My take on the election has been hard to put into words, but this article (reprinted from the Adbusters website) is the most sober, balanced thing I’ve read so far. It really resonated with me, so here it is:

THE END OF APATHY: Generation O Reveals Its Revolutionary Potential

There were supposed to be fireworks in Grant Park on November 4 but, at the last minute, Obama pulled the plug. His bid for the presidency could have culminated in an explosion of phosphor against the dark Chicago sky. Instead, he offered us these simple words: “Today we begin the earnest work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.”

It was a sober denouement to an ecstatic experiment in possibility. It was also a warning. With his restrained rhetoric and almost somber demeanor, Obama was sending a clear message to his emotive base – this whole thing is about to getseriously unsexy. Now that an inspired generation of voters has exuberantly elected Obama president, we are forever separated from him by the yawning expanse of legislative structure. The symbiotic relationship we have enjoyed with him is over. Obama is now the president-elect of the United States of America; he no longer feeds on our fervor. Instead, he will engage in the slow, tectonic grind of policy change. And we, having reached the apex of our democratic abilities, will have to sit on the sidelines. Our level of direct participation has officially peaked.

But that doesn’t mean that we’re done, only that our role has changed. Having pledged to tackle climate change, the economy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and America’s increasingly villainous role on the world stage, Obama represents the most realistic hope for change since Kennedy. But he is still a politician and, as such, Obama is operating within an immovable power structure infinitely stronger than any one man. As he begins the business of governing – a banal blend of appeasement, compromise and concession – Obama will be unable to maintain his status as a revolutionary figurehead. Sustaining the sense of hopeful rebellion that swept such an improbable candidate into the White House falls squarely on the shoulders of the people who put him there: “Generation O.”

The question hanging in the air is this: does our generation have the revolutionary spirit to keep this thing going? Now that the election is over, the results of any collective efforts to bring about real change in America are going to be decidedly less tangible, quantifiable and visceral. Political shifts of such magnitude – building a green economy, instituting universal healthcare, reining in a capitalist system run amok – are going to require more than a willing president. If these changes are to manifest, they will be the result of a vigilant, engaged and youthful populace that never stops pushing. That means our generation, the one described in Adbusters’ now infamous hipster article as a “lost generation, a defeated generation,” representative of a culture that is “so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new,” will have to be the engine powering this revolution. That’s why it’s essential that we temper our post-election euphoria with a serious dose of realism. It’s also why Obama canceled the fireworks.

This is the beginning of the battle, not the end. And if there’s one critique of this generation to which I’m willing to lend credence, it’s that we are seriously hooked on immediacy. If we fail to resign ourselves to the fact that change is a process, not an event, then I fear we’ll be sent spiralling headlong into a dangerous new cynicism at the first disappointment dealt to us by Obama.

Disappointment is inevitable. We’ve elected a good man to office but we are years away from tearing down the broken system within which he must operate. So now you have to ask yourself, how much fight have you got in you?

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It’s been forever since I posted, but there’s plenty happening so I’ll start with a little update:

First, our move to Topanga Canyon (and California in general) is really working out. What I was worried about in returning to SoCal is what rock critic Richard Meltzer once described as a lack of ‘existential reverb’ here; a certain placelessness that seems to be the defining characteristic of LA. I spent 10 years in the middle of it all, lived on the East side, prided myself on knowing all its little pockets of authenticity, but I still felt like I was passing through. By contrast, after a couple of weeks in Portland, I felt as Oregonian as blackberry milkshakes, and couldn’t wait to answer when someone asked, ‘Where do you live?’ It just felt like… a real place, where normal things happen, and people aren’t as concerned with the outside perception of things (to the point of wearing a few layers of grey fleece all the time).

So it was with a lot of trepidation that we returned to this part of the world, notwithstanding the fact that most of my work was here even while we lived all over the continent for five years. I told my wife on the drive down, ‘maybe I can handle it if we live in the middle of Topanga.’ I mentioned the ‘existential reverb’ thing to an old friend of mine (another rock writer, now that I mention it) and he chimed in that Topanga is the place to find it. We’re now renting his cabin.

I say it’s working out because we find ourselves surrounded by warm, community-oriented people who want to live closer to nature and share responsibility for the town, the kids… not unlike how we felt in our neighborhood in Portland, actually. I can’t say enough good things about it.

Secondly, I’ve finally found some time with Jon to mix my album. It sounds great, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. It sounds less like a collage of snippets from half a decade of wandering and more like… a record, with its own soul, its own little world. Anyway, the mixes are almost done now, so I’ll be updating about the status of the project soon.

As far as KC Porter’s project is concerned, we ended up writing a ton of songs from scratch, including lyrics (mostly in Spanish!), and have only put down basic frameworks for the recordings. So there’s a long way to go on that one. It’s gonna be killer. And there should be some high-powered guest appearances on it, so I’ll post more on that as it develops.

Thanks for tuning in.

Eric is visiting us in our Topanga hideaway for a week. On the weekend we played a conference in San Diego, last night a bunch of neighbors came over for food and music, and tonight we fleshed out a song that’s been sitting around since we were in North Carolina last spring. At this rate, we should have some good things happening by the weekend!

Well… I have followed in the footsteps of famous musical Canadians like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, and moved into a log cabin in Topanga Canyon. This is where ‘After the Gold Rush’ was done, so it should be good enough for me! As I write this, a chorus of crickets and bullfrogs is rising along with the moon over the Santa Monica mountains… I feel closer to Garberville in Northern California than the sprawl of LA.

The cabin itself is amazing (if tiny for two adults and a three-year-old) and smells of cedar and sage. Stained glass is everywhere, there is a porch with an outdoor bed, and you get the sense that a lot of care has gone into every detail of the place.

Someone is looking after us, because this is the only way we can be this close to the old stomping grounds.

Miami was a bit crazy… South Beach, anyway. It actually made LA seem a bit mellow (if I ever hear another 4-on-the-floor disco beat, it will be too soon). But I was priveleged to work with some fine musicians and songwriters, swim in warm water and eat a ton of great Cuban food, so there you go. Next time I want to bring the family.

Back to the present: It’s time to finish the mixes for my album! Jon has had some time with it now, so we should be pretty close. I also found out that the painting I’m using for the album cover has been professionally photographed so I can get to work on the graphics.

More on all this later…

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Our second day in Miami… KC and I will be writing with some of the baddest songwriters in the Latin music world over the next few days, but this weekend is all about soaking up the vibe of Miami. I always forget what real humidity feels like, especially combined with tropical sunshine. Yesterday I lasted longer walking around in that kind of heat than I usually do, but knowing our limits as white boys in the sun, we didn’t hit the beach until some clouds rolled in… which gave us the whole ocean to ourselves. Everone else cleared out in about 30 seconds – and got soaked anyway of course. So we just embraced it and jumped in the water.
I had a laugh when I thought about how opposite this is to Portland in every way: in Portland everyone has layers of clothing (usually involving fleece), in Miami they go as naked as possible (or just naked). In Portland the rain starts in November and doesn’t really stop until May (or June or July), and here it comes in sudden blasts and everyone runs for cover.
I’m ready to get out of the tourist area now and see some real neighborhoods, eat some Cuban food and hear some music.

We went down to Echo Park again, and this time it was a true Southern Cali Moment. Car clubs had set up on both sides of the road (‘Dedicated Riderz’ etc.) and everyone was showing off their exotic paint jobs, hydraulics, the sheer amount of bass that can be pumped through the body of a vehicle, etc. Of course there were plenty of WAR songs in the air, which really brought me back… when I was touring with WAR, these car clubs used to come out sometimes and drive us to the gig as a sign of respect for the band’s contribution to Low Rider culture.

Time to reconcile with my ex…

It’s been 2 weeks in the LA area so far, and though I haven’t been too close to the action, I can feel the vibe from here. What is it about this place? I spent 4 years writing songs about it and I’m still confused. Oh well.

Anyway, status report: I’ve spent the past week or so with KC, writing bits of songs, making some beats, thinking about what kind of record he wants to make. Nothing too serious yet… You definitely want to create some breathing space in the early stages of a new album, and let it tell you what it wants to be.

In fact, my one encounter with the ‘real’ LA was when KC and I took a drive down to Echo Park, my old stomping ground and my favorite part of town by far, looking for some outside stimulation, and the experience was great. We had coffee at Cafe Tropical, cruised around the back streets a bit and then went to Amoeba Records in Hollywood. Not a bad day in all… and I think it did a lot more for our spirits and for the project than to sit inside banging our heads in the studio. There’s more where that came from, KC…

As for my own stuff, it’s back to Jon Rezin’s place on Saturday for more mixing and one step closer to the finish line (or at least the ‘finished’ line).

Onward!

I just spent the week in LA mixing the album with Jon Rezin… sounds pretty great so far. I’m back in Portland right now, and he’s probably glad to finish his work without me looking over his shoulder. Jon and I have been building up a rapport for the last year and a half, working on several projects together, and this mix will be the result of the kind of communication we’ve developed in the process… as well as his ears, of course.

Now, the strange news part:

We’re heading down to LA for the next few months… just as the weather gets nice in the Northwest! But it seems like the right time for me to rekindle the connections I built there for 10 years, some of which are like family to me.

I’ll be co-producing KC Porter’s album this summer – his first as an artist, and his gazillionth as a producer. Should be interesting… part English, part Spanish, lots of interesting guest artists, and as much rhythm as we can squeeze onto a CD. I look forward to the as-yet-unborn songs: KC and I wrote some good ones together in the past, including Santana’s ‘Primavera’ and ‘One of These Days’, and we co-wrote on Ozomatli’s ‘Love and Hope’ and ‘America’ as well. My favorite song of ours is probably ‘Canto,’ which he sings on the Embrace the World album.

So that’s what’s up at the moment. I have mixed feelings about Southern California, but if I listen to lots of reggae in the car it should be fine.

Next weekend: finishing my mix!

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During my time in LA, I had the pleasure of forming some musical partnerships that will be around for a lifetime. Looming tall among them are the members of my band, Heliotrope, which went through several incarnations but always included bassist Pancho Tomaselli and drummer Paul Gonzalez. Together we explored radically different kinds of music, pushing each other into uncharted territory where rock, funk, electronica and world music collide. At our gigs you were as likely to hear an obscure Stevie Wonder cover, a high adrenalin Latin jam, a sample-fueled, Portishead-inspired modern pop song, or a Hendrixian guitar blowout. After we included Colombian percussionist Shangó Dely, there was a much stronger African element in the mix, and Eli Brueggemann brought layers of deep texture and searching jazz sensibility with his virtuosic keyboard playing.

Whether playing ambient instrumental music in Woody Harrelson’s “O2 Bar” on Sunset Blvd while patrons got high sucking on hookahs – of oxygen – or doing our full-band thing at the über-eclectic Temple Bar in Santa Monica, we always found a way to win over audiences with our telepathic band interplay and our sheer love of music.

It was always our strength and our weakness: we wanted to play everything. But each of us agrees that it’s some of the best fun we ever had, and always look for any opportunity to play together again.

So… why “Heliotrope?”

Well for starters, it’s the name of a street in my old neighborhood of Koreatown. Every time I passed the street sign I thought, that’s a band name right there. (Many would later disagree, chiding us with alternate names like Helicopter, Hovercraft, Hello kitty and so on. We stood our ground of course.) But the actual meaning of the word is even better: A heliotrope is a particular flower, but more generally any plant or flower that follows the sun across the sky, literally facing it and turning as the sun moves… then turning back around at night to wait for it to rise again. What could be cooler than that?

Anyway, I eventually had to get out of LA to get some perspective, but the more time goes by, the more I feel it’s important to get this music out there. I’ve assembled the recordings we made together and made them available as an mp3 album download here on the site (click the music tab and look for Heliotrope). Hope you enjoy the tunes…

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