Daily Loaf

Routes Music is a documentary film acting as a roving music census, taking in the true musical passions (and disgusts) of the American people. We’re traveling all across the country, stopping along the way to interview local bands, take footage of live performances and chat with anyone and everyone. Learn more about the documentary here; check out all previous entries here.

We met Mushroom Montoya in Long Beach after a long, hard day on Malibu Beach. A practicing “modern shaman” for nearly three decades, Montoya views music as more than entertainment: he uses it for healing the mind, body and spirit. His tools are the drum and the didgeridoo, a hollowed-out pole that, when blown into, sounds like a nest of idle bees. Montoya’s choice of the didgeridoo is no accident; the instrument is said to be man’s first wind instrument dating back thousands of years. Aboriginal shamans in Australia used the didgeridoo in their own rituals and ceremonies.

Well, it just so happened that Phil was complaining of congestion, so Montoya took out one of his three didgeridoos to help clear our crew member’s sinuses. Watch the video below: Read the rest of this entry »

I had a dream the other night that I was on a transatlantic flight on its way to Africa. I was sitting next to a man in a brown jacket, clown pants and Jesus sandals who kept repeating, “Down we go.” That should have given me a clue to the unfortunate end to my dream, or nightmare, but it didn’t. Suddenly, the no-smoking sign started flashing a blood-red color and the pilot got on the intercom and said something along the lines of, “We are going down, hold on to your fucking hats.” I couldn’t really make out what he said, but I’ve always thought that would be the best way to break the news to the passengers. If we’re going to die, I don’t want to hear, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to bring an unfortunate situation to your attention. Blah, blah, blah.” Cut to the chase, man! Anyway, to make a long story short, we plummeted thousands of feet into an island and, magically, I was the only survivor. That is the point when I woke up. And for some batshit crazy reason, the first thing I thought of was an episode of The Office when the employees play Desert Island. This taught me something about myself: Apparently, if I were the sole survivor of a plane crash on a deserted island, the most important thing to me would be what movies I was carrying on me and how I could watch them. So, if that were to happen, and if there were a television and DVD player on this said island, these are the movies I would take… Read the rest of this entry »