Stephen Fischer

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Microflora Can Amaze!

Seven years ago I wrote about the amazing world living in our intestinal tracts.

You can click here to read that blog post if you are curious.

Image by Lutz Peter from Pixabay

Since then — I am happy to note — more and more research has been done on the extraordinary community of beings who live in our guts AND the fascinating ways that they contribute to our mental and physical health.

All of this research underscores how profoundly our human lives are woven together with the lives of other beings here on planet earth — bacteria, viruses, plants (who provide us with oxygen to breathe, food to eat, and a bunch of medicinal options), fungi, and our fellow animals.

As you probably are well aware, medical science is discovering that it is indeed healthy to eat

Image by Anna Sulencka from Pixabay

A) High-fiber foods — such as whole grains, garlic, onions, leeks, and beans which are considered to be PREBIOTIC-rich foods,

B) Yogurt and kefir (without lots of added sugar) which are considered to be PROBIOTIC-rich sources of beneficial bacteria which can help to diversify and/or replenish our gut biome, and

C) Fermented foods — such as kimchi, kombucha, miso and sauerkraut — which also have lots of live, active, beneficial bacterial cultures.

There are TRILLIONS of bacteria in our guts, and the proportions of more-beneficial bacteria to less-beneficial bacteria are influenced by what we choose to eat.

Image by Dagny Walter from Pixabay

Eating lots of prebiotic and probiotic foods encourages more of the healthier bacteria to thrive.

And eating lots of refined sugar apparently causes more of the not-so-healthy bacteria to thrive.

Not surprisingly, getting regular exercise and sleeping well also contribute to our gut health.

An internet search for “gut health” yields lots of inspiring explanations and recommendations.

You can click here for a link to one I liked from Healthline.

As I say in my song, “the world within is calling for attention.”

What sort of attention do YOU give to your gut microbiome?

Even though I have not shared a new post for two months, my stats tell me that lots of people continue to visit my blog (maybe because I have over 100 past blog posts to choose from…?)

Whatever the reason, THANK YOU to everyone who keeps finding and reading my blog!

Image by Дмитрий Иванцов from Pixabay

And another thank you to everyone who has been streaming my songs on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other platforms.

Any song you “like” or “heart” or add to a playlist improves the algorithmic activity of my music there.

You are welcome to click here and listen to “The World Within” on many streaming platforms if the spirit moves you.

You are also welcome to visit my website — where you can learn more about my musical life (including upcoming gigs) if you are curious.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for his playful piano playing AND his collaborative engineering expertise.

Thank you to the generous photographers and graphic designers at Pixabay.

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for all of his graphic design work on behalf of my musical life here on planet earth.

Thank you to the trillions of bacteria with which each of us co-exists on a daily basis.

And most of all, thank YOU for reading — and listening to — another one of my blog posts!

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

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Nice Work If You Can Get It (pt.2)

Here in the USA, it’s Labor Day weekend.

I just looked up the history of Labor Day, and discovered — no surprise — that it has roots in labor unions.

You can click here to learn more if you are curious — and to see a great photo of an early Labor Day float being pulled by two horses during a celebration in 1916..

I have read that union activity is on an upswing in the USA.

With a current CEO-to-worker compensation ratio estimated to be 400 — meaning that chief executive officers are likely to earn 400 times the annual average salary of production and nonsupervisory workers in their industry — the time seems ripe to re-balance this extraordinarily greedy state of affairs.

I am an inactive member of two unions — SAG/AFTRA (for film and TV) and Equity (for stage) — as a result of working professionally as a child and teenager.

Me modeling as a child…

Go unions!

They are a vital part of our human socety’s interconnected systems of checks and balances.

Deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I originally featured this recording with pianist Doug Hammer of a great Gershwin Brothers song a couple of years ago as part of a very long blog post in which I shared the pros and cons of a chatbot-assisted music marketing strategy as well as some show business history.

Today’s post will be shorter and sweeter.

THANK YOU to everyone who has been streaming my songs in recent months!

“Gold In Them Hills” — which I released a month ago — has just surpassed 1000 streams on Spotify. This translates into approximately $4 worth of income — which is split, I think, between the person who owns the rights to the song (Ron Sexsmith and/or his music publishing company) and the person who owns the rights to this particular recording of his song (which is me).

“Nice Work If You Can Get It” — which I released near the end of June — has been streamed 685 times on Spotify.

So that will earn me another dollar.

Luckily I am in this for the long haul…and I earn enough money from performing at retirement communities and leading Music Together classes to cover my very minimal expenses.

I also feel very fortunate to be making and sharing music as a way to make a (very modest) living.

Music really is “nice work if you can get it.”

A musician named Bree Noble — who also does a lot of teaching and coaching of other musicians — recently sent out an email which I found inspiring.

She wrote:

“Did you know that releasing music — i.e. seeing a beloved project through to completion — can improve your mental health?”

According to her, “studies show that most people desire purpose and connection in their work, and without that, their mental health can suffer.”

“We thrive when we experience ‘birthing’ an idea and seeing it through (to completion) — taking on a project that is our ‘baby’ and nurturing it to ‘adulthood.'”

Releasing music “can give (us) the emotional and spiritual benefits of project ownership — taking on a new challenge, providing a goal to work toward, and giving (us) a …fulfilling event to look forward to.”

Best of all, “not only can the…process (of releasing music) invigorate (our) emotional and spiritual (lives), it can help (our) music reach new people who need to hear it, enriching their lives as well.”

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

I think this wisdom/insight can apply to any creative undertaking — even writing a blog post.

It also reminds me of an article I read recently about folks who live to be over 100 years old.

Researchers have been studying these people’s lives, and many common themes have emerged.

They tend to be optimistic — while also acknowledging the reality of their challenges.

They tend to feel connected with others — as part of an extended family, a circle of friends, a spiritual community, a bowling league, a quilting circle, a fraternal lodge, a blogging community or some other subset of beings here in the interconnected web of life on planet earth.

Their diets tend to be plant-based — eating more vegetables, fruits, beans/legumes, and whole grains AND and more “cooked-from-scratch” meals (meaning less processed/junk food items…)

They tend to get out into nature on a regular basis — walking, biking, swimming, doing tai chi, painting, reading, playing games, etc. — rather than sitting at home and watching TV.

And they tend to have a sense of purpose — whether volunteering their time, sharing their wisdom, contributing to group causes, creating things, etc.

Apparently if we feel that we need to be here on planet earth — contributing in some positive way to our families, friends, children, grandchildren, community, watershed, ecosystem, political system, etc. — we are less likely to die.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I am curious to learn in the comments about what gives YOU a sense of purpose these days.

Here is a link to “Nice Work If You Can Get It” in case you might like to listen to it on a streaming service.

As I have shared in past blog posts, if you “like” it or “heart” it or add it to a playlist, that improves the algorithmic sharing of my music on that particular streaming service.

Thank you to the Gershwin brothers — Ira (words) and George (music) — for writing such great songs.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing so exuberantly on my version of their song AND for being such. a terrific engineer/producer.

Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his skillful graphic design work.

Thank you to labor unions for helping to counter-balance the greed which seems to be an unavoidable part of our capitalistic system of economics.

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for their great images.

Thank you to whoever took my photo 50+ years ago on a front staircase somewhere in NYC.

And thank YOU for reading. and listening to another one of my blog posts!

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Gold In Them Hills

Today’s wise and optimistic song was written by Ron Sexsmith, a Canadian singer-songwriter who currently lives in Stratford, Ontario.

I featured it almost three years ago in a blog post about distributing my first song to music streaming platforms.

One of the many pleasures of blogging (in my opinion) is rediscovering posts we have written in the past and then forgotten.

This one includes a lot of quotations — which I was very happy to re-encounter — from friends about the value of music in their lives.

I have sprinkled a few of them into this blog post, too.

You are welcome to click here to read (or re-read) this past blog post if you are curious.

“Music is a great encouragement to people in hard times.”

Deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I also explain in this past blog post about how little money is earned by performers and songwriters from streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, etc.

Not surprisingly, this is still true — as a 2022 article I found online demonstrates.

Spotify, which last year had an almost 50% market share of music streaming worldwide, still pays less than half a cent per stream.

Apple Music was the next biggest player, with almost 25% market share of music streaming worldwide — but paid a penny per stream (almost triple what Spotify paid…)

All of the other music streaming companies share the remaining 25% of worldwide music streaming — and paid anywhere from .00069 cents per stream (YouTube Music) to .017 cents per stream (Napster).

Here’s a graphic representation from this article of all of these numbers.

Suffice to say that I have not been earning any significant money as a result of people streaming the 37 recordings I’ve released during the past 34 months.

Deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

But I DO have the satisfaction of knowing that my music is out there in the world, being listened to by folks in fifty different countries — including the USA, Finland, Canada, Taiwan, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil and Chile!

“Music is part of what makes the world keep going.”

And in recent months my streaming statistics on Spotify have risen significantly (although my total numbers are still quite modest).

This rise in my stats helps me feel that what I am doing — releasing music — is not entirely futile, useless and/or egotistical.

And it gives me a small sense of hope, which is what Ron Sexsmith’s lovely song does, too.

Hope remains a blessed mystery to me.

I hope you feel at least a tiny kernel of hope in your life.

Recent regional elections here in the USA have renewed my sense of hope in our political process.

And small children — such as those who grace my Music Together classes — also give me a sense of hope as well as a reason to continue to work for a more balanced, sustainable, and respectful future here on planet earth.

I’d be happy to learn in the comments about what gives YOU a sense of hope these days.

Here is a link for “Gold In Them Hills” in case you might like to listen to it on a streaming service.

If you “like” it or “heart” it or add it to a playlist, that apparently improves the algorithmic sharing of my music on that streaming service.

One more deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Thank you to Ron Sexsmith for writing great songs.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing so beautifully on my version of Ron’s song AND for being such. a skillful engineer/producer.

Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his colorful graphic design work.

Thank you to Gretje Ferguson (I think?) for taking the photo which Stephen incorporated into his graphic design.

Thank you to Gloria O’Leary for making the coat I am wearing in this photo.

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for their great images.

And thank YOU for reading. and listening to yet another one of my blog posts!

“Music is a touching reminder that life is worth living.”