“I’m too black to be white and too white to be black” Teena Marie once told a radio announcer. I just returned home from an intimate tribute by friends and family for the recently passed artist/songwriter/producer extraordinaire Teena Marie. Among the performers covering some of her amazing songs were Lalah Hathaway, Faith Evans, Shanice Wilson and George Duke. It was a beautiful evening honoring a very talented woman and artist, whose voice was powerful enough to intimidate even the superstars who paid tribute to her.
Teena was one of the few caucasion artists on the early Motown roster, but she had as soulful of a sound as any of the African-American artists on the label. She continued to defy color lines in both her music and her life, and fought to break down the many sexual and racial stereotypes facing female artists during the past 30 + years of her career.
Teena was signed by Berry Gordy as a solo artist but her first successful album came from her collaboration with Rick James. Wild and Peaceful scored Teena her first top-ten R&B hit, “I’m Just a Sucker for Your Love” a duet with James. Because the album cover didn’t have her picture, many radio programmers incorrectly assumed Teena was African-American, a myth that was later disproved when she performed with James on Soul Train in 1979, becoming the show’s first white female guest.
Teena continued writing and producing her own material, another rare act for a successful female artist of that period, and had many additional hits including It Must Be Magic, “Square Biz,” “Portuguese Love”, “Lovergirl”, and ” Ooo La La La”.
In 1982, Teena also made a great contribution to the careers of other recording artists by winning a lawsuit to get her music back from Motown and create the ”The Brockert Initiative”, which made it illegal for a record company to keep an artist under contract without releasing new material for that artist.
Teena passed away last year at the young age of 54. In addition to the tribute tonight and seeing her live, I had the great pleasure of seeing her last duet performance with Rick James at the 2004 BET Awards, shortly before Rick passed away.
It will likely be years before Teena gets the true recognition she deserved as an artist, but her music will live on in the hearts of millions and the things she stood for: the breakdown of color lines, integrity, passion, honesty and empowerment of and rights for female artists, are values we can all admire.
In addition to buying and listening to her music, I highly recommend checking her out in the must-see documentary, “Standing in the Shadows of Motown”.
Would you be happier as a struggling musician or living a life without music? I know my answer. Anthropologists have yet to find a culture in the history of man that didn’t have some form of music and/or dance as part of their life. For many, like myself and my friend Arturo Sandoval, music is an essential part of our life force, like food, water, love and the air we breathe.
I had the pleasure of meeting the legendary Cuban trumpet player several months ago at his new home outside Los Angeles. We shared a magical afternoon of stories and music and promised each other find a way to work together. That promise was fulfilled in part when he became one of the featured performers in my current score for a Canadian film called High Chicago. Arturo has a sound like no other living trumpet player I know. Beyond that, he is a very talented composer, piano player and gracious and humble human being. When he plays, all of these qualities come through his horn, along with passionate heart of a child prodigy growing up in Cuba, a land filled with amazing musicians.
In addition to checking out Arturo’s own music, I highly recommend you watch the film based on his life (an HBO Original Drama staring our friend Andy Garcia). It is called “For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story” and is available on DVD. It is a beautiful story of Arturo’s escape from Cuba to follow his passion and commitment for freedom through musical expression, and highlights his relationship with his mentor Dizzie Gillespie and the love affair with the other love of his life, Marianela, who is still his wife to this day.
BACKGROUND:
By the age of 16 Arturo was playing in Cuba’s all-star national band and later in the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna. He met his idol Dizzy Gillespie in 1977, who became his mentor and welcomed him into the The United Nations Orchestra. Back in Cuba, Sandoval co-founded the band Irakere with Chucho Valdés and Paquito D’Rivera. They quickly became a worldwide sensation. Their appearance at the 1978 Newport Jazz Festival introduced them to American audiences and garnered them a recording contract with Columbia Records.
Although best known for his combination of Jazz and Latin music, Arturo enjoys a successful recording career that crosses many musical styles. He has recorded with Johnny Mathis, Gloria Estefan, Kenny G, Paul Anka, Frank Sinatra and Dave Grusin, and has played in concerts with Woody Herman, Herbie Hancock, Woody Shaw, Stan Getz, Céline Dion, Tito Puente, and recently with Alicia Keys, Patti LaBelle and Justin Timberlake.
Learn more about Arturo, his music and his life at www.arturosandoval.com.
I had the great pleasure of attending the concert and spending some quality time this week with my beautiful and inspiring French-Camaroonian sisters of soul, Helene and Celia (AKA: Les Nubians). Since our first meeting in Paris nearly 10 years ago, these two amazing artists have become dear friends and a continued source of inspiration – through both their music and their spirits. They performed a great show, as they always do, at the Nokia Live in Los Angeles, to launch their West Coast tour. They have also both recently relocated from Paris to New York, so I hope we will get to see and hear more from them.
Having coined the phrase Afropean Hip Hop, Les Nubians is an R&BGrammy-nominated duo composed of sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart originally from Paris, and having lived between Carmaroon, Paris and Bordeaux, where they became known for their soulful vocal stylings and their commitment to poetry, music and the arts. Their debut album Princesses Nubiennes was released through Virgin records and went Gold in the US when it crossed over to urban radio.
Les Nubians became one of the most successful French--language musical groups in the U.S. Best known for their Billboard R&B Top Ten Single “Makeda“, their remake of Sade’s Taboo, and their Grammy nominated song “Je Veux D’la Musique” from their second album One Step Forward. Les Nubians were the 1999 Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards winners for Best New Artist, Group or Duo and received two NAACP Image Awards nominations in 2000.
My own musical collaborations with the girls began when I traveled to Paris in 2001 to record them for my Jungle Jazz multi-media project, along with French rapper John Bonzai. It was a week of good fortune in many ways, since I was surprizingly called back to Berlin immediately after the session to accept the Silver Bear Award for Best Short Film for Jungle Jazz from the Berlin International Film Festival.
Celia recently took a journey with me into the world of more traditional jazz by recording a French rendition of my song In Your Eyes at my studio in Los Angeles for my forthcoming Scenes in Jazz project, which features a collection of female vocalists on original jazz songs in an effort to raise money for music education programs for youth through the Thelonious Monk Institute.
As part of their continued commitment to the arts and culture, Helene and Celia have continued to work as creative directors for the Bordeaux summer arts festival, and created Echos, Chapter One in 2005, a CD and companion book featuring artists from France, and the U.S. performing poetry and music from the urban edge. In addition to inspiring their audiences with great music and dance, these divas of Afropean R&B and Hip Hop also use their stage as a platform speak about matters of social concern and raise global consciousness.
I just returned from a 10 days in Brazil, one of my favorite countries, and I am convinced Brazilians are born with music in their blood. It is as much a staple in their daily diet as protein is to Americans. I remember a story Milton Nascimento told me a few years ago about a choir of young kids he pieced together from different poor villages of Bahia. None of them had been out of their village, sang in front of an audience, been in a choir or even knew who Milton was before the national tour he took them on with him and his band. Still, he said they were incredible and never once even sang out of tune.
In my short visit, I experienced music in many areas of Brazilian life, from the great icons of Brazilian music to the casual gatherings of everyday people. I started my journey in Bahia, where Samba was in the streets, as well as the backbone behind capoeira demonstrations and percussion schools I visited. Then there were the traditional chants of the Candomble tradition Yemaya ritual we performed in the ocean and the community party featuring group/couples folk dance of the north known as Forro (derived from english “for everyone”).
In Rio I had the honor of meeting amazing artists to discuss the film I am making – Music: The Healer, including the legendary singer and cultural leader Gilberto Gil, the incomparable and undefinable Milton Nascimento and the “queen of the Forro” herself, Elba Ramalho (sometimes referred to as the Tina Turner of Brazil). Then then there was the new generation’s “Messenger of Truth”, Hip Hop artist and social leader MV Bill, who is doing more than anyone I know to help the young people growing up in the favelas throughout Rio, all though music, dance and the arts. I could dedicate pages to each of these musical and social heroes, and will try to talk more about each in my upcoming blogs.
Obviously, it is hard not to be humbled by the accomplishment and talents of these artists and others that have given their lives and talent to transform and uplift the people of Brazil for the past several decades. But what touched me even more on this trip to Brazil was the totally unexpected level of music emanating from everyday Brazilians and musicians the world at large will never hear about. Wednesday evening, I returned to the tiny apartment I was staying in Copacabana to discover Marilena, my elderly host, and two of her friends singing and playing through dozens of Bossa Nova and Samba classics in a fashion as impressive as you would expect to hear in any local club, but simply as part of their weekly ritual sharing in the way that my parents and many American seniors might gather for a weekly game of bridge or poker. The 70 year old retired engineer playing his 1963 custom nylon guitar was incredible. I named a Brazilian artist – Caetano, Jobim, Chico Buarque…whomever, and he played through one of their classics with the virtuosity of Joe Pass while one of the women, if not both, sang the lyrics with flawless passion. The evening was a virtual history of Brazilian music. The following evening I attended a closing party for the making of a documentary film by 5 young directors high up in one of the favelas where we filmed part of Beat the World. There were 4 bands of locals that again could have rocked the Troubador or Roxy on the Sunset Strip, hundreds of young people dancing, cheering and often singing along. Music and living were synonymous.
Even in the day I spent in Sao Paulo before returning to LA last night, there was no escaping music (not that I would ever try in a place where it is as rich and inspiring as Brazil). My day started with a the choir and a chanting Indian swami leading sessions at my host’s spiritual center, then a classical concert outside for the christening of a new park, lunch with my friend, the beautiful singer and actress Thalma Freitas and a concert (in route to catch my red-eye back to LA) by the the most famous, if not the original, samba drummer (a great composer and singer in his own right), Wilson Das Neves.
Aside from the music flowing along my path this time, there were some other great musical events taking place that I could not attend but are worth mentioning. One is the Back to Black Festival that gathered amazing artists from around the world to celebrate their African heritage, including Erykah Badu, Seun Kuti, Carlinhos Brown, Nadriah X, Elza Soares, Taj Mahal and many more. Another fascinating, but undocumented show, was a concert honoring Milton Nascimento and featuring the maestro with a choir of 1,000 (yes – ONE THOUSAND) children and an orchestra in one of the smaller cities in Brazil’s interior.
While there are many poor and hungry people in the great country of Brazil- when it comes to music: everyone’s plate is full.
I am truly blessed by the countless opportunities I have to experience, enjoy and participate in the creation of music. Last night at the Troubador, I was fortunate enough to be in a very small crowd for a truly inspiring performance by John Legend, backed by the Roots and featuring Common, as they introduced the first live performance of the entire upcoming CD collaboration between John and the Roots (release date September 21st). The show featured great performances and reworking of the 70′s Soul classics that fill the album, each song with it’s own notable history and conscious minded lyrics, like the title track: “Wake Up Everybody”, originally made famous by Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes as a anthem calling out to the people of hometown Philly and the nation to take action. It is a challenge to make a cover album, or live show for that matter, feel really fresh and inspiring, but Legend and the Roots were able to do just that: perform timeless songs and make the music fresh, the performances inspired and the messages timely.
It is not surprising that John chose such conscious songs, or the groove kings of the live conscious hip hop vibe to back him up. In addition to having the chops and voice to deliver, he is truly an artist who walks the walk, a philanthropist and activist.
His real commitment to supporting social needs with his music can after reading Professor Jeffrey Sachs‘ book, The End of Poverty. Sachs’ observations motivate Legend to visit Ghana to learn more about making life better for the people who live under the poverty line. He then started his own “Show Me Campaign”, calling on his fans to help him in his initiative for those who reside there.
Legend is also the National spokesperson for the “Gentlemen’s Fund”, an initiative to raise support and awareness for five cornerstones essential to men: opportunity, health, education, environment, and justice, as well as for Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). MLT is a national non-profit organization that has made ground-breaking progress assisting the next generation of African American, Hispanic and Native American leaders in major corporations, non-profit organizations and entrepreneurial ventures.
Below is a video of John and the Roots in a far less intimate, but equally inspiring performance of the albums title track “Wake Up” at the recent World Cup concert in South Africa. You can also watch the official video for the single at www.johnlegend.com.
I would like to share an article with you that I was asked to write for LA Yoga magazine’s special music issue. It is a bit longer than my usual blog, but right in line with what I am try trying to do through EarthTones and my music and film work. I hope you enjoy the article: Can Popular Music Heal The World?
(pop-u-lar: appealing to or appreciated by a wide range of people)
“Every child is born the same way, not as a conflict of color but as a human being with a role to play on the planet. So we rejoice and do everything to make the future of that child be the best.” –– Angelique Kidjo describing the meaning behind her bilingual pop song “Salala” to collaborator Peter Gabriel.
Judith is beautiful sixteen-year-old Sudanese girl living in Portland, Maine, who, as a younger child and in the arms of her pregnant mother, narrowly escaped the horrors of her war-torn homeland. I’ll never forget the Sunday afternoon when Judith shared her dreams for a more peaceful world and sang for me as a proud member of Pihcintu, a multicultural children’s choir comprised of thirty-five teenage girls (mostly adopted orphans and refugees) from seventeen different countries. I recorded the group as part of a campaign for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Disability, to raise awareness of the effect of weapons of war and the growing handicapped population in the Middle East. Collaborating with one of the leading Arabic-speaking hip hop artists, a highly educated and socially outspoken MC from Lebanon named Rayess Bek, we created a bilingual song and music video called Just Like You.
Our collective goal was to reach millions of young people across several Arab-speaking countries and help break down some of the stereotypes and misunderstandings that far too often lead to unnecessary violence and cultural divides. We hoped that if people of different cultures could look at each other through the eyes of their children and recognize these same underlying qualities in all children around the world, mutual compassion for one another would increase, leaving us less inclined to view those unseen and misunderstood as the enemy.
During a television interview following the recording, the show’s host asked me this essential question: “In a region wrought with a history of so much war and hatred, can a song really make a difference?”
Can a Song Make a Difference?
We all know that listening to a great piece of music or one of our favorite songs can immediately transform our energy and our state of mind. Hearing even a few bars of a familiar tune can trigger us to recall cherished memories, reopen unhealed wounds or even get up and dance. Music and sound vibration affect our brains, emotional states, senses of identity, nervous systems and the health and development of the very cells in our bodies.
But can music really be a catalyst for helping to influence large groups of people, even entire cultures, in a way that could bring the world into greater balance? Like many, I not only believe it can do so, but I see music as an essential component for the conscious awakening of the human race and the well-being of our planet.
Now, I don’t mean to claim that music can feed the hungry, cure epidemic diseases, reverse overpopulation or prevent global warming. But music can help us as individuals to better cope with these external challenges and inspire us as a global community to come together in a more harmonious fashion.
Pop Music and Our Youth
As a boy growing up in Detroit during the heart of the Motown era, music became my lifeline. From the time I cut my first Jackson 5 single from the back of a cereal box to watching those girls swoon down my elementary school hallway to Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” or wearing out the vinyl on my first copy of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” the soundtrack to my youth inspired the dream that one day I, too, would touch people’s lives with music.
Although I’ve been blessed to realize that dream many times since then, one poignant moment took place recently in downtown LA’s Staples Center. I was standing offstage for the closing show of the High School Musical Tour, gazing out at nearly 20,000 screaming kids and a few brave parents. The concert opened with teen star Jordan Pruitt singing my title song from the Disney film Jump In! I removed my earplugs (strategically placed before the show to protect me from the piercing volume of the girls’ screams), only to hear thousands of those same young fans singing along to every word and note I had written. Despite any doubts that the challenges of the music industry might have planted in my mind over the years, that moment crystallized for me the undeniable influence of music on young people.
I’m sure most parents can attest to the power of these influences on their own children. You might have a hard time convincing your ten-year-old son or daughter to exercise, learn Yoga, do their homework or clean their room. But you probably will find little resistance to making them listen to hours of their favorite artist’s music, seeing them perform live (happy to lend you my earplugs), or memorizing the lyrics to their songs.
Children and teens are far more receptive to and influenced by the music, media and musical personalities that infuse their lives. While this could prove risky (not all pop stars are to be emulated), I see a tremendous opportunity for using music to help create a better world and a more positive future. From the looks of what we’ve done to the planet, the youth will need all the help they can get.
Music can help young people develop essential tools and internal resources for facing the unforeseen and inevitable challenges that lie ahead. Providing children with music education and opportunities for musical expression, performance and collaboration offers them a chance to have more developed minds, healthier bodies and a greater sense of personal fulfillment and belonging.
This is being publicly demonstrated on a larger scale by programs like El Systema in Venezuela – a national government-supported system of over one hundred youth orchestras and schools that welcome poor children from every corner of the country. The shining star who rose from that system is the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recently appointed, and youngest musical director, Gustavo Dudamel. Gustavo, the new pop star of classical music, is committed to setting up a similar system in Los Angeles to positively transform the lives of thousands of children and the experience of classical performance for millions worldwide.
Pop Music Touches Yoga
Popular music has also increasingly made its way into Western adaptations of Yoga. It started with the use of contemporary songs in the teaching of asana practices in Yoga studios to create a more inviting and familiar experience for the Western practitioner. And with the growing popularity of kirtan, an increasing number of kirtan and spiritual music artists have been mixing popular musical forms, harmonies, melodies and even English lyrics, with traditional Sanskrit chants into their shows and recordings. Artists like Deva Premal, Jai Uttal, Dave Stringer, Girish, Wah! and even Krishna Das are expanding their audiences and impact in this way.
To reach and inspire an even broader audience in a new benefit CD I just released – Yoga Revolution, I tried to take the work of these artists one step further. Intentionally blurring any lines of genre distinction, I brought together spiritually-infused songs and cross-cultural collaborations by pop music icons like Sting, Seal, Sheryl Crow, Angelique Kidjo and Sarah McLachlan together with spiritually-based artists like Deva Premal, Guru Singh, Donna De Lory and Snatam Kaur.
Expanding traditional forms to reach larger audiences is a trend that has been occurring for many years in other spiritual genres including Gospel and Christian music, both of which have successfully crossed over into pop culture. The result is two-fold: the music inside spiritual communities is adapting itself to the audience and times to become more accessible, and spiritual principles are reaching the ears, minds and hearts of much larger audiences, slowly shifting the undercurrents of popular culture.
Pop Music goes Global
The new generation of conscious musical stars emerging on the global stages of popular music is especially inspiring to me. Their work is often reminiscent of the great musical messengers who rose up within various cultures and regions of the world during the social movements of the 1960s: artists like Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield, Bob Dylan, Gilberto Gil, John Lennon or Fela Kuti. This new emergence is truly global, as proudly represented by artists like Somalian refugee K’NAAN (check out his anthem for the upcoming World Cup – “Wavin’ Flag”), Nigerian-born Afro-Soul artist Nneka, African-American superstar and AIDS activist Alicia Keys, Haitian-born artist and producer Wyclef Jean and the Jamaican sons of the late, great Bob Marley himself – Damian and Ziggy. Today’s artists, as a result of the increasing globalization of media and new technology, are able to connect to even larger and more diverse audiences, breaking through traditional barriers of race, class, religion and nationality.
Using What We Know
If science has already proven that positive sound vibration contributes to healthy and balanced development at the cellular level, and if history has clearly demonstrated that conscious and popular musical expressions contribute to the positive transformation of the human spirit, both in the individual and society, then the answer to our question, “Can popular music heal the world?” must be yes.
In my attempt to answer that question, however, I leave you with another: “Now that we have this knowledge available to us, what do we do with it?” I believe we must take action by consciously using music in our own lives, in our children’s education and in the development, celebration and unification of a global community. Music, like any expression of consciousness, becomes increasingly relevant when offered for the benefit and evolution of all beings.
In a musical genre that is dominated by both men and masculine-driven paradigms, Mexican-American Music Diva Jenni Rivera is breaking new ground and taking millions of female fans along for the ride.
A few weeks ago, in my Yoga blog, I wrote about a fantastic all-female Mariachi band I had seen in Taos called Buena Ventura and the great line-up of female artists spreading that powerful feminine energy through their music at Lilith Fair. Well last night, I had the pleasure of meeting and experiencing the dynamic musical force know as Jenni Rivera. To a sold-out house of nearly 80% Latino women (Nokia Live Concert Hall, Los Angeles), and backed by an 18 piece big band PLUS a 10 piece Mariachi band, she rocked the house. The audience was right there with her – singing along and clearly identifying with her justifiably outspoken lyrics that would put any womanizing, weak or disrespectful male right in his place.
But Jenny is not just doing it all for show. Her story is real (an ex-husband who sexually abused their children and escaped the law), more common than we are willing to believe and something she feels needs to be told. It is a bold move for a female artist in any genre, but seems particularly rare in Latin Pop Music culture. Jenni is telling her stories for the many women and abused children who have been long been suppressed or simply afraid to tell their own. The fearless candor of Jenny’s lyrics, along with her empowering presence, her unstoppable passion and her incredible voice and performance skills, is building a following of millions, especially women. I would have had to be deaf and blind not to recognize the talent and force in front of me, or feel the power of the collective feminine force all around me. It was a beautiful experience to behold and I expect to hear a lot more about Jenni and a whole new generation of Latin female artists she is likely to inspire.
Despite my being previously in the dark about Jenni Rivera, she is no newcomer to the Latin Music lovers. With the release of her tenth studio album, Jenni (2008), Rivera became the first artist in the history of Billboard Latino to have all of her albums debut at number one on theU.S.Top Latin Albums chart. Rivera has since released a new album titled “La Gran Señora”, her first completely Mariachi album.
Spain took the title for the 2010 World Cup today. Although there were many disappointed players and fans in other countries, the title sure came at a time when Spain needed more than a little boost in morale.
Since I opened the world cup with a blog about the musical movement that accompanied the most popular spectator event in the world, I wanted to share one more video of KNAAN’S World Cup theme song – Wavin’ Flag. This recording captures the story behind a version of the song Bob Ezrin produced with an myriad of great artists, joined together to support victims of the Haiti earthquake.
However, before we completely leave our focus on South Africa , I wanted to share a little bit about a South African artist I was working with today for an upcoming film project of mine. Her name is Dilana and the film, a story about an FBI agent who uses her cover as an amazing rock singer to uncover a child pornography ring, is called Silence. I’ll tell you more about Dilana and the film later, since we will be returning to South Africa in the near future.
For now – Check out the Wavin’ Flag video and the power of music for uniting and inspiring people from around the globe.
I just returned from Vancouver where, among many other things, I saw Sarah McLachan kick off the Lilith Fair Tour with other headliners Sheryl Crow, Sugarland and Erykah Badu. It was a beautiful outdoor event on Canada Day with amazing performances by all four of these female superstars, culminating in an encore with all singing together and fading into firework festivities across the water on both sides of Ambleside Park. Lilith Fair, an important musical and social statement in addition to a highly entertaining and inspiring festival for all ages, comes to Los Angeles (well – Anaheim) today. I highly recommend supporting the festival and enjoying a great afternoon of festivities and incredible music. If you are not in the LA area, check out the schedule for other dates across the country through mid-August.
As much as the festival, the inspiring female performers and the important causes they are supporting, I want to bring your attention to a very special program in the Vancouver area founded by Sarah McLachlan.
Sarah had long dreamed to open a free music school for inner city youth. Years ago, she started the Sarah McLachlan foundation in 1999, and her dream became a reality in 2002 with the Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach-An Arts Umbrella Project. I had the opportunity to meet with some of her wonderful staff that run the foundation, and hear some of their stories. The program works to bring music to young under-served Canadians and inspires a relationship with music that will have a lasting impact all aspects of their lives. The school has grown to more than 250 students, grades 3-12, and puts emphasis on public performance to reach out to the community.
What Sarah is doing, in addition to already deeply affecting millions of lives through her own music, is showing the necessity that teaching our children to create and perform music has an impact on their personal and social development.
Growing up as a kid in Detroit during the end of the Motown Era and depending on music for my own sanity, I can truly identify with Sarah’s dream and her words when she describes what music meant to her as a child.
“I don’t know what I would have done without music in my life. Music was my refuge and solace. It was a friend that was always there for me. The one thing I knew I was really good at. It fed me and kept me going. That feeling hasn’t changed. Music is a gift. It connects us to each other and to ourselves. Through it we share our stories and our emotions, and we create a whole new way of communicating.” -Sarah McLachlan
You can learn more about why, to so many young people in Vancouver, “Music is Life” at http://www.sarahmclachlanmusicoutreach.com/
Less known on the world stage is Pete’s inspiring work as a singer-songwriter. Not only does his music feed his soul and give him the strength and inspiration to create such powerful socially conscious work in his film and writing work (oh – did I tell you he has also published 2 full novels, successful screenplays, and countless articles and essays), but has deeply touched the hearts of the audiences who have heard Pete perform.
I wanted to share the following video (and original song) from this important voice and unsung hero. Introducing Pete McCormack…
