Just a quick mention: Den of Maniacs is out. Dan Wallace’s newest CD is filled with more great songs, interesting arrangements and tremendous performances including more guitar shredding than Dan has shown on previous releases.

Also of note for Dan Wallace fans is the new arrangement for his popular song, Fell. It’s one of the highlights of a CD with lots of really good moments.

This release is a bit more bold and experimental. But, anyone familiar with Dan’s music will be acquainted with the style and dynamics of the overall vibe of the disc. One particular mention goes to Morceau, a fun and oddly infectious song that reminds one of earlier pre-Pindrops days.

If you haven’t listened to any of Dan’s music yet, do so. He is one of the most innovative indie artists currently making music. His influences are vast and if you pay attention you can tease some of them out of the various songs. He’s also an amazing guitar player. Look At Me, the discs first track, should demonstrate this quite clearly.

You can find this CD via Dan’s website.

I just received Edwin F. Bryant’s comprehnsive edition of The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali’s. The book is filled with a history of commentaries and insights, as well as the original Sanskrit as source material and should make for a tremendous study reference on yoga philosophy and vedic culture.

It’ll be fun to work through it.

It’s All Yoga, Baby, a great yoga blog I’ve recently discovered, has a great review of A World Out of Balance, a yoga book I’m eager to read. Written by Michael Stone, this book brings the ancient aphorisms of Patanjali into our modern context.

One thing I really like about her review is the opening paragraph which calls attention to something that also has bothered me about the ultra-hip, self-absorbed yogi class. She writes:

One of the drawbacks about being a yogi blogger is that I get regular exposure to some of the most tasteless and depressing aspects of yoga in Western culture (and y’all know what I’m talking about, because I can’t stop myself from commenting on it). Crass commercialism, hypersexualization, narcissism, branding… it’s enough to sometimes make me wonder why I bother with this practice.

Which is why I’m so grateful for Yoga for a World Out of Balance: Teachings on Ethics and Social Action (Shambala Publications, 2009). The latest book by Michael Stone, a Toronto-based yoga teacher, psychotherapist and author, puts to rest my unease about current developments of yoga and assures me that it’s a practice that is not only worthwhile, but essential for modern life.

Agreed. I’ve been put off more than a few times by self-absorbed yogis who are more into image and posing (not the asana kind) than any kind of true practice that leads to change or realization.

I’m off to find this book. I’ll write my own review at some point down the road. In the meantime, check out the

This is an ad from a recent Manduka campaign.

Just imagine if we could actually follow through on this simple idea.

Among yoga people, Kirtan–which is a mantra or chant based call and response style of music–is immensely popular. And, if you’ve ever been to a yoga class, unless you were at one of those ultra-hip modern flavored yoga classes with reggae and finger food, you’ve probably heard Kirtan at some point.

There are some amazing artists (Jai Uttal, Krishna Das) in this genre. But of the major Kirtan performers, David Newman (aka Durga Das) is my favorite. Newman’s most recent album is wonderfully accessible and beautifully recorded, the voices are incredible and the songs will having you singing them even off the mat.

Give this record a listen.

Phrenology is by far my favorite 19th century pseudo-science. The idea behind phrenology is simple: a person’s skull shape determines personality traits.

Here’s what wiki has to say about it:

Phrenologists believed that the mind has a set of different mental faculties, with each particular faculty represented in a different area of the brain. These areas were said to be proportional to a person’s propensities, and the importance of the given mental faculty. It was believed that the cranial bone conformed in order to accommodate the different sizes of these particular areas of the brain in different individuals, so that a person’s capacity for a given personality trait could be determined simply by measuring the area of the skull that overlies the corresponding area of the brain.

Imagine the dating implications this must have had as Victorian women and men went to odd lengths to size up the skull protrusions in a potential mate.

“Hey, Agnes, I hear that Wilfred has an amazing right frontal protrusion.”

“Oh, I hope so, Emma. Because every knows that I’m most definitely a literary, observing, knowing faculties kind of girl.”

Good times, for sure.

Okay, for starters I’m a big Nathan Fillion fan. Not like man-crush big, but come on, Fillion has to be the most likable guy on TV. Plus, he’s played some great roles on fantastic shows like Firefly (another show I loved), Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Yes, Josh Whedon has kept him busy) to name a few. So this alone is enough to tune in and catch an episode. So, tune in I did.

Now, I’m hooked.

Beyond the Fillion-factor, I love Castle because it’s a smart and funny crime drama with just the right amount of camp and sexual tension. Plus, the writing is great and the characters likable.

And kudos to ABC for actually releasing a Richard Castle novel – Heat Wave, the first Nikki Heat book. This book is the central premise behind the show. His research for the book is why he follows around and eventually partners up with Detective Kate Beckett in the first place. The book is a nice piece of cross-marketing. And, based on reviews, it’s not a bad crime read either.

I love this quote. I found it in a book of essays by the great Sufi Mystic and Musician Hazrat Inayat Khan.

There is no poet in the world who is not a mystic. A poet is a mystic whether consciously or unconsciously, for no one can write poetry without inspiration, and when a poet touches the profound depths of the spirit, struck by some aspect of life, he brings forth a poem as a diver brings forth a pearl.

Khan was a beautiful writer. This quote happens to come from a chapter on the writings of Rumi in his book The Heart of Sufism.

I’ve always loved the way Marty Neumeier thinks. ZAG is still my favorite book on brands. Now, Marty has a DVD available with his famous Innovation Workshop on it. This should be fantastic.

Plus, the Tool Kit includes a copy of his most recent book, The Designful Company which is also a really good read.

I worked on this a few years ago with my friend Vic Donati. He was comissioned to create a gig poster for the Tapes N Tapes show and we were kicking around a couple of ideas. At some point, we began reminiscing about vintage rock and a few of its more iconic elements. One of the first things that came to mind was Eddie Van Halen’s classic red guitar. We both remarked how it looked like he had simply covered it with tape and more tape.