ABOUT

Damon Orion is an award-winning freelance journalist, editor, ghostwriter and writing coach in Santa Cruz, California. His work has appeared in Revolver, Guitar World, Classic Rock, Spirituality & Health, High Times, Dark Beauty, Austin Monthly, Common Ground, The Wave, Metroland, Investigate, Mosaic, Australian Guitar, Good Times, Metro Silicon Valley, Metro Santa Cruz, Massage Magazine, Alibi, Santa Cruz Waves, Monterey Waves, Sterling, 9ine Magazine and other publications, as well as in such web magazines as Reset.me,  Acceler8or, Reality Sandwich, Psychedelic Times, Trends w/ Benefits, New Realities, ConsciousLivingTV.com, Rewire Me and RamDass.org. In 2011, his article Hitting the Spot won a California Newspaper Publishers Association Award for Best Writing. From 2003 to 2007, Damon served as the music and events editor at Good Times, the leading media publication in Santa Cruz County. During that time, the California Newspaper Publishers Association selected Good Times as Newspaper of the Year.

As a longtime professional musician and music teacher, Damon has an insider’s understanding of the musician’s lifestyle and the processes of creating and performing music. His studies at Los Angeles’ Musicians Institute and at University of California Santa Cruz have given him a comprehensive knowledge of music theory, composition, technique and history.

Below is a partial list of musicians and other public figures Damon has interviewed:

• Ray Manzarek—The Doors  (P. 1, P. 2)
• Perry Farrell and Stephen Perkins—Jane’s Addiction
• Bob Weir and Mickey Hart—The Grateful Dead
• Oprah Winfrey—media proprietor/talk show host/actress  
• Ram Dass—spiritual teacher
• Natalie Merchant—10,000 Maniacs, solo
• Henry Rollins—Black Flag, solo
• Nikki Sixx—Mötley Crüe  (P. 1, P. 2, P. 3) 
• Amanda Palmer—The Dresden Dolls, solo
• Jakob Dylan—The Wallflowers  
• Cheech & Chong—comedy team  
• Frank Black—Pixies, solo
• Kerry King—Slayer  (P. 1, P. 2)
• India Arie—solo artist
• Davey Havok and Jade Puget—AFI
• Bill Cosby—comedian  (Headline, P. 1, P. 2, P. 3, P. 4, P. 5, P. 6) This article was written prior to the filing of felony charges leading to Cosby’s imprisonment. 
• Michael Franti—Spearhead
• Al Jourgensen—Ministry  (P. 1, P. 2)  
• Ani DiFranco—solo artist
• Les Claypool—Primus  (P. 1, P. 2) 
• Dave Brubeck—The Dave Brubeck Quartet
• Brendan Perry—Dead Can Dance  
• Chick Corea—Miles Davis, Return to Forever, solo
• “Weird Al” Yankovic—solo artist  
• Art Alexakis—Everclear
• Abe Cunningham—Deftones
• Peter Murphy—Bauhaus, solo
• David J and Kevin Haskins—Bauhaus, Love and Rockets
• Pat Metheny—Pat Metheny Group
• Samantha Fish (Cover image, P.1, P.2) (Online version) 
• Kevin Cadogan—Third Eye Blind
• Victor De Lorenzo—The Violent Femmes
• Father John Misty—Fleet Foxes, solo
• Philipp Dausch—Milky Chance
• Greg Camp—Smash Mouth
• Dan Estrin—Hoobastank  (P. 1, P. 2) 
• Jacoby Shaddix—Papa Roach  (P. 1, P. 2)  
• Michael Kang—The String Cheese Incident
• Randy Blythe—Lamb of God
• Dean Ween—Ween
• Troy Van Leeuwan—Queens of the Stone Age
• Diamanda Galás—solo artist  (P.1, P. 2)  
• Keller Williams—solo artist
• Glenn Danzig—The Misfits, Samhain, Danzig  (P.1, P. 2)   
• Michael Timmins and Alan Anton—Cowboy Junkies
• Maceo Parker—James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic, solo
• Robert Carmine—Rooney
• Nick Hexum—311
• Nova Twins
• Stanley Clarke—Return to Forever, Chick Corea, Jeff Beck, solo
• Aaron Magner—The Disco Biscuits
• Steve Stevens—Billy Idol
• G. Love—G. Love and Special Sauce
• Karl Denson—Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Lenny Kravitz
• Dafydd Ieuan—Super Furry Animals
• Victor Krummenacher, Greg Lisher and Anthony Guess—Camper Van Beethoven
• Mike Ness—Social Distortion, solo
• Steve Vai—Frank Zappa, solo
• David Hinds—Steel Pulse
• Lascelle “Wiss” Bulgin—Israel Vibration
• Larry LaLonde—Primus
• McCoy Tyner—The Coltrane Quartet, The McCoy Tyner Trio
• Pat Simmons and Tiran Porter—The Doobie Brothers
• Matt Pike—High on Fire
• Eric Johnson—solo artist (Cover, P. 1) 
• Joey Santiago—Pixies
• Jaya Lakshmi—Lost at Last, solo
• Lorin Ashton—Bassnectar
• Lacy J. Dalton—solo artist
• Stanton Moore and Robert Mercurio—Galactic, Dragon Smoke
• Krishna Das—solo artist
• Snatam Kaur—solo artist
• John Flansburgh—They Might Be Giants
• Justin Boreta—The Glitch Mob
• “Sidecar” Tommy Cappel—Beats Antique
• Cheb i Sabbah—solo artist
• Deva Premal & Miten—kirtan duo 
• Simon Posford—Shpongle
• Anoushka Shankar—solo artist
• Azam Ali—Vas, Niyaz, solo
• Eliza Gilkyson—solo artist
• Aimee Mann—’Til Tuesday, solo
• Janis Ian—solo artist
• Dar Williams—solo artist
• Myq Kaplan—comedian
• Nick 13—Tiger Army, solo
• Michael Nesmith—The Monkees
• James Durbin—solo artist
• Bobby Hutcherson—solo artist
• Roky Erickson—13th Floor Elevators, solo
• Phutureprimitive—solo artist
• Ramblin’ Jack Elliott—solo artist
• Carol Lynn Maillard—Sweet Honey in the Rock
• Pete Bernhard, Lucia Turino and Cooper McBean—The Devil Makes Three
• Tommy Emmanuel—solo artist
• Susan Tedeschi—The Tedeschi Trucks Band
• Chris Thile—Nickel Creek, solo
• Mike Marshall—solo artist
• Charlie Musselwhite—solo artist
• Bianca Casady—CocoRosie
• Lisa Light—The Lovemakers
• Bluetech—solo artist
• Paula Poundstone—comedienne  
• Rob Brezsny—author, astrology columnist
• Tara Brach—author, meditation teacher
• Charles and Caroline Muir—Tantra instructors
• Larry Harvey—Burning Man founder  (P.1, P. 2, P. 3)