Classical metal guitar soloist Tina Setkic

Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata (3rd movement)" Tina Setkic cover

(MD Animations) Where is Yugoslavian French classical metal guitar prodigy Tina Setkic (YouTube's "Tina S"), student of French jazz-rocker Renaud Louis-Servais?

• Rondo alla turca, the Turkish March but heavy metal!
• Yngwie Malmsteen's "Arpeggios from Hell" Tina S cover
• "Vivaldi Tribute" (Patrick Rondat) Tina S cover

(BERNTH Guitar Academy) I tested TikTok's most viral guitar advice

Heavy metal gone wrong: flops

(Feedback Johnny) Sometimes bands like Metallica sell out to make money

Nude Poetry with Füde, NY to LA (8/7)

Now I'd like to bring out Leehee Bee, a hot piece of asymptote on our stage for the first time.

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Reading my poetry is a new kind of "naked"

What performing poetry reveals about language, vulnerability, the fear of being (mis)understood

 

Could I stand in front of people fully nude?

A few months ago, I [Lihi Be] stood on a stage in New York City and performed slam poetry for the first time. The scene was hosted by Nuyorican Poets' Cafe at the Bowery Poetry Club, a small, legendary room where decades of poets have stepped up to a microphone and turned their inner worlds into sound.

It's the kind of place where language has history, where words have weight, where the air feels charged from voices that came before.

Enough with old white male writers! Sit down!

Gigi luxury nightwear (Schweitzer Linen)

lihi be, the i in mi, this breath and body

I remember standing there, waiting my turn, feeling my heart beating in my throat, which surprised me. I’ve spoken in front of rooms before. I’ve guided workshops, taught movement, led breathwork journeys where people open parts of themselves that are tender and alive.

Holding space for others doesn’t scare me. But this was different. This time, I wasn’t holding material space; I was the material. A poem I wrote alone earlier that morning was about to leave the page and hit the stage, entering a room full of strangers, not through dead ink, but through my living breath, my voice, my body.

• The New Naked Poetry | Academy of American Poets
• Why are we obsessed with forbidden nudity, Holli?✨
• Naked Poetry: Recent American Poetry in Open Forms

New York City as seen from high above Central Park, a kind of Griffith Park, Los Angeles

New York City's famous spoken word space at the Bowery Poetry Club (wiki)

(Married with Children) American skin: Al Bundy's high school girlfriend shows up at the beach

White men can't dance, but women can (KP)

And now for our first nude, I mean POET of the evening, Russian Pole Heaven

What is The Füde Experience? Naked eating, social bonding, courageous self-inquiry together

The Füde Experience: naked eating with Lihi Be at FÜDE LA (thefudeexperience.com)

Does anyone here need a bath to wash away dirty thoughts of body image negativity?

Holiday hosting: rosemary ritual cleanse (The Füde Experience)

We said nobody wants to see it, Shake Spear! OK, a quick flash then sit down and shut it!

Lihi Benisty poetry: Self

Until that moment, "poetry" was something I wrote, never something I performed. When I published my book, The Self, Reframed, it felt like a big step outward. Suddenly the poems were technically "public." Someone, anyone, could order the book, underline a passage, carry a piece of it into her own life.

 

Butt even then, there was still distance. The page protected me. Readers meet a poem alone. They can pause, reread, close the book, throw it in the garbage disposal, flip the switch, make acid-free wood pulp that washes out to sea... That meeting happens quietly, inside their own interior worlds.

Shame? We refuse to limit ourselves

Slam poetry is different: Spoken word removes the distance. When one performs a poem, there is no safe distance, no page between the room and the I performing. My breath carries my language. My nervous system becomes part of the delivery. My voice, my pauses, my trembling chest -- all of it becomes part of my poem.

In some ways, it feels easier to be naked than to perform one's own poem, in the woods, with someone you love, in front of Mother Nature, playing pretend it's Adam and Eve in a Sumerian garden.

Holy Adam and Eve had no shame

Look, it's the real me!

I was in New York for a series of gatherings -- one of them a nude experience I was hosting with the Füde Experience: a roomful of naked people exploring embodiment, mindful presence, the simplicity of being in our bodies without the usual layers of social armor.

Standing naked in a room with others didn’t feel nearly as vulnerable as standing on this stage. In fact, being naked felt surprisingly simple. Source: a poem is a different kind of naked (seeds of the self)

We're bringing it to Los Angeles

• Have the experience in Los Angeles with Dharma Buddhist Meditation (Aug. 7, 2026)
• RSVP: Naked Vegan Food Experience, Meditation, Poetry, Healing, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, 7:00 PM | Meetup

"No bikinis! Cover up those shameful bodies...or you are headed for hell!" - Loving Christian

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Lihi Be (Benisty)

AUTHOR: Lihi Be (Benisty), teacher of somatic self-inquiry, breathwork, movement, teacher, mentorship, poetry, summer retreat leader, author of The Self, Reframed. She leads a dynamic blend of somatic practices to navigate emotional landscapes. She is profoundly committed to the poetic art of self-inquiry through breathwork and movement. Her teaching is distinguished by her ability to weave these elements into a cohesive practice that respects the complexity of the human experience. Her poetry serves as a reflective mirror, deepening the themes she navigates in her somatic work and offering an additional avenue for connection and self-discovery. She lives in Los Angeles, California. (Substack, Instagram, FÜDE in LA, Amazon, Facebook, Omega Institute, lihibe.com)

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  Put yer clothes on 'n get the Hades outta here!

  Building community through resonance: The Füde Experience is a reader-supported publication for free and paid subscribers; to receive new posts and support, see: fudeexperience.substack.com (Website: thefudeexperience.com)

Nuyorican Poets' Cafe Poetry Slam at the Bowery Poetry Club Mondays (@bowerypoetry

We'd ride our bikes in the nude to see someone get on stage and really get naked with poetry.

• Lihi Bi (seeds of the self), March 4th, 2026; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Jen B. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist David Bowie on End of Religion

David Bowie: Major Tom's Odyssey: "Space Oddity"

(T&H - Inspiration & Motivation) David Bowie on the real purpose of life

David Bowie at the Scottish Buddhist Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre with his lama Guru Chime Rinpoche almost ordained as Vajrayana Buddhist monk for a life of contemplation and peace

Alt Music Center: Open Mic Night (5/13)

Instrumental given to LA Fire-impacted musicians? Yes, thanks to AltadenaMusicians.org. Now they are serving the Altadena, Pasadena, South Pasadena (the three Denas), Sierra Madre, and all the foothill and surrounding valley communities.

"Burning Down the House," Altadena Musicians/Quazar and the Bamboozled

• 

  Will the Eaton Fire destroy us?

  Open Mic Night, 7:00-9:00 pm
• Altadena Music Center (BYP)
• 1260 Lincoln Ave. #1300
• Pasadena, CA 91103
• (Sign up starts at 6:30 pm)
• FREE to attend, free to participate

Altadena Music Center | Pasadena CA | Facebook

Mission

Download on the App Store

Thank you to the amazing Brandon Jay. Introducing Instrumental Giving powered by Altadena Musicians – our registry app where musicians can list the gear they lost in the LA Fires – and donors can help to replace them through gifting or purchasing directly. Think of it like a wedding registry for musicians. (And it’s tax-deductible!) Help Help Musicians - Donate your instruments Who lost it all in the Eaton Fire | Altadena musicians by donating instruments to those who lost them in the Eaton Fire. Download the app to get started: altadenamusicians.org

Electric guitar to improve classical music?

What does "virtuosity" look like? Can only classical musicians like Itzhak Perlman evince it?

Guitarist forgot he was human, replaced orchestra

(Davie504) Can I play these impossible guitar riffs on bass?

A Quaker-Buddhist Christmas, LA

Buddhists will perform the Om Mani Padme chant in the Talent Show unless the Dalai Lama does

WHAT HAPPENED?

More similarities than differences

People gathered in silence from all over Los Angeles, guitars in hand. At 10:00 there was group singing of traditional hymn from the hymnal book with old Quaker and Shaker songs, accompanied by piano and violin. Meanwhile, everyone was setting up the vegan potluck. "Service" convened, which means a silent meditation punctuated by anyone who wants to stand up and say something, moved by "spirit," as it occurs to them. An hour later, there are announcements, joys and sorrows, children coming in to talk about what they've been doing outside or in the schoolroom. Then the socializing started with a storm and a self-serve line of many delicious treats. An hour later, the Talent Show began at the mic: stand up comedy, singing, poetry, guitar, drums, Irish fiddlers, a ballet recital, kids doing the "peace train" accompanied by Cat Stevens' hit song, lots of laughs, fun, and creativity.

Silence, singing, eating, and being peace

The Orange Grove Friends Meeting (OGMM, ogmm.org, Orange Grove Monthly Meeting) is having a spectacular (and very liberal) Quaker Christmas Celebration for all its Atheist, Agnostic, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, (Anti-Zionist) Jewish, Muslim, Pantheist, Secular, and Sufi attendees. It's a vegan/vegetarian potluck with caroling (singing beautiful traditional seasonal songs from the hymn book), feasting, friendship, socializing, and a big TALENT SHOW. Sign up with Kindred. It's all FREE.

• Orange Grove Friends Meeting House
• Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, 12:00 pm (noon)
• VEGAN POTLUCK FEAST AND TALENT SHOW
• 520 E. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91104
• Silent service begins at 11:00 am (just enter and sit)
• RSVP (FREE):
• (Disclosure Project) A Buddhist Quaker Christmas Vegan Potluck Celebration, Pasadena (FREE), Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 11:00 AM | Meetup
• (PasaDharma) Buddhist Quaker Christmas Vegan Potluck, Pasadena (FREE), Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 11:00 AM | Meetup
• (Nature Center) A Buddhist Quaker Christmas Vegan Potluck Celebration, Pasadena (FREE), Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 11:00 AM | Meetup

Why? It's The Zen of Quakerism as described by Peter Taylor in Friends Journal.

Quakers and Buddhists have [more than] a few things in common. Most importantly, they share a common humanity and a commitment to creating peace in the world.

What to expect in Quaker meeting for 'worship' in silence

Pasadena + Santa Monica are unprogrammed meetings in peaceful silence

They are both enlightenment religions. Both [Founder] George Fox and the Buddha experienced a transformative, liberating awareness through the dedicated practice of quiet contemplation.

• Welcome to Quaker Buddhists! by John Marsh - Quaker Universalist Voice

The best tasting foods give peace to the world.

My life is an intersection of these religions. I was born a Quaker [referred to as a "Friend"], to Quaker parents with Quaker grandparents and great-grandparents. I attended Friends schools through college. I sat in many meetings for [silent] worship [waiting on the spirit to move me and fellow parishioners]. I have always been proud to be a Quaker.

I found Buddhism later in life, when I was 27 years old. I was looking for a tonic for depression. I found Buddhist philosophy and writing soothing to my condition. I liked that Buddhism talked about meditation as a remedy to suffering.

Friends: Buddhist-Quaker harmonic unity/nature

Even though I had been meditating [listening, sitting in receptive silence, being move by the presence of a Godly Great Spirit] all of my life in Quaker meetings, I had always struggled with how to do it.

As a child, meeting for worship [which for unprogrammed Quakers means no priest, preacher, pastor, or person in charge, just Friends sitting in silence punctuated by anyone who wants to stand up and speak as they are moved to do] was somewhere between difficult and excruciatingly painful.

Quakers get monkey mind?

[Monkey Mind:] To amuse myself, I would count things. I would count people with glasses. I would count ceiling tiles. I would count the seconds on my watch. I would welcome any spoken message that would break up the monotony of the silence. I would welcome the break of meeting so I could talk and run around again.

When I learned to meditate in the Buddhist style, I learned to keep my awareness focused by counting my breaths. I learned to hold my body still while I focused my mind [heart]. I found a specific place to put my hands.

In meditation, I was relieved of the burden of being moved by the Spirit to speak and say something spiritually profound.

Learning Buddhist meditation techniques taught me how to sit in Quaker meeting. Through all those years of Quaker upbringing and Quaker education, I had somehow missed that fundamental teaching.

Oh Gosh... Let's talk about a cool religion: What is Quakerism?

The enso or Zen zero of stillness

In my Zen Buddhist practice, I sat many hours of meditation. I did sitting meditation, walking meditation, chanting meditation, bowing meditation, eating meditation [mindfulness], tea-drinking meditation, and listening meditation. I went on a retreat to the Detroit Zen Center and did cooking meditation, cleaning meditation, weeding meditation, and hours and hours of sitting meditation.

• The Deep Spiritual and Practical Links Between Quakers and Buddhist Plum Village — Discovering Quakers

All that meditation was not necessarily peaceful or easy as I did it. What I found is that the rest of my days became more peaceful and easier to manage. The meditation worked. It created peace. More: The Zen of Quakerism

Peter Taylor explains his motivation for practicing Zen and Quakerism

• The Vegan Cake Bible: Bake, Build and Decorate Spectacular Cakes (Sara Kidd)
• VIDEO: The Wisdom of Silence: Life-Changing Lessons from Quaker, Buddhist & Sufi Traditions 🌿🧘‍♂️
• What's the difference between “programmed” and “unprogrammed” Quaker 'worship'?
• Vegan Winter Solstice Party & Candlelight Ritual for Animals, Sat, Dec 27, 2025, 6:00 PM | Meetup
• Kundalini Reiki class levels l,ll and lll, Sat, Feb 28, 2026, 12:00 PM | Meetup
• Vegan Winter Solstice Party & Candlelight Ritual for Animals, Sat, Dec 27, 2025, 6:00 PM | Meetup
• Adventures in Church: Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen B., CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly