These pictures reflect my work world. I've been in the same office for well more than a decade. It's well worn. The view is great. The work is very satisfying. The Dannells family drawing was done by Ruhiyyih in 1994 when she was 15. The children's painting was done by Bonita as a young woman in her twenties. The oil paintings of flowers were done by my mother. The Navajo blanket was among my father's possessions. I failed to take a picture of the picture just above my phone, one of the most holiest spot on earth for Baha'is, the entrance to the Shrine of Baha'u'llah. -gw
Here's how Talia of TaliaSafa wrote about an auspicious gathering of Baha'i musicians for a gig in New Orleans with Imogene Heap…
Our dear friend and partner in music, Caeli Lohr has had a very exciting year. Caeli has gone from being our single-guy next door neighbor who killed bugs for a living and made music in his bedroom to a married guy living in musician Imogen Heap's elliptical house in England with his wife, Kelly Snook, who runs Imogen's home studio and mixes her live show recordings. They just recently had a chance to perform on stage with Ms. Heap in New Orleans. Kelly arranged a cappella choir vocals for Imogen's song "Earth" and Caeli added his beatboxing.
This is how JB wrote about it…
It’s been a surreal 32 hours. Flying out to New Orleans at midnight from the middle of a tour, meeting a whole group of Kelly’s best friends and learning a choral arrangement with them right off the plane… soundchecking, playing the opening set, watching Imogen’s amazing show and singing the choral piece in the middle of it… getting to sleep at 2AM and getting up at 5:30 to fly back to the Northwest.
One of the strangest parts is how long I feel I’ve known all these people. It feels like we did a whole tour, not one gig… yet I barely learned everyone’s names. They all did a killer job onstage last night, especially MJ Cyr who opened up the show with me and knocked us all out with her song ‘Afterglow.’ What a song – beautiful. You are onto something there, MJ.
So within 72 hours, I decided to buy a ticket for New Orleans. I was presented with the opportunity to be part of a choir that would sing Imogen Heap's song "Earth" with her on stage, and also play a couple of songs to open the show. ooooohhhhh and I did. oooooohhhh and it was amazing!
I got to reunite with amazing friends, meet new fabulous people, have a great chat with the fabulous ben Christophers (of Bat For Lashes), meet Imogen Heap, sing in front of a sold out crowd, and sing harmonies to Immi's song. that was pretty cool..
AND THEN I got a cold as soon as I got back to Canada, and worked a 12 hour serving shift the following day.
oooohhhhh I'm such a rock star.
Former Continental Board of Counselors member and crime and mystery writer Florence Mayberry.
Isaac Olsen, filmmaker of the film noir Quiet Shoes.
Film noirs encompass a range of plots—the central figure may be a private eye (The Big Sleep), a plainclothes policeman (The Big Heat), an aging boxer (The Set-Up), a hapless grifter (Night and the City), a law-abiding citizen lured into a life of crime (Gun Crazy), or simply a victim of circumstance (D.O.A.). Though the noir mode was originally identified among American productions, films now customarily described as noir have been made around the world. From the 1960s onward, many pictures have come out that share attributes with film noirs of the classic period, often treating noir conventions in a self-reflexive manner. Such latter-day works in a noir mode are often referred to as neo-noirs. The tropes of film noir have inspired parody since the mid-1940s.
Let’s make some noise about Quite Shoes, the film noir making its debut in Tacoma Saturday. This work is a reflection of the creative process of Baha’i Isaac Olsen. -gw
Hey Family and Friends – Just one last email before the BIG PREMIERE this Saturday…
Thanks to everyone who got tickets in advance. We’ll look forward to seeing you on Saturday night! I think we are all going to have quite a good time.
If you’re still planning to come but don’t have tickets, you can buy them online until Friday at www.schnelluloid.com (will call pickup at the Rialto box office), or through Saturday at the Grand Cinema, or at the door on the evening of the show (cash or checks only). There will be “merch” available in the lobby: Quiet Shoes t-shirts and CDs by the musicians involved in the movie (also cash or checks only).
There will be more press in the next few days, so be on the look out!
I’ve greatly enjoyed the Shankar tunes on this album. -gw
Hindustan TimesWed, Jun 16 09:00 AM
Mumbai, June 16 — This Friday, the city will be treated to some rare classical music – 10 Hindi songs composed by sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar that have not been sung since 1986. Written especially for the inauguration of Delhi’s Baha’i (Lotus) Temple 24 years ago, these songs are now being brought back to India by the Voices of Baha, an international choir that will perform at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) on Friday. “The songs are based on classical Indian ragas, but have been adapted for the choir by adding Western classical harmonisation,” said Tom Price, renowned US-based composer and conductor of the choir, who had collaborated with Ravi Shankar for the fusion elements of the songs. “Ravi Shankar combined all the spiritual ragas for these songs, such as Bhairavi, Todi, Yaman and Kedar. We sang it at the Lotus Temple without any music, which was a challenge,” said Indian composer Ashit Desai, who had conducted the Indian choir in 1986. On Friday, Desai, his wife Hema and 13 Indian singers will accompany the 120 members of Price’s choir along with a blend of Indian and Western instruments. The Voices of Baha, which has toured over 35 countries globally since Price founded it in 1992, is primarily a Baha’i choir. Most of its members belong to the Baha’i community founded in Iran in the 19th century. There are over five million Baha’is in the world, though the community in Mumbai is only about 500. The songs of this choir are spiritual – drawing from the teachings of various faiths, but mostly translations of Baha’i scriptures in various languages and styles ranging from gospel to pop and now Indian classical. Coming from at least 20 countries around the world, choir members have decided to uphold the Bahai spirit of celebrating diversity by dressing in their various national dresses for the Mumbai concert.
While Facebook strives for privacy, 4Chan features anonymity. Below is a question, what is the Baha’i Faith, posed on 4Chan, “The Anti-Facebook In The World Of The Open Graph,” which has drawn some 25 responses at the time of my reading it. Some on the responders are sympathetic to the Faith, some are mocking, and some are vulgar. Some of the perceptions are right on and some are way off. The responses illustrate, nevertheless, how the Faith continues to penetrate the consciousness of mankind and are indicative of issues that people will bring up in their investigation of it. People, are you ready, there’s a train a-coming. -gw
What can you guys tell me about the Baha’i faith? I’ve heard a bit about it, but it’s not too prominent in my country. Think it’s something I should look into?
June 12, 2010 – Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital, Petaling Jaya. Multi religious devotional programme entitled “Remembering the Prisoners of Conscience: The Persecution of the Baha’is in Iran.”
Just posted to YouTube yesterday… -gw
In this video, members of the Baha’i community chanting in Tamil. Baha’i chants were also made in various languages, namely Mandarin, English, Bahasa Malaysia, Semai, and Iban.
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In this video, the Sikh community leading the prayers/chants.
In this video, Buddhist monks leading Buddhist chants.
In the Muslim world, few issues are as accurate a barometer of societal dynamism as the status of women. As recent scholarship convincingly shows, women have consistently been at the forefront of societal change in the region. Whatever their political orientation, countries that reward (or at least permit) this behavior, such as Tunisia and post-Saddam Iraq, tend to be vibrant and hopeful places. Those that do not, like Saudi Arabia, are stagnant and sclerotic. …
Another key metric in gauging stability in Islamic societies is the disposition of religious minorities. In places where political Islam has crowded out alternative views, other faiths have found themselves under siege. The plight of Zoroastrians and Baha'i in today's Shi'ite Iran and of Shi'a Muslims in contemporary Sunni Saudi Arabia are sorry reminders of this truism.
Nothing conveys the reality of Baha’i life like pictures. Nothing conveys the secret to the vigorous growth of the Baha’i Communty like the photos included in Attaining the Dynamics of Growth that document the core activities in place around the world. Thanks for the reminder, Alex. -gw
From: Alexander
You may already be familiar with the document from the Baha’i World Center on Attaining the Dynamics of Growth…
Content of this blog is autoposted from
Posterous (Baha'i Views & Baha'i Music). Also carrying this mirrored content is Baha'i Views (on Blogger). The email for all of these sites is: bahaiviews@gmail.com. None of these blogs constitute official sites of the Baha'i Faith. For authoritative material about the Baha'i Faith go to: http://bahai.org/ or http://bahai.us/. George Wesley Dannells
