Visiting Pele on the Winter Solstice

For the winter solstice I took a hike with about thirty people, mostly fire spinners, to see the lava flowing into the ocean just west of Kalapana on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was nearly a two hour hike over an undulating sea of newly hardened lava, often brittle and crunchy under the feet. At the ocean's edge, the molten lava meets the seawater in an unending plume of volcanic steam high into the sky. When the waves hit that 3000 degree river, Pele sends a spatter of red sparks into the air that's like fireworks. We watched from the cliff of lava 100 feet above the sand, the rock was still warm to the touch and the heat coming from some of the fissures wafted ominously. The news was that 15 acres was soon to drop off into the ocean. A few brave ones climbed down, got naked and played in the superheated surf close to the flow.

At nightfall the fire spinners danced with poi, chains and staffs with the churning steam cloud backlit in a pink-orange hue by the lava as a backdrop. They lit their firetoys by holding them over a hole in the lava crust where the river of neon yellow molten rock was flowing like a swift river. We were standing suspended on the lava roof over the river separated by it by only about 4 feet. The lava river was visible as it flowed down the mountainside many miles from where we were standing with its red neon curvy lines hugging the ground.

Walking back on this starry, moonless night over the frozen lava waves by flashlight, watching the intricate patterns unfold upon the surface, the rivers of rope and ice cream melting mounds, cavernous gullies and complex swirls, gave one a sense of an otherworldly terrain and being in a dreamlike environment. If it weren't for the red beacon flashing from the parking lot someone had thoughtfully placed before we left I believe it would have taken us a lot longer to get back. There are no signposts, no markers, no lights, no distinguishing features whatsoever and only the line of the horizon to follow. I enjoyed getting an adventure, a good workout, a spectacular one of a kind show, and communion with nature and friends. It was a magical evening with a fun group of spirits to honor the return of the Sun King.

Mount Shasta

I've been camped out in the Mt. Shasta area for a few weeks now. Spent some time at the Buddha hole, a deep swimming hole on the Sacramento River, up the canyon above Lake Siskiyou. Shasta, Pit, Shiner, Matthew, Diego, Volee, Midnight Sun, Deva, Anton, Tracy Rae, Melissa, Yaffa and others were my fellow campers for a while. Most of us did a gig at the Village Oracle in Weed, about 12 miles north of Shasta. We billed it as the Rainbow All Stars and had 6 different front people all using the same band. It was loads of fun, the audience loved it, and the owner, Shannon, asked if we were interested in playing a festival in Mendocino after Burning Man but before Earthdance. I'll be at BM sometime next week, and Earthdance, performing with Human, in mid-September. It's been a good summer so far and still so much traveling left to do. I'll be heading toward the East Coast after Earthdance. First I may go to Las Vegas and Santa Fe before that. I want to visit Floyd, VA, where I used to live and still have lots of my things, and then on to New Jersey and New York to see friends and family.

Peace Tribe gig on Maui

My band, Peace Tribe, is in the lineup of music at this Sunday's Earth Day event on Baldwin Beach in Paia, Maui. Event starts at noon and goes to sundown. With Shasta on vocals, Pit Steffan on lead guitar, Tim Zywicki on bass, Joel on drums, and myself on guitar and lead vocals, Peace Tribe is giving a preview of the band soon to be back on the mainland and ready to book some outdoor festivals for the summer and other gigs as well. Neil is coming from London to drum for us in early to mid July. Matthew, from the band, Double Dose, is also joining us on bass and vocals for our summer tour.
The Picture is something I did in the mid '90's. I did probably a hundred or more, half of them 16" x 20", of mostly geometric mandala type patterns but also more organic forms as well. You can see some more of this art at my art website address here: www.geocities.com/jarisonli...tml".

back home on big i

the coqui frogs get quieter when it gets cold out. some nights it got cold enough to shut them all up. with the crickets going too it's very jungle-like, appropriate for the rainforest that is puna. i just got back from two weeks in maui. i was lucky enough to miss the monsoon weather of the past few weeks. it barely rained on maui compared to the flooding the other islands had. kauai got slammed. it's been nice the past few days and i've spent most of that time relaxing at home, something i haven't gotten to do too much of lately. my 15 year old son, sekaya, is coming next week, flying in from virginia. i'm happy to have him here for a few months. he's nearly grown and out on his own. not too much of that precious time of childhood left. maui was too much fun. i got to play music nearly every night for two weeks. played bass for some gigs with "human", from mendocino. did some recording in kihei with members of my band, "peace tribe". played some music circles with some magical voices singing sweet harmonies. my songs are getting popular with some and i got to hear my songs sung with a choir of voices weaving through the melody. there's plenty of grapefruit, tangerines, and abiu on the trees right now. some oranges too. i'll have fresh squeezed juice tomorrow morning before going to kehena beach for the weekly drum circle. rambutans and lychee are starting to come in. i love hawaii.

Visiting Maui

It's the middle of February and I decided to come to Maui for a visit and get paid while I'm here. Working during the week and visiting friends a lot. It's really fun here and the Maui family is very juicy. I could get used to this. The surf at Ho' Okipo has been going off and it's been nice watching the surfers and the kite surfers rip it up. Been getting to play music a lot and that's always what I'd prefer to do. Little Beach at Makena on Sunday was so magical. The whales were out most of the day, spouting and breaching and near sunset one of them came really close to the beach and flapped his tail a bunch. When i went swimming and dove under I could hear them singing. Right after sunset, the fire dancers, and the drum circle, I joined in a music circle on the hill between the two beaches and shared some of my songs with the others there. It was nice to have everyone singing together. I'm headed to a birthday party tonight (Monday), and there's already events and parties the rest of this week. Perfect for a music hound like myself. Aloha for now, hope you can join me this week at one plae or another. :)

Camping on the cliff

midnight, 1/23/06

I'm sitting in my van, it's late, i'm on the internet through my cell phone, free after 9. i have a bed in the back and i'm camping on the cliff overlooking hapuna beach on the kona side of the big island. there's heat lightning in the sky, i'm liking the sound of the waves, especially getting to go to sleep to that sound. it gets windy here, some nights the van rocks and shakes. i just got back from a rehearsal at jack's. the band is exploring some new territory, new material. we never did decide on a name for this music project. it doesn't seem to be of concern to any of us, now that i think about it. having six strong vocalists in the band makes the harmonies phat. tonya was out tonight though, sore throat. played a gig with mj from hamsa lila on friday at coco's down in kapoho. very trancy. i think i ended up playing djembe more than the guitar. i wanted to play the new acoustic/electric but it isn't really set up yet. i switch the strings so the bridge needs to be slanted in the opposite direction for the intonation to be right. doug is supposed to do it for me, said he'd do it for 20 bucks. can't beat that. well, i'm getting tired, the computer is on battery, and starting to lose juice. i'll wrap it up here, it's just a blog anyway. blog, blog, blog....