April 7, 2022 • 76 mins
Discover the fascinating and important story of how musician and life coach, Kevin Roth, overcame the death sentence of a Stage 3 cancer diagnosis and created a more meaningful life.
For all the show notes and contact details head on over here.
If you love this show, please leave me a review. Go to RateThisPodcast.com/5starwellbeing and follow the simple instructions.
Thanks so much for listening!
For everything else 5 Star Wellbeing please head to the Evenstar Wellbeing website.
Please join me on socials as well:
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIN
Music by Ian Hildebrand
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Arwen Bardsley (00:00):
So welcome, everybody to today's episode.
(00:03):
I'm delighted today to have awonderful new guest who I'm
really interested to hear hisstory and share that with
everyone. So I'm welcoming todaymusician Kevin Roth. Kevin is an
internationally renowned singer,writer, and dulcimer player with
over 50 recordings. He's wonnumerous awards and been
(00:27):
recognized by major companiesincluding Time Warner and Sony
Music for his unique talent. Thereason which some people might
be thinking, Oh, a musician, whyare we doing that on 5 star
wellbeing podcast. And thereason is that Kevin has a
really interesting story to tellfrom his more recent life, about
(00:50):
his battle or overcomingmelanoma. And that was one
reason so a death sentence ofstage three melanoma that he
overcame, which I think is superinteresting. And I really am
interested to hear in the aboutthe process that Kevin went
(01:11):
through. And just the thingsthat he felt he he or learned
that he needed to change in hisgeneral life to overcome that.
But secondly, Kevin has alsodeveloped something he's called
dulci meditation. And aseveryone knows, I'm a huge fan
of meditation, use it a lot inmy work, am always recommending
(01:35):
it to you guys. So I'm reallyexcited to hear about that as
well. So welcome, Kevin. I'dlove if we can just start off
with you telling us about a bitabout you your origin story,
your why, how did you get to bewhere you are now. And
(01:55):
especially interested, I'm sureyou'll take us through it, but
the first record deal at 15years old is pretty cool. And
also, before you go any further,I'd love you to just explain
what a dulcimer is and how yougot into that particular
instrument as well.
Kevin Roth (02:16):
Well, thanks for having me. It's nice to talk
with someone from down under. Sothis is a dulcimer. This is the
mountain dulcimer. Thisparticular instrument is one
that I helped design and I callit a wink dulcimer. It has
planets as sound holes. It hasfour strings. And it's this
(02:40):
particular model is a redwoodtop and Sherry back and sides.
And then it has a little thingon the bottom where you can plug
it in. And it has a micartafretboard and it's built by one
of the premier dulcimer Buildershere in the United States in
(03:02):
Mountain View Arkansas calledthe dulcimer shop. And they're
sort of oh, they're known as atop of the line companies like
anyone who buys something fromthe dulcimer shop like a mixpad
dulcimer or a wink. Thereputation is impeccable. So I'm
(03:23):
very happy and very proud tohave gotten with them. The
dulcimer is a mysteriousinstrument really because nobody
knows its history. Much like me.
Which we'll get into! I get alittle goofy, so I just want to
put that out there first.
It may be theCalifornia vibes I'm not sure.
Arwen Bardsley (03:43):
Great! But the dulcimer is really a
relative of the zither. So indifferent parts of the world,
there are different types ofdulcimers, the Norwegian
Langlick the Swedish humble thefriendship and the DeVos. But if
you look at old photographs ofreally old dulcimers, there is
(04:07):
no specific shape or size tothem, unlike the guitar or the
piano. So it has always been aninstrument of innovation and
creativity. What's interestingabout that is when I first saw
the dulcimer, which was 1973 Isaw a young woman playing it in
(04:28):
a kitchen. And how I ended upthere is is sort of a remarkable
story. And I'll just I'll take afew seconds to tell you that.
My mother had just passed awayfrom a heart attack. And a
friend of mine introduced me toa guy who said hey, do you want
(04:48):
to go to a meditation gathering?
I didn't even know what it was.
And I was still in such shockthat my mother had just died
suddenly that I went So, youknow, nothing happens for no
reason. And that's where I metthis, this friend of mine who's
been a friend now 50 years, AnneStokes, at the time. And I saw
(05:09):
the dulcimer, and I justabsolutely knew this was my
destiny, no question about it,None. Absolutely none. And I
just fell in love with it. And Ididn't know that there were
other dulcimer players out therethat had been recorded like Jean
(05:32):
Ritchie and some traditionalfolk players. So I didn't know
there was a style. So I got thedulcimer and I had been playing
the piano by ear. So I justassumed that I could play
somewhere over the rainbow onthe dulcimer or Jacques Burrell
on the dulcimer, anything Iwanted.
(05:57):
Then I, I decided how I came upwith this idea, I still can't
figure it out. But I decided,Oh, I'm going to become rich and
famous playing this instrument.
So, I sent a couple tapes tosome record companies. And of
course I never heard from Icould barely sing I could play
(06:17):
pretty well, it was about a yearor two. But I hadn't studied
voice at that point. But onecompany, which was the largest
and still is the largest folkmusic label in the world, called
folk way records, wrote me backand he said, I'm interested in a
tape of your dulcimer playingCan you send me more pieces? So
(06:37):
his name was Moses Ash. He's areal legend and he passed away
many years ago but folkways isnow part of the Smithsonian
Institute, which is a big dealhere in the States. What he
heard was this young kid who didthings on dulcimer, no one ever
thought of. And I, he signed meand I did my first album at 15.
(06:59):
It came out at 16. It was calledKevin Ross sings and plays
dulcimer. And I caught thedulcimer wave, the mountain
dulcimer starting to become morepopular and more popular through
people like Joni Mitchell andfolk singers, The Rolling Stones
and but I became known as one ofthe world's most innovative
(07:23):
dulcimer players, you know, sothey said, Oh, this guy, Kevin,
he's a genius on the dulcimer, Idon't really think I was. What I
had was that I didn't have anyidea how to play it except the
way I wanted to. Which is one ofthe things that I teach people
when I do personal coaching,because I'm also a personal
coach, as you know, the limitsare in your mind, the world is a
(07:45):
blank canvas. So I I did, Ithink a dozen records for him.
And then I got into children'smusic and started my own record
label. And hit sort of the bigtime with that having sung the
theme to a major television showcalled Shining Time Station for
kids. And as they say, the restis sort of history. And by the
(08:10):
time I was I guess 34,35 I wasquote rich and famous. The money
didn't last but the fame seemsto have hung around. My desire
to be well known, and my desireto be rich, my desire for
everything that I went after,was to be happy. And I thought
(08:34):
fame and fortune would make mehappy. And it does not. I think
that when I thought anotherhouse, another car, another
relationship, another piece ofclothing, another dulcimer. They
are things that aren't wrong,but they're pointers to what we
all want, which is happiness,which is our true nature. So
(08:58):
when my clients say, you know, Iwant to be loved I say Well,
guess what? I got a lover foryou Instantly. Instantly, no
dating apps, none of it? Theysay yeah, I say yeah, you, you
have to fall in love with youfirst. But the dulcimer was my
life raft because I had aturbulent childhood. Which I pre
(09:22):
saw, by the way, in a visionwhen I was a young kid, I saw
that the first part of my lifewould be difficult, which it was
the second part of my life wouldbe even more difficult but very
successful, which it was. Andthe third part with that would
be and I say this with I guessas much humility as I could come
up with as spirituallyenlightened as I could possibly
(09:45):
be and very happy. And that'snow happening. Full circle, so I
don't really have any interestin Kevin Roth the performer
anymore, although it seems to begaining speed, because I don't
find any value in fame orfortune? I, I just don't. But it
took a death sentence to figurethat one out.
(10:08):
So do you still perform though?
Kevin Roth (10:12):
I do rarely. Mostly because of COVID. And if you
book me if you want me to comesing, I won't do it unless I get
to speak to audiences about mycoaching and the spirituality,
and the meditation. Becausethat's what's important. And
then everyone says, Well, yeah,but you've gotta sing. I sing, I
like to sing, and I'm startingto write a new album. Now. I
(10:35):
don't know what it'll be or whenit'll be but I'm I'm still a
musician. But I'm a changed, Iguess, individual.
Arwen Bardsley (10:45):
Yes. Yeah. And yeah, definitely want to get
into that. And I Yes, I did seethe bit about the the television
theme song, but it didn't meananything to me. And I thought
I'll probably I don't know ifthat came down to Australia.
Kevin Roth (11:01):
It might not have.
It was based on Thomas, the tankengine. It was big in the United
States and England. Europe, it'sit's got a bigger cult following
now on YouTube.
Arwen Bardsley (11:12):
Yeah.
Kevin Roth (11:15):
And that was just, that was an interesting luck
thing that I ran into or fate.
Because the Producer said thatthey were doing a show and it
was going to star Ringo of TheBeatles. You guys know who Ringo
is?
Arwen Bardsley (11:31):
Yes. Yeah, of course.
Kevin Roth (11:33):
And he asked me to do the this sing the theme. But
he was only going to pay me workfor hire, which means a one time
payment, not royalties. My musicattorney said absolutely not. So
I went back and I said, Mylawyer said absolutely not. And
he said, Well, I understand andI'll respect it, we'll get
(11:53):
someone else to do it. But ifit's a hit show, you can write
your ticket. And it was thefirst and only time I went
against what my lawyer said. AndI said, I'll do it and thank
God, I did. Because I could bookmyself in any concert hall in
the United States, and have afull house because I was known
(12:14):
for singing that one song.
Arwen Bardsley (12:18):
It's amazing.
Isn't it? The power oftelevision?
Kevin Roth (12:21):
Yeah, the medley of my hit. Yeah. You know, what's
funny is that people generationshave grown up listening to me.
So sometimes I get a fan lettersaying, oh my god, I just saw
you on YouTube talking aboutyour coaching and your out of
body experiences. I thought youwere dead. It was like 30 years
ago!
Arwen Bardsley (12:40):
No, here I am.
So, um, when your mother died,and you first saw the dulcimer,
what age was that?
Kevin Roth (12:54):
13, 14.
Arwen Bardsley (12:56):
13. Okay, right.
And so, yeah, a couple of yearslater, the record deal. That's
amazing. Okay, so let's get intothe melanoma story, because I'm
dying to hear that. So firstly,did you? Was it something that
(13:19):
you were having symptoms? Didsomeone point something out on
your skin? Did you have regularskin checks? How did that come
about?
Kevin Roth (13:30):
Well, I always had regular skin checks, because I
lived in Florida at the time,everyone should see
dermatologist at least once ayear. Whether you think there's
anything wrong or not, it's agood thing to do. Especially
with global warning, warming,and the ozone layer and all
that. There was a tiny littlefreckle on my nose. And the
(13:56):
dermatologist in Florida saidit's nothing to worry about. And
I decided after a series ofevents that I was going to leave
Florida, and I was going to movein with my sister in the
Midwest, and travel the countryto see where I wanted to live
(14:19):
next and what I wanted to do,because I had, I was taking sort
of a sabbatical leave from themusic business. But before I
went there to Kansas, I had, Iguess what you would call a
psychic impression. And one ofthe impressions is that I should
go to Kansas, and it would be arespite to work out all the
(14:41):
stuff I was going through on apersonal level. But there would
also be a major illness, and Iwould be fine. But it would be
quite a ride. And then I wouldprobably go back to California
where I'd lived 25 years ago,and I had no idea what this
illness was because I wasperfectly fine. And within a
(15:02):
month of getting to Kansas, Ihad to set up all my doctors.
And one of them, of course, wasa dermatologist and I went, and
he said, I don't like the lookof that on your nose. So they
did a little biopsy of it. Andthey said that it was something
called 'in situ', which meansnot cancer, but on the verge. So
(15:26):
they removed it. And I thought,Well, okay, I got a scar on my
nose, but at least I don't havecancer. And then about four
months later, I was shaving andI found a lump under my chin,
and I thought oh this is notgood. So they discovered that
the in situ on my nose was infact, melanoma and they
(15:48):
diagnosed it incorrectly. Andnow I had stage three melanoma.
And they said that these werethe oncologists, they said,
basically, there's no cure. Andthere's a 70% chance that this
is going to return within ayear, and you'll be dead within
two or three. So I was given adeath sentence. Now the
(16:11):
interesting part of this as Ididn't believe them, my gut told
me, they were absolutely wrong.
And I went to three oncologists,until I found one I thought knew
what they were talking about,that felt right to me, yet, and
I found he wasn't taking any newpatients. So I had to go see
somebody. And I did see this onewoman who scheduled a body scan.
(16:36):
And the results came back, and Iwent in to get the results. And
she said to me, imagine this,you're sitting in an office, and
you're waiting to hear if cancerhas spread throughout your body.
This isn't like, hey, what doyou think we'll have for dinner,
this is like, and she said tome, almost in one long breath,
(17:00):
the cancer hasn't spreadanywhere. So I'd like to
schedule you with Dr. So and sobecause I we should have, you
should have a lymphectomy. Andmy jaw hit the floor. And I
thought, first of all, what's alymphectomy? And it's where you
remove all the lymph nodes. Andthen I said to her, why, if
(17:24):
there's no sign of cancer, wouldyou want to take out lymph
nodes? And she said, It'sprotocol. And I came about as
close to hitting someone in mylife as in that moment. And I
said to her, my name isn'tprotocol. And if you don't see
cancer, you're not touching me.
(17:45):
And she said, Well, you don'tunderstand, Kevin. It's probably
in your system microscopically.
I said, well, then you might aswell just cut me open and take
everything. And I got veryupset. And I went to check out
and as I checked out, I saw adoctor who I wanted to see card
on the counter. And I said, Doeshe work in this office? And they
(18:08):
said, Yes, but he's not takingany new patients. And I said,
Well, he's gonna take me, andhe's gonna see tomorrow.
And of course, I got a dirtylook. And but I said, I'm not
leaving. I'm seriously notleaving. I'm seeing him, Dr.
Gower. And she found an openingat eight o'clock in the morning.
(18:30):
I was there at 730. And he wasthe only oncologist that said,
we should do nothing. And justwait and see. Because a
lymphectomy if there's no signsof cancer, it's protocol. But
so, you know, the moral of thestory is that you have to trust
(18:50):
your gut. You can't alwayslisten to doctors because
they're not always right. Butthe other moral of the story,
the biggest moral of the storyis that I had a year to wait to
see if this was going to kill meor not. It's not like, Okay,
we're gonna take an x ray, andwe'll call you on Monday with
(19:13):
the results. This was like,there's a 70% chance you'll be
dead. And it'll probably comeback within a year. That's a
long wait. So I fell down therabbit hole. I thought if I'm
going to die, and if this isgonna take me even though I
don't didn't think it was and itdidn't, and it never came back.
(19:36):
I said, I got to know who I am.
What I'm doing here. Whatmatters. Because I'm not living
this life that brought mecancer, which was stress, money,
new records, tour, fame, allthis crap. That was worthless,
worthless. I was making money. Iwasn't happy but I was on like
(19:58):
most people a merry go round.
And I said, that stops. And Ithought, What do you want? What
do you really want? What'simportant? And I said, My music,
as an artist and my dog. Why?
Because that's who I am, andwhat I love. And the third part,
(20:19):
and this is what I teach, knowwhat matters why, and what's
your plan. And my plan was, I'mgetting the hell out of Kansas.
And I'm going to go to beautifulsunny San Diego. And I'm going
to live my life as a bohemiandulcimer playing artist hippie.
And I don't care who says it'sright or wrong. Now I could not
(20:41):
afford to move to San Diego, SanDiego is a very expensive and
beautiful place to live, as isCalifornia. So what I did, and
this is the reason I became alife coach is I thought, You
know what you created this dreamcareer when you were 13. So you
can create a another dream andwalk out of the one you're in
(21:05):
and into that. That's exactlywhat I did. I saw who I was, I
felt who I was, I knew who thisguy Kevin was going to be. And I
called a friend who was arealtor here in San Diego. And I
said I need a one bedroomapartment with parking and
laundry for $1,000 a month. Andhe he said he said you can't get
(21:27):
a closet. I found exactly what Iwanted. He didn't know how I did
it. Nobody knew I could do it.
And I said I know exactly how Idid it. And it's not a secret.
And this is what I love to teachpeople when I coach. First thing
you need to know is what youdon't want. In life. Most people
(21:49):
don't even know that. They're injobs and relationships and a
life that they don't like. Butthey think there's no way out
when there is because everythingis the mind. And the second
thing is you need to create it,believe it feel it. And though
you may physically not be inthat position, or that place at
that very moment, physically,you're there mentally. And this
(22:15):
is proven, even with a simple,simple exercise that your
listeners and you can do rightnow, if you imagine you're
taking a glass of water, you'redrinking a glass of water, you
can almost feel that it's wetand cool, right? So now you're
putting the glass down, I wantyou to take a lemon and squeeze
it into your mouth and tell mewhat you feel.
Arwen Bardsley (22:39):
puckering, sensation. Yeah, absolutely.
Kevin Roth (22:41):
So your body is responding to your mind. You
don't have a lemon in yourmouth. But you're salivating. So
that's the principle that Iteach that it works. Envision
yourself wherever you want to bedoing whatever you want, believe
it and put your mind therebecause the mind doesn't know
(23:04):
whether it's real or not. Itjust knows what you feel. It's
epigenetics. It's the body mindconnection. And this is all
science. So life to me, besidesmusic is spiritual, and
metaphysical and scientific andpsychology. So it's a choice.
Arwen Bardsley (23:24):
So it seems to me from what just you mentioning
a couple of things about, youknow, having a vision when you
were three years old, thatyou've always been very much
working with that level ofenergy of, you know, on that
spiritual plane. So potentially,it's easier for you to do these
(23:52):
things to make these changes inyour mind than it is for some
people and I absolutely agreewith you that it's possible for
everyone. But yeah, do you doyou have any comments about
that? And you know, how, upuntil this point, had you tapped
into your that spiritual part oflife?
Kevin Roth (24:13):
Well, since I was a young kid, really, as early as I
can remember, I just had thesense that this life wasn't
real. That there was thissubstratum God Jesus, Buddha,
Moses, Mohammed whatever it was,it wasn't this. I felt like I
had been dropped off for thesummer at a camp that I didn't
(24:36):
sign up for. And I wanted out. Ididn't want to be here. I wasn't
suicidal, but didn't want to behere. But I knew that I had to
learn something. So you know,the saying I'm a spiritual being
having a human experience reallyapplies. And My whole life had
(25:02):
been searching for that we allhave what I call the longing.
It's I'm actually in the processof writing a book about it. The
longing is that we long to beloved. We long to be home. And
if you listen to the near deathexperiences on YouTube or read
books, and these are not bywacko woo woo people, these are
(25:23):
brain surgeons, psychologists,hundreds of 1000s of these
things have been studied. Whenpeople have near death
experiences when they dietemporarily, in a hospital or
wherever they have an experienceof leaving their body and going
to this place, and feelingunbelievable. love and
(25:49):
acceptance and no judgment. Andthey feel that it is home.
Everybody says it's home. And Ididn't want to come back to
Earth. But I was because I hadmore things to do. And it's
fascinating. And that's when Ialways saw it as a kid that
there was home. And this wasn'tit. And I was in search my whole
(26:10):
life for it. You know, when Ifirst saw the dulcimer the girl
who was playing the dulcimer,she was getting out of the music
field because she had found aspiritual teacher who taught
about God, he was a Sufi. Andbecause I was attracted to the
dulcimer and my friend Anne, Iended up at 13 watching and
(26:32):
listening to a guru. So this wasa whole setup. This is a setup
in life, the whole cancer was asetup the reason that I became a
personal coach and thank thankyou God, I'm told that I'm good
at it is because everything upto now has led me to this point
(26:54):
in time and everything that youknow we go through now leads us
further. So spiritually, andmusically and everything I even
even the people I've beenattracted to like Peter, Paul
and Mary, you guys know who theyare, right? The folk singing
group. I was just diehard fan.
And I just always saw myselfbeing buddies with them, at 15
(27:20):
and 16 you know. So they becamefriends. They recorded with me,
they were my mentors. I just infact heard from Peter about a
song I wrote about the Ukraine.
A song that I posted on myYouTube channel. I think it's
called Song for Ukraine, it'sunder Kevin Roth. But if you
(27:42):
listen to Peter, Paul and Mary,you got to listen a little bit
past leaving on a jet plane andPuff the Magic Dragon. They're
very spiritual group. Theydidn't know it. Paul knew it,
Paul Stookey knew it. He becamea born again Christian. But
their music is very spiritual.
Because they cared about lifeand love and liberty and, and
(28:03):
they sang a lot of spiritualsongs. But I don't think they
were aware of it. Of course,they hit a level of fame, which
is I don't know how you can benormal that famous but they
managed to be. So people likethat Judy Collin's very
spiritual kind of singer. Ithink all artists are Everything
(28:24):
I was attracted to had thatmagnetism to it.
Arwen Bardsley (28:30):
Yeah. Yeah, I was just going to say that I
think, you know, playing musicand probably any art is, you
know, you it's just taking youto that, more to that level
that, you know, the generalperson on the street possibly
isn't living their life at thatlevel. That really, is why we're
(28:52):
here to get to get to that levelis what I believe anyway. I
loved Puff the Magic Dragon as akid. Oh, my goodness.
Kevin Roth (29:04):
I did a duet with Peter on that on an album of
mine called dinosaurs anddragons. He was sweet enough to
sing a duet of it with me.
Arwen Bardsley (29:10):
Oh, yeah, yeah, we had we had an album when I
was growing up that had that onit, amongst many other, you
know, songs of the samegeneration. But yeah, it was one
of my favorites. So was it inthat year where you were waiting
(29:30):
to see if the cancer came backthat you've made all the changes
you made to your life or waskind of after you got the all
clear that you went right, I'vegot to change things
permanently. Tell me more aboutthat process.
Kevin Roth (29:43):
No, I made it during that year, because if I was
going to die, and eventually Iwill, as everyone will. I didn't
want to die like that. I wantedto die spiritually enlightened.
I wanted to know where I wasgoing, where did I come from?
What is all this stuff about SoI you know, it was a series of
(30:05):
very strange events. But while Iwas in my apartment in Kansas, I
found a movie on Netflix aboutguru named Yogananda. I had kind
of heard of, and I watched ittwice. And something said, you
should look for the SelfRealization fellowship of his.
(30:29):
And I thought, well, there's noway in Kansas, there's going to
be one I knew there was one inCalifornia and probably New
York. But I had this inner nudgeto keep looking. And lo and
behold, there was one literally,almost across the street from my
apartment. The only one in theMidwest. So I went there, very
(30:52):
frightened in a lot of fear withthe cancer. And although I'm not
a follower of Yogananda, histeachings, which was self
realization, were verycomforting, and made me want to
Google something called selfrealization. And I discovered a
(31:13):
teacher by the name of RamanaMaharshi. And upon reading his
work, it was similar to hearingthe dulcimer for the first time,
I absolutely knew that what thisguy taught was true. And from
there, I discovered a guy inCalifornia, Robert Wolf, who
(31:35):
wrote a book on non duality inRamana, and he became my mentor,
friend spiritually. Sobasically, what Ramana is
teaching is is not verydifferent from Jesus, or Buddha.
Ramana says, basically, thewhole thing is a question. Who
(31:57):
am I? And the answer is, I am.
What did you so I have a lot ofpeople who are Christians that
say, Well, you know, until youfind Jesus, you are going to be
sent to Hell. Yeah. And I say, Ilike Jesus. You know, be still
and know that I'm God. Be inthis world, but not of it. It's
(32:18):
the same thing. Same thingRamana says. Buddhists say, Why
don't you believe that youshould believe Buddha, I don't
believe Buddha, no mind, noproblem. Everything leads back
to the same point that we arewhat we're seeking. And quantum
physics tells you that there'snothing that exists that this
(32:43):
life is a dream. It's science.
And all the spiritual texts,whether they're very, very old,
like the Upanishads, or they'reJesus's teaching, they all tell
you this life is an illusion. Sojust by inductive logic, what
are we worried about? I want toown another house, I want more
(33:06):
money, I want more fame, I needanother and we're chasing our
tails. Looking for happinesslooking to be loved. And it's
very, very simple. When peoplesay to me, Well, yeah, but what
do you do to feel happy? I hike?
Hiking is my Church,
Arwen Bardsley (33:22):
Me too. Yeah.
Kevin Roth (33:23):
You know, Monday through Thursday, I don't answer
the phone unless I need to. Idon't talk to people. I go
hiking with my dog and mydulcimer and my flute. That's
great. I'm happier now than I'veever been. Thank God, I'm a
successful coach so I can paythe bills. But if you gave me a
(33:45):
five room mansion, I wouldn'ttake it. I don't want to clean
it. I want nothing to do withit, I just like it simple. And I
think people who becomespiritually evolved or
minimalist. You just learn thatless is more and you like it? So
(34:05):
you know, that's, that's how Iroll.
Arwen Bardsley (34:08):
Yeah. So what did you do? What changes did you
make for your physical body inthat time?
Kevin Roth (34:18):
Well, the first thing I did is I changed my
diet, because stress andinflammation causes cancer. And
I was overweight. So I changedmy diet. I cut out negative
people. I made a deal with thecredit card companies that I was
going to pay $20 A month nomatter how much I owed because I
(34:40):
was in a great deal of debt dueto a project I had invested in
which didn't work out. And ifthey said to me, Well, we're
gonna report you to the creditagency, I would say okay, well,
I'll be dead in a year. So doyou want the $20 or don't you?
Oh, I'm so sorry, sir. Okay,well, we'll make it and
everything was paid offeventually. And I spent a lot of
(35:04):
time in contemplation andprayer. Thinking, tell me what
it's basically a state ofsurrender? Like, you know, if,
if my time is now what do I needto know, before I leave? You
know, and it was all shown itwas shown through Yogananda, it
(35:24):
was shown through RamanaMaharshi. I could find it in
Jesus, I could find it inBuddha. I didn't really want to
hear it. I wanted to do what Ithought was better, which was
yeah but how am I going to paythe bills, but yet, so I was
still hooked into the materialworld because I hadn't evolved
(35:47):
enough at that point. I didn'tknow enough at that point. I
eventually got it. And right,towards the end of the year, I
went into my oncologist'soffice. And I said, I was going
to move to California. And hesaid, you know, we should
probably do a CAT scan and, andI said, Well, what, why? What
(36:10):
would you do with that? And hesaid, well, we'd know if there
was something. And I said, Well,if there's something is there a
cure? And he said, No. And Isaid, What am Why do I want to
know? And he said, to plan yourlife, and I said, What life
because this past year, nothat's not my life. So I'm going
to go to California. If I'msick, if I find a lump, I'll
(36:31):
find an oncologist. And I'lldecide what to do from there.
But I'm not doing this year.
Again. This was a majorspiritual bootcamp. I'm not
doing this again. I'm exhausted.
And I got in my jeep with 16dulcimers, and my dachshund, and
some clothes and I drove threedays out to California, almost
in a fog. I couldn't believe it.
I thought, what are you going todo when you get there. But I
(36:52):
just trusted that I needed to behere. And I got here. And it was
a bit of a struggle the firstyear because I had to kind of
get sort of a job for the firsttime in my life. Because the
music business had imploded foreverybody. People were
downloading music for free,people weren't really paying for
concerts unless you were a bigname. So I happen to know a good
(37:13):
deal and I had many, many yearsago learned massage therapy,
which came in handy so I didthat. And I all those wonderful
oils. They look like essentialoils on your shelf?
Arwen Bardsley (37:31):
Yeah, yep. Yep, that's right.
Kevin Roth (37:33):
You know, how wonderful massage is and that
sustained me. And then I gotreally, really, really, really
happy. And I wrote I think theone of the best albums of my
life called the DeviantDulcimerist. And it ended up
sort of in the in the runningfor a Grammy.
Arwen Bardsley (37:53):
Oh, wow!
Kevin Roth (37:54):
I didn't get there.
But I love that record. And thenI started to sing again. And
then out of the blue, someonesaid, You ought to teach what
you did to overcome melanoma andchange your life. And I said,
Well, how, how would I teachsomething like that? And they
said, well, they have lifecoaches, and I said, What's the
life coach? And they explainedit to me, and I Googled it. And
(38:17):
I thought, God, you know, halfthese people look crazy to me.
But my friend said, Yeah, butyou actually reinvented your
life and it worked. And you playthe dulcimer in such a
meditative style. Why don't youteach people how to play the
dulcimer how to play dulcimeditation if they play the
dulcimer great if they don't,the dulcimer is easy to learn
(38:40):
it's not that expensive, and youcan teach it through zoom all
around the world. And that's howthis began.
Arwen Bardsley (38:50):
Okay. And you mentioned before we started
recording that you were workingwith someone in Australia also
to help you. Can you tell meabout that?
Kevin Roth (39:04):
Oh, yes, yes. I found this woman online,
Prudence Sinclair. And she hadbeen given a death, a melanoma
stage 4 death sentence. And shedid what I did that she said,
No, no, you're wrong. And shewent away. And she meditated,
and she re envisioned her life.
And I called her and I asked herif she would help me know what
(39:27):
to do. And she has a course thatyou can buy I didn't buy it. I
bartered with her music and Isaid to her that I more than I
mean what she was telling me todo. I had already figured out
spiritually and diet. I knew allthat I needed to talk to someone
(39:50):
who has been through it. Ididn't want to talk to any more
people that said you need tofind Jesus or You need to go to
Mexico and have caffeine, thingsinjected into your rectum. I
needed to talk to someone whosaid, I had stage three or stage
four, this is how I did it.
(40:16):
There's no guarantee that it'llwork for you. But I'm pretty
damn sure it will. And that'swhat she did for me. And I
understood what she said,Because I had used that to
create my music career. I'veused that to sustain my life. I
(40:36):
never thought about doinganything like healing my body,
because there was never anythingwrong with me. But you know,
everyone has cancer in them. Andyou need to understand everyone
needs to understand epigenetics,they need to understand the mind
(40:57):
body connection. So, again, shefell into my life at the right
time. And I honestly believethat the reason I didn't die,
that I beat, the odds was to dowhat we're doing today was to
(41:17):
teach this. So that's why I sayit's not about my music or fame
anymore. It's about helpingpeople's lives change. You know,
when I, when I finish workingwith a client, and they have
tears in their eyes, becausetheir lives have changed, not
because I was such a greatcoach, but because they did the
work and I guided them. That'sbetter than standing ovation. I
(41:41):
mean it to see people's liveschange. And to know that it's
all channeled, but it's not medoing it. So it's a it's a
mystical, magical thing. Itreally is.
Arwen Bardsley (41:54):
And yeah, I mean, that can be quite
difficult to teach, I guess. Imean, I suppose if people are
open to it it makes it oranything's easier to teach if
someone's open to it. But yeah,it's kind of very intangible,
isn't it?
Kevin Roth (42:12):
Well, if people want to work with me there, they
go to my website, Kevinroth.org. And there's a form
that they fill out. And I lookat those very carefully. Because
I don't care how much money youput into my pocket. If you're
not going to do the work, I'mnot working with you. Because I
don't think about clients forthe 45 or 50 minutes, once a
(42:36):
week, I carry you guys aroundwith me all week long, which is
why I only work with a certainnumber. If I see a video, if I
have a thought, I'll email youand get it to you. My goal is
that if you do what I suggestyou do, and we work together,
and I just follow you, I findout where you're coming from,
(42:58):
and what you need. And I use myinstinct and my, I sort of have
an empathic kind of way ofworking with people, you will
change. I've only had oneclient, that that it was a very
disappointing thing. Because shedid not want to look at certain
(43:20):
things in her life because shewasn't ready. She thought she
was. But you know, I don't wantto look at it. I don't want to
go there. I don't want to youknow, you know, I just want to
do what you did. You know, justsnap my fingers.
Arwen Bardsley (43:32):
Give me the Step by step. Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin Roth (43:35):
And it'san unfolding. It's, I call it a
slow drip. Yes, it's a step bystep. But once you get it, once
you get what I'm teaching you.
It works, because it's justlogical. It's all about the
mind. So once you understandthat, and how that works, and
you believe in what you want todo, and you create that life, in
(43:58):
your mind. It's like, feelingthat lemon in your mouth. How it
happens. I have no idea. Howdoes anything happen. I mean,
this whole universe is infinite.
There's no middle beginning orend to it. It's bizarre. You
know, we live with our jobs andour families and our daily
(44:22):
events. We don't think that theuniverse is expanding into what?
Nothing. It's all dark matter.
We don't go there because wecan't wrap our heads around it.
So we stay where we are, whichis an illusion, that's all
Arwen Bardsley (44:37):
Yeah, yeah. So before your diagnosis. Were you
did you already have, excuse me,a strong meditation kind of
practice for yourself?
Kevin Roth (44:53):
No. I didn't like meditation, and I still don't do
meditation. I do what I guess Iwhen I play the dulcimer, I kind
of tune into just nothingness. Ido a walking meditation where I
do inner listening. But Isitting with my legs folded and
(45:17):
doing breathing and all thatstuff is not my thing. But I get
the same results when I hike orwhen I'm playing the dulcimer in
a meditative style. I just, Iget there, I find the answers.
Silence is very loud. If youshut up long enough to listen to
(45:38):
it. Most people can't sit forfive minutes and have a cup of
tea without checking their cellphone. So the answers are
there. You know, the answers arethere. You just have to listen
to it. It's your inner voice.
And you know, the teacher whenthe students ready the teacher
shows up. So some peoplemeditate, meditate, like you
know you do and it's a valuesome people chant some people
(46:00):
hike. Some people play dulcimer.
Arwen Bardsley (46:07):
Yeah. So let's go into the dulci meditation,
then. What, what is it?
Kevin Roth (46:15):
So I'm going to, let's see, I'm going to try
this. There we go. So you cansee this. So the dulcimer has,
you know, four strings, andthey're basically two of them or
chain or two in the same. Andthen there's an octave. And then
(46:36):
there's a fifth. And the scaleis very simple. So it's not
chromatic, like the piano orguitar. So dulci meditation is
simply breathing slowly, anddeeply, and letting go and
(46:56):
asking your inner guidance, whatdo I need to know, and then just
doing things like this.
(47:34):
So it's that kind of thing. Thedifference between listening to
meditation, music and playing itis that when you play the
dulcimer, you feel the vibrationof the wood on your lap. And if
you play very, very simply,which is what I teach people
over zoom during our sessions,there's not much to do. In fact,
(47:59):
less is more. So you'reliterally you just have to get
it in tune, which is not a bigdeal. They have tuning
instruments for that. And thenyou just strum it gently. And
don't think about whether you'redoing it right, wrong or
indifferent. No one's there, butyou and you space out, you kind
of fall down the rabbit hole ofdulcimer music. And that's how
(48:25):
people do it.
Arwen Bardsley (48:26):
So it's Yeah, because I assumed it was,
listening. But it's it'sactually the act of playing the
instrument that is themeditative state.
Kevin Roth (48:38):
Yes, you you can I do have an album called dulci
meditation, which you can justlisten to. It has its own with a
background of the rain. Veryrelaxing. I fall asleep to it
many times. And you can do that.
But if you're looking to learn amusical instrument that's
beautiful and simple, anddesigned sort of for meditation.
(49:01):
That's why I created the wink.
It has planets for sound holes.
So it's a reminder that we'renot who we think we are. We're,
you know, we are stardust asJoni Mitchell wrote. And it's an
easy instrument to play and whenyou're not playing it, you can
hang it on the wall. It looksbeautiful, like the one behind
(49:21):
me.
Arwen Bardsley (49:23):
Yeah, it does look beautiful. I do astrology
as well. So it's yeah, that'sthe dulcimer for me.
Kevin Roth (49:29):
Yes. Do we need to get you an astrological
dulcimer? Yeah,
Arwen Bardsley (49:33):
yeah, yeah.
Okay. So I guess I'd just likefor you to feel like you've made
it clear what you know, Isuppose it's about what kinds of
situations or people orwhatever, tend to seek you out
for your life coaching or what?
(49:58):
What kinds of people, I knowyou've said the people who are
ready to do the work.
Absolutely. But is there anyparticular kind of client that
you're looking for?
Kevin Roth (50:09):
Well, I, my clients are medical doctors, they're
clergy, they're professionals,they're housewives, what I find
ends up happening is thatsomeone hears me, or hears of
me. And something resonates inthem, like, oh, I need to check
that out. And they do. And theygo to my website, Kevinroth.org.
(50:32):
And they fill out a form andthey ask for a free 30 minute
zoom consultation. And then I'llknow within the first five
minutes, whether we're a match.
And if I don't think we are,I'll guide you to some other
place or some other person. Andyeah, that's how that people
(50:55):
find me, you know, in thecoaching business, because it's
a business now, there are peoplewho want to be Rockstar coaches,
you know, they want to make100,000 a month, and they want
to do all this stuff. I don'thave any interest in, I have
interest in working with thepeople that I'm supposed to work
(51:15):
with, and who are supposed towork with me. And the money
comes in, the money shows up.
And that's those are the peoplethat find me. You know, I've
done a lot. You know, it'sfunny, I've done a number. I
like doing podcasts. One day, Ihave my own podcast show, but
several of my clients are actualpeople who've interviewed me for
Arwen Bardsley (51:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've done a lot of
things with people that I'veinterviewed. It's, yeah, yeah.
You know, I mean, I'm the sameas you. I believe that. Well, I
believe that I interview thepeople I do for a reason as
well. And, you know, it justseems to work out that you find
(51:59):
the right people to connect within every aspect of life
Kevin Roth (52:05):
Yeah. It's a very funny thing. You know, I had
written down this appointment inmy book, and I forgot to look.
And last night at three ish inthe morning, which is usually
when people wake up, I wokestraight up and something said,
you have something to dotomorrow, you need to know
about, and I thought, Oh, myGod, what is it and I looked on
(52:27):
my phone, where the my mailcomes in, I thought, I have this
interview. So this interview hashappened before. before it
happened. That's how it is. It'sfascinating. When you get into
the metaphysical and thespiritual. Understanding that
this is just a dream and how itkind of works. It's a blast.
Arwen Bardsley (52:50):
Yeah, it's funny. My son calls it a
simulation. He says we're alljust in a simulation. He's 19
Kevin Roth (52:57):
Wouldn't doubt it.
Wouldn't it in a moment.
Arwen Bardsley (53:02):
yeah. So can you just tell me the name of the
album with the dulci meditationmusic and, rain
Kevin Roth (53:11):
um, if you want, my website has the album
kevinroth.org It has informationon the wink dulcimers it has the
information on what I do and howI do it. So everything can be
found there. It's not a physicalCD. It's just a download. It's
(53:33):
called dulcimeditation.
Arwen Bardsley (53:35):
Okay. Yep.
Kevin Roth (53:37):
I also have a course on teachable. So I think you
kevinroth.teachable.com andeight modules of what I do as a
coach, you know, condensed andin that. I talk a little bit
about the dulcimer meditationdulci meditation, but I will
eventually do a dulci meditationcourse.
Arwen Bardsley (54:00):
But that course is basically a coaching course.
Kevin Roth (54:03):
Yes, yes. It's called something like how to
create the life you love orsomething. I forget what I
called it. But it's been verywell received. So that's good.
Yeah, work heavy lifting. Youknow, it's, it's, you know,
there's exercises to do.
Arwen Bardsley (54:22):
Yep. But and so is that all just self paced?
Yes. And there's no you know,interaction with you doing that,
just an online? Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin Roth (54:33):
But you can reach out to me. "I'm on module Six or
seven, and I have a question"and I'll answer you.
Arwen Bardsley (54:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's a good
you know, kind of introductionto your style. And, you know,
what, what, people would knowwhat they're going to be getting
into if they want to go intomore coaching with you.
Kevin Roth (54:55):
Yeah, actually, these podcasts really tell you,
you know who I am and you Getall that stuff in what my story
is?
Arwen Bardsley (55:02):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. And I mean, absolutely.
And listening to someone forkind of 45 minutes, you know
whether you're going to gel withthem or not. So it's a great way
for you to reach out to people.
And do you have any particularyou know, special programs or
anything other than what you'vealready mentioned that you
wanted to mention to theaudience?
Kevin Roth (55:25):
Well, there's a free five minute stress buster,
breathing sort of meditationthat I give out free on my
website. So if you want to knowhow to calm your, your mind down
within a couple minutes, how Ilearned that was interesting, I
was doing a really big concertin the states with the
(55:49):
Philadelphia Orchestra. And thiswas maybe 20 years into my
career, and I've never had stagefright. And this, I was
petrified of. So I went to apsychologist and I said, I am
afraid, something tells me thatI could just freak out. And so
she taught me this breathing,exercise, breathing and holding
(56:11):
your breath and letting it outand counting. And it really
saved me because I was on theside of the stage. It was a full
house was an opera house musthave been 2000 people. And the
Philadelphia Orchestra was inback of me, I was soloing, you
know, they're one of the mostwonderful and famous orchestras
in the world. So if there was atime for me to freak out, that
(56:34):
was it. But I got through it,and I've used it ever since. You
know, I'm a pretty calm guy. Butif I need to quiet down or calm
down, it takes me less than fiveminutes, and I give that away
for free on the website.
Arwen Bardsley (56:50):
Okay, well, thank you for that. That's
really,
Kevin Roth (56:53):
you know, it's interesting that you brought up
about concerts, because I waspretty sure I wasn't gonna be
giving anymore. And just theother day, I had this impression
that no, you're going to startgoing out there and singing
again, in connection with this.
So I'm open to doing like,conferences, or church programs,
or retreats or things like.
(57:16):
Which so far all my coaching hasbeen to zoom, mostly because of
COVID.
Arwen Bardsley (57:21):
Yeah, yeah. I think we've all just gotten into
living our life on Zoom, haven'twe?
Kevin Roth (57:27):
Yeah. But what I do is very different than anybody
else, because it's my ownexperience. And I only teach
from experience. I don't, Ihaven't taken a coaching course
on how to coach.
Arwen Bardsley (57:38):
Ah. Yeah, I'm meant to ask you that. Okay.
Kevin Roth (57:41):
Yeah, I don't study that stuff. I work with what I
know. So if I tell you to dosomething, it's because I've
experienced it, and it's worked.
Also, the kind of a coach thatwill tell you of my own screw
ups, which is unknown in thecoaching business. I'll tell
you, you know, I had a reallydifficult week this week, and
(58:03):
this is what happened to me. Andthe lesson of it was I learned
to yada yada, yada, yada, yada.
Arwen Bardsley (58:12):
This is what not to do. Yeah.
Kevin Roth (58:14):
Yeah. And because even though on some level, I
know a great deal, and I'vehelped a lot of people and
certainly overcome a lot inlife. I'm still you know, a
human guy. That's, you know,yeah. So, I think it's important
to be real with people. I dofocus on you. I mean, I don't
you know, you're it's about you.
So the whole session isn't aboutme. But I'm not afraid to tell
(58:36):
people, you know, what I'velearned in a really wonderful
way or in a not so wonderfulway. Yeah. You know, there was a
I was just telling a client theother day that I was about to
cross this bridge, this woodenbridge on a creek. I mean, I
thought it was a creek, and Istarted to go there, start to
(58:58):
walk on it. There's no one elsearound, it was out in the middle
of really nowhere and somethingsaid, Do not go on there. And my
dog who never goes in front ofme, happened to walk on that and
one of the planks caved in. Andhe like sunk. He got out but I
(59:20):
thought and there was like anails I mean, it was a really,
it was a it was a wooden littlecrossing bridge that should be
destroyed and rebuilt. When youhave when I teach this thing,
mindful awareness, if you learnto tune into things that are
subtle, you listen to thatwarning, like the voice says
(59:43):
don't go on that bridge. Andthen you think well, why? And
then suddenly your dog doessomething it never does. And it
falls into the water. Just youknow, for a little quick bolk
and then back out. You look atthat, and you say, ah, isn't
that amazing? Rather than, Oh myGod, it's a lesson. So I was
talking to my clients that lastweek, I said, you know, you need
(01:00:06):
to pay attention to your innervoice, because it's guiding you
all the time.
Arwen Bardsley (01:00:13):
I just think we're so genuinely out of touch
with our inner voice.
Kevin Roth (01:00:20):
Yeah, it's a shame, because it's a blast. You know,
I mean, if there's nopsychedelic in the world, I can
have the experiences that I'vehad, especially, especially with
some of the spiritual stuff,like, we won't get into it
today. But there's somethingcalled a Agata, A-g-a-t-a, which
(01:00:41):
is unbelief, it means thatnothing exists. And science
actually proves that. So whenyou start to understand this
stuff, and you get to comprehendit, and experience it, it's like
living in the twilight zone. Youcan't unknow it, you know, like,
you couldn't go back to who youwere 20 years ago. Right. We
(01:01:04):
couldn't be that person. So it'sfascinating. And we become
addicted to this miraculous,spiritual fantasy thing that
goes on. And that's whatinterests us.
Arwen Bardsley (01:01:18):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I certainly don't think
that the whole I mean,smartphones and just all the,
the distraction, we have so muchdistraction. And that, you know,
I mean, it doesn't help withyour day to day stuff, but it
also is so distracting from thatinner voice.
Kevin Roth (01:01:39):
Yeah, that's why I shut the world down Monday
through Thursday. Until Thursdayafternoon when I start coaching.
It's wonderful.
Arwen Bardsley (01:01:47):
Yeah, exactly.
That that is wonderful. Yeah, Iwould like to do that as well.
And I know, you'd say well, youcan do it. So yes I can. When
it's the right thing for me todo, I will do it. Okay, so I
think that is all that I wantedto ask you, Kevin, um, you know,
such a fascinating story, andreally interesting conversation.
(01:02:12):
So I know that everybody willget a lot out of it. And you've
mentioned your website. So it'sKevin roth.org. Is that right?
Yep. And we'll certainly putlinks to that. Oh, that's the
only other thing I just wantedyou to just talk a little bit
about your song for the Ukraine,just because it's pretty topical
(01:02:35):
right now.
Kevin Roth (01:02:39):
Well, you know, I'm not a political song writer.
Peter, Paul and Mary were verypolitical. And were my mentors
and roots. And Peter alwayswanted to be me to be an
activist. And I'm more of aspiritualist. But this guy,
Putin infuriates me, even thoughI know he's an illusion. But I
(01:03:05):
think that it's very interestingthat his demonic head has
brought the world together in away that we've never seen. And
it was eating at me, and Ithought, you know, you need to
(01:03:26):
get this out. So write the song.
And there was a very precisesong that basically said that,
you know, we're gonna keepfighting. And we believe in our
freedom. And, you know, all youcare about is greed. And that
you'll probably be taken outbecause of greed. You know,
(01:03:47):
which, to me can't happenanytime soon. sooner. But God
help us who takes his place ifanyone, but I recorded it. I
read the lyrics as I sang it. Soit wasn't a fancy production.
And I posted it on my website,and on Facebook. And people
(01:04:07):
started to spread it around. AndI sent it actually to Peter, who
rarely answers any emails,because he's always so busy. And
he wrote back a lovely emailthat said, you know, I'm proud
of you for writing the song and,you know, you have such
humanity. You know, you know,Mary passed away many years ago,
(01:04:30):
but you know, he's often said,Mary would be very proud of your
work, I adored Mary. So it was awonderful thing from that point,
because I felt that my fullrelationship musically and
emotionally and spirituallymentally came full circle, and
Peter was delighted. And thensomeone posted a comment on
(01:04:52):
Facebook about the song and thenthey sent it to someone in
Ukraine. And then they startedto spread it around in Ukraine a
little bit. So I mean, I didn'tdo it. In fact, they say that if
you like the song, donate moneyto these charities, I don't make
any money off it. But it'ssomething I did. Because it came
(01:05:19):
from my heart and I doeverything authentically. I
don't you know, you can hear it,you can hear it in my voice. I
mean, I'm, I'm musicallydelightfully pissed. By but I
felt really much better healed.
(01:05:40):
And I was able to kind of let itgo. I don't watch the news every
day about it. I know that thisguy in my gut tells me this guy
will go down. Something goodwill come of this. I you know,
the great mystery. Why do peoplehave to die and all these other
things? I mean, there's lots ofanswers to that. The one I like
(01:06:02):
is that, you know, this was apredestined arrangement, and
that there was a cause, and youknow, what we think it is? It's
not really anyway. But still,um, it's a very, very tough
situation. It's an illusion, forsure. It's not really happening.
But in the dream, it's a tough,tough situation. And I think
(01:06:25):
that my song, certainly byrecording it and writing it in a
sense, healed me, and thecomments on YouTube are very
similar, you know, thank you forwriting it. And, you know, the
world's really supporting eachother, which is phenomenal.
Arwen Bardsley (01:06:42):
So is YouTube, the best place for people to
listen to it?
Kevin Roth (01:06:48):
Yeah, yeah. If you just type in song for Ukraine,
I'll look it up just to be surethat that's the right title. And
the other thing that I realizedabout this, interestingly
enough, was Oh it's called songfor Ukraine. And, you know, what
I'll do is I'll send you a link,okay. And we can put it on there
(01:07:13):
is that the younger generationnow is saying, We've had it with
the old farts, we've had it withyour wars, we've had it with
your greed, you know, we want tohouse we want a right to live.
You know, here in the UnitedStates, right now, real estate
is insane. I was watching theshow and a corporate guy who,
(01:07:39):
who buys all these houses andrents them proudly said, Oh, we
feel really bad for people thatcan't afford to buy. But you
know, the American Dream used tobe owning a home, the American
dream now is being able to rentand I thought you bastard, how
dare you know, so. But that's areally negative thing that you
(01:08:01):
know, when things like thatcome, I erase them quickly,
because I can live in anywhere,any place at any time I want.
And I know I can create it. Infact I'm working on a little
nice little place now in mymind. So I don't pay attention
to that. But the youngergeneration around the world is
saying, We don't want anynuclear stuff. We don't care
(01:08:21):
about you guys having $16,000bedrooms, you know, we want to
live and they're gonna they'reoutstaying these old guys. And
they're saying, you know, Imean, a lot of Russians, a lot
of Russians don't like this war.
And they get imprisoned for it.
(01:08:42):
So but in the end, like thesaying says, and I guess this is
a good way to wrap up theinterview. Everything works out
in the end. And if it hasn'tworked out, it's not the end.
Arwen Bardsley (01:08:54):
Yeah, yeah. I love that. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. Well, I mean, you know,we've got to the young people
need to deserve to want to havea planet to live on firstly, as
well. And that's, you know, the,the huge crisis that I in my
(01:09:14):
mind.
Kevin Roth (01:09:15):
And if we want it bad enough, we'll have it.
Arwen Bardsley (01:09:18):
Yep. That's right. Well, thank you so much,
Kevin. It's been really great.
And yeah, it's lovely to meetyou. And I'm sure that lots of
people will get a lot out ofwhat you had to say and looking
looking into all that you'reoffering. So thank you so much
for your time today,
Kevin Roth (01:09:39):
No, you're welcome.
Stay cool down there.
Arwen Bardsley (01:09:43):
We will!
So welcome, everybody to today's episode.
(00:03):
I'm delighted today to have awonderful new guest who I'm
really interested to hear hisstory and share that with
everyone. So I'm welcoming todaymusician Kevin Roth. Kevin is an
internationally renowned singer,writer, and dulcimer player with
over 50 recordings. He's wonnumerous awards and been
(00:27):
recognized by major companiesincluding Time Warner and Sony
Music for his unique talent. Thereason which some people might
be thinking, Oh, a musician, whyare we doing that on 5 star
wellbeing podcast. And thereason is that Kevin has a
really interesting story to tellfrom his more recent life, about
(00:50):
his battle or overcomingmelanoma. And that was one
reason so a death sentence ofstage three melanoma that he
overcame, which I think is superinteresting. And I really am
interested to hear in the aboutthe process that Kevin went
(01:11):
through. And just the thingsthat he felt he he or learned
that he needed to change in hisgeneral life to overcome that.
But secondly, Kevin has alsodeveloped something he's called
dulci meditation. And aseveryone knows, I'm a huge fan
of meditation, use it a lot inmy work, am always recommending
(01:35):
it to you guys. So I'm reallyexcited to hear about that as
well. So welcome, Kevin. I'dlove if we can just start off
with you telling us about a bitabout you your origin story,
your why, how did you get to bewhere you are now. And
(01:55):
especially interested, I'm sureyou'll take us through it, but
the first record deal at 15years old is pretty cool. And
also, before you go any further,I'd love you to just explain
what a dulcimer is and how yougot into that particular
instrument as well.
Kevin Roth (02:16):
Well, thanks for having me. It's nice to talk
with someone from down under. Sothis is a dulcimer. This is the
mountain dulcimer. Thisparticular instrument is one
that I helped design and I callit a wink dulcimer. It has
planets as sound holes. It hasfour strings. And it's this
(02:40):
particular model is a redwoodtop and Sherry back and sides.
And then it has a little thingon the bottom where you can plug
it in. And it has a micartafretboard and it's built by one
of the premier dulcimer Buildershere in the United States in
(03:02):
Mountain View Arkansas calledthe dulcimer shop. And they're
sort of oh, they're known as atop of the line companies like
anyone who buys something fromthe dulcimer shop like a mixpad
dulcimer or a wink. Thereputation is impeccable. So I'm
(03:23):
very happy and very proud tohave gotten with them. The
dulcimer is a mysteriousinstrument really because nobody
knows its history. Much like me.
Which we'll get into! I get alittle goofy, so I just want to
put that out there first.
It may be theCalifornia vibes I'm not sure.
Arwen Bardsley (03:43):
Great! But the dulcimer is really a
relative of the zither. So indifferent parts of the world,
there are different types ofdulcimers, the Norwegian
Langlick the Swedish humble thefriendship and the DeVos. But if
you look at old photographs ofreally old dulcimers, there is
(04:07):
no specific shape or size tothem, unlike the guitar or the
piano. So it has always been aninstrument of innovation and
creativity. What's interestingabout that is when I first saw
the dulcimer, which was 1973 Isaw a young woman playing it in
(04:28):
a kitchen. And how I ended upthere is is sort of a remarkable
story. And I'll just I'll take afew seconds to tell you that.
My mother had just passed awayfrom a heart attack. And a
friend of mine introduced me toa guy who said hey, do you want
(04:48):
to go to a meditation gathering?
I didn't even know what it was.
And I was still in such shockthat my mother had just died
suddenly that I went So, youknow, nothing happens for no
reason. And that's where I metthis, this friend of mine who's
been a friend now 50 years, AnneStokes, at the time. And I saw
(05:09):
the dulcimer, and I justabsolutely knew this was my
destiny, no question about it,None. Absolutely none. And I
just fell in love with it. And Ididn't know that there were
other dulcimer players out therethat had been recorded like Jean
(05:32):
Ritchie and some traditionalfolk players. So I didn't know
there was a style. So I got thedulcimer and I had been playing
the piano by ear. So I justassumed that I could play
somewhere over the rainbow onthe dulcimer or Jacques Burrell
on the dulcimer, anything Iwanted.
(05:57):
Then I, I decided how I came upwith this idea, I still can't
figure it out. But I decided,Oh, I'm going to become rich and
famous playing this instrument.
So, I sent a couple tapes tosome record companies. And of
course I never heard from Icould barely sing I could play
(06:17):
pretty well, it was about a yearor two. But I hadn't studied
voice at that point. But onecompany, which was the largest
and still is the largest folkmusic label in the world, called
folk way records, wrote me backand he said, I'm interested in a
tape of your dulcimer playingCan you send me more pieces? So
(06:37):
his name was Moses Ash. He's areal legend and he passed away
many years ago but folkways isnow part of the Smithsonian
Institute, which is a big dealhere in the States. What he
heard was this young kid who didthings on dulcimer, no one ever
thought of. And I, he signed meand I did my first album at 15.
(06:59):
It came out at 16. It was calledKevin Ross sings and plays
dulcimer. And I caught thedulcimer wave, the mountain
dulcimer starting to become morepopular and more popular through
people like Joni Mitchell andfolk singers, The Rolling Stones
and but I became known as one ofthe world's most innovative
(07:23):
dulcimer players, you know, sothey said, Oh, this guy, Kevin,
he's a genius on the dulcimer, Idon't really think I was. What I
had was that I didn't have anyidea how to play it except the
way I wanted to. Which is one ofthe things that I teach people
when I do personal coaching,because I'm also a personal
coach, as you know, the limitsare in your mind, the world is a
(07:45):
blank canvas. So I I did, Ithink a dozen records for him.
And then I got into children'smusic and started my own record
label. And hit sort of the bigtime with that having sung the
theme to a major television showcalled Shining Time Station for
kids. And as they say, the restis sort of history. And by the
(08:10):
time I was I guess 34,35 I wasquote rich and famous. The money
didn't last but the fame seemsto have hung around. My desire
to be well known, and my desireto be rich, my desire for
everything that I went after,was to be happy. And I thought
(08:34):
fame and fortune would make mehappy. And it does not. I think
that when I thought anotherhouse, another car, another
relationship, another piece ofclothing, another dulcimer. They
are things that aren't wrong,but they're pointers to what we
all want, which is happiness,which is our true nature. So
(08:58):
when my clients say, you know, Iwant to be loved I say Well,
guess what? I got a lover foryou Instantly. Instantly, no
dating apps, none of it? Theysay yeah, I say yeah, you, you
have to fall in love with youfirst. But the dulcimer was my
life raft because I had aturbulent childhood. Which I pre
(09:22):
saw, by the way, in a visionwhen I was a young kid, I saw
that the first part of my lifewould be difficult, which it was
the second part of my life wouldbe even more difficult but very
successful, which it was. Andthe third part with that would
be and I say this with I guessas much humility as I could come
up with as spirituallyenlightened as I could possibly
(09:45):
be and very happy. And that'snow happening. Full circle, so I
don't really have any interestin Kevin Roth the performer
anymore, although it seems to begaining speed, because I don't
find any value in fame orfortune? I, I just don't. But it
took a death sentence to figurethat one out.
(10:08):
So do you still perform though?
Kevin Roth (10:12):
I do rarely. Mostly because of COVID. And if you
book me if you want me to comesing, I won't do it unless I get
to speak to audiences about mycoaching and the spirituality,
and the meditation. Becausethat's what's important. And
then everyone says, Well, yeah,but you've gotta sing. I sing, I
like to sing, and I'm startingto write a new album. Now. I
(10:35):
don't know what it'll be or whenit'll be but I'm I'm still a
musician. But I'm a changed, Iguess, individual.
Arwen Bardsley (10:45):
Yes. Yeah. And yeah, definitely want to get
into that. And I Yes, I did seethe bit about the the television
theme song, but it didn't meananything to me. And I thought
I'll probably I don't know ifthat came down to Australia.
Kevin Roth (11:01):
It might not have.
It was based on Thomas, the tankengine. It was big in the United
States and England. Europe, it'sit's got a bigger cult following
now on YouTube.
Arwen Bardsley (11:12):
Yeah.
Kevin Roth (11:15):
And that was just, that was an interesting luck
thing that I ran into or fate.
Because the Producer said thatthey were doing a show and it
was going to star Ringo of TheBeatles. You guys know who Ringo
is?
Arwen Bardsley (11:31):
Yes. Yeah, of course.
Kevin Roth (11:33):
And he asked me to do the this sing the theme. But
he was only going to pay me workfor hire, which means a one time
payment, not royalties. My musicattorney said absolutely not. So
I went back and I said, Mylawyer said absolutely not. And
he said, Well, I understand andI'll respect it, we'll get
(11:53):
someone else to do it. But ifit's a hit show, you can write
your ticket. And it was thefirst and only time I went
against what my lawyer said. AndI said, I'll do it and thank
God, I did. Because I could bookmyself in any concert hall in
the United States, and have afull house because I was known
(12:14):
for singing that one song.
Arwen Bardsley (12:18):
It's amazing.
Isn't it? The power oftelevision?
Kevin Roth (12:21):
Yeah, the medley of my hit. Yeah. You know, what's
funny is that people generationshave grown up listening to me.
So sometimes I get a fan lettersaying, oh my god, I just saw
you on YouTube talking aboutyour coaching and your out of
body experiences. I thought youwere dead. It was like 30 years
ago!
Arwen Bardsley (12:40):
No, here I am.
So, um, when your mother died,and you first saw the dulcimer,
what age was that?
Kevin Roth (12:54):
13, 14.
Arwen Bardsley (12:56):
13. Okay, right.
And so, yeah, a couple of yearslater, the record deal. That's
amazing. Okay, so let's get intothe melanoma story, because I'm
dying to hear that. So firstly,did you? Was it something that
(13:19):
you were having symptoms? Didsomeone point something out on
your skin? Did you have regularskin checks? How did that come
about?
Kevin Roth (13:30):
Well, I always had regular skin checks, because I
lived in Florida at the time,everyone should see
dermatologist at least once ayear. Whether you think there's
anything wrong or not, it's agood thing to do. Especially
with global warning, warming,and the ozone layer and all
that. There was a tiny littlefreckle on my nose. And the
(13:56):
dermatologist in Florida saidit's nothing to worry about. And
I decided after a series ofevents that I was going to leave
Florida, and I was going to movein with my sister in the
Midwest, and travel the countryto see where I wanted to live
(14:19):
next and what I wanted to do,because I had, I was taking sort
of a sabbatical leave from themusic business. But before I
went there to Kansas, I had, Iguess what you would call a
psychic impression. And one ofthe impressions is that I should
go to Kansas, and it would be arespite to work out all the
(14:41):
stuff I was going through on apersonal level. But there would
also be a major illness, and Iwould be fine. But it would be
quite a ride. And then I wouldprobably go back to California
where I'd lived 25 years ago,and I had no idea what this
illness was because I wasperfectly fine. And within a
(15:02):
month of getting to Kansas, Ihad to set up all my doctors.
And one of them, of course, wasa dermatologist and I went, and
he said, I don't like the lookof that on your nose. So they
did a little biopsy of it. Andthey said that it was something
called 'in situ', which meansnot cancer, but on the verge. So
(15:26):
they removed it. And I thought,Well, okay, I got a scar on my
nose, but at least I don't havecancer. And then about four
months later, I was shaving andI found a lump under my chin,
and I thought oh this is notgood. So they discovered that
the in situ on my nose was infact, melanoma and they
(15:48):
diagnosed it incorrectly. Andnow I had stage three melanoma.
And they said that these werethe oncologists, they said,
basically, there's no cure. Andthere's a 70% chance that this
is going to return within ayear, and you'll be dead within
two or three. So I was given adeath sentence. Now the
(16:11):
interesting part of this as Ididn't believe them, my gut told
me, they were absolutely wrong.
And I went to three oncologists,until I found one I thought knew
what they were talking about,that felt right to me, yet, and
I found he wasn't taking any newpatients. So I had to go see
somebody. And I did see this onewoman who scheduled a body scan.
(16:36):
And the results came back, and Iwent in to get the results. And
she said to me, imagine this,you're sitting in an office, and
you're waiting to hear if cancerhas spread throughout your body.
This isn't like, hey, what doyou think we'll have for dinner,
this is like, and she said tome, almost in one long breath,
(17:00):
the cancer hasn't spreadanywhere. So I'd like to
schedule you with Dr. So and sobecause I we should have, you
should have a lymphectomy. Andmy jaw hit the floor. And I
thought, first of all, what's alymphectomy? And it's where you
remove all the lymph nodes. Andthen I said to her, why, if
(17:24):
there's no sign of cancer, wouldyou want to take out lymph
nodes? And she said, It'sprotocol. And I came about as
close to hitting someone in mylife as in that moment. And I
said to her, my name isn'tprotocol. And if you don't see
cancer, you're not touching me.
(17:45):
And she said, Well, you don'tunderstand, Kevin. It's probably
in your system microscopically.
I said, well, then you might aswell just cut me open and take
everything. And I got veryupset. And I went to check out
and as I checked out, I saw adoctor who I wanted to see card
on the counter. And I said, Doeshe work in this office? And they
(18:08):
said, Yes, but he's not takingany new patients. And I said,
Well, he's gonna take me, andhe's gonna see tomorrow.
And of course, I got a dirtylook. And but I said, I'm not
leaving. I'm seriously notleaving. I'm seeing him, Dr.
Gower. And she found an openingat eight o'clock in the morning.
(18:30):
I was there at 730. And he wasthe only oncologist that said,
we should do nothing. And justwait and see. Because a
lymphectomy if there's no signsof cancer, it's protocol. But
so, you know, the moral of thestory is that you have to trust
(18:50):
your gut. You can't alwayslisten to doctors because
they're not always right. Butthe other moral of the story,
the biggest moral of the storyis that I had a year to wait to
see if this was going to kill meor not. It's not like, Okay,
we're gonna take an x ray, andwe'll call you on Monday with
(19:13):
the results. This was like,there's a 70% chance you'll be
dead. And it'll probably comeback within a year. That's a
long wait. So I fell down therabbit hole. I thought if I'm
going to die, and if this isgonna take me even though I
don't didn't think it was and itdidn't, and it never came back.
(19:36):
I said, I got to know who I am.
What I'm doing here. Whatmatters. Because I'm not living
this life that brought mecancer, which was stress, money,
new records, tour, fame, allthis crap. That was worthless,
worthless. I was making money. Iwasn't happy but I was on like
(19:58):
most people a merry go round.
And I said, that stops. And Ithought, What do you want? What
do you really want? What'simportant? And I said, My music,
as an artist and my dog. Why?
Because that's who I am, andwhat I love. And the third part,
(20:19):
and this is what I teach, knowwhat matters why, and what's
your plan. And my plan was, I'mgetting the hell out of Kansas.
And I'm going to go to beautifulsunny San Diego. And I'm going
to live my life as a bohemiandulcimer playing artist hippie.
And I don't care who says it'sright or wrong. Now I could not
(20:41):
afford to move to San Diego, SanDiego is a very expensive and
beautiful place to live, as isCalifornia. So what I did, and
this is the reason I became alife coach is I thought, You
know what you created this dreamcareer when you were 13. So you
can create a another dream andwalk out of the one you're in
(21:05):
and into that. That's exactlywhat I did. I saw who I was, I
felt who I was, I knew who thisguy Kevin was going to be. And I
called a friend who was arealtor here in San Diego. And I
said I need a one bedroomapartment with parking and
laundry for $1,000 a month. Andhe he said he said you can't get
(21:27):
a closet. I found exactly what Iwanted. He didn't know how I did
it. Nobody knew I could do it.
And I said I know exactly how Idid it. And it's not a secret.
And this is what I love to teachpeople when I coach. First thing
you need to know is what youdon't want. In life. Most people
(21:49):
don't even know that. They're injobs and relationships and a
life that they don't like. Butthey think there's no way out
when there is because everythingis the mind. And the second
thing is you need to create it,believe it feel it. And though
you may physically not be inthat position, or that place at
that very moment, physically,you're there mentally. And this
(22:15):
is proven, even with a simple,simple exercise that your
listeners and you can do rightnow, if you imagine you're
taking a glass of water, you'redrinking a glass of water, you
can almost feel that it's wetand cool, right? So now you're
putting the glass down, I wantyou to take a lemon and squeeze
it into your mouth and tell mewhat you feel.
Arwen Bardsley (22:39):
puckering, sensation. Yeah, absolutely.
Kevin Roth (22:41):
So your body is responding to your mind. You
don't have a lemon in yourmouth. But you're salivating. So
that's the principle that Iteach that it works. Envision
yourself wherever you want to bedoing whatever you want, believe
it and put your mind therebecause the mind doesn't know
(23:04):
whether it's real or not. Itjust knows what you feel. It's
epigenetics. It's the body mindconnection. And this is all
science. So life to me, besidesmusic is spiritual, and
metaphysical and scientific andpsychology. So it's a choice.
Arwen Bardsley (23:24):
So it seems to me from what just you mentioning
a couple of things about, youknow, having a vision when you
were three years old, thatyou've always been very much
working with that level ofenergy of, you know, on that
spiritual plane. So potentially,it's easier for you to do these
(23:52):
things to make these changes inyour mind than it is for some
people and I absolutely agreewith you that it's possible for
everyone. But yeah, do you doyou have any comments about
that? And you know, how, upuntil this point, had you tapped
into your that spiritual part oflife?
Kevin Roth (24:13):
Well, since I was a young kid, really, as early as I
can remember, I just had thesense that this life wasn't
real. That there was thissubstratum God Jesus, Buddha,
Moses, Mohammed whatever it was,it wasn't this. I felt like I
had been dropped off for thesummer at a camp that I didn't
(24:36):
sign up for. And I wanted out. Ididn't want to be here. I wasn't
suicidal, but didn't want to behere. But I knew that I had to
learn something. So you know,the saying I'm a spiritual being
having a human experience reallyapplies. And My whole life had
(25:02):
been searching for that we allhave what I call the longing.
It's I'm actually in the processof writing a book about it. The
longing is that we long to beloved. We long to be home. And
if you listen to the near deathexperiences on YouTube or read
books, and these are not bywacko woo woo people, these are
(25:23):
brain surgeons, psychologists,hundreds of 1000s of these
things have been studied. Whenpeople have near death
experiences when they dietemporarily, in a hospital or
wherever they have an experienceof leaving their body and going
to this place, and feelingunbelievable. love and
(25:49):
acceptance and no judgment. Andthey feel that it is home.
Everybody says it's home. And Ididn't want to come back to
Earth. But I was because I hadmore things to do. And it's
fascinating. And that's when Ialways saw it as a kid that
there was home. And this wasn'tit. And I was in search my whole
(26:10):
life for it. You know, when Ifirst saw the dulcimer the girl
who was playing the dulcimer,she was getting out of the music
field because she had found aspiritual teacher who taught
about God, he was a Sufi. Andbecause I was attracted to the
dulcimer and my friend Anne, Iended up at 13 watching and
(26:32):
listening to a guru. So this wasa whole setup. This is a setup
in life, the whole cancer was asetup the reason that I became a
personal coach and thank thankyou God, I'm told that I'm good
at it is because everything upto now has led me to this point
(26:54):
in time and everything that youknow we go through now leads us
further. So spiritually, andmusically and everything I even
even the people I've beenattracted to like Peter, Paul
and Mary, you guys know who theyare, right? The folk singing
group. I was just diehard fan.
And I just always saw myselfbeing buddies with them, at 15
(27:20):
and 16 you know. So they becamefriends. They recorded with me,
they were my mentors. I just infact heard from Peter about a
song I wrote about the Ukraine.
A song that I posted on myYouTube channel. I think it's
called Song for Ukraine, it'sunder Kevin Roth. But if you
(27:42):
listen to Peter, Paul and Mary,you got to listen a little bit
past leaving on a jet plane andPuff the Magic Dragon. They're
very spiritual group. Theydidn't know it. Paul knew it,
Paul Stookey knew it. He becamea born again Christian. But
their music is very spiritual.
Because they cared about lifeand love and liberty and, and
(28:03):
they sang a lot of spiritualsongs. But I don't think they
were aware of it. Of course,they hit a level of fame, which
is I don't know how you can benormal that famous but they
managed to be. So people likethat Judy Collin's very
spiritual kind of singer. Ithink all artists are Everything
(28:24):
I was attracted to had thatmagnetism to it.
Arwen Bardsley (28:30):
Yeah. Yeah, I was just going to say that I
think, you know, playing musicand probably any art is, you
know, you it's just taking youto that, more to that level
that, you know, the generalperson on the street possibly
isn't living their life at thatlevel. That really, is why we're
(28:52):
here to get to get to that levelis what I believe anyway. I
loved Puff the Magic Dragon as akid. Oh, my goodness.
Kevin Roth (29:04):
I did a duet with Peter on that on an album of
mine called dinosaurs anddragons. He was sweet enough to
sing a duet of it with me.
Arwen Bardsley (29:10):
Oh, yeah, yeah, we had we had an album when I
was growing up that had that onit, amongst many other, you
know, songs of the samegeneration. But yeah, it was one
of my favorites. So was it inthat year where you were waiting
(29:30):
to see if the cancer came backthat you've made all the changes
you made to your life or waskind of after you got the all
clear that you went right, I'vegot to change things
permanently. Tell me more aboutthat process.
Kevin Roth (29:43):
No, I made it during that year, because if I was
going to die, and eventually Iwill, as everyone will. I didn't
want to die like that. I wantedto die spiritually enlightened.
I wanted to know where I wasgoing, where did I come from?
What is all this stuff about SoI you know, it was a series of
(30:05):
very strange events. But while Iwas in my apartment in Kansas, I
found a movie on Netflix aboutguru named Yogananda. I had kind
of heard of, and I watched ittwice. And something said, you
should look for the SelfRealization fellowship of his.
(30:29):
And I thought, well, there's noway in Kansas, there's going to
be one I knew there was one inCalifornia and probably New
York. But I had this inner nudgeto keep looking. And lo and
behold, there was one literally,almost across the street from my
apartment. The only one in theMidwest. So I went there, very
(30:52):
frightened in a lot of fear withthe cancer. And although I'm not
a follower of Yogananda, histeachings, which was self
realization, were verycomforting, and made me want to
Google something called selfrealization. And I discovered a
(31:13):
teacher by the name of RamanaMaharshi. And upon reading his
work, it was similar to hearingthe dulcimer for the first time,
I absolutely knew that what thisguy taught was true. And from
there, I discovered a guy inCalifornia, Robert Wolf, who
(31:35):
wrote a book on non duality inRamana, and he became my mentor,
friend spiritually. Sobasically, what Ramana is
teaching is is not verydifferent from Jesus, or Buddha.
Ramana says, basically, thewhole thing is a question. Who
(31:57):
am I? And the answer is, I am.
What did you so I have a lot ofpeople who are Christians that
say, Well, you know, until youfind Jesus, you are going to be
sent to Hell. Yeah. And I say, Ilike Jesus. You know, be still
and know that I'm God. Be inthis world, but not of it. It's
(32:18):
the same thing. Same thingRamana says. Buddhists say, Why
don't you believe that youshould believe Buddha, I don't
believe Buddha, no mind, noproblem. Everything leads back
to the same point that we arewhat we're seeking. And quantum
physics tells you that there'snothing that exists that this
(32:43):
life is a dream. It's science.
And all the spiritual texts,whether they're very, very old,
like the Upanishads, or they'reJesus's teaching, they all tell
you this life is an illusion. Sojust by inductive logic, what
are we worried about? I want toown another house, I want more
(33:06):
money, I want more fame, I needanother and we're chasing our
tails. Looking for happinesslooking to be loved. And it's
very, very simple. When peoplesay to me, Well, yeah, but what
do you do to feel happy? I hike?
Hiking is my Church,
Arwen Bardsley (33:22):
Me too. Yeah.
Kevin Roth (33:23):
You know, Monday through Thursday, I don't answer
the phone unless I need to. Idon't talk to people. I go
hiking with my dog and mydulcimer and my flute. That's
great. I'm happier now than I'veever been. Thank God, I'm a
successful coach so I can paythe bills. But if you gave me a
(33:45):
five room mansion, I wouldn'ttake it. I don't want to clean
it. I want nothing to do withit, I just like it simple. And I
think people who becomespiritually evolved or
minimalist. You just learn thatless is more and you like it? So
(34:05):
you know, that's, that's how Iroll.
Arwen Bardsley (34:08):
Yeah. So what did you do? What changes did you
make for your physical body inthat time?
Kevin Roth (34:18):
Well, the first thing I did is I changed my
diet, because stress andinflammation causes cancer. And
I was overweight. So I changedmy diet. I cut out negative
people. I made a deal with thecredit card companies that I was
going to pay $20 A month nomatter how much I owed because I
(34:40):
was in a great deal of debt dueto a project I had invested in
which didn't work out. And ifthey said to me, Well, we're
gonna report you to the creditagency, I would say okay, well,
I'll be dead in a year. So doyou want the $20 or don't you?
Oh, I'm so sorry, sir. Okay,well, we'll make it and
everything was paid offeventually. And I spent a lot of
(35:04):
time in contemplation andprayer. Thinking, tell me what
it's basically a state ofsurrender? Like, you know, if,
if my time is now what do I needto know, before I leave? You
know, and it was all shown itwas shown through Yogananda, it
(35:24):
was shown through RamanaMaharshi. I could find it in
Jesus, I could find it inBuddha. I didn't really want to
hear it. I wanted to do what Ithought was better, which was
yeah but how am I going to paythe bills, but yet, so I was
still hooked into the materialworld because I hadn't evolved
(35:47):
enough at that point. I didn'tknow enough at that point. I
eventually got it. And right,towards the end of the year, I
went into my oncologist'soffice. And I said, I was going
to move to California. And hesaid, you know, we should
probably do a CAT scan and, andI said, Well, what, why? What
(36:10):
would you do with that? And hesaid, well, we'd know if there
was something. And I said, Well,if there's something is there a
cure? And he said, No. And Isaid, What am Why do I want to
know? And he said, to plan yourlife, and I said, What life
because this past year, nothat's not my life. So I'm going
to go to California. If I'msick, if I find a lump, I'll
(36:31):
find an oncologist. And I'lldecide what to do from there.
But I'm not doing this year.
Again. This was a majorspiritual bootcamp. I'm not
doing this again. I'm exhausted.
And I got in my jeep with 16dulcimers, and my dachshund, and
some clothes and I drove threedays out to California, almost
in a fog. I couldn't believe it.
I thought, what are you going todo when you get there. But I
(36:52):
just trusted that I needed to behere. And I got here. And it was
a bit of a struggle the firstyear because I had to kind of
get sort of a job for the firsttime in my life. Because the
music business had imploded foreverybody. People were
downloading music for free,people weren't really paying for
concerts unless you were a bigname. So I happen to know a good
(37:13):
deal and I had many, many yearsago learned massage therapy,
which came in handy so I didthat. And I all those wonderful
oils. They look like essentialoils on your shelf?
Arwen Bardsley (37:31):
Yeah, yep. Yep, that's right.
Kevin Roth (37:33):
You know, how wonderful massage is and that
sustained me. And then I gotreally, really, really, really
happy. And I wrote I think theone of the best albums of my
life called the DeviantDulcimerist. And it ended up
sort of in the in the runningfor a Grammy.
Arwen Bardsley (37:53):
Oh, wow!
Kevin Roth (37:54):
I didn't get there.
But I love that record. And thenI started to sing again. And
then out of the blue, someonesaid, You ought to teach what
you did to overcome melanoma andchange your life. And I said,
Well, how, how would I teachsomething like that? And they
said, well, they have lifecoaches, and I said, What's the
life coach? And they explainedit to me, and I Googled it. And
(38:17):
I thought, God, you know, halfthese people look crazy to me.
But my friend said, Yeah, butyou actually reinvented your
life and it worked. And you playthe dulcimer in such a
meditative style. Why don't youteach people how to play the
dulcimer how to play dulcimeditation if they play the
dulcimer great if they don't,the dulcimer is easy to learn
(38:40):
it's not that expensive, and youcan teach it through zoom all
around the world. And that's howthis began.
Arwen Bardsley (38:50):
Okay. And you mentioned before we started
recording that you were workingwith someone in Australia also
to help you. Can you tell meabout that?
Kevin Roth (39:04):
Oh, yes, yes. I found this woman online,
Prudence Sinclair. And she hadbeen given a death, a melanoma
stage 4 death sentence. And shedid what I did that she said,
No, no, you're wrong. And shewent away. And she meditated,
and she re envisioned her life.
And I called her and I asked herif she would help me know what
(39:27):
to do. And she has a course thatyou can buy I didn't buy it. I
bartered with her music and Isaid to her that I more than I
mean what she was telling me todo. I had already figured out
spiritually and diet. I knew allthat I needed to talk to someone
(39:50):
who has been through it. Ididn't want to talk to any more
people that said you need tofind Jesus or You need to go to
Mexico and have caffeine, thingsinjected into your rectum. I
needed to talk to someone whosaid, I had stage three or stage
four, this is how I did it.
(40:16):
There's no guarantee that it'llwork for you. But I'm pretty
damn sure it will. And that'swhat she did for me. And I
understood what she said,Because I had used that to
create my music career. I'veused that to sustain my life. I
(40:36):
never thought about doinganything like healing my body,
because there was never anythingwrong with me. But you know,
everyone has cancer in them. Andyou need to understand everyone
needs to understand epigenetics,they need to understand the mind
(40:57):
body connection. So, again, shefell into my life at the right
time. And I honestly believethat the reason I didn't die,
that I beat, the odds was to dowhat we're doing today was to
(41:17):
teach this. So that's why I sayit's not about my music or fame
anymore. It's about helpingpeople's lives change. You know,
when I, when I finish workingwith a client, and they have
tears in their eyes, becausetheir lives have changed, not
because I was such a greatcoach, but because they did the
work and I guided them. That'sbetter than standing ovation. I
(41:41):
mean it to see people's liveschange. And to know that it's
all channeled, but it's not medoing it. So it's a it's a
mystical, magical thing. Itreally is.
Arwen Bardsley (41:54):
And yeah, I mean, that can be quite
difficult to teach, I guess. Imean, I suppose if people are
open to it it makes it oranything's easier to teach if
someone's open to it. But yeah,it's kind of very intangible,
isn't it?
Kevin Roth (42:12):
Well, if people want to work with me there, they
go to my website, Kevinroth.org. And there's a form
that they fill out. And I lookat those very carefully. Because
I don't care how much money youput into my pocket. If you're
not going to do the work, I'mnot working with you. Because I
don't think about clients forthe 45 or 50 minutes, once a
(42:36):
week, I carry you guys aroundwith me all week long, which is
why I only work with a certainnumber. If I see a video, if I
have a thought, I'll email youand get it to you. My goal is
that if you do what I suggestyou do, and we work together,
and I just follow you, I findout where you're coming from,
(42:58):
and what you need. And I use myinstinct and my, I sort of have
an empathic kind of way ofworking with people, you will
change. I've only had oneclient, that that it was a very
disappointing thing. Because shedid not want to look at certain
(43:20):
things in her life because shewasn't ready. She thought she
was. But you know, I don't wantto look at it. I don't want to
go there. I don't want to youknow, you know, I just want to
do what you did. You know, justsnap my fingers.
Arwen Bardsley (43:32):
Give me the Step by step. Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin Roth (43:35):
And it'san unfolding. It's, I call it a
slow drip. Yes, it's a step bystep. But once you get it, once
you get what I'm teaching you.
It works, because it's justlogical. It's all about the
mind. So once you understandthat, and how that works, and
you believe in what you want todo, and you create that life, in
(43:58):
your mind. It's like, feelingthat lemon in your mouth. How it
happens. I have no idea. Howdoes anything happen. I mean,
this whole universe is infinite.
There's no middle beginning orend to it. It's bizarre. You
know, we live with our jobs andour families and our daily
(44:22):
events. We don't think that theuniverse is expanding into what?
Nothing. It's all dark matter.
We don't go there because wecan't wrap our heads around it.
So we stay where we are, whichis an illusion, that's all
Arwen Bardsley (44:37):
Yeah, yeah. So before your diagnosis. Were you
did you already have, excuse me,a strong meditation kind of
practice for yourself?
Kevin Roth (44:53):
No. I didn't like meditation, and I still don't do
meditation. I do what I guess Iwhen I play the dulcimer, I kind
of tune into just nothingness. Ido a walking meditation where I
do inner listening. But Isitting with my legs folded and
(45:17):
doing breathing and all thatstuff is not my thing. But I get
the same results when I hike orwhen I'm playing the dulcimer in
a meditative style. I just, Iget there, I find the answers.
Silence is very loud. If youshut up long enough to listen to
(45:38):
it. Most people can't sit forfive minutes and have a cup of
tea without checking their cellphone. So the answers are
there. You know, the answers arethere. You just have to listen
to it. It's your inner voice.
And you know, the teacher whenthe students ready the teacher
shows up. So some peoplemeditate, meditate, like you
know you do and it's a valuesome people chant some people
(46:00):
hike. Some people play dulcimer.
Arwen Bardsley (46:07):
Yeah. So let's go into the dulci meditation,
then. What, what is it?
Kevin Roth (46:15):
So I'm going to, let's see, I'm going to try
this. There we go. So you cansee this. So the dulcimer has,
you know, four strings, andthey're basically two of them or
chain or two in the same. Andthen there's an octave. And then
(46:36):
there's a fifth. And the scaleis very simple. So it's not
chromatic, like the piano orguitar. So dulci meditation is
simply breathing slowly, anddeeply, and letting go and
(46:56):
asking your inner guidance, whatdo I need to know, and then just
doing things like this.
(47:34):
So it's that kind of thing. Thedifference between listening to
meditation, music and playing itis that when you play the
dulcimer, you feel the vibrationof the wood on your lap. And if
you play very, very simply,which is what I teach people
over zoom during our sessions,there's not much to do. In fact,
(47:59):
less is more. So you'reliterally you just have to get
it in tune, which is not a bigdeal. They have tuning
instruments for that. And thenyou just strum it gently. And
don't think about whether you'redoing it right, wrong or
indifferent. No one's there, butyou and you space out, you kind
of fall down the rabbit hole ofdulcimer music. And that's how
(48:25):
people do it.
Arwen Bardsley (48:26):
So it's Yeah, because I assumed it was,
listening. But it's it'sactually the act of playing the
instrument that is themeditative state.
Kevin Roth (48:38):
Yes, you you can I do have an album called dulci
meditation, which you can justlisten to. It has its own with a
background of the rain. Veryrelaxing. I fall asleep to it
many times. And you can do that.
But if you're looking to learn amusical instrument that's
beautiful and simple, anddesigned sort of for meditation.
(49:01):
That's why I created the wink.
It has planets for sound holes.
So it's a reminder that we'renot who we think we are. We're,
you know, we are stardust asJoni Mitchell wrote. And it's an
easy instrument to play and whenyou're not playing it, you can
hang it on the wall. It looksbeautiful, like the one behind
(49:21):
me.
Arwen Bardsley (49:23):
Yeah, it does look beautiful. I do astrology
as well. So it's yeah, that'sthe dulcimer for me.
Kevin Roth (49:29):
Yes. Do we need to get you an astrological
dulcimer? Yeah,
Arwen Bardsley (49:33):
yeah, yeah.
Okay. So I guess I'd just likefor you to feel like you've made
it clear what you know, Isuppose it's about what kinds of
situations or people orwhatever, tend to seek you out
for your life coaching or what?
(49:58):
What kinds of people, I knowyou've said the people who are
ready to do the work.
Absolutely. But is there anyparticular kind of client that
you're looking for?
Kevin Roth (50:09):
Well, I, my clients are medical doctors, they're
clergy, they're professionals,they're housewives, what I find
ends up happening is thatsomeone hears me, or hears of
me. And something resonates inthem, like, oh, I need to check
that out. And they do. And theygo to my website, Kevinroth.org.
(50:32):
And they fill out a form andthey ask for a free 30 minute
zoom consultation. And then I'llknow within the first five
minutes, whether we're a match.
And if I don't think we are,I'll guide you to some other
place or some other person. Andyeah, that's how that people
(50:55):
find me, you know, in thecoaching business, because it's
a business now, there are peoplewho want to be Rockstar coaches,
you know, they want to make100,000 a month, and they want
to do all this stuff. I don'thave any interest in, I have
interest in working with thepeople that I'm supposed to work
(51:15):
with, and who are supposed towork with me. And the money
comes in, the money shows up.
And that's those are the peoplethat find me. You know, I've
done a lot. You know, it'sfunny, I've done a number. I
like doing podcasts. One day, Ihave my own podcast show, but
several of my clients are actualpeople who've interviewed me for
Arwen Bardsley (51:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've done a lot of
things with people that I'veinterviewed. It's, yeah, yeah.
You know, I mean, I'm the sameas you. I believe that. Well, I
believe that I interview thepeople I do for a reason as
well. And, you know, it justseems to work out that you find
(51:59):
the right people to connect within every aspect of life
Kevin Roth (52:05):
Yeah. It's a very funny thing. You know, I had
written down this appointment inmy book, and I forgot to look.
And last night at three ish inthe morning, which is usually
when people wake up, I wokestraight up and something said,
you have something to dotomorrow, you need to know
about, and I thought, Oh, myGod, what is it and I looked on
(52:27):
my phone, where the my mailcomes in, I thought, I have this
interview. So this interview hashappened before. before it
happened. That's how it is. It'sfascinating. When you get into
the metaphysical and thespiritual. Understanding that
this is just a dream and how itkind of works. It's a blast.
Arwen Bardsley (52:50):
Yeah, it's funny. My son calls it a
simulation. He says we're alljust in a simulation. He's 19
Kevin Roth (52:57):
Wouldn't doubt it.
Wouldn't it in a moment.
Arwen Bardsley (53:02):
yeah. So can you just tell me the name of the
album with the dulci meditationmusic and, rain
Kevin Roth (53:11):
um, if you want, my website has the album
kevinroth.org It has informationon the wink dulcimers it has the
information on what I do and howI do it. So everything can be
found there. It's not a physicalCD. It's just a download. It's
(53:33):
called dulcimeditation.
Arwen Bardsley (53:35):
Okay. Yep.
Kevin Roth (53:37):
I also have a course on teachable. So I think you
kevinroth.teachable.com andeight modules of what I do as a
coach, you know, condensed andin that. I talk a little bit
about the dulcimer meditationdulci meditation, but I will
eventually do a dulci meditationcourse.
Arwen Bardsley (54:00):
But that course is basically a coaching course.
Kevin Roth (54:03):
Yes, yes. It's called something like how to
create the life you love orsomething. I forget what I
called it. But it's been verywell received. So that's good.
Yeah, work heavy lifting. Youknow, it's, it's, you know,
there's exercises to do.
Arwen Bardsley (54:22):
Yep. But and so is that all just self paced?
Yes. And there's no you know,interaction with you doing that,
just an online? Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin Roth (54:33):
But you can reach out to me. "I'm on module Six or
seven, and I have a question"and I'll answer you.
Arwen Bardsley (54:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's a good
you know, kind of introductionto your style. And, you know,
what, what, people would knowwhat they're going to be getting
into if they want to go intomore coaching with you.
Kevin Roth (54:55):
Yeah, actually, these podcasts really tell you,
you know who I am and you Getall that stuff in what my story
is?
Arwen Bardsley (55:02):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. And I mean, absolutely.
And listening to someone forkind of 45 minutes, you know
whether you're going to gel withthem or not. So it's a great way
for you to reach out to people.
And do you have any particularyou know, special programs or
anything other than what you'vealready mentioned that you
wanted to mention to theaudience?
Kevin Roth (55:25):
Well, there's a free five minute stress buster,
breathing sort of meditationthat I give out free on my
website. So if you want to knowhow to calm your, your mind down
within a couple minutes, how Ilearned that was interesting, I
was doing a really big concertin the states with the
(55:49):
Philadelphia Orchestra. And thiswas maybe 20 years into my
career, and I've never had stagefright. And this, I was
petrified of. So I went to apsychologist and I said, I am
afraid, something tells me thatI could just freak out. And so
she taught me this breathing,exercise, breathing and holding
(56:11):
your breath and letting it outand counting. And it really
saved me because I was on theside of the stage. It was a full
house was an opera house musthave been 2000 people. And the
Philadelphia Orchestra was inback of me, I was soloing, you
know, they're one of the mostwonderful and famous orchestras
in the world. So if there was atime for me to freak out, that
(56:34):
was it. But I got through it,and I've used it ever since. You
know, I'm a pretty calm guy. Butif I need to quiet down or calm
down, it takes me less than fiveminutes, and I give that away
for free on the website.
Arwen Bardsley (56:50):
Okay, well, thank you for that. That's
really,
Kevin Roth (56:53):
you know, it's interesting that you brought up
about concerts, because I waspretty sure I wasn't gonna be
giving anymore. And just theother day, I had this impression
that no, you're going to startgoing out there and singing
again, in connection with this.
So I'm open to doing like,conferences, or church programs,
or retreats or things like.
(57:16):
Which so far all my coaching hasbeen to zoom, mostly because of
COVID.
Arwen Bardsley (57:21):
Yeah, yeah. I think we've all just gotten into
living our life on Zoom, haven'twe?
Kevin Roth (57:27):
Yeah. But what I do is very different than anybody
else, because it's my ownexperience. And I only teach
from experience. I don't, Ihaven't taken a coaching course
on how to coach.
Arwen Bardsley (57:38):
Ah. Yeah, I'm meant to ask you that. Okay.
Kevin Roth (57:41):
Yeah, I don't study that stuff. I work with what I
know. So if I tell you to dosomething, it's because I've
experienced it, and it's worked.
Also, the kind of a coach thatwill tell you of my own screw
ups, which is unknown in thecoaching business. I'll tell
you, you know, I had a reallydifficult week this week, and
(58:03):
this is what happened to me. Andthe lesson of it was I learned
to yada yada, yada, yada, yada.
Arwen Bardsley (58:12):
This is what not to do. Yeah.
Kevin Roth (58:14):
Yeah. And because even though on some level, I
know a great deal, and I'vehelped a lot of people and
certainly overcome a lot inlife. I'm still you know, a
human guy. That's, you know,yeah. So, I think it's important
to be real with people. I dofocus on you. I mean, I don't
you know, you're it's about you.
So the whole session isn't aboutme. But I'm not afraid to tell
(58:36):
people, you know, what I'velearned in a really wonderful
way or in a not so wonderfulway. Yeah. You know, there was a
I was just telling a client theother day that I was about to
cross this bridge, this woodenbridge on a creek. I mean, I
thought it was a creek, and Istarted to go there, start to
(58:58):
walk on it. There's no one elsearound, it was out in the middle
of really nowhere and somethingsaid, Do not go on there. And my
dog who never goes in front ofme, happened to walk on that and
one of the planks caved in. Andhe like sunk. He got out but I
(59:20):
thought and there was like anails I mean, it was a really,
it was a it was a wooden littlecrossing bridge that should be
destroyed and rebuilt. When youhave when I teach this thing,
mindful awareness, if you learnto tune into things that are
subtle, you listen to thatwarning, like the voice says
(59:43):
don't go on that bridge. Andthen you think well, why? And
then suddenly your dog doessomething it never does. And it
falls into the water. Just youknow, for a little quick bolk
and then back out. You look atthat, and you say, ah, isn't
that amazing? Rather than, Oh myGod, it's a lesson. So I was
talking to my clients that lastweek, I said, you know, you need
(01:00:06):
to pay attention to your innervoice, because it's guiding you
all the time.
Arwen Bardsley (01:00:13):
I just think we're so genuinely out of touch
with our inner voice.
Kevin Roth (01:00:20):
Yeah, it's a shame, because it's a blast. You know,
I mean, if there's nopsychedelic in the world, I can
have the experiences that I'vehad, especially, especially with
some of the spiritual stuff,like, we won't get into it
today. But there's somethingcalled a Agata, A-g-a-t-a, which
(01:00:41):
is unbelief, it means thatnothing exists. And science
actually proves that. So whenyou start to understand this
stuff, and you get to comprehendit, and experience it, it's like
living in the twilight zone. Youcan't unknow it, you know, like,
you couldn't go back to who youwere 20 years ago. Right. We
(01:01:04):
couldn't be that person. So it'sfascinating. And we become
addicted to this miraculous,spiritual fantasy thing that
goes on. And that's whatinterests us.
Arwen Bardsley (01:01:18):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I certainly don't think
that the whole I mean,smartphones and just all the,
the distraction, we have so muchdistraction. And that, you know,
I mean, it doesn't help withyour day to day stuff, but it
also is so distracting from thatinner voice.
Kevin Roth (01:01:39):
Yeah, that's why I shut the world down Monday
through Thursday. Until Thursdayafternoon when I start coaching.
It's wonderful.
Arwen Bardsley (01:01:47):
Yeah, exactly.
That that is wonderful. Yeah, Iwould like to do that as well.
And I know, you'd say well, youcan do it. So yes I can. When
it's the right thing for me todo, I will do it. Okay, so I
think that is all that I wantedto ask you, Kevin, um, you know,
such a fascinating story, andreally interesting conversation.
(01:02:12):
So I know that everybody willget a lot out of it. And you've
mentioned your website. So it'sKevin roth.org. Is that right?
Yep. And we'll certainly putlinks to that. Oh, that's the
only other thing I just wantedyou to just talk a little bit
about your song for the Ukraine,just because it's pretty topical
(01:02:35):
right now.
Kevin Roth (01:02:39):
Well, you know, I'm not a political song writer.
Peter, Paul and Mary were verypolitical. And were my mentors
and roots. And Peter alwayswanted to be me to be an
activist. And I'm more of aspiritualist. But this guy,
Putin infuriates me, even thoughI know he's an illusion. But I
(01:03:05):
think that it's very interestingthat his demonic head has
brought the world together in away that we've never seen. And
it was eating at me, and Ithought, you know, you need to
(01:03:26):
get this out. So write the song.
And there was a very precisesong that basically said that,
you know, we're gonna keepfighting. And we believe in our
freedom. And, you know, all youcare about is greed. And that
you'll probably be taken outbecause of greed. You know,
(01:03:47):
which, to me can't happenanytime soon. sooner. But God
help us who takes his place ifanyone, but I recorded it. I
read the lyrics as I sang it. Soit wasn't a fancy production.
And I posted it on my website,and on Facebook. And people
(01:04:07):
started to spread it around. AndI sent it actually to Peter, who
rarely answers any emails,because he's always so busy. And
he wrote back a lovely emailthat said, you know, I'm proud
of you for writing the song and,you know, you have such
humanity. You know, you know,Mary passed away many years ago,
(01:04:30):
but you know, he's often said,Mary would be very proud of your
work, I adored Mary. So it was awonderful thing from that point,
because I felt that my fullrelationship musically and
emotionally and spirituallymentally came full circle, and
Peter was delighted. And thensomeone posted a comment on
(01:04:52):
Facebook about the song and thenthey sent it to someone in
Ukraine. And then they startedto spread it around in Ukraine a
little bit. So I mean, I didn'tdo it. In fact, they say that if
you like the song, donate moneyto these charities, I don't make
any money off it. But it'ssomething I did. Because it came
(01:05:19):
from my heart and I doeverything authentically. I
don't you know, you can hear it,you can hear it in my voice. I
mean, I'm, I'm musicallydelightfully pissed. By but I
felt really much better healed.
(01:05:40):
And I was able to kind of let itgo. I don't watch the news every
day about it. I know that thisguy in my gut tells me this guy
will go down. Something goodwill come of this. I you know,
the great mystery. Why do peoplehave to die and all these other
things? I mean, there's lots ofanswers to that. The one I like
(01:06:02):
is that, you know, this was apredestined arrangement, and
that there was a cause, and youknow, what we think it is? It's
not really anyway. But still,um, it's a very, very tough
situation. It's an illusion, forsure. It's not really happening.
But in the dream, it's a tough,tough situation. And I think
(01:06:25):
that my song, certainly byrecording it and writing it in a
sense, healed me, and thecomments on YouTube are very
similar, you know, thank you forwriting it. And, you know, the
world's really supporting eachother, which is phenomenal.
Arwen Bardsley (01:06:42):
So is YouTube, the best place for people to
listen to it?
Kevin Roth (01:06:48):
Yeah, yeah. If you just type in song for Ukraine,
I'll look it up just to be surethat that's the right title. And
the other thing that I realizedabout this, interestingly
enough, was Oh it's called songfor Ukraine. And, you know, what
I'll do is I'll send you a link,okay. And we can put it on there
(01:07:13):
is that the younger generationnow is saying, We've had it with
the old farts, we've had it withyour wars, we've had it with
your greed, you know, we want tohouse we want a right to live.
You know, here in the UnitedStates, right now, real estate
is insane. I was watching theshow and a corporate guy who,
(01:07:39):
who buys all these houses andrents them proudly said, Oh, we
feel really bad for people thatcan't afford to buy. But you
know, the American Dream used tobe owning a home, the American
dream now is being able to rentand I thought you bastard, how
dare you know, so. But that's areally negative thing that you
(01:08:01):
know, when things like thatcome, I erase them quickly,
because I can live in anywhere,any place at any time I want.
And I know I can create it. Infact I'm working on a little
nice little place now in mymind. So I don't pay attention
to that. But the youngergeneration around the world is
saying, We don't want anynuclear stuff. We don't care
(01:08:21):
about you guys having $16,000bedrooms, you know, we want to
live and they're gonna they'reoutstaying these old guys. And
they're saying, you know, Imean, a lot of Russians, a lot
of Russians don't like this war.
And they get imprisoned for it.
(01:08:42):
So but in the end, like thesaying says, and I guess this is
a good way to wrap up theinterview. Everything works out
in the end. And if it hasn'tworked out, it's not the end.
Arwen Bardsley (01:08:54):
Yeah, yeah. I love that. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. Well, I mean, you know,we've got to the young people
need to deserve to want to havea planet to live on firstly, as
well. And that's, you know, the,the huge crisis that I in my
(01:09:14):
mind.
Kevin Roth (01:09:15):
And if we want it bad enough, we'll have it.
Arwen Bardsley (01:09:18):
Yep. That's right. Well, thank you so much,
Kevin. It's been really great.
And yeah, it's lovely to meetyou. And I'm sure that lots of
people will get a lot out ofwhat you had to say and looking
looking into all that you'reoffering. So thank you so much
for your time today,
Kevin Roth (01:09:39):
No, you're welcome.
Stay cool down there.
Arwen Bardsley (01:09:43):
We will!
Popular Podcasts
1. Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
2. Stuff You Missed in History Class
Join Holly and Tracy as they bring you the greatest and strangest Stuff You Missed In History Class in this podcast by iHeartRadio.
3. Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.