The Years In Between::

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Band 16
City Light Orchestra Kansas City , Mo. 1988
Actually I joined this band the day before a tour . Our first gig was at the Westcliff Jazz festival in Colorado. We shared the bill with members of Spyro Gyra and Art land and Rubisa patrol and others. Then 5 weeks residency at "Horsefeathers" in Sarasota FL. 6 nights a week then finished up as the house band at the Allis Plaza Hotel during the 175,000 person weekend held right at our doorsteps for the annual "Spirit Festival". Smithereens and Asleep at the Wheel were both staying there. Smithereens caught our show and partied with us later , dubbing us "the best band we've ever seen in a club anywhere".

Not suprising . It was a six piece Kansas City style blues/jazz band and boasted Carmel Jones on trumpet { Horace Silver} Art Jackson on Tenor Sax { Count Basie Orch} and Big L Barker on Bass { Charlie Parker} rounded out with Tim whitmer on acoustic grand piano and David Basse on Drums and vocals with me on electric guitar. It was in fact the best band I 've played in to date, but it ended right after that tour.

After this band I returned to Sedona and began in earnest, a 7 year long journey into the the core of my being through spiritual awakening. This was such a powerful time I literally sold all my guitars and equipment and didn't play guitar at all for 5 straight years. During this time I furthered my studies of Cherokee Medicine and Tibetan Buddhism, becoming initiated as a dancer of Cherokee medicine dance and Tibetan Sacred {lama} Dances simultaneously. It took over my entire Being and, as a dance protege' of Asoka and Sujata , world renowned professional dancers for 43 years, I became a professional dancer, producing over 72 one man shows across the country.

During this time I wrote for and received 5 different artist's grants totalling 38,000 dollars over a 3 year period. with this new found resource I studied all over the country with various teachers of great renown taking retreats and private instruction and recieving numerous intiations in Tibetan Buddhism. I was initiated into Padmasambhava practice by his holiness Tenzin Gyatso himself, the 14th Dalai Lama in 1989! For the next several years I found myself at the feet of high Lamas [Teachers} constantly, absorbing information as fast as they could dispense it. I spent a far longer period afterward learning to integrate that knowledge into my life , to varying degrees of sucess.

Still, this was my "Golden Era" a blissful time of utter devotion lived out on the stage for a living . A perfect synthesis of learning and Being and Sharing all the while earning it's own living doing just that. Amazing! Sadly with the passing of my Dance teachers, a light went out in my world while financial concerns began to dog me down once again.

I decided to re-enter the world of music as the muse was once again visiting me. During my Dance Days I had taken it upon myself to learn Tablas { e. Indian Hand Drum} from Usted Zakir Hussain, one of the worlds greatest tabla Players. I was playing in a club in Flagstaff when I was approached to go on tour with a band called the Dharma Bums.

The very next day I was on my way to Colorado for a 7 week tour in a 7 piece rock band in the middle of Feb. - during one of the worst snowstorms in half a century!
This gig signalled my return to music and shortly thereafter I returned full time to the guitar , this time as a solo artist playing only original music exclusively! It was 1994.
Dharma Bums, 1994, I was only in this band for a 7 week tour of the Colorado Rockies. It was one of the most blurry yet memorable rides I have been on. The band is the "Original" Dharma Bums, { there are several versions out there , maybe and maybe not related to each other.THIS version was founded in 1971 by the in-immitable Phil Void { note the pun} in NEPAL and at the time of our tour had cultivated 35 completely different personnel line-ups worldwide! Phil basically takes his songs around and whoever is around and available to tour at THAT moment , hops on board. I can't even remember the names of the members of our version except that Mark Dann joined us in Colorado and he and I became running mates for a while.

Mark is an incredible multi-instrumentalist and New York studio owner/player/ luthier who built Rick Dankos' scroll bass { the Band} and played and was the house drummer at the bottom line for ten years.The only thing I remember vividly about that tour was selling off my equipment a piece at a time to Phil who basically was not able to pay me for half the gigs- and driving 40 miles through the backroads of Westcliff in a raging snowstorm without chains on a bleak dark winding two lane road so we could make a birthday party at his friends' house in Gardner! [gotta love him for that!} I was so exhausted and frazzled I jumped in her bathtub for 4 HOURS and soaked myself into a quiet dream. Thanks Phil for the memories! Note* Howie Wyeth- drummer on Dylans' " Blood on the Tracks " album and Rolling Thunder revue- was the original drummer for this band and appears on their early recordings { r.i.p.]

Band 18
1994-1997 "The New Bedouins"- a four piece "gypsy Jazz' style acoustic outfit consisting of Fitzugh Jenkins on Flamenco guitar, Zirque Bonner on Stand-up bass, Claudia Tulip on silver classical flute and myself on " Tablas and various percussion". Formed originally as a duet with Fitzhugh on solo electric bass and myself on percussion, the band developed through several metamorphosis with me { in and out of the band several times over the years} The best stretch was a brief stint at a local Sedona resturant that lasted a few months on a regular basis. This band had it's finger on the world music pulse before that music really took off in the mainstream. Sadly none of the recordings this band attempted ever saw the light of day.They remain brilliant largely due to the personal energies of the players involved and the special alchemy that brought about.

Band 19
2004-2008 "Sage Gentle-Wing & Runaway Train" - My attempt at finally getting my own all original band together. The first line up was with Terry Garvin on drums and backing vocals, and Ryan Prier on bass.
Terry had produced my CD, "Roadside Revelations". The band was originally established to perform the songs from the CD. Terry was temperarily replaced by Jazz drummer Jim Banister, and then reverted back to Terry.
After a year haitus, I put together a four peice version with Mo Degle on Drums and Ted Greenbaum on multi keyboards and Ryan on bass. We performed a brilliant two song set at the 2008 Phoenic Music Awards and that version broke up the next day.
I could not get any commitment from anyone to reheare. The band is currently in limbo, looking for new members.

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