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Hi !

Just to let you know, I probably won’t be updating my site for awhile as I’m getting back into my bansuri studies.

I hope you had a great summer and that the coming months will bring you even more joy than you could ever imagine.

Until next time… Big Smiles,

Joshua

----------------------------------------------- May 25th.. 2008 :

Greetings from Ulm, Germany. The tour is such a joy— so many wonderful people, open hearts and beautiful souls! Also, I had a bit of a revelation of sorts. I think it’s time for me to say goodbye to all of my old songs as a performer. I have said pretty much all I have wanted to say through this style of music. I’m not the young man I once was who set out on the troubadour’s path all those years ago and I realize I’d rather stop performing these songs now while I still enjoy them, than when it’s too late and I’m an old pirate just singing the old hits to take the money and run.

I’m ready to find other musical horizons and other ways to live creatively and joyfully in this world. I think my music will probably be more about my bansuri and I feel I have to leave the comfortable cocoon of my old ways to see what’s truly waiting next. I know I’ll always be grateful for my old songs and the way they found their ways into the world! And it’s with a deep gratitude that I thank everyone who let my words and melodies into their lives. Thank you so much!

Having said all that, as I will no longer be playing any of my older songs, I actually have no show ’cause I’m not seeing me and my bamboo flute rocking the free world anytime soon. So, I’m canceling the show planned for November 21st in Bartlett, Tennessee. I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused if you’ve been working on making plans. I hope six months is enough time to plan something else even more wonderful for yourselves for that date!!!

Next stop, Freiburg! Wow, this country is soooo green and beautiful!!! I’m still LOVING this quote by a person named Anonymous— I will paraphrase yet again— “If we don’t change directions we will get to where we are heading.” SO wise indeed. If anyone knows this sage named Anonymous, please give them my highest regards! LOVE,Joshua

----------------------------------------------- May 11th.. 2008 :

Hi, everyone. I leave for Germany tomorrow. My friend Miguelli (a truly gifted musician who has produced, orchestrated, and played everything except of course my piano on this new collection of songs... check out his myspace page HERE ) and I are just now finishing up the last details on the tracks for Return of the Dragonfly. As I write this to you, Sunday morning, May 11th, four are up on snocap, and our plans are to get the other two finished and uploaded today. I realize that snocap doesn't work so easily in Europe. The new songs will also be available on itunes in approximately two weeks so it will be much easier for those of you in Europe to get them through itunes. Please understand that it takes a couple weeks to get the music onto the itunes system, and it's kind of like magic... I haven't been able to find anyone who really knows when exactly or how it all happens... I upload files through tunecore and then, one day, they just show up on itunes. THE REALLY GOOD NEWS IS, Gabiola has them up here on my myspace page so even though you can't buy them yet, you'll be able to hear them all you want.

A little bit about Return of the Dragonfly... these songs are fairytale like visions and to me they are all linked together in strange ways that keep changing as I hold them up to the light...

...it seems to me that the madman who is kind of there in the background of Madman's Lullaby is the king from The Golden Cage many many years later after learning that beauty and love are not things we can cage and hold onto, but only feelings we get to experience as we learn to keep opening our hearts despite our fears. Seems the old king learned to trust in this most unfathomable mysterious grand universe after all. The Priestess in The Golden Cage feels to me to be the older sister of the punk girl in Spaceboy. And for some reason I think Spaceboy will meet and fall in love with the princess. And I wonder if perhaps the priestess and the madman are singing the song Butterflies to eachother and to all of their memories of a kingdom that has fallen over centuries... One of the wildest things for me is when I imagine that this entire kingdom appears in one sun-sparkling teardrop that falls from Oberon's eyes in the song Let It Break Your Heart. And finally, it seems to me that Return of the Dragonfly is the song that I sing after seeing for a brief flash into this awesome diaphanous realm, and coming back into my "real" world, sitting alone at the piano, writing. Was this dream of a life what I thought it was? Or was it that old wizard of transformation, The Dragonfly, shining in the sun, coming back to find me again, to take me again into some other part of reality I hadn't seen before? It's all in the shimmer. That's what I say. It's all in the shimmer. You know what I mean. ;-)

LOL! So, there, I've just broken my biggest rule! I never like to talk about what a song of mine means to me because I believe that everyone should have the chance to be able to see their own pictures and make up their own versions of the stories in their own hearts and minds. And it is my hopes that you will find your own visions in these songs, too!

Creating these songs to share with you has changed me deeply. I don't think I will ever be the same again. They taught me something. And I can't quite explain more about that, so I'll just stop now by saying, somehow, I don't think I can ever think about my life in general and my life in music the same way from this point forward. I know this, I'm so grateful for taking this journey these last few months when I promised you I would write some new music even though I had no idea what it would be. ;-) It was a lovely break from my flute studies, and from my normal life, too. Most everything in my normal day to day existence was put on hold while I got to play in this imaginary world for awhile. So, thank you for inspiring this journey.

I'm looking forward to playing for those of you in Germany coming to the shows, and of course I'm looking forward to hearing you sing too, if you want to. I will certainly sing The Golden Cage and Spaceboy every night on tour... maybe even Butterflies.

Well, I should start packing now for the journey. May you do something most wonderful for yourself today, and something most wonderful for another today as well. And, why not everyday? Yes. Everyday. Big love, Joshua

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April 15th. 2008 :

Hi, everyone. Hope everything is going well with you! I've been kinda busy rehearsing and recording and getting the new website ready. And now, I'm really happy about announcing my new website launch! It's up now. Check it out. And take my homemade tour of the Santa Monica Pier in the video section. I just bought a little video camera and thought I'd show you the real carousel horses that inspired the song. ;-) I'll post some new songs by next week I promise! ;-) joshua

---------------------------------------------- April 5th. 2008 :

Hi Everyone! Hope the change of season is treating you well. It's beautiful here in California. The wildflowers are in bloom everywhere in the canyons and in the Santa Monica mountains. I see more purples and blues than I've seen in a long time! Must have been all of the rains we were lucky enough to get in these past months.

I wanted to let all of you in Germany know that the RTL Chart Show just invited me to perform on their show taping the 22nd of April. I don't know yet when it will air. I'll let you know soon. (UPDATE:will air on RTL TV on April 25th. 9:15pm) They are doing a show on singer/songwriters and they would like me to play Jessie. I will perform it live on piano. They want me to bring the song in at 2:45 seconds so I will have to leave a lot of the story out but I don't think Jessie will mind. ;-) Gabiola tells me that there are still tickets available for the taping of the show in Köln/Cologne. She's going to attach a link to this letter.

Also, they said that on the show I can talk about the upcoming tour and whatever new projects I'm doing. I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe, if I'm lucky, they might let me play a bit of a brand new song, too. You never know. It would be great to let people hear the new music. Either way, it's a great opportunity to get the word out there, and I'm very honored that they invited me.

I'll write again in about a week and a half to inform you about the new recordings I'm doing and the new music coming soon. Have a great weekend. Smiles, Joshua

Get tickets for the recording of the RTL Chart Show HERE ! A few tickets are still available !

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