Desert Hot Springs, California   All the crazy weather brings to mind one of my favorite Joan Didion quotes,...

It was wonderful to receive a letter back in the age of snail mail. I lived in a one-room apartment on the edge of the...

Quarry Park, Monterey, California   They noticed me first. I wasn’t even aware of them until I felt something staring...

Asilomar State Beach, Pacific Grove, California   We’ve had about twenty storms this season, and they’ve all been...

Tournament of Roses Parade   On New Year’s Day 1971, the Englewood, Colorado high school marching band performed in...

Monte Vista,  Monterey, California   The sun set as I stepped out the door for my evening walk. It was later than...

Peters Gate, Monterey, California   It rained all day yesterday, glorious, coveted, wet dripping rain. The air felt...

Asilomar State Beach, Pacific Grove, Califonia   It was all sun and storm on the beach. Which one would win didn’t...

Asilomar State Beach, Pacific Grove, California   In front of me is the Pacific Ocean, dark and brooding, churning...

Nepenthe, Big Sur, California   I arrived at the scenic overlook just before noon. A low-hanging cloud left the view a...

Point Reyes, California   It's five a.m., but it feels like three. There's a small fire in the heater glowing in the...

Wind-Ripped Maple, Monterey Peninsula   The plum was perfectly ripe, sweet, and bursting with juice and flavor. Rays...

Asilomar Beach, Pacific Grove, California I sat on the side of the bed and gazed into the full-length mirror, but instead...

Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California   I rolled into the graveyard shortly after dawn, the grass color just...

Del Monte Forest, Monterey, California   As I walked along, the sea haze began to roll in and cover the forest in a...

August 17th, 1977, I was on my way to work, driving down La Brea Boulevard in Hollywood, listening to my favorite radio...

Sunset Manzanita, California Native     What makes a garden feel at ease with itself? I love different garden...

Monterey Bay, Monterey, California   We grabbed a window table at a cafe in Moss Landing. The smell of potatoes...

The wind sings through the Monterey Pines, a short flourish overture with a low drone, mid-range whip, and a treble...

I could describe what I’m seeing or hearing. I could even go deeper and explain how I feel and what’s happening around me...

Monterey Bay, Monterey, California    As streams of dawn light glimpsed through the broken cloud cover, I rolled up...

Big Sur, California   Oaktree moths fly through the evening sun, setting them aglow like fireflies, while a simmering...

Del Monte Forest, Monterey, California My walk took me further than I expected. That often happens when I'm upset, and try...

Euterpe Farms, Ojai, California      I have an old, chipped porcelain cup, probably WWII war surplus. My mom used it...

Monterey State Beach, Sand City, California   I’ve been thinking about my mother as we all have the last few days, and...

Canter's Restaurant, Hollywood, California   Canter’s is undoubtedly one of my favorite restaurants. It has been...

Veteran's Park, Monterey, California   Earth day fifty-two. It seems odd that we only have one day a year dedicated to...

Mount Pleasant, Rising Park, Lancaster, Ohio   As soon as I stepped into the house, I recognized it. It had been some...

Monterey Bay, Monterey, California   One night several years ago, I couldn’t sleep, and even the calming things I do...

Point Lobos, California State Reserve   It was wild to realize that crazy storm was inside my head. Contrast provided...

Monterey Bay, Monterey California   It seemed so large at the time. As my sister Joan and I played on a swing set in...

Sunset, Monterey Bay, Monterey California   I'm finding it difficult to write because everything I put down seems...

Cannery Row, Monterey, California   It started with a feeling. I don’t know if I can describe it, but I understand it...

Veteran's Park, Monterey, California   There are 185 wooden steps up the Stairway to Heaven to the Huckleberry Hill...

Sunrise, Monterey, California   The unemployment office sent me to a place called Mecanex Corporation, a factory that...

El Porto, Manhattan Beach, California   One of my favorite surf spots was El Porto in Manhattan Beach in front of the...

Bright stabs of sun filter through the fig tree, the plants glow with every shade of green while a blue-sky circling...

In the ‘70s, I lived with three roommates in a rental house in a Denver suburb. We set up the communal stereo on a shelf...

Monterey Bay, Pacific Grove, California That's the second time today I turned my head and caught someone staring at me or...

El Carmelo Cemetery, Pacific Grove, California   I had a New Year's Day missive written and ready to go about a shiny...

Toyon Berries, California Native   I'm not really qualified to write about the holiday season, having been a Scrooge...

Monterey Bay, Monterey California   It was in the forties this morning when I pushed my bike into the street. As I...

Pacific Grove,California   We walked into town to find a place to grab breakfast. The sky held a menageriof clouds...

El Carmelo Cemetery, Pacific Grove, California   Dawn, Sunday morning, as I rode my bike along the Monterey coast,...

I have a love affair with vintage audio gear. There, I said it. Even though this equipment tends to be large, uses a lot of...

Quarry Park, Monterey, California   Quarry Park is a short walk from our house. As the name suggests, it's an old...

Photo by Bob Beland   I was the house recording engineer for MCA Music's publishing studio when they created a new...

Lovers Point, Pacific Grove, California   Parked on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant on Alvarado Street, sat a...

Washington Park, Denver, Colorado   We recently spent our last day in Denver, my hometown, faced with the decision of...

Jettenbach, Germany   If I have a method to mixing a song or a film, it's this: I find the core essence, the essential...

Studio C, A&M Studios, Hollywood, Jim Novak, London May, Tracy Stevens (top), Robert Feist, Tim Swenson, 1988  ...

Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany   As a recording engineer, I always recorded the first take, no matter what it...

Monterey Bay, Monterey, California   Hours before tourists would begin strolling the pier, I rolled up to the bay,...

Joseph Beuys, Das Kapital Raum, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum, Berlin, Germany   My first paid job in a recording studio...

Monterey, California   Just after first light, I went out for a romp on my bike. In Monterey, California the sun rises...

Yesterday, I went through a large box of tapes I recorded years ago. The majority were demos or unreleased albums...

Zomevhere, Berlin, Germany   I used to have a fixed idea of how a snare drum should sound. I’d spend hours changing...

Asilomar State Beach, Pacific Grove, Colifornia   The sun sparkles through raindrops, dripping from trees like cut...

Quarry Park, Monterey, California   I love these rocks. In Quarry Park at the end of the path, in a place that holds a...

Ojai Valley, California   I worked for a record producer who loved chaos. I'd get to the studio early to set up mics,...

Upper West Side, Manhatten, NY   A subway station, Broadway and something, Upper West Side, the smell, and the wait,...

Clandestine holiday decorations courtesy of Scott Burns and friends.    My first electric car looked like a cross...

 Analog, Magnetic Biosphere   Do songs appear in your mind for no apparent reason? For me, they creep up in pieces,...

Downtown Monterey, California   The direction seems to reverse, and I become an observer instead of an initiator. It...

Lovers Point, Pacific Grove, California    I worked in a factory with an eclectic collection of characters. One of...

Veteran's Trail, Monterey, California   “If you wake up at 3:00 a.m., you should meditate," was my instruction. I took...

Ravenswork Studios, Venice, Califonia   The first time I met artist Jim Barrett, he climbed out of his white station...

“World Time Clock” Bettina Pousttchi, Berlinische Galerie   It all started in the late ‘70s in a recording studio in...

Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii   The sky grew rich with deep orange hues streaking across a pale-blue sky as I...

Huckleberry Hill Nature Preserve, Monterey, California   I know a Frenchman named Marcel. Several of us would...

Cannery Row, Monterey, California   It rained most of the night, but in the morning, the sun broke through the clouds...

Downtown Monterey, Monterey, California   The other day, as I hiked down a trail with loose dirt, slipping and...

Monterey Bay, Monterey, California   The sun came up, and the birds and squirrels have been acting as nothing...

I’m listening to the rainfall, but I never seem to hear just the rain. It’s always connected with something else. My first...

Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey, California   I’ve been trying to think of something fitting to write about for this...

How can I put this … I'm not at war against it or anything but, I'm not into Christmas. My family had trees when I was a...

Venice Beach, California   When I met Tommy, he was managing a small motel spa in the desert. He had that slow,...

I was hired to record an orchestra for a Pacific Bell commercial campaign. We booked one of my favorite studios, Westlake,...