The guitar is mightier than the sword, says rock star Salman Ahmed, when it comes to standing up to Islamic terrorists. As the lead singer of rock band Junoon, he uses music to provide an alternative outlet to angry young Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine.

On Wednesday, October 7, at 7:30 p.m. Ahmed returns to the Princeton Public Library — where I saw him perform last spring — to tell and sing of how, as a youth, when he couldn’t make sense of the world, movies, music, and storytelling gave him answers. Now he passes that on to thousands.

He tells ABC news in this link, “It’s actually harder to build something from the ground up, help society. It’s much easier to blow yourself up.”

When he came to the library before, as part of a TedXNJLibes event, he touched my soul. I bought his book, “Rock & Roll Jihad” and am following him on Twitter (@sufisal). I heartily recommend that anyone who yearns for peace, interfaith understanding, and/or detente in the Middle East — and/or who likes folk-rock music — join me at the library on Wednesday night.

Psychology’s cognoscenti gathered tonight at the home/offices of Les and Susan Shor Fehmi to celebrate the publication of his second book, co-authored by Jim Robbins, titled “Dissolving Pain: Simple Brain-Training Exercise for Overcoming Chronic Pain,” published by Trumpeter/Shambhala Publications.

I have taken Fehmi’s training at Princeton Biofeedback Centre and can vouch for its power, so I’m delighted that more people will be able to access this therapy with the new book. It comes with a CD, and some of the exercises are on the web, so it is indeed available for those who can’t find or afford to get in-office training with an Open Focus biofeedback specialist.

Open Focus works for me to reduce blood pressure. For others, it widens their peripheral vision or improves their golf game, and many of the therapists at this party number Olympic athletes and world class musicians among their clients. Fehmi uses the metaphor of a high powered sports car whose owner knew how to drive it only in first and second gear. When shown how to drive in all six gears, he discovers, “it is a much higher performance machine than I imagined.”

Photo: Geraldine Fee, of the Neurology Group of Bergen County, with Les Fehmi. Here are more pictures of the launch party.

It’s gratifying to meet Princeton Comment readers at a meeting or social event and hear them say: “What you send is so useful! I would never have known about such and such!”

But it’s making me nervous. Because I’m not and never should be your primary source for news about what meetings to attend. That source should be U.S. 1 Newspaper or its online version, www.princetoninfo.com. That’s what U.S. 1 does — give advance notice, with an article or a listing in the events database.

I just sent out a blog post about the Princeton Chamber luncheon next Thursday with some other dates included in the email. If you depend only on me, you will miss the following, from the princetoninfo.com database. It’s a little tricky, I admit. Business meetings are the very last category in the drop-down selection. But here is what comes directly from that database now — and I’ve linked them to the articles in U.S. 1’s Survival Guide.

(10/02/2010 – Business Meetings), Borders Books, 601 Nassau Park Boulevard, 609-514-00401 p.m., ‘By George!’ Bill D’Arienzo, discusses his book on leadership, as defined by George Washington, free.

(10/04/2010 – Business Meetings), NJAWBO, Hyatt Regency, 609-799-5101
5 p.m., Annual Conference, featuring Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno and J.J. Ramberg of MSNBC, two-day conference, $375., http://www.njawbo.org

10/05/2010 – Business Meetings), TRI/Princeton, 609-430-4828 ‘Fourth International Conference on Applied Hair Science,’ http://www.triprinceton.org

(10/06/2010 – Business Meetings), Princeton University, Fields Center, 609-258-5494
4:30 p.m., ‘Leveraging Innovation & Diversity,’ Florence DiStefano Hudson, IBM, free.

(10/07/2010 – Business Meetings), MCCC, West Windsor campus, 609-570-3729
Noon, Shopping While Black: Understanding and Combating Consumer Racial Profiling,’ Shaun Gabbidon, Penn State, free., http://www.mccc.edu/events

(10/07/2010 – Business Meetings, Metropolitan Trenton African American Chamber of Commerce, Sam’s Club, after work meeting, 5 to 7 p.m., $12.
RSVP to assistant@mtaacc.orgor or 609 393-5933.

So I urge you to check in with the events database. Better yet, get the email newsletter that U.S. 1 issues on Tuesdays before Wednesday publication. It gives links to each story.

You’re reading this, I bet you’re used to getting much of your news online now anyway. To sign up for the newsletter, either hit “reply” and I’ll take care of it, or email info@princetoninfo.com and put “newsletter” in the subject line.

To get YOUR meeting in the database, or written about, send the details, including price, to Scott Morgan at meetings@princetoninfo.com