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My cousin Chrissy Tomasco is participating the 2014 Overnight Walk in Philadelphia to raising awareness about suicide and raise funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Take moment to support her efforts by making a small donation here.

She says:

Please support me as I take an amazing journey. The Out of the Darkness Overnight Experience is an 16-18 mile walk over the course of one night. Net proceeds benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, funding research, advocacy, survivor support, education, and awareness programs both to prevent suicide and to assist those affected by suicide.

In 2001 I lost my mother to suicide. Being a 13 year old at the time, I had a very hard time moving on from that day. One of the biggest struggles I faced and still face, is feeling comfortable enough to tell people how I lost my mother. I have been carrying this weight around with me and I very rarely tell people how my mother passed away. There has always been a serious taboo associated with suicide. It makes people uncomfortable. To avoid the conversation that always follows upon someone finding out I do not have a mother, I have often made up other reasons for her death. I catch myself telling people "she was sick" to halt any further questions. In retrospect, she was sick. She was sick for a very long time. She spent her whole adult life battling mental illness and addiction.

My mother was embarrassed by her illnesses and felt alienated by those around her. She made a choice that day because she felt hopeless and abandoned. She was wrong. She had more love and support than most. She was unable to think rationally and she made an irrational, life-altering decision that rocked the lives of many people.

July 17th 2001 was the day that Barbara died. I carry that moment with me everyday and everywhere. I still break down. If anything, it only gets harder. I would like to gain my voice back. I want to feel comfortable to say I am a victim of suicide, and I am surviving. For every person I feel comfortable to expose my true experiences with, the taboo surrounding suicide is chiseled away little by little. It is time to talk about mental illness and suicide. We all know someone who has been affected by this. Lets talk about things that make us uncomfortable, it is time to get it out there and to spread the word that hope and support are always around us. We are never alone, even in the darkest of times.

Donate Here.

Oh that was a good one. Merry Christmas!

It was pretty big out there today. I made it outside and caught a few. At one point I found myself sitting away from a group of guys when a set came in. The first two waves were nice looking and I was about in the right spot, but I let them go by. A few of the nearby guys were paddling toward me as the third, biggest one of the set came through.

A little voice in my head said, "I think I could make that."

Then I heard a loud voice from outside my head saying, "GO! PADDLE HARD!!!" That was the winning vote. I turned, paddled, and made the drop.

Yeah, I got munched right after that picture was taken. I'll figure out how to make the most of those barrely sections at some point...

Thanks Brien.

I should have seen it coming. I should have known that a sport that depends on the behavior of the moon, sea monsters, and energy that flows from way over the horizon would be dripping with it. Heck, I'm basically walking on water. But still, I'm surprised at how much magic I've found in surfing.

First there's the magic of place... Of course, the secret spots up and down the coast come to mind. Places with shark lore, epic waves, tragedies. There are smaller miracles too. For example: I bought most of my surfboards through Craigslist. Every place I've met someone to buy a board has become a magic spot for me.

I highly recommend you try meeting someone on your commute route next time you buy a surfboard. I bought my last board from a guy I arranged to meet at the BART station parking lot near my house. Now every time I come home, the magic reminds me that there might be waves tomorrow morning.

Then there's the magic of time, which seems extremely elastic when riding a wave. Everything slows down. Why? Because my heart and CNS is on overdrive? Or so I can enjoy the ride? Who knows? Also, photographers talk about a magic hour or golden hour when the sun is just right. Surfers know that the early AM hours are often best for waves because wind tends to stop.

Magic things... magic surfboards. I'm lucky enough to have one. It catches waves in all conditions. Board shapers love to discuss the magicness they've encountered over the years.

It's all true. Every last bit.

I offer a few recordings tonight: Sing the wolf song is to the lyrics that eve wrote me the other day. Apologies in advance if you listen with dogs in earshot. I added a few more tonight since Eve & I were sitting around with the mic on. We recorded " Always on the Sunnyside" which is something she sings at school, you're supposed to tell some kind of joke in the breaks... something I screwed up of course. This led us toward the ban ana knock-knock, which I also screwed up horribly.

Last night's tune 'i had nothing' was recorded at a rehearsal space with my bandmates (weekly jam-mates?). I basically said, "When I hit record, just start playing." woomp! there it is.

Thanks a bunch for all the notes you've sent me on these things.

Finally, I updated that web page. It's a klunker, but:

• you can get to everything without digging through directories
• you can listen to everything through the doodad.
• the feeds will let you get a ping if there's a new tune.

I think I'm somewhat caught up on the listening now.

Bruce-

• porches is just getting uploaded now. Really nice. I'll spin this a few more times tomorrow.
• migrain my brain is severly migrating my brain right now. Please tell me there was some loopation involved in that. The micro hemiola in the hectic part might induce seizures.
• walle vatoR nice touch here. I like the mood.
• silence is not too slient with that guitar erupting over there. Neat!
• thoughts almost takes off in a lee ranaldo direction. I like it. This made a great first impression.

Seth-

• Thanks for putting that itunes doodad together today, if the RSS thing I responded with won't work to pull in the latestgreatest, let me know and I'll cook up a dynamical version of your xml file.
• t he biggest risk is great. I like the way the energy kind of goes from 0- 60 in the prechorus. Also, nice organ moment, I missed that first time around.
• eve had a comment on decelerating repetition: 'that's not funny' when I played it for her right before bedtime.
• free from me is so nice. isn't it amazing how just an additional vocal track can kick up a demo recording?
• Also, sweet & flavorful AND i n my right time AND the plan in the same upload pile? wow. send more, what are you waiting for?

Peter-

• I'm in touch with your blog. I enjoy catching the recording detailz over there. I'm not really making too much of an effort to engineer any of my recordings. I'll start to pay a little more attention to this and put some factoids together.
• Lyudmila works! Is that a love song about this betty?
• I enjoyed stat ement of too. It comes across as very thought-out and deliberate.

Derek-

• It's been a treat to hear these gems. I mentioned this to you in an IM the other day, but I'll mention it here for the groop: Your recordings are so hi-fi! In a rush, I downloaded baker sfield to my phone while I was on the bart. I listened to it on the .5 inch speaker and wow... I heard all the backup vocals even...
• dow n the hole- I love it. It's serious! I don't think I've heard you open up like that before! Beautiful.

A BART police officer approached us this morning at the casual carpool line to ask for help with spotting thieves in the parking lot. He said that there's been a rash of thefts at the Lafayette station. The bad guys are going for catalytic converters on Toyota trucks as well as the ocasional stereo.

The officer asks anyone with info to call in the detaiks to the BART Police: (877) 679-7000.