Sounds of The Prague Royal Orchestra

The old Bethlehem church had their outdoor statues adorned with flowers and gifts with the burning candles and homeless praying to statues. I was reminded of the classic line from Beowolf, "No god will help us when we can help ourselves." Often the stench of strong drink clouds a sober mind, and I wonder how many paths and directions we all go in at times, but no commentary on the lives of the street. No judgment about their lives. The streets are perfumed by the hot wine stands, the cheese rounds on display as the snow comes down and meat is roasted over open wood pits. I look and see etched faces in the marble and marvel at the gifts we all have. Down the road, I found a gift, in the Municipal House of Prague.
A brief description of the House which houses several restaurants and concert halls which I found while I was on a different quest and I opened the door and found heaven on earth. "The concert halls of the Municipal House is one of Prague´s most impressive and significant concert halls, primarly due to superior acoustic and its magnificient Art Nouveau interior. The building is crowned by the outstanding decor created by most of the prominent Czech artists of the day, namely the painters and the sculptors: Alfons Mucha, Max Svabinsky, Frantisek Zenisek, Bohumil Kafka, Josef Vaclav Myslbek."

In this place, I found all of my loves, art, jazz, Mozart and Vivaldi. I also was able to realize one of my dreams today, to sit in the front row and listen to heaven. I went in alone, but I am never lonely. My eyes filled with pink marble, the carvings, the paintings, the statues, and the feel of so much of the history of what it must have been like in the past and the flourishing of the future. I wanted to weep with the pleasure I was simply feeling just walking in the corridors or sitting in a booth while drinking a glass of wine. I wanted to multiple the time, the moments, and stretch it out and savour it.

My eyes were opened wide. How often to you go into a place and just feel the experience as if it was a holy moment? How often do you go to a place and realize where you are? The person that gave me my ticket at the booth saw in my eyes the deep love I had, and discounted my ticket. When I asked for a front row seat, she said to me, "I love to sit in the front row too. There is no other seat like it."

I saw them play, without anyone obscuring my view. I was incredibly happy to learn that as much as I wanted to photograph I could...and I hope they always allow their visitors to be able to have this opportunity. I don't know if I will ever be able to come back to Prague, but for now I am here.

I am amazed that people believe classical music will die. This violinist is a rock star. From the front row in Prague, in the Municipal House. With my little camera, I captured this moment. I am no expert film maker (ha ha ha), but what good is an experience if you can't share it.
That is why I am sharing it with you.

To...enjoy.

Happy 2010

It was with complete amazement that I heard the sound of beauty in the Metro Tunnels of Paris on New Year's Eve. I guess I am a huge softy as I wanted to cry hearing this beautiful music in the most austere conditions that the Paris Metros can be. There was no second guessing myself as I pulled out my camera in wonder to capture the magic of this moment. The mood was high, as if the whole of the city could not wait for 2009 to be over and done with. In the transit of the day, as people were rushing off to celebrate, there were no fireworks at the Eiffel this year.
Here this group came together with open instrument cases and the passion of their gifted hands. It was with wonder I listened in the crossroads on Metro lines 1 and 4...too brilliant for this scene, like displaced art that made me want to move it to a different venue. The venue didn't seem to bother them, because the joy of just being able to play poured out of these young talents.
As I continued on in the night as the revelry continued with life pouring in and out of the metros I made it over to Jim Hayne's flat once again, and brought in the New Year with new friends from across the world...a cross road, a way point for the curious people of life.
Happy New Year from Paris...Life is beautiful at times...and this is one of those times.

What's that banging sound outside my window?

A writer's worst enemy, besides procrastination, are distractions. Constantly throughout the day, I heard the hoots and hollering of the neighborhood. Try as I might, I tried to muffle the sound. That is until it seemed they demanded my attention. However, my neighborhood just seems to want me to participate, and as my friend Barbara wrote to me, you live in a bizarre neighborhood. I am thankful for this section of Daegu, that keeps me on my toes because the drummers were getting louder and decided to canvas the neighborhood today.

I grabbed my camera and sprinted to capture the moments only finding to my shock that I failed to load my memory card back in my camera. Sprinting back to my room, slamming the card into the camera, and dashing back down. I felt like a track star with hair flying about half in and out of clothes. I didn't care what I looked like as I watched the finale of the drummers in the middle of a parking lot less than a block from where I lived.

As they wrapped up and I was prepared to turn back towards home a kind familiar sound, crawled all over me and I spun around. Sweet as sugar the liquid notes of a saxophone pacified my disappointment. And I saw this old soul, who I had seen going through the refuse of our lives gathering the cardboard of our waste as she listened while she worked. Her aged frame bent and she continued on. With silent years, a stone face, and eyes that bore the hardness of her years.The sharp contrast to my experience last night in I'll Exhibition Hall, where I thought I heard the Jazz of life, only to realize it is all around us all of the time. What's banging outside your window, your door, your life...just trying to catch your attention?