Tony Vacca's music is rooted in rhythm & Africa & raw spirituality. Through percussion, spoken word, and the help of many African musicians, Tony has us surfing the edge of experience, from New Jersey to Senegal and around West Africa, and straight to your heart.
The Cornucopia Institute is a watchdog for the organic standards for food in the USA. Co-founder Will Fantle presents a SLIDESHOW demonstrating the issues & scope of Cornucopia's work at NSR's annual membership meeting last year, and updates us about food issues, including GMOs and regulation.
Ben Merens is well-known throughout Wisconsin and beyond for his 21 years on WPR and, especially, for his years as host of At Issue. His latest book is People Are Dying to Be Heard, where he shares his lessons & insights about listening, silence, and being heard.
One of the multiple pipelines proposed to carry tar sands out of Canada is the Northern Gateway Pipeline. It would go through North America's only remaining temperate rain forest and a refuge with exceptional and threatened wildlife, including the Spirit Bear. Jim Backus shares his photos of the animals and the region (watch slideshow), while Elizabeth Shope, International Advocate of the NRDC, explains the situation, and 11-year old First Nations member, Ta'Kaiya Blaney, provides crucial perspective in word & song. Watch Ta'Kaiya Blaney speak & sing against the Northern Gateway Pipeline project.
Marca Cassity shares wonderful acoustic soul spirit songs on her latest CD, Songs From the Well. Raised within the Osage Nation in Oklahoma, seasoned by 10 years in the Bay Area in CA, and now located in North Carolina, her spiritual exploration has been vast and deep.
Darrell Smith's day job is with Purple Cow Organics, which tells you something significant about one of Darrell's passions, and in his other hours he plays with Embedded Reporter and The Pardee Boys, using his skillful voice and fiddle.
Charley Earp is honestly devoted to the religiously-inspired communism of his youth, without apology or irony. With insights into the true origins and meanings of communism, and nurtured by a deep, though unorthodox, religious path, including years as part of the Reba Place Fellowship, and he writes several blogs, including RadicalProgres.info, and LeftistQuaker.org.
Music Featured:
I've Been Kissed By a Communist - by Charlie King & Martha Leader
Howard Lewis Hinterthuer is primary songwriter & co-anchor of the folk duo (plus friends) Embedded Reporter, featuring stories, local & global, of the human condition. Homey and real, the lyrics and music fit into real people's lives, and tug the listener to enter into the songs and be part of the experience.
Tyler Norman and The Beehive Collective are tackling the big issues, like globalization, climate change, and the danger of extinction in creative and decentralized ways. Grown out of the anti-WTO movements and with an eye to encouraging, energizing methods of spurring change, an important approach to spreading the word has been super-sized graphic creations which empower alternative story-telling. Their largest project to-date has been Mesoamerica Resiste. View the accompanying Powerpoint slideshow HERE (it's large, so be patient downloading).
Megan Dooley is a home-town, Kalamazoo, woman with sultry, bluesy, vocals and great guitar that she's contributed to the groups she's been part of - Dooley Noted, Top Heavy and, now, Moxieville (on Facebook or on SoundCloud). A passionate advocate of local music, Kalamazoo has a worthy and successful tradition to uphold, and Megan embraces and fulfills it!