The madness… the magic… the music…

March 29, 2009

From the perspective of someone who has seen Sammy Hagar in concert more times than I can count, I can tell you his appeal is something that can only be appreciated by watching him perform live. His recordings are great; there are some I like more than others, but they don’t come close to the fever he generates between himself and his fans while he’s onstage.

Sammy tours all over the world, but he also does an annual week-long series of concerts in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to celebrate his birthday in October.

No matter where he performs, Sammy includes the audience as part of every show. From the front row to the back, he’s in your face. He sweats on you, throws tequila on you, shares his drinks with you. Sometimes he pulls you onstage with him or holds the mic for you to sing a few words. (Which isn’t always a good thing in my case.) You never know what to expect.

He signs everything the fans offer—from bare body parts to album covers, posters and tee shirts.

His concerts are not just concerts; they’re wild, explosive parties, sometimes complete with confetti and balloons. Always with tequila.

Sammy Hagar in concert by Baja Rock Pat

 

Sammy Hagar Cabo Wabo by D. Walker

Considering all the concerts by various big name rock or blues bands I’ve attended in my life, I have never seen anything like Sammy’s shows. At 61, Sammy has the energy of a 20-year-old. And when I’m in the audience, he makes me feel 20 again too.

During every show, between songs, Sammy talks to the crowd as if they are his best friends.

He has said more than once, “I know most of you on a first-name basis!”

It’s true.

He tells the audience things about his personal life in graphic detail.

The first time I heard this, I was shocked, but at the same time, I liked it. He was so bad… he was so good. He was genuine and didn’t care who didn’t like it.

Even now, he never fails to surprise me.

In interview after interview, Sammy reiterates how much his fans mean to him. In song after song, he sings about pursuing happiness and treating others the way you want to be treated. He strives to make people happy and show them a good time. And he succeeds.

Why else would middle-aged men and women—doctors, truck drivers, homemakers and insurance salesmen use their hard-earned money to fly to Mexico, spend entire nights sleeping on the cobblestone sidewalk merely for the chance to get tickets to see Sammy perform? It’s insane!

Sammy Hagar Cabo Line 2006

Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo 2006

You have to see Sammy in concert to understand.

JUST LISTEN TO IT!

March 23, 2009

A lot of amazing things have happened to me over the past few years–supernatural and mystical experiences. Many of the events involved concepts I wasn’t quite sure I believed in until they actually occurred in my life. They were so strange and wonderful that I wrote a book about them. Since much of what happened has to do with music–Sammy Hagar’s music to be exact, I will start there. Thank you for listening.

If it makes you happy, do more of it.

Music transports us to a place where words cannot go. It lifts our spirits, takes us on a ride—of fantasy or magnified reality.

It gives a name to the darkness of our pain, wings to the exuberance of our joy. It validates feelings we may not know how to articulate. It draws upon these emotions and by the very act of sharing, it renews our souls.

But music is more than a portrait of life. I think music is a separate entity with a “body” and “mind” of its own. This new creation comes to life through the performance of the vocals, the instruments, the lyrics, the notes and through the passion of the musicians as it merges with the personal experience of each listener.

Live music is even more powerful. When our favorite band or singer takes the stage, the outside world seems to stop. We forget our troubles. We are transported to another world.

And we can take that feeling wherever we choose to take it. We can leave it in the auditorium after the show, forget about it after we turn off the CD player, or we can absorb its energy into our hearts and use its influence as an inspiration for finding meaning in our lives.

Thunder in Our Hearts

May 12, 2010

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We be shakin’ the walls, baby!

It was like an explosion roaring up from the center of the earth and flooding the hearts of everyone in the room. The drum journey was led by professional drummer Gayan Gregory Long and attended by Harley people, rock ‘n’ rollers, writers, homemakers, accountants—those from all walks of life. Wonderful!

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Gayan and I became friends several years ago, when he taught the music portion of a grief workshop I attended after my parents died. The experience was magical to me and it showed me the role music played in my mystical transformation through Sammy Hagar’s concert in 2003. Since then, it has been my goal to help others find this magic for themselves.

Which is why I wrote my book. And also why Gayan and I wanted to present this workshop. There will be many more to come.

 

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I wanted to give people an experience they might not normally have, invite them to step outside of their comfort zones, because you never know where your truths might be hiding. I had hoped that people might lose themselves and rediscover themselves through music like I did. I wanted to show them how sound can open our hearts and teach us new things about ourselves; because you see, I have learned that the avenues to self-awareness are as varied as the stars. So how do we know what’s right for us and what isn’t, if we don’t take the time to look in other directions? You just might discover a new star that no one has ever seen before. Even better, you just might discover that YOU are that new star.

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I watched the faces of the participants as they entered the room and sat down behind their drums. Some looked intimidated; most looked bewildered. But the more they drummed, the more I saw their faces change as their spirits began to integrate some of the drum’s lessons into their hearts.

 

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Then I witnessed smiles emerging, confidence building and warmth spreading throughout the group. Yes!  

The experience was also personal. As I drummed, I felt myself becoming entranced in the beat—so authoritative, so strong, so real. When I quit worrying about whether I was supposed to be using my left hand or my right, or whether there were two bass slaps and one tone or two tone slaps and one bass, my body somehow knew exactly what to do. Apparently this is something I still need to work on—quit trying to be perfect and just be. The more I allowed the rhythm and the sound to take me, the more I recognized that I should be proud of my imperfections, because by struggling to be something I’m not (perfect) I’m not being true to Who I really Am.

I also realized that I’m already perfect in my imperfection, and I should celebrate that fact. I did—through the drum. It was like sending a prayer of gratitude through the vibration, up to heaven.

Gayan taught us simple beats and assigned everyone a job, to sing, shake bells or keep the rhythm. All of us somehow all melted into one hypnotic pulse. And when I became conscious of how good we actually sounded, my soul soared even higher.

 

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During Gayan’s solo, I felt the vibration from his playing on the head of my drum in front of me. Isn’t this so like life? As human beings, we interact with one another and send vibrations between us. Only this time I could actually feel them with my hands, like tangible proof of feelings, as if to say, “Here I am, take me or not,” offered to anyone who needed to claim it without the duality of acceptance or non-acceptance.

 

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 Gayan talked about the sensation of holding the drum between our legs. I was surprised that he addressed this because the first time I held a drum in this manner, I thought something was wrong with me since it felt sort of sexual. I wrote about this in DANCE OF THE ELECTRIC HUMMINGBIRD. But it’s also symbolic. By holding the drum so close to our bodies, we acknowledge the fact that we are bringing it into a very personal space within us. Maybe that’s why it was so magical—its rhythm entered me in a way I’d never known before—just as it had done in the past.

These lessons continue to grow within me and the more I allow myself to go with the flow, the more I learn about life and myself. So I have to ask, “Am I playing music or is music playing me?”

If you fall far enough under its spell, you won’t be able to answer this question.

Mysticism, Music and Ordinary People

September 23, 2010

Capoeira in the sunset

When I first began to write about the strange and wonderful experience that took place in my life nearly seven years ago, I had no idea that such things happened to ordinary people.

But as my volumes of notes began to amass about the mystical events that were occurring in my life on a daily basis, I wondered if anyone else had ever had a similar experience.

As far as I could tell, no one had.

I was confused, frightened and starting to entertain the notion that I just might be losing my mind.

As I neared completion of the writing of DANCE OF THE ELECTRIC HUMMINGBIRD (previews coming soon), I came across a few others who, although their experiences were somewhat different, were also precipitated by famous musicians and contained an element of the same mystical gene as my experience—something inexplicable, spiritual and wonderful—something the world needed to hear about because, if these things were happening to some of us, perhaps they were happening to many more of us. And maybe if a few of us were bold enough to share our stories, it might give others the courage to come forward as well.

Is it possible that something somewhere or someone was trying to tell us something through music? Music is a universal language that transcends words, perhaps providing a bridge to the world of spirit and other worlds we sense the existence of but can’t prove.

Over the coming months, I’d like to introduce you to several people who have had mystical awakenings similar to mine through music and famous rock musicians. Although our experiences are eerily similar, especially given that these incidents opened our eyes to our individual truths, each of us has explored a slightly different path because of what happened. These people are ordinary people like you and me. Ordinary people who, while going about their daily routines, suddenly became struck with something profound and wonderful that they never saw coming.

And if you, or someone you know, has had an experience like this, please contact me, as I would love to include your story as well.

Stay tuned…

PASSION, TRUTH AND SELF-DISCOVERY THROUGH MUSIC and WRITING

 

After interviewing Tiffanie DeBartolo, author of the film, “Dream for an Insomniac,” and the books “God-Shaped Hole” and “How to Kill a Rock Star,” with two more on the way, I realized that our discussion was all about passion in music and how it helped each of us discover our personal truths. Passion is an emotion. Emotion is the language of the soul. What we feel passionate about brings us joy. Joy brings us to God. (And it doesn’t matter what one’s definition of God is because that word means different things to different people.) What we feel passionate about is the very thing that will bring us self-discovery, transformation, enlightenment—God.

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