after countless months of pondering and intense introspection, i have came to the conclusion that i am moving to portland, oregon at the end of july. my associate and confidant, Joe Cyrus, f.k.a. Pluto, moved to portland last summer, and since has sung the city's praises.

so if you live on the west coast, squaller at me and give me the sitrep. if you live on the east coast, i bid thee adieu and offer you thanks. i'm not saying i'll never be back, but i have a feeling this is just the beginning of something much greater.

wellis.

ps - i plan on stopping at a slew of national forests and parks with camera gear in tow.. so expect a bunch of new prints and videos.

Click on the album cover below to download the compilation album put together by El*A*Kwents for free distribution on SpiritualHipHop.info. Features tracks from a bevy of people, including myself, el*a*kwents, joe cyrus fka pluto, and more.

it was a mild may night on the susquehanna river when we anchored our boat off of the world famous three mile island in search of the illusive channel catfish. cloaked in the heavenly fragrance of nag champa, we had 2 sticks burning at the bow and stern of the boat, we, my cousin and i, looked up to an ever expanding night sky and spoke of how life has changed.

while we were using rudimentary methods to catch fish, a pole, some line, a reel, some hooks and some hotdogs, scientists inside of TMI, not 100 yards from us, were splitting atoms to create "cheap energy". fishing, a source once used for an individual's food procurement and survival, has now essentially been relegated to a recreational activity. While splitting atoms, an idea inconceivable only 100 years ago, is now necessity.

but why do the majority of people only fish for recreation? is it because of the unsafe level of contaminants present in almost every major body of water? is it just easier to get your fish from walmart?

and why do we feel the need to erect nuclear reactors to generate electricity? is it because it's "cleaner" than fossil fuels? it is because it's cheaper than fossil fuels? is it because there are no other viable energy sources in which to harness? is it because we carelessly consume energy as a society which requires us to seek out greater methods of energy production? is it because we as a society are afraid to take responsibility for our own survival? or perhaps it's just another example of big business consolidating and controlling the resources.

regardless of the answers and opinions the facts remain. we as a society, a global community have abandoned our roots. aside from our language, most of us have no cultural identity. kids in asia wear the same brands of jeans and eat the same type of fast food as children in the americas and europe. i am not judging the effects of globalism, merely stating that most of us have no idea how we got here. we are only concerned with the future and it's illicit technology. most of us could give a damn about the interconnectedness of life, exhibited in the present moment, as well as it's transgression through time.

just remember this, just because this is how it is, doesn't mean it's how it's always been or will always be.

this album marks the 4th official release of yours truly. i produced the entire album, mixed the entire album and featured no guest vocalists. gard, from gard on duty productions, helped me lay some bass lines as well as mastered the album.

essentially the album is the transgression of the manifestation of change, at least that was my intent. so please take the time to download it and listen.. you may need more than one to understand the totality of the album.

if you are wondering why i only released an EP.. no, it's not because i am lazy.. well at least not in relation to music, it's because the idea was crystallized in 5 tracks. if i were to have done more, the album wouldn't have been as concise.

so if you download this album, thank you.. and if you like this album, tell others to download it and share it. mp3's aren't the problem, they are the equalizer.

ahhh.. what a beautiful day.. march 24th 2010.. the house of reps just passed the health care bill; here comes the long awaited public health care option, and if you don't want it, you get fined, talk about freedom of choice. something so good we're not allowed to pass it up. and how bout the economy, once limping along with the veracity of a tortoise with a sprained ankle, has shown how versatile it is and it's uncanny ability to recover. plus the 2 longest wars in US history are still going strong. bitchin. more misled soldiers can sacrifice their lives for a mission that doesn't exist.

but i'm not here to talk to you today about our society's fixation with murder and violence, i'm here to speak about an under-represented issue with far reaching implications, public nudity. is it really illegal to be naked in public?

let's think about it. what crime is really being committed if someone is naked in public? a crime of "decency"? as defined by dictionary.com "decency - conformity to the recognized standard of propriety, good taste, modesty, etc." now i admit, unrestrained public nudity would undoubtedly lend itself to blights in aesthetic form, but i don't feel a person should be fined or imprisoned for it. i see plenty of things daily that don't adhere to proper aesthetics, which by definition are subjective anyways. if someone is allowed to wear ed hardy t-shirts, jeans and have ed hardy seat covers, then why can't someone else be naked?

i'm not encouraging every tom and mary to go out swinging in the breeze, but if you feel compelled to do so, i feel you should be able to. why can't a woman display her breasts at the beach or a pool? why can't i rock climb in the buff? because someone may be offended? come on. if i can turn on the tv and see countless programs depicting murder in a visceral, explicit manner, why can't i jog around in my birthday suit?

now don't get me wrong, nothing would change other than being allowed to be naked in public. places of employment and restaurants would still be able to employ dress codes if they so wished. you wouldn't have to worry about sitting across from a 400 pounder with their legs spread as you enjoy your toasted panini sandwich. the same laws of sexual harassment would still be in place as well. you still can't walk up to a stranger and hump them. you still can't use your penis to tap your coworker on the shoulder. you still can't hang around a playground and play with yourself. you would just be allowed to be naked in public.

i suppose the real issue here is the selective choice or moral values and ethics. we are bombarded with images of murder and death, yet the only motifs we see pertaining to love are in the form of diamond commercials and romantic comedies. our children can play video games that's sole objective is murder, but god forbid they see some skin. what would become of a country who's people loved more than they hated? even if their love is not genuine and is based in sexual lust, i propose a society would benefit more from that attitude than with a blood lust for violence. until we can get our egos in check, i suggest we at the very least should have them lean towards sex and lust and hopefully one day they will fall into the unconditional love required for our society to evolve fully.

i never intended to be a sour grape.. a buzz-kill.. a "conspiracy theorist".. a pessimist.. or an anti-social, cynical deconstructionist. but for some reason i have been handed this mindset.. and like everything, i believe it is our/my duty to assess every fact with pseudo-objectivity, acknowledging it's inherent negative and positive traits, then using the positive traits for the propagation of benevolence.

but how do i take this seemingly negative trait and find the positive force behind it? i suppose a series of questions and honest answers are in order.

question one. am i cynical because i don't care or because i care too much?

from the outside looking in, i can understand how my inherent nature could seem as if i don't care, when in reality i care.. more than anyone knows. when i was a younger lad, i played team sports with a youthful enthusiasm that has since abandoned me. i learned two life lessons from my foray into athletics. one, i was exposed early to the politics of human existence. experiencing first hand the effects of it's not what you know or do, but who you know or do. i suppose it was those experiences that lit my anti-authoritative ember.

the second thing i learned, which holds more pertinence to the conversation at hand, is the importance of team work and it's ability to transform average to incredible. it was my first glimpse inside the inner workings of our innate interconnectedness and the necessity for cooperation. if the chain is only as strong as it's weakest link, then as i stated before, the species is only as benevolent as it's most malevolent entity. when i see a full grown human being act like with the tact and awareness of a toddler, a piece of my accumulated energy turns black and becomes a negatively influenced monad.

so why don't i just create a callus and not allow them to influence me? i choose not to create a callus because innately the callus is a re-fortification of the ever so present ego. i must separate myself from my environment and pretend that i am an independent entity.. that i am an untouched island in an ocean of aggressive apathy. of course i know this to be false.. everything is created from atoms.. all humans possess the same atoms..

all atoms are composed of 2 things.. energy particles, which come into and out of existence continually, and nothing, an empty vacuum of space. so if at the atomic level we are all identical, then it cant be said with reasonable certainty that we all originate from the same source, are all bound by the same universal laws, and have taken up residence on the same rock in the sky.

question two. how can deconstruction or demolition be used to edify benevolence?

i know from experience that i have learned more from my failures than i have from my successes. when you fail you know what went wrong. when you succeed, the distraction of success pulls your focus from the immeasurable variables that occurred succinctly to manifest success.

during failure everything is evaluated with a much more open mind. the plan has not succeeded... the theory to which you were attached so strongly has been proven false.. your belief system is incorrect.. the arrogance of ignorance is eroded until the deposits of truth are exposed on the banks. i know the capacity for knowledge amongst our species has diminished in recent decades, so i propose at the very least we must remember what doesn't work. who cares if we remember what works, let's just not forget what doesn't work and enables harm. and honestly, can anyone say that society is known for highlighting our failures? i think not.. in every religion and philosophy there is a concept of universal balance, and currently the information floating around the earth isn't too balanced. i know it's cliche, but if i don't at least attempt to raises awareness, who will?

so please remember... just because the compass needle points north, doesn't mean the compass IS north, or that the compass holder must travel north. if you plan to set up camp and remain immobile, then the directions of the poles hold no relevance. but if you plan on traveling, a bearing must be taken in order to successfully arrive at the desired destination.

to be continued...

so i guess it's been a while since my last blog... i'm sorry to leave all of you hanging in such anticipatory desperation. i know you live your life by my oh so insightful rantings. so again i apologize, but for the past few months i've been, and still am, in one of the strangest periods of internal conflict i have ever experienced.

i have noticed that i seem to exude negativity. just about everything i see pisses me off, and i know that is no way to live. but i am stuck wondering how to be positive in such a heinous environment. it seems people get dumber by the day. they allow themselves to be fed half truths in order to feel positive about their actions. they only want to hear the good part, the kitsch is compartmentalized and repressed.

they complain about politics, yet continue to cling to the antiquated factions that have created this arena of blood-lust and profit seeking. they follow the same path expecting a different destination. they continue to buy into the illusion that has created the very problems that now plague our society and have infiltrated our entire way of life.

most people can understand the concept of cause and effect, yet when confronted with issues, they misuse their energy and focus only on the symptoms, forgetting that symptoms are not the source of the problem. take a look at the "war on cancer". millions of bumper stickers raising "awareness" for cancer and calling for it's much needed end. we are encouraged to check ourselves for cancer, because everyone knows how important it is to catch it early.. yet we are never taught how to avoid the things that cause cancer, namely our actions.

cancer by definition is "a malignant and invasive growth or tumor, esp. one originating in epithelium, tending to recur after excision and to metastasize to other sites. b. any disease characterized by such growths. 2. any evil condition or thing that spreads destructively; blight. "

does that definition sound familiar? sound like something you know intimately? maybe our society perhaps? ok, i can sense your disagreement.. but look closely. both our society and cancer consumes all resources for it's own selfish longings. cancer manifests in tumors. society manifests in cities. we poison everything; the air, the food, the water, and most importantly our minds. how else can we explain our current methodologies?

we know cell phones cause cancer, yet just about everyone owns one. aside from fact that the never fallible FDA has approved countless substances that are known carcinogens which range in products from gum to beef. we pump our "stock" animals full of unhealthy steroids in order to maximize profit. we complain about the destruction of the environment, yet continue to acquire our electricity through coal and nuclear plants. we say how much we hate drama, yet cling to it in every fashion. we compete with everything. we attach ourselves to the decaying material world, yet we are befuddled and subsequently devastated when things die.

we constantly compare our own lives to those contrived airbrushed images cast down from the oligarchy. and when we started to see through the mysticism used by conventional media, we were fed a string of "reality" shows to display what we're missing. ok, maybe i'm being too heavy handed.. but realize this.. everything we do or don't do has a bearing on our individual and collective future. if you spend hours every week watching mind numbing programs, what do you expect to happen? do you think your awareness rises or declines?

there is a beneficial use of escapism.. and with society being as fucked up as it currently is, more people are increasingly running to their happy places. or so they thought. if it's true that ignorance is the keystone to all of our ills, which i believe, then to immerse oneself in a more ignorant state would be a completely defeatist act. when we grow tired of the bullshit, we must seek truth. internal, eternal, universal truth.

"but hey, what can i do? i just try to be happy." is by far the most popular response i receive when espousing my views. the truth of the matter may be hard to swallow for some.. but as individuals.. we can do nothing. we must shed our ego based exterior and reconnect with the truth of our interdependent life. we must realize we are all illusory separate entities of the same ultimate source. we all possess the same inherent flaws and strengths. the world we live in is only as "good" as it's most evil entity. and honestly, most of the evil entities are well intentioned henchmen, but they lack the required awareness to discern truth.. and i'm sorry to say, truth is not always pleasant.. but it is always true.

to be continued...