group singing

As the popularity of group singing grows, science has been hard at work trying to explain why it has such a calming yet energizing effect on people. What researchers are beginning to discover is that singing is like an infusion of the perfect tranquilizer, the kind that both soothes your nerves and elevates your spirits.”

read the full article in Time magazine

interview with Bill Frisell

“The music is a …  model of what human beings can be.  When you think of all the words you use to describe music, you say harmony or tension and release and consonance and dissonance, harmony, rhythm.  It’s a way of fitting things together.  It shows you how people can be together….”Bill Frisell, Nevada Capital News 1/12/19

read and listen to the full interview in Nevada Capital News

quote from Jeff Tweedy

“Speaking of bubbles…sure, we live in a bubble. I’d love for more of you to share our bubble though! It’s awesome! In our bubble I know cops and rappers and grocery store cashiers and artists and garbage collectors…so many decent people that don’t really care that much about people being different than they are. If you can trust a reality TV star billionaire when he says, “believe me,” surely you can believe me when I say you’re welcome in my bubble. I grew up in what I think might be something like your bubble. You should at least try this one! Come on in!” —Wilco Facebook page, 1/2017

quote from John Lennon

“When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight! Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.” –John Lennon, 1969

the United Borders Project

fighting gang culture through music.

“To avoid hosting it in one crew’s ‘no-go’ area, Justin decided to set up the programme on a double-decker bus, which he then converted into a makeshift music studio and classroom. In the mornings, he would drive to Church Road, before moving onto Stonebridge in the afternoons.

“The idea to convert a double-decker bus into a studio came from a need to get my services to youths who had become cut off from certain colleges in Brent due to postcode violence,” he explains. “I know too many youths who would not dream of attending Willesden college because they are from Stonebridge. Crossing the Church Road divide would be seen as slipping, and vice versa.”  Justin Finlayson, founder of United Borders

read the full article in Huck Magazine

or listen to Justin Finlayson in a BBC.com podcast