How you doin´? I´m back in the USA now! The Nordic Elegance tour part2 is rockin´ and rollin´ again. I´ve done 2 concerts so far, one in Lynnwood and one in Bellingham, Washington. Right now I´m in Anacortes, a very charming little coastal town up in the north-western corner of the United States. I had the day off today, so I went for a 85 minutes ferry sight-seeing to Friday Harbor. That´s another charming little town located on the San Juan Island. It was sure nice to get some good breaths of fresh air, some sunshine and Norwegian summer temperatures. Very relaxing and nice day.
Just to give you a brief summary of my travel so far... I came from Norway 10 days ago and landed in Phoenix, AZ where I visited my good friends from the Sons of Norway lodge in Scottsdale and had a meeting at the Steinway Store about a possible future performance. After that I went to Palm Springs (from hot to hot in other words...) and met with some other people that could be interested in a performance. But my main purpose for the trip to California was to visit professor Kevin Fitz-Gerald at the University of Southern California. I had 3 private lessons with him. It´s really nice to get some advise about how to work and develop. And as you might also know, I´ll be spending in total 6 months as a long term artist resident at the Banff Centre in Banff, AB, Canada. I´ll work hard there to try to really unleash my full potential as a human being and pianist. (First human, then musician. Quote: Edvard Grieg.) Then I´ll hopefully go to India for 3 months to get rid of any remaining ego and become God. Me? Ambitious? Hehe.
Anyway, the tour has 12 remaining concerts, but I´ll have a 1 week break after tomorrows concert in Stanwood. The reason is Labor Day weekend. I´ll go to a retreat place at the Whidbey Island to have my vacation at the lovely Earth Sanctuary. I´ve been working pretty much constantly all year, so 7 days totally off will be just fine. I´m also realizing that my Nordic Elegance program is pretty hard. It takes a lot of physical and mental energy. That´s a challenge, but a very healthy challenge. What concerns me a bit is that the attendance is generally lower than it was in 2007. This is not because of bad advertisement. I think it´s because of the economy and the financial crisis. It´s not that people can´t afford to go to a concert, it´s just that they THINK they can´t afford to go to a concert. I think that people are reluctant to go out and do things. It´s the same story all over the place according to the people I talk to. It´s a real pity, and a bit disturbing for a freelance musician. Right now I rely on attendance to get my income. If this goes on I would have to do things differently... So I suggest you get your butt out of that chair and come to the concert. I´ll give you a good experience and interesting information about Norwegian music, and you´ll give me money so I can go to India. Sounds like a deal to me. Ok? Ok.
Money is a real pain by the way. But I want it and I have to admit that. And the only reason why I want it is because I want to spend it. There´s so many things I want to do in life. That´s all! You can´t put a price tag on music, on experience.. but we´re left with no choice. Isn´t it funny? Most people agree that you can´t put a dollar mark on an experience, it could be music, arts, nature or anything else that has to do with love... life... meaning... sincerity... spirituality and so forth. But if there´s just a little disturbance in the stock market, this is the first thing we let go of. Isn´t it wierd? Do you see how f***** up it really is? Oohh, it feels good to be straight and potentially provocative :-) By the way, there´s a big difference between spirituality and organized religion. Organized religion is dogmatized, externalized spirituality based on fear and greed and it´s pretty dangerous. I see organized religion as a misunderstanding of spiritual ideas. Combine it with organized politics and you´re really screwing up Nature´s plan. I watched a stand up show by the late Bill Hicks the other day. He was a very straight, angry and obnoxious guy with the most noble and subtle ideas and intentions you can imagine. He said something about his political point of view (this was in the early 90s): ".. it´s not that I disagree with Bush´s economic policy or foreign policy. It´s just that I believe he´s the child of Satan here to destroy the planet Earth." Humand mind/Ego=fear and greed. Society=manifestation of the collective Mind/Ego=fear and greed.
I think I´ll end this blog with another quote from Bill Hicks. A rather brilliant one.
"Life is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go it you think it´s real because that´s how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round, it has thrills and chills and it´s very brightly colored and it´s loud. And it´s fun... for a while. Some people has been on this ride for a long time, and they begin to question: is this real? Or is it just a ride? And other people have remembered and they come back to us and say: hey, don´t worry, don´t be afraid, ever, because... it´s just a ride. And we......... kill those people...."shut him up.. we have a lot invested in this ride.. SHUT HIM UP. Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account. And my family. This just HAS to be real." It´s just a ride.. But we always kill those people who try to tell us that. Do you ever notice that?.. And let the demons run amok. But it doesn´t matter because... it´s just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It´s only a choice, no effort, no worry, no work, no savings of money, just a choice right now between fear and love. The eyes of fear wants you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns and close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as One. Here´s what we can do to change the world right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defense each year, and instead spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over - not one single being excluded. And we can explore space together, both inner and outer. Forever. In peace."
