Dear inter webs, first off I love you all. Second I want to share my recent journey because I think it is worth writing about and I haven’t done a good job of writing on my website. This week has been big , so big in fact, on either end of my planned adventure itinerary music exploded and overflowed as it sometimes does. So, I had planned to go work as a stage hand at Byron bay Bluesfest because the line up was just too legendary to be missed and a couple days before I’m set to leave my good friend and long time looker out for young deviant wild child NDNz like myself told me to come down to sold out Trevor Hall at the northcote social club in North Melbourne. So as I can’t refuse the legendaryness of the offer I hope in an Uber to go see for myself. I only end up catching the very end couple songs of homies set , but I’m chillin after and Chase brings me to the green room where there’s a couple couches and the whole medicine tribe crew is there with Trevor, so I try to keep my cool knowing I’m in a hot tub overflowing with talent and vision. I’m usually a very talkative person ,but at that moment my instinct told me to listen and breath in this knowledge SO the next hour or so flew by as I listened to Trevor hall tell whimsical stories (hands down one of the most vivid story tellers I’ve heard) .I go home and am like phew that was crazy. The next day Chase is playing with Nahko and MFTP, and hooks a brother up so I go to 170 Russell st to a packed club and watch them always tear it up . This all before even heading to a five day festival (which I was already overflowing with excitement for) . So , I fly out the next day ona red eye but my flight is delayed 2 hours , miss my bus find another bus take a train to that bus and am only an hour late to my first shift lifting equipment as a stage hand. Yadda yadda yadda shit got cray. But as I’m working with the crew I meet this super down Israeli homie named Omer who knows I’m kind finagling my way through this adventure and takes me IN, cooks me break fest every morning and lets me sleep in the guest room of HIS beautiful house he lives in with his partner. What a blessing from creator. So the fest continues and I see legends play one after another, Carlos Santana, Patti Smith, Buddy Guy, Mavis staples just to scratch the surface. Pretty much everything I saw was raw talent

Once the festival was over I decided to stick around Byron bay for a couple days cus I’d been staying their off and on but only occasionally for nights because I was mainly at the festival. I enjoyed surfing some of the best waves and most beautiful beaches I think I’ve ever seen, the sun browned me and the whirlwind of music grounded me, so I took a minute to take it in. On my second day after the festival in Byron I found out Chase and Dustin Thomas a former Minneapolis resident and warrior of light were playing a free benefit show for a non profit fighting to ban plastic bags because of the ecological havoc they reek on marine animals. I was expecting this to a solo set by chase and Dustin but to my surprise Dustin performed with a percussionist which made dancing irresistible, he set the vibes very high and his beat boxing skills never seem to stop getting better every time I’ve seen him perform. Finally to close up the night Chase gets on and announces his whole family band will be joining him which included his Dad, mother and sister all of them could shred and they all took turns leading the music, the music itself was truly amazing but what really struck a nerve for me being so far away from my own home and family was their tight knit love and understanding of each other , coming from a family history that is pretty broken , dark and separated this really hit me how important family is to the world at large. On a personal level Chase has always felt like he was filling in some family roles in my life that weren’t always present and when I saw the love within his family unit and how open they were about expressing it, it made sense to me how Chase has become such a compassionate big brother figure to me. Over all the point I’m getting at and the revelation I’m having is that whether it be Omer or Chase , you never know how much the simplest acts of kindness and compassion impact the world. So with that -YOU DONT NEED THE SAME BLOOD TO SHARE THE SAME LOVE