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A Todd Alan Story
by Charlene Suggs
After a ten
year hiatus, recording artist Todd Alan has just finished his newest
work, Earth Changes. Many in the community know Todd from his
touring days around the festival circuit from the mid-80's through
the mid-90's. He is probably best known for his recording Carry
Me Home: A Collection of Earth Spirituality Songs New and Old which
has become a classic recording well-known by many here and abroad.
As wife and
friend of Todd Alan and a supporter of the music, I am happy to share
with you his story as a part of the early (Pagan/Earth Spirituality)
music scene. Through the years, the scene has grown much larger
as the Earth Spirituality movement has strengthened. Hundreds
of bards and musicians now share earth-based beliefs through song,
dance, and performance.
Todd Alan and
Friends was among the first wave of Earth Spirituality bands and
probably the first well-known Pagan band that performed rock/folk
productions rather than acoustic performances. Part of our
public identity was traveling as a family/ community band along with
the musicians. It was amazing to see and quite a big outfit to
get from place to place. We cooked group meals for 20+ over
campfires and camped together cooperatively by sharing wood and water
gathering and other tasks of festival life. We carpooled and
lugged heavy gear from festival to festival.
We helped each
other with our babies and children during rehearsals and festival
weeks. Young parents were empowered to learn that they could
raise children and still have a creative outlet with the help of
other community band members - I have a picture of a singer at the
microphone nursing her baby during practice. At our co-op
merchant booth, we took turns selling the cassettes and CDs that kept
us rolling from place to place. While strenuous and primitive,
it was very exhilarating to live in the culture that festival life
creates. At the gatherings, our music, spirituality, and lives
were fully integrated in a natural, outdoor setting.
With the back
hatch up, our bright yellow VW bus doubled as the sound booth.
Once our stage was a hay wagon with tiki torches providing
lighting! A 20-foot tipi with traditional lodgepoles was our
community space at the band camp. Nights were full of happy
conversations, drink, food and music with visitors from all over
camp. Folks who had never been in a tipi were delighted to
spend time in this lovely round dwelling with a fire in the
middle. It was a common sight to wake up in the misty
mornings and see relaxed people sleeping around a fire still warm and smoldering.
I'll always
remember those beautiful festival summer nights when everyone
gathered for concerts. In the safety of a non-judgmental place,
people who never felt free to move their bodies found themselves
dancing uninhibited. Barefoot dancers in gauzy skirts twirled
with their hands gesturing like symbolic prayers. People seated
in the audience had their arms around each other while singing along,
swaying and smiling contentedly.
Together,
audience and musicians generated an atmosphere of freedom and bliss
that is hard to describe . . . its like slowing down time and being
fully present and gratefully alive and happy. We sang out the
common beliefs of a new movement of earth-based people: the
ancient news that the earth is sacred and precious; that there is a
divine purpose and joy to living; that we can make a difference; and
that we are all related in the web of life.
We still
receive letters from people who tell us how much the earlier music
has meant to them. Some play it in their cars on the way to
work to fortify themselves before they enter work places in their
mundane alter-egos. Others have used it in healing work or for
inspirational purposes. People have used the music to help them
through chemotherapy and other serious health conditions.
People play the music for weddings and handfastings and in circle.
Recently we
heard from a woman who told us that she uses Carry Me Home at an
assisted living facility where she volunteers as a physical therapist
- the elderly ladies there always blush and request the very sensuous
Gently Johnny for their exercise routines. We love hearing
these good stories -- it inspires us to continue with the healing
work of spreading earth-based consciousness through our music and life.
A Musican's
Early Days
Todd Alan
started playing guitar at age 11 and knew he wanted to be a
musician. In junior high, he played electric guitar in a series
of garage bands. By high school, he made weekend money playing
at restaurants with harmony singing and acoustic guitar influenced by
CSN, Neil Young and other hippie music. After high school, he
went on the road 6-7 nights a week as lead guitarist in a lounge band
playing top 40 dance/funk music. For creative fun during this
time, his Cleveland-based band doubled as The Effect and played all
original techno-pop on the grungy all-original circuit.
Upon seeing
Todd onstage at the first Effect show, a woman Gina Kruzel (who
is also a respected professional tarot counselor)
recognized Todd as a kindred magical spirit and struck up a
conversation with him. They started a close and strong
friendship that endures today. Gina introduced him to the
magical community through Starwood 1985 and his life was changed
forever. He quickly immersed himself in the workings of the Earth
Spirituality community.
Within the
year, he wrote and released his first cassette album Moon Magic, a
meditational free-form album recorded by the seashore. Soon
after followed Earth Magick which he co-wrote with Lady Pythia. This
was his first album dedicated to themes of Earth Spirituality and
planetary healing with electric instrumentation. It was a radical
departure from the chant cassettes prevalent at that time. As a
certified recording engineer, he arranged and produced Issac
Bonewits' first album Be Pagan Once Again (1987). During
this era, he spent four years with the Floating Spiral in magical
training while creating music and traveling to gatherings.
During this time, he played under the name Oracle with Pythia and
Bongo Bob. As
a sideline interest, he studied the properties of gemstones and
wirework and started vending spiritual jewelry at festivals and
metaphysical events.
A Leap of Faith
Because of his
newfound spirituality, Todd found it more and more difficult to make
his living in the mundane bar scene with its smell of stale beer and
cigarettes. After a particularly brutal stint of playing out
every night for over a month, he made a conscious leap of faith to
embrace a more spiritual lifestyle. He couldn't imagine how he
could make ends meet but trusted in Spirit and the calling he had
heard. He took a leap of faith and left the mundane music scene.
Soon after
this act of commitment with bills mounting and no clear path, Todd
attended yet another festival. Through a mutual friend, an
anonymous patron gifted him with enough money to pay off his debts
and launch his jewelry-making
business. The money was passed with only the
message, "Just keep making music and just keep making
jewelry." Todd has honored that request and has been
blessed to make his living from his jewelry and music ever since.
www.handwovenbands.com.
www.toddalanstudios.com
The Next
Decade of Finding Home
At Pagan
Spirit Gathering (PSG) 1989, Todd and I met the first
day. I was living at Circle Sanctuary at the time as editor of
Circle Network News (the precursor to Circle Network Magazine) and
was working as staff at the gathering. During that magical
week, Todd and I recognized our love and destiny together and made
plans to travel together after my internship with Circle was
finished. That was over 17 years ago and we are still together
with two girls added to the journey. We moved to Peninsula,
Ohio where we opened an art gallery and raised our family.
During this decade, Todd recorded Carry
Me Home which was released in 1990. He gathered a
band named Todd Alan and Friends and off we went on the road making
music and making friends.
Along with the
ever-changing band of musician friends which renamed themselves The
Quest, Todd Alan toured and performed his folk/rock style music for
many all over the eastern half of the country (1990-1996).
At home, Todd
recorded Touch the Earth (cassette, 1992) and Live in the Studio
(cassette, 1993) with The Quest. Live at Pantheocon was
produced in collaboration with Gypsy as a fundraiser for religious
freedom rights. In 1995, he finished a five-year project and
released the very personal solo album From
This Moment On. While Todd felt it was some of his
best production and writing to date, the album was never promoted
much as the band stopped touring soon after the release. The
Longest Day (which was written at PSG one year) is
recorded on that album and is still sung every year on the summer solstice.
While we love
many gatherings and their people, PSG is our "home"
festival and much has happened to us through the years within this
wonderful community. Circle
Sanctuary and Selena Fox have always supported and
encouraged Todd and our family in our work at all levels. We
gratefully thank them for always encouraging music and for promoting
the vision of a more just and free world for Pagans/Earth
Spirituality and all religious paths
Wisteria:
Living the Dream in Land-based Community
Living a week
submersed entirely in magical ways left many of us frustrated at
having to return to everyday life. By the mid-90's, the
festival scene changed from one of predominately young singles into
parenting couples with an explosion of children. With the
increased focus on family and sustainability, people started talking
about creating year-round community on land.
We were among
those longing to recreate the cooperative and tribal ways from
festival life into year-round life. We attended every workshop
we could, networked, and researched topics associated with forming
land-based community. For seven years we searched for land in
the Appalachian region of southern Ohio with an ever-changing group
of people from the festival movement. We had no idea of how to
actually manifest this vision but kept reading, thinking, praying,
talking and making music.
Along with our
friend Sherry who steadfastly shared the vision, we searched many
properties and found about a square mile of land in Meigs County,
Ohio in 1996. The moment I got out of the car and walked to the
gate, I knew it was our home and started crying. I managed to
hide my tears from the real estate agent but kept leaking tears of
joy during this first visit to the land. We started
actively gathering people. During a series of meetings at PSG
1996, the group coalesced and decided to purchase the land for the
new community we named Wisteria. During this intensified time
of community creation, Todd disbanded The Quest which reformed as
Green Crown and continued in the community band tradition for some years.
As primary
founders with other original families, Todd and I spent the next
decade doing foundational work with the other households who were
co-steward owners of the land. While Wisteria is not organized
as a Pagan community, the core values of land stewardship,
sustainable living and environmental consciousness are values shared
by earth-lovers of all creeds. It was beyond belief, almost, to
see one of our dearest dreams actually coming true. It was like
walking around in a dream that was very hard work! People started
building homes. Babies were born, couples married and
homesteaded. One day, I was amazed to hear far-away hammers
ringing out from two homes being built at the same time. That was
when it finally seemed real.
Around the
same time that Wisteria was founded, Circle was looking for a new
home for PSG. Wisteria Community wanted to operate an event
site as their community business so we worked with Selena Fox and
Dennis Carpenter of Circle to move PSG to Wisteria.
Demonstrating an incredible amount of faith in the new Wisteria
Community, they trusted the group to prepare a campground in 3 months
for PSG 1997! It all worked fine and PSG has now been held at
Wisteria for ten years. Since PSG is now in a
population-central location, the gathering is more accessible and
continues to grow in perception and practice as the National
Gathering for the Earth Spirituality people.
Taking care of
Wisteria in the formational years along with the relocation of PSG
was very time-consuming and exhausting. Except for occasional
appearances, Todd stopped performing and dedicated himself to serving
the Wisteria Community and relocating our family to Wisteria.
But musicians
will be musicians -- I would see him jotting down bits of songs
and picking out chords on his guitar between laying waterlines and
shoveling trenches. In 2002, he purchased a banjo and new music
started stirring in him. Soon, he was visualizing another album
and hearing new songs in the rolling green hills of Wisteria.
Earth Changes:
A Call for Good Changes on the Planet
Life in this
part of the country is green and hopeful. Hippies, artists,
progressives, and the local folk live side-by-side and share the
enduring values of love of nature, family, community and
freedom. This laid-back rural setting brings hope to our family
and our community. We are grateful to join the greater
community in the Athens area that is dedicated to more just and
sustainable changes in the world.
A curious
thing happened in the mainstream media a few years back.
Reporters started talking about global warming. There were
specials on environmental crisis and organic food production.
We realized that public perception was shifting and more people were
caring about life on this planet on a core level. Inspired by
this awakening, Todd felt it was finally the time when people
would be receptive to new music reminding them that the Earth needs
healing from careless, shortsighted human activity. And how do
we spread this message without depressing everyone and paralying
their ability to act? That's about the time the banjo spoke up.
Todd's
personal response was to write music of hope and celebration:
"The electric banjo has opened up a whole new world for me.
I feel as if I've been playing it all my life. I did study
some traditional banjo styles but quickly developed my own style of
playing influenced by my 30+ year history with guitar. I felt a
deep love for the sound of the banjo. and first learned some
traditional styles of playing. But when I received my first
electric banjo, it was like being gifted a magic wand."
"I
consecrated and dedicated the instrument before even playing the
first note. I knew this instrument would open up a whole new
world for me and it has. It was an incredibly magic time
discovering my newfound magical tool. Many of the songs on this
new album were written on the banjo and I hope to front with it for
any future touring. The electric banjo is not a sound most
people might think it is - it takes the bright "happiness"
of the banjo and gives it a mysterious depth that is not possible on
an acoustic banjo. It's an instrument that can cross-over from
folk to rock to meditative and beyond . . . I hope you like the sound
as much as I do."
The Music
Today and My Thoughts on Life
Todd Alan's
music has always focused on healing and love for the planet.
Earth Changes continues in this tradition while celebrating the
divine forces at work in the universe. Themes range from
reincarnation to deep-in-the-woods bonfire drumming calling us
together to create a better world. Some songs are traditional
folk/rock Todd Alan styling with interwoven vocal harmonies and
offbeat percussive primitive rhythms.
The rock banjo
stylings grace the CD with a unique progressive rock/folk/country
blended sound. More mainstream audiences can also identify with
these upbeat grooves that sing of a new way and new time for all
people. All in all, it's an album for the Earth Spirituality
community that can also be shared with a public awakening to the fact
that it's time to change the way we live.
Along with the
release of Earth Changes, Todd Alan Studios is re-releasing Carry Me
Home and Earth Magick in updated CD format. Visit
www.todd-alan.net for ordering information and MP3 samples as well as
some free full-song downloads. Music is also available through
Circle Sanctuary (see page xx for ordering information).
This life that
I have shared with Todd, my family, other Pagans, and the Wisteria
community has been a wonderful journey of self-discovery and true
communion with kindred souls. I have come to believe that we
have a crucial part in the emerging consciousness of sustainable
earth stewardship. Many who do not call themselves Pagan still
share our love of a beautiful planet and a more sensible
culture. Many of these same people have been alienated by
mainstream religious thoughts but still need a vessel for their
innate beliefs. Overwhelmed by the magnitude of abuse the
planet is suffering, many environmentalists get burned out by anger
and hopelessness. By combining the "action" of
environmentalism with the "beliefs and focus" of earth-centered
religions, we can become the change we want to see. Music is
always a unifying shared expression of a people and our fellowship of
common ground. Quite simply, we must first value our lives and
the lives of all living things in order to truly find our place on
this planet.
In walking
this path, our bitterness and cynicism has turned to hope and faith
through the changes we've seen. So many times we have seen
people's lives bettered as they reclaim their ancient, authentic
natures through the simple act of peaceful, cooperative living in
nature. Our bards, dancers, drummers, and musicans lead the
dance and song for us all. We are happy to be a part of this
exciting time and look forward to the next decades as the Earth
Spirituality movements harmonize. More and more, we all voice a
louder public presence as we sing out our love for the Earth,
freedom, justice, and the joy of being alive.
Related links:
www.todd-alan.net.
Todd Alan's official site features his music, related
interests. MP3 samples and free downloads available.
www.handwovenbands.com.
Todd Alan's handcrafted wedding, handfasting, and commitment
bands. Sister site to www.toddalanstudios.com
which features his original art jewelry and medieval/fantasy/magical creations.
www.wisteria.org.
The official site for the Wisteria Community in southern Ohio.
Dedicated to sustainable stewardship of land, also residential and
nature preserve. Home of the Pagan Spirit Gathering sponsored
by Circle Sanctuary (www.circlesanctuary.org).
www.tarotqueen.net.
Gina Kruzel's official site offers tarot card consultations by
phone. 20+ years experience serving the Pagan, mundane, and
metaphysical communities.
Please drop us
a note and we will put you on the e-mailing list. todd@toddalanstudios.com
Please
drop us a note and we will put you on the e-mailing list. todd@toddalanstudios.com
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