A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD VOL. VI

I am writing this at a layover in Denver after returning from my cousin Stan’s wedding in Philadelphia this weekend.

It’s been quite a week in the states. Since last Tuesday I have heard Lou Reed singing the lyrics to “Men Of Good Fortune” in my head each day and that is not a good thing. I’m sure nobody wants my U.S. election analysis (though I am happy to share my take if provoked). I’m just trying to remain where my feet are and not get lost in the collective panic and mania I see percolating among people who lean my direction politically. I need to take a break to recharge a bit for the chaos that lies ahead. Some people do not have that privilege.  

Before we left for the weekend there were a couple days of heavy winds in SoCal that rattled hundreds of sticks and branches loose from the trees in our yard. I’m looking forward to returning home to collect them off the ground to store for the winter and use for kindling in our fireplace. This is how I’ll be assuaging my election despair. Being in nature, taking care of our home, garden, yard, fruit trees, and volunteering at our local animal shelter is where I will be spending my time when I am not working on music. It bring me peace. The privilege of watching our hollyhock flowers bloom or seeing one of the dogs at the shelter become more socialized so they stand a better chance of being adopted is more rewarding and enriching than getting lost in a warren of doom and gloom scenarios. I feel like when Roedelius and Moebius left the buzz of West Berlin behind for Forst. I want to spend whatever precious time I have left in the physical realm coaxing melodies out of my instruments and being in nature.

I have two solo shows coming up in the next few weeks. I hadn’t really given solo performance much thought but when my friend Jeff Schroeder (who just released a beautiful new album Metanoia) asked if I’d be interested in doing some solo guitar shows together, I knew it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. I’ve been down in the lab this past month constructing a set together of new songs and some material off of Gateway, trying to create something that’s exciting to me and hopefully an audience. So far it’s been coming along great. I’ll admit that I’m still terrified though I’ve discovered over the past 4-5 years that real growth occurs when I push myself to try things that make me uncomfortable or fearful.

The first show will be at Day 2 of Haze Fest in San Francisco on November 24th. Really, I’m so stoked for this night as all the other artists are A+. If you’re in the Bay Area please come out and say hi! Tickets are available here. Come get hazy with me.

My next solo guitar show will be in Los Angeles on December 5th at 2220 Arts & Archives with Jeff and my friend Olive Kimoto DJ-ing. For those of you may not know, Jeff is the shredder who most recently left Smashing Pumpkins after sixteen years in the band. Olive is an ensorcelling DJ who has her own show on NTS as well as puts on the “Heaven Or Los Angeles” Cocteau Twins night here at Zebulon in LA. 2220 Arts & Archives is one of my favorite venues to see a performance in LA. Our show will take place in their seated theater so pop some gummies, sink into their comfy seats and drift off to the atmospheric sounds. Tickets are available here. Hope to see you all at these shows! 

As always, more music is on the way. And in case you missed it the latest Inner Magic single “Discovery” hit the digital racks last month. You can stream it on your preferred platform here.

And if you do need some additional anxiety calming tracks, my Late Night Guitar & Piano Spotify playlist might be the fix. I played it constantly around the house during the election and it seemed to help. I am always finding new gems to add to it as well. Here is a link.

I recently moved my turntable and cd player from my studio into our living room because I wasn’t using them as much as I had hoped to in the studio. Been revisiting some albums I hadn’t played in over 20+ years. It’s been interesting to see how much these albums still affect me. I love listening 20+ years later and being able to take away different things from them. I also kind of forgot how great CDs sound compared to streaming.

I used to listen to this LTJ Bukem Logical Progression 2xCD all the time in late 90s. I remember by the time the early 2000’s crept in Drum N’ Bass felt like it had become cheesy and diluted by the barefoot hippie Burning Man crowd (maybe that’s just my own bias/reflection of it, anyone else with similar or different reflections on that please feel free to chime in). Yet even with that sentiment I still never let go of this compilation in all of my purges over the years because the music on this 2xCD was a landmark in expanding the ways in which I heard and experienced music. I was a little bit shocked when I revisited it the other week and was able to listen with an entirely new perspective. What I now heard was cosmic electronic music, more jazzy at times even, the fruits of house music, Manuel Gottsching and Lonnie Liston Smith. Revisiting LTJ Bukem has been invigorating. I can see how these songs planted many of the seeds which would inform my tastes later in life. It was a big part of my musical education which I had almost forgotten about.

Circling back to nature this has been an enriching book for me that arrived at just the right time.

I tracked it down because the author Sue Stuart- Smith had written some praise on the dust jacket of Olivia Laing’s new book “The Garden Against Time” and it enticed me. 

I found myself taking constant notes on this book. I’ll repeat what I said about it on Instagram. “This was one of the most enlightening books I’ve read this year. It’s all about the healing power of nature but so much more as the author ties this into psychology, history, community, our current geopolitical state, etc. Highly highly recommend. Should be easy to find at your local library.”

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and subscribing. I am enjoying the longer form writing I’m able to explore here on Substack. I also follow some great writers on this platform like Patti Smith and Daniel Pinchbeck. It’s nice to have an alternative to fill the vacancy left by the extreme algorithmization of Instagram. I intend to use Substack more frequently. Until then, 🦄 Adam

Before I forget I also want to share this great quote by Krisnamurthi I read in Sue Smith’s book because I find it apropos to this moment. “The greater the outward show, the greater the inner poverty.”