Also, there has been come inquisitions regarding my artwork as to it's derivation. Both verbal and written. What's my choice of medium, size of them, are they digital or analog, things like this. So let me just put all that worrying to rest.

My art is hand made. I use oil crayons (usually Van Gogh brand, they are the best) and a good quality paper. Usually when I'm done, my hands are completely black from rubbing the crayons all over the place. Paper size is anywhere from 8 1/2 X 11 to 11 X 17. Nothing larger than that. I'm usually making art that serves a purpose. Either a cd cover, a poster, or some other kind of graphic design thingymajig. Basically, I make analog art that's specifically designed to be scanned. So making them smaller in size is helpful for that purpose.

I do of course digitally enhance a lot of them in photoshop. That's probably easy to see. I layer them and fuck with the colors. Stuff like that. This is probably where it really looks like my shit is digitally generated from the beginning. But it's not and now you now as much. I've been taking those designs and making coffee mugs out of them. No kidding. I found this great place to have them made and the quality is super good. Plus, I am really into the idea of people using my art and not just standing there staring at it. I love to think of someone sipping a beverage out of brainart. Nice.

The other thing I wanted you to know is that even though when you sign the guestbook you have to 'validate your email address' I do not have access to that information. I don't ever know what your email address is. I just get to see the encouraging and kind words you write. And by the way, I fucking LOVE reading that guestbook!!! Sometimes it totally makes my day. No kidding!! So THANK YOU for your words in the guest book. For real. That thing has taken on a life of it's own. I love that. And there are days where I sit there and read your comments and it makes me feel so happy. Plus, it's a great way to stay in touch. Only thing is, it's a one way conversation if I don't have your email address.

So, that being said, I want you to send me a mail so we can stay in touch with each other. I have set up an account so that we can do as much. Just shoot me a mail at andrewdangelo@earthlink.net and I will get it.

Look forward to hearing from you!!

It seems like forever since I typed here on the blob. Has it been? Or maybe it's that so many things have happened since the last time I did. Have they? Well, one big event I suppose was that I actually played a gig. Now that was fun!! For sure. And just to stifle all those inquiries, no, it doesn't hurt my head to play. I'm not even sure why that is. It should, right? In any case though, it doesn't and getting to play with Hilmar, Jim, Chris and Trevor was smashing. As Trevor Dunn put it, "it's like going home to see your family for Thanksgiving". Indeed Mr Dunn, indeed. (wait, is that a good thing?)

No matter the situation, playing after being through so much was super exciting for me. Plus, I didn't really hold back at all. No need to as far as I could tell. No harm done. And damn fun!!!! If you're interested, I've decided to play the TYFT gig at the Stone on Wednesday (tomorrow). It seems I can handle the situation fine. Although, because I'm not totally 100%, we're having Chris Speedo play with us as well. Besides, he's doing the TYFT tour in May and wants to get a jump on the music. I have to tell you though, he already sounds amazing on all it. Fucker. So if you're pooping around Manhattan on Wednesday, come hangout with us and hear some TYFT. I believe we're second.

Other than that, not much I suppose. I started ozone therapy last week. That is, at the very least, incredibly interesting. Basically they take pure ozone and shoot it into your blood stream via an IV in your arm. Feels good but at the same time a bit strange. I have to go 3 times a week and that part is a bit daunting. I'm trying to get my own machine to save myself a little time and money. The ozone therapy, on it's own, will cost me $10,000 for the year (I have to do it 3 times a week for 10 months at least). That's if I don't get my own machine which would greatly reduce the cost.

In case you're curious, ozone is O₃ where as oxygen, as we all know, is O₂. So, if I understand it correctly, the ozone gets into your blood stream and cleans house. It's kind of an intense feeling at first but you get used to it. If you're a smoker, I guess a lot of coughing happens. Your lungs and body work on expelling the carbon dioxide from your longs. Not pleasant I hear. I don't really have that issue as I quit smoking many years ago and my lungs seem clean. I do get a tightness in my chest though that only lasts for a few minutes after getting the injection. Not that bad. For the most part, it feels like the ozone is in there kicking ass and cleaning house. I can't imagine what it's like after doing it for a year. Must be really fucking clean in there. I guess we'll find out.

Also remember, it's your donations that are making all of my alternative treatments possible. Absolutely. I could not be doing what I am without the help you have given me. Not to mention the mounting medical bills that I still have to deal with. At this point, I'm taking about 16 different supplements a day (16 to 20 bottles on my shelf, somewhere in there). Some of which I have to take 3 tablets, 3 times a day. Meaning, I'm swallowing about 35 or more pills a day. Shooshabuster. Some of these supplements are upwards of $90 a bottle and last about a month. I will tell you though, that we're talking top-of-the-line vitamin and mineral supplements here folks. The women I told you about in past blobs, Dr Jeanne Wallace at Nutritional Solutions, has tested many of these during her years of practice and has basically weeded out the crap. So no bullshit chemically-enhanced vitamins or tainted herbal remedies. She won't allow it. So yeah, they're a bit expensive but totally clean and pure. Nice.

Well, that's it for now I think. Hopefully I'll get to see some of you at the TYFT show tomorrow night. I know I'm looking forward to it. Anytime I get to play with these 3 people I consider it an honor. I mean shit, JIM, CHRIS, AND HILMAR.....DAMN!!!! Gonna be fun. Peace

Listen, if someone is going to make art for me, I write a song for them. Our illustrious webhost won't let me embed. You'll have to click on the link. Be careful and remember to breath.

Song For Asra

An friend of mine Sabine, and her daughter Asra, have sent me this ozeanjaspis mineral stone to wear. It has some healing powers. Pretty beautiful stone I have to say. Anyone heard of this mineral?

Asra has drawn me a saxamaphone playing what looks like Andrew's Didi. Can't be sure of that but one never knows.....

"What if eating beef or feeling that eating beef makes that person a real person, brings that person into alignment? I would say, eat beef."

My friend makes a good point here. Didn't necessarily care about the message as much as I thought the guy was being witty and pretty freakin' funny. Just like the way he put what he put. I changed his quote but I think it's better with beef.

I come a family of farmers. We still grow lots of corn that feeds lots of the cattle you eat. They're not suppose to be eating corn. You drink lots of cola with corn syrup in it. If you knew what the farmers knew, you wouldn't go near corn or it's byproducts. Genetically engineered corn feeds not only cattle and other animals who should not be ingesting it, but also you and your children. That's where I come from. I actually have a family that has raised, fed, and eaten lots of cows. I have a perspective on this meat eating thing.

Plus, like I mentioned a few blobs ago, I myself might have to start eating meat. To save my life. I'm certainly not opposed to it. I simply think we've gotten far far away from proper food. On all accounts. And I consider myself kin of farmers. Go kill your own meat and you will understand where I'm coming from. Go visit a farm or a slaughter house. Then you'll really understand what I'm talking about.

My friend Kathy is right though (quote above). It may be the thing for some to eat beef. No doubt about that and who am I to decide whether that is right or wrong. It's not my place. Just please do it mindfully, with love and respect for the animals you are killing to nourish yourself. That's all.

I've been saving my trash in my living room for the last 2 weeks to check out my 'human footprint'. Just to see how much waste I put back into the Earth. Holy shit man, we are a wasteful design. Mamma T, stop using those plastic bags from the shop!!!

"If a vegetarian diet is your idea of 'real food for real people' you'd better live real close to a real good hospital."

Hello all you brain curious tumor heads. How goes it? Things are alright by me. A little stir crazy. Been doing some serious detoxing and healing over here in the D'Angelo cave. And well, I'm a bit tired of it. All in all though, I'm sure (and by the way I am VERY SURE) that I have never been 'healthier' in my life. That's for certain. Maybe when I was a kid or something but not as an adult. This is as healthy as I get. Period.

Which brings me to the subject of my Nutritional Solutions Report. I mentioned some blobs ago about certain things I was doing to help my prognosis. Things I was going to do to get myself better. Heal. So on and so forth. One of those 'things' was to get a food and supplement regime set up by one Dr Wallace of Nutritional Solutions. She does nutritional counseling specifically designed around cancer patients. Especially those going through chemo and radiation. Even though I feel as though my diet is pretty ok, it seemed like a good idea to get her input (many of you recommended her to me. thank you for that!!). And holy shoohabuster, was it ever a good idea to get in touch with this company!!! My oh my.

Just the other day I received my Nutrition Report for Andrew D'Angelo by Dr Wallace in the mail. Man, is this women thorough. The report is almost 150 pages long. Now that definitely deserves a shooshabuster!!! As far as I can tell (I've only read about 60 pages so far) there is a lot of information about diet and supplementation specifially directed towards my particular type of brain tumor and cancer (you have to fill out a lengthy "intake questionnaire" before she does your report) . And if I can even follow half of what she talks about, I'll be happy. She is asking that you follow 95% of her advice but I can tell you now, I'll be lucky if I can do as much. Fuck. A lot of information. Some of which I'd heard before but a lot of which I had no idea about. My God.

I would recommend, no doubt, that anyone who is going through cancer and/or traditional cancer treatment, get a consultation from her. DO IT!!! Again, her company is called Nutritional Solutions. Check it out. It does cost some money of course, but well worth it. It's really like nothing else I've experienced. Dr. Wallace covers every freakin' inch of diet and nutrition. And I ain't just whistlin' Dixie folks!!! There's not a stone left unturned in her 150 pages. That's for damn sure. Her report is so detailed my head spins every time I read it. Absolutely worth it though.

I'd so much rather take care of my own body via nutrition and supplementation than be at the mercy of medical professionals. Who, by the way, are constantly asking me to stop taking my supplements. Dr Wallce even has a few sections dedicated to studies which support these doctors fears of certain supplements and other studies that refute them. Reading her analysis really makes you realize how messed up our diets have become. Especially as Americans. And how lacking in certain nutrients our food is because of genetic modification and other toxic factors. We really need to take our food back to it's original state. That should certainly be one of our goals as humans.

I can't tell you how many times my European friends have come to visit me and are completely blown away by the portions of food they receive at a restaurant. Often trying to buy just one meal and split it between several of them. Many times to the chagrin of the wait staff. They think, of course, that these European folks are trying to be cheap, not healthy. Understandable I suppose but fuck man, we are too fat here in America and our food is so processed it's unreal. I'll never forget one friend of mine from Scandinavia who ordered a sandwich with 'American Cheese' on it. Just out of curiosity. When he saw the yellow color of it he was completely blown away as he had never seen yellow 'cheese' before. (It's not suppose to be by the way.) He subsequently asked the waiter to explain what the hell it was. The waiter obliged him with: "that's called American Cheese". Well there you go. I don't even think there's any dairy in it. Is there? I know it's not an ingredient in any of the recipes from healthy cook books that I have used. Anyone know what it's made of? Please do tell. And how do they make it yellow? Actually, I'm not sure I want to know.

Anyway, it's going to take a serious effort on my part to find foods that are actually intact and nutritionally beneficial to my health. But hey, that's how it goes. Still though, it's already been frustrating me while reading her report, to re-understand all of this. Fuck, this cancer thing is difficult on so many levels. I remember reading diligently and getting to know all this information 15/20 years ago when I first became a vegetarian. Jim, Chris, and I didn't want to just jump off the meat wagon and not know what we were doing. We studied long and hard. We really wanted to find a better way to eat that didn't include meat products. Many young vegetarians just go from pepperoni pizza to cheese pizza. Voila, I'm vegetarian. The three of us didn't want to be like that. Although, it's definitely different nowadays. There are for sure more readily available whole and organic foods than we were able to find back then. That's a good thing. If you're curious, I've ordered some great stuff from this online shop in Cali called Diamond Organics. Nice. And they deliver. We're so lucky to have California in our country. Thank God for that.

Well, I will continue to study my Nutritional Solutions Report for Andrew D'Angelo as hard as I can. Learning what I need to from it. I will admit though that right now, it's stressing me out a bit to read what I'm going to have to do. Fuck. I mean, it seems like one could spend their entire day just preparing meals, eating them, taking enzymes to digest them properly, supplementing them with all the vitamin and mineral deficiencies they have, never mind finding the proper food to even prepare such meals. It's no easy task but I suppose there's a big payoff, a really healthy body and lifestyle. That I look forward to.

I woke up to a "friend request" on MySpace from this dude, Steven. His page is dedicated to "Spreading The Message of Wellness" and is pretty cool as far as I can tell. The quotes you see below are copied from him. Although of course, not of him. I've been struggling with this whole vegetarian thing because I'm a blood type O and supposedly, I should be eating meat (not a lot of sugars and for sure not a raw food diet nor macrobiotic one. Supposedly.). Some grass fed meat occasionally at the very least. Oy. We'll see about that. But these are some good quotes. Don't know if they are accurate but who cares, this is the internet!!!

From Steven's MySpace Page:

"As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower beings, he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love." -Pythagorus

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." ~Albert Einstein

"The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of "real food for real people" you'd better live real close to a real good hospital." ~Neal Barnard, M.D.

"I find that low protein diets often contribute to improvement in patients with immune system problems ... In fact, it would be hard to become deficient in protein in our country even if you tried." ~Andrew Weil, M.D.

"If you step back and look at the data, the optimum amount of red meat you eat should be zero." ~Dr. Walter Wille

What's the prerequisite for Enlightenment?

Emptiness of mind.

I GOT IT!!