Fifty years ago, I bought a Robbie Basho album sight unseen, or heard, just on a whim. Some months before I had finally made a connection with a particular spiritual master and when I glanced at a photo of Robbie on the back of the album cover in question, I had the feeling Robbie followed the same master. No surprise then when I read the liner notes and it was dedicated to said master.
I met Robbie after one of his concerts, drove him up to Vancouver, BC, for a show, visited him once at his hovel of an apartment in Berkeley, and produced a concert for him in Seattle about forty years ago. Maybe 50 people showed up. Robbie was discouraged about the lack of interest in his music. I told him I thought he was about fifty years ahead of his time.
As it turns out, a biographical film has been made of him, "The Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho," and if you visit any songs of his posted on Youtube, he is constantly being discovered anew. I find that heartening, that people are finally able to hear what he has to offer.
I remember sending out press releases ahead of his concert. Robbie had provided me with some materials, including an interview by a critic who astutely observed that it was as though the "bag" around Robbie's personality had just melted off years ago. If you spent any time around Robbie, it was impossible not to notice his idiosyncracies. You know the chatter we all have going through our heads all the time? Well, Robbie's chatter constantly came out of his mouth. You had a front row seat to Robbie's subconscious, whether you wanted it or not.
In the film about him, some people attribute that to a period of hard drug use when he was younger. No doubt there is some truth to that. But it's also a case study of what happens to a human being when they devote their entire energy to their spiritual pursuits -- their ego dissolves, at least to some extent. Usually, you never see that happen, nor do you see much evidence of it, beyond the bizarre and unpredictable behavior that spiritual students sometimes evince.
I've had brief periods in my life where forces beyond my control began to assert themselves from within. It can be frightening. I'm not talking about insanity or schizophrenia; I'm talking about the higher impersonal forces that direct the broad currents of human life. If they start to take yours apart, it's disorienting. What perhaps is different than mental illness is that in a situation where something "higher" has begun to effect your interior life, you are also granted insights and a wider, deeper perspective on life than perhaps was previously available to you. The trick is to try and make those new insights permanent. It's harder than you might think and easier said than done.
My own brief experiences taught me that balance is precarious in any such situation. I think Robbie's apparent peculiarities were more likely a result of his spiritual commitment rather than anything else. But then, that's just my two cents on the matter. What do I know?
If you want to hear what a musically gifted individual with a strong spiritual bent sounds like, then here's your chance.
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