Integral Drugs - Just Say Yes?

I will be leading a discussion on drugs at the next NYC Ken Wilber Meetup. We will be exploring drugs and drug use through the lens of Integral Philosophy. My writeup for the event is below. More details can be found here:

http://www.meetup.com/kenwilber-58/calendar/14118030/


What is a drug? Why do we break laws to obtain some, are medically prescribed others, minimally aware of yet others and in ways a bit scared of them all? From heavy handed states of overwhelm to routine daily doses that are meant to make us feel normal, we use drugs in more ways than we often acknowledge. Societal norms, social circle expectations, our own internal chemistry, physiology, mood swings, shadow, spirit; all of these things and many more must be addressed in order to look at drugs and drug use from an integral perspective. Join us as we explore our relationships with and ideas about drugs in an attempt to come to a more holistic embrace of drugs and the roles that they play in our lives, religions, evolution, relationships, jobs, morals and general sense of well being.

The truth is that drug use has been a part of human life for as long as we have information. The likelihood of this changing is very slim. Yet, like other constants such as sex, there exists both an intense draw and deep dark shadows. Many claim to have had great awakenings, insights and inspiration through drug use. Others seem to be attempting an escape from reality or to just subtly dull the experience. Some of our greatest art was created with drugs. Some of these artists died at the hands of the same drugs. For some drug use is a medical necessity that their body or society demands. Many drugs blend into the baseline of our days in an almost symbiotic relationship, filling gaps as they arise, supplementing the basic systems of our body/mind in a way that both enables and cripples us, at times without our conscious recognition of their presence.

What is an Integralite to do? Try everything? Avoid them at all costs? Begin drawing lines in the sand? How do we navigate the sea of choices and what are the potential costs and benefits of doing so? Join us for a guided conversational exploration of the many faces of drugs. Sobriety optional.

Angel With Two Backs

Stuart Davis - Nothing In Between

There is nothing in between us when we sleep
But every night the bliss begins to leak
Nothing in between us when we laugh
it's something that our head will never grasp

It's seen in between

There's nothing in between your joy and mine
It's all a lot of nectar on the vine
Joy is how my parents were entwined
and there's nothing in between their lives and mine

We've seen in between

There's nowhere to hide in the open Reality
Love is so wide, but there isn't a boundary
There is only one eye without any enemy

when you've seen in between

There's nothing in between our skin and light
There's nothing in between the wind and kite
There's nothing in between our lips and grace
There's nothing in between the tongue and taste

It's seen in between

(Refrain)

There is nothing in between you and me
Nothing in between blue and sea
Nothing in between us and love
Nothing in between wings and doves

(Refrain)

There is nothing
in between

Adam Scott Miller

I first saw Adam's work a few years ago on Integral Naked (now Integral Life). He creates what some call 'Visionary Art'. Alex Grey is probably the most famous of this breed, his work having appeared on albums for artists such as David Byrne, Nirvana, Beastie Boys and TOOL.

Being a long time fan of Alex Grey and having even gotten the opportunity to play in his Chapel of Sacred Mirrors just before it left New York City I was instantly drawn to Adam's unique visions of that which normally goes unseen by the eyes of flesh. What visionary art attempts to communicate is that which the eye of the mind and the eye of spirit perceive. These painters just somehow manage to get these visions down on canvas.

Upon seeing Adams work for the first time I immediately went to his website and bought a few of his original paintings to hang in my loft for inspiration. What I attempt with music, specifically what David and I did with The Emergence, could in this context be called Visionary Music. We attempted to communicate Spirit and the struggles along the way to such a realization in sound. As soon as we had the CDs for this project I sent one off to Adam hoping only that this kindred spirit and fellow artist that I have immense respect for may enjoy the noise we make.

I have recently been exchanging messages with Adam on facebook (where you should become a fan of his work). He reached out to tell me how much he enjoyed the album and most recently to say that he just spent about 12 hours listening to our CD while working on the painting you see above. Needless to say the finished product is stunning and knowing that I played even a small part in inspiring the work that went into it is a beautiful fuel for my future creative efforts.

I hope to be collaborating with Adam some time in the not too distant future. His work has only been improving in the past few years and I can't wait to see his new pieces as they emerge. He was recently on the stage painting live with Shpongle and I'm sure things will only advance from here.

You can see more of Adam's work and purchase prints and originals from his website: http://www.corpuscallosum.cc/ do it

Who wants to buy me the original above???

Two Close for Comfort

The Emergence - Two Close for Comfort

Two Close for Comfort

Stuck in the Middle

The Emergence - Stuck in the Middle

Stuck in the Middle

Oh my God I am so sorry
These words will not stay
Simple one I can't believe you
Your eyes lead you astray

Hold your head, I gaze inside you
you breathe I bend like clay
Where there are two we are divided
Get too close I fade away

I've been stuck in the middle...

Hold my breath to keep this moment
Clench my fist, I can not pray
I try to run, to stay beside it
As my presence fades to grey

Letting go I drift in tide pools
as the Ocean pulls away
Flail my arms and spin in circles
Till the moon pulls you my way

I've been stuck in the middle...

I am beginning to discover

I yearn to be uncovered

I've been stuck in the middle...

I wanna love you, I don't wanna lose me

Without you I am only apart


by David Wesson and Devin Martin

The Hostel Life - Colombia

After Panama City the audience voted that we head to Baranquilla, Colombia. This was the only real option in my mind as Baranquilla is said to have the 2nd biggest Carnival celebration after Rio De Janero, Brazil. That, combined with the fact that we ended up getting hooked up with press passes made this an amazing place to be.

A big part of Carnival is the parades. With press passes we got bussed to the route and then set loose on the parade route. We could literally walk down the middle of the street and the dancers would just work around us...or with us. Anthony and I ran around with Mehdy getting drunk and shooting video all day. I got some amazing photos. Check em out here. And check out the video below featuring The Emergence track To Die By These Kisses. (now available on iTunes)



After Baranquilla we went to the cute little beach front town called Santa Marta. This video is pretty mellow. It features a track of mine called 'drift' that I put out on the Gods Own Drunk CD a few years back. (also available on iTunes)



After Santa Marta we were off to Bucaramanga and then to San Gil and finally Bogota. San Gil is known for adventure sports. It's a really cool little city nestled in the mountains. Anthony was still sick for most of this shoot, so the video below I shot, directed and edited; with Anthony yelling keyboard shortcuts to me across the room. I now know Final Cut Pro!!! (somewhat)

First we went white water rafting. I jumped in a boat with three guides. Mehdy and some friends we met along the way jumped in another. We would go through the rapids ahead of them and then immediately direct the boat into some rocks on the side of the river. I would jump out of the boat, scramble up the boulders on the shoulder of the river and set up the camera to shoot Mehdy's boat as it came through the rapids. Crazy, hectic and way too much fun.

The next day we went para-sailing. If I had less to do I probably would have been scared out of my mind. As it was I remember getting all geared up in the para-sailing outfit as well as with the HD video camera and my still camera. Next thing I know I'm filming Mehdy's takeoff and then people are telling me to 'RUN!!' off of the cliff in front of me.....and then I was flying. The guides did a some swirling diving stunts and really showed us around. I had Mehdy hooked up with a wireless lavalier microphone and I was wearing a headset, so you can hear me screaming to him at one point and him talking back through his mic.

You'll also notice what appears to be Mehdy swearing a lot in this video. Mehdy doesn't really swear that much. He does have a problem with the word little though. It became Anthony's mission as director to stop him from saying this. Any time we were looking at anything impressive or of stature Mehdy would say it was little. At times Anthony would carry around a handful of rocks to throw or a stick to hit him with every time he said it. Without Anthony there I had too many other things to worry about. But when Mehdy described the massive cliff that we were about to run off of as little, I couldn't let it slide. So I bleeped out all of his little's in this video.



Check out more of the pictures and videos on Facebook and YouTube. All but two pieces of the music that you here in the 15 or so videos we released is written, performed and/or produced by me. Maria Mulata contributed one song for the San Gil video above and the percussion you hear under the la Brisa Loca hostel walk through is something I recorded during one of the parades in Baranquilla.

All in all this was a wonderful, stressful, beautiful, weird, sickening, inspiring, erotic jaunt.

I hope to do it again some time.

The Hostel Life - Panama City

I flew from NYC to Tampa on February 1st for a couple of days of test shooting. I met Mehdy for the first time ever and got to see my old friend Anthony for the first time in far too many months. We got to see the T-shirt’s Owen is making for us for the first time and had Mehdy’s friend Echo model them for us. We shot, edited and scored episode 1 just in time to leave Tampa. On Wednesday we flew from Tampa to Panama and uploaded the video from the Orlando airport while on layover. We got to the hostel Mamallena some time after 3am. We spent two nights at Mamallena and then moved to the Luna’s Castle Hostel the next day for 5 nights.

Mamallena is low-key hostel with great staff, $1 beers and a hammock in the rec room. A great place to relax; perfect for how we arrived. Luna’s Castle is a different animal. Built on 4 levels of a mansion it has dorms and private rooms on the top level, a kitchen and common rooms on the 3rd level, a screening room, art gallery and other private rooms (massages!) on the 2^nd level and a courtyard and a great little bar called Relic on the bottom level. Relic was packed every night we were there with both locals and travelers.

I’m sitting here now trying to compile some of the moments that have resonated the most in the pasts week and, huge surprise, they revolve around music more often than not.

• Standing overlooking the water between downtown Panama and Casco Viejo, shirt off, chanting Hebrew and the chorus to a song I wrote recently to clear my head.

• Running around through Casco Viejo with Ben and Joe of BenandJoe.com talking about the film they are shooting on chupacabras, drinking coconut water straight from the coconut with one hand while shooting video with the other.

• Sitting on the balcony at Hostel Luna's Castle playing one of the hostels guitars with a fisherman from Alaska and a view of the Panama City skyline

• Sitting in the courtyard behind Luna Castle putting together episode 2 while drinking a Shandy (half beer, half ginger ale) with the the Spanish version of the Black Eyed Peas ‘I Got a Feelin’ blasting on repeat from behind the laundry hanging out in the ghetto next door.

• Riding around in the backseat of hostel bartender Fanny’s car singing ‘Steal My Kisses’ with Anthony to test out his karaoke veritas idea before we unleash it on unsuspecting strangers.

• A late night jam session with me on guitar and vocals and Dariusz on plastic trash bucket drum trying to get the room to sing ‘By The Rivers of Babylon’

• Sitting in the living rooms of the hostel with a guitar singing songs almost not distracted by the fear of people hearing my voice

Some kids in the ghetto next to the hostel dancing to the band playing below and waving to me.

One night at the bar Relic in Luna's Castle they had an artist painting live. I took some time lapse photos of this that may surface later. Another night the surfer Rob Machado was there to promote the release of a movie called The Drifter and the president of Panama (who has some sort of residence across the street) showed up to hang out in the corner and drink some scotch. There were men with ear pieces and guns everywhere. Interesting mix with all of the surfers who showed up. Not bad for a hostel bar eh?

I ran to a local music shop and got new strings for one of the hostels guitars, but forget to get a replacement for the missing peg on the high E string. So I wittled one out of a stick.

After a bit of struggle and confusion as to what the vision for each video we were producing was we ended up putting out three from Panama City. One really focuses on Luna’s Castle, the next is a video diary of the cast/crew and the third lays out the decision that we are asking the audience to make to determine where we go to next.

Tension mounts amongst the crew.

The Hostel Life Trailer

I hacked together two existing tracks and layed down a bassline and high hat on a new track en homage to The Roots song 'The Roots is Coming' then added some Don LaFontaine style voice over to score this trailer of Mehdy deciding to up and leave the day job. Main track features Candi on violin.

We're flying into Panama on Feb 3rd to start shooting the pilot season of The Hostel Life. Get on the website and sign up for email updates to get ready to vote on the details of what we will be doing. If your mom's not already a fan on Facebook steal her password and become one for her. She'll thank you later, I promise.

Bruce Lipton - Biology of Beliefs Video

A while back I wrote about correlation vs. causation in regards to DNA and epigenetics after reading Bruce Lipton's book The Biology of Belief. Here is a guy who is not only talking about cutting edge science that challenges much of the general publics' understanding of how to achieve health and happiness, he is also a great teacher who can bring across complex subjects in simple terms.

Check out these great videos to hear a once non-spiritual, allopathic research doc expound upon how he logically came to understand:

Why energy is more important to healing (controlling biology) than molecules (ahem....big Pharma)

Why belief controls biology

How stress makes your body susceptible to disease, hinders digestion and makes you dumber

How male scientists confusing the brain and the gonads screws up our entire understanding of DNA and how life manifests

Why genetic mutations are NOT random

How parents beliefs select their children's genes

How your body is a community

How cells communicate

How belief can rewrite your genes

How we broadcast thoughts and a way that we are all connected non-locally

How scientific reductionism gets it wrong

Why we are not controlled by genes as much as we are controlled by our perception of the environment

and even why we are not actually just in our physical bodies

Eliot in Orbit

Back in 2007 Tony and Kiki were both working for Bait & Tackle, an all in one, ad agency / production house up in Gloucester, MA. They are a great one stop shop for advertising needs.

Chad who runs Bait and Tackle decided to enter the 48 hour film festival. This is a film making competition where the entrants have 48 hours to make a film within certain parameters that they are given right at the start of the 48 hour period including a line of dialogue. In our case, "If you come up with something good let me know". Tony invited me up to Gloucester to play.

Chad's vision was ridiculously ambitious. We ended up having footage of the band Guster live on stage saying lines, an underwater camera shot, shots from two planes in flight, one over the Panama canal. We shot in two states in the US as well as in Panama, had stop-motion animation, fireballs, a green screen shot, dolly shots, sunset camera boom work, too many locations to remember as well as original music written and recorded during the 48 hour period.

I ended up being credited as Sound Engineer, Music Supervisor and co-producer on two of the original songs. I provided a couple of sound effects as well.

Way too much fun. I need to do this again.....though maybe a little less ambitiously.

Stop Motion Animation

I'm always wishing I could score more video. Animation has always intrigued me, stop motion in particular (think Wallace and Gromit). I got my first hands on taste of creating stop motion working with Eric while volunteering at Camp Bright Feathers. For years I have been looking for artists to create the visuals for me, so I can focus on the sounds. Volunteers are still welcome, but I'm through just waiting.



I've had visitors staying with me 3 of the last 4 weekends. This long weekend I decided to hole up in the house and get creative.

I've got my new camera (Canon T1i) that I bought for a trip to India, but will now be using to photograph where ever in South America you all send us while traveling with The Hostel Life instead. I've got iStop Motion installed on my little mac mini (got this really cheap from the 2007 MacHeist)and I went to the store around the corner and got some clay. I also grabbed a little wire framed fisherman toy that my mother gave me a while back.

I'm studying Latin rhythms a bit to get ready to travel to South America with The Hostel Life. I taught myself how to play the Timbao rhythm on a djembe (don't have congas). I didn't record that though....not there yet. I grabbed some samples of a Samba rhythm and built off of that for the score. I, of course, threw a break beat over the samba to funk it up and then added some individual hits from a kit drum on top of that to give it some heft. Then I recorded some acoustic, electric, classical and bass guitar before layering pads and assorted bits with my new little Micron synth (It's a bit digital for my taste...I need to get my Virus fixed soon) and a few other soft synths.

What ended up on the video is a 30 second edit of the 2.5 minute track that emerged. The edit was taken at an early stage while the song was still fairly empty. The full track starts out fairly organic and beautiful then takes a sudden turn for the darker before it ends back on the samba groove.

The focus of this stop motion test was to learn about how to sync movement with sound. This is fairly easy to plan when the numbers are simple. If the music is 120 beats per minute and the video is shot at 10 frames per second then I know right away which frames will land on a down beat. The music here is at 115 bpm and the video was shot at 14 frames per second. This is not as simple or consistent. I'm figuring out tricks as I go. I did decide to upgrade to the 'Express' version of iStop Motion as this allows soundtracks to be imported and video to be imported for rotoscoping.

What we have here is a 33 second clip comprised of 468 frames made from 431 individual photographs taken while enjoying a glass of red wine (note the drip running down the side of the glass once it is empty).

I'm guessing it'll be 5 years or so before I'm making anything truly impressive to look at. Owen begs to differ pointing out how the mind links different arts such as music and sound. I'd agree, but things will go a lot faster once I get people like him on board to collaborate.

Here's the full track:


Devin Martin - Latin01
right click to download