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Jackie Doyle – Acupuncturist, Massage Therapist, and Rock Band Vocalist

By Admin | December 30, 2007

Jackie Doyle lives in Philadelphia and has put together an eclectic career as a acupuncturist, massage therapist, and vocalist and guitar player for the indie rock band Beloved Infidels. We recently got a chance to talk to her about her work.

Where are you from?

I was born in Scranton, PA, moved to Orchard Park, NY for elementary school and then back to Northeastern PA, to Clarks Summit where I lived through high school. I guess I consider myself from Clarks Summit, but haven’t lived there since I was 17.

Where did you go to college and what was your academic major?

I went to the University of Pennsylvania and majored in English and Biology.

What was your career path from college to acupuncturist, massage therapist, and vocalist/guitar player in an indie band?

My parents, for some reason, had their hearts set on my becoming a dentist. I just couldn’t see myself doing that for the rest of my life and basically jumped into the world with no real plans.

I was always a good writer so after a short stint in the restaurant business, I worked for a small computer company, a serviced office facility network and a brokerage firm, all in positions that involved writing. I must have been the kiss of death, because each of those companies went under, not because of me, of course, but because of bad moves on the part of the officers.

I scrambled, found a job in commercial real estate and bam! The savings and loans went bust and real estate went into a tailspin.

I decided that I couldn’t put my future in anyone’s hands but my own. Literally. So I went to massage school so I could have a flexible schedule and still be able to finance graduate school, looked around for a bit and decided on acupuncture.

I’d always been more oriented toward alternative forms of healthcare, but at the time, acupuncture education on the East Coast was in its infancy and I had to commute to Stamford, CT to Tri-State College of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture.

The school was in temporary quarters waiting for New York State Law to change. It did, the school moved to Manhattan and I finished there.

I’ve been in practice now for about 13 years, still work part-time as a massage therapist and a few years ago, decided to form an all girl band, The Vavooms. I’ve played guitar on and off since I was eight and finally had some time to devote to it.

Well, politics and personalities took their toll and the band broke up with a great deal of drama just before our first show. I made contact with another female musician, we played for a while, brought in my husband Jim as a bass player and found a great drummer.

I was writing, as was the other woman, but her songs were dark and mine were much lighter. We went our separate ways and Jim and I formed The Beloved Infidels with two other musicians.

We are now a trio and have been together for about three years and play when our schedules allow. We are just finishing up our first full length CD and also shot a music video which should be finished in about February 2008

If you could only do one of your three current professional activities which would it be?

A hard call, but if there were actually money in it, I’d have to say musician.

What are three diseases or symptoms or conditions that you have found respond particularly well to acupuncture?

If you are talking about just treating with needles, no other lifestyle changes or nutritional or herbal intervention, that trapezius/subscapular spasm that everyone is carrying around is pretty responsive to acupuncture, as is carpal tunnel syndrome and for something non-musculoskeletal, PMS is pretty responsive.

Many alternative health care practitioners look at diseases in a different light than allopathic MD’s. For instance, many alternative practitioners think that reflux disease is not an acid hypersecretion problem, but rather a lack of proper digestion problem. Do you agree with that?

It’s hard to generalize across the board, but if you had to put it into one sentence, most people suffer from deficiency, meaning that they are not absorbing their nutrients correctly or are not getting enough of something in order to push the necessary processes.

That certainly can be compounded by inflammation and immune system up regulation from external sources such as food intolerance or other environmental stress.

To be specific in the case of reflux, there is usually a stomach enzyme or acid deficiency which take place so that food stays too long in the stomach undigested and the stomach contents splash up, causing reflux.

Beefing up the stomach enzymes helps break down the food more completely causing it to leave the stomach more quickly and thus giving the rest of the gastrointestinal tract less work to do. The deficiency here is stomach enzymes, not Nexium! Often, the person is not drinking enough water, also.

How often do you get acupuncture on yourself?

When I need acupuncture, I get treated by my friends up in northern New Jersey. It’s not as often as I’d like, but they treat in a similar style to my own, which is fairly unusual.

What type of massage therapy do you do?

Swedish, Deep Tissue, Sports, Hot Stone, Reflexology and Maternity. Pretty much what a high end day spa requires. It’s mostly relaxation oriented, but often, people come in with specific problems that require special focus.

What is the hardest part of the job being a massage therapist?

For most people, it would be the physical strain of standing for nine hours, working without a break. For me, it’s the isolation of being in a room taking care of one person an hour when I could be out either treating multiple people at once or attending to other parts of life.

It is very relaxing, however, and I do get a great deal of thinking and planning done. I’ve written many songs while doing massage.

What type of music does your band play?

We call it indie retro pop. Very melodic, catchy, and reminiscent of 60s girl groups, first British Invasion, up through, say, New Wave.

No big guitar solos, very vocally driven, every song sounds different, but still us. It’s not complex, never dark, sometimes biting, but not bitter.

How are you going about trying to get known?

When the CD is finished, it will be sent out to lots of small radio stations that are geared to our stuff, websites that review indie music and print magazines that feature new music. With the Internet, spreading your music is much easier than ever before.

What do you need to do as a musician and group to get better?

We are actively looking to add a female keyboard player/backup singer/percussionist to round out our sound live. As with anything else, practice makes you better.

Other than the major sports arenas, what are the most desirable or “big-time” venues for bands in Philly? World Café? Electric Factory?

World Café is certainly a desirable venue for a band like us and they often feature original, local indie bands. Electric Factory is for nationally-touring, major label acts. The Khyber, Johnny Brenda’s and the Northstar are some other nice places around Philadelphia for independent music.

What are your three all-time favorite bands or performers. If you were on a desert island and could only have three groups’ music, who would it be?

Bettie Serveert, a Dutch band that is so unbelievably underrated, it’s sad; Elvis Costello, basically everything he’s ever done is amazing and the third one is tougher, but I guess The Rolling Stones. If I’m stuck on a desert island, I want as much music as possible and all these bands have big catalogs.

Copyright 2007 DailyInterview.com

Topics: Acupuncturists, Massage Therapists, Singers | 1 Comment »

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