August 2012

Now that my fourth music album (The Healing Song) is complete and ready for the world, I thought I’d give you a little background on each song. This one has three Grammy winners involved, legendary band members, and is a true labor of love.

Credits for "The Healing Song"

You can hear samples of the 11 songs at The Healing Song and of course you can order the audio CD there, too.

“Ghost Train” came from playing around with a brand new Huss & Dalton acoustic guitar made in part from 100 year old “sinker” mahogany, meaning the wood had been under water in Belize for a century. All guitars have something to say. I was holding this Huss & Dalton, fooling around with chords and words, and suddenly a unique strumming pattern emerged, along with my moaning. I never realized the moaning was a train whistle until weeks after recording it. This is a protest song, about ending war, and came from the depths of me. I don’t consciously focus on war, but apparently my unconscious does. When we recorded it, both famous drummer Joe Vitale and renown bass player Glenn Fukunaga said if they heard this on the radio, they’d stop whatever they were doing and turn it up. It’s haunting.

“Pray the Devil (Back to Hell)” erupts from my soul as a type of catharsis. It was almost the title of the album. The idea is to truly beat the devil back into the bushes with rock music and prayer. The rock tempo and impassioned lyrics are a healing in music form. You’ll feel it. It’s intense.

“Faith” came as a tie-in to a book I have coming out in 2013 titled, well, Faith. I don’t seem able to control music, but I can request it. This song came from my prayer to write something that would co-promote the book. The muse honored my request and gave this upbeat yet stern song. The beach music vibe is in stark contrast to the minor key chorus asking you where’s your faith when things turn bleak. Who needs faith? You do.

CD for "The Healing Song"

“Glow” came to me as I worked with my guitar teacher, Mathew Dixon. I wanted to remind people that joy was in them and with them no matter what the world presented. You could “glow” no matter what. This is the kind of song I feel a parent could sing to a child, to convey wisdom about life. It has a Jim Morrison or Black Keys feel. I love it.

“What’s your Name?” is a long and in your face terse song about a woman who betrays you. But the woman is really the muse. She messes with you. You ask for one thing, she gives another. You play a certain style of music, she makes you play another. I’ve learned to obey her, but I still wonder who she really is. I’m the puppet and she pulls my strings. Disturbing yet freeing.

“Empowered!” is a stand out. It triggers inner strength. I’m talking walk-on-water power. Listening to it can make you feel superhuman. It began with me playing a 1960s Danelectro amp-in-the-case vintage electric guitar, trying to improvise the opening of the famous Janis Joplin song Summertime. You won’t hear Janis, though. You’ll hear my band — Glenn, Joe, Daniel Barrett, me — improvising some of the most mesmerizing music EVER. Glenn played the most hypnotic ukulele I’ve ever heard. I then went back and added my vocals; statements of empowerment that are addressed to your big Self not your little self. These are reminders of your God-like power. I’m telling you, this track can change your life FOREVER. The result is hypnotic. I play it daily. Whew.

Cover of "The Healing Song"

“Sunny Side” is my version of the public domain classic, “Keep on the Sunny Side of Life.” Daniel and I kicked around ways to record it. Almost everyone does an upbeat rockish gospel version. I wanted something different. My spoken word, then softly sung chorus, is the ticket. You’ve probably never heard such a soothing version of this famous song. Healing.

“Smile” is a step in the direction of my being a crooner. I love Dean Martin’s approach to this 1954 hit but wanted my own. This is it. While it can be seen as a song of despair, it’s actually a song of hope. It’s barely a minute and a half long, but its message warms my heart and makes me, er, smile. I’m proud of it.

“The Healing Song” is a hypnotic ode, created with my spoken words and the cello playing and original music of Grammy winner David Darling. I kept a lot of things in mind when composing the poetry to this, from the healing mental treatments of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby to what I’ve learned from my forty plus years in hypnosis. This is a powerful track. We recorded this one first, not knowing what the other tracks would be at the time. You can listen to it whenever you have a challenge, and let it help you vanish the issue. It’s magic. (It’s also free to download at www.thehealingsong.com.)

My band for "The Healing Song"

“Perfect Love” is for fun. I had it when I recorded Strut! (my first singer-songwriter album) but didn’t feel it was worthy of being recorded. It seemed silly and confusing. But when I performed it for my music peers, they loved it. So it went on this album. It’s not about anything more than self-delusion and then self-acceptance. You are good enough.

“Put Your Pants Back On” is all fun but with a message. I wanted to warn parents that if they weren’t careful in April, they’d make a Christmas baby. I’m a Christmas baby (born December 29) and know the pain of growing up getting two presents on Christmas day: one for my birthday, one for Christmas. You may think that’s no big deal, until on your birthday there isn’t a gift or a party. People think there were several people in the studio when we recorded this one but it was just Daniel Barrett and myself. It’s spontaneous and fun, and I chuckle whenever I hear it. I dare you not to enjoy it.

You can hear samples of the songs over at The Healing Song and of course you can order the CD there, too.

All four of my albums were created out of my fiery passion to enjoy life and create music that can heal. I’m hoping it inspires you to pursue your own dreams.

After all, isn’t that what life is all about?

Ao Akua,

joe

PS — My other healing music albums are at —

http://www.GetUpandStrut.com

http://www.HealingMojoMusic.com

http://www.AligningtoZero.info

Member BBB 2003 - 2012

A few weeks ago I met a tiny dog. She’s a Chiweenie, a cross between a Chihuahua and a Dachshund, and maybe one month old. If you follow me on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/drjoevitale), you saw the photo of her there. She’s in the picture with me here:

Meet a Chiweenie puppy

We already have a dog, an elderly girl named Wolfie who has a lot of pain and needs a shot every Friday to help relieve it. We also have a senior citizen cat, Nona, who has been on Animal Planet TV, and who likes to be the only feline in the house. After all, she’s a star.

Still, I was drawn to this little puppy in the photo. Turns out, she has a brother.

I asked about the brother and learned he needed a home. His mom was a stray who was rescued and then had a litter. The pups from it were being adopted. The sister was adopted. The brother was still available. Despite the circumstances in our home, I was drawn to him. The owner sent me a photo of him and I took it with us on a trip to Canada. Here’s the pic she sent to me:

Meet the little brother

I looked at him every day. I used to enlarge his picture so I could look into his eyes. Something told me to meet him.

When we returned from our international trip, we called and arranged to meet the little guy. We did and it was love at first sight. We brought him home and introduced him to the family. We called him Taco. I fell in love.

Lonely No More

Not everyone was happy.

Our TV star kitty ran upstairs and moved up there. She wouldn’t come back down.

Our elderly dog didn’t like a little Tasmanian Devil snipping at her face and wanting to play.

Wolfie meets Taco

After three days of this, we realized it would be a mistake to keep him. Even our vet told us not to have a puppy. It would hurt our great-great-grandmother of a dog. It didn’t help our cat. The writing was on the wall.

With tears in our eyes, we made some calls. As it turned out, the friend who introduced me to the little girl puppy told me that her friend visiting from Dallas was interested in the little brother. Within thirty minutes, they came over, met Taco, and fell in love. Taco now lives in Dallas, has a home that adores him, and is happy. His new name is Bugsy.

Taco is now Bugsy

But here’s the rub:

Why did we take Taco to begin with?

Why was he led to us?

And why did we have to give him up?

This bothered me for a day or so. I look for the signs and signals in life that tell me where the flow is. I then usually follow that flow, and all is well. I felt in the flow to hear of Taco, meet him, adopt him and love him.

But letting him go hurt.

Why did it all happen?

I finally realized that our home was simply the stop over in an unseen chain to get Taco to Dallas. Had we not adopted him, we may never have been in a position to find the Dallas home for him. In a way, we were a delivery system. Our job was to get him for a weekend and pass him to the woman visiting from out of town that very same weekend.

Wow. There’s the flow. We just didn’t know it.

Some Divine current was directing me to do something, and directing the woman in Dallas to do something. It all worked out in Taco’s favor. It all ended up being good. Even great.

But during the weekend we had Taco, we didn’t know that. There was a script being acted out, written by an unseen hand, and we were playing our parts. We just couldn’t see the end result. We were caught in the moment and thought the moment was permanent.

The lesson, at least for me, is to trust the flow and the process.

It all leads to happiness, and is happiness, even when you think or want otherwise.

Just ask Taco.

Ao Akua,

joe

PS — Stay tuned for a blog post revealing the secret stories behind The Healing Song, my fourth music album.

Member BBB 2003 - 2012

You may remember that Daniel Barrett and I are coming out with a book tilted The Remembering Process (Hay House, Feb. 2013).  It’s the first ever description of a breakthrough new creativity method for stretching your mind and altering time. It’s an advanced Law of Attraction technique. Recently I gave my first presentation ever on the subject, to my peers in the Transformational Leadership Council. You can watch the entire 45 minute talk right here. (It ends with a track from my new music album, The Healing Song.) I remember you loved it… 🙂

Member BBB 2003 - 2012

Filmed years ago for television and just put online in its entirety, you can watch it right here:

Member BBB 2003 - 2012