Sunday, December 28, 2008

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Thanks to our gracious friends and family, our benefit at ROY was a heart warming collaboration of big hugs, positive intentions and conversation, open-hearted giving, and foot stomping groovy tunes that prepared us in heart and mind for our trip to come in two weeks. We raised enough funds to ensure the orphanage will have an incredibly motivated and determined teacher that will provide the children with an intelligent education for a minimum of two months-- and the community will have a genius mind to help in the clinic and educate the community on AIDS prevention and how to cope.
Yellow fever immunizations shook hands with our blood the day of the benefit and seem to be having a difficult time adapting to our healthy bodies.
I've come down with a week- and-counting flu that has kept me down this holiday, but has elevated my motivation and excitement to finally depart for the motherland.
If anyone is interested in Western medicine and Western culture's determination to provoke fear and denounce any non-U.S. based healthcare practices.....be sure to check out a travel immunization clinic. They're convinced its necessary to take preparatory high altitude meds, car sickness, and jet lag pills, in addition to the ten recommended disease immunizations. And make sure not to ever step foot in a foreign hospital. You may catch koodies.
We're off in two weeks. Keep checking in. Dance-off on an empty- condo's wood floor next week. Shine your shoes. Be sure to practice. xo

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Wind, sails and glue.

It's crisp and bright here in Santa Barbara and my domecile is filled with cardboard boxes, dog toys and a harmonium. My cold has worn off and I feel like thanking everyone who came to Roy on thursday night for a really special evening. We had old circles of friends from our time in Santa Barbara come through and fuse together into what feels now like one big circle. A family. A village.
In the same day that Anni and I got immunized for Yellow fever (and were forced to watch a ridiculous video abut the DANGERS of traveling to FOREIGN countries inhabited by real-live FOREIGNERS with DISEASES) we raised enough money to begin working in Kenya. Yes. Thank you friends. You did it. Now it's up to us to ensure that your good will finds the people who need it.
The mercury level on a help-o-meter is off to a healthy start, currently standing at about 3 month's worth of home-stay cost. We're shooting for 6. So, if the maddening Christmas hustle is leaving you high and dry, then hit the donate button for our cause, and enjoy the immediate, warm-fudge-like sensation of giving. It's addictive, though. Be careful.

A few highlights from the evening were 1. Anni's whispering into the microphone of "thank you" to the band, 2. the gold buttons on my vest, 3. Poopy's modesty, used to conceal an unbelievable gift, 4. DJ Erik Lohr's drop of Smooth Operator which triggered a quintessential white-style boogie-fest, and 5. the m-f'ing Crymuscles of San Francisco who played a marathon of funk over 2+ hours, BEFORE being joined by the bottle-rocket singer from Mali known as Ali Baba, who brought to us, at Roy, a glimpse of the heart and soul of Africa.

We leave for Flagstaff in the morning, the new home of my blue-eyed wolf, Hudson- known to friends as Barf.
It's to he and I, that I dedicate this next musical posting.

Bo Diddley- I'm A Man.


The Indestructible Beat also acquired a video camera today. Video postings soon to follow.

With so much love for everyone who has supported us so far, the Sigs, Mr. Pritz, Uppal, Chau, Palermo, JT, you guys are heroes.

Our good friend and NY-based choreographer, Andrew Palermo of Dre.Dance also has a wonderful cause to benefit autism that you can check out here.

I love creative people.

Now I must pack.

As our buddy Seth-In-Bolivia once said:

"Intrepidly yours",
Austin and Anni.

Monday, December 8, 2008

The beginning is near.

Greetings friends and family! Welcome to the Beat. Hopefully you have found your way here after receiving an invitation to our benefit/ send-off party on December 18th at Roy in Santa Barbara. If so, please pass on the word to anyone who would enjoy a night of reckless abandon, fueled by humanitarian crude.
Fun things happened today. The Crymuscles now have a room at the El Prado on State street for the night of the Roy gig. I'm jealous. I've always wanted to stay there. Alas, scientists don't get rooms booked for them.
We're hastily selling belongings and boxing the few things we plan to keep before departing for Nairobi. We have CARS! COUCHES! GUITARS! You name it!

The benefit is going to be awesome. Many thanks, too, to the far-away friends who won't be able to make it but have contributed to our noble cause! You are saints and soldiers.
I guess it's time for another musical post.

This one is yet another from our namesake album, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto: Vol.1.
This track improves even the most gloomy of moods and should get you flipping through old photo albums within 2-3 consecutive plays.

Sobabamba- Udokotela Shange Namajaha

OK, the dog needs a midnight snack and I need hit the hay.
Robot-off.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

My Gratitude

Only a wee hour into this Thanksgiving morn and I am filled with gratitude for my place in this world. I am thankful for the people I love and the life that we share. I am thankful, too, for the unknown faces and lives that I will one day greet, with an open mind and an open heart.

Save a turkey.


Kwa Volodiya - Mahlathini Nezintombi Zomgqashiyo [zShare]

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

A First Offering...

Start with the greats, right?

Nansi Imali- Ladysmith Black Mambazo [zShare]
Idoda Yejazi Elimnyama- Amaswzi Emvelo [zShare]


More coming soon.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

What Makes You BEAT?

As our world--from our neighborhood block, to city limits, to planet Earth as a whole-- each day becomes more expansive, more detailed, more populated, more aware, more integrated, and more convoluted, our options and available opportunities grow--allowing us to make more decisions, welcomed or not, and more precisely create a path for our own life. In other words, we're no longer limited to the few positions necessary to create a functioning community, nor do we need to remain within the narrow paradigms handed down to us by our cultural fathers. We've been born during an era of a globalized world and our boundaries-- both physical and cognitive--have transcended that which our parents knew.

So...in this state of awareness, it seems of utmost importance and more vital than your morning cup of coffee, or favorite record on a bad day, or the need to compare yourself with all around you in effort to identify your identity, we ask.....WHAT MAKES YOU BEAT? What's the INDESTRUCTIBLE force driving you to live and love and love how you're living?

My snare rolls when I drink when I'm thirsty

My cymbal crashes when I eat when I'm hungry

My toms bark when I have so much energy, I can exhaust myself surfing, or ballet dancing, or running

My bongo thumps when I sit down in a library and realize I have access to a lifetime of learning

My bass quakes when I see my family and friends smiling, able to afford education and healthcare, and engage in work that inspires them and allows them to be themselves.

My heart BEATs when I use my potential and energy to help create a world where more people have a drum set and can BEAT their own INDESTRUCTIBLE force; creating a just world comprised of educated, healthy, more peaceful, and economically independent and socially responsible people where the music plays loudly because we're happy we've come out of the shadows of fear and false competition and realize we're increasingly awakening to our true human potential. xo