Yes, the video is out! I hope it inspires you and you pass it on! Post it on blogs, and send in emails! Thank you for your help spreading the word around the world!

Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm97Y_0Nw7g

Embed:
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www.myspace.com/skynelson
www.facebook.com Facebook: Sky Nelson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm97Y_0Nw7g
http://www.squidoo.com/wearetheones
http://wearetheones.wetpaint.com/

no kidding! that's the punchline...I ruined the suspense, but I probably got you to read!
Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo6CR2nTldw

here's the story...

Thursday - after three weeks of failed communication I finally hear back from the Nevada Obama campaign, saying "YES, please come to volunteer this weekend!" one ride falls through. I get a ride from Craig's List, leaving Saturday morning at 5:00 a.m.

Saturday - as soon as we arrive, we are given the news that Barack will be visiting Reno on Tuesday. No WAY! we volunteer all day through the hills of Reno, knocking on doors. that night, the director of the Reno operations rejects my offer to play the video I just finished, meant to inspire the volunteers. five of us sleep at the home of two very kind Obama supporters.

Sunday - after volunteering in the morning, I have to make a decision whether to go home or to stay until Tuesday to see Barack...in which case I have no ride, and I would have a hard time making my piano lesson appointments. not a good idea. at the last minute, I decide to go home, get my car, and come back!

Sunday night - I make arrangements to bring two more friends, Gloria and Morning Star, back with me, who are giddy at the idea of seeing Barack speak. we split the costs of gas.
Monday - we drive to Reno, and we volunteer in the afternoon. at 7 p.m., we have a training on the UNR campus on how to make the next day run smoothly. We stay with John again...Thank you!!!
Tuesday - we get to the campus at 6 a.m. I register voters and get new volunteers all morning. then, shortly before Barack arrives, thanks to my volunteer badge, I join my friends who are assigned a post near the stage. I station myself right at the barrier on the side of the stage. his speech is clear and heartfelt, and it's great to be there. when it's over, he comes down and walks around the stage shaking hands. I know he's coming my way, and I get my Video CD "We are the ones we've been waiting for" ready to hand to him. I turn off my videocamera (or so I think) in order to have both hands free. I shake his hand when he gets there, and I sing "our love is bigger than the strongest of arguments", but he is distracted, and it is loud, and he doesn't take my CD.

Disappointed, I assess the situation. I'm not willing to walk away, dissatisfied. I back away from the barrier to where there are less people, and push my way parallel to Barack's path, so I can catch up to him again when he gets to the end of the line. when he gets there, I reach out with the CD and I say loud and clear "here's a video to motivate the volunteers", and he hears me, looks up and says "OK", takes it from my hand and passes it to his assistant.

I feel my body shaking from the excitement for at least an hour afterwards. I can't believe it!

and the best part is, my video camera kept running in my pocket....

OK, now I've been redeemed. if you're on my e-mail list, you heard about me performing in the background of an MSNBC taping. well, guess what just showed up on youtube?!
"Courtney Hazlett with Norah O'Donnell and Sky Nelson Singing"

Hey, here's a recent video from the New Vintage Artist Showcase in Sebastopol back in April 2008. This is the jam side of The Sky Band, not exactly the same music I play for Science of Mind communities!

 

So I found this clip from the Democratic national convention, where I am Serenading Obama Girl with "We Are the Ones We've Been Waiting for".
http://app.buzzwire.com/fm/media/view.action?token=mr.23483.media
You have to create an account to see it, but it's free. I am towards the end of the clip on the Democratic National Convention.

And on a more serious note, I have posted a layman's summary of the first paper in the physics series on light and spirituality. The actual paper is done, also, but I need to add some footnotes and credit people. it will be up soon.

by the way, I am seeking footage to use in my video for We Are the Ones. I want themes relating to the grassroots movement, we are part of right now, and also relating the issues in the election 2004 to the issues in this election. anybody have any leads...?

Cheers,
sky

On the floor after Barack's Speech.

Barack is on the right side of the photo.

My Hero, Al Gore.

My other Hero.

There were about 84,000 people all around us. I was on the floor in the center!

Too much goodness to describe tonight. I am in awe and blessed and so lucky. Blessings to you, too! I'll be home tomorrow!

Hi friends, Well it just keeps getting better. I received so much abundance today and I am so grateful. I am also in awe of how much I have changed to be able to receive such goodness. Today I performed off and.on at the progressive democrats of america seminar. I made many new friends, as well as got to open for Rev Jesse Jackson and congressman Dennis Kucinich. What honors! I received so much appreciation from people as well. I swung by the MSNBC stage and got to sing my song in the background of a news segment that they were doing on youth involvement in politics. Look on MSNBC coverage for today...maybe I'm on there (-: Not that they APPROVED of it, of course. I had received a bleachers seat for the big event in the stadium tonight, thanks to a Bay Area fan and friend and delegate Mark Brickman, so I went there around 2pm to get in early. Inside they had "talk show row" where I was given a couple opportunities to sing on the air and discuss my work. I sang for countless video cameras...there are people there documenting the day at all levels of expertise. I hope that some of you readers can help me find some of the online blog posts of me singing as they show up over the next few weeks. Let me know what you find! I had found a great seat with a clear view of the stage. But my conscious nagged at me...what if it were possible for me to get to the "floor", up close, and I didn't even try? So I surrendered my seat and headed downstairs. There were many levels of security checking badges, but most were slightly lax so that if I walked right behind someone important and absent-mindedly fiddled for my badge, the guard would assume I had the proper one and wouldn't bother with me. So rule number 1: Confidence. Act like you are supposed to be there. Rule number 2: Persistence trumps talent...(Right Rev Mary?)...or in this case, persistence trumps credentials. At the final stage into the delegate area they had very tight security and I was turned away from 3 gates. I just kept an open mind and at the fourth gate somehow I found myself through security and in the closest area to the stage. Rule number 3: egoless. I didn't get scared, feel out of place, or assume that they were right that I shouldn't be there. I smiled, both inside and out, never argued with a guard, and just kept trying. I know there is a great parable about this type of childlike persistence. If any of you know one, will you comment with it here please? Accepting "no", and then cheerfully asking again...and again and again. Al Gore is one of my biggest living heroes. I saw him speak from 30 rows back (picts to come when I return to california). His clear recognition of the situation at hand, and courage to speak it, brought tears to my eyes. Maybe it's also because he reminds me of my Dad :-) Obama's speech was a treat, and the energy in the stadium is something I will never be able to forget. It was electrifying, almost nuclear. There were multiple times when tears came to my eyes, or emotion swept over me. My wish is that the campaign would stop talking about McCain and focus on how we are going to achieve our goals together. I am not interested in there being 2 sides. But I get that we're not quite there yet. We still need the us vs them mentality at least a little bit. After the incredible spectacle was over people began to leave and do interviews, etc for the news. I sang for a few more cameras, and also met the camera crew for AlJazeera, who were very nice. I met up with long time Point Reyes friend Art Rogers (the photographer) and his family, And we found our way back downtown. I met a number of directors today who are in the process of producing very interesting political films, and shared my Obama song, We Are the Ones, with them. What a day! We never know what's next, do we?

So much happened. I have to be brief. I got a chance to play a song for the PDA conference, and am now the official bard, as of tomorrow morning. I got a ticket to the convention, so I saw Kerry, Biden, and Obama's surprise appearance. I videotaped it. I loved Bill Clinton's speech...very impressed. I was invited to the Ca Dems party, which was at an amazing museum, met Art Torres (leader of the Ca dem party) and gave his assistant my CD. Played We Are the Ones at the party on the stage. Hung out with the lady who is the "voice of the convention"...she announces "and now please welcome, our candidate for president of the united staes, Barack Obama" for each of the speakers in the hall. Played WATO again at the Sheraton before calling it a night. I got home and walked into the bathroom and looked up and was startled..."Who is that?" Then I realized it was me, but I didn't recognize myself. It's like I became so engrossed in my subjective experience tonight that I forgot the objective reality of what everyone else around me saw when they looked at me. It is a total disconnect. Also, I realized that literally the only money I spent today was $1.55 for the bus in the morning. Between getting free volunteer lunches, the free bike borrowing program, the free convention ticket from a friend and the party afterwards, I was just floating along. After playing at the CA Dems party, I made $15 selling copies of my little 2 song demo. So I ended up quite a bit ahead today. The flow today was magnificent, and the surrender into my experience and acceptance of life's abundance was so nourishing.

I flew into Denver, arrived downtown on the bus around 7:30. I decided that trying to take public transit to my abode and then back to the downtown area would take a couple hours, so I just went straight to the Obama volunteer headquarters. It was so nice to see friendly faces, people who could help me stash my bags for a spell, and give me a place just to ARRIVE. Within 5 minutes my first volunteer job was carrying dinner for all the volunteers up from the street. My second job was eating. It is a truly profound experience to be part of this team. Imagine, I have never met any of these people, they aren't even expecting me, we simply share a common vision for life and some experience in this Obama culture, and they treat me like family. This is REAL life, folks. We watched Hillary's speech over dinner, and at the end I stood up and bid the volunteers goodnight with my song We Are the Ones, played on my little acoustic guitar. People loved it and were so supportive and grateful, and I gave away at least 15 copies of the song, leaving about 25 more for the rest of the week. Then the convention was over for the evening and everyone spilled out into the streets (Austin for SXSW anyone?) Carrying my 50pound backpack and guitar and carryon and heavy jacket, I roamed for a bit, guitar in hand, and ended up at a bar where there were some video cameras being wielded (I am attracted to the spotlight, you may have noticed). It was Obama Girl signing autographs and talking to cameras (look her up on youtube if you don't know who she is). She ended up interviewing me, performing my song, for barelypolitical.com. I also did a brief performance interview for 2 other online sites...I can't remember their names...one was BUZZ**** something or other. If anyone reading this feels so inclined in the upcoming days and weeks to google me on these sites, please let me know if you find the interviews! Hung out for a while before catching the bus home. I just arrived at my abode, 2am. I am soberly reminded of how grateful I am to have a soft place to land after such an exciting day. There is nothing like being 1000 miles from home to remind me of how blessed I am just to have a roof and a bed. Thank you to the Center of Spiritual Living colleague who offered me his spare room! New day tomorrow. Who knows?

Well, I went to the WCS Finals tonight. It was a wonderful night, with 8 songwriters competing for 3 slots at the Sunset Concert that WCS puts on next month. The beautiful thing is that each of us had already won Best Song. In other words, we weren't competing for any award. We were competing, yes, but we had already won a very meaningful award, so there was a lot of camaraderie (which there always is anyway). i love the songwriters I meet.

I got there really early, just in time to do a long unexpected interview with the camera crew about my background and what songwriting means to me. That was fun and a real blessing. Then us songwriters hung out in the green room and got to know each other a little bit, joked around. I felt really happy and at peace with the scene, and had a good time with them. Some of them were REALLY nervous (come to think of it, 2 of the 3 who won were the REALLY nervous ones...I can think of 2 possible logical conclusions...being nervous helps one win (No)...or those people needed a dose of confidence, and winning was what they needed (maybe)...and the third option is that winning and nervousness are uncorrelated (not sure) :-).

Anyway, the green room emptied out except for me and two other songwriter's plus Steve Seskin, the master songwriter and one of the night's judges. Steve was warming up for his opening performance, to break the ice, and we started singing along with him. It felt good and we all connected, so next thing we know we go out on stage with him to open the show, singing backup vocals. That's the kind of priceless experience that only happens when I am wide awake and paying close attention.

All in all, I felt like I played well, and feel like I know where I want to improve, and recognize the vast improvements I have made. I still get scathing reviews from Andre Pessis, who is of course a very nice guy and good judge. When he criticized my song last year, I took it too literally and I actuallly rewrote the song. I will never do that again, because i ruined a good song! So, I am grateful for the feedback, but I feel like I know who I am now, and I need to make the final decisions on what works for me in my songs.

I was not one of the three chosen for the show...and life goes on. In talking with my friend on the way home, she said she felt like I was a very well made wine that was very close to maturing but not quite ready yet. I asked her what she felt was missing...  she said "Kind of a mellowing, you know?" And that really hit home. It is not the good or bad decisions that leads me down my path...it is not the striving and competing that is worthwhile. There is a certain realization, a mark of maturity I think, that none of this is really that important....that WHO I AM is what lasts, is what is important. A mellowness in the confidence and self-respect of what I have already created and achieved, and a knowing that nothing anybody says to give accolades to my work could ever be any more meaningful than my own experience of that work, and my own experience of my life.

So I feel strangely ready to move beyond the frenzied self-analysis of youth, ready to make those difficult decisions with peace of mind, knowing that, in the end, I simply feel like being happy, and no bad decisions or negative experiences can convince me that I shouldn't be happy. I AM happy. I don't have the time or energy to have such high expectations anymore. There is too much to live!

I won two awards in the past two weeks! the last one was last week at the West Coast Songwriter's Regional Finals. Now I go on to Best of the Bay Area this Sunday. These are the first two, long-awaited awards in the many years I've been working towards this....I am so excited!

But the bigger news may be the upcoming papers I'm presenting. I finished the first paper, though I'll be presenting and revising it for a couple months. there are a few more on the way. Here is the abstract for the first paper....and I'll put the whole thing online pretty soon.

On the Speed of Light, the Cause of Time, and the Potential for Spirit

Sky Nelson

www.SkyNelson.com

Santa Rosa, California

Date: August 12, 2008

 

 

Abstract:

 

Early in his career, Einstein introduced the concept that light traveled at the same speed (c = 3x10^8m/s) in all directions, regardless of the speed of the observer. This assertion gave rise to some pretty severe paradoxes. In a breakthrough moment, Einstein grasped the Principal of Simultaneity, and was able to resolve all these paradoxes by changing his understanding of the nature of space and time. From its birth, the principal of simultaneity had a central role in helping us understand the nature of light, space and time. In this paper, I propose an added ‘breakthrough’ interpretation of the results of Special Relativity based on how the world looks from the perspective of a photon. This result immediately increases the importance of the principal of simultaneity, and I will present an argument that the principal of simultaneity gives rise to the existence of time itself.