It's now the end of August of '09 and I'm currently just starting the beginning of my east coast tour.
I'm traveling with Deborah Dove, who has been singing with Peace Tribe since
late December of last year. PT was in San Francisco at the end of June for a triple billing of Peace Tribe,
Fantuzzi & the Flexibles, and Clan Dyken at an art gallery on Folsom Street.
Catherin McClellan joined us onstage to sing backup for Peace Tribe. Clan Dyken's drummer
joined us for the Fantuzzi set. PT was at the annual national Rainbow Gathering which took
place in NE New Mexico this year, just outside of Taos. PT members Erik Avery, Deborah Dove
and Zahira were there this year and we had some sweet music circles at many of the kitchens and bliss
pits. Many friends of my musical family were there as well and we got to play music together at various points
along the rainbow trails. Elan Rae, Don Diego, Jiva, Beth Brown, Shiner, Har-I, Steven Rousch, Human,
Brockelle, Ian, Hadley Louden, Chance and Tony Wells is just a partial list of some of those I got
to play music with there. Immediately following the Gathering, just outside of Taos, Peace Tribe performed at
Tony's Roundhouse, along with Human & the Revolution, Diego & the Gypsies, Shiner, and
Har-I. Peace Tribe was then scheduled to perform at the Tribal Vision Festival. Along with
Deborah, Erik, and I, we were joined by Michael Elam on trumpet, my longtime friend, Arne Bey,
now living in Santa Fe, on drums, Bob Kelley on keyboards, Nigel on saxophone, and
Hope on percussion. PT members were also the backup band for Fantuzzi & the Flexibles,
who performed at Tribal Vision. We also did a long set late at night at The Casbah Tea Kitchen. PT and
Fantuzzi did a few other gigs together in New Mexico. One was a house concert in Albuquerque at a beautiful home
and a big party of people. Another was at a yoga studio in Tesuque, and another house concert in Taos. From there
we traveled up to Colorado for the Dreamtime Festival just outside of Paonia. This was another 3 day
festival with lots of music, workshops, and more to do than one person could experience. Along with Deborah, Erik,
Michael and I, we had Fantuzzi, Arne Bey, and Ram on drums. Also joining us for some of this was
Nigel on saxophone. After Dreamtime we took the long ride back to the west coast for
the Mystic Garden Party Festival in Ashland, Oregon at the end of July. I played guitar for Fantuzzi's sets,
sang backup vocals for Jah Levi & the Higher Reasoning and also played two performances with Peace
Tribe. There were many musical acts, too numerous to mention but some of the ones I remember were Lynx
& Jamie Janover, Sasha Rose, Scott Huckabay, Shimshai, Goddess Alchemy, Youssouph Sidibe, Human & the
Revolution, and Heather Noel. Peace Tribe at the Mystic Garden Party was Erik Avery on bass,
Michael Elam on trumpet, Deborah Dove on vocals, Hadley Louden on percussion, James Caran on percussion,
and Chris Cowan on guitar. After Mystic Garden, we did a house concert in Ashland at the Om
Home, hosted by Mara. From there we traveled down to Mt. Shasta area for a few weeks of camping on the
Siskiyou River. One weekend we performed at Sengthong's Blue Sky Room in Dunsmuir, just south of
Shasta. For this performance Peace Tribe had Deborah Dove, Peter Priore on bass, Van on
keyboards, and Dave on drums. This same crew also joined PT for another gig we did in the Mt. Shasta
park for a Saturday music festival, along with Jacob-I on rap and saxophone and Seth on
percussion. We then went back to Ashland for another house concert, this time at Asha's, near Lithia
Park. Joining us for this evening was also Beloved and Faun Parliman opening, and a few
songs from Nicholas Iris and Alan. After shooting back down to Mt. Shasta for a retreat on the
Siskiyou River, we then headed north to Eugene for another house concert, this time at The Mothership.
Eostar's band, Sunheart, opened up for us. I also played lead guitar for Har-I after our
set. We performed as Zaja Nada at Jah Levi's Center for Quantum Healing after this with Zahira,
Deborah Dove, Elan Rae on percussion, Diego on flute, Ken on bass and Owl
Torre on lead guitar. Also on the bill that evening was Jah Levi & the Higher Resoning, Shimshai, Yossi
Fine, Love Eternal, and Blane Lyon & the Real.
Summer Solstice has just passed and I've been really busy with music gigs on the west coast. I arrived on the mainland
a month ago with my bass, electric and acoustic guitars. The beginning of June started with a Fantuzzi gig in
Santa Cruz at a temple space up in the mountains at 420 Happy Valley Road. This gig I played bass and sang,
Ashoka played percussion, Deborah Dove sang vocal backup, Michael DeMartino played
percussion, and Chris Cowan played guitar and keyboards. At the end of Fantuzzi's set, I played some of my
songs, with Deborah on vocals. The next evening we were scheduled to perform at a bi-monthly nutrition seminar hosted
at Las Palmas Ranch, owned by Robert Cassar, somewhere close to Los Angeles. We then traveled back up the coast to Marin for a performance at The Center for
Quantum Healing. Zahira and I were reunited once again as Zaja Nada,
and we played a set that evening, along with Fantuzzi, Fannah Fi Allah, Scott Huckabay, M J Greenmountain, and
a few others. The following week started with a music gig in Ventura at the Bikram Yoga Studio, run by yoga teacher, Drew Rouse, who also opened up for us. Drew is a talented singer/songwriter who I originally met at the Oregon Country Fair a few years ago. Performing with Fantuzzi on
our set was myself on bass and backup vocal, Michael Elam on trumpet, Deborah Dove and Zan on
vocals. This space was really nice and we booked another gig for Peace Tribe to perform there. Following close
on the heels of this gig was the Raw Spirit Festival, a three day event
in Santa Barbara with raw foods, leading nutritional spokespersons, and lots of good music from some very talented bands
and musicians. Zaja Nada performed there with Zahira and I, along with Erik on bass, Bob Kelley on
keyboards, Hadley Louden on percussion, Michael Elam on trumpet, Deborah Dove on vocals, and Stuheart
on drum kit. We had a performance on both Saturday and Sunday. I also played bass and sang backup for Fantuzzi's two sets,
along with Deborah, Erik, Chris, Michael, and Stuheart. I also performed there with Jah Levi & the Higher Reasoning
as lead guitarist and backup vocalist, along with Zahira on vocals, Shimshai on melodica, Andius Jent
on bass, Julian Fritz on drum kit, and Dave-I and Hadley on percussion. The next
weekend was the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa. Another 3 day event with tons of
music and stages and more to do than can be done in three days. I performed there with Fantuzzi
with most of the same band and some more singers, including Catherin McClellan, Lori Grace,
Sofia, Donnie Rigle on keyboards, Erik Avery on bass and Peter
from Shasta on bass on a couple of the tunes. I also performed there as a part of
the annual parade on both saturday and sunday, led by Don Diego, a good friend of mine.
Peace Tribe ended up playing for over three hours at the Harmony Fest's version of the Casbah
late at might with so many players in and out of our set; horn players, percussionists, and singers.
After the Harmony festival, Peace Tribe was scheduled to perform at the Mothership
a lush private residence up in the hills near Healdsburg. This was a 4 day long party with a pool, hot tub,
and an amazing group of souls who made this a truly awesome experience. I also played guitar with St.
Germain & the Sacred Sound. There were numerous music jams and I got to be percussionist,
bassist, trap drummer, and guitarist. We then left once again for southern California and played a gig with
Peace Tribe at the Live H2O Festival in Long Beach.
This was another 3 day festival which PT was the first band opening up the event. This was a blessing of the
world's waters hosted by Masaru Emoto, the man who made famous the microphotography of the
crystalline structure of water molecules that had been altered by positive human thought; and a friend of mine,
Dr. Leonard Horowitz, the world reknown investigative researcher and writer who has written over
thirty books and has recently written about the vibrational healing codes. After performing there in the afternoon,
we got back on the road and shot up to Ventura where Peace Tribe performed at the Bikram Yoga Studio where
Drew Rouse also performed a set of his songs. We then traveled back north to Marin for the Solstice Grove
annual Summer Solstice event where Andius and I, along with Ronnie Ray on guitar, played a
gig at the outdoor fire circle. Joining us that evening, among others, was Blane Lyon and Fantuzzi,
who we backed up for some of their songs. The following evening Zaja Nada and Fantuzzi performed once
again at the Center for Quantum Healing in Nicasio, along with Yossi Fine, Sasha Rose, Eostar &
Glenno, and Scott Huckabay.
April 1st and it's getting closer to the time when I leave for the mainland US. Peace
Tribe has been busy here at home with rehearsals and gigs. Our last performance
was recently at the Seaview Performing Arts Center & Education, otherwise
known as SPACE, located at the community, Belly Acres in the
Seaview subdivision near Kehena Beach. A beautiful building supported on native ohia
logs, this was a well attended event for us and the band is sounding better than ever.
Our bass player, Erik Avery, was instead on lead guitar this evening and our
former bassist, Evan Small, joined us on bass. Also joining us in the lineup was
Michael Elam on trumpet, here from Kauai. In addition, we had a bazouki player
for the first set whose name in the moment eludes me. The dance floor was full and people
were really grooving on the band. Iolani did a bellydance performance between our
sets, and also helped set up the gig for us at SPACE. The week before that I was asked to
play bass for another performer here from Kauai, Shoshanna, who played on a
Sunday evening at the Center Of Conscious Oneness. It was my first time playing
music with her and her songs are inspiring and fun to play. Also joining us was Michael Elam
on trumpet, and Fantuzzi on percussion and vocals. Going back to the week before
that, Peace Tribe also had a performance at COCO and our infectious rhythms and funky
grooves once again had everyone out on the dance floor. Also that same weekend, some of the
players from Peace Tribe put together a funk jam band to open up for West Coast band,
Clan Dyken at COCO. This was Jeremy Smith on drums, Loren
Antolik on guitar, Erik Avery on guitar, and myself on bass. A little change of
pace for PT and we really had fun getting to let loose and stretch out a bit musically.
It's the beginning of February and it's still quite cold over most of the US but here
in the tropical climate of Hawaii things are heating up as Peace Tribe blazes
on gig after gig. We had a performance in downtown Hilo at the Mo'oheau Bandstand
on the bay and got to play our music for a lot of people that might not normally get to
hear us. Although it wasn't technically a paying gig, someone in the audience passed the
hat and people were generous enough to donate just under a hundred dollars. We decided
to do it again soon, probably at the end of this month, so look for our postings around
town and also online. We played once again at Coco's, Peace Tribe's home base,
and had a really great night with a fantastic turnout. Joining us on vocals that evening
was Soriya. This past week we did a double billing with none other than Fantuzzi
& the Flexibles at the Hawaiian Sanctuary near Pahoa. This was a raw food
festival with speakers such as David Wolfe and Happy Oasis. I played guitar
and sang with Fantuzzi's band before taking over with Peace Tribe. We had special guests
Kaliko on vocals and jumping up with us for the first time in a few years,
Jacquelyn Cerrar on vocals. We also had Gabriel DeSilva on percussion and
Boaz from Baraba Jaba on percussion. There was also a third percussionist
who sat in for part of our set whose name I did not catch but she caught my ear; an
Australian woman who I was told was a permaculture teacher at the event. This was also a
well attended event and we will play music there again soon.
Back in beautiful Hawaii and it's a new year. Peace Tribe is back together on
the Big Island. We started out our winter here with a gig at one of our favorite
places to play music, at the Center of Conscious Oneness in Kapoho for a
Christmas Day concert. Onboard with PT is Erik Avery on bass, Loren
Antolik on lead guitar, Jeremy Smith on drum kit, Aaj Tzuh on flute,
Jeffree Berk on trumpet, Reed on saxophone, and special guests,
Deborah Dove on vocals, and Mad Max on flugelhorn. It was a wonderful
reunion of the band and the many fans who support our music. We played for hours and
everyone danced. The people in Puna sure know how to have fun. Less than a week later,
on New Year's Eve, we threw a little private party at a place where Jeremy is currently
living and had an invite only concert with Peace Tribe and friends. I didn't get home
until the wee hours and we played well past midnight. Sitting in that evening was a
new face, Dave LaRocca on percussion. Dave had heard about us and called to say
he was interested in playing with Peace Tribe. We'll see more of Dave in the coming
days, I'm sure. Mahalos to all of our friends whose continued support has made Peace
Tribe a name for itself here in Hawaii. Before leaving the west coast of California,
Zahira and I finshed up some recording for the CD I've been working on for
about three years. We went into Peter Temple Studios in Albion and got her voice
on the 12 tracks on the CD, Breaking The Spell. We also did a gig with Jah
Levi in Fairfax for a workshop put on by some friends of ours, including Shivakti
Shaktiva, and Makaylah. I believe the workshop was on sacred sexuality and
soul language; we came in at the end for a musical sharing.
It's the end of October and Zahira and I have been busy recording our new CD
tentatively entitled Synergy , at Jah Levi's studio. We have also been
booking some upcoming shows, one which we performed at last weekend at a club in
Oakland called Oasis, for a NORML benefit. Also on the bill was my
good friend and his band, Human & the Revolution. Backing Zahira and I as part
of our new band, Zajanada, we had my longtime musical compadre, Andius
Jent on bass, who is just back from a European tour with his jazz quintet, good buddy
Hadley Louden on keyboards and percussion, who leads two popular Bay area
bands, Los Bros and Pacifica Marimba.and Inx on the drum kit.
Inx tours with Hugh Masakela and regularly performs with Hamsa Lila of
the SF Bay area. We had a terrific gig and had some offers for gigs in the near future.
Last weekend Zahira, Andius and I also performed at the after party for the Bioneers
Conference at Solstice Grove in Nicasio. Around a bonfire we shared our
heartsongs and made up some as we got everyone to sing along in a magical timeless
evening of deep sharing.
Mid-September of '08 and I just finished performing at the Raw Spirit
Fest in Sedona, AZ this past weekend. Zahira and I had two
performances on the music stage, as well as performing with Jah Levi and
the Higher Reasoning, with Hadley Louden on percussion. I also played
bass with Singing Bear for one of his performances. Zahira and I
also accompanied Hadley for a performance of African Orisha songs in the
tipi space. There were many other bands and musicians, too many to mention, but
some of my friends there that weekend included Human and the Human
Revolution, Shimshai, Manaka, and Scott Huckabay. This was a
festival that only had raw food all weekend and lots of superfood samples,
along with the leading raw food nutritionists in the country. The organizer of
this event, Happy Oasis, saw Zahira and I sing some songs at our
campsite and invited us for their next event in Santa Barbara in May of next
year. On Sunday evening I played guitar along with singer/songwriter
Leora and the lead guitarist for Shimshai's band (can't remember his name
in the moment). It was an informal jam but lots of fun at the close of the
event. On monday evening at an after party nearby out of town, I also sang
and played some songs on the porch outside and was joined by Heather on
vocals. Zahira and I are in the middle of our new cd recording project and it's
exciting to hear it progress as we add the tracks. We recently decided to
call our duo project Zajanada, and have put up our web presence at
Zajanada.com. I've just started the webpage
and will be updating it as we progress. Well, that's all for now and
I'll be back to let you know how the fall season progresses.
I can't believe it's late summer already! Since leaving Hawaii in late June, I
headed to the annual Rainbow Gathering, this year in Wyoming, with my
bandmate and singer, Zahira. We camped at Aloha and performed
nearly every night for the nearly two weeks we were there. So many of
our musician friends were there as well, including
Diego, Beth Brown, Jiva, Fantuzzi, Shiner, Har-I, Andius Jent, Hadley Louden,
Tony Wells, Jimmy John, Human, Brockelle, Tim Zywicki, Elan Rae, Bob Kelley, Jesta,
and more. Some of my favorite kitchens this year were Montana, Popcorner, Lovin' Ovens,
Jerusalem, and Granola Funk. After the gathering a bunch of us headed once
again to Crestone, Colorado, a little hamlet nestled up against a mountain with some
magical folks. We did a performance of The Gypsies with Diego, Beth, Jiva, Shiner,
Hadley, Zahira, and I at The Schoolhouse. The locals were out that evening and
danced and sang with us all night long. We had an after party at someone's place who
made us mexican food for a nice midnight meal. From Crestone, we headed south to Paonia,
CO for the Dreamtime Festival where Peace Tribe had a slot on the main stage
on saturday. Zahira and I, along with Bob Kelley on keyboards, grabbed some musicians
there at thefestival for a bass player, drum kit player, and violinist which rounded out our
sound nicely. We got a warm reception by the crowd there. Members of the band, Kan' nal
who headlined the festival caught our show and told me they loved our set. We also performed on
Friday at the Sol Mate Bar at the festival, and there also on Sunday where Zahira and I
each performed as soloists. The following weekend found us performing at the Mystic Garden
Party festival in Ashland, OR. It was held at the Jackson Wellsprings Hot Spring Resort
on the outskirts of town. There were many musical groups during the weekend, many of the players
good friends of mine. Michael St. John was the kit drummer for many of them. NY
Peter was the bass player. Peace Tribe had a saturday afternoon slot with Hadley
on percussion, Mike from Arcata on drum kit, Breakfast on saxophone, Peter on
bass, Bob Kelley on keyboards, Zahira on vocals, and myself on guitar and vocals.
I also performed as lead guitarist for Human and the Revolution for two shows at Mystic
Garden. The following weekend found me at Mt. Shasta, on top of that incredible mountain where I
hiked into both the lower and upper Panther Meadows. I spent a few weeks camping in and
around the Mt. Shasta area in wilderness areas. Many an evening spent around the campfire sharing
our music, our dreams, our food, and our wisdom. With nearly no trace of modern civilization, there
is opportunity to be more in touch with the natural world. While at Shasta, I was invited by some
friends to do a taping of a local television show highlighting our music. It was at the College
of the Siskiyous in Weed, CA. Shamballah, Peter Priore and I played our music for half an hour
with three cameras and an interviewer. I got a copy of the video footage before I left. I am now in
Nicasio, CA, at my friend, Jah Levi's place where Zahira and I are about to start a recording project
for our CD. We're both excited by the prospect of getting our music recorded and feel we
landed at the right place to get it done. Jah Levi is helping to engineer and produce and we hope to
be done in the coming weeks. So that's the news for now, thanks for joining me. Read on, there's lots
I have to share with you.
It's the middle of March and Spring is here. The weather is warming up, the winter rains
have abated and life is good here on the Big Island of Hawaii. Peace Tribe
headlined at The Shire for the Full Moon Celebration near the end of
February. Iris Eve and her band opened up for us, as well as Jerome
and his musicians. It was one of our best performances and the band sounded fantastic.
Zahira and I performed as a duo and opened up at COCO's in Kapoho for a
band touring from the mainland, here from Grass Valley, CA, called Blue Turtle
Seduction. They were an ecletctic mix of rock, Celtic, bluegrass, and funk. We also
had a gig at Yoga Shala in Pahoa town for the duo. This was a beautiful circle of
people and Zahira and I headlined the event, which also featured a few other
singer/songwriters, including Travis, a very talented musician we've been seeing a
lot of these days. Our full band performed once again at COCO's for the Spring
Equinox Full Moon event. This was a three day event with bands, yoga, heartsong, and
workshops. Peace Tribe headlined on both Friday and Saturday. My good friend, fellow
musician Steven Rousch was on island for this event and it was good to hear his
wonderful songs and get a chance to play music with him around the fire. Zahira and I also
performed as a duo at the event. Peace Tribe recently has gained a few new members. We
recently met a superb Berklee School of Music trained musician, Breakfast,
who has joined us as a second sax player. Well versed in many styles of music, including
classical Indian music as well as classical western music. Breakfast is also a talented
singer/songwriter in his own right and a really nice person to have around. The newest
addition has been the appearance of Mad Max, who has joined us as a second trumpet
player. Max is also Berklee trained and an amazing soloist and Peace Tribe is happy to have
him sit in with us anytime. We will soon be joined by yet another musician, June,
who is scheduled to arrive on the Big Island on April 8th. Jeremy, Evan, Bob, and I met her
last summer at Pegasus Community in Humboldt County, CA. She's a keyboardist with
jazz sensibilities and lush textural melodies and harmonies and we all look forward to her
wonderful presence. We've been busy creating a web presence for Peace Tribe on
MySpace and Tribe.net, as well as registering with online booking and
management. It's time to line up gigs for the summer on the mainland. We're hoping to put
together a small tour of concerts, clubs, festivals and various gigs on the West Coast.
Getting close to the end of February and Peace Tribe is running full steam ahead.
We recently performed in Volcano at the Lava Lounge once again, close to the
Kilauea crater, the world's most active volcano. Erik has joined us as PT's
regular bassist and is a superb performer. He had, not so long ago, auditioned for the
Red Hot Chili Peppers but I'm glad he ended up with us instead. Bob Kelley
joined us on keyboards, here for a while from his home in Denver, Colorado. Peace Tribe
also played at The Mystic Garden Party held at Coco's in Kapoho. This was
a four day event with many other performers including Human, Blayne Lyon, Freedom
Tribe, Sasha Butterfly, Diane Patterson, and others. With our full band of 10
players we had the house rockin' and everyone dancing. The following weekend we did a
pared down version of the band, going from 10 members to 3. With Zahira on vocal,
Bob on keyboards, and myself on guitar and vocal, we opened up for Rock Candy, a
band I was in two years ago with Jack Hutchings, at an establishment called
Luke's Place in Hawi, the northwest corner of the Big Island. The next day we set
up at the Kohala Coffee Mill, also in Hawi and did a couple of sets with our three
piece band before heading back home to Puna. Last Saturday we did a gig at Coco's
once again, only this time with Jeremy Smith on drums, Erik on bass,
Pit Steffan on guitar, Shasta on vocal, Zahira on vocal, and
myself on guitar and vocal. In addition to our gigs, we've been setting up and playing for
the weekly potluck music party at Jeffrie's Kua Aina Peaceful Arts Center here in
Kurtistown. This coming weekend finds us back at The Shire for an event being put
on by them and event planner Rainbow Light. We're headlining their Full
Moon Celebration.
Mid-January can be cold but it's warm here in Puna where Peace Tribe headquarters
for most of the year. The newest addition to our band is singer Zahira, with a
powerful voice in a small body. She saw Peace Tribe at the Living Culture Festival
in Mendocino County, CA this past summer and came out not quite two weeks ago to join us.
She crash coursed about two dozen songs in less than a week and joined us for a gig at
The Shire in Pahoa last week. She's a professional and really adds the magic touch
to the sound of the band. Peace Tribe performed at the Music for Peace Fest,
along with local reggae artist, Jah Works. It was a well attended event that
spawned two more dates for the band there next month. Last night at the Kua Aina
weekly potluck we had a guest bassist, Erik, who sounded great. We also got word
that Evan, our regular bassist is on his way back to the island soon. It's nice
having a bass player so I could get back on the guitar, although I must admit, I really
love playing the bass. Tomorrow, Peace Tribe heads to the Hawaii regional Rainbow
Gathering in Waipio Valley on the north shore. Guitarist Pit Steffan and singer
Shasta are due here in a couple of weeks, as is keyboardist Bob Kelley. That
will bring the number of players to 13, I believe. The band is going to be quite large next
month. We have gigs coming up the 1st, 7th, and 8th of February. Come on out and join us
for an evening of rockin' music.
The last few days of 2007 and I'm back home in Hawaii where Peace Tribe is
picking up where we left off last spring. The band's members are almost all back from
our journeys elsewhere. We're still waiting for our bassist, Evan Small, to get
back from the East Coast. Other than that, I've got most of our crew back together and
already gigging, including Loren Antolik on guitar, Aaj Tzuh on flute,
Reed on saxophone, Jeff Berk on trumpet, Jeremy Smith on drums,
and Drew Leone on percussion. This past week we headlined for an event at the
Center Of Creative Oneness in Kapoho, here on the Big Island. Also on the bill
was Sonja Kalczuk, who led a sound healing workshop, singer/songwriter Iris
Eve on acoustic guitar, and another guitarist/singer whose name I did not catch.
It was a nice turnout and the band is tighter than ever. I also did a gig as bass
player for Iris Eve at the Garden Temple in Kalapana, along with trap drummer,
Dreddie Dave, for Iris' CD release party. We had one evening here at Kua
Aina with Loren on guitar, Jeffree on trumpet, and former PT bassist, Oliver
Nuell on standup bass. We went through some of my new tunes written this past
summer and Oliver made everything sound so good. He's a superb bass player and I don't
say that about many bassists, being a longtime bass player myself. It feels really good
to be back home; Peace Tribe is getting lots of support and generating momentum. We
look forward to a great season together here in Hawaii and I'll post our musical
happenings as they unfold. Peace out for now.
Today is my son's 17th birthday and it's an honor to mention him here on my Musical
Connections page. I spent some time with him this summer at various times and I've
seen that his abilities on the guitar have increased tremendously. Sekaya has
some wonderful melodic lines, nice chordal structure, really cool voicings and patterns,
and a solid, steady rhythm through it all. He's a natural and is going to be a strong
player as he comes into his fullness as a musician. Tomorrow begins the final moon(th)
of this year and I'm happy to say I'm back home in Hawaii. Nearly six months on the road
living out of a suitcase starts wearing thin. One of the things I was able to do before
leaving the West Coast was finish mixing and mastering the music project I've been
working on for nearly three years. I booked time in
Peter Temple Studios in
Mendocino, redid a lot of vocal parts, a lot more micro digital editing, moved some
verses and sax parts around, brought in Shasta, Pit Steffan and Prema Luv
for more backup vocals and guitar, redid one of my guitar parts and voila!, the cake is
baked. The next step is to do the graphic work for the CD cover, which I want to include
the song lyrics, credits, performers on each song, etc. I'm hoping th music will be ready
for release soon, definitely before the spring. While I was still in Floyd, VA, i played
music with an old bandmate of mine, B. Rad Miller on drums, and a friend of his,
Ed on keyboards and vocals. On another evening I played music with Starroot,
Rick, and Walt. Also, the music group that meets once a week that I used to
enjoy while still living in Floyd, still meets weekly and that was just so much fun. What
a great group of folks, I miss the Floyd community. Before leaving the East Coast I
visited good ol' Long Branch in NJ. I got some more sax tracks recorded by Rob Elinson
and even a vocal track by his wife Dorothy Sikora for my upcoming music CD.
Back in California I went out one evening to the Starry Plough in Berkeley for
their open mic night. I saw my friend Gabe there and also met a man who said he was
the son of the famous Curtis Mayfield. He played percussion for me that night. The next
day he brought his video over of his "Curtis" show. Some really good players he put
together. I called my buddy, Andius and we went to a birthday party for Lydia,
who has the raw food booth at the festivals, and played music there. Everyone danced and it
was a lot of fun. I've got some upcoming performances here on the Big Island but since
most of my band members are off-island, I won't be doing any large band Peace Tribe
shows until sometime in January.
The beginning of Fall finds me once again on the East Coast in Floyd, VA, my old stomping
grounds. After leaving the Mt. Shasta area, I traveled to Mendocino where Peace Tribe
performed at the Mendocino Living Culture Festival held at the Jughandle Park
Farm. I flew in two of my bandmates from the Big Island, Evan Small on bass,
and Jeremy Smith on drums. On lead guitar was longtime PT member Pit Steffan,
on backing vocals was Shasta and Big I member Mamabear, Bob Kelley on
keyboards, Don Diego on flute, Hadly Louden on percussion, and special guest,
Unity Nguyen on kora. We rocked the stage that day and got lots of good feedback
about our performance. Human got up with us on the last song and sang on my song,
"Together". Native American elder Cho'Qosh told me that everything I sing about is
what she teaches and wants to help PT get on the main stage at Earthdance Festival
next year. She's a personal friend of Chris Dekker, who runs the festival. We also
played the late night set at The Casbah Tent on saturday evening. I was also asked
to play bass for the Church of Funk that included Tes and Kennedy from the
God Squad based in San Diego at the Temple of Higher Consciousness. All in
all a wonderful festival with musical acts Ras Michael, Rocker T., Human and the
Evolution, Singing Bear and Aumnibus, Ras Attitude, St. Germain and the Sacred Sound System,
and many others. There was a constant flow of music that weekend and lots of late night
jamming at The Casbah, in their large tent that looks like it would be right at home
in the middle of the desert. Lots of reggae artists, folkies, rock bands, jam bands, hip-hop
and rap, even some funk... not a bad place to get stuck at for the weekend. The management
did an excellent job of taking care of musicians and crew with plenty of food available
anytime you might feel like eating. Got to thank Human and crew for staging an awesome
event. Immediately after the festival a group of us went to a nearby community, Pegasus,
where we got to play music together for days on end. There, PT was joined by Kata on
cello, Benny, from Israel on guitar, June Harrison on piano, Julie Bird
on vocals, as well as some of the already aforementioned and a few others whose names I cannot
now recall. Following on the heels of our time in Mendo, I traveled with Pit and Shasta to
San Francisco where we attended both the Summer of Love concert and the Power to
the Peaceful concert, both in Golden Gate Park on consecutive saturdays. I then
went up to visit with my good friend, Jah Levi, where we did a music circle in his
living room until the wee hours of the dawn. Then traveling with musician friends, Fantuzzi,
Peter, Brooks, Evan, and Jeremy, we went to Hadley's place in Oakland where we got to play
music on and off for days. After a relaxing trip to Harbin Hot Springs, I played lead
guitar for Fantuzzi, who had a birthday concert at Ananda Ji's Healing Center
in the city, with Peter on bass. It was a beautiful gathering of people and quite an
amazing place to be. Along with my bandmates, Evan and Jeremy, we stayed there for a number
of days in that beautiful healing space. What often feels like the official close of the
summer festival circuit is the Earthdance Festival in Laytonville. Although this was
the first year in the past four years of attending this gathering that I did not get in as
a working musician, Peace Tribe did manage to play music after hours around the fire for
those still awake at that late hour. It was almost time to leave for the East Coast and I
spent the last few days at Gorilla House in Berkeley where I got to play music with
Keith Stafford a few times and also when David Hummingbird and Steven
Rousch came by for a short visit.
I'm in Mt. Shasta, CA and have been here for a few weeks. I'm staying in an RV belonging
to Bob Kelley, my good friend from the Big Island, who has since moved to Denver, CO.
We've been getting to play music a lot. Bob has a PA system which we can plug in to his RV's
second battery. We've had some wonderful musical sessions with various friends along the way.
A few days ago, Bob, Tracy Rae Clark and I took a ride to Dunsmuir, about 5 miles
from here, to check out a park someone told us about with a stage and available electric.
We took out our instruments and played some songs on a cloudless sunny afternoon, next to
the river. Later we rode through town and on a suggestion from a friend, Tracy Rae went
into a local Thai restaurant called Sengthong's and asked if we could set up and play
music in exchange for dinner for the three of us. The owner said come on in and so we did.
After a sumptuous meal, we got on stage and played jazz tunes, Tracy Rae's originals and my
songs. The restaurant patrons were surprinsgly very supportive, clapping loudly after each
song and after Don, the owner, put out a tip jar, we got over $40 in tips. Not bad for a
Tuesday night (or was it Wednesday?). Don handed Bob another $25 for gas money and asked if
we'd come back later next week and do it again. It' still undecided whether we'll be able
to do that since we've got other commitments but we might play there again in a few days.
Two nights ago we played at The Flying Lotus in Mt. Shasta City, billed as The
Rainbow Allstars, a repeat performance of what we did last year at the Oracle
in Weed, CA. This year the lineup was Anton Mizerak, Gary Cooper, and Tracy Rae as
the opening act, Peace Tribe following, Shiner next, and Shamballah to
finish. It was a beautiful space and a wonderfully receptive audience. I had many compliments
from those in attendance, most of whom had not heard my music before. The night before that
we got together at a place on the Siskiyou river called Twin Arrows for a rehearsal
and played music together until midnight. It's always special getting to have such heartfelt
communion together and gives us a special bond that brings us closer to one another.
In the beginning of August of '07 I was at the Wellsprings Hot Springs Resort in
Ashland, Oregon to perform music at the Mystic Garden Party 4 day music festival.
Also performing there were Shimshai, MJ Greenmountain, Segovia, Sasha Butterfly, Tina
Malia, Blane Lyon, Steven Rousch, Har-I, Shasta, Pit Steffan, Human, Brockelle, Adele Wynn,
Stevo, Peter, Johhny, Glenno, Shiner, David Hummingbird, Windsong, Trevor Justice,
Yousouffe Sidibe, Michael St. John, Freedom, Shakina, Priyo, and many others. It was a
fantastic long weekend with so many wonderful friends I got to see and spend time with. Late
Friday evening, Shasta, Pit, Segovia, and I did a set of Peace Tribe material. Late on
Saturday evening I played bass for The Human Revolution. On Sunday evening I took
out my acoustic guitar and played music in the living room splace off the office next to
the pool and one by one people trickled in until we were all squeezed in and we played music
'til the wee hours of the morning. David Hummingbird, Singing Bear, Shakina Ma, Mamabear,
and others joined me in our music circle that evening. The next weekend I performed at a
music festival in Dana, CA called The Gathering of the Tribes, where I had also
performed the previous year. Peace Tribe had a prime slot on Saturday late afternoon
on the stage and we played for over an hour. I had my good friend, Bob Kelley on
keyboards, along with drummer Tripp, a saxophonist, and our sound engineer on bass.
I also had a jam at one encampment with a guy named Roy on saxophone one morning at
the festival. Other than the dry, dusty conditions, it was a fun time with some good friends
there. I talked with another performer at length who goes by the name Saint Germain
and who claims to be the reincarnation of the same. A very interesting being, to say the
least. We talked a lot about the future of the planet, especially after 2012. He shared many
of his insights. He'll also be at the upcoming Mendocino Living Culture Music Festival
happening next weekend near Ft. Bragg, CA, where Peace Tribe will be performing.
At the end of July I was asked to perform at the 40th anniersary concert of the Monterey
Pop Festival Summer of Love. I had Andius Jent on bass and Hadley on
percussion. We played around 6 PM on the Musicians and Fine Artists for World Peace
stage in the center of the festial. I was there for the entire weekend and got to see a
plethora of musical groups. Big Brother and the Holding Company with their new singer
replacing Janis Joplin were fantastic. She's a powerhouse of a singer in a little body.
Jefferson Starship with Marty Balin and Paul Kantner also had a new
female singer to replace Grace Slick. I saw Quicksilver Messenger Service with
David Freiberg. The Doors had a new singer to replace Jim Morrison and
they sounded better than I ever remember them sounding. Robbie Kreiger sounded like he
had been practicing for the thirty years they've been in retirement. It's A Beautiful
Day with David LaFlamme sounded really fine. There were a whole bunch of tribute
bands emulating The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles (with two John Lennon
clones!?), and other popular 60's bands, none of which were overly impressive for a jaded
longtime musician like myself but entertaining nonetheless. I did enjoy the excerpts from the
60's musical, Hair, put on by a bunch of younger folks. Before my set I also had a
chance to perform with my good friend, Singing Bear and his band. He asked me to do
one of my songs, Together, which he sang with me. Just before this weekend I went up
to Nicasio in Marin County to visit with a musician friend of mine, Jah Levi and stayed
at his beautiful home for a week. There were instruments in nearly every room and a magnificent
recording studio. I played music one evening with a bunch of his friends including David,
a guitarist with The Tubes. Jah Levi offered to help me finish my CD project in his
studio. Ihope to start the project by the beginning of September, after my scheduled performances
of various music festivals here on the West Coast.
Wow! It's already the end of August, the summer has gone by so quickly. It's been a while
since I've updated my page here so I'll try to recount all the musical happenings since
coming to the US mainland. Let's see... I started out on the West Coast in mid-June and
landed in Berkeley. Always a blessing to visit with Keith Stafford and the Gorilla
House, we played music together for a few days, along with Pit Steffan and
Shasta, before I left for Arkansas and the annual Rainbow Gathering. I got to perform
at various kitchens and venues including Arkansas kitchen, Warriors of the Light, Granola
Funk Theater, Lovin' Ovens, Jerusalem Camp, and others. Some of my favorite musician
friends were there including Gypsy Theater Don Diego, Beth, Jiva, Shiner, Double Dose,
Human and the Revolution, Brockelle, Fantuzzi, Mariana, Tony Wells, George Tucker, and
others. The Gathering was a wonderfully blessed time, despite the muddy trails, and my sopping
wet sleeping bag. I left the Gathering on tour with Human and the Revolution. We
performed in Oklahoma City at a place called The Woodchuck Chop. Initially we were
slated to perform at The Blue Moon Cafe but they went out of business right before we
got there so the enue was changed. They gave us a house to stay in and we had a crew of about
25 of us staying inside and outside the house. From there we went to Wichita where we played
at a bellydance studio I can't now recall the name of. From Wichita we headed up to Crestone,
Colorado, where we opened up for Tina Malia at the Silvercrest Palace, where I
played last year about this time. It was a packed house and a great audience. From there it
was on to alley View Hot Springs where I played music for hours around the fire with
Shiner, Human, Peach (Patrice), Prema Luv, and Bob Kelley. After Valley View
we drove down to Taos, NM and once again opened up for Tina Malia's Band at Tony
and Harmony's place at Lama. Again we had a full house and a really fun group of
magical people from the Taos community. The following evening we opened up for a band called
Last To Know at an event in a large warehouse outside of town. They also had a circus
troupe of performers doing acrobatic silks, theater, clowning, and fire spinning. From there
we finally drove back to the West Coast once again.
This spring was a busy time for Peace Tribe. We played nearly every weekend here in
Puna. In addition to our regular Wednesday evening potluck music nights at Jeffrie's place in
Kurtistown we've performed at Coco's in Kapoho, the Garden Temple in Kalapana,
and The Shire near Pahoa. One gig at Coco's was a benefit for Grey Wolf called
Dancing With Wolves to help him pay for the bills of an unfortunate legal hassle. Also
performing at that two day event was a well-known West Coast band called Clan Dyken.
Their music vibed well with Peace Tribe's set. Their conscious lyrics and pertinent social
comment was right in line with our own style of music. Dave Millington was our sound
engineer for the event and it was the best PT ever sounded. Dave made a recording of our set
which he gave to us. In addition he was able to record it on 19 separate tracks. Dave uses
Sonar, the same recording software I use on my laptop so I was able to get from him a
multitrack recording of Peace Tribe's set. Also on the bill for that show was a couple of
local rock bands doing cover songs. They kept us dancing for hours. Our last show of the
season at the Garden Temple was a fantastic show, well attended by our friends and fans.
Iris opened up for us there as she often does. She sounded really good playing her
original songs. We played twice in the town of Volcano at the Lava Lounge. We had an
appreciative and attentive audience and we got hired back to perform there from October
through May once a month next season. Our gigs at The Shire, one for the Burning
Man regional event known as Rebirth, put on by Ka Pilina, the Hawaiian
Burningman crew, was filmed by 4 different cameras. Our second gig at The Shire was for an
event called Alchemy organized by Renee Hope. We were the only live music in
a night of rave, techno, and downtempo music by dj's. Peace Tribe's lineup now consists of
Loren Antolik on guitar, Evan Small on bass, Jeremy Smith on drums,
Reed on saxophone, Jeffree Berk on trumpet and vocals, Aaj Tzuh on
flute and vocals, Drew Leone on percussion, Gabriel DeSilva on congas,
Mamabear Jasmine Wolf Devine on vocals, and Jacquilyn Cerrar on vocals. With
myself on guitar and vocals, Peace Tribe is a powerhouse of a band and can rock the
house. We had one last gig at Coco's with just Peace Tribe as the sole act. I feel
blessed to have such amazingly talented musicians to perform my songs and I look forward to
our reunion whe I get back in the late fall.
Spring is around the corner and I've just finished up some gigs with Human and the
Other Humans here on the Big Island. Our first night was at the Garden Temple
in Kalapana. Opening that evening was singer/songwriter Iris with her heartsongs
spiced with a tinge of hip-hop. Then acoustic duo, Forealius, with
Singing Bear on acoustic guitar, harmonica and lead vocal joined by Dreaming
Bear on flute and backup vocal. They sounded better than ever and really lift the vibe.
I played lead guitar and sang backing vocals for Human with Adele Wynn on violin and
backing vocals and Manis on percussion and backing vocals. We had a good turnout
and lots of friends there. Mahalo to Simon for creating and maintaining GT, it
certainly has grown over the years. Our next gig was at the Center of Creative Oneness,
otherwise known as COCO's, in Kapoho. Along with the Adele, Manis, and I, we also had
David Ray on classical guitar to accompany Human. This past weekend we played the other
side of the island in both Kona and Kealakakua. The downtown Kona gig was at a club called
The Mixx and I got to see my brother who came down with his wife and friends. A contingent
of Puna friends filed into the club as we began to play and we performed one long two hour set
with no breaks. On Saturday night we played at the ecstatic dance studio in Kealakekua called
KTSB. There was a good turnout of folks and everyone danced while we rocked out with
acoustic instruments unamplified. The excellent acoustics of the room influenced our decision
to forego the pa equipment we had brought to use and from the first notes of our performance
it sounded really good, being able to express nuance that often gets lost in the mix of
amplification. Our Thursday evening potlucks have continued here at Jeffrey's place and
Peace Tribe plays then. We're gearing up to do a number of gigs that are booked for the
next two months so I'll tell you all about it in my next edit. Peace out.
In the first few days of 2007, we just finished up having the third of three wednesdays in
a row of potluck music jam parties at Kua Aina in Kurtistown. Peace Tribe
had performances at all three. With Oliver Nuell on bass, Jeremy Smith on drums,
Reed on saxophone, Ryan Walters on keyboards, Adele Wynne on violin and
backup vocals, Jeff Berk on trumpet and backing vocals, and Drew on
percussion, it was a very full sound and we were all jazzed by the music we were creating.
Also performing on these evenings were Skip Holden on percussion, a songwriter named
John on ukulele (playing hip hop rhythms), Evan on bass, a young woman named
Beat Box on acoustic guitar and vocalizations, Autumn doing native chants,
Jen doing poetry, and some freeform improvisational jams with various
combinations of all of us. Last night the party went on late and we woke up in the morning
to a fair number of people still here. We all had breakfast, did yoga, drummed, did artwork,
danced, shared art and knowledge about using martial arts, poi spinning, staff twirling,
music theory, break dancing... The party went on into the afternoon. Very fun. Peace
Tribe also recently performed at a private party gig at the Leilani Center in
Puna for Christina and Micycle and the birthday of their one year old child,
Zen Marley. As one of the fire spinners told us at the end of the show, "Peace Tribe
rocks!".
It's the middle of December and I've been back on the island for nearly a month now. I've
spent quite a bit of time tweaking the tracks on my upcoming CD now that I'm home and have
my studio set up and operational. I finally got to see and hear my new Alesis QS8 88 key
synthesizer. I bought it before I left for the mainland last spring but it arrived after I
left. Peace Tribe performed its first gig this past weekend. Along with Iris,
who opened up for us, the fire spinners, a yoga class, a pot luck dinner, and a late night
DJ, the Garden Temple was in full swing. Iris, on only her acoustic guitar and voice
unamplified, did an intimate set of conscious music and lyrics that perfectly complemented
Peace Tribe's style. The fire spinners, Andrew, Ambree, Co, and Mo, are all
here to help get my community project started on the land we
bought. They did a dazzling display of fire and poi that mesmerized those who were lucky
enough to be there to experience this wonderful evening. Peace Tribe had a rennaisance with
most of the original members onboard for a stellar performance. Included were Oliver
Nuell on bass, Rocky Sheldan on drums, Adele Wynne on violin and vocals,
Jeffree Berk on trumpet and vocals, Gabriel DeSilva on percussion, and guest
performer Reed on saxophone. A very full sound and also driving and jazzy and so rich
and textural. I can't say enough, I'm grateful for the superb musicianship I was so fortunate
to have for the band that evening. I've been to the drum circles at Kehena Beach these
past few Sundays, and it's been loads of fun and very exciting and high energy drum jams.
Once again I'm back in Hawaii and it's the middle of November. I finished out my stay on the
US mainland hanging out in Berkeley, CA, getting to play music with Keith Stafford
of Gorilla House and whoever might drop by. I did a few gigs with Human and the
Other Humans in San Francisco. On a Friday, we performed at Cell Space along
with Unity, Shakina Ma, and Arjun & the Guardians. Unity, a beautiful goddess
from Viet Nam, plays the African kora and a Vietnamese stringed instrument I've already
forgotten the name of. A master of her craft, it was a real treat to get to hear her play
once again. Shakina Ma played nylon stringed classical guitar and sang like an angel. Arjun
wove his magic with a mix of Indian kirtan and funky rock. Our set with Human was very well
received and was one of the best sets I had done with him all summer. Included in the lineup
was our usual band of suspects including Pit and Shasta Steffan, Michael St. John, Stevo,
Elanna Sydney, and myself. On Saturday, we performed at a convention center for the
Green Festival, an expo that drew about 50,000 people a day over the weekend, or so I
was told. It was certainly packed and hard to move too quickly. So now I'm back in tropical
paradise and will be playing music with friends here soon. I'll update this as things develop.
Aloha!
It's close to the end of September of '06 and I'm back in Berkeley, CA once again. This
past Saturday, I saw the annual Love Parade, on Fulton St. in San Francisco. To tell
you honestly, it was hardly worthy of the name. The vibe was a little too citified for my
sensibilities, edgy and impersonal. The parade was vehicle after vehicle of techno-blasting
unmusical thumping at painful decibel levels. They lined the square in the plaza in front
of City Hall all blasting toward the center for the afterparty. The combined vibration of
disconnected musical thumping sounded like a sonic barrage from distant cannons from most
places in the square. Unless you were standing right in front of one set of dj's speakers
the sound was sheer and utter chaos. Techno can sometimes be so vibrationally jarring. Some
friends and I passed out about a thousand leaflets for a gig that night with
Fantuzzi
and Peace Tribe at It's Yoga, also on Fulton Street. Joining me in Peace Tribe
that evening was Shasta on vocals, Pit Steffan on lead guitar, and Matthew
Pailas on bass. Also on the bill that evening was Shasta's brother, David Homel.
He's fresh on the West Coast from Kentucky and will be there for the winter. We had a nice
turnout and shared a lot of high vibes and wonderful music. "It's Yoga" is a beautiful
space to host a music concert and Cala also shared her incredible artwork on the
walls that night. On a Saturday afternoon I played guitar for Jah Levi on a gig at the
Calabash in Berkeley. With Andre Johnson on guitar, Carter "CC" Collins
on percussion, and Akasha on djembe. we played some of Jah Levi's most
well-known songs for well over an hour. Afterwards, over Ethiopian food, JL asked me to
come to his studio in Oregon to record a song of mine that caught his ear. I'll do that
when I get back from my East Coast visit. While on the Jersey Shore, I recorded some tracks for
my upcoming CD with Rob Elinson on saxophone and flute. I flew cross-country in early
October and landed in Floyd, VA for almost two weeks. The Floyd community is a fine bunch of
folks and I'm glad to have gotten to get some time there this year to visit with them. I got
to play music most every night at a different place. There's lots of musician friends
there and it's been nice getting to visit the place I lived and have so many fond memories of.
One night I jammed with Mark Kenworthy on keyboards and guitar, Guinnevere
on flute, Tom on guitar, Starroot on keyboards, Rick on bass, and Brad
Miller on drums. Another night I engineered a recording session for Starroot's band,
Forever Now, with Starroot, Rick, and Brad, and with Walt on guitar. After
leaving Floyd, I had a little more time back in Jersey where I jammed one night with a guitar
player who sometimes sings lead vocal with Blood, Sweat and Tears. We shared music back
and forth for a couple of hours after a nice dinner one evening among friends. I also got
together with a longtime friend of mine, Anthony Boniello and played music one evening
at his place.
I just got finished playing at the Earthdance Festival in Laytonville, CA last weekend.
I played bass for Human and the other Humans on both Friday and Saturday, along with
Pit Steffan on guitar, Michael St. John on drums, Stevo on percussion,
Don Diego on mandolin, Shasta Steffan on vocals, and Elanna Sydney on
vocals. We had a few hundred people at each of our performances on both the Arlo Stage
and the Diner Divine Stage. On Sunday I played bass with Fantuzzi, along with MJ,
Diego, Pit, and Shasta. We also had Joshua on soprano sax, and Cecil and another
on percussion. Late on Sunday evening, I played solo acoustic guitar at the Lotus
Temple. I also accompanied Alan Brown who played sitar, and Jah Levi on
his acoustic set. All in all it was a very highly charged weekend with lots of incredible
musicians and wonderful friends. Earthdance is one of my favorite festivals in the summer
touring months. Not long before this time I had gone to the Burning Man Festival in
the Black Rock Desert area of northwest Nevada. At over 39,000 attendees it was hands down
the largest gathering I've attended this summer. Words cannot contain the scope of this
unusual festival. I could easily go on for pages about the happenings at Burning Man but
I'll limit it to my musical performances while I was there on this musical blog. I brought
my bass over to the Jazz Cafe, situated next to Center Camp on the Esplanade,
and ended up playing for nearly four hours one evening as a parade of horn players,
keyboardists, and drummers shuffled in and out of the mix. The guitar player who ran the
cafe (name?) supplied a pile of "Real Books", with all the charts we needed to play the
songs. I was asked to come back and perform on other evenings but there was just so much to
do and see that I never did make it back there. Suffice it to say there were some awesome
players there and I'm glad to have gotten to plug in when I did. I was also asked to play
bass with my good friend, Fantuzzi at the DMT Stage on the Esplanade at cross
street 3:30 on Friday evening at midnight. We rocked the playa and it was nice to get the
appreciative words of those who were there for this magical performance. Fantuzzi is a
consummate performer and entertainer and I'm always glad to be included in his entourage
that he calls the Flexible Band.
After leaving Good Medicine Gathering in Oregon in late July, I went to see a friend
of mine, Jon Herington, play lead guitar for Steely Dan at the Shoreline
Amphitheater in the San Francisco Bay area. Jon is a superb guitarist, a master
technician with soul, a formidable combination. I went backstage and talked with Jon
after the show. A few days later I was back up to northern Cal, visiting with my friends
from the Big Island, Skip and Marlene, who hosted a music party at their
place when I came to visit. I met some other musicians there, including Floyd
Buckskin, who owns the land where the Gathering of Tribes
music festival is held each year in Dana, CA. He asked me to play guitar for his band
at the festival. On Sunday afternoon I got to play a lot of my original songs as part of
Floyd's set. It was nice to have a full band behind me to round out the sound. I camped
out for about two weeks in the Mt. Shasta area, at the Buddha Hole and thereabouts
with friends. We had fun some of the nights playing music around the campfire. On the 18th
of August, I performed at the Village Oracle in Weed, CA, with the Rainbow All
Stars, including Diego and the Gypsies, Matt Pailas of Double Dose, Shiner, Anton
Mizerak, Gary Cooper, Tracy Rae Clark, and Peace Tribe with Shasta and Pit
Steffan. It was a high energy gig, the audience was lively and the owner, Shannon,
liked us a lot and asked if we'd be interested in playing an upcoming festival in Mendocino
County on the 12th of September. Negotiations are underway.
I'm currently in the Bay Area of San Francisco, in the middle of my summer tour. The
Rainbow Gathering, held outside of Steamboat Springs, CO, was a wonder-filled magical
time and I got to perform every night for two weeks at various kitchens and encampments
throughout the gathering. I traveled there with musician friends, MJ Greenmountain,
Andius Jent and Melissa Verbena. I had opportunities to play music with
many there. Shasta, Pit Steffan, Don Diego, Beth Brown, Jiva, Fantuzzi, Double Dose, Nigel,
Anton Mizerak, Shiner, Human, Jorge, Hadley, Jeffree, Tony Wells, Brooks Blanchard, Chance,
Melissa, Jala, and so many others too numerous to remember were all a part of Peace
Tribe's performances there. At the Aloha fire circle we played a few nights until
well past dawn. After the gathering, Peace Tribe did a gig, along with Fantuzzi,
Diego and the Rainbow Gypsies,and Human in Crestone, CO. A very successful
night and a rollicking good time. We immediately left for Taos, NM where I was to sit in
with Hamsa Lila for a festival gig there. The festival was rained out and we
ended up staying with friends, Tony and Harmony Sue. We had two nights of
wonderful music circles there with Diego, Beth, MJ Greenmountain, Ronnie Ray, Human
and Crystalle. We soon shot back up to Colorado for the Dreamtime Festival,
where I played bass for Human on the main stage, and also sat in with Double Dose,
where we did some music of mine as yet another incarnation of Peace Tribe. I then
left for the Good Medicine Gathering in Williams, OR with Shasta and Pit
in their new fifth wheel rig. There were many musicians there and lots of good music
abounding. Some of the other musicians there I hadn't seen this summer before then were
Owl, Tina Malia, Sasha Butterfly, and Windsong.
The Harmony Fair in Santa Rosa, CA was the kickoff for the summer and it was a
wonderful time with so much to do and see. There was plenty of music and great bands. It was
like a reunion of sorts, seeing many of my west coast friends for the first time in many
months. My pass into the festival was playing guitar for the parade, led by none other the
infamous Don Diego. I was one of about 20 performers known as the Rainbow Hipsies.
Altogether there were about 70 or more performers for the parade, including musicians, dancers,
drumming groups, and stiltwalkers. On all three days we paraded throughout the fairgrounds and
even commandeered the main stage at one point, when Wavy Gravy was up speaking to the
crowd on his birthday. I also set up the PA system for the Casbah Kitchen, was the
first performer for the entertainment in their giant tent, and wound up as stage manager. Next
up was Human. I played bass for him, along with Alana on vocals. By the time we
finished we had the Casbah packed. On Saturday night, I did a set of my original songs with
Matthew Pailas on bass, Alan "Sitar" Brown on (what else!) sitar, and three hand
drummers (whose names I never did find out). Alan plays sitar with a band from Santa Cruz called
The Peace Tribe Orchestra. Also on Saturday evening I played bass with Fantuzzi,
along with his entourage of fine musicians. We rocked the Casbah that night.
It's the beginning of June '06 and I'll soon be leaving for the mainland for the
summer. Among other things, Peace Tribe is planning to perform at some
outdoor festivals this summer. I was also invited to do some gigs with Human
and we discussed the possibility of joining together for an East Coast tour.
Neil Huxtable is coming in from London around the middle of August, a little
while after the Rainbow Gathering, and we hope to have some gigs around that time.
Joining us on bass will be Matthew Pailas from Double Dose, out of
Boulder, CO. I performed onstage at Ryan's in Pohoiki. There were at least
five bands scheduled for that evening and Peace Tribe was one of them. Using
some of the musicians on hand, along with Jeffree on trumpet and Ryan
Walters on keyboards and mouth harp we performed mostly covers and just had a
rockin' time. I played my last gig with Dolphin Dance about three weeks ago
in Hawi. Bob Kelley is moving to Denver, CO about the same time I'm leaving
Hawaii for the summer. I'll miss his presence here, he was always a delight to get
to play music with; A superb keyboardist and always very supportive of my music. We
played at a catered private party for an artist and had a great time with a very
appreciative audience. Besides Bob and myself we had Moon Brown on saxophone
and Tim Taylor on drums. Moon's cousin is the quite famous jazz saxophonist
well known in the '50's, Lester Brown. Moon and I hit it off well and I look
forward to playing more music with him when I get back in the fall. He plays with a
fairly well known band here on the Big Island called Spirit In The Rock and
also plays music in other situations, keeping quite busy as a performing musician. He
is also in the process of creating a new music studio in Hilo and recently acquired a
lot of state of the art recording equipment including a new $12,000 Mackie mixing
console. Tim Taylor is originally from the Roanoke, VA area and I had met him there
years ago through a mutual musician friend, John Winnicki. Besides being a world
class athlete participating in the annual Triathlon, Tim is an excellent drummer and
stays pretty busy gigging with various bands in the Kona area. I also played my last
gig in Waimea at Tako Taco before leaving for the summer. They had a celebration
for Cinco de Mayo and Dolphin Dance performed there along with George Nixon
on drums from Honoka'a, and a saxophonist whose name I have embarrassingly forgotten.
The place was packed and we took in well over $100 in tips besides our regular pay.
Fantuzzi has been around lately here on island and we got to play music together a
number of times. It's always a magical and fun time getting to play music with him and I
hope to connect with him some more when I get to the West Coast. I asked Moon Brown to
play some saxophone for the upcoming CD I'm currently working on. I'm hoping to have all
the tracks finished recording before I leave here in less than two weeks. If all goes
well, I'll have it ready to sell this summer while Peace Tribe is on tour. Aloha for now,
the next time you'll hear from me on this page I'll be somewhere between California and
Colorado.
It's getting close to the end of April and I'm just wrapping up my third visit to Maui
in two months time. My band, Peace Tribe, played for Maui's Earth Day
celebration at Baldwin Beach, near Paia. With Shasta on vocals, Pit Steffan on
lead guitar, Tim Zywicki on bass, and Josh from the band, Crazy Fingers
on drums, we had a rockin' set. There were lots of performers that day, including Fantuzzi,
Shamballa, Crazy Fingers, Jaiia Earthschild, Nicholas Iris, Ras Gabriel, Jillian Spear, Rich
Stillwell, Sundance & Buffalo Nation, the Mapenzi Marimba Ensemble, and others. I played
guitar and sang backup vocals with Fantuzzi that evening at Casanova's in Makawao. It
was quite a band he put together with Pit and Shasta, Josh on drums once again, Deon Estus
on bass, and others on congas, djembe, and trumpet made for a big sound. Everyone of those
players up there that evening were seasoned pros and the sound was just so moving and in the
pocket. I spoke with Dion and exchanged numbers, he expressed interest in our talk of touring
this summer. Just the funkiest bass player around, we definitely would feel good about it if
he's onboard when the ship is ready to sail. The drummer, Josh, was also a player whose caliber
and style would be well suited to Peace Tribe and we opened the door to that possibility.
It's the end of the first week of April and I played music last night at a party in Mahukona
with fellow musicians Bob Kelley on keyboards and vocals, his brother, Randy
Kelley on guitar, Delphina on bass, George Nixon on drums, and Rani Moore
on percussion and vocals. It was the first time we had played together in that particular
configuration and the chemistry was there. The dance floor was full and the band was hot. It was
my first time hearing Rani and she was a powerhouse of a singer, played congas effortlessly, and
looked great onstage. Randy is quite an accomplished player and crafted some very tasty solos.
His jazz chops were superb and we ran through many styles of music during the course of the
night. It was nice to get a chance to play music with both Delphina and George once again also.
Rani and I shared lead vocals with some backup support from Bob and Randy. On Thursday, Bob and
I played our gig at Tako Taco in Waimea, this time with the addition of Randy on guitar,
George on drums, John Peckham on saxophone and flute, and a friend of John's also on tenor
sax. We'll be playing there again this coming Thursday. The Friday before last I performed at
Lola's Cafe in Hilo, with my good friend, Jeffree Berk on trumpet. I look forward
to more jazz nights at Lola's on Friday evenings. Various musicians show up there for the jazz
jam.
I'm just getting back near the end of March from Maui where I played bass with Human from
Mendocino, CA. We played at Charlie's in Paia, a nightclub owned by Willie Nelson,
Hoppa's in Kihei, and Casanova's in Makawao. Forealius opened up for all
three shows. Interspersed with these gigs were many evenings spent playing music with friends at
various places. One epic evening was a party at Melissa Verbane's place for my last night
in Maui. Many musicians and wonderful friends were there including Mattthew Pallias from
Double Dose, Al Torre, Shasta, Pit, Human, Mele, Ocean Villanueve, Anna Laya, Elana Sidney, Tim
Zywicki, Naya, Barry, and many others. Matthew may join Peace Tribe this summer as our
bass player. Our plan at the moment is to finish the CD project we started and then tour as many
festivals and kind gigs we can book ourselves into in the summer. Another special evening was a
birthday gathering in the hills above Makawao with an evening of mostly Kirtan with Jitendra,
Jagadisha, Shiner, Beloved and Kristy. Our friends, Blaze and La Jon,
have turned a room in their house into a recording studio and so, along with Peace Tribe
members, Shasta and Pit Steffan, I played there a few nights and did some recording
of my songs. I had the privilege of joining a singing group that has been meeting weekly for 18
years on the island of Maui and the vibe was so sublime. Windcloud and Mele are two
of the singers. Ocean, who asked to learn my songs, taught the group some of them and what
a thrill it was to hear these songs sung with 7 or more voices weaving the words in a magic swirl.
Yet another evening was a music circle at Vision's place in Haiku, where i've been staying.
Pit, Shasta, Matthew, Ocean, Vision Stardancer, Nigel Webb, Melissa Verbena, and I sang and
played music for hours. Lifting the vibe and keeping it high, I love nights like these.
The first week of March finds me getting ready to go back to Maui to do some music gigs with
various musician friends. Last night Peace Tribe, along with Human,
Forealius, and Shiloh, performed a show at the Garden Temple in Kalapana.
What a magical evening. We had a wonderful mix of people there and lots of good music. Shiloh
opened up with her unique brand of songwriting, fusing elements of country, trance, sexuality,
and sacredness into a journey upon the strings of her mandolin. Peace Tribe, including Adele
Wynn on electric violin and vocals, Singing Bear on acoustic lead and vocals, Dave
"Cuga" as classical guitar soloist, Jeffree on trumpet and vocals, Manis on hand
drums and vocals, Boaz on percussion, and Eliot Rosen on drum set, played a rockin'
set of songs and had a fine chorus of voices. Forealius followed with a set of their originals and
Human finshed. Human's crew was a fun configuration. In addition to Adele, Manis, Boaz, and Eliot,
there was Elana singing, and myself on lead guitar and vocals. I also performed with Human
this past week at the Sanctuary in Kohala. Right before arriving there, I had a gig with
Bob Kelley, performing as a duo at a little Mexican restaurant in Waimea called Tako
Taco. They asked us to play on a regular basis. Although I'm off the island for two weeks,
we're scheduled there when I get back. Last week I played bass with Jack and the Kohalics
(as we've been jokingly referred as) in Hawi. It was a birthday party for singer Yoli Hyde
and her husband, Slyde Hyde, was on hand for some great trombone solos. This past weekend,
there was a music gathering at Joseph and Anna's on Papaya Farms Road. Songwriters Human,
Singing Bear, Anna Laya, Heather Noel, Shayla, and myself got to share our heartsongs in a
wonderful circle of friends.
It's mid-February and I just got back from a two week visit to the beautiful isle of
Maui and had a wonderful time there visiting freinds and playing music. Three of the
nights were spent at music circles at Vision Stardancer's place in Haiku. I met
some wonderful people there including Ocean and Mele, two very talented
singers. Ocean taped our sessions, photocopied my songbook, and learned a bunch of
my songs. Mele is a songwriter with some of the best heartsongs I have heard anywhere.
The voices last Friday evening were sublime. Brooks Blanchard played his flute
as well. It was good to connect with him again. The last time I had seen him was in
Long Island, NY this past summer. Also joining us on lead guitar for a change of pace
was Rich Stillwell, whom I had last gotten to play music with in the Bay Area
at Gorilla Choir in Berkeley. Another evening was spent at Twin Falls on
the Hana coast, hosted by LaJon and Blaze. I played music with Singing
Bear and Dreaming Bear, whom I had originally met at the Rainbow Gathering
this past summer and also in Ohio on some gigs with Human, when their band,
Forealius, backed us up in Athens, Ohio. Also there that night was Shamballa
on vocals and Hodin on djembe. One night was a gathering in the hills above
Makawao at Sam's where the Bears, Hodin, Jeffreebe on trumpet, Ken on
cello and electric bass and various others on keyboards played music for hours. When I
first arrived, I played music with Melissa Verbena and Anna Laya in a cozy
yurt. I also played another evening at Melissa's art studio with them and Barry on
keyboards. Afterwards (very late), Naya played some songs and I played some of
mine back at the Twin Falls community.
At the beach on a couple of Sundays at Makena I jammed with Whasabe, a
very talented local singer/guitarist. I also borrowed a drum and sat in on the weekly
drum circle there at Little Beach. There was a nice singalong circle on the hill
close to the beach where I played some of my songs before leaving Sunday evening.
The new band hailing from Hawi, HI with no
name as of yet is playing steadily and sounding so good with six strong vocalists. We
have been steadily performing on wednesdays at Mahukona Park. Our last
performance drew quite a substantial crowd and word is getting out about the new
musical group. I was asked to perform at a place in Hilo called Lola's Cafe.
Along with Bob Kelley on keyboards, Rodney "Tate" on bass, Jeremy Smith
on drums, Jeffreebe on trumpet, and Lola on vocals, we have been
exploring the realms of the Real Book and beyond. Jeremy is a young hotshot
left-handed drummer at home in many styles of music and it's good to have him on
board. I did a gig with a good friend touring the islands this winter, MJ
Greenmountain, from the well-known band Hamsa Lila. He and I did a
performance at Coco's, in Kapoho on a friday night. A very magical time and
MJ's trancy style left everyone uplifted from his musical offering.
It's the end of '05 and I've been involved in a few different musical situations.
Up in the northeast corner of the Big Island is a little town called Hawi, where my
friend, Jack Hutchings lives. Jack is a multi-instrumentalist with a living
room full of band equipment and started a band rehearsing on monday evenings. I've
been going every week and having lots of fun with some great singers. Besides Jack,
who has been playing upright piano, electric keyboard, guitar, and singing, there's
also Christie,who also plays keyboards and sings. Christie has performed in
bands and had her own band in Boulder, CO a while back. Yolie who sings and
occasionally plays the trap set, has also performed professionally for years and is
married to the legendary Slyde Hyde, trombonist for many famous recording
artists, and now playing with the Big Island's own Olliephonic Horns, a 15 to
20 piece band. Also singing with us are sisters Tonya and Mely, who
sing both lead and backup vocals for the band. I'm playing bass and singing. With 6
strong vocalists, our vocal arrangements have been so powerful. We perform on
Wednesday nights at Mahukona State Park and each week has been getting more
people coming out to enjoy the music and dance. Various other musicians have joined
us for the performances, including Charlie on clarinet, Rich on guitar,
Bob Kelley on guitar and keyboards, and our most recent addition on monday
evenings, my brother Micky on drums. The jazz gigs with
Dolphin Dance have continued and I have two upcoming gigs in January I'm
slated to perform with them. On the 23rd of December, I played bass and sang backup
for West Coast recording artist, Fantuzzi, at the Garden Temple.
Tuz played guitar, djembe and sang his original songs. I pulled in musician friends
Rocky Sheldon on drums, and Johnnie on guitar. Also joining us was
Drew Leone on percussion, Gabriel DeSilva on congas, Boaz on
shekere and Tojo on shekere. The drum and percussion solos were world class.
Two women, Shayla and Kyla, sang backup harmonies, while also
performing as the opening band, Sea Stars, along with Iris. The event
was well attended with hundreds of folks at the outdoor venue and we rocked.
I've been in Hawaii for several weeks now and it's nice to be back home. The first
week of November I got a call to play guitar for a gig in Waimea with a jazz band I've
played with before called Dolphin Dance. Led by keyboardist Bob Kelley,
along with Bradley Caprinitus on drums, Clay Swab on bass, and Maria
Pontious on vocals, it was an outdoor gig at Parker Square, a collection of
shops near the center of town. They play some of my original jazz tunes as part of their
repertoire and it was a nice surprise to be able to perform these songs with them. I've
also been playing music at a local jam session on Friday nights hosted by Ryan
Walters in Kapoho along with Ted, Lonnie, Steve and more musicians than I
can mention, especially since I didn't know some of them before. I played an open mic
in Pahoa at a place called the Aloha Outpost one thursday evening accompanied by
Jeff Berk on trumpet. I'm still recording and editing tracks for my upcoming CD,
tentatively titled, Just Another Day In Paradox. I plan to release it in the
upcoming spring of '06, so look for mention of it here on my website. It's going to be
chock full of good vibes and awesome performances by some inspiring musicians.
After Earthdance, Shasta, Pit, and I went to Mendocino county for some days before
heading back to Berkeley. I called my friend, Dan Zemelman, keyboardist
extraordinaire, when I got there and arranged for a recording session. Although we only
had time for 4 songs, he did a superb job in a record amount of time. Thank you, Dan!
Dan has a band called Plum Crazy that
has been getting some recognition in certain circles. They recently were funded to go to
NYC to do a
showcase there. While in Berkeley, do as the Berkeleyites do and go to Gorilla
Choir on Thursday night. And I do mean night. Gorilla doesn't start sometimes
until 11 PM. One person showed up the other night at 1 AM. I got to play music with
lots of friends including some among them, Keith Stafford, Rich Stillwell, Jazzy
Dan, Lizard, Lovejoy Supreme, Shasta, Pit, Andius, Alan Moore, and others. I was
asked to perform at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland on October 5th. This was
an event in honor of the homecoming of Cindy Sheehan; the woman whose son died
in Iraq and who camped out in Crawford, TX to speak with the president about his policy
of war. This was a fundraiser for the peace efforts of a coalition of activist
organizations including Global Exchange, Code Pink, Veterans for Peace, Cindy's
own Gold Star Families for Peace and others. I played four songs of mine
appropriate for the occasion accompanied by my good friend, Andius on bass. Also
on the bill that evening was none other than 60's legend
Country Joe McDonald. I
spoke with him one afternoon about coordinating the music presentation. Besides his well
known anti-Vietnam war anthem, Joe also wrote and performed a new song about the current
Iraq fiasco inspired by the work Cindy has been doing. I was asked to perform at a protest
being organized by Sherry Glazer and
Breasts Not Bombson
the 7th of November to take place in Sacramento, on the capital steps when Governor
Schwarzenegger is scheduled to appear but I had to turn it down because I'm headed back
home. I'll be flying back to Hawaii for the coming winter of '05-'06. I'll spend Harvestime
in Humboldt and Halloween in Hilo. Aloha!
Upon arriving in the East Bay area in the middle of August, I was soon headed north
with Peace Tribe members Shasta and Pit in their RV. Our first
stop was the Wellsprings Healing Hot Springs in Ashland, Oregon. There we
stayed for the better part of the 10 day music event being hosted by the
Casbah
Tea Kitchen owned by Carol Ann and Saleek from Tucson, AZ. I
performed on bass on the Friday evening opening ceremony with the Pure Love Sacred
Music Ensemble including I-Will and Beloved on guitars and vocals.
As a part of the Rainbow All-Stars show, I played bass for performances by
Steven Rousch, Har-I, Diego & Beth, Shiner, Shamballah and our
own Peace Tribe, all on Saturday night.
On Sunday, I played bass for I-Shelle, along with Jah Levi on melodica.
I-Shelle played between sets of Jah Levi and the Higher Reasoning. On Tuesday
night, Shasta, Pit, Stevo, Laura Love, and I accompanied Human on his
set. Having the olympic size swimming pool, the steam room, the sauna, the showers,
the abundant blackberries, and of course so many good friends, made for a really
wonderful time. The following weekend found me in northeast California in Grass
Valley for the alternative to Burning Man, the Wet Woman gathering. Once
again, I was slated to play bass for Human, along with Stevo on
percussion. The band had to ferry their equipment across the Yuba River in a dinghy,
climb up the sheer rock face of the other side and set up stage in a cleft in the rock.
During the day we swam in the cool water, relaxed on the "beach", and were fed all
organic raw meals the whole time. Although there were not too many people there, it
was better for everyone there because we got to enjoy what felt to be a private retreat.
Riding right on the heels of WW, I next headed to the Trinity Tribal Stomp
festival in northern CA. There Peace Tribe got to perform a set of music on both
Friday and Sunday nights at the Casbah. Saturday night Steven Rousch did
a set of music but I passed out early and missed it. And who's to forget Salena,
who performed on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights at the Casbah... unscheduled. The
4th weekend festival was Earthdance, the global festival for peace in over 180
cities in 50 countries. This one was the one in Laytonville, CA. There I performed with
Gypsy Moon with Priyo on guitar of
Lost At Last. I also played
bass with Human once again, with Shasta, Pit, MJ, Stevo & Elanna. I played
bass with Steven Rousch as well, and Peace Tribe even squeezed a few tunes
in there on Saturday night. I'd say there was quite possibly 10,000 people there,
definitely more than last year. On Monday afternoon, as most everyone was packing up to
go, I had a magic jam backstage with Zan, Ronnie Ray, and Salena. One guitar
and 4 voices...very fun! Right around that time I also saw my good friend from Floyd, VA,
Chris Hodges, who produces Floyd Fest
every year and used to play in Foundation Stone with me when I was still living in
the Blue Ridge mountains of southwestern Virginia. He had driven cross country with the
African Showboys,
who had just performed at Earthdance that weekend. What a surprise to see a good friend
from a few thousand miles away.
After leaving the East Coast, I first went to Chicago to meet up with
David Byrd
to do some recording for the Peace Tribe CD I'm working on. Byrd is a well
respected player in the Chicago area and while I was there, he got a call to perform
at the Gene Siskel theater in downtown Chicago for the opening of a new film
about the life of Oscar Brown, world reknown jazz singer and lyricist. Oscar's
daughter herself actually asked David to put it together. I played guitar that night,
along with some stellar players who knew Oscar's music including Maggie Brown
on bass, Prince Saleem on saxophone, Chasha Daniels on trumpet, Ian
Baggette on bass, Matthew Stephens on guitar, and a couple of drummers whose names I did not get. I spoke that
evening with La Donna Tittle, legendary radio and tv host in the Chicago area.
We also met up with some friends of Byrd's one night and played music at a downtown
art gallery, owned by a drummer whom I know from the Rainbow Gatherings. Along with
Jimmy John on guitar, and Byrd on sax, we had too much fun. I recorded Byrd
at a friend's studio but because of upcoming gigs in Ohio, I had to cut short the
time I needed to complete the recordings but David promised he'd be out to Hawaii this
winter to finish the job. Yay Byrd! He just had a new CD release party and I'm not sure,
but I'd say this may be his 6th or 7th release. Quite prolific he is, and his music is
hot, hot, hot! Very sophisticated, upbeat and jazzy but with reggae, soul, hip-hop, and
funk influences all over the place. I hope to see much more of him in the future.
After spending more than a week in the beginning of August in Chicago, I took the
nightmare Greyhound to Kent, Ohio. Because they thought I meant Kenton, and I didn't
bother to look closely enough to notice until I was already on the bus headed to
Cincinnati, my bus ride ended up 20 hours long. I made it just in time to do the gig
with Human at the Kent
Community Center. Michael St. John played drums with us, along with
Shasta on vocals and Pit Steffan on lead guitar. Shasta's brother,
David Homel, joined us on guitar and Human's longtime musician buddy,
Bass Boy on mandolin as well. David manages Chris' Guitar Shop in Ashland,
Kentucky. Bass Boy lives in Kent and has a band or two there. From Kent, we drove
down to Athens, Ohio for a saturday night gig at the Blue Gator. Opening up
for Human was the local band Forealius
with Tony Bear and Lindy Love. Ironically, I had just met them at the
Rainbow Gathering this year and we didn't recognize each other at first but knew each
other by our songs. We stayed in Athens a few days, went to the full moon drum circle
at a local intentional community, and played music at the farmer's market on Sunday
morning (I think it was more like afternoon for us) for tips. I then left with Human
to drive cross country for upcoming West Coast gigs. When we pulled into Wichita to see
Human's parents, the van's front left wheel was down to one lug nut. Luckily daddy Human
took mercy upon his son and bought him a new flex-fuel ready van for us to finish the
journey in.
In mid-July of '05 I spent some time in New Jersey visiting with friends and family.
A longtime friend of mine and wizard of percussion, Arne Bey, and I performed
at the Shore Institute of Contemporary Arts as a duo and also accompanied some
friends, Tommy Anton and Abbie Cahn for their performance one evening
in Long Branch. This was a showcase of all original music at this new venue. Besides
supporting live music, SICA is also an art gallery and coffee house. I stopped in
Ocean Grove to see Nels Anderson and played music with him and a few of his
friends at their annual block party. They blocked off the street, set up band
equipment, and we played until midnight. I got asked to be hired for a couple of
upcoming parties but had to politely decline since I wouldn't be around to do them.
Arne and I also went down to the Downtown club in Red Bank and played one
jam-packed Sunday night and had a blast. After doing our stint as a duo, we were asked
to play with the house band and accompany other performers there for the open mic.
Included in the house band was a friend of mine I hadn't seen for probably 20 years
(although he thought it had only been 10), George Ott on bass. George was one
of the founding members of the Grand Canyon Band, a very popular band on the
Jersey Shore for many years. Another performer that evening was the very lovely Lisa
Sherman-Dow, a powerhouse of a singer with a commanding stage presence. We talked
afterward and she told me of her record company, Nobel Records. They're currently
contracted to do a movie score and we said we'd be in touch about the possibility of
further musical collaboration. I went to a party in Long Island at an old large mansion
where my friend, Brooks Blanchard lives. He plays flute, sax, drums, and
percussion. Brooks threw a party in honor of me coming there to play music. I got to
jam with a lot of his friends and we played until the wee hours of the morning. I met
master percussionist Annette Lipson who also played the traps that night. The next
evening I played music once again at the Downtown Cafe in Red Bank with Rob
Lye, George Ott, and Arne Bey. I jammed with them on a bunch of cover
tunes, some I sang and some Rob sang. It was fun and there was a very appreciative
audience. Someone was videotaping the performance on their camcorder. I arranged for a
music session one day with Lisa, Arne, and Nels Anderson. We did some of my
original songs and a smattering of songs ranging from jazz standards to contemporary pop,
from hard rock classics to reggae grooves. We had lots of fun and Lisa's voice blended
well with mine.
The annual Rainbow Gathering was in West Virginia this year in
Pocahantas County and I played music with many different players over the course of the
two weeks I was there. I performed with the Gypsy troupe including Diego, Beth,
and Jiva, as well as a few others including Shanti on djembe, Dorothy
on violin, and Jimmy John on guitar. Jimmy John and I also played a number of times
together at Instant Soup kitchen, and the jazz set at the NYC Purple Gang
kitchen. Another fine musician I had the opportunity to meet and play music with was
David Byrd, an awesome saxophonist equally at home in jazz and reggae music. I'm going to
Chicago later this summer to meet up with him and lay down some tracks for the upcoming
Peace Tribe CD. Fantuzzi and I played music on a number of occasions at the
gathering, including the Family Peace Pageant, the Granola Funk talent show, and
the Heartsong Circle near the main meadow. Pop Corner, Lovin' Ovens, Instant Soup
and Katuah, were some of the kitchens I was regularly performing at. On a few
different occasions I played music with a hammered dulcimer player I only know as Phil
. I had a fun jam with Robbie on mandolin, a longtime Rainbow elder, and
Jossie, a 15 year old guitarist at the gathering for the first time. I saw Jossie
quite a few nights at various kitchens. He liked getting to play music with me and was
having lots of fun and absorbing a lot. I had many requests for a CD of my music so I'm
really wanting to finish the recording project soon. After the gathering I headed back to
Floyd, VA and had the chance to play music with members of the
Kusun Ensemble, a
music and dance troupe from Ghana, Africa. Oboubi, who plays guitar as well as
being a master hand drummer, asked for my contact info and I may end up in the recording
studio with them somewhere down the line. We played for hours one night and had fun
performing at a private party here in Floyd, VA. On July 15th, I performed solo acoustic
guitar at the Cafe Del Sol in downtown Floyd. Accompanying me on percussion was
Brad Miller, on mandolin and harmonica, Michael Kovics and on lead guitar,
Richard Ursomarso. Restaurant owner and longtime friend Sally Walker sang a
few tunes. Sally has a CD of her own out doing some jazz standards showcasing her fine
singing voice. I had lots of friends stop in and we had a really fun night. I was also
invited down to Nashville, TN to record my music for free by a recording engineer who
heard my music at the gathering. I may also take up his offer at some point, although my
focus is to complete what I started first. Shasta has been calling me from the West
Coast and is setting up some outdoor festival gigs for Peace Tribe at a few
different places. I'm planning to be there sometime in mid-August.
Peace Tribe played at the Casbah Tea Kitchen at the Harmony Fair in Santa
Rosa, Ca on Saturday, June 12th. We were the last band onstage before the stage went acoustic
for the rest of the night. We also performed late Sunday night, along with many of the family's
finest musicians, including Jah Levi, Fantuzzi, M.J.
Greenmountain, Diego, Sasha Butterfly, Tina Malia,
Al Torre, Stephen Rousch, Rick Auerbach, Tim-I, Segovia and many others. Dan Zemelman
joined us on keyboards on Sunday night. I also visited the Gorilla Choir in Berkeley on
the Thursday before the fair and played music with Keith Stafford, the resident heartsong
guru, along with a host of others including Aron Funk, founder and mentor of the
Granola Funk Express, a musical performing
group well known on both the east and west coasts.
It's May of '05 and near the end of my time on the island of Hawaii for the spring.
Soon to be leaving for the mainland for the summer and fall and our informal band tour
cross country with Peace Tribe, I have been deep into the recording process,
hoping to finish up when I land on the west coast next month to meet with Shasta and
Pit. Neil will be joining us, flying in from London, England, on drums for our summer
tour. Our last gigs on the island at the Blue Dolphin were lots of fun, with
many of our friends and fans joining us for a few Fridays of dancing and celebration.
The 4/20 gig at the Garden Temple was also
lots of fun for us. There were two
other bands, with Peace Tribe as headliners, and a full day of festivities. Also
performing that day was young and vibrant Maria
Mango, a very talented rainbow
sister whom I have had the opportunity to play music with on a few other occasions.
Joining Maria and I one night at the GT was another young talented musician,
Cheyenne. I believe we'll be seeing more of her in the near future as well. I'd
also like to mention both Kyle and Iris, a talented couple living at the
GT, who play piano and guitar successively, and always add to the magic of the experience
at the Garden Temple. Iris and Maria have an upcoming gig at Coco's in Kapoho.
Peace Tribe just finished recording all the drum tracks for its upcoming CD.
Flying in from London to lay down all the tracks on the trap set was Neil
Huxtable. Neil is one of the most accomplished drummers I have gotten to create
music with and he nailed most of the songs in first takes, after having taken extensive
notes going through the form. Pit, Shasta, Oliver, Neil, and I holed up in my brother's
new room and used his new 9 ply Mapex drum set for the recordings. With a view of the Kona
Gold Coast from on top of the hill, and the space to do music uninterrupted for 4 days
straight, we were able to get the drums done for the entire CD. While Neil was in town
we did a few public performances, some on the East side of the island and one on the
West side. We performed on a Saturday at the Blue Dolphin in Kawaihae. Joining
us on keyboards was Bob Kelley and with John Peckham on sax and flute, we
were putting out a lot of sound. The band was "on" and we were asked to come back for
performances on three Fridays this March. Also scheduled is a performance at the newly
renovated Honoka'a Theater on May Day and a show at the Garden Temple in
Kalapana on 4/20. We're hard at work in the recording studio laying down the tracks for
Peace Tribe's new CD. We have sixteen songs recorded, of which probably twelve will make
it to the CD.
Just getting into '05 and Peace Tribe has regained its lead guitarist,
Pit Stefan and vocalist Shasta now living with us on Big I. We
performed at the regional Rainbow Gathering here in Puna on 3 nights this past week.
Oliver brought his standup bass and we played totally acoustic. Pit's
technical prowess as a consummate guitarist is formidable indeed. Shasta works out
all her vocal parts and continually impresses me with her abilities to find just the
perfect harmonies, with her memory retention, and her uncanny sense for nuance when
when we're singing. She is so tuned in and there's a wonderful resonance between our
voices that only comes with time and deep listening. I'm excited by the direction the
band is headed and feel like we're on the verge of taking the next leap forward.
We've rehearsed a fair amount of new songs and are sounding stronger than ever.
We were asked to play 3 private parties next weekend. Not much more than a week ago
Fantuzzi was here to weave his magic. I played lead guitar for his band, with
Tim-I on bass, Gabriel DeSilva on drums, and Drew on percussion.
We rocked the house at the Garden Temple. Fantuzzi has bought land down the
road from where we're in the process of ourselves buying land. Welcome home Fantuzzi!
It's nice to have such a high-spirited musical performer in the neighborhood. A little
history for those who might remember, when Life Magazine did their story on
that most famous of gatherings, Woodstock '69, it was Fantuzzi who embodied
that portrayal on the front cover of that issue. His music is cross-cultural,
infectious and groovy, and deeply rooted in the spirit. It's always a pleasure to play
music with a magician stirring the energy of the dancing spirits. I got word that the
new CD project by Jah Levi has been released and I play lead guitar on a couple
of cuts, along with David Grisman on mandolin and a whole lot of other musicians
on his double CD release.
Peace Tribe had its first gig this fall on the island of Hawaii at the
Garden Temple in Kalapana. I am so glad to be performing once again with
this fabulous group of players. Oliver Nuell and Rocky Sheldon are
such a tight rhythm section, on fire and ready to kick into overdrive at a moment's
notice. Jeff Berk with his smooth, understated trumpet lines, his harmony
vocals and Adele with her violin and sweet vocal harmonies. With our soon to
be addition of Pit on guitar and Shasta on vocals, we are set to be
rockin' the big island this winter. Jeff and I went down to Cinder Rd. in lower Puna
for a fun party last night and jammed with a few other musicians, including
Shamballah, who is here for a week from the mainland. I know him from the rainbow
gatherings and other summer festivals. He's a talented songwriter and played some
beautiful songs for all of us. He and I traded songs back and forth for hours. Peace
Tribe's second and third gigs were also at the Garden Temple and were more nights of
good music with lots of our friends. We had Johnnie sitting in with us on lead
guitar and Kyle on the piano, as well as 4 or 5 hand drummers at our second gig.
The third one was for the Winter Solstice party and we had two guest drummers along
with David Hummingbird on guitar and vocals. I know David from the rainbow
gatherings and other festivals as well. It was a nice opportunity for Peace Tribe to
back David up on his songs as well as have him sit in on lead guitar for us. Peace
Tribe has been checking out new members, including Kimo, a superb keyboardist
who also plays a multitude of instruments, including guitar, bass, trumpet, drums, and
is also a very strong lead vocalist. Kimo has some musician friends we've gotten to
know and play music with including Kathy on keyboards, Lokelani on bass,
and Pakahaihai on drums.
Early November of '04 I was once again back in Floyd, VA before leaving for
Hawaii in less than two weeks. I rehearsed and performed
with friends of mine in a band called Yop. We did a gig at the Winter
Sun in downtown Floyd, with two other bands. With Starroot on keyboards
and vocals, Rick on bass, Joel on guitar and vocals, Frank D'Amico
on percussion and rap vocals, and myself on lead guitar and vocals, we played
some unique musical expressions. Starroot and Joel have some fun songs and
Frank's off the cuff rap style added a nice touch. A very wild style indeed. We
also did some recordings at Starroot and Rick's place. I once again had the
opportunity to play some music with Jacques Trudel and Emily Bourassa
of Foundation Stone at one of Floyd's music night gatherings. Jacques asked
me to do a gig with the band on New Year's Eve but I'll be in Hawaii by then so
unfortunately I had to turn down the gig. I also had to turn down a gig for Peace
Tribe in Hawaii because I wouldn't be back in time but the band members are
looking forward to starting back up once I get back there. I spent a week in the San
Francisco bay area and stayed with friends in Berkeley. Shasta and Pit
of Peace Tribe were there and we got to spend some time working on new
material for the band. We also got to play music at the Thurday night Gorilla
Choir with Keith Stafford and some of the Gorilla Choir regulars. It was a
really special night of magic and fun, the music so sublime and rhapsodic. Keith has
been holding that space on Thursday evenings for well over a decade; it's an East Bay
institution that has always nurtured musical creativity, fostered self-expression,
and supported everyone's heartsongs. I've met the likes of Pinkman (Michael Max),
Dr. Suzanne Lerner, and "Butterfly" Alan Moore there. Michael, a gifted
singer/songwriter rides on his unicycle with a pink latex head-to-toe outfit in the
streets of Berkeley, CA (and sometimes Tokyo, Japan) engaging with passers-by in
occasionally very funny situations (I saw the video). Suzanne, a vocal improvisationist
extraordinaire, sometimes leads her vocal workshops at music festivals. She's a dear
friend and we run into each other during the summer on the rainbow trail. Alan runs the
Musicians and Artists for World Peace
organization, a networker who is connected to so many people in the music world, the
peace coalitions, the entertainment world, and the healing arts. He is also an
organizer, concert promoter, longtime environmental activist, gets involved in political
action, and more.
I had an opportunity this year to perform on the Main
Stage at the Oregon Country Fair '04
in Veneta with Diego and the
Gypsies. After surviving "the sweep" at sunset, I played music in the
evenings with various musicians, often playing songs for our dinner and other
treats to eat from the appreciative vendors. The late night sauna was continually
crowded and a lively music scene around its fire circle. I sat in with Doug
Rouse, a very talented singer/songwriter from Canada. I played for hours one
night with Andius on standup bass, and some guest musicians sitting in. The annual
party at Glenoe's in Veneta happens just after the OCF and was yet another
magical gathering of creative people that defies the mind. Glenoe is a master
musician, equally adept at the harp or the mandolin. I met some fine musicians there
including Zannie, Fannie, and Annie. Fannie has a powerhouse of a voice and
earns a living as a multi-talented entertainer. Annie Om plays sax and flute, is from
Berlin, Germany, and has four albums out which have sold over 30,000 units in
America and climbed to #8 in the smooth jazz charts. She's a marvelous player and
a beautiful person to get to know. Zannie is also a recording artist with a voice of
gold I was fortunate enough to spend some time with. She and Annie camped out
at the Mackenzie River near Cougar Hot Springs with our group, which sometime
numbered 50 or so. I spent a week at the river, soaking in the hot springs in
early evening daily, playing music around the fire circle nightly. I could get
used to this. I also performed as a member of Jah Levi and the Higher
Reasoning at a gig at The Grange in Provolt, Oregon right after the
Good Medicine Gathering
in Williams. There were 17 of us onstage that
night, including Jah Levi, Andius, Rick Auerbach, Al Torre, Har-I, Tina Malia,
Sasha Butterfly, Menalek, Eddie-I, Annie Om, and a few others whose names I,
regretfully, don't remember. All told there were 4 guitars, keyboards, saxophone,
trombone, trap drummer, 2 singers, bassist, and a line of hand drummers and
percussionists. I spent a few days in southern Oregon at Jah Levi's studio
after this, recording some guitar tracks for his upcoming project. At the
Earthdance Festival in Laytonville, CA, in mid-September, I played
lead guitar for Jah Levi once again. This was an auspicious event with
Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead leading
the world's largest drum circle ever assembled - over 4000 strong! I played some
of my songs in the temple dome on Sunday night, along with Shasta, Windsong, and
Har-I. Al Torre accompanied me on a few of my songs and his legendary guitar prowess
brought a special magic to the songs that evening.
I'm traveling across California and Oregon this summer of 2004, camping out
in nature. The Rainbow Gathering was held near Likely, CA this year,
a time of magical music circles and a deepening of our connections as part of
this modern day nomadic Rainbow Tribe. Speaking of tribes, Peace Tribe
had a few performances lately. Our first on the mainland on June 12th was at
the Health and Harmony Fair in Santa Rosa, CA. We rocked the Casbah
Tea House 'til the wee hours of the morning. This particular incarnation of
the band consisted of Shasta on vocals, Pit Stefan on guitar and
vocals, Segovia on bass, Dan Zemelman on keyboards, myself on
guitar and vocals, Cecil on percussion, Diego on flute, and a
drummer whose name now eludes me. I also performed at the fair with Diego
and the Gypsies as part of the roving band of musicians, dancers, singers,
and stilt-walkers that formed the parade that traversed the gathering on
Saturday and Sunday afternoons. I don't think I've ever been photographed so
intensely as we were that day parading about like jesters, singing silly and
happy songs. I also performed with Rocker T at the Casbah late on
Saturday evening as lead guitarist. He has some inspiring lyrics and witty rasta
dub rap poetics. With an infectious reggae hip-hop groove, he really gets people
going. Segovia, after one particular song, said it was the best guitar solo he
heard all weekend. I was flattered, considering the talent up on that stage that
weekend, including the likes of Rick Auerbach, Pit Stefan, Al Torre, Jah Levi,
Sasha Butterfly, Tina Malia, and others. Ram Dass was at the Rainbow
Gathering this year and I could tell he really liked my music. He got to hear
it on several occasions, once in a private audience of 5 or 6 in his tent off the
main trail. One day in front of his tent the Rainbow heartsong singers and players
performed for hours in a magical concert of love and peace that shook the world.
There was also a song circle sharing at Pele's Pit, the Aloha Camp
fire circle that Steven Rausch dug, on the evening of the 5th, with Ram Dass
present. We played music into the wee hours of the dawn, as we did every night, and
spun the magic that song creates. There is talk of an upcoming tour of Rainbow
musicians to do a series of concerts in the "swing states" before the upcoming
presidential election in November. Negotiations are now going on for the funding
and promotion of these events. Although I'm not yet at liberty to say who the key
players are because of various reasons, I was told that I'd be onboard if and when
this happens. That was good news and may happen by next month. I'll keep ya posted.
I was also asked to do some more gigs and recording with Jah Levi. The
recordings I did with him last year apparently made the grade and will be part
of his newest triple cd release due out soon. He told me there were something
like 70 musicians spread across 3 cd's worth of music, including Dave Grisman
on mandolin. I was in Floyd, VA for a few days in August and got to join in on
the Tuesday night music group with such luminaries as Penny Lane, Chris
Youngblood, Michael Kovics, Dawn Shiner, Pat Sharkey, Brad Miller, Rhonda, Frank
D'Amico, Chick, Suki, Mary, Jacques, Emily, Chico and a roomful of others there
to join in the festivities. The group meets weekly and they have learned some of my
songs and performed them locally in Floyd on occasion. In September, I once again
had the opportunity to play music with Carol Cassis on keyboards and one of
my favorite drummers of all time, Gary Kelly, both from the Roanoke area. I
was in New Jersey for a short time and got to see some of my friends perform at the
Clearwater Festival this year. One night while there I visited with
Tommy Anton at his house in Spring
Lake and we played for a few hours. He's a fine singer/songwriter and knows many of
the same people I do on the west coast music scene.
Peace Tribe continues to pick up speed as we begin to gig on a steady
basis. It's April and Omra has joined us on vocals as Shasta
and Pit have gone to the mainland for the summer and fall. She's a
sweet and strong voice and we welcome her addition to our sound. Loren
and Lisa have both moved off the Big Island as well. This past
weekend we performed at Coco's in Kapoho. This week we'll be at the
University of Hawaii campus for their Earth Day celebration on the
22nd and at the Earth Day Concert at Wailoa Park in downtown Hilo on
the 25th, along with Jesse Dawn & Da Kine and Dubliminal.
Our name is getting out there and people are supporting our music.
Jeff Berk and I sometimes play music with a group out in Orchidland.
Ryan is a pro multi-instrumentalist, playing a mean, I mean mean,
harmonica, as well as being an agile keyboardist, singer, writer, producer
and wry comic with a very dry wit. Lynn sings like a bird, plays
flute and congas and hosts the Monday evening music jam. Lee keeps it
steady with the keyboards and with a coterie of guitar players and drummers
to keep it interesting, it's never not fun and you get to meet players you
haven't met before. I was recently in the studio with Shimshai and
Leo at the Mountain View recording studio to put some lead guitar
tracks on a new CD project they're producing of Manaka, a young and
talented singer/songwriter/guitarist from Kauai. A couple of musician friends
from the Bay Area were staying with us for a few days; Segovia and
Rick Auerbach are now on tour with Shimshai playing some gigs
on the Big Island, Maui, and Kauai. Segovia and I played music for a few
hours in Jeff's kitchen. What a great bassist, and I don't say that lightly,
bass being my main ax.
Coming on to the end of February in '04 and I have been having so much fun
here on the "Big I" with our ever expanding Peace Tribe. We now
consist of 10 members, although we have yet to have all of them performing
at once. On violin and vocal is Adele Wynne - plugged in or acoustic,
she can make that instrument sing and wail; on guitar and vocal is Pit Stefan
- awe-inspiring solos emanate from him atttt a moment's notice; on guitar,
Loren - a thorough grasp of theory, wonderfully crafted melody,
supportive rhythm chords, what more could I say?; on vocal and acoustic guitar,
Shasta - the voice of an angel and brings in the heart and soul of the
essence of why we play music; on drums, Rocky - complex rhythms and
sensitivity, powerful combination; on percussion, Gabriel DeSilva - Latin rhythm
soloist extraordinaire; on bass, Oliver - can handle anything I throw at
him and make it groove like he's been doing it every day for a year; on trumpet,
violin, and vocal, Jeffree - the man who helped me launch Peace Tribe,
with a keen ear on the overall sound he helps us define the next step; on vocal
harmony, Lisa - a high, clear tone that fills out our harmonies with
fullness; and me on guitar, bass, and vocal. We've only been at it a few weeks
but our gigs so far have been Fridays in Pahoa town at Mermaid's Cafe and
numerous private parties. We had a very successful night at a small art gallery
in Hilo where there was a rally for presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich
who was supposed to make an appearance but got held up in Maui. Over 300 people
showed up and we played for a few hours and had people dancing in the streets.
Another recent gig of ours was at the La'akea Permaculture Farm near Pahoa
where we played for a private party. There was a party at the Garden Temple
in Kalapana that we performed at and also was the backup band for
Fantuzzi that night performing as the Flexibles. We had a big birthday
bash here at home not so long ago with many of our friends and did a performance of
Peace Tribe. Shimshai and Shekinah, two wonderfully gifted musical
healers, were here. Being back in Hawaii since October, I have also been
gigging with a jazz band out of Hawi called Dolphin Dance. We do a lot of
fun jazz tunes, most of which can be found in the "Real Book", and some
crossover into motown, r&b, rock, and funk. It's a versatile band with some
exciting players and wonderful friends. Bob Kelley, keyboardist,
producer/arranger/composer, leads the band and books most of the gigs. He has
a keen sense of theory and as a melodic as well as supportive player is a real
asset to the musical ensemble. His wife, Willow also sings with the band
on occasion and their vocals together are just the sweetest; it's what I
remember about first meeting them at the Wednesday night potluck music gathering
at Mahukona Park. On standup and electric five string bass is
Delfina who also plays with the island's symphony orchestra, as well as other
musical gigs so she stays quite busy. On saxophonist is John Peckham,
an obviously seasoned pro who knows the standards up one side and down the other
and can play them with just the warm tone you want to hear from a tenor sax, or
the sprightly melodic riffing of a silver flute. On drums is Brad, handling
with finesse and grace the rhythms of jazz and more. Othone rounds out our
sound with latin percussion, who lives at a community in Hawi called Artesia.
I recently got asked to play bass with an Ital Reggae band called
4-Word.
Shimshai, a most accomplished
musician/singer/songwriter in his own right, has been playing bass with them but
will be in Maui for a while so Ras Gabriel asked me to fill in. I'll be
performing with them at the Bob Marley Day
Festival happening in Hilo. I had a recent visit in February from my good friend,
M.J. Greenmountain, who is a lead singer and percussionist for the wildly
popular Hamsa Lila, their current CD
climbing to number 1 on the college world music charts. We sat on the beach
at Ho'okena and played guitars together. He has a wonderful new song called
"Let the Waking Dream Take Over". He stayed with us in Kurtistown for a few days,
and we spent some time with mutual friends that live on Papaya Farms Rd. in Puna as
well.
I recently started recording tracks for my new CD with my favorite drummer,
Gary Kelly. Soon after this I headed out on the road for five weeks
of mostly west coast touring. In June of '03 I traveled to the Rainbow
Gathering in northern Utah and played music until the wee hours of the
morning on most days. Some of the musicians camped out together and we
called it Jazz Source camp. We had some wonderful sessions there and at
nearby at Aloha camp. I also performed at Granola Funk theater in the house
band with Andius and some really happening nights at Deva Diner/Kickapoo
Kitchen, where the food was always superb. Tony Wells, Bob Kelley, Andius,
Shiner, Rick Auerbach, Diego, Beth, Jiva, Pit, Shasta, Shimshai, Sasha
Butterfly, Shamballa, Fantuzzi, M.J. Greenmountain, Jeff Berk, Steven Rausch,
Har-I, Hal, DaVid, Crystal Rain, Anna Maria, Segovia, and others
too numerous to mention. I played guitar for Rocker T one evening which
got recorded by Tenali and is available to listen to or download at
rainbowtribe.net.
Tenali maintains this website with lots of recordings of Rainbow Gathering musical
happenings. I got to play with a plethora of fine musicians and
performers this year, a bountiful blessing. After leaving the gathering I
attended the Oregon Country Fair just west of Eugene. Andius put in a
good word for me and I ended up performing there with both I 'Shelle
and Jah Levi, two well known Reggae Spiritsong West Coast performers.
From there, I went to Berkeley, CA for the next week, where I recorded a song
of mine in a studio in Emeryville called Expressions Media Center which
got picked for an upcoming CD of peace songs called Make Love Not War
being produced by the Musicians and Fine Artists for World Peace. I got
to work with some fine musicians and vocalists from the Bay Area in the
recording of my song, The Power Within Us, including nationally known
reggae artist Obeyjah on djembe and vocals, Channin Smith on
keyboards, Rich of Ten Ton Chicken on drum kit, Suashia,
Suzanne Lerner, and about 6 or 8 other vocalists in the choir. Also
while in Berkeley I got invited to go live on a radio show on KPOO with
my good friend, Diamond Dave, who hosts an hour long program on Wednesdays
at 3. Along with a local poet/record producer Keith Savage, and a young
Jamaican singer/songwriter Sparlha Swa, the four of us did a round robin
of poetry and music for Dave's entire hour. Before leaving the Bay Area, I was
asked to perform my music on a TV taping by an award winning video producer
named Jerry B, but I politely declined because I was soon to be back in
Oregon for the Good Medicine Gathering in Williams, OR. This was a
musical coming together of magical folks and I once again had the opportunity
to connect with some inspiring musicians, singers, performers, writers, healers,
dancers, and irie vibes. Many of those I had met and played music with at the
previous two events were there and my connections felt deepened in this wonderful
time together. Jah Levi asked me to come to his studio, the first
solar-powered studio in the US, and record some tracks for an upcoming CD of his.
We spent a few days at his place at the end of July in the 106 degree days.
The past six months ('02-'03) were spent back on the big island of Hawaii and I have
gotten the opportunity to meet some fine musicians and perform at various places
around the island. Jeff Berk and I formed a project called the Peace Tribe
that has performed at some local peace rallies in Hilo, a celebration at the
Earthsong Community in South Point, and some local gigs at Jomama's
in Pahoa. We have also worked on some recordings of my original music, some of which
will be included on my next CD release. Bob Kelley, a fine keyboardist/
guitarist/ singer/ songwriter from Hawi has been my recent collaborator, and I look
forward to doing much more when I come back here in October. Bob and I worked on a
recording of a song of mine along with Delfina on standup bass. Delfina
performs regularly with the Olliephonic Horns, a sometimes nearly 20 piece
jazz big band here on the big island, consisting of many seasoned pros, including
Slyde Hyde on trombone. I talked to Slyde recently and we talked about getting
together sometime to do music. His wife, Yolanda, heard me perform at the
pavilion at Mahukona and told Slyde about me. She's a wonderful singer in her
own right and if I closed my eyes, I thought I was listening to Ella Fitzgerald.
I had the privilege of working with Richard Lee on saxophone. Richard is a music
professor at the University of Hawaii and played sax on my recording of "The Power
Within Us" and recently gigged with us at Jomama's for the Pahoa street fair celebration.
He also is an accomplished flautist and was a welcome addition to our sound. Another
music teacher from U of H is Melissa Robinson who joined us as a vocalist for the
recording. Sara Warner did a fine job of vocalist as well for this recording,
adding multiple layers of backup vocals, as did Larry (the Hat) Duous on drums. We
sent the song out to peace organizations and a select few alternative radio stations and
got some airplay as well as inclusion on an upcoming cd compilation of songs of peace
entitled Make Love Not War being produced out of the bay area by the Musicians
and Fine Artists for World Peace. Also joining me in Pahoa has been Gabriel
DeSilva on drums, Seth Lyons on drums, Bob Kelley on guitar and keys,
Jeff Berk on bass and guitar, Omkarananda on bass, Anton Fig on
harmonica, Willow Kelley on vocals and a few percussionists whose names I have
forgotten. Peace Tribe also had the opportunity of working with an L.A. studio session
drummer, Chili Charles recently a transplant to the Big Island. Chili exuded seasoned
pro in every beat of the kit and was so easy to play music with. I also got an offer
right before leaving for the US mainland to play bass and sing for a band called
2XL that gigs steadily around the island. Maybe when I go back in November.
After coming back to SW Virginia in May, '02, I've been doing music with
various people including some jazz gigs in Roanoke with Flip Schumacker
on guitar, and Jimmy Lax on drums and more jazz with Laura
Owens on piano with John Winnicki on guitar. Got a call for some
gigs at a resort called Wintergreen with a band called The Afterburners
with Steve Guidus on guitar, Gary Kelly on drums, and Jonathan
on keyboards. Gary and I have also done some performing as a duo as
well as with Carol Cassis on keyboards and Joel on guitar. I
also recently sat in with my long time friends in a band called Hey Betty!
when I was up visiting friends and family in NJ for a week. Veteran Jersey
Shore musicians Sammy Cooper, Frank Ravaschiere, and Mike Folkenflik
really rock the house. Those guys are too much fun!
I've been in Hawaii on the big island for a few months and have had the opportunity
to play music with a jazz band that rehearses on Wednesday nights, another music
project on Friday nights, and some performing at a local club in Pahoa called
Jomama's. In late December '01, I backed up well known West Coast performer,
Fantuzzi, on the bass one night at Jomama's. I'm also working on a new CD for
a project called House of David for my good friend, Mariana Paradise.
Along with Jeff Berk on violin and guitar, we're in the middle of recording
as of this writing.
My newest venture of 2000 in the musical realms is with some musicians from the
Roanoke area. With Paul Salvey on keyboards, Mike Van der Griff
on bass, Gary Kelly on drums and myself on guitar and vocals,
we're ready to shake down the walls. These guys are high-energy and don't
mess around. We're doing a whole bunch of Steely Dan's songs since
we're all SD freaks. We're also doing songs I've written and I'm happy to
say the band makes them sound really good. We call the band
"Tongue In Groove"and have been playing
gigs in and around southwest Virginia and West Virginia. Some of the venues
we've been performing at are the Coffee Pot and the Brambleton
Deli, both in Roanoke. Gary and I also perform as a duo sometimes and you'll
often catch us at the Pine Tavern in Floyd on Sunday nights, when I run the
Open Mic there.
A recent project of mine was a dance/rock band called Floydian Slip,
with Clifford James on guitar and vocals, Carol Cassis on
keyboards and vocals, Kara Sweetwater on drums and myself on bass and
vocals. We played local clubs and parties for about a year and got a lot of
good response. We were doing all kinds of music spanning the 60's to the
90's with 3 part vocal harmonies and some of my original songs. This band was
a lot of fun and a kickin' band and ended all too soon. I have some recordings
kickin' around of us in the home studio on DAT tape. There's a rockin' version
of the Moody Blues song, Ride My See-Saw.
Another project I became involved with is a reggae hip-hop band called
Foundation Stone with
Jacques Trudel on bass, Emily Bourassa on sax and vocals,
Debra Doe on trombone and vocals, Kris
Hodges on drums and vocals, sometimes Keith Cooley on guitar
and vocals, sometimes Russ Detko on guitar and vocals and
myself on guitar and vocals. This band had the infectious groove and always
had people up and dancing. Besides reggae we also played some hip-hop
grooves, funk and even some rap thrown in. We backed up Burning Spear
and performed at the Black Mountain Festival in North Carolina. Kris
also performed with Zakiyah, a soulful singer from the Roanoke area.
Their first album was recorded at Flat Five studio in Salem, VA. That's Tom Ohmsen's studio,
who also has done a lot for local friends, Jane and Sonny of Radar Rose,
the Dave Matthews Band and a number of other local talented musicians.
Tom has written a very informative and comprehensive book on music theory
that I peruse from time to time and I've been to visit the studio and talk
with him.
I sometimes like to bring down my friend from NYC,
"Flamin' Amy" Coleman,
to our area of the Blue Ridge mountains. I set up gigs for us down here in
SW Virginia and she comes down about once or twice a year. Amy can sing the
blues and has a power in her voice that can shake an audience out of their
chairs. I played in her band for about two years in and around NYC. Elton
Reid played drums for a while and some of his friends that used to come
down to see us play off Bleeker Street were in the band Blues Traveler.
At the time I didn't know much about them but after moving to Virginia, I
heard them on the radio all the time. Elton also played with a popular band
in NYC called The Mighty Sweet Tones. One of our keyboard players was Steve
Weisberg. Steve had his own 17 piece jazz band doing avant-garde
arrangements. He was both an accomplished technician as well as a comical
genius in musical expression. He often elicited blurts of laughter from me
because of the strange and unexpected things he would play. Steve produced
albums for Karen Mantler, daughter of jazz greats, Carla Bley and
Michael Mantler.
Dave Binney played sax with us. What a soulful player he is. He has a
band called Lost Tribe that
went on to hit the Billboard jazz charts with the release of their first
album. Binney told me he was a descendant of the Binney and Smith Crayola empire but
was on the side of the family that was long ago ostracized. Dave has performed with
Medesky, Martin, and Wood and John Zorn. Our original guitar player
was a good friend of mine, Scott Hathaway. Scott
is an awesome guitarist, downright scary sometimes. He plays Bach's Toccata and Fugue
in D minor at lightning speed on the guitar from beginning to end. Scott had a band
for a while that only did Yes songs. Replacing him was Bruce Arnold,
a quiet guy originally from South Dakota who made his guitar scream and wail. Bruce
was soulful and tasty and knew how to build a solo to a frenzied climax right before
the band would bring it back down to a whisper. Oh yeah, I played bass in this band
and sang second lead and backup vocals for two years ('91-'92).
If you'd like to hear a short clip of this band, click the button.
`
My good friend, Michael Scialfa, played in many
bands with me in the "old days". He's the quintessential rock 'n' roll keyboard
player. We went through some wild times together. His sister, Patty Scialfa,
married Bruce Springsteen. Michael and I went to a number of Bruce's
concerts together, sometimes driving as far away as Toronto to see a show. Bruce
always puts on a high-energy performance and I've enjoyed seeing him since the
Child/Steel Mill days in the late 60's. We even played some of the same
venues back then, including Teendevous in New Shrewsbury, NJ, a "for teens
only" club that burned down while I was still a teenager. Bruce lived in "West End"
for a while, a part of Long Branch where I grew up. He'd come down to the beach at
night and hang out with my friends and tell us funny stories about weird things that
happened to him and his friends. I saw him out in the clubs many times. I saw him
dancing at the Stone Pony when my band played. Michael called me one day to
come over to his Mom's house for his brother's birthday party. Bruce and Patty were
there and they, along with Michael and I, played old songs all night. Bruce played my
left-handed Fender Jazz bass upside-down most of the night. I think he was trying to
get a feel for what it was like, watching me play a right-handed guitar upside-down
and backwards. Michael used to drag around his Hammond B-3 and Leslie speaker cabinet
with a classic Polymoog synthesizer in the old days. Later, it was the Yamaha DX-7,
another classic keyboard. Michael pulled
a lot of wacky stunts in the past and seemed to attract trouble at every turn (if I
told you half of what went on...!) but he's since calmed down and we've remained
close friends through it all. We keep in touch regularly, even though we live nearly
six thousand miles apart. God bless email! Springsteen was at the
Clearwater Festival on "Harmonic Convergence"
in 1987 (Aug. 16th, 17th), and my friend, Karen Mason took a picture of him with
Helen Chrobosynski (one of the founders of Clearwater), Ellen Cohen (on
left), and myself behind the main stage.
I was in a top 40/ rock band called Acme Boogie Company that doubled as a
wedding band called Opus 1.
Sammy Cooper started that band. He and I also played together in a former incarnation of
The Shots. Vini Lopez was the drummer for Acme Boogie Co., the original drummer
for Bruce Springsteen's first two albums. A fine drummer with a great singing
voice, a rare find indeed. Vini and I also performed with Bob
Killian, a folk artist/environmental activist. We recorded Bob's song, "I Like
The Jersey Shore", and performed it in the video on Sandy Hook. Bob is one of the original
founders of the Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater, an environmental activist
group based at Sandy Hook National Recreation Area. Also with us at the time was
"Big Danny" Gallagher. At 6 feet, 5 inches, a red beard
to his belly and somewhere in the neighborhood of three hundred pounds, Danny was easy to
spot in a crowd. I remember first seeing Danny onstage with Bruce Springsteen when
he had Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom. They were in concert at the Sunshine Inn
in Asbury Park, with the Allman Bros. as the headlining act. Danny was one of four
people sitting at a card table, center stage, playing Monopoly while the 10 piece horn band
rocked. They also had a couch, end table, and lamps onstage. It looked as if they might
have brought their home onto the stage that night. I remember listening to Duane
Allman jamming on slide guitar to the tape of "Dr. Zoom" being played in between
bands by soundman Tinker, Bruce's first manager. This was sometime before the
Allman Bros. did their landmark album, "Live at the Fillmore East". Tinker is a
former NASA technician and is quite entertaining once you get to know him. I also
played in Danny's band, "Big Danny and the Boppers". Steve Schraeger
played drums in that band. He also played drums for a short while in Sister Mary and
the Bad Habits. Steve is a veteran of the Asbury Park music scene having played in many
bands including Hot Romance, Cahoots, and more I'm not now remembering.
Another time at the Sunshine Inn , I got backstage when the Bruce Springsteen Band
was on the bill with Cactus and Black Sabbath. (In those days, security was
easy to get by and we did it repeatedly.) I got to watch Bruce jamming backstage with bassist
Tim Bogert (formerly of the Vanilla Fudge) and it was an indelibly marked moment
upon my memory. The sparks were flying. That night, a couple of friends and I walked into the
middle of a dispute between the bands Cactus and Black Sabbath as to the whereabouts of some
contraband. A lot of accusations were tossed about but fortunately it never escalated into a
fight. The bands were asking us to help them out and take sides. It was funny to read about it
in a music magazine some time later (what was that...Creem, I believe?).
I played bass and sang lead vocal in a Reggae band called Tropical Persuasion with
Mike Lee on drums, Desi (?) on keyboards and vibes, Tim Boyce on guitar,
and Harvey Cherlin on trumpet. We played clubs up and down the Jersey Shore during the
summer. Harvey played in the Bruce Springsteen Band in the early 70's. He also did a solo
project in my studio with Chino Roberts on percussion, a Rastafari elder originally from
Jamaica, with grey dreadlocks to his waist;
Tony Cimorosi on bass who has a wonderful jazz CD out with well-known jazz artists like
Michael Urbaniak, Randy Brecker, Olatunji, James Beard, and others; Jim Molinaro
on saxophone, who hung out with Rahsaan Roland Kirk; along with
Joyce Spadoro on keys, who studied with jazz
pianist, Joanne Brackeen. Chino is currently ('03) performing with the Jazz Lobsters
, a 22 piece big band led by Jamie Lafferty on keyboards with some of my old friends
including Buddy Savino on bass, Ernie Loughlin on trumpet, and Tim Boyce on
guitar.
Another Reggae band I played bass in for a while was with Ragga, a Rastafari from
Jamaica who did "Dub" (sort of reggae rap). He had a trunkful of 45's, all recordings
of dub artists, and would play for me one after the other, as I would learn the bass
groove. Another singer in the band was Sharon Silvestri, from London, England,
a black woman with a British accent and a sultry, soulful voice and right at home in
Reggae music as well as Motown. I brought her into a recording studio with some other
talented friends, including Arne Bey on drums,
Andy McDunnough on keyboards and vocals, Tom
Morongiello on guitar, myself on bass and vocals, and Mary McCrink on backing vocals. We began working on a project. Some tapes
still exist of those sessions and they are among my favorites to pull out to hear on
such occasions when I'm listening to former musical projects I have been involved in.
Ask me to play it for you next time you see me at home. Or maybe the sax solo on my
song, "How To Live" by Perry
Andrews. That solo screams! Perry studied under
jazz giant Sonny Stitt and now teaches music at Rutgers University in N.J. We were in
high school together way back when and I used to see Perry at Odyssey Sound
recording studio in Long Branch, one of the first recording studios on the Jersey Shore. A
longtime friend of mine I met while he was still living on the east coast in Long Branch is
Bob Maus, who did
some recording for me in his studio in Malibu some years ago. I did a version of a
song I wrote, "Don't Give Up", while staying there and Bob engineered. A while back he
gave me a copy of some of his music and also some recordings of Maureen McCrink
he produced with some fine LA session players. I enjoy hearing Maureen's warm vocals and
the tight arrangements. Bob has a moderately successful web development company, at
times employed by the likes of Apple Computers, still writes and records his original music
and lives in a beautiful home in a canyon above Malibu.
Tommy Morongiello is now on tour with Bob Dylan as the guitar tech. My
good friend,
(who asked me not to name him), who used to do sound for some of my bands in the
old days, now is the stage sound engineer for Bob Dylan's tour. He's also done
sound for many greats including Eric Clapton, David Bowie, Grateful Dead and
so many others. Another friend, Don, is also on the Dylan tour as tech
assistant to the bass player and pedal steel player. Tommy also played guitar on some
sessions I did in a 24 track studio a while back. We had Max Weinberg on drums
from the E Street Band along
with Garry Tallent engineering (bassist from the E Street Band). John
Rollo, who mixed for the Kinks, was our mixdown engineer. We took these tapes
to Katy Carr, an A & R rep. from Columbia Records who was responsible for
signing Men At Work from Australia onto the CBS label. She was very excited
and there was talk of an album and video budget but the project was dropped by my contact
for unspoken reasons and shelved into oblivion. Que sera... The keyboard player from those
sessions was none other than an old musician friend of mine, Tommy Zvonchek, who
often performed with Blue Oyster Cult and is well known in musical circles in NJ.
For about two years, circa 1980-82, I played music with Gabrielle Roth's group, the
Mirrors. This is what Gabrielle called "tribal" rock; very ambient, spacy sound with
her mystical poetry at times sung by members of the group. Interweaving harmonies and
sometimes 'in the moment' inspired lyric. Our performances were magical events that could
turn a roomful of dancers into undulating morphing organisms. One of our performances was
at the Fifth International Transpersonal Conference somewhere in a large hotel in Connecticut.
Also on the bill was D'oa, a two man ensemble performing a wild mix of genre-bending
music. Playing a six foot long hollowed out tree trunk with rows and rows of metal prongs
that had to be one of the world's largest kalimbas, if you could call it that, was only one
of their toys in a very well diversified bag of tricks. The conference was highlighted that
weekend with an appearance by Swami Muktananda, an Indian spiritual leader well known
around the world. You could feel the high vibe all around that weekend. The members of the
Mirrors then were Raphael Sharpe on piano,
Ma Prem Lolita on flute, Wendy Green on vocals, Otto Richter on drums and vocals, Jeff Hoffman on guitar, Eric
Silverman on percussion, Melissa Rosenberg on vocals, Robert Ansell on
percussion, Gabrielle on vocals, and myself on bass and vocals. Gabrielle has gone on to a
successful record company called Raven Records
, is one of the top selling new age recording artists in the country, has written
two books about her work and still teaches dance/movement at Esalen Institute in CA, Omega Institute
and the Open Center in NY, and many other places around the globe.
Sometimes musical connections would send me off in some strange directions. A
studio owner, half brother to singer Melanie Safka (Lay Down Candles In The Rain),
recommended me to someone needing a bass player in a hurry. I played bass behind an
Elvis impersonator who had a New Year's Eve gig at the Felt Forum at Madison
Square Garden in NYC for the radio deejay, Howard Stern. It was all very
surreal. I talked to Leslie West of Mountain for a little while
backstage. We walked outside and he posed for me, hands up against the side of a police
van with a bunch of New York City Policemen milling about. My girlfriend at the time,
Mary McCrink, and her sister, Patty, sang backup. Most of Howard's New Year's
Eve program was a showy display of decadence and pompous frivolity. My friend,
David Peel is often a guest on Howard's radio show
in New York and has made appearances in both his movies. David toured Europe in the
summer of '99 and offered me a gig as guitar player, which i politely declined
because of previous commitments. David is the quintessential NYC street musician and has
played music with the likes of John Lennon and Yoko Ono and many other
musicians of world reknown.
One band I was in during the high school days, Mulligan Stew, was a lot of fun
and we did a few originals along with progressive rock covers. At one point we joined
forces with another band, Highway and we had a megaband called Bat Guano.
This consisted of three guitar players:Jon
Herington, Rollie Rouse, and Frank Ravaschiere; two bass players:
R.J. Hines and I; two drummers: Mitchell Bunin and Michael Anastasia,
a keyboard player: Mark LaPorta; and a singer: Michael Folkenflik. We
played some gigs and people loved it so much we did it some more. Jon was the guitar player
in Highway. He later moved to NYC and now performs with the likes of the
Brecker Brothers, Eliane Elias, Steve Gadd, Jeff Lorber, and many
other jazz luminaries. He's even written some songs for Michael Brecker's newer
albums. An awesome musician since the early days, Jon has gone on to a successful career
in the big bad Apple. I recently had dinner with Jon in NYC and he told me not only
would he be on the new Steely Dan album
release but Donald Fagen asked him to go on tour with them in 2000. Jon got rave
reviews from that tour and did the next album Two Against Nature and the accompanying
tour. Mark LaPorta went on to become a successful medical doctor and now resides in Miami.
Frank Ravaschiere, along with Mike Folkenflik, now play in a band called
Hey Betty with none
other than Sammy Cooper to complete this power trio. You can catch them performing up
and down the Jersey Shore these days. I sat in with them one night at a gig and ended up
singing the entire set. we were having fun getting to do music together after so many
years.
Mike Folkenflik("Folk") and I had a few bands together in the old days
(early 70's).The first was Joshua, with Robbie Horvath on guitar,
and Jeff Simmons on drums; and then Oasis, with Joey DeSantis
on guitar, Sal Ruggieri on guitar, and Mitchell Bunin on drums. This
was strictly a "cover" band but we did everything from Foghat to Joni
Mitchell, from Stevie Wonder to Pure Prairie League. An eclectic
mix of music that seemed to work for us. Both those bands worked quite steadily
back then and I solely supported myself by gigging musically. Going back even
further into my musical past, there was our wild days with the likes of Bill
McGrath, Gregg Laugelli, and Mark Siegel. Billy is quite a player and I
remember how well he played all that Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton
back then - note for note. Gregg plays the bass, electric and upright, and has a
great collection of instruments, including a sitar. He had a music studio he
co-owned with Mick Seely called Live Wire. It was in an old fur
storage freezer in the back yard of the house he bought. In the 60's and '70's it
was a place we went to jam and rehearse our bands. I met Ritchie Mitchell, Wayne
Defazio and John Barney there in '69. Mick is a keyboard wizard and has
done programming for Casio and Roland and helped me out in the early
days of doing music on computer. Mark Siegel and I used to have a hot band together
in high school ('71) with a guitarist from Hazlet named Don Daley. Mark has
gone on to work for Robert Morris booking agency, managing soul and rap
artists, like Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, and then as head of Motown Records
for a short while. Mark was another amazing keyboardist but ended up not getting
involved in playing music, rather managing it.
The first band I ever played music in was called The Pancake
Industry and included
my cousin, Peter Lucia on guitar, Billy Acerra on guitar, Jim Ferraro
on drums, with myself on bass. We played a wedding in 1964 when I was all of ten
years old and actually made some money. We went on to perform at grade school dances and
backyard parties. At one point we added singer/harmonica player Mike Vanore and
drummer Jake (?). We did strictly rock covers and yes, we played In A Gadda Da Vida
by Iron Butterfly. Sometime around '67-'68 I was asked to join local band Sunn
and worked most weekends playing music throughout high school. If anyone out there
remembers my band from the really early days, Sunn, I'd be tickled to know about it.
Sunn was quite progressive for its time, doing unorthodox music by obscure artists like
Blodwyn Pig and Mott The Hoople. We also did Hendrix, Rascals,
Doors, Blues Magoos, Easybeats, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Smokey Robinson...
I played bass in that band with Bobby Mancari on guitar, Tom Cianflone
on Farfisa organ, Billy Fleming on drums, and (occasionally) Ray Simmons
and/or John Whalen on rhythm guitar. The Teendevous Club in New
Shrewsbury was one of my favorite places to play back then. The Teen Club at
Fort Monmouth and the dances at the Allenhurst Beach Club were our regular
gigs. A year or two later, it would become the jams at the Sunshine Inn and
Student Prince in Asbury Park that I really enjoyed. I first saw Rickie
DeSarno there, a fellow "lefty" player who now plays with Steel Mill Revisited
, along with Vini Lopez and John Luraschi, all players from the
heyday of the Asbury Park music scene of yesteryear. John Kavalos
also drummed for Sunn for a short while.
A band that was radically experimental and lots of fun to play music with was a band I
put together called Zen Bones in the mid to late '90's. The changing lineup was
myself on guitar, bass and vocals with Dan Porter on bass, MIDI horn, and vocals,
Chuck George on percussion and vocal utterances, Bob Sieple on trumpet and
vocal shenanigans, Kris Hodges on drums, Kara Sweetwater on drums, Bob
Grubel on keyboards and vocals, Debra Lee on keyboards and vocals, Sally
Walker on vocals, Kevin Hodges on guitar, Bob Lansing on guitar and
vocals, and Dean on tablas. We played gigs around the SW VA area as well as
playing every Tuesday evening at my music studio. I have many hours of recordings we did.
This was an ongoing project which eventually morphed into the Found Music Project,
a band more focused on experimental soundscapes than any semblance of song form, although
we did do some more conventional musical forms as well. Sally is actively performing on a
steady basis and, along with some other fine musicians, sings
mostly jazz standards and has a CD of her renditions. Kris now is the head of the
Floyd Music Festival, drawing thousands with top name music people from around the
world. Bob Grubel has had his band, Grace Note together for many years with
Tom Williams on drums, classical guitar and vocals and Martin on the violin
and vocals. I have gigged with this band on many occasions as well as having helped them
in my recording studio. They stay pretty busy performing throughout the year. This band
sometimes also includes Rio on percussion and Bernie on guitar.
Occasionally, my friend John Kruth comes down here to visit Starroot
and I in Floyd, VA. John has quite a number of albums out on the Flying Fish
record label and plays an arsenal of exotic instruments like the bazouki, the
mandocello and the mandocaster and is a excellent flutist and guitarist. John has published
a biography of Rahsaan Roland Kirk and was instrumental (no pun
intended) in releasing a new compilation of Kirk's music on the Blue Note label.
He recently played Carnegie Hall with a group of Turkish musicians originally made
famous in the US by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones We've worked on
some recordings of his music together in my studio here in Floyd.
My good friend, Tim Boyce, is an awesome jazz guitarist living in Sea Bright, NJ.
Tim first turned me on to Pat Metheny's music in '73 which I've come to enjoy
immensely. I mentioned Tim to Pat after one of Pat's performances where I volunteered to
help with equipment backstage. Pat said Tim was the resident heavy metal guitarist back
then. I found that amusing considering what Tim sounds like these days. Tim, along with
Tony Cimorosi has been performing with members of Spyro Gyra in NYC lately.
Tim and Pat were in the University of Miami together around the early 70's, as was
Michael and Patty Scialfa, Hiram Bullock, and Clif Carter. Patty,
Hiram, and Clif formed the 24th Street Band when they all moved to NYC years later.
They used to come to play the Deal Pub where I used to play. I remember talking to
Hiram outside about his gigs with Bob James,the well known jazz keyboardist on
GRP records, and how strange it felt to leave Hawaii just to come play this little
place back in Deal, NJ. Hiram does an awesome solo on Sting's version of "Little
Wing", an old favorite of mine from Jimi Hendrix. David Sancious does some
amazing keyboard work on some of Sting's later things. David played with
Springsteen on his first two albums before going on to a solo jazz career with
albums like "Forest of Feelings". "Boom" Carter's drumming is so complimentary to
David's effusive style. David used to live (before me) at the Elberon Ranch, in Long Branch, NJ, where I lived for 8 years. Chick Corea
once had a brand new grand piano delivered to the music studio there, James Fusco had told
me. David also played with Santana for quite a while. He's an awesome pianist. When
John Lennon died, all the radio stations across the country had ten minutes of
silence. WNEW in NYC had David Sancious play ten minutes of a medley of Beatles
songs that interwove in magical phrasing that was just sublime. I wish I had a recording of
that! David and Ernest "Boom" Carter used to show up at the infamous Elberon
Ranch jam sessions where sometimes there'd be literally ten or twelve of us playing at
once. I met Carlo Novi at one of those, a saxophonist later with the Asbury
Jukes. Carlo played in my all-original band, Dream Logic. Jim "Theo" Theobald also played in Dream Logic. He played percussion on
tour with Julio Iglesias for years. Joyce Spadoro and Sherry Brock were
the keyboardists in that band. They were both great songwriters and have beautiful,
clear and strong voices. Joyce, who studied under jazz luminary, Joanne Brackeen, now
does a solo jazz piano w/ vocals and is pretty well known around the Jersey shore area.
Lee Elfenbein was our bassist and Alan Wilkov,
the drummer. Alan owns a couple of music stores in the NY/NJ area. Lee went on to study at
Berklee School of Music in Boston.
Tim Boyce and I joined up in the mid 80's with a band called Guildersleeve. I first
saw them in the early 70's as the backup band for Steel Mill with Springsteen at
Monmouth University (then Monmouth College). They had a strong following in the Red Bank/Sea
Bright/Highlands area and were known for their jazzy arrangements and strong harmony vocals.
Lead vocalist Linda Sciarabba had a raspy Janis Joplin belt it out kind of voice and
Scott Paden on guitar, also an exceptional
vocalist, were the core of that group. Chris Plunker played bass with them for many
years and is a top notch jazz funkist I've always admired. When he left for the west coast,
I took his place as bassist. He is now back on the east coast and is with the new version of
Line Drive with Jose Loo as lead
vocalist, Gary Dates on drums, Ric Brunermer
on sax, and a host of other exceptional players in this 8 piece powerhouse of a git-down
rockin' the house fun band. Gary helped me engineer and master my CD, Dreamstate and
Ric did a recording session for me on a song I produced for a singer named Phoenix Dion.
When I performed with Guidersleeve, Richard Chandler was our drummer at the time. Rich is
a long time veteran of the local music scene and he was a dynamite player always on top of the
groove. For a while Scott changed the name of the band to the Sand Band and we booked
gigs under that name. Around that time I also performed as bassist a few times with Maureen
McCrink. She was living on the west coast at that time and coming back to the Jersey Shore
to visit occasionally. Richard, Tim and I were the ready-made band along with friends of
Maureen's on guitar and keyboards and sister Mary on harmony. Maureen, with strong songwriting
abilities, has a sweet, sultry, angelic voice, and is equally at home on jazz standards giving
them a fresh new sound. Maureen has since moved back to the Jersey Shore and now has a band
called The Shirleys with Delores and Layonne Holmes
and they perform places at the shore. Delores and daughter Layonne are fine singers
and have worked in my studio on a recording project of Basha and Timo's. Also playing with them
in the Shirleys is singer Amy Braza, jazz bassist Gerry Carboy, pianist
Tim McCloone and drummer Bobby Boyd. I used
to see Gerry on his gigs with legendary jazz guitarist Tal Farlow, who played occasionally
in Sea Bright. Bob Maus gave me a CD he produced of Maureen when I last saw him in Malibu.
Bob, also an accomplished musician originally from the Jersey Shore, is a technical wizard with
recording gear and computers. Hired by Apple as a consultant, Bob is always pushing the
envelope in the interface between music and computers. I did some work in his studio a number of
years back.
Predating much of the aforementioned was a recording project with Tim Boyce, Arne Bey and
Maureen McCrink. These were original songs of Maureen's and this project was started from
a jam session I was invited to by Tim at the Elberon Ranch. At the time, Tim and I were
playing in a band called Home Brew that Nels Anderson also played with. Nels and I
did a wedding gig at the Queens Botanical Gardens around that time. Also evolving out of
this epic jam was my entry into the legendary Shots band. After the recording project with
Maureen, Arne and I became the rhythm section for another recording project with Wulenze
Elio, another very talented singer/songwriter. I was paid to sit in the Odyssey Sound
recording studio 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for over a month. Nice work, if you can get it. Arne
and I also started another recording project with a very young and talented Kristen Decker,
who could extemporaneously make up lyrics in the moment and make it sound like it was a written
song.
Jonas Hellborg,
Shawn Lane, and Jeff Sipe have been coming
around Floyd County lately ('98-'99). Jeff has bought some land near Doug Coulter, who
builds the MCAD digital recorder I use (a great drummer in his own right). Jeff was playing with
Colonel Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, a band of incredible talent; polyethnic Cajun
slamgrass music ofLeftover Salmon
and Jazz Is Dead, a band doing the
music of the Grateful Dead in a jazz setting. The bass player, Oteil, went on to
perform with the Allman Brothers. Jonas Hellborg, from Sweden, toured with John
McLoughlin, and Shawn Lane is just one of the most accomplished guitarists I have
ever seen. And he's just as impressive on the piano, as I witnessed one night when he played with
John Bain and I at the Pine Tavern, here in Floyd. Shawn really dug my version of
Steely Dan's "Josie". He saw me perform a few times at the "Pine". Bob Lansing hung
out with him for a few weeks. Bob and I were playing music together for a while and still do
occasionally. He used to be in an L.A. punk band called the Dickies, and was then known as
Enoch Hain. We still like to call him Enoch but mostly he goes by Bob Lansing these
days. Bob has a masterly proficiency on guitar technique, ranging from Brazilian classical to rich
textural jazz voicings. He and my good friend Shamama lived together for a while in
Blacksburg and wrote songs together, Shamama being the queen of wordisms. We did the poetry slams
together many times. East Bay Ray from the Dead Kennedys
is a good friend of Shamama's and he comes to Floyd on occasional visits. We've jammed a few times
and even performed locally together.
Another incredible sax player I had the privelege of performing with was
Mel Taylor. Mel had played with the likes of Jackie Wilson, Otis
Redding, Wilson Pickett and many others I can no longer remember for
time has wiped those memories from me. We were in a ten piece horn band
together called The Shots doing a lot of rhythm and blues, motown,
funk, early rock, and even fusion jazz. The Shots were the opening
band for Elvis Costello's first gig in America, which happened to
be at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. Tim Boyce was also in
that band with me, along with Ernie Loughlin from Scotland on trumpet
and Bobby Butterfield on drums. We played at Trax and
Tramps in NYC and nightclubs a lot. The singer, Donny Bertelson,
was one of the wildest people I've ever had occasion to perform with. He was
a wildman with a capital "W". His brother, Bobby Bertelson, and I had
some bands together as well, including Krackit, Shore Shot, and
Innerface. Michael Scialfa played in both Krackit and Shore
Shot. He also played keyboards in my band Sister
Mary and the Bad Habits. This band was with Mary
McCrink on guitar and vocals and Lenore
Franzen on bass. Paul Ende was on
sax, original keyboardist Mark Pietri and Bob Butterfield on drums.
Bobby has since moved down to New Orleans and opened up a recording studio there.
He's also a very talented guitarist/songwriter and we also did a brief stint
together in a Yes tribute band where I was the lead singer. Lenore and I
also briefly played in a band together in which I was the keyboardist. I can't
remember the names of either of these two bands but eventually I may talk to a
friend who does and I'll name them here when I find out. The Sister Mary band
eventually evolved into Channel 1 with
Mary and I, Nels Andersen on bass, Adam
McInnis on keyboards, and Pete Meier on drums. Adam is also a superb
recording engineer. I did a project there for singer/songwriter/pianist Sherry
Brock with Jim Theobald (Theo) on percussion. I had never seen the
technique that Theo used on the Tibetan tingsha bells dipped in and out of water
to change the pitch after it was struck. A nice touch.
Here's a picture of a band of mine from the 70's called Krackit. This was with local legend Bobby Bertelson on
lead vocals and saxophone, myself on bass and lead vocals, Tom Dimock on guitar
and slide guitar, Mike Quinton on guitar and vocals, Ritchie Mitchell
on piano and electric piano, Mike Scialfa on Hammond
B-3 organ and Polymoog synthesizer, and Billy Loughlin on drums. We played every
Thursday night at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ for quite a while. We
performed in a lot of clubs up and down the "Jersey Shore". Both Ritchie and Tom are
accomplished songwriters in their own right and have their recordings commercially
available. This band eventually evolved into Shore Shot and played the Jersey
Shore club scene for a few years. We were regulars at the Brighton Bar in Long
Branch. Frank Ravaschiere also played guitar with us in this band. After this
particular incarnation, we reformed as Innerface,
which consisted of three members of Krackit and Shore Shot, Bobby,
Ritchie, and I, and three members of Stir Crazy, including Cliff (?), Jon
Piantadosi, and Peter Meier. It was a powerhouse of a band (superb
musicianship) that got to perform at a lot of college campuses in in the tri-state area,
as well as the local club scene. Also performing at the Stone Pony in the 70's was
another originals band I played bass with called The Brighton Band.
I had a band in the late 70's called the Mission Band that was a
lot of fun. It was short-lived but had some fine talent all in one place.
Andy McDunnough played guitar and sang, Otto Richter played
keyboards and sang, myself on bass and vocals, Billy Laing on drums,
later replaced by Ronnie Mailloux (from Yasgur's Farm and
Colony) and Trina (last name?), who sang lead vocal. I have
some of the old tapes and we had some fine harmonies that stand the test of
time. Trina was the lead singer in a country and western band that Billy
Laing, Alan Subarsky on guitar, and I gigged with right before forming
the Mission Band. Otto and I were working on original songs of ours in the
Berardi Brothers' studio around that time as well. The Berardi's owned
The Kramer guitar company. I also recorded there with singer/songwriter
Jeff Saxon. Jeff is stand-up comedian, Tom Waits, and Donald Fagen rolled
into one pineapple cheeseburger served esoteric side up. Despite his quirks,
Jeff is an inventive and prolific songwriter and now teaches songwriting at
California schools. Otto introduced me to Delores Holmes, a vocalist of
outstanding talent and range. She was also with the Bruce Springsteen Band
at one time and has done recording in my studio for a few projects. One
of them was with her cousin Timo Scott, who had some original music he
cowrote with Basha Alade. Basha is a percussionist and a Yoruban
priestess with Afro/Carribean influence. I had the privilege of working on a
number of projects with her, including the music for her video projects. One
was on the Junkanoo festival held each year in Trinidad. Her and Timo
have an ensemble known as Iwo Dada, that can be seen in the Jersey Shore
area, their performances are wonderful. Timo followed me as bass player in
Gabrielle Roth's Mirrors, the musical ensemble of the Moving Center.
A few years back (mid-'90's), I formed a band called Wildlife, which later
changed its name to Altered Natives, with John Winnicki on guitar,
bass and vocals, Brad Miller on drums, myself on guitar, bass and vocals,
and various other members in our revolving door of musicians including Gary
Everett (on sax, keyboards, and vocals), Terry McLoughlin (keyboards,
vocals, harmonica), Debra Lee Hall (keyboards, vocals), Billy Bell
(sax), Maia
Whitaker (keyboards, vocals), Bob Grubel (keyboards, vocals),
Neal (keyboards, vocals), Chloe Ives (vocals), Sally Rutledge
(vocals), and a few others I can't remember now. We did rock covers, jazz standards,
blues, originals, fusion, ballads, new wave, pop, and just about anything that got
in our way. Music was always a lot of fun for this band. The local community always
gave us lots of support and dance energy. Terry had his own band for a long time
called Four Eyed Moe. Debra Lee has professionally produced her own CD of
original music and Sally has a CD of her singing jazz standards. Sally now owns a
coffee shop in Floyd and they have live music there often. Gary owns a music
store in Blacksburg, VA called Mainstream Music and is also the stage manager
for the annual Floyd Fest. I performed at the first Floyd Fest in '02, started
by my friends in Floyd, Kris and Erica Hodges.
When I go to the Rainbow Gatherings every year in June and July, I play a lot
of music and have met many fine musicians over the years. I can't mention
everyone but there are some I'd like to acknowledge including Tony Wells,
the jazz saxophonist from Las Vegas. I see him every year and he's quite an
accomplished player whom I enjoy playing music with. There's House of David
with Mariana Paradise on guitar and vocals and Renee on backing vocals.
Such sweet harmonies and beautiful spirit-filled songs. Mariana plays the guitar
like I do, upside-down and backwards. A right-handed guitar played by a left-handed
musician is not too common. Two of them at once is a rarity indeed. My friend,
Andius carries his acoustic standup bass each year to the gathering and I'm so
grateful to have him do so. He's an excellent player and just one of the nicest
people to hang out with. If you go to Seattle, you may very well see him playing in
a club there although you could also run into him in Australia or Africa, being
the world traveler that he is. He's got an excellent CD out of all original jazz
compositions. MJ Greenmountain is an accomplished drummer and is well versed
in many musical traditions. His current band is called Hamsa Lila. There's
always something exciting going on when MJ is around. Michael St. John (also MJ)
is also a fantastic drummer and mandolinist/guitarist/bassist I had the opportunity to
play music with at the Montana gathering in 2000. He's been busy performing all across the
country lately and lives in Santa Cruz. Some of the talented performers he accompanies
from time to time is Shimshai, Tina Malia, and Sasha Butterfly. Elan
Rae brought his drum kit to the gathering and we performed together a number of nights
this past year (2000). Joe (I don't know his last name) from New Orleans is one of
the finest jazz saxophonists I've had the privilege of getting to play music with. You'll
find him at Kid Village many nights where the sweet, soulful, smooth, and sassy tones can
be heard from a distance beckoning one to sit and enjoy. Shiner is a good friend of
mine I see most every year in the summer. We've played a number of gigs together and I
think Shiner is a fantastic singer/songwriter. Fantuzzi is a dynamic
performer and inspiring songwriter, well known in many circles. I've had the opportunity to
perform with him a number of times both at the gatherings and also in Hawaii on the
big island. Tim-I, from Venice Beach, is an awesome musician with chops of steel and
is equally at home on guitar, drums, bass or keyboards, and is also one of those sought-after
musicians whom many have had accompany them in performance as well as the studio.
I've done a lot of producing in my studio over the years with projects by Anna Laya,
Basha & Timo, Sherry Brock, Joyce Spadoro, Peter David Mullin, Phoenix Dion, Wulenze,
Ritchie Mitchell, Harvey Cherlin, Dorothy Sikora, Jana & Craig, Bob Killian, Mary and
Maureen McCrink, Beth Aiken, Daniel Porter, Starroot, Forever Now, the River Band, Bob
Grubel, Grace Note, John Two Ponies, Carol Cassis,
David Peel, Jamie Raymond, Bob Lansing, Debra Lee Hall, Bill Hudson, Richard Bamberger,
Rafael White Sun, Deniece Williams, John Kruth, Bettina Makley & Raven Stands Alone, Garius
Hill & Bob Sieple and others. I also have done live sound reinforcement for many bands
including reggae artists Ras Pidow
and Jah Levi.
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THE ART OF MUSIC SOUND STUDIO