1) Global warming is real. I have a very hard time believing there is actually controversy over this. The vast majority of the scientific community agree. The evidence is overwhelming. And while the cause seems clearly to be human activity it really doesn't matter. Whether it's caused by us or not it's happening. We are loosing species at a rate never seen before on the planet. We can't possibly know the outcome of this except that it can't be good. We are not being good stewards to the world be live in. The 19th century attitude that the world exists for our exploitation is morally corrupt. This follows from Buddhist teaching. I realize the Democrats have done little more than the Republicans on the issue but we still have a better chance to address it with the Dems. In general environmental protection is very important to me. The Dems are marginally better in this regard.

2) Foreign Policy. I believe unilateralism is destructive. It is the height of arrogance to try export our culture and form of government to other nations. Such attitudes are not those of a constructive member of the world community. An approach based on cooperation is more sensible. We need to protect our interests no doubt but we need to loose our inflated ego. It doesn't serve anybody. This leads me to:

3) Militarization: I am a pacifist. My heroes are Jesus of Nazareth, Lao Tse, The Buddha, Gandhi, and Dr. Martin Luther King to name a few. Non-violence is not something one practices only when convenient nor only at home. I am particularly appalled by remote drones. The farther away from the actual killing we get the easier it is to do it. We spend far to much of our resources on warfare. The Dems are only marginally better than the Republicans in this regard but they are better.

4) Health care is a right in a civilized society. I do not think that health care should be for profit. It puts the incentives in the wrong place. We need single payer universal coverage like the rest of industrialized world. This is a moral issue. No doubt we need to improve health care and make it cheaper. But we should do it in the context of socialized medicine.

5) Education should be affordable and available to all. An educated citizenry is essential in a functioning democracy. As education becomes more exclusive the spilt between haves and have nots is exacerbated. The recent controversy over for profit colleges leaving students with huge debts and no career prospects is only one example of the problem. Education needs to be properly funded. It isn't and the Republicans are largely responsible for that.

6) The Bible is not a good basis for a modern democracy. The Bible is an amazing collection of works written over millennia for different purposes and different audiences. The sections in the Pentateuch that contain the laws were written for a bronze age monarchy in which women were property and nobody voted for anything. As a Buddhist who has studied the Bible extensively I find it absurd to base our lives on a literal interpretation of scripture. Many things in the Bible are abhorrent to modern sensibility. For instance slavery was totally acceptable as was capital punishment for disobedient children. Adultery was punishable by death. One of my favorites is a man was stoned to death for gathering wood for a fire on the Sabbath which – for all my Christian friends – was from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. The “morality” that some religious conservatives espouse amounts to picking and choosing which parts of the Bible apply to them in a fairly arbitrary manner. I realize that not all conservatives are religious fundamentalists. But the Republican party has adopted several positions consistent with the religious right and courted the religious right. The Dems have not done so.

7) I don't trust big business to have my best interest at heart. The purpose of corporations is to accumulate wealth for their owners. More often than not the attitude of management towards workers, the environment, and government is “what can we get away with?” rather than “how can we benefit society?” I know this first hand. I worked in a factory for 17 years. My experience confirmed what I see in society at large. Without regulation many companies have no regard for the longterm health of our environment or the safety of their workers. Without labor rights such as collective bargaining and restrictions on working conditions corporations have little incentive to treat workers well.

8) Trickle-down economics doesn't work. I'm a fan of Robert Reich: “Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both sliced taxes on the rich and what happened? Most Americans’ wages (measured by the real median wage) began flattening under Reagan and has dropped since George W. Bush. Trickle-down economics is a cruel joke.” Robert Reich.

9) Civil rights should extend equally to ALL! Everyone should have the right to marry anyone they want. It's none of the governments business who I marry. Everyone should enjoy the legal protections of marriage. (see “The Bible is not a good basis ...” above).

10) Women must have the right to decide how to take care of their own bodies. Decisions about pregnancy are between a woman, her spouse, her doctor and her God. The government has no business deciding. Let me be clear. I am not in favor of abortion. I feel it is horrible. I'm just saying that the government shouldn't the moral arbiter of our lives. I find it interesting that the republicans want government off our back except when it comes to issues surrounding sexuality.

I heard The Band live numerous times. Perhaps most memorable was in 1976 at Stanford's Frost Amphitheater in Palo Alto, CA. The Flying Burrito Brothers opened and they were hot. Sneaky Pete was on fire! Then Robbie and company took the stage starting off with The Shape I'm In. Everybody was really rockin'. I've heard The Band's music described as "etched in stained glass and pounded in stone". The description really fit that day. I remember The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down in particular. Levon's clear Arkansas tenor sent chills through me. His simple, clear delivery moved me to tears. I can hear it in my head to this day.

Levon sang some of The Bands most memorable tunes including the aforementioned Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up On Cripple Creek, Baby Don't Do It and Ophelia. His drumming anchored the group. In his post-Band life he's most well known for The Barn, a recording studio and intimate live venue on his farm in upstate New York. Performers and fans alike were drawn to the place. Many hours of great music were made there.

Above all Levon was a generous and loving soul. When he played and sang the shear joy that poured out was obvious to anyone watching. Levon, you are dearly missed.

Over the course of four days we recorded 14 tunes - seven originals, seven covers. Here are the tunes:

Last Go Round
Just Can't Keep From Cryin'
Mississippi Blues
Crucifixion
Spike Driver Blues/99 Year Blues
Old Country Rock Variations
Trouble Down Here Below
Ring That Bell
Nine Pound Hammer
Shadows on the Wall
Stumptown Rag
Without You
Leave the Blues Behind
Hard Times Come Again No More

With me were my friend and mentor Mary Flower, who produced the session, and engineer Jordan Leff.

The session went extremely well. I really had a good time and the songs are sounding great. Secret Society is a very homey place. It really felt like recording in your living room. Jordan did a fantastic job of getting the sounds recorded. Mary was an invaluable coach. Here she is laying down a slide guitar track:

I really love recording. It's like a laboratory for musicians. Jerry Garcia put it like this "Playing live is like being in a row boat on the ocean. Recording is like building a ship in a bottle". I couldn't describe it better.

We'll mix the tracks this week. Then off they go to Dave Glasser in Boulder, Colorado for mastering. If you don't know Dave just listen to any number of award winning acoustic music recordings including the latest Hot Tuna release "Steady as She Goes" and Mary's latest "Misery Lovers Company" to hear his work.

My old pal Mikel Parker (aka Zavijava) is doing the cover art. Release is planned for November. See my event calendar for the release party details on November 3 at Artichoke Music.

The adventure continues.

I've come some ways these last months. I now have two regular monthly gigs - the second Thursday of the month at Eugenio's and the first Friday of the month for the Spring Creek Coffee House poker party. The poker party has been an especially fun gig. And I'll be playing for the third time at Artichoke in October. What a great place it is!

Looking forward I'll be making a CD during the coming year. Mary will produce it. The current plan is to record and mix it at Secret Society in northeast Portland. I'm currently working on the material.

It's all been very exciting and gratifying. I've managed to live my dream and so far it's going great. I've got to mention my wife Kay in this regard. Without her support, advise and encouragement I could never do this. She is simply the best thing that has ever happened to me.

It's a little hard to believe but my musical journey is almost 50 years old. I began taking guitar lessons in February of 1963. My plan is to time the CD release to coincide with my 50 year anniversary of music and hold a CD release concert and celebration. I hope to include as many of the musician I've played with over the years as I can from my childhood friend Steven Gary to my Sons of Bernard band mates to the folks I'm just now meeting. Obviously I'll be making a big deal about it as the winter of 2013 gets closer.

As my musical journey moves forward it's important to remember why I'm doing it. It's easy to get caught up in it or think it's about me. It's not about me. It's about the music. What drives me is the love of music - a life long obsession - and the love of finger style blues in particular. I often tell my guitar students that to really get good you have to become addicted to playing. I think that describes me.

They were followed by Artichoke regulars Sophie and Time with there soulful folk style. Then yours truly.

Here's my setlist:
See See Rider
Last Go Round
Ring That Bell
A Life Well Lived
Spike Driver Blues/99 Year Blues
Embryonic Journey

Margaret Branch followed with a stellar set of folk originals. Her voice is reminiscent of folk singers such as Judy Collins. We were then treated to the Sunset Highwaymen and their acoustic americana. The night was topped of with a special appearance of San Francisco based Rin Tin Tiger.

As always it was a great crowd.

On Saturday we gathered at Spring Creek Coffee House in Milwaukie for our monthly open mic. It was great as always. We've started a new tradition of warming things up with a blues jam.

Followed by the benediction by Charlie Stevens.

It was a great night of poetry and music. Here's Lokie bringin' it!

Our video man, Alex Andreychenko, sent me a link to a test video he produced and it looks great! Alex is a wonderful guy. I had fun working with him. Here he is hard at work.

Many thanks to all who came out. Over the next few weeks Alex and I will be producing a few of the most choice numbers and putting them on YouTube. I had a lot of fun doing the show and by all accounts I acquitted myself well. You can judge for yourself once its online.