It Tolls For Thee

For some reason, I’m still upset by the February 17, 2013, suicide of Country Music star Mindy McCready. MindyTenThousand

I didn’t know Mindy personally. I had barely even heard of her before her suicide. I knew her as most everyone else did: by her mug shots and the barrage of sad media stories in the months leading up to her death.

According to her entry on Wikipedia,

Overall, McCready’s four studio albums accounted for twelve singles on the Billboard country singles charts. This figure includes the Number One hit “Guys Do It All the Time”, as well as the Top Ten hits “Ten Thousand Angels” and “A Girl’s Gotta Do (What a Girl’s Gotta Do)”. Although she had not charted a single since 2002, McCready received significant media coverage regarding her personal life. McCready’s fifth studio album, I’m Still Here, was released in March 2010.

Five studio albums? A Number One hit? Twelve singles? Another article stated she had sold over three million albums. So she was not someone without considerable talent. Or beauty. How did her life come to this?

Something about her life, and tragic death, has Continue reading

Fearless Puppy Interview…Coming Soon!

I just experienced one of the most amazing interviews of my life. Doug “Ten” Rose, author of Fearless Puppy OnFearlessPuppy American Road, mesmerized me for nearly 45 minutes.

Ten is a combination of Jack Kerouac, John Lennon, George Carlin, and Gandhi. Extremely witty and remarkably inspiring, he is a born raconteur, with the grounded wisdom of Buddha thrown in for good measure.

Throughout the interview, I kept thinking, “This guy needs to go on the lecture circuit, or be interviewed by major media. What he’s saying could change the world.”

It’ll take a week or two to transcribe the interview. When it’s ready, it’ll be posted here (in total) and on The Only Love Project Facebook page (in part).

Thank you, Ten!

“Love is the only thing that can change the world” – Udana Power

UdanaDeskOn March 6, 2013, actor/singer/writer/entrepreneur Udana Power took an hour out of her busy schedule to speak to The Only Love Project.

Many thanks to Miss Power for her time, and inspirational insights.

Bill Murphy (BM): Could you tell us, briefly, a little bit about your background?

Udana Power (UP): Well, I’ve always wanted to know God. I don’t know where it came from, but I had to know. And I wanted to know. I mean, I was journaling about it when I was 11 and 12 years old. Sometimes I would just journal all night. I wanted to be also an actress. I was compelled to be, don’t know why. And I would write Love and God and Art and Nature and Sex – all those words started with capital letters. Because somehow all that was part of my searching.

I don’t know what it was. It was core. Now I call it the Law of Blooming, being connected to our source. But at that time, I didn’t know what it was. I was just vaguely trying to find it.

So, my desire to be an actress was for many reasons. I had a gift for it, but I had to know the Source. When I was acting, or when I ultimately started singing, I would reconnect to the Source place within me, and let that flow of energy sing through me. I would line it all up, and it would take over and flow. I remember when I was flown to New York by Alan Jay Lerner and auditioned in front of the producers of Coco, starring Katharine Hepburn. It was in her only stage CocoPlaybillmusical. Alan and I walked into the big lobby of the Mark Hellenger Theater one afternoon. It was empty. It felt like I was walking into my own dream. I remember Alan was holding my hand. I was very young and very naïve at the time, and I felt like I was walking into a cathedral. As we crossed the lobby and walked I into the great, big, empty theatre, there were a few men in suits there. One of them was Andre Previn. Everyone introduced themselves and then they asked me to go up on stage and sing.

It was a long walk. All I knew was this is where life was created. All I could think of was that and my personal relationship with God. I walked up to the big empty stage and sang “Greensleeves” in French and “God Bless The Child.” Alan said later that it was like they were watching a young Judy Garland.

And whenever I’ve been to a theatrical performance that’s truly wonderful there is something of the spiritual in it. So, that’s been my life, and that’s where I came from. I was an actress in theatre for many years, I was on television and film, I did a one-woman show for five years. And when I did my work, I called it a Yahweh. That’s a word for God. I couldn’t quite articulate what it was, but if I could fling myself out into that experience, and channel that. Then I was doing what I was put here to do.

And I did that many times over and over. People would come backstage just sobbing because the performance had such a profound effect on them. It wasn’t me – it was something that I flung myself into that came through me. For me it was interesting, and it was easy.

I remember the producer for Applause at the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera. Larry Kasha had produced it on Broadway and was directing it here. I played Eve opposite Yvonne De Carlo. The producer was a woman who Continue reading

Interviews Coming!

UdanaPowerWe recently had the pleasure of interviewing actor/author/singer/entrepreneur Udana Power for The Only Love Project.

Miss Power has appeared on TV in everything from Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley to Hawaii Five-O, SOAP, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker. She starred on Broadway opposite Katharine Hepburn. Currently, she owns a successful health-based business and will soon publish a book about her time with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as OSHO). In addition, she has several screenplays in the works.

This 45-minute discussion will soon be transcribed and posted here in its entirety.

Other interviews with people who are making a difference in the world will follow.

Stay tuned.