Much of our music comes from a place of deep care, hope, and belief in the importance of community, talking to each other, and making changes. You’ll find this on our upcoming album, Lift You Up, available on Bandcamp.
This morning I had some time to walk and listen to some wonderful podcasts. When I got back home, I started writing about them, and how they are connected to our The Scooches songs. Some I’ve listened to for a while, and some are new. Enjoy!
Happiness
Dr. Laurie Santos of Yale University Happiness Lab Podcast – You may think you know what will make you happy, but most people are wrong.
The main take-away:
- Talk to strangers
- Meditate
- Choose careers we care about deeply
- Give to others
She also teaches an online course The Science Of Wellbeing on Coursera. I took it and loved it. It inspired me so much I wrote our song Lift You Up from our upcoming album Lift You Up.
Climate Change
We care deeply about the climate. Recently I (Betina) checked out the TED Climate podcast. I especially love this episode Not Too Late!
Favorite quotes from this podcast:
- “We can still solve this.”
- “The climate crisis is a planetary sickness and we want to treat it.”
- “The worst thing we face is indifference.”
- “One of the best things you can do as an individual is to stop acting like an individual.”
- “Things can and do change suddenly.”
All of that captures what our song Stop This Climate Change is about. “It would be easy to beat the listener over the head with hard facts and gloom-laden sentiment, but as the saying goes, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, and this song is so sweet. And remember, music is about entertainment, not just messaging, and “Stop This Climate Change” balances both brilliantly. It also runs deeper than first impressions suggest. This is more that just a call to arms to address climate change, it is a reminder that we need to tackle the attitudes around the issue before any meaningful work can actually be done.” – The Big Takeover
Making A Difference
To make our own climate change improvements, we compost, use reusable water bottles, walk and bike when we can, buy compostable garbage bags and bamboo toilet paper (Give A Crap) and personally donate our music, our time, and our resources to charities such as World Wildlife Fund, Adirondack Foundation, and Sierra Club (we will donate a portion of proceeds from our song Stop This Climate Change, available on Bandcamp, to Sierra Club).
We don’t only care about Climate Change. We care about the social climate of…
Liberty And Justice For All
Our song Spread Your Wings And Fly, available on our upcoming album “Lift You Up,” is all about believing we can and should make a positive impact on our world, our freedoms, and our democracy!
We personally donate to TED Foundation, and also Wikipedia, since sharing factual, scientific knowledge, ideas, and innovation is vital to our sense of community, hope, and belief in our own action and to groups protecting all people’s rights such as ACLU. In order to make a difference worldwide, we donate to GiveWell.
On our upcoming album you’ll also hear two versions of the traditional protest song used to protest for Civil Rights, Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round. Here’s a live version of The Scooches performing together in Forest Hills, NYC.
Gun Violence And Trafficking
Our hearts go out to victims of gun violence and trafficking. We personally donate to Everytown For Gun Safety and Brady United. We also donate to If you are or know someone who is a victim of human trafficking, call the hotline 888-373-7888. We also donate to NARAL, a group that protects women’s rights to choice.
This video of Run is on my own YouTube channel, and we’ll be posting a new one in the upcoming months, so subscribe to our @TheScooches YouTube channel.
A TED Talk From One of The Scooches
We love TED talks. Drumfolk specialist and The Scooches’ band member Dr. David Pleasant shares his vision in his TED talk on Gullah Geechee polyrhythms.
You’ll find Dr. David Pleasant on our albums Very Next Thing, Get Us Out Of Fearland, and Lift You Up, all available on Bandcamp, Soundcloud, as well as on our Spotify Playlist.
Much More, Both Past and Future
There are so many more songs on our albums that dig into deep subjects such as the struggle of refugees, the dangers of fear, the positive power of dreaming to open doors for us all, and more. Check out our discography. I look forward to sharing more with you soon.
What have you been discovering, caring about and donating to?
– Betina Hershey (singer/guitarist/songwriter/educator) betinahershey.com
