“Religion is the school that has developed man, and the ideals that religion presents form a path that leads upward to perfection, that innate and yearning desire of every soul. … The wise of all ages have taught that it is the knowledge of the Divine Being that is life, and the only reality. Although a human activity may have a number of complicated motives, some of which are base and gross, it is the aspiration towards divinity, the desire towards beauty, which is its soul, its life, and its reality. And it is in proportion to the degree of strength or weakness of his aspiration towards beauty that man’s ideal is great or small, and his religion is great or small.” ~Hazrat Inayat Khan
It has been a beautiful day of driving in the Pacific Northwest. Left Tacoma early this morning, en route to one of my favorite cities on the planet, San Francisco. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park this weekend…my stoke level is high right now as you might imagine.
This past Sunday, played at the Lake Powellapalooza festival in Page, AZ and was able to catch up with more than a few old friends. After our afternoon set a few of us stuck around to see the Young Dubliners, Hot Buttered Rum, Stonefed, and The Motet (Joey Porter is absolutely incredible on the keys).
Coming to the end of another great West Coast tour…L.A. SLO, Santa Cruz, Eugene, Portland, Seattle…all great places to be this time of year.
This week’s music suggestion is one from the most underrated/greatest rock bands around today…the Mother Hips. Shootout from 1996 is a masterpiece. Every song on this record is killer and the performances are stone cold. Back in the winter of 2003, I spent 3 months backpacking in Europe with Gordy and Gannon and we took a total of 10 cds with us on the trip. This was one of them…doesn’t get old. I’ve seen them live a dozen times or so, always killer, but their set at Las Tortugas festival in Yosemite, Halloween 2008 was one of the best rock n’ roll shows I have ever witnessed. “The stuff dreams are made of.” They play this Sunday afternoon at HSB, can’t wait.
P.S. Warm congratulations to the new Joe and Trish Beckham, who were married 9/25/11 in Austin. What an amazing couple!