Music, Sex and Poetry

My producer Ken Allardyce, who engineered a couple of the Goo Goo Dolls records said one day: 'Johnny Rzeznik is gonna record lead guitar on your song Wild Flower'. 'Cool', I said, 'when'? 'Oh one day next week , 'great ',I said, and then my producer said 'the only thing is he is kind of sensitive when he is recording, maybe I can go up to the house and record him and you can come and hang after'!!! 'No way, he is a rock star he is not going to be nervous of me'. Of course I wanted to see Johnny record, 'Johnny is hot and super talented'!!! This was my chance to hang so I said no worries 'I ll be completely cool it will be great'. So the next week me, my sister and my producer drove up to Johnny s house in a secret location . When we first arrived he was as Ken had pointed out a little on edge, but that s talent, sensitivity comes with the territory; Johnny Rzeznik is a beautifully sensitive, creative character I instantly felt kindred. Singer-song writers are their own beautifully elaborate maze of recreation. The first thing he said to me was 'I dig your boots'. I was wearing these big 70 s platform boots, well I thought if he is digging my boots we are down, this is going to be a good recording session. He offered me a drink, I obliged because I thought it was part of the ceremony. Johnnie of course was the real deal, half raunchy rock star, and half boyish charm. I felt like I had an instinctive understanding of what inspires Johnny and what frustrates him. Of course talent like his is both undeniable and fragile it s his contradictions that make him so appealing it s the fact he is able to sing about his pain and passions in such a real way and he is such a romantic that gets us all hooked on listening. He said something very interesting the bigger you get the bigger the shadows that s cast behind you. Of course ever since the 1960 s music has become big business, and the struggle I guess for an artist like Johnny who started out in Punk Rock and has become a world-class rock star is to balance his creative integrity with commerce of big business music game. He seemed like a sweet artistic soul, a lover, a guitarist, and a great singer. He plugged his guitar in and started playing he was really talented. His playing was really raunchy yeah he was a wild flower man. The one thing I remember seeing in his house was a photo of the Rolling Stones and I was reminded of the roots of rock when he played raw, raunchy and as it comes. My producer and Johnny were obviously tight seemed like they d done lots of great recording sessions together. Ken is very nurturing and artists really appreciate that they feel safe. So Johnny gave Ken loads of raunchy riffs and everyone was really pleased especially me, and I said thanks a lot, Johnnie was extremely generous, extremely kind person. After we finished recording I sang some of my new songs and he sang some of his, it was great to hear some of his songs in their early stages, the melodies had his familiar flare and they were obviously gonna be hits; he said very modestly I think this is going to be a good one, he also said he liked my songs and we should write together sometime. Johnnie and I by this time were having a good time. Ken being the only adult said I think it s time to go so we said our goodbyes evidently the next day Johnnie phoned Ken and said :' I think she liked me!'

It was the week before Christmas and I was feeling pretty exhausted; early on a Sunday morning I entered my favorite hang 'The Chateau Marmont' the old french chateau along the Sunset strip, Hollywood, Jim Morrison is said to have done some of his famous high wire ledge walking, Belushi died here, and countless stars have lived, I am sure, extraordinary moments of their lives between the chateau s walls and gardens, (I once had a weird experience there with my lover at the time we both woke around 2:00 a.m. there was a very strange vibe in the air, the chateau was supposed to be haunted 'I can t stay here this feels like the end of the line for someone' I said. He said: I know what you’re saying we grabbed our stuff and left.) I have made friends with the spirits of the chateau since then, and that morning the chateau did provide one great spirit. I figured we would be running into each other sooner or later; I d been over in Boston watching him perform. So there I sat with my two girlfriends hangover from our 'Miss Santa s night out' and unaware who the next hour would bring, and then he walked in: the 'Messiah of conscious rock' a man with a conscious a man worth meeting on a Sunday morning, Bono!. I stood up and said 'Hello' like I was greeting an old friend, and he walked straight over and said: Hey, like he was greeting an old friend, I ve just been in Boston watching you perform my name is Zoe I am a singer-song writer, I make records! 'Oh you still make records do you? the rest of us make CD s these days' he said with a smile; I laughed he shook the hands of my friends and they were elated, I was moved by his openness and his friendliness how gracious he had been, I had a sense of what a deeply profound soul Bono is. His friends arrived and he signaled he had to go and sit down with them, but as his vibe had been so open and receptive I drank my tea and then tip toed across to where he was sitting, he warmly beaconed me close and took my hand, his hand felt incredibly warm and smooth in fact his whole aura was like a smooth rock that had been worned away by the ocean of universal consciousness that had lapped over him again and again. I felt very kindred to him and he did seem like an old friend so I said: I ve been out in the desert doing ceremony with a Cherokee medicine woman she told me 'the reason the world is in such a mess is because the heart beat of human kind is not beating with the heartbeat of mother earth, can you feel the heartbeat of the world' I said. Still holding my hand he said with sincerity: 'I got it Zoe Scott', I said 'one day we shall be great friends and I will tour as your warm up band'. He looked at me and he said still holding my hand: 'right Zoe Scott.' 'I d like to give you a copy of my CD', I said: 'where shall I send it to ?' ' Oh, bring it here you can leave it at the front desk ' he said; the humility of this great man was really impressive like he was just a servant of the universe and it was his job to humbly listen. I left and got into my car my friends were screaming 'Bono'!, I said right drive me back to my house; my house is close by, I ran into my house started digging through the boxes to get a CD, grabbed a bunch of photos, phoned my sister, where the f---- are the press kits I just met Bono, she was half asleep from the night before and didn t know what the f---- I was talking about, so I hang up the phone. I found what I was looking for wrote a quick letter which is strictly between Bono and I, ran outside and said goodbye to my friends, jumped back in my car and drove back to the chateau. Of course he was still there, well it was Christmas! ; sitting now in the garden with his friends he saw me coming with my package and smiled knowingly, I gave it to him, he slipped it under his chair he looked at me for a moment and then he growled at me, and I am taking that growl as a big compliment. My friend who is a medicine woman said: he is probably big cat medicine, it was all perfect, I walked away happy that Christmas had come early. I was quite high on the experience and drove up above my house and sat on a hill overlooking L.A. A hawk circled high above me in the sky which means for the native indians 'your prayers have been answered' It was very profound experience to meet Bono, I got a lot not from his words but his presence, he has the soul of a poet, great spirit long may he sing for us. I was so caught up in the experience, I forgot to check my phone messages and my message center was full so Bono would not have been able to leave a message, but anyway it was nice just holding his hand, 'Give me a call anytime, Bono'!!!

On Sunday evening I headed up a rough road in the outback of Topanga Canyon to a place known as Pangea. Pangea means where all the worlds come together and for everyonewho knows Pangea is a very magical place.
I spent one of the most fun times in my life up there rehearsing my touring band for about four months , it truly was our summer of love.
It s a beautiful ranch with swimming pool overlooking the Topanga Mountains down to the ocean run by a musical pair Jane and Jamie who have carefully renovated the whole property and rent it out to musicians and producers who want to hide away in solitude on this magnificent vista.
On this occasion my friend singer-songwriter Sandra Bacall,sandrabacall.com, was holding the Hummingbird Salon a night of music and dance to celebrate the Hummingbirds summer flight . As they gather in large clusters around the verandah as we play music . Sandra’s place is suitably mystical with its grand piano lots of candles , incense and paintings . We sat on a log table under the full moon and ate a delicious feast and afterwards everybody gathered inside and sat on a big seventies furry rug and listened to the wonderful moody tones of Sandra Bacal, playing her grand piano and singing about Oceans of Love ,Pschobabylon and Shoe. There was something beautifully eternal about the scene , artist expressing there delight by the candles.
Now last time I was there I improvised , it s my favorite thing to do to ask the audience for a subject and spontaneously wax lyrical. I love to chase the muse On sunday however everybody wanted a Jazz version of Planet Love so I stood up with Jamie on double bass and Jim on guitar , and Sandra on piano and we performed a raunchy new version of PLant Love , very jazzy. I think I have a new band, the Topanga version .
Hummingbird for the American Indians is the symbol of joy, joy can never be caged else it will die and I felt imbued with the freedom and joy of the Hummingbird spirit and felt the need to improvise poetry about the mystery and dance of the hummingbird .One woman did a wonderful dance which seemed almost like the flight of the hummingbird, a bunch of Spanish guys played guitars and congas . I improvised with them , we all swam under the stars afterwards and I recollected my summer of love up there where me and my band rocked out for six hours a day and barbecued and talked about the great musicians who had gone before. I think everyone should experience a moment in there lives like Pangea where all of their worlds’ come together.