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dp&m world tour 2009 review part seven

after the concert in phoenix , we visited the truly breath-taking grand canyon

...before moving on to boulder colorado, where i bought a new (blue!) guitar (here backstage with luthier jonas celeen, and his wife)

[note for guitar freaks; it plays and feels like an old gibson]

...fortunately for us, donny epstein lives in boulder – boy did we need him by then!

after the concert, we walked out into our first snowfall – it was all very romantic

throughout the u.s. tour we were in the very capable and loving hands of our trusty u.s sound technician, russel green (aka nadaraj)

ps - he’s not always this sweet!!

are you still with us...?

hold on - next stop, maui

here’s parmita, our dear white swan angel, arriving in honolulu for the concert

unfortunately we didn’t get to see anything of honolulu – we only heard how great the beaches are - and then we flew to the big island (known as hawai’i) - this photo just about sums up the energy of the people on there

there is no way to portray the overwhelming feeling of being in close proximity to an active volcano, as its molten lava pours into the hissing, steaming ocean.

so, here’s a picture of manose on the little boat we were in, at 5 am, still smiling, out there where we shouldn’t be, alone in the great pacific ocean – with the earth exploding and gurgling behind him, while the ocean boils beneath us...

daybreak

back on dry land, at the workshop, manose receives some extra-ordinary body-work...

and deva and i sneak away for a weeks vacation on the island of kaua’i – alone!

dp&m world tour 2009 review part six

after our groups in corfu, we flew to the usa – first stop woodstock – where we stayed at the house of jivamukti yogi’s, sharon gannon and david life (don’t try this at home!)

we spent the weekend at the annual omega ecstatic chant festival – which was ecstatic!

with the girls...

...and the boys...

next up, boston, our first stop on the tour... 

...where we shared the bill with our dear friend shyamdas, and his kirtan band

in philadelphia we played at the beautiful city cathedral

and then drove to washington dc for our first concert in that city.

we did what everyone does – visit the white house and sing the gayatri mantra to the occupants!

next stop, the hot and steamy south - st. petersburg, florida - where we spotted our first alligator – languishing lazy and slow in the pond behind our house...!

up in calgary, canada (climate shock) we clustered for warmth with ashram pal rakesh and his wife, lisa, who drove in from edmonton for the concert

and then flew back to america and to the dry intense heat of the arizona desert

dp&m world tour 2009 review part five

high culture in poland - beneath a statue of chopin we enjoyed a beautiful public sunday morning piano concert...

...in a sunny warsaw park...

later we explored the old town with new friends ryszard and patrycja...

...and visited a workshop where the original and ancient method of weaving is still practiced...

...and then on to stockholm...

and finally basel – the last stop on the euro tour – deva gives thanks for another great year with om shanti om

so far so good!

with the euro tour completed, we headed south - toscana, italy - where we spent some time at the monastery of st. francis

and rode the horses of friends ariane and edwin, at the asvanara ranch

...and then took the ferry to sunny corfu, greece...

...where some friends were waiting for us...

dp&m world tour 2009 review part four

in the frankfurt workshop, opening up the voices with the divine healing exercises...

at the concert next day, we invited all the workshop participants on stage...it was quite a choir!

next stop cologne, where we enjoyed a reunion with our osho community

we love the theatre in cologne, it always has stunning stage designs and a great sound

this is momo, the wise and compassionate guide dog of our friend anama...a perfect candidate for manose’s affection

and before we knew it, we were in holland – almere, on the outskirts of amsterdam

on stage again, this time with ravi and saxophonist/composer praful as our guests

back stage in hamburg, sakha does some running repairs on manose’s stage clothes

in berlin we took time out for a boat trip.

it wasn’t spectacular, but the company was great...business manager rajen flew in, and we even had the pleasure of jackie and donny epstein’s company, who came to visit us there

...strange goings on in the city...

dp&m world tour 2009 review part three

in budapest we received another warm welcome, and had the best lighting rig of the tour

– even the audience had spotlights

next stop london, where we played a special afternoon event for the children and people of the ‘special yoga centre’

and then on to the famous union chapel, where we met many old sannyasin friends at the concert

...many of whom showed up next day at the workshop at the mind body spirit festival (that’s ravi on guitar).

from london we drove south west to somerset, via stonehenge, seen here from the van window...

...and arrive at the imposing, towering edifice that is wells cathedral (manose flew down from london – saved on gas)

two days later, back in germany, we played at the rainbow spirit festival

...where our bansuri wallah finally got some sleep

and usa tour manager paul temple and wife kerry get their first taste of our european concerts

dp&m world tour 2009 review part two

we then flew immediately to moscow...where our new russian friends gave us a very warm and loving welcome

...we only had time for two concerts – the other in st. petersburg - before returning to germany...

...where we were ‘reunited’ with our nuremberg sangha

after nuremberg we headed back east to chemnitz, eastern germany – where we met our first tattoo devotee!!

on the road to prague, manose got the call to celebrate life in a yellow field...

on arriving in prague, the guys share some serious fun with the girls backstage....

sometimes the road seemed endless...but never boring...somehow the road encourages great conversation

and you can always find ways to let off steam if you need to - in ljubljana, slovenia

leaving slovenia for budapest hungary, our band of gypsies take a roadside break – the truck stop offered nothing but meat and more meat, so we were forced to improvise with the indian food manose had cooked and brought with him from the night before (it tasted sooo good!)... 

.. we followed the feast with an impromptu roadside jam session...

that’s jalal, our tour manager, in the cap, and manartha in the white shirt, who handles the merchandise.

playing the didge is sakha our sound tech, with manose on djembe, while deva shakes.

dp&m world tour 2009 review part one

hi friends – we visited 16 countries on the 2009 world tour:
australia, germany, russia, switzerland, czech republic, italy, greece, england, usa, canada, mexico, hungary, poland, slovenia, sweden, and holland

thank you all for being part of the celebration

we began in australia, where we entertained some very interesting people in our garden at the river house.

the gyoto monks from tibet, who have an ashram in byron bay, dropped by for a photo session!

while on his oz tour... eckhart tolle, his wife kim, and family, joined us for lunch, along with rafia and margriet, 

we also celebrated our ecstatic chant retreat in lake ainsworth...with some great musicians, kamal, om, jalalo, rob stevenson, and avishai – and some ecstatic singers!

deva took the time to record mantras for precarious times, just before we left for europe

we kicked off the tour in europe by welcoming our new grandson (well, mine actually – deva is (almost) too young to be a grandma!).

mylo miten desmond - born april 17.

on this picture, one tiny day old.

later that month we also welcomed our own new baby: the ‘in concert’ cd/dvd.

meanwhile manose was preparing in nepal

we had a great start, in april, in munich, germany

sakha (our european sound tech) and crew get back into gear

and everything ran smoothly...

winding down/up in L.A.

..which is a contradiction in terms!

we tried taking it easy, but there were just too many good friends to hang out with.

here is the most vivacious, beautiful, joyful and amazing rickie byars beckwith.

if you don’t know rickie’s music check it here

she is the musical director of the agape international church in los angeles, and wife of the inspirational dr. michael beckwith.

we are always honoured to be play at their sunday services (even if it means doing a sound check at 5.30 am!!).

agape is an amazing phenomenon
three services every sunday, first one at 7 am, the next at 9 am, and the last one at 11.30 am.
it is a transformational experience – such an uplifting atmosphere, and a true celebration of life.

our own concert, later that week, was heaven without the harps -  and who needs a harp when you’ve got a bansuri.

we were thrilled to have the company of steve miller band guitarist, greg douglass. oh boy could that man play!

deva sharing a mantra from the ‘precarious times’ album

we also introduced the amazing montino bourbon from santa barbara, one of the most accomplished sarod players in southern california.

it was quite an ensemble!

deep space deep fun.

we ended the concert, as we quite often do, by inviting the audience to join us on stage.

later that week we reunited with a real rock star!
this is john densmore, drummer of the doors, a long time DP&M admirer.

i have a feeling you might be seeing us all on stage together one of these days!

sunset from our room in malibu – the end of a perfect week.

next stop texas, and our ashram friends from pune

hawaii: the big island and kaua'I - part four

seen from the air, waimea canyon, the largest canyon in the pacific, looks more like the grand canyon than the grand canyon

fans of the tv show ‘lost’ might recognise that beach down there

and this is where they filmed jurassic park...

and for you old-timers, south pacific was shot on this beach!

happy talk

this valley is the wettest place on earth – 400 inches of rain fall here every year

usually the helicopter can’t get this far up in to the valley
today we were lucky, the clouds had lifted.

even this digital picture got damp around the edges...!

we were far, far away from our next stop - los angeles - with steve miller band guitarist, greg douglass

with love, in the moment, deva & miten

hawaii: the big island and kaua'I - part three

back on dry land we explored a lava tube...cooler, safer

..and then headed for the incredible island of kaua’i – one million years older than the big island.

much of it uninhabited...

...mysterious...

...inviting...

...friendly...

...lush...

...breathtaking...

...uplifting...

...funny...

i mean, really funny...

..scary...?