Tonay Watts, Twatts, Sister, whatever I call her..she is force to be reckoned with!

Check this article out, and check her music out by clicking through my Top friends! woo hoo! I love you sister!

Editorial
TONYA WATTS: Calibama Angel

Movie star looks. Homeless advocate. Rock and roller. Country girl. Hollywood glam from Alabam. You can't really
sum up Tonya Watts in a simple description. She's too complex, too multitfaceted to really paint the whole
picture and the best thing to do would be to hit up her immensely popular myspace page and listen to her
music. She says she is in love with raw truth, and I believe her. She wears her beliefs like battle calls, almost
daring anyone and everyone to challenge what she thinks, and who she is. Only a fool would try.

When Tonya Watts first walks into a room, the first thought that comes to mind is how beautiful and tiny she is,
probably weighs ninety pounds soaking wet-must be a gentle little thing. That may be true some of the time, but don't expect her to be quiet and just look pretty. This girl has big talent, a big heart and a pit bull determination to right whatever injustices she takes on, and that makes her more of a warrior than a former pageant princess.

Born and proudly raised in Alabama, Watts grew up in the world of beauty pageants and tailgate parties,
listening to Guns and Roses and Michael Jackson. David Allen Coe would speak to her soul and it was
in his music she turned to in her twenties for inspiration. She began a music career after racking up
some acting credits in Hollywood, writing with grit, passion and determination. A debut album entitled "Handcuff My Soul" will be released this year, and it features her incredibly
honest and lyrical imagery delivered in a voice that is so stylistic, one will know immediately that she truly is an original.

All of this impressed me about Tonya beyond words, and yet the one thing that takes it even further, is
her crusade to help the homeless. The B.Love foundation (named after a homeless man Tonya met on
the streets of Nashville named Booger Love) is her project to help raise awareness and help change
the climate of homeless intolerance in Nashville. This mission came about when Nashville actually
began a campaign that encouraged people PLEASE HELP: DON'T GIVE to the homeless. Tonya wrote this in response
on her ever popular myspace blog:

"It says numerous things in fine print that proves that whoever came up with this slogan did have good intentions...sort of. I do not want to argue whether or not somewhere underneath that awesomely negative slogan there is indeed a positive thought...I just want to say this...When I am passing by another human being in need, and I am feeling a moment of compassion, I have every right to act on that feeling. They say the money is better spent going directly to charities that help with shelter, job training etc.
This may be true, But I am not going to trust any government over my heart telling me which charity is best. So, I have to go home and research where the best place for my charitable donation is. In the meantime NO ONE is going to tell me to not GIVE when I feel the urge, and so what if my dollar goes to buying one more beer...life is hard, and some have it harder than others...it is only though compassion and love that we can survive."

This important cause found its way onto her forthcoming album in a song she recorded (featuring her good friend Waylon Payne) called Cumberland Angels. You can view the video for this on our video lounge. Many a homeless person lives down by Cumberland River downtown Nashville, and they have an angel of their own in Tonya Watts. And we need to follow her lead. After all, like she sings, "it could have been you and me if a different coin was tossed."

Brigitte London

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Music Connection Magazine releases 1st national issue featuring Levi Kreis
Current mood: artistic
Category: Music

Making The Most of This Moment:
by Dan Kimpel

Singer/songwriter Levi Kreis is a joyful independent artist. "I'm a businessman, not just a musician. It's not a responsibility; it's a freedom, because we get to decide how far we go nowadays. The difference in the industry is fantastic. I don't have to sit around and wait for 20 suits to decide my fate anymore."

A series of indie releases has established Kreis as a recording artist while providing a bounty of material for film and television projects. Most recently, he wrote and performed three songs-two penned with co-writer Darci Monet- in the feature film Kiss The Bride, starring Tori Spelling. "I met (music supervisor) David Quan through a group of friends. We were drawn to each other because of our histories," recalls Kreis. "I didn't even consider what he did, but we got a call from him asking to hear some songs for a film. He knows people I worked with in Nashville. I love that we have a common past, not only in a business perspective but also from a personal standpoint. And now here we are in the present and he's got my back. I'm very grateful."

Born in East Tennessee, Kreis broke into the business as a Christian singer/songwriter in Nashville. "I was comfortable with the camaraderie, I felt inspired by the excellence of musicianship they require. But being the product of a very religious background, I felt there were certain things about the church that weren't ringing true. Eventually, the rub inspired me to redefine my views about God and the universe, and although I am thankful for Nashville and its spirit of religion, I wouldn't want to live there again," notes the Los Angeles transplant.
In conversation, Kreis speaks with the fervor that echoes evangelistic cadences. "if I were to say that we were created in the image of God, then I believe that we are every bit of the creator that God is. But the challenge of that for us as artists and singer/songwriters is that when we start out pursuing dreams, it's not an easy task. There are always rejections and obstacles. Over time, we begin to build internal judgments about ourselves, about the world, and about how much success we may or we may not be able to achieve. So the goal is to realize that we should dismiss these internal judgments and let the universe have the last word. And standing right here, connected to the divine, say, 'Why not me? Why can't I have all this? I'm not going to listen to these internal judgments. I am meant to create, to serve what God has blessed me with the ability to do.' Just as he has blessed us all with a very special specific ability that we then have the responsibility to take to somebody else."
Post Music City, Kreis was groomed for a major label signing in New York City. "It was all looking so fantastic, but there was some shady shit that I was too naive to navigate my way through," he confided. Stuck in New York, with no release imminent, Kreis snagged an appearance on the television series The Apprentice on an episode where XM Satellite radio challenged the two teams to find an unsigned artist and deliver a produced song to be heard on XM Cafe. "I had about seven minutes on TV," says Kreis. "I had to make the most of this moment. I had all of these ballads the label didn't want, so I sat down at a piano and made the CD (One of the Ones) for $200. I went to a friend to do graphics, borrowed money to manufacture CDs and set up a website. The show aired and I couldn't keep up with thousands and thousands of requests for this album."
Kreis is now completing a new CD, titled Where I Belong. "This truly represents who I am as an artist. I feel like I'm coming home to the gospel roots that I've grown up with and the country influences, too. I said a lot of heavy things on my last album, so I feel good. I can celebrate the moment in front of me rather than wading through the past."

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Daily Inspirations: BY SHAWN-ERIC BROOKS

The first week of fall usually brings with it a noticeable change in the weather pattern here in the northeast. As the temperature drops, the leaves begin to turn color and fall from the trees, the air becomes crisp and clean, and when it isn't raining, the sky tends to be amazingly clear and the sun brilliant. It is usually around this time that I give up any illusion of an "endless summer" and I eventually resign myself to the fact that the warm weather is behind us. Although I enjoy each season for what it offers, I am raging against the dying of the light. Perhaps its simply a matter of knowing that winter is on the way. Regardless of the reason, until I open myself up to the inevitability of change, I struggle with it. Interestingly, like so many of us do, I frequently find myself going through a negative emotional response when faced with other kinds of change as well. In fact, I find it is common for people to react negatively to change, even when it brings about the promise of a better way of being.



In my roles as both educator and coach, I spend a lot of time working with students and clients helping them understand the nature of change and the difficulty they have with it. This exercise is crucial because if a person is not "change ready," they won't be successful with their efforts no matter how much they want or feel that they should change. Change for many is hard because it involves potential loss of control. Change can also be hard because it introduces ambiguity and uncertainty into our lives and we struggle with the notion that our future is not guaranteed. Lastly, change can be hard because it often challenges our limited view of who we actually are. So rather than proactively dealing with our discontent and working to create a new and improved existence, we often stay stuck in bad jobs, in bad relationships and in a variety of other bad situations. Rather than opening to the promise of what could be, we stay stuck in a life that keeps us from connecting with our full potential.



Just for today, think about an area in you life that you would like to change. What kind of "tolerations" are you allowing? Think deeply about the things that have kept you from acting to create your best life possible. What could you do TODAY to break through the inertia? Know that "change readiness" involves connecting with the reality that your beliefs about who you are and what you deserve and is the key to creating pure magic in your life. Remember that happiness and abundance in health, wealth and love is your birthright. Above all, reconnect with the notion that you are an amazing ray of light worthy of all the good the world has to offer. A most blessed fall season to you! And so it is.

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Daily Inspirations: BY SHAWN-ERIC BROOKS

I used to be obsessed with things that happened in the past. I would lay awake at night and replay conversations or situations from the day (or previous days) that had not gone well. I could literally fall asleep thinking of all of the things that I could have or should have said or done which would have created a different outcome. As one regret would fade into oblivion, another would be there to take its place. Rather than emotionally experiencing the situation once, I would relive it full force again and again.



Another one of my pastimes was to worry about the future. "Ah... let's play a game of 'what is.' The game of 'what if' consists of.... well, to put it simply.... worrying. "PANIC NOW! BEAT THE RUSH!" Even though 99% of the things about which I would worry would never come to fruition, I would spend hours spinning a potential situation into the worst possible outcomes. The problem with this kind of mental pastime is that it causes fear and pain and does not lead to the creation of anything good and positive and wonderful.



Of course, obsessing about the future is just as useless as obsessing about the past. The only real power we have is in the present. If you find yourself dwelling in either the past or the future, use your mental focus to gently bring yourself back to the present. Bless your past and prepare for your future, but use your energy in the "here and now" to create the life that you fully desire. Your "present" is waiting. And so it is.

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Daily Inspirations: BY SHAWN-ERIC BROOKS

From time to time, things happen in my life that I can't quite make sense of. I mean, I have this preconceived notion of the way the world is supposed to work and when things happen that contradict my understanding of the way things should be, I find myself thrust into an angry, confused and fearful space. Such was the case this past weekend when I got a call that one of my students was killed in an accident. He had just returned for his second year at the university the week before.... dropped off by parents who must have had huge hopes and aspirations for his life and a huge love for their son. And one short week later, he was gone.

Although I have a difficult time digesting situations that cause fear and pain and upheaval in my life and in the lives of people I know, I can usually come around to a place where I make peace with what is. Intellectually, I can grasp the concept that I am not supposed to understand everything that happens on this life plain. Intellectually, I can connect with the notion that bad things happen to good people for reasons beyond our comprehension. But emotionally, I feel like I am left in the dark and I question why if my God is so loving, do tragedies strike? I struggle to find the answers... but none come. I struggle to find how anything about this situation is meant to be or how it can lead to anything other than heartache and pain. I struggle to return to a fair and just world where things make sense and good prevails and love always trumps fear.

My spiritual practice has taught me to "let go and let God".... to surrender to a power in the universe that is infinitely wiser than am I and to trust that there is a reason and a season for everything under the sun. And so after days of resistance and struggle, I once again engage a prayer state that helps flood my darkness with love and light. I connect with the understanding that I can either choose to be beaten down my life or I can choose to be a vehicle for love. I can choose to either close my heart and protect against further pain, or I can boldly make my way through life with an open-heart and serve to remind people that in the face of fear and pain and darkness love will prevail... and so it does... And so it is.

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Daily Inspirations: BY SHAWN-ERIC BROOKS

There is a small theater in town that shows nothing but foreign and independent films. Watching foreign films has become one of my favorite pastimes as it is a combination of submersion in an unknown story line and submersion into another culture. Sometimes the dialogue comes so quickly that I can't fully process the action. I get so intent on understanding and reading the subtitles that I can't focus on what is happening on the rest of the screen. Fortunately, with practice, I have learned to read them fast enough to be able to appreciate the film in its entirety.



I have learned that where I sit in the theater helps to determine how much I am able to capture. The closer I am to the screen, the less I am able to see the big picture... to process all that is happening... to understand the interaction between characters... to understand how one frame leads into another... to follow the story line.. to grasp inner meaning of what is going on. Conversely, if I am too far away from the screen, I can't always read all of the dialogue and end up missing crucial bits of information.



Life is kind of like that, you know? Because we are so close to the action, we don't always get a feel for the bigger picture. Sometimes the story line doesn't make sense. We can't grasp why things happen the way they do. We don't always understand the inner meaning of situations and events... And we don't always appreciate the role that each character is contributing to the overall plot. It is only when we allow ourselves some distance, either emotionally or chronologically, that things begin to make sense. I have come to trust that there is deeper meaning behind things and even if I don't understand it at the time, everything is part of a much larger whole and in the grand scheme of things, it is all perfect. And so it is.

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Daily Inspirations: BY SHAWN-ERIC BROOKS

During one of my recent deep thought conversation with John, we pondered the connection between love and the attraction process. At first blush they may appear to be only peripherally related. However, the more you look into the energy behind attraction, the more clear it becomes that the things you attract into your life are essentially a bi-product of the love you broadcast to the world. If in fact, every thought we think is a "cause" set in motion producing an "effect," then thoughts brimming with love energy will produce love-based effects. Conversely, fear-laden thoughts will produce fear-based effects. To extrapolate... if our thoughts are the building-blocks of the attraction process then what we think about ourselves and others and our lives will help to create our experience.

Throughout the course of my spiritual journey I have come to be a keen observer of the river of thoughts that pass through my consciousness. I have to confess that at one time in my life a majority of my thoughts and preoccupations were fearful and angry and dark. It is of little surprise that at that time, my life experience was pretty bleak and in retrospect I can see how my consciousness of fear perpetuated itself. When I reflect on the person I was at that time, I can clearly see that my beliefs about who I was and about my self worth (low self-esteem) attracted a life experience that confirmed and supported my thoughts about myself. In short, I was only capable of attracting things of which I felt worthy. So in essence, the love I felt for myself (or the lack thereof) was the energy behind the thoughts that helped shape my life.

Fortunately, as I am fond of saying, "the past does not equal the future." For a conscious shift in energy from fear-based thinking to love-based thinking has created an entirely different life experience for me. Rather than engaging and indulging fear-based thoughts of limitation regarding who I am and what I deserve, I chose (and choose daily) to position love as my foundational energy. And that energy continues to attract people and things and experiences that confirm and support my thoughts about myself and about my life. And this can work for you in your life the same way it worked for me in my life.

Just for today, make an honest appraisal of your life experience. Simultaneously, assess whether your predominate emotional energy is love-based or fear-based. Can you see a connection between the energy that serves as your foundation and the life you are living? Can you see a connection between your self worth (your beliefs about what you are worthy of) and the people, things and situations you have attracted to you? Can you dig deep to muster the faith that changes will occur if you change your thoughts and the energy behind those thoughts? And will you make a conscious decision to make the necessary changes in order to produce your best life possible? It is my hope and prayer that you will for at the end of the day, you must know that you are oh-so worthy of love and you are oh-so worthy of your best life possible. And so it is.

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Daily Inspirations: BY SHAWN-ERIC BROOKS

I used to be of the mind set that if I set my expectations low, I wouldn't be disappointed if nothing positive happened. Once I started my spiritual quest however, I came to realize that the world would pretty much respond to the things I ask of it.. to the things I demand of it. Setting the bar low, I avoided disappointment, but I wasn't actively attracting great things to myself either. By setting the bar higher and demanding more of the world, I opened myself up to a better experience.



I expect wonderful things to happen to me each and every day, thereby creating more a likelihood that they will. I have learned, however, how to remain unattached to the outcome in particular situations and circumstances. That is to say, I am not negatively impacted if my expectations do not manifest exactly when and how I deem they should... If my expectations for great things do not materialize, I simply remind myself that something even better is just around the corner. And it always is.



The basic reality of life and living is that the universe is ready to supply what you ask of it. Set the bar higher and expect good things... expect abundance... expect miracles. You deserve all that you expect, for you are a miracle. And so it is.

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Daily Inspirations: BY SHAWN-ERIC BROOKS

For a number of years now, I have had a sign above my desk that reads. "If you want to hear God laugh, tell her your plans for the future." This idea has particular applicability when I forget that I am not the sole architect of my life trajectory. Although I firmly believe that my beliefs, thoughts, and actions help to create my reality, there is a power at play in the universe that has the final say. When I either try and deny what actually is, or force my own version of reality (the way things SHOULD be), the results are usually disastrous and the happiness that I think is within reach, somehow slips away.



There are times when I get so enthusiastic and wrapped up in my plans that I forget that there may be another destiny that awaits me. Thankfully, when things don't materialize the way I have determined they should, I am usually surprised and blessed with something that is ultimately better than the blueprints that I created. I still need occasional reminders (sometimes not too subtle) that I would be better served by relaxing into what is meant to be and let go of my concept of what SHOULD be.



Just for today, take a good look at how you may be try to force reality to suit what you believe to be the best for you. Try to relax into the great "what is." Trust that there is an infinite creative power and intelligence at work in the universe that will help you design a life that exceeds your most positive dreams. Trust that God has your best interest at heart. Trust and believe that you are attracting things to you. Trust that God too believes that you deserve the best that the world has to offer. And so it is.

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Daily Inspirations: BY SHAWN-ERIC BROOKS

I was facilitating a discussion yesterday of new students at the university in which I got to questions them about their hopes and dreams and fears about making a transition to higher education. As I have written many times before, I really love working with this population of student because of how impressionable they are and because they remind me of our unlimited potential. And I am a great believer in the educational process. God knows, I would not have committed myself to life-long learning if I didn't feel that education somehow compels us to be more and do more. However, for all the good that education does, I always felt that our educational system was falling short in teaching our students the really important things about how to be in the world.



Would it not be amazing if there was a mandatory curriculum that included how to love yourself and how to love others? Would it not be amazing if we taught students to believe in abundance rather than limitation? Would it not be amazing if we taught students how to overcome the barrage of negative programming that brainwashes them into believing that they are somehow not good enough or worthy of all the good the universe has to offer? Unfortunately, more often than not, young people are rarely exposed to these ideas and at some point may be fortunate enough to stumble on them on their own. And if a child doesn't learn about love and caring and compassion at home, do they learn it at all?



Just for today, connect with the notion that we are all teachers in our own right and that we are role-modeling our lessons to countless others in our sphere of influence. Take some time to focus on the lessons you are teaching.... Are you teaching self-respect, caring, compassion and love or are you teaching something different? Are you a conduit of good energy? Remember that you don't have to have a college degree to teach the things that are most important in life. Remember too that we are all simultaneously teacher and student and we are constantly learning about love. Above all, remember that your sphere presence is an amazing gift to the universe. And so it is.

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