Upon hearing of local barbershop Scissors & Scotch, I was brought back to the thought of the pictures I would see of my grandfather working as a barber in his little shop on the south side. While Scissors & Scotch may not perfectly match the iconic image of a steady-handed man smoothly tidying up the beard of a customer while relaxing music plays in the background, it acts as a wonderful junction where old meets new.

Walking into the salon, I was met with a classy and relaxing interior that made me feel like I had just entered a high-end country club. Scissors & Scotch has done away with the overdone plastic chair filled waiting areas and has constructed a calming lounge equipped with a bar. It provides an enjoyable wait area for those who have come with a friend and supplies customers with the free drink that accompanies every service.

Photo by Jeffery Fitzgerald

In spite of my lack of facial hair, I was still left with a large array of services to choose from. I decided to go along with the 15-Year service. This included a professional haircut, a relaxing neck and scalp massage, shampoo and conditioning, a hot towel treatment and a three-part facial cleansing treatment. Normally I will get my hair cut by either my mother or a notably cheap salon such as Supercuts. With the price of the bundle I received being only a few dollars more and of much better quality, the price was certainly worth it.

The experience was kept lively and enjoyable by the friendly staff. While cutting my hair, my stylist and I had a nice conversation. Usually it feels like the questions are asked only as an attempt to fill an awkward silence.

Photo by Jeffery Fitzgerald

This wasnt the case at Scissors & Scotch. I felt as though my stylist was genuinely interested in what I had to say. All of this came at a price I was relieved to find doable even on a starving college-student budget ($40, $30 for first-time customers).

The entire experience is geared toward making customers feel right at home. With the welcoming design, wonderful staff and excellent quality of service, I find no reason why Scissors & Scotch would fail to make the cut.

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Scissors & Scotch: classy cuts - ViewFinder Media

The Indian Express

On menu of Pune's first music cafe, a customised tune to lift your mood The Indian Express Patrons get the chance to choose from a variety of pieces such as 'Relaxing', 'Anger Control', 'Positivity', 'Concentration Booster', 'Women's Wellness' and 'Confidence Booster', among others. The Music Cafe aims to cater to the variety of moods and ... and more »

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On menu of Pune's first music cafe, a customised tune to lift your mood - The Indian Express

When it comes to music and the human brain, Daniel Levitin's expertise is hard to top. The musician, professor, and neuroscientist quite literally wrote the book on the topic when he penned the 2006 bestseller This is Your Brain On Music. His most recent book The Organized Mind furthers his exploration into our brains with a focus on how information overload is affecting cognition and what we can do it about it.

Over the last two years, he's been working with smart speaker maker Sonos on new research into how music affects people's minds and behavior at home. As part of its new marketing campaign centered around what the company regrettably diagnoses as "the silent home"the relative dearth of music being played out loud as families stare into their phones or tune into NetflixSonos enlisted Levitin to help design a new survey of people's listening habits at home. We sat down with Levitin at Sonos's Boston offices last week for a conversation about science, music, the brain, and how to stay sane in the age of Trump and Twitter.

Youve been working on some new research into music and people's lives at home. What are some of the most interesting or unexpected things you've learned about how musicor the lack thereof that affects our lives at home?

Levitin: I think one of the most interesting things is the number of people who really don't have music playing in their homes. Its quite striking across the nine countries we surveyed. Something as simple as entertaining friends and family: 84% of people in Sweden, 83% of people in the U.K., 79% of people in the U.S. don't play music when they have friends over. That just seemed surprising and weird to me. I'm of the Boomer generation, so music was just something that you did and it's the way that you related to other people, and even the generation behind me. These are people from all age brackets. It's not just the digital natives who aren't playing music. Nobody is.

Other activities like cooking dinner, doing the dishes, relaxing in the evening and weekend. In Denmark, 69% of people and in France 82% of people did not listen to music to relax for the evening or the weekend. That was one thing that was surprising. The other is the yearning that people have for more contact, juxtaposed with the amount of time they spend in their own isolated, digital words. 86% want to spend more time doing activities in person with others. It's as though two wheels are in a rut and they can't figure out how to get back on the road that they used to be on. We've got to encourage people to take screen-time breaks and to establish shared spaces in the home where they can enjoy communal activities.

These days, its pretty common to go out to a restaurant and see an entire family staring into their phones. What are some of the effects of this isolation and, based on the research you've done and seen, what might the impact be of changing these habits?

Levitin: The research on this is still in its infancy, of course. It's a somewhat new phenomenon, and so any data that we can get is helpful. I think that related to this, we've learned recently that kids who don't interact regularly with their parents but are instead put in front of educational or instructional television don't learn language properly. Language learning has to be interactive. It can't be just passive, receptive. I think we're also seeing that increasingly digital natives are reporting that they've got shorter attention spans than non-digital natives. Colleagues of mine at other universities who teach these large classes or even seminars say that in the last few years, a whole new breed of students come up to them during their office hours in the first week of class, say, "Professor, I have to read 20 pages tonight? I don't know how I'm going to do that. That's too much." They are accustomed to being constantly distracted and we know from neurochemical studies, people get addicted to that distraction.

Your book, The Organized Mind, deals with this quite a bit: the information overload and how our digital lives might be affecting our brains. What is your advice for people in the workplace? How do you deal with this deluge of information when youre trying to be productive?

Levitin: One piece of advice I have is based on our modern understanding of the different attentional modes of the brain. There's the mind wandering mode, the idea that the brain has this whole separate mode of existing where you're not in control of your thoughts and they're loosely connected from one to the next. Often, I think that when we're at our desks at work or if we're out in the field doing work, after a certain amount of time, we feel our attention flagging. The modern reaction when that happens is to double down. Maybe have another cup of coffee and keep pushing through.

In reality, your brain is telling you that it needs a break. Taking a break and getting yourself into this mind wandering mode by giving into it for 15 minutes at a time every couple of hours or so, you effectively hit the reset button in the brain, restoring some neurochemicals that had been depleted through focused activity. There are a lot of different ways to get into this mind wandering mode. One of them is listening to music. Another is going for a walk in nature. Listening to nature sounds. Looking at art, reading literature. Not reading Facebook posts. Literature has this special quality that it invites you to let your mind wander. I think that's part of the answer. Going off and searching the Web for your 15-minute break is not a break.

Weve grappled with information overload for years now, but in our new political climate, there's a certain intensity and anxiety thats now tied to a lot of the stuff that people are seeing online everyday. How do you think this might be affecting people's mental health? And what should we do about it?

Levitin: My reading of the research is that we really are, as a society working harder than before, but we're not working as efficiently. We feel overloaded by the onslaught of information, and so I think that creates the conditions in which things like fake news and alternative truth can exist because we just throw up our hands and say, "I can't deal. It's somebody else's job to deal with this, not mine." I don't mean to get on a soapbox, but I think that's when we begin to see democracy falter, when people don't want to get involved.

I think that we need to recover some sense of community and engagement with one another and with our towns and our neighbors that only comes from face-to-face interaction, not from retreating into our own digital devices. As President Obama said in his exit speech, democracy is not easy and is not free. You have to work for it. I think that work is putting our minds in a state where we can evaluate claims and information and stories as they come by. Evaluate them for ourselves or in discussion with other people. Start talking to people who disagree with us, which has become unfashionable. I don't mean yelling at people who disagree with you. Just talking.

I've had a couple of interesting conversations just in the last few months with people who I disagreed with strongly about a number of political issues, and the conversations were productive because we saw from each other's point of view how we came to hold those beliefs and discovered that we had really a lot more in common than we had differences. We were able to agree on the facts. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously quipped, you're entitled to your own opinions, but you're not entitled to your own facts. We agreed on the facts, but our opinions about how to address the problems, we had different views about what would be effective, but we wanted to end up in the same place where people were happy and prosperous and safe. I think that creating shared spaces in the home and shared moments in the home, if music can be part of that or talk radio or just art, some kind of discussion, I think that that's the antidote to all of this.

It seems like its partially a matter of people reconfiguring that balance between their digital lives and the time they're actually spending face to face. I assume those conversations you refer to werent on Twitter or Facebook.

Levitin: One of them was in person. One of them was on the phone. It was 45 minutes long and we talked about a lot of things. This is somebody who is polar opposite of me politically and is quite in the public eye and his opinions are very well known, but I was astonished that we agreed on far more than we disagreed on. I ended up admiring him for his stance for coming to the conclusions he came to, even though I still don't agree, but I can see how he got there.

This is the conversation that Republicans and Democrats aren't having anymore. I never thought I'd look back nostalgically at the Johnson presidency, but in the Johnson days, the two parties worked things out. They did that pretty much through more or less through the next couple of administrations. The polarization is a problem, and I think that the digital age has only put a hyper focus on polarization because of the echo chamber that you've covered already in your magazine.

You wrote This Is Your Brain On Music in 2006, so it was pre-iPhone, pre-Spotify. It seems like music is more pervasive in peoples lives than ever. How has musicboth as an industry and in terms of our relationship with itchanged in the last decade or so?

Levitin: I think we're living in a golden age of music, as we're living in a golden age of TV. There's a lot of creative people engaged in it. The barriers to entry are much lower than they used to be. Anybody with a laptop and a $200 mic can make something that sounds as good as most of the Rolling Stones records that were made in professional studios. That's great. The problem, of course, is that we haven't figured out how to monetize it. As Keith Richards said, for a period of time you could make recordings for a living and you could make a good living at it, but those days are gone until we figure something out. We're living in a world now where a lot of artists have to have day jobs. I would like to live in a world where "artist" is a job and a person can earn a living doing that. I don't want Bono to be writing songs in his spare time after a day of heavy labor making sandwiches. I want him to be able to devote himself to it.

I would say there's been a Balkanization of music sources in the way there's been a Balkanization of the media. When I was a kid, and maybe when you were a kid, you ran into the proverbial man in the street, woman, somebody you didn't know at a bus stop and you started talking about the news, you probably got your news from one of the same small handful of sources. You agreed what the news was, and you probably listened to music on one of the same two or three radio stations. Now there are thousands of places to get your news, thousands of places to get music, and so the common ground that we share is much less. Sure, there's still hit songs, but it's different. I see that changing. There's good and there's bad in that. The so-called long tail means that people can really fine tune their musical taste or their taste in books and independent films, find exactly what they love, but at the expense of the shared experience.

I don't think that there's any evidence that music is more pervasive. In fact, we found that 60% of people we surveyed said they listen to less music now than when they were younger. I don't know why that is, because there's more music available and it's free, but people don't make the time for it. It's not a priority the way it once was. I think that's a shame. I'm not thinking people should do nothing but listen to music, but as part of a balanced life that involves exercise and a good diet and nature and movies and ballet and literature and all the finer things.

Tell us a little bit about your own music consumption and how its evolved. How do you listen music now?

Levitin: I always fantasized in my twenties about buying a physical jukebox from a bar and restoring it. I had a nice collection of 45s. Now I have something even better: I have 20,000 songs on my hard disk and I just stick it in random. I got them in my car now and I have them in my backpack and I have them on my computer and at home, and that's most of my listening. I have 20,000 of my favorite songs. It's my own radio station. Anything that comes up, I'm going to like. I may not like it at that particular moment, depending on what I'm doing.

The second source is that friends who are making music send me advances of their stuff. Rodney Crowell, Paul Simon, people that I know who are actively working as songwriters and musicians will send me stuff. A friend of mine who manages Bob Dylan is just sending me the 36 CD boxset. It's supposed to be there when I get home tonight. I burn the CDs to my hard disk and then put them in the mix.

Then the third source is I stream. Once I got Sonos in the home, I found it easier to deal with things like Spotify and streaming radio and Apple Music. For one thing, they weren't playing out of these crappy little speakers in the computer. Typically, my wife and I will put one of the jazz stations when we're in the kitchen cooking and washing dishes and while we're eating. We hear a lot of good music that way.

How do you find the mental space to focus and be productive?

Levitin: I get more work done on airplanes than anywhere else. I wrote my last two books primarily on airplanes touring for the previous book. You've got the white noise of the engine. Somebody bringing you food.

Yeah, it's great. When I really need to focus, I tend to need to get away from the internet too. I turn off Wi-Fi. Sometimes I leave my phone at home to avoid the distractions.

Levitin: I do that once in a while and it's very refreshing. My wife and I hike a lot, because we're in California. So we'll go and we just won't bring the phones. We'll bring them in the car in case we have a breakdown or something, but when we're hiking, no phone and it's lovely.

Speaking of California, I just called an Uber because I have to get myself to the airport.

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The Neuroscience Of Music, Behavior, And Staying Sane In The Age Of Twitter - Fast Company

Sound healing is based on the idea that pure, deconstructed sound can rebalance the body's energy.

Music is known to be a universal language, but it does more than communicate across cultural lines. It speaks to our hearts and souls, helping us to feel comforted, relaxed, motivated, and excited. Music can arouse old memories and, when broken down into a simpler form, it can be used to heal.

The concept of sound healing is not well known in our society today, but according to Britains College of Sound Healing, it dates back to ancient civilizations in China, Egypt, Greece, and India. Sound therapists deconstruct music into pure sound, and use these sounds to reattune the energy frequencies within the human body that naturally go out of balance over time.

If youre raising an eyebrow at this point, stay with me for a moment. There is some evidence to suggest sound healing is effective. A thesis published by Shelley Snow of Concordia University explored the vocal sound healing method and found:

Effects such as the release of emotions and trauma, a change from negative to more positive thought patterns, the elimination of physical pain, relaxing, calming effects and receiving deeper perceptions of life situations, are among the experiences described by participants.

The Guardian cites a study conducted by the British Academy of Sound Therapy hardly biased research, of course that measured the effects of sound on the autonomous nervous system:

Each client demonstrated an overall decrease in arousal of the ANS compared to the control group, who were lying down relaxing. This study suggests that sound therapy has a deeply calming effect on stressed-out clients.

Sound therapy is currently used by the National Health Service in Britain to help people with disabilities, dementia, and anxiety.

Alex McGuire -- The sound healing workshop at Lush Summit

Without having any knowledge or prior opinion on the efficacy of sound therapy, I had my first-ever encounter with it last week at the Lush Summit in London. Amid the chaos of thousands of people milling around, I came across a quiet space with yoga mats, pillows, blankets, and an array of shiny bronze Himalayan singing bowls in the center. The organizer, Anetta Panczel, invited me in for a twenty-minute session. Curious, I accepted the invitation.

Panczel told me to lie on my back. She covered me with blankets and placed a medium-sized singing bowl on my belly. I closed my eyes and breathed slowly and deeply, as if entering a meditation. After signaling the start with a gong, she and an assistant walked around the circle, tapping the bowls on participants stomachs. It was heavy and I could feel it resonate throughout my body, lasting for nearly the amount of time it took for Panczel to return and do it again. It was a grounding sensation, as if I were being pushed into the earth by this heavy vibrating object.

Next came a variety of other sound-makers. Most relaxing was a large drum that seemed to be filled with dry beans; this she waved over my body for a wonderful, long time. There were rain sticks, tuning forks, and more singing bowls, followed by a period of silence. When Panczel finally removed the bowl from my belly, my entire body felt like it was going to levitate. A floating, tingling sensation overcame me.

Alex McGuire -- Katherine from TreeHugger & Courtney Napper of Lush listen to Panczel's explanation of how the therapy works.

In the question period afterword, she explained that the vibrations would continue to work their way through my body for several days. I dont know if thats true, and because I was traveling and off my usual schedule, it was difficult for me to perceive physical differences; but I do know that I felt gloriously relaxed, yet energized, for the rest of the day.

Like meditation, sound therapy may not have the immediate measurable benefits that weve come to expect in a world obsessed with instant gratification, but that doesnt mean its not valuable. The more time we can take to ourselves, away from noise and busyness, the better off well all be.

TreeHugger was a guest of Lush at the Lush Summit in February 2017. There was no obligation to write about this workshop or any other event at the summit.

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My foray into the mysterious world of sound healing - Treehugger

New Wizard Oil Combination, Men's A Cappella Singers will be the next group featured in the Estes Park Music Festival. (Courtesy photo)

New Wizard Oil Combination, Men's A Cappella Singers will be the next group featured in the Estes Park Music Festival. The concert will take place at the Stanley Hotel Concert Hall on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. There is a $10 admission price, but children and students can attend for free.

What's it all about? It's about timeless music sung with soulful voices, and contagious rhythms. The "Wizards" have a unique vocal jazz and rock style that is many things harmonious, powerful, funny and emotional all wrapped up into an entertaining afternoon of music. Their spontaneous nature, entertaining personalities, and evolving musical style makes each performance different, which is why audiences never tire of them.

When the Wizards aren't singing, they are providing a strong presence in their communities as teachers, engineers, businessmen and music directors. Two even sang in the famed Yale University "Whiffenpoofs. This rare and entertaining 15-man a cappella group is well known around the Denver-Boulder area where it has been performing to enthusiastic audiences for over 40 years. If you are looking for a musically diverse, talented and entertaining afternoon, join us at the Stanley on February 26. (text by Morgan Welty).

March 5: The Acclaimed International Piano Trio of Julia Kruger, United States, Victor Bunin, Russia, joined by Natalia Burmeister- Tchaikovsky, Russia, a descendent of Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

Music Festival attendees will receive a 20-percent discount for brunch or dinner on the day of the concert, courtesy of the Stanley Hotel Cascade Restaurant. Additional parking is available next to the Concert Hall and behind the Stanley Hotel.

Every concert series needs an excellent venue and the beautiful Stanley Hotel is the perfect mountain setting for an hour of wonderfully relaxing Sunday afternoon entertainment.

For further information, contact the Music Festival business office at 970-586-9519 or visit its website at estesparkmusicfestival.org. To receive weekly updates of our concerts and upcoming events, send an email to estesparkmusicfestival@gmail.com.

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New Wizard Oil Combination play music festival - Estes Park Trail-Gazette

Business News Media By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 15 February 2017

The governments Department Of Culture, Media And Sport has announced a consultation on plans to deregulate the commercial radio sector, which would remove a number of the constraints that cover local AM and FM stations in the UK.

The rules contained within the licences issued by media regulator OfCom to local radio operations have been greatly relaxed over the years, though the commercial broadcasters argue that they need relaxing further as stations compete with an increasing number of rival audio services on the digital networks and online.

The broadcast firms also argue that, with so much more choice for consumers today, the media regulator doesnt need to worry itself so much about exactly what kind of content is airing on the AM and FM networks.

The consultation comes off the back of research done by OfCom at the request of former culture minister Ed Vaizey. The DCMS explains: At present, commercial radio has to abide by a series of complex rules regarding content which are enforced by OfCom, many of which were devised in the late 1980s before the emergence of digital technologies. But the government has announced today that it is consulting on changes to the rules that govern much of the programming decisions, and is proposing to give greater flexibility to local radio stations in particular, so that they can have a say in their own content.

The revised rules would allow broadcasters to more easily alter the music and programming policies of their stations, and to network in more programmes from central hubs providing that there was still decent local news provision. The latter change would allow the big radio groups that have already networked a lot of programming across their local stations to also run single prime time shows across their networks too, giving their London breakfast show which usually has the biggest name DJ an audience elsewhere in the UK.

Or in the words of the DCMS: It will further mean that DJs will be free to play more of the music and content they and their listeners want, when they want, without their station needing OfComs permission. Stations will also be able to network more of their services across different stations, allowing them to showcase star presenters throughout the day including at breakfast time.

Although being spun by the government as a move to give radio DJs more musical freedom, critics of the proposed measures will no doubt point out that the changes will actually allow stations that currently have commitments to play a certain amount of music from new acts or niche genres to instead air more shows playing their mainstream core playlist. Meanwhile the promise of celebrity voices over breakfast is code for more local radio stations having no actual local content beyond the headlines on the hour and occasional travel news bulletins.

But, unsurprisingly, the boss of commercial radio trade group Radiocentre, Siobhan Kenny, welcomes the proposed changes, saying earlier this week: Radiocentre welcomes the governments announcement wholeheartedly as we have been asking for the existing rules on both music output and how and where content is made to be updated. Most of the rules are over 20 years old, so effectively designed for a pre-internet age. With 45% of radio listening now on digital platforms and new competition from streaming services, it is high time legislation caught up. The times have already changed so this is excellent news.

Meanwhile, the minister now in charge of radio, Matt Hancock, waffled on thus: In a time of extraordinary change, radio has thrived. But the way commercial radio is regulated is increasingly outdated and holding it back from investing in new content, services and platforms. All these things are essential for radio to stay relevant, especially in an age of unregulated internet audio services.

Noting that Monday was World Radio Day, he continued: So Im delighted to announce on World Radio Day that we will be asking industry and members of the public for their views on the deregulation of local radio. Under our new proposals we will be giving local radio stations more freedom and flexibility to meet the needs of listeners across the country.

The DCMSs consultation will take submissions until 8 May.

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Government opens consultation on relaxing rules for local radio in ... - Complete Music Update

February 14, 2017 9:54 PM By Marissa Bailey

(CBS) Millions of Americans, women in particular, have problems falling asleep or staying asleep. A new idea may help.

CBS 2s Marissa Bailey has more on what is being dubbed the Sleep Song.

Forty-six percent of woman are sleep-deprived.

Jessica Prewitt; Emilia Schobeiri; Rachel Gerson and Sarah Gulette-Johnson would try just about anything to get a few more hours of precious shuteye.

They would event try the song Weightless by Marconi Union.

Jessica, for one, was skeptical, but Rachel says she was intrigued.

British neuroscientists found the music was 11 percent more relaxing than any other song they tested, including more familiar tunes by Enya; Coldplay and Adele.

They found Weightless reduced overall anxiety by 65 percent and lowered resting heart and respiratory rates by 35 percent.

Rush University Medical Center sleep expert Dr. James Herdegen believes the magic is in the melody.

Weightless starts at 60 beats per minute. By the end eight minutes later it drops to 50 beats per minute. That is key, experts say.

It takes this very melodic, repetitive sound, sometimes with vocals, to help with sleep relaxation, Herdegen says.

But was it relaxing enough to help our ladies fall asleep?

For Rachel and Emilia, no. The song did not work.

But for Sarah and Jessica, Weightless worked wonders.

Says Jessica: This song is emitting some sort of like drug into the air through my phone to put me to sleep at night.

Sarah says the song helps calm down her young children, and Jessica has played it for her niece who has autism and says it relaxes her as well.

For the official version of Weightless on YouTube, click here.

Marissa Bailey is the weekend anchor of the CBS 2 Chicago morning newscasts and a general assignment reporter for the station. Marissa joined the station in March 2012 as a reporter and was promoted to anchor the stations Saturday and Sunday...

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For The Sleep-Deprived, Can A Song Be The Cure? - CBS Local

For residents of Oro Valley, Catalina State Park has long stood as one of the areas greatest focal points. With management for the park incorporated in 1974the same year as Oro Valleys foundingit has acted as a pillar for family entertainment in the north Tucson area going on over 40 years as a place for recreation of all sorts: biking, camping, horseback riding and beyond.

For its over four decades in operation, the park has done an upstanding job in embracing traditions common of national parks throughout the world, from preserving nature to hosting outdoor hiking trails and encouraging campouts under starry Arizona skies. What recent years have proven for the parks, though, is that even old dogs truly are capable of new tricks.

With a little help from their associates at the non-profit organization Friends of Catalina State Park, the park has decided on bringing an innovative twist to stand amongst its more traditional proceedings. It is now hosting Saturday concert series, with the events specifically being hosted not too far into the park, all amidst a gorgeous setting of the trees, cacti, flowers and medley of desert wildlife for which the establishment has become renowned.

Iterating his thoughts on the series and assisting the Catalina State Park rangers in organizing their Saturday Concerts-in-the-Park, FCSP president and secretary Richard Boyer said, Friends of Catalina State Park has been involved with notices to our 300 contacts about the Concerts-in-the-Park, and the concerts have been a great hit with visitors and locals alike. The outdoor setting at the trail head stage in the park is beautiful and the Catalina Mountains provide a stunning backdrop.

When asked about the attraction to the series for performers and attendees alike, Boyer said, It appears to meand I have attended almost every concert since they started a few years agothat the concerts enhance the park experience by providing a different experience for those attending, rather than the usual hiking, biking, or running. It is a relaxing event for those attending, providing a variety of musicians at each concert. Musicians love coming to the park and many artists are already scheduled through 2017.

Folks attend, often bringing friends and pets and food to enjoy the free entertainment, he says with a smile. Obviously, the park benefits through increased visitation, and through funds brought in at the entrance station. Mostly, though, I believe that the park benefits by having those attending experience a relaxing evening and a variety of music in a different kind of outdoor setting than they might be used to with other concerts around Tucson.

During a recent show held as part of the ongoing Saturday Concerts-in-the-Park series at Catalina State Park, bluegrass-pickin park mainstays, the Saguaro Sunset Trio, brought a crowd of 200-strong to their feet in rousing applause in-between each of their individual performances. With crisp weather on the horizon for Tucson, the park will likely see an attendance boom during their springtime shows, which are held two Saturdays a month as opposed to the usual one.

Concerts are for all ages, pet friendly, and are free upon park admissionwhich is $7, cash onlyfor a day pass. Concert attendees are encouraged to bring their own foldable chairs for seating, as well as their own bottled water. Furthermore, the Friends of Catalina State Park are present at every event to offer free popcorn to all attendees.

Though the FCSP has less to do with the actual planning for these concerts, including booking the eventsall of which goes to the Catalina State Park rangersthey do assist in providing a place to showcase upcoming events on their handy website, http://www.friendscsp.org. Readers are encouraged to visit the Future Events page on the FCSP website for any further information on upcoming shows. For more information on Catalina State Park itself, readers are encouraged to visit http://www.azstateparks.com/catalina

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Catalina State Park concert series brings music to nature - Tucson Local Media

Weve all had those days when work drags you down, bills seem to be coming out of your ears, and life tends to get a little too much. Somehow, you need to relax and find serenity in and amongst the chaos, and thats where this charming puzzler comes in. It may be simple in principle, but Semispheres is the perfect game to bring you down from a particularly rough day at the office.

Its a game of symmetry, and each level has two puzzles stood opposite each other on screen, one orange coloured and one blue. The aim of the game is to get the orb in each puzzle to an escape portal located elsewhere within that puzzle. The controls are simple, relying on moving your orb as the only command necessary. Using the left stick moves the orb on the orange puzzle on the left, and moving the right stick does the same for the blue on the right.

As you move around the puzzles, there are certain obstacles to get past, such as guards with an allocated field of vision (guards that are other balls of light, albeit with an unstable glow). Sometimes, the only way to the escape portal is moving past these, but without the help of some of the abilities, or the orb youre controlling on the other side, it can be difficult to proceed.

You can collect a range of abilities to use on both puzzles; making a soundwave gets the guard to move from its spot and investigate, whichll give you an option to move past if there is the space. Another ability is a portal, and if say, the blue orb makes a portal, they can appear visible in the other puzzle on the other side of the screen; however, the orange guard wont be able to see you. This means you can provide a distraction for the other orb in the other puzzle, allowing them to get through and reach the escape portal.

The game does get tricky as you move forward, but the intriguing story element makes you want to progress. The puzzles themselves offer no kind of plot, but after completing one of the pockets of stages, a selection of storyboards pop up revealing sketches of a boy and his robot; as you complete more puzzles, more of the story unlocks and youre introduced to a story you never expected; it feels very hidden and unobtrusive, but its these subtleties than provide such a pleasant surprise.

Controlling both orbs at the same time can be tricky, and occasionally you can get confused with what youre doing, but Semispheres eases you in and allows you to take as much time as you need. The music is soothing, and features elongated synths that give the experience a layer of calm you may not have been expecting when you start. Its score is written by Sid Barnhoorn, and being a huge fan of The Stanley Parables music, I was pleased to hear his soundtrack for Semispheres.

The visuals are simple, but entrancing, and the vibrations on the screen are almost hypnotic; pairing that with the soft, relaxing music and youre likely to fall into a peaceful sleep. There seems to be inspiration from games like Portal not just for the colours, but for the portal physics and general respect for the players intelligence. It always feels challenging, but youre never struggling for hours on end with one puzzle; you learn as you play, and Vivid Helix have a good grasp on its difficulty spikes.

If youre looking for something to take you away, challenge you, and provide you with a peaceful hour or two at the same time, Semispheres is the perfect game for you. Its smart, serene, and has some great puzzle designs, along with a sweet story that unfolds after every five puzzles or so. The music is glorious, and the design is effective in its minimalism, providing a nice surprise for even the greatest puzzle solvers.

Excerpt from:

Semispheres Review - God is a Geek - God is a Geek

Dahlia Ghabour Staff Writer @DGhabour

The world of classical music is a small one. Even before they came to Sarasota, many of the longtime Sarasota Orchestra musicians already knew each other from various festivals and schools. By the time they began to play together, they already were old friends.

Somewhere along the way, their love of music turned to a love of each other. There are nine married couples performing in the orchestra, and there are others who are dating or engaged.

If it wasnt for the Sarasota Orchestra, none of us would be together, concertmaster Dan Jordan said. Having so many married couples in this orchestra just adds to the feeling that we are all one family.

Dan and C.Y.

It seems that concertmaster Dan Jordan knows everyone. Jordan and his wife, Chun-Yon Hong both violinists were introduced by Chris Takeda at the Aspen Music Festival in 1995. Jordan and Sean ONeil went to high school together. Jordan and Jennifer Best-Takeda are both New World Symphony alumni. Now, they all work together.

Jordan joined the orchestra in 1998. Hong arrived four years later. They were really good friends for a long time, said Hong, who is known to her friends by her initials "C.Y." Jordan added that they had a long journey to finally being married in 2011. They now have a 4-year-old son, Spencer. One of their greatest challenges has been providing a routine for their son when the orchestra doesnt really have one. Because the orchestra doesnt have its own hall, the musicians perform in different places and have varying rehearsal schedules each week.

If you look at my schedule with babysitting, some weeks we have five different people, Hong said. All the moms in the orchestra call each other asking for babysitters. And I will trust these people. I know I can call them in the middle of the night if anything happens.

Jordan said it makes sense that the orchestra is so close but also that this one is especially tight-knit.

When you sit down to play, thats the one escape from the stress of being a parent with a 4-year-old, and all the outside pressure of the world, he said. Theres a camaraderie that comes from making music together that spills over into friendships.

Sean and Lena

Sean ONeil moved to Sarasota cold, grabbed a job at Starbucks, worked for the Sarasota Opera when he could and hoped for a position in the Sarasota Orchestra. He met his future wife, Lena Cambis, at a party.

We met in the last two weeks of off-season from the opera, he said. She was just a girl at a party that I saw across the room ... .

For which he had an obsession about, Cambis interrupted, her French accent curling her words with amusement.

I fell in love instantly, said ONeil.

I did not, said Cambis.

Cambis had come to Sarasota from France for a vacation in 2002 and loved it enough to stay. The two married in 2003, and now have two children together: 5-year-old Balthazar and 2-year-old Celeste. Both violinists, the couple sits together in the orchestra when performing.

The way she says things can be rather blunt, ONeil said, And there are couples who dont see how I use that to my advantage. I take her advice. I play for her to better myself.

Cambis said that what keeps them close is not performing together, but sharing the same goals, and I know wed still be together even if we didnt work together.

Larry and Roxane

Co-principal horn Larry Solowey and violinist Roxane Frangie Solowey didnt plan to settle in Sarasota. Larry arrived in 1991, Roxane in 1992. Two years later, they were married, and they have been here ever since.

We always say we got stuck, but if you have to get stuck somewhere its a pretty amazing place to get stuck, Larry said. Every year, it gets better and better. Once you have kids, this is home.

The couple have two children: Michael, 19, and Daniel, 16. Both played instruments and sports. Daniel still plays clarinet. Things are easier now that the children are older, but Roxane still remembers how difficult it was.

I remember when we discovered that going to work was relaxing, she said. Work was the one place I felt like I knew what I was doing.

Every time they went to work, though, it would cost $50 in babysitting fees. Larry recalled one year they had hired babysitters for 150 nights of the year, an extraordinary amount of money.

Both of them said the juggling schedules was, without a doubt, worth it.

Giving kids an environment of having two artists as parents played well for them, I think, Larry said. We have beautiful, sensitive kids. I think what we do with our lives was really helpful in their development.

Fernando and Betsy

Principal bassoon Fernando Traba and principal flute Betsy Hudson Traba make it work by understanding pressures.

If Fernando has a killer bassoon part, I know to lay low and give him lots of space and time with his instrument, Hudson-Traba said. The pressure on the job ebbs and flows, and being married to someone who understands that in a deeply intimate way is hugely helpful. I cant imagine trying to explain it to someone who doesnt know what we do.

Married in 1998, now with two children, the Trabas experienced the same struggles with child care in the beginning but said that finding those trustworthy people to become babysitters is like making them part of the family.

Fernando said that having children at a later age helped them gain experience, and that some younger couples in the orchestra come to them for advice.

Its nice to see, he said. It has actually created better intergenerational relationships with members of the orchestra.

They both find great joy in teaching on the side, helping other kids learn how to do the things they do.

I find that after teaching a lesson, Ive been revived, Hudson-Traba said. Youre connecting with a young person who is coming with wide-eyed earnestness to an instrument you know a fair amount about. Theres so much that you learn from watching someone play one-on-one. Its really rewarding.

Bharat and Anne

Anne and Bharat Chandra, violin and principal clarinet, said that for them there is no line between their work and home lives. Several other of the couples agreed.

So much of our job is emotional, Anne said. Its not something that stops and starts when we get there; its all intertwined.

Bharat said the music was in his mind all the time, constantly, especially if there are pieces coming up that are difficult to play.

Any relationship has to find a language and an emotional, professional context that allows for communication about the jobs you guys have to do, he said. Youre friends, but you also have to create an excellent musical product, and you might have different ideas about that. You constantly have to learn how to talk to each other.

The two married in 2004 and have two daughters. They both recognized the need to relax by doing activities that didnt involve music dancing, yard work, driving.

Even when they first arrived in the area, Bharat said he could tell Sarasota was a community that loved the arts and the orchestra, and that it served as an inspiration and motivation for him.

If you ask any human being how music has made them feel, you get some amazing answers, Bharat said. To have the ability to create that for other people is an unbelievable high.

Chris and Jennifer

Violinists Chris and Jennifer Best Takeda met years ago at an audition in Washington, D.C., but really didnt get a chance to talk until Dan Jordans birthday party in 2005.

We talked the entire night and that was basically it, Chris said.

We were married in 2012, Jennifer added. Only took him six years to propose. Its fine.

Chris said he and Jordan have been friends for more than 20 years; now that they are all settled in Sarasota, theyre even more inseparable. Both couples have young children, too the Takedas have a 3-year-old son, Carter.

Were incredibly close to all the couples in the orchestra, Dan and C.Y. especially, Jennifer said. If theres a night we want a sitter we call them up and go, Do you want to go to that new sushi place? People look at the four of us together and are like, Are you never apart? Do you never do things alone?

Chris holds a position that was created for him when the late artistic directorPaul Wolfe retired: associate concertmaster. Jennifer is the assistant concertmaster.

Jennifer said that the orchestra being really young compared to most orchestras is another aspect of the quality of life she loves best about working in Sarasota.

Its more than about the status of your job, she said. We both have great jobs here, were both titled players in a great orchestra thats kind of an impossibility. And were living in a beautiful city, have great friends. I look at our job as all encompassing; its just a great reason to stay here.

More here:

Notes on love: Romance and marriages blossom over music - Sarasota Herald-Tribune