found their way into hundreds of arts festivals and thousands of stores, and I had to create an independent record label just to distribute my recordings.  My label “Acorn Music” supported around 40 people over 15 years, and I’m proud that they were paid TWICE the going rate plus some crazy benefits (we’d pay for vacations, massages, psychic readings, anything you “needed”!)  There was so much money coming in I didn’t know what to do with it.  To make things even more interesting, I was a “War Tax Resister” (pacifist) so I refused to pay income tax, especially while Reagan was president.  Since I didn’t want to go to prison, I basically had to keep giving all the profits away to employees and to non-profit organizations.  I still love to imagine volunteers at the Seva Foundation or Greenpeace or Earth First! (remember?) opening an envelope and instead of getting the typical crumpled one dollar bill or MAYBE a five-dollar bill, they’d get a check for $10,000 from Acorn Music.  Holy Shit, 10k was probably half of the Earth First! “annual budget” back then.  Now THAT is something I’m proud of.  Woohoo!!  

Hmmm… maybe I should resurrect Acorn Music after 20 years of “taking a break”……  
OK what the hell!  Here’s a tune from my “latest” recording (25 years ago! :)  
https://soundcloud.com/acornmusic-2/the-little-clown

Who in your family were you closest to and why?
My mom.  She was deeply depressed, perhaps suicidal, when I was conceived.  She lost her dad and sister in childhood and never recovered.  So my birth gave her a new lease on life and left us forever bonded.  We were inseparable the first five years, and then I needed to push her away to breathe.  But we were close throughout my life, perhaps too close.  I was her primary emotional caregiver after my dad died, especially during her last 8 years when she was stroking.  Ella Marie Shalit Elman.  Devoted mother, artist, and friend who gave me never-ending love as well as a never-ending search for independence (from her!)


What was a dark time in your life that looking back on you grew a lot from?
My life was shattered when my brother Joe was murdered 24 years ago.  I went into a very dark place for several years.  I gained 50 pounds, my partner left me, my record label imploded, I stopped performing, and my family-of-origin totally fell apart.  Years later I was guided to NVC (Nonviolent Communication, Marshall Rosenberg) and a two-year intensive NVC training, which led to an understanding and acceptance of my brother’s death, and the end of 12 years of nightly nightmares.

More recently, this year, I had a couple of experiences in EBCOM which left me feeling hurt (trauma) and angry (actually enraged, which is unusual for me.)   In both instances I had an unmet need for transparency, care and inclusiveness - on the team level - and I