Jim and Ashley Cash, a musical duo and founders of the local band, Woven Green, speak softly and kindly. They dont raise voices or get overly excited. As a clearly happy married couple, theyre quick to laugh, complement each others thoughts and carefully weigh their words before speaking.

As one might expect, this is reflected in their musical partnership, which is a thoughtful, eclectic blend of folk, world music, rock and funk. And while they have a dedicated, multi-generational following for their rock music, which leans classic, theyre unplugging their amps and electric guitars for one night to let their music and lyrics seep through.

We have a lot of fans who enjoy our rock music, but we want to give people a chance to listen to our music in a different way. Being unplugged gives a different context, says Jim Cash.

Jim and Ashley Cash will appear with area songwriters Bob Sima, Siobhan Quinn & Michael Bowers at Leesburgs Tally Ho Theater on Saturday, April 26.

The couple believes people are hungering for a positive message these days. They envisioned a show thats pared back so fans can enjoy the performers lyrics and music at a lowered volume. Their hope is this will allow the positive messages and spirituality of the bands songs to edge forward.

We want this show to provide some calmness in what feels like a dark time, says Jim Cash. We think theres a spiritual message in our songs and wed like to bring that element of being reflective out a little more.

Jim and Ashley Cash met while students at George Mason University. Although both were musicians, and anthropology majors, they somehow managed to not meet until their senior year. Once they did, they felt an immediate connection. They shared a mutual love of nature and the outdoors, both of which inform their music.

Ashley Cash has been around music her entire life. By the age of 14 she was playing guitar and singing in coffee shops. Jim Cash was a late bloomer and didnt pick up a guitar until he was 18. By the time they met, though, both were confident in their abilities and discovered their musical personalities complemented one another.

Theyve been together ever since.

In addition to being full-time musicians, they also own Potomac Falls Music, a production company which doubles as a studio providing musical instruction. They launched Woven Green in 2009 and released an album that drew the attention of the D.C. music scene, as well as a positive review in the music magazine, Relix. They began touring the mid-Atlantic region building a devoted following and connecting with other independent musicians.They began to cross paths with fellow singer songwriters Bob Sima, and Siobhan Quinn & Michael Bowers.

Originally posted here:
Musical duo Woven Green to headline Acoustic Night at Tally Ho Theatre April 26

By Anthony Meindl | Posted April 23, 2014, 10 a.m.

I had a student I was teaching in Australia recently who had a watershed moment in his acting. And it did create a watershed. Being vulnerable might do that to you.

He realized that hes been actingmeaning self-generatingrather than simply being, and allowing, himself to be affected in the work. He realized that its safer to put on a characterif even ever so subtlythan to face the truth that if you allow yourself to be in the work totally, it might mean that you yourself can be rejected for it.

In other words, theres no hiding.

So he tried to protect himself by pretending. But all that does is create artificiality in his work.

Light bulb: You will be rejected. For sure, lots of times, for being who you are. Thats the risk you take being fully invested in your own lifein love, in acting, in dancing, in putting yourself out there, in painting. in singing, in all forms of creating.

You are constantly revealing who you are and giving a part of yourself away in everything you do, and that might mean that some people just wont get you or like you or be interested in you or respond to you.

So what? Youre not doing it for them. Youre doing it for yourself. And when you really start to live in that truth, you wont care what other people think because theres no greater gift than giving of yourself, with the risk that in doing so you might be rejected. Thats called life, and its why were here.

It also leads to another conversation I had with a New York actor. He said he was scared of failure. No, hes not. We fail every day. Our lives are littered with failures. So were not really scared to fail. Were afraid of being seen, because being seenjust as this Aussie actor realizedcarries with it the risk of rejection and not doing it right, and being imperfect and showing people who we really are, and consequently, having people not liking us.

What were really scared of is our success. How powerful we can be, and also how magnificent and beautiful and competent and talented we already are.

See the article here:
The 1 Thing Actors Are Really Afraid Of

Ngarra, Larrkardi, 2005, synthetic polymer paint on paper.

Just one generation ago Australian schoolkids were taught that Aboriginal people couldn't count beyond five, wandered the desert scavenging for food, had no civilisation, couldn't navigate and peacefully acquiesced when Western Civilisation rescued them in 1788.

How did we get it so wrong?

Australian historianBill Gammageand others have shown that for many years land was carefully managed by Aboriginal people to maximise productivity. This resulted in fantastically fertile soils, now exploited and almost destroyed by intensive agriculture.

Australian Aboriginals knew more about tides than astronomer Galileo Galilei. Painting by Justus Sustermans

In some cases, Aboriginal people had sophisticatednumber systems, knew bush medicine, and navigated usingstars and oral mapsto support flourishing trade routes across the country.

They mounted fierce resistance to the British invaders, and sometimes won significant military victories such as the raids by Aboriginal warriorPemulwuy.

Only now are we starting to understand Aboriginal intellectual and scientific achievements.

TheYolngu people, in north eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory,long recognisedhow the tides are linked to the phases of the moon.

Back in the early 17th century, Italian scientistGalileo Galileiwas still proclaiming, incorrectly, that the moon hadnothing to do with tides.

Read more:
Aboriginal scientific achievements recognised

Barking Up the Wrong Free

I must admit that each time I read a good argument supporting each position (1) the Bible is to be taken literally and (2) the Bible is not to be taken literally, I find I am moved by both positions (Did the Exodus Happen? April 18). They are both intellectually and emotionally fulfilling. The question then becomes, for me, what are my motives in accepting one position as opposed to the other. Which position brings me closer to God, a being I cannot prove exists? And if I cannot prove God exists, though I can experience his existence as I experience love, why am I required to prove these events occurred to a standard of scientific certainty? The desire for proof and certainty becomes the new prison, the new idol, the new Pharaoh, which prevents our heart from completely opening up to freedom so that we can then walk with God, as Moses did, and we can truly live the life of a free Jew.

Ilbert Philipsvia jewishjournal.com

To add another well-known name to the discourse, Freud described the story of the Exodus as a pious myth. And yet,in one of his controversial books he wrote profoundly and with reverence about Moses the remarkable national leader of the people of the Exodus. He followed his life from the time he was plucked out of the river until his death at the edge ofthe Promised Land.

The story of Exodus, regardless how it happened, is a recurring event in Jewish history. It is the eternal struggle of monotheism in apolytheistic world with tragic results. The Exodus from Egypt probably was no different from the exodus of Jews from Muslim Iran, Czarist and Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, or Catholic Spain. The Exileto Babylon and Rome would also classify as areverse exodus. Whether Rabbi Wolpe or Dennis Prager isright is not the question. The issue is whether the unleavened bread displayed on asilver platter in afestive setting is the proper and worthy symbol of the strugglefor freedom by a people willing to suffer and pay the price for it. So we ask: Manishtana?

Ken LautmanLos Angeles

To Thine Own Selfie Be True

Kudos to Danielle Berrin for her informative article on Alan Morinis and the Mussar Institute (Selfie Spirituality, April 18).I was privileged to learn about how effective this ethical system is when I visited the California Institute for Women where my friend, the Rev. Gabbai Shayna Lester, was honored on Pesach by inmates and her peers alike.The inmates both Jews and gentiles who took part in the Mussar classes, learned among other principles the importance of avoidinglashon harah gossip and negative comments about others. And it was reported on several occasions that the parole board looked favorably on this program in their consideration of an inmate being found suitable for parole.

This was the most moving seder I have ever attended, written by the inmates themselves as part of a creative writing project. The inmates were also able to have a rare real food meal, and to socialize with outsiders like me who take our freedom for granted.I urge my fellow Jews to familiarize themselves with this programs leader, Rabbi Moshe Raphael Halfon, and Am Or Olam.

Gene Rothman,Culver City

Read this article:
Letters to the editor: Exodus, spirituality and anti-Semitism