I woke up super early on Thursday, and after getting up at about 4AM I went back to sleep before starting my day at about 8:45. The time change has me a bit off, and the Arizona heat/humidity/light factors are sometimes just the opposite of what they are in Nashville. That said, we had another great brunch and Skipper and I had a fun rehearsal/recording session. All of these details might be totally meaningless to you dear reader, but these posts are serving as a kind of open journal of my experience here at the Sedona Summer Colony which has been insanely positive, inspiring and regenerative. If you are a creative person interested in an immersive communal experience this one comes highly recommended.

As the author of this blog I also have to recommend the bizarre setting of Sedona, AZ. Posting to Insomnia for the last 13 years hasn’t always been easy, but when you’re in the middle of a place that’s celebrated for its weirdness it’s definitely an easier slog. Drunvalo Melchizedek used to live in Sedona. Here’s his Merkabah Meditation…

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Had a productive Wednesday at the Sedona Summer Colony — that’s what happens when you wake up at 6:30 AM. That’s actually and hour before my alarm was set to go off, but I was sure I’d sleep through it if I tried to go back to bed so I just got up and grabbed a cup of coffee and vowed to finish this song that I ended up recording yesterday afternoon with Skipper Kripitz. Skipper is a drummer from Key West who’s also here at the colony. Skipper and I are planning to do a short set for the Sedona art community on Sunday before I leave. Follow me on Facebook to watch the live video of the performance on Sunday evening. I wrote another song on Wednesday night when I suddenly channeled Hank Williams while I was in the shower trying to wash away the desert dust. I’ll plan to make a little video of that one to post on Thursday.

I hope you’re all enjoying these updates as well as the weird Sedona videos I’ve been finding. Speaking of, here’s an interview with author Mark Amaru Pinkham discussing the ancient mystical indigenous roots of the city of Sedona, and some surprising connections to the Yezidi refugees of Iraq. Here’s the word…

According to Hopi legend, Extraterrestrial Star People built Palatkwapi as a glorious city of sacred wisdom. It was here that the migrating Hopis learned their sacred rites and dances, as well as many mysteries of the universe. Since 1987, author, Mark Amaru Pinkham, has been blessed with the ability to envision Palatkwapi as it exists now – an interdimensional city that co-exists with the physical town of Sedona. Many of Palatkwapi’s temples continue to exist physically within Sedona in a water-worn condition and on higher dimensions they survive in their original perfection.

Through his direct study with the Yezidi priests of Iraq, Mark has further discovered that Masau’u is another name for the Yezidis’ King of the World, Tawsi Melek, the Peacock Angel and that the planetary monarch is due to soon make his presence known among the masses. Could it be in Sedona?

Find out more about how you can help the Yezidis. Here’s the video…

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On Tuesday at Sedona Summer Colony I woke up at about 5 AM and got out of bed and looked at my journal and grabbed some more bubble water out of our fridge in the common room and found another John Titor YouTube video to listen to — see yesterday’s post — before turning-in again and grabbing another few hours of sleep. I skipped the heavy bag at the gym for some yoga in the quad outside in the afternoon. Then I worked in the theater/library, writing another song on a small Steinway baby grand while an afternoon storm was threatening to roll in.

After dinner a big storm actually rolled in and I recorded a video of a new song during a lightning display. It’s really amazing to see this place in the summertime. It was super dramatic to see a lightning storm over the desert but I didn’t see anything super weird.

Keeping with this week’s bizarre Sedona theme, here’s a video investigation of Bradshaw Ranch in Arizona’s cosmic capital…

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I got up early on my second day at the Sedona Summer Colony — I went straight to the workout room and put in ten rounds on the stand up heavy bag there. It’s one of those Everlast numbers that’s like a cylinder on a stick weighed down with a base full of water. Not exactly the hanging 150 pounders I’m used to banging on at my gym back in Nashville, but kind of a fun change and definitely a good workout. I worked on transcribing some of my lyrics from my phone to my journal before heading up to the chapel where I have an amazing view and a piano to work with. I’m splitting time in the space with another songwriter and we’re both enjoying it up there. I made a video for a new song I wrote that you can view on my Facebook page.

Of course Sedona is known for being a weird place with lots of paranormal happenings and that must’ve inspired my YouTube wanderings before I went to sleep last night. I crashed out listening to this interview with an author of a new book about time traveler John Titor. Mike Sauve’s tome on Titor just came out last winter and there is a whole section about our old friend Joseph Matheny included in Sauve’s investigation into who might have authored the legend of Titor.

Doing my best to keep it weird here at the colony. Here’s the interview…

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I’m spending the week in Sedona, AZ attending this year’s Sedona Summer Colony artist residency program. I’m staying in a dorm on the Valley Verde School campus — it’s an International Baccalaureate school that preps some of the best high school students in the world for some of the best universities around the globe. It’s a pretty amazing place set right in the heart of Sedona’s gorgeous landscape, and this month it’s playing home to artists of all kinds from around the world.

I’m here to write a new collection of songs. I packed up my guitar and harmonicas after my show at The 5 Spot last Tuesday night, and I’m looking forward to putting together some new songs inspired by the natural beauty of this place as well as the interactions that these artists are already engaging in these workshops, at these dinner tables, and at evening chats fueled with wine and conversation, illuminated by distant lightning, and bound together in the common language of creativity that all artists in all places always share.

If you’re not already following my social media accounts connect up to follow along with the project. Sedona is known as a site of high weirdness and if you regularly read this blog you’ll probably like this video compilation of the kind of reports that make Sedona a destination for anyone attracted to the paranormal…

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This week, we celebrate Martin Scorsese’s 72nd birthday (November 17, 1942). Obviously, Scorsese is one of my favorite directors, and the filmmaker who cracked my head open with Raging Bull, showing me the difference between movies and cinema just as The Old Man and the Sea revealed to me the difference between literature and a nice book. Scorsese showed me what art looked like on the screen and he helped me to see it more clearly in songwriting and recording.

In honor of the man and his day, here’s a great little documentary about my vote for Martin Scorsese’s best film…

Stay Awake!

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