Terry Kingen playing the blues on the Epiphone Casino.

As my adventures on the island of Kauai unfolded, I had the pleasure of having a couple of friends visit from the mainland. Terry Kingen has been a great friend of mine since elementary school. Terry is one of the premier guitar players in the Seattle area, and has been teaching me blues guitar for the last couple of years. Anytime Terry and I get together, music is involved!

One evening, Terry and I decided to have a party. And whenever we have a party, drumming and guitar playing is always the primary theme! Several friends came over to join us that evening for a wonderful dinner. When we were all completely stuffed, we gave ourselves a short recovery time and then broke out the guitars.

Francesco Garripoli started singing some of his new songs, and Terry couldn’t resist laying down the lead. He started off playing my Epiphone Casino. Although I love guitars, I’m not a very good player. This particular guitar was a favorite of the late John Lennon. If you ever see a video of The Beatles’ last performance on the rooftop of Apple studio, you will see him playing a guitar just like this one. It is said that he liked it because it was lightweight and the hollow body allows it to be played as an acoustic guitar. Not to mention the P90 pickups make it sing beautifully when played  through an amplifier.

Musical Feast

Francesco rocking the Taylor guitar.

With Francesco laying down the rhythm guitar and Terry playing lead, there was only one thing missing: the  drum. So I pulled out my djembe and started playing. Song after song, Francesco sang the beautiful melodies that he’s been inspired with for the last year, Terry added the beautiful lead licks to spice up the songs, and I laid down the djembe. The energy continued to build from there.

We must have played for at least two hours! Francesco came up with amazing new material. In fact, the songs we played that night were later performed by our band, the Kauai Vibe Tribe, a few weeks later at The Trees Lounge in Kapaa.

When we eventually ran out of Francesco’s songs, we took a little break to replenish our energy with some coffee and ice cream! When you’re a hard-working musician, it’s important to eat right. Sugar and caffeine are two very important foods for good musicians. So, after consuming copious amounts of the local ice cream and a few cups of coffee, we were ready to start again!

The Djembe Drum

Toby taking a break from the djembe.

It’s amazing how good the ancient tribal African instrument, the djembe, can sound so good with modern guitars.

With that evening’s jam-session, it was almost as though the ancient and the modern had united. Whether we were playing folk songs written by Francesco, or tunes by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young—or in some cases, very unusual renditions of a Frank Zappa song—the djembe served well as the rhythm keeper.

I hate to say it, but the djembe even sounded good with some of the rockabilly and country songs that Terry sang. I must admit, it was challenging to play country music on the djembe—for me it’s hard to play country music, period. But Terry put his own spin on the music and made it sound just fine!

Toby Plays Guitar

For our second set, I was somehow convinced to play guitar. Actually, it didn’t take too much convincing: I love to play. And to take over the djembe and keep rhythm for us, we were joined by our friend Naoka.

Naoka on djembe.

This time the tone changed a bit. Being that my guitar skills are somewhat limited, Terry started a nice blues progression in the key of A, and encouraged me to lay down some of the lead patterns that he’s been teaching me.

I must admit that this was a little bit intimidating. Both Terry and Francesco are far more superior on the guitar than I am. But I had just the right amount of ice cream and just the right amount of coffee to be loose and ready to lay it down. And I had so much fun!

We played on and on. Sometimes, I would play rhythm and trade licks with Terry, and othertimes we would all play rhythm and add made-up, funny lyrics to the blues patterns. What a joy!

What’s Music Without Dancing?

As we jammed along on the blues, some of our other guests, my friends Robert Weir and Sherie Hayes, started dancing. This wasn’t just any kind of dancing. This was real dancing. Step-by-step, each one knew what the other was doing. Robert would spin Sherie under his arm and she would duck and emerge safely on the other side of him. We moved the chairs around to give them more room, as it was a delight to watch the masterful movements of these very skilled dancers.

Sherie with Toby on guitar.

I’m not sure for how long the dancing went on. Everyone ended up lost in the beauty of the energy that was being expressed that evening. But I’ll tell you this: it was one of the most amazing times that I’ve had on the island!

I’m incredibly fortunate to have Francesco, Naoka, Sherie, Robert, and Terry in my life. We played that night as late as we thought advisable as not to disturb the neighbors, and it was just perfect. My fingertips were very sore, since I don’t usually play the guitar for long periods of time, and it was time to experience the silence of the island under a beautiful starry sky.

Tori on the djembe

Some of the time here on the island spontaneous occurrences present themselves. One night, my friend Terry Kingen was visiting me with his daughter, Tori, and she spotted my drums lined up along the wall. Being very curious about this, she asked to hear what they sounded like. What came from that was about 3 hours of a wild drumming jam session!

Tori had never drummed before in her life, and it was so amazing as she began to play and the rhythm touched her heart. Her hands began to move and she picked up every single rhythm we played that night perfectly!

Terry was laying down the basic beat, holding the steady foundation, as I ripped it up a bit and helped Tori focus on the rhythms. Another friend of ours from the island was playing along as well. It was so fun to feel the vibration in the walls of the house, and see the joy on the faces of not only those of us who are playing, but Terry who was watching his daughter coming to such joy.

Magic Desserts Complement The Rhythm of the Drum

Drumming jam session at Toby's Hawaii house

Another joyful experience of this evening was the  unexpected visit by my friend Danny Hashimoto. Danny had been on an outing to the beach and stopped by the house on his way home . . . once again loaded with his magic desserts and sweet delights!

I will say it was also a bit distracting watching Danny pull these amazing treats from his cooler setting them beautifully on the counter awaiting our consumption. But we drummed on, laughing, smiling, getting into the rhythm of the drum, the rhythm of community, and the rhythm of the island. The drumming continued until everyone’s hands were so sore they couldn’t feel their fingers. There was so much laughter and fun.

Kauai: The Island that Creates Community

One of the things that the island does is creates community. People come together, and even if they have never met each other, they become instant friends. In the same way that the island welcomes everybody to its magic, that magic seems to draw everyone to each other. And the spontaneous merging of energy occurs. Family occurs, community occurs.

Danny Hashimoto and Toby Christensen

One of my dear friends, Malidoma Somé, from Burkina Faso, West Africa, talks often about how people in the village will spontaneously unite, just to enjoy each other and bring the rhythm of the drum or the song of the voice or the sound of the Balaphone to the people in the village. It is wonderful to experience these kinds of spontaneous events in a world where most things are planned and organized. I want to especially thank Danny for bringing his magic to our party and making a fun, spectacular time even more dynamic and spectacular!

I hope that next summer many of you are here on the island for the workshops that I will be offering so that you, too, can experience the magic of the island, the spontaneity of community, and the true feeling of aloha!

Stay tuned for more adventures throughout my visit to Kauai!

Terry Kingen and Toy Christensen in Hawaii

It was so fun watching Guy and Terry jam on those old dusty acoustic guitars. We started teasing Guy about how he emulates Jimi Hendrix so well and how I want to learn how to play the Guy Johnson “Monkey Finger” lead guitar. Guy informed us that for him to really cut loose would require the electric guitars. So he broke his Stratocaster out of the case and handed Terry a beautiful Gibson SG, and the following video emerged.

Although Guy’s voice is completely trashed, you will get the Jimi Hendrix-like flair that he has. And Terry’s no slouch either! This particular kind of music is not his preferred style. In the future, I will post some videos of Terry playing his rockabilly music ,which is his featured spotlight!

We have this fantasy looming in the world of “possibilities”: that I will move to Seattle and we will start a blues band. Who knows?

Here is the video that occurred when the acoustic guitars got put away and we turned on the amplifiers and pulled out the electric guitars.

As you watch the video, you’ll notice that in the middle of a guitar solo, Guy decides he needs to adjust his amplifier. So while playing the guitar one-handed, he gets up out of his chair walks over to the amp, and never missing a lick, makes the adjustment and comes back and sits down just in time to sing the next phrase of the song. You’ll notice towards the end of the video that he does it again standing and moving over to adjust Terry’s amplifier.

Everyone Has a Light to Shine on The World

Guy Johnson

I really want to drive home the point that any time we create an environment of joy, celebration, encouragement, and support, we are shining a light in the world. I would love to have all of my friends gathered in this basement on this night to feel the magic that was flowing in the air. It didn’t matter that we were not in front of a crowd. It only mattered that we were together: friends sharing who we were (and are) at our core, being with each other. This brought such joy and happiness to each of us, I continue to lie in the beauty and powerful energy of that evening.

So shine your light! Let the world hear you, whether it’s in your shower, your basement, or in your car. Sing, dance, play an instrument, drum, be poetic . . . Whatever it is that brings joy to your heart, take time each day to do it. Share it where ever you can, and realize that it is bringing the energy to the world. That is the important part, not how many people see or hear us.

Begin to create vortexes of joy everywhere you go, and please share your stories.

Three friends 30 years later!

As I travel around and talk to people, my primary messages is about people shining the light in the world. Most of the time people hear me talk about this, but think about me standing up on stage in front of a large group of people teaching or playing my drum. But on my recent trip to  Seattle, something occurred to me. We can shine our light in the world where ever we are and through whatever it is we are doing.

The story goes like this: a couple years ago I reunited with some old friends. They were friends that I had played music with back when I was nine years old. We played together all the way through our high school years. I moved to California right after high school and lost track of my friends. Then, 40 years later . . . okay, that’s just not right! 30 years later we reunited in the most fantastic way. Every time I go to Seattle, I get together with my friends Terry Kingen and Guy Johnson. They are both phenomenal guitar players, and they are both uniquely different. It is an absolute joy to play with them because they both bring such tremendous talent to the world in their own unique styles.

Guy Johnson

Guy Johnson

At 10 years old, Guy Johnson had an old Fender Stratocaster. He was a tall, lanky kid with fingers about a foot long that could move like lightning. Guy had a profound love: Jimi Hendrix. And at 10 years old, Guy could play a lick-for-lick and note-for-note any Jimi Hendrix tune.

I remember when the Led Zeppelin II  album was released. On one of the songs was a very fast and technical guitar solo done by Jimmy Page. I remember little Guy Johnson putting the album on the turntable, putting the needle on the album, and then by hand turning the record slightly slower than 33 RPMs. Each note of the guitar solo was very apparent at the slower speed, and after listening to it three or four times, Guy turned the stereo off, picked up his guitar, and played the solo note for note. It was absolutely unbelievable.

At that time I didn’t know anything about “channeling.” But now I realize that Guy had the ability to tap in to certain energies and literally channel them through his guitar. He really used to piss everybody off because if he heard it, he could play it! Anything!

Terry Kingen

While the rest of the world was listening to Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles, there was Terry  Kingen. While we were in the garage jamming out blues licks, bending strings within the blues box, and trying our best to be rock ‘n roll stars, Terry was studying with the most masterful teachers in the Seattle area. He was listening to the great jazz maestros. He was emulating Frank Zappa, John Cole Train, Capt. Beefheart, John McLaughlin and the Maha Vishnu Orchestra.

Terry Kingen

Terry was on the outer stratosphere of another galaxy compared to all of us. The difference between Terry and Guy was that Guy could play it, and Terry could tell you every single note of it and how it relates to every other  note and how that related to the chord progression that was holding the space for the solo to occur.

Simply said, Terry was, and is, a musical genius! He is my guitar teacher and mentor. His gift is that he can take his complex knowledge of music and put it into very simple terms, so that even a guy like me can understand.

Discovering Joy in Guy’s Basement

I’m so grateful to have these men in my life. Terry, Guy and I had a wonderful, spontaneous experience on my last trip to Seattle. Terry and I went over to Guy’s house, picked him up, and went out for a burger. After dinner, we went back to Guy’s and slid down the stairs to the music room where Terry and I picked up a couple of old, dusty acoustic guitars. That’s when we went into an amazing blues jam.

Me, being the newcomer at the guitar and not being in the same league as those two, chose to pull out my iPhone and take footage of this masterful, spontaneous combustion of music. And it occurred to me as I was listening with a feeling the joy that filled the room as this great talent was expressed that we bring our light to the world whenever we shine, wherever that is. I realized that in the basement of Guy Johnson’s house was a vortex of great joy created by three friends getting together and sharing their gifts. No spectators, no recording. Just three open hearts connecting in a beautiful way to bring the gift of music to the world.

Setting an Example for Shining Light Into the World

Every time we open our hearts and step into the place of joy and passion, we are shining a light in the world. We are creating a vortex of joy that brings good energy to the planet.

I hope as you watch this video that you’re able to feel the fun that we had that night. Guy had sung for hours the night before and his voice was trashed, but it didn’t prevent him from shouting out the lyrics as best he could!

As you get caught up in the playful energy of this evening, please remember to bring your gift to the world. Shine your light into the world as often as you can! I hope you enjoy.

Amazing Reunion is a series of stories that honor old friends that have profoundly affected my life. It is a series that acknowledges the influence of those who have helped me become who I am today. I am grateful for these people and want them to know. 

Have you ever thought about old friends? Have you ever wondered… where is _______________(fill in the blank)? Well I have. In my youth there was a group of guys who were like me. We were boys who connected to our gifts early. While our other friends were playing kickball, soccer, or tag, we were in my parents basement or in Guy’s garage ( you will learn more about the amazing Guy Johnson in my next entry) playing Jimi Hendrix, Mountain, Led Zeppelin, and James Gang. I loved these guys with all my heart. In many many ways we were the “odd balls” and in another way we carried a sort of celebrity status. In the next few entries I would like to pay tribute to my old, new friends. I hope this inspires you to reconnect as well. We are not always aware of the impact we have had  on others and reconnecting with these amazing men that has helped me realize that even the simplest acts of kindness or spontaneous moments can have an unbelievable impact and inspiration on those around us. 

I searched for them from time to time but with no luck. For decades I thought about them. One of my favorite musical artists is the great Frank Zappa. My friend Terry Kingen and I used to go to his concerts when he came to Seattle. Sometimes waiting 6 or 7 hours at the door of the Paramount Theater to be the first ones in! Every time I hear a Frank Zappa song I think of Terry. I have since I was 14 years old.  I searched his name and was never able to find him. Then through a series of phone calls and synchronistic occurrences, which I will get to in future entries, I reconnected to Terry Kingen. Even though it had been 30 some years since we had seen each other, when I saw his trade mark Terry Kingen smile and heard his cheerful voice, it was as though no time had passed at all.  

Although back in the day, he had long dark hair, which has been replaced by short grey hair, the youthful and mischievous sparkle in his eyes has not dimmed. Terry was always the best musician of us all. While we were playing blues riffs and figuring out what the heck chords were in a song, Terry was taking lessons and practicing his Mixolydian Modes, Phrygian Scales, and his Dominant flatted 2nd what-evers! 

Over the years, he has developed into one of the greatest guitar players I have ever heard and has become a prolific songwriter whose style is somewhere between Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. Whether he is on his pink paisley Telecaster or his deep rich acoustic guitar, Terry plays with a driving rhythm and sings with a soulful tone. His music reaches deep into you and gently extracts the goodness of life that sometimes hides beneath the rough waves and tumultuous currents of the everyday goings on; sometimes with a hint of mischievous sarcasm. 

But this is not all that makes Terry Kingen great. What to me makes him a very amazing human being is his humility, willingness to help a friend in need, and his complete lack of judgement. Terry is an example of finding the best in each person he meets. He is quick to set aside differences to find the common ground of connection. When you have a conversation with him you can feel the authentic interest he has in knowing who you really are and hearing what you have to say.

I am so fortunate to have re-connected with Terry. Sometimes it seems that life passes us by and the rich joy of the past is all we have to hold onto. I am here to say that sometimes that rich joy of the past comes around and makes another pass through life. 

Thank you, Terry.

Here we have Terry Kingen on the guitar Joel Bisset on the kit and I am on the djembe 

Joel Bisset laying down the steady beat!

I was just in Seattle and met up with a group of guys I have not seen for 30 years. I went to Elementary, Junior High, and High school with these gentlemen. As kids we played music together. We would spend hours in my parents’ basement playing Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin, The Beatles, Rolling Stones and who ever else was on the charts at that time. Guy Johnson was and is today one of the most talented and skilled rock guitar players on the planet. Terry Kingon is a masterful wizard on the guitar masterfully maneuvering his way through any style of music from rockabilly to Frank Zappa! Clearly, Terry is the most musically educated and diverse of the gang. Joel Bissett is one of those guys who is the embodiment of kindness and a true gentleman. He was always ready to help those of us who were up on stage, always picking up tips on playing the drums and guitar. He was never in the spotlight back then but he has become a fine drummer and excellent man on the guitar. And of course I cannot help but mention Paul Dragoo, Paul and I did not meet till High School but became close friends, as we played in bands together during that time in my life. It was through Paul’s continued connection with the other three men that ultimately lead to our reunion.

 
Reconnecting to these men is one of the greatest joys I have experienced in a very long time. Our hair is a little grayer; we all have a bit of age on our bellies. But jamming with these guys made my heart sing. After all these years, we have each held music as our love and passion. I had the opportunity to be on stage with two of them. Joel and Terry. Joel was on the drum kit and Terry was man handling a pink paisley Telecaster. And I was bringing the HealingDrum to a bar in Renton Washington! 

It was such a joy to play with these guys Terry and I could not do anything but SMILE