Ship in the Desert

Ship in the Desert

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

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Subtle Organic Notes

Subtle Organic Notes

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...

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Interrelation

Interrelation

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

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Disjunctive Polarity

Disjunctive Polarity

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

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Love Will Find a Way

Love Will Find a Way

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

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Such is Life

Such is Life

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

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Morrie’s Alchemy 

Morrie’s Alchemy 

Rising Park, Lancaster, Ohio   Several years ago, after dessert on Thanksgiving evening, while everyone sat around the...

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Bits and Tatters

Bits and Tatters

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

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The Moon and Stars

The Moon and Stars

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

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Nepenthe

Nepenthe

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

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A Spiders View

A Spiders View

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

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Dripping Sweet

Dripping Sweet

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

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Ruffled Feathers

Ruffled Feathers

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

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Muted Silence

Muted Silence

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

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Dripping White Clouds

Dripping White Clouds

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

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Don’t Be Cruel 

Don’t Be Cruel 

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

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The UnGarden

The UnGarden

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

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Not a Thing

Not a Thing

Venice Beach, California   The Venice Pier had that blank, tilted feeling empty tourist spots have. The dawn sun cut...

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A Hanging Moment

A Hanging Moment

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...

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Sea Lion Love

Sea Lion Love

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

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Moths in Silhouette

Moths in Silhouette

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

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Hidden Value

Hidden Value

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

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The Truth About Mothers

The Truth About Mothers

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

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Beyond all Reason

Beyond all Reason

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

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Listen for the Birds

Listen for the Birds

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

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Gracious Acceptance

Gracious Acceptance

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

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Oh, Nothing

Oh, Nothing

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

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A Subtle Scent

A Subtle Scent

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

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The Stillness Betwixt

The Stillness Betwixt

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

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Three Wishes

Three Wishes

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

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An Insoluble Scent

An Insoluble Scent

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

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Stairway to Heaven

Stairway to Heaven

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

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An Irish Twinkle

An Irish Twinkle

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

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El Porto

El Porto

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

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More than Anything

More than Anything

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

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Some Kind of Magic

Some Kind of Magic

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...

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Concurrent Connection

Concurrent Connection

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

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Two Words

Two Words

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

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Anti-Scrooge?

Anti-Scrooge?

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

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Stringless Kites

Stringless Kites

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

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A Notch Below

A Notch Below

I love breakfast places. Not the fancy luxurious hotel kind; those always have an edge of intimidation for me, an uptight...

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Otherworldly Gauze

Otherworldly Gauze

Santa Monica Pier   The dense morning fog was beginning to lighten when I crawled out of bed. Every thought that...

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Owning the Ephemeral

Owning the Ephemeral

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

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Ineffable Layer Cake

Ineffable Layer Cake

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

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Half Buried Bug

Half Buried Bug

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

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Appreciative Touch

Appreciative Touch

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

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More Love 

More Love 

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

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Ordinary Stillness 

Ordinary Stillness 

Commons Park, Denver, Colorado   Last night I couldn’t sleep. After a few hours, I decided just to lay there and rest...

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Park or Art

Park or Art

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

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Irreverent Smile

Irreverent Smile

Skid Roper, Robert Feist, Mojo Nixon   Mojo Nixon burst into the control room with a two-foot plastic statue of the...

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Brushes and Spray

Brushes and Spray

Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany   “The art world is spun-up with so many elements, it overshadows the work,” I...

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Scattered Shards

Scattered Shards

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

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Ten Thousand Albums

Ten Thousand Albums

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

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Captured in a Box

Captured in a Box

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

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Meeting the Future

Meeting the Future

Cannery Row, Monterey, California   One Saturday morning in 1990, I drove across Hollywood and walked into a room with...

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Breathing the Same Air

Breathing the Same Air

I'd heard of the band Agent Orange. They were considered surf punk, but I'd never been to a show, nor could I remember...

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The Unsigned

The Unsigned

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

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In the Broader Sense

In the Broader Sense

Allan Holdsworth with recording engineer Robert Feist during the recording of the Metal Fatigue LP circa 1985   The...

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Mysterious Blue

Mysterious Blue

Monterey Bay, California   The bay looks different every day. I can't ride my bike past it without taking photos, so I...

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Harvesting Random

Harvesting Random

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

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Something Beautiful

Something Beautiful

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

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Intention Retention

Intention Retention

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

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Calm vs Chaos

Calm vs Chaos

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

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Acquiescence

Acquiescence

Venice Beach, California   Well, I guess I have to ask the question. Why do people spend so much time looking for a...

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It Pulses

It Pulses

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

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My Very First

My Very First

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

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Melody Crush

Melody Crush

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

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Alpha and Omega

Alpha and Omega

Lovers Point, Pacific Grove, California   Here we are, a new start, spring and easter, and an egg-laying hare. I hear...

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A Thousand Generations

A Thousand Generations

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

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asking-wanting-hoping

asking-wanting-hoping

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

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Flowing Dark Hair

Flowing Dark Hair

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

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Test of Time

Test of Time

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

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Pale Blue Sensation

Pale Blue Sensation

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

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A Call to Life

A Call to Life

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

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My Favorite One

My Favorite One

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

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The Wishing Tree

The Wishing Tree

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...

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Sun Bleached Peace

Sun Bleached Peace

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

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Wings and Wind

Wings and Wind

The wind blew. A morning sun angled through the trees, and chimes in the neighborhood rang an alarm of something...

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Violins and Ethics

Violins and Ethics

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

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The Garden Door

The Garden Door

I came across a pink door in the forest leading to nowhere. Have you noticed these lonely doors? Some of them are nice, all...

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Living Gracefully

Living Gracefully

Morro Bay, California   As we walked through the nursing home, it seemed like Grace knew everyone. Old ranchers with...

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Replacement

Replacement

Monterey Bay, Monterey, California   When something isn't working in the recording studio, it can be a task to figure...

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Only Sitting

Only Sitting

Redwood Forest, Big Sur, California   It had been a crazy day at work, not unlike most days, I suppose. I was late to...

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