'Elephant Revival' Magical Reality

> Perhaps the beginning of ‘Elephant Revival’ is in November, 1985. That
> was when 18-months-old, Bonnie May Paine, of Tahlequah, OK. began
> whistling songs with grace, and prodigious musical charm.
>
> Perhaps the beginning is spring of 2002 when Bonnie and Daniel
> Rodriguez, (D-ro) spent a night on a rooftop over Norwich, CT, making
> music until sun-rise.
>
> Perhaps it was at the bluegrass festival in Keystone, CO in August of
> 2003 when Bridget and Dango met while dancing in the rain.
>
> Perhaps it was several weeks later when Bridget, Dango, and Bonnie
> found each other at the Winfield Music Festival and had a rapture of
> music that lasted until the sun rose.
>
> It was then that Bridget and Bonnie realized they were "soul sisters"
> destined to fight over the same clothes in thrift shops across the
> United States of America.
>
> Perhaps the beginning is in early November 2003 when Daniel Rodriguez,
> (D-Ro), was bound from Mystic, CT. to Los Angeles, CA. In Kansas he
> made the strange, mysterious and momentous decision to take a left
> turn and go to Tahlequah instead, to continue to make
> music with Bonnie.
>
> Perhaps it occurred at Webs World of Fun in Ponca City, OK. in late
> November of 2003 when Dango and Bonnie were both booked and Dango and
> D-Ro met for the first time throwing horseshoes on the back lawn.
>
> Perhaps the beginning of Elephant Revival is in February 2004 when
> Bridget Law visited Bonnie in Tahlequah and they slept in the same bed
> and Bonnie heard the “crazy” musical jam playing in Bridget’s dream.
>
> Perhaps the beginning is in May 2005 when Dango Rose was busking in
> front of the elephant cage at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo.
>
> The cage contained a couple that had been paired for 16-years. For
> unknown reasons the male was traded to the Salt Lake City Zoo. The
> male died from separation in the back of a big truck traveling on I-80
> through Wyoming. Shortly thereafter the female was dead in the
> elephant cage in Chicago.
>
> Perhaps the beginning is the summer of 2006 when Sage Cook
> encountered and jammed out with Bridget, D-Ro and Bonnie at the Loving
> Oven Kitchen at the Rainbow Nationals outside of Steamboat Springs,
> CO. on July 4.
>
> Then, at the Winfield Music Festival the following September, Sage
> musically engaged Dango. Dango then invited Sage to Tahlequah to
> record songs.
>
> The recording session led to Sage, Bonnie, D-Ro, and Dango opening up
> for ‘The Drew Emmitt Band at Tahlequah’s Dream Theater as ‘Dr. Paine.’
>
> And it was, after these events of the summer of 2006, that all the
> other members of what became ‘Elephant Revival’ understood that Sage
> was the magical, missing, last piece, the keystone, that made the band
> complete.
>
> And yet, there is no doubt the first official performance of the full
> band, Bonnie, D-Ro, Sage, Bridget and Dango as ‘The Elephant Revival
> Concept’ took place in October 2006 at the Gold Hill Inn in Gold Hill,
> CO.
>
> The question of the true origins of the band mirrors the quantum
> physics and magical-reality questions of whether there ever is
> tangible cause and effect, or coincidence in the quantum and magical
> universe. And the quantum and magical universe is from where
> ‘Elephant Revival’ comes.
>
> Other undeniable facts of the band’s origin is that most all
> initiating events transpired in the magical-reality of Tahlequah.
>
> Tahlequah is where the Trail-of-Tears, which started in the Southern
> Appalachians, ended in the 1830s. Tahlequah is the new capital (1838)
> of the Cherokee Nation. Bonnie is tribal Cherokee.
>
> And it is often noted that the reality of Tahlequah is not of the
> usual post-modern, waking consciousness. The city signs are written
> in English and Cherokee. Shamans, not M.D.’s, are the respected
> healers. Many believe the place is an important vortex where
> synchronicity routinely happens.
>
> And the place in Tahlequah where many of the band’s initiating events
> happened is the Spring Creek.
>
> Spring Creek is an Eden-like place.
>
> During the sweltering Oklahoma summers very cold, clear, healing
> waters bubble forth from the earth. The creek abounds with crawdads,
> bass, ancient arrowheads and other native artifacts.
>
> There is no lack of serpents in the garden. There are venomous copper
> heads and water moccasins, and benign king snakes.
>
> A long-held tradition is the gathering of Bonnie’s family and
> unofficial tribe, at the creek, every summer.
>
> The gathering celebrates the birthday of Michael Paine (Bonnie’s dad)
> every July 7. And the gathering sustains and supports musicians.
>
> During the summer of 2005, at the Spring Creek, band-members received
> ideas and inspiration for songs. They wrote germinal, definitive
> songs. They first performed songs at the creek. They had all-night
> jam sessions in which the water sounds and night sounds of the creek
> were important parts of the jam. Jugs of wine were drunk and many
> truths became known.
>
> If there is one place where the unique, definitive sound of the band
> emerged, that place would be the Spring Creek.
>
> Then came the magical-reality of Nederland, Colorado.
>
> It is often noted that Nederland retains much of its character as a
> rough and tumble mining camp. A huge amount of mineral wealth (gold,
> silver, tungsten) has been extracted from the earth around Nederland.
> And yet, by far, the larger fortune was derived from the Caribou Ranch
> Recording Studio.
>
> The likes of Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Michael Jackson recorded at
> the studio, walked the streets of Ned, and did impromptu performances
> at the town’s rustic watering holes.
>
> The likes of Dan Fogelberg, Stephen Stills, Joe Walsh and Chris
> Hillman have lived in the vicinity of the small town of 1,400.
>
> Dango was the first band-member to settle in Ned in 2001. Bonnie
> first came to Ned, in 2004, after being invited by Vince Herman, of
> Leftover Salmon and Great American Taxi (They had met earlier that
> year at a chaotic music festival in Lake Tahoe, CA).
>
> In late 2006 and 2007 band members settled and re-settled in Nederland.
>
> In 2007 ‘Elephant Revival’ became the unofficial house band of The
> Stage Stop in nearby Rollinsville. From this hallowed old musical
> venue the band established its formidable local Front Range fan base.
>
> And then the band began touring in Bessy, Sage’s 1989 Thomas
> school-bus which he had converted to run on vegetable oil fuel. And
> they left a french-fry, or Thai food smelling trail from the East
> Coast to the West Coast, and everywhere in-between. The band has
> traveled astronomical distance, over 350,000 miles, since they began
> touring in 2007. In autumn of 2009 Bessy was retired as the bands
> tour bus and Ivan-Dured, a 97’ Freightliner from Mount Shasta CA. took
> over the bio-diesel reigns.
>
> And then came the fulfillment of one of D-Ro's most long held dreams.
>
> When D-Ro was nineteen years old he piled into a car with some good
> friends and drove from Connecticut to a Dispatch show at the Electric
> Factory in Philidelphia, PA.
>
> It was that night while being inspired greatly by the energy that
> Dispatch was giving and the songwriting of Chad Stokes', that led him
> to a "knowing" that being a professional musician/songwriter/shaman
> was what D-Ro wanted to be.
>
> In 2006, six years later, backstage in Burlington VT. at a ‘Michael
> Franti’ show where Chad's other band ‘State Radio’ was the opener,
> D-Ro got to meet and express his admiration to Chad while Bonnie and
> Bridget performed with Michael Franti and Spearhead.
>
> Chad tried the best he could to defuse D-Ro's worship. He remembered
> the Philadelphia show at the Electric Factory as the show where he
> fell on his head.
>
> D-Ro gave him a demo-tape of some recordings he had put together with Bonnie.
>
> They kept in touch over the next few years, and in 2009 on a solo
> vacation Chad contacted D-Ro and met up with ER at The Sawtooth Music
> Festival in Stanley, Idaho. As D-Ro recalls, “He brought us
> watermelon and fed us while we were writing set-lists; he rafted with
> us down a river in Idaho; he sat in with us at a couple concerts; he
> ran our merchandise for us."
>
> One of the best parts for him was the long drives and conversations he
> would have with his once musical hero. "It was surreal, but mostly
> real," says D-Ro. The tour winded down, and Chad ended up staying a
> few days with Bonnie and Dan at their small apartment in Nederland.
>
> ER then began performing with State Radio at some of their Colorado
> shows. During a concert at The Aggie Theater in Fort Collins, Chad
> proposed that ER become part of his record label out of Boston, MA,
> "Ruff Shod."
>
> Elephant Revival's second album, "Break in the Clouds," released on
> "Ruff Shod" (Nov 10') charted #2 on the I-Tunes Singer Songwriter
> Chart. This led to ER opening for Dispatch at a sold-out show at the
> Boston Garden in June of 2011.
>
> This past autumn ER garnered a standing ovation and encore performance
> during a feature showcase at ‘The Americana Music Awards’ during "The
> Music City Roots" Radio Broadcast in Nashville TN.
>
> Their music has also been featured on NPR's "All Things Considered."
>
> And now all members of the band are fulfilling their most long-held
> dreams. The musicians/songwriters/shamans of 'Elephant Revival' are
> sharing their music and visions with the world.