New Thought Music Festival Blog

Unity North Choir in Action and Ready for the New Thought Music Festival

Take a look at this video of our choir practice on May 27th at Unity North Church in Marietta, Georgia. Our director, Penelope Williams, inspires us every step of the way!

IT'S ALL GOOD 'CAUSE IT'S ALL GOD

We are having a blast pulling all the details together to make this a successful music festival for all.  Unity North will welcome our sister choirs exactly one week from today.  What a sense of excitement we feel here.  Our Good Vibrations Choir is rallying in a tremendous way to get the word out and create enthusiasm in the community.  We're putting up posters in every nook and cranny of the city and selling tickets right and left.  We have a star named Sylvia Hopper who sold 10 tickets in a half day just by going around and asking people to buy them.  We are blessed with wonderful people coordinating our housing - John San Miguel, and our transportation - Judy Green and Tom Ballinger, and our food and catering - Teresa Agosin.  These people are making it such a breeze and are a hoot to work with.  On the other end of the continent Laura Helgren from Inner Light Ministries of Santa Cruz, CA and Colette Mercier from the Choir of Light in Seattle, WA are also making our load so much easier by their organization and loving attitudes! Thank you all. 
Last night we went to the Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta and handed out flyers and got a great response from people planning to attend and who also wanted our groovy t-shirts.  We've got some really unique music that we are going to present and our choir has never looked or sounded better. I'm not telling you what we're doing but I must say "we look mahvelous dahling"!  And don't forget, Francine Reed and the Tibetan Monks of Drepung Loseling Monastery will be here on Friday night.  Saturday evening features Daniel Nahmod.  If you love gospel, inspirational, jazz, pop, rock...we've got it all!    I wish you could see what I see right now. There is a majestic hawk flying outside my window who seems to be saying  "It's all good from up here. It's just a breeze when you relax and let the spirit wind carry you. It's all God." 

HEADING TO THE LAST STRETCH!

Sometimes it feels like the Kentucky Derby around here. We're like a bunch of fine horses out of the chute and running at top speed.  No looking to the right or to the left, taking each turn as tightly as possible, kicking up dirt and passing by in a colorful blur.  Today should be a day of rest...today is our normal day off...but there is more to do to prepare for the wonderful experience we are bringing forth here.  Hard work?!  Maybe, but Joyful is more our theme word as we see the finish line nearing and cannot wait for the moment we all come together in spirit and in song.  Today we gathered the final information for our music program that will go to print next week.  We worked with our Youth and Family Director Karla Hodge to get the young children to perform a service during their classes on Sunday by helping to stuff the goodie bags for the incoming choirs. We corresponded with transportation, hospitality and music leads regarding the finer details...the working behind the scenes that we trust will cause everything to run as smoothly as possible.  There is still much to be done and we give thanks for all those that are giving a part of themselves in service!  This includes the directors and singers from each choir, the coordinators in Santa Cruz and Seattle and Hillside of Atlanta that are pulling the troops together with all details covered on their own end.  God is so Good!  We are blessed! See you in the last stretch!   Please blog back!  We want to read what you have to say!

BETTER THAN FREE GAS!

You can afford this.  We concluded that you spend so much money on your basic needs, that you deserve a break today. Here's the EASY BUTTON!  Ticket prices to our June 6, 7 concerts allow many consumers of global music to attend.  So, FIFTEEN DOLLARS for adults, and only EIGHT DOLLARS for youth, ages 17 and under. 

Last night's choir rehearsal was full of energy.  Our soloists are incredibly versatile singing not only rousing gospel, but also heartfelt subtlety and the choir is responding too.  We practiced Daniel Nahmod's "One Power",(he's our special guest artist on Saturday Night) and a new Santa Cruz Inner Light Ministries addition, "I Still Have Joy", and the famously inspirational words of Stevie Wonder, "Love's In Need of Love Today". 

Every time we gather, we honor members recently passed, including our beloved alto/healer, Bobbye Stegen, and our New Orleans hero, Pete Bergeron. Music is such a unifying and healing art form, soothing hearts and connecting us to one another.  By the way we are Unity North Atlanta and we are so enthusiastic about joining our music with Atlanta's Hillside Int'l Truth Center, Seattle's Spiritual Living Center, Mystical Arts of Tibet (Drepung Loseling Monastery) and Santa Cruz's Inner Light Ministries.  WHOOOAAAA... Life is soo sweet..!

It's better than free gas...at least we think so.