Advertisement
Published: July 12th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Yesterday was a great day, but it was not a day of beaches and snorkelling, you´ll be relieved to read! Dani and I went over to George´s house. I had my journal with me: Today I was going to work on the ´Rock Opera´ we started the other night.
Dani and George went out for a meal while I got started. By time they got back, I had the first 3 songs written: The first was based on a story George had told two nights ago. The second was a story that Dani had told to his students during an improvised philosophy/ drama lesson. From there the collection started to grow.
The two big stories that Dani and George had told blended together into a somewhat abstract but charming story.
If I wrote out the plot it would seem a bit too bizarre, but when and if you hear the songs, they make a sort of sense.
Some of them are a bit naughty, it is true, so they may not end up for a general audience!
By the time the 6th song was bagged I needed to go back and play them all in sequence, then moved on to number
7. Number 5 and 6 were versions of little song ideas that George had started that I mutated then formalized. Number 7 is in Spanish. It´s called ´The Spanish Philosopher´. In the song, the Spanish Philosopher encourages our 17 year old protagonist to seek out the woman from the second song, Alba (Sunrise) who is spending her mythical existence busily counting stars. Dani wrote the lyrics: beautiful in both Spanish and English.
The protagonist doesn´t listen to either the Philosopher or the Dolphins who have saved his life in the 4th song. Instead, he seeks out the favors of the Sirens in song 8. One of the Sirens is a gypsy Flamenco dancer from India who puts him back on the right track (song 9). In the 10th song, Alba and the Protagonist meet and create the beautiful sound that transforms the world in Song 11.
What I´ve got to do today is play the whole thing and record it to my camera. When I get back to Boston in the autumn, I´ll work on the project in the studio.
The night carried on until 2:00am. I didn´t leave George´s house from 11:00am till that time. The guys were great
New Cat
This cat has started hanging here in the last week. He looks quite a bit like Boy did many years ago. My imagination has been working overtime about this coincidence! - they brought food and drink as well as wonderful stories and inspiration, so I could just carry on playing.
It felt great to pour out these songs. The break away from playing fueled my creativity, and for the day, I was on fire! It was one fab day, with no gorgeous beach in sight!
Recording these on the camera might be more like work, but I´ll be glad I did it in the end!
Unfortunately, Dani leaves today. He´s invited me to visit him in Cadiz, and you never know, maybe I will. Oddly, the south of Spain is one of the areas in Europe I have not yet explored, and to listen to Dani is to inspire me to visit his beautiful, historic city.
I´ve got to do some laundry today, too.
Other than that and recording the songs, it´s going to be a pretty quiet day I think.
Dani has gone down to the beach alone to say goodbye to the place. We´ll have a little meal before he goes to the airport, hopefully.
So there it was, another fantastic travel friendship that blossomed in minutes, went deeper than some friendships do in years, and now it
Diving pool
Crazy teenagers gather here and jump from ridiculous heights into this tiny pool! closes. There is a type of beauty in these friendships that I´ve always loved.
Thanks to the blog, and the wonders of the digital age, my memory of the people will be fresh for years.
What a fantastic time to be alive!
See you on the flypaper,
mike
Advertisement
Tot: 0.141s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 12; qc: 72; dbt: 0.0959s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Lucille
non-member comment
Rock Opera
Hi, Glad to hear about your great day with your new freinds. Although it wasn't on a gorgeous beach it is part of the trip and another one of your passions. So it was a great day . Willbe looking forward to the Rock Opera when you return. A day like this jsut helps to rejuvenate you and look forward to your next day. Sorry to hear that your new friend, Dani is leaving but I'm sure you will visit him again. Enjoy and safe travels. By the way keeping up with my friends blogs.... you , Eric and Steph, and Krisitin is keeping me busy between work and some rest. It is giving my another vacation to many places too. Lucille