S4E18 - A Conversation with Walt Michael of Common Ground on the Hill

Do you know how to combine music, traditional arts, and conversation to create a space where diverse groups of people come together to learn and share with one another? We don’t. But Walt does.

Walt Michael is the Artist in Residence at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland and the founder and Executive Director of Common Ground on the Hill, an international arts organization which seeks to promote interracial harmony through the traditional arts. Walt is a composer and musician who is known as a virtuoso of the hammer dulcimer. He has produced fourteen albums and performed throughout the world, including on live coverage of the 1980 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremonies in Lake Placid, NY and at the White House in Washington, DC.

In this podcast we talk with Walt about his love of music, his passion for bringing people together, and his work through Common Ground on the Hill and, even more recently, Common Ground on the Border. A special treat for us is that Walt gave us permission to use “Snowblind,” which he performed at the closing ceremonies of the 1980 Winter Olympics, as the closing background music for this podcast.

Learn More:

⁠Walt MichaelCommon Ground on the Hill
Common Ground on the Border -
Songcatcher (2000 Film)
From War to Wisdom (2017 Documentary)
Bad Bunny’s Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show

Time is Counting Down to Thanksgiving and our Annual Acts of Kindness Podcast

Thanksgiving is less than 3 months from now. We are looking for acts of kindness from you…our listeners, viewers, and followers…to highlight in our Thanksgiving podcast. Please take just a couple of minutes to share an act of kindness with us. It can be one you performed, one your received, or both. Click on this link to our Google Forms Acts of Kindness Survey or copy and paste this address in your browser: https://forms.gle/5NQakn6bgeXpm2us5 Or, you can just click on the button below. How you get there doesn’t matter. What matters is that you share your story to inspire others.

Finally, please share this survey because an act of kindness shared begets others.

How We Check Ourselves

Fact Checking: Because there are a lot of things happening…some true, some false, some unbelievable…we use the following fact checking sites. Take a look for yourself:

• Snopes

• FactCheck.org

• Politifact

• RealClearPolitics

• Reuters FactCheck

Because media can have its own biases, we also rely upon these sites to help us get balanced coverage:

• Media Bias/Fact Check

• All Sides

• Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart

Meet Lamar Roth and Tom Klaus

Lamar Roth and Tom Klaus are lifelong friends exploring how to get to a 3rd Space - a space where two or more people with opposing viewpoints, ideologies, and worldviews can come together to hear, listen, share, and connect with one another.

Prefer to Watch Us Do the Podcast?

Visit the Klaus Haus Productions YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@KlausHausProductions.

Comments? Suggestions? Ideas for guests or topics?

Send us a voice message on Spotify or email us at lamar3rdSpace@gmail.com, tom3rdSpace@gmail.com.

Credits:

Wild Opinions and Nonsensical Musings by Lamar Roth & Tom Klaus

Images by Getty Images, Pexels, Pixabay, Roth Images, and Cyberlink.

Final review and approval by Jake and Ebie Dawgs Inc.

Photos by Lamar Roth are copyrighted by Roth Images, All Rights Reserved. For permissions or additional information: lamar3rdSpace@gmail.com and https://www.rothimages.com/

Getting to 3rd Space with Lamar and Tom is produced and sponsored by Klaus Haus Productions LLC and Acorn Consulting, LLC. © 2026. All Rights Reserved. Permissions: hello@klaushausllc.com.

No living creature was harmed in the production of this film but a lot of Colombian coffee was consumed.

Recorded using Riverside.fm - http://riverside.fm/ - from “home studio” locations in Maryland and Kansas, USA; Original Publishing Date, September 1, 2026.