Mother Earth on Mother's Day 2008 (Dedicada a Aurora!)
Universal: Dancing and Listening to Music on You Tube? Three Videos Below
It was Einstein, I think, that once spoke about nationalities needing their own affirmation, and one's respect for that sentiment. Searching for universality and recognition that although we come from different lands and speak different languages, know and accept different gods, we are the only human family on this planet. My youth once asked, "When do we get there, when will there be peace and harmony?". When I gather in rallies, march for civil rights, or play music with others from very different backgrounds, the question is partially answered. But on a concrete and intellectual level, the motivation of the human family's inability to make more progress, is disappointing. The process of development for each nationality to gather, know itself, and prepare to interact with other nationalities is, in my opinion, the contemporary challenge. There's blood, bone, and hunger that press against the soul, demanding justice for ancient wrongs, pleading for apology from being thrown to the end of a line, or being the first to be sacrificed by guile or non-consent. Today's youth assumes the torch and I'm heartened. With the speed of sound, music, and electronic signal, the process noted above appears to be accelerating.

Could there be spiritual connections evolving that are allowing individual cultures or nations to glimpse the universality of each and accept? And tolerate? And respect?

Lately, I've been sitting and listening. Being part of the audience. Let's just say that I've been on the proactive and "doer" journey for a few years, doing the music, putting on the program, organizing the content and presentation, and contracting the speakers or artists. So, its a treat to be on the other side, receiving. I hear comments from film viewers, dancing couples, and even take time to read blog or website feedback commentary. Hmmm... aside from the fact that we all could use a refresher course in spelling (definitely in regards to English and Spanish) when expressing an opinion or review, (ha ha ha), I understand the posted or published comments; and that is what is important. The Internet is a global village that (almost) connects every nation. Some of the artistic and musical productions that are favored by a significant portion of a country's people are interesting to review on You Tube, for example. Newspapers, radio, films, and television have saturated societies perhaps a couple of hundred years, but only to a point. Common, worldwide communication has been available to "the masses" only recently. It is the Internet through the personal computer or cell phone that allows the feedback, the response, from the other half of the artistic and entertainment equation.

So, recently, I've been scouring my memory to identify songs that had a pronounced impact on me when I first heard them. I'm making a list, slowly, but I came up with two tunes -- one that was released in 1972 and another that made its debut some time in the late 1990s or shortly thereafter. I wondered what type of response these songs elicited by ordinary folk. I was quite surprised to learn how other people from all over the world, have an opinion about these songs. Solely from personal observation, I note that any video available on You Tube that generates more than 50,000 views or hits is popular. These two songs and videos of the songs are among my favorites. From a musician's standpoint, I'm trying to understand whats happening, what elements of the two artistic pieces go to heart, regardless of the language in which they were written or sung. Regardless of age, regardless of gender, of nation. They cross boundaries, peacefully, and respectfully. What Einstein referred to, perhaps. Hope you enjoy too.

"Alone Again (Naturally)", by Gilbert O'Sullivan (Irishman from Great Britain)

"Everybody Has to Learn Someday", by The Korgis (the original performers & writers)

"Everybody Has to Learn Someday": I just had to include this extra version covered (recorded and sung) by Zuccahero.

"Me voy a mover!" or should it be "Me voy a mudar!" The beauty of Spanish is its simplicity yet most of us who've been raised on "this side of the border" away from the land on the continent where our ancestors originate, always seem to trip on best-practice word usage. Well, its a good thing the Latino population is growing in leaps and bounds within the U.S., we'll be able to put more words in the dictionary, regardless of their properness. OK, yeah, I'll agree that this may not necessarily be a good thing. I mean why push for the creation of more dialects ala spanglish, since there is an authoritative Spanish language "center" a few thousand miles away, across the Atlantic (in Spain)? I'm not studying Spanish. In a perverse way, I sort've enjoy stumbling across not-so-proper terms that don't conform to grammatical dogma. And now that we're all connected via the Internet (except the selvas / rainforests perhaps, where kind peoples have not been messed with), it doesn't take long for a term to become more popular than what's in the dictionary. But, lets accept "mover" for the moment. I'm trying to say that I'm 2,000 miles east-southeast from where I was living when my last post was banged out. Me movi de California y ahora vivo en Tejas. Change of residence card filled out in the USPS: old home=California, new home=Texas. I miss both!

LOL! I miss northern Calif. and my relatives and friends and slightly thinner air. And I miss Texas too. What! I AM NOW IN TEXAS, so why am I missing it? I hadn't lived in Texas for over two decades and, amigos y companeros/as, it is quite different than when I called it "home". I miss that old Texas. Ahhh, parts of it. Hmmmm, but the new Texas, for me, is interesting too. I'm liking it. I like the burgeoning diversity -- more cultures, nationalities, more languages, and stubborn clumps of progressive politics that burst through dirty, soul-less stretches of cement and asphalt. I like the shift from smothering good 'ol boy conservatism which in reality was never a political "ism" but merely a convenient pecking order of privilege and connection to latifundista families (plantation social/economic types) who got here in the 1800s. I ain't saying its Berkeley or St. Paul, but the social environment has changed. Bush notwithstanding, there are promising political reps from grassroots to State Capital legislators who speak some truth every so often, and the message gets broadcast, printed in the 3-4 Texas dailies, or gets posted on YouTube. We from Calif. can't be too smug, can we, when we foisted homegrown Reagan on the U.S., not to mention Prop. 209, Prop. 13 ad nauseum.

There's movement here in Tejas and Barack Obama didn't do too bad a few days ago when his Causa replete with "SI SE PUEDE" -- an old grassroots slogan from militant mainly Mexican, farm workers unions going back to the 1960s -- swept into campuses, barrios, campos, and inner city centers scoring heavy attendance. Yeah, campaign slogan is "YES WE CAN!" but that's the beauty of "movements in the making" -- its got automatic artistic license and the human river knows the power of YES or SI! Affirmative, there's buses everywhere to get on. There's hope. Obama ain't perfect and he is a politician, but he's the one whose speaking more truth. The Mexican-americans/Mexicanos/Chicanos probably can pull out a few more Causa slogans in the Southwest -- la rebeldia ain't new and the roots are deep. Sharing political thoughts among the most downtrodden or disenfranchised in any society is always positive for all. I can't think of one "color" or cultural group here in the USA in these past 25 years who hasn't been ravished and its families and neighborhoods torn asunder by a NAFTA treaty, an Enron, healthcare monopolies, or a union-busting big business conglomerate. A ver que pasa. We shall see.

You know, I'm gonna go on a limb without even checking it tightly, I don't think you can say el "mudamiento". I like movimiento

Music? If you haven't heard it yet, check out www.jango.com This is social streaming radio where you create your own stable of fav artists, bands, genres, and get to mix it up with other Jangistas if you want. Opened up my vision a lot, seeing where the music flow is headed regardless of nation.