Introducing Jazz & Blues Singer, Actress & Writer – Elaine Thomas

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Author Richard F Holmes

Today is a very exciting day for me because I have another opportunity to host an extra-special guest on my blog. On this occasion I’m very privileged to welcome American actress, jazz and blues singer and writer, Elaine Thomas. Elaine should be here any minute, so while I go and put the kettle on and crack open a packet of chocolate digestives, here is a little bit of background on her.

Currently residing in Hamburg, Germany Elaine has performed with some of the greatest names in international black American music: B.B. King, James Brown, Randy Newman, The Black Gospel Pearls (as lead vocalist), Alphonzo Mouson, Achim Kück, Jean Carne, Norman Connors, Sun Ra, Harlem Jazz Band, Gil Scott Heron to name just a few. Elaine started her career at 14 as a hip hop and breakdance competitor; achieving 3^rd in a “Best Breakdancer in the USA” competition when she was 17 and No. 1 female breakdancer in the USA.

At 15, Elaine, (then known as Camille Thomas) auditioned for the famed Workshop for Careers in the Arts in Washington D.C., becoming one of the first graduates from the Duke Ellington High School for the Performing Arts, also in Washington D.C. This earned her positions with The Touring Co. Theatre West, Robert Hook’s Black Repertory Co., Back Alley Theatre – A Raisin in the Sun, Miguel Pinero’s Short Eyes, Jesus Christ Lord Today.

Elaine has performed in Germany in over 15 Musicals and as an actress in just as many theatre drama plays including Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, Chicago, West Side Story, Man from La Mancha, Kiss me Kate and with Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Cab Calloway in The Blues Brothers. She has also worked with Claus Peymann and Heiner Müller.

Elaine has since worked on several Compilations – Dance Floor, Classic Soul, Jazz, Pop & Gospel. The last Project, a CD – from Mr Confused Do you Realize was released in July 2012.

Elaine is currently working on her first short story compilation book of black American folktales and inspirational stories for kids.

Hi Elaine and welcome. Thanks for nipping over from Hamburg to be with us.

Hi Richard, thank you so much for inviting me here.

I must admit that when I first approached you for an interview, I thought I would be interviewing a very accomplished jazz and blues singer “only”. I was amazed when I read up on your career and realised that you have done so much in your life. We will come to that later, but to kick off, can you tell us where it all started? Where were you born and did your parents have any influence on the direction you took?

I was born and raised In Washington DC; strict catholic parents…private school, strong disciplined daily life with lots of housework chores! I think that all influenced me to rebel.

How did you start singing and do you remember the first time you sang?

I started singing as a very young child, everything I heard on the radio, which was on constantly. Especially gospel and soul. When I was punished or depressed or even very happy…I would close the door to my bedroom, which I shared with 2 half-sisters and two aunts, and just sing my feelings out!

What brought you to Hamburg?

I previously lived in Hannover, where I raised my two Black German sons and did my touring from. Saw Hamburg and fell in love with the architecture, the wharf, the multitude of bridges! Wow! An absolutely amazing city.

Who are your main musical influences and why?

I think everything that I heard as a child, the influences of my religious background. My stepmother was Baptist, so every Sunday after Mass, we would go to the Baptist church for the rest of the day.

Then during my high school and college days, I started listening to a lot of jazz, fusion…

Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Dionne Warwick, the Stax folks, Motown Sound, all of that!

For me, music, at first was a way to escape the mundane of an overly protective family. Work out emotions, have fun…party, dance…that kind of stuff.

I note that you have worked with some incredible people over the years, so I hope this doesn’t sound like a stupid question, but have you ever worked with anyone who was also a great idol of yours?

I was once on the same show with Dionne Warwick. But we just happened to be on the same festival…as with BB King and a couple of others. Gil Scott Heron was an idol. Worked with him. He used to come by our house. At that time, I was just out of the High School for Performing Arts and lived with 24 other artists in one house! We’d jam and he’d let us come on with him and perform.

How does spirituality influence your work?

I left the Catholic Church at 17 and turned Buddhist. What I learnt during my Buddhist studies….ridding your mind of mental poisons, using kindness towards others every day, gave me a guideline for everything.

What is your favourite song or album of all time?

Wow! That keeps changing. Used to be Patches by Clarence Carter, Love Child from Diana Ross,

Donny Hathaway’s Someday we’ll all be Free.

Are you currently working on any projects?

Actually, I’ve started working as a Storyteller! Really excited about this! I love books. Have a pretty large collection of fairy tales and fables from all over the world. Storytelling kind of prods the actress in me and of course, the cultural side is very important-

I also have a new Band named Elaine Thomas & the Poets Messengers.

We do poetry to fusion jazz, some of our heroes, especially people like Gil Scott Heron or even Marvin Gaye. Try to bring a positive awareness while having a good time at the same time.

OK, I’ve got to do this to you; what was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you whilst on stage?

Going back to my drama school as a young professional and falling on stage during a jump! I could have died!

Well thanks for sharing that gem with us Elaine. I said at the outset that I was amazed at the amount of things you have done in your life. But what I find incredible is that in amongst all the singing, acting and writing, you are also an English teacher. So, tell us a bit more about your work away from the stage?

I got tired of always being on the road. My second son also needed more of my time…English has always been a passion of mine…so I started teaching it too. Keeps me on my toes, Richard!

Well, once again time has beaten us. All that remains is for me to thank Elaine once again for a very enjoyable and insightful chat. Before you go Elaine would you just like to leave us with a few words of wisdom; maybe a favourite quote?

From me- Contemplate life, stay kind, accept and believe in yourself, live now and get closer to Mother Nature.

And most important, laugh, dance and enjoy what you have. Be thankful.

Thanks so much for that Elaine. I don’t want you to miss your bus so I will say bye for now, and hey, take some of those digestives for the journey!

The website of Elaine Thomas http://www.elaine-thomas.de/et/index.html

Why not check out Elaine in action? Enjoy the video below and find many more on You Tube

Live At Bielefeld Jazz Club

Thank God For Good Neighbours

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Author Richard F Holmes

This is how my face would have looked a couple of years ago.

I recently had a situation, that had it occurred even just a coupe of years ago, would have thrown me into a state of panic and despair. But it was very noticeable to me, that my reaction to this situation was so markedly different compared to how it would have been, that it has prompted me to write this post and share the experience.

I have made no secret of the fact that the current economic situation in the UK, and indeed the whole world, has made life quite difficult to say the least. However, since the dark days of my depression, acute stress, and excessive intake of alcohol, I have learned quite a lot. One of the most important things that I have learned is that nothing is as it seems, who I really am is far greater than anything I will encounter in this life, and in a nutshell, what I’m trying to say here is that it is not our circumstances in life that determine whether we are happy, sad or panic-stricken at any given time, it is how we deal with them. And so, after much rambling I will tell the story in question.

I’d had a couple of things go wrong with the car and also recently paid out for a service and MOT, so my finances had taken a bit of a hammering. Add to that a couple of other bills that needed taking care of, and you can imagine, I wasn’t exactly Mr Happy from Tetbury. So, one morning recently I decided to put the washing machine on, went through the motions, and when I hit the start button; nothing! Just the sound of the washing machine motor seeming as though it really would love to be pumping water into the drum of the machine, but no action. A couple of years back, having already incurred considerable expense, my first thought would have been, THE WASHING MACHINE IS BUST, HOW AM I GOING TO FIND THE MONEY FOR A NEW ONE WITHOUT GETTING FURTHER INTO DEBT, and a blind panic would have ensued; during which the world would surely have come to an end.

This time however, things were slightly different. I did at first think that the washing machine was bust, but in a very calm way and on closer examination, I decided that in all likelihood the problem was in the pipe taking the water to the machine; otherwise why would the motor be humming? My thoughts then were that there was a blockage in the pipe. Now, a couple of years ago my next thought would have been OH NO! THERE’S A BLOCKAGE IN THE PIPE! HOW AM I GOING TO BE ABLE TO PAY FOR A PLUMBER WITHOUT GETTING FURTHER INTO DEBT!. But, as already stated, times have changed. It occurred to me that my landlord may be responsible for fixing such problems, so maybe it won’t cost me a penny to get it sorted. But nonetheless, I had a look in a couple of directories to see what I had at my disposal as far as plumbers were concerned. Next, I decided that either way, it wasn’t the end of the world and that I would have a little meditation.

Whilst I was meditating I was reminded that my neighbour, Alan, is a retired plumber. So, I gave him a shout and in no time at all he had grabbed his trusty bag of tools, diagnosed a very simple problem and fixed it. In fact, it was such a simple problem that I could have fixed it myself. So simple, that it would not have even occurred to me to consider it. Alan refused to take any payment from me and I was able to do my washing. It just goes to show that it really does pay to stop and consider what is going on beneath the surface before getting stressed out.

Thank God for good neighbours.

You Are Wisdom Personified

Posted on July 20, 2013 by Author Richard F Holmes

Don’t be fooled into thinking that wisdom is something that exists outside of you, and that it is something you have to go looking for. More and more people around the planet are waking up to this NOW; it is this awakening that the whole 21/12/2012 thing was about. Many people were so engrossed in waiting for something that was never going to happen, i.e. the world ending, that they missed what actually did happen. Many of us, all over the globe, are experiencing the drastic changes that spiritual awakening brings. Nobody, anywhere on the planet, needs an imaginary spirit guide to speak through them in a silly voice. The only channeling anyone needs to do is to channel the God within. You yourself are wisdom personified. You yourself are a magnificent eternal being of light that already has “the knowledge that passes all understanding”. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.

Watch This Space!

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Author Richard F Holmes

After featuring TV and film producer Denny Morales a few weeks back I am very excited to announce That I have another very special guest lined up. Hopefully I will be posting next week, but it depends on the busy schedule of my guest allowing us to get our interview done. All I will say is that this person has worked with the likes of James Brown and Aretha Franklin. So, like I said, watch this space!

… And as a bonus, here is my latest painting!

Yet Another Amazing Journey

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Author Richard F Holmes

A little over a few hours ago I had yet another amazing out-of-body experience, and I am going to share it with you here. Now before I go any further I want to reiterate that I stand by everything that I said in yesterday’s post My Amazing Life (click here to read http://ow.ly/mRkuH ). I say this because to paint an accurate picture of what led up to this morning’s astral journey I need to bare my soul; just a touch.

In recent times, like many people in these hard economic times, I have been wondering “where is it all going to end”. Things have been difficult to say the least, and in my humanness I have allowed circumstances to drag me down. To say that I have lacked motivation lately would be an understatement, and unless I have something specific to do, it is rare that I rise before 09:00 am in the morning. This morning was no different. I had been awake a long time, but continued to squeeze a lie-in out of what remained of the morning. At about 08:30 I must have drifted off to sleep because I started to dream. My thoughts must have been playing on my mind more than I realised because I first of all dreamt that I was laying in bed sobbing with a spirit friend looking down on me. Even though the form of spirit couldn’t be seen, there was a sign above that there was indeed a presence looking after me and I was grateful for this dear friend being there for me in my time of need.

The scene then shifted and I was turning up for work at a job I left back in 1986; it was NAAFI in Germany. The crazy thing was that the building I was trying to enter looked nothing like a NAAFI shop, but it was, if you know what I mean. Crazier still, I was fumbling with two plastic keys, that both felt as though they would break, in order to get through the largish wooden door, and… I was also naked (although I could not see myself I knew I was naked). Yes! It was one of those!

Also, I was turning up for work half-way through the day and within myself I knew I’d been doing this for a long time and I was wondering if I could still get away with it. I was trying to conceal my nakedness whilst at the same time get to my place of work without being noticed; how crazy is that? Then something else rather weird happened. As I approached a doorway my old friend Bob Childs was standing there. He looked young and kind of different, but it was definitely Bob. He had been the butchery manager at the last location I’d worked in for NAAFI; I was a Hi-Fi salesman in Herford in the old West Germany, and he had been a great pal. I haven’t seen Bob for over 27 years so why he’s popping up in my dreams I’ll never know; he appeared to be acting like a door keeper.

He looked at me kind of strangely, as if he knew me but he didn’t, and I passed through the doorway into the next room. It was at that point that I knew I was no longer dreaming. I was fully conscious and out of my body. It seemed as though I had arrived at a funeral (possibly the astral death of a soul about to take human birth). The characters there seemed bigger than normal, not fat, just bigger and if it had been an earthly scenario I would have said that they were aristocracy, or at least from very good stock. They were just looking at me with a sense of neutrality if that makes sense. What I mean is that it did not seem to matter that I had gatecrashed their event, but equally they were not over the moon to see me. I then started to move around, but instead of moving AROUND things literally, I just passed through them. I seemed to have what we would call a “funny five minutes” where I was just passing through objects and walls. All of a sudden there was more souls present, but these souls didn’t seem big like the others; they were just normal and they were observing me passing through solid objects. All this seemed to happen within the space of a nano-second and suddenly I was on the move; travelling at great speed through the darkness.

I was being carried and really enjoying the experience. At this stage I kept my eyes closed because I remembered the old days when I’d open my eyes and it would trigger an immediate return to my body. I sent out my thoughts of gratitude to my companion and reached down and held their hand. It felt soft and female. I did then open my eyes and I saw that I was travelling through what looked like an underground rail network. It reminded me of my time working on the London Underground back in the 1970’s, but these tunnels were so different. They were the same oval shape, but instead of being solid brickwork, they were constructed of cage wire and I had complete all-round vision. I could see the tracks and tunnels that were adjacent and I could also see out above me. All of a sudden we emerged from the tunnels and we were above ground. It was very bright and it reminded me of the outskirts of London. Almost immediately I was then back in my body.

I suspect that when we emerged from the tunnel network the location was most definitely of this world. It was very busy with lots of traffic and people; like a typical rush hour in the UK. I opened my eyes and looked at the clock and it was 08:50; the whole experience, including the dream, had been no more that 15-20 minutes.

Thank God for my incredible life!

My Amazing Life

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Author Richard F Holmes

I’m pretty much like most people in that I always feel that I would like more nice things in my life and I ponder what it might have been like if I’d done things differently. However, when I’m having one of these pondering moments it never takes me long to realise just how lucky I am. The more I think about it, the more it hits home that my life has been nothing short of incredible.

I don’t think there’s many people I know who can say that they know (from actual life experience and not because of blind faith in a belief) that death simply doesn’t exist; except in the mind of course. How incredible is that? But that is what I can honestly say; that I have first-hand experience that death only exists in the mind. I certainly don’t know anyone in the UK that can say the same. Possibly one or two overseas friends can say that, but that is about it.

Every day I count my blessings, and every day I thank God for my amazing life!

The Amazing Journey Book Launch – Competition

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Author Richard F Holmes

To coincide with the launch of The Amazing Journey in paperback on Wednesday July 3, I am giving my readers the chance to win a copy of Angelic Wisdom Trilogy for their eReader. I am giving away THREE copies of the newly revamped eBook for Kindle and most, if not all, other eReader devices. Anyone who does not have a Kindle, Nook or other suitable eReader device can download the free Kindle eBook viewer to their laptop, desktop computer or mobile phone. All you have to do is answer the following question via the contact form below.

What was the original title of The Amazing Journey?

Leave your name and email address and I will put all entries into a hat and pull out three at random. The winners will be notified by email the day after the launch, and your eBook will also be emailed to you once the revamping is complete. Thanks for supporting my work!

Download your free Kindle app http://ow.ly/mwDFv

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

What’s Hap’nin Man?

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Author Richard F Holmes

Here is an update of what is happening with regard to some exciting projects I am currently working on.

Firstly, I am proud to announce that Wednesday July 3 sees the official launch of The Amazing Journey in paperback. Originally published as Astral Travelling, The Avatar and Me, The Amazing Journey has been completely revamped. There is a brand new cover, some slight rewrites, the manuscript has been re-edited and there is a new chapter, which was written in January 2013. Although the book has actually been available since February this year along with the eBook version on Amazon Kindle, I was not entirely happy with the layout. Now that all outstanding issues with the interior have been resolved I’m going ahead with the official launch.

I’m also currently working on a book called The Avatar Speaks, which is a compilation of inspirational quotes by Sri Sathya Sai Baba. It will be available in paperback only and 100% royalties will be donated to the “end hunger” charity The Extra Guest (see link below). There are also plans for Book Two of Fragments Of Divinity that should be published before the end of the year.

http://theextraguest.com

On the CD front, I am back in the amazing DB Studios in Stroud, Glos (see link below) to work on my latest project, which is a revamping of Native American Wisdom. It is a wonderful meditation CD that up to now has only been available directly from me. But I am adding a new backing track (which I played on synthesizer and recorded a few days prior to writing this post) and making it available to buy on Amazon.

http://www.dbstudios.co.uk/

Thanks for taking this journey with me.

Hands That Serve Are Holier Than Lips That Pray

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Author Richard F Holmes

Strictly speaking no one needs a church, as in a building, or a priest, because we have everything we need at our fingertips. Reading scriptures may signpost the way to truth, but it doesn’t enable us to experience truth. A friend of mine was recently feeling guilty because she had not been to church for some time. But to anyone who has similar feelings I say this:

Your physical body is your church and your own life experiences will tell you what is true and what isn’t. Our own perception of truth is forever changing, although “ultimate truth” is changeless, so let your conscience be the inner voice of God that guides you to the aforementioned ultimate truth. If you have stopped going to church, maybe it’s because your soul is crying out for change and is trying to guide you onto the next stage of your journey. Maybe the church of organised religion no longer serves your soul’s purpose.

If you are craving to merge with God the solution is simple. Serving God will bring you closer to God and the easiest way to serve God is to serve humanity for the Divinity is present in all. Look around you; who are the people who are closest to you? Start with them; simple acts of kindness and the odd word of encouragement here and there are a great solid base on which to build the foundations of your journey. Then be guided by your conscience and spread your love out into the world when the time feels right for you.

Don’t feel guilty; you are wasting time. Love all, serve all!

Hands that serve are holier than lips that pray – Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Service to humanity is service to God – Sri Sathya Sai Baba

The Last Formula – “To Revolutionize The Way We Think And Feel”

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Author Richard F Holmes

Launched on 20 June 2013; this great new docu-film from Denny Morales is currently in production and is scheduled for release in 2014.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-last-formula

The theme of the film is use your soul to achieve your goal and works on the principle that it is possible to combine spirituality with business as a method of attracting more abundance into our lives. The Last Formula will feature interviews with highly successful entrepreneurs from all walks of life, including my personal favourite, best-selling author of the Conversations With God books, Neale Donald Walsch. Neale was actually broke when he started writing those books but became a best-selling author within a year.

I’ve put The Last Formula at the top of my “to watch” list and can’t wait for it to be released!

Follow The Last Formula on twitter @thelastformula https://twitter.com/thelastformula