I'm in the Denver airport now, where they have no WiFi at all. Not even the pay-as-you-go kind. But I have this magic thingy that accesses the cell phone waves so here I am. Ha! Actually I've never seen the movie Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (referenced in the title). But I was on TV in Denver once. Never got a tape of that one, though. So I have no idea what it looked like. I was here last year when I did some speaking gigs in Boulder. That was fun. Hey Boulder! Have me out there again!
I wrote about the Boulder gigs in my new book. And speaking of that self-same new book, I just got a printed copy of it. Scary! This is definitely the most terrifying book I've written yet. To me, at least. Anyway, this means the books are now printed up, so they could start making their way into stores any time. The official release date is February 14th (it's the perfect Valentine's Day gift). But the way publishing works is that those release dates are just approximates.
I mentioned the death of Patrick McGoohan in my last post. I wanted to mention another important passing in this one. Dave Day, electric banjo player of The Monks passed away on January 10, 2009. The full story is here. The Monks invented punk rock ten years ahead of time with their 1966 LP Black Monk Time, released only in Germany at the time. The CD version is, fortunately, now available for all to hear. So go get yours today.
The Monks record was just a rumor to me for years. I'd read about it. But copies never showed up anywhere. Or when they did they cost several hundred dollars. I finally heard the CD in the mid-nineties and it was too intense for me to listen to it all the way through the first time I tried. And I played bass for Zero Defex! This was mighty massive pounding punkrock long before the word was even invented. In fact I'd say some of that record has yet to be matched by anyone for sheer in-your-face-ness. No wonder they broke up after just one album. If you ever needed proof that certain artists can see into the future, this record is it.
I just saw a really great documentary about the band called Transatlantic Feedback. You might be able to get it through The Monks official website. Unfortunately the producers of the film have been removing videos of The Monks from YouTube. This is an extraordinarily silly move on their part because those videos would have promoted their movie like nothing else possibly could have. I'd love to have linked to one here, but now I can't. Sorry.
I'm on my way to Dallas to visit my dad there. Nobody e-mailed me from the area, so I guess I won't be visiting any Zen centers while I'm there. I wonder if there even are any. I know the Sokka Gakkai people have a place in town. You can read in my new book about how I discovered that following my mother's death in the Dallas area in 2007 (look how many plugs I'm getting in today!). I'll be back in Santa Monica by Saturday, though, for those brave souls who may want to come do some zazen.
My flight's boarding soon. I'll report back from Dallas later. See ya!
ADDENDUM:
Look! I found a video of The Monks that escaped the purge...
