I’ve been feeling like I would love a mentor to help guide me through the maze of the music business. I’ve been at it for twenty years and I’m still running into novel and ridiculous issues.

So I considered mentors and wrote this piece on Talkhouse.

A quick look in on the Grammy’s provided me with this golden nugget – a transcript of Dylan’s MusiCares Person of the Year acceptance speech. What a treasure trove! I didn’t even have to watch the Grammy’s thank DOG.

I think we were all hurt to discover the Joan Baez was hurt by Dylan. . .perhaps seen during the Scorsese documentary from a few years ago. . .with Baez and then some old Dylan interview back to back – and then maybe we saw Don’t Look Back and tried to read between the lines as they were provided to us. . .Dylan is shunning Baez. Maybe she should be getting on stage too! For sure. . .yes. . .definitely! Give something back. . .we think.

So Dylan thanks Baez in this speech –  that feels good – as if a wound I didn’t even realize I had gets some salve. Dylan being humble. . .and shattering the myth – while it’s perpetuated.

But more than anything we’ve been given more by Dylan! Every time Dylan surfaces – whether it’s on Letterman with The Plugz. . .or an interview with AARP – at least he’s not speaking to some British LOOK BACK magazine. . .it’s an endless flowing stream. . .constant brilliance and commitment – even when he’s phoning it in. Who knows what that even means. . .

But seriously – are you aware of this? If you A/B the Plugz performance on Letterman with Infidels – it’s like LIFE and DEATH. The Letterman performance is a jewel. . .a diamond in the rough.

So then from that speech – I get to some Staples Singers. . .and get to experience that for a while. . .

It reminds me of getting into Gesualdo earlier this week. . .Werner Herzog perhaps made a silly and great film. . .eccentric as hell – I mean he’s interviewing the attendants at the buildings where Gesualdo murdered his wife. . .as if they were experts – and maybe they are. It’s strange and out of control. . .there are no boundaries – and I think that’s why the film works.

So I get to spend some time with The Tallis Scholars, The Hilliard Ensemble – as I’m exploring some early vocal music. . .how is this the week in music?

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That’s me sitting there in that autumnal sweater, gold sparkle drums, watching drummer Wayne Smith Jr as closely as I can. . .trying to stay in time. I received an email a few weeks ago about workshops, sponsored by Northern Spy Records, happening at a venue called the Sugarcube at South Street Seaport. The Sun Ra Arkestra would be hosting a workshop. . .playing the music of Sun Ra – and it was free. I knew I had to be there and I was also terrified.

I was afraid because I can’t swing. . .and I surely have no business playing with those guys – but the music and life of Sun Ra and his musicians is one of the foremost inspirations of my musical life. There probably isn’t anything as heavy to me. So I packed up my drums and went. . .and figured the worst that could happen was I would be humiliated – and that’s not so bad in the grand scheme.

First of all – the musicians in the Arkestra were incredibly accommodating – so there was nothing to worry about there. . .and also – the music that we played wasn’t too technically demanding. . .I could hang – at least on the surface. There are of course worlds that are not accessible to me at this time.

Marshall Allen is apparently 91 years old. I can’t even contemplate that. When he plays there’s so much energy going into the horn. . .he stands the entire time. What the hell is going on there? How is that possible? I suppose the Sun Ra Arkestra is impossibility made manifest. Nothing about it feels like it can exist in this cynical world – but it does – and it’s valued.

During the Q+A section of the workshop I asked about Sun Ra’s Disciplines because guitarist Dave Hotep spoke about learning the Disciplines when he joined in 2000 – and that’s a song title listed on a ton of live Sun Ra records. What are the Disciplines?

I was told that Sun Ra wrote 100 of them. They were pieces that you had to learn. . .and that Sun Ra felt their performance allowed the band and the audience to experience discipline and actualize it at the same time. Alto-sax player Knoel Scott quotes Sun Ra as saying, “Discipline makes the man,” and that it was a very important concept for Sun Ra.

Scott also described being a young musician in the Sun Ra house – I think he said he was 20 or 21. . .and every morning he would hear Sun Ra playing the piano. Scott described himself as young and very naive. I wondered if the resolution of the story would be something like, “you have to practice everyday,” but it wasn’t of course.

He said that Sun Ra said, (no quotes b/c they aren’t direct, I’m paraphrasing) Well – we are always asking the Creator for things. We want love, we want money, we want security, we want a mate. We walk around this world needing things, demanding things, asking for things. I WANT, I WANT. . .nobody ever gives back. Nobody gives to the Creator. Well every morning, I wake up and I give the Creator a song.

I went to their performance last night at Studio 10 in Bushwick and yes it was an amazing show. I’ve had the good fortune to see this collaboration a number of times over the years. . .part of Brian’s Drums and Drones project. Though perhaps it is not news – I’d like to say how deeply Brian’s drumming and work with tuning has inspired Man Forever and my own playing. On the one hand – my drums sound better more consistently now – even though I’m still lazy about tuning them (“I’ll tune them in mastering.”). But more importantly his vision opens up sound worlds and concepts that are out of reach for me normally. Brian is a generous teacher and artist. . .his work illustrates this. I am deeply in his debt.

My observations of the show last night are going to be cursory – but I can say that the work feels even more present and clarified now than it did a year ago. Brian is a tremendous technician on the kit but this project isn’t about that – it’s far deeper and more refined. There’s a miked snare drum on the floor. . .the sound material from a single tap (sometimes taps) on the drum (the entire timbral range of overtones) is fed into a computer and manipulated in subtle ways by Brian on the fly. Ursula’s visuals create a meditative mood – and her images buoy and buffet Brian’s sound. Like Dreamhouse – both elements of the performance are essential and it’s a completely immersive experience and I believe it’s profound.

I once performed with a Kundalini gong player named Propheta. We played in the basement of the Ace Hotel on a Saturday night. There was a club next door with thudding bass and I was concerned about how it might disrupt her performance. . .our set was just going to be 45 minutes but she was going to follow it with an all night gong bath performance. I was hung up on needing a quiet and pure sound environment. Propheta wasn’t phased at all! She welcomed sound from outside. She opened my mind further to accepting performance situations “as is.” It was a major lesson for me that I’m still considering.

Last night there was some sound bleed from a stereo or PA coming into Studio 10. . .and it didn’t matter. Brian and Ursula collected it into their own performance effortlessly. They didn’t express anxiety about it – so the audience was not phased.

Cage was right about silence. . .it doesn’t exist. I don’t think he spent as much time as I have sitting in front of loud monitors and louder drums. Kids – don’t romanticize extreme loudness!