Vampire and monster stories have always intrigued me… As a kid, I especially loved watching vampire movies only to wind up so scared that I had to sleep with the blanket covering my neck well into my teens, ha. Luckily, I eventually got over that phase…

Any time they want to invite me down to DJ at Fangtasia, I’ll be there.

Luckily, I’ve got some really good souls in my circle… and as if I’d sent for this one myself, Tre Hardson aka Slimkid3 just came by and graced us with his special brand of goodness. Mind you, I had no idea he was in LA recording with Fatlip when I reached out this morning to see when he might next be in town… but that’s how it works when people are truly connected.

So we shared some spiritual notions, philosophical banter, Libra concerns over how to manage multiple artist personalities – like Tre with Slimkid3 and me with 60 Channels as my alter ego, a few war stories and a laugh! The Pharcyde are heading out to Australia next week to play the Good Vibrations Festival 2009 … and I will happily be on lockdown in the cave so I can get all these new releases ready. Finally back to makin’ records in ‘09!

Yesterday morning as I read that Proposition 8 had passed, it already got me questioning the vastness of the perceived shift in consciousness that I hoped was real… All of a sudden I realize that I have taken my own tolerance for granted… racism and prejudice are still pervasive and it blows my mind. With every step forward there are still reminders that we have a long way to go… and this doesn’t negate the monumental hurdle we have just surmounted and how healing Obama’s presidency can be for our country. It’s just a sobering reminder that we need to drop the concept of ‘us’ and ‘them’ and keep on evolving as humans.

I’ve never felt the need to speak publicly about my political leanings… Besides, when we’re not in the middle of an election, Americans don’t usually discuss politics on a daily basis, at least not like my European friends do. It’s a cultural thing…

But yesterday was like no other day in my life… and the enormity of this perceived massive shift in American consciousness was not only inspiring, it instilled such a sense of calm and a genuine feeling of oneness that I felt compelled to express it in this blog. I’ve never thought of Obama as a “black” candidate. I wasn’t oblivious to the haters, but that didn’t have any meaning for me… I saw an eloquent man; thoughtful, intelligent, precise, a poised speaker, someone, who we could depend on to make important and rational decisions on behalf of our ailing country and someone we could proudly call our leader, if elected. As I watched the crowds listening to Obama’s speech last night it hit me really hard that the all of the people (both leaders and civilians) who spent years struggling and fighting for suffrage and civil rights in this country have just received the ultimate validation with this victory… and I’m so moved by this and so grateful that this has happened in my lifetime.

To know that we will finally be represented in the global community by a man of this caliber, after years of a leadership filled with incompetence, denial and lies is a huge relief to me. Clearly I’m not alone as friends from all over the world have been calling and writing to send impassioned congratulations… it’s just incredible.

When it comes to recording technology, I’ve embraced every new gadget, be it software or hardware that could help me work faster, more efficiently and that would give me a broader palette and better quality recordings… I’m a dedicated, tech head and proud of it… but it’s taken me awhile to get with all the social networking, blogging. vlogging etc.  My personal experiences still feel like they just need to be mine – so I’m looking to strike a balance between embracing all this “editorializing of one’s own life” and maintaining my personal space.  Looking to share some interesting behind the scenes anecdotes without feeling like I’m running around the virtual world naked

Yes, years of interacting with electronic equipment has made me into quite the cavedweller…  Weeks or even months can sometimes go by without much human interaction… my creative output is always at a premium, braincells working overtime, a complete sense of meditative peace achieved.  But I’m being coerced to at least reach out of the cave, now and again by people who seem to connect with all this noise I’ve been makin’… and it reminds me how powerful music can be in terms of a shared positive experience, memory, energy…unity.  So, I’ll start this blog by sendin’ a big shout out to those of you who have been part of this realm and welcome all newcomers to my musical sphere – left of center, raw, straight out of my head, through my fingertips, through protools, my macs and all my gear to your ears.