Lee Cronbach: His Life and His Music

In this interview, Lee Cronbach talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about his life and music.

“I've spent 22 years playing in churches.” ~Lee Cronbach

Lee is Jewish and follows the liberal interpretation of the religion. His great-grandparents helped out Jews who wanted to escape to the United States in the 1900s. Later on, his parents got involved with helping the cause of black freedom. Although the family had classical music, they also had records of Duke Ellington:Harlem and Liberian Suite. These records, as well as his older brother, were influences on Lee’s life, as Lee’s older brother had several black friends from playing on school football; and it was from them that Lee got an introduction to black music. He also got familiar with gospel and rhythm and blues music from the radio. 

 

It was when he was in high school that he was introduced to the basics of Judaism by a Jewish fellow student, Dafna Shauber, now a Hebrew Professor at Oxford University. She taught him the Hebrew alphabet, as well as loaning books on Judaism, including stories of very charitable Rabbis who helped people out. Once he was reading about the Rabbis when he heard the “Gospel Train” program on radio, which combination of Judaism and Gospel music gave him a belief in God, and this influenced his music, in that a lot of his compositions are religious in nature. 

 

Lee admits that he was “isolated” from his classmates as a child, and that he only felt connected with others when he followed after his older brother, going to the Apollo Theater in Manhattan to see such artists as Ray Charles. As he went to college in the 1960s, he went to Berkeley and got involved with the hippie people and movements that were taking place at that time.

 

Lee made up his own kind of music, which got recorded, despite these being “a whole lot of people playing a whole lot of notes at once.” His record, "Luna – Space Swell" – sold only 300 copies over several years, but when the Internet came around, he was surprised to learn that some of his recordings were online. He also attempted to transfer his music from cassette tapes into digital format, but the cassette tape masking crumbled while doing so.   

 

Lee started a group called “The Cosmic Playboys,” whose first drummer, EJ, played drums for R&B artists such as Jackie Wilson. Joe Friedman played guitar, while a suit-wearing Mormon businessman drove down from Reno every week to play the cello. The band also included two teenage flutists with large afros and a Jewish trombonist. The group eventually broke up, and Lee then played organ for "Chambray," a country-psychedelic band which became famous in the San Francisco area, and people started asking for his autograph.  

 

Lee got involved with the drugs scene, but he eventually realized that he wouldn’t live very long if he kept that up, so he cleaned up his act and then went to Boston to study at the Berkelee School of music to get serious. Meanwhile he worked with Frosty Furman’s country-rock band "Pavlov’s Dog"s - Frosty was the one who urged him to come to Boston and study.

 

Lee is gay, and he thus got jobs for thie band at several gay bars. It was during this time that he and the band members he was with decided to stay off drugs for an entire week. HIs band’s performance improved, so much so that all of the band members became guests of Duke Ellington one evening. Duke disliked rock’n’roll and country music, so Lee who, like his fellow band members, were “redneck hippies,” was surprised when Duke Ellington treated them like his “long-lost grandchildren,” as the Duke realized that they were serious musicians. This resulted in one of the best nights Lee had, as he was able to see, first hand, how jazz organist pioneer Wild Bill Davis played, after which he and his friends had a dinner full of expensive food, as well as met John Coltrane’s drummer, Elvin Jones, and listened to Duke Ellington perform a solo piano song that featured different kinds of music simultaneously. The inspiration of this night led to Pavlov’s Dogs finally getting an agent and getting much better fees.

 

Lee then spoke about drum circles (which are when groups of people gather around in a circle and where each person plays a drum or some other instrument). The Latin drum circle, according to him, has a fixed set of rules to follow, and the African drum circle is one wherein participants return to their African roots. Lee joined a third kind of drum circle, the free drum circle, which anyone could join and which gained popularity in the 1950s and which, by the 1960s, were “an integral part” of the hippie movement, and which played a part where some hippies stopped some policemen from dragging away and beating up a black kid; the hippies celebrated that feat which the hippies celebrated that very night during a drum circle. Free drum circles started in the United States way back in slavery days as a way for people to break the race barrier, but really exploded in popularity with the growth of the counter-culture. 

 

Lee also learned from some unusual sources. One of these was when Cooperative Artists Institute, a multi-racial teaching and performing commune in Boston, took him one weekend so visit friends who had made a huge aeolian harp, so big that horses could walk into the harps body and listen to the wind along with Lee while his friends jammed on the mountainside below. When he got back to school, his jazz piano teacher remarked that he finally could play swing music - something that the teacher had been trying to teach him for a year. 

 

Lee met up with his Filipino spouse in 1987, and during the economic depression of the 2000s relocated to the Philippines, as Lee’s spouse, a doctor, found a job in the latter’s home country. His main complaint about living in the country is that “everything’s karaoke, videoke,” as he expected more people to play instruments. He has played “church music” for 22 years, which he loved, and remarked that one of the pastors he played for, in Seattle, was Danish - something he appreciated, as he noted that the Danes saved 90% of their Jewish population during the Second World War. He was always aware of the anti-Semitic sentiment present in the United States, and once he arrived in the Philippines realized that such sentiment didn’t exist in that country. Lee opined that Filipinos don’t feel guilty about the way Jews were treated because they saved around a thousand Jews prior to the Second World War. He also liked seeing mixed-race Filipino-Israeli children in the only synagogue in the Philippines. 

 

Lee Cronbach’s YouTube Channel

Dr. Mark Schillinger on Young Men's Ultimate Weekend (YMUW) Adventure Camp

In this interview, Dr. Mark Schillinger talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about his workshop, Young Men's Ultimate Weekend.

“Go out of your way to listen to what they are trying to say.” ~Dr. Mark Schillinger

Mark grew up in Queens, where “everybody could hear everybody else,” in a family that had a history of depression and suicide. He thus turned to ways to manage the stress he felt, which took him on a path to exploring spirituality. This led him to a yoga center in Manhattan, and an even deeper exploration of Eastern philosophy and spirituality which led him to a career as a chiropractor. He even studied quantum physics, as he says that “quantum physics is spirituality,” given that the two describe the same reality and perceive reality similarly - something which helps him with his work as a life coach, enabling his clients to create a different perception of what reality is.

Mark moved to California from New York and hurt his back while working in a bakery. He found the experience of working with a chiropractor to heal his back fascinating, and this led him to becoming one. As a chiropractor, Mark delved into the nervous system, which he remarks is something which what chiropractor works with, as every cell in the body is connected to a nerve. The job of a chiropractor is to loosen up the body so that the nerves could work properly, and from there the body to likewise work properly; and this knowledge was what helped him out when he was having some problems with his own son’s nervous system. His work with the nervous system was also what got Mark into working in stress management, focusing on the neurology of that concern, to the point that he is now a registered instructor who can help clients relax.

Mark notes that all people love to connect and need people to connect with every day. Where the present pandemic (Covid-19) is concerned, Mark notes that humans are “innately wired” to know how to deal with such pandemics, given that such are a feature of human history, but that the present culture and societal setup doesn’t allow for the connection and relaxation necessary to deal with it. Mark’s work thus involved first teaching people how to relax, and then connecting with their own, personal values to consequently equip them with the tools and routines necessary to live their life in such a way that they can handle the stresses they encounter.

The Performing Stars of Marin was the first non-profit organization that Mark got involved in. It was set up to help primarily underprivileged children develop their artistic and creative skills, which he points out is necessary for them to handle the demands that their culture will place on them.

The Young Men’s Ultimate Weekend was conceived by Mark as a way to create a “rite of passage” for young men. He notes that this is important nowadays, given all the distractions that are available today, as young men lose their natural drive to strike out and be their own man. This also helps parents help their children lead into the young adult world at that time of the latter’s lives (12 - 14 years old) when they start to “tune out” their parents and work things out for themselves. Such developing kids need to live in a community that reinforces that their parents know what they are talking about, where lifetime values are concerned, so that the kids can become responsible and capable members of the community, while simultaneously discovering who they are and realize that the universe doesn’t revolve around them.

As an example of a rite of passage he observed, Mark cites the example of a rite of passage he observed in a small Samburu tribe in Kenya. Although he wasn’t told the details of the rite of passage, he observed that the result was that the young men of the tribe were proud to be the protectors of their tribe, to be the ones responsible to ensure their tribe was safe and secure, and proud to offer their skills to the community and its well-being. The purpose of a rite of passage, Mark notes, is to allow parents to release their children into the community, so that the latter takes care of them and reminds them of their various responsibilities. Establishing such, Mark adds, creates a calmer, safer and more cooperative community - something which is lacking in present culture, Mark notes, resulting in young men feeling isolated and alone and, from there, creating “all sorts of wacky stuff” about what their role in the world is. Such young men, he adds, are usually good young men who lack leadership, more than anything else. Mark also remarks that, if young men feel respected, and if the proper respect is given to them, then the young men will respond by respecting themselves, rather than regarding their elders with hatred and distrust, which results in those same young men acting out destructively and aggressively.

Mark also does rite of passage activities for parents, pointing out that, in today’s society, parents themselves are under so much stress that they need to learn how to let go of their son as a boy and relate to him with respect as a young man. He notes that parents need to have the skills available to relate with their son, and learn how to create an atmosphere of respect, and Mark notes that his training is based on consequences, which parents and young men alike appreciate, after which he gave an example of how a pair of modern-day parents learned enough skills which enabled them to deal calmly with a temperamental son whom they would otherwise have dealt angrily with.

Where modern-day devices are concerned Mark also notes that these create an atmosphere of instant gratification, rather than getting in touch with their drive to succeed in the outside world, contrasting this with how kids, fifty years ago, lived. The “old ways” no longer work, and he adds that young men who know how to bring their gifts and talents into the community, and who know how to be at peace with themselves, to be true to themselves and know who they are, are more likely to contribute to their families and communities.

Where the Young Men’s Ultimate Weekend is concerned, the highlight is when the participants undertake an intense event called “Letting Go of the Boy,” where the participants release all their past pains, hurts, disappointment and anger in their lives to date, after which they are happier and more relaxed and more aware that they need to be responsible for their own well-being. This is followed up, a few hours later, by a sweat lodge event where they learn to relax, trust their intuition and be connected with something that is bigger than they are. Mark notes that a quarter of those who participate totally get what the rite of passage is about, and a quarter of those who participate don’t, although the seeds of future growth are planted in them, with the remainder falling somewhere between the two extremes. He remarks that the way the participants greet their parents at the end of the course is different from the way they would have greeted them at the start of the workshop.

Mark would advise people who see any young men to consider that these are the future, and to greet them and know that they have been seen to be friendly and worthy of respect. He also recommends that people interact with young men with respect, and they will become those that society needs.

How to contact Dr. Schillinger:

info@ymuw.org

info@challengingteenagesons.com

BUY on AMAZON: 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens Paperback by Sean Covey 

Michael Mathieu on Foundational Health Methods and Low-Oxalate Dieting

In this interview, Michael Mathieu talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about his work on improving people’s health.



“We don’t have to think so hard, if we give the body the right foods it needs.” ~Michael Mathieu

Michael Mathieu

Michael started off getting interested in health and healthy diets during high school, when his sister began educating his family about such things as too much sugar being consumed. It was, however, when his lower back “gave out” on him when he was already working after college that he became really curious about diet. It was then that Michael went on a vegetarian diet, and it was during the five years he was working for Eastman Kodak that his health fell apart. He then spent the next few years figuring things out where food was concerned, and it was only from around 2019 or so that he truly began figuring out what did and didn’t work, where food was concerned.

Foundational health, according to Michael, is the idea that, if the basic building blocks for health are put in place, and that if easy-to-digest, high-density foods which have all the nutrients needed is consumed, then the human body knows what to do with this to maintain and heal itself. (“We don’t have to think so hard, if we give the body the right foods it needs,” he maintains.) He notes that people with chronic health issues need to have these investigated, but the foundational pieces of having the right diet need to be in place. Where people who are seeking to prevent issues are concerned, Michael notes that diet is all that needs to be focused on, but for somewhat more serious issues, supplements are important. These approaches, he remarks, are intended to ensure that resolving issues doesn’t happen “by chance.”

One of the big problems with today’s diet in the United States, Michael notes, is the present trend towards vegetarianism and veganism, which causes the health of a lot of those who follow such diets to fall apart. “There can be multiple reasons for why,” he admits, “and this is where the story becomes a little bit complex.” Michael noted the example of dentist Dr. Weston Price, a dentist who, in the 1930s and 1940s, traveled around the world and noted that the healthiest people in the world had, in their diet, high amounts of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D and K2. These vitamins, he notes, have several different functions in the human body, one of which is telling other minerals where to go, making these crucial in creating flexible and dense bones. Michael remarks that such vitamins, in the modern diet, are diminishing in amount consumed, due to the focus nowadays on consuming lean meat. The latter is due to the belief that animal saturated fats cause cardiovascular disease, a review of the research showing these findings indicating that the research methodology was bad, as egos were involved. He remarks that such a belief isn’t “holding up” to the data presently available.

Michael also that the basis for people going fully carnivorous - that is, eating only meat - is presently based on incomplete or nonexistent research. That said, he gives the example of the Inuit people, who have apparently existed on a carnivorous diet for thousands of years, as a group of humans which have “robust” health and which indicates that plants aren’t as important to health as popularly believed. Michael also notes that adding animal meat to one’s diet has, in his practice, been shown to improve his clients’ health.

Michael and others like him are thus now focused on re-educating people, given all the bad information on nutrition that is present. He explains that, as an electrical engineer, he delves into research with an open mind and goes to where the data and results lead him, as engineers are trained to be unemotional where getting results are concerned. In his practice as a health coach, he works to keep adapting the diets he has given to his clients so that they can achieve their goals.

Michael also notes that a lot of people are becoming “citizen scientists,” who do not have the biases that medical professionals have, are driving the paving the way where nutrition is concerned. He points out that medical professionals get no training in nutrition and that they are “overwhelmed” with their practices that they don’t get into the research available, which leads to medical professionals relying on what was taught to them in medical school. Michael also remarks that critical thinking is somewhat missing in today’s medical training, and that is something that he brings to the table.

Michael notes that there are chemicals in plants which are actually toxic to us, which makes sense, given that plants produce toxins and anti-nutrients - compounds which are typically found in crop plants which interfere with the absorption of nutrients by the human body - as a way to defend themselves from being consumed by animals. One example of this is oxalic acid, which is produced so a plant can store calcium as well as to defend itself. Oxalic acid, in the human body, crystallizes by binding with such positive-charge minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron. Not only do these minerals become unavailable to the body, as the body has no way to break the bonds of the minerals from oxalic acid, but the oxalic acid can also rob the body of such minerals. These crystals, which are as sharp as glass particles and can range from nanomolecular sized (which can then cause damage to a cell it enters) to those seen with the naked eye (such as kidney stones). Only a certain amount of these crystals can only be eliminated per day, which means that what is left will accumulate and become toxic to the body. Where his practice is concerned, Michael notes that reducing oxalic acid can help even those who don’t have kidney stones.

(In a conversation conducted after the interview, Michael identified the following foods as being high in oxalates:

Rhubarb, beet greens, spinach, Swiss chard, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, beet roots, celery, carrots, yams, tomato sauce, parsnips.

Nuts, seeds, chia seeds, poppy seeds, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, tahini, almonds, cashews, peanuts.
Unripe avocado, blackberries, figs, guava, kiwi, olives, plantain, pomegranate, star fruit.

Most beans, Black beans, soy flour, soy milk, soy protein, pinto beans.

Most grains, wheat germ, rice bran, potato flour, whole grain bread, corn grits, green banana flour, buckwheat barley, amaranth, quinoa.

Black tea, green tea, chocolate milk, almond beverages, rice milk.

Black pepper, cinnamon, cumin, curry, onion powder, parsley, poppy, turmeric.

Michael also recommends a gradual tapering of consumption of such foods over time, rather than stopping consuming these all at once, as suddenly dumping oxalates from one’s diet could prove to be intense.)

As an example of a client who successfully changed her life is a young woman, Sarah, who was 20 years old when she consulted with Michael. Sarah, all her life, has had such health issues as low energy and chronic constipation, and she consulted Michael after being diagnosed with celiac disease, which is one where the small intestines of people will get damaged when they consume gluten. Sarah later on discovered that she has osteopenia, which could lead to osteoporosis, and a bit later she experienced pain, nausea and vomiting whenever she ate, due to her spleen being so oversized that doctors considered that it might need to be removed. Michael also remarks that, until she was diagnosed with celiac, none of Sarah’s doctors asked her what she was eating.

Sarah kept a diet diary, so Michael got a sense of what she was eating, and after asking a lot of questions and reading her many medical tests, Michael suggested moving her diet from that of the typical American to one where she ate more meat and fat and cut back on plants to reduce oxalates, as well as cutting back on carbohydrates. (As he is not a medical practitioner, Michael can only suggest, rather than directly tell, a client what to do and what not to do, where their bodies and health is concerned.) Because of her condition, where her vitamin D levels were low, Michael recommended supplements to boost her levels of vitamin D, as well as levels of vitamins A and K2. Where vitamin A supplements are concerned, Michael did his research on the right kind of vitamin A supplement to recommend, as he is leery of fish foods, given the amount of heavy metals and microplastics in the ocean, and is concerned that some vitamin A supplements use a form of that vitamin which is not easily absorbed by the human body. In less than a week, the nausea and pain when eating was gone, and two weeks later Sarah felt so rested after waking up that she stopped drinking coffee (she had been drinking coffee for years to get her energy level up after waking up). Sarah then told Michael, after around a month and a half of being on the foundational diet she was on, that she felt healthier and more energetic than she had felt all her life.

People can get in touch with Michael at michaelmathieu.com. He also has a YouTube channel called Michael Mathieu Foundational Health, the content of which is presently in the process of being expanded. His Instagram account is CarnivoreQuad.

Experience the magic! Where ever you are, I bring my 25+ years of experience healing bodies directly to you. Highly skilled, finely tuned, efficient and effective! By combining osteopathic and energetic bodywork, diet, nutrition, fasting strategies and other modalities, I can help you design a customized foundational health program to optimize your true potential. Feel free to book some time with me here. michaelmathieu.com

BUY on AMAZON:

The Low-Oxalate Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook: 75 Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free, Yeast-Free, Low-Sugar Recipes to Help You Stress Less and Feel Better Hardcover by Cindy Bokma