Blue Planet

Winner of the Global Rhythm magazine/ Sonic
Bids Song contest for November 2006.
With the Song "Querida de Mi Alma "
Blue Planet - "A multi-ethric, multi-racial group, Blue Planet offer a traditional-sounding cumbia composed by group member Holly Avila. - Global Rhythm Magazine

S-burg woman cashes in on life's experiences
CAROL O'NEILL
Pocono Life Writer
November 20, 2006


A rebel, a hippie, a pacifist.

A musician, a poet, a Renaissance woman.

By day Holly Avila works as a cashier at ShopRite Supermarkets, a job she loves.
"I speak highly of my job because we're union," Avila said. "They support the American worker. And everybody who works there is an extended family."

Nights and weekends, Avila works at what she calls her obsessions — music, poetry, astrology, and organic baking.

Avila plays her guitar and sings with Blue Planet, a multi-ethnic, multi-racial group that plays world folk music. In November, Global Rhythm magazine included "Querida De Mi Alma," one of Avila's songs, on a compilation CD.

Written by Avila, the title translates "Beloved of my Soul" and has a cumbia dance beat.

"It's a song about the search for my soul mate," Avila said.

People can hear Blue Planet play Mexican music on Wednesday evenings at the Best Western Pocono Inn in Stroudsburg. And Avila is now working on a studio CD, which should be released soon and available at hollyavila.com.

A poet for as long as she can remember, Avila described her poetry as "extremely intellectually enlightening and politically radical." Soon a book of Avila's poetry combined with essays by Judy Andreas, a like-minded woman Avila met on the Internet, will be published and available on her Web site. Titled "Broken Dreams, Shattered Promises," the book is a social commentary against war and social inequality, with some relationship angst added to the mix.

As for her interest in astrology, Avila does astrology charts and gives lectures on the subject at Deerfield Spa in Marshalls Creek. "I approach astrology from a scientific point of view. It's not my religion," Avila said. "I'm a born again Christian."

A pacifist, Avila talks about collective consciousness and creating your reality with your own thoughts.

"It's the laws of physics. It's not just oogy-boogy," Avila said. "We affect physical reality with what we focus on."

From spring into fall when the farmers' market is open Saturday mornings in downtown Stroudsburg, Avila sells her baked goods. Everything is made with organically grown ingredients, nothing artificial.

"I guess I'm trying to save the world in every angle I can get," Avila said, laughing.

A self-described hippie, Avila began her journey toward 2006 by dropping out of college in 1970. Grabbing her guitar, she stuck out her thumb and hitchhiked around North America.

"I set out to prove it's a benevolent universe. I believe it's a benevolent universe, and if you believe it is, it is," Avila said.

In the '70s, Avila played folk music in coffeehouses and on the streets, passing the hat to support herself.

Eventually, Avila made her way to Greenwich Village in New York City, where she continued to play music on the street. When country western music became popular, she formed a band called Wheels, playing in bars and clubs.

In the early 1990s, wanting a more peaceful life, Avila moved to the Poconos, where she continued playing folk music around town.

"Being a musician is an obsessive compulsive disorder," Avila said. "If you're born with musical talent, you have to play."

Several years ago at the garlic festival, Avila met Peter Taney and Janet Bregman Taney, who invited her to join the Juggernaut String Band as their bass player.

"Janet helped me enter the Tex-Mex music world. She played accordion to songs I wrote," Avila said. "We played the song at the 2000 Philly Folk Festival."

Down the road, Avila formed a new band "to do the Appalachian, Mexican, Andean thing."

Avila said her interest in Spanish lyrics began in 1987 when she fell in love with "Prenda del Alma," a Mexican folk song recorded by Los Lobos on its "Light of the Moon" album.

"Since then I've been obsessed with Latin music," Avila said.

No matter what she's doing, Avila hopes to promote peace and make the world a better place.

"There is a way to change the world if you realize that what you do to somebody else, you're doing to yourself," Avila said. "We can change everything by refusing to live in fear, refusing to live in anger. Bringing peace into your own life, that's where you start."


BIOGRAPHY
Name: Holly Avila

Age: 54

Address: Stroudsburg

Education: Grew up in the Midwest, graduated high school, dropped out of college to hitchhike all over the United States and Canada. The rest is "self-education."

Occupation: Cashier at ShopRite in Stroudsburg since 1995.

Obsessions: Performing and composing world folk music; writing poetry; baking and selling whole grain, organic baked goods at the Stroudsburg farmers market; astrology.

Awards: Won local poetry contests; a song Avila wrote — "Querida De Mi Alma" — was chosen for a compilation CD put out by Global Rhythm magazine.

Words to live by: Do unto others as you would have others do unt - Pocono Record

...while Holly's husky, warm vocal style and subtly nuanced phrasing infuse songs like Kitty Wells, "Making Believe" with strong emotion.
...Holly did perform a pretty original which she described as a "New York City country song." The city came through vividly in the lyrics, but her deep-rooted singing was pure country, like maple syrup poured over a stac of flapjacks. Ken - VARIETY - May 27,1987

...while Holly's husky, warm vocal style and subtly nuanced phrasing infuse songs like Kitty Wells, "Making Believe" with strong emotion.
...Holly did perform a pretty original which she described as a "New York City country song." The city came through vividly in the lyrics, but her deep-rooted singing was pure country, like maple syrup poured over a stac of flapjacks. Ken - VARIETY - May 27,1987