I am heavily influenced by the music of Frank Zappa, Ween, Townes van Zandt, and Doc Watson. My technical guitar abilities are mainly focused on Virtuoso style fingerling guitar.

I spent four years in East LA producing absurdist broadcasts and public access style television at a project called DromeBox Laboratories. In partnership with my brother, Louis Silverstein, we introduced thousands of LA locals to the future of web-broadcast techniques and technology. I personally oversaw 3000 different broadcasts and had a hand in each one. By diving into the artist journey of creation, I have created a thoroughly modern surrealistic style.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?

1. Always Take The Long Way

2. Do it for the Story

3. “Cook Ting was cutting up an ox for Lord Wen-hui. As every touch of his hand, every heave of his shoulder, every move of his feet, every thrust of his knee — zip! zoop! He slithered the knife along with a zing, and all was in perfect rhythm, as though he were performing the dance of the Mulberry Grove or keeping time to the Ching-shou music.

“Ah, this is marvelous!” said Lord Wen-hui. “Imagine skill reaching such heights!”

Cook Ting laid down his knife and replied, “What I care about is the Way, which goes beyond skill. When I first began cutting up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After three years, I no longer saw the whole ox. And now — now I go at it by spirit and don’t look with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants. I go along with the natural makeup, strike in the big hollows, guide the knife through the big openings, and following things as they are. So I never touch the smallest ligament or tendon, much less a main joint.

“A good cook changes his knife once a year — because he cuts. A mediocre cook changes his knife once a month — because he hacks. I’ve had this knife of mine for nineteen years and I’ve cut up thousands of oxen with it, and yet the blade is as good as though it had just come from the grindstone. There are spaces between the joints, and the blade of the knife has really no thickness. If you insert what has no thickness into such spaces, then there’s plenty of room — more than enough for the blade to play about it. That’s why after nineteen years the blade of my knife is still as good as when it first came from the grindstone.

“However, whenever I come to a complicated place, I size up the difficulties, tell myself to watch out and be careful, keep my eyes on what I’m doing, work very slowly, and move the knife with the greatest subtlety, until — flop! the whole thing comes apart like a clod of earth crumbling to the ground. I stand there holding the knife and look all around me, completely satisfied and reluctant to move on, and then I wipe off the knife and put it away.”

“Excellent!” said Lord Wen-hui. “I have heard the words of Cook Ting and learned how to care for life!”

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?

I seek the “Gesamtkunstwerk” (German: [gəˈzamtˌkʊnstvɛʁk], translated as “total work of art”,[1] “ideal work of art”,[2] “universal artwork”,[3] “synthesis of the arts”, “comprehensive artwork”, “all-embracing art form” or “total artwork”) is a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms or strives to do so.”

Surrealist Folk and Film

I have organized a collective of visual artists, technicians, filmmakers, and musicians. We are creating a surrealistic movement centered around the profound cosmic shift currently taking place.

My music always aims to provoke, educate, and entertain.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?

I follow intuition and the wind. Walking into any situation requires being present and thoughtful. Let me tell you a story:

July 6 was a terrible day for me: I got ghosted by a beautiful woman, my car got broken into, and things were feeling “off.”

July 7 I started the day by paying some yelp company to fix my window and set out towards Pan-Pacific Park to play guitar and “Set my intentions for the next 30 years of musical success.” When I arrived at the park, I decided to sit down on a bench next to an old man who didn’t look threatening (always take 3-10s seconds to size people up in LA before proceeding). I played music for 20 minutes or so. “Rex’s Blues” by Townes Van Zandt, “Deep River Blues” by Doc Watson, “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” by Rev. Gary Davis… etc …

When I finished playing, I decided to ask the old man if he was a record producer… His reply was “no, but my cousin is George Clinton”

He then proceeded to tell me that I had done something profound for him and he, in turn, would do something profound for me.

That man’s name was Dr. Feelgood.

He cracked every bone in my body, did a powerful energy transfer ritual, taught me several new exercises for my hand dexterity, and finished by giving me a roadmap of daily exercises to “stay young forever.”

A few hours after our encounter, I found myself sitting with my guitar at a hangout on Melrose Blvd. I was surrounded by face-tattooed artists and scene kids. Suddenly, doo-wop songs (a style I never played before) began streaming from my guitar and all sorts of satirical songs about the police came sounding out of my mouth. Those songs have lead to my newest album and a much cooler band than I ever imagined.

Dr. Feelgood and I were placed on that bench, at that time, for a reason.

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