The Oregon coast still has vast stretches of relatively unspoiled beauty.  May it ever be so.

This is very near the Pistol River area.  Wide open beaches like this, and lush pasture land inland.

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The truth is that music making toys hold a powerful allure over many of us musicians. While I have managed to relax my addictive state of mind some over the years, I remain fascinated with noise making devices, the software, and audio hardware that are the paint, canvas, and brushes of my work.

Here is my current setup:

Computers:
Apple Power Mac 8 core with UAD Quad DSP card

Mac Powerbook with dual Intel processors.

Hardware synths:
Oberheim Matrix 12, Yamaha FS1R, Waldorf Blofeld, Access Virus Snow.

and my new passion, analog modular – Eurorack format.

Outboard equipment:

api 3124 mic-pre/mixer

Avalon VT-747SP Stereo compressor/eq

Aphex 109 tube eq

Eventide Orville

Lexicon PCM 80

Main software:

Logic 9, Abelton Live 8, Reason 6, Melodyne, Sibelius, Metasynth, Izotope, UAD plugins,

Arturia virtual synths (Moog Modular, Arp 2600, Roland Jupiter 8), and more!

Piano:  Kawai K-8 52 inch upright

Guitars:  Breedlove acoustic and Schecter electrics.

Newest addition:  a rare 4 reed Bina harmonium.

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I’ve always had a fondness for these beetles, really I have! Just because my only good pictures are of the dead or injured doesn’t mean I am not an admirer of them. They fly around as if inebriated – making big wide turns, bumping into things. Agile like a dragonfly or yellow jacket they are not, but they seem friendly enough and will sometimes land on or near you without any seeming concern.

This guy/girl? somehow lost a wing and was quite vulnerable to the many birds around our yard. Being bird food was probably the ultimate fate, but we gave him/her a few days of comfort in our mulberry tree, just misting him and keeping some company.  Projecting ourselves on the universe outside our brains as we do, we’d like to think he appreciated the attention for the few days we had together.

Grounded due to a missing wing!

down but not out!

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Two lovers in the midst of passion, or two energy vortex of color and movement doing the dance of the ages, or two random entities bumping into one another, randomly doing the evolutionary thing, and a lot more!

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A few images from Sequoia National Park. This was a mid summer visit from last year. One can easily feel so peaceful and enraptured with the display of life, one might forget about ‘problems’. Oh no!

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That man looks wise!

Oh, it's just me. It's great to have friends!

I will be doing a video demo of my musical Einstein portrayal soon.

I am booking performances for 2012!

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When we want to escape L.A., we are often drawn to the Oregon coast for its’ incredible beauty and opportunities for solitude.

This video is only of the view from the train up to Klamath Falls, OR. Much more from actually being there soon. It is accompanied by music from my first album “Mindsailing”. To my ears now, it has its’ cringe worthy moments, but the spirit is well intentioned. Kind of like me generally!

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Amazing stereo images of our dear sun. We are so utterly dependent upon this fragile ball of nuclear fusion a mere 93,000,000 miles away, more or less. Thank you NASA for the good work. Notice a particularly spectacular flare near the end of the video in the upper right hand corner.

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OK – let me tell you about “The Integratron”, a bit of science fiction come to life.  Built starting in the  late 40’s by George Van Tassel, an aviation scientist with stints at Hughes and Lockheed, the building/device  took 18 years to complete, and he passed away on the day it was to be tested.

Sitting on a mysterious geomagnetic vortex and originally designed as a healing device, it functions now as an incredible acoustic chamber where the sisters who now own it perform ‘sound baths’ for individuals and groups using crystal bowls to caress the purest tones I’ve ever heard outside of a synthesizer generated sine wave.   Located in Landers, CA., just north of the city of Joshua Tree in the high desert, the Integratron sits like a resting spacecraft from another civilization.    As it turns out, Van Tassel was a major UFO enthusiast.  He told of experiencing contact with aliens who inspired his work.  What I find undeniable is the beauty and intrigue of the Integratron itself and the hallucinatory experience of a sound bath.  Highly Recommended!

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Four days of full immersion into the world of music, from concert music and jazz, to hip hop and country.  There was a tremendous tribal feeling among all participants, and the chance to hear from legends like Quincy Jones and Bill Withers was an honor and a treat.

I came away fulling buzzed and inspired.  I promptly wrote two songs and ordered a traveling guitar.  It literally folds in half, and when full erect (sorry) it sounds pretty amazing.

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