House Concert for the Rivers and Oceans

Last friday, my good friend Tvi hosted a 3-stage house concert at his place as a benefit for rivers and oceans. He's been doing a series of these for awhile now for different causes, and they've been getting pretty big and quite successful. This evening was no exception and I was really content to be surrounded by such a loving conscious community so quickly after the love fest that Burning Man can be. I played on the ground level stage with a couple of folky friends Myriam Parent and Joanna Chapman-Smith. I really enjoyed playing that night, it was one of my favorites of all-time so far. The upstairs stage had Theta and friends, and the back porch had Pepe Danza and friends. Tvi had the idea that for this event he would give all the proceeds to the artists for them to decide how much and who they wish to support. I decided to support Living Oceans - check out what they do: http://www.livingoceans.org/ So it was an all-round fun evening and again I didn't get to bed until 4am and had to get up to teach a 9am yoga class. But I had plenty of energy and inspiration for class, and kept channelling good vibes. Napped in the afternoon!

Saturday the Man was Alight and We Danced Some More

It's incredible how quickly time passes. I've been back from this epic experience for what is it a week and a half? The fleetingness of our experiences makes them incredibly beautiful and tinged with a little sorrow for we're always saying goodbye while we trying to say hello to right now. This photo was from a few hours before the burn on Saturday. I had spent the day happily recovering from dancing to way-too-much-dubstep all night until sunrise and ventured out later into the afternoon's dust storm to practice yoga in deep playa. I spent the burn with my dear friend Shana and her lovely crew from SF and LA. We were all pretty joyfully happy like children watching the man burn down, it was exciting! One of the bestest things about BM is the wonderfully high quality folks you meet. It really attracts many kind, open, and beautiful people. So since I've been back I've been busy planting the seed amongst the many friends here who would dig the crap out of burning man :) and especially the theme for next year 'Rites of Passage'. This is a very timely and apt theme - I am pretty darn excited the transformation within ourselves and within our cultures. So we have a few ideas and much will have to do with the healing and transformational power of music. And with regard, since I've been home I have already been back in studio for three days, played a benefit gig for our Rivers and Oceans, and started discussing the future of our folk-blues circus show of Siddhartha. I have definitely returned from Black Rock City inspired to pursue my greatest pleasures ... and music has been great too ;)

'By the Ton' at Burning Man

I love playing at Burning Man. Last year the way people's hearts were open to the music inspired me to really pursue my path as a musician. This year I came back with the album I began to pour myself into immediately after the Burn 2009. It was rewarding to give the album back to Playa and play the old songs and the new songs all week. Friday was my big gigging day. The night before I had passed out from exhaustion in my friend's living room dome structure - they tried to wake me before going out but I wouldn't budge, I subsequently woke up entirely confused, "Where am I? I'm at a festival...Burning Man....Nevada?" Then I saw the note Shana and Ben left me...I still have it. So I wobbled home on my bike and woke up barely in time to play at Centre Camp Stage at 8am. My voice was raspy so everything had a slight Ray LaMontagne vibe to it. I made a bold request for a Latte when I started my show and a somewhat boisterous man said he would - I nearly regretted asking - and asked whether I wanted a "grande mocha frappe fag-o-cino?" "Wow," I said taken aback along with everyone else, wondering whether to laugh or be offended, "I'll have whatever you're having mate, thanks" I said and began my first song of the day. It was a lovely show, Robin Layne came on stage for my second song and played cajon and shakers. Later that morning I played at By the Ton on the esplanade - it was the place with the huge meditating iron man and the folks responsible for the large iron flowers with rolling flames at night. Gibbon set up a sweet warm sound for me and I played non-stop for over two hours. After the show, my camp buddy Melanie and I chased after the water truck wetting the playa for a drive-by shower - I almost managed to whip my pants off while jumping in the air! Then it was off to Reverbia and, later, an evening show at Dust Fish. Lord Huckleberry welcomed me very warmly to the latter venue, requesting to see my bottom as I was loading the stage - I obliged the old gent making a monkey's ass of myself in the most gracious of manners and played my final show at Burning Man. That evening it would be my turn to enjoy the raving and dancing to the loudest soundsystems on the planet 'til the sun rose over the playa...

Academy of Rogue Therapists

One of the most impressive things about Burning Man is the Gift Economy. Nobody sells anything at the Burn, everything is gifted - the only exceptions are the cafe at centre camp and the ice stations. So people's camps will gift food, drinks, entertainment, courses, anything they want. Our camp was called the Academy of Rogue Therapists - for some reason people kept hearing "rope therapists" and were surprised to find out our gift was something as tame as setting up art stations for people. Berm and Ali were the masterminds of this lovely themed camp and Berm built some trailers to carry our supplies behind our bikes. This was my contribution to our Gallery when we set up a station at the GSpot Bar (not sure why they were called that, I just got a beer).

Double Rainbow at Burning Man

During the storm on that first day at Burning Man I was enjoying myself immensely. It was ridiculously crazy, the wind threatened to blow away tents and I was helping secure tent poles with ropes as they pulled and thrashed against my grip. The rain was turning everything into a muddy nightmare and I was soaked attempting to cover our women's tent with a massive tarp. I was shivering and laughing at the unruly play of the elements. And just as soon as it had started it stopped and we were rewarded with the double rainbow and beams of light landing upon the playa like crystal shafts. Of course, everywhere could be heard the question "What does it mean?" and the answer was definitely something like "You crazy mofos are blessed!"

Burning Man 2010

Again, Burning Man has given me an entire lifetime experience in 7 days that I am still processing and seeing when I close my eyes. We arrived last Monday after sleeping a couple hours before dawn before making the final push to Black Rock City in northwest Nevada. You won't see the city on the map but I was there and there were 54,000 of us in this Metropolis of peace, love, good beats, and art of all sorts and all scales. Just as soon as we had arrived at our camp at the cross streets of 6 o'clock & F the wind picked up quite ferociously and it began a freak rain storm. Very weird in the desert...and it passed and we were treated to a double rainbow - the most vivid I have ever seen. After that it was all sun and blue skies until the weekend. During the first part of the week I was out playing shows each day at several stages - Reverbia, By the Ton, DustFish, and Centre Camp. Some I had set up prior to arriving but the middle two I made new friends with. This photo shows my ride around the concentric circle shaped layout that is Black Rock City. The bike is a goldfish created in reverence to my, um...

more to come...

Chris Murdoch and Isis

From the Siddhartha show, this guy is Chris Murdoch and a great contact juggler. Isis was a tantalizing Kamala with her hybrid of bellydance and other sorts of sensuousness. Chris as Siddhartha brings back the riches required to be a friend and lover of the lovely courtesan, and is no longer a dusty Samana in nothing but a loin cloth. See, Siddhartha looks quite sharp here and Kamala is impressed. Siddhartha is now a citizen of Samsara and after a number of years becomes a bit of a playboy and gambler... see what women make you do ;) actually she was his truest of friends and yeah, she was worth sticking around in Babylon for awhile...

photo: Diane Smithers