God I’m so freaking tired of cleaning. My knees have callouses on them. Today I’ve been cleaning god-awful, grimy baseboards and cabinets, and I’ve come to the sad conclusion that I have at least 157 miles to go. Just kidding. But it seems like it. Still, cleaning is a very Zen thing, at least for me, so I have a love-hate relationship with it. I don’t know why I’m sharing this with you. I mean, seriously. It’s not that interesting. Hopefully the following post will be more exciting. For those of you who are into the band, Sublime, you’ll like this interview with its lead singer, Bradley Nowell. You’ll also see the coincidental relationship between two dogs. I know. Sounds weird. Plus there are no coincidences, right? 

Me: Well, Lukas is a big fan of the band Sublime. Have you heard of them?

Jamie: Yeah!

Me: Bradley Nowell, he’s the lead guy, and I think he died of some sort of overdose. He had a little two year-old child. Erik, do you think you can find him?

Jamie: He’s gone. I remember seeing them in Gainesville, Florida before they made it big. Didn’t they have a Dalmatian?

Me: Oh, yeah, and they loved that dog!

Jamie: They went everywhere with it, and I had a Dalmatian, too, so whenever they would practice I would bring my dog, and theirs was hard of hearing so the drums didn’t bother him. My dog and their dog played all the time.

Me: Really?

Jamie: Yeah.

Me: Oh my god. You’re kidding me. What a small world!

Jamie: That’s the only thing I remember about them. I didn’t really hang out with the guys. I just hung out with their dog!

Me: Too funny!

Erik returns with Bradley Nowell.

Jamie: Okay, he’s cute.

Me: Do you recognize him?

Jamie (giggling): Not really!

Me: Hello, Bradley.

Jamie (to Bradley): I met your dog. Lou?

Bradley: Louie or Lou. Cool.

Me: Has Louie passed away? If so, is he with you?

Bradley: He’s not with me right now, but yeah, he passed away.

Me: Aw. Well, we have some questions for you. By the way, my son, Lukas, and my daughter, Michelle, love your music.

Bradley: Cool and thanks. That’s good to know.

Jamie: He’s giving a handshake to Erik.

Me: Well, come to think of it, you liked their music, too, didn’t you, Erik?

Erik: Absolutely. I had it.

Me: Okay, the first question I have for you is what was your spiritual mission this lifetime—your life as Bradley Nowell?

(Pause)

Jamie (laughing): He turns to Erik and he goes, “That’s your mom, right? Is your mom meaning religiously?”

Me: Oh, no! No.

Jamie (to Bradley): Spiritually, meaning open.

I don’t get that but…

Me: So Erik is explaining, I hope.

Jamie: Yeah. They’re talking, and I was just asking, ‘Can I be a part of that?’

I chuckle.

Bradley (to me): I never really—who do I talk to?

Jamie (to Bradley): No, to me.

Bradley: Oops.

Jamie (laughing): That’s okay.

Jamie (explaining to me): He thought he was supposed to go to you and talk to you and I was saying, ‘No, no, no, I’ll be the one listening today.’

Jamie and I giggle.

Jamie: He’s so funny! He’s like so, um, not confused, but not prepared with seeing everyone else come in, like, “Yeah, I’m going to do this.”

Bradley: So, yeah, I didn’t grow up with any structure or anything, but if anything was spiritual in my life, it had to be music. My whole family played music. That’s when you felt connected to somebody else. You got that harmony; you had that rhythm, and everybody was on that same page. It makes you smile on the inside. That had to be my dose of spirituality. Music.

Me: So, what was your spiritual mission here, just to clarify.

Seriously. Was I not listening? Maybe I’m a dalmatian.

Bradley: Music.

Me: What were you here to learn?

Bradley: Aw, I thought you were gonna ask if I was successful and I was going to say “yes.”

Me: Oh, okay. Yes, that was one of my questions. You’re just a step ahead of me!

Bradley: What did I come to learn?

Jamie: He kind of leans his weight back on one foot.

Bradley: If I had to look at it from a distance, it would be how do you, as a creative person, stay awake and grounded to Earth. I think so many of what people see in mental disabilities, in mental imbalances in people is not just that, but people who live in a broader, multi-dimensional world than what Earth can provide. So, I see that I wasn’t crazy, but I definitely couldn’t stay put there.

Me: So, you couldn’t stay grounded in this dimension alone?

Jamie (to Bradley): Does that make sense?

Jamie (to me): Yes, could not stay grounded here. Yes.

Me: So, you were here to learn how to stay grounded on the earthly plane, but you feel like you didn’t accomplish that?

Bradley (in a louder voice): Yep, did not accomplish that, no.

Me: Do you feel like the music was intended to help you become grounded?

Bradley: Yes.

Me: Do you feel like your music was to help others in a spiritual way or was it meant only for entertainment for the masses and spiritual growth for you?

Bradley: I knew that it started for myself. You know, my parents really reinforced that, but as I got into it, I felt like it turned out to be for other people.

Me: Yeah. What were you here to teach?

Bradley: I hope, if anything, I was teaching, through experiences, that—

Jamie (to Bradley): What do you mean?

Jamie (to me): He’s telling me that to be great and to be grounded—

Jamie (to Bradley): Mm. Um um. Tell me again, but explain how it felt to you. Why did you think that’s what people are going to learn from you.

Erik: Yeah.

Jamie and I chuckle softly.

Bradley: I felt people were going to learn how to be set free. The way that I was raised was that there wasn’t going to be any rules within my music—that creativity was welcomed—in fact, it was expected to be that way. But when you got into any other part of life, you were expected to fit into a box. You know, we were declined so many times because of our—

Jamie laughs before translating this next part.

Bradley: —the eclectic nature of our music. People couldn’t’ understand how it could all go together. And just because a few didn’t have the vision didn’t mean the people at home or on the radio didn’t have that vision or that need to listen to something  a bit outside the box—what would actually be their comfort zone. I’m hoping that’s what I taught through my music.

Me: To get out of your comfort zone?

Bradley: No, no. To get out of what people say is your comfort zone and define your own true comfort zone. When your define that truth for yourself, that’s when you can be grounded. It’s okay to be great and big and huge and everything wonderful that people want and need from you and still be grounded.

Me: Now, do you think you accomplished that? Did you teach that to some of your fans?

Bradley: No.

Jamie laughs.

Me: Well, did you accomplish that after death? Are you accomplishing that now?

Bradley: Yes.

Me: Yeah, I think so, too! What insights did you gain after you passed over?

Bradley: That this shit was big! It wasn’t like this tiny room in the back of the bar!

Jamie and I laugh hard.

Bradley: It wasn’t like no greenroom. This is huge!

Me: That’s funny! Now, can you share another life that most influenced your one as Bradley Nowell?

(Pause)

Jamie: He’s showing me one –

(Long pause)

Jamie (to Bradley): Where is this? Looks like a little Polynesian girl, maybe four years old. Little kid, still has that baby chub. Take that Hawaiian skin and times it by two. Dark olive skin. Bangs cut straight above the eyebrows, and the rest of the hair falls shoulder length. Round face. No top, just bottoms on. It looks like a little handmade grass skirt. He’s showing me it’s on a beach, and she’s lining—him in this other life-she’s lining up crabs on the beach.

Me: Okay.

Jamie: She has no fear of them. She’s not afraid that they’re going to snap at her or bite her. It’s just this, “You’re my friend; I’m going to pick you up, and I’m going to put you in rows.” She does this on the ocean beach.

Bradley: It was a moment in my life wen I recognized that even though I was human and a girl and very different than the crabs, I could be friends with the crabs, and the crabs would never bite me. I would never harm the crabs nor vice versa. I remember having this big powerful thought being so young and recognizing that the life that I had was the same life that the crabs had. I knew at that moment that I could communicate to other things that were living, and we didn’t have to have the same language. It’s just like my body knew, my heart knew. I wanted that life again, but the only connection I could find was through the music. It just inspired me to stick to it.

Me: And you did connect to the world through it.

Bradley (smiling): Yeah, I did, didn’t I?

Jamie: Aw, you’re so cute when you smile!

I chuckle.

Me: And did you connect to yourself with your music?

Bradley: Yes.

Me: Do you have any messages or advice for us?

(Pause)

Bradley: Yeah my advice is not to rely on language to communicate. Think bigger.

(Pause)

Me: Yeah. How about you, Erik? Do you have any questions?

Jamie: Uh, apparently, they’re going to go play.

Me: Oh, good! Okay. Well, thank you so much, Mr. Nowell.

Jamie: It’s so funny. He doesn’t really look like a Bradley. You’d expect a Bradley to look like a clean-cut preppy type.

Me: I’ve never seen a picture of him, but I imagine him to have a very boyish look.

Jamie: He’s got jeans on and this chunky leather belt thing. He also has this very soft, almost tissue style t-shirts on. Really soft. Like a baby yellow color. Erik and him are gonna go jam.

Me: Oh, good. Bye Erik. I love you. Thanks so much for you’re time, Bradley.

This is one of my favorite Sublime songs:

Bradley, his son, Jakob, and Lou Dog are so precious!