My Relationship with Music

Today is Thanksgiving and as I reflect back I am thankful for all the usual things (friends, family, pets, health…you get the idea) but most forefront in my heart today is the influence that music has had on my life.

Music has been a part of my life as long as I can remember.  As a young child growing up my parents had what it seemed like lot of parties in the 1960’s and the stereo was often cranked up in our house.  My sister and I share many memories of those parties and peaking down the stairs when we were supposed to be asleep…asleep with the music up full blast..yeah, right!  From Steppennwolf, to Buffalo Springfield, the Rolling Stones, Animals, Doors, CSN, Neil Young, and CCR.  For a few years, our neighbors included Jimmy Fox (drummer) and Roland Paquin (road manager) of the James Gang.  Recently, my dad shared a memory with me… My mom was working at a store which sold music and one day she brought home Neil Young’s first self-titled album in 1968 and it blew him away.  My dad still has that album and it is no wonder that Neil Young remains one of my favorite artists! 

Then the journey continued with the various babysitters we had who turned us on to David Bowie and Todd Rundgren.   I will never forget the first album I bought in 6^th grade…Aerosmith’s Toys in the Attic.  I have been lugging that album all over with me since (19 different moves) and still treasure it.  During my teenage years I rocked out to all the hits from that era, but that was also when I was turned on to The Blues!  My step-father had an amazing stereo system with all kinds of components and speakers which were bigger than me.  He loved the Blues and I was so lucky to be able to have had that influence.  The Blues is one of my favorite genres today.

Looking back, it is no wonder that once turning 18 I headed to New Orleans.  It was a very volatile time in my life and I landed in what I consider the music capital of the US.  There, I spent 3 crazy years bartending and hanging out with my new group of friends who all were musicians/fans of heavy metal/hair metal bands from southern Louisiana: Lillian Axe (who are still recording today!), Savage White, Melange, 24K, and Deus Vult.  More often than not, you will now find my Sirius satellite radio tuned to HairNation, channel 39.

The past few years I have been totally into hearing live music again and find myself going back to my musical roots.   My sister and I snagged front row center to CSN at a small outdoor venue in our hometown of Cleveland last year and the music brought back so many memories.  Then there was Neil Young with his original band Crazy Horse, Todd Rundgren, Los Lobos, and new favorites Trombone Shorty, Gary Clark Jr., Indigenous, Plateros, Tommy Castro, and local Blues band Elm Street Blues.  December, alone, will run the gamut from a heavy metal marathon at Beachland Ballroom to Baroque Vespers at Trinity Cathedral.   

It is fitting that today I am receiving a turntable from my step-father’s bad ass stereo system.  After Thanksgiving dinner, I will drag out all my old albums and reminisce about music’s influence on my life and look forward to all the great music I will hear in the coming year!

 

Crosby, Stills & Nash

 

  Indigenous

 

  Trombone Shorty

 

A little piece of paradise in Bangkok

Flew into Bangkok late last night from Bhutan and came back to the small boutique hotel I stayed at a few weeks ago, the Ariyasomvilla.   I feel like I am at a Thailand beach rather than in the middle of a city.

I had a Thai massage at the hotel spa and am now hanging at the pool drinking a pretty blue cocktail.  

The massage was really cool. You are dressed in a light cotton loose fitting shirt and pants.  The massage is done on a comfortable mat on the ground of an open air structure with a high ceiling and fans overlooking the gardens and pool. The massage is a combination of acupressure and stretching.  I loved it so much I made an appointment for a 2 hour massage tomorrow!  

My plan is to skip the craziness of Bangkok and hang here at the Ariyasomvilla until late tomorrow night when I catch a 1:00am flight back to Cleveland via Japan and Chicago.

Cheers! 

The RENEW Center

Today was a special day.  Our group visited The RENEW (Respect Educate  Nurture Empower Women) Center in the capital of Bhutan which is Thimphu.

It is a non-profit which provides services to women who are victims of abuse.  Yes, even in Bhutan the abuse of women is an issue.  

We met with Chimi Wangmo, the executive director. She is a native Bhutanese who graduated from Yale. The purpose of this visit was to learn about all the good work happening and to make a donation.  A portion of the money we paid to ourAmerican tour company, Wandertours, is donated to this organization and we were so excited to deliver it in person!

To learn more about RENEW go to

http://www.renewbhutan.org 

http://www.facebook.com/renewbt

Bumthang Festival

It is believed that Buddhism in Buthan started in the Bumthang valley, which has the two oldest temples in the Kingdom.  

Every year there is a festival here and today we attended dressed in the native dress.  Schring had many kira and jackets from which to choose and with some help from the staff at our lodge we were able to figure out how to put these on!

The festival is only a 10 minute walk from our place.  Once we arrived the local people could not believe we were dressed in kira.  They smiled and came up to us all day.  We have not had such a great opportunity as this for interacting with the local people since we arrived.  We were the only foreigners there wearing the native dress and received a lot of attention all day...it will always be a most memorable experience  in my life.

At the festival there are native dances and we put a mat on the stone ground to watch.  We were surrounded by locals, as well as priests and nuns who were also enjoying the dancing and singing.  The most interesting thing was how the crowd was seated.  Everyone had a mat or a piece of cardboard or a jacket...something to sit on.  There were four of us on the mat we brought and we thought we were packed in tightly with the other people, boy were we wrong! Within the hour, many people came and sat around us, more then we ever thought could fit.  If there was a 6 inch square spot, someone was eyeing it up to claim.  Tight seating is typical at these festivals!

After an hour, Jan (one of the ladies on the trip) and I decided we had enough sitting on the ground and went to wander the festival stalls.  There were craftspeople from around the country set up to sell jewelry, clothes, food, and other souvenirs .  

Jan wanted to purchase a kira and jacket, which was a success.  I settled for the cotton candy! The vendor area was set up in aisles. The first two closest to the main area were selling native dress and souvenirs for tourists.  The next few aisles had western clothes for the local people; then a few aisles of household goods, then food, then games.  It was pretty muddy and we had to hold our beautiful kiras off the ground as we walked. 

After shopping we found our tour leader, Joslin, surrounded by a group of children and she had brought paints and was face painting.  Jan and I joined in and interacted with the children...it was so fun!

Later, we attended a ritual in the temple at the festival.  During the ritual if you took a small amount of currency and put it to your head and made a wish, and then donated it to the monks, your wish is to come true and you also  have good luck!  The chanting and music at this ritual was mesmerizing and I was so honored to be in attendance.  

After the festival we did some sightseeing then back to the lodge for an early dinner and a nap.  We had to leave at 11pm to go back to the festival (dressed warmly in our street clothes this time) to view the sacred naked dance performed by local men. This dance is performed to purify sins and receive a good harvest.  It is believed to be very good luck to watch these dancers and be absolved of a lifetime of sins.

As earlier in the day, we were mashed together siting on the ground with the locals.  Shring had gone to the festival early to secure us a spot. The dance did not start until well after midnight.  It started  with the building of a bonfire to keep the dancers warm.  A while later the dancers arrived, naked except for masks. The dances were unorganized and to our group looked like a bunch of young men goofing around a fire...not what we expected.  It then started to rain and we took this opportunity to leave and go back to our warm comfy beds!

Rituals in Bhutanese temples

We have visited a lot of temples. Most are located within dzongs.  Our female Bhutanese guide, Shring, knows the Bhutanese history in detail, as well as the Mahayana and Theravada branches of Buddhism

In an earlier post I mentioned that while in Bangkok, Sam had told me about how Buddhism is practiced in Thailand and how most people are not as connected to the mindfulness aspect.  What I learned from Shring is that is true and that there are two main branches of Buddhism:  Theravada, which is practiced in Thailand and Mahayana which is practiced on Bhutan.  All of the people in Bhutan are strict followers of Mahayana Buddhism.  

As we visit the temples, Shring describes in detail all the symbolism and history of the statues,  paintings, as well as the temple itself.  It is so much information and after 6 days I think I may be beginning to understand just a little.  

Sometimes when we visit a temple, we are lucky enough to see a ritual.  The rituals include the monks and a Lama chanting and playing instruments, mainly drums, bells, and horns.  The sound is mesmerizing and I recorded chanting from 3 different rituals.  Photography is not allowed in the temples.

Attending a ritual is my favorite thing so far.  Many of the rituals are open to the public and some are not.  If we happen upon a ritual while we are visiting a temple, we always attend.  We take our shoes off outside the door, then enter the temple and either sit or stand and observe the ceremony.  I have to say that my favorite ritual was one we happened upon in a small village outside of Tanaka.  

When we checked out of our hotel in the morning, we drove a short distance to a small village where Leke, our driver, lives.  The village is known for its temple which is specifically geared toward the concept of fertility.  We parked at the road and walked through the village to the temple (about 20 minutes).  Along the way there were people working in the fields harvesting rice, and wandering cows and dogs, of course.  We also saw lots of phallic symbols painted on the buildings.  This is something you will find throughout the country.  They are painted to drive away the demons. 

Once we got to the temple, a ritual was in progress. We entered and sat on the floor to observe. At first it seemed like most rituals we had seen, monks chanting and eerie music.  We were the only people there other than the monks, or so I thought.

Then, I saw a man and woman who looked American, dressed in native Bhutanese clothes.  As it turns out, the ritual we were watching was their marriage ceremony!  A really cool part was that after they were blessed by the Lama, we were able to also get a blessing from him too. 

One by one we walked up to the Lama and bowed.  We cupped our hands and he put a seed in them and then touched our head with a large wooden phallus! Really! It was so cool! 

After the ceremony we walked back through the village and met Leke's wife.  She is a weaver and works in a store there.  I bought a scarf she had made.  

As I said, happening upon a ritual in progress in a temple is my favorite activity.  I hope to see more of them as we travel throughout the country.

Animals in Bhutan

The animals in Bhutan wander as they please.  You share the road with cows, dogs, monkeys, horses, and yak.  Mostly cows and dogs.

The dogs here are so mellow.  I have never seen anything like it. Lola and Rosa are not from Bhutan, that is for sure!  They basically sleep all day anywhere they want...On the road, on the side of the road, inside the dzongs, next to the houses, on a ledge, etc... They are everywhere, but not mean and they don't approach you.  They are not pets, but do get fed.  

We have been on the lookout for the elusive red panda, but have not seen it yet.

The central road in Bhutan

We have been slowly traveling through Bhutan on its central East/West highway for the past week, from Paro to Bumthang.  We have been visiting monasteries, dzongs (forts), temples, villages and doing some hiking. This country is so beautiful.  

The highway is a one lane sometimes dirt, sometimes paved road that continuously WEAVES and  WINDS through the mountains; there is rarely a straight portion.  We are literally traveling around the mountains.  Though the road is one lane, two lanes of traffic travel the road and when another car is coming toward you, one of the cars has to veer over to the side.   It seems like the car/truck/bus with the "best" "shoulder" to pull to the side, does so. 

Our driver, Leke, is amazing and we never feel unsafe.  I have noticed that we are usually driving in second gear, so that tells you how slow we are moving because of the road conditions.  They are full of pot holes and sometimes mostly washed away due to rain.

Yesterday, we were driving East from Punakha to Trongsa.  Along the way we were passed by many members of the Bhutanese Royal Family.  About every 20 minutes there would be a lead car with flashing lights, followed by a car with members of the Bhutan Royal Guard, then a car with one member of the royal family, then another car of the royal guards.  This went on all day.  The royal family had been attending a wedding and were traveling back to the capital, Thimpu, on this "main road".  Each family member traveled alone with their entourage. Our guide Shring, could identify the royal person in the car by the license plate number.  It was pretty cool!