Today we're going on an adventure with Kazu Haga, a high school dropout whose path turned radically into a passionate study & sharing of nonviolence. Having learned from/with & befriended some of the greatest activist and nonviolence workers & trainers of the past 70 years, Kazu found & refined his life's mission in many phases.
The 2026 Earth Day in Eau Claire, WI, featured an Earth Fest with a wealth of tables, displays, demos, and more, among them the table for Kaiserson Bee Company. Their varieties of honey infusions, like chili, hibiscus, Tulsi, vanilla, coffee, and lavender were certainly intriguing, but the whole story and method of their production was even more interesting. Things like their CSA - community-supported apiculture, support for dealing with bee swarms, and environmental education, all made me eager to talk to Drew Kaiser, the Kaiser in Kaiserson Bee Company. Drew joins me to talk about The Bees.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Catholic, Methodist, Non-affiliated
Our guest today is Billy Simons Jr, (or on Bandcamp) who I ran into by seeing, and loving, a number of the video reels he's shared online, mostly about current political issues & turmoil. Plus, he has wonderful sense of humor that adds an extra charge to his songs. He was making music back close to 20 years ago, but then there were some years of quiet on the music front, overlapping with a book he created called Earth Is Not A Planet. The point is that Billy Simons Jr has amazing creativity & talent, considerable depth & insight & humor, so it's a delight to have him here.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Greek Orthodox, Anglican/Episcopal
Part 2 of a Memorial Song of the Soul for Bruce Hecksel, shared by his wife, Julie, including 5 more songs; most written, sung, and played by Bruce on the lead. Bruce and Julie have more than 20 recordings as Patchouli, and also under the name Terra Guitarra, on their label, Earthsign Records. Bruce passed on July 28, 2025, at the age of 57, following a three-year battle with cancer. Bruce is best-known for his amazing guitar work, though he was also skilled at piano, and sometimes played other instruments like drums and wood flutes. Much of Patchouli's music featured lyrics and lead vocals by Julie, but in his final years, Bruce penned and led a rich crop of songs, included in their latest release, Everything It Takes.
We've got some powerful witness to be shared today, brought together by Nonviolence International, doing powerful, insightful, work leveraging the world toward peace & wholeness. They brought together the webinar that will be over half of today's show, with 3 well-placed activists focused on the topic Solidarity in Action: Resisting Occupation in Palestine & Minnesota. While there are great differences in these 2 areas of the world, there are plenty of lessons to be shared in both directions. We share today about half of the March, 2026, webinar, plus we share from an interview with one of the presenters that I did afterward.
Peterson Toscano is back this week for his monthly guest-hosting, and this one feels so rich, so deep, so wonderful to me. He's really pulled together some amazing glimpses into the soul of Ireland. It would have been easy enough to do an episode of his Bubble & Squeak podcast on “The Troubles” in Ireland, over the decades where they were such a painful reality, but Peterson went much deeper than that, connecting listeners to the language and the soil, to the complex threads of family and history and healing and more.
Today we bring you a Memorial Song of the Soul for Bruce Hecksel, shared by his wife, Julie. Bruce & Julie have more than 20 recordings, as Patchouli, and also under the name Terra Guitarra, on their label, Earthsign Records. Bruce passed on July 28, 2025, at the age of 57, following a three-year battle with cancer. Bruce is best-known for his amazing guitar work, though he also was skilled at piano, and sometimes played other instruments like drums and wood flutes. Much of Patchouli's music featured lyrics & lead vocals by Julie, but in his final years, Bruce penned & led a rich crop of songs, included in their latest release, Everything It Takes.
Through the suggestion of one of our Northern Spirit Radio board members, Janine Thull, I decided to attend a presentation last week here in Eau Claire by the Blue Zones Project crew, and my eyes were opened. I''ll let their Vice President, Business Development, Margaret Brown, spell it out, but what I think I learned about was a thoughtful and brilliant mechanism to help us live longer and better, to help grow a community into well-being and health. It's something that's been done in many communities already, and hopefully soon on my home turf, with the help of Dave Markquart and his new organization, TrueWellness.org.
The 4th installment of songs inspired by the Minnesota Uprising, today's songs are harvested from Minnesota, Washington State, the Bay Area of California, and, again, Minnesota, so these songs will be witnessed and sung from both the inside and outside. You'll hear heartbreak & admiration, determination & inspiration, and love & power. Ann Reed and Chastity Brown both share songs related to what they experienced on the ground in the Twin Cities, while Emma's Revolution and Linda Allen see the beauty and power from a distance and are channeling it for work across the country. We'll likely have a 5th episode soon - it just doesn't stop!
Past/present religious/spiritual influences:
Last week we got very engrossed in our conversation with David Rovics, so much so that we ended up doing 2 shows of interviewing in one long session, so we have David back this week to provide 5 more songs and the remainder of the conversation. To recap from last week, David Rovics has produced something like 50 albums, and while his style is mostly folk-based, he does some songs which are folk-punk, metal and rock, but there were also a couple years where he was mainly making children's music. First & foremost, he's a powerful voice for protest, activism, social change, and he aims as best he can to make this a better world. We interviewed him back 18 years ago, so this is part two of his second full Song of the Soul & he joins us from Portland, Oregon.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Atheist, Humanist, Quaker, Taoism, Jewish