Finding Peace ...Do You Feel Like I Do? David Bowie Tribute

Peter Frampton Conquers 'Stubbornness and Fear' for 'Acoustic Classics'

2/22/2016 by Gary Graff

Peter Frampton

Jason Tang

Playing acoustic is hardly alien to Peter Frampton -- "Baby, I Love Your Way" from Frampton Comes Alive, anybody?  But it did take him awhile to wrap his head around the idea of doing a whole album that way.

"People have been trying to get me to do it for years, and I just didn't want to try it," Frampton -- who releases the 11-track Acoustic Classics, premiered exclusively below, on Feb. 26 -- tells Billboard. "I now think it was just stubbornness and fear -- or fear and then stubbornness because I was scared."
Frampton put those fears aside to record Acoustic Classics in his Nashville studio, playing acoustic guitar and bass and a bit of piano on "I'm In You." Regular collaborator Gordon Kennedy joins on the lone new song, "All Down To me," but the album is mostly populated by a combination of favorites --- yes, even "Do You Feel Like I Do" and "Show Me The Way," the latter complete with Talk Box -- and lesser-known gems such as "Fig Tree Bay," the first track from his 1972 solo debut Wind of Change, "Sail Away" and "Penny For Your Thoughts."

Peter Frampton Pays Tribute to 'Dear Friend and Mentor' David Bowie: 'I Can Never, Ever Thank Him Enough'

"When I started the CD I thought, 'Ha ha, it's gonna take me a couple of days,' and yes, was I wrong," Frampton says with a laugh. "I have such a high standard of my own output that when I did two or three tracks, I came into the control room and listened to them and I was just, 'It's OK. It's good. It's fine,' but I wanted more. So I spent a few months going in every day doing different performances of different songs until I found the ones that worked for me and I thought people would like. I wanted it to be like, 'Hey, sit down, I've just written a song' and I sit down and play you 'Lines on My Face' or whatever and you were likely drawn in 'cause you're the only person in the room besides me, and that's how I look at it, like a one-on-one experience."

Frampton acknowledges that given the iconic epic it is as a live piece, he initially did not consider including "Do You Feel Like I Do" on Acoustic Classics." But towards the end of the recording process changed his mind. "I thought, 'Look, I've done all the others. Let's give it a go,'" Frampton recalls. "I think the most important thing for me was that the instrumental portion of the beginning came off well. It's just a different take on it, y'know? It's an acoustic 'Do You Feel.' I can understand if some people just won't listen to it because they only want to hear the other one, but for me, going from 'I can't do that' to 'Yeah, it's not so bad,' it works for me."
Frampton, Kennedy and Frampton's son Julian toured acoustically last fall and are headed out for another 13-show run of the west coast on March 9. In addition to the Acoustic Classics, Frampton also performs Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue," the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood," material from his Humingbird in a Box EP and a couple of Humble Pie tracks -- and, he notes,"We talk a lot between songs." One of the show will be filmed for broadcast on AXS later this year, and a live release and perhaps a second acoustic album are under consideration. But Frampton, who plans to be on the road with his full band this summer doing dates with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Gregg Allman, is also looking forward to plugging back in for his next album.

Peter Frampton Wants to Help You Tune Up With 

His New Crowdfunding Campaign: Exclusive

"I need to move forward as well; I don't want to get stuck right there (acoustically) too long," he explains. "I want to move on to something different and then maybe the album after that might be a live acoustic show. Some people in this industry have said that the more senior artists like myself, no one wants to hear new music from them, so don't worry about it. I get it. But that's what I do, you know? You can't just stop. So even though new music from me isn't going to leap to the Top 40 stations or streams or whatever, it doesn't matter because it's what I do every day. I'm always creating. Whether people want to hear it or not, I'm gonna do it."

Frampton's mind these days is also on the passing of good friend David Bowie, who Frampton has known since school days in England and played with both then and as part of Bowie's 1987 Glass Spider Tour Band. "It's hard to talk about for me, still," Frampton says. "He was a great, dear friend, and as an artist he was totally unique. We grew up together. We went to the same school, so obviously it's hit me very hard. That was a tough day -- for everybody. I"m not saying I'm special, but it just so happened that I knew him all my life so it was hard. It still is hard. I miss him greatly."

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6882856/peter-frampton-conquers-stubbornness-fear-acoustic-classics 

Celebrities & Artist I Want To Thank for Their Inspiration This Season

Touched by Angels in the Arts

This holiday season I am reminded and grateful for the angels of art who have graced my life in painting, photography, storytelling, dance, songwriting, musicians, singers, promoters and producers who make it all possible for the world and whose work has deeply touched my life.  

I have to start with my father, who played and sang beautifully, accompanied by his soul, his heart and his guitar;  actress Dolores Hart who chose God over Hollywood, and depicted her story in a documentary titled "God Is The Bigger Elvis"; John Lennon's songwriting including IMAGINE,  The Flying Laser Guitarist Graham Gillot and  HyperHarp Jeff Grossberg who light up the world with music and light creations; Little Feat who rocked for PeaceJourney Hawaii on 4-islands in 5 days to help us bring computer labs to the islands and that included Ben Taylor (Peace Journey Trips documentary) and  son of James Taylor; Yuri Lane beatbox extraordinaire who recently performed on the Steve Harvey Show and who through his beats, connects our hearts; and Sandro Miller, photographer, who just won the Lucie Award for Best International Photographer of the Year; and Peter Exley and his wife Sharon with their amazing work to beautify the world through architecture and the arts. And Ben Mugisha, Rwandan Hip Hop sensation, Helene Henn, South African singer, Peyton Tochterman a rising star n the American Roots Music and traveler to Afghanistan in support of our troops through the State Departmen, Mimi Machado-Luces film and documentary producer, and Rocco Cataldo, who helps me make sense of the world of music and film through his own art!   Learn more about them here:  Bios at Peace Journey  And Richard Cahan, photographer, who bravely traveled and documented in the West Bank this year.  His photo display titled Night Raid can be seen now at  Art Works in River North-Chicago, Illinois thru December 15th 2014.

There are many people who have touched my life, who I know are there to step up to make this world better, but now in the latter part of 2014, finding out about so many local people and the beauty they bring to the earth has touched my heart, and reopened my creative senses,  which can only enhance our next Peace Journey adventures 2015, and the good we can all do for the world.  

Happy Holidays as you learn more about these amazing people. 

WHAT ARTISTS WORK WELL FOR PEACE JOURNEY MUSIC CAMP 2015?

Music Genres of Folk, Beatbox, Blues, Country, Motown, Rock and Roll, Hip Hop and Spoken Word.

My entire life, I have loved music.  From my early youth singing in the church choir through high school, listening to my dad play the guitar and sing old country tunes, I knew it was the art form that touched me more than any other.  And this feeling is even more intense today.

I don't play an instrument, but I love to sing.  The art of music composition fascinates me and the way people react to music's now, scientifically proven powers,  is something I have known in my heart since I was a child.

In 2015 we will be producing another amazing songwriting camp and performance arts show to help heal the world.  The more I learn about the positive aspects of music on the brain and how music affects our emotional outlook on life,  the more I am convinced that this art form can bring peace to our lives, to the world and inspire change.  

Our next "camp" will feature professionals from the music industry from folk, blues, country, Beatbox, Motown, rock and roll, hip hop and spoken word.  We are reaching out to musicians, songwriters, composers and more who want to help promote social change in small or big ways in their art form, in the way they lead their lives and how they treat the world.  It can be fun, uplifting, poetic, and or confrontational.  It's all good if it's good and moves the spirit.

Who are some of the artists you know and love that you could recommend for us 

to reach out to, or visa versa? They can be known or unknown, 

but we need a short bio and links sent via email.

Please share this post with artists you admire or know on 

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and more!  

Together we can build an amazing roster for the 

Peace Journey 2015 writing and performance camp.

Send recommendations to: jkravitz@peacejourney.com

Our team is looking at a variety of unique concert venues in the USA to host the event, and are in discussions with partners, media and camp professionals! 

Stay tuned and we look forward to your ideas! 
JBK

3-TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL EVENT PROMOTION

THE "3" EVENT SYSTEM TECHNIQUE TO SUCCESS

This system has led me to produce national events, 

get major sponsors on board, 

and have a ton of fun in the process.

I have been so fortunate to work with amazing artists over time and to learn from the best!  People like Ken Kragen from "Hand's Across America" and "We Are The World Fame" who found his success in following the theory that when launching a brand, event, product, or a series, the best strategy is to plan 3-events over a relatively short period of time to get the most bank for your efforts.

Personally, the number "3" has always been a favorite number for me. It reminds me of the trilogy of birth, life, death; the father, son, holy spirit; the beginning, middle and end.  So when I read Ken's book years ago titled "Life is A Contact Sport", every page jumped out to say "Hey girl, you are doing some things right, so just keep doing them"

This theory set the stage now, after over 14 years of PeaceJourney.com trips and events, to create a series of activities: I have written a book to be published in the early summer, followed by a documentary to tell the stories arising from the book of little known American heroes, and an online music, poetry celebration scheduled in the fall.

Any one of these plans could take a long time, but when you put a plan in the context of self-imposed schedules and deadlines, and in the context of 3-things happening, it's amazing how the big world of whittles down to 3 very strategic and doable and doable focuses.

I took it even farther and decided that each 'event' needed 3-items to help promote it, so for instamce  the book's strategy is : get book sponsors,  create a blog talk radio show & find a distributor, develop a 2nd reason to buy (discounts and gift items) for people who sign up for the book and so on.

So many people believe in 6-degrees of separation.  I believe in "3" degrees of separation and that everyone I know at this point in my life through their network, knows whoever I need to know at any given time, so by again applying the value of "3" it helps me to focus in more closely to the people in my life I can ask to help and get results more quickly.

This system has led me to produce national events, get major sponsors on board, and have a ton of fun in the process.

So off to work I go….and if you are reading this and want to be a part of my success for our work at PeaceJourney.com (sponsorKIDS Charities), send me an email or comment here and I will do my best to reach out to you. Basically, celebrities, sponsors, musicians, songwriters, event planners, technology whiz kids and social media gurus---come and be part of the "3" system -- and we can make the world a better place!!!

Being an American in the Aquarian Age

Over the years, I have had numerology readings by Gail and others.  She just sent me this Blog Post which I love.  Why, because it reminds me of the organization of time and space and the connection we have to the universe and each other.  It takes me from now, this day, to why are we here and what should we be trying to do with our short time on earth  while being helped by personal life blueprint.  

Below you will see a gift guide by your birth date.  I did mine, and my number is "2".  It says  "We are the peacemakers".  Go figure!:)  Hope you enjoy these insights and previews as just another piece of information in this complex experience we call "life".   
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You Pay the Price for Being An American in the Aquarian Age 

Trends Analyst • Speaker & Trainer • Professional Numerology Consultant
Gail Minogue

I have previously discussed the origins of the United States of America from a more esoteric point of view including why this country was created and what it its greater purpose.  As you know, we have entered into the “dawning of the Age of Aquarius”–the long, approximately 2400 hundred years of change and progress for the species.  With it comes the concept of the rights of the individual and the merging of the rights of the individual with the collective.  Many other characteristics of this Age include great advancement in the use of energy, technology, astrophysics, nanobots, rapid discoveries, global inclusion, detachment, mind focus and  a contraction and eventual elimination of man-made religions.  It is difficult to imagine a world without some of the habits of our current daily lives.
If you understand the beginnings of the last Age, or a few hundred years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ, you can see we have advanced.  Eventually parts of the world that are still living in a time period similar to the beginning of the last Age, will be included in this world progression into the Aquarian Age.  Africa is a late arrival to the group but she is joining as are other parts of the world.  As we march along with the procession of the constellations in the heavens, we progress to the next Age.  Humankind rarely gives a thought to our being tied to the constellations or the procession of the equinox but it is easy to see the connection once you understand their importance.
Now how does this affect the average, every day American?  A great deal!  We were chosen hundreds of years ago to help usher in this period of advancement.  You could almost say with the birth of the United States, the Aquarian Age became official.  From the time of our beginning, we had to detach from Mother Britain and go it alone.  Brave men and women pledged their lives and fortunes to begin a place on the planet where the individual would be developed.  In order to do this, a system of laws were created to help progress this idea.  The Constitution and Bill of Rights were created as a working body of law that could be changed as society changed.
Through the United States’ birth, the world could begin to pull away from the hierarchy of the King and the Pope.  It was a rag tag group of people lumping their dreams and hopes in a new land where the individual could be developed.  It is the hot house for new ideas, capitalism, industry, invention, human rights and favorable bankruptcy laws.  You could fail in the United States and you could start over which was and still is a foreign concept in most countries.  Yes, we have the ACLU, but we also have the Koch brothers.  We have welcomed foreigners to our shore and we still fight over immigration.  We have always been doing this only earlier is was over the Germans, Irish and Italians.
What is the price we pay for being the chief cheerleader of this Aquarius Age?  We are still the beacon on the hill and I never hear anyone say that want to emigrate to China or India or other booming economies.  We pay the price with our loneliness.  We are the largest user of the world’s anti-depressants.  In order to become individualized, we must leave the tribe.  That could be leaving your family and friends “back east” or in another country in order to take a new job or begin a new life.  Without our family and friends, we are forced to create new communities wherever we go.  We are forced do rub up against people who are different than us.  We drive social media and join churches and temples for a sense of community rather than religious dogma.
We separate young from old and put our old in nursing homes and other housing over “there”.  We give up our privacy in the name of technology.  We jump on the next fad or movement.  Nassir Ghaemi, the author of “On Depression and A First-Rate Madness” and a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston wrote “The Dark Side of Feel-Good Viral Videos” at Zocalo Public Square, http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2014/01/21/the-dark-side-of-feel-good-viral-videos/ideas/nexus/  he mentions that “almost two centuries ago, Ralph Waldo Emerson noted that the average American walked around with a new proposed Constitution in his pocket.  Reformers where all over the place; they were convinced they could change the world.  An yet, Emerson observed, they paid no attention to their own souls, to their own private unhappiness, to be better connected to the actual world around them as opposed to the abstract universes in their minds.”
He mentions that we are lonely and bored and so we go looking for stimulation and we get into trouble on occasion.  He goes on to say that we are more self-obsessed, but paradoxically, we let the entire world know about it.  It is another self-centered, self-obsession in which we spend hours on Facebook and meet friends in person less frequently.
Remember, early on I mentioned that we are the pioneers of this Age and we are to learn how to wisely develop the individual and merge it into the collective.  We are learning what works for us by going to extremes.  The early Facebook audience were mainly teenagers who have moved on to other sites.  Now a middle age audience is growing on Facebook.  All of this is teaching us about ourselves and the maturing of the individual.  We are passing from “teenage” self-absorption to humankind absorption.  Remember, Ages are long as we move from constellation to constellation.  We no longer are making gingerbread type housing, we no longer are an agricultural society and our religions are morphing into more secular teachings.
We are learning how to keep our boundaries and to think before you speak or write.  We have about 2100 years to learn.

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Managing Yourself Rather than Your Time

No matter how challenging or changing  are the times, it will be your attitude that will deliver you to happiness or despair.  It is

Managing Your Attitude

important to control your attitude and you must learn how to do this.  We invest all this time, energy and money into “feel good” endeavors yet we have not learned how to manage ourselves or our attitudes.
Abraham Lincoln said long ago that a person is as happy as he/she makes up his mind to be.  If you can learn this simple truth, you will never be at the mercy of outer circumstances.  Jobs, people, health, freedom, money, houses may come and go but it will be up to you to manage yourself through these circumstances.  Become aware of the affects of the world on your mind.  What is it doing to you?  Do you know?  What have you allowed to happen to you by your attitude?
I have several clients who are in cancer treatment, in cancer remission or have died from the cancer.  This news comes as an enormous shock to the individual and man-made thinking will play a huge role in the attitude of the cancer patient.  I have one client who has been working with his cancer for 18 years, has never had surgery, but manages it as you would diabetes or high blood pressure.  There comes a time when self-management must be activated in order to work with the cancer rather than be its victim.  So much power is given to the cancer that people succumb as the environment expects.  Recently there was a New York Times article entitled “Why Everyone Seems to Have Cancer”.  George Johnson, New York Times, January 5, 2014.  It is so prevalent in our society as we live longer.  We are accustomed to hearing about people getting it rather than hearing about someone’s heart attack.
Yet, there are books about cases of individuals who have eliminated cancers with proper nutrition, activity and above all, the attitude of wanting to live and acting as if it is possible.  The old adage “act as you would become” has real power to it.  It all depends on your attitude.
Our new Aquarian Age is building on the self mastering the self–not group think.  Many of us long for the good old days but we cannot go back to them and why would we?  How do we break away from this “group think”?  We must keep ourselves informed and keep our feet on the ground.  Learn to become more self-reliant.  We can get information from many sources and this is a good idea but at the end of the day, it is your life you are living.  You will live or die with your decisions and you will clear up the mental chaos that bombards your mind from the outside work.  Watch what you assume.  Make less assumptions and take note when you are deceiving yourself.  If you can control your attitude, then it doesn’t matter that the markets are up or down or your lover just left.  You manage yourself rather than the times.

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Holiday Gifts by the Number

All of us are born with numerical blueprints hidden in our dates of birth and our birth names.  Our blueprints reveal our life direction, destiny, personalities and an enormous amount of information about us.  Our most important number is our life path, or the road we our traveling.  This is found in your date of birth and is your major learning lesson.  You are living this number while you are here on earth.  This number will have certain qualities that will draw in a variety of experiences for you to learn and grow.  It also gives you clues when you are choosing a gift for this person.
To help you buy a gift (or make a gift) that an individual would love, look to their learning lesson for the clue.  You will need the person’s date of birth.  To discover their number, add their full birth date together and then reduce to a single digit.  For example, if a person is born April 6, 1960, they would be working with the number 8 life path/learning lesson.  4 + 6+ 16 = 26.  2+ 6 = 8.  I just added the month to the day to the year.  I got the compound number 26 and reduced the compound number to a single digit.  You can do the same.  Here are some suggestions for the various numbers:
The No. 1--These people are pretty independent.  They are learning to be courageous, bold and self-starters.  They are learning to blaze trails.  You might want to get them courses, products, services that help foster independence and leadership.  Buy them tickets to hear a good speaker on being avant-garde or starting your own business.  Cheer on their inventiveness and help them to find the money to fund their ideas.
The No. 2–These are your peacekeepers.  They are learning how to see both sides of issues, diplomacy, tact, negotiators, peacekeepers.  They work well with others but must be careful that they don’t become doormats.  These are sensitive souls.  Gift them with products or services that will give them confidence and help them value themselves.  They also love information on relationships–both intimate and business.
The No. 3--These are your creative people who are learning how to bring joy to others and to themselves.  They lighten everything up for us.  You find them in the entertainment world, your local design and fengshui person as well as your motivational speaker.  They make great hosts and you definitely want to go to their parties.  Gift them with services or products that are beautiful, fun and creative.  Buy them tickets to the theater, buy them enrollment in a writing class or other creative endeavor.  Encougage their hosting abilities.
The No. 4--These are your worker bees.  They work very hard and can get themselves stuck in work.  They produce.  Sometimes they can box themselves in so let’s give the 4′s  a break.  Gift them with a spa trip or a massage.  Buy them software to help organize something so they don’t physically have to do it.  Buy a gift certificate for an extravagant restaurant.  They are traditional deep down so buy traditional items.
The No. 5–These are your free expression people who are always as a point of change.  Anything to do with travel is a plus.  New luggage, clothes that pack easily and have a dual role, classes on meditation to calm them down, easy travel products and a gift certificate to Zappos online for new shoes.  These people are always moving somewhere.
The No. 6–These are your domestic individuals.  Them seem to always be needed by somebody.  Family, community, employees are all important to them.  They are your rescuers and need to be needed.  Sometimes they will burn themselves out with all of this responsibility.  Definitely get this group body care products–really healthy products that are chemical free–a day at a spa, cookbooks, food products, flowers and anything to do with gardening, music and even tickets to a great concert.
The No. 7–These are your cerebrals.  The thinkers.  They tend to analyze everything and want to know.  They need time alone–but not too much.  They like fine quality items so do not buy this group anything that doesn’t have some refinement to it.  It might be small but it should be of very good quality.  Buy them things for their brains.  They are drawn to the natural world, history and archaeology so give them information about the ancient worlds, perhaps a trip if money permits.  Gift them natural items of wood, earth etc.
The No. 8–These are your bosses and money people.  They like to be in charge.  Give them gifts that go with power.  They want power and are learning how to do it wisely.  Extravagance can be spread here.  If they are bosses-in-the-making, gift them with power lunches, money-making classes, good quality jewelery, cases, clothes.  No junky stuff here.  If they are children, start teaching them about stocks by buying them a share or two of something of high quality and have them follow it.  They need to learn about money early.
The No. 9--These are your humanitarians and artists.  The natural shrinks.  They are always giving advice and have good ability to assist others into their potential.  They are universal and international so anything in this genre is fine.  Beautiful hand-made gifts from foreign lands are naturals.  They can be dramatic so clothes that are black with color are great.  Remember they appreciate the arts so take them to the theater, opera, galleries.  They have a great eye for beauty so follow that lead.  Buy them a beautiful vase, print, great fabric or photography.  They are great at photography and sculpturing.
Enjoy the holidays and perhaps, you might want to gift yourself.
 ........Read more at Gail's blog here:  http://www.gailminogue.com/you-pay-the-price-for-being-an-american-in-the-aquarian-age/