easy bake coven | since 2002

Bliss On Board

From Mongolian overtone chanting to Peruvian nose flutes to Catholic masses and Indian ragas, "music is part of every spiritual tradition," Ananda Marga monk Dada Nabhaniilananda recently reminded us.

There's also a long tradition of getting on the bus as a means of raising – or altering – consciousness. In the '60s, there were Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters. During 1970-71, Steven Gaskin, head of the Farm, led a caravan of 50 school buses on a speaking tour across the U.S. Fans followed the Grateful Dead and Phish, and continue to trail Widespread Panic, in livable vans. Budget travelers, looking for a change of scenery, hop aboard the Green Tortoise. Thousands of people each year caravan to the ever-changing Rainbow Gathering destinations.

The Kundalini Express, then, is an efficient way to disseminate a complex network of spiritual-music traditions – "a way to celebrate the anniversary with the different centers of Ananda Marga across the continent," explains tour coordinator Nirmal Kronenberg by phone. "We're conducting parties, sort of ... visiting [Ananda Marga] centers to inspire these people." The Kundalini Express stops off in Asheville on Friday, June 24 for a 6-8 p.m. concert. [more »]

Ananda Marga in Asheville