ARTISTS DESERVING of ATTENTION in 2007

NEW YEAR, NEW MUSIC, NEW ARTISTS,

...NEW HOPE

I've got a few things happening at once, which makes for little time looking backwards, as rewarding as that could be, especially in light of the year I've had. This time last year I did an exhaustive list of 25 artists with commentary that truly touched my soul in significant ways with their music and their eloquent articulations in 2005. Time nor that kind of attention to detail will allow me to write that same kind of list this year. As many might know, I'm moving from New York City, my home of 12 years, to New Mexico in two weeks, landing in Sante Fe on the 6th of January, so much of my time and attention is obviously focused on that.

There's also some personal music news/business that I can't fully share just yet concerning The `E D E N Project, that will kick into high gear (literally) on the 1st of the year that promises to begin a new chapter in my long and varied music career, and that's got me looking forward as well.


But, knowing that I couldn't just let the year end without at least one or two predictions, I decided to put my two cents in the ethos and say one more thing about the state of music and some of the artists I've had the pleasure of listening to, getting to know, and admiring from afar. The funny thing about the list that I created is I don't know many of these artists that made it as personally as I now know others, and so it truly is a list that isn't about nepotism, in any fashion, 'tho it may be misconstrued as insulting to those that I love, that aren't on it. I considered a multitude of factors beyond musical hooks, marketability and visual appeal, and I truly attempted to hone in on those with 'something' deeper to say that I felt have truly found their authentic and unique voices for this world we're living in, today.

If you're an artist and you've been represented on my webpages in www.BrotherEden.com and www.EdenDust.com, you already know I think highly of you, and certainly support your continued evolution, so to list most of you, again, is redundant, yes, but necessary for others to find out about your incredible gifts. But with even such an extensive listing on the homepages, there's so many others hidden online, I always feel I'm unjustly ignoring someone. So feel free to add other artists you believe are destined to make an impact as well, if you're not represented, here, or if you're one of those artists that's buried in the sea of online talent and want others to know about you, feel free to post your links.

My prediction after perusing my Artist Friends Listings was this:

Any one of these artists has the potential of turning 2007 on it's musical ears.

They all are 'READY', in my humble estimation, for every good thing that awaits them.

I just want to encourage us all, to purpose in our hearts to do our BEST WORK in 2007. The world at large needs our authentic, honest and courageous voices to stand out and away from the stream of unconscious art that fill our airwaves. Let's dig a little deeper and be worthy of our callings and our gifts.

What a year we all could have!!

PEACE, Dear Friends.., Thanks for keeping my life interesting and joyful.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

`E D E N

THE ARTISTS

BEULAH

London, UK

CRAIG LYONS

Santa Monica, CA

DAN MANGAN

Vancouver, BC

DANIEL CAPELLARO

Los Angeles, CA

DANIELA BOVE

Bucks, UK

DEVIN GREENWOOD

Philadelphia, PA

EOGHAN COLGAN

Glasgow, UK

FOY

Belfast, UK

JEREMY LISTER

Nashville, TN

JON McLAUGHLIN

Anderson, IN

JONO McCLEERY

Surbiton, UK

JOSHUA PAYNE

Nashville, TN

KEEGAN

New York, NY

LESLI

Stockholm, SE

LYNNE FIDDMONT

Los Angeles, CA

MATT MORRIS

Nashville, TN

MERCIES MAY

Gothenburg, SE

MICHAEL LOGEN

Nashville, TN

NATHAN COOK

Kansas City, MO

PAUL AIDEN

London, UK

PAUL MacINNES

Gothenburg, SE

REDD SOUL

Los Angeles, CA

TOM FOX

Liverpool, UK

TROUBLE Over TOKYO

London, UK

TYLER JAMES

Nashville, TN

TYRONE WELLS

Fullerton, CA

UNIVERSAL TONGUES

Boston, MA

WAKEY!WAKEY!

New York, NY

A VERY PERSONAL MESSAGE

A Very Personal Message from `E D E N

I'm being asked about my Faith, alot, these days.

I want to be clear:
I believe in JESUS, I trust in GOD.

I operate in the Gifts of the Spirit and
I live my life very much in the vein of those first disciples that followed Jesus,
without question or doubt,
when they first received The Call to follow Him and become 'fishers of men'.

While it's true that I have been on a journey of discovery and for a moment I did study a lot of different teachings in my desire for a deeper understanding of GOD,
I found that even in the darkest corners of that search, that there really was truly only
ONE GOD,
known to others by the name of their understanding, but recognizable to me as the GOD of Moses, Abraham and David of my Christian upbringing.

I spend little time trying to 'convert' others to my truth, as I know that true conversion is in the heart, and that's GOD's domain, not mine.
BUT,
I am a living witness to the healing and forgving power of the Holy Spirit.

My journey, today, is to 'enlighten' and 'encourage' the faint-hearted.., and along the way, perhaps 'entertain' through my music and my written and spoken word, those broken in mind and spirit.


I'm just a simple man, doing all I can.

`E D E N
December, 2006

The `E D E N Project

"God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts.
Manage them well so that God's generousity can flow through you.
Are you called to be a speaker? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you.
Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.
Then God will be given Glory in everything through Jesus Christ.
All Glory and Power belong to Him forever and ever. Amen."


I Peter 4: 10-11

Thank you for supporting the Music and Vision of `E D E N

MEDIATATIONS: ONE DAY at a TIME

15 DECEMBER 2006



I'm writing this blog a day early, because I'll be working when the clock actually changes to the 15th.



This date is significant in that I'm celebrating a decade of being clean and sober.



I would love to share the details of all that had transpired up to that moment before I awoke out of that blackout, but the memory of all that is really not as important as my determination, then, to 'never again' allow myself to be that irresponsible with my God-given gifts, the greatest of which was and is, my life. So many good things have happened for me, since then., and they're all attributed to my sobriety, without a doubt. Now hear me loudly, I don't write this to convict another of their choices. EVERY man has the right to live their lives, as they feel honors them, best. For me, I just found out that I wasn't my BEST SELF, under the influence, even in moderation.



So, I'm grateful for this anniversary in ways I could never fully express, 'tho I sure wish I could. I draw attention to this moment,and feel the need to share it with those that can understand what a victory this really is.., and for those that need to understand what a victory this really is.



Ten Years, is only one day, at a time.

PEACE, Dear Friends.

`E D E N

An opening in the storming sea,
Gold deposited on bones.
Once accumulation has begun,
Take care not to interfere.

ACCUMULATION

There is a fable about a pious man whose father had just died. A geomancer instructed the son to bury his father at the mouth of the sea cave. The sea opened at this spot only once in a hundred years, and a family who utilized it would experience great fortune. Although he had misgivings about this unorthodox location, the son threw the casket into the waters at the indicated time.

For weeks the son doubted what he had done. He eventually went to acompeting geomancer who, out of jealousy, advised the son to raise the casket. The son did so. When the coffin was brought up and opened, the man saw that a fine layer of gold had already deposited on his father's bones-a clear indication of the auspicious transformation that had begun. In regret, the son wanted to throw his father back in, but it was too late. There was no remedying what had been done.

Spiritual practice must be uninterrupted. We may be anxious because we see very little happeneing on a daily basis, but we must be patient until we can see what the accumulation of our effort yields. Self-cultivation means steady, gradual progress. To stop prematurely would be more disastrous than never having started at all.

MEDIATATIONS: L O V E

So, this week, I've been working on a lyric about illusions.., and somehow I ended up doing a bit of research about Love, one of life's greatest illusions. So many think it's a feeling. Alas, it is not, in it's purest form. Often, it's simply a decision, ..an action. Love has mobility, in that it moves and breathes and flows. But, don't take my word for it.., here're some quotes from some pretty heavy thinkers.

Feel free to add your own.

PEACE, Dear Friends.

`E D E N

L O V E

"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece."

Charles Reade

"Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young."

A.W. Pinero

"You must feel love within, before you can share it."

Denis Waitley

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

Mother Teresa

Real Love is not based on attachment, but on altruism.
In this case, your compassion will remain as a humane response to suffering as long as beings continue to suffer.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I JOHN 4:

7

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

8

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

20

If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

21

And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

MEDIATATIONS: L I F E

"Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest." -- Georgia O'Keeffe

At first glance, I was prepared not to agree with this quote.

I have judged myself, often, as unworthy because of how I've lived. Focusing on the mistakes I've made along my journey and concluding that because of failed attempts at business, a failed marriage, failed friendships and faltering faith, I had missed becoming all I could become.
I have been guilty of thinking, at one time, that I have been too late, born in the wrong family, and certainly in the wrong area for all of my preceived gifts to fully find their rightful expressions and have spent too much time meditating on different versions of my revisionist histories. I've got a different perspective now about that same period of wandering and wondering. I've come to the conclusion, like the quote above, that 'what I've done, with where I've been' is the key to moving on and thusly forward with the rest of my life.
Concentrating on changing your history is a waste of time and God-given energy and yet we meet many who fail to fully embrace who they are, where they were born and how they have lived, whether foolishly or fully, and without full acceptance that things are just as they were meant to be, never divert their full attention on what they can uniquely create BECAUSE of their unique mix of fear and faith, fortune and failure.
In the months to come, you're going to experience more MUSIC that truly reflects my journey. I know this and I call it forth, before the evidence of what I write is manifested. Producers that I have admired from afar have recently made contact with me to finish THE E D E N PROJECT and I predict that I'm about to embark on the ride of my Life. I will be a Harbinger of my own good fortune, not because I'm gifted or even blessed, 'tho that's part of it, but because of my intention to embrace all that I am to the fullest extend, ashamed of none of it and proud of all of it, so that I can be gulity, no more, of attempting to become or portray anything I am not called to be.
I prophesy that if each of us would truly embrace the concept of using our truthful beginnings as strength, not hinderances, we will experience accomplishments that are unique and special.., and needed for these times we live in. The answer to the ills of the world are within each of us. Time less spent in unhealthy comparisons, but truly in the pursuit of our uniqueness and our connection to the whole of creation, will produce work that, in the end, is a Balm for the Soul of World.

PEACE, My Dear FRIENDS.

`E D E N