Detroit Bar, 843 W. 19th Street, Costa Mesa, CA

with Eric Golding (bass) & Shane Thompson (drums)

Also playing: Names in Vain, Robert Jon & the Wreck, We Are/She Is

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Lot 1, 1533 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

with Ethan Gold, The Record Company, & Boys School

- solo set as part of this fantastic Buzzbands.LA show 

 

Silverlake Lounge, 2906 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

with Country Mice (NYC) & Drinking Flowers (LA)

- full band set with Eric Golding (bass) & Shane Thompson (drums)

 

Detroit Bar, 843 W. 19th Street, Costa Mesa, CA

with Let Em Riot, Ballerina Black, & Brenda Carsey

- full band set with Eric Golding (bass) & Shane Thompson (drums)

 

An 82-year-old ex-sailor kindly offered to drive me from Belgium, although he hadn't been in thirty years or so.  The highlight of the trip was when we were driving towards an oncoming train and had to hop a median so as not to die.  

Here, you can witness the excitement-fear-exhaustion-despair-relief-gratitude cycle that is being a touring musician.

Oh, and the song at the end is "Tonight I'm Gonna Dream About You," which you can download here.

Tonight I arrived at the Talking Stick to a full lot.  The only empty space was occupied by some sleeping bags and a very full shopping cart so I parked in an adjacent lot where a couple was in the midst of a breakup.  Or rather, half a couple was in the midst of a breakup.  He was pretty unresponsive, which was partial grounds for breaking up.  However I tried my best not to listen as she wailed about her fatigue and frustration and I searched for CDs and cords in the dark.  

I entered through the back door while a man told a story or did standup onstage, I couldn't tell what was going on.  People were laughing.  It was very full.  He talked about being in New York City on Halloween and men dressed as sperm.  Then a woman got up and talked about all of the men she loved and how she loved a race car more than any of them.  Then I set up to play.

As I began to soundcheck a man approached and held his iPhone in my face.  The flash was very bright so I grimace-smiled.  Then I began to perform and he videotaped - well, on the iPhone so I guess it wasn't tape - the entire set.  Not just standing/sitting in the crowd.  He recorded directly in front of me.  Onstage.  

I couldn't see anything beneath the icicle-style Christmas lights that dangled from the ceiling because an iPhone was in my face.  Inches away from my body.  Zoomed in on my pores, teeth, and who knows what else.  Scanning my guitar.  I felt like Marina Abramovic (pictured above).

After a couple songs a different guy said he wanted to play drums, so he got onstage with us - the videographer and me - and began to play "Blackberry Lane," then "Change," "The Bees," "Jesus Sandwich," "Roam"... lots of songs.  He did a good job, considering he'd never heard my songs before tonight.  But I really missed the guys.  Eric & Charlie.  In fact I think I manifested these two strangers onstage with me because I was missing the band so much.  I don't foresee many solo shows.

As for tonight, perhaps the videos will surface on YouTube and we can watch this bizarre spectacle from across the room.  Or perhaps the full moon will destroy the iPhone and we'll never attempt to relive this experience.  Either way, happy full moon.

May 2012 be filled with even more love, awesomeness, and great music.

Man... what a relief. I do hope you'll take a moment to listen. It's available for download and/or streaming on iTunes, bandcamp, and the website. 

I could write so much about the evolution of this project... how it began taking shape in 2007 when I was on tour in Paris, spending hours absorbing art and analyzing the myths of Adam & Eve and Apple of Discord; how I became so obsessed with the phrase Golden Delicious that I spent a year living in the Big Apple eating primarily golden-hued food (lots of golden delicious applesauce, sweet potatoes, & turmeric rice); how I have spent hours upon hours painting and mapping out Latin and Sanskrit phrases I don't understand, trying to derive meaning and form connections between various religions, myths, and stories...


I guess none of it really matters now. I didn't lose my mind, though it lost me a few times.  I had so many plans for this album - a book, a series of paintings, a live performance, a cookbook inspired by my year of golden cuisine - I mourned that I'd never be able to complete it.

Then this summer I moved to Los Angeles, site of the fallen angels. As I stopped touring all the disenchantment, frustration, and fatigue I'd been amassing crashed over me in a gigantic wave. It was hardcore detox.



I had crazy headaches and there were a couple weeks I could hardly get out of bed. With no tour or recording to look forward to, I was caught in a creative whirlpool. I don't know where those summer months went, but by the end of September I had trashed the entire project. I felt really lost and really found at the same time.



I had always envisioned Golden Delicious as the slick production of a swanky studio, with Rick Rubin behind the board and Benmont Tench on keys. The reality was that I didn't have enough money to live on, never mind make a full-blown album with or without superstars. I couldn't bring myself to do Kickstarter or other fan-funded campaigns - especially for an album inspired by the corruption of the economy.



As fall approached a new collection of songs arrived swiftly and with tremendous clarity. I heard about Occupy Wall Street and I felt the buzz of movement. I didn't want to wait until 2012 - the songs wanted to come now.

While molding a clay Eve & apple up at the Beatrice Wood Center in Ojai on my birthday I received notice of an insurance refund from my Italian tour. It was enough money to cover four days in the studio.



Two weeks later I was at OWS in New York, and the following week I was with Steve Rossiter at Axis Sound. Though still somewhat angry and frustrated the mood in the studio was light-hearted. Steve, with whom I've been recording since 2007, recently relocated to a lovely old house away from the chaos of the former Hell's Kitchen site. We ate breakfast over the New York Times and then moved to the living room, where a cat dozed in my lap and Steve worked his magic on the organ. As the songs emerged I thought, this is exactly how this album is supposed to sound. 





We didn't have time to do multiple takes, and my attitude was "f**k it" - as long as the essence of the song was captured, I was content. We didn't have a drum set either, and when "There Is A War" called for percussion we disassembled a toy drum kit belonging to Steve's five-year-old son. Steve used the kick as a tom and balanced the tinny cymbal on his finger, giving songs like "Mean" a gnarly industrial vibe.

I was euphoric, hearing the sounds emerge and evolve. Steve is such a fantastic musician. And he has crazy sense for what a song needs. It all seemed effortless, like everything was finally falling into place.



And so Golden Delicious turned out completely different from what I had intended. I think that's pretty fitting to the subject matter. We were raised on certain beliefs and ideas (the American Dream, for one) that led to a very different reality. But unlike the state of our government or our environment (so far), in the case of this album my failed expectations turned out to be the greatest gift. Perhaps the difference lies in the participation... after all this is just the beginning!

Although none of the original songs were included (nor Rick Rubin) I believe their essence - as well as all of those hours of baking banana bread and researching the Golden Mean - helped shape and influence what you now hear.

While back East and peacefully marching to Times Square with thousands of occupiers, the word "integrity" buzzed in my ears once again. As the atmosphere grew tense in the presence of NYPD, voices rose together, chanting, "The whole world is watching! The whole world is watching!" True to the words, iPhones, cameras, and live feeds documented every moment of our gathering. For the first time in as long as I can remember I was flooded with the feeling of hope. All around me, people were actively co-creating our world and pursuing It. This is LIFE. "The people united will never be defeated."

I realized how important it is to assemble together - in the flesh - to feel our individual and collective power. The internet has been a tremendous tool in uniting the OWS communities around the world, and in transforming the spread (and authorship) of news. However it is no substitute for the experience of shared space, and of the physical collective.



Today at Occupy Los Angeles Seane Corn, Saul David Raye, and other members of the local yoga community led a practice in front of City Hall. I arrived expecting to see great throngs of people like I saw in NYC. The gathering was comparatively small, and I found myself in the front row with video cameras inches away from my body as I shifted into each pose. I closed my eyes, thinking simultaneously, "The whole world is watching" and "Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking."



Are we not asking our selves, each other, and corporations (including the government) for integrity? For ownership not of souls or money or jobs - but for one's own actions? For responsibility, compassion, and justice?

Today was a strange experience, and it will be stranger still if I see my butt in the paper tomorrow. A small sacrifice when so many are without work, without food, without homes. As I sweated under the midday sun I thought of our friends in New York who are camping out at Wall Street in the snow. Please consider sending warm clothing, blankets, and whatever you can. http://occupywallst.org



One aspect of today's assembly which felt right was Seane Corn's insistence that We are the 100%. The 99% is not enough. We are all included in this experience. When fights broke out and voices raised concern, all were honored, seen, and heard. They added tremendous depth to the assembly, just as shadow adds depth to an image.



As for those wondering what the future holds for my music - I recorded twenty-seven tracks while in New York last week, fifteen of which will be released in the coming weeks as Golden Delicious (it's amazing what happens once you surrender to the flow). Once again I recorded with Steve Rossiter at Axis Sound. He did a brilliant job adding organ, clavinet, rhodes, moog... even some percussion. I scrapped my original songs/plans for the album after witnessing OWS, and the album kind of took on a life of its own. I feel deeply grateful to have been able to make this recording and I'm really proud of the songs... and their integrity.