Jimi Hendrix 67th Birthday Bash

Jimi Hendrix 67th Birthday Bash has come and gone.

Jimi Hendrix 67th Birthday Bash has come and gone.

Yet another chapter in the annual function. This time
around we were blessed with a wonderful line-up
Barrett Martin on Drums, Jabrille 'Jimmy James' on Guitar,
Myself (Ari Guitari) on Guitar, Brandon Storms on Bass, and
of course a slew of guests, Mesa on Vocals, Bob Lovelace on Bass,
and Woogie on the Drums. Jimi's spirit was definitely bouncin' round the room
Andrew says it was one of the most packed nights he had ever seen at the Seamonster.
We covered a total of 30 songs that night

CHECK OUT A FULL REVIEW HERE on Jamison's Gum Wall

I will Post Mp3's of the action soon and who knows, the magic was in the air and thanks to our friend Ed, we have it all on tape - we may even release this one some day.

Come On! Foxy Ladies, Angels and Lover Men! Are You Experienced?
Be Bold As Love tonight and Burn The Midnight Lamp on this Third
Stone From the Sun as we journey to Electric LadyLand.

Hold on to your Little Wings ‘cause The Wind Cries Mary.
We arrive just beyond the WatchTower of Machine
Guns to the Castles Made of Sand...(tharr be more). There lies the Spanish
Castle called Red House of Seamonster.

Join us as the magical Purple Haze of Voodoo Chili will light your
Fire, control your Manic Depression and let you be Stone Free to do as you please

see you next year for Jimi B-Bash 68'

Introducing Big High

BIG HIGH at the High Dive
w/ The Filthy None, Danny Godinez, and China Davis
Friday September 11th 2009

I just want to introduce my new band which is called Big High. Big High is gaining momentum and it seems as though there is a buzz in the air about the project. Mesa, the singer for Big High says people are attracted to my 'Reckless Abandon'. As in, they don't understand it and are facinated by how it all works. I like to think he is one of the best singers I have ever heard in my entire life and that is what is attracting attention. The music is good fun to perform the last show we played I fell into the drums during a heated solo. It has been a dream of mine since a very young age to write songs and work with a world class singer. It may have been dormant during my 'Jazz Years' and Avant Garde' dabling but was always there. I think the turning point was when I got a call from a guy named Stone one day - he was listening to the AriSawkaDoria album (Chapter One - Produced by Michael Shrieve) and had al sorts of nice things to say. I was confused a bit as to wether I was a Jazz Player or a Rock player and well now I realize.
It's Both. Or more simply put - An Artist.

NYE Tractor Tavern a good show.

12.31.08 - Tractor Tavern - New Years Eve

Handful of Lovin' has got to be one of the best live acts around. 

The Staxx Brothers were on fire and were nothing but pure entertainment. Mesa and I opened ad hosted the event. We did a handful of originals for the first set and then we launched 

Handful O' Lovin' off with a few covers including Time by Pink Floyd (a fitting song) and Whole Lotta love by Led Zepelin.

The show was a sell out and was a nice sign of things to come. It was nice to be in a room full of such optimistic and loving music fans! On a side note this was the first time I ever used a wireless guitar set up and I think I am hooked. Expect to see more wireless Guitari in the future.  In other news Sawka is in the studio producing the tracks from the Glasper sessions in NYC from a while back and he says they are sounding sick. I am feeling very good about this new year and already have two great new songs to debut soon. Viva La 2009 Friends.

Get Out and Vote!

Two Very Special Shows

Monday November 3rd at the Showbox
Tom Morello, Stone Gossard, Christine Gregoire, Jim McDermott, Mike McCready, Mesa & Ari, and more at the Showbox Market.

Saturday November 1st at Tost
With Lucky Brown, Kevin Sawka, Jeremy Lightfoot, Mesa, Bob Lovelace, Kent Halvorsen, Joel Ricci, Olli Klomp, Delvon Dumas, Ben Bloom and more.

Like Thom Yorke said best 'This is what you get... when you mess with us"
Please Remind your Family Friends Talk about it Vote! I really don't care who you vote for - I know who I am routing for Just Do It.


Get The F*&@ Out and Vote!

Catching Up

Well its been a while since I have written here but I plan to catch up this month. For starters, I went back to my home town in Cape Town South Africa. I did some Skydiving, and I co-produced a recording for a group of kids from Kayalitsha.

As far as music goes I am excited to say things are going great. On the technical side I have a new custom guitar in the works built by a local violin maker Dave Krause. Dave is a remarkable luthier and I can't wait to post some pictures of the guitar I'd like to also add that the guitar will be blessed with a set of custom pickups made by the great vashon pickup guru Jason Lollar, and with be equiped (thanks to an endorsement) with Ghost Piezo Pickups. I have purchased recently a VG-99 system witch is keeping me busy. As well I have been working with a fantastic team of artists in a new project Max Head Inn (Skoi Sirius, Rich La Chappelle, and Myself) Spinning downtempo electronic music broadcasted in Surround Sound.

Since the last post I was invited into the studio to record some tracks for one of my all time favorite composers and all around great fucking guy Stone Gossard you may know from the Seattle music scene. Stone was listeneing to the AriSawkaDoria record and it turns out he really liked it... he got my number from Shawn Smith (another one of those great local heroes). I can't say when the album will come out but I can say that everything I heard I would put in the 5 star catagory. I have been working on a new batch of 30 or so songs with a very talented and passionate singer named Mesa. We have recorded a demo and I couln't be happier playing the rythm guitar/composer role. Its sort of a childhood dream of mine.

Stay tuned.
Live n Love

Wavelength Guitar's 'The One'

'The One'

Dan at Wavelength Guitars and I are cooking up something special, a little thing we like to call 'The One'. The name is not for any special Sci-Fi reason but rather mainly cause calling it 'The One' was a whole lot easier then describing which one of Dan's creations we were talking about. Which one? - The One! oh That One!. Any how this Frankenstein is gonna be Bad Ass! The body is made from a super light Swamp Ash Hollow Body. So far we have installed a Mini Kaoss pad, Midi capable Pickups, a Piezo setup, Bill Lawrence Custom Noiseless Single Coil Pickups, and an Effects Send and Return loop so for example I can loop my Laptop or even my vocals or record player through the kaoss and out a separate jack or even through my floor pedals and amp! Good luck trying to figure that one out.

Special thanks to guitar maestro and electronics wizard Charlie Akeley for help with the schematics on this one. More to come! I tested out this puppy a few weeks back for the Hendrix Birthday show. It wasn't near complete - but I had to take it for a test drive. Nothing quite like a custom built instrument.

you can kind of see it here btw thats Shawn Smith - he rules!

stay tuned...

Jimi Hendrix 65th Birthday Bash!

Well there you have it James Marshall Hendrix - all I can say is if I could point to the first thing that made me want to do this (be a musician) its Jimi. The guy would make me tingle to the bone - when no one else knew what a p erson can go through Jimi knew. I must have been 12 years old when a family friend from up the street bought me my first guitar -'The Terminator' - a black g uitar with a built in speaker - the first thing I learned was The Star Spangled Banner - Jimi style. I think I learned it in a single day - then I took the guitar out back and smashed it. Ahh those were the days. I wanted to be Michael Jordan and I wanted to be Jimi Hendrix.

Well its the man's 65th Birthday - what better way to pay homage then this. Welcome to the Columbia City Theater minutes away from where Jimi grew up - he even perfromed at the theater as a teen. The bill is with The Leon Hendrix Mysterience (thats Jimi's Blood Brother) and Sammy Drain Jimi's childhood jam buddy - no joke. These guys knew Jimi in a way most of the world will ne

ver know him. But we all get a pretty amazing idea. If you ask me he is a Legend, a Prophet, a Jokester, a Genius, and one of the greatest guitar players ever to walk the earth but that aint all. So join us for Jimi Hendrix 65th Birthday Bash November 27th at the Columbia City Theater 7- Midnight.

Oh and I can't forget to add the poster you see here will be screen printed and available at the show and was vreated by the masterful John Warner.