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Dear family and friends, I will be doing a live broadcast on Concert Window which starts at 5:00 pm EDT on August 16. Yay! 🙂 Wherever you are in the world, you can tune in! I’ll be singing songs that you request, sharing a SMILE, and answering your questions. Tickets are available at https://www.concertwindow.com/ariaelan. There…

Black churches finally joined the struggle to fight climate change. I was beginning to feel like the Lone Ranger at anti climate change meetings and rallies. Rarely did I see another African American participate. Understandably, many African Americans are preoccupied with pressing issues like police abuse, poverty and racism, but none of that matters if…

Many people have a stereotyped image of depressed people sitting on a couch, unwashed and unable to function. However, some suffering from depression hide their pain from family and friends. As long as they go to work and through the motions of normalcy at home, nobody knows. It can be hard for the untrained to…

It breaks my heart to hear that a racist murderer massacred 9 people in Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church in my hometown, Charleston, South Carolina.  My late uncle, Rev. Johnnie Williams (an AME minister) and aunt Mae Williams took me to that church as a child. I sang hymns in Emmanuel AME church. The…

The morning news led with all too familiar footage: another oil spill; this time off  Santa Barbara’s coast.  Then they switched to a scene from Gulf of Mexico with all of these dead dolphins who marine biologists said died from oil ingested in the Louisiana BP spill. Dang!  Oil spills in our oceans, lethal levels…

Today I read a tweet: “songwriting is no job, no they shouldn’t get paid.”  Resisting the urge to call him a bad name like some other people did,  I checked out his twitter page and there was a picture of a teenager playing his guitar in his parents’ house. Sure, songwriting is not a job…

Hollywood stars are doing their part to save water during Cali’s prolonged drought. Billy Ray Cyrus’ gardeners dug up all his grass and replaced with gravel. David Beckham says he drinks his whiskey neat (straight, no water, no chaser.) Sharon Osbourne & Cameron Diaz confessed they do not flush after peeing. Governor Brown’s water plan…

“Crime is increasing/ Trigger happy policing/ Panic is spreading/ God knows where we’re heading/ Make me wanna holler way they do my life…” (” Inner City Blues” from “What’s Going on” album.) Marvin Gaye (RIP) wrote and sang these words 44 years ago. Instead of getting better, things have gotten worse. In 1972 Baltimore had…

Today I finally stopped procrastinating, went on http://www.soundexchange.com/ and joined the organization dedicated to collecting & paying digital performance royalties to featured artists and copyright holders.  Sound Exchange has distributed 2 billion dollars since its inception in 2003. Creators of music deserve to be paid.  Is your name on Sound Exchange? One Love, Aria

Our “Free Mama Earth” campaign ended yesterday. Thanks to generous real people,  we raised $2,000. Yay! I have 100% faith that God will multiply the $2,000 like he did the 2 fish.  We’re going into OT (overtime) this weekend. Saturday I will be at Ventura Earth Day Festival & Sunday I’ll be singing & bringing…