better late than never...

such a lovely homecoming. such a wonderful way to see you all again. the zone was captivated by warm undulations of sound and vibe, improvisation and sweat. much kudos to kevin, eric and jeff (under the moniker of Liquid Mosaic) for their wave upon wave of ambient texture. and thanks for all the friends old and new who came and swayed (and to lea for the offer to make me a sarong (and paul where were you with treats from indonesia?), and of course a big thanks to the guys in the back who's show was decidedly non-ambient (big daddy roth inspired paintings and flash...think their cramps to my eno...)

again we inhabited that dream of open improvisational space. kevin laid down pads, piano, tibetan bowls, space synth textures and arpeggios that crawled along the ceiling like slow flames licking the desert night. jeff conjured samples and other texture deep from the 'chair within" (looked like an office task chair to me but hey whatever works.) and most interesting was eric's rig comprised of prepared fender rhodes, backwards tapes and 'bell tree' made of used power saw blades. the rhodes had it's cover off, and in the tines were all sorts of objects, wire and rubber, action figures and toys, he played this prepared electric piano by strumming the tines with his finders and striking them with other hard objects (rocks, metal, you get the idea.) pretty cool if you ask me. at some point I found myself in an improv with eric and kevin (me on my wacky beat box, grooves'R US) and we just got totally lost in that 'did I make that sound or was that you' type thing.

later in the evening we got into the dj vibe, a decidedly sweaty funk fest (which I usually don't spin, partially because it's too easy (think about it...)) but sometimes you just gotta dance: get down and breath in that deep funky smoke and just let it take you places. and that place for me is home. it was good to be home. even now I am again on the road, spending too much time thinking about work (and other adult things.)

there are five abstrakt zones left, five more eclectic public expressions and somehow I am filled with a bit of disbelief that we've made it this far and I have vowed that we will finish. the prior zone both shook and strengthened my my belief in this project: I had to confront my own sense of responsibility and perhaps even of failure, but of course I was happy to learn that the power of a good party can even surmount the absence of it's host. I am reminded of something that a wise friend of mine wrote around the time of all the ugliness occurring in serbia early last year. this is a quote from an email list that I live a fair amount of my life on the spiral, and it sums up much of what I have learned in the zone. thanks gil for the lovely words:

Two years ago there was a sense here in San Francisco that we were on the verge of a new consciousness. It was an amorphous feeling for most - it was certainly amorphous for me - but it had something to do with God, drugs, music, and the Internet. Well, in the past two years the Internet has played out and a few in our midst have become quite rich, and it still has something to do with music, but God and drugs have largely fallen behind and the future is beginning to look a little prosaic. The best I can say is that I want to keep hope alive for a better future and not to forget that sense of wonder at the possibility for a better way. . . I know that the LA convention center is an odd place to find salvation, but at least there people will trying. So I'll see y'all at Internet World and remember, a good party is a political act.

so well said...I can truthfully say that burning man and the zone and all the other freakfests that I frequent, are my salvation, and I know for a fact that the world has changed because of a few good parties. look no further to the love parade in berlin for proof.

so when is the next life affirming, love struck, groove-alicious exploration into the other side of the daily grind?
april 6th, the zone will explore the infinitesimal beauty that lives in between the lines. the frame lines that is: twenty four of them a second. V is for voyeur and the subject is film.

anybody out there want to show something, contact me, as this will be the one and only abstrakt film festival. --

z o n e s