headspace magazine

1 FALL 2014 HEADSPACEMAG.COM

2 HEADSPACEMAG.COM FALL 2014 3 FALL 2014 HEADSPACEMAG.COM

Melvin Seals & JGB (2 Nights) New Riders of the Purple Sage w/special guests (2 nights)

Kung Fu - Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad - Mark Karan's Buds David Gans - Poor Mans Whiskey performing Old and in the Way set

Lucid - Still Hand String Band -Viral Sound - Stir Fried - Preach Freedom and Connect Juggling Suns Project - Hot Day @ the Zoo - Willie Jack & the Northern Light

The Kind Buds - Backwoods Experiment - Stackabones - The Blind Owl Band Ajamaja - Swift Technique - Lumpy Gravy - more tba

This year, we are celebrating the 9th Annual Bears Picnic at Liberty

Festival Grounds in Roaring Branch, PA only 20 miles above Williamsport by the town of Liberty. Liberty Festival Grounds is a 164 acre family farm that borders

thousands of acres of state game lands. More primitive camping then in previous years, but we have plenty of room to spread out and enjoy nature with no music curfew! Community fires, swimming

holes close by, no light pollution, pet friendly, craft & food vending, workshops, children activities, movies, artist meet & greets and much more!


CONTENTS FALL 2014

5 Letter From the Editor

6 A Head Of The Game Featuring Mary Donahue Local environmental impact 101 Interview by Lina Miller

8 Rocks With A Fox Marvelous World of Malachite By Shawn “Fox” Rybacki

parking lot Miscellaneous

greensEnvironmental initiatives

tunesMusic

spaced outActivities, arts, & culture

10 Spaghetti Squash Pesto By Sherry Satta

11 Tea Time A homage to the historical beverage By Cait Deane

12 The Vibration - Tweed Interview by Joe Gurreri - Catullus Interview by Matt Testa

14 The String Cheese Incident Interview by Alessandro Satta

18 Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood Interview by Alessandro Satta

21 Headspace’s Best Fests Awards

22 Benefits of Yoga A brief introduction By Janice Rhayem

24 David Lynch An eye-opening exhibit By Kelly Wassinger 26 Artist Showcase Featuring Meadow Eliz

29 Comic Corner

munchiesFood and health

9 Tips and Tricks For Growing Fall Veggies By Katherine Wissner 24

18

Letter From The Editor

Although it is good to be aware of current events, it is especially important to not let your life be ruled by negative things that are entirely out of your control. We have made it part of our mission here at Headspace Magazine to focus on positive news and discuss healthy lifestyles. We believe it is important to keep pumping out positive journalism about what is going on in our local jam community. These are the things that will directly affect your happiness on a day-to-day level. This issue includes articles about yoga, healthy meals, tips for maintaining your garden throughout the winter, a small introduction to the world of tea, and what shows will get you moving to keep your body nice and limber. When the weather shifts and the days get shorter, it is easy to forget how much physical activity the sunshine encourages, and even easier to get really comfortable in the groove you have established in your couch while sitting in your favorite robe. After the long and busy summers that many of us have enjoyed, it is important to take the time to chill and regain our energy, but sitting around sedentary for six months is prob-ably not the best way to go about that (as much as I would like to believe it). Every day that we wake up in this reality is a chance to figure out what will make our minds and bodies most happy. Many unhealthy things can make us happy on a short-term basis, but taking steps towards long-term happiness is how we find a good balance.

- Alessandro Satta

staf f founder / editor - in - chief

Alessandro [email protected]

creative directorJoe Gurreri

[email protected]

copy editorsBlake FeldmanJanice Rhayem

illustratorsJohn WarnerJoel Kirckhoff

Kendra Dingley

contributing writers Shawn Rybacki

Matt TestaKelly Wassinger

Lina MillerKatherine Wissner

Sherry SattaCait Deane

contributing photographersC. Taylor Crothers (SCI photos)

Stuart LevineKevin Michael Shields Jr.

14


HS: When did you begin working with Clean Water Action?

M: I began in June of 2007 as a field canvasser. It was an entry-level position; learning how to canvas door-to-door, recruit members for the organization, raise money, make quota, and get letters on specific campaigns that we were ad-vocating for at the time. I made my way through training, and I ended up being very good at it. I was kind of surprised by that. I think my impression was this would be fun for a couple months. I didn’t fully have confidence that you could walk up to a stranger’s door and they would give you money for the work you are doing, so it was pretty surprising to find that that actually is possible and, not only possi-ble, but very consistent. I got hooked.

HS: Could you tell us about your goals as program coordinator of Clean Water Action?

M: Where to start? We have been very concerned with the transportation of Bakken shale crude oil by rail. Philadel-

phia’s energy solutions, the refinery in southwest Philadelphia is receiving a lot of the crude oil from North Dakota. They claim that they are actually refining 20 percent of the total output from North Da-kota’s Bakken crude oil, which is a huge amount. Every day, twice a day, mile-long crude oil trains are traveling through very densely populated communities in southwest Philadelphia, particularly South Philadelphia, through University City to start. They’re going to the refin-ery. There have been many derailments around the country with the increase of the transportation of crude oil by rail, so it’s very concerning that these trains are running through such densely populated communities. It seems most people are very unaware of the hazards that those trains pose. As a program organizer with Clean Water Action, I have been working to develop a campaign plan to increase the awareness in the communities. It’s all about fracking the hell out of the Bakken shale and getting this crude to the refineries as soon as possible without really thinking about the fact that the railroads themselves are very old.

HS: Are you a Philadelphia native?

M: I am not. I grew up in New Brunswick, NJ. I moved to Philadelphia when I went to school, and I graduated and never left.

HS: Where did you attend college?

M: I went to school at St. Joseph’s University, and I studied environmental science and biology. I had the opportunity to take some sociology and poli-sci class-es, so it all just kind of married nicely.

HS: How did you get involved in environmental conservation?

M: I had an environmental chemistry class and a geology class that really opened my eyes a lot to the importance of reducing greenhouse gases and the effect that we have on the entire eco-system. In terms of getting involved with environmental policy and advocacy, that really didn’t happen until Clean Water Action. It just kind of happened. I ran into the current canvas director at a career fair, and the rest was kind of history. I’ve

learned so much through working with this organization that I did not learn in school and having the opportunity to be involved whether it be rallies or marches or submitting public comments on an issue. This is how things change, you have to mobilize the community. You have to get people to take action. You can’t just be talking about it, you can’t just be learning about it. You have to go and do it.

HS: What is the most rewarding experience you’ve had so far?

M: Oh, that’s a tough one. Let’s see, I would have to bring it back to the 2008 presidential election for Obama. I have my issues with Obama, just like anybody else, but to be involved in such a massive organization of people that were working to get him elected was just absolutely incredible.

HS: What was the most difficult thing you’ve experienced in your mission as of yet?

M: I guess this type of work is very much so an uphill battle. In Pennsylvania, we don’t work within a system that really prioritizes public health or air quality or water quality over corporate profits, we just don’t. Pennsylvania has a very deep-rooted history with industrialization, with coal, with steel and now natural gas. You’re working within a system that is catered to big business, so things never happen overnight. They take time. I think just finding the motivation to keep trucking that uphill battle, that’s probably the most challenging thing with really any kind of organizing of any type of social justice issue. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about the environment or worker wages or healthcare, it’s the system that we are working with, and it’s corrupt.

HS: Could you give our readers a brief explanation of what exactly fracking is and why you are fighting to stop it?

M: Sure. So “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing, is the process by which we are getting natural gas out of the Marcellus shale region here in Pennsylvania. The shale formation is miles underneath the surface. In order to fracture the rock, they put millions of gallons of water, sand, and a cocktail of chemicals down under-ground at high pressures and fracture the rock. Once the rock is fractured, then the gas is able to come up but what also comes up is a ton of flow back water that comes from deep within the Earth’s surface. There are lots of radioactive material and heavy metals that are deep in the shale. They are down there for a reason and are now coming back up with the flow back water along with the chemi-cals that they are using in the process. The combination of these chemical cocktails is not disclosed to the general public because they are considered a trade secret. So you have the chemi-cals that they are adding plus the heavy metals and radioactive materials that are deep underground that are mixed with that as well. When the shale is broken up, it creates fissure that allow methane to leak out. Once you start that process, you can’t reverse it, and the methane bubbles off into aquifers. People have been able to light their water on fire because their water is contaminated with methane gas. The issue is what to do with the waste water. One of the things we have been working on recently is ban-ning frack pits. It is a common practice to put all the waste water into a football sized pit into the ground that is just lined with basically an industrial plastic bag. Typically they do it near the frack site, but it’s a huge cause of groundwater contamination when those bags rip and those materials leak into the ground. It can also overflow when it rains because

it is not capped at all. There’s no cover to it, so it’s really just a crazy way of dealing with the waste water.

HS: What can we do to help the environment?

M: I think that the two biggest things are voting and getting involved with a grass-roots effort and taking it to the streets. We need a combination of the two. We are not going to fix everything with just voting, and I think we all know that. We have a system where corporations can donate to political candidates unlimitedly. Some candidates are worse than others, and that’s definitely true, so I encourage educating yourself on candidates on all levels, not just presidential but on the local level and the state level. We have a governor’s race coming up in November here in Pennsylvania, and it is absolutely critical that we get Governor Corbett out of office. So I think elections are huge. I also think we need to take it to the streets and show our political leaders that there is public support for radical changes. I think the greatest example that happened recently is the People’s Climate March on September 21. It was absolutely inspiring to see over 400,000 people come out, and this wasn’t all environmentalists. It was communities working for environ-mental justice. It was black communities from the Bronx that all have asthma and can’t breathe because of a power plant in their community, and they want to build another. It was laborers, including what seemed like a million labor groups and organizers. The environment is an issue that affects us all in many different ways, and it’s important that people come together and take it to the streets and show that there is diverse public support for this type of change.

Interview by Lina Miller

Photos compliments of CWA

Featuring Mary Donahue

a head of thegameLocaL environmentaL impact 101

parking lot

Mary Donahue has been battling to make her imprint on local environmental efforts for the majority of the last decade. After receiving her undergraduate degree, she began working with a grassroots environmental organization called Clean Water Action as a canvasser and is now their program coordinator. She is a very down-to-earth lady who loves going to music festivals and shows in her free time. She took a minute out of her busy schedule to tell us what makes her passionate about the environment and what she has been doing to help out.


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kiTips and Tricks To Growing Fall and Winter Veggies

greens

The Marvelous World of

Malachite

Malachite, oh, Malachite! I’ve yet to meet a per-son who didn’t love this stone. This gorgeous mineral

has captivated cultures for centuries with its unique and stunning characteristics. With its wide range of green hues

and wavy patterns, it is impossible for this stone to be confused with any other. Coming in with a hardness of 3.5-4, Malachite is a relatively soft stone and vulnerable to nicks and scratches. Malachite forms in the oxidation zone around copper deposits and is commonly found with Chrysocolla and Azurite. Use of this mineral can be traced through the history of Egypt, Greece,

Rome, and Russia. It has been used for

ornamental and ceremonial purposes because of its beauti-

ful color. Malachite has been revered as a

luck stone, said to protect one from the evil eye. In fact, Malachite has been said to protect

one from all sources of negativity. It is associated with helping to weed out all the excess toxicity in one’s

life to aid in remaining steadfast on one’s highest path in life. Said to promote healthy patterns, Malachite may assist

us in making profound changes in our reality. It is a stone of action and demonstration of the human will. It encourages us to finally take stands and have the integrity to do what is right by ourselves. If you are faced with challenges in which you feel like you are losing yourself, Malachite could be a powerful ally to you. Green is typically the color associated with the heart chakra and, therefore, all forms of emotional healing. Pairing Malachite with Rose Quartz or Kunzite is a metaphysical recipe to help heal emotional wounds, release harmful ties to others and generate a new course of action. Many times we fall into patterns in our lives that only keep us in the same place. If we refuse to evolve internally, then the context of our lives will never change. Understanding how we play roles in the negative events in our lives is essential to changing those events in the future. Malachite can help us feel confident in our ability to keep going in positive, loving ways. If you are looking for things to really get popping, pair Malachite with Tektite to facilitate rapid change, but beware! The power of Tektite is not known for being gentle. While it may promote the correct course of action, it may give you emotional whiplash.

When sweater weather commences and the girls in skirts put their winter boots on, things start to slow down. The bustle at the beach comes to a hault, the air-condition-ing bill freezes, and the tomatoes in the garden drop from their vines. Don’t fret! There are plenty of vegetables that, if planted during fall, will be edible by winter.

In autumn low temperatures in Philadelphia range from 25°F to 45°F. The garden soil can freeze 3 or 4 inches deep once winter hits, but fall temperatures are not generally severe enough to damage heavily mulched winter plants. There are also some techniques that can help to increase the overall temperature of your garden. An object that blocks the cold of wind from reaching the plants, such as a brick wall or a wind guard, can increase the temperature of your garden up to 10°F. You could get crafty and create individual cloches (instead of purchasing glass ones) for covering plants, such as mop buckets, plastic cups, or milk jugs. If germinated indoors, the crops in the following chart are suited for colder weather and may safely be transported to an outdoor setting when ready. If you live in a city where digging or building a garden is implausible or impossible, you can always pot individual crops. Pots or vessels that are approximately 6 inches to 1 foot would be perfect for planting individual crops. Bringing individual pots

inside might even have a greater shot at successful vegetables. Indoor gardening is another option. Some plant varieties that don’t need copious amounts of sun can be planted indoors. Herbs are easily planted and potted indoors. Basil, rosemary, and wheatgrass can be planted into singular pots and placed on the windowsill to be enjoyed through the winter. Simply placing the seed 3 inches deep in potting soil will yield fresh flavor. Sprouting indoors is an excellent option for winter vegeta-tion. Common bean, seeds, and grains to sprout include alfalfa, lentil, mung, rye, and wheat. A sprouting apparatus can be purchased for $5.00, or a simple plastic container would suffice. When dried seeds or beans become moist, they activate out of their dormant state and into the sprouting phase. During this phase the delicate sprout is in an edible state that provides nutrients within a 3-5 day period. If planting and potting your own veggies seems like a bit more work than you are capable of maintaining, consider volunteering some of your time to a community greenhouse initiative such as the Pendle Hill Greenhouse Project in Walling-ford, PA that has a permanent greenhouse dedicated to organic gardening. As it gets colder and colder, remember to maintain a balanced diet that includes leafy and hearty vegetables. If you’re sick of paying for food at the grocery store, consider planting your own vegetables, whether indoors or out, to provide yourself with edible vegetation year round.

Written by Katherine WissnerPhotos by Joe Gurreri

Potatoesa. Plant in ground four weeks before first frostb. VERY tolerant to cold temperaturesc. Edible in 3-6 weeks

Beetsa. Plant in ground four weeks before first frostb. SEMI tolerant to cold temperaturesc. Edible in 6-9 weeks

Carrotsa. Plant in ground six weeks before first frostb. VERY tolerantc. Average 50 days to harvest

Radisha. Plant in ground four weeks before first frostb. Average 20 days to harvestc. VERY tolerantd. The only vegetables that cannot

only withstand the frost of winter, but it actually intensifies its flavors.

Cauliflower a. Eight Weeks before first frostb. SEMI tolerantc. Average 50 days to harvest

Swiss Chard a. Six weeks before first frostb. SEMI tolerantc. Thirty days to harvest

Spinacha. Best planted 5 weeks before first frostb. VERY tolerantc. Average 40 Days to Harvest

hoW To GeT sTarTed


TEA

he fall season has settled in, and there’s no doubt that winter weather is soon to follow. While it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of seasonal activities, it

is important to remember to take care of ourselves during this time of transition. It is crucial to take notice of what we are putting into our bodies—especially during a time of the year when comfort foods are more abundant and activity levels begin to drop. There is an amazing and easy way to continue to maintain a healthy essence—simply drink more tea. (It also happens to be the perfect fall and winter bever-age!) According to leg-end, tea was first discovered in China

by the emperor in 2737 BC. It was consumed because of its amazing herbal medicinal qualities. In the seventeenth century tea arrived in England. Based on its popularity, it was declared the drink of royalty by the queen, and tea parties became a regular way for people to socialize. Since then it has become widely known that there are a great variety of reasons that tea should be consumed regularly. Tea can help boost your immune system, an important force to keep at peak performance as cold season approaches. Drinking tea has also been linked to weight loss and has less

caffeine than coffee. Also, drinking tea (hold the sugar) has only a few calories compared to other favorite

seasonal drinks! Hydration is also a benefit of drinking lots of tea—even though it is

caffeinated, you are still treating your body to a lot of water. Depending

upon what you feel your body specifically needs, there are

a variety of teas each with their own sets of benefits.

TSpaghetti Squash With Pesto

Ingredients1 (2 pound) spaghetti squash4 cups of fresh basil leaves3 medium cloves of garlic½ cup of pine nuts1 tsp of salt¾ cup of extra virgin olive oil1 ½ cup of shaved pecorino / Romano / parmesan

InstructionsPreheat oven to 375°F

Halve the spaghetti squash long ways.Remove seeds and the darker yellow strands that the seeds are attached to.

Place cut side down on shallow baking tray. Use fork to prick squash skin all over. Put water in pan to cover half-1 inch of squash. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until tender.

While the squash is cooking, prepare the pesto sauce:

Mince the garlic, preferably in a food processor. Add pine nuts and salt, then process until it is a paste. Add half cup of cheese and process. Add the basil leaves (after they have been washed and dried) and process until finely chopped. Start adding oil slowly. Process until mixed evenly.

When squash is ready, use fork to scrape out the inside, and it will magically break into individual,

spaghetti-like strands. Discard the outer shell.

Mix in pesto. Sprinkle with remaining cheese to your taste.

Serve it up, and enjoy!

Feeds 6-8 people

(If there is any leftover pesto sauce, you can freeze it! Put it in a container and cover with oil.)

Pesto recipe by Sherry Satta

munchies munchies

“If you are cold, tea will warm you;if you are too heated, it will cool you;If you are depressed, it will cheer you;

If you are excited, it will calm you.”- William Ewart Gladstone

Tea Time

A homage to the his orical beverage

Ways to spice up your tea!There are a lot of ways that you can make your tea more interesting if you’re not one to drink it black! Here are some ways to jazz up your tea:

- Try slicing up fresh ginger and adding it to your tea. The gin-ger gives the tea a spicy kick and is great for settling your

stomach and boosting your immune system!

- If you would like to give your tea a wintery feel, try adding a pinch of cinnamon.

- For sweetening your tea try using honey, agave nectar, and other natural

sweeteners instead of refined sugar. These are much healthier alternatives to refined, white

sugar.

Tea is not only a drink that can cheer you up and comfort you emotionally, its physical health benefits are undeniable. This season consider adding a cup of tea into your daily routine to boost your immune system and your energy levels!

Written by Cait Deane

Green Tea:Loaded with antioxidants, green tea has a gentler flavor

than black tea. It has been known to reduce your cholesterol levels, as well as

reduce the risk of Parkinson’s and Alzhei-mer’s disease.

Black Tea: Black tea is the most commonly

consumed type of tea. It has the highest caffeine content and

is linked to protecting lungs from smoke

damage.

White Tea: White tea has been said to have the most powerful anti-cancer properties, because it is a tea thatis notheavily processed. The leaves are picked while they are still very young, giving it the mildest flavor of the teas.


Tweed has become one of the hottest up-and-coming local bands, quickly expanding their audience and repertoire with their fall tour currently underway and first EP to be released this winter. Tweed takes you on a eu-phoric journey through a wormhole to the future with what they have coined “jamchronica.” Their progressive style mixed with heavy synth effects pro-duces epic, layered jams that any live-tronica head is sure to be pulled into. To find out what Tweed has planned for the near future, Headspace invited the band over to ask them a couple questions and jam with members of Catullus and Philly Funk Hustle.

HS: Give me a brief history of Tweed.

AJ DiBiase: We all met up at the University Of Delaware. I think Jon and Joe were the first people to meet.

Jon Tomczak: We all met because I had a moe. shirt on!

Joe Vela: I saw Jon’s orange afro in the dining hall, and I went up to him and said, “Awesome shirt man!” He said, “Yea, we should hang out!” That summer I went down with Jon to Atlantic City to see The Disco Biscuits. I ran into AJ at that show because he was wearing a University Of Delaware shirt.

AD: I think it was during the peak of “I-Man.” I was cheesin’ hard when Joe stumbled in front of me and said, “Yo! University Of Delaware!” We managed to exchange some words and started playing music together shortly after.

JV: I play drums! I play guitar! We both wanted to make music so …

Dan McDonald: I came up to UD a little bit later because I started college down state. I would always pass by where these guys lived on my skateboard and could hear them jamming. I ended up meeting a friend that lived with them at the time, Nick. He introduced me to these guys when they were jamming one day, and I was like, “I wanna jam.” Cherry Ellis was the name of the first side project of ours.

AD: I had an epiphany recently, and I remember that the first time I met Dan was in a Yoga class my friend was teaching. We had a meditation session after that class with a smaller group, like fifteen of us, and I was meditating in this circle directly across from Dan. When we went around introducing each other, we both started talking about music. We just had this weird connection.

JV: The original Tweed had another bass player, Paul. We kind of took it up a notch when we moved in together, and he was not ready to do that. Dan came over the next day and was the obvious choice to become the bass man. This was a little over a year ago.

HS: You guys have coined your genre as “Jamchronica.” Can you explain this term for us?

AD: It’s a word I came up with to describe our sound that is fueled by ex-tended jams, but it’s also an obvious pun on jamtronica. We have been strongly in-fluenced by bands pioneering this genre of music. Jamchronica captures how we strive to take musical communication to the next level and really focus on explor-ing the improvisational aspect. We like to push the envelope in that area.

JV: To me, it’s a couple things. But it’s a play on words because “jamchronica,” chronic. There was this one article that was written about us that said, “chronic jamming,” and I kind of liked that.

JT: Kind of like chronically changing and evolving, you know, trying to work with that sound. Take what we are doing and make it into something new with a live-tronica influence.

HS: Now that festival season is coming to a close, what are your plans for fall and winter?

JV: We have ten shows in October. Three of them are part of our residency at Home Grown in Newark at the University Of Delaware. We really like that place. They let us experiment, we do drink spe-cials, and we have recently been doing theme parties, too. That’s our spot. AD: Home Grown is one of the only

places left in Newark where people go to see live music. They have a real good scene there. Free admittance to all of the shows, great vibes, and the cheapest drinks in the world are right there in Del-aware. I don’t know if many people know that. That’s a fact.

JV: We have a big show with Pink Talking Fish on October 17 at North Star Bar and another big one with Dopapod on November 22 at District N9NE. Winter is coming up, and we like to do a nice ski trip, get up to Vermont, hit a mountain, hit Burlington, and by then we should be finishing up a few studio tracks. We’ll probably have five or six long studio tracks. Ten-minute studio tracks. By January or February we are already thinking about summer tour again. HS: How does it feel to be teaming up on gigs with nationally touring acts like Dopapod and The Main Squeeze?

JV: It’s exciting.

JT: These are bands that we love. We are passionate about their music. We would be at the show whether we are playing or not. It’s awesome to be a part of that and part of other people’s experiences at the show. It’s an honor to get our music out alongside people we admire very much.

HS: Tell me a little more about your residency in Newark going on through October and November.

JV: We are doing a biweekly show bring-ing in our favorite bands from the region. My vision for it is to give University Of Delaware that music scene. Create a scene and introduce people to new music that they might not hear anywhere else.

JT: There are people that like going to festivals and this type of music, but there wasn’t much of that scene in Delaware. Nothing like this was really going on down there. It’s good to see all those people coming together. While we were there for college, we started Deltronica, an electronic music club at UD. Joe and AJ were really the brains behind that. We started a festival down there, too, called Bass Campus.

HS: Would you like to add anything else?

JV: When you come to see us, bring your dancing shoes and your space suit!

Interview by Joe GurreriPhoto by Kevin Michael Shields Jr.

Catullus has been busy showing off their intense energy and musical prowess in venues all over Philly, the suburbs, and parts of Jersey for the last several years. The band includes Chris Bailey (bass), Michael “Spawn” Fazekas (drums), Andrew Meehan (guitar), Justin Minnick (keyboards), and Anthony Zinno (percussion). Catullus has no limit to their range of sounds and the facets of life they will touch on. Whether it is a hypnotic dance groove that will get every-one’s feet moving or a timeless story thousands of years old, it is fair game for this band. They have proven that they are one of the most genre-defying bands to grace the Philly music scene recently, and they are only getting started. Matt Testa of Headspace Magazine was able to sit down with the members of the band to talk about their craft.

HS: Where, when, and how did Catullus form as a band?

Chris Bailey: We had a prior keyboard player before 2012. He decided to take a different route with a piano career. We ended up finding Justin on Phantasy Tour.

Justin Minnick: I didn’t even respond to their first ad they posted, a friend of mine dropped my name on a message board just like ‘who is looking for a keyboardist.’ I never expressly told him to do that, but I had been looking for a project. I checked them out on Facebook to see what they sounded like.

Andrew Meehan: We also recently add-ed our buddy Justin Miguel as our man-

ager. Having some good management allowed us to get more serious; you have to separate the band concentrating on music and other people concentrating on business. If you can free up the workload, the band can be more musically relaxed.

HS: How would you describe your sound, and what, if any, would you say your genre is?

CB: It’s hard to say, because a lot of our songs touch on multiple genres, we’ll change genres mid-song, once, twice, three times even. I have to say we start-ed out rock and roll. Mr. Meehan opened our eyes to some different kinds of music, and we kind of progressed with that and really fell in love with the jam scene. Once we got into jam music, there were all types of sounds within jam that we got to explore.

Anthony Zinno: People say there is something ‘haunting and familiar’ about our sound. People can connect with what we play and relate it to what they already know, but it’s something totally new to them.

CB: As far as the types of music we play, we would say its rock, jam, funk, progressive, jazz, blues fusion.

JM: It’s all based in a land of improv. We like to come up with extemporaneous ecstatic energy.

HS: What are some of your biggest in-fluences, and how do they inspire you to incorporate so many different types of styles into your music?

AM: I think my biggest influence is just life in general. When people read that question they will probably think we will talk about what bands we are influenced by, but I don’t think that 100 percent of musical inspiration has to come from music itself, especially when it’s original.

JM: Music has definitely had an influence, but so do books, history, experiences, basically anything that has affected your brain and the current state that it’s in. It’s good to be in a state of constant listening, because you never know when inspiration is going to come.

AZ: Just look at our name; Catullus was a Roman poet who touched on literally every point of life you could touch on, which is kind of our goal for our music.

AM: “Real quick though, composition wise, we came together with a lot of Beatles influence from when we were growing up. When I write a tune I like to throw in a Beatles aspect to it with like an unexpected chord change and then to a jamtronica section from this part of my life with a little Phishey essence and some type of Zappa weirdness to it, but we don’t want to be compared to those bands so to speak, we just like to use those influences for song structure.

CB: There has to be a legit song structure. We love to make people dance but you can’t just get right too it, you have to work into it.

HS: Is there anything you have coming up you want to talk about?

AM: I have always loved rock operas, you know like The Wall, Gamehenge, Hot Air Balloon, and I like writing stories. I was going to try to write my own opera, but after a while I realized I was worrying too much about it, so I decided to base it on one of the greatest stories ever told, Homer’s Odyssey. That story is timeless because of all the obstacles the charac-ters had to overcome that can represent day-to-day life for everyone, even now. We have act one complete, act two is in the works. When it’s finished we would love to play both acts in its entirety, may-be even throw some theatrics in there with it.

Interview by Matt Testa

Photo by Joe GurreriHEADSPACEMAG.COM FALL 201412


The String Cheese Incident

String Cheese Incident has been one of the most revered groups on the jam-band circuit for the last twenty years. Since their inception in 1993, the eclectically eccentric nature of this band has helped them to establish their own sound that is widely recognized in the current scene. During their tenure, String Cheese Incident has demonstrated their inspirations and own musical interests by exploring a vast array of genres while never leaving their incidental realm. Following a summer packed with performances and special guests, Cheese is ready to hit the road for their fall tour that will be leading them from a festival in Florida to a fierce tour across the Northeast. Keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth gave us a minute of his time to talk about his experience with String Cheese, their recent studio efforts, and their upcoming tour. The Tower Theater in Upper Darby is opening its doors to welcome back this monumental affair on November 7, 2014. It is going to be a packed house, so make sure you get your tickets ahead of time.


HS: Where were you born and raised?

I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. I spent a lot of my youth running around Towson and that area there. I got my degree from Towson State.

HS: How did your interest in music begin? I was always tinkering on a piano. My mother picked up on that, so she enrolled me in piano lessons early on. In fact, it was probably too early, because I started cheating on all the practices I had to do. So I stopped for a couple years, then I got back into it when I went off to college.

HS: How did String Cheese Incident form?

This is a band that formed without me. It formed in ’93 I believe. I was still living in Boulder at the time. They were living in Telluride and southern Colorado. I think they formed when Michael Kang and Billy Nershey started playing music together.

HS: What have been some of the most extraordinary moments for you while with this band?

There have been many great moments. I think some of the special guests that we have had play with us, like Steve Winwood and other great artists. We do these things called “Incidents.” We just did one with Kool and the Gang. I love being able to play really big venues like Red Rocks, but also collaborating with great musicians from Steve Winwood to Bruce Hornsby and Little Feat. It’s been great.

HS: Can you tell us about the new album Song in My Head? What was it like to work with Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads) as the producer on this album?

Yes, working with Jerry Harrison was amazing. I’m a huge Taking Heads fan. I’m actually a little bit of a psycho Talking Heads fan. That’s my favorite band of all time. I know everything about every little bit of them. When his name came across the table for him as a producer, I loved the idea, and I was like “Let’s make it happen.” We had been working on the songs for the album for at least two years. Perfecting them and getting into the right

form and stuff so that when we hit the studio we could just lay them down the way we had been doing it for the last two years. It all sounded similar. Then Jerry Harrison came about, and he said, “May-be you could change the key or move this over here.” Working with him gave freshness to some of the songs we had been working on for the last few years. It was great to work with him. Song in My Head is probably one of my favorite al-bums. My favorite is Outside and Inside.

HS: This past summer found String Cheese hitting a lot of festivals and including sets such as The Ms. Lauryn Hill Incident and String Cheese and the Gang. Can you talk about this past tour and how those special shows came about?

A lot of the “Incidents” are the brainchild of our management team. They come to us and say, “Hey, we’re thinking about doing something at this festival. What do you think about playing with X?” Sometimes it seems like a weird fit, but sometimes they hit the mark perfectly. We did one with Zack Brown, who is a country artist we worked with last year. That was a perfect fit, because in a lot of ways musically, we’re in the same space. Lauryn Hill was great, and I think that mo-ment worked out really well. Since we are

HEADSPACEMAG.COM FALL 201416

all professional musicians, a lot of these quirky “Incidents” turn out to be really exciting and fun. A lot of our brainstorm-ing comes from our management, and we roll with them as best we can.

HS: You just released your third solo album Speed of Life. How does work-ing on this solo project differ for you from working with String Cheese?

The obvious difference is that I have more creative control. It frees me up a little bit to experiment musically. I wrote a lot of songs on the Cheese album, but I wanted to experiment with things like drum & bass, which wouldn’t really make sense with the String Cheese sound. Working in a studio, I was able to push my musicians in various directions to challenge them to come up with a little bit of a different album. Way different than the String Cheese album, but also different from what people might expect out of me.

HS: You were able to pair songs on this album with specific beers. Can you talk about that process?

I’m a home brewer. Over the last five or six years I have decided to take my home brewing to the next level, so I’ve been talking to different breweries around the

country and put myself in the position of being a connoisseur musician. Collab-orating on stage and collaborating with these breweries have a lot of similarities. I think the creativity in producing a beer and brewing are similar because you take chances. It’s like finding the right balance of musicians. I decided for my new CD to bring it all together. So I made contact with three national breweries and worked with each of them to make a beer that is available all across the country, each beer with its own track. It’s called “Hop Tracks”. The first one I made was with Stone Brewing Company, a great brewery out of Southern California. Alice Cooper’s guitar player, Keri Kelli, and I got together and made it. It’s a super high-energy, high-alcohol beer, so I made the first track on my album, Racer X, for that. It’s kind of like a high energy, fast moving tune. Then I moved to Boulder Beer Company and more of a festival-style song, more in the String Cheese realm called Here We Go. Then I worked with Cigar City and Rock Brothers, two East Coast breweries out of Tampa, Florida. The house, funk track Happening Now was paired with this session IPA collaboration. So there you have the whole trip.

HS: Do you have any sort of bucket list for musicians you would like to collaborate with?

Peter Gabriel would be epic. We have spent some time with Paul Simon, but that didn’t come to fruition, so I would like to follow through with that. We did some work with Steve Winwood, and that is something I would want to do again. In the more modern world, I love LCD Soundsystem; some of that comes through on my new album. Also Radiohead, and there’s just so many. I could say Pink Floyd and all that stuff, but I wanted to give you some more modern music as well.

HS: Do you have anything to add?

String Cheese is heading on tour in a few weeks. Going from Florida up the East Coast starting November 2. Kyle Hollingsworth Band will also be out and touring when I get any time off. Check out both the CDs—they are really fun.

Interview by Alessandro Satta

Posed photos by C. Taylor Crothers Photo (below) by Joe Gurreri

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Where were you born and raised?

I was born in New York City and I have lived in this area my whole life. I live in New Jersey now.

At what point did music make its way into your life, and how did it become a life long passion?

It’s always been a part of my life. My father was a musician … a violinist. He played in orchestras and string quartets. My mom was a dancer, and I had two older brothers. Everyone had all types of music going on in that house. My mom had me tap dancing at a very young age. So it was already there. I started playing drums when I was about eleven in 1974. That’s when I started practicing and studying. I got deeper into playing during high school. After high school I started working, doing all kinds

of gigs and just playing in a lot of different situations in New York City. I started doing a little tour-ing, and it just grew like that, naturally.

How did you meet your bandmates John Medeski and Chris Wood?

I met John in Boston when I was playing a gig up there with Bob Moses. Bob was sort of a mentor of mine. He was from New York, a drummer, composer, and sort of a cult jazz hero for a lot of people. He’s not very well-known but he did an album with Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius called Bright Size Life. So anyways, he moved to Boston to teach at the New England Conservatory, and that is where Chris Wood and John Medeski were going to music school for a short period. Bob had told me

MEDESKISCOFIELDMARTIN & WOODThe Masterminds of Modern Jazz Are you ready for a musical night of mystical and magnanimous proportions? The nationally renowned and astronomically talented Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood are making their way to Philadelphia’s own Union Transfer. Known for their creation of some of the most electrifying jazz-fusion music your ears have ever been zapped by, this bastion of a band will be on tour in support of their new album Juice. Headspace was lucky enough to catch up with Billy Martin and discuss the makings of this group and how he came to be such a creative drummer. Whether you are an avid fan or have yet to see a performance by Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood, make sure you boogie on down to the north side of town on December 5th.

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about Medeski, and when I went up to play with him, Medeski showed up, and that is when we met. I played percussion and a little bit of drums, and John heard me play that night. I invited him to give me a call to get together when he came to New

York. I picked him up a couple weeks later and brought him to my place in Brooklyn. We did duets for a couple

hours with just the organ and drums. It was incredible. Later on he called and said

he was bringing Chris Wood, and we had our first official jam session

together. That jam session we had was the beginning of

Notes from the Underground, which

was our first record. We are talking

about 1991 basically, and

they lived in the East Village, and I lived in Brooklyn. We were in the New York City Down-town scene playing in little clubs like the Village Gate.

From there we started

touring all around in my

little van going down south and

playing places like Richmond, Chapel

Hill, New Orleans, and more. Those first

few years from ’91 to ’93 or ’94 it was a really close,

tight relationship. We toured and were hanging out a lot, and it just

grew little by little.

When did the three of you start playing with John Scofield, and how does it feel to be playing with

him again?

John Medeski, Chris Wood and myself used to have these little retreats in Hawaii. We would rent this shack in the jungle from a friend of mine every winter. Usually, around January or February we would go there and just hang out. We would live there and just play music and chill out to get off the road. It was before the Internet and all that, so we had this “hotline” set up for the band. John Scofield left a message on our “hotline.” He said that he really liked our playing. We didn’t even believe that it was really

him calling. It might have been a friend doing an impersonation of him. So we didn’t really address it until weeks later. John and Chris called him back, and it was in fact Scofield. We discussed getting together and maybe making a record together, and that was A Go Go. That was John Scofield’s project. He helped us to really collaborate. What we did instead of writing songs with him was say, “You write the songs, and we will figure out how to play them.” We rehearsed for a couple days and recorded for a couple days, and that was the beginning of our friendship and creating a sort of band. That was at least ten years ago now. From there we recorded another album in our make-shift studio – this basement space we rented in this warehouse in Brooklyn. The second record with Scofield is called Out Louder. That was a fully collaborative thing where we were writing and sort of creating music together, bringing tunes in and recording in the studio. Then came our live release In Case the World Changes its Mind, so this is our fourth official album together.

The new album Juice is an awesome representation of everything Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood. Can you tell us a little about the creative process that went into the making of this album?

We had a little bit of a concept. Originally, Medeski and I talked about doing an album of bossa nova and boogaloos. We thought that this would be a good theme to bring in with Scofield, because he is a great groover and understands a lot of that language already, so we figured we would have fun arranging some music and also writing. When we came into the studio, we had a couple ideas each. Scofield had a few more than the rest, and we worked those tunes out, tried some covers, and sort of hashed it out for a day. We would set up in the studio and rehearse and come back the next day. I think we were there for three days. The first day was a rehearsal to sort of feel out these new tunes that we had either written or were arranging, and then we started to warp the compilation that is on the record. It is not an unordinary thing for us to get together and hash out ideas either at rehearsal or in the studio. We feel out what tunes work best and which ones we really want to spend our time on.

The album is composed of mostly original songs with several covers. How do the covers get selected?

It’s all a collaborative process. There is no leader. It’s a democracy.

You are well known for your eclectic skills in percussion. What is the zaniest, most distinct instrument you have ever become acquainted with?

As a percussionist you have a lot of items you could play. You could literally play the kitchen sink! There’s all sorts of stuff. The one instrument is called the waterphone, and it’s actually not a percussion instrument; it’s an instrument that you bow. It looks like a big bong with rods welded to the sides of it. You pour water into it, bow the rods, and you get all these overtones. It was very popular in the 1970s when it was invented, so you can often hear it in soundtracks when there’s a scary or mysterious thing going on. There is another instrument called the Berim-bau. It’s a Brazilian instrument with African roots, that kind of looks like a bow from a bow and arrow. You strike the string with a stick and hold the bow up with one hand. There is a cord


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attached to it to resonate and bring the sound out. With your left hand you are holding the bow, and you have a little flat rock in your hand. You hit the string with the stick in your left hand. You change the pitch of the string with the rock and push it into the string until you get one sound then let it off, and you get another. It’s a very otherworldly sound. It’s like a primitive guitar, but you hit the strings, so it’s technically a percussion instru-ment.

Your world beats are a trademark of your sound. Where does some of your influence come from? Can you tell us any stories of being introduced to new music that changed your way of thinking about music?

In the 80s I discovered Brazilian percussion samba and samba music. I was taking a class at a place called Drummer’s Collective, and it changed my whole way of hearing music and writing music. Right around that time I was starting to collect a lot of records. I had recordings from many, many countries in Africa. It was predominantly Western Africa but some central, and I would listen to these records a lot, which became a really important influence on my playing. That’s where it started was West African and Brazil-ian music, and then there was Afrocuban music and Haitian. It was all part of that African diaspora as in Hawaiian, Polynesian, and Indonesian music, Java and Bali music. All types of field recordings from indigenous peoples. It might be the throat singer of the monks to Mongolian music to Bulgarian singers. There is sacred music to all cultures. These field recordings are a lot of where my influence came from. As far as where the beats came from, a lot of it is Brazilian-African, and that kind of takes you to New Orleans music, which is a blend of that Brazilian-European sound with a strong foundation in rhythm and dance. That led to hip-hop and jazz, historically, and rock. I’ve been playing rock beats and New Orleans style beats since I started playing the drums.

Can you tell us about the compilation that was just published called Wandering?

Wandering is a book that I put together. I “KickStarted” it. The book is right in the process of being printed, and I’m compiling the music for it, which is an additional bonus that happened as I got a little extra funding. What I’m doing is asking various musicians, mostly from the Downtown scene, to contribute a piece that would be based on viewing some of my drawings that are kind of like graphic scores. They are basically drawings that can help the musicians be informed and play a certain way. That is really exciting! Along with that, it will include some of my own film music. It will be called Wandering: A Musical Compi-lation and will come with the book. The book is coming out in

November, and it is a compilation of articles that I wrote for a Japanese magazine. It’s all about the process of learning and growing and the creative process of discovering myself—mean-ing my own voice, own way of practicing, own ways of creating things and being a musician and artist.

You are also known for your film work, what kinds of proj-ects are you working on in that artistic medium? Did you help with the video to the single Juicy Lucy?

I would say in the past eight years I have been getting more into making short films and experimental films and some music videos. The first music video I ever published was one called Crustaceatron with John Medeski in Mago. That’s a good example of having some fun editing and creating a short, artistic film. It has turned into all sorts of projects where I animated some of my drawings. I directed and wrote this DVD called Life on Drums, which is my anti-instructional educational DVD about being a creative drummer. I did a Medeski Martin & Wood documentary called Fly in a Bottle and other things in between. It’s a very exciting thing for me. I’m working on writing a feature for next year about the New York music scene in the 80s and

90s when I was around. I did put a quick video together called Juicy Lucy for the next MSMW album, Juice. I got my mom dancing in it along with a guy who is a great dancer. They are in their eighties and are incredible dancers. It’s them and another couple, and sort of mixing in the various scenes that work in a sort of way to celebrate the music of Juicy Lucy. That got released the other day. I just threw that together quickly and had fun doing it. I look forward to getting more involved with film

making and working with filmmakers by writing soundtracks. The latest thing I did was called Mirage, which is actually a Hungarian film. I wrote all the music for that. It’s a very exciting, new avenue that I’m taking.

What other kinds of musical projects should we expect from you in the near future?

Look for my group Wicked Knee, which is a brass group with a couple of guys from the Lounge Lizards. Next year I am going to tour as much as possible as a soloist, doing solo percussion and drums. I’ll be working with local percussionists, putting them together in each city, and doing a little performance feeding into my solo concert of my own compositions. I am going to call that the Wandering Tour.

Interview by Alessandro Satta

Photos by Stuart Levine

Our followers on Facebook voted for their favorite festivals of the summer and this is what they had to

say!

Best Bathrooms:

Jibberjazz

Best Festival:Madsummer

Meltdown

Best Line-Up:Madsummer

Meltdown

Best Bang For

Your Buck:Beardfest

Best Grounds:Catskill Chill

Best Workshops:

Return To Roots

\Best FestivaLs oF 2014


A brief introduction to the Benefits of Yoga Yoga is an ancient practice that dates back over five thousand years and has successfully and peacefully made its way throughout the world. The oldest signs of

civilization practicing Yoga were found in the Indus Valley in northern

India, and it has slowly but surely made its way to our Western world. The word

Yoga literally means “to join or yoke together,” and it works to unify

the mind and body as one. Though there are many spiritual facets to Yoga, it is not considered a religion. Yogis do not worship gods or any one god, instead Yogis believe that everything is supplied from within one’s self and seek a height-ened consciousness of the self and the body. There are many different types

of Yoga, and they all focus on

different things and not just physical movements, postures, and breath-ing—as many think. They also focus on meditation and study, wisdom, devotion to spirituality, concentration on concept of God, consciousness, partnerships between male and female qualities, physical ailments, and so much more, allowing ourselves to be free and happy. Yoga is considered to have made its way to the United States in the late nineteenth century, as Yoga masters be-gan to spread teachings to the Western world, and gained more popularity in the 1960s. This popularity has continued to grow, and now we see Yoga studios popping up all over. I’m sure everyone’s noticed Yoga and wellness stations being set up at festivals in recent years. There is not a central “doctrine” to Yoga as in other formal religions, and teachings are passed down from teacher

to student, which means every

experience will be unique depending on the instructor, allowing each individ-ual to find the benefits suitable to aid in their life journey. Despite its popularity, there are still many common myths surrounding Yoga and things people may not know or nev-er thought about. It’s not just about doing pretzel-like poses and yoga pants. In or-der to give all the beginners out there the right information to show how beneficial and diverse Yoga can really be, Head-space spoke with a few local experts on their journey with Yoga and how a healthy diet can go hand in hand. They include: Alyssa Clauss, certified Yoga instructor and owner of Humble Healing Yoga in the West Chester/Downingtown area, Stacia Nero, Philly native and Yoga instructor at Full & Happy in Fairmount, and Onna Hepner, chef and owner of

Full & Happy in Fairmount, where events are held in which Stacia teaches a class and Onna cooks a wholesome, healthy meal to follow it. We asked Alyssa and Stacia what they felt are some common misconcep-tions/myths about Yoga. Alyssa feels “Most people think “yoga” and automat-ically picture a skinny girl doing crazy poses. This is so far from the truth at the studio. Normal, average people attend most classes. No one is crazy flexible, nor very skinny. We are all just seeking to deepen our awareness of who we are. For me, yoga is a way to use the physical body to explore my mental and spiritual state.” Stacia responded similarly, saying, “Yoga does not include vanity, ego, or competition even though Western society sometimes makes it appear that way. There are dozens of yoga styles to choose from, but as long as you are moving and breathing in unity, you are doing yoga. The postures are there to help us develop different aspects of ourselves, to detoxify the body, and to clear the mind’s cobwebs.” So it doesn’t need to be that complicat-ed, folks. Just move the way your body feels right, and clear your minds. Yoga has also been known to help with many physical, mental, and spiritual ailments, and Alyssa feels that “Yoga can seriously help every-thing! Personally, I have worked with students who have used yoga to help with many diseases, such as back pain, varicose veins, problems with vision/eyes, and arthritis. Yoga also reduces stress by inducing the rest-and-digest nervous system. You might notice that during practice, especially during breath work, your mouth waters. This is because you are literally telling your body it is safe, that it isn’t in fight-or-flight mode. Most people live their daily lives in this fight-or-flight-activated stress state. Yoga turns that off so that rest-and-digest can happen, hence the mouthwatering, you are literally digesting food, emotions, and experiences. You will have less anxiety, and less stress by beginning to practice breathing and starting a Yoga program. Stacia found her way to Yoga while seeking extra help with her recovery

from a torn ACL and meniscus injury and surgery. But it was not only physical healing that Stacia needed help with. Yoga helped her with stress and emo-tional difficulties as well; it gave her the strength she needed from the inside out to make a complete recovery, and now she is teaching Yoga herself. There is also a common belief that yoga is only for a certain personality type. We asked if Yoga could be a lifestyle that can be tailored to suit many different types of people from all different walks of life. Alyssa says, “Yoga is appropriate for everyone! You don’t have to be a crunchy-granola hippie to do Yoga, nor do you have to be obsessed with health or working out. Yoga is for everyone, and our Western culture makes it very accessible. If more people did Yoga, so many of the world’s problems would be solved! I cannot tell enough people to go and try a class. If you don’t like the class

or the teacher, don’t get discouraged, maybe that class or teacher just isn’t right for you. Keep trying until you find the right fit. I’ve had many teachers and taken many classes, and trust me, I didn’t like all of them! It has taken me years to find a teacher who I resonate with, who can take me deeper than I have gone before. So please, don’t give up if it’s not the right fit the first time.” Yoga is a very personal journey, and Stacia feels it is a “journey you get to take for your whole life, so no rush necessary.” It is a day-to-day, unique process, and magic isn’t going to happen overnight. Alyssa comments saying, “Personally, stepping on my yoga mat gives my mind a chance to turn off. I have a lot of anxiety in my mind. When I

go to class, my mind gets to take a break! Yoga is training me to allow my analytical, judging mind to get quiet, and to give the witness a chance to speak. I feel that my consciousness is more alive, I am more aware of how I affect others, and how we are all a community. Not only have I benefitted mentally, I am physically stronger. But the biggest benefit for me has been the deep, emotional healing that happens when I practice; this healing carries over from the mat to my daily life. I feel more whole and realize that the traumas I have experienced don’t need to hold me back from creating a powerfully positive life. When participating in the journey of Yoga, it is essential to include a healthy diet to aid in this deep healing process. Chef and owner of Full & Happy started the Yogi’s Table event because she shares in this belief. Why not include a healthy and fulfilling meal with a Yoga

session? She holds several events at the facility, which are listed at Full&Happy.com. In speaking with Onna about food and Yoga, she insisted, “Food and the body are inextricably interconnected. It’s all about the body. With the Yogi’s Table, we’re nourishing people from the inside out (delicious and healthy food) and the outside in (movement through yoga). We’re offering a really unique experience.” Both Alyssa and Stacia encourage

beginners to come out and give Yoga a try, and for those that are a little shy, some advice Alyssa sends out is to “stay on your own mat,” and don’t worry about what your neighbor is doing. A wise and dear friend once said that comparison is the root of unhappiness, and these few words have resounded in my brain. Just be your unique and awesome self, and your light will shine through! Alyssa Clauss can be reached at Humblehealingyoga.com for classes for beginners and seasoned veterans alike, and to RSVP for an event at Full & Happy, contact Onna at [email protected]. There’s an event coming up November 6, so don’t wait too long!

By Janice Rhayem

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Photos by Alessandro Satta


What do Philadelphia, Twin Peaks, and Paint have in common? – David Lynch

Film director, TV director, visual artist, musician, author, actor, and legend David Lynch has been nominated three times for an Academy Award in the categories of Best Director and Best

Screenplay and has also won several prestigious awards in Europe for his work. He has won France’s Cesar Award for Best Foreign Film (twice), the Palme D’or at the Cannes Film Festival, and

the Golden Lion award for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival.

You may have experienced the strange, surreal world of David Lynch through his renowned cult classics Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and his TV series Twin Peaks, but in order to truly understand this mastermind, you should take the time to explore his roots and dis-cover where it all began. Luckily, us Phil-adelphians need not look far or wide for this opportunity, because from now until January 11th, the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts will be hosting a David Lynch exhibit called The Unified Field. The Unified Field marks the debut of Lynch’s first major museum exhibit in the United States and his return to the place where inspiration first took hold and provided a vision. Lynch attended The Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied painting from 1966 to1970,

and it was here in Philadelphia where Lynch created his piece “Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times),” one of the ninety plus installations featured in the exhibit. “Six Men Getting Sick” was the catalyst for his ongoing love affair with film and mixed media art. The idea presented itself to Lynch one night in his Philly studio apartment after he experienced what could be described as a waking-dream-like epiphany: “I’m looking at the painting, and from the painting came a wind … and the green garden plants began to move … and I’m looking at this and hearing this, and I say, ‘oh, a moving painting.’ And that was it.” It was after this that Lynch purchased a 16mm camera and allowed this revelation to guide him. He began shooting still-life shots and stringing them together,

creating his first short film. The installation “Six Men Getting Sick” consists of a 6x10 foot plaster canvas painting featuring 3D castings of Lynch’s head. As you watch the canvas, a film projects onto it, looping gruesome images of organs and blood bubbling in the figures’ stomachs and eventually exiting through their mouths, which creates the illusion of vomiting. This piece was the first short film that Lynch created (in 1967), and it led to the creation of The Alphabet in 1968, which then opened the doors to his first feature film Eraserhead in 1977. David Lynch is known for his myste-rious and grotesque taste. His work is dreary, raw, and almost downright revolt-ing, but his vast spectrum of subject and medium is intriguing and captivating. The

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Unified Field is a wonderful represen-tation of Lynch’s work subjectively and materialistically. It is especially moving to experience the everlasting impression that the city of Philadelphia has had on Lynch and the way it helped mold Lynch’s overall artistic signature. Philadelphia is Lynch’s supreme muse, and he is known to credit Philly as his greatest inspiration. When Lynch resided in Philadelphia as an art student, he lived in a small studio apartment across from a morgue and fre-quently sat in front of his studio window watching as they carried the bodies in and out. He resided in Philadelphia at a time when it was shrouded in industrial smog and littered with factories. The crime activity and murder rate was high. Lynch once stated, “[Philadelphia is] hor-rible, but in a very interesting way. There

were places there that had been allowed to decay, where there was so much fear and crime that just for a moment there was an opening to another world. It was fear, but it was so strong, and so magical, like a magnet, that your imagination was always sparking in Philadelphia … I just have to think of Philadelphia now, and I get ideas, I hear the wind, and I’m off into the darkness somewhere.” The exhibit displays a vast array of his work, stemming from 1965 to the present day, and pays tribute to his years here in Philadelphia. The pieces are lent from private collectors and some from Lynch himself, including newly released works never seen by the public.

The collection ranges from simple sketches of dismembered body parts, to giant installations made from canvas-es, cardboard, light fixtures, and resin. Images of dark houses, fire, and abstract scenes depicting twisted narratives line the walls. Some tell a definitive story, while others leave the narrative up to in-terpretation, but every piece has intention and evokes intense emotion. It would seem only natural to assume that Lynch is a fairly sinister character due to his uncanny attraction to eccentric subject matter, but in reality he is very much the contrary. He is a spokesperson for, and regularly practices, transcenden-tal meditation, an intense form of medita-tion that requires training and discipline. He strongly believes that this practice could be a vessel to world peace.

So why does his work reflect that of a repressed shadow dweller? Well, the answer is actually surprisingly simple: “My policy [on color] is that I don’t like it, maybe because I haven’t learned to use it properly. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t thrill me. It looks cheap and goofball. Although I like to do brown and brown is a color. I also like earth colors and sometimes I use red and yellow. The red is used for blood a lot and the yellow is used for fire.” Lynch’s work is extremely fantastic, and dream-like, but to him, this was more sincere and real than a pretty-colored painting. He deals with material that other artists are afraid to deal with. The variety of material that Lynch uses can alone

speak for his paintings. On one wall, you’re looking at an ink sketch of a fac-tory building. Turn around, and there is a dark, looming figure coated in bugs (yes, real bugs mixed in the paint!) and Band-Aids. By the time you get close enough to plainly see the textures and hidden messages within the pieces, you’re so immersed in the work, you tend to forget how utterly gross the subject might be, and you begin to concentrate on the intensity of the detail. Lynch has always been drawn towards the mixture of or-ganic and industrial material, and that is very apparent in the works displayed. An article in the New York Times Mag-azine (1990), quoted him, saying, “The worst thing about this modern world is that people think you get killed on television with zero pain and zero blood.

It must enter into kids’ heads that it’s not very messy to kill somebody, and it doesn’t hurt that much. That’s a real sick-ness to me. That’s a real sick thing.” In today’s world it is refreshing to come across someone that is as in tune and at peace with himself as David Lynch. Here is a man who is so balanced soundly between who he is and what the world is, that he has no shame in exposing the uncomfortable side of it all. The Unified Field is a marvelous opportunity to step inside of Lynch’s world … to get to know him and face the gruesome beauty that’s out there.

Written by Kelly WassingerPhotos by Joe Gurreri


Meadow Eliz Meadow Eliz is a multi faceted artist, singer, writer, and dancer who explores all avenues of creativity but has hit the scene as an innovative jewelry designer and craftswoman. An Adirondack native, Meadow has developed her own unique method of encasing stones in leather to create a soft and organic piece of wearable art. The original inspiration for the proj-ect that would go on to become one of her main catalysts for navigating the world, was a pair of ammonites that she discovered at her first Tucson Gem Show nearly a decade ago. She was captivated at the thought of a living entity going through the long and patient process of becoming a preserved version of itself, to be miraculously found millions of years later by the cu-rious hands of man. The spiral form hidden inside this ancient proof of the passing of time and the ever transforming earth resonated with Meadow. She wanted a way to wear them and felt as though leather was a way to preserve and accentuate the energetic feel of the fossil. Her first project was making a pair for her friend and her friend’s boyfriend to give them something that would liken the love between people with the strength of the immense and abstract energy that still exists between the two halves

of the once whole ammonite. After these first two pendants, she experimented with making com-

positions of stones in leather that would feel as though they had been unearthed in an archeological dig. As if the leather was the dirt nes-tled between the gems, protecting and displaying them with a subtle grace. As more people were intrigued more pieces were created and this energy gathered to form an unstoppable momentum in the evo-lution of the project. She began taking her art on the road, mingling with people at their homes, in public places, and at music events. From the beginning, Meadow has sewn her heart and intention into each piece, and has always wanted to be present with her work so that anyone who has one has the memory of human interaction embodied in the material object. In a world of electronic connections, the emphasis on experience in the tangible yet ephemeral moments of our lives is a strong component in Meadow’s mode of operation. Through the years she has maintained a level of authenticity, the desire to create a sacred vessel for the transference of energy has taken precedence thus creating a community of people that can relate through the art. Many friendships and amazing synchronicities are the result of the personal interactions each piece represents. Her jewelry can be seen all over the country on individuals who all now have a common thread. Using mainly gemstones, but also coins, watch parts, feath-ers and glass she makes pendants, bracelets, earrings, head pieces, and remains open to new ideas and requests. Meadow takes great joy in focusing her energy on people when mak-ing custom pieces for them and has been greatly inspired by those she has met along the way to push the boundaries of her craft. She feels complete when hearing the continued stories of each piece- whether it was essential in getting through a hard time, or elevating and empowering while

moving through the day to day. She feels truly honored to be able to create meaningful art for receptive and loving

individuals, and to share in the sacred moments of life through the beauty of the human experience.

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Meadow Eliz

Artist Showcase

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