Things are never perfect, but I am always grateful. These days, I find myself battling more crap than I want to deal with in my personal and family life while struggling to push my start-up of nearly three years from an alpha to a beta. Thankfully, for me, I’ve chosen a lifestyle business that blends my passion for music with my life. Somehow this trajectory landed me at a very special benefit event in Beverly Hills last Saturday night in support of Operation USA‘s efforts to promote Cuban / U.S. Cultural exchange alongside a group of progressive thinkers that believe music can push change faster than politics. I wouldn’t disagree. Self photo above taken from my balcony before my ride arrived.
Leaving out some of the details of how ridiculous amazing the event was, I’ll get to the meat of which I cared about. That is that I was deeply touched by the truth and passion for which the artists that performed that night conveyed. Maybe I’ve been more emotional than I need lately, but the intimate setting in which Jackson Browne sang ‘Alive In The World’ spoke deeply to me as I reflected on my own life experiences. Take a listen below.
After Jackson’s performance with Luis Conte and Tal Wilkerson, the focus of the night was on Cuba’s Carlos Varela heralded as the Bob Dylan of Cuba for again speaking the truth. I guess ‘truth’ and ‘honesty’ is the flavor of the week for me considering my last post was titled honesty, depakote and hair loss.
I’m not super big on overtaking photos durring performances, but I did want to capture a few seconds of the show to share. See below (super short on purpose).
Carlos and his super cool band performed an emotive heartfelt set. If you are not familiar with his music, take a listen to what is probably his most famous song Una Palabra or Como Un Angel, the story of a girl whom committed suicide after how her parents reacted and treated her when they caught her smoking pot. Another song that I took to heart based on my own belief around marijuana and the legalization of it. They are on a very special tour of the US, and if you are in their tour route, I highly recommend checking them out. I left that night making a commitment to myself to travel to Cuba at some point in the future.
As fate would have it, one of the many special people I also met that night was Mark Johnson. His foundation, Playing For Change, is focused on connecting the world and bringing peace through music. It wasn’t till Sunday that I got a chance to better understand the work he was involved with (embedded below). Take a listen to an international recording of Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’ which he produced. Amazing.
Bob Marley spoke of One Love, Stehen Hawkins speaks of One Universe, Carlos Varela sang One Word (i.e. Una Palabra) and I just learned that others speak of One Mind. Somehow here I segway to something I took to heart that my spiritual counselor, friend and Dominican Catholic priest once said at mass. Grossly paraphrasing from one of his homilies one Sunday evening, ‘ … it is sin that divides and separates us’. One Love!
God bless and peace.
Allen, whom is grateful to be alive in the world, near the beach and for the invitation on Saturday night! thx Dianna!
