Raygun – “Sweet Jane’s” – November 1997

Sweet Jane’s

Perry Farrell may have learned to be “mean,” but he’s patched up some old wounds and retrofit Jane’s Addiction with a little extra spice for the coming of the “jubilee.”  Mark Blackwell feels the love.

Perry Farrell is a mystical figure, he’s an enigmatic wizard, he’s a sixth-sense visionary, he’s every spiritually-oriented cliche you can think of, rolled up into one human being. Not that as a sum total all this makes him a walking cliche himself, mind you. Instead, his sharp intellect, boundless ambition, and well-tested talent provide a unique grounding foundation for a man with such hyperbolic hopes of peace, love, and extraterrestrial understanding. Farrell’s conversation is littered with the rambling language and elliptical cadence of drug-addled flakes and pseudo-philosophical tools, yet what sets him far apart from such folks is that he actually seems to know what he’s talking about, he passionately believes in the subject matters he expounds upon, and he usually has a well-thought-out or heartfelt point that he eventually gets around to – though sometimes you have to listen closely. Ask a simple, direct question and you rarely get a simple, direct answer….

Ray Gun: When Jane’s Addiction broke up in 1991, did you look at it as closing a chapter of your life or did you envision the band might be resurrected at some time in the future, as you’re doing now? Did you ever imagine you’d get to a point where you could comfortably revisit it?

Perry Farrell: (dreamily) Wow you know what ? (long pause) Do you ever get almost like a sixth sense of where you could be, and you start dreaming of it, and it’s usually three to five years in front of you? I always have dreams about that. And I see myself in a nice position of being a person that brings love around, an ambassador of goodwill and love and peace and, um coexistence, universal coexistence. I think one of the great things to be a part of is curing man’s violence and hatred, because I believe that would signify that we would then be helped by other other other planetary civilizations we could join, but they’re very reluctant to work with us now because of our violent nature, so I see something evolving and this is what I want to be a part of the core of. Hey, there’s a lot more concerts than there are wars in our country! (laughs) I’m very excited about that, because it means people are more up for music than they are for fighting. But there are still people that right each other. And I wanna go around the world I wanna play to the people of Palestine and I wanna bring Israeli and Palestinian bands together I would like to be a big part of peace in the Middle East if I could. I think there is a great deal of work to be done. (pause) And I’d like to help clean up the earth’s pollution.

Now, you could take that as sort of an allegory of how Farrell sees Jane’s Addiction as another powerful tool to aid in his knowingly lofty quest to distribute peace amongst the people and the planets – and hence the answer is yes, perhaps he did always hope to one day revive the band as a glowing example of how we can all set aside differences and teach the world(s) to sing in perfect harmony. Or you can just figure that he wasn’t really listening to the question and floated off on his own tangential train of thought. Or maybe a little of both. But Farrell is indeed a sharp listener, constantly picking up on bits of conversation and assimilating them for future reference – even if at the time his head may seem to be in the stratosphere.

-Wow, you know I really liked what you were saying earlier,” Farrell suddenly enthuses out of the blue, as we gaze out into the starry black night from a cement table an the promenade that runs along Venice Beach, just a few blocks from his office and recording studio.

“What was that?” I ask.

“You know when we stopped by my friend’s house earlier, he was talking to you about working hard and playing hard, and he said he had a hard time balancing the two? I heard you tell him you were pretty good at balancing it. And I was really happy that you said, you know, ‘I can balance it.’ Because I feel like the game plan is to balance it. The game is the middle path. People don’t like to say, ‘I am in the middle of the road.  ‘That’s old. The new is to say, ‘I’m centered. I’m mean.  ‘Mean means being in the middle. Directly. Being mean is a great way to be. To be mean. To be able to relax while working and work while relaxing is to me absolutely the ultimate format. That’s what I do when I go on these boat trips I take like, I’m about to leave to go surfing in Indonesia. I work in paradise. Then when I come home I take lots of breaks and walk over here to the beach all day. (laughs) But I’m always writing. I’m becoming very mean.”

Of course, the main thing Farrell is being “mean” about these days is what’s come to be called the “relapse” of his pioneering pre-grunge alt-rock band Jane’s Addiction, which self destructed on the brink of seemingly-imminent super stardom after headlining the debut summer of the Farrell organized Lollapalooza tour in 1991. Not quite a complete reunion of the once-quarrelsome quartet, the ’97 Jane’s model features Farrell alongside original members Stephen Perkins and Dave Navarro, plus Navarro’s Spice Boys bandmate and pal Flea replacing bassist Eric Avery, who declined Farrell’s invitation. The group is touring this fall and has recorded fresh versions of at least two unfinished songs from the early Jane’s Addiction days – ‘Kettle Whistle” and ‘So What?” for inclusion on a new album of old live tracks and rarities, called Kettle Whistle.

One of the reasons Jane’s Addiction broke up, in addition to various personal problems, was Farrell’s increasing inability to reconcile himself and his art to the not-so-fun trappings that were popping up alongside the band’s success, i.e. the idea of being ‘mean” gets harder when you’re constantly being pulled in every other direction. But just as time and maturity have healed friendships, according to Farrell, they’ve also brought about greater control of the mechanism that might have swallowed the band whole, had it not split up.

RG: When you guys broke up, you were quoted as saying the next Jane’s Addiction album would’ve just been a “corporate buy out,” Have you’ve gotten beyond that in the past six years?

Farrell: Yeah, because they can’t do it to me now. Because I beat it. I ducked out just in time. I would have been crucified had we gone on. And I don’t have any regrets about where I’m at now. I would have been pigeonholed.

RG: If you hadn’t formed Porno For Pyros and Jane’s had continued another couple of years

Farrell: I wouldn’t have been able to change. Look, people got mad at me anyway for dropping what they loved. But you know what? Those same people would have well, I don’t know for sure, but I just had the feeling they would’ve turned me into a statue.

RG: Like, “This is what you are. It’s all that you are.”

Farrell: ‘That’s what you are.” And then if I would have tried to change, people would’ve gotten mad. And the people that moved on and did other things would’ve gotten mad if I didn’t change: “Ah, screw that, its old. -And I just felt like, ‘Enough is enough. I don’t feel like I can wiggle anymore.”

RG: In addition to the personal problems

Farrell: That was a big part of it. Besides that I was too naive to actually It was more of a feeling I came to, like, it wasn’t as premeditated as I’m speaking about it now. Now that I am older and wiser I can see it’s smart to always keep yourself loose and your options open. And that thing was too close to becoming an icon. It’s great to be able to do that in a lifetime and say, “I was an icon,” but I’m a young man and I don’t want to have had been an icon. I don’t want to feel like a TV child star or a 1970s movie star.

RG: Like, “Back in the early ’90s, this guy was hot.”

Farrell: Yeah. I don’t want that to happen to me. So I decided – chill out, duck out, clear your head out, and have fun. And don’t listen to what people say about you. Even the good stuff. (laughs) Don’t listen to it.

RG: What sort of decision-making process went into bringing the name Jane’s Addiction back?

Farrell: I’ll tell you what (pause) I’ve got your answer. It had nothing to do with the name. It had to do with the people. Really it came from hanging out with Dave again And I’m gonna praise him now, not because he’s in my band, but as a fellow I know. I’m proud to know Dave Navarro. He’s got his shit together. He plays like a mother fucker. I’ve never heard anybody play as amazing as this kid.

RG: How are you getting along, now that you’re working together again?

Farrell: At first I was nervous Dave and I just talked about this. He called me up today to see if everything was okay. And I said, “Yeah.” He goes, “it seemed like you were upset earlier.” I said, “Well, there was a moment where I was nervous to tell you urn what I wanted to say” Because I work a lot on lack of note as I do note – where you don’t play and where you do play. And sometimes when you’re dealing with players like Dave and Flea and Steve that can play their asses off, to say, “All right. Now all I want you to do is two notes,” they have to well, I can’t imagine, because I can’t play like they can. But regardless, the thing I hold most sacred in my life as far as what I can do for people is music. So I can’t hold back my opinion. I can’t sell that short and I have to be vocal about it. But I was reluctant, because we hadn’t worked together for six years

RG: You’re thinking, “This is gonna piss him off.”

Farrell: Well, just because we ended not being friends for a few years, I was nervous to say, “Dave, can we ?” See, if I enter into his space, I’m nervous. But he told me today, he says, “I’m not like that anymore and I honor your opinion.” But that’s why they saw me in a weird mood, because I was trying to think to myself, “Do I have the right to say to Dave or Flea, ‘Can we try it another way?”‘ ‘Cause those guys are, for all practical purposes, better musicians than I am. I go by my gut. I am a theorist. So anyway, it worked out well and I think that was the most important moment so far. It had to be crossed. And that’s like mankind itself. There’s going to be a confrontation, but it doesn’t have to be violent, it doesn’t have to end with a split. It means people definitely have to talk to each other.

Earlier in the day, during separate conversations with Navarro, Perkins, and Flea in the Jane’s Addiction studio, Navarro brought up this same moment, also citing it as an indication that perhaps petty differences which might stand in the way of the larger picture are a thing of the past.

“I just talked to Perry this morning about some stuff,” says Navarro, “and I think he was

being cautious about something I used to react to in a certain way. But we found out through talking that neither of us react those ways anymore. But we’re still sensitive – even though you grow through things, those feelings are still a part of you. But thank God we both grew through them

RG: So did getting back together come naturally through regaining the friendship?

Dave Navarro: Yeah, I’ve just been, throughout the years, more in contact with those guys, Stephen and Perry – and obviously I work with Flea every day – and it just kind of evolved, with me and Flea playing on the track “Freeway” on Porno For Pyros’ Good Gods Urge album and us doing the Private Parts “Hard Charger” thing and showing up in New York and playing a gig with them there It just kind of happened. It seemed like a natural progression.

RG: The first thing people are going to wonder, as far as you and Flea go, is what’s the status of the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

Navarro: We’re still a full-forced rock band. As far as rumors of us breaking up, it’s not true. I love being in the Chili Peppers. If it’s physically possible, I’m gonna do both for as long I can. I feel like the luckiest musician on the planet, because here I am in two different great groups of musicians. So there are things that maybe we won’t get to in Jane’s that I need to express – I can get to those in the Chili Peppers, and vice versa. The Chili Peppers tend to not get that psychedelic and dreamy, and I need to explore that side. So I can come here and do that.

RG: Has the vibe been cool so far? I assume you wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t, but

Navarro: (laughing) It’s a little too late now!

RG: Exactly. So have you been able to recapture the good vibe?

Navarro: I don’t think any of us are trying to recapture the vibe. I think it would be impossible, but it feels good. We’re all just getting to know each other again, as humans and as players, and there’s a little tentativeness on everybody’s part, like in term of ideas, but the vibe is nothing but exciting. I don’t think the objective is to recapture anything. And in its truest sense, it’s not 100 per cent Jane’s Addiction as it was, and none of us are shooting to do that. Even if we had all four original guys, it would be impossible.

RG: Even so, it must be pretty cool to have another go at it.

Navarro: Yeah. Sometimes I’m afraid, just between you and me Well, not just between you and me, but (pause) There is a fear of mine, which is Jane’s Addiction was my first love. And all this time went by and my first love called me up and said, “Wanna go have coffee?” And my heart started pounding and I was thrilled and I couldn’t wait and I went down to the coffeehouse and she walked in – and she’d gained 400 pounds and, like, had a mustache and I should add that she turned into a mean person. I don’t wanna give the illusion that it’s all about weight. (laughs) You know what I mean? It’s totally an emotional thing.

RG: So have you not experienced that yet with the new ?

Navarro: (laughing) I haven’t experienced the fat girl with the mustache yet in this new organization, no. But I think we all had that fear, with the exception of Flea, who was pretty much just excited about the whole thing.

RG: Flea, when these guys asked you to do this, did you say “yes” immediately or did you have to think about it?

Flea: Oh yeah, I had to think about it – for about three-tenths of a second. (laughs) Yeah, I was into it. Jane’s Addiction is one of my favorite bands of all time. I definitely think they’re, like, the most important band of the last 15 years. Them, and maybe Nirvana. And whatever mark they’ve made on culture, that’s one thing. But just the mark they made on me, just seeing and feeling the power that music has to move people It was so dynamic and it embraced so many emotions – masculinity and femininity and lightness and darkness and gargoyles and angels

RG: Considering all that, do you think fans’ expectations are gonna be pretty high?

Flea: I think expectations will be really high, because it’s kind of – not to toot my own horn or stroke my own cock – but me being in the band it makes it somewhat of a kind of “alternative supergroup,” like you know, in old jazz days, like, Count Basie and Duke Ellington would get together or

RG: These titans coming together

Flea: Yeah, people respected in their fields coming together, it’s kind of like that.

RG: Also, people are gonna be looking at you in particular, since you’re the obvious change. You’re the new guy. Not to put the weight on you, but

Flea: Well, you know, yeah. So you’re saying, like, if it sucks I’ll be blamed. (laughs) I make an ass out of myself, I fuck up, and I’ll be blamed. Well, if there’s one thing I really know how to do good is play music, so I’m not worried. I’m not saying, “Oh, I’m some great bass player!” or anything. I’m just a rock bass player. But I feel good about that. I’m working my ass off to do this. I wasn’t in the band, but I wanna be comfortable with every nuance, so when we go out there and play it’s all emotion. It’s a great opportunity to express a part of myself I haven’t been able to express in my own band. It’s totally inspirational, and makes me feel like a little kid, and also makes me realize how great my situation with the Chili Peppers is. I’m just really lucky and grateful and I’m fucking honored.

RG: People might not be aware of this, but Flea was actually around from the beginning.

Stephen Perkins: Yeah, always there. He was at the very first show me and Dave Navarro ever played and he played on “Idiots Rule,” the horn part, on Nothing’s Shocking

RG: Did it immediately click when he came in?

Perkins: Oh yeah. Flea is great at listening and interpreting his own version of the Jane’s songs. Of course it alters the sound, it tilts the sound, but it doesn’t change the sound, because you’ve got a bass line that needs to be played. You can’t change “Mountain Song” too much. But you’ve got Flea and it’s a different attitude, a different finger, and a different personality.

RG: But the personalities are working well together?

Perkins: Yeah, I think Porno right now or Jane’s, the new Jane’s, whatever you want to call it we

can all hang out on the beach together, write a song, whatever. At the end of Jane’s Addiction we couldn’t do that. It wasn’t fun to be together. Everybody had their own world and the teeth of Jane’s Addiction were getting sharper, everybody grabbing onto you

RG: So how did it feel digging out all those Jane’s tapes and listening to them? I understand you had hundreds of live tapes in your closet

Perkins: Yeah, I’ve always had a huge crush on the band, so I’m the guy that had all the tapes. I got off on it. You go way back, the memories just had to be waked up a little, so I’d think, “Oh, Rome 1990,” and I’d put it in and I’d hear Perry say something about Italian wine and I’d go, “I remember that!” We were actually having fun that week, walking around seeing the Colosseum and the ruins and it’s all there. It’s like a postcard, a 45 minute postcard from Rome. There’s a lot of imperfections, and it was weird to pick songs for the new record when I’ve got 500 tapes. Even when you get down to the greatest version, it’s still not perfect, but who wants perfect? It’s the vibe you want. It’s the spirit of the night I’m listening for. Then I’d think, “Oh, that coal guitar solo that bass me and Eric worked that out

RG: Is it strange that Eric’s not around?

Perkins: Yeah, when we did the last show in Hawaii I was thinking, “Is this really gonna be the last time we play as a foursome?” But without Eric, I guess it really was. We asked Eric, and, God, I miss him as a person and as a bass player he was amazing. But Flea’s a blast.

RG: Were you surprised when Eric said no?

Perkins: Urn I was saddened, but surprised, no, because his attitude has always been fairly against the grain, I guess you might say. So I figured he might not be up for the work and for, you know, the fun of it, because basically it’s gonna be a fun thing and a lot of hanging out. And if you’re not in the mood to hang out with people, it ain’t gonna work. Eric I love him, I wish he was here, but

A few days later in a Santa Monica coffee shop I met up with Eric Avery, the missing Jane’s ingredient who has “rediscovered the love of playing music” in his new combo Polar Bear.

“Contrary to popular opinion, I was the first one that left Jane’s,” says Avery. “I mean, an argument can be made that we were all ready, but I was the one that first said, ‘After the end of this cycle, I’m done. ‘l totally remember the day, too. I said it to David. It had kinda been not real fun for a while at that point. And I decided I’d see if I could get excited about making music again

RG: So why did you decide not to come back?

Eric Avery: I really just don’t feel a lot of connection to it. It’s kind of like I feel the same connection to it that I think all of us have to our childhoods. Like, yeah, in some vague way that’ll always be a part of who I am, but I feel the same kind of disconnected feeling. I feel like I’ve changed so much – lifestyle, world outlook – I’m just in such a different place on a personal level.

RG: Did you think about it a while?

Avery: Of course. That huge of a decision I couldn’t just dismiss. But my first instinct was no. It initially started from a conversation between me and David as friends on the phone. I was asking, “What was it like to play those old songs? I heard you were playing them and thought, ‘Wow, that could be weird, like going to a party in high school again or slipping on an old jacket that really fits well.”‘ And really for the first time we talked about our experience in Jane’s and had a great conversation. Born from that, I think he got the impression I’d be interested in playing again. That’s at least what he said afterwards. I think he might’ve felt responsible for the misunderstanding. So a little bit after that Perry calls me

RG: Had you talked to him at all?

Avery: No. Last time I’d seen him was on stage in Hawaii. So I thought, “Wow, cool,” in that old-girifriend-you-haven’t-seen-since-you-broke-up kind of way. When we finally met up it was really awkward in that way. We missed each other at first – we did that phone tag thing and then I ran into his manager and he said, “Well, I’ll tell you what Perry’s calling about” So I thought about it and decided not to. The only reason I’d be doing it is for the wrong reasons.

RG: For the money, the attention

Avery: Yeah, I guess for the shiny stuff. (laughs) But I wanted to go have lunch with Perry anyway just on a personal level and say some things. So we had lunch. I told him then that I wasn’t interested.

RG: What was his reaction?

Avery: He wasn’t pleased.

RG: Did it help on a personal or friendship level?

Avery: No. It was kind of disappointing on that level. I was hoping for more of a healing, but you know, so be it.

RG: Has the decision sat well with you?

Avery: It totally has. I get the occasional “You’re a loser” attacks. Like, it’s a whole lot of money all that stuff. There’s a lot of emotions. Catch me on the wrong day, having not eaten enough or had too much coffee (laughs) But I’ve never regretted the decision. Not yet But, like, I’m gonna hang with Navarro tomorrow and get the update. I love Dave. He’s like my little brother.

RG: When Jane’s Addiction plays in town, could you imagine going?

Avery: No no.

RG: That would be pretty weird.

Avery: Yeah, it would be weird. No, at this point, I’m just not interested

RG: How did you feel when Eric said no?

Farrell: Well it hurt me. It kind of made me stumble, because my fantasy was that we were all gonna show that bygones are bygones, people can forgive each other.

RG: Like, “Wow, this is gonna be

Farrell: This is gonna be great! This is love, man! It was all, “Hey, let’s have fun!” That’s it. I don’t care if we call it, you know, Jane’s – it just happens I’ve made up with friends and I wanna jam with ‘am again! It hurts me that Eric won’t play with me. I won’t hold it back, because I’d be a liar. I don’t know if I’m wrong for harboring anger. I don’t harbor it, but it definitely doesn’t make me overjoyed that he, like, threw a wrench in my fantasy. (laughs)

RG: Did you try to convince him or ?

Farrell: Well, I contacted him and he was going, “I wanna be friends,” and I’m going, “Me too! Great! ” But when I said, “Hey, let’s do a song,” he said, “No.” So then I started to say, “You know what? This is getting too pretentious for me. Because in trying to not be pretentious, you’re being pretentious here.”

RG: Don’t be formal about it. Let’s just get together

Farrell: Yeah! What does it fucking matter! We’re on this planet, we’re alive, you’re a musician, I’m a musician, we made great music together And then he said, “Well, you know, I’m pretty involved with what I’m doing.” Listen, Eric, I’m busy as well, believe me! But I view this as fun. So I guess he didn’t view it as fun. Fair enough. And I guess maybe I won’t talk more about that

RG: But you’ve got Flea. He’s a friend, he’s a fan

Farrell: He fits the bill! He can play his fucking ass off. He puts his heart into everything. To have the chance to work with him, I consider one of the highest blessings. When he said he wanted to jam Listen, I’m trying to hold my words, because it’s a good practice, but it’s nice to speak from your heart (pause) I never would want to ever disrupt what they do with the Chili Peppers, because I’m friends with all those guys

RG: You don’t want to throw a monkey wrench into that.

Farrell: Yeah, but if Flea’s available to work, of course I wanna work. The only regret is I don’t wanna disrupt anybody else’s life to better my own. But I would never turn my back on the chance to work with Flea and that’s just the way it is.

RG: Now that you’ve been looking back on it, can you name any single defining moment of what Jane’s Addiction meant to you?

Farrell: To tell you honestly, I might be almost happy to tell you this: I don’t think our work is done yet, I feel there’s more to be proud of and more to work on. Maybe it will always be that way. I’m happy to have been seated where I was seated at the time, but now I’m more looking towards future projects than I am interested in holding up the past.

RG: But at the same time you’re digging up these old Jane’s songs

Farrell: No, see, this is good! This is a nice calling card for me. It gives me the chance to do these parties I’ve been wanting to do. It’s giving me the luxury of saying, “I wanna play on somebody’s property.” Ever see that A&E channel show America’s Castles? That’s what I wanna do -find some great people with some great property and put together some great parties. And we’re into doing them with Jane’s. That to me is living. Some of these shows are gonna be parties on a person’s estate. So my calling card is Jane’s Addiction. So now, “Can I do this?” “Of course! I’d love for you to play at my house!”

RG: What can people expect an this tour?

Farrell: Think about Jane’s Addiction, how it used to be. Then expect I’m gonna tweak it, because I am. I’m gonna include a DJ her name is Pollywog and she’s the freshest female DJ in the country. And throw in some Porno

RG: So Porno For Pyros will be along?

Farrell: Well, yeah, I’m gonna bring them cats too! We’ll do Porno songs, Jane’s songs we’re gonna get other bands, some other DJs, some dancers I’m so excited to work out the pageantry and the drama and the cabaret and the lighting – I’m gonna put together a show. I wanna have fun. I don’t know what to call it

RG: How do you feel Lollapalooza has evolved over the years?

Farrell: (pause) Well let’s say this: Lollapalooza is turning into what Jane’s Addiction was gonna turn into. This is the last year it can stay like it is. I have an idea to it would be bold to say revolutionize how ’bout reinvent the event – next summer. It involves computers – a completely computerized event called an “e-vert.” It’s a virtual event that takes place simultaneously over the web and at an event.

RG; Like a one-off thing?

Farrell: No, this can happen anywhere in the world and more than one time. I wanna have it happen 12 times – that would be a nice number. I don’t know if they’d want to have only 12 Lollapaloozas. Titles start to get inconsequential to me. It’s really the theory and the chemistry and the procedure. I don’t need to call it Lollapalooza.

RG: People’s immediate reaction to Jane’s reuniting was that you should

Farrell: play Lollapalooza.

RG: Yeah, maybe revisit that ’91 show next year.

Farrell: Well, it wouldn’t be bad! That would be fun! And if I did it, it would be a complete reinvention of it and I have the idea. And I do not want to be kept from that idea. Under no circumstances can I be kept back from this occurring.

RG: Beyond all that, what else are you working on musically?

Farrell: Well, the next album I’m writing, in my heart

RG: This would be a Porno For Pyros album or ?

Farrell: Yeah. In my heart, this next thing has to do with the jubilee that is coming about.  There is a belief that there is gonna be world peace for the next few thousand years coming about very shortly. It’s about turning over a new leaf. I wanna be gravitating towards that. And I’ve found this – this is a beautiful thing, probably the nicest thing I’ve’ said tonight: Wherever you go, love will be there for you. Love is provided. Go where you wanna be and love will be there. I’m sure of it. Love used to be a corny word. People thought it had to do with a man and a woman, and it does, but it’s a lot more Love is a chemical reaction and it’s an expedient and it causes your atoms to move faster. It’s alchemy. And when you don’t have it, you magnetically cannot connect with the future. We’re all spinning. Information’s coming faster. Without love you’re slower. You have no magnetic contact. You fall away. That’s why I’m writing about where I wanna be. I wanna be at the jubilee.

RG: How do you think that’s gonna come about?

Farrell: The human being is going to evolve. There’s two things that can happen. All we need is a little more love and we’re gonna be privileged to the universe. If we can’t practice this love, we’ll be destroyed. It boils down to love. It’s nothing in the Bible … those laws were set up to initialize and create hygiene for a very raw young earthling that is no different than a spaceman. Spaceman is a man of space, all We come from is image but they are reluctant to have us around. They don’t want us flying back there when we’re in a violent mood. This is something I’ve heard before, but the ancient human beings used to live for 900 years, 1000 years. And the elders who created us, they took away the ability to live that long, because you could got so smart, you would RGure out the keys to the universe. They shortened our life spans so we wouldn’t be able to figure out exactly where we came from or how to get back. But I can tell you, just by living 38 years, that there are certain things that are really important, certain things that are less important and I’ve . just decided I’m gonna listen to my heart. So I’m up for the great discourse and the great invitation to the universe to meet the musicians and the artists from all around. I think ~ humanity is coming of age and I wanna be there when there’s world peace, when everybody collectively stops hitting each other. I think there’s gonna be a moment when we to finally meet and greet our ancients. And I wanna be singing when it comes.

– Mark Blackwell
Raygun Magazine, Nov 1997

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.