It Started With a Dinner On the evening of May 16, 2026, a small group of people gathered around a table. They were musicians, a founder, and a shared conviction that the patients in hospital rooms across the Monterey Peninsula deserved something more than silence. That dinner was the beginning of everything that followed. Session One: May 17 at New Dawn Studios The morning after the founding dinner, Mary Superak arrived at New Dawn Studios in Monterey carrying more than ha

On May 19, I attended the Arts Council of Monterey County Grantee Reception with one thing on my mind — gratitude. What I did not fully expect was what it would feel like to hear my name called as one of only two recipients of the Established Artist Grant. I was not alone in that room. Anne, my wife and the steady, quiet backbone of everything I do, was beside me. So was Nicolette. The three of us stood together at that reception, and I thought — this is exactly right. T

May 12, 2026 On May 17, 2026, Acoustic Healing holds its founding session. This is the moment the project moves from intention to action — from a vision carried by one person into a shared act of care. Four musicians. One purpose. A belief that the people inside our hospitals deserve more than what the standard of care has always offered them. We want to introduce the musicians who are making this possible. Mary Superak is with us for the morning session. Mary is the kind of

There are moments that fold time. Last week I was in correspondence with Vivian — one of the four founding musicians who will record with Acoustic Healing this May at New Dawn Studios in Monterey. Vivian is a retired oncology nurse with over 40 years of clinical experience. She is also a Certified Clinical Musician (CCM) since 2014, having devoted herself to the healing practice of harp after a career spent at the bedsides of the seriously ill. We were simply working out the

April 22, 2026 Last weekend I flew into Denver for a family visit to Fort Collins. But I had something else planned for the first two hours: a quick Acoustic Healing outreach stop in Aurora before making the drive north. I'd looked up the hospitals in the area ahead of time. What I found was striking: just one concentrated cluster of hospital and healthcare campuses in Aurora takes up 0.9 square miles — and that's only one part of a much larger healthcare footprint spread thr

Every company has an origin story. This is ours. Acoustic Healing was founded in memory of a woman named Becca. Becca was our founder David Villareal's daughter-in-law. She was a mother, full of life. And when cancer changed everything for her and for the family around her, it set something in motion that no one could have predicted. David recently described the moment he understood that connection more clearly than ever: "Last night I watched the movie IF with my family — an