i'll tell you a secret.

There exists a place in northern New Mexico that has somehow gone under the popular radar despite its uncanny combination of amazing scenery, great weather, dazzling sunsets, and a population consting largely of genuinely good people. I expected to spend a day or maybe even a weekend in Santa Fe, but the days turned to weeks.

I called my contact, Paul aka Federicci, and got directions into town. There was plenty to do that evening; a trend that persisted through the duration of my stay. To make things easy I decided to roll to the Wal, get online, plug in the GPS, and attempt to get my bearings. As it turned out, Santa Fe is pretty small and it looked like I could easily bike around town. I mapped out the addresses that Paul had given me for the night's goings on and headed out to meet his neighbor, friend, and bandmate, Ben Wright. I discovered that despite the relatively small size of the city, there are few proper places to ride a bike and far too many drunk idiots abound.

More importantly, I started meeting the people that would make me fall in love with the place. I spent the next couple nights at the Wal and was afforded the opportunity to shower and do laundry at the houses of my new acquaintances. There was also an invitation awaiting me, I still am not quite sure how, from three girls with a large, fenced in yard and a driveway 30-40 feet from their house to come and park.

My solar panels weren't working and the battery bank was acting funny. It wouldn't hold a charge and I was running the generator for a couple hours everyday to keep juiced up whereas previously I could go four days with the whole studio running and all the lights on with no problem. Unbeknownst to me, I happened to be three miles from what might be the biggest solar supply company in the states and a bandmate from one of Paul's many musical projects just so happened to work there. I went and diagnosed the problem, free of charge (thank you!!). The charge controller, which is the bridge between the solar panels and the battery bank, had shorted out on installation and had to be replaced. Since I had to wait a week or two for this to be resolved, it seemed like a good time to take up the girls on their offer despite the fact that I'd met only one of them.

Elena, Bridgette, and Lacy turned out to be the sweetest, warmest group of people I could've possibly had the good fortune to be staying with / near. For the remainder of September, I was their high-tech hobo they barely knew who conducted odd sonic experiments and would occasionally slip into the house for a shower, toothbrushing, or pit stop. I tried to stay out of sight and be a good guest and over the course of my stay I had the pleasure of having many nights out or conversations on the porch with them. I felt like some amalgm of Jack Tripper (Three's Company) and Laslo (Real Genius). Their landlord came by once and I wanted to pretend I was gay in hopes of a sequence of misunderstandings that would spiral into a comedic goldmine.

My final two weeks were spent in hermit mode as I'd been neglecting preparations for a live set that I was to begin touring with. The concept was to use the forthcoming album (Nevertheless; Background Records, Germany; release date Nov 21) as source material for the live set. The idea was to chop the music into iddy bitty pieces, process the bits, and remix the sounds into short loops that would be layered together, mixed, and otherwise arranged in a live setting. Needless to say, there was much to be done and time was short.

I could go on and on regailing tales of the goings on and the great times that were had, but I'll hope instead to give a general impression and encourage the curious to put Santa Fe on the short list of places to visit and hope they have the opportunity to experience the place for themselves. I'm seriously considering taking up residence there, so contact me if you'd like a tour guide.

been a while..

It's been a while and I can't claim to have been too busy to update the journal. I haven't been lazy, either. The simple truth is that I've been neglegent. Maybe a little bit lazy. Oh well. Time to crack the knuckles and summarize the past few months.

After leaving Colorado, I opted to travel south towards New Mexico. The scenic mountain drive proved as kind to the eye as unkind to the engine of my beloved Casper. She handled the inclines and meandering curves with a slow, steady grace. A notable exhaustion was a constant reminder of the burden my ride, obliged, must carry so it's no bother forgiving her for a 10mph pace on the steepest grades. And I couldn't be bothered by the impatient motorists who lined up behind me. I could practically feel the heat of the steam screaming out of their ears and I couldn't help but think that I was unintentionally giving them a gift. The world moves a bit too fast and there are times when it's best to slow down, take it all in, let the mind slip into auto-pilot, and appreciate the finer things on the periphery that all too often become nothing more than a backdrop to the self-absorbed mellow-drama that embodies the human experience. Yes, I'm talking about nature.

This is where God lives. This is God's home. This is the wild west, gutted by a slinky highway suture; a stitch in the hills. I spent a week in the mountain valley just taking in the splendor and hiding out in my womb. I thought I'd be Dan Boone and explore every day, but I ended up spending little of the time traversing the great outdoors. After all, there were microphones to be set up, guitars to be played, and computers to aid my whims and frustrate me to no end in return for the favor. There were dvds to be watched for the hundreth time with the commentary audio on, agave tequillas to be iced, and over-the-top barbeques to be prepared. After a week in the picturesque mountain valley, the urge to move combined with the awareness that I'd run out of fresh food. No more barbeques. Time to roll.

I had a contact in Santa Fe to get in touch with. This person's name and telephone number were given to me by Sarah and Roy during my visit to Colorado. The promise of a hospitable native with a firm grip on the surroundings was as good as cold cash or a hot bowl of soup at that point. I rolled southward on down to Santa Fe where I'd hoped to find an engaging evening to break the monotony.

golden arch

Arches National Park needs to be experienced in person. I still can't believe all the things I saw. So I'm going back soon. You may have seen a picture of this before but the scale can't be recognized in a photo. It's HUGE!! Here's my advert to encourage you to go.

Home of John Elway, Roy, and Sarah

My birthdays have had a common element. They've all been terrible. I've never felt that age is setting in or that life has passed me by. The matter of fact is quite the contrary. I've always felt that I've had more years than my driver's license would prove. Birthdays have just been a let-down. This one was different. Let's get to the tough part before the celebration.

After our excursion in Gillette we hustled on down to Denver where a slice of paradise awaited. A brief 6-hour drive brought us to welcome turf; albeit an exercise in maneuverability. I didn't quite know what to expect when passing the off ramp into Denver and was little comforted by the drive through what appeared to be some sort of idealistic Mexican ghetto in which my soon-to-be-hosts lived. Pulling up on the side of the front curb gave little comfort as the bus's chassis ebbed and ached with guttural sounds seemingly sourced from some nether region of the coach. Something was certainly wrong but we were only a few blocks from our destination.

I'll touch upon the resolution of those particular mechanical failures in another post.

After the regular bout of people shouting ambiguous directions, I somehow found my way into the back yard of my friends' ghetto utopia. Roy and Sarah have a lush back yard reminiscent of the Garden of Eden. It's all fenced in and protected from the outside world. The bus looked like an elephant hiding in a petting zoo, but there was a degree of safety that made it seem as if no wrong could be done.

My sob-story of birthdays past worked wonders on Sarah and she made arrangements for a get-together to celebrate. There were some people I didn't know and it was nice to have the foreign company but the jewel of the night was the arrival of my close friend Jason Nagy. He made a 22 hour drive from Oregon and pulled up at the crack of 9 o-clock. That was the best present I could've gotten.

He just quit his job and had a few days to kick around, so we headed off to Utah in search of adventure. We got it. With our sights set on Moab, we packed up our gear and rolled out in his Honda Civic. Utah might as well be another planet. There's no way to photograph the landscape in a way that might give the impression of scale. We climbed some rocks, kayaked the Colorado (paddling hard for a bit, then having a couple beers, then repeating the process), fell silent at the natural wonders, had some bbq's, etc.

In the meantime.. Des and Wes were heading off to Gillette (again) in a rental car to *ahem* make money for the return trip to Columbus. Little did I know that they'd be waiting for me on the bus a week later with no money, no game, and tales of hardship. Son of a bitch.

cross section

the best a man can get

We stopped off in Gillette, Wyoming to see if there might be some CD sales. Wes and Des went to work in the parking lot while I hopped online to check my mail and try to keep up with my obligations. After about 20 minutes I looked out the window to see that a crowd had developed. This was a rowdy bunch. I soon came to discover that this was a rowdy town. The collective mode of living, as I learned, was rough around the edges in a wild-west sort of way. I loved it. It seemed like everybody we met either wanted to come on the road or were puzzled at why we'd spend more than 5 minutes there. All I could say in return was "The people make the place".

There happened to be a big party going on that night and we were invited to come along. Why not? This party was going nuts! Somebody had called ahead and given a heads-up that we were on the way, so Des was an instant celebrity. Everybody was making their way through the pack of people to meet him. They had a mic and a little PA system, so he jumped up and rocked out. It was clear that this sort of thing doesn't happen in that town. It was great.

We were set to get back on our way the following day, but the people who threw the party had extended an open invitation for us to park on their ranch and spend some time there. I was hesitant, but ultimately turned around and headed back. For the next week we felt like part of the family. Mom and Pops were clearly rugged and wild bikers who don't take shit from anybody, but their hearts were pure gold. They took us on adventures to see Devil's Tower, their campground (the bike pictured above welcomes you as you roll in), and all sorts of good times. The whole family showed us love and I'll never forget our experience there. Our last two days were spent with the family who unofficially adopted Mom and Pops. Jim + Bev, and their son John, were some of the most amazing people I'd met in my life. I was astounded. I could write for an hour alone on that subject, but I'll just say that we love them with all our hearts and leave it at that.

get lost

While staying in Gillette, we took a day/night trip to the Big Horn Mountains after I'd been told tales of a majestic cave system that extends through the mountain range. I partnered up with a military chap named Rob and headed to the mountains while the rest of the crew cruised into town with an Escelade-on-spinners drivin' heir to a chain of hotels named Waseem to meet up with some girls. Waseem's girlfriend was stunning and word had it that the rest of the crew was on par with her.

I didn't know what to expect when we entered the cave, but I knew that my guide was a trained soldier who was familiar with the terrain and had been there only a week prior to our descent. Good enough. We arrived around 8 pm and began our trek up the mountain path to the cave opening. After about 20 minutes, we came upon a tight squeeze which required laying down flat on our bellies and scraping forward inches at a time. It seemed to go on forever, but we finally reached the end and found ourselves in a massive cathedral. Very impressive. Ahead, the cave broke off into a multi-tiered maze requiring quite a bit of rock-climbing and nerve-racking stunts in order to proceed. We heard water and followed the sound until we came upon an underground stream. We followed this for about an hour and eventually found a waterfall (pictured above). We pressed on until we found a massive room and no way to go but back.

Once we knew that we were lost, I tried to remain optimistic by thinking things like "I want to keep exploring for hours." and "We'll certainly make it out of here. We just need to keep our wits about us and avoid injuries.". I could see that Rob was clearly losing it. It's hard to describe the manner in which the cave environment manipulates thoughts, but the effect is hallucinatory and disorienting. I didn't want to add panic to that equation. After another hour scrambling around, climbing through one obstacle or another I realized that we couldn't physically keep up this pace and we'd have to start conserving our energy. It was hard to think logically and keep track of the terrain. Everything looked the same. It was a dizzying array of downside-up crystalline rock formations that twisted and squirmed ad infinitum. We didn't see anybody else during the journy and the fact that we found 3 pairs of jeans, 2 flashlights, and a super-sized package of batteries on one of the rocks wasn't helping our mental integrity. Apparently Rob had also seen some horror movies that took place in caves very recently so I'm sure that contributed to his panic outbursts and delusional ramblings. The only thing that I was afraid of was having to sleep down there for the night and be found the next day wearing military-issued pants and boots which Rob was kind enough to lend to me. But then again, I didn't know at the time that the cave extended 50 miles.

We eventually made our way out. At 4 in the morning. It was a harrowing experience, but I loved it. I feel that the true test of one's character is found by trials of adversity. I don't know how well I pass the tests but I love the chance to take them.

When we returned to the hotel our crew was clearly shaken. It turns out that the girls they met up with had a car accident. With each-other. I still can't figure out how that could have happened, but the cars were totalled and everybody escaped without injuries. Needless to say, their party was over. I took a much-needed shower and we all turned in for the evening.

got back

We're back in business, baby! The guys at the shop did a great job, my insurance company came through, and after a mere week we were on the road again. Our time in Rapid City was pretty uneventful. I ended up getting more music together sitting in the hotel with a computer, midi keyboard, and headphones than I had in the entire trip up until that point. It's funny how things work out. I also had plenty of time to catch up with email and make a couple myspace pages.

www.myspace.com/editaudio
www.myspace.com/wehaveaname

The heat was intense, so I tried to stay out of it as much as possible. It was the kind of opressive heat/humidity combo that leaves you sluggish, ornary, and short-tempered. We left South Dakota and headed straight to Gillette, Wyoming so Wes and Des could try their hand at CD sales. The heat didn't die down, but the excitement ramped up considerably.

lost my ass

Looks bad. All bad. And there's no getting away from that. Moments before this photo was taken, I had to make a difficult dicision. Should I drive backward and hope to minimize the damage with the potential of further desctruction on the side of the vehicle? Or should I just pull forward knowing that the back would be ripped off completely. I decided that we should move forward, have a clean break, move the vehicle and prop the back back up against the rock and await some kindly passer-by. Shortly after this photo was snapped, I crawled up the rest of what remained of the ladder to assess the damage on the roof and figure out how to remove the backside. I half-conciously rummaged through the tools for a wire cutter to remove all the cables running to the lights and such. I then had to forcibly rip off the other side of the ladder as there were no visible screws, only a silicone mess. Fortunately I was full of adreneline and ripped it off after a few minutes of jarring activity.

The officers that eventually arrived on scene were of immense help. Friendly as all get-out. I thought they were going to offer me apple pie and ice cream. They called up a tow truck to bring the back of the bus and we got an escort from the front and rear by the park ranger and police officer all the way to the campground. Although they'd said they'd seen all kinds of crazy stuff happen at this juncture in the road, they'd never seen anything like this. Never.

We settled into a freaky Flinstones themed campground, fired up the grill, and cracked a bottle. I then walked down the road, found a payphone, and called my insurance company to file a claim. I ended up laying down in the back which has been aptly named "the womb" because it's just so comfortable and I get the best night sleep every night I'm in there. I just kept muttering "my bus has no ass". I needed to dedicate some time to let the situation settle in. I got a good look at the damage and started becoming optomistic that we'd be able to repair it and the insurance would cover it all.

I couldn't fall asleep until about 7 or so and was awakened by Brian, our tow truck guy, at 9:30 and I handed him a list of numbers for potential repair shops that I'd looked up online the night before. I had to snap into it on the quick as I knew I had a wild day ahead of me. It was looking bleak. The first few calls ended up saying "We might be able to take a look at it sometime next week". Unacceptable. We lucked out and got through to the premier RV repair company in the area that said we could bring it in and they could start work the same day. I had a few minutes to prepare everything for a long drive without a rear end, then run up to the Check-in office to see if I could get some sympathy and bypass spending $30-$40 for an emergency lay-over. The owner was very kind as I described the situation and waived us off with a smile and best wishings.

We had the tow man, Brian's father, follow us for the hour plus drive as I had no brake lights or turn signals. When we arrived on scene, the mechanics and fabricators came out laughing. Again.. they hadn't seen anything like it and weren't really sure how to tackle the situation but were sure they could get it done. From the preceeding phone call they were under the impression that the damage was far less serious. We spent the entire day at the shop. I ran around talking to the crew, reviewing options, and I even came up with a long list of other work that needed done and could be sorted at the same time. When we roll out, we'll have a fresh ass, our solar panels will finally be mounted, and we'll be better off in the end. I'm so glad that we ended up in the hands of such capable and friendly folks. I'm supremely confident in the competence of the crew. It'll all work out.

The downside is that we're stuck, once again, in Rapid City. We had a ball last night downtown and I managed to get an incredible sympathy rate on our room for the week. We have a nice room and are rolling with it. Des and Wes are on the grind daily making money. I'm in the room, beating the heat, and banging out beats. I brought enough equipment to keep working. It's funny that I'm more productive now than we were on the bus. I've been looking forward to a time to be in a stable place for a week or so. I would've liked to to have all the gear but this is ok.

If all works out, we'll be on the road again this coming Friday heading towards Colorado via Wyoming. Wish us luck.

rocked

For those who aren't deciphering the image right away I'll begin with a brief synopsis. Here we see the interior of the RV. We also see a large rock. Let's back it up a bit with a blow-by-blow replay.

After Rushmore and Crazy Horse, we decided to venture into the Custer State park. I've been told again and and again of it's majesty. There are 3 main routes through the park and about a half-dozen campsites (designed to accomodate RV's) between them. We chose one of the main routes, ventured in, and came upon the first campground. No vacancy. No problem. Onward and upward. The scenery was spectacular. I was not misled. We passed through one tunnel which the fine folks at the South Dakota Parks department generously blasted/carved to give at least 4 inches of clearance on each side of the ride. The second tunnel was designed by some scoundrel hell-bent on pinching the main vein of their most famous park and encouraging the stupid-adventurous lobe of the brains of people like myself.

As we made the approach, Despy wasn't having it. All I could hear over my shoulder was "Turn around, Bobby. No No. We're not getting through this one". Wes thought we could pull it off. I figured they wouldn't make the tunnel in RV paradise if you couldn't fit through. About halfway to the growing port at the end of the jagged passage, we'd pulled in the mirrors and were starting to scratch up on various bits of granite. I was becoming overwhelmed. I couldn't bear the thought that I'd damage my baby and began second-guessing this tunnel endevor. However, there was an important issue to review. There existed the looming fact that driving that monster in reverse isn't easy. I don't like backing up in an empty parking lot for fear of collision. But the tunnel was narrowing. No doubt.

"Left Left LEFT! ok ok, ok ok straighten straightSTOP! ok ok.. right right. Straighten. ok. To the left OK STOP! ok right; now straighten it out STOP!"

This is what I heard over my shoulder for the 10-20 minutes it took to back out. I was frazzled. Fortunately, there was plenty of room at the mouth of the tunnel to back up, turn around, hell.. through a circus if you're so inclined. Unfortunately, I broke my #1 wheel-man rule for the rig. Take it easy. I backed up, turned around, and tapped the gas. The sound that followed a few seconds later rollercoaster-dropped my heart through my midsection and every cell in my body snapped with electricity. Threw it in park. Flew out of my seat and darted to witness the nightmare. I'd made a 6-inch error that ripped the back off my dream like it was a can of corn.

I knew going into this evndevor that there would be big ups and downs. I prefer that to equilibrium, stasis, or repetition. I wasn't , however, expecting this type of goings on after a paltry month in action.

rush

I wanted to make the this mobile studio happen for a few reasons. High on the list were a chance to be inspired by the abundance of fantastic landcape that the country provides, independence, adventure, and a renewal of love for my country.

I've felt that the politics and general behavior of my country and it's people has been something to be ashamed of. I can't let these negative aspects get in the way. There is so much to been seen and experienced in the States. I don't want the behavior of others to get in the way of my relationship with my mother country. So today was a renewal of patriotism.

more

We set out for a day of adventure and got it. After 3 days in a typical campground, I was getting restless. We set off today to check out Mt. Rushmore and Crazyhorse.

move up

Below the hard things.


Above

them hills

The fourth of July went of with some BIG bangs. We weren't really sure what to do or where to go, but we wanted to be on the move and find a campground. By this point, an electrical hookup for the ride and a hot shower were high priorities. But it was the fourth and despite seeing the works at Mt. Rushmore the previous eve, I was geeked to do something. We drove up north on I90 to get to the top of the Black Hills National forest and work our way down. It was approaching sunset and we got a tip from some people in Deadwood on a hot spot to check out the fireworks. So we strolled into a little town called Leads and went straight into the main hotspot. After parking in what was most certainly not a parking space we hopped on the roof and were given a jaw-dropping display of explosives in the most ideal setting. We thought we were sacrificing our chance to get to a campground, but I got on the phone before the show and secured a spot two miles away. We had a BBQ and showers and ventured on to the heart of the Black Hills.

Today was something else. We traversed far too many miles of bumpy unpaven dirt roads and arrived at our destination. It was nothing but a stank toilet, some parking spots, and enough mosquitos to have us fearing for our hides. Despite the bug barrage we had to survey this new-found territory. A mile down the road Wes and I spotted some terrain that looked steep, but do-able. It looked as though it would be an all-day climb. So today I awoke at the crack of 2 or 3 on fire to tackle the hill. Wes and I set out.. not knowing what lay ahead. 30-40 mins later I was looking down on some of the most majestic scenery I've ever witnessed. I'm not an experienced rock climber, so It's a good thing I'm a ninja. One false move and my ass would have been twisted food for the buzzards.

BAD

Today was a big one. We started out early heading to the Badlands without knowing what to expect. What we saw exceeded whatever notions we'd had. It was stunning. I wasn't sure if we'd stay a week, a month, or just pass right on by. It turns out that the Badlands got their name for a reason. It's hard terrain and spectacular sights galore, but not much to live on. And hot as hell! We ran around (sweating like mad) and even climbed some steep terrain. I'd advise against that. I got pretty beat up sliding down the face of a slope, but it wasn't too bad. Then we stopped at some nice viewpoints, took tons of pictures, and rolled straight on through.

On a side note.. Desperado zoomed in like Mary Lou Retton and did a handspring to BACKFLIP with an alien landscape backdrop. I need to write this down now so that in a couple years I won't mistake it for a dream. He's been saying that he could do it for the five years I've known him and I just thought he was re-living some past glory. When I'd press him on it he'd say "Nah.. this isn't the time or place". I'd shrug it off with a chuckle. His form was perfect. He sprinted, popped, sprang, hit a perfect backflip and landed with a lil thug spring in his step. All style. I've wasn't sure if I'd ever stop laughing. It was just too much.

On another side note.. we still haven't recorded anything in the studio together on this trip. We'll have to do that soon. Maybe tomorrow.

After leaving the Badlands, we'd just discovered that Mt. Rushmore has their firework display on the 3rd of July, so we hustled on over in hopes to check out the show. I had my reservations as every local I spoke with said that the whole area was overcrowded, traffic was crazy, and that people showed up days in advance for the festivities. The bus doesn't like tight spots or tricky maneuvers. Well.. we said "scratch that.. let's get as close as we can". So that's what happened. We parked the bus as close as we could, walked a couple miles, and witnessed something special. I'm so glad we made the effort. At this point in the trip, we're feeling like we can make the best of difficult situations and that everything will work out. Just like the poineers.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July. We just have to find something to get into.