Headlined Guests
Headlined Guests that have appeared on BBS Radio TV
Mary Reed is an “accidental” mystic who, following eleven years of profound, involuntary visions and insights into divine realms, surrendered her executive life in Washington, DC to explore her spiritual gifts in a remote Buddhist nunnery in India. She grew up without any interest in religion but with an innate knowing that humans had more ability to access greater wisdom than most seemed to realize.
She is originally from the U.S. Southwest but spent most of her career directing global healthcare programs and creating nonprofit partnerships throughout America and Africa. Today she divides her time between Thosamling Nunnery in India, where she is often immersed in silence, and traveling to speak with a variety of audiences to share her story as a way to illuminate the common ground of Love and precious Divinity in all of us, and to inspire joyful collective resurrection and remembrance with her unique view of our beautifully awakening world.
Michael J. Russ is an international bestselling author, speaker, musician, golfer, singer, and global traveler. As the son of an Air Force Officer and Educator, he spent 7 out of his first 14 years of life living in and traveling from Taiwan, the Philippines, and Turkey. In 1986, Michael embarked on a career in the financial sector that challenged him in ways he could never have imagined. His challenges led him to develop practical, yet highly effective, methods of perceiving and responding to adversity so he would be free to thrive and prosper. Michael is the author of 4 books that document his concepts and methods. His current bestseller is Zero Adversity: 3 Practical Steps to Freedom, Fulfillment, and Creating an Authentic Life, which documents a simple 3-step approach which allows you to reclaim time, energy, happiness, and productivity. This year, Michael developed a presentation for college/university students called, Smart College Career Moves, to alert them to the sales process and give them the wisdom they need to actively prepare, market, and eventually sell themselves to future employers.
Viki Winterton is founder of Expert Insights Publishing, home of over 1,000 best-selling authors, award-winning books and magazines, where visionaries and those on the rise come together to create immediate impact. Expert Insights Publishing is built on the solid foundation of over 25 years of expertise in promotion, publishing, product development, networking, and success. Fortune 100 companies and individuals across the globe know Viki for fostering powerful and loyal relationships and supporting her communities in wildly creative, unique, and wonderful ways. Viki is also a multiple #1 International Best-Selling Author and Award-Winning Publisher, founder of Bestselling Authors International Organization, Write Now! broadcast and Write Away, Write Now!, the global community where writers find everything they need at each stage of their journey!
Naturopathic doctor, Judy Seeger educates people about their health and empowers them to heal themselves in a very organic way. With more than thirty years in the field of alternative medicine, she is extraordinarily experienced at helping people achieve a greater level of wellness.
Dr. Seeger was the director at River of Life Health Center, a Wholistic Health Clinic. Now retired, but still teaching her Three Step System working with thousands of people across the globe. Her system has been found to increase health and quality of life after their treatments are over.
Dr. Seeger specializes in detox and cleansing the body to make sure all toxins are removed after chemotherapy and radiation therapy. She has found by implementing her 3 Step System, that many people greatly reduce the chance of cancer ever coming back.
She’s also authored books, which are available exclusively in an electronic format, plus created an online tv show called DetoxandRecharge.tv. Along with writing and production, she’s also created training videos, instructional CD’s, teleseminars and webinars.
A unique pioneering professional in the field of alternative medicine, Dr. Seeger’s primary focus is on detoxing cancer. Dr. Seeger has developed an easy to follow 3 Step System that she shares with clients across the world. Her plan outlines exactly how to super boost the immune system to reverse this deadly disease, release the toxins that have stored up after chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and re-balance the emotional, mental and spiritual aspects.
Her passion and inspiration came from her own family members who were afflicted with the disease. Even as a child, she knew there must be another way, and so she allocates a great deal of her time to searching, traveling and testing what alternative medicine works and what doesn’t.
Dr. Bradford S. Weeks, M.D. completed undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College (major: Political Philosophy) then, prior to medical school training at the University of Vermont and Neurological/Psychiatric residency at Dartmouth Hitchciock, Dr. Weeks worked in the Harvard system doing two years of research at Massachusetts General Hospital’s mineral metabolism unit working on osteoporosis (calcium, magnesium and vitamin D). In addition, he studied nutrition (including macrobiotics with Mishio Kushi in Brookline, MA), acupuncture, massage (shiatsu), music therapy (Tomatis method, power of chant), Anthroposophical medicine and classical homeopathy. Medical school at the University of Vermont was followed by medical internship (1 year) and psychiatric residency at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (3 years). An organic beekeeper before he studied medicine, Dr. Weeks founded the American Apitherapy Society in 1985 to educate people about the medicine which comes from the honeybee hive. For the past 30 years he has practiced psycho-neuro-immunology anddeveloped the field of “corrective medicine and psychiatry” wherein, rather than simply suppressing symptoms with prescription medications, the root causes of illness are discovered and corrected. In 2014, Dr. Weeks founded the Washington Integrative Medical Association washima.org to champion health care freedom for citizens of Washington State. He blogs at weeksmd.com and consults for Safalab.com - a cutting edge neutraceutical company which features “centsible” remedies - those which are safe effective and cost-effective.
Here is a recent 20 minute lecture at the 44th annual Cancer Control Society in LA Sept 3rd in which Dr. Weeks discusses that the days of chemotherapy and radiation are ending to be replaced with anti-inflammatory agents and immune enhancing agents.
THE RAY SHASHO SHOW
WELCOMES
LEGENDARY IMPRESSIONIST, VOICE ACTOR,COMEDIAN
RICH LITTLE
A master mimic of more than 200 voices, Little continues to impress with a touring schedule throughout the United States and Canada.
U.S. Presidents: John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, both George Bushes and Barack Obama…Rich Little has a voice for every administration.
Infamous for his skewering of political figures, Little has charmed, amused, intrigued and gotten the best of politicians from here to his native Canada. He entertained at both of Reagan’s presidential inaugurations and got to know the Reagans very well during that time. President Reagan used to tell Little, “You do me better than I do.”
A professed classic movie buff, he’s particularly fond of doing Jimmy Stewart, Jack Lemmon, John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart, but Little has also latched on to baby boomer-friendly characters, such as Paul Lynde, Kermit the Frog, Andy Rooney and Dr. Phil, to name a few.
Some of his favorite current impressions are of stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jack Nicholson, and Clint Eastwood. “They’re easy to do,” he says. “They are larger than life.”
Little says, “An impression is what you think a person sounds like. It could be an exaggeration or a cartoon. It’s your impression. I think of an impersonation as more of an exact copy. Knowing the person personally is not important; it’s knowing the speech patterns and mannerisms [in order] to imitate the person the way the public sees him.”
The son of a doctor in Ottawa, Little started his “career” at the age of 12 when he answered back to his teachers in their own voices. Observing the teachers in action was infinitely more fun than paying attention to class work. To get dates, he’d find out a girl’s favorite actor, then call her up imitating that actor’s voice. Then when Little showed up, he’d say, “Sorry, Cary [Grant] can’t make it.” This stopped when a girl told him her favorite was Lassie.
Impressions came in handy to Little while working as a disc jockey and talk show host. During one April Fool’s Day marathon, he had “Jimmy Durante” emcee the morning show, “Julia Child” do a cooking show and “Elvis Presley” host a teenage show. Like the infamous 1939 broadcast of War of the Worlds, 500 autograph-hungry Elvis-believing fans besieged the station, thinking the King was really there. When they found out it was Little, the fans started throwing things at him.
Still in his early 20s, Little was discovered while working in the United States. His friend, singer Mel Torme, then on the musical team of CBS network’s The Judy Garland Show, asked him to make a tape. Instead of the usual impressions, Little did voices nobody did, including Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and Dennis Weaver. Garland thought it was great, particularly his James Mason, and Little was signed to the show.
Appearances on TV variety shows starring Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Glen Campbell and Dean Martin followed, as well as on series such as Laugh-In, The John Davidson Summer Show and as a regular on The Julie Andrews Show. Little also had his own variety show in the 70s and was the star of the TV show KopyKats. Little was a guest host early on for The Tonight Show, hosting 12 times. He quickly became a household name sitting in one of the Hollywood Squares and went on to do The Muppet Show.
Named “Comedy Star of the Year” by the American Guild of Variety Artists, Little was the perpetrator of nine comedy albums and three HBO comedy specials, as well as the Emmy-award winning specials Rich Little’s Christmas Carol with “W.C. Fields” as Scrooge, “Humphrey Bogart” as one of the ghosts and “Paul Lynde” as Bob Cratchit.
One of his appearances on HBO was as Johnny Carson in the movie The Late Shift, which dealt with the race to succeed Carson on The Tonight Show. Little has appeared on the daytime soaps The Young and the Restless and Santa Barbara. He has made dramatic guest shots on Fantasy Island, Chips, Murder She Wrote,
Little’s expert impressions have also been used seriously, such as the time he stepped in for stars that were unable to do their own re-dubbings on soundtracks. David Niven’s vocal cords were gone due to illness in his last film, Curse of the Pink Panther and Peter Sellers himself was gone by the end of The Trail of the Pink Panther, so Little provided both voices for these films. The television series Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer needed voice-over narrations on three shows, but star Stacey Keach was unable to do them. Little was called in to finish the job. He also did Gene Kelly for a Christmas special when Kelly lost his voice; and more recently, Ernie Borgnine for the animated Cranky’s Miracle after he passed away.
Rick’s greatest fear? A sore throat. “Other people get a cold and they just get a cold. I get a cold and John Wayne gets a cold, Orson Welles gets a cold, Nixon gets a cold and Truman Capote gets the sniffles. I get a cold and it’s all over.”
In June 1998, Little’s star was added to the Canadian Walk of Fame to go along with his current stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Palms Springs Walk of Fame and Las Vegas Walk of Fame; one of the few, if not the only celebrity to achieve all four.
In 2003, Little wrote a one-man play entitled, Jimmy Stewart and Friends in honor of this beloved actor and dear friend. The story of Stewart’s amazing big screen career, his military record and his family life, including many celebrity impersonations, was met with rave reviews during a decade of touring at performing arts centers.. He’s hoping to have it made into a television special in the near future.
A little known fact about Little is his other talent as an artist. He started sketching when he was young, drawing his family and friends. To date, he has drawn around 100 pictures of all the celebrities and politicians he imitates, and portrays several of these life-like charcoal sketches in his shows.
In January 2010, Little became a United States citizen and was sworn in, with a suggestion from the judge to do it as John Wayne! His wife at the time, Marie, also passed away that year. Little later created the Marie and Rich Little Foundation, in honor of his wife, which focuses on helping children, the homeless and animals in need. Rich is also very supportive of Wounded Warriors and causes for the armed services. He proudly has two daughters: Bria and Lyndsay, and a beautiful granddaughter, Alaina. Little has been married four times. He currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. When not working, he spends most of his time with his one-eyed cat, T-Bo.
Little is still currently working on his latest project, “Little by Little” a self-written, humorous show about his life, featuring over 30 characters. Rich also has an exciting new book out entitled Little by Little- Peopled I’ve Known and Been- released in August this year and available to purchase on amazon.
Rich Little on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/therichlittle/
Rich Little on Twitter https://twitter.com/the_rich_little
MICHAEL BARNUM
Michael Barnum is a singer-songwriter born and raised in Long Beach, California. Fusing sounds of pop, rock, and soul, Barnum’s sound is all his own. With a strong presence in the Los Angeles and Orange County music scenes, he has performed at events and venues across Southern California, including the 626 Night Market, the Moon Festival, a residency at Kafe Neo, The World Famous Doll Hut and The Mint, among others.
The Mint in Los Angeles hailed Barnum to have, “…the unique ability to bring his pitch-perfect voice from a delicate almost whisper, to a roar, all without losing that desirable tone and pitch all singers strive for.”
A self-taught guitar player, he grew up in a musical household playing piano, singing and acting. As an actor, Barnum has appeared in many productions from rock musicals like Spring Awakening and Next to Normal to classics like The King and I. He graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a degree in Theatre Arts.
While performing locally as a musician and actor, he found his biggest audience through live streaming apps, Periscope and Krue, where thousands of followers world-wide tune in each week to watch live broadcasts of his concerts. It was these fans that encouraged him to full-heartedly pursue a music and songwriting career.
Barnum released his debut album Trust in September 2016 after a highly successful crowdfunding campaign—with an outpouring of support from his fans around the world he made 122% of his goal. He co-wrote the entire album which was produced by David Chua Boon Ghee (Andy Grammer, Jessie J, Rachel Platten, One Direction). The songs on Trust are deep, meaningful and based on Barnum’s own personal experience. They explore the journey of finding one’s place in the world and trusting in the path that you’re on.
With uplifting melodies, powerful lyrics and stirring vocals, Barnum delivers a sound reminiscent of artists like Ed Sheeran, Andy Grammer and John Legend. On the heels of the release of Trust, Barnum is planning a West Coast tour and album release concert to-be-announced.
DR CHRISTIAN PETER WAGNER
For survival initially, and then by interest, Chris has always been focused on understanding what it means to be human AND how to improve the human condition by the use of technology.
This focus has kept him with a bit of a split personality for most of his life – as he struggled to figure out how to integrate the mathematics and precision of being a professor of Engineering for 35 years, AND the spiritual transformative experiences of visits from Divine Energies.
His research area as a professor has been Artificial Intelligence – he has worked for years helping to bring human intelligence into computers, with doctoral students scattered in many places around the globe taking his understanding of AI into really real world scenarios!
His teaching in spirit has been propelled by his forced entry into trance channeling – wherein he opens up to Divine Source and lets unexpected and unplanned beautiful words
flow into his consciousness.
Chris’ current focus are many:
1. The Soul Engineering Website – a major revision coming soon – soulengineering.com
2. Two new books, both in 2nd draft and to be done by the end of the year.
a. One is the Biography of his wife, Starr Porter –
b. The second is a book on deep romance
3. Involvement in a new movie that starts shooting in January and should be out by the end of the year that shows the common ground between all people in a drama set in Iraq.
4. The Human Operating System – what we do not know DOES HURT US! Perhaps the most important thing that Socrates ever said were those two words – KNOW THYSELF As we learn more about HOW WE WORK IN THE BODY, we gain control, compassion, delight, love, and expansion for our lives.
5. Muze from Senso Laboratories – a new technology that takes information on a person’s individual biometrics to HYPER-Personalize how your life can be made better by computer technology.
We are all in this together!
The time is now for those of good heart to come together – the world needs our interconnectivity and support NOW!!!
El ROB
*ORANGE COUNTY MUSIC AWARDS NOMINEE- BEST MALE VOCALIST 2008.
*NATIONAL TOURING ARTIST
Featured artist on the soundtrack for the feature film “Anacapa”
A native of historical San Juan Capistrano, CA. Robert grew up surfing and hiking the coast of California, Arizona and Mexico. Have cultivated a love of cooking, jewelry, records, rare stones, anthropology and indigenous art, he has travelled via backpack throughout Europe, and lived throughout the United States and Arizona believing that music and rhythm truly are the International language of love.
When hes not teaching vocals, guitar, Shaolin Kempo or drums, Robert loves to do stand up comedy, avant garde theatre, direct others, write scripts, books, publish childrens stories, magazine articles and act in movies…
Film credits include Nick Tolkiens MASQUERADE-Santa Barbara international film festival, TEREZIN-Bel Air film festival, ANACAPA, also Sebastian Bascos SUICIDE DOORS opposite David Johnasen, Spike Lees BAMBOOZLED, Jane Campions IN THE CUT, UNDERCOVERS , UNDER SURVEILANCE, and an as yet untitled Christian Slater film)
His favorite support gigs thus far have included a sold out show with Wishbone Ash at the Coach House, opening for Blues Prodigy Ray Goren at Boogies, Redondo Pier. William Elliott Whitmore at the OC Tavern, Marc Orell (Dropkick Murphys) at the historic Whiskey a Go Go, Hollywood, Cinco de Mayo at the Coach House, Omar Velasco at Soho, Santa Barbara. Doylestown Pennsylvania im told Alicia Moore walked in after I packed up…crushed ).
Headlining shows at Cold Springs Tavern, Soho & Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, sharing the stage with Lee Koch at the original Zoeys, Ventura, Jarrod Gorbell (Honorary Title) at Sidewalk Café and Tonic in NYC & Ari Hest at the CBGB’s gallery, NYC. and Eastern Conference Champions (Twilight soundtrack) at the Brixton South Bay, in Redondo Beach, CA.
Favorite tribute projects include frontman for SIMULCAST -NY a rock dance band Founding member of STONE TEMPLE RIOTS -STP tribute, touring member of CORE-STP tribute, vocalist with MATCHBOX TWENTY TOO-MB20 Tribute, and as Ric Ocasek in a CARS tribute.
After attending the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City he enjoyed a 10 year run acting off broadway at the Public Theatre alongside Liev Schreiber and Keith David. with a bit as a security guard in JJ Abrams’ tv hit “UNDERCOVERS”. He has also been featured in commercials for Sothebys Realtors, Chumash Casino, Swatch and Wine picks. He currently lives in the Moment, CA.
DANA BLANNON
Dana Blannon has worked in field of education for 30 years. In many different educational settings ranging from the college-level to elementary. Her work has always been based around students, parents and teachers. On daily basis Dana is responsible for the school operations and is the anchor of the school community. Managing the dynamics of public school and the socio-emotional well being of the students is no easy task, and has worked to find tools to address the students’ needs. Students and parents come into the office looking for support and help from the school and Ms. Blannon is often the first person to address the issues.However, Dana Blannon does it whole-heartedly and is cherished and beloved by all the students and parents of Wonderland. Being a single mother herself allows to relate to the challenges and victories of parenting.
Now public education is calling for schools to take responsibility for the social-emotional development of our children. Together, Dana and Karla, they have created a children’s book series, as the perfect tool in addressing the students’ needs. This book series fills a huge deficient in public education. It allows teachers, parents, and students to address the tough social-emotional topics that have been overlooked. “In the Heart of the Coop” has the answer to this problem. This book series lends itself to the delicate social-emotional topics by creating a safe gateway to share stories with children. Some of the book topics are: Peer-Pressure, Bullying, Friendship, Death, Grief, Homelessness, Divorce, and more. . The book series also includes “Read Alouds” for teachers and parents, along with a “Way of Council”, story-telling prompts.
KARLA LOPEZ
Karla Lopez, Instructional Specialist & School Coordinator at Wonderland Ave. Elementary school in Los Angeles California. It is there where her passion for supporting the social-emotional needs of students became a focus in her career. Her work with students, parents, and teachers through the Way of Council program in schools increased and as part of the Way of Council Leadership Committee Mrs. Lopez worked with the community to develop the “Peace Talk Protocol”, Peaceful Warrior Assemblies, Wisdom Councils, Social-Emotional Curriculum for the classroom, she also started a student leadership group whose focus is to develop student-led assemblies that address conflict resolution, peace, being social activists, and identify problems in their community and how to solve them.
Mrs. Lopez has an equal passion for instruction and curriculum development. She has been a part of the Instructional Leadership Team at Wonderland Elementary for seven years and has been an integral part of the decision-making process as well as implementation and instructional development team for their Readers’ & Writers’ Workshop (which comes from Columbia University’s Teachers College in New York City) and Cognitively Guided Instruction in Mathematics (part of the UCLA Math Project). Her shared efforts to lead the school in outstanding instruction has led Wonderland to receive the “California Distinguished School Award” in 2011 and expecting to receive the National Blue Ribbon Award in 2017. Wonderland’s instructional programs, dedicated teachers, school culture & climate and social-emotional programs are the reasons why Wonderland has been topped ranking in the district for many years.
Karla Lopez is graduate of Eastern Michigan University moved to Los Angeles, California to become a teacher in 2000. Since then, she has earned her Master’s Degree from California State University in Educational Leadership and Administration. She started teaching in Los Angeles in 2000. Teaching children allowed Karla to realize that students and parents come to school with many issues and needs that aren’t being addressed. Educators are more than just teachers. They are nurses, coaches, parents, counselors, referees and family. Gradually Mrs. Velasco made the change to school administration at Wonderland Elementary School where she met Dana Blannon, her friend and co-author of “The Coop”, in 2013. Karla Lopez is passionate about education, curriculum, and the social-emotional well-being of the students. She brings her training and knowledge of Way of Council to address the socio-emotional issues that arise daily in the school community.
Dana and Karla work closely together at Wonderland Ave School. It is through their friendship and personalities that the characters Sunshine and Dark Cloud came to life. Using their personal dynamics the idea for “The Coop” was born. Through Karla’s optimistic & positive outlook on life the nickname, Sunshine, was given to her by Dana. In return, Dana was rewarded the nickname, Dark Cloud, for her realistic and logical perspective. And along with the day to day problems that arise, they are constantly encountering many social issues around students, parents, and adults. Dana and Karla started to really think about how they could help their school community, but most importantly the kids. How do you help children (and adults) truly deal with issues of bullying, peer pressure, family, sickness, and even death? At their school site one of strategies they use in helping kids and the adults address issues and tough situations is through storytelling. Storytelling is a gateway to discuss “tough topics” in a safe environment that may be too delicate to bring up in a conversation. Our goal is to provide parents and teachers with tools to help them through the challenges of everyday life. The Coop is a whole package it lends itself to variety of topics and lessons to address the social and emotional development of children (ages five to thirteen). Not only have we developed the first book in the series, and are working on our third.
Jasmine Brett Stringer is principal of JB Stringer LLC and founder of the internationally recognized lifestyle brand Carpe Diem with Jasmine. She has more than 15 years of business-to-business sales and customer marketing experience. She is highly skilled in business development, customer relationship management, and social media. Jasmine and JB Stringer LLC have worked with several Fortune 500 companies such as Kraft Foods, General Mills, Box Tops for Education, Toyota, Fox Searchlight, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN TV) and Publicis Groupe on various initiatives and campaigns.
As a nationally recognized and sought-after lifestyle expert, Jasmine has been featured on a variety of media outlets. She is a weekly lifestyle contributor to local CBS television station WCCO-TV. She has also contributed to the nationally syndicated television show The Insider, Yahoo and MSN and featured on OWN TV. Her southern belle charm is not limited to the screen; Jasmine teaches others to seize their life as a regular contributor for the Huffington Post and within her own lifestyle blog.
Mark Susnow, JD, knows change. He is a recognized thought leader, wisdom teacher, author and life coach, who inspires others to believe in themselves and to envision possibilities, not yet considered. He is passionate about life being an exciting journey of discovery. His enthusiastic and inspiring talks on change, leadership and connection thoroughly convey this message. A former trial attorney and musician for 25 years, he integrates what it takes to be successful in the world with the inner wisdom unfolded to him through years of yoga and meditation. In his former career he was covered by The New York Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, Boston Globe and The San Francisco Chronicle.
He is the author of Dancing on the River: Navigating Life’s Changes and the soon to be released the Soul of Possibility which is considered to be a fable for our times….and he is the host of the Inspire Possibility Show.
Reverse Order is a dynamic alternative rock band from New Jersey with an undeniable edge that you will never forget. Through an impressive live show, and songs that are steeped in infectious catchy melodies, Reverse Order has made a powerful impact not only in the US, but internationally performing in multiple countries including Russia and Mexico. Reverse Order is currently on a 25 week U.S. tour in support of their government certified non-profit “Reverse The Trend” anti-bullying initiative speaking to, and performing for, thousands of students a day.
Reverse Order is:
John Russo - Lead Vocals / Guitar / Songwriter
Cruise Russo - Drums / Vocals
Drew Katsock – Guitar
LiAhRa - artist, visionary, intuitive
RICK ROBERTS
LEGENDARY SINGER-SONGWRITER-MUSICIAN-FOR 'FIREFALL'
IS THE SPECIAL GUEST ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW
Singer-songwriter Rick Roberts and guitarist Jock Bartley founded Firefall in the summer of 1974. Roberts had served as a spark for the Flying Burrito Brothers from 1970 to 1972, after Gram Parsons left the band. He contributed several compositions to the repertoire—the best-known being “Colorado”—before launching his own career as a solo artist. Bartley had started as a student of jazz guitar great Johnny Smith, a Colorado Springs resident. With a few band stints around the Denver/Boulder area under his belt, Bartley took over the lead guitar post of Tommy Bolin in Zephyr in 1971. The following year, he switched over to Gram Parsons’ band, the Fallen Angels (which also featured Emmylou Harris) and met Roberts, whose touring schedule with the Burritos often overlapped that of Parsons. Mark Andes, the founding bassist of the bands Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne, joined with Bartley and Roberts, who began an informal series of jam sessions at his home in Boulder. Roberts thought of a fourth participant he’d met in Washington, D.C., singer-songwriter Larry Burnett. At Chris Hillman’s suggestion, they added drummer Michael Clarke, an original member of the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
The break came when Roberts, Bartley and Andes toured as Hillman’s backup band. Hillman fell ill during a date at the Other End in New York, and the club owner accepted a proposal to bring Burnett and Clarke into town. Firefall finished out the engagement, and Atlantic Records was sold on the band. By January 1976, the group had completed recording a debut album with producer Jim Mason, who blended the group’s acoustic guitars, mellow pop melodies and vocal harmonies. A sixth member, David Muse, joined the ranks on keyboards, synthesizers, flute, tenor sax and harmonica.
Firefall reached platinum status, and the singles ”You Are the Woman,” “Livin’ Ain’t Livin’” and “Cinderella” together sold in excess of one million copies. Firefall notched more hits—”Just Remember I Love You” and “Strange Way”—and two more best-selling albums in the late 1970s, Luna Sea and Elan. The band’s heady time culminated in an opening slot for Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” tour in 1977, including a hometown Folsom Stadium gig before 61,500 Coloradans. Lineup changes followed, and the band ran out of chart momentum.
Lauren Polly, author of The Other Side of Bipolar, shares her own journey to help others find the life they desire without limitations. Lauren is a catalyst for people who are living their life on autopilot; she helps others shift from surviving to thriving through dynamic healing, self-empowerment, and life-changing tools in her cutting-edge classes and 1:1 coaching. She hosts a weekly radio show called, Beyond Speech, Limitless Communication, and is a Certified Access Consciousness® Facilitator, Certified Talk to the Entities® Facilitator, ASHA Certified Medical Speech-Language Pathologist, and is a registered Yoga Instructor. Lauren has shown thousands of people around the world how to engage boldly with themselves, their body, and the world to create the life they desire.
ED KING LEGENDARY GUITARIST & SONGWRITER
FOR 'THE STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK' & 'LYNYRD SKYNYRD'
ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW
“I am the luckiest guitar player on Earth,” Ed King declares.
King caught lightning in a bottle twice: First as a co-founder of the hit-making Strawberry Alarm Clock and then as a member of Southern rock giants Lynyrd Skynyrd.
As a teenager, King was a founding member of Thee Sixpence, the high school group that transformed itself into the Strawberry Alarm Clock. He and keyboardist Mark Weitz wrote the music for the smash hit “Incense and Peppermints,” starting with a memorable riff dreamed up by Weitz. King contributed the bridge to the then-instrumental.
Weitz tells the story: “I couldn’t figure out a bridge for the song. Ed King lived pretty close. I called him and told him I need a bridge for this new song idea I’m working on. He drove over, and about 45 minutes later we had it.”
The single’s songwriting credits notoriously failed to note their role in creating the song, but “Incense and Peppermints” hit No. 1 in 1967 and remains a rock-pop radio staple to this day.
Credit for “Incense and Peppermints” went to a songwriting team that worked with the publisher. He and Weitz collaborated again on “Tomorrow,” which charted at No. 23 in early 1968. Once again, King came to the rescue with a bridge.
King continued to write songs with Weitz as well as guitarist Lee Freeman. Strawberry Alarm Clock songs that King co-wrote include “Sit with the Guru,” “The Black Butter Trilogy,” “Pretty Song from Psych-Out” and “Soft Skies, No Lies.”
King says, “The Strawberry Alarm Clock tours with the Beach Boys in ’67 and ’68 outshine any other period in my life. Carl Wilson coming over to my room to show me the chords to ‘God Only Knows’ far outweighs any Skynyrd experience.”
King stayed with the band until 1972, when he took a flyer and joined a Southern rock band that had opened for the Strawberry Alarm Clock on a regional tour. That band was Lynyrd Skynyrd, which was heading into the studio to record its first album with producer Al Kooper.
King started out playing bass and then switched to guitar.
He formed a songwriting partnership with singer Ronnie Van Zant, which produced “Poison Whisky” on that album and then later “Sweet Home Alabama,” one of the band’s two signature songs.
Other Skynyrd songs co-written by King include “Saturday Night Special,” “Swamp Music,” “I Need You,” “Workin’ for MCA” and “Railroad Song.”
King’s guitar playing and songwriting skills were an essential element to the band's first three albums: Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, Second Helping, and Nuthin' Fancy.
King decided to leave the band in 1975 during the "Torture Tour." He was replaced in 1976 by Steve Gaines, who was killed in a plane crash along with lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, backup singer Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray. Other band members (Collins, Rossington, Wilkeson, Powell, Pyle, and Hawkins), tour manager Ron Eckerman, and several road crew suffered serious injuries.
Ironically Gaines and King share the same birthdate.
In 1987, King joined the Lynyrd Skynyrd survivor’s reunion tour and played with the band until his retirement from music in 1996.
In 2006, King entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
It is my great pleasure to welcome Ed King, legendary guitarist & songwriter for The Strawberry Alarm Clock and Lynyrd Skynyrd to The Ray Shasho Show.
Visit Ed King on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ed.king.52687
Visit the Lynyrd Skynyrd Page https://strawberryalarmclock.com/
The Prisoners’ Diaries provides a series of first-person commentaries on what Palestinian prisoners have been enduring for decades in the dark recesses of Israel’s unlawful and inhumane network of prisons. This book combines the witnessing by prisoners with just enough information about the magnitude of the Israeli prison system to give readers a true understanding of this most agonizing dimension of the Palestinian ordeal.
" This book is so valuable as it combines the witnessing by prisoners with just enough information about the magnitude of the Israeli prison system to give readers a true understanding of this most agonizing dimension of the Palestinian ordeal.”
− Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University and UN Special Rapporteur for occupied Palestinian Territories
“ I defy you to read these stories and not weep for Jews and Palestinians. Now dry your eyes and work for justice, peace and reconciliation.”
− Stephen Robert Sizer, Anglican vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water, Surrey, England, writer, peace activist and freelance photographer
“ A humane, beautiful, valuable yet painful book. I ask all people of conscience to read it to learn more about the suffering of the Palestinian detainees in Israeli Occupation prisons.”
− Hana Shalabi, former hunger striker, Hasharon prison, Tel Aviv
Dreaming of Freedom Edited by Norma Hashim
- Paperback: 184 pages
- Publisher: Saba Islamic Media; 1st edition (2016)
- ISBN-13: 978-9675068966
Foreword (Dreaming of Freedom: Palestinian Child Prisoners Speak)
What strikes me most directly after reading these moving statements by Palestinian child prisoners is the aura of state terror that pervades the lives of all Palestinians living under occupation. Horrifying as is the experience of these children, mainly mid-teenagers, the deeper horror is the degree to which the entire community of Palestinians is scarred for life by Israeli brutality. Of course, it is the stone throwing children that bear the brunt of the violence that is reported by the vivid statements compiled here, but their younger siblings and older parents and relatives that are also being scarred for life by the arrest and interrogation process developed by Israel that seems calculated to be as intimidating as possible.
Reading through such pages of torment, a pattern of abuse clearly emerges that exhibits Israel’s total disregard for international human rights and international humanitarian law as it applies to these young Palestinians, who are totally vulnerable to such oppressive tactics. Although international humanitarian law fails to focus with sufficient specificity on the vulnerability of children, there are some general measures of protection given in Articles 71-74 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which ensures that any civilian subject to occupation who is charged with criminal activity shall be informed in writing in a language that he or she understands, is assured the right to the assistance of a lawyer, and must be given the opportunity to present evidence in defense. It is no surprise, based on our knowledge of Israel’s apartheid administration of Palestinians living under occupation that none of these rights are recognized and respected. Indeed, the daily reality of life for Palestinians of all ages is one of rightlessness and unconditional vulnerability.
Despite the generality of abuse to which Palestinians of all ages are subjected to throughout their entire life, it is important to take account of the particular forms of experience that are the tragic destiny of Palestinian children, realities that begin from the earliest stages of childhood. What these reports convey as a result of their overlapping accounts narrated with a concreteness that makes the reader confident about the credibility of the stories being told. This credibility is further reinforced by the consistent reports of respected Palestinian and Israeli NGOs concerned with the protection of human rights of those being subjected to the rigors of Israeli criminal law enforcement. In other words, from everything we know, there is every reason to place trust in the accuracy of these first-person accounts, and given the careful method by which this material was assembled it is possible to construct an accurate portrayal of this pattern of lawless law.
Among the features of this pattern that particularly stand out, I would mention the practice of apprehending Palestinian youth accused of resistance activity in the middle of the night in the presence of the entire family including very young siblings. The accused youth is literally seized from his home and family without being informed of what he is alleged to have done, with parents being given no idea where he is being taken and for how long. Invariably, as well, the child being taken captive is painfully tied and blindfolded often in the presence of his family, thrown onto the floor of a military car, and generally badly beaten while being taken to an interrogation center or some preliminary holding area. The interrogation process is itself completely alienating and calculated to overcome even the most stubborn refusal of a teenage boy to cooperate with his jailors by acknowledging guilt.
It seems clear that the ‘crime’ that almost all of these Palestinian children are accused is throwing stones at vehicles that belong to Israeli security forces or settlers. There is no claim by the Israeli authorities that these stones caused any injury or even damage, but the allegations are treated as if involving the most serious imaginable crimes. As has been observed by progressive Israeli journalists and others, the throwing of stones should be principally understood as forms of symbolic violence expressive of the inherent right to resist unlawful and abusive occupation. What is more, such stone throwing is consistently met with excessive force by Israel that constitutes violence of a much more punitive and consequential nature, and seems inflicted with an intent to intimidate not only the immediate victim but Palestinian youth in general.
In the end, the tactics used by Israel are mostly successful in extracting confessions from the Palestinian children, seemingly regardless of whether the allegations are accurate or mistaken. What we take away from the ‘confessions’ reported in these statements is an utter inability to determine whether it is accurate or fake. As the prisoners are being threatened with continuous beatings, contrived reports that others have independently confirmed the accusations, prison ‘plants’ or ‘snitches’ who mislead the accused on behalf of the captors, and a variety of abusive practices, it is hardly surprising that the will of these children is eventually broken in almost all cases. In a manner that I encountered in apartheid South Africa maintaining innocence is usually punished worse than confessions, whether true of false, and thus there is no incentive whatsoever to hold out. What is even more dehumanizing, is the demand of Israeli officials that these Palestinian teenagers implicate their friends and neighbors. It is evident that several of narrations compiled here report great courage in holding out by refusing to confess, although in such a confined setting where the difference between guilt and innocence is obliterated the significance of such a sacrificial resolve of steadfastness is rarely appreciated or even known in the outside world.
Another striking feature of this arrest and interrogation experience is the punitive reliance by Israel on post-release punishment in the form of house arrest. Several of these young Palestinians declare that would prefer confinement in an Israel prison than enduring house arrest. At first, this preference is difficult to comprehend. On reflection, it becomes more understandable given the nature of life under occupation that allows so few opportunities for satisfaction, and house arrest is a tantalizing deprivation of the comraderie of friendship and neighborhood life.
These Palestinian children express a shared feeling of humiliation that seems to be even more painful for them than the beatings received. The word (izlaal in Arabic) recurs repeatedly in these narratives, and I think testifies to the dehumanizing effects caused by feelings of helplessness and futility, which Israel seeks to induce so as to give rise to an atmosphere among Palestinians of resignation, if not spiritual surrender. A similar approach is evident in relation to house demolitions that are justified in the name of security, but are carried out for the sake of collective punishment and intimidation. Jeff Halper, a respected Israeli critic of the practice estimates that less than 1% of all house demolitions have a genuine security justification.
There are several conclusions that emerge from this deeply moving collection of separate but interconnected witnessing by these Palestinian children. First of all, the urgent need for a distinct international treaty devoted to the situation of children living under conditions of prolonged occupation. Realizing that Israeli occupation has lasted almost half a century with no end in sight, it is intolerable from the perspective of human dignity and human rights, to fail to offer much more concrete protection, including procedures for redress of grievances. Secondly, we need studies of the longer term effects in terms of trauma of such arrest and interrogation experiences, as well as on the impact on families and communities not only of the dynamics of victimization, but also of the shared sense of hopelessness that is the inevitable byproduct of witnessing a brother or son dragged away by abusive soldiers in the middle of the night. And thirdly, we need widespread dissemination of these Israeli policies and practices, especially as carried out with the evident intent of immobilizing resistance to an unlawful occupation that has gone on far too long.
In this spirit, I commend a close reading of Dreaming of Freedom: Palestinian Child Prisoners Speak. With such knowledge solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and dignity becomes almost a psychological inevitability and an even more urgent moral imperative of our world than we previously realized.
Richard Falk
My name is Leuren Moret, an internationally recognized Geoscientist and specialist on the environmental and biological effects of ionizing radiation. In 1968, I was one of the first women to graduate from UC Davis with a B.S. in Geology. At that time I was made aware of secret mind control experiments at the "monkey colony", by students working there. Hidden away from the campus in a peach orchard on university property, horrific experiments were conducted on monkeys with the tops of their heads cut off and wires coming out of their brains, which were later described and photos published in the media by opponents of animal experimentation. Many years later while doing research on the resulting mind control applications for HAARP, I discovered a photograph in a 1964 UC Davis newsletter, of Edward Teller (known as Dr. Strangelove) with New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller by his side, at the dedication ceremony for the new Applied Science Facility where the animal experiments were adapted for human applications and global HAARP transmissions. The human experiments were conducted in a "safe house" under the MKULTRA program, in Livermore, California.
After graduating from UC Davis in 1968, I collaborated with famous Paleobotanist Dr. Daniel I. Axelrod for 16 years, conducting yearly Paleobotanical expeditions and investigations around the World. That experience led to collaboration at the British Museum with Dr. Lewis Leakey, identifying paleobotanical specimens from East Africa and reconstructing hominid environments. I also conducted research at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University, for Dr. Christopher Jeans, son of the well known astronomer Sir James Jeans.
After living in Iran and traveling around Europe and the Middle East, I returned to UC Berkeley and graduated in 1978 with an M.A. in Near Eastern Studies and the equivalent of a Masters degree in Wildlife Studies. After working at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab 1989-1991 as a geochemist on the WIPP and Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage projects, I became a Federal Whistleblower on nuclear weapons lab science fraud, graft, and corruption.
In the early 1990's I served as the President of the International Association for Women Geoscientists (AWG), while conducting PhD graduate work on the history of the earth's magnetic field in the Dept. of Earth Sciences, and received a UC President's Mentoring Fellowship as one of the 5 most promising student scientists on the campus.
My research led to a chance meeting in 2000 with Marion Fulk, the Manhattan Project scientist who solved the difficult problems on the Hydrogen Bomb for the US Government, and made it work. He became my mentor and greatest supporter over the next ten years as I built a global reputation as an expert witness and educator on the harmful effects of nuclear technologies to biological systems and the health of the environment. With this research came a new and perhaps as important field of knowledge, the new global Weapon of Mass Destruction based on Tesla technology known as HAARP. It was secretly co-developed by the U.S. and the Soviet Union at Livermore nuclear weapons lab and in Russia.
After visiting 50 countries educating the public, media, Parliaments and Congress, and making 20 speaking tours in Japan from 2000-2010, I finally found the personal satisfaction and fulfillment that had been missing from my earlier career experiences. Today in retrospect, I can think of no greater reward for my many years of effort and hard work in the sciences, than to be the messenger warning the Global Community about the horrific dangers of HAARP and nuclear technologies, and predicting the HAARP triggered Fukushima disaster in 2004 in the JAPAN TIMES: "Japan's Deadly Game of Nuclear Roulette."
