Everyday Creation

Randy Sparks, who died in February 2024, began his career during the folk music craze of the late 1950s and early '60s. In 1961, the singer-songwriter merged his group with two others to form the New Christy Minstrels. Sparks wrote "Today" long before the Minstrels made it a hit in 1964. The song reached number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. You can watch the group singing "Today...

Mojo Nixon died while hosting the Outlaw Country Cruise in February 2024. His family said he left this earth "after a blazing show, a raging night, closing the bar, taking no prisoners ..." He was 66, enjoying himself until the end. Nixon (birth name Neill Kirby McMillan Jr.) believed that you could make fun of anything as long as the joke was funny and you accepted the consequences. Kno...

Toby Keith was a superstar in country music and outside of that genre. A singer-songwriter whose music often reflected personal experiences, he had 65 singles on the country charts, including 20 #1 hits. "Should've Been a Cowboy" was his first #1 hit. He wrote it in a matter of minutes during a hunting trip. "Red Solo Cup" was his most popular mainstream song. To watch the...

The MC5 (Motor City 5) probably was known best for the controversies it created and for the influence it had on other musicians. The band put out three albums, "Kick Out the Jams" (live 1969), "Back in the USA" (1970) and "High Time" (1971), and had one well-known single, "Kick Out the Jams." You can hear various versions of "Kick Out the Jams" on...

Chita Rivera, Broadway's "first triple threat," became a star in 1957 with her role as Anita in "West Side Story." She won a Tony Award for her role in "The Ring" in 1986 and a second Tony in 1993 for "Kiss of the Spider Woman." Sheldon Zoldan wrote this tribute, which references the song  "All That Jazz" from the Broadway musical "Chicag...

Melanie was 22 and relatively unknown in the U.S. when she was invited to perform at Woodstock. Her set, which began at 1:30 a.m. in front of a throng of people holding lit candles in the rain, inspired her to write "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)," which became her first U.S. hit. Another of her songs, "Brand New Key," was her biggest hit, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Ho...

David Soul was known for his role as Hutch in the TV series "Starsky & Hutch," although his first love was singing. He had his first hit song, "Don't Give Up on Us," at the peak of his acting fame. It was a Billboard number 1 hit in the U.S. He was even more popular in England, where he later lived. He had four top 10 hits there, including "Silver Lady," whic...

Mary Weiss, the lead singer of the Shangri-Las, achieved fame at 15 with the hit song "Leader of the Pack." Her personal life wasn't easy, though, and she put a lot of her own emotions into the song. The Shangri-Las had their very first hit in 1964 with "Remember (Walking in the Sand)." Weiss was 14 at the time. By 1968, the group had disbanded amid legal disputes. The pho...

For 2025, I'm offering a version of The Lord's Prayer that I learned a long time ago and also wishing you a wonderful new year. Send us Fan Mail This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation®, available on YouTube and in major podcast directories including Apple, Spotify, iHeart and Audible.

This holiday season, I'm offering a simple recitation of the 23rd Psalm. As I mention in the introduction, this psalm is a good reminder that we're not out here alone in the "jungles of time and space," as New York Times bestselling author Mike Dooley describes life on Earth. Dooley, who is also a widely known speaker and teacher, has published many books including "An Adv...

In this episode, I do my best to explain my "What if" series which, so far, includes three essays on themes related to spirituality: divine connection (#1), our grand adventure (#68), and fairness (#71). Apart from the series, I've also published a few similarly themed essays: Episode 55, "Smile on a Summer's Day," and Episode 57, "Picturing a Kinder, Gentler Wor...

This short essay about fairness is the third in a series. If it intrigues you in any way, please check out the first two "What ifs," which are Episode 1 and Episode 68. I explain the long gap between the two in the description for #68.  I also have other essays related to this theme. In case you want to check them out, they're Episodes 55 and 57: "Smile on a Summer's Day&q...

A food and wine extravaganza in Michigan becomes so much more when every friend matters, and everyone's story counts. Learn more in this short episode inspired by Jackie Stevenson's book , "Someday We'll Live Like Horses: Authentic Presence in Leadership and Life."   Send us Fan Mail This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation®, available on YouTube an...

This is a follow-up to Episode 30, titled "Less Stress, More Happiness." In that episode, I talk about a simple daily practice that I learned from a friend. To do it, all you need is to take a moment to breathe in and out, and then say or think one simple statement.  For all its simplicity, this practice is incredibly useful in lifting one's focus from stressful thoughts to higher,...

This short essay is the second in my "What if ..." series. The first in the series launched Everyday Creation, which debuted in early February 2024. However, I rewrote and re-recorded that early episode so many times — I truly lost count — that it took me nine months, off and on, to get it to the point where I was ready to move on to the second essay in the series.  I say all this to exp...

This is the first of four excerpts from a longer interview with family medicine physician Adeola Fakolade, MD. In this short episode, Adeola traces her path from Nigeria to the U.S. The full interview with Adeola is episode 62, and the other excerpts are episodes 65, 66 and 67. Hope you enjoy listening to this accomplished professional who's good-humored, personable and a delightful teller of...

This is the fourth excerpt from a longer interview with family medicine physician Adeola Fakolade, MD. In this episode, Adeola talks about why having access to healthcare is so important and how we, as patients, can maximize the time we have with our doctors.  The full interview with Adeola is episode 62, and the other excerpts are episodes 64, 65 and 66. Hope you enjoy listening to this accomplis...

This is the second excerpt from a longer interview with family medicine physician Adeola Fakolade, MD. In this short episode, Adeola talks about having a positive outlook on life and also discusses the WHO (World Health Organization) definition of good health, which is about thriving. The full interview with Adeola is episode 62, and the other excerpts are episodes 64, 66 and 67. Hope you enjoy li...

This is the third excerpt from a longer interview with family medicine physician Adeola Fakolade, MD. In this episode, Adeola talks about lifestyle medicine and disease prevention.  The full interview with Adeola is episode 62, and the other excerpts are episodes 64, 65 and 67. Hope you enjoy listening to this accomplished professional who's good-humored, personable and a delightful teller of...

I'm not a pessimist by nature. However, the 2016 election kind of threw me. I started thinking about it Sunday night, after reading a Substack post by Greg Olear about Leonard Cohen's song, "Hallelujah." In Olear's post, there's a link to Kate McKinnon singing part of "Hallelujah" for SNL's cold opening on Nov. 12, 2016.  Her performance touched me deep...

Dr. Adeola Fakolade is an accomplished professional and a delightful person to talk with and get to know. She's a family medicine and public health and general preventive medicine physician who's passionate about patient access to high-quality healthcare and what that means for people in terms of their ability to thrive.  To that last point, Adeola talks about the World Health Organizati...

Welcome to Everyday Creation, a show about purpose, awe, and good vibrations.  This short essay was the first episode of Everyday Creation when I started the show in early February 2024. It sprang from one of my journal entries and, since I first wrote and recorded it, I've tweaked it many times. This is the latest version, and I like it well enough that it's now the first in a series of...

Marla Grant is an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist and Founding Affiliate Leader of Helping Parents Heal Tampa. She helps parents who have experienced child loss, as well as individuals who are grieving other types of losses, move “from heartache to healing.”  She also teaches Mental Fitness Mastery as a Certified Positive Intelligence Coach to help clients infuse their world with more kindness...

Jared Gleaton is the author of “A Feast for the Senses: The Psychological Art of Eating Well.” He also hosts “Jared Gleaton Eats” on YouTube. A school psychologist in Skiatook, Okla., Jared applies his professional expertise to writing about food and reviewing restaurants. One of his goals is to help people expand their palates to appreciate different kinds of dishes and preparations, and, in so d...

Scarlett Lam and Mindy Lee, creators of the children's board book "THE LIGHT," believe that together we can make the world a little bit brighter, one light at a time. Their delightful book evolved from that belief and from their commitment to help kids — and adults who are kids at heart — realize that they're awesome just the way they are. It's an empowering message that&a...