up and shaping up nicely!
cecrew.com

Collective Efforts brought some musical healing to the 40 watt in Athens this past weekend. They played with very funky local atlanta group Entropy. Since their last show at Smith's Olde Bar, the CE crew has really stepped up their live performance.