Archive for September, 2009

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William Stafford—Something That Happens Right Now

September 22, 2009

Something That Happens Right Now

I haven’t told this before. By our house on the plains before I was born my father planted a maple. At night after bedtime when others were asleep I would go out and stand beside it and know all the way north and all the way south. Air from the fields wandered in. Stars waited with me. All of us ached with a silence, needing the next thing, but quiet. We leaned into midnight and then leaned back. On the rise to the west the radio tower blinked—so many messages pouring by. A great surge came rushing from everywhere and wrapped all the land and sky. Where were we going? How soon would our house break loose and become a little speck lost in the vast night? My father and mother would die. The maple tree would stand right there. With my hand on that smooth bark we would watch it all. Then my feet would come loose from Earth and rise by the power of longing. I wouldn’t let the others know about this, but I would be everywhere, as I am right now, a thin tone like the wind, a sip of blue light—no source, no end, no horizon.

—William Stafford

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President Clinton to Address the American Indian Sustainability Conference at Maharishi University

September 22, 2009


American Indian Initiatives
David Lynch Foundation
Post Office Box 738, Winnebago, NE 68071
AmericanIndianSustainableConference.org • 603-464-9989

President Clinton to Address
the American Indian Sustainability Conference
at Maharishi University via Video Message

Tribal leaders will collaborate with University faculty to bring
meditation, organic agriculture, renewable energy to Indian Country

President Bill Clinton will deliver the opening address via a special videotaped message to leaders of Indian Country who will be participating in the American Indian Sustainability Conference, which will be held September 25 to 27 at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa.

The leaders are assembling to explore how modern organic agriculture and renewable energy technologies combined with traditional meditation techniques and natural medicine practices can be used to build healthy, sustainable American Indian communities.

Special guest speakers include Joe A. Garcia, President of the National Congress of the American Indian; Robert Cook, President of the National Indian Education Association; Lucille Ecohawk, strategic planner for the Casey Family Programs; and Katherine Campbell education specialist with the Bureau of Indian Education.

The speakers will hold a news conference on Friday, September 25, 11 am (CDT), at Maharishi University of Management, Dalby Hall, in Fairfield, Iowa. The news conference will also be broadcast live on the Internet at http://www.AmericanIndianSustainableConference.org.

A key feature of the weekend event, according to Prosper Waukon, a hereditary leader – Thunderbird Clan, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, is a five-point plan for sustainability, developed by the Hocak Elders Council, Inc., of the Winnebago Reservation. The plan includes the scientific knowledge and techniques to:

• Dramatically improve academic performance and reduce the stress and violence that permeate impoverished Indian communities

• Prevent and reverse diabetes, which strikes 80 percent of Native Peoples, through a comprehensive program for stress reduction, healthy diet, and lifestyle changes

• Generate clean energy and economic self-sufficiency for American Indians by harnessing Nature’s wind and solar resources

• Provide healthy, nutritious food and economic self-sufficiency for American Indians through the establishment of organic agricultural greenhouses

• Safeguard the precious land, language, and culture of American Indian tribal communities, which are the foundation for systemic change

For information and registration: www.AmericanIndianSustainableConference.org.

Conference Brochure

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Hollywood Today reports on American Indian Conference

September 20, 2009


American Indian Conference to Focus on Health, Sustainability

September 20, 2009

Stocel+drum

STOLCEL of the WSANEC First Nation performs traditional recitation at international conference in Holland

Leaders of Native Indian tribes from around the US and Canada will gather on the campus of Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, for an international conference September 25-27 entitled “Building Healthy, Sustainable American Indian Communities.”

Conference speakers include Joe A. Garcia, president of the National Congress of American Indians; Robert Cook, president of the National Indian Education Association; Lucille Echohawk, strategic advisor for the Casey Family Programs; and Kevin Skenandore, acting director of the Bureau of Indian Education.

Conference hosts and participants include the Hocak Elders Council, Inc., the Indian Health Services (IHS), the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIE), Winnebago Tribal Health Services (WTHS), the Winnebago Treaty Hospital-IHS, and the David Lynch Foundation.

For more information see conference website and video on TM and Diabetes Among Native Americans: http://www.americanindiansustainableconference.org/

See Indian Country Today article, Sustainability quest: http://bit.ly/4vNhWo

Also News From Indian Country article, Indian Country leaders meet in Iowa to explore new approaches to sustainable communities: http://bit.ly/JUOM7

Canadian First Nations participants include STOLCEL [John Elliott], Tekahnawiiaks [Joyce King], and Tim Paul. STOCEL is a cultural and language custodian for his [Saanich] People and speaks extensively on culture and language and history; Tekahnawiiaks [Joyce King] is currently the Director of the Akwesasne Justice Department and is on the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne; and Tim Paul, is Executive Director of the Maliseet Nation Conservation Council of New Brunswick. http://mncc.ca/

STOLCEL will be receiving an honorary Ph.D. from M.U.M. for his lifelong work to revive the mother tongue of the Saanich People, his contribution as Co-Founder of FirstVoices, the world’s first web-based Aboriginal language archive, and for his discovery of the connection between the traditional language of his people and the underlying intelligence of Nature available in the sounds and structure of Veda, which he made in collaboration with M.U.M. founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. [See BACKGROUNDER on STOLCEL]

Tekahnawiiaks [Joyce King] will be speaking twice at the conference: on Education, and on Safeguarding Culture and Language. She lives on the Akwesasne Reserve near Cornwall, Ontario, along the border between Canada and NY State. Her bio is available online: <http://www.tekahnawiiaks.com/bio.html>.

Tim Paul will speak on his own experience with TM and the lowering of his blood sugar levels, as well as his keen interest in the “eco village” model at MUM, and the desire of the Maliseet Nation Conservation Council to incorporate many of the “sustainable technologies” demonstrated there, in his own Maliseet communities throughout New Brunswick.

The conference will showcase Consciousness-Based education, prevention-oriented health care, renewable energy, organic agriculture, and cultural preservation.

Researchers will also present the results of several controlled studies on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation® technique for reducing acute stress and behavioral problems among hundreds of at-risk American Indian youth at the Winnebago (Nebraska), Pine Ridge (South Dakota), and Passamaquoddy (Maine) reservations.

Findings to date show the Transcendental Meditation technique promoted higher scores on standardized state tests of mathematics and reading, 25% less absenteeism, a 20% drop in disciplinary incidents, and 30% higher graduation rates among the meditating young people compared to controls.

“The timing is perfect for this conference because the need is so great among the tribes,” said John Boncheff, who is co-director of the Transcendental Meditation program at the Winnebago reservation. “The Transcendental Meditation technique is not only helping students perform better in school, but it’s also helping both adults and children to overcome the terrible epidemic of diabetes, which strikes up to 80 percent of all American Indians.”

Dr. Boncheff said that it’s also helping American Indians reconnect with their spiritual heritage and traditional culture.

—————————–

BACKGROUNDER

STOLCEL [John Elliott]

(Photos available upon request)

STOCEL is a descendant of the hereditary family of Chiefs of the WSANEC [Saanich] People and lives on the Tsartlip Reserve near Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He is the Co-Founder of ‘First Voices’, the world’s first web-based Aboriginal language archive. This web-based archive allows predominantly oral tradition languages of any aboriginal nations to be recorded, uploaded, saved, and learned in perpetuity by future generations online, rather than becoming obscure or obsolete when the Elders or fluent speakers pass away. As a result of his initial inspiration, there are now over 60 First Nations archiving their languages online, with 35 of those now publicly available for First Nations’ youth and non-mother tongue speakers to learn their languages: <http://www.firstvoices.com/>.

STOCEL is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Language for the First Nations Education Council for British Columbia, as well as the Chair of the Saanich Native Heritage Society, and is an active member on the Board of Governors of the First People’s Cultural Foundation. He has been teaching, developing curriculum, and preserving aboriginal languages for thirty years.

STOLCEL holds First Nations’ Language Certification from the British Columbia College of Teachers. He has taught in all grades and is now teaching Grades 7-10 in the SAANICH Tribal School as well as SENTOTEN for adults at the University of Victoria.

STOLCEL is being honored with of the degree of Doctor of Natural Law Honoris Causa by Maharishi University of Management for his work to bring out the connection of traditional language and the underlying field of Nature that upholds every culture in peace and progress.

In STOLCEL’s words: “There is never time enough time in the day for all the work that has to be done. Our languages are the key to ancient knowledge. Inside each language is the pattern of how to live in harmony with the earth and all the living things. More today, than ever, this knowledge is needed. Each time another language dies forever, our ancient connections to all life, our knowledge of the plants the animals, the trees and our mother earth is lost.”

Canadian Contact: Christopher Collrin, 506-471-5598, collrin@gmail.com

US Contact: Ken Chawkin, 641-470-1314, kchawkin@mum.edu

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Meditation: Effective New Aid for Students with ADHD

September 14, 2009

David Lynch Foundation
Office of ADHD and Other Learning Differences
714 19th St. S. • Arlington, VA • 703-823-6933 • ADHD-TM.org • sgrosswald@tm.org
Contact: Ken Chawkin, 641-470-1314, kchawkin@mum.edu

Meditation: Effective New Aid for Students with ADHD

National conference to showcase research and classroom experience during National ADHD Public Awareness Month

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 • 12:00 NOON (ET)
Webcast online at ADHD-TM.org http://adhd-tm.org

A panel of physicians and scientists will report on the benefits of a simple meditation practice for aiding students diagnosed with ADHD during a national medical webinar, which will be hosted by the David Lynch Foundation on Wednesday, September 30, 12 noon (ET).

The webinar, which comes on the final day of National ADHD Public Awareness Month, will report on published research on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique for improving academic achievement and executive brain function while reducing learning disorders, anxiety, depression, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and heart disease.

Conference panelists

Sarina Grosswald, Ed.D. George Washington University-trained cognitive learning specialist; lead researcher on a pioneering study on the Transcendental Meditation technique and ADHD; and Executive Director of the David Lynch Foundation’s Office of ADHD and Other Learning Differences.

Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D. Senior Researcher in Psychiatry and Psychobiology for 20 years at the National Institute of Mental Health; currently Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University; and Medical Director of Capital Clinical Research Associates in Bethesda, MD.

William Stixrud, Ph.D. Clinical Neuropsychologist and Director of William Stixrud and Associates, specializing in the evaluation and treatment of children, adolescents, and adults with learning, attention, and/or social/emotional difficulties; Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the George Washington University Medical Center.

Over 50% reduction in stress and anxiety, and improvements in ADHD symptoms

One recent study, published in the December 2008 issue of the peer-reviewed Current Issues in Education followed a group of 10 middle school students with ADHD who were practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique twice a day in school. After three months, researchers found over 50% reduction in stress and anxiety, and improvements in ADHD symptoms.

“The effect was much greater than we expected,” said Sarina J. Grosswald, Ed.D., a George Washington University-trained cognitive learning specialist and lead researcher on the study. “The children also showed improvements in attention, working memory, organization, and behavior regulation.”

Grosswald said that after the in-school meditation routine began, “teachers reported they were able to teach more, and students were able to learn more because they were less stressed and anxious.”

Prior research shows ADHD children have slower brain development and a reduced ability to cope with stress.

Stress interferes with learning

“Stress interferes with the ability to learn—it shuts down the brain,” said William Stixrud, Ph.D., a Silver Spring, Maryland, clinical neuropsychologist and co-author of the study.

“Medication for ADHD can reduce the symptoms for some children, but it is marginally or not effective for others. Even for those children who show improved symptoms with the medication, the improvement is often insufficient,” Stixrud said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, almost 50% of the 4.5 million children (ages 4-17) in the United States diagnosed with ADHD are on ADHD medication—and the majority of those on medication stay on it in adulthood. Stixrud said there is growing concern about the health risks and side effects associated with the common ADHD medications, including mood swings, insomnia, slowed growth, and heart problems. In 2006 the FDA required manufacturers to place warning labels on ADHD medications, listing the potential serious health risks.

These high risks and growing concerns are fueling parents’ search for alternatives that may be safer for their kids.

“There is already substantial research showing the effectiveness of the TM technique for reducing stress and anxiety and improving cognitive functioning among the general population,” Dr. Grosswald said. “What’s significant about our findings is that among children who have difficulty with focus and attention, we see the same results. TM doesn’t require concentration, controlling the mind or disciplined focus. The fact that these children are able to do TM and do it easily shows us that this technique may be particularly well suited for children with ADHD.”

The David Lynch Foundation is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), which has provided more than $7 million in scholarships to teach Transcendental Meditation to over 100,000 at-risk students throughout the United States, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.

###

Additional resources

1. Transcendental Meditation reduces ADHD symptoms among students: New study Dissatisfaction with medication spurs interest in meditation

2. Transcendental Meditation buffers students against college stress: Study Research at American University shows meditating students react better to stress, are less fatigued, have more ‘integrated’ brains

3. New study shows Transcendental Meditation improves brain functioning in ADHD students A non-drug approach to enhance students’ ability to learn

4. Girls with ADHD more prone to depression, anxiety than boys; meditation helps

5. TM improves brain function in ADHD students

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Poetry—The Art of The Voice

September 12, 2009

Poetry—The Art of The Voice

How fine will your breath become
from listening to these words?
How soft will they seem to be
as they settle through the mind
like silent snowflakes falling
from a windless winter sky?

I often marvel at the mystery—
how words can work
on a listener’s heart and mind,
upon hearing a poet’s thoughts,
a poet’s breath, flowing
from an inner voice—
a windless wind, speaking
through a voiceless voice.

—Ken Chawkin

This poem was published in THIS ENDURING GIFT, A Flowering of Fairfield Poetry, 76 Poets Who Found Common Ground in One Small Prairie Town:, and later selected as the POEM OF THE DAY: Poetry – The Art of the Voice, by Ken Chawkin.

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Posted in My poems, Poetry | 2 Comments »

INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY: Sustainability quest: Tribes to gather for conference of meditation and renewal

September 11, 2009

Indian Country Today

Sustainability quest

Tribes to gather for conference of meditation and renewal

By Rob Capriccioso

Story Published: Sep 15, 2009

FAIRFIELD, Iowa – Organizers are preparing for a unique gathering of tribal elders, leaders and members to focus on building sustainable communities through meditation, renewable energy, organic agriculture and cultural preservation.

The event, billed as the “International Conference on Building Healthy, Sustainable American Indian Communities,” is largely being put together by the Hocak Elders Council, the Ho-Chunk Elders Advisory Council, the David Lynch Foundation and members of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.

It will be held at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa Sept. 25 – 27. Planners expect hundreds of participants to attend.

“We are very excited to be able to help offer this one-of-a-kind experience,” said Bob Roth, vice president of the David Lynch Foundation, which focuses on spreading scientifically-proven stress-reduction Transcendental Meditation technique to at-risk youth.

The meditation techniques focus on regular, quiet reflection times aimed at reducing stress and its harmful health impacts.

Studies have shown the methods to have health benefits, such as curbing behavioral disorders in youth and reducing the need for insulin in those with Type 2 diabetes.

Planners with the foundation are using the conference as a platform to highlight their commitment for the past three years to a project called the “Model American Indian Community Initiative” on the Winnebago Reservation.

The project strives to help at-risk youth relieve stress through meditation. It has achieved some promising results which conference organizers are eager to share.

John Boncheff, an event organizer who co-directs the Winnebago project, said Indian youth in the program are not only doing better in school, they are absent less and have a better chance of graduating.

Esteemed Indian leaders have taken note. Joe A. Garcia, president of the National Congress of American Indians; Robert Cook, president of the National Indian Education Association; Lucille Echohawk, a strategic planner for Casey Family Programs; and Kevin Skenandore, acting director of the Bureau of Indian Education are scheduled to attend and present at the sustainability gathering.

The Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine have started similar projects, hoping for equally positive results. Planners said many more tribal leaders have requested information.

Roth said it has been an honor to see more tribes get involved and for Native Americans to teach each other the benefits of healthy meditation and its similarity to some traditional spiritual beliefs.

Prosper Waukon, a leader with the Hocak Elders Council and a citizen of the Winnebago Tribe, said the project has also attracted keen interest from his tribe’s elders.

In 2007, Waukon said several older tribal members took a trip to Maharishi University to learn about transcendental meditation, which the institution strongly promotes. Many were suffering from debilitating side effects of diabetes and wanted to understand ways to meditate to improve their well-being.

Some of the elders have since been able to dramatically better their health outcomes, and some rely much less on diabetes medications, Waukon said.

“Many elders found there was something missing with medication alone. Using meditation to relieve stress ended up helping them connect with traditional ways. It has been a win-win situation.”

As a part of studying the elders’ progress, IHS has contributed $560,000 to the project in in-kind testing services. They are hopeful that IHS may end up promoting the program to more tribes in the future upon seeing positive results.

Information about the elder diabetes program will also be highlighted at the conference.

Waukon said the event won’t just be about promoting sustainability through meditation. It will also feature sessions on organic farming, wind and solar energy development and cultural preservation.

“These are areas of sustainability that all connect to each other,” he said, adding that experts in the various fields will be in attendance.

Boncheff would like the conference to raise awareness of the Winnebago project’s success and to see what can be done to take it to the next level. He is hopeful that at least seven more tribes launch similar sustainability projects by next year.

For people who can’t afford to attend the conference, it will be Web cast online. Registration information and more details are also available online.

On February 1, 2012, Indian Country Today published an article, Transcendental Meditation Combating Diabetes in Indian Country, by Mary Annette Pember.

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David Lynch Foundation Honored

September 10, 2009

Picture 40

Naturalheroes

THE 
DAVID LYNCH 
FOUNDATION

Promotes a Peaceful World  For Our Children

By Tom Citrano

NATHEROSDavidLynch“In today’s world of fear and uncertainty, 
every child should have one class period a day to dive within himself and experience the field of silence – bliss – the enormous reservoir of energy and intelligence that is deep within all of us. This is the way to save the coming generation.” David Lynch, founder and chairman of the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and 
World Peace.

This month’s Natural Heroes are Mr. Lynch and the people at the David Lynch Foundation. Director and Producer David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Elephant Man, Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive) started his foundation to provide funds for students to learn meditation through Transcendental Meditation centers, hospital-sponsored wellness programs, boys and girls clubs, before-and-after school programs and in schools when invited by the administration.

Instruction is voluntary and provided to children after parental permission has been granted and at no cost to the family, organization or school. This year the David Lynch Foundation granted millions of dollars guaranteeing thousands of students, teachers and families a chance to learn meditation.  The Foundation also funds independent research to study the effects of meditation on creativity, intelligence, brain function, academic performance, ADHD and additional learning disorders, substance abuse and depression.

Lynch believes that stress is taking a big toll on children today. He looks for a day when developing student’s creative potential is part of every school’s curriculum. David Lynch has been a TM practitioner for over 30 years and explains, “There are hundreds of schools, thousands of students, who are eager to relieve stress and bring out the full potential of every student by providing this Consciousness-based education.”

The David Lynch Foundation targets the benefits of TM for students in the following areas:

CLASSROOM STRESS
Children need to feel safe in school because pressure, stress and fear undermine learning. Dr. William Stixrud, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist in Silver Spring, Maryland, specializing in work with children and adolescents, has studied the effects of stress on the developing brain and had this to say about the David Lynch Foundations programs, “Educators have long known the optimal mind/body state of a student is one of relaxed alertness. The question has been how does the student get there? The answer is The Transcendental Meditation Program.”

CLINICAL DEPRESSION
Ten million children in America have been diagnosed as clinically depressed and take antidepressant medications. Most of these medications are categorized as having serious side effects. A study (funded in part by the Daimler/Chrysler Fund and the General Motors Foundation) on meditating children at an inner-city Detroit middle school confirms what previous gathered data and research has documented: The Transcendental Meditation program increases happiness, self-esteem, and self-worth, while also reducing anxiety and depression.

LEARNING 
DISORDERS
If left untreated, ADHD impacts the child in several ways – causing impulsivity, distractibility, hyperactivity and inattentiveness. ADHD is also associated with sleep disorders, depression, bipolar disorder and other disorders. Almost 90% of children diagnosed with ADHD are on medications. Linda Handy, Ph.D., educator and principal of The Waldorf School in Silver Spring, Maryland believes it’s easier for teachers to hold the attention of students who meditate, “Transcendental Meditation has a great effect on students’ learning ability. Teachers can teach more – so students can learn more.”

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
High blood pressure is no longer an adult disease. Studies show adolescence is a critical time for the development of hypertension and other coronary disease risk factors. Increasing rates of childhood obesity are further driving up the numbers of children and teens living with hypertension. Vernon Barnes, Ph.D., research scientist at the Georgia Prevention Institute of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta studied the effects of TM on a random sample selected from a group of 5,000 teens with hypertension. Barnes had this to say about the results, “Decreases in blood pressure observed in the present study have clinical significance. The decreases, if maintained into adulthood, are enough to potentially decrease a child’s long-term risk for heart disease and stroke.”

FULL BRAIN POTENTIAL
Science has confirmed that our brains are not fully developed at birth. As we grow and mature, the brain is being recreated to support all of our new and changing thoughts, decision and behavior. There are different areas of the brain for seeing, hearing, thinking, feeling, etc. The part of the brain that is most critical for evaluating all the information is the frontal lobes. Stressful experiences keep the frontal lobes from developing. Research verifies the TM technique is unique in its ability to exercise this critical part of the brain – to make the brain healthier and better able to work together as a whole.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
In his book, A Record of Excellence, Ashley Deans, Ph.D., director of The Maharishi School in Fairfield, Iowa recounts the achievements of his school, which is accredited by the State of Iowa and the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, “Hundreds of scientific studies on Transcendental Meditation program and more than 30 years of classroom experience should be enough to convince anyone that Consciousness-Based education can make education complete, healthy, harmonious and productive.”

For more information about 
the David Lynch Foundation 
and its programs, visit davidlynchfoundation.org.

If you have a Natural Hero in 
your life, send an email to: heroes@nugreencity.com and tell us about that special someone who’s making our city and the planet a better place.

http://www.nugreencity.com/2009/09/naturalheroes-3/

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William Stafford—You and Art

September 10, 2009

You and Art

Your exact errors make a music
that nobody hears.
Your straying feet find the great dance,
walking alone.
And you live on a world where stumbling
always leads home.

Year after year fits over your face—
when there was youth, your talent
was youth;
later, you find your way by touch
where moss redeems the stone;

and you discover where music begins
before it makes any sound,
far in the mountains where canyons go
still as the always-falling, ever-new flakes of snow.

—William Stafford

Also see William Stafford—A Course in Creative Writing

Listen to You and Art performed by Daniel Sperry from his CD: William Stafford: Cutting Loose ~ A Tribute To William Stafford.

I later included the last stanza of this Stafford poem in response to The Poetry Society’s tweet of the last half of Wallace Stevens’s poem, The Snow Man, which they liked. The imagery is similar, and the GIF they used of snow falling also fits perfectly with both poems.

My poem, Poetry—The Art of the Voice, communicates that silent music from nature to poet to audience, where it “begins before it makes any sound” as Stafford wrote at the end of You and Art.

And my poem, Telling the Story of Silence by Ken Chawkin, allows that silence to tell its own story, the “Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is” as Stevens wrote in The Snow Man.

Later found and added: Henry Lyman interviewed William Stafford for NPR’s series, Poems to a Listener, later posted on YouTube. Stafford reads several poems, including You and Art.

I found this quote by James Joyce (Ulysses): “A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” It seems to reiterate this notion that mistakes lead to discovering something new and unexpected, i.e., thinking out of the box.

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Beach Boys concert ‘fun, fun, fun’ for all

September 8, 2009

Beach Boys concert ‘fun, fun, fun’ for all

 

By BOB SAAR for The Hawk Eye

 

Published online: 9/8/2009

You might guess a band almost half a century old would be populated with superannuated blokes of yore.

Ah, but there are no old guys in the Beach Boys.

There were a lot of “old” baby boomer fans in the audience during Monday’s outdoor concert at Fairfield Middle School, but they were as uninhibited as any bunch of today’s teenagers ogling the Jonas Brothers.

The Beach Boys, centered around originals Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, included lead guitarist and music director Scott Totten, keyboardist Tim Bonhomme, Randell Kirsch on bass, guitarist Christian Love — son of Mike Love — and John Cowsill on drums.

You remember the Cowsills. Sure you do — that family band with the hit “Hair.”

Cowsill provided perfect surf drums for the two-hour concert, keeping many of the more than 4,000 concertgoers up and prancing the entire time. Those “old” folks did the Pony, the Swim, the Shimmy — long-forgotten go-go dances called up from collective memory by the jungle beat of surf music.

Kirsch, who has the daunting job of covering Beach Boy guru Brian Wilson’s high parts, relishes his spot.

“That’s the funnest job in the band,” he said.

Iowa band The Nadas provided the walk-in music with a solid set of roots rock.

“They were spot on awesome,” Iowa City musician Jason Bolinger said.

The main show began when Fairfield Mayor Ed Malloy lauded Love with a proclamation, introducing the 68-year-old singer as “Fairfield’s Energy Czar Emperor.” The concert was a benefit for the David Lynch Foundation and the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center, as well as a kickoff for Fairfield’s new Green Sustainability Plan aimed at energy conservation.

Love practices transcendental meditation at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield. MUM was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; the TM master was popular in the ’60s with the Beach Boys, the Beatles and other music and movie stars.

“Little Honda” got things up and running. At least a few aging Boomers recalled that the song is about motorcycles, not cars.

The vocals took a few songs to loosen up to the point of being totally tuned in and running smoothly, and that was OK — after all, the original band didn’t always hit all eight cylinders in concert.

And it was good and swell that this band didn’t do a clone routine, a “Mike Love Karaoke Hour.” They did all Beach Boy hits — my, those boys had a lot of hit singles — and they were the Beach Boys, without the Wilson boys, sure, but a real band, not some broken-down fossil staggering around the stage with the rights to a band name and a cadre of grungy sidemen to prop him up.

“Barbara Ann,” “Surfin’ Safari,” “California Girls,” “Surfer Girl,” “Sloop John B.” The concert list was seemingly endless.

“Wouldn’t it be nice” was quite nice: “We could be happy,” the band sang, and the crowd sang with them, extremely happy to be there on a storybook Indian summer day in Iowa.

Johnston’s lead vocals, especially on “Do You Wanna Dance?” were as clean and pure as any 25-year-old crooner touring today.

“Why Do Fools Fall In Love,” “Don’t Worry Baby,” “Good Vibrations,” God Only Knows.”

Children frolicked with their elders. Beach balls careened in the sky. Souls soared. People grew younger with each new tune.

A hotrod medley, of course: “Little Deuce Coupe,” “Shut Down,” “I Get Around” — one of surfdom’s best angsty laments — and “409.”

The old people knew the song referred to Chevy’s 409 cubic inch V8 engine coveted by hotrodders of the era. It is not known how many youngsters present wondered why this legendary group was singing about bathroom cleaning products.

The encore was not begged; everyone knew what was coming: “Fun, Fun, Fun.”

All had fun yesterday in Fairfield, all but the police, who had nothing more to do than direct traffic for the polite, smiling concertgoers.

“No fun for me today,” one Jefferson County deputy said. “I gotta work.”

Lynch Foundation Media Relations Director Ken Chawkin said the show was special for the band’s TM enthusiasts, especially Love.

“This must be a huge thrill for Mike, because he’s been coming here for years to meditate and take rejuvenation treatments,” Chawkin said of Love.

Perhaps that explains why there are no old guys in the Beach Boys.

Love was not too worn out afterward to echo the enthusiasm of the well-wishers who surrounded him backstage.

“I think it’s great here in Iowa,” he said. “This place is really special.”

The event producer for the David Lynch Foundation, Michael Sternfeld, was as upbeat as everyone else at the end of the show.

“There’s something about the audiences at Fairfield. … There’s something special here,” he said. “This was the ultimate experience. In terms of energy, we just nailed it.” He stopped to smile up into the blue. “We created serious good vibrations.”

Yeah, man. Good vibes and a whole lot of fun.

http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/beachboys-090809

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Beach Boy found life saving cure in Fairfield

September 8, 2009

Radio Iowa News

Beach Boy found life saving cure in Fairfield

Monday, September 7, 2009, 9:39 AM
By Darwin Danielson

Mike LoveThe Beach Boys will play their first-ever concert in Fairfield today but one of the men who founded the legendary band in 1961 says he’s been visiting the southeast Iowa community for decades.

Mike Love learned transcendental meditation in 1967 and says he steals away to Fairfield frequently for R-and-R, that’s rest and relaxation, not rock ‘n’ roll. The singer and songwriter says the community facility, known as the Raj, offers health treatments which he believes have helped prolong and greatly improve his life.

“Ayurveda is an ancient science of health from India,” Love says. “It has all kinds of aspects to it but they have fantastic treatments that reverse the clock biologically speaking, in other words, you can reverse the aging process through a combination of meditation and the Ayurveda, so it’s been really helpful to me.”

Love is 68 years old but when he inputs his vital information before a treadmill workout, he says he usually punches in 50, as that’s how young he says T-M allows him to feel. “It’s been really helpful to me to be able to meditate and get these treatments occasionally because the schedule we keep is pretty intense,” Love says, laughing. “We haven’t had a summer off in 47 years.” He says transcendental meditation helped prevent him from falling into the same traps that have caught and killed many other celebrities.

“That has helped me to stay away from too much drinking, I don’t smoke, all the lifestyle choices that can lead to disease and early death, I’m not interested in that path,” Love says. “I’ve seen plenty people go that way and it’s a drag because I’m sitting there thinking, gee, if they could only learn this technique and benefit by it, it’d be great.”

The concert will be held in the open fields beside Fairfield Middle School. The gates open at noon. For tickets, directions and parking information, call 641-472-2787.

AUDIO: AUDIO: Radio Iowa’s Matt Kelley reports on Mike Love. :46 MP3

Related article: Beach Boys’ Mike Love recharges at The Raj

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