Life is good.

• Twin Holy Days in Haifa
• Christmas in Paris with wonderful family
• CT in Verona
• Visiting family in Lyon and Amsterdam
• a bunch of other trips

= Life is good.

Excitement comes in threes

Three things providing excitement:

• I have an increasing number of concerts/gigs/festivals to look forward to for my first month back in Sydney - (Future Music, Angus & Julia Stone, Matisyahu, Gipsy Kings and Buena Vista Social Club) - Horray for the world, we're glad to be on it!
• I just discovered that Angus of Angus and Julia Stone has released a solo album under then name 'Lady of the Sunshine' - its brilliant! Click here to hear some of his songs
• It has come to my attention that none othere than the AMAZING Ludovico Einaudi has a new album, Night Book, I am yet to hear any of the songs but I am certain of its brilliance... now to get my hands on a copy!

Find your wings

You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don't.
You have wings.
Learn to use them
and fly.

~ Rumi

Pic: Source

Better this, than summing up my thoughts

I wondered what would be the worth of my words in the world
if i write them and then recite them are they worth being heard
just because i like them does that mean i should mic them
and see what might unfurl

i think of the significance of my opinions here
is it significant to be giving them does anybody care
just because i'm into this does that mean i should live like it
and really do i dare

art, art i want you
art you make it pretty hard not too
and my heart is trying hard here to follow you
but i can't always tell if i ought to

so i pondered the point of my art in this life
if i make it will someone take it and think it's genuine
will they be glad that i did 'cause they got something good out of it
will they leave me and be any more inspired

i question the outcome of the outpouring of myself
if i tell everyone my stories will this keep me healthy and well
will it give me purpose, to this world some sort of service
is it worth it, how can i tell

art, art...

(Tanya Davis)

Hopenhagen.

Today marks the first day of the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. I am lucky enough to be Copenhagen during this historic week of negotiations that seek to bring about an agreement across the world on how to target the issue of Global Warming. The city is buzzing, with thousands of people flooding into the city in the hope of being a part of a potentially significant moment in history. The success of this Conference has been widely debated and the result is still very unknown, but with time running out to make a significant change we can only hope that there will be a deal reached here in Copenhagen. As the Danish Prime Minister has said, "A deal is within our reach." Lets hope he is right!

On the 17th and 18th of December, 110 heads of states and governments will come to Copenhagen in an attempt to seal a political global climate deal. If a deal is agreed, the UN will aim at transforming it into a legally binding text to replace the Kyoto Protocol as its regulations of emissions expires in 2012. Sign the petition here:

However, regardless of the outcome in Copenhagen, further meetings will most definitely be necessary to finalise the "rules" of any new treaty. Anything done without spiritual insight is flawed, and the world still hasn't realised this. Although there is all this talk about active change and the public becoming more aware of the impacts of climate change, ultimately the world's leaders are still too focused on the economic impact of modifying the current system of functioning.

Treaty or no treaty, a new world order has to be established before any real 'change' will occur. Until then.. temperatures will keep rising, ice caps will continue melting and Australians will keep dying of skin cancer because the hole in the Ozone layer continues growing.

I'm no climatologist, or expert in any field for that matter, but I know that it will take more than a treaty to bring about the kind of change that is needed to save the world from its impending doom.

blank-screen sleep-texting machine

Andy Warhol, Shadow 1978

Could you stop haunting my dreams?

It is utterly disconcerting and,
quite frankly,
I've had enough.
Cheers.

Percussive, melodic, and rhythmic

I don't want this to become a blog solely about musical discovery and the such, but I couldn't deprive you of the musical ingenuity of Maneli Jamal. By chance I stumbled upon his song, Movement III Ziur, a couple of days ago and since then I've been hooked. Of course, by nature, I had to delve a little deeper and find out how he came to do what he does, and I found quite the interesting tale of forced nomadic movement. I will leave it for your own interest to read up on him, but I will just add that perhaps it was because of these experiences that he was able to seek out the Arts (in this case through Music) to express himself through his experimentation with the acoustic guitar not only in its melodic abilities, but the less trodden territories of percussion and rhythm.

It is not often that I buy music, but without hesitation I click on the link to the itunes store and typed in my Credit Card details - if you're interested in buying his CD let me take one step out of the equation: click here

I leave you with a taste:




"The art of music is divine and effective. It is the food of the soul and spirit. Through the power and charm of music the spirit of man is uplifted."

'Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 52

Warning: startup disk full

Prompted by a warning of a full startup disk this afternoon I began an attempt to clear some space. I started sifting through all the files on my mac. I stopped when I came across a document dated March 24 2008, the day I left the Baha’i World Centre after spending a year as a janitor in the Cleaning and Maintenance Department. Reading over it brought tears to my eyes, as I’m sure were present at the time of documentation. I just wanted to share a part of it:

March 24^th 2008

I have been on the plane now for 3 hours. I have left my year of service behind. I’ve been constantly on the verge of tears for the past few days in the constant state of anxiousness I've been in. What has become of me? Why does it have to hurt so much? I left my heart in Haifa and my soul is floating freely somewhere in Bahji, entangled in the strings that were tied one by one and day by day to that most Holy place in the progress of the year that evaporated faster than the once oceanic-sized Dead Sea. Why couldn’t those strings keep me there? Why did they have to be only spiritual? Why couldn’t I tie myself to the Threshold? Or Collins Gate? Or even the BVC jani closest forever?

But no, I will never have that again. Bahji is not mine, the BVC is not my palace, and I am not her Queen. Handed down from year to year, the Throne is passed on with no thought of the one who kept her in shape, the marble shinning, the mirrors reflecting, the glass transparent, the carpet manicured, the trash emptied, the sinks dried, the toilet paper refilled, the paper dispenser first placed, the windowsill dustless, the walls mark free! 

No loyalty.

But I will be loyal, I will keep up the esteem of those walls. The glistening cleanliness, the calm and serenity, only interrupted by John’s wise-crack comments and the hundreds of pilgrims storming through the visitors' centre as if it were their own. I will turn up every morning as the sun rises from the East, turn on the lights, in the ending darkness, pull on the straps of on my backpack vacuum and start my daily tasks, only to leave when I finish for the day, as the sun shys away into the West, and I walk down to the Sherut stand on Derech HaArba'a, knowing I will be back the next morning.

If home is where the heart is, Bahji be home.

The Haram-i-Aqdas

The most amazing sunrises and sunsets

I've never seen a bluer sky

Twenty months later, those strings are still tied as firmly as ever. And Bahji is still home.

How to make friends in Iceland

A good friend of mine went to Iceland recently and being the awesome person she is, she discovered some Icelandic music that I'm guessing most of the world is yet unaware of. One of these artists was a group called FM Belfast. I couldn't find the clip for my favourite song of theirs, Synthia (Click here to hear), but here is the opening track on their album:

Chicago has nothing on Copenhagen

Copenhagen is official the windy city.

Yesterday I was riding my bicycle to a friend's place and on the way I was constantly being blown off course (imagine a bicycle involuntarily moving in a sideways direction). But not only was I being blown off course, the wind was enveloping me from all directions, one minute it would be pushing me forward leaving no need to pedal, the next I was pedaling like an Olympic cyclist and wasn't gaining any ground. I was trying to work out what the Danes did in such conditions, so I looked around me and realised I was the only bicycle in sight.

The night was nicely topped off when I arrived home later on, only to find the massive garbage bins on my street had tipped over and shifted about 100 meters down the street, dragging about 15 parked bicycles along with them.

Lesson of the day: Don't ride your bicycle when the wind is strong enough to blow garbage bins away.

Pic: http://feverishthoughts.com/oddplanet/tag/wind/

Just a spark

An image formed in the days of time,
a mold created with no end in mind,
a formation of character unable to redefine,
a perceived persona too elusive to define.
confined by an unwitting vibe,
unaware of any impression modified,
shocked by any ensuing reaction,
unable to explain any reason or decision.

NB: Please ask if you wish to quote.

Kill all my demons

I dare not write down the thoughts that spiral through my mind. For to write them down is to acknowledge them, to be written is to make them real, and to make them real is my greatest fear.

"Kill all my demons and my angels might die too" - Tennessee Wiliams


And on another note, curse all the bands/artists I love that are touring Australia this summer. I resent the fact that you didn't factor my inability to attend your shows into your tour plans. Namely, Florence + the Machine, Foals (DJ Set), Cat Power, Peaches, Ladyhawke, Laura Marling and Chairlift. And those are just the ones I've heard about so far... Curse you all.



pic: http://community.livejournal.com/randompictures/6947490.html

I relent. And so I blog.

I was woken this morning at an ungodly hour by Jose Gonzalez singing Crosses to me, instinctively I tried to snooze my phone, but realise someone from the outside world was making contact. There was screaming in my ear. and instantly I was wide awake with the biggest smile on my face, chortling at her apology for mixing up the time difference. It didn't matter, she made my day.

Its Sunday afternoon in Copenhagen , but it feels like night settled in hours ago. Winter is around the corner and as the days continue getting shorter and colder, I wonder if I will ever see the sun shine again. But there is a beauty in the darkness, it leaves things hidden, leaves things unsaid. Leaves a sense of mystery that the sun's rays erase the moment it peaks it head through the overcast Scandinavian sky.

Let go of your worries
and be completely clear-hearted,
like the face of a mirror
that contains no images.
If you want a clear mirror,
behold yourself
and see the shameless truth,
which the mirror reflects.
If metal can be polished
to a mirror-like finish,
what polishing might the mirror
of the heart require?
Between the mirror and the heart
is this single difference:
the heart conceals secrets,
while the mirror does not.
~ Rumi (The Divani Shamsi Tabriz, XIII)