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My bubble
17/05/07
I was thinking that the only time I really watch TV is when I am sitting
on a plane that goes over the Atlantic (an episode of Cheers, some news,
music videos and some movie I've never really been dying to see). I don't
really have the time. OH MY, what a busy guy... No really, I guess what
it boils down to is I don't have the patience to filter through all the
garbage to find the good stuff. I guess if I received the Gothemburg Post
I could look in the daily programming and find what I want to watch, but
I'm too lazy, so I just don't. Which is fine because my head is always
full of ideas and things I want to do. But it does kind of make me feel
disconnected. Specially when I read that most Swedes spend 4 hours a day
watching TV. I'm going to totally be left out of daily conversation. But
that's ok, I'm getting used to being a recluse and living in my own little
bubble. I do however notice the wonderful effects it has on me, not being
feed a daily portion of the grandiose American global consumerism that
is taking over the world and our collective subconscious.
Spiritual
renewal
12/05/07
I am reading a great book that has a title that makes it sound like a
business nerd book, but it's really about becoming a great person. It's
called "The 7 habits of highly effective people". I am very
much into habits because I truly believe they are what shape the you of
tomorrow, today (powerful little things). In any case I was reading about
how personal renewal has 4 parts: Physical, Mental, Social/Emotional and
Spiritual. In the part about spiritual there was a great quote by a man
that really the importance of spiritual renewal in right perspective.
"I have so much to do today, I'll need to spend another hour
on my knees." Martin Luther King
Politics, socialism, injustice, freedom of speech, peace, love
and pizza
02/05/07
Yesterday was the 1st of May and in Sweden like in many socialist and
communist countries it is a day where the working class go out to the
streets to express their political opinions, commonly known as International
Worker's Day or in the US, Labor Day. I was there with Sebastian (our
wonderful guitarist) and he was telling me about the Haymarket martyrs
who were killed on the 4th of May, but was the culmination of a labor
unrest which began the 1st of May 1886 in Chicago, where the celebration
of this day comes from. So I marched with the left party, behind a Uruguayan
drum group playing "Candombe", mostly to accompany and support
Sebastian who is very politically inclined. I am a pacifist and think
that the problems of the world need to be solved from within each of us.
Not that politics isn't important, I value highly my right to vote. One
of the things that can really make me angry is injustice. I think greed
and selfishness is the cause for most of the problems in the world. And
those are issues that can't be corrected by law enforcement or power but
need to be addressed by every individual. I believe in being active and
working within my circle of influence. Those around me who I can affect,
my money that I can use as I see best fit and mostly my music which can
wake an interest within others is how I like to be political. Today, May
2 I was at a conference about freedom of speech and heard a seminar about
Dawit Isaak who is a Swedish/Eritrean citizen who is in jail in Eritrea
and has not been given a fair trail despite his arrest in 2001. The arrest
of Dawit as well as other journalist and opposition politicians took place
shortly after the World Trade Center attack when the eyes of the world
where focused on the US and Eritrea's government could do horrors without
being noticed. These acts of horror are due to selfishness and greed,
external results of internal fears and weaknesses. I believe no person
who is truly at peace with themselves will do such horrors. So I influence
you reader by encouraging you to go to www.dawitisaak.com (make the previous
word a link to www.dawitisaak.com) and reading about the situation in
Eritrea and signing the letter of protest if you are in agreement. As
I said earlier I am a pacifist, like my father before me, and as I wrote
a friend earlier this month, make Pisa not Warsaw (a take on Berkeley's
Fat Slice slogan, 'make pizza not war', which in turn is a take on the
original 60's slogan, 'make love not war'). So in conclusion, eat pizza
make love in Italy.
Musical
discoveries
28/04/07
I got a CD from one of my best friends when I was in Miami with 88 mp3
which rock his world. So in the mornings, as I do my stretching (which
I began doing about a month ago thanks to "The Art of Practicing
- a guide to making music from the heart" by Madeline Bruser) I am
listening to two songs a day and writing him a short musical analysis
or commentary on those two songs. It is really a lot of fun. We have always
had the habit and joy of listening to music together, so it is nice to
be able to even do it at a distance. He has
always been someone who introduces me to tons of great new music. Thanks
X, you rock!
Recent
reading
15/04/07
Some people are constantly in conflict with others, with themselves
or with life. So they begin setting up a kind of theater in their head
and making up stories that are in line with their frustrations. The worst
part is that they can not perform these plays alone and so they begin
pulling others into their stories of frustration. - From Paulo Coelho's
"By the River Piedra I sat down and wept"
About
love
29/03/07
In fairytales the princess kisses a toad and
he turns into a prince. In real life the princess kisses a prince and
he turns into a toad.
Shakira's concert
10/03/07
As I was standing in line to get in I felt a bit out of place. It was
mostly teenage girls all over the place and here and there a group of
Colombians living in Sweden, who of course had their flag in place. So
I was there with my Colombian crowd dancing and singing to Shakiras songs
blaring out of a stereo system from a nearby pub. The Globe was packed
and I was about 1 meter from the stage, where I like to be in concerts.
The concert started with a band of two from the States mixing tracks in
sinc to cool video tracks (one guy was DJ while the other one mixed the
video). They did a quite nice trick where they went off stage and into
the crowd with a video camera and simply recorded 3 people saying their
name, where they were from and something about Shakira. And then as their
last track they made a mix to a beat with the recently recorded video
and audio. Very cool, simple but professionally done! And then Shakira...
She is very short and I was impressed that she is not pretentious at all.
Very simple and carefree, as we Colombians tend to be. But she has great
charisma, a wonderful contact with the crowd and a great control over
the stage. You can see that she is a pro. I was a bit curious to see if
she would only sing in english as this was mostly a swedish crowd, but
about 60% of the concert was in spanish. I feel that when she sings in
spanish she can totally give herself into the music. In english it is
still not second nature, she can't completely let go into inspirations
hands, but has to make a conscious effort which keeps her from floating
off the ground as she can when performing in spanish. Her voice is incredibly
powerful and she really experiments and plays with it masterfully. Vocally
as good or better live then in studio, and that is quite a compliment
in the era of over produced artists. The guitar was always a bit too low,
was my impression, but it could have to do with my being so close to the
stage. Otherwise the sound was very clean, very tight. But what was most
impressive was seeing her dance. Wow, this girl can dance, and cool to
get to see her doing it at a distance of 2 meters. You could see her stomach
muscles as she did her arabic moves. I was impressed that she is not "fat
free", as artists are expected to be. She has the natural fat around
the hips of a latin woman and it looks good, natural. Her dancing never
got in the way of her singing, you never saw her gasping for breath, though
I would have been if I was moving around the stage and dancing all that
she was doing. She must have incredible breath technique, and honestly
I do think that is one of her great vocal secrets, that she really has
mastered breathing. She played a huge variety of songs, as far back as
the "Pies Descalsos" album to her latest hit with Alejandro
Saenz. And her closeness with her musicians was a joy to see, a traveling
family. The energy she give left most of us floating 10 feet above the
ground as we left The Globe, though apparently not DN's journalist who
gave a quite bland review the next day.
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