October 29, 2008


Starting Fire!


In this amazing video, Kevin TIncher shows a small group of students how to start the sacred fire. Half way through this there is a special appearance from Tata Pedro Cruz. Very cool! This close up shot shows the correct size hole to start with on your fire board.

It's been a while since the last entry but I wanted to continue along with the vibe that we have all created here with Gathering of the Peace Makers thanks again to Robert and Julia Roskind. Go here for all the info on the up and coming Gathering of the Peacemakers! www.rastaheart.com

Kevin Tincher and Yes-I were among the many people and presenters that made it to Blue Star here in Connecticut on October 12 for the filming of the first of a four part series called Conscious Conversations and Mindful Music.

This documentary is attempting to collect many different world wisdom's and indigenous beliefs as they relate to the sacred four directions. Here is a picture of Grand Master Aiping Cheng teaching at Blue Star This project was created as a result of ideas formed at Gathering of the Peacemakers and is intended to bring cohesiveness to our culture. We see this vision reaching worldwide levels quickly and will prove to us through the reconnection to nature that many of us have naturally grown separated from our true source. We believe this to be a natural phenomenon one that was necessary to show us the correct path by straying from the true path. There are many different modalities and schools of thought that address this topic. It is not our job to judge rather we intend to bridge the commonalities of there practices to show how many cultures are speaking the same language. here are two elders we work with on a regular basis. Sequoyah Trueblood and Marlyn Cane.

Through attention to a wide range of indigenous and ancient belief structures we hope to reunify as many people as we can through self-awareness to what has always been present and available to us but most times easily overlooked.

Through this community and ones like it, we hope to raise the level of our awareness with the guidance of our elders and their indigenous wisdoms. It is our intention to show that our lives are not about conquering nature, but rather seeing our inseparableness from it.

If we can make the necessary corrections to our perception and help each other, our neighbors, families, allies and especially our adversaries, to wake to the next level of collective consciousness, then there is hope for the humanity’s’ continued symbiotic existence on our planet.



If you are interested in getting involved with the Blue Star Project and would like to host a conscious conversation we encourage you to contact us to find out how. There are three more gathering scheduled the next one is on The winter solstice then the spring equinox followed by the summer solstice. We have a group of people gathering for their own similar conversation in Southern California for the winter solstice and hope to have a few more groups to carry on this movement. Coming together like we all did at Gathering of the Peace makers will make a difference if we all do just a little bit to help usher it through. Remember it is not about going with the flow rather it is becoming the flow that sets us free. Much love and respect and hope all of you are doing well.

Pete and Sarah

Aug 27, 2008
It's been a while since our last post but we are just now getting out our video and photos to begin some archiving of some fresh ideas! Here we see Dan-O riggin up one of the computers here at Blue Star for another session! And here is a bit of what we were editing

Sound X 11
May 16 2008
Great Spirit




Today was a day that just clicked for our quartet. It has been a long stretch since we have all been together in the studio here at Blue Star and we came together this day as if we have been rehearsing weekly. Rich coming off a solid week or two of his retirement from Etna
and Pro drummer having a few weeks to nurse his sore back helped the smoothness of this session.
John O’reilly was anxious to strap on his bass and had many weeks away from our sound to contemplate the sounds of the free flowingness that these grooves calls for. Sarah put on a killer food spread for our break and we all enjoyed a medley of pasta, salads and tasty morsels of goodness, thanks Sarah!
Slow even fell asleep on the floor in front of my didgeridoo and you know it’s good if he does that, a true litmus test for the studio he is.

I have been fighting an illness as well for many weeks. I’ve seen doctors to natural paths and some speculate Lyme disease, others a strong virus. X-rays, MRI tanks and a super cleansing diet with lots of good food and rest were ordered. Either way, no conclusiveness to what it is and up to this session I was experiencing dizziness and tingling in my left arm and leg. But after this session and spending the time mixing it on the board I have seem to come out of my sickness and have felt better than I have in months! Music is medicine it would seem. I also must admit my good friends Sequoyah Trueblood and the women he walks beside Marlyn Cane came a few days earlier and spend some healing time here with Sarah me and Slow and their energy was all over this place when the boys showed up to record on Friday, so a big thank you to them as well for their energy, love and kindness.
When it all came together the music was smooth, tight and very enjoyable. We have our first charitable show this weekend at the Hole in the Wall Camp that Paul Newman put together a few years ago and this will be our second appearance with these great people, thanks to Paul Newman for his consciousness. http://www.holeinthewallgang.org/
Sound X 11 has given us the “loose mapping” that we will use for our show. Thank you to Rich, John and Pro Drummer for coming and bringing your talent to share with us here at the Blue Star. Great thanks, great peace and great love!

Sound X 10
Pro Drummers Birthday!
April 12,2008








Today’s sound experiment happened with only a few hours notice. There was no session planned until I spoke to pro drummer that morning and filled him in on John Ellis coming down to do some work on the board with pro tools.
Turns out that John brought his guitar just in case we played a bit and play we did! Pro drummer comes over with his new bass guitar and his friend Matt who just so happens to play a mean bass. Matt from what I understood was into country bass lines a bit, as well as a bunch of other styles but this is how the afternoon went. Oh and did I mention Matt knows space jams? Well he does. Sarah and I just coming off the Levon Helms midnight ramble last weekend in Woodstock were already in the country barn jam mode and it sure came out in this mix. Sarah came home and her and Slow dog added their energy to the great afternoon too!





But keep in mind it was Pro Drummers birthday and he was a bit fired up and ready to hit the skins like we were in front of a crowd of 10 thousand. Even with the aching back he brought his a game. John’s lead support on his ax combined with the didge, flutes and harmonica with some country lyrics and the day proved to be a very listenable extravaganza.

Sound X 9

March 29 2008
Slow dog on the sound board helping John Ellis with the mix


I went into the session a bit under the weather with the flu and some seriously aching muscles, but what we came out with was a good dose of medicine. The days jam consisted of Rob Daulphena space bass,
Rich McGhee horns and flutes, Eric Simonsen jamming lead guitar, Bruce Nelson a.k.a pro drummer, Sarah Smith vocals , Pete Onofrio didgeridoo, flutes and vocals and John Ellis on the sound board.



Eric came down again from Albany for his second sound X and was ready to let it loose and he did. The guitar sounds rivaled an upstate NY outside summer concert that had a touch of Government Mule and a dash of Dave Mathews in the cake mix.
But adding the didge and flutes with some Coltrain-esque horns and some Trent Resner bass effects thanks to Pappa Scorpio and the afternoon took on a seriously cool vibe. It was good to shake out the cold and the last of winter with some fun sounds, thanks you guys. This video clip is kind of funny, Pappa Scorpio was tuning my bass guitar which is a left hander. So notice the think is upside down, still sounded great! The camera floats over to John who drove down from West Hartford and was still pulling his chops together for the jam and we catch him in a yawn. Great time either way!

Sound X 8
March 1 2008

February is in the rear view and here comes spring! This was an epic gathering for many reasons. First of all we were blessed with the very talented and very beautiful Margaux Hayes, vocalist and percussionist from Harford. This was a welcome back to Margauxs home base here at blue star with some new people and a fresh gathering to greet her. This was her first sound X session and she brought all the vocals and more from the MaGeePa project with some new twists as well. She also made her killer guacamole for the table and we all know this is really why pro drummer comes to the gigs.

Colin Benn brought his infamous viola groove educed trance with his classically trained ear add his trade mark wa-wa peddle to stir it up a bit and step back Knitting Factory!
The structure that Colin brings to session is a crucial bonding element that I feel helps “gel” the room and musicians.

Together with Rich McGhee’s decades of experience, powerful bass tenor infusion and groovy sounds capes, the group took off in a MaGeePa direction but with a completely different rhythm feel. This in part thanks to John O’Reilly and Bruce a.k.a “Pro Drummer’s” impeccable and smooth beat foundations. O’Reilly even mixed it up a bit this time to keep the rest of us on our toes listening for the key changes. Adding the Didgeridoo created even more of that good vibration, helping to fill up and lift the room to higher and at the same time deeper, levels of musical focus.

As the sun was setting we all gathered for one last jam before a light snack and a cold Guiness. Attempting to make this piece about six minutes, alas it followed the same path all the songs from this session did, which was over twenty minutes long! A real String Cheese barnburner, wow! We even had Sarah Smith, my partner and soon to be wife; join us for some vocal highs that really added an angelic feel to a few of the pieces. Thanks Sarah I never knew!


I had a lot of fun with this group today and enjoyed the magic as it rolled from our voices and instruments Slow Dog isa true test if the music is good, if it is, he will quickly fall asleep at our feet as we play, today was a good indication!
. Thank you to all who participated and look for the sound clips soon! Please add your comments to this wonderful day and if anyone out there would like a free CD of this session all you need to do is send us an e-mail. Thank you again, Pete

Sound X 7
Feb 23 2008 Back to the Music!



I know you are asking, "what happened to sound X 7?" It's out there just not logged yet so hang in there for those of you who are following this site and watching it grow.

Well well, this session rocked like no other time. The February doldrums were quickly and thoroughly chased away this evening with the coming together of old friends and one bad ass drummer. My old friend Eric Simonsen was in town with his family for the weekend and he had a spare few hours to join myself and pro drummer (Bruce Nelson) for some serious work on our rhythm section.

Eric’s style of guitar playing to me sounds a bit like Joe Walsh from the confessor and some of Eddie Van Halen mixed in. This proved to be what pro drummer liked to jam with and this I did not know.

Pro drummer, comes to find out has played in many different hard rock and punk rock bands over the years. When Eric brought his trippy, wailing guitar and effects, with the didge’s heavy bass foundations, pure energy on an indigenous level transpired right in front of our mics, wow!

I can hear this session scoring an intense Indiginous drama, like Brave Heart or Last of the Mohegans on some level, truly fun and powerful sounds thank you pro drummer and easy E!