See You in Cali

Upcoming events

I haven’t been doing a lot of events lately, so I wanted to make sure you knew about the following mostly California-based hoe-downs — particularly if you are headed to San Francisco this weekend with scarlet begonias in your hair.

• Jamie Wheal and I Shake our Bones. Tomorrow night, on July 31, the night before Dead & Co.’s three-day Golden Gate Park run, I meet up with the intrepid writer and ecstasy engineer Jamie Wheal for a discussion of the Grateful Dead. Our chat, Steal Your Face Right Off Your Head, will go down at the Portal in Mill Valley, which I have been meaning to visit for some time. All proceeds will be donated to the Rex Foundation. Tickets here.

• Dead Zen. On August 9th, on the 30th anniversary of Jerry’s demise, I will be joining the Zen teacher Kokyo Henkel for another Dead chat: the online San Francisco Zen Center workshop Dharma and the Dead: A Lyrical Discussion of the Grateful Dead. This particular nightfall of diamonds will stream in the afternoon, 3pm - 6pm PST.

• The Way of the (Dancing?) Bear. In my recent Burning Shore post, The Wild Awake, I wrote about the animist backpack adventure I had with Wildtender, an outfit out of Big Sur. This September, from the 10th through 14th, I will be serving as a support guide for a new Yosemite trek they are offering called “The Way of the Bear: Pan-cultural Bear Mythopoetics, Tracking & Ecology.” In addition to Wildtender honcho Fletcher Tucker, we will be joined by the amazing Meghan Walla-Murphy, who is a world-class animal tracker and ecological educator. I interviewed Fletcher and Meghan separately for Expanding Mind years ago, and I am chuffed that I get to support their work now by offering contemplative and sensory awareness practices to complement our engagement with the Sierra.

At the Berkeley Alembic:

• August Chalice. For the August Chalice, our monthly psychedelic salon at the Alembic, we will be hosting the wonderful Michelle Lhooq — for my money the best younger drug reporter we have these days. She writes for DoubleBlind, the Guardian, and other rags, and also pens the Rave New World newsletter. The event takes place at 7pm on Wednesday, August 6. Full deets.

• Practice Circle. On Saturday, August 16, at the Alembic, from 2 to 4 pm, I will once again host a conversational workshop about spiritual practice with my squeeze Jennifer Dumpert. The Circle offers room for us to individually and collaboratively discuss the sometimes difficult issues that arise around practice — issues like commitment, guilt, obsession, intuition, experimentation, trust, rejection. Suggested donation, $20-40, no one turned away. Registration here.

I hope you enjoyed this flicker of Burning Shore. If you want to show support, the best thing you could do is to forward posts to friends or colleagues you think will dig them. You are also welcome to consider a paid subscription, though for now everything here is free. And you can always drop an appreciation in my Tip Jar.