A new year is back

Hi!! 2011 is here, a year full of promises, projects, friends to enjoy and new friends to meet and, of course, music, is ahead. I could just say I will write more frequently this year but that is a promise I will not make... All of you readers and I myself will have to see what happens, kinda promising? Maybe... I will start where I finished, with this guy that has become a real inspiration and have filled my heart and soul with great moments. Gil Scott Heron has of course felt the importance of a new year coming, and even more he dedicated an album to a change not only of year but of decade, 1980. The whole album is inspired by this event, I will now just show here the song who names the album, 1980, with some sounds of hope and at the same time some feeling of nostalgia.

"It's nineteen eighty, and there ain't even no way back to

seventy five or nineteen sixty nine,

it's nineteen eighty, and ain't nobody ask me no time lately,

'how are we gonna open the door for nineteen eighty four?'"

I can't really say why but this song reminds me a lot of a book I have had the pleasure to read and share during this year, "The martian chronicles" by Ray Bradbury, a really nice and inspiring reading. And thinking about it a poem of Lord Byron that names one of the stories in the book, and that is included in the edition I read, comes to my mind. Again someone special pointed me this poem, so here is it.

"So, we'll go no more a-roving

so late into the night

though the heart be still as loving

and the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears the sheath,

and the soul wears out the breast,

and the heart must pause to breath,

and love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving

and the day returns too soon,

yet we'll go no more a roving,

by the light of the moon."

Since last blog post, a lot of new concerts have passed along and all of them have been enjoyed to bits. Some new friends have come along, some old ones have come back and some have just become a need in my life. And all of them have come around with music in their pockets.

I will probably forget some, but here are some of the concerts of this last months. First of all, and one of the nicest and funniest I enjoyed, a spanish band, "Delinquentes"... Complete fun, dancing and really good people arond, it was a dream.

"La primavera trompetera ya llegó

ya me despido del abrigo

las muchachitas me vacilan con el sol

Niña vente conmigo y toma quema la goma

que suelta el aroma, pintando el aire de negras palomas"

(sorry for this one, you english friends, but it's really difficult to translate, you'll have to enjoy the sounds of it... :-) )

Then a long musical festival took place, el "Festival Mundoidiota", more than 12 hours of funny music. So long that it could have a long post for itself, so I will leave here only a bit of it for you, a spanish hip-hop band that really touches my soul with their lyrics and sounds.

"Me cago en tu sistema

en tu placa, en tu parienta,

y quien no lo entienda, que achante la mui!!"

After that, a bunch of covers in Madrid's night, tribute to three great bands as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. Full of power and good mood, each and every song and band was really good to enjoy but, as I have to choose one, here comes the legend, Led Zeppelin. Can't find the Dieaway (that was the band that night) versions, so here comes the original one...

"You've been cooling babe, I've been droolin'

All the good times I've been misusin'

Way, way down inside, I'm gonna give you my love,

I'm gonna give you every inch of my love,

gonna give you my love..."

Wow, a hot song no doubt. As a hot concert it was. And the last of the year, another spanish band "Muchachito Bombo Infierno", really cool and powerful, more than two hours dancing nonstop and real good good good music!!!

"Un día soñando en un sueño soñé, que estaba soñando contigo,
soñar con hacerte el amor y soñé que no estaba dormío,
sueño que sueño, piel con piel, calor con calor... cuerpo con cuerpo
y aquel color de tu pelo y tu piel a la vez, aún despierto y recuerdo"

Cool bands ain't it?? But not every gig had a well known band in the scenery. Sometimes an unknown band can let good memories and this one did. So I couldn't finish this without a little mention to them. Just decide yourself, I already did, I was just there!!! :-)

And as I started, I finish. Again Gil Scott, again that 1980 album, and another song who talks about a new year coming, just what we've got ahead. I really hope you have enjoyed this little pieces of my music life, I can swear I really did enjoy each and every one of them.

"And if we see where we've been

somehow more clearly than before

and if we see where we're going somehow

like the opening of a door.

They're not there to stop your flowing

to somehow freeze you in the past

some do some mend to shape you growing

there's nothing left, to hold you back"

Happy new year 2011!!

Winter in spain

Yes, winter is coming back, as I am too... after a long season of concerts, beach, friends, beers, family and music, a lot of music, time to start writing again has come. And yes, there's a lot to talk about, so much that it's really difficult to find a point to start with.

Or really not, over all the concerts I've had the luck to enjoy this months, one has wondered me above the rest, it was Gil Scott-Heron in Joy Slava, here in Madrid last May 5th. It was simply amazing how this guy get in touch with people with his words, poems and songs, touching every inch inside your soul and brain making you open eyes and think twice everything you see and feel...

But let's go to the beginning of it, as I use to do... It was the early 90's when a Liverpool band, called "The christians" because of the three brothers (Garry Christian, Roger Christian and Russel Christian), decided to release a cover of an old 1974 song written the poet Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson called "The bottle".

That cover became one of the greatest hits of The Christians and definitly one of my favourite songs because of the soul and funk sound, some chilling and the definitly chill flutes souns. Along the years I have listened to it from time to time, enjoying it but without more investigation into it.

Early this year, when I started researching songs of my life for this blog and for one of the most important persons in my life, after some revival looking for a John Smooth song called "Promise Land" that I will talk about in another post, I looked for this "The Bottle" song. As soon as I listened to it I realized it wasn't a Christians' song but a song from this Gil Scott-Heron that I had never heard before. And it absolutly shocked me.

After listening to this, I felt like I really had lost years to listen to this guy and I started researching into him, of course my own way which is listening to his music. And each and every song or poem I had the chance to listen to got me more and more into it. There's nothing I could say that can define better his creativity and his soul and his compromise than his own songs and lyrics. Here are a couple of them that really shock me, just do your own search and enjoy it as much as I did, as I still do every day.

"From the indians that welcomed the pilgrims,

to the buffalo runs thorugh the plains,

like the vultures circling beneath the dark clouds,

looking for the rain..."

"... just like the city, stagged on the coastline

living in a nation that just can't stand much more,

like the forest, buried beneath the high way

never had a chance to grow..."

"And I see the robins

perched in barren treetops

watching last-ditch racists marching across the floor,

but just like the peace sign that vanished in our dreams,

never had a chance to grow"

"A junkie walking through the twilight, I'm on my way home...

I've been three days ago but no one seem to now I'm gone"

"Stand as far away from me as you can and ask me why

hang on to your rosary beads close your eyes and watch me die

you keep saying kick it quit it kick it quit it have you ever tried

to turn your sick soul inside out

so that the world, so that the world,

can watch you die..."

"We've all heard so many conflicting words about life wether wrong or right

how you gotta be working hard, and it ain't no easy job

to survive just keep it alive"

"We've all come to think of ourselves as links

in a chain so much to gain

we are the ones that tie our fathers to our sons

don't you know that's how we grow"

"what my life really means is that the songs that I sing

are just pieces of a dream that I am building

and we can make a stand and hey, I'm reaching out my hand

'couse I know damn well we can if we are willing"

I really hope you have enjoyed it and it has awaken something inside you that drives you to listen more to this man, and to pay attention to what he says. And...

Peace go with you Brothers and Sisters.

Rain, rain and more rain...

Well, today it was a bit of a deception. Personally talking I mean. The day was rainy since the very first minute, hard to walk as the 10 first kms were all climbing up hills.

My slow rythm didn't help to mak much walk and those kms were really long for everybody. The good ones walking about 2 kms/hour faster than me had to wait each couple kms for some minutes and by the lunch time we had made like 12 kms only.

Time to make a decision, after 12 kms watching only my feet and the pain in my legs, I decided to give up and make the last 10 kms by the support car. Could I have finished? I now, rested and after dinner, think I could but it's probably the most optimistical thought I can have. I promise to try to finish it complete tomorrow, but it's gonna be hard, the longest until now stage.

Now, the hardest man in the crowd impressions. Written by himself.... Be patient with him, he's almost 50 minutes past from his usual sleep time, after all this day...

It´s still a great walk with fantastic scenery even if there was much up and down to walk. Even the rain couldn´t stop that feeling....To be able to do this together with this nice company.....wonderful!!

Suffering, but not that much....

The title of this blogs, definitly makes a perfect single word summary for the day. At least that's how it was for me.

All those who didn't give any credit to my suffering capacity and physical condition to finish a 22 Kms walking stage were, for a second, almost right.

Really nice morning we woke up in Sarria, Lugo, and went to the train station to receive the rest of the family coming to start the walk. Tired faces after a long

night in a train full of pilgrims, some of them too drunk to sleep or let sleep. After stamping all our pilgrim credentials, all but mom's, we went to look for

credentials for mom. And the start the walk. After the first 5 kms, the upper muscles of my legs started to hurt so bad that I, after a couple hundred meters more

I couldn't walk a single step more. Then, time to call the support car and tell him where we were and wait for him. But when waiting I reminded of those I talked about

that didn't give credit to my chances of finishing and after warming up and extending my muscles a little bit, started to walk with pain.

A yellow arrow shows the way.

Like if they never had hurted, my muscles warmed up and I could walk, a little bit first, and the whole 22 kms came step by step to the end. I hace finished walking

like a robot, but very happy and proud of finishing after all the problems.

Here's everybody's impressions summarized in, more or less, one sentence...

- Mom: Everything very beautifull but mud, water, cold and everything...

- Göran: Just a lovely walk and beautiful country side, and lovely companies.

- Sarah: We have walked by Germans, Finnish, French, Italian...

- Anne: Horse, I want a horse.

- Marta: I have loved it a lot, It would have been better go riding a horse and not walking.

- Monica: A long and beautifull walk, shared with everybody. Miss some pagan simbols.

- David: Funny, a lot of climbs and downs, mud, water, asfalt, and a very good mood.

- Marcos: A lot of mud, very boring.

- Antonio (who didn't walk): They just complain as a sport.

- Isa: Was sleeping like a log when we wrote this.

A good beer at the end of the road makes you forget all the pains in the walk. Even a Galician beer is good enough.

The long road...

It's again long since my last post. It's possible that my about two or three readers have missed it, sure not as much as I have done. But now it's holidays time and a good chance to get back into my writings...

This year's easter holidays have a special taste. Not only because they are the first ones in a lot lot lot of months, but because they will sure be different of last year's holidays. First we are going to walk, make the last stages of the Road to Santiago, a way of pilgrimage to the city of Santiago in the north of spain.

It will be a walk of about 125Kms in five days. It's motly a religious pilgrimage, at least for most people, but as I am not a religious person I've taken it as a spiritual pilgrimage, the only hope is my mind wins over my big "matter" ;-) and I can finish it in one piece...

The other reason to be special holidays is that we are going to be a huge part of the family there. 11 of us, from my parents and brothers to my swedish cousins. Time to enjoy with the people one likes, time to share time, tired feet, muscular pain, stories, and, of course, music.

One song that comes to me talking and thinking about all this, as can't be other one, is Telegraph Road from my first and favourite band Dire Straits. Of course if talks about a road, talks about people moving on to build something, recalls a long walk were the important is the walk and not the arrival to the end point.

youtube's limit on video size had to make this, allways long song, split in two parts. Listen it to the end, and listen to it with your heart, and sure it will recall some memories.

"But beleive in my baby and I'll take you away,

from out of this darkness and into the day,

from this rivers of headlights, this rivers of rain

from the anger that lives on the streets with this names,

'couse I've run every red light on memory lane

I've seen desperation explode into flames

and I don't wanna see it again...

From all this signs saying 'sorry but we are closed'

all the way down the telegraph road"

Each one get it as he wants. I'll keep on every day during this long walk along the telegraph road, just be there and enjoy it.

Songs and People

It's been more than a month since I wrote my last post. And it ain't been because I'm lack of ideas or songs, but for the usual (yes, usual) flood of work that makes me exhausted from time to time. No more excuses anyway, as they probably make sense only for myself.

This one goes about songs and people. As I have probably written before, each and every important person in my life, as each and every important moment, have a score in my mind, not allways the song describes the event or person but it was there when it happened, sometimes it talks about it, sometimes it just provides feelings that make that person or moment come to my mind instantly. Anyway in all cases, the song is some sort of mystical connection between that thing, event, person, and me and my life.

First, the reason for this post. I met her in my early twenties, yeah, long ago. It was a short story, in a lot of ways never finished, and I had the luck of meeting her recently again by the magic of this internet that has broken all the time and space frontiers. Anyway, during almost 20 years, each and every time i've heard this song, she's came to my mind instantly and memories of those days have filled me again.

This other one comes through a lot of songs, as she's been by my side for a long time. I could say the whole discography of my life is attached to her. Through all songs I had to choose one, and this one is a good one no doubt.

Again a woman, that shows probably how important they've been in my life for a lot of diferent reasons. And again, there's a bunch of songs that bring her to my mind since I was a little child no matter where I am or what I'm doing. This one I once dedicated to her, so here it goes... I'm sure she'll enjoy it.

Friendship is such a difficult thing, much in disuse this days that money seems to be over everything else. Anyway my deepest ones will allways be there, no matter how problems, distance and other issues have made our lifes go different ways.

This one could have been "Yo para ser feliz quiero un camión" ;-) but I found this one more connected and probably more glamourous when thinking about him.

Heheh, as I listen the songs just to put them here, almost all my life happy moments cross my mind. As the song above says, "they pick me up when I'm feeling blue"... :-) and that's the best of all. And this guy has allways picked me up for sure...

Yes madness, as madness has allways been around when talking about him. And the same applys to this other one, allways learning to fly in a lot of different ways. Love you my friend.

Here goes the last one, last but not least. No matters what has happened, friendship will allways be there, as long as music keeps playing. And we will meet again in that place where the streets have no name.

Of course there's a lot of other people, as much as songs, and there is no other reason but time and space why they are not here. But it doesn't matter as they are here inside me any way, and will allways be. Any of you that think any of this songs talk about you, probably you are completly right.

And Off-Topic, as I usually do ;-) check this place for good arts from a good artist.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for you all.

A shot, a sheriff, a reptile and the news over the rainbow

It was 1987 more or less when I was walking with some friends in Malasaña, one of the classic drinking & having fun zones of Madrid. Wandering the streets looking for a place to have the second dozen of beers, passed by a doorstep to a small pub that suddenly opened, probably just someone leaving the place... The music that came out of tha place was unmistakable, that slow soulfull, JJ Cale's cover "Cocaine" by the slow hand of Eric Clapton. And it was enough, I have enjoyed and spent more time in that pub, called Angie than in the rest of pubs and bars along my life (a lot I must admit), and I'm not exaggerating.

If you wanna hang out you've gotta take her out, cocaine

If you wanna get down, down on the ground, cocaine

She don't lie

She don't lie

She don't lie... cocaine

When your day is gone, and you wanna run, cocaine

If you got bad news you wanna kick them blues, cocaine

She don't lie

She don't lie

She don't lie... cocaine

If your thing is gone, and you wanna ride on, cocaine

don't forget this fact, you can't get back, cocaine

She don't lie

She don't lie

She don't lie... cocaine

It's a cool song, allways controversial lyrics that some find pro-cocaine and some anti-cocaine related. I guess of course people reads it as they want to read it. Some pay attention to "She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie, cocaine" and others to "Don't forget this fact, you can't get back, cocaine"... Choose your option. Anyway Clapton allways called the song 'quite cleverly anti-cocaine song' and he personally noted:

"It’s no good to write a deliberate anti-drug song and hope that it will catch. Because the general thing is that people will be upset by that. It would disturb them to have someone else shoving something down their throat. So the best thing to do is offer something that seems ambiguous—that on study or on reflection actually can be seen to be ‘anti’—which the song "Cocaine" is actually an anti-cocaine song. If you study it or look at it with a little bit of thought... from a distance... or as it goes by... it just sounds like a song about cocaine. But actually, it is quite cleverly anti-cocaine." (Thanks to wikipedia)

What I've found pretty funny through the years is that a lot of people never listened to the original song by JJ Cale, so there is it for those who never did...

Though I have allways liked Clapton music, it didn't became one of my main addictions and influences until pretty recently. My complete devotion for this great guitar player came true in 2001, when I had the luck to live the gig in Madrid from his "Reptile" tour. The opening and closing song, probably not the most representative of his career, really shocked me out. They showed me how versatile he can be, and how nice and full of feelings his singing can be.

This two pieces of pure music and soul, that day, those friends there, I will never forget it no matters what the future showed up.

Reptile, instrumental and jazzy, incredible beginning for a show, you could see all the musicians enjoying the playing along the whole song. And after a long, incredible concert, this "Over the rainbow" cover. I have no words to describe the feelings it provided and it still provides.

This post would be a never ending story if I had to talk about all the Clapton songs and the feelings and emotions they bring up, but it's late and I am pretty tired after a long work day, it's almost time for bed so... I have chosen this song to finish this post for a lot of reasons. First it is another cover, Clapton have allways had the ability to give his own personal touch to other musicians songs and this one is a good example, second is that this is probably, personally at least, best solo ever played in history, not for it's technical skills (what it undoublty has) but for the complete powerfull soulfull improvisation, just listen to it and judge.

Absolute demonstration of inspiration, it starts slowly at 5:09 with soft rithmical touchs of strings, feeling the silences and taking time to slowly introduce you in the solo atmosphere, then about 6:06 it increases the pitch and a bit the speed with some touchs full of soul, then it comes back to low rithmical sounds and, suddenly it fast grows up and at 7:00 it seems to come out from the stomach coming up to the throat, still moving up and up until it explodes in 7:28, then goes down again to low notes and rithmical chords to let everybody take a breath (I personally think I allways stop breathing during those seconds) and then, from 7:44 to the end it again starts increasing speed, pitch and strength to and incredible end. I have tried, though it's pretty difficult for me due most of it it's feeling, to describe this solo the best I can. If you think it sounds more to a transcription about making love, well, if amongst all others one solo has to describe what making love is, this one can without a trace of doubt.

And remember, "I shot the sheriff, but I didn't shoot no deputy, just read it in the news..."