Made in Detroit

I went to the Movement 2009 Detroit Techno Festival this weekend with my friend Charity. We met two years ago on a Street Retreat here in the Motor City. It was a funny feeling to see people dancing in Heart Plaza by where I had slept. I kept wondering where all the homeless people were going to sleep the next few nights while the festival was going on. The last time I was here my pockets were empty. This time I was very aware of my keys, cell phone, camera, and wallet.

The last time I saw some of these DJ’s spin was in the 80’s. The scene has changed a little since then. It’s a lot whiter than I remember. There were no glow sticks, angel wings, state-of-the-art light shows, or neon colored spandex. We danced in crowed basements and old warehouses. I’m not saying one is better than the other, just different. Like the difference between walking the city with a wallet in my pocket and walking without. Both situations bring freedoms and constrictions.

The memory of the sad boy who dancing in this broken city over twenty years ago makes me smile. The memory of the man who made peace with Detroit two years ago through living on her wounded streets brings with it a feeling of tranquility as the beats move through the ground and I sit under the trees in the grass by the waterfront. The memory of this past weekend dancing in Detroit as I sit at my mother’s computer and type this brings a state of self-reflection.

My hometown continues to break my heart. It is through these deep cracks that compassion comes in.

It’s good to be in the bitter-sweetness of home.

Charity w/ glow sticks

Glow Stick Devil

Every One Deserves Music

What a trippy, sublime, magnificent, grass-between-the-toes, musically-sun-soaked weekend. I’ve got to give the McDowell Mountain Music Festival folks props, they put on a great party.

My advice to the world is that EVERYONE who loves live music should make it a point to see the Flaming Lips at least once in their life. Here are a few pics from the show & a video clip of my friend Rob, Wayne from the Flaming Lips and myself signing Happy Birthday to our friend Laura.

A Big Sky Day

Old School w/ New Riders

Happy Helene

Little Hippies Selling Grateful Grub

Michael Franti & Spearhead
The Fabulous Matisyahu A Flaming Lips Fan!
Fragments of Musical Bliss Wayne as Bubble ManThe End.

Zen Geek, Music Freak

Zen Geek, Music Freak, I’ve been calling myself that for years now. At first I saw these two major passions of my life being at odds with each other. There are some great shows over the years that I have missed because of Buddhism retreats. When I first meet Genpo Roshi at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico I asked to be his student. I had never asked that before of any spiritual teacher and was quite serious about my commitment. I asked him what I should do next. “Coming up to practice with us in Salt Lake City might be a good start,” he said. This was before we could download dharma talks from the digital zendo.

Later that night, I looked up their website on my laptop and saw that the October Bodhidharma Dharma Big Mind Zen Retreat fell perfectly into a week that I already had off from work. I had intended to go to the Hardly Strictly Blue Grass Festival in San Francisco for my vacation. I felt like the universe was asking me how serious I was about working with Genpo Roshi. My response was to skip the festival and sit in SLC.

This weekend is the Coachella Music Festival. For the last few years America has had two regular legendary music festivals, Bonnaroo and Coachella. The second one is a mere four hours from my house. Last weekend, I drove through Coachella, California to get to the Zen Mountain Center, which is five hours from my house. While I was sitting on the mountain last weekend Mirah and Vetiver played in Phoenix and I missed them. The week before Leonard Cohen played in Phoenix and Zen commitments kept me away from that show too.

So am I back over to the desert cities this weekend for music? No. I’ll be sitting for 12 hours on Saturday with my Phoenix Dharma family, the Sitting Frog Zen Sangha. The funny thing is I think I’m the one that picked this weekend for the April Zazenkai.


There was a time when I felt that these two major passions of my life were at odds. Today I don’t feel that way. Ultimately I can’t do everything so I choose to prioritize those activities that involve family.

Saturday I will sit with my Dharma brothers and sisters from 5:30am to 5:30pm. At 7:00pm I will check out the end of National Independent Record Store Day at Stinkweeds owned by my friend for almost 20 years, Kimber. (Who also owns the space where we sit on Sundays, Modified.) Then, around 9:30, I will go to fellow Zen student and friend, Lonna Kelly’s gig, Grand Ole Opry at the Ruby Room. She has asked that Dogo Sensei and I come in robes, cowboy hats and boots. Zen Geek, Music Freak! Odd? Maybe but not at odds.

Hey! Ms. DJ

I have known Lindsay Cates as a brilliant music store proprietor as a talented musician in the Phoenix scene as a local promoter of shows as a blogger and as a friend. But Lindsay Cates as a hip DJ??? When I got the text about her gig tonight I knew I had to see it for myself. Now the SideBar is a bit too hip for a guy like me. I don't wear tight jeans with designer hoodies and red canvas shoes very well these days. Lucky for me Luke and Matt from Farwell Review were also there to support their band mate, Lindsay. Ours was the table for guys with facial hair, western denim jackets, and PBR. And so we sat and watched her spin for two hours. She was a powerhouse for great cuts from re-mixed Kings of Convenience to Nouvelle Vague to Hercules And Love Affair to, well, The Rosebuds. I forgot to bring my camera for this historic event (she was the first woman to ever spin at SideBar) but snapped a few with my phone.

The Bar

The DJ
Spinning
NO MORE PICTURES, DAN!
Good Night.