Between the total reset of life as we knew it, and experiencing a stroke a few years ago, life has provided a profound opportunity to grow!

When the world psyop began, I ceased performing and focused all of my efforts on finishing the long overdue treVeld Wend project. This was a gift, in that I much needed this immersion time, which led to  my finally bringing Wend across the finish line!

I also continued to nurture the BMR project, which provided a path for feeding the music & sound passion, and helping me to stay sane.

I continued to pursue my Solo work as well, and participate in my audio software testing projects.

The stroke recovery has been challenging in good ways. I'd lost function of my right arm, hand and leg. Yet I miraculously survived what could have easily been my demise, or severe long term damage, to continue on this amazing journey! 

I have my beautiful daughter Dana to thank for being online with me as the stroke occurred. She immediately called emergency from California to Minnesota, and demanded action. My partner was out of town, so I was alone. Help arrived and they proceeded to break in via the back door, and haul me out to the ambulance, where they could immediately start treating me!

Thus began the process of recovery & healing, which continues to this moment. At this point, I have all my bodily functions back to close to normal, with a lingering experience of what I'd call wooziness, which is not optimal, and my speech is still slurred, yet when I see how far I've come, it's profound!  I'm focusing on guitar to get my chops back, after a year of using the stand up bass to build arm and hand strength. I can drum and play most of the instruments I played before the stroke, yet it's really like starting over to get to where I was, and beyond! I get to really focus on basics, which is always  a good thing. 

As Dustin of treVeld likes to say . . .  ONWARD!

🙏

The Cedar Cultural Center

The Cedar inspired me to the core. Under the tutelage of Bill Kubeczko, it was the center of my musical universe. We (Me & Valerie) became volunteers, with the perk of seeing the amazing shows we worked. We also had the fortune to connect with many of the performers. So many powerful memories of inspiration and connection!

I was blessed to have performed there for my dear friend Peter Hutter's show with Sage Harmos. 

 Mitch Wittenberg & I (Chance Encounters) were the opener. 

Living the dream . . .

Rome Italy - Willies American Guitars - The Prairie Star

This triptych well prepped the soil for those inspirational seeds to grow and bear fruit.

Rome

While in Rome with my sisters and nephew CooRay), they told me of a tiny music store near by, and recommended I check it out.  Sweet! They were headed to the Vatican for the day (Jubilee), and I had zero interest, thus my foray to find the store began. Their directions were spot on, so I easily found it.

I entered the space (tiny), with a couple of guys behind the counter. I didn't speak Italian, so I pointed and grunted in English a lot, seeing if they'd respond. They did, with eyes rolling.

I spotted an ancient looking guitar on a hanger that looked like a lap slide. I awkwardly gestured and pointed to it, attempting to guess whether or not it was cool to play it.

They eventually comprehended my intent, fetching it from it's perch and handed it to me. Upon inspection I noticed it looked like it might buckle if I tuned it. I decided to risk damaging it, and put it into a tuning that I could work with. All by ear, just tinkering to make it playable. No damage, yes!

I quickly realized that I'd need a slide, so began the next awkward  exchange, eventually scoring a regular guitar slide, and looks of  - this will be interesting . . .

As I did my best to coax something coherent out of this antique, I noticed the store dudes begin to lighten up. Actually smiling in their surprise. 

I was as usual improvising, tinkering at my best.

What followed was pure magic. As I played, other musicians began to gather in the room. There was a french guy riffing away like Django, and a number of others chiming in with the ensuing jam. The bridge for me turned out to be a young man named Daniel , who spoke English and started up a conversation. Turns out he was a guitarist into the Blues. He was donning an ace bandage on his arm, which he informed me was prompted by overplaying, thus he did his best to not join the jam.

Daniel said he was in Roberto Ciotti's band (Described him as an Italian SRV), and invited me to play a Rome club with them! I was flabergasted, panicking a bit, I quickly said we were departing for our ancesteral homestead  (Casa Rampi) in the hills outside Foligno. We really were headed there, so my declining felt authentic, yet I was SO relieved to have an excuse to decline his invitation. 

The next thing I noticed was a crowd of people assembling at the shop door, standing in the light rain with umbrellas, and clapping enthusiastically when we'd stop playing.

At one point I looked up and noticed my sisters had found me, and were listening to us play. Janet said - "I haven't heard you play since you were in high school", encouraging me to carry on!

To cap off this Roman adventure, the shop owners announced it was siesta (il riposo) time, and we needed to clear the space. 

Daniel offered to go to his flat with his brother Amadao (who happened to play bass) to carry on. It was close by, and we could come back to the shop after siesta. Arriving at the flat, his mother greeted us by inviting us in. I was immediately transported by the smells of her cooking to my childhood visits to my Italian relatives! It was a deep ancestral activation. The flat had large windows overlooking the beautiful city. Mom didn't speak English, so the intro was short.

We quickly got to the business of playing more music, with Amadao firing up his bass and drum machine as he intensely chain smoked. Daniel offered me to play one of his Strats, pleading with me to choose his prized one of the pair. I accepted and proceeded to play until my fingers were shot. Turns out he was a quite gifted player, and I was struggling to offer anything of value, in that I hadn't played electric guitar for years! 

After hours of relentless jamming, I took off for our hotel. When I arrived, my family had assumed I was either dead, or having a good time.

Grateful it was the ladder!

Rome leads to Willie's

Upon return home from Italy, I was motivated to replicate what took place in that magical music shop. Why would I be required to travel to Europe for such an experience?

It dawned on me that there was a local shop that offered hope, Willies, which was blocks from my home.

So, I stopped in one day, with the intention of  pursuing my inspiration. I came in and went to the back room (acoustic guitars) where I spotted a gorgeous Dobro! I proceeded to grab it and sit on the bench that was present and start to play.

Almost immediately, a guy walks in and says to me, "that sounds great, can I join you? I encouraged him to do so and we noodled for a while. At one point he said "you should bring that thing over to the Prairie Star". I'd never heard of it, so I asked and he said it was a coffee shop where there were Old Time music sessions happening every Saturday morning that went till noon. In my ignorance, I said "describe Old Time for me". He humored me and went on to describe people of all ages hanging out and playing the standards of the genre. It sounded amazing, so I filed it as something to do. That guy turned out to be filmmaker and musician John Whitehead. Next up a woman walks in and joins the jam. That turned out to be Gabriela Sweet. We all had a great conversation of connections. 

Resonance, and two new musical friends . . . mission accomplished!

Prairie Star, here we come . . .

Willie's leads to The Prairie Star

It took me a few weeks to get up my courage to go there and see what transpires.  On first visit, I packed my bari uke, a harmonica and a jaw harp. I sat close-ish to the tune circle and basically listened and assessed the vibes. I never felt compelled enough to unpack my instruments, in that I was too self conscious.  So I drank my tea and enjoyed the tunes, which were largely celtic tinged. I didn't know anyone in attendance.

After the tune's stopped, a burly spirited member of the group, who's voice was deep and strong, came bounding towards the door that I was fairly close to and stopped right next to me as he exclaimed in that classic voice sounding like Santa Claus - " what you got in thar?", as he stared at my unpacked instruments. I immediately felt his presence in that voice! He then sweetly encouraged me to come back next week and join the party!

I later discovered that this man was the infamous Bill Hinkley!  

Bill was a legend, and we became good friends  . . . and resonant renagades.

♥️