"Emotional intelligence work was key to whether I was living life well as a human being, in respect to specifically doing no harm to others, or to myself. So, from my perspective, a “life well lived” isn’t a matter of amassing wealth, fame, notoriety, power, 40 acres and a mule, a carbon-negative energy producing self-driving car or smart home, or having a few shelves, an entire library, devoted to your archives. A life well lived is one paying down…

"You’ve got to understand a culture quickly to get what you want or need. The earth is in a terrible fix. Water to drink is a Huge issue. There are saints and assholes everywhere."

Andy Clausen:

The Blues Stories of the Beat President

Andy Clausen was born Andre Laloux in a Belgian bomb…

"Music allows us to feel human, love, tread lightly and taste a little wisdom to appreciate the sanctity of all life. Music can turn us towards compassion."

Matt Turk: New York Roots Troubadour 

Matt Turk is a musician, recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, veteran performer, troubadour, bandleader, eternal idealist, peace loving…

"The Beats really had the blues…and bopped to the beat of modern jazz. They also connected to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly and Sonny & Brownie."

Bob Angell: Supernal US Classical Music

Fresh album by Bob Angell, but a main-stay in the East Coast blues scene for many years. As Angell’s longtime mentor, the fabled Hubert Sumlin said,…

"Much music seems to have lost the 'sacred' quality or aura it had in the late 60’s. I think this is through digitization and mass proliferation of it. It’s like a tap now that cannot be turned off, music."

Gary Lucas: The Sounds Of Human Psyche

Gary Lucas is a world class guitar hero, a Grammy-nominated songwriter and composer, an international…

"It can give a troubled heart words of solace, and if one is attentive, a way to give voice to one’s feelings.  It can become a journey of friendships, appreciation of great skill in one of the oldest arts, and if one is persistent, perhaps to be humble and kind.  No wants on this poet’s part—float your boat with poem down the stream, and be content with wherever it goes."

David Cope: Big Scream…

"The most important lesson I've learned is not to be married to any belief. We change; it's in our DNA to."

Steven Keene: New York Troubadour

A true songwriter’s songwriter, Steven Keene honed both his music style and songwriting craft in the neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Greenwich Village, while playing many of New York's most legendary…

"In terms of racial issues, the Beats were especially fond of blues and jazz—Ginsberg’s last hours were spent listening the blues, when he was in a coma—their writings addressed issues important to the Black and Latino people. The Beats were extremely important to socio-political movements such as sexual and gay liberation, the ecology, and others."

Michael Schumacher: Rebellion…

"As far as we know, in ancient times, poetry and music were the same thing. And of course we still speak of the music of poetry, in terms of meter, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, repetition, and so on, even when the poetry is read silently from a page. If literature is defined as fine writing, it is always musical to some extent."

Steven Taylor: Notes Sutra,…

"For Americans our Blues, Roots, and Jazz are the music genres that have helped defined us internationally. We’ve exported them as our cultural ambassadors. They’ve given birth to numerous other important styles of music such as rock n roll and soul music. Can you imagine a world without them?"

Phil Gammage: It's Real Good Music

Phil Gammage’s…

"It’s hard for me to believe that one can’t live without culture - especially art - which to me is music, poetry, literature as well as the visual arts. I think without the appreciation of the arts, then one is lost within their culture. Art is just as important as food."

Tosh Berman:

Growing Up in Wallace Berman's…

"I think good writing helps make people feel there are other people in the universe with the same worries, loves or concerns."

Mike James: Americanized Ghazals

Mike James is the author of twelve poetry collections. His most recent books include: First-Hand Accounts from Made-Up Places (Stubborn Mule, 2018), Crows in the Jukebox (Bottom Dog, 2017),…

"Throughout the world, poetry and music have been forerunners in challenging the mindsets of people. Irrespective of the genre and language both music and poetry have constantly motivated people into thinking differently, into rising in revolt against mediocre or oppressive thought processes."

Maitreyee B Chowdhury: Bangalore Blues

Maitreyee B…

"Music brings people together, crosses all barriers, even if they are just tapping their toes to the beat. If they listen to to words and emotion of many of my songs, it goes much deeper. We all have a voice."

Laura Rain & The Caesars:…

"Poetry is the purest form of communication in my opinion. The more poetry that comes out of me, the better I think clearly and therefore even more poetry flows. It’s a perfect cycle of creation and music can make that whole process more colorful."

Aliah Rosenthal: No Hookups…

"This not only proves that the Blues spread from the Mississippi Delta to grow into a vital world music, but that a musical formula can work for everyone. Every person who is free, or who wants to be, identifies with the Blues."…

"Enlightenment, if it comes at all, comes after hundreds, thousands of incarnations. I wait for instructions from The Universe. When I feel it speaks, I try to listen. When it doesn't, I wait."

Leo Racicot: B(Eat) A Soutra…

"My hope is that each pioneering vanguard of artists and writers will have the wisdom and selfless good sense to recognize the truest horizons before them."

George Wallace: Playful As A Whip…

"In the counterculture at large it's the idea of independence — thinking for yourself  — expressing yourself — being yourself — in a long line from Neal & Allen to flower children to green hair to sex changes to hugely popular stoner films."

Brian Hassett: The Beat State Of…

"There are always new generations of young people – it used to be principally young men but it is increasingly, of course, young women, too – who want to shake off the shackles of convention and travel is a great way to physically and psychologically release yourself from those ties, discover unfamiliar cultures and even yourself."…