My friend and coaching client Satyama Ratna Lasby is raising funds for the production and marketing of her new book. It is worth a look, and, hopefully, your support, Check out the project here. A short description:
The campaign is to fund the development, production, editing, marketing, distribution of life-long research on spiritual practice in the form of a book I have written to make the connection between practicing yoga and authentic tantric practice to heal the world. In this auspicious time of change, I need your help to make this happen and for more people to wake up to the potential that lies in ancient wisdom that can only be realized by the practitioner themselves.
The book, The Tao of Tantric Yoga is a provocative and direct account of the study, embodiment and leadership of BOTH yoga and tantra. The Tao, meaning “the way” is the way I have lived an intentional life based on love that have defined this alternative way, which I hope to share with the world. The study of meditation and intentional communities is strongly accounted for in the book, as are the principles of meditation. The book looks at life from the big picture, and through some real-life tantric lessons I account for, one can come to their own conclusions as to what makes life expansive, exciting, valuable and meaningful.
I had the pleasure to coach Wendy May through her process of writing and publishing her book Regenerative Purpose. She also conducted a highly successful Kickstarter campaign to support key aspects of her product launch. I was privileged to write the book’s Foreword.
Wendy recently announced the launch of her audio book. You can purchase the audiobook – and all other versions – here.
She is also leading a workshop that may interest you. This from an email she sent out today:
2020 has certainly tested us… with physical, emotional, financial and egoic death. We’ve had to meet our limits and transcend them. We have been permanently changed.
Are you clear now on what’s next? How do you want to shape 2021?
For me, so many questions have arisen about…
MY PLACE IN THE WORLD What is the nature of life and death? What makes a human life worth living? How do I speak my truth when the word “truth” itself triggers confusion?
MY RELATIONSHIP WITH SELF How do I measure my value in the world when I’m not actively working? What does it feel to take up space when I’m not confident in my direction?
MY LIFE LESSONS TO LEARN Can I love and give fully and fearlessly, without knowing who will receive it? Can I boldly walk to the edge of my discomfort and expand from there?
AND, HOW TO KEEP GOING Can I step forward into what’s next without being able to see the whole path? What is it to be a leader in the new planetary paradigm? Am I ready for that?
SO MANY QUESTIONS
Maybe you have been considering some of the same questions.
I don’t know any of the answers.
But I do know that when we come together to ask these kinds of questions, magic always happens. I’m inviting a small group of devoted souls to join me in kicking off 2021 with Regenerative Purpose Co-Lab.
Announcing… REGENERATIVE PURPOSE CO-LAB
It’s an 11-week journey to support the living integration of Regenerative Purpose.
It’s not coaching. It’s not an online course. It is a group r/evolution co-creation lab.
It’s limited to 6 people, to make sure there’s spaciousness for sharing and reflections.
The purpose of the Co-Lab experience is to come together in community and find clarity, while releasing the need for control. We are pointing each other towards that sweet spot of creative contribution that is active (not pushy) and receptive (not passive).
This work helps us get clear on what we want in life, how we want to live and serve, and what choices we’re willing to make to realize that reality. Yet we can relax the normal management and control functions that create stress around striving. We learn the art of reading and responding to life, so we can shape our path with ease.
For experienced coaches and facilitators, there is also the possibility to get trained and licensed to lead Regenerative Purpose Co-Lab circles yourself.
Before embarking on the Surmountable book project, I interviewed 25 community leaders, business owners, long-time residents, characters, and storytellers, both Thai and expat. With Surmountable about to launch, I have resumed the Koh Phangan interviews.
The short-term intention is to get an oral history ebook up by mid-year 2021. And, then, a longer-form work for print and ebook by year-end. These things take the time they need to take, so those are tentative, though achievable timeframes.
My first visit to the island was 10 years ago. I moved here full-time five years back. I hope to relate the magic dimensions of Phangan life. There are many stories to tell.
One of the great joys of book publishing is connecting with people around the world who are inspired, delighted, or interested in past projects.
I was contacted by an editorial staffer from a Swiss publication. She saw one of the photos I took in Guatemala City for “WAR: The Afterparty.” The photo, the journey, and the story of the CIA overthrow of Guatemalan president Jacob Arbenz are powerful memories. Guatemala was the first stop on the trip around the world for the Afterparty project and the first chapter in the book.
I was privileged to license the photo for their use.
Due to publishing and publicity timeline adjustments, the Surmountable book launch date has been adjusted to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday on January 18 and President’s Day on February 15. Pre-order on Amazon and other online book retailers will be available in early January.
Stay tuned for more details on the launch and early reviews.
Thanks to all for participating in our last series of 2020 Write Night Events. Our 4th year of Writers of Koh Phangan events rode the wave of COVID effects. We started the year at our usual Orion Beach Shala meeting spot. Then went to online meetings, then back to Orion, then our 8-week online series.
Author and publisher Tom Vater added something special to this series by following up master class videos with a discussion on the week’s theme, then a writing prompt to use the learning in crafting and sharing a story. During these past two months we heard from,
David Sedaris on how to open a story.
Margaret Atwood on Narrative POV.
Judy Blume on Character.
James Patterson on the importance of an Outline.
Dan Brown on how to build a story.
Neil Gaiman on writing a short story.
Margaret Atwood on speculative fiction. And dystopias.
Malcolm Gladwell on how to keep readers onboard.
We are taking a holiday hiatus, then will plot new events for 2021, both online and on Koh Phangan. Do share your thoughts on how to make Write Night even better, on and offline.
It’s a privilege to host these events for lovers of the written and spoken word.
We keep batting 1,000 on Six Days book reviews. This one from Geoff Wills of the esteemed Penniless Press.
SIX DAYS AT RONNIE SCOTT’S: BILLY COBHAM ON JAZZ FUSION AND THE ACT OF CREATION
by Brian Gruber
Reviewed by Geoff Wills
Billy Cobham is one of the all-time great drummers. Although he emerged in the mid-1960s playing in a straight-ahead jazz context with artists like Billy Taylor and Horace Silver, he began to make his mark in the field of jazz-rock from the late 1960s onwards with the band Dreams, on recordings by Miles Davis, and, specifically between 1971 and 1973, with British guitarist John McLaughlin’s seminal jazz-rock group Mahavishnu Orchestra. Fellow musicians were flabbergasted by his phenomenal technique and a unique style that utilized military precision, ambidexterity, jazz subtlety, rock and roll excitement, rhythm and blues feel and an ability to play odd time signatures, all on a very large two-bass drum percussion setup. Although Cobham has been interviewed for magazines many times over the years, Six Days at Ronnie Scott’s is the first book specifically devoted to his life and work.
The book’s author, Brian Gruber, is a prominent media marketing innovator and longstanding jazz and popular music aficionado, now based in Thailand. He first met Billy Cobham in 2010, and, as he explains, his book is not a biography but ‘an oral history exploring six decades of music.’
The background to the book is a six-day residency in June 2017 at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in London, which Billy Cobham undertook with a 17-piece big band led by trumpeter and arranger Guy Barker, playing orchestrations of Cobham compositions. Gruber was at the club during the entire residency, interviewing not only Cobham but also band musicians, club officials, friends and family members. The book thus provides a kaleidoscopic view, a tapestry of interview material, covering Cobham’s life and work, and also the progress of an extended engagement by a world-class musician and orchestra in an internationally-renowned club as described by club owners, road managers, music critics and fans.
Cobham who was born in Panama in 1944, came to New York with his family three years later, growing up in Brooklyn in a community that included Barbadians, Trinidadians and Panamanians. His father, a statistician, was also a talented pianist and was an early influence. The house was full of music from AM radio, relaying the sounds of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Harry James, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. As a result of these influences Cobham began to play percussion while still a toddler, accompanied his father aged eight, and at sixteen got his first complete drum set when he went to the High School of Music and Art. After a spell in the army, playing in a military band, his professional career began.
Gruber is able to draw from Cobham insights into the darker side of the music business. For instance, Cobham describes how, in the mid-1970s, in a band he co-led with keyboard player George Duke, ‘I knew that I was working with a bunch of thugs.’ He is referring to Duke’s manager, ‘dominant, management by intimidation. [Frank] Zappa band manager Herb Cohen … you had a goon as management, some kind of gangster.’
In another anecdote, Cobham relates how, after being with Mahavishnu Orchestra for a few years, he noticed that another drummer, Narada Michael Walden, started to sit behind him at concerts. Soon after, he was told by management that he was no longer in the band. He believes that this was because he was not prepared to follow John McLaughlin’s religious direction. Thus, Cobham’s views of McLaughlin are not totally positive. ‘The only complimentary thing that John McLaughlin gave me was a picture of John Coltrane for Christmas … McLaughlin had no sense of time, always getting faster. Reach God as quickly as possible.’ The final straw with McLaughlin was in 1984 when, after having recorded an album with him, Cobham learned from an outside source that another drummer was in the band for the tour to promote the album.
Overall, though, Cobham’s career has been hugely successful. After leading his own groups he moved to Switzerland in the early 1980s and freelanced in Europe. As described by Gruber, the residency at Ronnie Scott’s epitomizes this success, made clear in interviews with band members like Steve Hamilton, Carl Orr, Mike Mondesir and Guy Barker. Phone interviews with eminent musicians and collaborators Randy Brecker, Jan Hammer and Ron Carter add further clarification.
Gruber adds tangential interest to his book by providing a history of Ronnie Scott’s club which includes an illuminating interview with club co-owner Michael Watt. Other fascinating sidebars pop up throughout the book.
Billy Cobham emerges from these pages as an exemplary creative personality, and as a dedicated, tireless and likeable professional. The book is highly recommended to anyone who has a serious interest in jazz-rock, the life of the musician, and popular music culture of the last fifty years.
Thank you to French poet Sophie Foucher for her lovely testimonial. I had the privilege to coach Sophie through the editing, design, and publishing of her poetry anthology Alchemy of Love. Each poem is in both English and her native French and features an original hand-painted illustration For information on coaching, editing, publishing, and marketing services to take your book from concept to completion, check out my new www.Sandscribes.com partnership with Tom Vater and Henry Roi.
“Brian has been my Jiminy Cricket to help me finish my first work as an author and artist. He was guiding me the all time, and I could go where I needed to go in the process of this work without any hesitation.
“He supported not only the flow of my work but also giving very beneficial advice on marketing ideas. He made the connection for me to get a graphic designer and supervised all the work also in this field. He did my proof reading in English and still gave me marketing and strategy advice till now. I’m so grateful I met him for my first project, because he had removed all limitations to realise the finishing product.
“He is specialised in self-publication so the distribution part is through Amazon (in my case).
“Brian was also with when I first give a lecture of my book in front of an audience and today I can lecture during book festivals with ease.
“He is enthusiastic, realistic, find solutions fast, he is reliable, affordable, super communicative, and funny.
“Beside, the book project, I also met an amazing human being and working together was a source of joy and immense pleasure. That also inspire me a lot to work in this way now.
“Cannot wait to collaborate again with him from his tropical island Koh Phangan!”
Brian Gruber is an author, writing coach, and marketing consultant living on the Thai island of Koh Phangan. He has spent 40 years studying, leading, and founding new media companies and projects.
