Those Were the Days My Friend...

Some folks say..."Oh boy, those were the days."

I don't think that way. Never did.

I've had good times and bad times. I remember. But the days come and go.

I ride the vibe. It's the only way I really know how to live.

Chicago Bound?

Lebron James in a Chicago Bulls uniform? I'm skeptical. But if he happened to come this way, gee, I'm thinking his moves on the court would be much more appealing. For sure.

New Song...

See the tree bend the wind

just like they were friends

hoping it'll never end

See the tree dance with the wind

just like they were friends

hoping it'll never end

hoping it'll never end

hoping it'll never end

Conjuring!

Conjuring the powers of mystery. And those mysterious powers have their own agenda baby!

Who?

Walking someone else's foot steps. Wearing someone else's sunglasses. Chilling out in someone else's homestead. Walking someone else's dog...

Kind of identity-busting. Everything is different, still, everything is the same. Little changes add up to big questions.

Who am I today? Who will I be tomorrow? Who was I yesterday?

Sustain!

The Telepaths played a rock show last night. A little bar called Dukes. Nice place, a warm, cozy room. We totally rocked out. I tried out my new sustainer/distortion pedal! Afterwards I was told we sounded like Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Wow. That is music to my ears. Very much the r&r musical vibe I love. The owner of the joint invited us back! Surprise! And he complimented me on my guitar playing. Now you can't beat that!

Here, There, Nowhere...

The Lovely Carla tells me my presence can be disturbing to the peace.

My absence too.

That about covers it.

The Oil Habit

Someone pointed out to me that we are the "oil people." We are swimming in the stuff. We eat it, drink it, breathe it.

It is the blood of our way of life, oil and it's derivatives are ubiquitous in the products we produce and consume.

I guess their point was that getting off oil was going to be near impossible.

Still isn't it totally necessary if we are to save ourselves? Don't we have to get off the stuff? And isn't what looks like near impossible today, totally doable some day?

And shouldn't we try to get to that "some day" soon?!

Breathing

Last night we did a yoga session at our little storefront space. The heat and humidity were totally oppressive.

I was sweating bullets like James Brown, "the hardest working man in YOGA!" It was difficult and challenging, and when it was over I was glad to be breathing.

Sometimes that's more than enough...

A Happy Dream

Playing music on the main stage this weekend felt really, really comfortable.

A sort of euphoria descended upon me. I felt closer to the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, than to all the "people stuff" going down on the street.

Of course, it was all a momentary illusion. Still, for most of the weekend I sort of floated around in a genial bubble.

It's back to earth this morning. But that "elevated feeling" still lingers like a happy dream.

Summer Street Fest

We played a street festival yesterday. Blazing hot day. We went on at 1:00 p.m.

Main stage, baby! Our violinist was a no-show, he was stuck on the east coast, so everyone kind of rose to the challenge to fill up some of the space in our songs.

One of our best all-time shows. The sound was superb, our music blasted down the avenue. It was all so fun and satisfying.

Got lots of love from the audience. The best feeling ever.

Clean Living

All this "clean living" is starting to catch up to me...

I'm expecting to fly anytime now...

Instructive

Yesterday was instructive...

I found out I know some things I didn't know I knew.

And I found out some things I didn't know I didn't know.

Surfing the Moment!

The Lovely Carla: "It feels like everything is coming together and falling apart at the same time."

sunnyjimmy: "Yes it does!"

The Dutch!

This woman is such a blithering idiot...

Call in the Dutch!?!

Looks

You look at the world and sometimes it seems that everything is just unconnected random chaos. You look again and it seems that everything is interconnected and working in a secretly ordered manner.

Same world...

Malingering

A series of events turned into a kind of nostalgia tour yesterday. And I hate nostalgia. Too many ghosts, wrong turns, dead channels.

I'd rather be in the now. I carry all those ghosts with me anyway. No sense in lingering...

No $ Required

Free Stuff. Turns out it's the best stuff. And you can't put a price on it!

Dissatisfied Mind!

It's really weird. Sometimes that void-inducing feeling of dissatisfication (is that a word?!) can be quite satisfying!

Opinions

I've learned it's okay not to have an opinion about everything. Probably especially about things that I don't really know much about, which is actually a pretty vast knowledge base.

Still, I think it's sort of a "revelation" to realize that my opinion really doesn't matter...

I mean, sometimes even to me...

When the Trouble Begins

To paraphrase Buddha and Woody Allen...

Life is suffering. To love is suffering. To live is to love suffering.

We come out of our nice and snug amniotic capsule, we come out all bare-assed and squalling, into a world we didn't make.

It's all kind of downhill from there, or maybe uphill. Anyway that's when the trouble begins...

Shaman Echoes...

Things I learned from a Shaman...

1. Even though it sounds biologically impossible...You can be your own mother and father!

2. Everything is sacred. Which means nothing is "special." Everything/everyone is amazing.

3. We are connected to everything.

4. Be real.

BP Oil Spill Re-enacted by Cats

This is good. The BP oil spill re-enacted by cats.

It's funny.

But are those tears on your cheeks from laughter or despair?

Having Sex, Owning a Cat, Hanging with a Shaman

It's funny, probably the most important stuff to know, is impossible to explain. You are either there - to experience it, to live it, or you are not.

There's no translation that works. By the time you filter it through your brain, and try to explain it, speak it, write it down, it's basically gone, or the essence of it is squeezed out.

I guess, it's sort of like trying to explain what sex is, as opposed to actually having sex. Or dissecting a cat, as opposed to owning a cat. Or hanging out with a Shaman Woman, as opposed to describing what happened when you were in her presence.

ETC.

Spirits of the Seven Dircections

This incredibly sexy Shaman Woman visited our space yesterday. Astrid. She's from Chile. She's part Chilean and Swedish. Now that's a striking combo.

It all came together, pretty much on the spur of the moment, or on the spur of a couple of moments. So we ended up in a circle around flowers and candles with a small group of people who somehow found themselves in that particular place at that particular moment.

Astrid led us through some songs and chants. We called up the Spirits of the Seven Directions. And we said hello to Father Sky and Mother Earth. We connected with our ancestors and with the future generations of human beings coming down the line.

While we sang and chanted, a robust storm blew through and and a hard rain came down upon the roof. It was all very sexy and profound and fun and life-affirming.

Not your typical Saturday evening...

Twisted

What a marvelously twisted road we traverse!

House of Cards

Even my own "White Rhino" is stunned by the audacity of lies! Tissue thin and oh so lame.

That corrupt house of cards is teetering in the breeze of hot air.

Can't wait for it all to come crashing down!

Web of Lies!

It is sort of amusing to watch the Liars continue to spin a web of lies around themselves.

Maybe they think it protects them somehow.

But their web is completely transparent!

The game is up Liars!

Chickens!

And then, finally, all the wayward chickens come home to roost.

Later - chicken salad!

Contradictory Dress

Let's say you have a really low-status job, you dress very high status.

Let's say you have a really high-status job, you dress very low status.

Let's say you don't have a job, pajamas & martinis!