Without Walls

Without Walls
Powell believes the increased abuse he’s seen is linked to the growing isolation people have from the natural world. “When people are so disconnected from the natural world, the ability to empathize with anything outside their own epidermis becomes very, very small,” he says. “For me, this raised a very red flag. It said that we are doing ourselves a great deal of harm”.

Great article in the Santa Fe Reporter on teaching kids outside, in Nature – the big classroom without walls. Also see Environmental Education Association of New Mexico.

Another quote from the article:

The stream and the pond were my childhood companions, they were a playground, they were books and television, they were the mirrors of a gangly and contemplative Narcissus. In the splashings of any pool there is whatever one will need to see: the dream of everything, the nightmare of nothing, clouds and stars, a self.
— Stanley Crawford, A Garlic Testament: Seasons on Small New Mexico Farm

Wednesday Morning Links

1. Inochi
2. Drum Machine
3. Human Slingshot
4. AWWA
5. Arabic version of the song Shaft
6. BBC’s Climate Challenge Game

They forecasted snow again. We had a little bit last night and it looks like it is getting ready to dump some more. Fog has already rolled in and the air looks thick.

Worked on Up Close yesterday, the next band-album. Ideas are starting to flow for that recording and I want to concentrate on it for the next couple of months. I want to have several tracks ready for Dave to play percussion on when he returns to Santa Fe later in February.

Made dinner for Kazuaki Tanahashi and Roshi Joan Halifax. Kaz gave me the above links to Inochi (Life-force in Japanese) and AWWA and Beyond Thinking, selected writings of Dogen Zenji, a book he translated and edited. While I was making dinner iTunes – in Party Shuffle mode – served up the above linked Arabic version of Shaft from the first Buddha Bar compilation. Most of this cover-version is unremarkable – I love the original – but it’s nice when the arabic violin lines mix with the funk. Canton sent me the Drum Machine link and I don’t remember where I saw the Slingshot vid first.

Summer 07 Touring Schedule

Touring Schedule
Jun 07 Phoenix AZ – The Celebrity Theatre
Jun 09 Las Vegas NV – Boulder Station
Jun 12 Santa Barbara CA – Soho Music Club
Jun 16 Saratoga CA – Mountain Winery
Jun 22 Reno NV – John Asuaga’s Nugget
Jun 23 Reno NV – John Asuaga’s Nugget

These are the first confirmed dates of a new summer tour with the quartet. More dates will be added as they are confirmed.