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Submitted by Douglas Newsom on 19 April 2021

Headlined Guests

Guest Biography:
A passionate artist with many strings to her bow, fuelled by an inexhaustible creative force,.... The Queen Ladybug made her debut appearance in a band named Head Ritual with Gary (guitar) Jeppo (bass) and Dunner(drums) in 1987 at the age of 17. 
 
The QLB had joined Head Ritual as wind, keyboard player and backing singer. She soon began moved to lead vocals when she discovered her poetry was easy to fit with the music.
 
The Star was first written by the guitarist Gary Holmes and was originally very different than is heard here now. HR were punky, grungy, spiritual anarchists, heavily into magic and mayhem. QLB was given permission to rewrite 'The Star' and use the song in her own way after the band finally split due to apathy from the boys in 1995.
 
She continued to write music and lyrics throughout her life and worked with various artists both live and in the studio. 
 
Some of her best work was performed acoustically in a duo called 'Me n 'Er', in around 2002- 2005 where QLB paired up with another talented female artist called Julia Nelson. They co-wrote many songs as well as performing and recording each other's original work together. 
Courage was written by QLB and recorded with Julia during this time.
 
QLB continued to write and work alone borrowing various musicians and producers for recording and live work. 
 
During times of great strife and bereavement, words and songs would download to the QLB as if channelled from an outside source. A chance meeting in deep meditation with the deceased saint John Lennon led the Queen to write a song named Here I am. 
 
Here I Am was recorded many times, but the QLB was never quite satisfied that the sound she was trying to produce had ever materialised. However she did write and direct a video to this song which ultimately led her to the great John Lennon channel Marcia Macmahon.
 
In 2011 the QLB did her last, and ultimately best show ever, with a band she had worked with for around 4 years named AZIAM. Their spiritual views differed greatly, QLB was praising God whilst the rest of the band were protesting that there is no God. Equally unmatched was their musical taste, and so the Queen retired to write a book and concentrate on solely looking after her family and deal with debilitating illness.
 
With the family growing ever more independent and herself in a more gracious state of surrender than ever, the QLB will return to record an album of her complete works sometime in the not too distant future.
 
The beautiful Bass of AzIam Player Pete Fishwick died last year of cancer after managing to play in the band with us for four years despite his ongoing heart problems. He was a hugely talented musician who also played the mouth organ very well and was a big blues fan. He was the easiest of the guys in that band to work with. I loved him and miss his presence on here. 
Guest Category: Performing Arts, Entertainment, Energy Healing, Paranormal, Physics & Metaphysics, Spiritual
Guest Occupation: Founder Energy Edd
Guest Biography:

ABOUT EDD EDWARDS:

As a young boy, Edd played with energy between his hands and throughout his body. With a passion for science and physics, Edd searched for the scientific explanation of the energy he was experiencing. In 1994 he met the distinguished physicist, Dr. William Levengood of Grass Lake, Michigan. Dr. Levengood was able to measure and quantify Edd’s energy output in his laboratory. Along with his work with Dr. Levengood, Edd took part in laboratory experiments with Dr. John Gedye and Charles Pyler. Through their measurement and assistance, he learned how to increase his energy output, to turn the energy output off completely, to control the switch of the polarity of the energy from positive to negative, and to affect the lab equipment from a great distance (even thousands of miles). Edd and the scientists designed and carried out countless experiments with Edd’s measurable output of energy continually increasing with precision. Today, Edd teaches others about this energy work and travels across the country offering his help to those in need.

Dr. W. C. Levengood, Bio-physics Research, has determined that  Edd trained his autonomic nervous system to interact with the ever shifting isomeric configurations, called “resonant energy”, that are ubiquitous in all living organisms. By attuning this resonant energy with a patient, he then shifts the frequencies of their energy in a way that gives maximum benefit for healing. Through biofeedback mechanisms, he senses the changes in isomeric configurations and is able to shift them in a way that influences metabolic processes in a positive way, at the quantum level, and it creates , in most cases, tingling , heat and an awareness of energy flowing through the recipient's body or bodies. Dr. Levengood published his fist peer reviewed paper about this energy with Edd's help in his lab , which is called , Evidence for Charged Density Pulses Associated with bio-electric fields in Living Organisms.

Guest Category: Paranormal, Physics & Metaphysics, Science, Technology
Guest Occupation: Co-Founder of Access Consciousness
Guest Biography:

Dr. Dain Heer is an internationally renowned entrepreneur, speaker and best-selling author. Raised in the ghettos of Los Angeles, Heer is the co-founder of a diverse range of businesses around the world, including PROA, a resort in Costa Rica that utilizes biodynamic land management and Castellodi Di Casalborgon, a luxurious castle in Italy. A conscious and creative business leader with a profound understanding of the power of entrepreneurship, Dr. Heer draws upon his personal experience and unique perspective to invite people from every culture, country, age and social strata to create the money, business and life they truly desire. In addition to his diverse business portfolio, Dr. Heer is co-creator of Access Consciousness, a popular personal development organization operating in 173 countries, and is the author or co-author of nine books including “Right Riches for You” and “How to Become Money.”​

Guest Category: Business, Education, Health & Lifestyle, Kids & Family, Physics & Metaphysics, Psychology, Self Help, Society and Culture, Spiritual
Guest Occupation: Author, Mother, Educator, Activist
Guest Biography:

I  live with my husband and three small children in Oxnard, California, an agricultural town on the Pacific coast.  The abundant farms drew my family to California from Mexico three generations ago: one set of grandparents followed the crops as migrant farm workers and never left; the other grandparents worked in a sugar beet factory that gave birth to my hometown.

The morning breeze brings the scent of the season’s crop. Some morning smell of celery; others strawberries.  Not all smells are sweet. I was asked by an Angelino (a resident of Los Angeles), “Why does Oxnard smell bad?”  The pungent odor of fertilizer spread over the land makes a lasting impression on the “outsider.” Those of us who live here rarely make any comment about the fragrances which sometimes tiptoe and sometimes stomp into our awareness. For us, it’s the aroma of life in our slice of the world.

This intimacy with the land fuel’s my passion for the subject of water conservation, and my strong activist roots transform my passion into action. My father raised me to be a change agent. He refused to swallow his own destiny as a child farmworker. Against all odds, he earned a college degree with the assistance of the G.I. Bill. My childhood memories include my father loading my sisters and me into the stuffy station wagon to take us to the United Farm Workers (UFW) marches and college lectures delivered by his heroes of the Chicano movement. In the summer of 1988, again he loaded us into the station wagon. We drove 200 miles to Delano, California. We gathered among 3,000 mostly farmworker families to pray for the health of Cesar Chavez, founder of the UFW, on his 29th day of his fast. His fast was to draw attention to pesticide use on fields he understood to cause birth defects among farmworker children.

My own entry into water conservation began with the launch of Azul Conservation Products, a distribution business of water conservation products to retailers and industry. Ultimately, I distributed over 80,000 shower timers around the country. In 2010, my small business was honored with a WRAP (Waste Reduction Awards Program) award from the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). In June 2011, I was profiled in Ventana Magazine as one of Southern California’s most notable “Progressive Thinkers” on the leading edge of the sustainability movement.

My training in Public Policy from the University of Chicago taught me to become a relentless researcher. While building Azul, I discovered while conserving water in obvious ways is important to reducing water scarcity, most water wastage occurs in the production chains of the foods we consume. This research led to Eat Less Water.

When I began my farm visits I saw how the dishes we put on our table entails a far-reaching story about the earth’s water cycles. By telling some of these stories and by bringing the reader face-to-face with people directly involved in the food-production process, the book makes vivid for the reader the seldom-seen connection between the choices each of makes while shopping for groceries and the looming threat of global water scarcity.

It took seven years, 16,000 miles of travel and a whole lot of faith to finish my new book “Eat Less Water (ELW).”  The official release is this Wednesday, November 1, 2017:

"As a researcher trained at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, Florencia sets out to understand problems afflicting vulnerable communities and looks for solutions. Her articles appear in the San Jose Mercury News; the James Beard awarded Edible Communities Magazines and her blog. Florencia has recently been featured on several radio programs including NPR member stations, and Entertainment Weekly. Eat Less Water received the prestigious Gift of Freedom Creative Nonfiction genre prize from A Room of Her Own Foundation (AROHO). She lives in the coastal town of Oxnard, California with her husband and three children. Please join us as we visit with Florencia and discover why it’s important for us to understand that “the same amount of water saved over the course of a year in the bathroom can be saved in a week in the kitchen, because seven out of every ten gallons of water is used for food production.”

Guest Category: Earth & Space, Entertainment, Health & Lifestyle, Kids & Family, Philosophy, Self Help, Society and Culture, Variety
Guest Occupation: Founder of Family Futures Media, Intervention Healer
Guest Biography:

Noah Alvarez, affectionately called Buddha-Noah, is the Founder of Family Futures Media, as well as a healing facilitator for families and households in need all around the globe.

Noah landed in Los Angeles, CA in December 2012 with his girlfriend and dog in tow. Over the course of 5 years he has become one of the most sought-out intervention healers in Southern CA and beyond. While his young age is notable, his stature and wisdom assist in carving a path that is unique to his particular spiritual experience. 

Not only has he served celebrities with his counsel in their times of need, but he has served the underprivileged and homeless communities alike. 

His most notable work is with the Family Futures Healing Tour, which launched in the fall of 2017 and is set to return in the first quarter of 2018.

With a focus on the "new nuclear family," as well as "preserving home and soul partnerships in the 'new world," Alvarez spends most of his time working to build up families, one household at a time.

Instagram - 

  • @BuddhaNoah
  • @FamilyFuturesMedia

Facebook -

  • @familyfuturesmedia
Guest Category: Kids & Family, Love & Relationships, Relationship Counseling, Psychology, Personal Development, Self Help, Spiritual
Guest Occupation: Engineer Inventor/Founder FLFE
Guest Biography:

Would you like a consciousness environment comparable to 1,000 monks praying for you?  Or to raise the vibrations of a cell phone or other devise so instead of harmful  EMF waves it gives off positive ones. My two guests today have developed technology to give you an energy that will raise your vibrations/consciousness and those in your environment.  Meet Jeffrey Stegman and Clayton Stedmann.

Jeffrey Stegman’s focus has been on creating a high consciousness culture in his businesses, which parallels his own personal spiritual path. Jeffrey is the co-owner of two manufacturing businesses, including one that has been in business since 1835. FLFE is a confluence of Jeffrey’s manufacturing, engineering, business and spiritual evolution.

Clayten Stedmann has worked in the education, training and coaching business for over 30 years. For the last 20 years he has focused on business as a spiritual path in his coaching practice. Since discovering Consciousness Kinesiology (CK) in 2004 he has done over five million CK calibrations and created over 10 consciousness assessments and several unique energetic medicine protocols. FLFE is a continuation of his purposeful intention to create the conditions for humanity to have a higher level of consciousness.

Focused Life Force Energy (FLFE Innovations Corp) is a service company providing a subscription to greatly increase the level of consciousness of a property and/or around a mobile object to a very noticeable and beneficial level and provides a free trial so that people can feel it themselves before subscribing..

For centuries people have been making pilgrimages to places around the world known for their cleansing, healing, restoring and loving energy. The highest aspects of this energy can be expressed on the spiritual path and also by being a loving parent, a devoted husband or wife, a hobbyist gardener, a full-time farmer, a dedicated photographer, a steadfast employee and a business owner.

For almost as long people have been working on ways to re-create and harness this energy through study and inventions. People such as Albert Einstein,  Nikola Tesla, Masaru Emoto and Buckminster Fuller are just  a few of the better known of hundreds of researchers who understood that perhaps the greatest contribution to humanity’s evolution that we can make is to raise our own consciousness and sought ways to accelerate that process.

The study of atoms and later quantum physics confirmed what ancient spiritual teachers had been stating for centuries; ‘the law of nature states that everything has a vibration.’ Today most of us use terms like ‘ I do/don’t like the energy or vibe of that room, business or person.’

As humanity evolves new ways of measuring these vibrations emerge. A recent discovery has made it easier to measure vibration in everyday life in order to facilitate positive changes in people’s level of consciousness.

In the latter half of the 20th Century, a very successful psychiatrist, David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D., after treating thousands of patients, began to see common levels of thinking, feeling and acting.  He realized that people’s challenges and advances depend on their level of consciousness. He first outlined a scale measuring levels of consciousness or vibration, named the ‘Hawkins Map of Consciousness’, in his New York Times bestselling book ‘Power Versus Force’ (1995). Hawkins, along with a group of researchers, over a period of more than twenty-five years, used kinesiology to measure the level of consciousness in everything they could imagine; people, books, music, events, countries, locations.

Hawkins documented these consciousness levels in a scale from 1 to 1,000. On this scale 200 is the level above which we begin to add energy to everything around us. Below 200 we are net consumers of energy. A few of these levels are: Shame, which vibrates at 20, Fear is 100, Courage is 200, Acceptance is 350 and Love is 500. Enlightenment levels range from 600 to 1000. Today tens of thousands of Hawkins students and practitioners in multiple disciplines use the Hawkins Map to measure and effect change in quality of life and personal evolution.

In 2008 two men met through a mutual friend. They were both working on accessing and utilizing high consciousness fields.  Jeffery Stegman was creating high consciousness fields and cultures in business and Clayten Stedmann, as a coach in business as a spiritual path, was creating high consciousness fields for healing the human mind, body and spirit.

They came together with an inventor who had devoted his life to creating free energy for humanity.  Although he did not create a free energy device, He had discovered a way to re-direct and focus large amounts of life force energy (also known as subtle energy) on an object.

Between Jeff’s experience in engineering and Clayten’s knowledge and extensive practice in Consciousness Kinesiology and the Hawkins Map they re-engineered the original device to broadcast a high consciousness wave to specific locations around the world. At first, Clayten and Jeffrey used the device and associated technology to raise consciousness around the world as a public service project. As they were able to increase the power available and the ability to positively affect a property, they brought the consciousness raising technology to the public as ‘Focused Life-Force Energy’ (FLFE). FLFE Innovations Corp was formed in Nelson B.C., Canada to create the infrastructure to offer the service and to support customers on the FLFE wave.

Today after an additional 9 years of research and hundreds of customers and testimonials Jeffrey and Clayten are beginning the process of increasing public awareness of this unique consciousness raising technology. FLFE Innovations Corp offers a monthly FLFE subscription on a property or on a mobile object (FLFE Mobile, also known as the FLFE Bubble).  The technology associates (entangles) the FLFE device with an address or photograph of an object using custom developed software integrated with the FLFE device and creates the FLFE wave that works with the property or object. The FLFE wave will clear negative history (on a property), raise consciousness and increase greatly the positive energy available for people and animals on the property or in a specific radius around the FLFE Mobile Object, as well as many other enhancements.

I have been using the energy for over a year and have seem positive improvements in my health and interactions with others, and in my holistic environment with difficult neighbors moving away, algae clearing from water bordering my yard, neighbors congregating in front of my house, other stopping to visit and not wanting to leave and more.

Guest Category: Education, Health & Lifestyle, Medicine, Science, Self Help, Society and Culture, Spiritual
Guest Occupation: Actor,Musician,Author,Executive Director
Guest Biography:

KEITH THIBODEAUX 

I LOVE LUCY'S 'LITTLE RICKY'

DRUMMER, SINGER,SONGWRITER FOR

'DAVID AND THE GIANTS'

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR 'BALLET MAGNIFICAT!'

SPECIAL GUEST ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW

Keith Thibodeaux is the Executive Director of Ballet Magnificat! since 1993. Keith first came to national attention as the drum-playing son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz on the now classic "I Love Lucy" show. Hailed as a child prodigy, Keith started drumming at the age of two in Lafayette, LA. His abilities led him to a national tour, a starring role as "Little Ricky Ricardo" and various acting stints on television, including The Andy Griffith Show, Route 66, The Shirley Temple Playhouse, Hazel, and many more.

While attending the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, Keith joined and recorded with the then mainstream rock band, "David and the Giants." Keith left the group after several years, but, following his (and fellow band members) Christian conversion, the band regrouped under the same name and went on to become one of the nation’s top contemporary Christian music groups. As a drummer, singer, and songwriter for the Dove nominated "David and the Giants," Keith toured extensively for 10 years in the United States, Canada, Jamaica, and England, recording 9 albums before leaving the group in 1989 to pursue other interests.

Keith has been featured in such publications as Newsweek, People, Saturday Evening Post, Modern Drummer, CCM, and Classic Drummer Magazine. He has also been a guest on NBC's The Today Show, Entertainment Tonight, CBS's Good Morning America and The O'Reilly Show.

In January of 1991, he joined his wife Kathy on the road with Ballet Magnificat! and in 1993, Keith became Executive Director.  In addition to his current responsibilities at Ballet Magnificat!, Keith still finds time for the drums and recording. Keith's book, Life After Lucy, tells the story of his life as Little Ricky on the I Love Lucy show, and subsequent encounter with Jesus Christ as Savior. Life After Lucy is sold in bookstores and in the Gift Shop section of his website. Keith and Kathy have one daughter, Tara, who is a dancer and choreographer and married to Bryce Drew, former player in the NBA and head basketball coach at Valparaiso University.

Guest Category: Business, Entertainment, Music, Religion, Self Help, Spiritual, TV & Film
Guest Occupation: Founder and director of The American Meditation Institute
Guest Biography:

Leonard Perlmutter is the founder and director of The American Meditation Institute in Averill Park, New York.

Leonard also serves as the author and editor of “Transformation,” the Journal of Meditation as Mind/Body Medicine.

Over the past thirty-nine years, Leonard has served on the faculties of the New England Institute of Ayurvedic Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts and the International Himalayan Yoga Teachers Association in Calgary, Canada. He has studied in Rishikesh, India and is a direct disciple of Swami Rama of the Himalayas––the man who, in laboratory conditions at the Menninger Institute, demonstrated that blood pressure, heart rate and the autonomic nervous system can be voluntarily controlled. These research demonstrations have been one of the major cornerstones of the mind/body movement.

Mr. Perlmutter has presented informative workshops on the benefits of meditation and Yoga Science at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, The Albany Medical College, The New York Times forum on Yoga Science, the Commonwealth Club of California, the University of Wisconsin School of Nursing, the Washington University Medical School, the University of Colorado Medical School and the West Point Association of Graduates.

Since 2009, Leonard’s Heart and Science of Yoga® empowering self-care program has been certified for continuing medical education credits by the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association for continuing medical education credit.

Social Networks

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonard-perlmutter-ram-lev-ab19b12a/

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanMeditationInstitute

https://www.facebook.com/leonard.perlmutter.9

and Facebook Live....

Twitter: @amimeditation

Guest Category: Health & Lifestyle, Alternative Health, Yoga, Philosophy, Psychology, Personal Development, Spiritual
Guest Occupation: Church of Profitsea, Author
Guest Biography:

The Church of Profitsea®

A New Trinity: Happy, Healthy and Wealthy

By Karen Steil

Creating a church without walls based on mentorship, not membership, where the highest ideal is to manifest Source Energy into wealth for all

Building Self-Worth to Create a Powerful Net Worth

 

More than 20 years have gone by since Karen Steil first received the inspiration for the Church of Profitsea®--in of all places Las Vegas, a seemingly Godless city that worships money.

Could there be a for-profit church, she pondered, whose mission could be the upliftment of mankind through the celebration, appreciation, accumulation and circulation of wealth, a wealth that manifested through the understanding of the Laws governing Source Energy? Could the knowledge and wisdom of how to positively engage the Law of Attraction be taught from teacher to teacher, instead of a pulpit, building a strong church peopled by those who truly believe and live the promise of: "I Live in an Abundant Universe that Delights in Expressing Its Limitless Supply Through Me."

That time is finally here. After 20 years in incubation, the world is finally ready for the Church of Profitsea®.

In her book The Church of Profitsea®: A New Trinity: Happy, Healthy and Wealthy, Steil lays the foundation for this new non-institution, a church without walls based on mentorship, not membership, where the highest ideal is to manifest Source Energy into wealth for all.    

But the church has more on its mind than money. Money is only the end result of adherents that trust the God within, honor and love themselves, see the light in others, take responsibility for their actions and follow their inner wisdom.  

Says Steil: The New Trinity of "Happy, Healthy and Wealthy is a package deal. Your Self-worth will create your net worth. The happiest, healthiest and wealthiest people in the world don't give money a second thought. They focus on what makes them the happiest, which in turn creates a healthy mind and body, which in turn generates ideas, which in turn creates more wealth."

The Church of Profitsea® is for every Entrepreneurial Spirit who knows that wealth is not something earned; it is something conjured, appreciated, and shared.... This church is about Profit... literally and figuratively. Profit is synonymous with creative ideas and creative ideas come to those who have prepared themselves to receive. In other words, those who know they are worthy of creative, profitable, and innovative ideas will succeed in whatever endeavor they choose.

The purpose of the book is to  introduce the Church and the concept of vibrational alignment-to create a "vibrational setpoint" within -- that makes everyone "a profit center" within the world, and the starting point to empower and enrich other "profit centers"-other human beings.

Notes Steil in the book: "It is now 9:30 AM. The world's population has increased by 152,000 Points of Light since midnight. There have been 277 new profit centers born every minute since midnight. If you don't like thinking of yourself as a profit center, then think of yourself as a contributor to someone else's profit center, because you are that, also. Contributing with Joy is the key to Happy, Healthy and Wealthy."

Steil's vision has already called forth mentors who are sharing and supporting the growth of other church participants. Sustainable Wealth, she says, is about investing profit into more profit centers. The Church of Profitsea®, like the Law of Attraction, is all about inclusion, not exclusion. The doors are open to all who want to participate in spreading the good news that being Happy, Healthy, and Wealthy is the natural course of evolution.

And she reminds us that the idea of having a church with no physical walls or spiritual boundaries, and that lifts people into financial freedom and the abundant life, is not a new idea. Jesus taught his followers how to accomplish it 2,000 years ago. 

Guest Category: Business, Education, Kids & Family, Philosophy, Psychology, Personal Development, Self Help, Motivational, Spiritual
Guest Occupation: teacher, author, and Mayan Calendar researcher
Guest Biography:

Barbara Hand Clow is an internationally acclaimed ceremonial teacher, author, and Mayan Calendar researcher. Her numerous books include The Pleiadian Agenda, Alchemy of Nine Dimensions, Awakening the Planetary Mind, Astrology and the Rising of Kundalini, and The Mayan Code. She has taught at sacred sites throughout the world and maintains an astrological web site, http://handclow2012.com/

Bestselling author Barbara Hand Clow shows how the Mayan Calendar is a bridge to galactic wisdom that fosters personal growth and human evolution

• Unearths the meaning behind the calendar, its message for modern civilization, and what will happen after the calendar ends

• Reveals how time acceleration is a manifestation of the acceleration of consciousness

• By the author of The Pleiadian Agenda

The Mayan Code is a deep exploration of how, with the end of the Mayan Calendar, time and consciousness are accelerating, giving us a new understanding of the universe. Using Carl Johan Calleman’s research, as well as the ideas of other Mayan Calendar scholars, Barbara Hand Clow examines 16.4 billion years of evolution to decode the creative patterns of Earth--the World Mind. These great patterns culminate in 2011, and then during 2012 and beyond major astrological influences will inspire us to attain oneness and enlightenment.

The Mayan Code shows how the time cycles of the Calendar match important periods in the evolutionary data banks of Earth and the Milky Way Galaxy. These stages of evolution converged during the final stage of the Calendar, the period between 1999 and 2011. War and territoriality, resource management and separation from nature, are all part of daily events we must process during the coming transition years: evidence of the tightening spiral of time that we experience as time speeding up. Barbara Hand Clow counsels that our own personal healing is the most important factor as we prepare to make this critical leap in human evolution--now referred to as the awakening of the World Mind.

Guest Category: Paranormal, Physics & Metaphysics, Spiritual
Guest Occupation: Energy Coach and Best Selling Author
Guest Biography:

My guest, Betsy Muller, is a coach and best-selling author who has helped thousands of people discover their full potential through life balance in action. She lived decades of frantic imbalance while climbing the corporate ladders at PPG Industries, BP Oil, Southwest General Health Center and OsteoMed II before jumping off to start her own business in 2005. Since then, she’s overcome stage fright and technology terrors to address international audiences through speaking, TV, radio, and the web.  Betsy is an Accredited Master Trainer and Advanced Practitioner of Emotional Freedom Techniques, the only one in the Midwest region.

Betsy puts her BA in Chemistry from the College of Wooster to work in the kitchen now and then, however she uses her MBA from Baldwin Wallace University just about every day.  Betsy hates writing, yet is the author of four books, including the Amazon best seller Energy Makeover – A Conscious Way to Stay Young, Have Fun and Get More Done, as well as a contributing author to the Clinical EFT Handbook.   Betsy lives in Strongsville where she shares an empty nest with retired Cleveland Browns’ Marketing Director George, golden retriever Gracie and a naughty kitten named Violet.  Her proudest accomplishment is being the mom of two employed and happy college graduates whono longer ask for money.  Her love of travel and culinary adventures has earned her a Level 6 Contributor and Restaurant Expert awards on Trip Advisor  When she’s not on the job, Betsy’s working up a sweat, in a natural setting overlooking water.

Guest Category: Alternative Health, Energy Healing, Love & Relationships, Personal Development, Inspirational, Motivational
Guest Occupation: Musician
Guest Biography:

Mary Youngblood - Native American musician
Bio: Bending tradition, Mary Youngblood is a modern American Indian woman of one half Aleut (Alaskan) and one half Seminole (Floridian) descent. With her children, she currently resides in Northern California. Youngblood is often touted as the first Native American female to professionally record the Native flute. Verifying her talent and mastery of this ancient instrument traditionally played only by men, she was the first woman to win the 'Flutist of the Year' award in both 1999 and 2000 as well as, the 'Best Female Artist' award in 2000 at the Native American Music Awards (NAMMYS).

Each of Youngblood's three recordings are different stylistically from one another. Her debut 'The Offering' is a solo flute recording that was recorded live to DAT in the huge underground chamber of the Moaning Cavern in California. These natural acoustics lend an amazing echo and organic quality to the distinctly memorable melodies that Youngblood creates with her flutes.

"In addition to the haunting sounds of various handcrafted wooden flutes, the listener can occasionally hear the drip of water in the cavern, which adds a surreal you-are-there feeling." -Monterey County Herald News

'Heart of the World' found Youngblood weaving her flute melodies with the lush accompaniment of guitar, percussion and the exquisite voice of Joanne Shenandoah. The impetus for this recording is the U'wa people of the Rainforest in South America who are struggling to save their land from drilling development by oil companies. Heart of the World is the name the U'wa have given their native land in South America and proceeds from each sale of this album benefit their resistance struggle. 'Heart of the World' won numerous awards and accolades including:
'BEST NATIVE AMERICAN RECORDING'
Association for Independent Music INDIE Award - 2000

Youngblood's newest release, 'Beneath the Raven Moon', can be considered a poetic concept album. The title of each track is a line from a poem written by Youngblood. Thematically, this album is all about the human condition; growth, interaction, and journeys. For the first time ever, this album also showcases Youngblood's strong voice harmonizing along with her many flutes. Further instrumentation is arranged by award winning producer Tom Wasinger who has worked on each of Youngblood's three albums. 'Beneath the Raven Moon' explores Youngblood's exemplary flute playing with other American music styles such as Classical and Blues (two of Youngblood's favorite genres).

"Mary Youngblood brings a fresh perspective to original melodies." -Dirty Linen Magazine

Mary Youngblood co-founded the Northern California Flute Circle and is a secretary on the board of directors for the Sacramento Urban Indian Health Project. Youngblood has a lifetime of musicianship behind her. She started with piano lessons at age six, violin at eight, classical flute and guitar at ten. As an adult, when Youngblood received her first wooden Native flute, she was driven to pursue the mastery of this instrument so tied to her own heritage. Now years later with three unique and accomplished albums under her belt, Youngblood owns over 125 hand carved Native flutes in her collection and uses a wide variety of them throughout every one of her albums. Each of her flutes is masterfully crafted from different types of wood, bringing a unique sound and texture to each song.

When Youngblood performs it takes only a moment to acknowledge the profound spirituality of the sacred Native American flute and its historical courtship and wooing attributes. Her haunting music is much more than a song ... it's liquid poetry, a prayer. Mary Youngblood takes little credit for the intense emotions people feel when they listen to her music. "I am only a vessel between Creator and this instrument. As a sculptor would tell you, the clay has a spirit of its own and decides what it will become; so it is with the flute. These songs came from those who walked before me."
 

Guest Category: Arts, Entertainment, Music, Society and Culture
Guest Biography:

The tall, lanky, Tantoo Cardinal is a metis, the term in Canada applying to those of mixed Native American and European descent. Raised among the Cree, she turned her political activism into an acting career that has included roles as the knowing wife of the Medicine Man in "Dances With Wolves" (1990), the poignant childless companion of Rip Torn in "Where the Rivers Flow North" (1993) and the mother of Brad Pitt's wife in "Legends of the Fall" (1994).

Being involved with the Amer-Indian activism of the 1970's Tantoo felt acting would be a way to reach people and send her message of "truth" to the world. Along with Russell Means, Graham Greene and others she has accomplished a part of her "mission." She began with public speaking and lecturing on the Native-American condition which gave her confidence.  Cardinal was a leader of a youth group petitioning to get the Canadian government to build more schools on Indian reservations in the province of Alberta when she was cast in a small role in a 1971 Canadian docudrama on the life of Albert Lacombe, a 19th century Roman Catholic missionary.
Though uncomfortable with having to portray Lacombe as a savior, Cardinal made the most of her part and, bitten with the acting bug, began performing in films, TV, on stage, and even in industrial films. By 1986, when she moved to the US to pursue a career in Hollywood, she was nationally known in Canada. Strong parts in feature films followed.

Having auditioned for Kevin Costner by translating the dialogue into her native Cree, she landed the role of Black Shawl, the knowing wife of medicine man Kicking Bird in "Dances With Wolves". In 1991, she was cast by director Bruce Beresford in "Black Robe", which earned her critical acclaim for her death scene, complete with an arrow in her neck. Cardinal went on to portray Bangor, the companion to Vermont logger Rip Torn in "Where the Rivers Flow North", making a strong impression in a scene in which she laments not having children, and in Sam Shepard's "Silent Tongue" (1993), she had the title role as the ghost of a raped and murdered woman who haunts her husband. As the decade wound to a close, Cardinal portrayed the title character's wise grandmother in "The Education of Little Tree" (1997) and had a featured role in the popular Sundance premiere "Smoke Signals" (1998).

Cardinal has also worked extensively on TV, often in PBS dramas or films on historical First American figures and stories. She broke into network TV with "Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge" (CBS, 1987), and followed with the PBS "Wonderworks" special "Places Not Our Own" (billed as Tantoo Martin-Cardinal), as one of the metis women trying to cope with the difficulties of the Depression. Cardinal also appeared in "Tecumseh: The Last Warrior" (TNT, 1995) and was featured in "Grand Avenue" (HBO, 1996). She made the first of her recurring appearances on the CBS drama series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" in 1993, cast as Snow Bird, the stalwart Cheyenne friend of frontier physician Jane Seymour. In 2000, Cardinal played a relative of twin sisters separated at birth and reunited as adults in the heartwarming "Hallmark Hall of Fame" production "The Lost Child".

Tantoo has garnered many acting awards for her work. Already with two children of her own: Cheyenne and Clifford, she married John Lawlor in 1988 and they have a child, Riel. She continues as an Amer-Indian activist and has done much for the Native-American community throughout her life.  Recently she accepted the Sun Hill Award for Excellence in Native American Filmmaking at the Harvard Film Archive. The award is given in honor of a director, actor, producer, or writer who has made a significant contribution to the legacy of Native American film.

NATIVE SPIRIT AND THE SUNDANCE WAY...

Native Spirit is narrated by Tantoo Cardinal (Dances with Wolves), who takes the viewer back to the days of Red Cloud when "Our old men talked to spirits and made good medicine. Our young men herded the horses and made love to the girls. In this way our grandfathers lived and were happy."

In the second documentary, The Sun Dance Way, Gordon Tootoosis (Legends of the Fall) brings to life the voice of Thomas Yellowtail as he describes the mysterious and ancient Sun Dance ceremony. For more information on the cast and characters, the content of the documentaries, and to see video clips, visit the web site of the DVD program. Educators should go to the version for classroom use when purchasing the program.

Guest Category: Arts, Entertainment, News, TV & Film
Guest Biography:

Tommy Chong is a Canadian-born actor and musician who is well-known for his stereotypical portrayals of hippie-era stoners. He is most widely known for his role as Chong in the marijuana-themed Cheech and Chong comedy movies with Cheech Marin.

In the late 1980s, Chong became a naturalized citizen of the United States.  Before branching out into film, Chong was a guitarist and songwriter for Motown band Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, briefly featuring a very young Jimi Hendrix.  Chong was a recurring character and later a regular character as the hippie "Leo" during the second, third, fourth, seventh, and eighth seasons of That '70s Show.

In 2003, Chong was one of those targeted by two American investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter, which sought out businesses selling drug paraphernalia, mostly marijuana pipes. He was charged for his part in financing and promoting Chong Glass/Nice Dreams, a company started by his son Paris. Chong agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute drug paraphernalia in exchange for non-prosecution of his wife, Shelby, and his son.

While most of the approximately 55 individuals charged as a result of the operations were sentenced to fines and home detentions, Chong was sentenced on September 11, 2003, to 9 months in a federal prison, forfeiture of $103,000, and a year of probation.

While government officials denied that Chong was treated any differently from the other defendants, many felt that he was made an example of by the government. Soon afterwards, marijuana advocates started the Free Tommy Chong! movement that called for his release.  Chong served his sentence from October 8, 2003 to July 7, 2004, and in December 2004 was to appear off-Broadway in a one-man show entitled "The Marijuana-Logues", a parody of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. His legal concerns, including that audiences were actually smoking marijuana in some of the shows early in its tour ultimately caused him to quit the show.

In 2005, Chong returned to his role as Leo on That '70s Show. In September of 2005 a/k/a Tommy Chong premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The documentary, directed by Josh Gilbert, chronicles Chong's recent legal troubles and features interviews with Cheech Marin, Bill Maher, Lou Adler, Eric Schlosser and Jay Leno. 

Tommy's book, The I Chong : The Tell-all Prison Diaries of a Comedian Behind Bars by Simon and Schuster is due out later in 2006.

The I Chong

By Tommy Chong
Beloved stoner comedian TOMMY CHONG is now older, wiser, and officially an EX-CON.

On the morning of February 24, 2003, agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration launched a sting called Operation Pipe Dreams and forced themselves through the door of Tommy's California home, with automatic weapons drawn. As a result of the raid on his home; the simultaneous ransacking of his son's company, Chong Glass; and the Bush administration's determination to make an example out of the "Pope of Pot;" he was sentenced to nine months in prison because his company shipped bongs to a head shop in Pennsylvania that was a front for the DEA.

Well . . . now it's Tommy Chong's turn to fight back and tell his side of the story.

Beginning with Tommy's experiences growing up in Canada in the forties and fifties as a mixed-race kid and going on to become a comedy legend, The I Chong is at once a memoir, a spiritual exploration of his time in prison, and a political indictment of the eroding civil liberties in post-9/11 American society. He tells the unbelievable story of his trip down the rabbit hole of America's war on drugs and of his experiences in the federal prison system, and he offers up timely observations on combating the conservative political forces at work in this country. Introspective, inspiring, and incendiary, The I Chong is a unique chronicle of one man's life and how his humorous and spiritual point of view saved him during his wrongful incarceration at the hands of an administration without boundaries.

Guest Category: Comedy, History, Society and Culture, TV & Film
Guest Occupation: Actress/Activist
Guest Biography:

Rae Dawn Chong is a Canadian born actress and daughter of Tommy Chong. She is of African, First Nations, Chinese and Irish ancestry. Her half-sister Robbi Chong is a model and actress.

She is best known for appearing in the films Quest for Fire (1981), The Color Purple (1985), Choose Me (1984), Commando (1985), Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers (1984), and Far Out Man (1990), in the latter two appearing with her father. Her latest film is The Constellation (2007)

As a strong, modern woman, Chong describes herself as a civil activist, concerned with contributing to the betterment of mankind. She has an active schedule volunteering for various projects including A Place Called Home, where she taught acting and creative writing to children at risk in South Central Los Angeles. She has also been a volunteer and supporter for Habitat for Humanity and Byron Katie's work with prison inmates as well as hosting a series of "safe sex" cautionary videos aimed at teens.

 

Guest Category: Arts, Entertainment, TV & Film
Guest Occupation: Priest
Guest Biography:

Canadian born Father Brian Kolodiejchuk joined the Missionaries of Charity Fathers at the time of their foundation on 13 October 1984.   He was ordained in 1985 in the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist in Newark, New Jersey, USA, by the late Metropolitan-Archbishop of Winnipeg, Maxim Hermaniuk, C.Ss.R.

Father Brian received a B.A. in Philosophy from St. Michael’s College of the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1977 and an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Manitoba, Canada, in 1981 and a M.Div. in Theology from St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, New York, USA He received his Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from Saybrook Institute, San Francisco, USA.   

He was appointed Postulator of the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of Mother Teresa of Kolkata, 19 March 1999. and became Director of the Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center, 18. June 2004.  He is author of a soon to be released book on Mother Teresa’s interior life, "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light" (Published by Doubleday, September 4, 2007).

Overview

Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta by Mother Teresa, Brian Kolodiejchuk

This historic work reveals the inner spiritual life of one of the most beloved and important religious figures in history.

During her lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa became an icon of compassion to people of all religions; her extraordinary contributions to the care of the sick, the dying, and thousands of others nobody else was prepared to look after has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world. Little is known, however, about her own spiritual heights or her struggles. This collection of her writing and reflections, almost all of which have never been made public before, sheds light on Mother Teresa's interior life in a way that reveals the depth and intensity of her holiness for the first time.

Compiled and presented by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., who knew Mother Teresa for twenty years and is the postulator for her cause for sainthood and director of the Mother Teresa Center, Mother Teresa brings together letters she wrote to her spiritual advisors over decades. A moving chronicle of her spiritual journey—including moments, indeed years, of utter desolation—these letters reveal the secrets she shared only with her closest confidants. She emerges as a classic mystic whose inner life burned with the fire of charity and whose heart was tested and purified by an intense trial of faith, a true dark night of the soul.

Published to coincide with the tenth anniversary of her death, Mother Teresa is an intimate portrait of a woman whose life and work continue to be admired by millions of people.

Guest Category: Science, Spiritual
Guest Occupation: Actress/Singer/Martial Artist
Guest Biography:

Shannon Lee - Actress and daughter of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee
Info: Shannon Lee is an American actress and daughter of Bruce Lee and his widow Linda Lee Cadwell. Shannon's brother was the late actor and martial artist Brandon Lee.  Shannon's father, Bruce Lee, was an American-born martial artist, philosopher, instructor, and actor widely regarded as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century.

Shannon was born in Los Angeles, California, the second child to Bruce and Linda Lee. Shannon and her family lived in Hong Kong from 1971 to 1973, after which her mother moved back to the United States following the death of her father. She has Chinese, German, Swedish and English descent.

Graduating from The Chadwick School in 1987, Shannon then attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where she studied voice and graduated in 1991. She moved back to Los Angeles in 1993 after her brother's death to pursue acting. She married lawyer Ian Keasler in 1994, and they have one daughter, Wren, who was born in 2003.

As a young girl Shannon learned basic fighting forms from her father and has since trained under Tae-kwondo Master and Kung Fu Superstar, 'Flashleg' Tan Tao Liang AND World Kick-boxing Champion Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez!

Shannon has acted in films in the 1990s such as Cage II (1994), High Voltage (1997) and Enter the Eagles (1998). She also had brief appearances in her father's biopic Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (she was the one singing "California Dreaming" in the dance scene at the Hollywood producer's house as Bruce and Linda dance), the film Blade and the television series Martial Law which starred Sammo Hung. In 2000 she appeared in the science-fiction television film Epoch which aired on the Sci Fi Channel.

Shannon was also the television host of WMAC Masters for the first season.  You may have recently seen her host Enter The Dragon on Spike TV and also briefly interviewed on Spike's UFC Championship Fight series.

Shannon has also sung on the band Medicine's album The Mechanical Forces of Love in 2003 and a cover of "I'm in the Mood for Love" for the movie China Strike Force (2000), which starred Lee Hom Wang and Aaron Kwok.

Shannon and her husband Ian currently run The Bruce Lee Foundation, which is dedicated to educating, inspiring and helping others understand the attributes and virtues of courage, tolerance, persistence, creativity, intelligence and creativity that Bruce Lee cherished and exemplified during his life.

Guest Category: Entertainment, Health & Lifestyle, News
Guest Occupation: Fitness Instructor/Author
Guest Biography:

Jack Lalanne - The Godfather Of Fitness
Info: Jack La Lanne turns 93 on September 26, 2007, and is often called the "Godfather of Fitness".   He gained worldwide renown for his success as a bodybuilder, as well as his prodigious feats of strength such as doing a 1000 pushups in 22 minutes or being handcuffed and swimming treacherous ocean currents while towing 10 boats filled with people. He has won numerous awards, including the Horatio Alger Award from the Association of Distinguished Americans, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Jack admits it was not always this way. "As a kid," he flatly states, "I was a sugarholic and a junk food junkie! It made me weak and it made me mean. It made me so sick I had boils, pimples and suffered from nearsightedness. Little girls used to beat me up. My mom prayed… the church prayed." It was at the age of 15 when he heard pioneer nutritionist Paul Bragg speak at the Oakland City Women's Club in the San Francisco Bay Area that Jack finally realized he was addicted to sugar. Bragg promised Jack if he would exercise and eat a proper diet he could regain good health. Jack listened attentively and was fiercely determined to walk away from that lecture ready to build a totally new Jack La Lanne.

 He discovered that the Berkeley YMCA had a set of weights and began experimenting with them and before long, Jack was able to attain the muscular, healthy body of his dreams. "I became a voracious reader and I absorbed everything that would help me to improve myself. Gray's Anatomy was my bible. During college, I studied pre-med to become a medical doctor and I also went to chiropractic college and graduated; however, I was more interested in helping people by convincing them to take preventative measures, before they became ill." Resolving to help others find the secrets to health and fitness, La Lanne opened the nation's first modern health studio in 1936 on the third floor of an old office building in Oakland, California, paying $45 per month for rent. Jack was a mere 21 years old. "I was 40 years ahead of my time," he said, "but by then I knew more about the workings of the muscles in my body than most doctors. People thought I was a charlatan and a nut," Jack says. "The doctors were against me - they said that working out with weights would give people heart attacks and they would lose their sex drive. Women would look like men and even varsity coaches predicted that their athletes would get muscle bound and banned them from lifting weights. I had to give these athletes keys so they could come in at night and work out in my gym. Time has proven that what I was doing was scientifically correct - starting with a healthy diet followed by systematic exercise, and today everyone knows it. All world class athletes now work out with weights, as do many members of the general public, both male and female."

Over time, Jack began to formulate a basic approach to physical fitness and nutrition. His methods would be scientifically sound as he developed the first prototypes of exercise equipment presently available in contemporary health spas. His inventions include: the first leg extension machine and the first pulley machines using cables, and the first weight selectors. He was the first to have women work out with weights and he also encouraged the disabled and elderly to exercise for health. "There are 640 muscles in the human body," Jack explains, "and I take every one of them into account as I plan each exercise routine."

Jack's reputation began to spread and by the early 1950's, he was given the opportunity to utilize the new medium of television to reach even more people. Ever the innovator, Jack used television to reach out to millions of Americans everywhere with his gospel message of get out of your chair, work out and feel better. He was magnetic and the public responded! His motivational message spread across the country like wildfire and his show was an instant nationwide hit! Jack La Lanne believes in daily, vigorous, systematic exercise and proper diet. "My top priority in life is my workout each day." Jack lives by what he says to others, and he has been doing it for over 75 years. Much of what Jack has advocated through his teaching and beliefs has become common knowledge today. Today's doctors and fitness experts all acknowledge daily systematic and proper diet as the principle keys to a longer healthier life.

Jack's wife, Elaine, has written four books including Dynastride, Fitness After 50 and Fitness After 50 Workout, as well as a juicing book called Total Juicing. Jack has millions of fans all over the world who have followed his philosophy and have benefited from his teachings. Jack's book, Revitalize Your Life, is geared toward improving your looks, health and overall well being.

===========================
Info: Jack LaLanne is an American fitness, exercise and nutritional expert, celebrity, lecturer, and motivational speaker. LaLanne has been referred to as "the godfather of fitness."

LaLanne gained worldwide renown for his success as a bodybuilder, as well as his prodigious feats of strength. He has won numerous awards, including the Horatio Alger Award from the Association of Distinguished Americans, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Born in San Francisco, California, the son of French immigrants, Jennie Garaig and John La Lanne. LaLanne admits that as a child he was addicted to sugar and junk foods. He was very troubled and prone to rages, which led to his attempting to burn down his family's house, as well as chasing his brother with an axe. At age 15, he heard Paul Bragg give a talk on health and nutrition. Bragg's message was very simple, but had a powerful influence on the troubled boy. LaLanne decided to focus on his diet and exercise habits. He studied Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body and concentrated on bodybuilding and weightlifting, which, in the 1930s, was uncommon.

LaLanne originally planned to enter the field of chiropractic health care to become a Doctor of Chiropractic,  but in 1936 decided to open his own health spa in California and encourage clients to better themselves through weight-training. He designed the first leg extension machines, pulley machines using cables, and weight selectors, equipment which is now standard in the fitness industry. He was the original inventor of the Smith machine. He also encouraged women to lift weights (in spite of the fact that at the time, it was thought that this would make women look masculine and unattractive). By the 1980s there were more than 200 health clubs bearing his name. LaLanne eventually licensed all his health clubs to the Bally company, and they became known as Bally Total Fitness. Today he is no longer associated with any gym but is still actively pumping iron.

Between 1951 and 1984, LaLanne presented fitness and exercise advice on television. "The Jack LaLanne Show" was the first ever television program devoted to exercise. Critics said the show would be off the air in six weeks, but it lasted 34 years. He has also published books and videos on fitness and nutrition, appeared in films, recorded a song with Connie Haines and marketed exercise equipment, a range of vitamin supplements, as well as two models of electric juicer.

Jacks' feats of strength are legendary and include herculean labors at every decade of his life such as being handcuffed and towing 10 boats full of people for several miles through strong ocean currents or doing a thousand chin-ups in 22 minutes.

The recipient of numerous health and fitness awards and profiled on ESPN and interviewed on NBC's Today Show by Katie Couric, Jack remains as physically fit and active today with his lovely companion and wife Elaine. 

Guest Category: Education, Health & Lifestyle, Self Help, Sports & Recreation
Guest Occupation: Actor/Stuntman/Wrestler
Guest Biography:

Tyler Mane - Actor/Stuntman/Wrestler
Now playing everywhere at a theater near you is Rob Zombie's filmversion of John Carpenter's classic "Halloween".  The role of the masked psychopathic knife-wielding stalker known as Michael Myers is played by Tyler Mane.

Mane grew up in Saskatoon, Canada. Reportedly something of an underdog, who suffered from relentless bullying as a child, he took this mistreatment and spun it into determination, with an aggressive immersion into all forms of martial arts - including karate, judo and tae-kwon do. Then wrestling beckoned; Mane trained from the age of 19 on, first in Calgary, Alberta, then in Los Angeles. From 1986 through 1999, this Canuck import assumed the characterization of Big Sky (in a tag team with Kevin Nash) and as Nitron, and competed in professional wrestling tournaments around the world for the WCW and UWF.

Tyler Mane turned to acting in 1994, making appearances in "Bandit: Bandit Goes Country", a syndicated TV-movie based on the 1983 feature film "Smokey and the Bandit", and the Fox drama "Party of Five". That same year, the 6-foot-10, 275-pound Mane, whose real name is Daryl Karolat, also co-starred in a musical comedy about wrestling at San Diego's Lyceum Space, choreographing the hilarious show's "main event".

Mane's enormous size and expertise in karate made him a natural choice to play Wolverine's foe Sabretooth in the big-screen version of the Marvel comic "X-Men". The eagerly anticipated flick was released in the summer of 2000 and had Mane acting opposite the likes of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen during his feature-film debut.

Indeed, it was for his skills as a former professional wrestler that Mane was first approached by producers at 20th Century Fox and Liberty Productions regarding his availability for stunt work.

Mane explains: “[They] wanted me to come in and discuss doing some stunt work for the film. Bryan Singer (X-Men’s director) had seen my picture and wanted to meet me. So when he did see me he was like, ‘oh my God! It’s Sabretooth!’

“So instead of me going to discuss doing stunts, I ended up playing Sabretooth!

He followed that up with a small role in the David Spade comedy "The Adventures of Joe Dirt" (2001).

"Halloween" film director Rob Zombie actually had Tyler in mind for the part of Michael Myers, when he wrote it.  Tyler took the part as an acting challenge.  Though it is not his first villain, it his Mane's most purely vicious. "This is the first time I played a psycho killer so the research you do and the whole thought process is totally different than preparing for a comic book character or a period piece like Troy. Everything is a little different. You just want to bring something a little different and hopefully give the people a little something more than they've seen in the last eight."

Tyler's portrayal did not disappoint audiences, as "Halloween" debut broke previous Labor Day weekend theater records with $31 million earnings.
 

Guest Category: Entertainment, Sports & Recreation, TV & Film
Guest Occupation: Author/Conscientious Objector
Guest Biography:

Aidan Delgado is a former soldier in the 320th Military Police Company of the United States Army, best known for having become a conscientious objector in April 2003 during his deployment to Iraq and for disclosing information about Abu Ghraib.

Delgado states that he joined the Army Reserve while he was also investigating Buddhism. He signed his enlistment contract on Sept. 11, 2001. He began a year-long tour in Iraq in April 2003, he was openly questioning whether he could participate in the war in Iraq good conscience, due to his newfound dedication to the principles of pacifism espoused in his faith. He filed for conscientious objector status and continued to serve in Iraq while it was processed.

As the only member of his company who spoke Arabic, Delgado was in frequent contact with Iraqi civilians.  The son of a diplomat, Delgado grew up in various countries, including Thailand, where he was introduced to Buddhism, and Egypt, where he learned Arabic. When his colleagues learned that he spoke some Arabic and enjoyed meeting Iraqis, they made use of him but also began to mistrust him. As Delgado witnessed more and more American racism, arrogance, and abuse of unarmed Iraqis, his opposition mounted. Concluding that war ran counter to his Buddhist principles, he sought conscientious objector status and, after finishing his tour of duty, was honorably discharged in April 2004.

Delgado is actively involved in the anti-war movement. He has participated in numerous peace activities across the country, and led the 70-member "Florida For Peace" group to Washington, D.C., on September 24, 2005 to participate in the rally organized by United for Peace and Justice. He has also given many presentations on the abuses committed at the Abu Ghraib prison, at which Delgado was stationed for six months.

Delgado sparked considerable controversy when, upon his release from the Army and his return to the United States, he asserted, in an interview with The New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, to have witnessed egregious cases of abuse perpetrated against Iraqi civilians by American soldiers. After the Bob Herbert interview, Delgado provided a sworn statement and copies of photographs taken at Abu Ghraib to Army CID and IG investigators.

Aidan's new book 'The Sutras of Abu Ghraib' (Beacon Press 2007) details his transformation from Army Reserve volunteer to Buddhist conscientious objector and critic of the war in Iraq.

Guest Category: Military, Politics & Government, Spiritual