Top 10 Reasons I Love I Mother Earth

I get very emotional about my music. Ask me for my favorite artist and I might give you a different answer any given day of the week. But there are a few bands which stay near the top perpetually and I Mother Earth sits squarely in that category. They're an absolute go-to at any time I need a pick-me-up or I just want to chill and they never disappoint. I figured I needed to sort out what makes them so great!

10. They have a separate percussionist meaning they generate a very Latin, funk feeling in their music - Santana-esque. Exquisite. 

9. Not afraid to use odd rhythms and off-kilter patterns straying very far away from mainstream rock music.

8. You would be hard pressed to name another band that sounds like I Mother Earth, but you can hear a little bit of many other notable bands in what they do. iTunes mentions Rush, King Crimson, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Primus, Jane's Addiction and Smashing Pumpkins. And yet... none of those bands sound particularly like IME. By the way, how's that for a list of other bands to be mentioned alongside?

7. So many different lyrics that resonate with me. Deeply resonate:

And then you long
For the days of trippin' down
The long road just reading the
Signs that show you the way to
A higher place you meditate to
Feel the quiet of the earth
That was back
When we used to be alright 

6b. Brian Byrne can easily sing anything Edwin could sing, but not visa versa. I am into both "old" and "new" IME, but clearly Brian was an upgrade for this band in terms of emotional resonance, stylistic range and depth of performance. And let's call it out - he's from Newfoundland which gives him a much different upbringing and experience set than the mainstream... and that's a good thing. His lyrics and performance on a track like "My Beautiful Deep End" is hauntingly beautiful.

6a. Jag Tanna is just your average, everyday guy - a lot like most Canadians I know. Not a rockstar, not bigger than anything. He loves music, he loves to talk guitars, he is in it for the fans and has stopped playing the music industry "game" as evidenced by this excellent Q&A following IME's recent reunion shows. Recently I saw him posting and going back and forth with a lot of discussion on a Canadian guitarist's discussion forum. When was the last time you saw a major rock guitarist doing that? Right - never!

5. The last time I saw them play I was with my best friend from Canada and I think about that night (and many nights we hung out) A LOT. It takes me back to a different time in my life, a time I treasure.

4. Perhaps the very best song about the intrigue and loneliness of being a space traveler with the exception of David Bowie's Space Oddity. One More Astronaut tells a simple tale on its surface, but going much deeper doesn't it really describe those periods we have all been through where we face the same dreary routines and feel beaten down? And that percussion again - on top of Jag's fat guitar sound it just fills everything in and gives the song a three dimensional depth.

3. Jag's ability to pull in layered harmonics and fifths both within his chords and in particular while soloing. I'm not sure I've ever heard another guitarist who does it as often and with such effortlessness. Check out this solo from Meat Dreams to see what I mean.

Here is the entire song - fast forward to 5:57 if you just want to hear the solo, but really the entire middle section starting around 3:24 is something amazing to behold. There is an energy, some sort of dynamic / sonic force that just hits you square throughout. Wow.

2. They went away for a long time, but they came back. This band knows and understands there is a fan base extraordinaire which has been waiting and longing for the day that they would reunite. And they didn't skip a beat based on the videos I've seen from the Sound Academy. 

1. They're CANADIAN! Either you know what I mean or your don't. All of my American friends who have met my Canadian friends will certainly understand immediately. For me... the 8 years I lived in Canada were some of the sweetest of my life.

Diving Cozumel May 2012

After starting my scuba certification in earnest at the beginning of 2012 and becoming a certified Open Water Diver in March I finally got to do my first real open water dives this past week in Cozumel!

It's very hard to describe the experience to anybody who isn't certified. Many people have snorkeled - and I used to snorkel a lot and enjoy it. You can see some great sights while snorkeling and I'm not knocking it. But there is a whole different feeling getting under the water and particularly getting relatively deep for the very first time.

Our first dive was at Palancar Caves and the thing I want to remember the most was that as soon as I was in the water I just couldn't fathom how clear it was and how far down I could see. As soon as I put my face in the water I was just blown away by the visibility. Our Divemaster Tony said that it was a calm and clear of a day as you'll ever see in Cozumel. The sea was basically flat and he estimated 120'+ visibility. So I'm in the water and I look down and I can see these massive coral heads and formations under me. The only way I can relate it is sometimes when you see photos from outer space say of the Space Shuttle and the Earth is behind it. The Shuttle looks tiny and the Earth looks stunning and heavenly in the background. That was what it felt like staring down into the water.

As we began to descend the other divers (there were 4 divers + the Divemaster) just looked so stark set off against the blue, blue water. I had more trouble than I expected going down the first time - just clearing my ears mainly. I'm guessing it took about 4-5 minutes to get down to 65'. We joined up and a gentle current began to sweep us along the formations. Very soon we were at our target bottom depth of 80' and clearly it would have been possible to go much, much deeper. I turned over and laid on my back and just stared up at the 8-stories of water above me clear as glass with these huge coral grouping on one side. I have truly never seen anything like it.

One thing I am really digging about diving is that once you get down there you stop thinking about EVERYTHING extraneous. I am still a new enough diver that I spend a fair amount of time thinking about buoyancy, trying to streamline, trying to concentrate on not burning through my air and also checking my gauges. But even all of that stuff becomes part of a more automated routine and I love the feeling of not thinking about work, about money, about music, about family or anything else for that matter. Just enjoying the scenery. Actually being flat out amazed by the scenery and the tranquility. That's definitely the best part.

I did use more air than anticipated getting to depth and then being so low cut into our bottom time as well. Still, I managed 32 minutes and only ended up about 8 minutes short of the more experienced divers. We spent an awesome surface interval on the beach having lunch and I asked the other divers to give me some honest feedback. To a person (including the Divermaster) they said that if I hadn't have told them they would have thought I was a totally experienced diver. It makes me happy to know that I took all the training dead serious and have been very thoughtful about approaching what can be a very safe "extreme" sport if done correctly.

More info on Palancar Caves here: http://reefsofcozumel.com/pages/reefs/palancarcaves.html#/discussion/6/palancar-cave-dive-information-and-reports

Our second dive was Dalila Reef which was a more shallow drift dive with a max depth of about 55' and then intervals up ending at about 25'. My air consumption improved dramatically (I think due to the practice of the first dive and obviously less depth and the intervals upwards). I actually did over 45 minutes on the second dive and we saw tons of great fish, turtles, a small shark and two really huge crabs.

I think the highlight for me at Dalila though was a huge Rainbow Parrotfish. I'm guessing it was at least 3 feet long!

I was wiped out later that day and I started to wonder if I would truly want to dive multiple times on one trip or if one great day would be enough. For now I was totally satisfied with one day. Time will tell if I start looking for multi-day trips in the future.

Why am I doing this again?

Well somehow or another this post got nuked! Dammit anyway - don't really feel like re-writing it but didn't want to leave it blank either.

Bottom line, I spent 10+ solid years founding, building and growing AudiWorld and then after we sold it things kind of fizzled. I retired for good to go back to school and get my MBA. Starting around 1995 when work started on what would become AudiWorld all the way through to 2010 when I graduated I had plenty to do on evenings and weekends. A hobby so to speak.

Granted life is different now with three kids and a busy career (wasn't it always busy?), but I really felt I needed a hobby again and figured what better way to spend some time then to write about things that are important to me?

No constraints, no expectations. Just me.

Oh, and my nickname is JET!

A new blog is born...

A new blog. I'm the millionth person to make this exact same post. Only I have a feeling this thing will grow over time. Just stay tuned!