This is the story of a 14-year-old boy who picks up a guitar and decides that this is it! It is an escape from the trauma and tragedy of a troubled childhood in Fort Lauderdale, Florida’s heat, chaos, and congestion. Music is the only way Parish can find stability, eternity, and truth. This transcends the daily grind of survival and work-a-day grind. His childhood home is devoid of music, apart from the radio and TV broadcasts. Music must be discovered and sought out in these days before everything can be instantly found. South Florida has jazz, blues, Cuban and classical music. There are many Florida death metal bands, and Marilyn Manson is not signed. Friends share riffs from Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, and Metallica. The friends then form bands and start writing original songs. The ego is disintegrated and made permeable through the consumption of psychedelics. Music and life are integrated on a cellular, spiritual, and psychological level. Naturally, school and work become irrelevant at this point. Parish tells his friends that he will just be playing guitar. Here is a young man who, at age 26, has just played his first international jazz festival in Austria with his confrontational, no-holds-barred, avant-garde, instrumental rock band, Ahleuchatistas [AH-LOO-CHA-TEES-TAS]. This is a punk band, almost like Captain Beefheart meets Fugazi. It’s a crowd favorite and makes the world feel less lonely. Parish is on the cusp of wrapping up a university degree in philosophy, in which he becomes deeply immersed in the anarcho-musico-Buddhist ideas of composer John Cage. Although he has been playing guitar for a long time, he has only just begun to explore the possibilities. Parish’s explorations now stem from an open mind and a sense of awareness. John Coltrane, a pioneer in jazz music, is a constant companion. Coltrane speaks on radio in the 60’s about his current efforts to “deepen and strengthen his roots” after he has “skipped over many things”. This conversation is a lasting memory. This is a 38-year-old family man who makes his living teaching lessons and playing gigs. He is still an experimentalist, touring musician, and collaborator. With over 20 albums under his belt, he has spent the last decade developing a more embodied way to play the guitar. This includes how to get the best sound or effect by simply following your breath and touching the strings just right. Parish learned classical guitar as a way to meditate, practice yoga or Tai Chi. He thought the tape was distorted as a child, which is why Andres Segovia’s guitar sound like water. Parish now knows that being fully present in the moment is what causes it. Parish turns to folk and blues music, where the universal magic of folk music is being passed down through generations. This magic permeates all forms of music. John Hurt and Elizabeth Cotten hypnotize, heal, and fill the space with their simple root-five bass line. It’s like a pulse. Parish sings traditional songs to his daughter, and she begins to appreciate the Appalachian music in Asheville, North Carolina. He thinks that he will write a solo arrangement of “The Cuckoo” one winter night. Instead, Parish records 45 minutes worth of music, 12 folk songs in an effortless stream of free association. He falls asleep. He listens to it twenty times a day, as if someone else had played it. He sends it out to his friends and labels. John Zorn, a New York City resident, hears the music and is impressed. Zorn asked Parish if he would prefer to record with better equipment. He gave him a modest budget and told him that he could record it whenever he felt ready. Six months later, a recording session at a cabin in the forest yields a 15-song record of original arrangements of improvisations and gospel, blues and field hollers. Please drive slowly, Undertaker From www.shaneparish.com
