How I Got Into Film

In 1988 (I’m dating myself here), I (barely) finished High School (ask me about that story sometime – it’s a good one), and I made my way off to get myself further educated at Syracuse University.  I recall that college kind of crept up on me.  I hadn’t given it much thought until I was a senior, but all of a sudden, it was that time in life where I had to choose.  I was blessed enough to even have the option.  Dad was apparently some kind of genius as a restauranteur (and the hardest working man I know to boot), and it was just…expected…that I was going to college, because, as my mother put it, “your father can afford it”.

Who was I to question that logic, and looking back, I didn’t.  Besides, from all reports, college was something not to miss.  I can’t say that it was the usual schooling that interested me solely, so much as the life education I imagined awaited me.

When it came time to start talking about schools, I started looking at places in Colorado, California, Hawaii, but, alas, I was informed that “you’re not leaving the Northeast” (not sure if it was the cost of travel or just parental love that influenced that), so I started to take a look at more nearby options.

Syracuse had a ring to it.  A friend informed me that his dad was an alumni there and could get us a place to stay at his father’s old fraternity.  Certainly that had a ring to it as well, but the ring I’m referring to was that my own father’s best friend had a daughter who went to Syracuse, so I knew that dad would probably approve if I went there.

We arrived at Syracuse, I, my friend, and my other best bud, and we checked in at what turned out to be “the stoner fraternity”.  Apparently, every college has one, whose members are comprised mostly of Deadheads, wannabe hippies, and yes, stoners.  The irony of this is that most fraternities had a notable supply of Deadheads and stoners, but cliques are the same in college as they are in high school.  Jocks, nerds, stoners.  Birds of a feather.  Anyway, go figure, my introduction to college life was not so coincidentally tied to my introduction to marijuana.  Perhaps this ultimately affected my decision to go to Syracuse, but maybe it’s because I was just too stoned to want to bother to find somewhere else.  Certainly I applied elsewhere, but I recall specifically that Syracuse became my first choice at that point.

Indeed, the party conversation interested me, but I did manage to also discuss the “real” reason I was going to college.  I was taking an architecture class in high school that I was enjoying, tinkering with models and cool shapes, and it seemed like a somewhat financially stable yet still creative career possibility.  I spoke with one of the frat brothers and told him of my interests, and he in the end was the one who influenced me to not pursue that path.

“Those guys never see the light of day,” he told me.  “Go into the VPA school (Visual and Performing Arts), and then you can choose whatever creative thing you want.”

That’s all it really took for me, and so I now had a plan.  I was going to art school!

Luckily, I didn’t get resistance to this from my parents, but I did have some work to do.  I had no portfolio to speak of, and I needed one if I expected to get into art school.  Being the cocky kid that I was, I considered myself more talented than the samples from art class that I was seeing in my high school hallways, so I blew off the idea of taking any of those classes.  Silly me.  I wasted years of valuable creative growth time sitting on that high horse.  My only option was to get a portfolio together fast.

I got lucky again and talked my way into “sitting in” on art classes at school, where I started to piece together some work to show my wares at my college interview.  Maybe it was still luck, but apparently my grades, SAT scores, and portfolio were good enough to get me in, to my own (and my dad’s) delight.

And so, it was Syracuse.  Indeed, I’m glad that I didn’t go into architecture.  My first year I got to focus on “foundation” courses, which had me learning the basics of painting, drawing, sculpture.  All the fun stuff.  It was a great time, actually.  My first time away from home, free to choose how I spent my days.  Free to discover who I was.  Free to party my ass off.  I spent my days drawing attractive nude women in Crouse, a gorgeous historic building high on a hill overlooking the campus.  And I was doing really well.  I even made the Dean’s list that year!

By the time I was a sophomore, it was time to choose a major.  I chose photography.  I’m not sure I recall why exactly.  Maybe it’s because I took it and enjoyed it in high school.  So, I became an art photography major and started taking the foundation classes for that, and one of those classes was Introduction To Film.  By my second semester, I switched majors to Film Art.

Film fascinated me because it was so powerful.  To me it was the most communicative medium there was with the ability to control what people were seeing and hearing.  It offered more possibilities than any other art I was aware of to have impact, to make people think.  It combined everything – art, music, writing.  And so my dreams started to shift towards being a great director.

I had reasons for wanting this that are worth mentioning.  The previous year, I had my spiritual awakening, which had me deep in thought on how to pass on this awakening to others, and film felt like the best way to do it.  Of course, I’ve since learned you can’t force such a thing from anyone, and that film doesn’t necessarily have a better shot than any other form of art.  People will awaken when they are ready in whatever way they are ready for.  Nevertheless, I didn’t know that then.  Not yet.  So, my thoughts were bent on making a movie that would somehow pass on that awakening to others.

My senior thesis, a 15 minute movie called “Circles: Glimpses Of A Life”, attempted to kind of express the universe in a short poem.  About midway through the process, besides getting my ass kicked by all that it involved, it became clear to me that the awakening I was hoping to pass on would never come from this particular film, and it also became clear that some folks simply wouldn’t “get it”.  I guessed that the people that would get it would be the people that have already “gotten it” in the larger spiritual sense, and thereby might enjoy seeing someone else personal spiritual expression.  Other folks might force a smile and say something nice while wondering what the hell they just saw.

Perhaps the most encouragement I received was from the head of the film department, who was the teacher that semester of the script writing class that was to be the basis for our senior thesis.  I remember really wracking my brain when writing that script to come up with something that could somehow express the vastness of the entire universe within 15 minutes.  You can imagine that wasn’t easy.  Day before the script was due, I had an epiphany of how to pull it all together.  I whipped up the script and actually managed to get it turned in on time.  Days later, we were going over our scripts in class, and my teacher held up my script and said “this is exquisite.”  I and many of my classmates all raised an eyebrow or two at that.  This was a very high compliment coming from someone who’d been looking at student’s scripts and teaching the art of film for god knows how long, and to this day I draw much encouragement and inspiration from that memory.  I was told by my other film teacher at the end of the semester that the head of the film department liked my film the most out of the entire class.  This could be seen as boasting, I realize, and maybe it is slightly, but it’s also just the truth.  And it’s truths like these that get an artist through the day; we all need every little bit of hope we can muster.

So, that’s how I got into film (along with a number of other details ).  Since then, I’ve been brewing a grandiose plan for a major motion picture, still hanging on to the idea that awakening might pass on through the medium of film.  The Adventures of ZA just…happened.  I was all about traveling and making an album when I just figured, why not make a movie?  That one thought led to a course of events that I’ve really just been trying to ride.  The movie seems to have it’s own agenda, while of course remaining my creation.  I’m doing my best to follow the signs and the threads to weave something that entertains, inspires, and who knows, maybe even awakens.

Seattle, WA

“You’ve never had falafel?”, I choked.

“No.”, he replied looking sort of shy yet amused by the thought of a food called falafel and that he might actually get to taste such a thing.

“Wow.,” I said, “well, here.”, and I handed him my falafel wrap.

And that was the day I met Steve Taylor, who had just answered my ad seeking a drummer entitled “Explore The Frontiers of Sound and Spirit”.  Of course, Steve didn’t actually play drums really (yet), but he did like my ad and my influences enough to give me a call.

Almost 16 years have passed and Steve and I have had many a jam and a number of laughing sprees.

FLASH FORWARD
Kensington, CA
2011

Steve comes to my door, computer in hand, as Kanga jumps out to give him a sniff, tail awagging.

It’d been awhile since we played, but I knew our abilities had only improved, so it was bound to be fun.

The original plan was to play “cusp“, the title track from my new album.  I thought it would be a good way to kick off the show.  But as we started to practice, I was realizing there were a lot of changes in the song, and while it wasn’t necessarily difficult or complex, it was long with a number of parts.  So, I figured it would make sense for us to pick something easier to play on.

I immediately knew which song.  The jammer of the album and one of my favorite tracks.  The whole song was done in 2 takes.  One for the rhythm track, and one for the lead track.  It has a 6/8 time signature, so it moves like a waltz, and it rides A minor through this somber mood.  A friend referred to it as “sweet angst”.

Steve picked it up right away, and as we started to play, I was getting excited.  I don’t have enough of other musicians in my world right now, and I soooo miss that and need it, so I was thrilled just to be playing with someone I respect as a musician who challenges me and co-creates with me in an awesome place.

Our rehearsal ended on a high note, literally, I helped Steve update his website, and we said our temporary goodbyes until we meet again, at the appointed time and place.

Needless to say, I am totally jacked about this show.  Rudramandir is gorgeous.  The show will take place in their main sanctuary, a beautiful  space that has heard the songs of many a sacred gathering.  The seating will be on pillows.  The lighting will be candlelight.  There will be delicious food and beverages and many friendly faces familiar and new.  Steve will open with his amazing gifts, I will perform each song from my album, and then Bombgoddess will take us out.

Whew.  Like I said.  Jacked.

Psyched to see you there.  Bring your friends.  Bring strangers.  Bring everyone!

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH

7pm-11pm at Rudramandir
in Berkeley (see map)
830 Bancroft Way (at 6th Street)
DOORS OPEN AT 7PM
7pm-8pm – snacking, drinking, & schmoozing
7:40-8pm – STEVE TAYLOR (http://www.stevetaylormusic.com/)
8pm-9:30pm – SHAKIBAN (and special guests)
9:30-10:30pm – BOMBGODDESS (http://www.bombgoddess.com)!
$10 FOR ENTRY AND 2 DRINK TICKETS
$20 FOR ENTRY, 2 DRINK TICKETS, AND A COPY OF THE NEW ALBUM

SEE MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE SHOW

RSVP to the Facebook Event invitation here.

And you can of course listen to and purchase the new album, “cusp”, here.

“cusp” is the culmination of about 2 years worth of original acoustic instrumentals that all came together over the summer of 2010, and I’m looking forward to performing the songs and telling you the stories behind each.

You can now hear AND PURCHASE the entire album here…

http://www.shakiban.bandcamp.com/

I’m honored to be sharing this night with two other amazing musical artists.  Opening the show will be talented musician and longtime friend, Steve Taylor
…
http://www.stevetaylormusic.com/

After Steve, I will be performing all of the songs on the album (and adding some other musical surprises!).

Then, stick around to get your groove on with Bombgoddess!

http://www.bombgoddess.com

I have reserved a wonderful location for the show at Rudramandir and look forward to performing in the acoustic friendly and sacred space that it offers. Check it out!

http://rudramandir.com/rental/mainsanctuary

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH

7PM-11PMat Rudramandir
in Berkeley (see map)
830 Bancroft Way (at 6th Street)

DOORS OPEN AT 7PM
7pm-8pm – snacking, drinking, & schmoozing
7:40-8pm – STEVE TAYLOR (http://www.stevetaylormusic.com/)
8pm-9:30pm – SHAKIBAN (and special guests)
9:30-10:30pm – BOMBGODDESS (http://www.bombgoddess.com)
$10 FOR ENTRY AND 2 DRINK TICKETS
$20 FOR ENTRY, 2 DRINK TICKETS, AND A COPY OF THE NEW ALBUM

Thanks so much, and I look forward to playing for you.

Shak

Please let anyone know who you think might want to be there! SHARE! SHARE! SHARE! Thanks!

I was thiiis close to quitting.  On the verge of my 24th birthday, I had just returned to New York after my first jaunt out into the wide world on my own (San Francisco).  I had come to the Omega Institute for a month long live work exchange where I could meditate on my navel, take classes on the zen of tennis, and eat nothing with a face.  A friend turned me on to it, and it was right up my newly awakened spiritually pompous alley.  As for what I was quitting, it was that brand new musical dream of mine.

The plan afterwards was to join my father in business and “get serious”.  That was the plan, but while at Omega, I had what you might call a change of heart, and my heart called me back West.  Needless to say, getting serious never happened, except for the Dream again.

I landed in Seattle for about a year where I really started to sink in to my practicing.  I recorded myself a lot and spent a good deal of time studying the work of guitar greats like Carlos Santana, Jerry Garcia, Trey Anastasio, and John McLaughlin.  It was in Seattle that I met a young Steve Taylor, who had answered an ad I put out titled “Explore The Frontiers of Sound and Spirit”.  I was looking for a drummer, which Steve wasn’t, of course, but it didn’t matter.  Steve and I created a friendship both personal and musical that lasts to this day.  Steve is one of those fellow contemporaries who was like a musical idiot savant – he played, and I felt like an idiot.  My fragile wannabe rockstar ego not more than once felt a little feeble compared to his skills and natural ability (don’t worry, my ego made it out just fine!).  Steve is awesome; please check him out.  Anyway, the weather blows in Seattle, and the people were all very niiiice – too nice for my New Yorker sensibilities.  I decided to head back to the Bay Area and pick up where I left off.

MY FIRST BAND

So, in deciding to head back to Cali, I touched base with my former housemates.  We had attempted to get a band going while I was there before, and it seems the guys had kept it up while I was gone.  I fell right in to the guitarist slot, and Jones was born.  Sad that I can’t link to some old Jones website or something, but let’s give it a little love here.

Jones was made up of myself on vocals and guitar, fellow Syracuse University buddy Aaron Frost on vocals, our other SU buddy (though we didn’t even know him there) – Jeff Lebson on keys and vocals, and Cali-born Scott Deaton on bass.  We were linked by similar tastes in music like the Dead and Phish, Dave Matthews, and a slew of other jam bands, and our sound was along those lines.

In the beginning, we would practice right in Jeff’s living room.  Our first drummer (one of many – they had the lifespan of Spinal Tap drummers), a fellow named Gabe, rounded out the lineup, and we started to prepare for our first show at the Club Cocodrie in North Beach.  One memory of those practices in particular is of the others constantly telling me to stop playing.  Now having studied my scales, I was the Great Noodler.  This was before I knew anything about how to rehearse effectively, so between songs the guys were getting pissed because I wouldn’t stop fiddling, even when they were talking to me.  They’d scream “DAVE!  No cookie!”  And so I learned how to practice with a band and stop playing with myself. ;o)

Club Cocodrie was a bar that wreaked of alcohol, of course, and was basically in the heart of the Adult District of North Beach, and the sound system was horrific.  Either people couldn’t hear us, or they were getting blasted by giant farts of sound.  We didn’t fucking care though; we were just happy to be there!  We had a decent turn out of friends, and learned a few lessons about how to perform and about ourselves as well.  Each gig led to the next one, and we actually started getting pretty good.  Things were going well, but eventually the drummer issue came back to haunt us.  We’d find someone good, but they’d be on their way before we knew it, and we’d have to find someone new.  And losing a drummer is worse than losing a leg – you’re losing 2, and 2 arms as well.  For every step forward we made with someone new, we’d fall back having to retrain the next one.  Looking back knowing what I know now, I have no idea why we didn’t just hire one.  We were still inside this mentality that the love of music is what puts you there; getting paid was very secondary in our minds then.  Drummers tend to think that way less often than other instrumentalists in my experience.  Because they are such a valuable part of the band I guess.  Jones lasted about 2 years, and I stay in touch with all of those guys still (and hope to make more music with them again someday).

FLASH FORWARD:  YESTERDAY

Last night I recorded the last 2 songs to my new album!!!!  What a thrill it was today to listen to my new album in its entirety!  Some fmixing, a little overdubbing, mastering and printing all still need to happen, but the songs are 95% of the way there I’d say.  Now I’m just trying to determine the order I want to put them in.

Please enjoy these latest 2 tracks, and I welcome any comments you might have.  And please Share!

All tracks from the new album, “cusp” can be
now be listened to and purchased here.

Learning guitar hurts.

Yeah, there’s no question.  Your fingers will be like “whuuuuuaaht are you doing?!”  I think this might stop a few would be guitarists from getting past week one.  This was the situation with me.  I had my first guitar and lesson when I was 14 and just starting to hear bands like Rush, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd.  I went down to a local guitar store with a little basement teaching room.  My dad took me and bought me my first guitar.  I can’t recall what brand it was, but it was black with a pixelated red lightning bolt streaking across it.  Beyond that, what I remember most was trying to practice afterward and experiencing first “hand” the physical pain of learning to play guitar.  My Red Lightning Axe proceeded to gather dust for five years whilst I focused on girls and other firsts.

So, as I mentioned in my previous post, after my “awakening” at age 19, I took back to my practicing with renewed vigor and passion, this time enough to get past the pain.  Red Lightning was sufficient for getting used to the thing, learning my first few chords and how to tune it (a major learning process in itself).  It’s first chords for “Wild Thing” soon progressed to learning basic blues and some other popular fare, but soon I experienced what has since become my favorite part of making music.

MY FIRST GUITAR SOLO – The Magic of Jamming

We were doing our usual summer partying, listening to rock n roll, playing cribbage or hacky sack.  The very same friend who showed me my first chords taught me my first scale – the most basic first position of a blues scale (also known as Minor Pentatonic).  He put his white Fender Stratocaster into my hands – actually plugged in to an amp (a luxury I had not yet known, even though Red Lightning was an ‘electric’ guitar), and he showed me the notes to play.

I’m not sure what we were listening to, probably the Dead, but I started to noodle with the notes.  He showed me how to find the key that the song was in, and for the first time I felt the Magic of Jamming.  I felt like a fucking Rock Star.  I felt Powerful.  It was like wielding some Sacred Fire of Destruction and Creation all in one.  That was it.  If there was any remnant of whining about the physical pain of learning guitar, it was utterly gone after this.  I made one step forward towards a dream that had yet to be born.

THE DREAM

I don’t know exactly when the change took place.  It wasn’t an immediate goal for me – to “make it” as a musician.  I just wanted to play.  But as I fell deeper and deeper in love with it, I started to desire to live my life making music – actually making money at it.  Having just finished 4 years of studying film, now thrust into the “real world”, I can tell you, my announcement to my parents of my dream was not met with a whole lot of enthusiasm.  Especially dad.  Poor guy.  I think he had some predictably cliche expectation that someday I would “get serious” and come learn the business, work with him, get hitched and crank out some grandkids for him to play with, and we’d all live happily ever after.  But the only thing on my mind after finishing a 4th long winter in Syracuse was getting somewhere warm as quickly as possible.  After considering the possibilities, I settled on the Bay Area as a place that had sun, ocean, culture, and spirituality, and so I left.  Off to build my fortune and live my Dream.

LIVING THE DREAM

It’s taken longer than anticipated, and truthfully, I’m not even there yet.  But ooohhh, I feel myself getting close.  As the title of my upcoming album speaks to, I am on the “Cusp”.  The Cusp of a Dream.

Please enjoy the latest pieces of the puzzle.  The two attached songs, “Waiting” and “Early to Rise”, are more jammy explorations than what I’ve posted so far.  Disclaimer:  these are roughly mixed.  They haven’t reached perfection by any means, but the essence is there.  Please share!

2 more songs to go (recording again tomorrow!) until the album (at least, the recording part) is done!  Then it’s mixing, mastering, and printing, and then it’s the CD release show!  So, keep tuning in for new songs and updates on when the album will be ready and where and when the release will happen.

Happy listening,
Shak

All tracks from the new album, “cusp” can be
now be listened to and purchased here.

I’m melting.  It’s got to be like 105 degrees outside, as I broil in the nosebleeds, a cornicopia of tie-dyed, patchouli fried Deadheads splayed before me like a bowl of Fruit Loops.  My mind seems to be melting with the rest of me.  I should be dancing, or singing, or something, but mostly I’m just staring at my hands dissecting the Universe in my head, particle by particle, chronicle by chronicle.

A roar from the crowd disturbs me from my cosmic distraction.  The Dead has just started playing “Bird Song”.  It was about this time that I “woke up”.  In the spiritual sense, that is.  Yep, this was the moment.  The moment I had no idea was awaiting me.  The moment I “saw God”.  And what a moment it was.  It wasn’t exactly a conclusion, but a knowing.  A Revelation.

The killer stage set up that day

Naturally, the rest of that day (and the rest of my life since) was seen through a new lens.  This new bit of knowledge  was only the beginning, of course, of a long inquiry (another thing that continues to this day).  For the second set, we ventured down to the floor.  Not having General Admission tickets, we just did what every other Deadhead seemed to be doing, and jumped the wall.  I landed with a stupified grin in front of a security guard that presented feeble resistance, feigning true interest in stopping anybody.  Dancing the night away, with Jerry rubbing my tummy with cascading notes of bliss, I delved further into my questions…

Why are we here?  What’s the meaning of Life?

I don’t know that I came up with any particular answer about why.  It was more the what that seemed to matter.  Like “what am I here to do?”

The answer that came to me was simple.  It was something along the lines of “life is hard.  help each other out.”  A good start of a direction to carry my further spiritual quest.  Of course, I concluded that one of the best ways to help people out was to let them know about this amazing truth I’d just discovered.  Later I would also discover that this “truth” was not something you could just tell someone.  It was a truth every individual had to come to for themselves.

As I watched the band play, truly blown away by the magic I was witnessing, a thought came to me.  “These are just regular guys, like me.”  It was at that moment that I decided that I wanted to learn how to play guitar, and so, the very day I “awoke” spiritually was the day I decided to start learning how to make my own music.

I was 19 years old.  A late start, I used to think, but what I lost in time, I made up for in enthusiasm.  The next day I dusted off the electric guitar with the red lighting bolt I’d abandoned after my first finger torturing guitar lesson at age 14, and a friend taught me my very first song.  “Wild Thing”.

I clearly remember “playing” that tune to my girlfriend.  Awkwardly I took what seemed like a full minute to place my fingers into position for each chord, which I would then butcher clumsily.  I finished the first verse excitingly looking up to a very smug look on her face.  “That’s great….honey.”

“You WAIT!  You’ll see!”

As I mentioned, I was enthused.  This is really an understatement.  It was love.  Countless nights I fell asleep with my guitar on my lap.  I was hooked.

There's a cruise in my future

About a year later, my buddy and I were listening to Rush 2112, and I said “I can play that”, and my friend, the fool, scoffed “the day you play this, I’m taking you on a cruise!”

I quickly held him to it with a handshake.  “Deal!”  You wait.  You’ll see.

20 years later, and the attached songs in this post show my progress.  Watch out, buddy.  Get ready for that cruise.

All tracks from the new album, “cusp” can be
now be listened to and purchased here.

Playing by firelight is sort of a no-brainer.  It’s practically why the guitar was invented.  My traveling amp, however, is a welcome wonder of modern technology, carrying with it a purpose of its own, expanding the possibilities.  I think it’s time I named the little sucker.  Hmmm….I’ll get back to you on that.

I break out my gear and set up just outside the circle of friends warming themselves.  We’ve gathered for a wedding, nestled literally in a vineyard in Sonoma, and now we’re all gathered round to celebrate, the yellow orange glow, the laughter.  I start to play with no intention of stopping a thing.  I’m playing in the shadows.

As I settle in to my first song, I’m feeling comfortable and clear.  For an hour and a half I play, a soundtrack to the moment, just doing my thing.  During, afterward, and still I have been hearing beautiful words of thanks.  While it’s always nice to receive acknowledgment for mastering your craft, it’s even more fulfilling when people tell me of where they feel my heart when I play.  Having performed many a show from my head in my past; this is progress.  Thanks to all of you who have enjoyed the music and let me know it.

Packing up my guitar, receiving many blessings and being handed a beer, the time had come.  Back to the hot tub…

Please enjoy the above 3 songs, the latest that shall be on my upcoming acoustic album “Cusp”.

All tracks from the new album, “cusp” can be
now be listened to and purchased here.

All tracks from the new album, “cusp” can be
now be listened to and purchased here.

We greet the sun with songs and tears, with random passers-by stopping to add to the jam.  This is our Most Memorable Moment; the reason we came here, with a city that truly hasn’t slept yet, art cars blaring thumpa thumps and jugga-junks and dubba-dumps, rivulets of hot pink and gold emanating from the horizon.

Riding home I pondered memories like this:  a 2 hour performance in the Hookahdome, a smoking sunrise set with Bombgoddess, a sacred sunset set at “the Temple beyond the Temple“, and firing a miniature flame-thrower for twenty blissful minutes whilst being served lamb from a giant metal artpiece that smokes meat.  Yes, classic Burning Man frames.  My burn did not disappoint.  But, ho, what’s this?  I suddenly learn my expected gas funds have not been made available to me!  What to do!  Break out the guitar and my trusty amp and earn my way home, of course!  So, my last performance happened at the sole food mart of a little town called Nixon, with burners on their way home dropping dusty dollars and more to help me get to mine.  One guy gave me 5 gallons of actual gas!  I wheeled off again with plenty of cash to make the trip and have a good meal.  Upon getting home I found the expected payment made, but having earned those miles with music was oh so much more rewarding.  A perfect ending to another epic burning adventure.

A couple of looong showers, rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, and a sugar-free vanilla latte and blueberry cheese danish later, I’m sitting at home on my 40th birthday visioning my day, the year, and the decade ahead, grateful for a dustless desk, our pissed off cat (she wasn’t happy we were gone so long and has decided to voice her disgust in the form of turds on our rug), and for my many other countless blessings.  Oh, and something else – this mosaic that I’ve been working on all summer.  I just installed the first side of it.  I have to glue in all of the little pieces that have fallen out and over the seams and then grout, but it’s coming along and has been a completely blissful project.  It’s a good life…

Next entry: a full report on my upcoming album!

I’m feeling kind of giddy about it actually.  I’m just tickled at how, as I start to “settle in” to my musician-ness, more and more opportunities to share my music keep popping up.  It’s just really cool.

So, you can listen to the entire interview right here!  Enjoy…