*My Musicave*

The Liberty to sing

Is caged in a box...

"Dressed up" where no one ever thinks

So the music does the talks...

On the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Gijon, Spain

It is truly amazing how many secret and magical places can exist in any given town or city... Regardless of whether or not a place is developed or underdeveloped, one can discover small jewels, where no one expects them to be. And the satisfaction and bliss is really worth it... They can become your home! 

For someone to find his or her spot in a given space, all that is needed is to know what to look for. And it's true that sometimes that can be difficult... But once you know what you are looking for, the only thing left is to put up your radars, put on your night vision, and follow your heart and instincts. It's like a treasure hunt!

A corner in a commercial center. Athens, Greece

In every city, there is a fair amount of brilliant street musicians and performers, who entertain the public and add some colorful vibes to the streets. These talented and special individuals, wake up the city, express its moods and ways, and share it with anyone who happens to pass by. Your attention and smile is a greater reward to them than money, although the latter is unfortunately necessary to have in our days.

For me, the perfect spot is not where people can see you... They only need to listen to you! You become a-live radio, that plays favorite tunes all night long. So, the perfect spot is where no one sleeps; where people pass by all the time; where you are not exposed to the eye; and of course there is a good acoustic setting... Sounds like an exciting treasure hunt, searching for that golden spot! Actually, there are many spots like that in every city. Here are some suggestions, how to spot a spot, from personal experience:

• Try the commercial streets or open-air commercial centers during the night. You bother no one!
• Try finding corners or places where there is enough space to sit, and some good acoustic feedback or even a natural reverb effect. In other words, find your *Musicave*
• Sing and play the songs that you love and express your mood, and give all of your self to that. But be sure to also capture the mood of the place and your audience's as well. 
• Have your instrument and your voice in good condition. You might stay there longer than you think!

These points can of course change, according to the needs and the circumstances of each individual. For me, the above formula has helped me enjoy some of the best nights of my life, and share the music with some great people who willingly enter the *Musicave*,

and sit down by your side, 
drink a beer, 
sing their favorite songs, 
carefree and sincere. 

It's like giving small private concerts out in the public... There are amazing people out there, and it's simply magical to share with them what makes you happy, even for a few moments. So, step out of your cave and step into your *Musicave*.  Share what you love the most, and let your Dreams Beget Reality! 

*DEvolution~>?<~

So, are we moving forward, or actually crawling backwards to where we came from...?

DareWin said that if you wanted to Win the evolution's game,
All you needed to do is adapt to it in the fittest way.

But wouldn't the dar-Winners be the ones creating the actual game and its rules, and thus surviving?

Pour more poor: It seems that humanity, for many specific reasons, is not moving forward, but probably sideward for quite some time. Generally speaking, there are more poor people in our days, more crimes, more atrocities, more racial and religious differences, while there are more resources and product solutions available, more security means, more wealth, more information and knowledge... Something is going wrong there...

Diver-cities: Cities were supposedly originally created to gather people in an organized fashion, to minimize the long distances, to improve services, health care, unite people together, and to give more opportunities. In the western world, it seems that a lot of things went wrong in the process of fulfilling that purpose. Cities are unquestionably where the air and water are more polluted; where there is more crime and more injustice taking place; where people have less space; where distances that are meant to be shorter become much longer with traffic; where the arts are meant to express the stories of our time and educate us but many times are filtered; where people abuse substances and destroy their lives; where children are less safe and free to play... where; where; where... in the cities. (http://cityoferrors.com/error6/)

Why; why; why? There is an amazing amount of inefficiency in our days, and an ineffective allocation of resources. Technology has advanced so much, yet many things around us, vital things, still remain prehistorical. People, companies and governments tend to focus on evolving services and attributes for their own profit's sake, and not sharing that knowledge with the rest, because they will lose power and shares... But, at the same time they are lying about it and delivering a benevolent image to the world. They, and we, are not learning from that. When it comes to chasing profit, one will forget the original goal and purpose to help, evolve, and improve (if that is not for profit as well)...

Cut the (cr)Act! If only we could stop the act in the middle, stand up, and leave or demand for it to stop. We are the ones paying to watch the show, right? So why aren't we doing it?  No one wants to stand up or out from the crowd (or too few do). It's called social pressure... or more generally, fear. We still feel fear, even though we know what causes it. And it actually does not exist... It's all created in our heads. There are unwritten rules, and from all those small little fears that one feels, we fail to act or react to something we are morally and personally opposed and against. For instance, we see a homeless person in the street, but we are afraid to approach and help him or her and even engage into a conversation and support that person, because society will think we are either crazy or our status is insignificant to us, or bla bla bla... And there, we lose our humanity. Even at work, you shouldn't be open and kind to people, because that will show signs of weakness.. For what??

Speaking about work, it is funny how it has become a synonym to (economical) slavery. Especially these last few years, with this crisis (that curiously doesn't seem to be leaving any time soon), people are fired after decades of work, without a tiny bit of humanity or a grain of gratitude. 

Wages are cut, 

expenses increase, 

sales and services drop, 

and myriads of businesses cease...

...their operations. OK, that is a logical argument. But even if that is happening, we are most of all humans in this evolving "civilized" society we have created, and have to still act as humans. If not, then let's act like animals without any laws and norms. We are simply stuck in the middle of animal behaviors and civilized dont's. How confusing is that! 

Common knowledge: The paradox is that we know how governments and companies work. We know it for quite some time. We have tons of movies, documentaries, stories, wikileaks, songs, news, and examples explaining to us what is happening out there and what is the main purpose behind all this. But we continue to deceive ourselves and believe that the next time something happens, it will be different. We fail to learn from our mistakes, from our own paradigms. Why oh why to we Devolve? 

Afraid to react: Our societies have become more self-centered societies, where people fail to react and decide collectively. Yes, they do indeed protest and strike, but has this ever brought any significant result? Are governments affected more than the citizens of a city during a strike, or is it the other way around? We are too comfortable with all our things and possessions, with all our everyday indulgences and rhythms, and the hope we prosper even more, that we are afraid to react and lose everything, even if we are aware of how unfair our lives are. We don't know who to blame; or we do know but are too confused to be certain about it.

A fishy wish: Why aren't we reacting to any of that? When many companies all of a sudden make their services worse, so that they can charge more for the "premium" services which are not other than the normal services. Well, interests are the toppings, and money is the flavor that everyone wants to taste, and feel the satisfaction and pleasure. Add some spoons of marketing, and voila! You forget about the unfair conditions, you forget the reasons you fight, and you give in to the wonders of bla bla bla. You are in a fishbowl but with all the decorations you feel you are in the Pacific Ocean. We just don't get the message even through repetition. And that is Devolution...

Darwin might have been right, but besides analyzing the "perfect fit" theorem, he should have restated that the one who makes the actual environment to thus better fit in it, is the one who survives in the end. A bit of a grey tongue on the blog today, but better out than in! 

*Leave to Live*

Live today’s story

Leave all future worries

  ~~~~and~~~~

Leave today’s worries

Live in future stories

These words are from the lyrics of the song Given Sundaze, and accurately reflect the essence of today's blog. It is an issue that haunts my thoughts and wants for the many months...

"Leave" has nothing to do with abandoning in this case, although many times, out of extreme reaction it comes to mind... leaving it all behind, without a second thought! But one must surely act a bit more wisely, especially if the destination is of vital importance. Leaving, or moving, causes a change... A change creates new situations, new thoughts, new feelings, and causes actions. It is, thus, an action that takes place, and must be created and caused, in order for it to allow new things to happen. If we put all those new things together, tangible, intangible, real and imaginary, we get the word "Live".

"Live" has everything to do with living your life to the fullest! Taking advantage of every moment, of every little detail, of every word, every advice you ever got, every breath you will take... We need to appreciate everything we have, and not everything we want to have. But, what we have will help us get what we want some day, and dreaming makes living wonder-full. And material things are not the focus here... A better life is something we strive to find and enjoy, either if it is where we are, or where we want to be. If where we are is not fulfilling us anymore, and we have a "ticket", then we should use that ticket as a passport, and fly away to our wonder-land.

There are myriads of beautiful places around the world! Busy ones, quiet ones, artistic ones, grey ones, cold ones, sunny ones, high up in green, or low down in blue... And we need to choose one. And choose how we want to live there. Athens for example is a city full of history, ancient and modern, a place where western civilization was once born. But, today, it falls in degradation, the "ruins-city" is now a ruin itself, with few things working properly; all because of people and their behaviors. And when you are seeking for a better life, or at least a bit of inspiration in your youthful years, you get ugliness and unbearable situations. And it's just sad..... Madrid is, on the other hand, a beautiful city that might lack the ancient history and the privileges of having a sea, but manages to preserve and renew itself, even following the black-sheep role passed from Greece to Spain on the EU stage. Living there gave me a taste of what it means to live in a civilized place, where the city cares how it looks and what it offers. And there are many cities out there that want to "dress up" nicely, decorate themselves, and make themselves more attractive to their citizens, who will thus be inspired to make amazing things, and eventually reward the city itself.

So "Leave to Live" is actually an equation! :) By leaving a place, after consciously deciding it and vividly desiring it, leads to living a new place, a new situation, in a neworld, with all the new goods and bads that it assumes. It is a feeling of freshness eitherway... Yes, great ideas and inspirations might come from the worst corners of the world to the most majestic spots, but each one has the freedom to follow his or her will and choose which is the place that will become heaven on earth. And time is running while we walk on our way home...!

*and so it is...*

And so it is... Eased and pleased.
Here's to the first blog, 
a log to write down thoughts, 
right the wrongs, scribe anything that comes 
to mind, free and real, honest and open, sincere and true.
That's what a blog is all about either way.

Do you remember before the blog era,
when diaries and stories, opinions and thoughts, 
ideas and proposals, where all left inside a box;
in a drawer, in a closet, locked up, so that they are kept secret, safe, unpublished and unshared?

In line with that, eye recently reopened an old safe that eye had, forgotten in a corner, in my apartment. Couldn't quite open it in the beginning, since eye had lost the key, and a password was never set. Luckily, locksmiths exist for that... So, eye opened it yesterday after many years, and felt the feeling one gets when finding something hidden for so many years, like a treasure, and the wave of joy that the memories that have been hiding in the findings, bring along. In the safe, eye had placed all my writings, lyrics, drawings, valuable items, school ideas and notes, and of course many cassette tapes, with recordings before the mp3s, from 2000 till 2008. Eye locked them there, before leaving to Madrid in September of 2008, as something that eye truly cherish, something that was and is a part of me and consider my legacy.

Well, whatever we create is actually our legacy, a part of us, that is printed in time, and meant to hopefully inspire or move others to create as well, so that we can thus evolve ourselves and our surrounding. Writings, songs, sounds, movies, stories, tastes, inspire us and are inspired as well, to create a never-ending circle of creation. How many movies have been based on books, how many songs have been written for movies, then remixed to form part of other songs, that play on the radio and in our ears, while books and stories are written? It would be fun to see a huge machine working with creations being fed and produced at the same time, and observe their stories and their progress before they become food for thought again.

So the best thing to do is to share them, to filter them correctly and flag them as points in our lives that have a meaning and can light the way and answer questions for others. In that way, we cultivate the grounds of something bigger, and make ourselves become part of the whole, removing us from these little corners and drawers, that we hide our thoughts.

Thus, in this digital space, to serve its great and collective purpose, eye will be posting ideas, sharing thoughts, past, present, and future ones, lyrics, drawings, and any kind of creation, with you. Will try to slowly write down some of the treasure findings of the safe, and hear your thoughts on them.

And so it was... The first of the blogs.