Bhivpuri Waterfall Bhivpuri Waterfall Cleanship Drive near Mumbai has been organised by Environment Life team on July 2, 2017. Volunteers are welcome to join in! Also known as Ashane Koshane is a lovely getaway close to Neral station in Mumbai. This monsoon picnic spot gathers a lot of attention from visitors as the waterfall look lush due to the rain water being fed from a height. As monsoons make a mark here, more and more visitors tend to flock in groups to view the waterfall and take pictures while enjoying a gettogether. However, in order to sustain the beauty of this spot, a waterfall cleanship drive by Environment Life team has been undertaken to educate locals on ways to protect waterfall areas. Good news is that you can join hands in this effort on July 2, 2017.

From Ahmedabad: Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati Take a tour of the Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati to know interesting trivia you may learned way back in school. The ashram was originally established at the Kocharab Bungalow of Jivanlal Desai, a barrister and friend of Gandhi, on 25 May 1915. At that time the ashram was called the Satyagraha Ashram. But Gandhiji wanted to carry out activities of farming and animal husbandry, in addition to other pursuits which called for the need of a much larger area of useable land. So two years later, on 17 June 1917, the ashram was relocated on the banks of the river Sabarmati, and it came to be known as the Sabarmati Ashram. The ashram now has a museum, the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya. This had originally been located in Hridaya Kunj, Gandhis own cottage in the ashram.

Serenity At Its Best: Gandhijis statue at the Sabarmati Ashram. (Image: Agencies)

From Bengaluru: Madalpetti, Karnataka Reader Varghese George says: Our trip to Madalpetti at Coorg was an experience of a lifetime. Known as the Scotland of India, it is a picture perfect postcard destination. The adrenaline rush through the rugged roads by a jeep made it all the more exciting. We went berserk in this fun, topsy-turvy ride. It seemed as if we were on the Road to Heaven (see picture). The cool weather and the soft winds elevated our spirits instantly. The next leg of our trip was to reach the top by trekking up. It was a steep climb but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Once on top, we were amazed at the sheer beauty of the mountains and its majestic ranges intersecting each other as if racing ahead to touch the skies.

Feel The Rush: Scale Madapetti the way reader Varghese George did. (Image: Agencies)

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Quick Getaway: Head to Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati or Madalpetti near Karnataka this summer - Economic Times

NEW DELHI Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday broke his silence over a wave of attacks on people accused of eating beef or slaughtering cows, saying that killing in the name of an animal sacred to majority Hindus was wrong.

Modi was speaking a week after a 16-year old Muslim boy was stabbed to death on a train on suspicion of possessing beef, the latest of an estimated 28 people killed in cow-related violence since 2010.

Most of the victims were killed after Modi and his Hindu nationalist party won elections three years ago.

"Killing people in the name of 'gau bhakti' is not acceptable," he told a crowd at a Hindu ashram, or place of meditation, referring to cow worship.

"No person in this nation has the right to take the law in his or her own hands," he said at the ashram dedicated to the father of the nation and pacifist Mahatma Gandhi, in Modi's home state of Gujarat.

Modi said protecting cows was right, but it should be done legally.

The slaughter of cows is banned, and the consumption of beef restricted, in most Indian states. But millions of people in the minority Muslim and lower-caste Hindu communities depend on work in the meat and leather industries.

Since coming to power, Modi has found it difficult to balance the competing demands of Hindu right-wing groups - some linked to his party - intent on promoting a Hindu ideology and protecting cows, and promoting development and an image of a modern, secular India befitting its growing economic influence.

On Wednesday, small protests were held in several cities to denounce the lynchings and to pressure the government to do more.

'WE WANT ACTION'

Critics and opposition politicians have accused Modi of failing to condemn the violence and the so-called cow protection groups, some with links to his party, accused of fomenting the attacks, a charge the prime minister's Bharatiya Janata Party denies.

"I am glad that the prime minister finally came out and said something, but it is not enough. We have to put our money where our mouth is. We want action," said a senior leader of the opposition Congress party, Renuka Chowdhury.

"The ground reality is something else. What is the government going to do? What action plan do they have ... Are we to live in terror?" she asked.

Vigilante groups that seize cows from people they accuse of illegally transporting them, or sending them for slaughter, have stepped up operations across India in recent years, rattling members of religious minorities.

Allegations that Modi will edge towards redefining India as a Hindu nation were reignited in March when he appointed a hardline Hindu priest as the chief minister of India's most populous state.

Yogi Adityanath, who has since launched a crackdown on illegal abattoirs, has a history of agitation against Muslims.

Modi's party has consistently said it does not make any distinction between citizens on the basis of religion.

Muslims make up 14 percent of India's 1.3 billion people.

(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

WASHINGTON Visa applicants from six Muslim-majority countries must have a close U.S. family relationship or formal ties to a U.S. entity to be admitted to the United States under guidance distributed by the U.S. State Department on Wednesday.

MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi government troops on Thursday captured the mosque in Mosul from where Islamic State proclaimed its self-styled caliphate three years ago, the Iraqi military said.

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After lynchings, India's Modi condemns violence in name of cow worship - Reuters

Amped Up: Water aerobics in the summer

WMAZ 2:41 AM. EDT June 29, 2017

(Photo: jawade)

When the sun starts to shine and the mercury starts to rise in the summer, many people seek the comfort of a swimming pool. Well, this group of seniors in Warner Robins are not only seeking the cooling waters for relaxation, they are also making waves to get Amped Up and improve their physical fitness.

Instructor Lauren Posten explains, I like being able to help them with exercises that are good for their joints and their bodies. They get to tell me about their bodies and its a great exchange of information which is good for me because I get to learn all kinds of things.

Four days out of the week, twice a day, the Fountain Pool is open to an hourlong water aerobics class put on by the Warner Robins Recreation Department, but active seniors like 75-year-old Wendell Franklin and swimmate 68-year-old Sandy Setinsek take advantage of the morning sessions so they can continue to grow more heart-healthy.

If you have arthritis or something like that, you can get in the water and there is no impact, explains Franklin. So you can do the exercise without impact and the pain is gone while youre in the water.

Both Wendell and Sandy have been wading in the shallow end of the pool with workouts for more than 10 years and say the results are worth making a splash over.

I come from the camaraderie as well as the exercise, says Setinsek. I can tell the days I don't come I get stiff. Its just wonderful low impact exercise for us older seniors. Very important, in fact, every time I go to the doctors, they ask me how much I exercise and they are very pleased with water aerobics.

And when one wins, they all win while encouraging one another to keep pushing along with their journey.

Posten says, They get really excited when they come in and say, 'I lost 5 pounds last month.' We all get to celebrate with them because as a collected group everybody is invested with them. They spend a good bit of time socializing beforehand then we start our exercises and they cheer each other on and it's really fun to watch.

2017 WMAZ-TV

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Amped Up: Water aerobics in the summer - 13WMAZ

While being vegan isn't for everyone (the cheese, what would I do without the cheese?) it's got some undeniable benefits. Not only for the sustainability of our food sources, it turns out, but also in terms of our health. And blogger Jen Miller is able to prove it, after she scoured the internet to discover all sorts of scientific research to demonstrate the broad number of ways a plant-based diet can improve a person's health.

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So if you're teetering on the edge of veganism, maybe this will be enough to sway you?

As Jen points out, "many athletes, from tennis players to body builders are now following a vegan diet to improve their performance." This is because a plant-based diet is thought to give people "more energy, fewer aches and better health". And author Julieanna Hever of the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition agrees, saying that athletes who follow this kind of diet recover faster and are able to maximise their training to improve their performance.

Universal Pictures

Weight loss can come as a direct result of vegetarianism or veganism because these kinds of diets "tend to be lower in total fat, and vegetarians tend to eat proportionally more polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat compared with non-vegetarians." Jen also notes in her blog post that "animal products are the major sources of dietary saturated fat". This claim about weight loss has also been evidenced in various scientific studies (like this one) which found a greater reduction in body mass in the vegan group when comparing their progress to that of participants with alternative diets.

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Nobody likes a migraine, and they can often be directly triggered by a person's food intake. "Most migraine sufferers are advised to avoid certain triggers like chocolate, cheese and alcohol," explains Jen, adding: "But a group of researchers recently found that a low-fat, plant-based diet may be beneficial to sufferers.

"For the study, 42 randomly selected migraineurs ate either a vegan diet, or received a placebo supplement for 26 weeks. Followers of the vegan diet reported a significant decrease in pain, as well as changes in body weight and cholesterol levels."

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Science has proven that a vegan diet can help with stress and anxiety. In her blog post, Jen points to a 2015 study where participants were surveyed on mood, diet, and lifestyle factors, and a correlation was discovered between a healthy vegan diet and lower levels of anxiety.

"This could be because meat based diets are high in arachidonic acid, a saturated omega-6 fatty acid," she suggests in the post, backing this up with another study where 39 omnivores were divided into 3 groups; a control group eating fish, meat and poultry daily; a group that ate fish 3-4 times a week but avoided meat and poultry; and a vegetarian group avoiding all meat, fish and poultry. "After two weeks, results showed that mood scores were unchanged for omnivores and fish eaters, but the vegetarian group showed significantly improved scores."

So if you suffer from PMT, this could be of real benefit to you. As the blogger explains from her research, "our hormones control most of the major body functions, including hunger, reproduction, emotions and mood." Hormones such as oestrogen can also be responsible for causing breast cancer if levels get very high.

Jen explains that animal fats are thought to increase levels of oestrogen (a New York University study found this to be so), but as well as that, people with a plant-based diet "have more of a certain type of carrier molecule called sex hormone binding globulin - or SHBG - which ensures that these hormones remain inactive in the blood until needed." This suggests a vegan diet can control hormone levels, ensuring they don't get too high.

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A study into the population of Kitavan Islanders of Papua New Guinea revealed that not a single one suffered from acne, and their diet is thought to be the reason. This population lives primarily off unprocessed, low-fat plant-foods, so scientists believe there is correlation between this and the non-existence of acne.

Research has also demonstrated that dairy products can lead to acne, as can foods with a high glycaemic load, but a vegan diet eliminates both of these meaning it often improves skin and leads to a brighter complexion.

Who knew there was a direct link between the food we eat and our body odour?! Jen explains it in her post: "Body odour is affected by what is emitted by sweat glands, especially the ones in our armpits. These glands are designed to help us get rid of toxins from the body. The toxins we excrete are what causes body odour, so therefore what we eat directly affects how we smell."

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Red meat is thought to be the primary cause of BO, with other food culprits including manufactured foods lacking fibre and made with processed ingredients, such as white flour, hydrogenated oil and added sugars. These kinds of foods don't tend to exist in a vegan diet.

As we all know, having a healthy BMI increases our chances of living a healthy and long life, reducing the risk of developing various dangerous diseases including heart disease, stroke, bone and joint problems like osteoarthritis, as well as a number of cancers. And according to various studies (like this one and this one), vegans' BMIs were found on average to be lower than groups eating any other diet.

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Read Jen's blog post in full here.

Follow Cat on Instagram.

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8 health benefits of going vegan - cosmopolitan.com (UK)

Caption + Potato Potato Food Truck Thursday June 22, 2017. Photo by Jef Kearney. .

Food truck culture is growing across the U.S. and, despite obstacles such as zoning and parking, it's growing in Colorado Springs, too.

Local culinary sleuths are up for the challenge and follow favorite trucks through social media and websites to find their daily and weekly locations. Although none of the current food trucks in the city is fully vegan, a few have solid, plant-based options.

Bison Brothers

I know, I know. A food truck with a meat mission doesn't seem like an obvious choice, but the Bison Brothers food truck serves up one vegan option that is worth the trip: quinoa spring rolls ($6.50). The ancient grain (seed, actually) is cleverly coupled with softened peanuts, offering a meaty bite. Scallions, green pepper and a seasoning combo offer a solid kick and make for a spicy dish tempered well with a dipping sauce of "honey" mustard (they use agave instead of honey to keep it vegan) that cools the fried and spice-filled heat. The two rolls come with a side of chips.

Potato Potato

Potatoes are vegetables, and an entire truck devoted to the spud must be vegan-friendly, right? It is. Potato Potato food truck is best known for its take on Poutine ($8.50) - a traditional Canadian dish starting with French fries and topped with gravy and curds (cheese). Hold the curds, and that super-savory vegetable-based mushroom gravy - vegan as is - gives you all the flavor you'll need. Umami-packed with soy sauce and vinegars, the thick gravy stands up over the hand-cut fries. The generous portion easily makes a meal.

Vore

How's this for an oxymoron? A "grilled cheese gastro-pub" has vegan options - as in, every item on the menu can be made vegan. According to the server at the counter, "We believe a vegan order shouldn't be about subtraction [of ingredients]; it should be about substitutions." The Deep Dish grilled cheese sandwich ($10) features mozzarella, provolone and ham - all vegan thanks to brand-name Chao (cheese) and Tofurky (ham) replacements. The hot sandwich is layered high, Dagwood-style; you've got to love a vegan cheese that melts! Order fried tofu or pickles ($6) for a down-home side.

The world isn't vegan, and that's why it's wonderful that more and more restaurants offer plant-based options. Food trucks are no exception, and the vegan offerings popping up at the four-wheeled dining destinations are a great addition to the vegan scene.

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3 Colorado Springs food trucks offer vegan options - Colorado Springs Gazette

The maker of vegan mayonnaise has been working on getting lab-made meat onto dinner tables everywhere. Its just that nobody knew about it.

Hampton Creeka company that built its name on plant-based condiments and vegan-friendly cookie doughstoday revealed that, for the last year, it has been secretly developing the technology necessary for producing lab-made meat and seafood, or as the industry likes to call it, clean meat. Perhaps even more surprising is that Hampton Creek expects to beat its closest competitor to market by more than two years.

By the end of next year, well have something out there on the marketplace, Josh Tetrick, CEO of the company, tells Quartz. Until now, only one of the handful of global startups developing clean meat, Memphis Meats, has openly talked about getting a product to market and that was by 2021.

Since it was founded in 2015, Memphis Meats has raised at least $3 million from five investors for the development of its meat products, according to Crunchbase. By contrast, Hampton Creekjust a 20-mile drive from its Silicon Valley rivalhas raised more than $120 million since 2011. Its one of Silicon Valleys unicornsa company that has a valuation that exceeds $1 billion.

The fact that Hampton Creek has so many resources at its fingertips is very promising for speeding up the commercialization of clean meat, says Paul Shapiro, the author of a forthcoming book on meat alternatives and vice president of policy at the Humane Society of the United States.

Now that Hampton Creek has unveiled itself as the latest entrant in that space, competition to reach consumers first will heat up. And once these products do get to supermarkets, it will open the door for a three-way battle for meat-eater dollars, as consumers will have a choice between three different products:

In the eyes of the people pushing the development of plant-based and clean meat products, this new crop of foods will revolutionize how meat is made and offer a clear path to feeding people across the globe in a way that emits less greenhouse gas and ends animal suffering.

Once we have clean meat that is cost-competitive with animal-based meat, that will be the beginning of the end of all the harms of industrial agriculture, says Bruce Friedrich, who leads the Good Food Institute, which supports and lobbies on behalf of meat alternative companies.

Earlier this month, Beyond Meat made headlines when it announced its plant-based burger patties would be stocked alongside animal products in meat cases at more than 200 Safeway grocery stores. Until then, it was sold mostly in the meat sections at Whole Foods Market locations. Getting into a mainstream supermarket chain was a significant step for the company, and a testament to the tenacity of Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown, whod spent years trying to convince grocery chains to carry his product.

Hampton Creek already sells its vegan condiments and cookie doughs at Walmart, Whole Foods, and other major chains, something that will assist the company as it attempts to get its clean meat products into mainstream stores. That will be very helpful, as opposed to starting all these relationships from scratch, Tetrick says. We happen to already be thereand not just in retail, but also in food service.

With that kind of entree into the consumer market, Tetrick says he also expects large traditional meat companies will potentially want to become significant investors. Were talking to a number of them right now all across the world, he says. Id expect one or two of these partnerships to cross the finish line [soon].

More money and product demand means it wont be long before Hampton Creek looks to expand, adding to its already large, 59-person research and development division. The company says it will be looking to add chemists, tissue engineers, stem cell biologists, and more.

It will need them, because one of the biggest reasons its so hard to get lab-made meat to market is because its really difficult to affordably make enough product to meet demand. Just a pound of clean meatgrown inside high-tech industrial vatscan easily cost thousands of dollars. A pound of lab-made beef would have cost $1.2 million per pound to sell in 2013. In four years, the price of lab-grown meat has fallen by 99%but its still higher than your usual animal-reared meat.

Thats partially because its tough to get a steady supply of one particular ingredient: fetal bovine serum, which is blood extracted from the fetuses of pregnant cows.

Until now, scientists working on clean meat have depended upon having access to that serum. Once its added into the vats along with meat cells and other ingredients, the serum triggers the cells to reproduce. But Hampton Creek says its scientists are investigating other ways to trigger cells to reproduce, by replacing the cow blood with nutrients coming from plants, according to Viviane Lanquar, the director of Hampton Creeks biochemistry division.

Still, theres a lot of work left to complete before the company is ready to sell a product, Tetrick says, likening the process to a creating a top-notch electric car. Just because youve nailed the battery doesnt mean youve nailed the electric car, he says. He refused to divulge more about his product.

Among the many challenges ahead for lab-made meat companies is trying to figure out how to achieve the Holy Grail of fake meat: creating a cut of meat that has the same texture, taste, and appearance of a steak. As of now, companies are able to make tiny pieces of meat, which when mixed together can be treated and used as a ground meat product. Producing a slab of meat will take more time and engineering.

Read this next: How the vegan movement broke out of its echo chamber and finally started disrupting things

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Vegan-mayo startup Hampton Creek is producing lab-made meat ... - Quartz

This week Apple is beginning to roll out the first new personalized playlist under Apple Musics For You section. The playlist, entitled Chill, is muxed based on editorial curation and algorithmic interpretation of your musical tastes.

A small number of test users got the new playlist yesterday evening. An updated Chill playlist will be delivered every Sunday to users who join the test group, which will roll out through the summer.

Its focus, unsurprisingly, is chill-ass music. A base layer of editorial curation will be used to determine what music gets included in the Chill playlist, which will then be augmented using the App Music algorithm. Theoretically, this should show you music you may not be familiar with that fits the category, while simultaneously being music that you like and actually care about.

While the 27 million Apple music users listen to a lot of different kinds of music, one of the prime themes is apparently that they all like to relax and they use music to do it.

This is where it gets tricky, because one person could consider Motorheads Burner the ultimate in smooth jamz, while another person might think that John Teshs Roundball Rock is the pinnacle of repose.

So the Chill playlists will take into account the music and genres you most enjoy and build the chillest set of tracks out of those genres. My mix prominently features Drake, Outkast, Ashanti, Trey Songs, Beyonc, Jeremih and Kehlani so we know where Im at on the spectrum. But it also picks from those artists most chill tracks according to editorial choice, and some general music genomic smarts like tempo and categorization. Its about 25 tracks and an hour and a half or so of music.

If you suddenly took up a liking for EDM over the next month or two, you would see that music get mixed into your playlist at the track level. With the hope that the music would still fit your taste and have a down-tempo relaxing energy to it.

Theoretically I could have an R&B-focused Chill list while you could have a rock or jazz rendition that met the same basic goals: help you relax.

At the moment the algorithmic tweaks being made are coming from inside the Apple Music universe. How you use the app, what you put into your library and listen to are all factors in how Chill (and the other two playlists, New Music and My Favorites) gets composited.

Currently, there will not be any spoken word content mixed in its all music. So if youre one of the millions that use ASMR and other soothing spoken word compositions for relaxation, youll have to wait it out.

Relaxation is a broad, fat target for Apples first new playlist in this model, but Id expect to see more that could apply across a wide swath of users. Thinking big means considering workouts, commuting, focused efforts like studying and more for inclusion.

Because this is brand new, Im interested in seeing what your playlists look like. Hit me up on Twitter or in the comments with a screenshot or link. Heres mine:

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Apple Music Personalized Playlist Chill, Algorithmic And Editorial - TechCrunch

Former nurse plays healing music

Bradley Blackburn, WFAA 6:17 AM. CDT June 28, 2017

After decades spent helping patients as a registered nurse, Diane Michal found a new way to care for patients. (Photo: WFAA)

GRAPEVINE, Texas -- They say music has the power to heal, and it's the reason one Grapevine nurse is starting a new career.

After decades spent helping patients as a registered nurse, Diane Michal found a new way to care for them while following a lifelong passion for music.

"When we play for patients, it's not performance. It's service," said Michal. "We're looking at where they are in the moment, and what their needs are."

Michal still works as a nurse, but she's now pursuing a career as a certified music practitioner. She plays the flute weekly in the lobby of Baylor Grapevine, in addition to other Baylor hospitals.

"We are just there providing the music with no real expectations from the patient," said Michal.

She played songs ranging from classical to pop, rendered in the peaceful tone of the flute.

"Beautiful music, and it's really relaxing," said Emile LeBlanc, who was listening in the lobby as she cradled her 2-week-old baby. "She's sleeping right through it, so I think she's doing good. She likes it."

Michal is a volunteer, but there are several staff music practitioners. It differs from music therapy, where music is actually prescribed. This, Michal said, is less clinical but still with a purpose.

"They may have needs for comfort. They may have needs for distraction," she said.

Michal has loved the flute since she first picked it up in the fourth grade, and through high school, she thought of pursuing music as a career. Her parents suggested otherwise.

"My parents really discouraged me from going into music. I think they had this image of a starving musician," she said.

She largely gave the up flute as she focused on medicine. She served 20 years as a nurse in the Navy before moving to civilian work. But five years ago, she rediscovered her love of the flute when she began playing at her church.

"I started in the orchestra, picked up my old, old flute from high school," Michal said.

Now, after private lessons and a certification program, she is close to achieving her goal of becoming a certified music practitioner and hopes to do the work full time. She'll still be serving patients, but with renewed passion.

"To me, it's a blessing to play for them," she said.

2017 WFAA-TV

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Medicine & Music: Grapevine nurse pivots careers, picks up flute - KHOU

It seems that the ear plays an important role in the awareness of the world around us. With the negativity that we have been hearing lately, it might be wise to treat our auditory senses to some entertaining and relaxing music. One way to maintain mind-soothing harmony this summer would be to enjoy selections of comforting music.

What if these musical opportunities were free and outdoors? The answer to that question is easier than you might think. Communities on the Eastside of Lake Washington offer the opportunity to enjoy music without cost at a variety of venues.

These free summer concerts offer an assortment of musical styles, including singer-songwriters, cover groups and symphonies. They are family friendly with opportunities to picnic, dance and meet others who enjoy music. Some sites have refreshments available for purchase.

Even though the concerts are free, sometimes there is an opportunity to put some money or bread in the performers jar, basket or a repurposed guitar case. If you truly enjoyed the show, often the performers have CDs for sale usually at a reasonable price.

The following is a list of the various shows to enjoy this summer. Each venue has a website that you can visit to check locations, dates, times and whos performing.

In Sammamish, Concerts in the Park take place Thursday evenings at Pine Lake Park. The weekly outdoor concerts happen from 6:30-8 p.m. between July 13-Aug. 31. Bring your own picnic or purchase dinner on-site. Parking for this event is available at Pine Lake Park, Discovery Elementary School and South Sammamish Park and Ride.

Note that parking at Pine Lake Park is extremely limited and fills up early in the day. There is a free shuttle that runs between the South Sammamish Park and Ride and Pine Lake Park before and after the concert.

In Issaquah, there are two weekly events: Tuesdays Concerts on the Green are held at the Issaquah Community Center lawn. This series runs from 7-8:30 p.m., from July 11-Aug. 28. Spectators often start gathering as early as 6 p.m. for community picnicking. On Thursday nights, the Downtown Issaquah Association, in partnership with the Washington Blues Society, presents the Gas Station Blues at the Historic Shell Station on Front Street from 7-9 p.m., from July 13-Aug. 24.

A very ambitious offering is presented by the Bellevue Downtown Association through its Live at Lunch concert series. These performances take place at various downtown Bellevue venues every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 12-1:30 p.m., from July 11-Sept. 14.

Redmond has Thursday Nights Rockin on the River Concerts (6 p.m.-8:30 p.m.) at the Redmond Senior Center Garden Plaza, from July 13-Aug. 10.

In Mercer Island, there is Mostly Music in the Park, from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursdays nights, from July 20-Aug. 24 at Mercerdale Park.

Newcastles concert series happens at Lake Boren Park from 7-9 p.m. Wednesday evenings, from July 19-Aug. 9.

Kirklands Summer Concert Series are held from 7-8:30 p.m. on Thursday nights, from July 6-Aug. 17 at Marina Park.

Look for the opportunity locally to allow your acoustic perception to provide you with some free and fun relaxation. It has been stated that many times we do not hear the melody or the lyrics until we need the song. This may just be the chance to tune in and enjoy music and put your troubles aside.

Sammamish resident Larry Crandall is a retired educator.

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Maintain mind-soothing harmony with summer music concerts | My Turn - Bellevue Reporter

Photo:R. Bernard

Patron, Hennessy, Alize, and Cristal have all been named dropped in hip hop songs, but one liquor you rarely hear in a rap rhymeis whiskey.

Rapper G-Eazy is hoping to change that with a unique collaboration withStillhouse, thebreakout spirits company best known for its award-winning clear American whiskey that comes in ared, stainless steel can.

G-Eazy, theOakland-bred multi-platinum rapper, producer, and Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneur (real name Gerald Gillum), has been named Partner and Co-Creative Director and will work tumbler-in-hand withStillhouse CEO & Founder Brad Beckerman, who has a background in music as theformer Chief Creative Officer at Live Nation.

Spirits companies had approached me with endorsement deals but that was just money, says G-Eazy in a press release. I kept running into Stillhouse everywhere and fell in love with the brand not to mention its smooth whiskey.

G-Eazy, who has been named to Forbes 30 under 30 list, seems like the ideal frontman for a top-shelf whiskey brand with his slick, bad boy look and pop culture hooks so its not a matter of if, but when we will hear him slip inStillhouse in an upcoming rap verse.

Stay connected with Stillhouse by visiting http://www.Stillhouse.com and follow along @StillhouseUSA.

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For Relaxing Times, G-Eazy Makes it Stillhouse Time - Crave Online