Uma Reed and Friends

Dear Friends,

Shivaya and I are back from India, and we are really looking forward to seeing you and singing with you again at the kirtan at Open Secret on May 6^th. We are very grateful to Brian Dempsey, Mirabai, and Elena Kashmiri Kartika for filling in while we were gone. We heard wonderful feedback about each of their kirtans—we knew they would touch you with their warm bhakti spirit.

The upcoming “First-Thursday-of-the-Month Kirtan” promises to be a special evening. We’ll share stories about our trip, as well as some songs we learned that especially moved us. We will also have a special guest that evening: Swami Mangalananda from the Anandamayi Ma Ashram in Omkareshwar, India, will be joining us. He’ll have his own stories to tell us about the free school that his ashram runs for the local village children, and lead some traditional bhajans in his amazing heart-opening style. Don’t forget we start at 7:00 pm these days.

In the meantime, there are a couple of events we would like to let you know about. If you’ve attended our kirtans, you certainly know our son, Matt Packard. Matt, aka Last Laugh, is a multi-talented and accomplished musician, singer, and songwriter. He has just released his first non-kirtan album, “Equanimous.” You can hear some tracks and learn more about him on his new website, www.beatapothecary.com. He will be performing some of his songs at Café Gratitude, 2200 Fourth Street, in San Rafael this Saturday night, April 24^th. The show starts at 10 pm. He would love to see you there.

Then on the following Saturday evening, May 1^st, Swami Mangalananda will be doing a benefit at Open Secret (923 C Street, San Rafael) for the school in India mentioned above. An Indian meal will be served at 6 pm, and the concert begins at 7:30. Suggested donation is $15-20. I’ll be joining him on back-up vocals.

We hope you can make all of these events—we need to join hearts as much as possible. Can’t wait to see you there!

Pranams,

Uma, with Shivaya, Gangadhar, and Matt