Mullumbimby

I just got back from 5 wonderful days attending a Deva Premal and Miten retreat in Mallumbimby.

Highlights of trip

• Exploring Byron including a walk along beach with Sharon
• Great vegan food on Fri and Sat nights, part of the retreat. 
• Anna, the lovely lady who sat I next to.  Met person in dream. 
• The amazing pool at the place where we stayed.  Skinny dipping at night.  Looking at stars supported by noodles. 
• Wonderful laughs.
• Our spiritual discussion
• Santos coconut ice cream - yum!
• Going barefoot. 
• The Crystal Palace and meditating in a crystal cave.
• Tears at utter beauty of singing and flute playing. 
• The beautiful band: Deva, Miten, Manose (flute), Joby Baker (base), Rishi (drummer, Spencer Cousins (keyboards)
• Songs I particularly loved. Inconceivable love. Into your hands. Magnificence. Namaste. You can dance while you walk.  Ornamur. Gayatri mantra.
• Getting up early to work on Wisdom Trove
• Swim along river with Lydia and Lilo.
• Pub meal on last night: veggie pizza.
• Heart to heart with Sharon on drive to airport. 

Byron

Crystal Palace

Mullumbimby

The Temple Band

Sunday swim

Deva Premal concert in Sydney

Graeme
Dear, wonderful Sharon.  I just have to thank you again for organising last night. It was sublime beyond words. As someone said last night; a "love-gasm"" of the heart!  Such a blissful connection to Presence through music and all the beautiful beings there.    And what was equally priceless was to experience it with my dearest friends. Thank you everyone for being in my life.  You make it so very blessed.

Jilly
Dear One, So glad to be there last night even though I hardly saw you. To know our spirit friends are close is always heart warming.

Sharon
I love you dearest Jilly xxx and each one of you magnificent, beautiful beings xxx How deeply Graced this life is.

Shushann
Hi there dear Sharon and lovegasm friends  - I couldn't have said it better myself dear Graeme. Thank you for a sublime evening hat was filled with so much joy, honouring tenderness and exquisiteness.
i couldn't sleep last night. My spirt was soaring in the energetic bliss of the evening.

Sharon
So much magnificence....

Jilly
I was offered the most wonderful minute in time with Deva  - which became timeless. We met each other deeply and understood beyond words. Thank you again dear Sharon.

Sharon
How beautiful Jilly xxx

Aimee
What a magical night, I am buzzing. I love all of you so deeply and bless bless that you are all in my life. A night embraced by the timelessness Joy we all are ❤ ❤ xxxx

Heavy metal evening with Yogi and Chris

Hi all

I don't remember going to the "Grab a Granny" disco !!  Must be because I drank so much. Ginger-beer will do that to you.  Sugar high amnesia.

Ha, ha Yogi, I also woke up with the 18+ band on my wrist!  And also a wad of toilet paper in my left ear.  We wore makeshift earplugs to cushion the noise.  Yogi's ones from the chemist were so effective we had to tap him on the shoulder when the music was over so he knew to clap!!

The heavy metal was surprisingly good. Intensely alive; full of energy.  And not over the top. No one smashed their guitar on stage or bit the head off a bat.  Much to my disappointment.

G

Music concert at Jilly's

Jilly has a musician friend; Peter Miller Robinson.  I've been to two of his performances at local pubs with Jilly and always loved his music and voice.  He writes many of his own songs, many with great meaning and depth.  

The introduction on his new web site reads as follows ...

Peter Miller-Robinson is an award winning songwriter, singer and guitarist. He is a storyteller with a keen eye for the foibles and folly of human interaction. He draws on a wide range of styles and traditions to convey sometimes wry, sometimes poignant musical vignettes.
Peter has shared the stage with many local and international artists including Rodriguez, Bo Diddley (RIP), Eric Burdon, Chris Smither, Chris Wilson and Stephan Cummings. He is an enthusiastic live performer and has spent recent years travelling in Ireland, England and mainland Europe playing house concerts, music venues and festivals.

Jilly invited Peter to do an intimate, unplugged performance at her flat for her friends and I helped her organise it.  It was a wonderful evening with great turnout.  Everyone loved Peter's songs.  He's such a lovely, humble guy with a velvet voice.  The highlight was everyone in the audience joining in for some songs and playing a variety of percussion instruments.  I loved it all.

Wollstonecraft to Lane Cove walk, ending with Live Jazz

Wow, I discovered gorgeous parts of my backyard tonight that I had no idea existed on this great 6 km walk with Meet Up.  The undoubted highlight was close views of a Lyrebird out in the open on the rocks as we headed into Gore Creek reserve.  I literally twitched with excitement!  No photos unfortunately as I didn't have the right lens.

Beautiful views across to Berry Island.

The lovely Maj-Britt

The adventurous way to cross a road, through a large drain pipe!

Great live jazz in Lane Cove

Hike details

Starting at Wollstonecraft Station, we took the Gore Cove track to Vista Street in Greenwich. We crossed Greenwich via a number of streets, before heading into Gore Creek Reserve and Lane Cove Bushland park to Lane Cove shopping village.

Live music

I went to watch Peter Miller Robinson (a friend of Jilly) sing at the Roxbury Pub last night.  Such great music from all three performers.

My favourite song this year by far

Absolutely sublime.  It makes me feel that underneath it all, all is well with the world...

   

Concerts I've seen

• Brian Adams (Cape Town, 1995)
• Natalie Cole (Cape Town, 1995)
• Sarah Brightman (Cape Town, 1995)
• Michael Jackson (Amsterdam, 1997)
• Brian Adams
• Pavarotti (London, 2000)
• Night at the Proms (London, 2004)
• Prague Classical (Prague, 2004)

Music

The effects of music

• Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. Red Auerbach
• Music melts all the separate parts of our bodies together. Anais Nin
• Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. Maya Angelou
• Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite. Thomas Carlyle

Music and nature

• Look at the stars sometimes. They are only notes They are music. Pat Conroy
• Without music, life is a journey through a desert. Pat Conroy
• All the sounds of the earth are like music. Oscar Hammerstein
• There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more. George Gordon Byron
• Mozart has the classic purity of light and the blue ocean; Beethoven the romantic grandeur which belongs to the storms of air and sea, and while the soul of Mozart seems to dwell on the ethereal peaks of Olympus, that of Beethoven climbs shuddering the storm-beaten sides of a Sinai. Blessed be they both! Each represents a moment of the ideal life, each does us good. Our love is due to both. Henri Frederic Amiel
• Mozart is sweet sunshine. Antonin Dvorak

Expression through music

• Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. Victor Hugo
• Where words fail, music speaks. Hans Christian Andersen
• The truest expression of a people is in its dance and music. Agnes de Mile
• Music is the vernacular of the human soul. Geoffrey Latham
• Music isn't just learning notes and playing them, You learn notes to play to the music of your soul. Katie Greenwood
• I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music. Billy Joel
• In music one must think with the heart and feel with the brain. George Szell
• Remember, information is not knowledge; knowledge is not wisdom; wisdom is not truth; truth is not beauty; beauty is not love; love is not music; music is the best. Frank Zappa

Music

A list of my favourite music

Not all particularly hip but I must be honest...

You Oughta Know, Alanis Morissette
Head Over Feet, Alanis Morissette
You Oughta Know, Alanis Morissette
Honesty, Billy Joel
The Voice Within, Christina Aguilera
Joaquin Rodrigo, Concierto De Aranjuez
I Put A Spell On You, Creedence Clearwater Revival
If You're Not The One, Daniel Bedingfield
Sail Away, David Gray
I'll Never Fall In Love Again, Deacon Blue
Don't Think Of Me, Dido
Life For Rent, Dido
Track 04, Dire Straits
On Earth As It Is In Heaven, Ennio Morricone
The Mission: The Mission, Ennio Morricone
Once Upon A Time In The West, Ennio Morricone
Once Upon A Time In The West, Ennio Morricone
A Little Fall Of Rain, Eponime & Marius
Tears In Heaven, Eric Clapton
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, Frank Sinatra
I Sing The Songs (I Write The Songs), Frank Sinatra
Still Got The Blues, Gary Moore
Now We Are Free, Gladiator Soundtrack
Drink With Me, Grantaire, students and women
What The World Needs Now, Jackie DeShannon
One Of Us, Joan Osborne
The Closest Thing To Crazy, Katie Melua
J.S. Bach, Keyboard Concerto No. 5 In F Minor
J.S. Bach, Keyboard Concerto No. 5 In F Minor
Le Onde - Einaudi, Ludovico Einaudi, piano
Hero, Mariah Carey
One Sweet Day, Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (Tema D'amore) , Morricone: "Cinema Concerto"
Don't Know Why, Norah Jones
Giacomo Puccini, O Mio Babbino Caro
Californication, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Under The Bridge, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Air (No.3) From 'Suite In C Major', Richard Edlinger; Capella Istropolitana
'Giazotto - Adagio In G Minor', Richard Edlinger; Capella Istropolitana
Angels, Robbie Williams
Somethin' Stupid, Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman
I Wonder, Rodriguez
There For Me, Sarah Brightman
Just Show Me How, Sarah Brightman
Englishman In New York, Sting
It's Raining Again, Supertramp
Take The Long Way Home, Supertramp
The Logical Song, Supertramp
The Big Blue soundtrack
Schindler's List (Main Theme), The O'Neill Brothers
Forrest Gump (Main Theme), The O'Neill Brothers
Help Yourself, Tom Jones
It's Not Unusual, Tom Jones
Have I Told You Lately, Van Morrison
Pavane, For Orchestra & Chorus Ad Lib In F Sharp Minor, Op. 50 - Faure, Various Artists
Air on the G String (from Suite No. 3 in D Major), Various Artists
Canon in D, Various Artists
Nimrod From Enigma Variations, Various Artists
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Various Artists
Leave Right Now, Will Young