* * * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * *

Adjoa Skinner, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, and Summer 2010 Avocado Jungle Artist In Residence.

Our music blogger, Dan Rickabus, had a great interview with one of these special people: singer-songwriter (and Avocado Jungle Artist In Residence) Adjoa Skinner. Adjoa is filled with the kind of genuine exuberance and drive and spirit you’d like to bottle and sell because it would make millions. And while she can’t bottle her energy, she can record her music, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if that made her millions one day, too—although she talks about her life as if she’s already won the lottery.

Born in Lancaster, New York (near Buffalo), Adjoa grew up in an extremely musical family. Her mother and stepfather were in a band together that played weddings and other events. Her father’s family wasn’t made up of professional musicians, but they sang in four-part harmony at family events. They were, as Adjoa tells it, “kind of like the Partridge Family without money.” She jumped right into “the biz,” making her first on-stage appearance as a baby in the musical Oliver at the age of two and auditioning for her first session work (a commercial voiceover) a seven.

Now, at twenty-eight, it is clear she has lived and breathed this stuff all her life. She compares her sound to contemporaries like Regina Spektor and Sarah Bareilles, but says she’s a big fan of Sting and Peter Gabriel. An agile and soulful singer, a multi-instrumentalist, and a songwriter—in her own words a “jazz soul singer songwriter”—her influences and tastes make lots of sense when you hear the control, the style, and the maturity of her voice. Her step-dad used to make her mix CDs with Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Ricky Lee Jones, Jeff Buckley, Elton John… not your typical listening material for a girl who went to middle school in the nineties. But Adjoa ate it up, and now these classic sounds are part of the foundation for her songwriting, and for that pervasive note of wisdom in her voice.

A few of my favorite quotes from Adjoa in this interview:

“I listen to people having conversations, and I start to rhyme their conversations in my head. So… I’m kind of a big nerd.”

“The greatest thing that I get back from listening back to all of the recordings [I make], for me, is remembering the moments that I shared with these people that I really love and am so honored to work with.”

“My Mom is so fun to watch. I think one of the greatest things that I hope I get from her is her joy, the way that she makes people feel so comfortable.”

There’s plenty more to hear in this interview—conducted by the ever-amiable Dan Rickabus—including Adjoa’s profound answer to the deep closing question, “What are you searching for?” (I won’t spoil that one. You’ll just have to listen for yourself.) The two seem to enjoy their conversation a lot, and we at the Avocado Jungle are glad to give you the opportunity to enjoy it as well.

* * * * * * * * * *

Listen to a song from Adjoa’s EP, Nothin’ More To Say: Never.

Visit adjoaskinner.com.

It has been a while since I’ve heard the sound of an old record on the turntable with all of its scratches and ticks and pops, but I think I recently heard its digital equivalent. My Skype connection to Roni Segoly in his home in Israel was noisy and his words thus difficult to understand on occasion—not so much, I hope, that his message gets missed. Our talk in mid-June yielded a recording I wish were better, but through all the noise it was still quite inspiring and I’m happy now to be sharing it with you.

Roni is a member of Combatants For Peace, an activist group based in the Middle East which calls for a peaceful end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the creation of two separate states, each with Jerusalem as the capital. The most unique thing about this group, however, is that it consists of former Israeli military and former Palestinian militants who have been there and done that and decided on following a different path—people who are standing up for what they believe in with bravery and fortitude in circumstances that range from difficult to life-threatening and desperate.

Our talk covered the topics of news and success. On the media, Roni explained that the Israeli media—with few exceptions—are broadcasting what the government wants people to hear. They are to some extent a propaganda machine: in step with the official talking points, offering very little criticism. At the same time, limited media exposure has still been enough, along with barrels of elbow grease, to grow CFP from the original couple dozen members in 2005 to around eight hundred today. These descriptions paint Israel as a fascinating halfway point between our own media culture, free and eager to print criticism and investigate every little wrongdoing, and a truly restrictive or even oppressive regime like North Korea and Russia.

And on success, as you might expect, Roni was quick to broadly summarize that CFP is not a success and will not be until the goals on which they were founded are achieved. But he added that in the incremental successes that represent steps along the path, he is proud of the successes of CFP in growing in size, gaining media exposure, and broadcasting their message.

Asked to consider the chances for success in the greater mission, Roni first explained that he considers himself an optimist and feels that the enormous pressure the world is currently exerting on both the Israeli and Palestinian governments has been effective, creating less room for these governments to maneuver. He also thinks a broader base of people are accepting that the two-state solution “because they understand it is the only way.” And in a moment of surprising candor, Roni offered this view of how the conflict will be resolved:

I’m sorry to say but I hope that the Israeli gov’t will just crush, will break under the pressure. I’m not sure what will happen after. I hope it will be good. But I think [all parties] should just keep on pressing and pressing and pressing until they break.

And all of this comes from the mouth of a man clearly dedicated to his cause. After a few years with the group, this husband and father of three tells me he is leaving his comfortable full-time job — a senior position in a high-tech company with a good salary — to become a full-time activist for Combatants and a few other causes. He cites the famous Ghandi quote about “being the change you wish to see in the world” and explains that true success in life entails “the need to fulfill your own mission and do what you believe in.”

* * * * * * * * * *

The Combatants For Peace website.

Listen to an NPR interview in 2008 with two of the founders of Combatants For Peace.

When you consider all the television channels that are now widely available (over a hundred in the average home) I think the tiny number of truly iconic new programs says a great deal about the nature of the process of creating a television show. One such iconic show was the Sci-Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica, widely hailed as a really exceptional series. (Time’s #1 show on TV in 2005, for example.) Happy to be along for the ride from the start was composer Bear McCreary, then in his mid-twenties.

To say that the show was a success would clearly be a big understatement. To say the same for Bear McCreary’s career may be an understatement of the same magnitude. Now thirty-one years old, Bear has scored the entirety of the Battlestar Galactica and Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles series, and is now scoring Eureka, Caprica, and Human Target. I had the great pleasure of an interview with Bear and asked him some questions about success.

One thing I have to say about Bear and success is that he seems to be a lucky, lucky man who has also truly earned his station. This is a man who, through a chance encounter at a Rotary Club lunch in his hometown in Washington state, ended up meeting legendary film composer Elmer Bernstein, entering his tutelage and eventually assisting him in his work. Bear is the first to admit there is no bigger stroke of luck for an aspiring composer than that, and as he tells it there have been numerous other richly fortuitous circumstances that propelled his career forward. But windfalls like the Elmer Bernstein association could have led nowhere—or even to bad places—had Bear not been severly talented, exceptionally passionate about composing, and extraordinarily hard working. He mentioned in our interview that he frequently works 12 to 16 hour days and has had just one day in 2010 when he wasn’t working.

One day off in the last seven months.

In offering his advice on success Bear McCreary references that passion and work ethic, warning that if you are not passionate about what you do, if you do not work very hard, you will still be competing against “guys like me.” He says this without a trace of arrogance or entitlement. He humbly defines success for himself as the point at which he can expect to make a living as a working musician for the forseeable future, a point which he is grateful to say he has now reached. But his assertion about finding success is convincing. He makes a Simon Cowell point without any of the Simon Cowell-ness: if you don’t got the game, don’t come out to play. Only he phrases it in a much more positive light, encouraging those truly interested in career success to pursue that success in a field where their passion will fuel the hard work needed to really make it.

Career achievement may be somewhat simple to quantify, but I’ve always found the reasons behind it are far more complex. I’d like to close by offering that it’s possible Bear’s affability and eloquence played a significant part. With the same skills, the same passion and the same luck, but a grouchy, difficult demeanor, would fewer people have chosen to work with him? Would he have gotten this far?

I encourage you to listen to this fascinating interview, the audio track for which is itself an example of Bear’s good nature. Near the end, and already around the twenty-minute limit I had promised him, my recording setup failed me. I was relieved beyond words to find the audio up to that point had been preserved, but my computer had crashed and was not letting me continue the session.

I was ready to call it a day and just tag on a sad explanation later but instead Bear offered to field my last few questions over the phone, record his answers on his iPhone, and send them to me. It may seem like a small gesture, but it’s one I would not expect from most enormously successful people in the middle of another 16-hour workday. So that will explain the change in audio quality at the end of my recording, and at the same time, it may at least partially explain why Bear McCreary finds himself on his way to becoming one of the most inarguably important television composers of our time.

* * * * * * * * * *

Read Bear’s blog.

Visit Bear’s website.

Buy Bear’s music on iTunes. (As a drummer and a fan of the sci-fi sound, I can’t recommend the Battlestar soundtracks enough. I enjoy season 1 for it’s relative lightness and simplicity and season 3 for its ambitiousness—and both for their excellently written, performed, and recorded percussion parts. I haven’t got season 4 yet, which Bear feels is his best.)

In March I had the pleasure of an interview with him. It was long enough to divide into two parts. This is the second part. It’s fairly short and focuses exclusively on Shostakovich’s Concerto in C minor for Piano, Trumpet, and String Orchestra, Op. 35. As with the Mozart concerto in the first segment of our interview, here Derek offers a few thoughts on how to listen to this quirky and challenging piece of twentieth century orchestral music.

Performing with Derek is trumpet player Richard Illman and the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra. You can find the recording of his performance of this symphony in four movements here.

Here’s the second and final part of our interview: Part 2 of the interview.

Before you click, consider listening to part one of the interview, and his performance of the Mozart D Minor Concerto, both posted several days ago. For more about Derek, visit his online staff profile at MSU. If you’re into teaching or learning piano, follow his Piano Pedagogy Blog.

Back then I had the good fortune of recording several of his recitals. They were always my favorite. He always handled pre-recital stress with a sense of fun and perspective, then went out on stage and commanded his instrument in the most graceful of ways. I find his playing simultaneously tastefully understated and full of energy and joy. I still can’t figure out how that’s possible.

I now have the pleasure of sharing with you an interview I conducted with Derek. It was long enough to divide into two parts. This is the first part. He has a fantastic little story about finding music at a young age, shares a bit about his background in life and in music, and talks about the first of the two pieces he is sharing with us, Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D Minor, K. 466. I’m happy that he shared a few thoughts on how to listen to a piece like this, as I think a lot of folks feel a bit disconnected from classical music—and largely just from lack of knowledge and exposure.

Performing with Derek is the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra. You can find the recording of his performance of this symphony in three movements here.

First, enjoy part one of the interview: interview with Derek Polischuk

After the interview and the Mozart, listen to part two of our interview and take in the Derek’s performance of the Shostakovich Concerto No. 1. For more about Derek, visit his online staff profile at MSU. If you’re into teaching or learning piano, follow his Piano Pedagogy Blog. I’ll post the second half of the interview and Derek’s second performance soon.

Now that he’s our music blogger, you can look for some regular insight into the latest music, the best music of days past, and up-and-coming performers, plus more interviews and performances. I think you’ll find his attitude and outlook infections and his writing captivating. I do.

Here’s my interview with him. I also posted it on the page featuring his music.

Interview with Dan Rickabus.

Here’s a video from uke-rocker (?!) Dan Rickabus. His smooth-yet-gritty voice and his big, ukelele-glazed rock sensibilities are very easy on the ears.

If you like what you hear, here’s a track from his album (under the name Dan Rickabus and Friends), “The Audio Tree Sessions.” The song is called Something Static.

I also had the pleasure of an interview with Dan, who is from Michigan. We talked about his musical roots, listening to music, family and other things. An interview with Dan Rickabus.

The latest edition to our Dan Rickabus collection is his performance on Music In Our House in March 2010.

I interview artist Joe Vaux. Joe talks about the influence of his parents, who are both artists; the lasting impression made by his hilariously cruel uncle; and his own art, specifically this piece, Flood. He also answers some questions about the AVJ’s theme of the week: technology. Listen to the interview.

See Joe’s art at his online gallery: joevaux.com. Joe’s parents both have their art online: sandrabenny.com and richardvaux.com.

He also is a cofounder of A Better L.A., a community improvement group whose mission is to transform communities that struggle with violence, and whose approach is to identify the important players and resources, bring them all to the table to talk and plan, and then teach people within a troubled community to make use of these resources for themselves and change their own situations for the better. The Executive Director of the group, charged with fulfilling this vision, is Brian Center. I had the pleasure of an unhurried twenty-three-minute interview with him back in February and wrote a bit about it in a blog a few months ago. Now, finally, you can hear the complete interview–it’s my first serious interview, so please be gentle!–and read some highlights and commentary below. I recommend listening to this inspiring interview about people accomplishing incredible things simply because they hold the belief that it can be done.

Listen to the interview.

If you only have time for highlights, here are some of my favorite quotes:

On Pete Carroll’s involvement in A Better L.A.: “He likes to get involved as much as he can, and part of that is he’s just very passionate about what he does. And he doesn’t have a huge ego.”

On why Carroll inspires the people around him: “He talks the talk and walks the walk, as they say. He really lives his philosophy of life 100% of the time.”

More on Carroll as a motivator and role model: “He’s one of the most disciplined guys I’ve ever met in my life. If he believes in something and says he’s going to do something he does it. And so you just can’t help but be inspired when you’re around him and want to do better and want to be the best person you can be because you see him acting like that and showing you it’s possible.”

Still more about Carroll: “People are very inspired by his vision. People are very inspired by the way he acts, how consistent he is. You can see him any time of day or night, and he could have had a really tough day, and he’s still positive and upbeat and pumping people up and talking about being the best you can be. And so it seems to impact just about everybody he’s around.”

On Carroll’s effect on a variety of people: “At A Better L.A., we’ve had a pretty diverse group of people around him, from law enforcement to social workers to very successful people to gang members. It doesn’t matter who it is. Everyone responds in a positive way.”

On the inception of A Better L.A.: “When Pete got the non-profit started several years ago, that was really the first thing that he did, was to just bring people together. He just creates this atmosphere that makes that very safe and doable and positive.”

More about the birth of A Better L.A.: “[He] brought together all these people who never talked to each other before and gave them a common vision to gather around the table and try to solve this problem of gang violence together.”

On the importance of role models in the A Better L.A. philosophy: “I think everyone needs a role model that they can relate to at some level. So the ideal role model would be someone who they know, who they can relate to and has a similar background. That’s part of our philosophy and one of our slogans, ‘Build communities from within,’ which means that, yeah, we’re helping, but the real people doing the work and the real extraordinary people are people within the community already. And we’re really just trying to … build them into the role models they can be. And so the inner city kids can say, ‘Hey, that guy’s not that different from me. He’s from my neighborhood and look what he’s doing. I can do that, too.’”

On solving the problem of violence: “You can’t stop someone from shooting another person … unless you talk to the person who has their finger on the trigger. And no one else is really doing that.” (Center goes on to explain that they are investing their time and energy in gang members and other troubled souls because they are the ones who can most effectively deliver the message, and because deep down, most folks really do want this change.)

On hope, skills, and the domino effect: “There’s hope for just about everybody out there. And if we can just pay attention to these folks who never get paid attention to, and give them some hope and some basic skills about how to approach life, then they can change. And if they’re the ones causing a lot of chaos in the community and they change, the domino impact is really tremendous.”

On a current A Better L.A. project to “try to make a comprehensive change for the better” in the Los Angeles community known as West Athens: “One of the exciting things about it is it’s sort of merging the worlds of grassroots efforts with research.” (As examples, Center cites the grassroots work of Multi-Systemic Therapy and the research of Irving Spergel and Edward Latessa. He explains that many groups have tried one approach or the other, and a few have made limited attempts to combine the two, but none has integrated the grassroots approach with serious research so extensively as A Better L.A. This way, he elaborates, people who need attention are getting that attention from people they know and respond to, but that information has been proven appropriate and helpful.)

I’d like to thank Brian Center for this lengthy interview late at night and for his generous offer to continue to answer questions and provide further information as needed. He is knowledgeable, professional, well-spoken and dedicated. And he invites people and entities in Los Angeles to get involved. Get on the group’s online communities and share stories and support. Give money. As with any big problem, every little bit really does help.