Mike Didj plays didjeridoo for one hour without stopping

Radar Sherpa recorded in Fractal Lab last night. Brad Buley engineered the new CD by Radar Sherpa. This CD is called One Didj One breath One hour and features Michael Didj playing the didjeridoo continuously, one outbreath, for one hour.

I entered the studio nervous, not feeling very prepared. You see my breath is not as open as it could be. Over the past 12 years i've practiced yoga and tai chi and until the last year - on a daily basis. These exercises have more benefits than I can keep track of. During the last year, my discipline has basically disappeared. Lucky for me, the 11 years of breath work has not completely been erased by my slacking off.

Brad was in the studio when I arrived and he enthusiastically explained the various capabilities and shortcomings of the array of studio microphones. I kept my self busy arranging various animal figurines, crystals and other trinkets which helped turn the studio into an altar.

My first attempt lasted 11 minutes and I suddenly felt the difficulty of the task at hand as quite a challenge.

"Alright, lets shoot for an hour." I said this with a chuckle hiding my growing fear of not being able to succeed in my goal of one breath one didj one hour. I began again and I have to say it was tough. At times I felt like I was running low on oxygen - I was a jaguar digging its claws into a sheer granite wall refusing to sucumb to gravity, climbing thru sheer will power. At one point, I felt like giving up. I could hear and see myself stopping and saying to Brad: "Hey, just can't do it. I need to be better prepared, lets do it another time."

I never had to say it. When the breathing got tough, I just went for it, sucking enough air thru my nose that my nostrils flared like a wild bull. After 30 or 40 minutes of circular breathing, it all started to open up and get easier. The chanting got easier and the voices became polyphonic. At times I kind of drifted away only to find myself back not knowing how long I'd been in the timeless no thought state.

78 minutes later, my outbreath stopped and the silence felt like a warm blanket which I could bask in like a lion languiidly stretching in the sun after feasitng on a gazelle.

Radar Sherpa records in Fractal Lab

Brad Buley engineered the new CD by Radar Sherpa. This CD is called One Didj One breath One hour and features Michael Didj playing the didjeridoo for one hour.

I entered the studio nervous, not feeling very prepared. You see my breath is not as open as it could be. Over the past 12 years i've practiced yoga and tai chi on a daily basis. These exercises have more benefits than I can keep track of. During the last year, my discipline has basically disappeared. Lucky for me, the 11 years of breath work has not completely been erased by my slacking off.

Brad was in the studio when I arrived and he enthusiastically explained the various capabilities and shortcomings of the array of studio microphones. I kept my self busy arranging various animal figurines, crystals and other trinkets which helped turn the studio into an altar.

My first attempt lasted 11 minutes and I suddenly felt the difficulty of the task at hand as quite a challenge.

"Alright, lets shoot for an hour." I said this with a chucle hiding my growing fear of not being able to succeed in my goal of one breath one didj one hour. I began again and I have to say it was tough. At times I felt like I was clawing up the sheer wall of my breath like a jaguar digging its claws into a sheer granite wall. At one point, I felt like giving up. I could hear and see myself stopping and saying to Brad: "Hey, just can't do it. I need to be better prepared, lets do it another time."

I never had to say it. When the breathing got tough, I just went for it, sucking enough air thru my nose that my nostrils flared like a wild bull. After 30 or 40 minutes of circular breathing, it all started to open up and get easier. The chanting got easier and the voices became polyphonic. At times I kind of drifted away only to find myself back not knowing how long I'd been in the timeless no thought state.

78 minutes later, my outbreath stopped and the silence felt like a warm blanket which I could bask in like a lion stretching in the sun after feasitng on a gazelle.

L.A. adventure

Radar Sherpa cruised down to Los Angelas yesterday. We scouted out locations for street performing. We learned that in order to perform in Santa Monica's Prominade, one need's to purchase a permit at the court house. The massive amounts of people that we encountered overwelmed this camper. Locating a restroom became one of the many challenges. Just walking down the side walk required full attention and quick thinking. At one point, I heard a "Left, left, left! LEFT!" I move just in time to avoid being run over by an old lady on a bicycle, barreling down the sidewalk, angry and annoyed at my poor response time.

Startled, I say: "Get off the side walk."

"Get on your ass!" She yells, disappearing around a corner before I can respond with a witty rejoinder.

Clay just laughs at my sputtering. We stop in Yankee Doodle and after my rest room inspection, I find him at a table near the entrance. Every wall in this place is filled with giant flat sceen televisions. There are soccer games and baseball games and the place is filled with hundreds of folks. We check the menu and I order a bottle of water from the waitress and ask for a lemon. We end up leaving after she charges me $5.00 for the $4.00 water and she never gave me a lemon wedge.

The next half of the evening involved out attending CD release/healer's fair at Yoga West. This turns out to be a blast with all kinds of characters and many cute young girls. Clay is in heaven and he easily mingles and enjoys the well deserved attention that he generates with his open smile and good looks.

We don't have any cards but I write down the Radar Sherpa website for the curious. They serve Indian food refreshing Yogi Tea, healthy and delicious Bliss Balls and way too many cookies. We did not arrive back in the Ojai Valley until 3:30AM. The night felt like a whole new door of possibilities opening up.

Radar Sherpa sits in with SugarCream

Last night, at Sacred Space, Radar Sherpa sat in with SugarCream. It was an impromtu performance and left us all in high spirits. In between a SugarCream set, Brad pulled out his hand drum and began to lay down a vibrant rhythm charged with love and joy. I pulled my timber didge from its plastic sheath and began to play along. Within a minute, a microphone was place in front of my didge and I began to chant Tibetan Buddhist style. Clay began his magnificent, gravity defying acrobatics and an enormous circle of space formed around him as the onlookers jaws dropped to the floor. Sundance joined in, sitting on the stage, he began laying down thick electric guitar riffs which enveloped the soundscape like rainbow lightning - adding to the magical music and creating a dreamtime never encountered before. Sean intensified the backdrop drone with well chosen chords and the party collectively broke thru the atmosphere leaving us all breathless, energized and at peace.

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Radar Sherpa's formation

Michael Didj rode his black Beam to the ocean surrounded by music with his 8 foot fun board in the back seat. When he arrived at the edge, he observed the smallish waves but still wanted to get wet and stand up on a couple of these little ripples. Alas, when he soon realized that he had left his wet suit behind. Checking the ocean temperature with a couple toes and foot was enough to give up on the idea of surfing this day. Before departing, Keenan decided to get out the timber slide didge and let loose with some chanting, didjing and invoking. Soon, a small crowd gathered aorund and he stopped to answer various questions. All were so respectful and curious that he felt a warm glow in his heart, happily knowing that he had been making things brighter for more than just himself. Clay appears seemingly out of nowhere. Keenan concludes his discourse with the random public and begins to converse with Clay.

Turns out that Clay had been heading down 101 S to got to LA. When he approached the Seaward exit, he told Didj that he could hear his didge playing and changed his plans: he dicided to go the ocean and chant. When he chanted for a bit on the shore he heard my didge playing and started heading up the board walk and this is where he found Didj, playing and talking with the curious crowd.

They hung out for a while and soon began to realize common goals and interests. The band had formed and they celebrated at a bar, watching the baseball allstar game.

Santa Barbara street performance

We ride the black Beam along the coast taking in the blue sky, the ocean and the oil platforms which demark the horizon thru the haze. Clay radiates joy and shares various insights garnered from the zoo. He's surprised and happy at the zoo manager's willingness to refund the money. While I concentrated on playing, he closely monitored the elephants' reaction to the low range, midrange and high range didjeridoo vibrations. He excitedly related how much he felt the elephants' enjoyed the blessing. We relaxed and enjoyed the moment.

The tension then began to turn up as we began to worry about parking and where our playing location would be. Clay confidently took charge. "We should drive along State Street and see where the action is." My nervousness made me want to park in a familiar lot but I recognized the time had come for me to submit once again and allow Clay to lead. He pointed out an area that was perpendicular to state street - a kind of red brick road/alley - just for humans - bordered by a restaurant's outdoor seating (enclosed with a black iron fence) - and store fronts on both sides. We found the shade and set up. Before we could begin, a friendly policeman dressed neatly in a white shirt and uniform, politley informed us that we needed a permit to bless the humans because this prominade was 'private property'. He clearly felt a bit sorry that he had to be the one to stop us and even stated the he owned a didjeridoo as well.

After thanking him for his hospitable rejection of our blessing, we scouted along State Street - where no permit is needed - and found a spot that had a nice white concave wall around us. We carefully rolled out our yoga mats and focussed on the small details of setting up the altar/stage.

Initially as I began to play my meditation device, various thoughts came up. This is kind of common so it is easy to name them: doubt, fear of looking stupid, wasting my time, I am a loser. I just keep playing and let these thought burn away like the early morning fog and the sun. Within minutes, I am feeling light all around me and I hear some of the passer bys say: "He is singing." This is a moment that I enjoy. Most are unable to grasp that I am singing while circular breathing and that my breath is strong enough to easily push the sound out and even throw it various distances before the sound blooms, like a dog or a crow or a dolphin etc.

After an hour or so, we have made 8 dollars. Enough to cover parking and gasolene. Radar Sherpa exists to bless bliss the world. Inquiries are welcome. The seed has sprouted. You have not seen anything... yet.

Animal prison

Radar Sherpa make an elephant big-house call

Clay and I cruise slowly into the Santa Barbara zoo's parking lot and after 5 minutes or so the black Beam is resting in the shade. Our entrance into the animal prison is delayed by the mini train which clangs and clacks along just inside the black iron gates which mark the entrance to Noah's prison. 95% of the visitors are families and many stare curiously at the 2 strange men as I pay the 20 dollar entrance fee. We walk slowly along the wide cemented pathway checking out some otters as they swim around in their tiny little cement wading pool filled with clear water. We pass a couple monkey cages and listen to the crows banter songs of freedom up in the tall trees - they are the only wild animals in the zoo. The rest have been domesticated, compartmentalized and bleached into hollow replicas of their ancestors. The elephant jail soon appears. I am happy to see that they are not forced to walk on concrete. Clay and I sit and observe as one grand elephant walks as if in slow motion out from his cement building. He seems to look me straight in the eye and I watch as his giant ears flap around gathering the various noises into his brain and gently shooing away the hungry insects. It almost seems like he is going to walk towards me and receive my didjeridoo blessing up close. He has a big grin on his big gray face and then makes a right hand turn towards a red-faced dehydrated looking animal handler who has hay, pellets and a branch for him to munch on. I take my timber slide-didge out of its case and begin to play. The elephant seems to hear and pauses in his snacking to wave his ears around curiously seemingly in response to some of my higher frequency overtones, tonings and singings.

After playing for 10 minutes or so, two zoo employees walk by quickly and then a minute or so later they return from the other direction and politley say: "Musical instruments are not allowed to be played here because the animals may become dangerous to people. Their response to music is unpredictable and we do not want that here. Even though they seem to be enjoying your music, I have to tell you to stop."

While she spoke, her eyes looked up and to the left, diagonally, leading me to believe that I was witnessing an automated response. After she completed her diplomatic paragraph I said: "Well that concludes my visit then. I guess I won't be getting a membership here. Thanks for being so nice in the way you told me to stop."

With that, Clay and I smoothly began our exit. When we reached the ticket window, I asked for a refund. "I've only been here 20 minutes and would like my money back."

"Why?"

I smile and say: "Well, I came here to bless the elephants and it turns out that it is illegal to bless the elephants, so I think that it is ridiculous for me to pay 20 dollars when I just provided a million dollar blessing for free."

The supervisor smiled knowingly, understanding that I was joking and not joking. He handed me back my $20 and we left the animal prison.

RADAR SHERPA is a Performance Trance Band

Radar Sherpa is a trance band which can be described as Cirque du Soleil crash lands in Tibet leaving 2 survivors who have walked all the way back to civilization, climbing up and down Mount Everest along the way. RS invokes genuine Tibetan Buddhist chanting that has been homegrown in America (kind of a miralcle) thru a didjeridoo. There's a trampolene, silouette dancing, tai chi, acrobatics etc. Radar Sherpa continually adapts and walks according to the whims of the dreamtime. The founders/finders/fountains/sweepers: Mike Didj & Clay Loving. Contact # is 805 633 1362. This is the real deal. Sirius inquiries only. Thanks! Surf on!