what I'm listening to now....edition # 8

So these days I'm taking in these guys, I know it may seem a bit odd that I list who I listen to from time to time, but maybe somewhere in this list, something might piques someone's interest......

Andres Segovia
John Williams
Enya
Eric Johnson
Gangbe Brass Band
Victor LaFuente
John Frusciante
Jeff Beck
Kaminari
Lizz Wright
Louis Prima
Norah Jones
Michael Manring
Pat Metheny Group
Puccini
Sandro Albert
Tri Lok Gurtu
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Steve Vai
Salif Keita
Madina N'diaye
Jean Louis
Sting
The Roots of Chica
Shakti with John Mclaughlin
Winifred Atwell
Morglbl
John Coltrane
The Mothers
John Scofield
Etta James
John Abercrombie
Femi Kuti
Eric Whitacre
Count Basie
Meshell Ndegeocello
Billie Holiday

So when the music is coming, the best thing is to go with the flow.

I've been in a creative mood these last few months. Been recording a few pieces for my own catalogue.

I just put everything down as soon as it came to me and then I went back a few months later and edited, then mixed them all. I like working that way. Just get it all out, then tweak later.

I'm also working on a score for an upcoming documentary that will be aired here in Trinidad in September....

So I guess the main thing is when ideas come to you, put it down on paper and audio media asap, cause you never know when you might forget an idea, and you never can tell what might come out of a few random chords or a melody line.

A few songs that I'm putting up now started off in my head with just me humming a melody that just came to me. After that, I had to scramble to hook up my gear and record it IMMEDIATELY.

It was a rather spontaneous process. Had no idea what would happen next after I pressed the record button. But here we are.

Hope you like the songs

Check out 

www.myspace.com/cescomusic

Poison people

I don't mean to be dissing anyone outright in this post, but this needs mentioning.

There are some people in your life, that no matter what you say or do, they always have a negative comment to make.

There are people who thrive on confusion, on gossip, on being 'bad-mind', on having wicked ways.

These people have nothing worthwhile to contribute to anything, but can always tell you where 'you' have fallen short. They themselves have never done anything wrong.

Many of these people inhabit various groups (church for example), and while I'm not singling out anyone in particular here, I think it's important to realize that these 'drainers', these poisonous folk seek out such groups and affiliations for one thing - A forum for their malice.

They're interested in furthering their ego at all costs.

One must feel sorry for this type of person, whose internal poison has them so warped that they feel the terrible need to inflict other people with their bad vibe. And bad vibes do rub off, that's a fact. Someone has a bad vibe around you, it can sour a whole gathering.

So what's the solution? Armour up! Before encountering such a person, put on your personal mental shield, and be ready for anything. Don't listen to a thing they say, stand your mental ground and shake off all negative comments as quickly as possible.

It will do you no good if you allow that person's venom to torture your peace of mind.

Stand firm and peaceful and leave the poison within that person, give it back to them if they give it you, not with the same malice they have, but rather peacefully and with humility. In all honesty that person needs help and prayers, but will more than likely stay stuck there in their mental prison, thinking that everyone else has done them wrong, and that they have a right to be nasty if need be.

Truth is, no one has a right be mean and wicked, no one has the right to inflict someone else with their mental acid. But the sad fact is, many people are mental drainers, many people love to pass their trouble around, like a virus. And they need us, they need normal, relatively happy folk in order to carry their problems, their lies, their malice.

And all we can do is pray for them, protect ourselves mentally and shake it off and move on.

It's the only way to keep our peace of mind. And that's the most valuable thing in this world.

The Imaginary boys

There's a group of guys here that call themselves 'Three Imaginary boys', although technically there's five (sometimes six) of them. They're all friends from UWI, from the mid-90s. They all DJ the coolest blend of indie, Brit-pop, shoe-gazing music that you'll ever here on this side of the planet.

Most people here don't even know that kind of music even exists.

It's one of the imaginary boys' birthday today, so we all went to Drink Bar and limed last night. There was another DJ there last night playing disco and hip-hop. After he finished, the imaginary boys set-up and started to spin. The place soon emptied out (some folks were busy requesting soca of all things) and it was just a handful of us (the usual suspects) that stayed back to dance and sing along to whatever songs we knew.

Maybe it's the guys themselves and their love for music, maybe it's seeing how each one has a different taste and musical selection, maybe it's hearing all that music (most of it I don't know, but am always enlightened by hearing something new and refreshing), maybe it's just being around old friends and just enjoying the moment.

But man, what a great time it is whenever the imaginary boys spin.

Thanks Darren, Marc, Vin, Kemal, Vijay and Gerard for making music come alive and opening my ears to new sounds.

Forgiveness

The hardest thing to do in this life is to forgive. To forgive others, to forgive ourselves is something not easily understood.

I say that here even though I myself am now starting to understand what forgiveness really means.

We always heard that we must forgive others as Jesus forgives, as God forgives.

But we've never really been able to truly discern why we must forgive.

When we don't forgive, we hold onto thoughts and feelings that are not healthy for us in both the short and long run. When you harbor bitterness happiness docks somewhere else.

Have we ever noticed that when we hold ill-feeling towards someone, we've giving that other person power over us, over our thoughts and actions. By extension, that person whom we feel has wronged us now has control over our lives. We live our lives harboring hatred, which can restrict our mental and physical growth. All sort of illnesses can develop within us.

But if we forgive and let go, truly let go and let God be in charge, and I mean truly in charge, we're able to breathe new life into our minds and bodies, we can learn from our experiences, good and bad. And we can grow as a person.

But if we don't forgive, waiting for the other party to suffer, wishing them evil, then, all we're doing is taking a bitter pill unto ourselves hoping the other party will die.

Holding onto a bad situation doesn't make it any better, nor does holding onto bad memories or hateful thoughts doesn't make it any more legitimate. No matter how long we do it for, and no matter how we twist the facts of the case. Whether we're right or we're wrong, there comes a time we have to let things go.

I think, but I could be wrong, but I think when we forgive, we heal ourselves in the process.

I know it sounds strange, but it's true.

Last week sunday night, I saw 'The Passion of the Christ' for the first time, and as Jesus was being nailed to the cross, he shouted out 'Father, forgive them'.

I don't know any human who would wish their wrongdoers nothing but vengeance in a case like that. Do you? But here was Jesus asking for God to forgive his murderers.

Now, if Jesus who was murdered by a mob of his own people, if he could ask for forgiveness of their sings, then whom am I to withhold my own forgiveness towards others.

Who are we to not forgive?

The human condition

So I know I've spoken on a few posts about my newfound love for football. I take a lil sweat with a group of guys on sundays.

Every week it changes, some new faces, a few strangers but it's always a decent game.

One guy in particular - Dirk, who's a friend of a few of my friends, comes often. He had a bacteria that almost paralyzed his nervous system, so he can't really run nor walk too fast.

But yesterday it was just six of us, so he started out in goal and ended up as a forward. He even scored a few goals.

Nobody tackled him, but he did run and gallop towards the ball a few times. And we all watched, almost as if we were his physical therapists and he was undergoing a muscle training session to rebuild his legs and his muscle memory.

Last week, he said the doctor told him there's a possibility that he may stay this way for good. We told him not to take it on, that there's also a possibility that he will get better! We told him to think positive and who cares what other folks think. Just focus on getting better.

It was great to see him run yesterday.

Ain't the human spirit something?!

Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong | Video on TED.com

Eric Whitacre: A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong | Video on TED.com