life

So.

Yesterday I had two concerts.

And filmed this tv interview.

And then right now, I'm on my way to gig number 1 of the day, and second one starts at 7pm.

The second one also marks the beginning of the Christmas Tour!

Woo!

Today will be finished, and then I'm becoming human once more.

A human who concentrates on eating.

And sleeping.

And a beauty regime.

And reading.

And eating again.

And maybe walking.

Et

Cetera.

We just need to remember that every deviation from the norm - the balanced, peaceful state - is "tension".

And there can be both negative and positive tension.

Everything that affects the middle line of our energy is tiring.

And this is exactly where I'm at.

This month so far has been crazy wonderful.

But I'm really tired.

Not of any one thing in particular, rather just the body wants time to process everything and let it sink in.

So give yourself time to rest even after the super hyper mega positive things in your life.

Your system needs time to take everything in.

And so I'm going to carry on driving towards gig number 1.

Yours truly.

M.

 

perfect

This is a post about perfection.

Okay, so when I was a 5-year-old, my dad asked me why I use the word "hate".
You know, like kids do it, "I hate this", "I hate that", "I hate peas", et cetera.
So he said, why not say "dislike".
He told me the word "hate" had a lot of negative energy, for me and for others, using a word that strong, that powerful.
So I dropped it, and I don't use it.
I just don't.
I rarely, rarely - rarely - close enough to almost say "never", feel strong enough to "hate" anything, at all.
Strong dislike? Sure.
Hate? No.

I will now.
I hate this search for "perfect", or "perfection".
I hate it.
The Perfect Wedding, the Perfect Man, the PERFECT holiday, the PERFECT dress, the PERFECT hair, the PERFECT PERFECTION.
Seriously.

(.. keep going with me.)

The thing is.
To seek perfection or to seek The Perfect person or state, implies that at some point we get to stop working, and stop growing.
It implies that at some point change will stop occurring.
Therefore, it implies the arrival of stagnation.
Blissful (I'm sure), yet stupid stagnation.
Almost like a catatonic state.

The question is not whether "perfect" exists in this world or not.
I don't care.
The point is that we simply do not - and honestly do not - need it.
We don't need it.
It does us no good.
No good, at all, as living, breathing, sweating, bleeding human beings.
We are alive.
This implies not being stagnant! Ever.
Stagnation in human beings implies a flat-line.
No heartbeat, no blood pressure, no cells growing, and renewing.
Perfection makes us strive for a goal, an end-point, when we really should have two eyes focused on the journey.
This magical, awesome, brilliant journey.
Also called Life.
There is no "perfect", there is no end point.

There is just the boundless giving random-ness of the great Universe kaleidoscope.

Perfect has nothing to do with it.


It's like this phrase: Picture Perfect.
But you know what? It's also un-alive.
And I come at this as someone who has the highest regard for the art of photography, photographers and photos.
I really do value it as an art and respect it, but real life?
Real life is not picture perfect.
This endless talk about - this looks perfect, and that looks perfect.
Fine for selling something, an advertisement, or dolls, and of course snapshots of our memories.
But we cannot be Picture Perfect because we are alive.
And that is magical.
And I don't see why anyone would ever want to change that.
Change the magic of being alive for giving into the hunt for this rigidity.

We are alive, so alive.
Perfection cannot be duplicated.
Maybe newborns are perfect?
Maybe the fact that the sun rises and sets, is perfect?
Maybe flower-like frost on a window, is perfect?
Or maybe laughing till you cry with friends?
But it cannot be manufactured.
It happens.
Maybe it exists after-all.
But to chase it would be certain death for the living cell.

It just Is.
We just Are.

So let's just Be.

Yours truly.
Love and light, as always.
M.

endless

This is one of my favourite quotes, potentially ever.
Ever.

“So therefore I dedicate myself to myself, to my art, my sleep, my dreams, my labors, my suffrances, my loneliness, my unique madness, my endless absorption and hunger - because I cannot dedicate myself to any fellow being.”
- Jack Kerouac


Just this, in all of its honesty.
The hot and cold of this quote is just staggering.
And the thing is, we all have this. This endless absorption and hunger, for life, for new things, for seeing and seeking our personal truth.
Being like a hungry, hungry sponge.
We all have this.
And it should be able to run free.
This personal hungry sponge.
Free and wild.

Happy sponge, guys.

Yours truly.
M.

brute force

Simon Keenlyside

Lets start with saying, this is an opera singer.


what
a
lovely
man


During school holidays he spent time as a warden with the Royal Society for Protection of Birds. As a teenager “I knew most European bird songs”, he says. Went to Cambridge, studied Anthropology, played rugby, then final year, changed to Zoology. Whilst doing his post-graduate singing studies, indulged in his love of running.

When he’s not singing he enjoys anything zoological, diving, walking, drawing (good doodles), painting and fly-fishing. “Travelling to places like Australia and California, I get the chance to see things that no one else except David Attenborough would!” He has a farm by the sea in Wales where he plants trees, digs ponds and encourages the wildlife to flourish, in his own words, “leaving that tiny little patch a little bit better than I found it”.

Oh, and of course, he is one of the leading opera baritones around, in the world, right now.

YES.
M.

human mind

the human mind fascinates me.
what tips us over, you know
what gets us over the bridge
and how random it is
having said that, i think the genders are hugely different here
either way
it's fa-sci-na-ting.



"why are you so blonde"
"why must you be so blonde"
"why do you have to be so blonde"


and we will never look back at the fading silhouette

Inside the Actors Studio is making my late-night.
M.