Damon Orion is an award-winning freelance journalist, editor, ghostwriter, proofreader 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, DoubleBlind, Psychedelic Times, Trends w/ Benefits, ConsciousLivingTV.com, Rewire Me, Medium, RamDass.org, Local Peace Economy and LocalSantaCruz.com. In 2011, his article Hitting the Spot won a California News 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 News 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.

“It’s nice that after 33 years, someone is finally asking stimulating questions. Thank you.” -Steve Vai, Grammy-winning guitarist

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
• Nikki Sixx—Mötley Crüe  (P. 1, P. 2, P. 3)
• Oprah Winfrey—media proprietor/talk show host/actress
• Henry Rollins—Black Flag/Rollins Band/spoken word artist
• Ram Dass—spiritual teacher
• Natalie Merchant—10,000 Maniacs/solo
• Amanda Palmer—The Dresden Dolls/solo
• Jakob Dylan—The Wallflowers  (P. 1, P. 2)
• Cheech & Chong 
• Frank Black—Pixies/solo
• Kerry King—Slayer  (P. 1, P. 2)
• India Arie
• Davey Havok and Jade Puget—AFI
• Bill Cosby  (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
• 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
• 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) 
• Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Peter Holmström—The Dandy Warhols (P. 1, P.2)
• Rob Brezsny—writer/musician
• 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  (P.1, P. 2)  
• Keller Williams
• 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 (Print version) 
• Joey Santiago—Pixies
• Jaya Lakshmi—Lost at Last/solo
• Lorin Ashton—Bassnectar
• Lacy J. Dalton
• Stanton Moore and Robert Mercurio—Galactic/Dragon Smoke
• Krishna Das
• Snatam Kaur
• John Flansburgh—They Might Be Giants
• Justin Boreta—The Glitch Mob
• “Sidecar” Tommy Cappel—Beats Antique
• Cheb i Sabbah
• Deva Premal & Miten
• Simon Posford—Shpongle
• Anoushka Shankar
• Azam Ali—Vas/Niyaz/solo
• Eliza Gilkyson
• Aimee Mann—’Til Tuesday/solo
• Janis Ian
• Dar Williams
• Myq Kaplan—comedian
• Nick 13—Tiger Army/solo
• Michael Nesmith—The Monkees
• James Durbin
• Bobby Hutcherson
• Roky Erickson—13th Floor Elevators/solo
• Phutureprimitive
• Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
• Carol Lynn Maillard—Sweet Honey in the Rock
• Pete Bernhard, Lucia Turino and Cooper McBean—The Devil Makes Three
• Tommy Emmanuel
• Susan Tedeschi—The Tedeschi Trucks Band
• Chris Thile—Nickel Creek/solo
• Mike Marshall
• Charlie Musselwhite
• Bianca Casady—CocoRosie
• Lisa Light—The Lovemakers
• Bluetech
• Paula Poundstone—comedienne  
• Tara Brach—author/meditation teacher
• Charles and Caroline Muir—Tantra instructors
• Larry Harvey—Burning Man founder  (P.1, P. 2, P. 3)