Fun With Insomnia Blog

Well-endowed campaigns lack substance, integrity

Two of the crassest, most cynical political campaigns I’ve witnessed in a long time are being run by the current Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and governorship.

Linda McMahon has announced that she will spend whatever she has to win, making it blatantly clear that she will buy her Senate seat, valued at approximately $50 million by her calculation. Tom Foley, the gubernatorial candidate, has indicated he will do the same.

Linda has had a full-time paid staff of 35 for a year making sure every eyebrow hair is in place and the right number of daily “I love you” valentines are distributed to the needy. Linda’s campaign ads, however, feature her repeatedly addressing the concerns of supposed small business owners. That’s it. Senators, however, vote on national issues and budgets, not the concerns of small business owners in Connecticut.

The media need to start tossing her some hardball questions and stop slobbering over her dubious media polish. Does she know where the Hindu Kush Mountains are? Who the prime minister of Iran is? Anything about the pros and cons of fiscal stimulus and deficit spending?

Tom Foley has a lackluster personality, no elective office experience, and the same single-issue ad focus that is almost as weird as Linda’s, except that it has some relevance to the office he wants to buy. Neither Linda nor Tom has any identifiable political philosophy except the stale bromide of smaller government and the equally stale rhetorical attacks on career politicians.

By the latter logic, I’m tired of career political lawyers and career doctors. Why don’t they switch jobs? Your political lawyer can stick you with a needle, and your doctor can write your will. The political lawyer will find that vein eventually. All he needs is a bit of on-the-job training on your arms and at your expense.

Don’t base a vote on madmen advertising, the substance of Tom’s and Linda’s campaigns to date. It’s the same as believing that infomercials will grow hair. Because they have no relevant past, their actions and votes are not foreseeable.

And given the hoary traditions of the Senate, the winner will not be “shaking things up in Washington” as Linda’s loopy make-believe would have you believe, but be a very junior member with a longer learning curve than it would take a political lawyer to learn anatomy.

Make an effort to meet the candidates, look them in the eye, shake their hands, and ask them a tough question appropriate to the job they are running for.

But don’t bestow a powerful government office on know-nothing opportunists with no government experience, whose private amassing of wealth has little to do with the complicated decisions, legislative expertise, state budget executions, and burdensome responsibilities to many groups and classes of voters of an elective job.

Their money entitles them to campaign — not to win. We know money corrupts politics. Isn’t that what’s going on in Connecticut this silly season?

Mary Galgota

Fairfield

Brandt’s financial philosophy needed

Having served on the Representative Town Meeting with DeeDee Brandt, I can attest to her dedication to Fairfield and her understanding of the financial problems and associated deficits now facing Connecticut residents.

Then, as now, DeeDee understood that it was unwise for any public entity to pay for current obligations by issuing debt, the effective equivalent of using a credit card, instead of cutting expenses and what the future may bring if the practice continued. I’m confident she will vote against any budget that relies on debt to cover current obligations, includes wasteful spending and will promote policies that will encourage job growth in Connecticut.

A vote for DeeDee Brandt is a vote for good fiscal planning and sound economic policy for the State of Connecticut. DeeDee is getting my vote.

Paul H. Bartlett

Fairfield

Drew, Fawcett fueled fire

of dismal economic climate

With spectacularly miserable records to work with, I don’t envy those I see writing letters of support for State Representatives Tom Drew and Kim Fawcett. Talk about “taking one for the team.”

Drew and Fawcett might be nice people and good parents, friends and neighbors (Representative Fawcett took the time to walk my neighborhood and stop by my house, which I appreciated.) However, as our representatives they completely failed us and proved they can’t be trusted to be responsible stewards of our tax dollars.

Due to policies they supported (in lock-step with the rest of their lop-sided Democratic majority) spending soared, taxes increased at historic rates (for both citizens and businesses,) new regulatory burdens were placed on businesses and the size of our state’s bureaucracy experienced staggering growth. You know, pretty much all the short-sighted and often reckless things liberal politicians do when left unchecked by conservatives.

The consequences have been devastating to Connecticut and will haunt us for years to come. We have the fifth largest budget deficit in the country, which is projected to grow to $3.5 billion by 2012. Companies are leaving the state at an alarming rate because of our high costs and unfriendly business atmosphere (we lost 100,000 jobs in the last two years alone.)

Connecticut residents are also burdened with some of the highest taxes ($8,500 per person), energy and healthcare costs in the country. Oh, and the kicker, we currently have the highest debt-per-person out of any state in the Union. Please re-read that last sentence a few times.

These are the same job-killing policies that through the years have brought about the sad decline of our once great industrial cities.

The only specific accomplishment touted in letters I’ve read is that they’ve been able to secure state funding for projects in Fairfield. I appreciate them helping us at least understand why we have massive deficits. Drew and Fawcett were given the Connnecticut credit card and spent money the state didn’t have so they could have something to hang their hat on come election time. In the meantime, they sat back and watched their Democratic colleagues across the state do the same thing for the same end. In their minds this was all OK; after all, people in Connecticut have the money and, as our President says, “It’s not that I want to punish your success; I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

I don’t feel comfortable so harshly criticizing people who I assume are doing what they think is best. However, what they think is best is running Connecticut into the ground and I’m not going to just sit back and let supporters tell you different. The stakes are way too high and they need to be removed so they can’t do any more harm to our great state.

Let’s just hope other districts throughout the state also come to their senses this November and replace their Democratic representatives with conservative Republicans. Only conservatives can be trusted to turn this crisis around and get Connecticut back on track to being the most attractive state in the Union to live and start a business.

So, please don’t be fooled by people supporting Tom Drew and Kim Fawcett, talking about how independent-minded and fiscally conservative they are. They’re not and it’s disingenuous to say otherwise.

And don’t even get me started with Jim Himes and Dick Blumenthal supporters…

Joe Palmer

Fairfield, CT

If the job is filled, one option being considered is for Mr Myers to replaced
with a professional media handler

Mr Hague’s decision to appoint Mr Myers, 25, as his special adviser, drew
attention to the relationship between the two men.

Mr Hague confirmed this week that the shared hotel rooms during the general
election campaign. Both say their relationship is entirely professional and
proper.

Mr
Myers resigned on Wednesday and Mr Hague made a frank public
statement, saying he was committed to his marriage and revealing that his
wife, Ffion, has suffered several miscarriages.

Mr Myers, a history graduate who used to work as a driver and “gopher” for Mr
Hague in opposition, was put on the public payroll in May as a special
adviser and paid a salary of around £30,000.

Special advisers are politically-appointed members of the civil service who
are supposed to coordinate a minister’s government work and party-political
interests.

The appointment of Mr Myers raised questions about his qualifications and
about why Mr Hague needed a third adviser. Most Cabinet ministers have one
or two aides, and the Coalition has promised to limit spending on political
appointees’ salaries.

Mr Hague has defended the appointment and said he needed a third aide to deal
with work arising from his additional ministerial duties as First Secretary
of State and David Cameron’s effective deputy in the Conservative Party.

But in the aftermath of Mr Myers’ resignation, senior Government figures are
discussing options including telling Mr Hague to continue with only two
advisers.

The appointment of any new adviser would have to be personally approved by
David Cameron, and it is understood that Downing Street is still considering
whether Mr Myers should be replaced.

One source said: “There isn’t a decision on that. Whether the job is filled
will depend on discussions over the next few days.”

Some ministers have privately said Mr Hague’s troubles have been compounded by
the absence of a full-time media handler on his team.

Many ministers have at least one adviser whose main work is dealing with
journalists, but Mr Hague’s remaining advisers, Arminka Helic and Denzil
Davidson, are both foreign-policy specialists who rarely speak to reporters.

Ms Helic came to Britain as a refugee from the Bosnian war in the 1990s, and
is Mr Hague’s chief of staff. Mr Davidson is a political lawyer and expert in European
Union matters.

Until the general election, Mr Hague had a dedicated media adviser, William
Littlejohn, who is the son of a Fleet Street columnist.

When the Coalition was formed, however, Mr Littlejohn was not offered a job
with Mr Hague, and went to work for Caroline Spelman, the environment
secretary.

The former head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana — who earned a reputation as an aggressive critic of President Fidel Castro during his diplomatic tour — is the latest contender for mayor in Coral Gables.

James Cason, 65, joins Coral Gables attorney Tom Korge, 60, in the race. The city’s municipal election is April 12, 2011.

Mayor Don Slesnick, who has served as the city’s mayor since 2001, said he will probably not run for a final term — but he might run. He hasn’t made a decision.

Whoever wins the race will lead a city whose tax base has decreased in the past two years and whose administrators are struggling to provide quality services while contain increasing costs in labor, pensions, operations and maintenance.

The mayor’s term lasts for two years; the current salary is $34,736 a year. Qualifying for the mayor and commission races takes place from Feb. 21-25, 2011.

Cason went on Bernadette Pardo’s Spanish language radio show Friday to tell people about his candidacy. He said he wants to be mayor because he is interested in how the city spends its money and how it governs. He said he has financial management skills from running foreign embassies.

Cason does not believe Cuba will be a factor in the election.

“This is going to be an election about how we are going to live with a budget based on a tax base that is dropping,” he said.

Cason moved to Coral Gables in 2008, after his final stint as U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay. The New Jersey native, a diplomat for 40 years, has served in Jamaica, El Salvador, Bolivia, Panama, Uruguay, Venezuela, Italy and Portugal.

As the chief U.S. diplomat in Havana from񎧒 to 2005, Cason angered the Cuban government when he traveled throughout Cuba, met with dissidents, handed out books and shortwave radios.

A 2004 Christmas display on the U.S. Interests Section grounds — with a Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman and “75” referring to the 75 dissidents Castro jailed in a 2003 crackdown — prompted Cuba to build its own billboards across the street showing U.S. abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Cason returned last week from Iraq. As an inspector general for the U.S. Department of State, his task was to identify waste and mismanagement at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

He opened a campaign account on July 10. Now, he has switched to campaign mode. Cason said he did not know how much money he has raised. “We are just starting,” he said.

Korge, the other mayoral candidate, is a tax and business attorney at Korge & Korge and an adjunct law professor at the University of Miami. He is the brother of Chris Korge, a major fundraiser of the Democratic Party.

“I love Coral Gables. I want to make it a better community,” he said, explaining his decision to run.

His priorities are to maintain police, fire protection, garbage and city services; fix departments that have not been operating well; and ensure the city makes long-term investments in its infrastructure. These include: implementing a streetscape plan for Miracle Mile, further developing some city parks, repairing the Coral Gables Water Tower and creating a long-term plan to ensure historic preservation of city properties.

Korge entered the race in late January. Finance reports show he has raised $80,ᕼ as of June 30.

His immediate focus would be on the Gables’ finances — “a big problem.”

As the former chairman of the city’s Pension Board, Korge said its pension system is not sustainable and needs to be changed. Last year, the city contributed $26 million towards pensions. Even so, the city’s pension shortfall soared to $198 million — a $30 million jump.

“The challenge will be municipal finances. The dollars coming in are decreasing and the costs are going up,” Korge said.

Local News

Posted 22 hours ago

Shirley Lin

Today staff

A local political lawyer has made the first bid to run for the Saprae Creek and Draper area in the upcoming municipal election.

Allan Vinni, who is known for being chairman of Habitat for Humanity Wood Buffalo and organizing Law Day, announced Thursday his intention to run for Ward 3 currently held by Coun. Renee Rebus.

Vinni, who has a law practice downtown, said after living in Fort McMurray for a decade, it’s now the right time.

“I came here, not on any five-year plan, I came here with the idea that I was going to live, work and play here until I retired,” he said. “I’ve always thought it was something I would do in the future when it seemed right, and it seems right now.”

Unlike other council candidates, Vinni said he isn’t a huge fan of having a platform or agenda.

“I’m not a huge fan of that, I don’t have an agenda. My agenda is to respond to the concerns of the people in my ward and make decisions on the issues as they arise.”

He said this view is based from his observation of city council back in his native town of Thunder Bay, Ont., where councillors didn’t come up with political agendas. Instead, they just took care of problems as they appeared.

In his press release, Vinni outlined general goals he has of the community including preparing the town that’s seeing a huge population growth, developing support systems for newcomers, protecting smaller communities like Saprae Creek and Draper, and accountability on the part of councillors.

Vinni added that there are concerns about the industrial, commercial and residential developments in his ward that will impact the two communities. “I don’t think a lot of people drive out to Saprae or live there; they’d be surprised at how much heavy traffic there is on the highway already.

The expansion of the airport — there will be a large industrial corridor there that’s not

necessarily a positive thing for Saprae.”

About the current council he said he has been told there were divisions among councillors, but that does not matter for him.

“There’s basically going to be half of new councillors … so it’s going to be a new council and whatever happened in the past is ancient history to me.”

Vinni added that the town needs to cut itself some slack dealing with the population growth its seen in the last

10 years, now sitting at

almost 80,000 people. “We’ve done actually a pretty good job of it.”

shirley.lin@fortmcmurraytoday.com

Arts/Life

Posted By JANE STEVENSON, QMI AGENCY

Posted 5 hours ago

Is veteran hard rock act KISS recession-proof?

Singer-rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley certainly seems to think so.

“For all the talk about bands doing horrific business, we’re doing terrific business,” says Stanley, 58, down the line from Raleigh, N.C., recently, leading up to the band’s only Canadian summer date on Sept. 10 in Toronto.

“We had 14,000-15,000 people last night, and the night before pretty much the same. I think the only thing that’s changed is that people don’t want to pay a lot of money. You know if you pay for a Rolls Royce and you get a Chevy, then you kind of feel cheated. So if you’re paying to see something, you damn well better see something.

“I have nothing against a guy who sits on a stool with an acoustic guitar, but to pay the same amount for that as you pay for a spectacle is insanity. When you come to a KISS concert, you know where your money just went ’cause it’s blinding you, deafening you and pummeling you.”

When it comes to spectacle, few acts can measure up to the face-painting, costume and platforms-wearing KISS, who have been major road warriors of late. They staged their Alive/35 tour last year, which morphed into their Sonic Boom tour (named for their 2009 studio album), which is being called The Hottest Show on Earth tour in 2010.

Still, Stanley said the platform boots, combined with the physical nature of the KISS show, have definitely taken their toll over the last three and a half decades with him undergoing two hip replacement surgeries.

“It wasn’t the platforms, it was years of doing a lot of roundhouse kicks, and basically you just wear out your hip, ultimately you wind up with bone on bone so I r years and finally it just reached a point where it needed to be replaced — but I’m basically good for another 50,000 miles,” he joked.

This current leg of the summer tour has also been taxing.

“We played last night in close to 100% humidity,” said Stanley. “It’s kind of like trying to run a marathon under water. It’s taxing; it’s not for the weak-hearted.”

Speaking of which, Stanley missed his first show in the history of KISS in July 2007 when he was hospitalized with tachycardia, or rapid heartbeat, something he said he has been dealing with since childhood.

“It has nothing to do with not being healthy. It’s this pretty odd album condition that will never kill you, but yet your heartbeat while your sitting can go from 70 or 80 beats a minute to 200 from one beat to the next and stay there. Finally, they thread a catheter up into your heart to find what’s going wrong and they just zap it, they burn it, and the next day you’re back in the gym. I had it done. Look, I’m the bionic man. They’ve gotten me up from a 103 temperature to do a show. The show must go on.”

Once The Hottest Show on Earth Tour wraps up in September, Stanley expects the band to hit the studio in February of next year to make a new studio album and he doesn’t expect the compilation DVD, Kissology 4, to see the light of day until 2011 despite rumours of a fall release.

jane.stevenson@sunmedia.ca

September is National yoga month, and I am a yoga teacher that loves yoga and teaching it. For many years now I have witnessed first-hand how yoga can change a person from the inside out. I have seen the most inflexible person transform into a fit and healthy flexible person. I have taught yoga for over 13 years now and have had students range in age from18 months to 98 years old. Yoga is an amazing physical fitness routine. Anyone can do yoga and I mean anyone. I have even taught amputees, not just a person with a limb missing, but even quadruple amputees. Yoga can be done by anyone.

First let me begin by explaining the ancient purpose of yoga. Yoga is an exact science and it was developed to aid the sunyassins or “seekers of truth.” In order to sit long hours in meditation comfortably, they needed to have loose joints and strong backs. It would stand to reason that if you couldn’t sit comfortably for long because your knees ached and your back was killing you, you simply wouldn’t be able to delve into your deeper dimensions to find the bliss of your own being now could you?

By practicing yoga daily and for many hours the ancient practitioners found that they could attain higher states of consciousness. They had mental clarity that resulted in deeper concentration and mental focus; they had emotional balance and a tranquil sense of calm and great inner strength; their minds were at ease, resting into their bodies, they found they could delve deeper and deeper with much ease because their bodies were not tight and knotted, their digestive systems worked properly, their blood pressure was low, all of their bodily functions were working optimally. They even possessed the ability to lower their blood pressure at will; could hear their heart beat and actually feel their blood flowing in their vessels. Sound outrageous? You bet, but it is all true.

So, you ask what’s all this got to do with me? Sure, the ancients could go off into the mountains and sequester themselves and go exploring on an inner adventure to find their bliss, but this is the modern age �” you say “I have to work to support myself, my family, pay bills, etc. I can’t do that!”

You are right. It seems unless we are independently wealthy or are just irresponsible, it wouldn’t be possible to go running off to the nearest mountain top to find nirvana within ourselves … or is it?

In 1998, a Roper study stated that Yoga had touched the lives of over 18 million people globally and was projected (at that time) that 28 million people would be doing Yoga by 2002. It is now 2010, and we have far exceeded that projection. Right now there are more people in California practicing Hatha Yoga today than in all of India and more new practitioners every day!

So why do we still have so many uptight people? Because yoga hasn’t found its way to the mainstream of America yet. Some people have been led to believe it is a religion or a cult “thing.” This is not the case!

What can yoga do for you?

Yoga can be any thing you want it to be. It is nondogmatic and can be a great physical fitness program that involves stretching and elongating the spine so that it will maintain a proper alignment; it can be a breathing practice that leads to lower blood pressure, increased lung capacity, increased cardio-vascular health, not to mention a great way to relieve stress. Doctors frequently recommend meditation to their patients with high blood pressure. Because many progressive thinking doctors know that meditation is key to relieving stress and allowing the mind to �€œtake a break” from its constant activity, meditation brings emotional stability and mental clarity, and improves concentration and focus.

For some Yoga can become a philosophy of life. As you begin to practice more it awakens your ���inner” consciousness and allows you to observe yourself more readily. Suddenly, you will notice that you move with less tension throughout your body, you don’t have headaches anymore, your neck and shoulders, back and legs feel better. The benefits are not only lasting, but deeply profound and transformational.

Take what you need from yoga. It’s whatever you make of it. It can be simply a great work out that has a plethora of benefits and it can be a philosophy, a new way of life that will lead you to find that unity of body/mind/spirit. It can satisfy you in ways you can’t even imagine. Yoga is not a fad, it is not an overnight sensation, yoga has been around for thousands of years and will be till the end of time. It is the gift of the ancients to us in this present day that is filled with deadlines, road-rage, and the daily insanities of any number of stressors.

Yoga and stress reduction

The American Medical Association has stated that 80 percent of all illnesses are stress related. (One of yoga’s major benefits is stress reduction.) According to Herbert Benson, MD, Director of Mind/Body Center at Harvard Medical School, Ȝ to 90 percent of doctor visits, for everything from the common cold to cancer are stress related. The National Institute of Health has stated that there is currently more office visits to complementary/alternative medicine practitioners than to western doctors.

It has been noted that in the U.S. yoga is now entering the mainstream health care industry. In the late �90s, several American medical insurance companies, such as Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Consensus Health and Mutual of Omaha have introduced yoga or yoga related options to their wellness programs.

Other benefits of yoga

Millions before us benefitted from this ancient practice and now yoga has become more widely known and its benefits are being documented and proven.

Over my 13+ years of teaching, I have had students report that knee and back surgeries were cancelled and chronic headaches ceased. Their chronic neck and back pain, constipation, nervousness, insomnia symptoms and countless other symptoms eradicated all by a simple regular yoga practice.

Of course I am not saying that you should only practice yoga and not go to a doctor. But, what I am saying is that with the proper diet, regular exercise, and a regular yoga practice we can live healthier lives. And, hopefully, avoid so many visits to the doctor!

Yoga works mainly because it is one of the only sustainable forms of physical exercise. It builds stronger muscles, bones and not only that— it gives your mind a rest and helps you in ways unimaginable. I like to say, “Yoga nurtures what needs to be nurtured and heals what needs to be healed.”

September is National Yoga Month. Find a yoga studio near you and take a class, bring a friend or family member. Make it a weekly routine and see for yourself what everyone that has been practicing yoga is talking about.

— Angelina Calafiore, CMT CYT is the founder and director of Serendipity Yoga Center for Health and Wellbeing she can be reached at 530-559-1ᘇ.

by Matthew Daly
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – What now for the Gulf?

News of another oil rig explosion fire in the Gulf of Mexico, so soon after the BP oil spill, has set off a wave of anxiety along the Gulf Coast and prompted calls for the government to extend its six-month ban on deepwater drilling.

Just when it seemed the Obama administration might be ready to lift the unpopular ban, the fire raises new questions about the dangers of offshore drilling, leaving the industry wondering when it can get back to work.

“Anything that casts any kind of shadow on the industry right now certainly complicates lifting the moratorium,” said Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Texas. “It makes it difficult to continue to say that (the BP spill) is an aberration.”

But while initial reports were frightening, Bullock and other experts said Thursday’s platform fire is unlikely to have a lasting effect.

Unlike the April explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig – which killed 11 people and led to the largest offshore oil spill in the nation’s history – the fire at the Mariner Energy Inc. platform 100 miles south of Louisiana killed no one and sent no crude gushing into the water.

“There’s over 100 fires in the Gulf in a given year. Were it not for the BP incident this would receive very little coverage,” Bullock said. “This could have happened in a meat factory or a paint factory or anywhere else.”

Even so, environmental groups and some Democratic lawmakers rushed to denounce offshore drilling and urge the Obama administration to extend the six-month deepwater ban to shallow water as well. The current ban has shut down drilling at 33 ocean wells, but there still are more than 7,300 active leases in the Gulf of Mexico, 58 percent of them in deep waters, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

There are about 3,400 platforms operating in the Gulf, pumping about a third of America’s domestic oil.

The latest fire “is another reminder that drilling accidents happen all too frequently. We cannot afford to lose any more human lives, nor can we tolerate further damage to the Gulf and its irreplaceable ocean ecosystems,” said Jacqueline Savitz of the environmental group Oceana.

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a leading critic of BP, said the fire highlights the risks associated with offshore drilling. Lawmakers “have a duty to … all oil workers to make sure the oil industry’s drilling practices are safe and sound,” Markey said.

Say what you will about Billy Corgan, but you have to appreciate the man’s tenacity. Since forming the Smashing Pumpkins in 1988, Corgan has seen more than his fair share of high highs (the Grammy sweeping Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness comes to mind) and low lows (deaths, divorces, and more band in-fighting and lineup changes than we can recall). Still, the frontman and mastermind behind the Pumpkins pushes on, now with an all-new lineup that includes 19-year-old drum wizard Mike Byrne and a forthcoming concept album appropriately (and cryptically) titled Teargarden by Kaleidyscope. I recently spoke to Corgan via phone in anticipation of the Pumpkins’ Saturday night show at the Lobero Theatre, during which time we touched on everything from past struggles to last yearâ��s blistering (and sweaty) tour stop at Muddy Waters Café. What transpired is below.

I guess, first and foremost, I have to ask about your last trip up here with Spirits in the Sky. What prompted that string of dates?

Well, that summer I’d written a bunch of songs for Teargarden — I don’t know if I’ll ever record them — but we were working on them as a unit. I had the new drummer, Mike, and my friend Kerry [Brown] was playing congas and some drums and Mark [Tulin] from the Electric Prunes was playing bass, so we were just sort of jamming everyday. Then we said, â��Oh, we should play a few gigs,’ so I called my agent and just told him I wanted to play just the simplest, smallest places. I didn’t want any stress or anything, just make it real simple. Next thing you know, once we started booking the dates, friends just kind of started stopping by to hang out — maybe because we were officially rehearsing or something. But suddenly we started saying to people, ‘Oh, you should sing on this song,’ and because it was just the one week, next thing we knew we had nine people playing. Everybody wanted to do the tour, and I never saw any of the venues so, particularly for the one in Santa Barbara, we went in and were like, ‘How is this going to work?’ Because of the way it was all set up, the drummer couldn’t even see me when I was singing. But it was really good fun. I remember, I think I stopped the show because it was so hot.

It had been a long time since you had played venues of that size. What did you take away from the experience? You know, it’s a bit difficult because there’s the romantic aspect of, ‘Oh, I’m just going to play in a really small place and people will listen.’ The nature of crowds has really changed over the past ten years, I’ve found, because of the Internet and the way people communicate with each other, even. Anything that I do, you’ve got the ten hardcore Smashing Pumpkins fans who you know are super opinionated, for who nothing is ever good enough, or everything is great there�€™s sort of no middle ground. Then you get the kind of casual dude who goes with his friend because they liked the Pumpkins in the ‘90s. It’s an pretty odd album mixture. The point is, there’s sort of a romantic idea that you’re going to play in front of a crowd that doesn’t know what you’re doing or who you are, because maybe in your mind there’s sort of an innocence attached to it. But it doesn’t really work that way. For lack of a better way to put it, the smaller the environment, the more you can interact with the environment. Once you get past a 500 person venue, the environment sort of controls the show, whether you want it to or not. I mean, you can ignore it, but there’s always some sort of effect that the environment has. At least in a small setting like that it has a little but of a communal vibe.

For me, the best part of that whole week was just having a really great time with my friend and having music be the highlight of the day. But the rest of the day was a lot of fun too. It kind of brought me back to the earlier days of the Pumpkins where we were sort of all on the same page, driving ourselves around with no tour manager. It brought me back to the simple thing of, like, ‘Yes. This is why I want to play and I don’t want to do anything other than this any more.’ There’s a business creep that happens over time, and I see it with other bands too, and I just don’t want any part of it anymore.

How, if at all, did that inform the new record? I think that you could say that in a simple way, but I think overall it was just a progression of my spirit from one… If I can go back a little bit, the last sort of real serious touring that I did was at the end of 2008 with Pumpkins, and we did a 20th anniversary tour, which was really volatile. People were not necessarily happy with the shows we were playing. We got great reviews. I got some of the best reviews of my life because the critical end of it understood what I was trying to do, which was sort of shake some new stuff loose from the trees. But the fanbase people came expecting that 20th anniversary meant “greatest hits,” so there was a really dark energy to that tour. And after that I got really sick and had some really serious health issues. That whole year of 2009 for me was really sort of a spiritual progression to [this realization that] I can�™t do anything that doesn’t sort of physically, emotionally, and spiritually support me. I don’t care what it is; I don’t care what you call it. Everything I do has to have sort of a happiness attached to it. It doesnâ€�t mean I’m living in Rainbow Land, it just means I have to feel good about it or I’m not going to do it. At some point you have to sort of make that decision in your life that, if you’ve learned anything, you’ve earned the right to say “no” to something. So I felt like, ‘OK, I’m no longer going to be controlled by the Smashing Pumpkins expectations, or the Smashing Pumpkins world, or these groups of people. Everything I do I want to do with a full heart. If I can’t do it with a full heart, I won’t do it.’ [Those shows] were just part of that process of me figuring out what that really felt like. There�™s the idealistic part and then there’s the reality component, which is ‘OK, how do you actually do this?’

Completely fair. Coming from there, and considering all of the negative feedback and all of the expectations that you’ve been dealt, I have to ask, what drives you to keep doing it? Well, at some point I fell back in love with music. Because at some point in my life I felt like I was enslaved by it. Success has a way of making you its bitch. I can be an over reactive person, so I feel like something’s pressing on me, no matter how good it is, or how good everyone is telling me it is, I can be kind of contrary in that way. It took me a long time to realize that music is the greatest gift I’d ever been given, whether it was the ability to hear music and understand the language of it and have so much pleasure from listening to so many great artists, or the ability to translate my own language in a way that was distinctive and obviously had connected with people all over the planet. I was able to step back at a humble moment in my life and realize that music had been a really incredible thing. Music had never been the problem; it was all the other stuff that had been the problem. So I kind of fell back in love with music, almost like how you hear of a man who falls in love with his wife after 20 years. I had that kind of moment of, ‘Wow, this is an awesome thing.’ So I made a new pact with myself that I would only play music if I felt really good about it.

It’s hard to explain, but you reach a point in your life where you look at everything that’s, to use a New Age term, served you, and everything that hasn’t. And when I look at the public, it’s had a very fickle relationship with me. So as much as it�€™s been good, it’s also been criticism and stereotyping, and all this other crap. It’s kind of been, like, a wash. You look at other aspects in your life and you kind of step back and say, ‘Well, what are the things that have actually been a really good thing?â�� And music was one of those things that I had to look and say, “Wow. For the most part, music has always been a good thing.’ It’s like saying, ‘I�€™m going to put my energy with music, and I’m going to pay a lot less attention to all these other forces and factors.’ Public persona is one of them. Trying to run the politics part, how you fit in the indie world and all that crap, I just gave it all up. I�™m just sort of living in my little fort over here, and if someone wants to come and try to fuck with me I’ll throw rocks at them, but beyond that I’m just happy to be doing what I’m��doing.

Can you tell me a bit about Teargarden by Kaleidyscope and where in this monolith of a process it’s at? Well, you know, an unexpected thing happened on the way to making the record. In the beginning it was essentially just me and Mike, the drummer, and he’s 19-years-old and had never been in a studio. I’ve got a kid who’s never stepped foot in a recording studio and I’m like, ��OK, let’s record the new Smashing Pumpkins.�€™ [Laughs.] I just thought the whole album making process was essentially going to be pretty similar to all my other experiences with Pumpkins, where it’s just going to be a drummer and me making records with some help. And then somewhere along the way I found myself being really happy with my band, and I started to see a really different contribution from them as a unit. It all just sort of clicked recently, and that sort of changed my focus for where I want to take the album. I’ve got all this material—some of which is good and a lot of which is average—and I’m sort of reassessing now what makes sense within the context of the band.

There’s sort of an organic band around me all of a sudden that I can see myself working with and writing music for. Quite frankly, that’s when I’ve had the most success is when I’ve written for a band. It’s almost like you’re writing a Broadway play and you know who the characters are and you know what the plot is. I’ve always had success when I know those parameters. When I don’t have parameters, it’s almost like I’m in to too many things and it becomes too diluted.

I imagine it also helps to take yourself out of the process a little. I don’t now if I’m able to do that. [Laughs.] I think what’s nice is that there’s a really healthy balance. In the old band there was always this unspoken tension between what I was actually doing and what I needed to sort of portray to the other bandmembers to keep them at a level of comfort. And once we started dealing with shit publicly, it became this whole other thing where they were almost asking me to front for them publicly, so to take pressure off of them for the shit they were getting. Everyone would say, �€˜Oh, it’s all Billy,’ so they’d want me to go out and, I guess, play up there contribution. But behind the scenes it didn’t change anything.

I’d guess it made things worse. Oh yeah. You had this real erosion of the recording and the personal process in the group, so I never expected myself to again be in a situation where I felt comfortable and I wanted to explore the terrain of a band again. I’d sort of given up on that. But to answer your question, we’ve recorded eight songs. The next song is coming out in about a week or so, and it’s a really pretty song. After that I’ve got two more in the can, waiting, and then I have to figure out when in the next four months I’m going to get back in and record another two to four songs to try to stay on schedule.

I’ve read a few things about your Sunset Strip Music Fest show. How was that experience? It was amazing. Honestly, I’d say it was one of the top ten moments of my musical life. I thought the band was spectacular, the crowd seemed to really enjoy it, and just the backdrop—you’re playing on a closed Sunset Strip with the Roxy and all those places right there. I just canâ€�t believe they even got the permits. I’m pretty droll with my assessments, but it was a pretty special night. It definitely felt like one of those weird moments when — especially here, with the way the business works and the way people talk — once the buzz started on the band there was the intelligentsia that may or may not be interested if you have another musical run left in you. And then of course there’s the business, which kind of ravens around because they want to see if there’s any more money in you. It was this weird confluence of fans, interested business world, and the people with their arms crossed, and it definitely felt like one of those moments when everybody walked out going, ‘Wow. I’m pretty surprised. Not only am I cool with what he’s doing, but I�€™m surprised it’s this fucking good.’ Right now Iâ€�d say we’re the beneficiaries of surprising people [laughs], maybe because their expectations are so low?

I think there’s also just a lot of history in it. We’re playing, like, blistering sets. I mean, it’s up there intensity-wise with anything I’ve ever done, so I think that’s really surprising people that I’m able to generate just as much power in a different way. I think that’s what surprising people the most. It’s a lighter, more sunshine version of the group, but it’s just as intense and it gets just as dark when it needs to. It’s exciting. Believe me; no one��s more surprised than me. [Laughs.] … I think the thing I’m most proud of is that it derived organically. I wasn’t trying to make something happen I’d excepted that maybe because of the parameters on my situation — the past included — that I’d sort of just given up on the idea that I would ever find myself in that same sort of dynamic that would yield that level of result. I’m really proud that I was willing to sort of trust God and follow my heart, and here I am. Believe me; I’m thankful everyday for the people I’m playing with and that there’s still people out there who get it. It’s a different world. I think a lot of people are really stuck in the past, and I’m really pleased to be moving into the future. I’m happy to let all that stuff go; it’s been a rock in my fuckin’ head for a long time.

4•1•1:

The Smashing Pumpkins play the Lobero Theatre (33 E. Canon Perdido St.) with openers Bad City this Saturday, September 4 at 8 p.m. Call 963-0761 or visit lobero.com for info.

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September is National yoga month, and I am a yoga teacher that loves yoga and teaching it. For many years now I have witnessed first-hand how yoga can change a person from the inside out. I have seen the most inflexible person transform into a fit and healthy flexible person. I have taught yoga for over 13 years now and have had students range in age from18 months to 98 years old. Yoga is an amazing physical fitness routine. Anyone can do yoga and I mean anyone. I have even taught amputees, not just a person with a limb missing, but even quadruple amputees. Yoga can be done by anyone.

First let me begin by explaining the ancient purpose of yoga. Yoga is an exact science and it was developed to aid the sunyassins or “seekers of truth.” In order to sit long hours in meditation comfortably, they needed to have loose joints and strong backs. It would stand to reason that if you couldn’t sit comfortably for long because your knees ached and your back was killing you, you simply wouldn’t be able to delve into your deeper dimensions to find the bliss of your own being now could you?

By practicing yoga daily and for many hours the ancient practitioners found that they could attain higher states of consciousness. They had mental clarity that resulted in deeper concentration and mental focus; they had emotional balance and a tranquil sense of calm and great inner strength; their minds were at ease, resting into their bodies, they found they could delve deeper and deeper with much ease because their bodies were not tight and knotted, their digestive systems worked properly, their blood pressure was low, all of their bodily functions were working optimally. They even possessed the ability to lower their blood pressure at will; could hear their heart beat and actually feel their blood flowing in their vessels. Sound outrageous? You bet, but it is all true.

So, you ask what’s all this got to do with me? Sure, the ancients could go off into the mountains and sequester themselves and go exploring on an inner adventure to find their bliss, but this is the modern age �” you say “I have to work to support myself, my family, pay bills, etc. I can’t do that!”

You are right. It seems unless we are independently wealthy or are just irresponsible, it wouldn’t be possible to go running off to the nearest mountain top to find nirvana within ourselves … or is it?

In 1998, a Roper study stated that Yoga had touched the lives of over 18 million people globally and was projected (at that time) that 28 million people would be doing Yoga by 2002. It is now 2010, and we have far exceeded that projection. Right now there are more people in California practicing Hatha Yoga today than in all of India and more new practitioners every day!

So why do we still have so many uptight people? Because yoga hasn’t found its way to the mainstream of America yet. Some people have been led to believe it is a religion or a cult “thing.” This is not the case!

What can yoga do for you?

Yoga can be any thing you want it to be. It is nondogmatic and can be a great physical fitness program that involves stretching and elongating the spine so that it will maintain a proper alignment; it can be a breathing practice that leads to lower blood pressure, increased lung capacity, increased cardio-vascular health, not to mention a great way to relieve stress. Doctors frequently recommend meditation to their patients with high blood pressure. Because many progressive thinking doctors know that meditation is key to relieving stress and allowing the mind to �€œtake a break” from its constant activity, meditation brings emotional stability and mental clarity, and improves concentration and focus.

For some Yoga can become a philosophy of life. As you begin to practice more it awakens your ���inner” consciousness and allows you to observe yourself more readily. Suddenly, you will notice that you move with less tension throughout your body, you don’t have headaches anymore, your neck and shoulders, back and legs feel better. The benefits are not only lasting, but deeply profound and transformational.

Take what you need from yoga. It’s whatever you make of it. It can be simply a great work out that has a plethora of benefits and it can be a philosophy, a new way of life that will lead you to find that unity of body/mind/spirit. It can satisfy you in ways you can’t even imagine. Yoga is not a fad, it is not an overnight sensation, yoga has been around for thousands of years and will be till the end of time. It is the gift of the ancients to us in this present day that is filled with deadlines, road-rage, and the daily insanities of any number of stressors.

Yoga and stress reduction

The American Medical Association has stated that 80 percent of all illnesses are stress related. (One of yoga’s major benefits is stress reduction.) According to Herbert Benson, MD, Director of Mind/Body Center at Harvard Medical School, Ȝ to 90 percent of doctor visits, for everything from the common cold to cancer are stress related. The National Institute of Health has stated that there is currently more office visits to complementary/alternative medicine practitioners than to western doctors.

It has been noted that in the U.S. yoga is now entering the mainstream health care industry. In the late �90s, several American medical insurance companies, such as Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Consensus Health and Mutual of Omaha have introduced yoga or yoga related options to their wellness programs.

Other benefits of yoga

Millions before us benefitted from this ancient practice and now yoga has become more widely known and its benefits are being documented and proven.

Over my 13+ years of teaching, I have had students report that knee and back surgeries were cancelled and chronic headaches ceased. Their chronic neck and back pain, constipation, nervousness, insomnia symptoms and countless other symptoms eradicated all by a simple regular yoga practice.

Of course I am not saying that you should only practice yoga and not go to a doctor. But, what I am saying is that with the proper diet, regular exercise, and a regular yoga practice we can live healthier lives. And, hopefully, avoid so many visits to the doctor!

Yoga works mainly because it is one of the only sustainable forms of physical exercise. It builds stronger muscles, bones and not only that— it gives your mind a rest and helps you in ways unimaginable. I like to say, “Yoga nurtures what needs to be nurtured and heals what needs to be healed.”

September is National Yoga Month. Find a yoga studio near you and take a class, bring a friend or family member. Make it a weekly routine and see for yourself what everyone that has been practicing yoga is talking about.

— Angelina Calafiore, CMT CYT is the founder and director of Serendipity Yoga Center for Health and Wellbeing she can be reached at 530-559-1ᘇ.