Performing Arts

Robbie Basho playing guitar in tux - Voice of the eagle

VOICE OF THE EAGLE—THE ENIGMA OF ROBBIE BASHO: A film about a legendary musician premieres in San Francisco

Max ReifApril 25, 2018

View from the front of San Francisco's Roxie TheaterThe amazing thing, said many of the people interviewed in the documentary movie Voice of the Eagle: The...

Performing Arts9 min read

The Tragically Hip performing in 2015 - The last hurrah

THE LAST HURRAH: The Tragically Hip’s “final tour” after frontman Downie’s cancer diagnosis

ContributorMay 15, 2017

The following has been excerpted from What Is Hip? The Life and Times of The Tragically Hip by Marc Shapiro, which tells the story of the renowned Canadian rock...

Performing Arts20 min read

Collage of pictures - Bhakti and The Great American Songbook

BHAKTI AND THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK: How music and spirituality are connected by Love

Max ReifMay 8, 2017

Musical beginnings When I was a boy, my idea of great music and literature was South Pacific and the other Broadway shows of Rodgers and Hammerstein.Later,...

Performing Arts10 min read

MUSIC, MOOD, AND MINDFULNESS: How music works its magic on us

Pamela GerberNovember 30, 2016

Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier (24)” streams at 29 percent volume while I write this. My go-to writing music, Baroque, floats wave-like above and below my co...

Performing Arts4 min read

Downton Abbey cast - Downton Abbey and spiritual values

DOWNTON ABBEY AND SPIRITUAL VALUES: Same truths, both upstairs and downstairs

Max ReifNovember 2, 2016

My wife and I just finished watching the final episode of Downton Abbey, the "Masterpiece" TV drama about life in an English country manor circa 1920, which...

Performing Arts5 min read

REDISCOVERING SACRED CREATIVITY: How artists help create a more healthy, inspired and connected world

Contributing WriterJanuary 29, 2015

Bass frequencies from a massive sound system pulse in my body and seem to shake the concrete walls of a cavernous warehouse somewhere in Brooklyn. There's a...

Performing Arts5 min read

ACTING FOR SELF-REFLECTION: Q&A with actor and mindfulness practitioner Binh Doan

Kiva BotteroOctober 24, 2014

There's a lot more going on in acting than you might think. Just ask French actor and Plum Village mindfulness practitioner Binh Doan. Though he...

Performing Arts11 min read

THE MAGIC OF MUSIC: How the balance of tension and release in music affects our appreciation of it

Jerry KvasnickaMarch 25, 2014

I don’t know the name of the selection or the pianist performing it. When the simple jazz improvisation came over my radio one afternoon, almost instinctive...

Performing Arts6 min read

DON’T BE MONOMUSICAL: The importance of appreciating all genres of music

Erica RobertsSeptember 30, 2013

Music is an integral part of contemporary culture worldwide. Many people, especially youth, form their identities around the type of music they prefer, letting ...

Performing Arts4 min read