"Listen to your inner voice. It’s there, if you pay attention."

Jon Monday

Truth is One, Sages call it by various names

Jon Monday is an American producer and distributor of CDs and DVDs across an eclectic range of material such as Swami Prabhavananda, Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood, Huston Smith, Chalmers Johnson, and Charles Bukowski. Monday directed and co-produced with Jennifer Douglas the feature-length documentary Save KLSD: Media Consolidation and Local Radio. He is also President of Benchmark Recordings, which owns and distributes the early catalog of The Fabulous Thunderbirds CDs and a live recording of Mike Bloomfield.

Monday got his start in multimedia through his own psychedelic light-show company in the Bay Area in the sixties, providing visuals for concerts by Country Joe and the Fish, Janis Joplin's Big Brother and the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Steve Miller's Blues Band at local Berkeley, California venues and The Fillmore in San Francisco.
In 1970, Monday was hired by John Fahey at Takoma Records, becoming promotion director in 1975, and later general manager. Working with guitar artists such as Leo Kottke, John Fahey, Mike Bloomfield, and Peter Lang. Eventually, he became Takoma's Vice President and General Manager, and also provided art direction, engineering, and/or produced albums. In 1979, Fahey sold Takoma Records to a new company formed by music business attorney Bill Coben, veteran producer/manager Denny Bruce, and Chrysalis Records. Monday continued with the new company as General Manager. During that time, Takoma signed and released albums by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Canned Heat, beat-era poet Charles Bukowski, Doug Sahm, and T-Bone Burnett. Monday retired and moved to the San Diego area in 2004 and launched two labels: mondayMEDIA and GemsTone; producing, directing, and distributing original and archival material.

Interview by Michael Limnios

Mr. Monday, What do you learn about yourself from the music & what does “music” offered you?
When I was growing up I never thought I’d wind up working in an office. In fact, I did everything I could to make sure it wouldn’t happen: I wanted to be an author, or some other type of independent person. In early, 1965 I dropped out of high school and tried to join up with Martin Luther King in Selma, Alabama to participate in a voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery. I couldn’t make it – I was trying to hitchhike from my home in the Bay Area of Northern California. Instead, I joined the army, with the thought that it was the moral equivalent – after all, Presidents Eisenhower and JKF had sent troops to the south to de-segregate.
I did very well in the army, graduated in the top 5% of my advanced electronics training, volunteered for paratrooper training, and after getting my “wings”, volunteered for helicopter pilot training.

But, about three or four months after I joined, President Johnson sent the first US combat troops to Vietnam. By the fall of 65 the war was heating up, with more and more troops being sent there. I started to question what was going on there: why were we involved? What were the historic causes of the war? The more I looked into it, the more I saw that we were on the wrong side of history. I withdrew my application for pilot training, and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division. This was now early 1966. As the war continued to escalate and get more brutal, I became increasingly uncomfortable with being in the army at all. I heard one too many stories about North Vietnamese being kicked out of helicopters at 1500 feet, flying over villages and shooting everything that moved, and a complete lack of justification for being there at all. I tried to declare myself a Conscientious Objector – but at the time, there were no regulations to allow me to do that.
By the Summer of 66 I was fed up and felt there was only one honorable course of action – I went AWOL. During that time I was AWOL, was when I lived in Berkeley and established my small light show company. We mostly worked concerts in the Berkeley area, with band like Country Joe and the Fish and Big Brother and the Holding Company.
It was also during this time that I met what would become life-long friends in Venice, California, who were also serious spiritual seekers – with most being into Eastern Philosophy (my wife Anna and I were into Vedanta, but only knew about it through the Gita). I also met the members of Canned Heat, who were just starting to get airplay and decent concert bookings.
My wife and I travelled from Berkeley to Venice to Big Sur – keeping on the move to avoid the FBI. Without getting into too much detail, but at my court martial I read from the Bhagavad Gita (the Swami Prabhavananda-Christopher Isherwood translation) and also stated that at the Nuremberg Trials after WWII, it was established that soldiers had the right and duty to refuse to participate in a war they felt to be illegal and immoral. All together I was a year and a half of honorable service, 2 years AWOL, and a year in jail.

How do you describe your philosophy about the music…and life?
After getting out of the army with a “Bad Conduct” discharge, through a friend, I landed my first job (in early 1970) was with Takoma Records. John and his first wife Jan hired me as their first and only employee. I had been a fan since our early Berkeley days. At first I was just processing and packing the orders and sorting out demo tapes. Later, I started doing promotion and PR work, and eventually became the VP and General Manager.
Thus, to answer your first question, Takoma Records put on the solid path of being a business man working in an office – something I thought I’d never do.
I guess I’d describe my philosophy about music is that I appreciate all forms good musicianship and composing.  I had seen a range of original, unique, and innovative musicians in concert: Lighting Hopkins, Dave Von Ronk, Robbie Basho, Josh White, the Fugs, Canned Heat, James Cotton, Country Joe, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Santana, Moby Grape, the Doors, the Mothers of Invention, Tim Buckley, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Miller, Bo Diddley, The Sparrow (later called Steppenwolf), Chambers Brothers, Iron Butterfly, and many more – and all that was before I got in the record business. I also listened to classical music, Indian sitar music, and Avant Guard composers (John Cage and Karl Stockhausen).
I just love Good Music and Good Musicianship – in whatever form.
I embrace Vedanta in my philosophy of life. From a very young age I held a strong belief that deep within each person there was something that was Absolute Truth, and everyone could access that, if they sincerely tried. I felt to be religious, but found no church or synagogue that spoke to what I felt to be true. A small example, a catholic girlfriend took me to mass, and explained that I’d go to hell if I didn’t get baptized – I felt that was BS. I kept looking for answers. It wasn’t until I read the Bhagavad Gita that I found something in religion that both confirmed what I believed to be true, but also guided me in how to live.
The core Vedanta Philosophy is that each person is potentially divine, the goal of life is to realize that divinity. Other great Vedantists include, J.D. Salinger, Aldous Huxley (who I loved and read in high school), Joseph Campbell, Huston Smith, and Christopher Isherwood.
Vedanta doesn’t ask that you take anything on faith – but you should try the methods, and prove for yourself what is real and true. Huxley formulated a “Minimum Working Hypothesis”, a simple set of assumptions to adopt, in order to test the Vedanta proposition:
There is an underlying Reality or Divine Ground, without which our apparent, day-to-day reality would not exist.
Humans are capable of knowing that Divine Ground by direct experience.
All humans have a dual nature; an ego-self and an inner-Self that is identical with the Divine Ground.
There is a Way, a Path, a Tao to follow in order to realize our true nature.
The purpose of life is to have that experience.
Vedanta is less concerned with which path you follow, but that you follow it sincerely and prove for yourself if it works.

What are some of the most memorable tales from your psychedelic light-show in the Bay Area in the sixties?
The thing that started me in light show business was that I invented a two-color strobe light. It would alternate Red and Blue, which created a very interesting effect, especially on a wall of concert posters. My wife and I hand-built them and sold them at a Berkeley head shop. After seeing it displayed in the window of the shop, a concert promoter, Bill “Jolly” Elert, invited us to do the light show at a concert with Country Joe and Big Brother. This was February 1967. It was the first time we saw Janis Joplin – who knocked us out. Like the first time we saw Jim Morrison, it was obvious that she was something special and would go far. At the time, they were virtually unknown outside the SF Bay Area. After the concert I was back stage and saw Janis by herself crying like a baby – just sobbing. I asked her if I could do anything – she shook her head.
About a month later we were working a benefit concert at the Fillmore. County Joe, Big Brother, Quick Silver Messenger Service, and Steve Miller were playing. And again, after the concert I was back stage and there was Janis by herself, crying like a baby – and again would not be comforted. I was very confused about it – as she put on a terrific show, and yet was so miserable.
Years later, through Takoma Records, I became friends with David Getz the Big Brother drummer, and told him the story about Janis – he said she was just an unhappy person – which contributed to her death.
Mostly, I was just grateful to be part of the concert scene – and saw some great acts. If not working a concert, we just bought tickets and went.
My two-color strobe light caught the attention of a specialty product importer and distributor, and he wanted to buy 10,000 pieces to test the market – but the FBI caught up with me the morning I was to meet with him, so the deal never happened.

Are there any memories of Charles Bukowski which you’d like to share with us?
I had worked for Takoma Records for 9 years and then John Fahey sold it to a new company formed with music attorney Bill Coben, manager/producer Denny Bruce, and Chrysalis Records. I was the only employee to go to the new company, continuing my role as General Manager. Bill would do all the legal work, Denny would decide what artists to sign, and I ran the day-to-day operations.
Denny wanted to re-issue a Charles Bukowski album of a live reading he gave in San Francisco in the early 70s. As part of the promotion for that, we got Bukowski to give one more reading – he has sworn off doing them, as he hated it, but I think he needed new tires for his VW. I had just gotten a RCA color video camera – the first wave of semi-pro cameras, and decided to video tape Bukowski. It turned out to be the very last live reading he ever did, although he lived and wrote for another 14 years.
To tell the truth, I didn’t know that much about Bukowski – just that he wrote the Notes from a Dirty Old Man column in the LA Free Press. The reading blew my mind – the fighting with the audience, a full-out assault on the senses. I kept the video tape on a shelf for 25 years and finally brought it out on DVD (The Last Straw).
A friend introduced me to Babet Schroder in Venice when he was doing research for Barfly. He asked me to show the video, and he remarked that it was the best he’s seen.

Why did you think that Charles Bukowski, continues to generate such a devoted following?
Like many of the original and unique true musicians I loved and worked with, Bukowski was a true artist, who found his voice early and matured in his work. It was very telling that the Huntington Library brought his archive and papers into their permanent exhibit of top American authors, alongside of Mark Twain, Christopher Isherwood, Jack London, etc. It would be like John Fahey being considered the likes of Beethoven, Bach, etc.
Bukowski speaks to people’s hearts and feelings – with no Bull Shit and a clear, but dark expression of what’s real.

How you would spend a day with Aldous Huxley to the Island? What would you say to Bernard and John (Brave New World)?
Brave New World and Island represent the two poles of Huxley’s life. BNW was written before he became a Vedantist – and Island incorporates everything Huxley felt to be necessary for a good and productive life in the world, while maintaining a spiritual quest, much of which he learned from Vedanta.
I felt he didn’t take his initiation with Swami P with the proper attitude – he was a giant intellectual with an incredible memory. But, in a way, that created a distraction for his personal spiritual development. Chris Isherwood, Huxley’s good friend and novelist (the movie Cabaret was based on Isherwood’s autobiographical writing, The Berlin Stories), felt both Heard and Huxley missed the mark. Maybe it’s like the Goldielocks story: Heard was too into it – meditating 6 to 8 hours a day, Huxley too lite – flitting from one distraction to another, but in my opinion, Chris got it just right.
Huxley’s open advocacy of LSD might have been toned down had he lived to see the 60s and the aftermath. I took a lot of LSD – when it was still legal, and I think it provided me with a good analogy of how the world is, from a spiritual point of view. But, as someone (Watts, Ram Dass, Huston Smith?) said, when you’ve heard the message, hang up the phone. No need to listen again and again.
If I could spend a little time with Huxley, I’d like to settle a point of disagreement among Huxley scholars: about the need and usefulness of a guru. He was certainly an advocate of doing it yourself, but there’s two pieces of evidence that he wasn’t entirely against taking initiation (in addition to his being initiated himself): In Island there is an old Swami that everyone takes initiation from and in his Minimum Working Hypothesis he talks about a “Way, a Path, a Tao to follow in order to realize our true nature.” This is the opposite of what Krishnamurti (one of Huxley’s friends) preached – who thought you shouldn’t even listen to teachers or read books, but just, somehow, figure out how to experience a spiritual life.
I think it’s just now being realized that BNW is much more like what we have now, as opposed to 1984 by Orwell. Many striking parallels.
Bottom line, I was greatly influenced by Huxley (read attached story about time), but I also think he fell short for himself, in terms of spiritual progress. Especially compared to Isherwood or Gerald Heard – both close friends.

Are there any memories from Christopher Isherwood, which you’d like to share with us?
I felt very honored to have worked with Chris and had gotten to know him – a gentle and humble man. I worked with him on three recording projects: In the recording studio for the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads, and a recording I did of a lecture at the Santa Barbara Vedanta Temple. My wife and I used to give him rides from his home in Santa Monica to the Santa Barbara temple when he would lecture there. One time in particular, my very young daughter was with us (she was 5 at the time), and we read from Hans Christian Andersen on the way up – and Isherwood said he’s been re-reading the stories and talked about his impression of them.
Once in the studio, we asked him what he thought of the movie Cabaret, he answered that he thought they made too much of the Sally Bowles relationship.
Much later, long after Chris died, I heard the director’s commentary on the movie’s DVD extras – and he tells a story of someone who was sitting next to Chris at the movie’s premiere who overheard Chris say in disgust after the film, “I never fucked a god damn woman in my life”.
But, my main memories of Chris are that he was a humble devotee and a very sincere and kind man, at least he was to us.

Would you mind telling me your most vivid memory from Huston Smith?
We just brought out a DVD of Huston being interviewed by Ken Dychtwald, an expert on aging, on the subject of aging. The Arc of Life: Huston Smith on Life, Death, & Beyond. See: Huston Smith
I’d interviewed Huston a dozen times and thought this could be a good match up, but was completely blown away by how prepared he was, he was witty, brilliant, insightful, honest about his life, and spoke more like a man in his prime, than a 90+ year old.
All our time with him has been precious – his stories about his friendships with Huxley, Leary, MLK, Swami Satprakashananda, Joseph Campbell, the Dalai Lama, etc. Too many peak experiences to pick just one. Perhaps, this one sticks out.
The Dalai Lama was coming to San Francisco and I was invited by Huston to come along. No one else was helping him get around, and he depended on people to lean on when he walked. So I took the role.  I got to meet the Dalai Lama and saw him and Huston embrace each other as old dear friends. Later in the day, Huston was the first speaker at the event, I helped him on stage and then waited until he was done speaking. As he finished, he immediately started walking off the stage. The crowd of hundreds of people were giving him a standing ovation – but he couldn’t hear it. One of the organizers tried to tell him to face the audience, but he couldn’t hear that either (he’s mostly deaf), so I took him by the arm and turned him towards the audience – and he look beaming and bowed deeply, to even greater applause.
It reminded me of the time Beethoven debuted the 9th Symphony, and when it was done conducting, he thought it was a failure, because he couldn’t hear the ovation he was getting, finally, the 1st violinist took him by the arm and turned him around to the audience. It was only then he realized it was appreciated.

What MOTTO of yours you would like to stay forever?
Truth is One, Sages call it by various names.

What is the “feel” you miss most from Swami Prabhavananda?
I got everything I need from the six years I spent with Swami P (as we called him). My instructions, initiation, and association with him are constant guiding forces in my life. I miss just being in his presence. A rarified atmosphere that inspires a lofty state of mind. I have known other senior Swamis of the Ramakrishna Order, and they serve to remind me of that mood.

What advice would you give to new generation? What is the best advice to listen from all those great people to meet?
Listen to your inner voice. It’s there, if you pay attention.

Which was the best moment of your career and which was the worst?
I invented an in-store kiosk system to print sheet music in any key and co-founded MusicWriter, a company to build and distribute the NoteStation. The highest moment came when we convinced Warner Bros. and EMI – the two largest publishing companies in the world, to not only license their music to us, but also became investors.
Ultimately the company was unsuccessful, as the largest print publisher, Hal Leonard, fought against us and drove us out of business. But, that was OK – that’s the way it went. We gave it a good try, we proved the technology, and we’re even profitable at the end, but had way too much debt – the company went bankrupt. Shortly thereafter, Hal Leonard came out with their own version of the technology – though not as sophisticated or user friendly. Again, that’s just the way things go.
But, after that, in 1997, I went to work for a company called PlayNet headed by Mouli Cohen. One of the top executives was Nolan Bushnell, who invented Pong and founded Atari and Chuck E Cheese. I reported to him as VP of their music project. The company was underfunded, and Mouli kept promising that if investors wouldn’t kick in money, he would put in his own money. He seemed to be very wealthy.
As the end came near, it was obvious that Mouli was going to let the company fail. I took him to court for some of the money he owed me – by that time over $40,000. Since I didn’t have his commitment in writing, I lost – but at the trial he lied under oath, saying he never made the commitment.
That was a low point – I had lost a lot of money at MusicWriter, and now lost more because of Mouli. It worked out though, I landed an executive position at Capcom, one of the largest video game publishers and finished out my career there, before retiring in 2004.
A few months ago I just happened to Google Mouli Cohen to see what happened to him. Turns out he defrauded a bunch of people for tens of millions and was just sentenced to 22 years in prison. So, I don’t feel so bad now. See Samuel "Mouli" Cohen

Some music styles can be fads but the blues is always with us.  Why do think that is?
I think there are certain music genres that are timeless. New blues artists can make it their own, and still be faithful to the core style. It’s a music you feel with your deepest emotions – same with Beethoven.

“The Revenge of Blind Joe Death: The John Fahey Tribute Album”, how did the idea come about? Do you have any amusing tales to tell from your experience from Takoma Records?
I loved Fahey’s music, but he was difficult to get along with (see attached story). I think he was a pioneer who created an original genera, which others would be financially successful and artisticly recognized for, but the founder of the genera was Fahey, but he never got the recognition or financial success. I always felt bad about that and while I worked with him, I tried to boost his career. After Chrysalis bought Takoma I tried to get Fahey together with Chris Stein, the founder and guitarist with Blondie, who I worked with. Chris was going to help record a rock version of one of John’s compositions – but Fahey chickened out at the last minute, and it never happened. I also lost touch with John after leaving the music business for the video game business – and felt bad about that, especially when I heard that he was so down and out. So, after his death I decided to put together a tribute CD. The musicians and me, the producer, waived royalties, so all royalty proceeds would go to the NARAS Musicares programs that helps down and out musicians – like Fahey.

From whom have you have learned the most secrets about the music… and the life?
I learned the most from my wife Anna – she introduced me to Classical Music, and taught me to really listen with my heart. I learned the most, and I’m still learning the most from Swami Prabhavananda, my guru.

What advice would you give to new generation? What is the best advice to listen from all those great people to meet?
Listen to your inner voice. It’s there, if you pay attention.

If you go back to the past what things you would do better and what things you would a void to do again?
This is really a question about free will – if I did things differently in the past, would I still be where I am (which is very good, from my point of view). Of course, I caused some people pain – and I’m sorry for that – and wish I hadn’t. When asked what would have been if I hadn’t joined the army – I answer that I probably still would have gone to jail, but as a draft protestor.

Which is the most interesting period in your life and why?
See attached army story. It was a great moral test for me, which I took fairly lightly at the time – considering that I could have faced a very lengthy jail sentence and a lifetime of low wage jobs (which is what I was told by my family, most of my friends, and my army commanders. As it worked out, I can be proud of what I did, and it not only didn’t cause problems for me in business, almost all the people I worked with thought what I had done was great. 

    mondayMEDIA         Gemstone -AV