First of all, I compose and perform my own original music. However, MySpace has revised their music player and it is NOT better than it was. it is FAR WORSE. Currently it is blocking my uploads of my own songs, claiming "Author Validation Error." The MySpace team has finally acknowledged it, and hopefully will fix it soon

For now you can hear the new CD at http://www.reverbnation.com/shamaniaq.

Arcosanti Rising is a themed album telling a story about Paolo Solieri's visionary desert community, Arcosanti. As a former resident of Arizona, it draws on my experience in the desert, and my love of a land where the water is scarce, but the bones of the Earth are starkly visible.

These songs were performed live, in one take, on a Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08, and Access Virus TI Snow and a Waldorf Blofeld. A Nady ribbon mic was used on "Mitakuye Oyasin," the vocal number. MIDI control was by the Prophet '08's keyboard and a single Korg psdKONTROL. Recorded on a Fostex MR16HD, pre-mastered and equalized through a Behringer FBQ-1502 to a TC Helicon Finalizer Express, with final mastering and recording on a Fostex VF80ex.

The song "Arcosanti Rising" has at least the feel of Greg Waltzer's "Sphere," and I have his kind permission to use whatever parts of "Sphere" stuck in my head during Different Skies 2008.

Playlist notes:

1. Wasteland of Cougars and Vultures

The high desert was not viewed as a friendly place by the earll pioneers, although Native Americans lived here in harmony with the land. But s first glimpse of the vultures circling and cougars screaming in the wasteland show how visionary Solieri was.

2. Desert Heartbeat

I love the desert, and hear its heart beating, as this song reveals. It is beautiful!

3. Paolo's Vision

In a barren land, a new city for times years in advance of the need for it was seen by Paolo Solieri. You can see the arcology in the museum/gift shop at Arcosanti, and realize how far we have to go to build Arcosanti.

4. Arcosanti Rising

But thirty years ago a crew of young men and women came to the desert, lived in rude boxes, and began to build Arcosanti. It began to rise, and the hope it embodies continues to inspire others. One day, the complete city will reach high above the desert floor, in harmony with nature and humanity.

5. Little Creatures of the Trickling Springs

Life surrounds and permeates Arcosanti. Here a hiker approaches the community of a trickling spring. The little ones become quiet as the hiker rests, fills her canteen, and passes on.

6.Breezy Afternoon in the City of Wind Chimes

Arcosanti supports itself in part by sale of cast metal and sculpted and cast ceramics. The wind chimes line the walkway and are found in residents' doorways and even the trees. This song captures, for me, a breezy sunny afternoon in a musical desert city.

7. High Plains Twister

Yet during the monsoon season, the weather along the Mogollon Rim can turn severe, with wind, heavy rains and even a tornado. Here the peace of late afternoon birds is broken as a strong thunderstorm forms, moves down off the Rim, and a tornado scours the desert soil. Humans panic and emergency services react, yet this kind of thing is a natural part of the desert ecology. In the end, peace returns.

8. Tarantula vs. Calliope

Eight legs can create funnier rhythms than two. Watching a tarantula walk brought me a vision of an abandoned circus, where the tarantulas found an old calliope and began struggling, even fighting against it, to play it.

9. Mitakuye Oyasin (We are all related)

I was asked to do a shamanic journey whilst visiting. The monotonous beat and a rattle introduced me to The Ancestors on a night with a full moon. Powerful. Beautiful. But the Ancestors are watching Arcosanti. Can it remain true to the promised vision of harmony with the Earth? Will Paolo, one day, join the Council of the Ancestors? Until then, remember, we are all related, EVERYTHING that lives on this Earth.

10. Milky Way/Cell Phone

Please, is *anybody* out there listening? Have we been so profligate with the Earth that no one will answer us? As a species, are we doomed to be alone? Can Arcosanti show us how to live responsibly here, and even travel to the stars? In the end of this song, is the phone ringing, or is the line busy? This song is "hanblecheya," crying for a vision.

Respect the Earth.

Mitakuye Oyasin.


In Love, Light and Healing,

a little hollow bone

Mr. I and His Cats
http://www.zshare.net/audio/1290564537089d9f/

Supercell
http://www.zshare.net/audio/13095415277fd4de/