"Somehow you'll Escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing!" -Dr Seuss

Rock and Roll Resort; The Grateful Escape!

You'd be hard pressed to find a music festival in the Northeast that has as much unique character as the Rock N' Roll Resort.  Tucked away in the sleepy Kerhonkson, NY between the "Sundown Wild Forest" and "Lake Minnewaska," set in late March this festival offers something vitally inspiring to the music loving community, when many festivals are becoming so oppressively homogenized. The whimsical setting, the ridiculous levels of MERRIMENT unfolding everywhere you look, the spontaneous collaborations happening between musicians and participants alike, the inclusiveness, self-governing that replaces authority, and general culture of love; put this unassuming festival over the top and even right up there with Jam Cruise and Burning Man in my book! Bold statement? There is something about the explosive levels of creative genius unleashed that can't quite be comprehended by simply looking at this festival on "paper." I've "been all around this world" to many magical events, and I will tell you this one is for the books! Let's take a look at the ingredients of the magic recipe that is Rock N' Roll Resort, causing me to make such a bold statement... 

The founders

It's not hard to realize why this festival is so ridiculously brilliant when you talk to founder and visionary Shannon Splaquet. He exudes a cool, calm "We can do anything" kind of practical confidence about his dream weaving. Being a website developer first and foremost for his company Splaquet Designs, with clients ranging from Karl Denson to Damian Marley, it seems he has found a wonderful balance in his work/play of using his gifts to support the things he loves; namely music. When I asked him where he thinks he may have gotten his practical-whimsical visioneering trait, he credits his parents youthfulness and general supportive encouragement. There are none I enjoy spotlighting more than those making the world a bit brighter, bigger, and more joyful with their vision. 

It's suiting to me that he who first piqued my interest for this event, when I attended for the first time last year, was one Tm Roach, Shannon's early co-conspirators who remains to be a great promoter of the event. As the founder and director of LAF (Living Arts Foundation  in Asheville, NC) whose focus is the Arts and Ecology, and a big part of my "Screaming J's" family, he too is a community leader of "impossible dreams" made real.

The theme last year was "Feast of Fools." Set right on April Fool's weekend. I was reminded that the wisest of the Tarot cards is indeed the fool. He who knows he knows nothing, knows everything. The perpetual seeker, the jolly fool on the path... What "does the caterpillar think the butterfly awkwardly tumbling through the air?"- NM  Surely it must seem the butterfly is nothing but a blissful joyful "escapist." This year's theme was in fact, "The Grateful Escape!" And it brought new understanding of just what it means to "escape all the waiting and staying, to find the bright places where boom bands are playing!" as Dr. Seuss himself would wisely proclaim. These themes speak of an unapologetic amusement that lends so easily to a losing of inhibitions...

I expected nothing less from an event recommended by Tim as he and his equally hard at work-as-you-play partner Rosie, have always been experts at pulling all those around them into the folds of bliss, extracting their creative genius. Everyone in Shannon's world and on his team seem to open rabbit-hole, looking-glass-portals to the playful realms and suck everyone in with the gravity of their vision. It is done in a sustainable way at that. As Maria Montessori would say, "the prepared environment is everything. Give them a place where they can be free to explore... Give them independence within a well prepared environment... true learning and limitless creativity, blossoms there..."

THE SETTING!

The setting for this event is a writer's gold mine of character. Part of what makes this event so unique has absolutely everything to do with the fact that the hotel and event staff let's you do pretty much whatever you want as long as you're not hurting anyone. Most over the top events happen in remote places BECAUSE they allow people to get away from the clock-tick- business-as-usual where they feel more free to self-govern themselves, able to let loose, stretching themselves to glorious, playful sizes, without anyone telling them they can't. There is something otherworldly about being on that mythic Playa, for example, or in the middle of the Sea on a trippy-tippy boat... and yet somehow the SAME level of freedom and expansion happens quite nicely at the humble Rock N' Roll resort. How is this so? 

For one, the festival is set in one of those 1950’s iconic, resort-turned-hotel getaways, the kind that the Catskills is laden with  from it's hey-day of New York City middle class families summer-camping it... It's as if the resort from "Dirty Dancing"  the Hotel from "The Shining" and The lodge from "Hot Tub time Machine" had a baby... Yes! That result would be the venue that is the backdrop for the Rock N' Roll resort. It's beautiful in a nostalgic creepy kind of way... As if memories and ghosts still linger in the very fabric of the place. From the paintings where the eyes of debutantes and solemn little spooky boys in froo froo dress seem to follow you with their gaze, to the overgrown (but still highly playable) mini golf course, tiered ballrooms, to the many acres of rolling hills of park like setting- featuring Weeping willow tree forests, docks and a pond, to the lobby's bizzare overgrowth of sofas (made-late-night-snuggle-puddle) installation-piece zone; the place certainly has CHARACTER for MILES... It is the sort of psychedelic playground that seeds a fertile garden for creativity.

If you are looking for the Ritz Carlton you will be sadly mistaken. But the resort being what it is, is exactly why this level of freedom exists. Like, what ritzy hotel will let folks bring dogs, bunnies, and pet mice to roam around freely? Oh my. (I really did meet one girl's pet mouse!) Or let one run around with kaleidoscope eyes in tutus conducting interpretive dance while rolling around on the lobby floor... Giraffe costume-clad Never-Land lost-boy princes never had it so good... When ancient shamanic queens can be found in the wee hours conjuring up the sun, as someone plays music on a tackle box with a dinosaur washboard-accompaniment... just as sagacious beams shine through topiaries and upon the ridiculous Grecian statues. It's quite a fun scene!  ...All as if from some tripped out Wes Anderson flick.  In the words of visionary rebel Henry Wood about Clingstone, his pirate island-house in the middle of the Jamestown Bay - " It’s not the Breakers and It never will be... and that’s exactly what we love about it"...

The people!

But beyond the freeness of the setting, what I think people love most about this festival is the levels of participation by... the people. Everything from the dress-up themes to the orchestrated games, very fun photo booth (provided by the fabulous Jaqueline Marie and Michael Deary of JMS Art + Photo), live painting happening by the talented Mr John Moorer, to the spontaneous and proficient musical camaraderie occurring in hallways, doorways, and elevators; makes for an atmosphere that simply exudes collaboration...

And so the family of gatherers ooze the kind of energy that lends to a choir of decked out jolly fools singing around a grand piano till 5 in the morning led by Captain Craig Greenberg. Here he is playing with Katie Mae Whelan whom he had just met. (As well as Stay Puft!) Parallel to this, a spontaneous band (complete with flute, fiddle and full-upright-bass) was performing in the elevator for hours as it escorted passengers up and down! These kinds of rare, cherished moments, saturated with playful genius are truly what I live for. 

This year, the first night's dress-up theme had us rocking Jungle/80's outfits which made it deliciously so much more "Hot Tub Time Machine" to me, I couldn't stand it! Moon boots and feathers baby... that's what I went with!  ...Roads? With feathers and moon boots we don't need roads!

Wild-West/Hippy was the theme the next night... indeed, I had many conversations that night about how when we march to the beat of our own drum- escaping the doldrums of clock-tick oppressive conformism- it is as if we are in a sort of veritable WILD West! ...and it will ALWAYS be harder, because there is no course, no set road-map... We are making it up as we go, following only the beat of our own precious hearts and the nagging visions that would never leave us alone. As pioneers on the brink of a new frontier we truly are forging pathways, drawn by our visions and fed by autonomy, towards a loving lawless heaven...

Self-governing, reigns supreme here... To the non de-programmed eyes, surely it must appear as absolute mayhem at times! But when we "do what we want" forged by an intrinsic moral compass... well, just take a look at all the magic of this "unruly" pirate crew...

"God Bless the wanderlust anarchists keeping the primordial fires lit. Where shamans, sages, and pirates are alive and well. Where Goddess Gatherings, and Wild Rumpuses thrive. Where Wolf Children not only hear the Call, but send the Call out even Furthur... These are the places where gypsy caravans still exist, and lush, open-air mossy fairy temples are waiting to bathe such intrepid spirit travelers. These are the Neverland worlds where dreams are born and brought down to be woven in the world of being. These are the places Where Troubadours and Love are One. Held by Spirit We soul Adventure" -me

The price is nice!

It is quite rare nowadays to participate in a unique experience without having to shell out some ridiculous amount of dough in the thousands. Yes, the cost of freedom seems to be getting higher everyday! To really let loose it seems people are upping the ante by hopping planes to see Phish in Mexico, jetting to some magical Costa Rican festival in some ritzy glitzy digs, or bobbing around the globe on a deluxe cruise ship. Those things are great no doubt! But it's incredibly refreshing to experience that same level of JOY, Freedom, and the kind of expansion that comes from taking over a playground as our home- at a tiny fraction of the price. For as little as around $250 a person, Rock N' Roll Resort offers the luxury of a hotel room with showers, unapologetic shenanigans, and 2 + full days (and I mean FULL) of music. And this year, in efforts to encourage more inter-generational attendees, Shannon says he is even launching a very generous "New Family" discount of -$75 to groups of 4 or more. As always, kids are free.

The timing!

In the Northeast, March is a hard month. With temperatures in the 30's it is still very much winter here for crying out loud. Many of us sensitive music loving empaths have absolutely reached our limits. Rock N' Roll Resort is an extremely welcome saving grace that kicks off the music festival season for all the sun starved of us who have been hibernating.  There is something about that first festival, seeing all the people you resonate with most for a multi-day affair, when we are so very starved for warmth, that just sends the contagious energy through the ROOF! If you live in a climate that is warm year round, you can't quite fathom what the spring means to those of us who suffer in the cold for long periods. It is one of the most magical forces when everything comes alive again. Rock N' Roll Resort brings that same kind of festival-season-rebirth with it as well.

Not to mention, rain in the Northeast can be the death of a music festival, as we all may painfully remember of our beloved Berk Fest- (the High Sierra of the Northeast) -Ah... what a festival that was.. When so many northeast festivals get rained on, it's pretty brilliant that RRR is set inside this indoor/outdoor playground.

The Music of Course!

Last but certainly not least.... THE MUSIC. Music at its essence is storytelling that bends sound to bring us to set coordinates... It is upon sound waves that we are set sailing on epic emotional journeys towards those set coordinates... and beyond. This is why our favorite songs have the power to take us to incredible triumphant destinations uncharted... sometimes they dive us deep into the bluesiest of places touching down on our harshest of buried heartbreaks, shining a light on them. Like an excavation, we arrive in a mythic Nautilus to those coordinates, and becoming steeped in the resonant fluid worlds that music saturates us in, it permeates into every crevice of our heartache and... heals us. 

The healing accessed by music is like a nourishing feast for our hearts and soul that repair and fortify us. What makes for the most satiating of feasts at festivals is therefore... DIVERSITY. Yes, when the storytellers and dream weavers in our scenes aren't just one voice charting the courses, casting the spells, and writing our scenes history books, but many "voices," it makes for a more dynamic journey...  That fuller healing, and complete collage brings us into a more whole alignment with truth. All our struggles and triumphs are so very different. The places and truths a black man can access and uncover with his passion and pain through his playing or singing, will be very different than the places a Hispanic woman can, or a white woman, etc. And so where more places of healing are exposed and explored... a more whole nourishing feast is had by the heart and soul... for everyone.

I am always particularly hard on festival planners in this music scene for the lack of female artists in line ups... for this very reason. ...So HATS off to Rock N' Roll Resort, albeit a small festival, that seemed to do quite a nice job of satiating the appetite of my soul! Not an easy thing to do. When Speaking to Shannon in applauding this, he said that it was both conscious and also a matter of taste. He conveyed that "jam-blandness"  would be a pretty boring thing to perpetuate. Brilliant. It is exactly about having a "broader" palate. Yes, pun intended. As a woman, for example, I genuinely CRAVE the kind of musical release only a woman can give me... and in these "Me Too" shifting times... nothing can bring us on the shores of a new paradigm of healing, like music can. Music has always been our best carriage. 

...So when I am rocking out to Kung Fu in the ballroom, and I become immersed in the funky and soulful places those brothers take me... but then I slip out next door to where Jen Durkin and Kit Holiday are bellowing out sheer girl power ecstatic empowerment during their all-star Jam... and Darian Cunning is bringing it all home with a transcendental shamanic-channeled healing from the very cosmos of his blood and guts... my soul feels... Rocked. Whole. Fed. Changed. 

As a sensitively activated human and healer, I can't tell you what it means to work with music in this way. To witness it as such.

 Ms. Amy Sheridan (who works with Melvin Seals and Jerry GARCIA Band, as well as being founder and director of Fangeist- a wonderful new home for all our community, live-stream music and networking needs), and I spoke in length about this very thing. Being Hispanic, she really related to this topic, noting that not many seem to make the link that Jerry Garcia himself- one of the fathers of this very scene, was of course, Hispanic.

Music will always be RICHER when diverse storytellers are adding  more to the pot of our collective culture ...and that "culture" is exposure that will empower our collective immune systems...  Diversity ensures survival as Darwin himself has observed... for THIS very reason. There is a collective genius in the problem-solving eco-system of our glorious unique selves working as one.

What an amazing thing it was to witness it this weekend, even if we still are in the infancy of tapping into the POWER that exists in the unity of a mulit-cultural, diverse scene.

I did not have time to check out every single performance, but each one that took place in either of the ballrooms was WONDERFULLY mulit-camed by the RRR team and edited live. I highly encourage the readers to check these out  HERE.  Truth be told, I don't review music, that's not really what I do at all. So I'll do what I do, and just give you the sense for moments that spoke to me. 

"Melvin Seals and Jerry Garcia Band" as well as "Golden Gate Wingmen"

...both made the Dead inspired theme, one that came alive with unique style for miles ...each in their own distinct ways.  They excelled at taking old songs and making them current. Sunshine and Lady Chi brought incredible power and soul to the sound. Melvin's playing seemed to bring the holy ghost! It's a gospel truth that comes alive, through his proficient sensitivity and playing, that heightened the going-to-church quality that Dead songs already bring to people. 

And Reed Mathis. He sang an "I'm Sick of Love" so raw, sexy, and soulful that would make Bob Dylan proud. He debuted a new song of his called, "Ladder" I couldn't help but transcribe it, as it was so full of imagery of mapping the very skies, bridging the great distances, and ditching the ladder crutches we once grasped onto so tightly... it evoked perfectly the shift from hierarchy and dependency towards... autonomy... towards... alchemy! Bravo.

West End Blend 

was absolutely my favorite new-to-me finds of the weekend. You have just got to check this video from about the 1 hour mark till the end. This band had people in full-on participation mode, gettin down to get back up! It was a full-blown, empowered sexy dance party. Moon boots were flying in the air. (Whose could those be?! ) You can even glimpse yours truly in lit up tutu-clad attire, up close to the band and personal, as Erica T Bryan's smoother than silk voice took us away. Horns for days! This band felt FULL, as they filled-in perfectly synced funk pockets. Their message... UPLIFTING. And trumpet player Michael Bafundo! What a name... He is like  this secret weapon...  you have no idea the voice he's housing till he puts his horn down and OUT blasts his inner Soul sister! I truly encourage folks to check them out.

Kind Bud's Kind Dubs

Another favorite musical moment for me was Saturday afternoon when long time RRR performer, Kind Bud dedicated a beautifully touching rendition of Stella Blue to the youngest Rock N' Roll Resort attendee, a sweet little newborn baby named Stella. Bud just exudes love. Throughout the entire weekend, I kept seeing the miraculous Kitty Hary who dances like water, and partner Kind Bud who felt equally as sagacious and grounding. There is something cool and calming about these two that makes one instantly feel safe. They share a rare and beautiful presence to behold, and this comes through as pure healing from his music as well. 

Jen Durkin and the Business + Jen Durkin's Soul Power

Jen Durkin is a legend in the Northeast for her days with "Deep Banana Blackout".... It was a time when female musicians in the jam band scene were rare to non-existent. Holding her own in a way like none other, she has always been an icon and an inspiration. Her guitar player in "Jen Durkin and the Business", Darian Cunning blew me away and was easily my favorite new-to-me guitarist for 2018! He seemed limitless, a music shaman for sure. The entire band does a brilliant job of holding their own.

Her "Soul Power" Project was an All-Star Jam featuring everyone from Rob Somerville of Kung Fu to the horn players from West End Blend and a whole host of other angels. One of my favorite presences was Ms. Kit Holliday! She is one of those singers in the Boston area scene that just seems to be everywhere. Most recently noted for her work with Ryan Montbleau Band, Kit's supportive presence and powerful voice has my heart. She and new-to-me singer Milo Barer along with Jen Durkin, made a Lady-trio vocal powerhouse that just brought the sauce. Holy tamale what a deliciously healing feast for the soul! It was the collaborative All-StarJam that Rock N' Roll Resorters were hungry for!

Other bands in which I experienced soul connecting moments, each in their own way- included Mammal Dap, Escaper, Scott Pemberton Band, and Tweed.

THE SCREAMING J's!

HOLY PONY!! They did it again. If Rock N' Roll Resort, is all about freedom and unlocking creativity via musical play, Jake Hollifield may as well have been the Ambassador of the whole Love Affair. There is just something about the transcendental lyrics beaming from this piano playing wizard of the Screaming J's, that open the eyes and unleashes liberation... Songs like "Mama Don't Allow," "Ain't Nobody's Business" and "Everybody Smoke Some Marijuana" seem to be part of his scientific method to get people to "break the rules" and let loose! He is truly one of my favorite humans and someone I consider as a spirit-guide. Chopstick playing drummer, Mr. Mike Gray ( I will never understand how he doesn't just shred through them!) is the only drummer that I know of that could match the speed and rhythm of Jake's ecstatic states he accesses. I used to think that here in the Northeast one simply can not find music like this North Carolina, high-energy, old-timey, boogie-woogie, but What I have come to realize is that you can't really find it ANYWHERE! And these boys last ALL night long, into the break of day and beyond, taking us... Furthur...

Collaboration during their late night set reached EPIC proportions as they were soon joined by Elevator-jams Pirate-King, Jeff King on bass, trumpet player Michael Bafundo from West End Blend, and an unknown to me- washboard player. It was a MirAcuLOuSLY SpOnTaNeOuS ALL-STAR Jam. 

Having North Carolina's very own Painter John Moorer painting live to them, is always a thing to behold as it enriches the whole experience. YES, as break-dancers and interpretive headstand ballerina Queens twirled about, all in that world The Screaming J's painted and opened with their boogie magic spells, it was all something kind of... well, beyond magical! 

Having met Jake centuries past, in my early days of making magic with "The Slip," he holds a truly familial place in my heart's of heart. Being at the Rock N' Roll Resort with the whole giant love-bug, raga-muffin muppet, Screaming J's crew, including Jake's very own bouncing new baby boy and his mama (one of my closest sisters) in tow, was very special to me indeed. The Screaming J's isn't just a band, it's an ever growing, caring family of wanderlust poets, misfits, troubadours, and time/space artists alike. So many of them had flown in from all over to be a part of this tripped-out, fancy-free, Rock N' Roll Resort adventure... 

After all, part of what makes festivals so incredible is that sense of reconnecting to family who know you best...

Long lost moon goddesses, child-like empresses, and loving cosmic brothers... who see you, love you, know you wholly to your core, and know the worlds you live in... and don’t just understand them but Dance there for days pushing the very boundaries of those worlds till they grow even bigger in our coalescence.. that essence... where the words fall away and all that is left on the surface is brilliant giggling incoherency.... and yet in that connection this is the truest language we speak... In that moment as we can only be best understood in energy as the linear falls away and words become superfluous and often incomprehensible anyway!... yet perfectly brilliant... It is a life-sustaining nectar to our parched souls... Those who speak our common tongue and know our dreams and the places where we dance... how precious that is.

 ~Through the Rabbit-hole Looking-Glass ~

One of my favorite moments that really encapsulates the magic...

...was in the Resort's Cigar Bar, where an upright piano was being played proficiently pretty much non-stop as the costume clad of us shot pool and lounged in the laid back smoky atmosphere. In his full length vintage faux fur coat, and three piece suit, one drummer, Mr. Mike Gray of the Screaming J's played a truly soulful personalized medley that evolved into "To Love Somebody" by the Beegees. It went straight to my heart.

I had been playfully charged with being Rosie's "handler" that night... as she was in rare, sassy form, floating at the speed of light, as she does... What started as a joke turned into a playful experiment of sorts... This was great fun of course, as it felt like what it must be like, to keep up with... myself.

Most of the people I really connect with in a profound way, have this same kind of nearly unspoken, independent "spirit-walk-dance" that they do in these types of free, safe settings...

To the untrained eye operating in "linear," it must appear like a meandering directionless, zig-zagging mess. Much like the "ambition-less" flight pattern of a butterfly... Most of the wisest people I've ever met don't tend to be taken too seriously by those who would have them burdened with inhibitions of conformity that limit expansion... but those meandering super novas seem beyond care of such things anyway.

I can recall some of my favorite teachers I met in India and around the world, whom I respect most, and they all seem to have this very similar silliness, lightness, and disarmingly sweet child-like quality about them.

I've come to understand that it is actually a highly evolved and presently playful-surrender-type-state. Required to achieve it, is a refined intuition, deftness of skill, and wisdom. Like the Salt doll who dissolves into the Sea, to understand it fully... a "losing" of one's mind, is somewhat required... or at the very least, a losing of one's reservations...

"...driven by a need to knowstepped into the undertowtowards the depths the doll descendslooking for the ocean's endwhen the moon was full and lowwriting by afterglowledger lines and measurementsto their doll a bottle sent..."-The Low Anthem

It's not unlike a sort of meditation... And that sacred flight-pattern-dance takes one to the most profoundly joyful of learning places, where one is synchronized with the pulse of the macrocosm. Nothing feels better than slipping out of the limits of 3D ...even if it might look like snow angels on the ballroom floor!

In this joyful state, EVERY phenomena that presents itself in your "reality environment," (every song, every encounter, every plot-twist, and laid back whimsical utterance) is astonishingly like a synchronized private love letter revealed by your heart...

You turn to your heart suspiciously and say... "How did they know? Did you tell them?"  

"You're not going crazy" ...you heart utters back... "you're just swimming where the veil is thin... able to hear the sphere music now..." 

And there is indeed, a method to the madness...

And no... I'm not talking about LSD... these days I can access these places nearly clean as a whistle... or rather as a bell that rings... simply because of how sensitively activated one can become... I'm always amazed at the incredible sense of connection when that "flow" stream is achieved, that makes one feel so expansively Whole... Independent... Complete. Like I ATE the macrocosm! In letting go of the attachments held to friends and other things we cling to... that flow inevitably takes over and winds us with all others, with LIFE itself... perfectly in tune to that "sphere music" (as Rumi calls it), allowing us to connect to everyone, and everything more than ever before...

So it's quite fun to try to keep up with someone who is deep in their own personal flow... it's like sticking a camera on a unicorn to see where it goes! ...and you're the camera! It's like toggling two dimensions- the conscious linear observer (the bodhisattva writer/translator in me whom leaves breadcrumbs) as well as the playful flow itself, which you must become fused with- that allows you to keep up with your subject matter! That was the sort of playful experiment that seemed to have evolved of it's own merry volition, here anyway... not even of my conscious choosing...

In that flow, we felt a sudden erratic draw towards the Cigar Bar. We flung open the doors and ricocheted in, perfectly in synch... We paused there and found one Painter John, Dancing Chi, and Mike Gray. What a joyful reunion with these love bugs.... It wasn't long before I could tell Mike was flirting with the idea of playing, so I pulled up a seat and easily acquiesced a song out of him... my efforts were replete with reward as he began to bellow out the soulful tune... "You don't know what it's like... to Love somebody the way I love you"... It was full of pregnant pauses and presence. It is a rare and special treat when Mike sings, as it's only happened a few times, in all the years I've known him. There was something timelessly haunting about the way he sang those sad lyrics, the longing, the bittersweet and beautiful heartbreak... I knew it well, like a love letter from my own heart that somehow my brother had managed to transcribe... I was transported, reflecting on my own heart's buried pain and longing, as he tapped me right through a portal to it's coordinates...

So often lately I've been oscillating between 2 kinds of guilt. 1 born from feeling like I am a sell out, giving up on a dream, letting the whole world down... and the other born from feeling like I'm an escapist running away... toward it. Both equally hurt and are terrifying. Many are feeling this way right now. I imagine it's simply the toggling of two shifting paradigms... The comfort of the old, albeit broken one we are coming from... and the new one we are birthing. We are all connected. And so we feel this dance woven through all our own personal stories... What I tell my students is the same advice my heart had for me in that moment of longing and sorrow..."If it feels like shit, it's a lie... and if it feels like love, it's the truth. We aren't meant to drown in guilt, the path is always found through resonating at a frequency that feels good. Stick with love, and all will be well. We aren't bad people for doing what we love, what brings joy ...nor are we bad people for taking it slow, in efforts not to leave anyone behind. In fact we can't really run, rushing toward a dream shoving our way there anyway... it would disappear again the moment we got "there." They come to us, after all. All we must do is stay open in the soft light where it feels good, whole, and joyful... moving with that love, in every thing we do... holding space for that dream to come alive in a state of FAITH filled Surrender. Resonating with that dream... because love and dreams resonate at the same magnetic frequency... and so, that's how they come to us. That thing we want so bad, that we can almost taste. That thing we have glimpsed and know so truly in our hearts that we must do, calling us home... We're not wrong, it's real, but it's not "out there" somewhere. It's where ever we are being present resonating with abundant love, in the bliss of connection. That's where we begin, and that's where it blooms. We don't do nothing, either though... it's just that the thing we must do to get "there"- to come "here" is... subtle. It's done in energy, first and foremost... and that energy will always guide us, when we stay resonant and true with it, in everything we do. Then actions we take and step into will be clear, because they will ring with truth, feeling right. That's the best way I can describe flow~

My 8 year old Bodhi one day said to me as we were driving, listening silently to some soft music along her pretty route from school, right as I was grappling with guilt and this question in my mind...

"Mama, I have a message for you..." and after a long pregnant pause she sat upright with a clear look in her eyes and said, "there is no right or wrong path... we are only meant to feel love with all our family everywhere...right where-ever we are." She looked out the window smiling at the trees and the clouds in that peaceful, complete way she has about her.

She channels wisdom sometimes and it never stops getting mind-blowingly awesome to experience it. She has been working with a woman who has really empowered her knowing, to understand her gifts, named Jen Ward.

As I sat there next to Mike, with music as my carriage, the seed of the "middle-path" message she had planted for me, coalesced in the wisdom of my DNA... I understood it without anymore shadows of the doubts.

Lost in these thoughts, I had barely noticed Rosie disappear in a blink of an eye and a flash of light with a hula hoop in hand! From where she summoned it, I still have no idea. But in a moment of letting myself submerge fully into what my heart had to say... it severed us from each other.

When the song was over, the writer in me snapped me out of my trance! I stood up, noticed what had happened and with a comical, theatrical jolt with eyes widened, I turned to my brothers and said, "Great Scott!" as only one Doc. Brown could! (I've learned that humor is both worth it even if it's only for my own amusement, and that it always inevitably serves as some key to someone else's riddle!) Like a mad scientist determined to continue my experiment I flung open the Cigar bar portal and ran back through to the other side of the ballroom after Rosie! But at that point it was like trying to find a unicorn behind the wrong secret door all together... This fun little winding "watch" was over.... and it had led me to a great truth.

...I learned that in the words of the illustrious Abbey Lincoln, "you can't handler unicorns, nor can you chase them"

-No, no that can't be it... Here it is:

"Some folks talk about my power, some folks say I'm wild and strong, others say my style of living makes a man go wrong...           I'm a woman hard to handle, if you need to handle things... I got LOVE for climbing Mountains.. Love for Sailing Over Seas.. I've got love There is no stopping, Love for sending like the breeze... When my life on Earth is over, and the struggle here is won, I will find a new dimension in the rising SUN! I will spread my wings and fly... if you see a streak of lightening I'll be passing by! Cuz LOVE is an emotion... it will move you to do things!! ... To do things! ...I got Thunder and it RINGS!"

-Ms Abbey Lincoln

Kung Fu was about to take the stage. Rosie was gone, but I knew she was in the capable hands of the festival Gods and God-Us-es held there only by the sheer merriment of her prankster flow~ So I took the translator Babel Fish out of my own ear, to hear the true sphere music of all things once again...

Opening to LOVE (the great connector) and reverence for all around me- I was able to step through the veiled walls of impermanence. Love fed my wanderlust anarchist soul, whose compass is Only forged and found in the clarity of such Love... Letting go into that stream, I slipped from between worlds full-on into that fluid spirit realm... where I gelled.... coalescing with harmonized union to all things... I was free like a wild-child, radiating. In full-on fairy mode I was glowing... swimming in a stream of love letters from the illustrious ambrosia of the Heavenly realms... sent straight to my heart. Instantly I saw my sister Ellen, my brother Jed and there was Rosie and Dibs too. My heart warmed... as Dibs seemed to pull everyone in the whole room into a warm embrace.

Just then another woman appeared, whom I rode into the event with on my little blue bus, Banjo.... Brittny Charity.

Singer, painter, brilliant artist and philanthropist, she has introduced me to so many Middle Eastern, 12th century poets.

On Sunday morning after the event, swimming in the blissful afterglow of fuzzy snuggles, new family forged, scents of hash browns and coffee, and the energy permeating of a job well done of play and cups filled to overflowing... It was Brittny who helped send all our sailing hearts soaring back home, that last morning of this Rock N' Roll Resort adventure....

(Check out her non-profit, Ukes for Dreams, bringing the gift of HOPE and Music to the most marginalized.)

“I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.”

-late 18th century poet and writer Kahlil Gibron

The Mountain... it's where we come together in celebration. And it's play with purpose. It keeps us strong, reminding us of who we are, the joy that can be accessed, and how free we can be... and every time we gather in this loving lawless heaven, it lends us the new blue-prints in which we download from our collective genius of how we must go out into the world, with our MANY gifts and serve. Serve with joy, serve with love, serve with purpose, and in that serving, we sow the seeds from the mountain into the world at large, filling every valley of despair, until none is left... until every land is one of tranquil, joyful light. 

Thank you reader for sharing the dream. Till next time, and all the times between unions.

<3 Lara ~ 

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