Ed Hale

Ed Hale - who has been hard at work on his new book Revolution in Me while awaiting the release of the band’s new CDs - will begin a regular weekly guest blog for a few months on the official Sundance Film Channel website in the coming weeks focusing on his peace delegation visit to the country of Iran and how it relates to all things GREEN: the environment, peace, war, oil, nuclear energy, and most importantly humanity. The blogs will be similar to his regular posts on his long-running Transcendence Diaries blog but will be shorter in length of course. The blog posts will feature photos, and links to videos and photo slideshows from his trip, as well as guest interviews with authors, scientists, and experts in various fields. Stay tuned for the first installment.

In the meantime, Transcendence does indeed have three new CDs releasing this year including the band’s official two new albums, The Great Mistake (EMI) and All Your Heroes Become Villains (DVG), and a new rarities and unreleased tracks album called The City of Lost Children. Stay tuned for release dates.

To best stay informed of the latest, head to Facebook and add as a friend or subscribe to this site or the band’s site either through email or RSS Feed.

Hi New York friends!

I’m sending you all an email to a few of my New York friends because many of you were sponsors of my peace delegation trip to Iran last month and/or were awesome email/phone supporters. So I wanted to let you know the details of the official presentation I will be giving about it here in NYC.

The last two months have indeed been insane with almost more work post-trip than the trip itself. A lot of interviews and articles and yes even the obligatory appearance on Muslim TV — (which was quite “candid cameraish’ I must say).

My official presentation about the trip in New York City will be this coming Sunday. I pasted the details below for you in case you have the time to come - and are interested in this subject. It was quite the experience and we learned a lot. More than anything, we were brought there specifically by the Iranian government to bring back a message to the American people…

So that is why we do these interviews and presentations. It isn’t necessarily a “perfect message.” But it is a real message – as opposed to what we hear on the news here in the States… which is just ‘the White House said…” So, that will be the aim of the presentation. To show some pictures, tell some stories, and answer as many questions as possible about the subject.

The presentation will be filmed (so dress sharpJ). By the way, since I have you all on the line at once: Our show Transcendent Television got picked up by Warner Home Video for distribution!!! No, we’re not on traditional TV… YET, but this was a real surprise blast of forward momentum out of nowhere that was very welcomed.

If you want to see the first DVD they are going to officially release you can see it here because there are segments still on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AE689FEEAE0C2E66 It is the “Going to Ghana” series I made last year.

Many of your beautiful faces I have not seen in a long time… I know we’ve all been over the top busy. Such is life in New York. It has been a crazy year or more for many of us. But I would love to see you! If not Sunday, then hopefully soon.

(For you rockers in the bunch, it does begin at 12:45. I know that’s early, so if you don’t show, don’t sweat it. I TOTALLY understand. J)

If you do decide you can attend, let me know, and I will make sure that lunch is reserved for you. if you’re not sure, feel free just to show up. Hey, this is New York. Who knows what we’re even going to do tonight let alone Sunday!!!

Hope all is well with all of you and would love to see you there.

Ed Hale

Below is the description of the Presentation:

Ed Hale will give a talk about his recent Peace Delegation trip to Iran entitled “The Value of a Single Human Being”

Sunday June 1st starting at 12:45 PM

Mark your calendars for Sunday June 1st 2008! Ed Hale who just recently returned from a 15 day peace delegation to the country of Iran with 13 other Americans will give a presentation about his experience. The trip was sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Iranian government. The 14 delegates held formal meetings with leading government officials and religious leaders including former president Mohammad Khatami and three reigning Ayatollahs to discuss how to improve US/Iran relations and foster more peace and harmony between our countries. Ed will share his experience with us, as well as present a slideshow of photos from the trip and also answer questions about this increasingly important issue. He also brought back some delicious samples of traditional Iranian food, tea, and candy to share with the group.

As always the session will offer a valuable opportunity for group sharing and interaction. Lunch and drinks will be provided for all.

“I am very glad to hear about what Ed Hale is doing. It’s of extraordinary importance. The threats by the US against Iran are not only criminal — technically, in violation of the UN Charter — but are also extremely ominous. I don’t think there can be an invasion, but bombing is possible, and a terrible prospect. On the likelihood, no one can say, even the White House. It depends in no small part on our efforts.”

– Noam Chomsky

A personal message from Ed Hale

As many know, I just recently returned from a 15 day peace delegation to the country of Iran. The trip was eye-opening to say the least. It was also exhausting. Hence my absence over the last two months since my return. Had to get my head on straight. I have written hundreds of pages about the experience and yes as always I have gigabytes of video footage and photos to share. This will come in time.

In the intervening weeks since my return I have been more than busy. Besides countless interviews and lectures regarding the recent Iranian trip, the band is in the midst of signing a two album deal with Caroline/EMI Records to release out two new albums this year, so yes to all of your gracious and much-appreciated inquiries, the new albums are going to be released. As soon as we have a release date we will let you know. I have also been finishing a book which we will announce very soon.

I have also been busy with two new non-profit projects, www.TuneInTurnOnHelpOut.org, and www.PeaceWithIran.com. Your presence here is welcomed and appreciated. And it would be greatly appreciated at both or either of these two new sites, which both have noble goals. To speak a bit about the impetus of the peacewithiran.com project, I want to caveat by saying that though “war is imminent” or “military strikes are imminent” may be an idea or thought or belief that many are carrying around today in regards to the United States and Iran and even Israel, I do not personally hold this thought or idea or belief myself.

Yes I certainly see the news being released everyday about the various issues, and I recognize that parties on all sides feel very passionate about these issues; whether it is the threat of a “nuclear Iran” on one side, or a ”bullying America” on the other side, or a “fearful and hostile Israel” on yet another side. I also certainly understand the potential dangers that all three countries pose against the others and truly against all living beings on the planet today. But I believe that what we think about, what we give energy to, is what we create. We have seen it time and time again. As soon as a country starts beating its war drum, it is only a matter of time until it decides it’s time to “go to war.” Regardless of the loss of life, liberty, respect in the world community, or the burden it places upon the rest of the world. Throughout human history, there has always been one country or another “ready to attack” another country.

The truth of the matter is that this is bound to continue until mass human consciousness changes to the point of what might be called “critical mass” in a way that these people who see “war” as the only answer for “peace” simply no longer exist. In time this will be our reality. It might take our total annihilation and extinction and subsequent reincarnation in yet another form for this to happen, but let us hope not. Let us hope that those of us who see “peaceful means” as the only means available to us to achieve “peace” win this historical battle of wits that is being played out on the world stage.

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Ed Hale, lead singer for the rock group Transcendence stated: “On March 19th, 2008 people all over the world took actions of all shapes and kinds to protest the fifth anniversary of the United States Government’s illegal invasion of the country of Iraq. There were protest marches, candle-lit vigils, lobbying and petitions in Washington DC, and of course thousands of telephone calls and emails to the US Congress and the White House. Our idea was a simple one, and coincided with an observation I had made that disturbed me a few weeks prior while taking a shower. We live on a very busy street in a very busy city — New York City to be exact. And two or three times a day those BIG RED NEW YORK DOUBLE DECKER TOUR BUSES drive tourists from all over the world around the beautiful city of Manhattan. It bothered me greatly to realize that your average visitor to NYC would not see much anti-war sentiment in this very progressive and otherwise intelligent American town. So what to do? Simple: hang a giant flag outside an apartment building for tourists from all nations to see as they drove by and snapped photos for their scrapbooks that had a simple message: WORLD WE’RE SORRY! As long as the US stays in Iraq, the flag will remain. The hope is that at least a few foriegners can go home and report to friends and family that there are at least some Americans who are aware and truly sorry for all the innocent bloodshed and lives lost.”

View a slideshow of the photos here.

View and download photos here.

Best of all, as soon as you donate, you get to watch your contribution raise the meter that much higher and closer to the goal! And your name appears on the list of contributors if you so desire (optional).Yes ladies and gentlemen we have already crunched the numbers and had our fun with the math. If everyone contributes $5 we will need 600 contributors. $10? Only 300 contributors. $20? Well now we’re down to only 150 contributors. Etc. So give if you can and most of all have some fun with it. And thank you for taking part in this fantastic adventure!

Use the handy-dandy ChipIn Widget to donate

Ed Hale: “Dear friends, this is probably as shocking to you as it was to me when I first heard the news. I am at once excited, nervous, and deeply honored to be a part of this amazing opportunity.

“As many of you know, I have had an obsession with Iranian culture for the last three or four years. It is very similar to the way I felt about Africa, about Italy, and about Brasil before that. I have been studying their history, music, and language ravenously for four years. I find them to be some of the wittiest, deepest, warmest, soulful people I know. They are also extremely FUNNY!

“Their music strikes a chord in me that feels karmic. Ironically, in 2005 I applied to the Iranian Embassy for a Visa. See original visa applicaitons here. My plan was to attend a school there for a month or two to study Classical Persian Music and to learn more of their language of Farsi to better communicate with the people. I also hoped that my being there would create my own little ripple in the bigger pond as it were to show that we’re pretty nice people and have sincere interest in them as people as well.

“My Visa of course was rejected — this was 2005, and though they were intrigued by my strange inquiry, relations between Iran and the United States have not been great lately as most know so they told me to try again in a year or so.

“Through a rather strange series of circumstances, out of literally nowhere came this opportunity. It was entirely unplanned truth be told and I am shocked at how beautifully odd, or oddly beautiful, things work out sometimes. I was at a Community Building conference at a Convent in upstate New York a few months back — that’s a loaded statement I know, but I have a deep love for this particular place of peace and serenity in the middle of the woods, and for the Sisters who live there.

“There happened to be one, Sister Ellen Francis, who was visiting that weekend and we became fast friends. We spoke a lot about our love of other cultures, of technology and the internet, our love of connecting to the Divine, and our various volunteer and activist activities around the world, and she asked me if I would be interested in applying to go on some Peace Delegation Trip to Iran that she was going on in 2008. One has to to wonder if angels weren’t laughing their wings off in hysterics in that moment at the sight of my dropped jaw and wide eyes… Of course I began speaking a million miles an hour telling her how I know all of the famous Persian composers and poets and writers through the centuries and how I had spent the last three years studying the language of Farsi and how I even applied for a Visa on my own…. Neither of us could help but smile.

“She then explained that there would be a lengthy application process and there was no guarantee that my application would be accepted. (it took over a month, and felt more like a college entrance exam to be perfectly frank, but I was accepted). She then told me that each delegate pays a fee for the trip. My jaw went back up and my heart went back into my brain. A friend of mine who was sitting at the table with us casually commented, “Ed I’ll contribute $50 if you are selected. No harm in at least applying. Just do it.”

And there it is in a nutshell. Of course, the band still has two new CDs coming out early next year and who knows where this little side road fits in with all of that. But I will bring along the usual arsenal of cameras and tripod and create YouTube videos of the trip to keep you all as close and connected to the trip as I possibly can. Most of all, I hope we are really able to connect with the Iranian people in a sincere and impactful way and help do our small part to bridge us closer together, and one step further from conflict. To all of you are contributing and have contributed to past adventures of yours truly, thank you!