Hotel doesn’t even have shampoo. In the mad rush to get here I forgot to bring any toiletries, so I'll be looking very pretty today. Woke up working on a new song, ‘Caetano,’ this morning. Still trying to capture the lyrics for this one. Thinking a lot about The Adventures of Fishy which is close to being finished, but has been put aside because so much work now on the last two albums and the website and the diaries etc. I hate politics, and reform talk and all that. I went to sleep last night just drained and overwhelmed and thought, you know, I'm an artist. I like to sing and write songs and write stories and stuff. That's my thing. I don’t like the fact that things are so messed up that I feel like I have to do something about it. I don’t want to. I just want to do my thing. If artists are supposed to be the entertainers say and enlighteners, at best, and politicians are supposed to be the guys taking care of everything social, economic, and political, I don’t think things are working out so well for us. You don’t see Clinton up on stage teaching Aerosmith how to play ‘Dream on.’ Why should we have to teach them how to do their jobs right?

O.k. enough of that. I'm back now. On the cab ride to the airport I saw the headline in the Washington Post that yesterday was the biggest protest march since the sixties. Imagine that. So in a way we did it. lets hope it accomplishes something. Spent the day seeing the city and some of the monuments and attractions of the District. DC is a beautiful city. The weather is gorgeous. All the trees are changing color. A crispness in the air that we never get in Miami. After today I feel so inspired to be an American. You can’t help but be inspired after coming here. of course you can’t help but be disgusted as well when you think of the lowly heights we have stooped over the last fifty years. You know, people tell you it's always been this corrupt, that history always has a way of covering up the worst and weakest moves of our leaders. So who knows. Try to remember that when our ‘forefathers’ first drafted the Bill of Rights and the Constitution that it was only for white men; it didn't include women or black people, or indigenous people, etc. So just that is pretty gross, and shows how far we've come as a nation. But boy the ideals that this country is founded on are so fantastic. It is inspiring.  

Wow. What an exciting day! Went to the anti-war rally and march today held at the Vietnam veterans memorial. Over 200,000 were there. It was very inspirational because no one I knew was going. Like I said most people feel content with just watching stuff like that on TV, staying home and doing their own thing. So I had this lonely feeling flying up, like, “man what are you doing now…” But then I woke up this morning and started walking towards the rally spot and before I knew it I am surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country who feel the same way that I do about things. I met up with the bus that came from Florida. There were about fifty of them. 


We all hung out together and listened to the speeches at the rally. Busses were arriving throughout the day from every state in the nation. Susan Sarandon spoke very passionately; patty smith sang the song ‘the people have the power.’ Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson spoke. One of the best speeches was by Ramsey Clark, the ex-United States Attorney General. He blasted Bush and what he calls the real axis of evil that is made up of Bush, Colin Powel, Donald Rumsfeld, and Dick Cheney. All oil and big business war mongers ready to take down as many American lives and Iraqi lives as they want to in their little war for oil. And of course they won't fight. Plenty of young poor Americans will. Al Sharpton used the bogie-man analogy and said that George Bush was just trying to use this war as a means to get the public’s attention off of what was really important to us right now, like the falling economy, horrible education problems, the federal deficit, the recession, disastrous health care—this is something I can relate to because almost all of the musician friends I have all over the country do not have any health insurance—they are just  ‘winging it’, the Enron scandal, a company that he and Cheney were both very close to, and many other real problems. And of course the fact that we haven't made any progress in catching anyone responsible for the September 11^th attacks, including Osama Bin Laden.

  

Arrived in DC tonight for the anti-war march. Sick-tired-nauseas, from the plane ride and shuttle ride. Going to sleep now; I'm not even going eat. Energy in the air all over the city. Everyone is talking about it. The hotel is filled with people from many different organizations who are attending the march tomorrow. But this hotel is a rat trap. Pretty gross. We’re not in South Beach anymore.

Last Movie: Father Goose with Cary Grant. Thank God for Cary Grant. 

Getting ready to go to Washington DC for the anti-war march. Over half a million people expected in DC and 250,000 expected in the San Francisco area march on the same day. Last month over 400,000 thousand people marched in London against this war and in Italy it was about 150,000. times have changed. Perhaps people aren't as asleep as one would guess. 

But wait… earlier this week I emailed my intentions to go and an invitation to a bunch of my friends and associates not just here in Miami but all over the States. I have been so surprised at the small number of responses I have received back. No one I know is going. In fact no one even knows about it. I received a lot of “you go Ed,” type replies. But nothing of any real substance. Everyone seems more interested in this weekend’s Halloween festivities rather than anything else. Derek Cintron did reply back, with a very passionate but convoluted letter promoting total annihilation to Iraq due to some connection at least in his mind between Iraq and the September 11^th attacks. I love Derek. And I love his passion. I cannot wait for him to make that subtle switch in his thinking that takes place just before a person joins the light side of the Force. He and many others continue to fail to realize year after year and century after century that fighting force with force and violence with violence will only lead to more death and more murder of all of us. 

That on September 11^th, we lost some 4000 of our people. In 1991 Iraq lost over 200,000 of theirs at our hands. Over the next ten years they lost an additional 1,000,000 people (that is one million) due to our economic sanctions and this maniac that is in power Saddam Hussein. My feeling is that before we go to war with anyone else, we really need to decide as a people if we want these figures on our heads and if we are willing to continue to let them build up. not just on our side but their side too. 

Just returned from the Avatar pro course in Orlando. Took some notes. 475 people from 18 different countries, speaking 18 different languages, but all converged together in the same room to do the same thing. Creating an enlightened planet through making ourselves better people and happier people. You just can’t believe what it is like to sit in that space for seven days with all these people who are together for the same reason, and just be so free to work on yourself and help others do the same thing.

[This is some hardcore trippy new age stuff here so be forewarned...]

For a long time I didn't talk about Avatar to the public or to anyone. I just figured it was better kept quiet. That maybe people would think it was some kind of a cult or something. Now that it has gotten so big we joke, maybe it is a cult. But who cares. Lol. After all, there are only 90,000 Avatars in the world today. And look what happened to Shirley McClain when she started talking about her spiritual journey with people. But you know a lot of Christian artists don’t have a problem thanking God, or whatever, when they are on stage. Avatar isn't a religion by any means. It really isn't even spiritual. It touches on a lot of spiritual matters. But it's more of a philosophy if anything. Really more just a set of tools that people use to make themselves better people, make themselves happier. Like therapy really, but instead of one hour a week you go for twelve hours a day for seven to fourteen days straight so you are able to really push beyond any limits that are inevitable in current therapeutic modalities. The miracle stories you hear every day from people from all over the world are amazing. Now Avatar courses are being taken every day of the year, in every country in the world. So everyday more and more people are using the tools and waking up to the fact that we are all creating our own realities, rather than the ‘creator/fate/destiny/unseen forces’ theory that has existed for so many millennia in human consciousness. And the Avatar tools don’t necessarily negate or oppose or interfere with the ‘creator’ belief system if someone holds that one. It's just a nice added bonus.

From Nightline: “TONIGHT'S SUBJECT: A sniper is terrorizing the Washington area. Six people are dead, two wounded. No one knows where, or when, he or she will strike again. This is terrorism in the most literal sense: people are scared and don't know quite what to do.”

Amazing sign of our times that things are so crazy with bush and his mysterious new war on Iraq and all the other terror going on around the world that this lone sniper stalking innocent people seems like such a minor news story comparatively. Right out of a movie and a lot of people don’t even know it's happening. But what's more is the fact that someone is still capable of doing this right here in our nations capital and we can’t catch him. Crazy.

Getting ready to go on a spiritual sabbatical next week. Agents called from Atlanta about setting up dates for upcoming tour for the east coast. Band is excited. Still sick with a cold. went to the doctor’s office—a new doctor due to new insurance—a regular md doctor. Hadn't been to one in a long time. I couldn’t believe it. not only did he not know anything about health. He didn't even look healthy. He was fat, had psoriasis, bloated. Walked with kind of a limp. Had a donut in his mouth while he spoke. It was as funny as it was traumatizing. A whole room full of helpless sheep in the waiting room who were his patients. Little did they know. Because they are so used to it. they don’t know any better. 

He told me it didn't look like a bacterial infection and then prescribed an anti-biotic anyway. I told him his practice reminded me of the quackery you read about in Time and Newsweek. He got real scared. I told him to close his door because I was about to yell and I didn't want his staff to hear. He closed the door. And I yelled. Then we talked for a while. I told him my DHT levels were regularly high and we should test for it. He asked me what that was. It was sad. He just didn't know much. All he knew was to prescribe pills. Scary. I told him I needed to see an ENT specialist for my throat to see why I am losing my voice. He said, well if you aren't going to take anti-biotics then what good is he going to do for you? I replied, ‘are you trying to say that's all a throat doctor is going to be able to do for me or anyone else? Prescribe some fucking pills for someone who is losing their voice?!’ he says, “well that and prescribe other medicine like steroids…” I was like, ‘so that's what it comes down to now for you guys is just prescribing drugs? You don’t do anything else?” he just stared at me. had no idea what I was getting at. And of course not. I looked at the way his big stomach protruded out of his body. He didn’t have a clue about health. 

I am in love. With my laptop and my Sony Clie. I have always slept with a guitar and a cat since I can remember. Lately my guitar is getting jealous of the laptop. The cat doesn’t seem to mind at all. Preparing for Transcendent Radio. More on that soon. IN the studio today to do more guitars.

Just announced that 15 million people in Ethiopia are on the verge of total famine within weeks. So what's really going on here? How the hell can this happen when people are so happy and healthy here in America? Is there a solution?

In the studio all day today recording my guitar parts. Tried a lot of different guitars for the song I'm not the only one. Finally ended up using this Gibson les Paul that was laying around the studio. Hadn't played one in about ten years. Always had a problem with the neck being too fat. But the sound was incredible. Just really rock and roll. I could get totally addicted to les Pauls. The sound was amazing. It put my PRS to shame. We didn't even bother to use that one. Will sell it and hunt some les Pauls down on eBay. But after three hours my hand was killing me. Felt like arthritis or something. Just really stiff and in pain. Kept popping Advil to be able to cut the rest of the songs. Also laid some cool tracks for junkie.

A lot of work and time spent just trying to get good sounds. Me and Fred argued a lot about sounds and about how many tracks I could lay down. I am used to laying a lot of guitar tracks down. Just going for it. Maybe five to ten per song if I am feeling different parts. And then in the mix, picking and choosing. 

What is it about tarot cards? How do they work? Fascinating and exciting how science and parapsychology have been coming together the last 20 years or so. Science has taken a very open approach as of late to researching and trying to help explain Parapsychological Phenomena. Tarot cards are amazing, really in their ability to give real insight. It's kind of like your higher self or some higher form of consciousness is speaking to you. Kind of like a "look, you know this already if you really think about it…" similar to meditating. So what's really happening there?   

Last Movie:  A Star is Born, the Judy Garland, James Mason version. There’s this must-see-scene towards the end. James Mason is great. Heartbreaking. 

Woke up sniffling today. Band is in the studio today recording bass guitar parts. Check this out. John Edward is amazing. Watch and listen to videos of him talking to the dead relatives of celebrities on the Internet—this is awesome. Watch the Sebastian Bach one. Welcome to the future baby. We're living it. everything we ever dreamed. Saw DC3 play again last night. watched as pieces of broken drum sticks flew all over the stage because Derek hits the drums so hard. The guy is sick. If DC3 does not make it, then there truly is no justice in this world. Of course if DC3 does make it, we're out of a guitarist. Tricky scene down here in Miami due to so few good musicians.

The end of every month is an exciting time at TMG Records, our little record company. That's when the checks come in from our distributors and various websites from the previous month's sales of our CDs. (PS—thanks to everyone who buys our cds!!!) Here is a picture of Jennifer from TMG holding a check that came in from amazon.com sales of our CDs. She came up and said: 'boy oh boy no one can say we don't make any money here now,' rather sarcastically. So we said 'o.k. well hold that baby up so everyone can see what you look like.' Jennifer does a lot at TMG. She pretty much is TMG along with a few other gracious and beautiful people. Isn't she cute?

So I turned to G2 (he is the graphics guy and Internet guru for TMG, Transcendence, and TTV—if you like our album covers and website, that's his handy-work) and I say 'dude, call BMW, because with all this money rolling in, you might as well order that X5 you want.' So here he is ordering his X5 at TMG Records Headquarters. Well not really. But isn't he cute?

The "Other Side"

Just received the starter set of the Abraham Hicks series. Esther Hicks is a channeler who channels a group of spirits or non physical beings known as Abraham. Interesting stuff. Spreading like wild fire by word-of-mouth, only amongst people into this type of thing. There are so many of these types of things happening now all over the world from Seth to John Edward. 

Watch and listen

I am sure a lot of people still don’t know that the other side is regularly communicating with us. I am sure there are others who hear it but don’t believe it. But it is happening right now. It is the future we have always waited for. Personally I cannot wait for it to get more and more common place. I believe we have a lot to learn and our evolution will accelerate rapidly once the majority of our species becomes aware of, and tunes in to the other side. It will help dispel a lot of the myths and limiting beliefs many of us still take for granted.

Just received all 95 episodes of Welcome Back Kotter from a purchase on Ebay. Some guy recorded every single episode in order on 7 video tapes. And of course people bid like crazy to own them. Ahhh Ebay…