Dale Ockerman

My name is Dale Ockerman.  I played piano, organ and slide guitar, and wrote songs for the Doobie Brothers: I worked on 10 of their CDs and many world tours and videos, from 1988-1996.  I'm fascinated by the Mayan Calendar and all its interpretations... especially ever since I had a dream about a giant sunflower at the end of a Mayan causeway.

My first professional gig was the closing of the Fillmore West, in 1971, with the Quicksilver Messenger Service.  I "graduated" from Pacific High School in 1970—this was an experimental school where I met Buckminster Fuller (he came to visit us as we lived in geodesic domes, his invention and he ordered one from us for his island), we had yoga instead of PE, followed a macrobiotic diet, studied astrology instead of science, there were no grades, dress codes or attendance requirements. It was an experiment in permissiveness and bliss following.

Today, I spend most of my time with the White Album Ensemble, a group that performs Beatles music that they never (or couldn't) did live, with symphony orchestras, or using string quartets, sitars, tablas, horn sections, gospel choirs, whatever it takes.   The web site is www.whitealbumlive.com.

I also run a music school in my hometown of Santa Cruz, California, called Musicscool, (as in 'music's cool') and am booked solid with an intuition-based method of teaching kids of all ages rock, blues, soul, even though I'm self-taught and can't read a note. The emphasis is on listening, and economy of note, ego, attitude.

Intuitive, one of the selections you see below, is a song from my album "A Peace Of My Mind" (www.daleockerman.com).  I wrote it after reading "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle, and reflects my view that without Intuition, we are not too useful in the Universe!