We made it to the West Coast!!! We have come through mountain blizzards, high plains rain, Montana cold and a bit of shitake to get here. And now, guess what, we are in Seattle and it is raining!!! I love it out here.

Here is a video clip Jonny showed me that I find super inspiring. It is Tom Waits and Bono reading a couple Charles Bukowski poems:

A: Us in Paul Bunyan’s hand

B: Me jumping a fence and heading for the Badlands

C: Me explaining why I am sitting beside an armada of Gatorade

Mason
11/6/08
Seattle, Washington
The New USA

My aunt has a good point. If you are planning on time traveling and are expecting to end up in the same spot, you are in for the shock of your life. With the earth spinning and orbiting you will end up plum ripe in Outer Space. (Unless you plan it like a genius. Which you probably would if you can time travel. I wonder how often the same spot on earth is in the same exact spot of the cosmos? Like how often is Chicago in the identical same part of the Universe? Is it ever even close?)

It is snowing today in Minnesota and I love it. I love it here.

I just read (and loved) Steve Martin’s book Born Standing Up. Once, when he was on the Tonight Show he began...."A lot of dogs watch TV but there’s really nothing on for them, so call your dog over and let him watch because I think you’re going to see him crack up for the first time.”

Just got Billy Collins’ new book of poems called Ballistics. If you haven’t heard of him before, or if you have and care to click on this link, here is a fun link of him reading a good one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Iq3PbSWZY

Been loving the poems of Mary Oliver so much these Autumn days as well. She is so wonderful.

Soon, I will be heading West. Looking forward to seeing you all out there!

Love,
Mason
Majestic, Autumnal, Minnesota
10/25/08

So somebody asked me what I thought about the idea of “Evil”. What is my definition of it? Do I believe in it? Well, I guess I don’t believe in it as a separate, generative force but I do see it as a distance from Source.  It’s degree is subjective. It is an adjective to me, not a noun. Some think we are evil just by being alive and killing organisms to eat and survive. Some think war is evil. I have done many things in my life that some would think of as evil. So, my definition is ‘Distance from Source or distance from Love’. As an example: Cold is not an entity but a speed of vibration or lack of heat. Similarly, Evil is a word that subjectively describes the slowing of love vibrations through creation. (The inner hippy speaks.....)

I am in Missouri. We had a great time in Chicago. I was staying at the top of a skyscraper downtown and was surprised to see big spiders making webs outside the windows that high up. Then I found out that they are common to buildings by the lake. Wha?

My aunt gave me a book of poetry by Stephen Dobyns and a line in it pertains to evil: “By not believing in evil, he became its accomplice.” So there is that too.

Who knows?

Do the spiders know how high up they are? Why are they climbing so high?

Mason
Columbia, Missouri
10/16/08

Toronto is a great place. You can’t help but love it. Yesterday our piano broke down and when Zach and I went to a music store in Toronto to get a new one a girl behind the counter was so helpful. We asked for some power cables high up on the shelf and she jumped up on the counter, walked along it then jumped down. When Zach said she was catlike she said that she had 2 cats and when I asked her how she stood listening to people solo on electric guitars all day she said that she had seven siblings so this is nothing.

We have been out here for a while now and things have been really fun.  New York was a blast as always. We walked through Central Park and ate Korean food at 2 in the morning like I always do when I’m there. Ox bone soup and Be Bim Bap. Mmmm. Yum.

It has been so fun getting to hang out with Zach so much, as well as my new band. We have a great time. When we were in Vermont we hiked up along a high rocky overpass where we could look down and out across a giant lake and off into the forests of New York State. The water was so clear and it was so quiet out that we could hear the water rippling off the rocks a hundred feet below. I love Vermont. The leaves are changing and it will be in full colorfire soon. Vermont reminds me of Minnesota a little bit. I am definitely a Northerner. No doubt about that. My spirit quickens as I travel North. I need to be in the woods. I can feel my whole body vibrate when I am out there. Things get aligned. Someone told us that the glaciers revealed some special ore that has a different, stronger, magnetic
energy there. The native americans knew about that. It feels magical. And clean.

Mostly in the van we talk about spirit and life. Lately we have been talking about trusting how something feels rather than how you think it should feel intellectually. Turning towards heart before thought. A challenge for our minds. Letting go. Mostly what I remember about a book or a movie is the way it feels. Plots come and go. The love we feel will live on. That seems right to me.

Lots of love and I hope to see you soon!
Mason
Toronto, Ontario
October 9, 2008

10/01/08
Washington, D.C.

Yes! It is October and I can start thinking bout what I want to be for Halloween. Like a Face. An Angry Face where I hold the eyes out in my hands and smile with my knees. Or a Poem. An Old Poem. If I was that, everybody would forget me at the party. Or a Bottomless Pit. But then, everybody would expect me to eat all the candy and not get sick. Who says Bottomless pits don’t get sick? I think they do. Poor little Pits. Or maybe I could be a Rip In The Fabric Of Time. Or a Funk Beat. Or a Memory Of A Playground. Or All Business. Or a Meatless Diet. Yes. That is it.  Or, wait, a Doubt. No, there are too many of those already. A Little Bit Of Hope? Yep. That is what the party needs.

We are in Washington D.C. Just drove by the Pentagon and the Capital dressed in my Little Bit Of Hope costume.

Zach Gill joined the tour last night and we have been having a blast. Talking about the Grail, the King, the Fool and all things Spirit.

Hope to see you out here.
Love,
Mason