Ecopedia: polished, partly updated, plus some additions
LUCA-LIFE
all 2007
* celebrating my 30 years jubilee as a songwriter *
BLOG
November 2007
THIS MONTH's THEME:
A whole life (so far)
A man can do only what he can do.
But if he does that each day
he can sleep at night
and do it again the next day.
Albert Schweitzer
About sleeping well
First, let me remark that I thought about the Albert Schweitzer quote when I read that the
Enola Gay pilot, Paul Warfield Tibbets, the one who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima,
died today. In a 1975 interview he said:
“I'm not proud that I killed 80,000 people,
but I'm proud that I was able to start with nothing, plan it
and have it work as perfectly as it did...
I sleep clearly every night.”
Let us be joyful about the fact he didn't do that every day. One thing is for sure: I would never do
anything like that, and if I did I would never be able to sleep any more.
Beware, may he finally really sleep in peace, now that he is dead.
This blog this month is in fact about my conscience. And my life, and my ideals and practices and works.
As you know I don't usually write much about myself here, I don't want it to become insignificant
self-outing.
I thought though that I feel very frustrated often, because of how little other people, even close
friends and family members, seem to perceive about me, who I am, what I stand for. I honestly thought,
most of my life, that I didn't need to explain anything, that my life was my argument, to quote Schweitzer
again. It seems it is not, that's why I thought this blog could help.
And it will be my birthday on the 27th, and there is a lot of music I am going to release, and
it is my 30 years jubilee, so, for once, I will set my media-shyness aside and let it all out
in the cyberspace.
One-two for the masses
Yesterday I actually revealed what the title of my next album will be:
“A Whole Life (so far)”
So, now you know it is about me too, I composed it thinking about this 30 years jubilee, and the step
needed to donate a gift to myself was a little one.
I like it very much and I think it will quickly become familiar in your ears too, as it is more 'pop'
than usual. Mostly electronic sounds, but with the usual attention and care to harmony. There are five
songs [edit: it has been expanded since], quite different from each other, but holding together
very well.
I still hope I can be ready for my birthday, difficult, as there are few days left and there is still a
lot of vocals to record.
Even if I won't make it don't worry.
Surprise, surprise, there is actually another little album ready! I put it together very quickly, in a
few days actually, as a reaction to the news about the Danish elections. I got so outraged seeing that,
once again, the military support to the war against Iraq is not debated, and a theme in this campaign.
So, I decided to try to make one of my usual tackles, and pop into this campaign with an album about the
consequences of the war.
I would like to accompany it with a video, but I don't know if I will be able to realize it before the
elections. You see, these quick elections are a swindle. Unfortunately, I am not in Danmark at the moment,
otherwise they would have heard me on the streets of Copenhagen, trust me.
Anyway, the title of this other album is:
“To the Dying People of Iraq”
and that is it. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have lost life because of this criminal war, and it saddens
and outrages me every day. I expressed all these feelings in four instrumental pieces. There were many words
in War-ning, the previous antiwar album, this time I let music speak, and, to me, emotions are quite
intense and will irradiate out of your speakers.
You see, Luca is back.
Climate blogging
Not that I don't want to tell about myself, the problem is climate changes. In fact Autumn is not
really coming yet. Usually I would have much less to do at this time of the year, but here everything is
green still, and I have to take care of the vegetables in the garden. Today I was cleaning the 'jungle',
the wilder part of it, with a scythe, and it was so hot I was sweating badly!
Anyway, I did enjoy it, as it was the first time I was there in that part, as we kept it wild, with bushes,
brambles and everything. but our neighbor protested, so I had to do it. And it was hard work, but a
pleasure, as it is the nicest part of the garden, with a huge hazelnut wood in front and a nice view at
the mountains. Forget about the houses illegally built all around, that's life (in Italy).
This is not anymore the blog from last month, so I will stop with this 'here and now' stuff. But it was
in theme any case, as climate changes do affect my relationships to others too.
As this global issue is so fundamental, and when I have been warning about it for 30 years already, one
cannot honestly say I am an impatient person. Nevertheless I have been often accused of being obsessed
with ecology and pushy.
I expected some apologies, or at least some acknowledging, after all the world's climate scientists
stated that the changes are a reality and that it is extremely serious and that we must all act now.
I mean, that should lead to the understanding that my behavior was rational and correct. I simply knew,
already 30 years ago that we would have been ending in this situation, and tried to inform,
motivate, work for change.
By the way, I am definitely not the only blogger having this problem, just read here,
"Climate Change : Quo Vadis?",
as one of the many examples.
I truly hope I will never hear again that I have been pushy, it would hurt me even more than before,
and I don't think I deserve that. It has not been funny to be a male Cassandra, and it's time
you all feel a healthy bad conscience, and that it will finally make you act.
The tunes of the thoughts
I am listening to my new album, To the dying people of Iraq, while I write. I am getting quite
addicted to it, which is rare, as I always move on very rapidly from my own music. I think you will be
surprised by its shifts, four very different songs, all expressing some intense feelings about the
tragedies down in Iraq.
It's nearly ready, by the way, some minor adjustments and the final mastering, which is always difficult
as I haven't got studio monitors (very expensive!)
Yes, music, composing and all what's related still plays such a big role in my life. Often I wonder about
all this, thinking namely about all this expensive and polluting gear filling my room, so that there is
nearly not any space left for myself anymore. But I still wouldn't mind brushing my teeth with my keyboard
or having to share my bed with my guitar, so nuts am I with music :)
It is actually the first time in all my adult life that I have got all my stuff in one place. My ever moving
life had made that my things were spread in different countries. And many of my books are actually randomly
traveling across the world, as I gave most of them away nearly 20 years ago, when I moved from Italia to
Danmark. I put them in my backpack and carried them to a Sacred Dance meeting I was joining at that time
(circle dances, hand in hand, along very nice music), and where a lot of nice people were coming. I told
them to just take some they liked, as a kind of borrowing, one day I would have picked them up again.
As you know, that day never came. I am glad I have been a kind of never expiring traveling public library
in my life.
Imagine there is no work, and no bias too
One of the questions I hear very often: you are free, have no girl-friend, family and children, no stable
work...sooo, what are you doing all day?
It's evident by now that this is one of the big sources of prejudices about me. The main religion of our
disgraced times is work. Defined as being slaves for someone else's corporations, the dominant ideology.
Forgetting that work is not just work, but that there are many ways of working, and that what counts is not
working but living. Life as a wholesome person is the chance that has been given to us, the goal of our
existence and the sacred essence of it. Not working under the blackmailing of necessity, which is the horrid
mis-foster of the industrial and technological and financial reductionism, and fig leave for any despotic,
brutal, anti-human form of power.
Big words, I know, this is being Luca. If you try to be in my skin, as I am inviting you to do all this month,
telling the inconvenient truths no matter what. And all the time we waste with work is one of the biggest
taboos in our society. With the circular and fallacious argument that "if I waste so much time on it, then
it must be necessary".
Yes, things have still to be done, sure, schools, hospitals, all what is needed. I am only saying that very
few have the possibility of doing what they really want to do, to use their intelligence, freedom and talent.
And it is also great to set those needs partially aside for the collective needs, for helping others, for
making our public life possible. But it would be much better if that was not artificially separated
from our true individual needs, our influence and co-decisions, definitely not what happens in anonymous
and centralized powers.
Well, I actually wanted to tell you about something as simple as a list of all what I do every single day,
my own work in fact. I got caught in my critics of the conventional way of working, so I will leave it to
tomorrow. Even if it will be Saturday, and I am not supposed to be working as a blogger... :)
The daily favorite Sisyphuses
If you got provoked by my post yesterday then you should see this documentary:
"Opera - med doeden i kulissen",
an example of how work can be against life, literally, and a heavy suspect on the most powerful enterprise
in Danmark, A.P.Moeller. Not by a coincidence those who are behind the prime minister Fogh, very likely.
Who probably was so eager to participate in the Iraqi slaughtering, right to give that company a chance to
colonize the country (which they blew themselves, incidentally, as they behaved so rudely and irrespective
they got kicked off).
By the way, only three days left to the danish elections. And it looks much better than I thought, right now,
but I am still very skeptical the Danes will give me this huge present for my birthday.
As a proof of the nearly real-time nature of this site, and of my long working (my way) day, here it is a
nice red sunset, just few hours ago:
I woke up at 7 this morning, as every day, and didn't stop one second doing something until this picture
was taken, at about 17:30. So what do I usually do?
Finally the famous list:
7:00 --> wake up
7:00 - 8:00 --> some laziness in the warm bed; wash my face with cold water, toilet, and oral hygiene,
brushing teeth, tongue and so on. I hand wash everything, so if there are clothes soaking, I wash them and
hang them outside. Drink some water.
8:00 - 9:00 --> yoga, about 40 minutes. Usually in silence and outside in the green, or with some
inspiring radio program of choice as a background. Particularly in english, to practice the language.
9:00 - 9:30 --> read emails and eventually answer them. Read news and newspapers in
different languages.
9:30 - 9:45 --> first meal, breakfast with some fruit or juice. Always acid fruits, like oranges,
typically.
9:45 - 11:00 --> If the weather is not rainy, I work outside in the garden. There is always so much
to do, I really work without stops.
11:00 - 11:15 --> little pause to eat some nuts (most often our own fresh and raw hazelnuts)
11:15 - 12:15 --> more work outside, or if inside I write this entries, or any other computer work
12:15 - 14:00 --> my main meal
14:00 - 17:00 --> more work outside, music work or computer work. And that means, by the way: guitar
and piano playing, rehearsing all my songs and compositions (one thousand?), improvising, composing,
writing lyrics, sequencing, arranging, mixing, mastering, making multimedia works, videos; I am shifting
from my old music system to the new Linux box, so everything needs to be translated and re-sequenced,
a nearly infinite task; writing in general, I very often write letters, posts, comments and so on on the
internet, trying to make some difference for the causes I support; background research for what I write
and my home site; keeping myself up to date with practically everything, and computer and technologies
in particular, but also anything sociological, psychological, philosophical of course; I am learning a
lot of technical stuff, right now for example the composing software Rosegarden, and the video
editor Cinelerra. Or anything else, as there is always something to know.
I also keep two other computers running, for my totally n00b family. And there is always something to
fix. Consider I have also to learn a lot about Linux, exclusive opensource in this house.
If needed I cycle to the shop where I buy my food, which fortunately is reachable by bike by a side street,
as streets are mortal here, with no cycling lanes, and people driving like killers. And it has some organic
stuff, so I get what I need basically.
17:00 - 17:15 --> little pause with some "snacks", usually some other fruit or walnuts (from our own
tree too) or another salad.
17:15 - 20:00 --> more work of the above.
20:00 - 20:15 --> the final meal, with sweet fruit, like bananas or khaki, to favor a nice sleeping.
20:15 - 23:15 --> more work of the above. Often I compose and improvise at this time, as I get in a
alpha-like mind state, and more inspired and clear than in daytime. Sometimes I am just sleepy though :)
23:15 - 23:30 --> final preparations for sleeping, which is usually very quick and deep.
Until 7 next morning.
The day before and the day after?
So, tomorrow the danish elections will take place. There is still the highest uncertainty about the result.
Lots of voters have changed opinions during the last weeks, especially young people, and the experts predict
wide different outcomes.
I have said all the time that I have not high expectancies about this election, as I have seen it many times
before that the horrible Fogh, the Prime Minister, has the ability to make it every time, and I don't
see so much change in society. But I haven't been there in the last two years, so I might be wrong this time.
Certainly something has happened. The sheer fact that the two blocks are close to each other is quite a change.
The leaders of the parties on the left, the Socialdemocrats, the Socialists and the Radicals, have done
a very good campaign, and they are kind of a dream team, especially thinking Helle Thorning Schmidt
could be the first woman to become Prime Minister in Danmark.
While, on the right side, it has been a kind of disaster. A lame campaign, and Fogh has overcome himself,
which is something, and run a campaign all based on shameless lies, his specialty, and smearing attacks on
the opponents, like false scoops planted with the collaboration of some newspapers and other politicians
belonging to his own party, the Liberal.
I have watched him lying in an interview by the director of the major Politiken newspaper. When
the latter finally, very gently I must say, confronted him with his decision to join Iraq war (the great taboo
in the country) He answered that the motivation for joining the Iraq war was all the time to remove the
dictator Saddam Hussein, and not the presence of weapons of mass destruction. This is so huge a lie,
it screams. Fogh has become famous for his statement:
“We don't think Saddam has wmd,
we do know it”
And he lied about everything else, practically every time he opened his mouth. His party is in fact going
down in the polls, but there are three factors that will determine the result:
His support, the populist Danish People's Party, has not high chances for a good result,
but it has happened every time before, they gain more votes than expected. It is a well known behavior:
the people voting for them is ashamed of that, and doesn't tell the truth to the polls
interviewers.
There is a new party, Ny Alliance, a splitting of the Radical Party united with
a top Conservative woman. They will join the right wing. When they first appeared they had a
lot of votes in the polls, but they have gone so much down since, their importance could be much less.
Still, subtracting their votes mostly from the Radicals, their role could be deadly for the left
alliance. By the way, their proposal of a flat taxation is the biggest punch ever in the face of
the lower classes, in an inverted Robin Hood way.
There is a fourth party on the left. It is called Enhedslisten and is little but
determinant for a majority. They had the courage to candidate a Muslim,a hijab veil bearing woman,
and to support her despite their votes dropped immediately and dramatically, you know, the usual
Danmark-Muslims row. I truly hope they won't get under the 2% that would eliminate them, and despite
their dumb opposition to the EU, the reason why I have never voted for them.
If I could vote, it would actually go to the Socialist People's Party (SF, Socialistisk Folkeparti),
as they are a seldom union of red and green politics. And after lots of dramatic dilemmas they finally
decided to accept the EU. So, kind of good party for me, not always, but I think this is the best combination
of leaders ever in Danmark, so it would be a real shame if they lost this time too.
Five years with a far right government have changed this country very radically, to the absolute worst.
I have been so frustrated and disappointed with the Danes, and I hope they will finally come to their
senses, and give me a wonderful gift for my birthday.
The day today
It's very late now, after a long, long day full of a lot of things, both very good and very frustrating.
The elections in Danmark are going exactly as expected and somehow much worse than that, as it seems the
horrible Fogh will be able to continue four more years without even needing the votes of the new party
Ny Alliance. There would be a lot to say, but I am going to sleep now. So, just the very simplest core of
what I will write tomorrow: Danmark was already dying, now is buried. Shame on the danes.They have sold
all the treasures they had, for what? Can't even describe how burning inside it feels.
The need for crushing questions (and nuts too)
No Internet yesterday and first part of today, but this time it was my fault. I messed up with some network
values and that was the result. Anyway, everything is back to normality now, and I have learned a lot of things,
the hard way.
The picture is not far from my life in general. I have always had the drive to experiment in practice, not
only of speculating in my mind, which is also definitely something I do as well. I am never content with
the status quo, and always try to find new solutions. This can lead to success or failure, the risk of
both is always there :)
This is also one of those things that can make people around me flipping out. "Can you ever sit down and relax one single moment?" would they typically ask. And the answer is: yes.
Surprised? Actually, I meant: yes, if there was no need to behave like I do :)
The fact is, there are lots of good reasons to obstinately search for the truth.
I am going to sleep soon, but before I do I would like to reprint a sentence I like, one the attentive reader
will surely remember from one of the past versions of this glorious home page. Here it comes:
”For myself, I found that I was fitted for nothing so well
as for the study of Truth;
as having a mind nimble and versatile enough to catch the resemblances of things …
and at the same time steady enough to fix and distinguish their subtler differences;
as being gifted by nature with desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness
to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order;
and as being a man that neither affects what is new nor admires what is old, and that hates every
kind of imposture.”
Francis Bacon
p.s. can a vegan love Bacon? :)
No joke
I haven't been writing for a few days but, as they say, I am working for you.
I am still having troubles catching up with all what I have to do, and if you saw my daily life through
a camera you would think it is an episode of a Buster Keaton comics. Incidentally, an actor starring
in very pertinent films like "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963) and
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (1966). Both sound very much like me.
I have just decided all next year's blog will be dedicated to one positive theme blogging every month. It's
evident the mass of negativity in society is exploding day by day, and is now so massive and omni-pervasive,
that there is something to be done about it. I am personally very, very tired having to deal with all that
trash around. So, no space to any of that for one whole year.
Not that I will forget the tragedy, in no ways as you know, I'll just blend it with some more comedy,
"comedy keeps the heart sweet" as Mark Twain said once.
And once we are there, I will conclude with Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau, when he stepped
on his precious violin, he forgot on the floor under his bed. He looked resignedly to his wife and said: "No matter, when you have seen one Stradivarius you have seen them all".
As you could be outraged if I outed that my absolute favorite fruit is watermelon, so would you with my
homage to my best funny friends. I really grew up with them, and saw the same episodes hundreds of times and
still laughed. Good night to you:
[ I am actually writing this on Saturday, this is not cheating, as I will write exactly what I would
have written if I just had some free time left at the end of the day. This is called honesty! :)]
For a few days the funny old photo of Stan and Ollie stayed here, frozen. Like one of my old TV sets, those
small black and white heavy boxes, always flickering and suddenly going black at the key scene of a thrilling
film or when Pelé was scoring a goal in the WM final. Believe it or not the only cure was to give
them a demolishing flat on the side, and the images where back on the screen. And, of course, someone,
usually me, had to stand with the lifted arms, holding a wired antenna in his hands, oriented at the
Vatican, or whatever worked, while the others shouting: "Don't move!".
Anyway, I don't think you did mind the interruption on the blog's screen, the two guys look so funny and
leave a lot of space to fantasy about what is going to happen.
We are not going to discuss whether I am more similar to Stan or Ollie, I think the bodily aspect alone can
head into only one direction ;) Besides, I can move my ears like a donkey exactly as Stan did, no joke here
again.
The moon side of the dark
Talking about honesty, it is not that I am only going to make a panegyric about myself here. I can't deny
that I am in a pretty good and proud mood about myself at the moment, when I see all what I have produced,
but If and when there are ugly sides appearing, I do not hide them, I face them in stead.
This has been my choice through all my life, and it is very hard at times, I can assure you, but it definitely
sets you free too. This freedom scares most people to death, it seems. They prefer not to look inside
themselves, being afraid of what they will find, or feeling not able to cope with that, or knowing it will
disrupt the life they have been building up as a shelter. I have been living an extremely free life. This has
been made possible by a draconian firmness in not binding myself to anything or anyone, when that would
mean to compromise with the truth or changing my nature or having to create a hypocrite conventional world,
for the sake of a relationship or family or friendship or social life.
Being free is not costless, that attitude has meant a lot of painful breaks. Right now in particular, there
is practically nothing left of my life as it was a few years ago. Do not doubt, it is not that I want to be
in a situation like this, the very opposite in fact, as I value a precious community life above the most.
It is that I have been realizing more and more in the last years that I am radically different from most
people, in both good and bad aspects probably, and that I had to carry my life through no matter what,
even if it had this isolation as a consequence. I don't want this, but you don't give me alternatives,
or only sporadically, in those rare times when life is exactly as it should be all the time.
I continue to cast some silver light at the dark of this Earth, still knowing I am only a reflection of the
Sun, still knowing the Moon has become a piece of stone, a solitary romantic hero, never knowing if it will
end as a lifeless dream, or an eternal distant source of inspiration.
The moody blues
Am I moody? From comedy to tragedy in just two days, isn't that enough to answer already? Hmmm, no.
How much I love to write about this, as it is the main ever returning issue of my life.
How can people possibly make sense of me, when I can shift so radically? But there is a sense in fact,
a key to understand my existence. It being: everything is clear inside myself. I know my truths, and that
guides me all the time. There is a subtle and holistic coherence in what I do, but this is not evident
to others.
I have been trying to explain myself all the time, with very poor results though. To explain that the
problem is not me. I am a human being, and can be a peculiarly sentimental and fragile kind of human at
times. This is not the problem though, the external world is.
You just need to consider I have to live in a world where horrible things happen, a world that is completely
upside down, where the abnormal has become the normal, where most things are wrong and messed up.
Do you think it can be easy? I don't. Most of the time I am busy trying to change all that wrong rubbish.
Other times, too much feels too much, and I get overwhelmed.
I would not call this being moody, rather, surviving the best one can, with such a split in one's heart.
The Forum is yawning, bah
There were quite plenty of issues in the last days posts, so I think I won't add even more fat food for
thoughts to you.
So, just some practical talk today. Mostly, I would like to remind of the possibility of making this site
more interactive, if you wish so.
There is a cozy Forum here too in fact, but it has not been used so far. It is a pity, I think, as it
would be nice to have some life there. A living discussion is better than a one-directional one.
A problem has been the passage from my old domain to this host. I had a lot of visitors before, also because
own domains are indexed by Google and other search engines, while the free hosts are usually not. Unfair. So,
not so many casual or new visitors here. And the old and faithful ones do exist, but they are not many.
And the ones I personally know, they are all busy with so many things, and with their own stuff too.
Besides, I keep being faithful to one of the basic challenges I set for this site: no money, no marketing,
no hype, no cult of personality, no advertisements. The spreading of the word of mouth then is solid but
slow, it takes time.
Or it is simply a matter of beginning? Breaking the ice? Who will be brave and gain the huge honor of being
the first to post? The challenge is open :-)
Have a nice week-end.
Another day before
I come with good news: as announced, one of my new albums will be available tomorrow! I will first upload
the page about it, with the jewel cover and the details about the album and about its theme, the people of
Iraq and their sufferings. There is a documentary film embedded, and I invite you to watch it, even if it is
very hard to do. It is reality, we ought to know what is really going on. There is also so much humanity that
shines through a lot of people in the film, and that will give you a better picture about Iraqis and how we
are all one in this world, in the end.
Then you will finally be able to download the whole album, likely in the evening, as I am still battling
with a few technical problems.
All in one file, an .ogg one, so, if your computer cannot play that kind of files, you can prepare it
by going to this site:
Vorbis.com
I would like to remind you of the reason why I never use mp3s: because they are proprietary. While oggs are
opensource and free for everyone, musicians in particular. This is more important than you might think.
Well, better I go to sleep, before I become 46 before even knowing :)
Born 46 days ago
Not bad for a new-born like me to publish a music album today :)
Or was it years? It might well be, I prefer the first version though.. I am not perfectly at ease with
getting older, I must confess, in this sincere and holy and modest blogging temple.
And I am officially a grown up man from today, as for many, reaching the symbolic 46 years is the abrupt
passage from being young to being 'mature'. Just look at the personal ads, in the field "age of the partner"
most younger women will write: up to 45 years.
It means, now I will have to put up with the ugly cows my age 8>| eh, eh eh, I always get a shock when I see
pictures of people my age, both women and men. Am I soooo old, I wonder to myself? Yes, I do am a stubborn
old goat from today on.
As you already know, don't waste your money betting on me finally getting conventionally wiser and mature-like.
To finally abandon my ideals for 'practical reasons'. To tell lies for the sake of quietness. To finally buy
a life insurance from a gravedigger.
I am incurable, so that you know: being 46 now, doesn't change anything under those respects.
Today is the blatant triumph then, of the belief crhono-biological age has no significance at all, we are the
age we feel and there is no limit to how better life can get, the older one gets. And heck with the sincere
and holy and modest blogging temple, let's the party start:
p.s.
witnessing the tragicomic world we live in, to celebrate a birthday with a horror film about
Baghdad's hospitals is nicely appropriate, and no fundamentalist law forbids you in Lucalandia to dance
with me today to my Depleted Children and Justice songs, desperate cries for help to the
disgraced Iraqi folk, and hymns to a peaceful and just and gay existence at the very same time. And the more
energy you will put into it, the more it will help. Let's celebrate our crazy life, truly.
p.s. of p.s.
later today a link will appear in my "To the dying People of Iraq" page, where
you will be able to download the .ogg file with the entire album.
UPDATE:
I did it! Few minutes to midnight, after a birthday of music madness, I managed to complete the recording of
a file with my new album. You can download it at the To the Dying People of Iraq page.
Enjoy!
Won't forget that day
What a day yesterday! You should consider being completely alone on your birthday, it is not so bad actually.
It was a beautiful sunny day, so I was outside in the garden some hours, and I did all what I like to do, all
day long. Giving myself a lot of extra treats, what I can't afford in every day life. Small things actually,
like yummy food, you know my life is very minimalistic on the material plan.
But I did work with music way too much, that's true. On the other hand, I had promised to publish my album,
and having delayed it so many times before, this time I really had to deliver. I did, and the incredible is,
I saw the final file uploaded exactly at midnight!
I am very satisfied with the album anyway, even if I will have to correct a few things, like level mismatches
or the like, as the process of mastering audio is a very complex and difficult thing. That's why musicians
always let it be handled by some very expert professionals and mega-galactic studios full of expensive gear.
But my challenge of doing all by myself and using open-source systems only, and free services, had to be
completely fulfilled, that's why I am so proud of it, and this is really something special, even in the world,
as there are not many works like this.
I am a bit tired of sitting in front of the computer today, so I won't write much more. Only that I got a shock
when I checked my emails yesterday and today. I didn't expect a big band playing for me and red carpets, but
knowing so many people and having many friends, it was depressing to see the 0 (zero) new messages screen.
None, that was it. They come running when I arrange a party, but if I don't, no one recalls my birthday.
I have studied psychology enough to know that what we forget is what we don't give a damn about. So, I got
the message. All the time and money I have spent for you, you ungrateful egoists. Next time you call me
and want me to come immediately and fix your computer, I will put rotten tomatoes in it.
No, it is definitely not a bad thing to be alone.
p.s.
the clown picture yesterday was from some years ago, I was still young at that time.
Last sellout day
Yes, this month's blog is arriving to its natural conclusion, and there are still lots of items in stock
to be 'sold', so last chance to buy a second-hand Luca gadget.
For example, what about a little statuette of Luca as a revolutionary? Last chance for me to explain
my stand on politics. I am not interested at all in politics as an exercise in power and distance and
arrogance. Politics should be a very noble art of governing the common goods and life. Democracy is the
most imperfect system, and you know how much I would like to reform it, but it is practically the only
one we have, so it is fundamental to protect it and not to destroy it, which is the job of populism,
liberalism and economical interests. The specialty of the right wing politicians, that's why I always
stay on the center-left, even if I am sick and tired of politics as a sort of sport competition. What
I am interested in, is some visionary politicians, who know what the common good is, have integrity and
honesty and engagement with them. remark: I definitely didn't get my wished present from Danmark, but the surprise came from
Australia, where they finally kicked off one of the supporters of Iraq war, John Howard. It seems
the new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, is a serious person, and wants to ratify Kyoto protocol
immediately, and pull troops out of Iraq. Besides, it makes a certain impression to me he nominated
Peter Garrett
as Environment Minister. You might remember him if I started singing one of the pop hits from the
eighties:
“...How can we dance when our Earth is turning?
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?...”
"Beds Are Burning", about the rights of the Aboriginals. After 13 very dark years with the
dreadful Howard, this makes me fly :-)]
Christmas is close, so what about religion? Would you buy another statuette of Luca as a priest? Can get
it for 2 cents...:) Another power I get more and more allergic for. Even if I fully acknowledge its deeper
and positive aspect, it is evident to everyone it has become more a source of conflicts than a mean of
union (religo, from Latin: "I bind"). I am not a reductionist at all, quite the opposite in fact,
but I believe (funny word to use in this context) that the highest form of it is what blossoms in each of
us, at the peaks of our existence, and that might be boosted and channeled by some very seldom holy men,
not by hierarchies and stiff powers.
Let's see... oh yes, another statuette with Luca as a fabric worker. This one you can get for free...
I had a CV on this site once, may be I should upload it again, as new readers might think that I just sit
in front of a computer all day. As a matter of fact I did work a lot for many years, and very hard and
conscientiously. I was an organic farmer, an organic bread baker, a handicap helper, a bricklayer assistant,
a door to door seller (only for one day!), a newspapers deliverer, a social worker, old people helper,
a creator of a social and music project in a poor immigrants district in Copenhagen, a culture worker, and so on.
And a musician, of course. I really mean work should become person-centered, not only system-centered.
What about free badges with slogans, lame sentences, hypocrisies, white lies, advertisements, attitudes,
cool looks and tattoos? You are welcome to take all what you like, as there is no use for them here.
The clearance is at his end. There will be surely more in the next years, but very little is left actually.
In fact, looking back at my life, I see it more and more as a constant process of liberation from any crust
of inauthenticity in me. I am so glad I am myself now, fully and consciously me. What I positively want and
wish for has never been a mystery and has never changed, so I will just keep on working for it.
Time to say goodbye
Well, only for this month's theme, I am not leaving you, don't worry (or don't hope). It's a pity, I was
starting having fun.
There would have been so much more to say, as usual, but I don't even know if you got more familiar with me,
or it alienated you even more.
I think you got some impressions, at least, of how I am in everyday life, as I am very serious and committed,
while being quite ironic at the same time.
I perceive most of the time the contradictory and even absurd nature of life, and to make irony about it is
a way to cope with it. Anyway, first of all, I am spontaneous, and informal, and a bit naughty too.
If you can't take scandals you should never send me to very formal and pompous meetings, my worst
iconoclast tendencies would be aroused inevitably. I think it depends on the fact I grew up in a place
where everybody, apart from my family, was rich. They were all rotten, so I know what my mission is
when even slightest hypocrisy confronts me.
I am not saying there cannot be more enlightened people, there are definitely, few but very nice. If I
only could gather them all in one place! All those I know are spread all over the world.
And don't think now I am a tough guy always making a mess wherever I go, I am actually a very quiet
and respectful and tender and kind person. I just continue to insist that the world around me is the
most challenging possible, and I can be very heavily affected by that.
So much talk about myself, but it will only be in 30 years again, next time. Or just a bit more when I
will finally publish the album
"A Whole life (so far)",
the one that was intended to, while I ended up presenting a completely different album,
that's life.
See you again on Monday, with a new, fresh blogging.
Have a nice week-end.