Tinto de Verano soaked discourse...

So it’s Friday night. Having returned from the neighbors, where I was happily force fed Tinto de Verano and pizza, I am still mulling over the disturbing issues that are seem to be invading our every waking moment. My neighbor is a well travelled South American who speaks perfect unaccented American English thanks to his many years in the USA. He knows his stuff and he understands much about Columbian US relations. Oye... Scary stuff. Very scary stuff. It’s really strange to watch his little boy pull on his ears, head butt him and in general just try to get his beloved Dad’s attention while he shares mucho information with me about cartels, the CIA, multinationals, Fidel, the rampant use of a certain white substance though out every strata of society, etc. Now he’s really good guy and not prone ranting and raving. It’s completely logical and seemingly absolutely true. Hay-zooz.

Except for the Zapatero led government of my beloved adopted country it seems and feels that everything that is legit ain’t. The multi-nationals, the oil companies, the drug trade, obviously the US government, the French government, Blair, Schroder, Denmark’s and the Netherlands swing to the right, Venezuela's swing to the left, the middle east, renewed tension in Northern Ireland, the oncoming Chinese juggernaut, the G8 conference, the London bombings, the lack of water pressure and of course let us not forget erectile dysfunction and Tom and Katie, etc., etc., etc. Puta Madre... Oh and global warming. And pod casting. The problem is all this stuff is real (well except for Tom and Katie and pod casting which both rank right up there in importance with the heartbreak of toenail fungus and post nasal drip).

So they hit the working class folks in London, like they hit the working class folks in Madrid. Why? I don’t understand, if you are gonna go for it a few hundred miles to the North there are a whole bevy of the worlds biggest wankers sitting in a swank hotel overlooking a golf course discussing how to save the officially poor poor and dancing around the melting of the polar ice caps. Why the real people?

So I heard about the London bombings and immediately got a hold of everybody I know there. I SMSed my friend Lizzy who SMSed back, “Right as rain! Thanks for thinking of us. Karen is fine and in the country. Love to the family. XOXO, Lizzy” Man is that strong or what. Brits, you are really something, God Bless You.

So what to do in the face so much insanity. Well obviously the straight and narrow is strewn with the bodies of those that thought they were doing the responsible thing. I think I’m one of those bodies. So I think the best course of action is to really jump into the scary void of the unknown. Look at real artists, musicians, dreamers and scientists. The more creative the more out there and the more out there the more popular. OK take Gaudi, I’m sure not a small portion of Barcelona income comes from tourist coming from around the globe to see the his work. Not that long ago they wanted to tear down the Pedrera (one of his most famous buildings) because it looked funny. Now there is a line around the block trying to get in from 10 until closing every day. The Sagrada Familia too is either loved or hated but all those tour buses must mean something. Look at Einstein. Look at Richard Feyman. Look at Picasso. Look at Mozart. Jeez, look at Radiohead. Look at The Simpsons ferchissake. The most watched animated TV series in the history of broadcasting is nothing if not uber quirky. So I wanna go towards the light. I wanna follow another path. I wanna not have a stomach ache because in my heart of hearts I’m doing the wrong thing. Follow love. Follow beauty. Follow empathy. I'm going to follow the lovely simplicity of my five year old. Mean people suck. There is God in Art. Less thumpin’ more humpin’. Amen.