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'GENTLE GIANT' PROGRESSIVE ROCK LEGEND

& MUSIC EXECUTIVE

SPECIAL GUEST ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW

Formed in the late 60's by the Shulman brothers, GENTLE GIANT is known as the paradigmatic progressive rock band. With an uncomparable musicianship, they went as far as no one ever did into unexplored grounds in the progressive music, navigating over dissonant 20th-century classical chamber music, medieval vocal music, jazz and rock. The multi-instrumentation capabilities of the musicians gave such dynamic to their music, which set parameters to a whole coming generation up to these very days. They explored Moogs, Mellotrons and Fender Rhodes usage with such majesty! Not to mention other instruments like oboes, violins, cellos and horns among others. 

The band was able to come across the 70's maintaining an outstanding level on their music, altering their style over the years and keeping the quality as only a few bands were able to do. Among their magnificent discography, all the albums from "Acquiring the Taste" through "Playing the Fool" are essential progressive rock releases (with the possible exception of "Interview"). This portion of the band's career would see a fittingly grand conclusion on the live "Playing the Fool" album. What more is there to say about these masters of progressive music?

Renowned music industry veteran Derek Shulman has achieved success sitting on both sides of the desk. Born in the United Kingdom, his introduction to the music business was as lead vocalist with sixties pop sensation Simon Dupree And The Big Sound. Signed to the Beatles’ label Parlaphone, the group enjoyed TV appearances, Top 20 singles and toured Europe extensively. They even secured a talented keyboard player by the name of Reginald Dwight (Elton John) towards the latter part of their lifespan. In 1970 they changed their name to Gentle Giant going on to even bigger acclaim, recording a succession of best-selling record albums and touring the world as a major headlining attraction.

Following his recording career, Shulman became a prominent record executive. Starting as an A&R representative at PolyGram Records, where he rose to the ranks of Senior Vice President, he signed Bon Jovi, Dan Reed Network, Cinderella, and Kingdom Come, among many others. in 1988 he became President and C.E.O of Atco Records (where he signed the progressive metal band Dream Theater as well as Pantera). He also re-established the careers of AC/DC and Bad Company both of whom sold multi-platinum albums under his watch. He then went on to become President of Roadrunner Records overseeing signings like Slipknot and Nickelback. In March 2010 Derek Shulman established a new venture with international music impresario Leonardo Pavkovic called 2PLUS Music & Entertainment.

Gentle Giant—Three Piece Suite is a specially curated selection of songs and compositions from Gentle Giant’s first three albums (Giant, Acquiring the Taste, Three Friends) presented in both 5.1 surround sound and stereo. There are nine tracks from the albums, plus a pre-debut song, remixed by Steven Wilson. The choices were determined by the limited availability of multi-track master tapes from the era. Only a few songs from each album are known to exist as multi-tracks, with the rest presumably lost. For fans of Gentle Giant “Three Piece Suite” is a must have.  For fans of great musicianship and progressive rock this is an incredible insight into the earliest days of this legendary band.

Look for the upcoming GENTLE GIANT: THREE PIECE SUITE release on CD, BluRay, and Vinyl on September 29 on SoulFood Music.  

Pre-Order Links for Amazon & iTunes are linked on  https://lnk.to/GentleGiant_ThreePieceSuite.

For further information visit  https://burningshed.com/index.php?_route_=store/gentlegiant/

Masequa Myers

Executive Director of the South Side Community Art Center in Chicago Illinois

Myers, accomplished Author and Film producer grew up in Chicago before leaving to start a media consulting business in Los Angeles in 1992. Took the helm at the art center as it prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2015.

The South Side Community Arts Center has long been a haven for Chicago artists of color South Side Community It's been in existence since 1940’s. The Historic Bronzeville institution It has become a tourist destination of choice.

Art Center was established in 1941 by Dr. Margaret Burroughs and other African American artists banded together determined to find a venue to showcase their art.  Through dedicated fundraising efforts, 3831 S. Michigan was purchased as the home of the SSCAC.  President Roosevelt's WPA Initiative paid artists' salaries. The SSCAC is the only African American Art Center of its kind opened under the WPA Initiative to remain continuously open.



First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt delivered the dedication speech at the SSCAC Saturday, May 7, 1941 at 3:00p.m.  The event was covered by all major local and national networks of the day. The Southside Community Art Center became a Chicago Historic Landmark in June of 1991​

Ellie Sophia Brown’s degrees in psychology and counseling give her a unique artistic perspective.  After dedicating almost two decades working in the fields of social services and mental health, she left her private practice in 2014 to pursue an artistic career in photography. After many years of offering support in moments of struggle and pain, she enjoys celebrating the moments of love and new beginnings she now captures in her images.  Although photography is a new career for Ellie, it is not a new passion.  Ellie’s love for photography began as a young girl assisting her grandfather in his work as a wedding photographer.  

Now as an award winning photographer herself, with published images in several local magazines, she sees photography as a way to advocate for those who might otherwise not be seen.  Her current work “Out of Many: One Community” focusing on the diversity in her city, is being exhibited throughout the Indianapolis area. 

Formerly a practicing attorney, Kathryn felt called to move to Massachusetts from Illinois, where she is following a path of spiritual seeking and work, including work as an intuitive counselor and a certified life coach.

As an intuitive, she gives readings using spiritual writing, a practice she has engaged in since 1993. She uses this method to obtain the information and guidance that the angels and guides have for you. 

She was certified by the University of New Hampshire as a life coach in 2007 and has been offering my services as a life coach since then. She is open to all clients to whom she can be of service; however, she is deeply interested in helping those undergoing a transition in their lives - whether it is a move, a job or career change, or a loss of someone they love.

She also offer the service of teaching my clients basic meditation skills, and, where needed, will use guided meditations to help her clients.

She brings empathy and insight to her practice, using the particular techniques that most benefit her clients. She also brings the analytic skills that she honed while a practicing attorney. The combination of her skills and training allow her to ask the questions that need to be asked and to provide support and guidance to her clients.

BRUCE GOWDY

Bruce Gowdy is an American guitarist, best known for his work with World Trade, and Unruly Child.

Gowdy was a founding member of World Trade with Billy Sherwood and Guy Allison. He later formed Unruly Child with Allison. He was also a member of Stone Fury and has worked with musician Mercedes. He also produced Glenn Hughes‘ From Now On… album from 1994. He toured with the Japanese rock star Eikichi Yazawa for over a decade. He was also in a futuristic space themed show band called Halyx in Disneyland Park, California in the early 80’s, for which he played lead guitar and composed original songs.

MERCEDES

“Born to Rock, Soothe and Stir The Soul”

Mercedes is world-renowned singer-songwriter who was born to rock and bring listener’s worlds together with her sultry voice and universal lyrics and personal experiences that melt the heart.

Breaking down age, gender and race barriers, her rock and soul sound captivates audiences from around the world, soothes and stirs the soul, and ignites the senses as a result of her infusion of symphonic, inspirational and visual elements in all of her work.

Mercedes has worked with the best in the industry including Grammy-award winning producer Mike Shipley who worked with Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Alison Krauss, Shania Twain and more; producer and American guitarist Bruce Gowdy, known for his work with World Trade and Unruly Child; and Multi-Platinum Hip Hop Super Producer Nick Fury.

Her performances have rocked a variety of stages and acclaimed venues including the Hammerstein Ballroom for New York City’s 9/11 Benefit Concert, The Key Club in Los Angeles, The Roxy, Whisky, The Troubadour, The Gig, and The Knitting Factory, among others. Her first commercial album release, “Rock-n-Soul Blvd.,” with breakout single “Hey Baby,” remixed featuring Guérilla Black has been played throughout mixed shows and club circuits in Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York and Los Angeles.

When she’s not rocking the stage, Mercedes is the Founder and Creative Director of Jus D’Amour – “A Love Song in A Bottle” – her beauty and lifestyle brand of scents, candles and jewelry inspired by her time as a musician and as the marketing agent for boxing legend, Roy Jones, Jr. and their equally aptly named line, Legend – “The Scent of Victory.”

Mercedes’ newest single, “U Make Me Shine,” a beautiful soul, country and pop-infused tribute to Mike Shipley, who also produced and mixed this track for her before his passing, is now available for download at mercedesmusic.com and CD Baby.

DR. GARY SHAPIRO

Gary L. Shapiro, Ph.D. began his involvement with orangutans 43 years ago in the field of primate cognition and learning. He was the first person (1973-1975) to teach a symbolic communication system to an orangutan (at the now Chaffee Zoological Park, Fresno, CA) and the first person to have taught sign language to orangutans in the species’ natural environment, the forests of Tanjung Puting National Park, Indonesian Borneo (1978-1980; 1981). One of the orangutans, Princess, adopted Shapiro as her father. Shapiro was able to teach Princess over 40 signs which she used to express her interests in obtaining items and activities of interest as well as describing her environment. During his time in Indonesian Borneo, Shapiro assisted in the rehabilitation efforts of dozens of orangutans confiscated from the illegal pet trade and monitored the phenology of local rain forest ecosystem.

Shapiro received his doctorate in Zoology in 1985 from the University of Oklahoma then returned to Indonesian Borneo (1986) to conduct post-doctoral freshwater ecology studies in Tanjung Puting National Park. Shapiro’s interest in the freshwater ecology of Borneo was an extension of the research projects he conducted while being employed by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (1982-1985). He spent 28 years as a government scientist, first as a biologist with the Army Corp of Engineers, then as a planner with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and finally with California EPA in the Department of Toxic Substances Control where he worked as a Hazardous Substances Scientist and an emergency responder. He retired in 2014.

Shapiro was the co-founder and vice president of the Orangutan Foundation International from 1986-2004 where he administered and oversaw the activities supporting research and conservation in and around Tanjung Puting National Park. He participated in the 1993 Population and Habitat Viability Assessment in Sumatra and authored or co-authored various papers on orangutan linguistics, cognition, conservation and ethics. In late 2004, Dr. Shapiro and his Indonesian wife, Inggriani, were inspired to create the Orang Utan Republik Education Initiative (OUREI), a nonprofit project, in response to the education needs underscoring the crisis facing orangutans today, particularly in Sumatra. In Sumatra, the orangutan is Critically Endangered. In 2007, the Orang Utan Republik Foundation (OURF) and OUREI Indonesia (OUREII) were established as legal organizations to support the programs of OUREI in Indonesia.

The goals of OURF and OUREII are to transform the attitudes and values of Indonesian people regarding the orangutan and its rain forest habitat such that they become the stewards of their forests and wildlife. Shapiro’s philosophy is to enroll the Indonesian people to become the educators. Shapiro’s efforts have lead to the establishment of Orangutan Caring Week in Indonesia as well as the Orangutan Caring Clubs of Indonesia.

Through OUREI, Shapiro facilitated the establishment of the Sumatran Orangutan Education Consortium, a group of Indonesian NGOs that assisted in putting on an education conference, workshop, and summit in Sumatra (2006). Shapiro administered an education program to reduce the human-orangutan conflict in Sumatra through the administration of US Fish & Wildlife (USFW) funds to the consortium members. He also co-administers a successful Indonesian scholarship program with two local NGOs.  130 Orangutan Caring Scholarships have been given out since 2006. Shapiro also oversees the LP Jenkins Fellowship for Orangutan Research, given in honor of his late mother, which has helped Indonesian and foreign graduate students in their field research. Additionally, through OURF, he administers the Mobile Education & Conservation Unit (MECU) with the Orangutan Caring Club of North Sumatra to bring human-orangutan conflict reduction programs, tree-planting and sustainable farming activities to villagers living near orangutan habitat. Seeking and implementing solutions of sustainability for local people through education and innovative collaborative projects is the key to saving Indonesia’s great red ape and other species.

Shapiro returns to Indonesia each year to facilitate OURF’s programs in Jakarta, Sumatra and Borneo. He also conducts ecotours to Borneo and Sumatra, and he is an avid SCUBA diver. Shapiro also lectures to audiences of all ages in both English and Bahasa Indonesia when he has the opportunity.

CASSANDRA M. BAUER

Engineer of the mind – body – soul, Composer of moments and Writer Cassandra M. Bauer, Founder of LEVEL UP.

Cassandra lost her brother Jason in April of 2013 to a heroin overdose; at the same time battling with her own addictions and unhealthy programing. Alone, struggling, continuously checking out of the game, Cassandra created and manifested a car accident just six months after losing her brother on 11.11.2013 @ 1:11 a.m.

Waking up alone, confused in that hospital bed, the only thing she was sure of was seeing Jason on the other side.

”When I woke up in the hospital bed, I was alone. Confused, scared with the only lingering recollection being seeing Jason on the other side telling me, ‘You are not alone Cass, I am here. But you need to go back. You are to create a channel to allow everyone to know they ARE NOT ALONE. Please remember you are not alone.’ There was never a moment inside of me where I didn’t believe in this. I knew I had seen him, clear as day, he was in the same hospital gown, the one I had said goodbye to him in before his funeral. I knew I had felt him, I knew my truth in that moment. I knew IT WAS MY moment.

For months prior I would drive to work and create countless illusions around myself being in a hospital bed. All the love that would show up for me… all the people that would come and ’finally’ care about me. The hours I spent channeling this illusion was the energy in which created my now reality. The reality I was now awake with. The reality of: WE COME IN THIS WORLD ALONE AND WE GO OUT OF IT ALONE. BUT IT’S ABOUT WHO WILL YOU BECOME WHILE YOU ARE HERE? THAT’S A FUCKING REALITY CHECK POINT I NEEDED TO SIT WITH. Am I going to go back to the life I was living? The one that was obviously no longer serving me? Was I going to continue to numb out of the game? Or was I finally ready to make the proper steps to powerfully checking back into the game?

I sat in that hospital bed for days, hours, secondsc MOMENTS. And I made a decision in those moments. I AM LOVE. I WILL WORK DAY IN AND DAY OUT TO BECOME A DEEPER AND DEEPER FORM OF LOVE. ONE THAT WHEN YOU ARE FACED WITH IT YOU HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE TO FIND THAT POINT WITHIN YOURSELF THAT MAYBE YOU FORGOT ABOUT OR RAN FROM OUT OF FEAR AND ALLOW THAT TO FLOW AGAIN. NO CHOICE BUT TO REMEMBER THAT LOVE THAT WE ALL HAVE. OUR BIRTH PLACE… OUR HOME… I was to become the perfect mirror. I was to become the warrior within each and every one of us, the one within my brother to fight for these wings. To fight for the real peace, the one within. From that moment on I have never been alone. I had finally found myself. I HAD FINALLY LEVELED UP.” – Cassandra M. Bauer

After years of intense isolation unwiring her own fear and rewiring with her deepest form of love, Cassandra found and channeled her company LEVEL UP.

LEVEL UP is a movement for RADICAL FREEDOM, it has become a HOME for angels to find their wings to FLY again or lay their wings down and know it is always OKAY to just BE. LEVEL UP is here as a social movement, a daily conscious intention, a way of life and a conscious commitment to SELF.

Along the journey of creating her OWN fairy-tale she is in the process of writing THE LEVEL UP METHOD. A guide on how to Unwire the Fear. Rewire with Love. A deep exploration on how to uncover your personal legend and live into your moments to create your ultimate fairy-tale.

LEVEL UP is a mirror of living a life where YOU get to create your story to uncover the TRUTH of why YOU chose this TIME, THIS REALM AND THIS DIMENSION.

86,400 Moments in a day. How many MOMENTS are you checking into the game? Consciously showing up for? Consciously choosing into?

How many MOMENTS go by where you feel Unheard? Unseen? Or Misunderstood? OR HAVE NO IDEA WHERE YOU EVEN ARE?

The truth is most of us stop listening to ourselves and stop truly seeing ourselves for the beautiful creations that WE ARE.

From years of compromising our truest wants, needs, and desires we HIT THE WALL and learn to silence our voice, and not look directly in the mirror. We begin to numb by daily distractions, old wires, stagnant energy, substance abuse or relationships that no longer serve us.

Through years of abuse, pain and suffering which led to her death, Cassandra understands the depth of what it feels like to flow through this world lost, numb and invisible. The struggle of wanting to check back into this game. What it is like to HIT THE WALL, LITERALLY and metaphorically.

Ask yourself a question in this moment: Are you ready to see yourself? Are you ready to hear yourself? To REPROGRAM yourself? To FREE YOURSELF?

“TO UNDERSTAND IS TO BE FREE”-Baruch Spinoza

–Cassandra Mary Bauer, Founder, I am LEVEL UP