Perry Farrell's Mystical Musical Tour

Curiously, the one member of Jane's Addiction who has remained estranged from Farrell -- Avery -- is the one other ex-Jane who has released records in the last decade swimming in electronic elements. Since his band Polar Bear shut down last year, Avery has been working on several new self-described "tech nerd" projects.

"Eric Avery," muses Perry. "I wanna record with Eric Avery again. He's a great musician. One of the greatest I've ever played with. I wanna make up with him. I'm sure we can do it. There are things that are deep in his heart, deep in my heart. I bet we can get to the bottom of it."

But Avery told me two weeks later that he's still not interested in a Jane's reunion: "The fundamental answer is just that my heart wouldn't be in it. But at the same time, I don't mind going down in history as the original bass player of Jane's Addiction. 'Cuz it was a fucking cool thing to be a part of."

With Avery or not, Perry has plans to make this Jane's reunion something more substantive than the last one.

"I wanna rehearse all-new material. I wanna write new material, too. We'll supplement the music with electronics and I think a keyboardist who can take care of some of the subsonic sounds. Steve's adding electronic drums he's been working on for about two years now. We'll see how we sound, going a little deeper . . . I want to come into town bringing music and a twist."

He pauses.

"It's funny, but why would Moses tell us that attached to this whole idea of liberty is celebration? Because that's what you do to declare your freedom -- you celebrate. And that's sacred. That should be honored, that should be protected and guarded.

"And is that worth dedicating a life to? As far as I'm concerned, it is."