song of the day: a day in the life / beatles
word of the day: equipoise

what can i tell you? last night in amsterdam was as good as it gets. i was invited to play the shambhala meditation center by my new friend Tycho, who is a meditation instructor in the Shambhala tradition, and it is highly unusual for them to invite someone from "outside" their lineage (i am a Soto Zen practitioner, technically), in fact they have never done it before. this was a first. i know that Tycho was taking a certain kind of chance in doing this, it's unheard of, actually. i only hope that i did not embarass him or cause any trouble for his situation with Shambhala. i felt it was actually a beautiful coming together, and if you go back a bit Trungpa (father of the Shambhala tradition) and Maezumi (Roshi of Zen tradition) were actually quite close, and had a lot of interaction. in fact, Trungpa used to advise and help Genpo (my favorite Zen teacher) on how to deal with Maezumi. Maezumi was Genpo's teacher, and they had some rough times, let's leave it at that. my point is that decades ago Trungpa and Maezumi had a relationship, and so in a way getting to hang out with the Tycho at the Shambhala center in Amsterdam was an echo of that. the evening began with a concert, i can't remember the exact set list, but i remember i played:
bell
nothing in between
sugar bullets
wizard
anaesthesia, necrophilia
IS
What
Universe Communion
Doppelganger
Swim
Glass
Savoring Samsara

probably some others as well. the audience, the space, and the sound were all ideal and perfect last night. this audience was as good as they come, full house (80 people), totally present, engaged, responsive, open, vulnerable, sincere- you get me. the energy in the room was 99% clear. (that 1% occlusion? my 1st chakra...). after the concert Tycho and I opened it up to a dialogue with the audience, and then there was conversation for about an hour about an integral approach to art and spirituality. we recorded the whole thing with two video cameras, and i'll begin working on editing it into a piece which can either be put up on www.integralnaked.org or put into one of the forthcoming Stuart Davis Live DVDs. the sound was so good! big big thanks to Igor for the amazing bose sound system. after the show and talk, we went downstairs, and i sold out of CDs in about 15 minutes. it's a nice problem to have. i came to holland with 100 CDs, and it looks like it was about exactly the right number, we sold about half of them last night. hee hee. i will always cherish last night, it was one of the great privelages a performer can have to participate in music and the mystery with such a gathering. there were people in attendance from Andrew Cohen's community, a group who drove all the way over from Germany, some who had purchased Nomen Est Numen back in 1997, some from the Ken Wilber study group, of course some from Shambhala's community, a few from the Live Subculture in Holland, and others who just saw the poster, or who had friends from other parts of the World who told them they had to check out the show, so they did. and at 10 Euros a ticket that's a pretty cool thing to take a chance on. to have a sold out show the first time i played in amsterdam was a huge gift, thank you Tycho, and thanks to Rinus, Desiree, Tanja, and Melanie for making my tour of Holland so amazing. this Amsterdam show has been a highlight of the season! now, tonight i have one show left, my last one of the tour, and it's in Roosendahl. after that, i'm off to the airport tomorrow morning, and back to the U.S. and hug my wife and daughter for like a whole week straight. can't wait, i've missed them a great deal. my next gig back in the states is going to be in Hollywood. how's that for routing? i'm going from Amsterdam to Hollywood. hee hee... by the way, the restaurant we ate in last night was FAB, it had probably the best Diet Coke i've had in months. fresh, fresh sparkling bubbles, must have been a brand new carbonation machine hooked up. Bon Apetite'!!