After months of planning, and weeks of rehearsals, Mr. STONEking teamed up with Dayton's old school funk masters, The Audio Showband.
The show, which took place on July 14th, 2012 at Gilly's Jazz Club in Dayton, Ohio, was recorded in both audio and video formats. Mr. STONEking and The Audio Showband will be releasing the audio material in MP3 download format.
A live version of David Bowie's hit, "Let's Dance", is the lead single and video off Mr. STONEking's Movember EP, slated for an autumn release. Other live tracks include a take on Madonna's "Music" blended with No Doubt's "Hella Good", and the funk classic "Love Rollercoaster" from The Ohio Players, complete with a rap Mr. STONEking wrote exclusively for The Audio Showband's involvement, which leads into Def Leppard's "Rock Of Ages".
photo by S. Luoma
Monday, July 16, 2012
Antioch University Commencement Speech, 2012
Jeffrey P. STONEking
Good Afternoon.
It is a humbling honour to stand before my fellow graduates, the class of 2012, and our support system comprised of family and loved ones here in this grande venue on this very significant day. Antioch is an awareness.
We live in a time when we can connect with everyone on the planet, yet we've never been lonelier. It is a time when people ask machines for the truth, and the Spirit each of us is comprised of is entirely disregarded.
Social networks and the devices to connect to them are the new gods.
There is documented proof that you become what you put in your personal space. If you are devoting and allowing your valuable time to be hypnotized and desensitized by the vile nature of Hollywood and the Internet's violent and profane imagery, you are magnetizing it to your existence.
Mahatma Gandhi said, "Harbour impurity of mind and body and you have untruth and violence in you."
As we stand on the threshold of prophecy fulfillment, be prepared for that which is to come. Let us cast aside the corporate charmers with their stopwatch hearts, and never bow down to the corrupt United States federal government and its deplorable elected officials.
Our current President and Commander-in-chief, who is seeking re-election, recently appointed the vice-president of Monsanto as Senior advisor to the FDA. Let us remember that Monsanto is the manufacturer of Agent Orange, along with the GMOs plaguing our food supply.
In the classrooms of Antioch, we discuss current circumstances, some which echo the horrors of science fiction.
Are you noticing the uncommon positions of the sun and the moon?
Will you receive a cancer-causing micro-chip implant under your skin for identification purposes, and allow an unknown official or agency to monitor you?
Do you believe everything the media and elected officials want you to believe? Or do you seek truth?
The goal of education is to bring forth that which is already within, and by studying history, as we do at Antioch, that knowledge and wisdom is enhanced to allow for a greater and more fulfilling future. History also reveals answers to life-long questions worth pondering.
For example, in ancient China, along the Silk Road, a harlot had a very popular caravan tent. Her name was two words, and I'll spell it, P-o-o S-e-e. Poo See.
Our rich, local history reveals the words of The Great Shawnee Warrior, Tecumseh, who said,
"Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion.
Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light,
for your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools
and robs the spirit of its vision."
Every one of us here, regardless of gender or ethnicity, has the opportunity to make life a positive and rewarding human experience. I encourage everyone to make your life an inspiring message worth sharing.
The quote from Antioch's founding father, Horace Mann, bears a stronger message now more than ever, "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity".
As Antioch graduates, we must also ask ourselves, will we follow in the footsteps of our noted alumni?
Will you harness and implement the ingenuity of our former president, Arthur E. Morgan?
Or take a stance against the evils of racism, as Coretta Scott King did?
Like Leonard Nimoy, will you boldly go where no man has gone before?
Perhaps you will unlock Rod Serling's door with the key of imagination, and discover another dimension of sight, sound, and mind, and a land of both shadow and substance of things and ideas!
Finally, a Great-Grandson of Chief Little Turtle, who is also an Antioch University graduate, and is here in attendance today, said, and I quote, "Even though Antioch can be frustrating, so is life. When all is said and done, it was a great experience in tolerance, patience, fortitude, ingenuity, pride, dedication, and growth."
With that, I am Walking Proof.
Carry On!
In keeping the tradition of Native American story-telling, At The Fire!, the second EP installment from Mr. STONEking, sends everyone on a historic journey. Grab your purple socks and purple haze for this three-track digital EP.
Its opening track,"Crazy Horses" heeds with its prophetic warnings. Allow the Magic Hands of Mr. STONEking to hypnotize its message into your fiber.
Next, hop on-board for a quick dream trip on the bus to "Indian Lake", where you'll meet Chief Walking Proof. Filmed on location at Indian Lake, Ohio, on July 2th (pronounced 'tooth'), this footage sent admitted concerns to those familiar with the occurrences at Indian Lake later in the afternoon.
Finally, the political warpath of "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" in its video commentary sends a blatant message to all registered voters.
Theme Park Safety Failure$, the 2012 version, is now available on Kindle. Discover what happens to innocent park goers when something goes awry, and how clueless ride operators are when emergencies occur. As one who was injured on a new ride in 2010, two years after the paperback version's release, I am Walking Proof that safety is not a priority or concern with park owners, ride manufacturers, inspectors, and elected officials. There is a Warning label on this book for a reason.
I seldom visit Wal-Mart, perhaps six times a year, only to purchase two items. On Thursday night my cell phone’s vibration went off, and I looked to discover a forwarded message from Antioch’s President Fishbein about a memorial service for Don Wallis. It was a surreal moment, and I forgot where I was and what I was in search of.
Don? Really? ‘No Way!’ I thought. He was on my mind earlier in the week as I was preparing one of my published works to go digital.
Arriving home, I started flashing to all the moments I shared with Don. He taught my second class at Antioch University in Winter of 2005, Self and Society. It was both he and Diane Chiddister who praised my writing capabilities, each encouraging me to pursue the talent. Don’s assignment was grueling, requiring thirty-five pages of childhood memories. I dove into it with great passion!
Those pages, forty-two by the time I finished, became the start of my first published book, Reality Therapy: The Influence of Rollercoasters, Religion, and Rock ‘n Roll.
The following year, I worked with Don on an independent studies course, Lives In Tranition, which produced my third book in a year’s time, On-Going Sagas: A Testimony Of Events. When I completed the manuscript, I paid the Yellow Springs post office to accept it over the counter. Several days later, I saw Don walking the sidewalk as I was slowly cruising by. I yelled a greeting out the open window, and heard Don yell back, “Good job!”
During the delivery of the published product a couple months later, I followed Don into a restaurant, and upon his turning the book over, and seeing my head surrounded by a halo, he pointed and Roared with laughter!
All these memories came flooding back to me, for it was Don who saw my hidden potential. I believed in him. He was genuine, real, and always expressive.
Don is also the one who allowed me to pursue my Native American studies, and invited Thomas Maroukis of Capital University to speak of his personal experiences on the Westeren reservations. That same day I brought my ultra-opinionated mother to class.
With these memories swirling about me, I wept myself to sleep. No one ever took the time to compliment my talents and efforts before Don.
Venturing the next afternoon to Antioch campus, the only one as far as I am concerned, I was elated to discover my favorite parking space available, providing me with a distant walk across the hallowed grounds to the Glen Helen building to pay homage to this kind, gifted man. So many individuals filled the interior to a standing-room only setting. Photographs depicting Don’s colorful life went passing by on the projector’s screen, and the memorial service began with a moment of silence.
The first speaker was Thomas Maroukis, bringing my personal memories full circle. So many other people shared their experiences with Don from over the course of his seven decades of living, their stories echoing certain elements of my own.
I left afterwards, walking Antioch campus alone under a glowing moon casting its light through the high-reaching branches of the aged wintry trees. A halo was distinctly visible about its near-fullness, and the memory of Don pointing and laughing at my own halo on the back cover of my book brought a vocalized outburst from me as I passed beside the crown jewel of campus, whose spires begs one’s eyes to look upwards.
With a function transpiring in South Hall, the same building where Don led the Self and Society coursenot so many years prior, I walked inside, and headed directly up to the third floor’s vacant hallway. Sitting on the interior window ledge, the Spirit still lingering inside seemed to ask, ‘Where have you been?’
I then wrote a text to a remarkable friend I also met in those very classrooms during that same time. His words stand as a strengthening testimony for all who Don Wallis came in contact:
“Rejoice in knowing God brings people into our lives when they are most needed. Don helped you on your journey, and be grateful for that blessing.”
