“Ok, Jai…. Sit down and write something!” “But I’m not a writer, I’m a singer and a musician….” “Well, you’re not playing music or singing right now and you’re bored of reading your mystery novel and too awake for a nap……” “But I have nothing to write about….” “Just sit down and see what happens…..” [...]
Greetings, friends..... Good morning (California time). It looks like spring may finally be breaking through. Has it been a long winter everywhere???? Well, I haven’t ‘blogged’ in a while. (That’s another one of these modern words, like ‘googled.’) Somehow, between parenting, working, and practicing music, many other important things on my daily ‘to-do’ list seem [...]
“I COURTED PRETTY POLLY THAT LIVE LONG NIGHT AND LEFT HER NEXT MORNING BEFORE IT WAS LIGHT PRETTY POLLY PRETTY POLLY COME GO ALONG WITH ME BEFORE WE GET MARRIED SOME PLEASURE TO SEE I LED HER OVER HILLS AND VALLEYS SO DEEP UNTIL PRETTY POLLY SHE COMMENCED TO WEEP OH WILLY OH WILLY I’M [...]
What a deep relief it was to hear those sounds and smell those smells once again. Bells, chants, heart-rending cries of “Radhe Radhe,” incense, sacred fires, cow dung burning…… I was back in my holy Vrindavan again; the land of Radha and Krishna; the ‘dham’ (pilgrimage place) where I first met my Guru, Neem Karoli [...]
Several years ago I was sitting in the courtyard of my guru’s ashram in a small North Indian village, taking the sun, drinking chai, and watching a family of monkeys dance and fight around a few bags of rice. Bells were ringing in the distance and the sweet smells of marigolds and incense were mingling [...]
Ah, India... The land of dreams, exaggerations, unbelievable stories and mythological figures; where the line between the 'spirit' world and the 'real' world is very thin, indeed; where monkeys and elephants are Gods, and cows are the Great Mother; where the lilting song of a bamboo flute is the signal for a dip into divine [...]
"The mirror of the sky Reflects my soul. Oh Baul of the road, Oh Baul my heart, What keeps me tied to the corner of the room, What keeps me tied?" - Composed by Nabani Das Baul, borrowed by me for the song, "Corner", on my album, "Shiva Station". It's kind of funny writing memoir-ish [...]
Mid-60’s…. I was exploring so many new sounds, everything from Cecil Taylor’s wildly abstract piano compositions to Olivier Messiaen’s breathtaking bird-song-imbued hymns to the divine baby Jesus. All mixed up with the outer space guitar of Jimi Hendrix and the continually mind expanding songs of The Beatles. But what took hold of me most, of [...]
Guru's Grace A tale of berries and bananas... Since time immemorial it's been the custom in India, when visiting a holy person or shrine, to bring an offering. This can be fruit, sweets, flowers, incense, even money, and it signifies an offering of one's heart and soul, of one's very being, to the great heart [...]
I first heard Ustad Ali Akbar Khan perform live when I was a freshman at Reed College in Portland, Oregon in the autumn of 1969. I'd listened to his music a lot by then, sometimes jamming along on the guitar, but I hadn't yet had the chance to attend a performance. So, being a good [...]