New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove Sep 1, 2026 New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast Matthew Ingram is author of Retreat: How the Counterculture Invented Wellness. He hosts the Woebot blog. This stimulating conversation, recorded in 2021, explores the very nature of music and covers different music genres including blues, rock, gospel, jazz, new age, and even punk. Some of the many musicians discussed include John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Carlos Santana, Paul Horn, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Robert Johnson, Enya, Brian Wilson, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. The discussion also includes traditional religious music as well as the many gurus who have influenced different musicians. New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science. (Recorded on February 6, 2021)
Category Archives: Music
Nessun Dorma – Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles
Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles Aug 2, 2015 In celebration of its 35th anniversary, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles was cheered for two nights in Walt Disney Concert Hall. This version of “Nessun Dorma,” in the chorus repertoire for decades, is arranged by one of GMCLA’s founding members who performs within the chorus ranks in this historic performance. Recorded: July 19-20, 2014. Artistic Director & Conductor: Dr. Joseph P. Nadeau Music: Giacomo Puccini Arranger: Rob Gordon Video by: James Roman
Willie Nelson – Heart Of America
Willie Nelson Jan 29, 2026 Music video by Willie Nelson performing Heart Of America (From The Gray House Original Soundtrack).© 2026 Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
“Ode to Joy”
A Reason To Smile
| Dan Rather and Team Steady Jul 19, 2026 |
Credit: Getty Images
This week, we are going pretty far off the Rather ranch for our reason to smile. We decided to delve into the world of classical music. And what better piece of music to summon a smile than Ludwig van Beethoven’s most triumphant and jubilant masterpiece, his Symphony No. 9.
The Ninth, also known as “Ode to Joy,” was the first major symphony written with parts for singers — soloists and a chorus. Beethoven set his choral symphony to Friedrich Schiller’s poem “Ode to Joy,” with additional lyrics by the composer.
The symphony is more than an hour long. If you have the time, I encourage you to listen to the whole glorious thing. But it is the last movement that is arguably the most powerful and profound. The final crescendo makes one feel invincible.
Please enjoy Dutch conductor Andre Rieu and his orchestra performing the Beethoven classic in the Netherlands.
Beethoven composed The Ninth between 1822 and 1824, when he was almost completely deaf. His hearing loss was slow and agonizing, beginning in 1798 when he was just 28 years old. By that time, he was such an accomplished pianist and composer that he had developed a mastery of music theory and a highly trained ear. This allowed him to continue composing masterpieces for almost thirty more years.
When he wrote his ninth and final symphony, although he couldn’t hear the notes, he could feel them. Beethoven wrote about feeling the vibrations the notes made on the piano. And he could “hear” the music in his head.
“Ode to Joy,” usually performed in the original German, celebrates commonality, unity, and the triumph of joy over hardship. We leave you with an English translation.
Oh friends, no more of these sounds!
Let us sing more cheerful songs,
More full of joy!
Joy!
Joy, bright spark of divinity,
Daughter of Elysium,
Fire-inspired we tread,
Thy sanctuary!
Thy magic power reunites
All that custom has divided;
All men become brothers,
Under the sway of thy gentle wings.
Whoever has created an abiding friendship,
Or has won a true and loving wife,
All who can call at least one soul theirs,
Join in our jubilation!
Yes, and anyone who could not,
Should steal away weeping from this gathering.