Big News: The Mystery IS announces the arrival of Ara Belle Davis (pronounced Ahr-ah), born September 15th, 3:05pm in Boulder, Colorado. 3 pounds, 3 ounces. Mother Marci Davis delivered Ara after 24 hours of labor, with no drugs and no sleep. Marci's meditation and yoga practices went volcanic at about 6am on the 15th, opening the invisible heart at the Point of all Places, and spraying subtle-causal lava throughout the seen and unseen Kosmos. If you think that's a metaphor, then stop thinking, because I was there, and her radiation burned lifetimes off my Story. Marci became the greatest Dharma talk I've ever heard, and it had no words. She shifted and re-formed her body, making deep belly sounds from the eye of that moment right before pain and euphoria divide, writhing slowly until a bloody, shaking perfection peeked out and opened her two pearl-black eyes right at me, the father.

And that is why we had to cancel all those shows, friends. Ara was born over two months early. In fact, I was scheduled to go on the road, complete the entire CD release tour, come home, and still have three weeks to spare before her birth. But she showed up nine weeks ahead of schedule. Marci's water just broke without warning, we went into the hospital and just waited, and we all hoped she wouldn't go into labor, but then she did, and suddenly Ara was here. The day after her birth, Ara was transferred to Boulder Community Hospital Foothills, a brand-new hospital which literally opened its doors for patients the very day we were moved there. It also happens to be the best center in the country for our situation, it's a history-making hospital and Ara is literally one of the first five babies ever treated here. The most kick ass thing about BCHF is the way they treat premies here. The room Marci and I live in is attached to Ara's room. There is a door between the two, and we can go in and be with her any time we want, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That may seem like a simple thing, but would you believe it's absolutely unheard of? This is the first hospital of its kind. This is utterly shocking in a way, after you've been here for five minutes you can't imagine how or why a hospital would do it any other way. Before we transferred here, Ara was in the intensive care nursery at Boulder Community Hospital, which is also a great hospital with an amazing staff, but there she was in a room far away from ours, we had to walk over to see her, and there were many other babies and staff in the room, and it was crowded and loud. Here, Ara has her own private room attached to ours, and the only people allowed to see her are Marci and me and the doctors and nurses who care for her. But even they leave her alone unless they're working with her, since Ara is supposed to still be in the womb, they do their best to simulate the environment most supportive of her development (quiet, warm, softly lit). The hospital is also incredibly beautiful, Marci and I feel like we're staying at the Hilton not a medical building. Our room is huge, with a view of the mountain and furnished with the best of everything.

Ara is probably going to be here for a long time, and that means so will we. We've literally moved in here, and they tell us to expect her to be in this ward until her actual due date, which was November 21st. So, you can see why we had to suddenly cancel the CD release tour. Funny, cuz the new CD is all about Ara and Marci, and the feminine divine. These Dakinis are a kaleidoscope water slide, and all I can tell you is if you're lucky enough to work with them, kiss your ass goodbye.

We have rescheduled a lot of the CD release tour now, I'll hit the road again once Ara has stabilized. She's incredibly strong, virtually every doctor and nurse that has worked with her comments on how vigorous and firey she is. She pulls the tubes out of her throat, rips the oxygen off her face, kicks, punches, screams, and has an amazingly strong body for any baby, not just a premie. She's brilliant and powerful, just like her mom, and we know she's going to be a very healthy, happy human.

Marci and I want to sincerely thank each of you who sent supportive words and thoughts our way for this scary and difficult time. There is still a lot of work ahead to get Ara's body, mind, spirit running smoothly , but we are assured and reinforced by the love from Ara's thousands of friends in the Mystery who welcome her so fully to the family. Ara has no opposite~

stuart davis, boulder, september 17th 2003