I recently listened to an interview with J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr on the WTF podcast with Marc Maron. For the interview, go here. Wiki on Dinosaur Jr is here; on Mascis here; the band website is here.

I had heard of Dinosaur Jr., but did not know about their music. But one of the parts of the interview with Mr. Mascis that I found interesting was his discussion of his relationship to Mata Amritanandamayi. She is known popularly as the “hugging saint,” or simply as “Amma” (mother) or “Ammachi”. Her website is here; Wiki here. Mr. Mascis tells of the profound impact that her embrace and presence has had on him. (Learn more about preparing to be embraced by her here.) He has also recorded an album in her honor, J and Friends Sing and Chant for Amma.

Here is “Heavy Metal Ai Giri Nandini” by J Mascis and friends:

This reminded me of a post here at R&T about the guitarist Jason Becker, by Mary McDonough here. McDonough introduced R&T readers to Mr. Becker’s remarkable story. On his website, Becker tells the story of Amma’s profound role in his life. I don’t know if rock and roll musicians are (more…)

Once in a while you come across someone who is genuinely inspirational. That special individual who carries a heavy burden as if it were weightless. Jason Becker is such a person.

For those of you who have never heard of him, Becker was, at one time, a phenomenal guitar player. As a teenager he played with Marty Friedman in the duo Cacophony. When he was 20 years old, he was chosen to replace Steve Vai in David Lee Roth’s band. An album followed, a tour planned. Jason Becker was on his way to becoming a legendary shredder.

Then one day Becker developed a strange limp that wouldn’t go away. Eventually he was diagnosed with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that leads to paralysis and is considered fatal. Doctors told Becker he only had 3-5 years to live. Within a short period of time he couldn’t even hold a guitar much less play with the virtuosity he’d once shown. That was 23 years ago. But his story doesn’t end there. In fact, it’s just the beginning.

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