Optimus Alive '12/ I am fuckin' crazy. But I am free!

"When the people I used to know found out what I had been doing, how I had been living- they asked me why. But there's no use in talking to people who have a home, they have no idea what its like to seek safety in other people, for home to be wherever you lied you head. We have nothing to lose, nothing to gain, nothing we desired anymore- except to make our lives into a work of art.

LIVE FAST. DIE YOUNG. BE WILD. AND HAVE FUN.

I believe in the person I want to become, I believe in the freedom of the open road. And my motto is the same as ever- *I believe in the kindness of strangers. And when I'm at war with myself- I Ride. I Just Ride.*

Who are you? Are you in touch with all your darkest fantasies?
Have you created a life for yourself where you're free to experience them?
I Have.
I Am Fucking Crazy. But I Am Free."

( excerpts from "I Am Fucking Crazy, But I Am Free" monologue extracted from "Ride" music video by Lana Del Rey. All rights reserved to Lana Del Rey, Interscope and her producers.)

Lisboa...a place in the sun

Like a long lonely stream
I keep runnin' towards a dream
Movin' on, movin' on
Like a branch on a tree
I keep reachin' to be free
Movin' on, movin' on

'Cause there's a place in the sun
Where there's hope for ev'ryone
Where my poor restless heart's gotta run
There's a place in the sun
And before my life is done
Got to find me a place in the sun

Like an old dusty road
I get weary from the load
Movin' on, movin' on
Like this tired troubled earth
I've been rollin' since my birth
Movin' on, movin' on

There's a place in the sun
Where there's hope for ev'ryone
Where my poor restless heart's gotta run
There's a place in the sun
And before my life is done
Got to find me a place in the sun

(Stevie Wonder, A place in the sun)

 

Swimming across the sky

I wanna go with you...

"Where have you been?
Where are you going to?
I want to know what is new
I want to go with you.

What have you seen?
What do you know that is new?
Where are you going to?
Because I want to go with you..."

( Chris Rea, The Blue Cafe)

The Portuguese breeze :)

It's such a delight to return to Portugal... I stepped back in time, namely 5 years ago, and remembered that this is the country where  I've discovered the pleasure of being surrounded by happy people, sunny weather, unforgettable friendships....enjoying life, traveling, going to concerts, all of these make life worth living. I've recharged my hopes and I pray THIS portuguese breeze would stay with me many years from now. With my arms wide open, I share this "blue marine energy" and wish you all a great summer! :)

London: Black & white Camden

"All In White"

Break me on the thirty-seventh hour

Tout me, doubt me, show me all of your power

I will watch you rise on my back from the ground

Friend or foe?

I don't know

Do you like what you've found?

I will one day shine with you

I'll shine on a faithful few

Show we 'low quotations

Have you earned your stripes?

Fabricate salvation

Lord, I know your type

I've known you all my life

I was always wrong, you all in white

Brush my cause aside with little trouble

Oh my god, I think I'm hearing double

I will watch you rise on my back from afar

Friend or foe?

I don't know now you're up in the stars

But I will one day shine with you

I'll shine on a faithful few.

(The Vaccines, "All in white")

 

Vienna: The first of spring :)

"There's a cloud

A blue sky darkening

That veils the light of the sun

And foretells the rain

But there's a bird

There are birds

And some are singing

To greet every new day that may come

Like the first of spring

It is cold

It is cold

I've had the feeling

At the heart and in the core

The root of all things

But there's a bud, there's a bulb

It will be blooming

To greet every new day that may come

Like the first of spring..." 

"Tracy Chapman - Spring"

London: Somerset House

Amy Winehouse's last residence

It was somewhere around Christmas when I felt I should finally go to Camden Square 30...Amy Winehouse's last residence... I've been following her evolution and listening to her music since early 2007, secretly and selfishly wishing we'd benefit from her talent for as long as could be.
It was around 3 P.M. and the air around her house had such a nostalgic magnetism about it, a lively one! As I was looking through the messages people left on the poor tortured tree in front of her house, I've noticed the lights from the buildings around were on...the Christmas trees inside and... all in all, time moving ahead, while in my head it stood still...Her house, painted so pretty though, was the saddest around the Square and that solitude haunts me still. It's different than that feeling of losing a friend, especially because the way I  relate to music has nothing to do with reality.
In this book I recently read about her, I've found a girl living in her world, always wanting to save people who needed  to be rescued and who lived the music she was creating. For Amy, writing a song was like "cutting an arm off".
It's such a shame that people around her were afraid for her safety for some years, and still, she was found dead alone, in her home, after 6 hours and 5 minutes, by her bodyguard... 6 hours in which time moved on, without anyone wondering a single thing about her...

I left Camden that evening, but Camden Square 30 remains an address where a piece of me remains, in her honour.

"You hear them call your name

From your room

Far removed

Don't let 'em use you in, every way

Stay unchained

Around and round you go

They'll never know, what you've seen

Why have you turned away..."

(Mark Lanegan, Museum)