thoughts after christmas

And now it´s time for a short commercial break, it´s called Christmas. Same same every year. Same thoughts, same opinions, same results. For the passed years we have all heard our beloved close ones say, "let´s not buy so much stuff this year, NO gifts for me please, I am fine with just being." Yeah ..sure..... does it happen??? Of course not. It´s like we have this subconcious behavior where we just have to do what is expected of us at Christmas time. And what is expected is to give gifts to each-other. Regardless. if they cost you 2 dollars or 200. It´s a global scam. I won´t even waste your time sharing more of my thought on this matter. You get it! All I say is...we gotta end this madness. I´m not only talking Christmas....but this over all consumption reality we live in. It has it´s peak in December, and then the rest of the year it´s fairly stabil. Highly Stabil. I have a memory to share with you. You see, I´m not totally an Anti-Christmas person. I like spending time with my family (regardless of santa or not) I like long dinners with fantastic food and conversation. I like playing games (Pictionary is on top of the list) and I like the singing and playing. But I could be without the part when Santa comes.First of all....the kids all know he is a fake. In my family the grown-ups have tried to convince the kids that he is for real, and every year, depending on who has been forced to be Santa, they have all figured it out. And what happens?? We lie......saying " nooooo, it´s not daddy...it´s Santa....." haha, like they would buy it. This years comment was fab. Bastian, 5 years old, tells the rest of the kids to come to the bedroom where the Santa dress was hidden. He says: Look, the grown-ups have already prepared to play the Santa Game"  Wonderful!! So this year became the first year with a 5 year old Santa:)  When I was young we had a deal in the family. Everything that we gave to each-other for Christmas had to be made by hand, by ourselves. so basically I started preparing, with great love, already in march. I knitted scarves and made things in school, paintings and jewelry and everything I could think of. I will re-introduce this idea next year. It´s much more fun to get something hand and man made. Something you have been preparing and put your love into. Not only buying small things you don´t really care for. 

AAhhhhh, enough of this..... you get my drift!!

Now back to the music..........first week of January we´re back into the studio, can´t wait......

and, Happy New Year to you all!!! I will spend New Years in Sweden, but honestly, I wish I was in Brasil. I will create my own ceremony again...walking down to the ocean dressed in white, to give a flower to the Goddess of Water. I just got to know, by the way, that Meja in arabic means "Water, the bringer of life" Am I proud or what???:)

CLOSE TO COMPLETION

So.....this is the 3rd day of mixing. I´ve been here since 10.30, it´s now about 8 p.m and I´m about to go home in a few hours. I love this! being in the middle of creativity, but when it´s about to be nailed.....It´s a lovely period, when you have been writing, traveling, looking for inspiration, whether you wanted it or not, life has introduced you to several opportunities and you said yes to some, and no to others. 

Right or wrong?? what do I know?? This has been such a long, long journey for me. I can barely believe that we are actually about to end this chapter. Well, I shall not move to far ahead......there are a few songs left, but maaan does this feel great!!

Close to Completion!!!  

This might sound like a little tiny thing to someone who is not in the creative field of work. The sensation, when you really have given and shared so much of your time, love, emotion and heartache, and on top of that, you just don´t tell it to your best friends...you force people to listen to it in mini-stories with melodies to it.....

This album is like a novel of short stories. Each song has it´s own little world with hidden meanings and an instrumental landscape that is constantly changing. 

I have really put a lot of effort in writing the lyrics. I hope you will find some inspiration or recognition in them.

So many thoughts flashing thru my head, so many memories from these 2 years of constant traveling and exploring. Right now Ollie Olson, my brilliant mixing engineer is working on a song called "Waiting for the Rain" Brings me back to the bitter sweet memories of Los Angeles, during a specific period of time....Aaaarrrgghhhhh, I can´t wait to get this baby out. I really wanna share this with anyone who is curious. I really wanna share this with you. Yesterday we mixed the lovely ballad "Don´t look down" that I wrote down at the Studio at Sunset Marquis one ( a little to early) early sunday morning with Billy Gibbons, sitting in the corner with his guitar, Jed Leiber by the piano and Jeff Barry and me in the sofa creating the lyrics. 

Ohh...so many stories....too little time....or..was it men?? haha, just kidding......Gotta bet back into the studio. I´ll catch you later!!! Be Blessed!!!!

Trainspotting communication

There are a million details to capture in every moment, and a thousand new possibilities to discover more stuff to think about.):):) Any form of traveling makes me think. It´s something about the movement, about being on my way to something, or to somebody. Traveling involves a certain doze of adventure. I´m not thinking about the obvious "I´m going to Kenya on a wild life safari" trips or "let´s go deep sea diving in Australia", nope, I´m thinking of the every day traveling. On the bus, on the subway, on the......oh no!!........I suddenly got terribly distracted by reality .....not only do I have a slight hangover from yesterdays birthday celebration of my producer, (and that is totally my fault and I am not complaining) but.... this disastrous thing just occurred......the first snow just fell.  For you who loves snow and totally disagrees with me....great...you should have been here......For me, this is equal to sticking my head in to a wasps nest. You just don´t wanna be there.

Sorry about this distraction.....OK.,now focus.....where was I?  right....on the subway......there is so much happening for the first time. My favorite expression, a quote by my best friend Richard  "when was the last time you did something for the first time? Yesterday on the way to the studio I saw this guy, talking on the cellphone. But he was deaf and used sign language thru the screen on the phone to communicate. It looked really funky. A good example of the advancement of technology. 

He hung up to exit the train, and was replaced by a woman. Or, let´s say, I take for granted it was a woman. All I saw was a pair of eyes. I hate to say this, but it really spooked me. Her burka was pitch black, and gave a totally cold and almost evil vibe. She could have been a ninja fighter in the early days in Japan, or a robber with his black hood over his head running in to the closest bank. A million thoughts buzzed around in my head. I had such urge to talk to her but I just did not dare...., my curiosity, what made her comfortable wearing this garment, why? did she do it because she wanted to, or was she told to? or was that something that she simply never had questioned? I wondered if she really understood how scary it looked from the outside and for someone like me, not being used to it..... and that it actually made me feel totally uncomfortable. She sat on the seat across mine, quite close, and I found it hard just to meet her eyes. I did once, and It felt like she felt the same unease as I did. 

I smiled as I looked at her, and I can only guess that she smiled back. But maybe not, maybe she did not move one single muscle in her face. They say that you see the soul in a persons eyes. Well, in this case I found it really hard....I say it has to be a combo of the facial expression and the eyes. All the small wrinkles around your eyes when you smile, the dimples, the shape of your lips, they all reveal your story, your mood, you intention. 

Here, I was faced with nothing but a pair of brown eyes thru a narrow chink. How we greet each-other, first impressions is a form of communication as-well, sometimes without words, but left with a feeling, a vibe..... This meeting really made me think. I felt puzzled. I observed the people around me, who seemed to react in the same way as me, or just ignoring the fact to look out the window. 

A woman my age caught my eye, and smiled at me and nodded, like she saw what I was thinking. 

I really have to add that I am not taking any religious standpoints here. This is purely about my visual experience and my love for communication, and my total curiosity of trying to understand. I wish I had the guts to ask her out for a coffee, to get some answers to my millions of questions, and as I gathered strength to ask, her phone rang, and she answered. Still curious to know how you speak thru the textile and if you can hear anything on the other line. Of course she wore a headset. What was I thinking??

Here I am left with the snow outside, that will melt in 20 minutes and become grey mud, and my questions. If you are reading this, and have burka experience, or knows anyone who uses it, I am really curios to hear your story. Share with me if you feel comfortable. Be Blessed!!

Reality check.... Stockholm in November

How come we don´t talk to each-other? It always comes to mind after having spend time in Stockholm. We don´t communicate. It´s endlessly boring. I´m trying to figure out why this is. Could it be the weather? Maybe it is totally understandable that you are everything but cheerful when it´s dark outside at 2.30 pm and you constantly got the chills. You run from A to B in the fastest way possible, preferably looking down on the sidewalk, never to look right at a stranger unless you really really have to. Never, unless you just stepped on his toes, you might take a quick look, but  never to say "I´m sorry".

I have always said hello to people I don´t know. I don´t care. Maybe a simple salute can make a strangers day brighter? or maybe the stranger don´t care. The thing is....you don´t interact to much with people you do not know in Sweden. You stick to yours, because you never know....Better safe than sorry.  

I can´t recall all times I have greeted a stranger, just to get a surprised face and hearing "Do I know you?. My answer would be...."No, you don´t"  so this short conversation ends with a simple question  "So, why do you greet me?" End of communication. 

I was not made for this poor communication climate. I long for interaction. A little chat in the supermarket,  a brief conversation of a common interest on the bus, why not try to smile for a change? even though is 10 below zero. It actually works. You feel warmer in a second. 

The other day I met a group of kids on the underground. They were around 10 years of age traveling with their teacher. One of the kids, a girl, sat down beside me and greeted me with a happy " Hi!". I was just about to answer her back when the teacher, with a harsh voice commanded "YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TALK TO PEOPLE YOU DON´T KNOW" I was shocked. Not only by the words but by the way she expressed it. She sounded totally pissed off.

I just had to turn to her to get an answer of why???. Of course this made her feel very uncomfortable, having to explain herself in-front of the kids, but hey, what is that. To teach 10 year olds that it is a dangerous thing to say Hello to a stranger on a jammed subway at 11 in the morning. Her answer was simple " You don´t do it, because you don´t know who your talking to" In other words, fear was the ruler in her class..... Something might happen and it could be something bad. Could also been something good but that is not the first option. 

I take my daily power walk in a park in Stockholm. I greet strangers, I give compliments to something I like, I might pet a dog or 2. This is common behavior for me.I think people think I´m nuts. When I do my work out in Runyon Canyon, it´s common behavior, not only for me but for most people coming there. So....I forget I´m in Stockholm. Here we are not used to the "Hi" ´s and the "How are you" ´s.

 I have made a test this month. I´m counting how many people will say Hi to me on each power walk, without me having to do it first. Out of 7 walks so far not a single person has said a word. It´s awfully quiet.

I´m going on the 8th walk tomorrow morning. 

Wish me luck!

On communication, spirituality and Oneness

Spirituality......It has become a fashionable word, something that some of us strive hard for. To become spiritual persons. There are a million different options, courses and guidelines. It can become an expensive adventure...

Now, what does it mean, to be spiritual? I went to see a man called Anandagiri from the Oneness University tonight. A wise man..an interesting man,  you could call him a spiritual man. But what does it mean? We all have different answers. Some say that if you are truly spiritual you are no longer attached to material things. Some might think that living a more simple and pure life makes you spiritual. Dressing yourself in specific clothes, designing your home with buddha statues, Nag Champa incense,and crystals as your listening to a Mantra CD reciting "OM"....the whole package.(just like I have found myself doing:):) ..and there you go, You feel spiritual. But...Is that so??? Anandagiri made it very simple. He said that spirituality is growth.  Suddenly it all made sense. We can surround ourselves with all the props we want. They will not make us spiritual. I am talking from experience here....as I used to be very skeptical to people who did NOT have the props. 

I remember me going to a therapist for the first time. I entered her room and I searched for any advice to "proof" that she was a "good" therapist by being "spiritual" I did not find any traces of incense, no buddha statue, no tarot cards, no books on" how to find yourself", not even a little tiny dolphin . I saw diplomas from golf tournaments, photos from deep sea diving sessions and books about leadership. I thought to myself, this will NOT work, I want a spiritual therapist and not a golfer!  But as the sessions progressed I realized....that this woman was, and still is, one of the  most awake and advanced souls I have ever met. She looked right thru me, so with her way of being curios, asking the right questions and just listening to me, she made me see what is for me the "real spirituality". She helped me to grow. Growth is Spirituality. 

So It´s all from within us. It is in the way we communicate. It is in the way we listen and talk to each-other. It is in how we interact. How true we are to ourselves and to the ones we love. If you are a giving and sharing person, you are spiritual. You can own 10 Ferraris at the same time. It does not matter. it´s only "stuff". 

What matters is the inside of you that eventually will shine on the outside. Midnight thoughts on the big election day.....let´s hope America has "grown" Love you all!!!

a word from yours truly miss communication junkie

something just hit me......and I´m having a little argument with me , myself and I. Shall I write this blog in english or swedish, spanish or all 3? A total communication mix. I think that is the answer.  This will be an international blog. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. So, welcome to my blog.....bienvenidos al blog, se llama blog en espanol?? (shit, kan inte hitta den där konstiga modefjången på  "n" et på datorn.....:) Ja ni ser, welcome in to my brain, ehh I mean my blog.... I will try not to confuse you too much:) and in any case I will never succeed to confuse you as much as I have done with myself.  Now another thing just hit me....is there something like a translation program in this blog world? so If I write in hindi you will be able to have it translated into chinese??  A friend of mine in New York used on of these translation programs on his emails to me. It was hilarious .....I got a good laugh every time, so for humor purposes it worked fab, and for more serious matters it was a pure disaster:):) And as I´ve now written nothing of real importance the passed 2 minutes I will now leave you with a new written quote of mine, also of no real importance:):)   "trying to understand love is like catching a drop of oil in a glass of water...good luck!

Premiärblogg...hur i h......e gör man????

Jo, man bara skriver........så då gör jag väl det då. Blogga.....det kommer att bli ett sånt där ord som man kommer att spy på i framtiden.....ungefär som jag redan nu ser rött när jag hör ordet "Mys" ...det talas om att vi ska ses och"mysa" . Mysis, va mys, lördags-mys, gose-mys, myse-mys, pluttenutt-mys,........det är något i ordet Mys som gör att jag vill börja svära onaturligt mycket. Säger du mys-meja en gång till så åker du på moppo. Ett ord till och skjortan e tom!
I dag är det fredag. Det är min premiär dag för att sitta här och skriva ner allt det här blajet. Jag minns att jag hade en sk Blogg redan på min första hemsida 1995. Men jag kallade det för "Reflection of the Month" och där satt jag å skrev små tankar och delade minnen från sådant som hänt under den gågna månaden. Lits så kommer det att bli här åxå antar jag. Det kommer att bli en vansinnig massa tankar, lite filosoferande, allt det som rör sig i min lilla skalle med tillhörande hjärna, lite tips å rekommendationer, lite dikter och kåserier och säkert en drös med stavfel. Det är ganska kul egentligen, att få dela sina tankar och sitt tyckande med alla som ger av sin dyrbara tid för att läsa det. Det här kommer att bli skitkul. Om du just läst klart..Välkommen!!