Nick is a desiring machine.

My favorite duet. Luther and Patti. Patti Labelle is kinda...

Sat, 05 May 2012 10:04:02 -0400

My favorite duet. Luther and Patti. Patti Labelle is kinda crazy.

Perhaps the best video I’ve ever seen. Bobby McFerrin and...

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:37:36 -0400

Perhaps the best video I’ve ever seen. Bobby McFerrin and the pentatonic scale.

Chip Kidd on designing some of the most iconic book covers ever....

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:05:06 -0400

Chip Kidd on designing some of the most iconic book covers ever. Amazing video, and quite funny.

Note: I knew I wasn’t the only one who smelled his new books.

Possibly the most ridiculous live performance I’ve heard....

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:54:08 -0400

Possibly the most ridiculous live performance I’ve heard. Bon Iver and The Roots on an 8 minute jam on Perth.

Symmetry video by radiolab. Music by Sufjan. Damn, the world is...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:04:00 -0400

Symmetry video by radiolab. Music by Sufjan. Damn, the world is so cool.

Henry Rollins talks about being inspired. And it ends up being...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:33:03 -0400

Henry Rollins talks about being inspired. And it ends up being inspiring.

Amazing song by Ike Willis (of Zappa fame) on New Gingrich, from...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:24:45 -0400

Amazing song by Ike Willis (of Zappa fame) on New Gingrich, from 1998.

Bobby Previte is a real badass on the drums. And I can’t...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:07:01 -0400

Bobby Previte is a real badass on the drums. And I can’t get this song out of my head. And there’s a tuba on it.

Epictetus knew so much more than me. (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:03:01 -0400

Epictetus knew so much more than me. (Taken with instagram)

H.R. (Bad Brains) explains what true persons do and don’t.

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:55:48 -0400

H.R. (Bad Brains) explains what true persons do and don’t.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard anything this...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:45:19 -0400

I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard anything this perfect.

I'll Be Right Back

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:57:00 -0400

Some thoughts on reincarnation-

Here’s a story that was told to me by Robert Thurman. He was talking about what it means to “be Buddhist” and he said the truest way to know a Buddhist is to ask them if they believe in reincarnation. (I don’t know why you’d ever have to KNOW if someone was Buddhist, but he was making a point). This threw me for a loop as I never gave much thought to reincarnation, although I have given a lot of thought to Buddhism.

Then he told a story-

“Imagine you’re on the subway. Your trip is maybe 20 minutes. What’s your relationship to the strangers on your car? Well, any New Yorker will tell you that they stay strangers. People don’t even look each other in the eye on the subway, let alone become “not-strangers”.

“Now, imagine your subway gets stuck. And it’s stuck for 15 years. How would your relationship to those strangers change? Well, chances are they wouldn’t stay strangers. And further, some would become best friends, some may become lovers, othes may become enemies - regardless, you would know EVERY PERSON on that train.”

The idea behind this story being- if you don’t believe in reincarnation, you live your life like the first train. You’re not here very long, and you’ll only see the majority of the people you meet in your life this one time.

But if you believe in reincarnation, your life is like the second train. At some point, you will know everyone.

And at that point I had an “A HA” moment.

The important idea behind reincarnation isn’t that you will be reborn, but that you will be reborn, along with everyone else, in every conceivable configuration.

Every stranger on the street and across the globe will be or has been an integral part of your existence.

Buddhism likes to take this a step further and say that every being will not only be in your life, but at some point in time will be (or has been) your MOTHER. That’s right. A child you never met in Cambodia, a mobster in the KGB, the cashier at McDonald’s will someday (OR ALREADY HAS BEEN) your mother.

That’s wild right? Some may say, “but that’s BS”. And I wouldn’t necessarily disagree. But here’s the clincher, and this is why Buddhism is still the most pragmatic of mental models (or religions, or philosophies, whatever)-

How would you live your life if you knew that one day, you’d be birthed (and hopefully unconditionally loved) by every sentient being? They’d love you, bathe you, feed you, educate you, etc…

And conversely, what if you knew that at some point in this infinite cycle of time, you’d give birth to and unconditionally love every sentient being? Even those you can’t conceive of?

Bonus Question- Would living your life this way be more in line with the type of person you hope to see yourself grow into?

*If you enjoyed this post, feel free to send it to some friends!*

My Sunset Sessions Experience-

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:46:00 -0500

Being interviewed for KPRI. (Photo Courtesy of Rosemary Bystrak @sddialedin <—I LOVE HER)

So, last Friday, myself, April and the gang headed to sunny San Diego to perform at Sunset Sessions, an awesome conference that brings bands together with radio programmers and music supervisors for film, TV, and commercials. WE HAD A BLAST. Aside from seeing some friendly faces from radio we also got to meet a few new ones which is always nice. The response from our set on Saturday night was very encouraging and was a great way to end the weekend for us. Hopefully we make it back someday.

Before our set we got to perform for KPRI studios and NBC San Diego. You can check out the footage and interview here.

We also got to meet some INCREDIBLE bands like The Alternate Routes (who are from CT! And know my friends the Perusi’s!) and SO&SO. These guys KILLED it. I have to mention drummer and fellow Berklee bud Adam Hanson and the keys, background singer Brandon Rogers, these two guys tore it up! After hanging with them that night I actually found out the acoustic guitar player, Jay Dmuchowski’s younger brother and I were in a band backing up the late great Billy Preston some 7 years ago. The longer I live the smaller the world gets. I haven’t seen his brother for YEARS and when we both realized we knew all the same cats in CT we almost lost it. Good times indeed.

First Sighting of the Pacific This Year.

I also got to see in person one of my hero’s and one of my new favorites, Ms. Stevie Nicks and Ms. Vanessa Carlton, respectively. (If you’re a drummer and you don’t have V.C.’s first record you need to get on it!). Other bands at the conference this year were Augustana, Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub, The Wood Brothers, kd lang, Sia, Iron and Wine and about 30 others. Did I mention it was in San Diego!?!

"‘yeah budday!’"

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 18:20:10 -0500

“‘yeah budday!’”

- Julian Peterson

This may have happened tonight.

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:42:20 -0500

This may have happened tonight.

Notes from the road.

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 20:41:20 -0500

I think my life philosophy can be summed up in this axiom ‘Buy $30 pair of shoes. Wear them until you can’t anymore. Repeat.’

Rehearsal with Todd Carey. That boy can play! We’ll be in...

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:11:50 -0400

Rehearsal with Todd Carey. That boy can play! We’ll be in Cleveland on Saturday! Who’s coming?

Robots have taken over my basement. P.S. That’s a flag for...

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:40:04 -0400

Robots have taken over my basement. P.S. That’s a flag for Ohio in the back. Not for crazy Christian Americans.

"The Buddha was, broadly speaking, an empiricist who denied that there are any fixed substances..."

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:38:25 -0400

“The Buddha was, broadly speaking, an empiricist who denied that there are any fixed substances underlying appearances.”

- Pankaj Mishra

This is my brain. villagevoice: From this week’s cover story by...

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:09:40 -0400

This is my brain.

villagevoice:

From this week’s cover story by Steven Thrasher, White America Has Lost Its Mind. Want to read some of the intense hate mail we’ve received on it? An insight into the United States of Crazypants, right here.