THE BROTHERS ARE GONNA WORK IT OUT !

Goodbye Fall Semester 2007 of the godforsaken ECES program in Praha! It was over before it began, it was all a blur the last few weeks. After the Chemical Brothers concert on Nov. 26th it all spiralled fast and was quite awesome to say the least. From Nov. 26- Dec. 14 , I probably went out as much in that 2 week period as I did in the 2 1/2 months prior. I haven't even written about the Chemical Brothers Concert. Here goes!

Bratislava, Sibemac Arena,11/26/07 WE ARE THE NIGHT!
- this show i have been looking forward to since about June when I knew I would be in Prague in the fall and CB would be in the neighboring capital in Slovakia. Things seemed desperate , as per usual no one wanted to accompany me to this concert for one reason or another. Olivia agreed after scraping up pesos concerting to euros, czech crowns , slovakian crowns! The price was a little pricey but do-able! $ 70 for the ticket and $30 for the roundtrip bus ride to Bratislava. Olie and I arrive in at noon so we can have the whole day to explore Bratislava, the famed area where in Hostel tourists were kidnapped and in Euro trip you live like a king for a few dimes. Well it was neither, a quaint little center, Christmas markets about like in Salzburg. Very dull and no selection of pubs and bars like we are used to in Prag, the slovakian crown is only a bit lower than the Czech crowin thus everything was still pricey. We overpaid for below average beer after I spent about 2 hours looking for a bank that would allow me to withdraw money from a teller without my atm card since I was still waiting for mine in the mail after my wallet was stolen at the Florence bus station when Jen & I were going to Karlovy Vary.
The sky was fluroscent, clouds like Alice in Wonderland we messed around took pictures, followed the basic for a day tour in Olivia's guidebook. It was only 4 and apparently we had walked through the main historical sites and streets in Bratislava, nothing special AT ALL. We finished the anti climactic tour and decided to find this Sibamac Arena. After being told wornf directions at least thrice we stopped at the mall to ask someone. "Take the bus back 2 stops" We waited for the bus and finally a cute Slovakian decided to help us , probably after he heard me whine in English. He was excited wanted to practice his English, he had seen the Brothers in August when they played Prag, fuck me for missing that. He led us to the stadium, in reality a tiny venue. We would never hd found this place ourselves, off the main street , down a one way dimly lit alley , if you will. We asked him where we could get some candy for the show, he said ask someone inside. This is where things start getting a little shitty, not counting the 1.5 hours of quasi- ecstacy when the visual where imprinting themselves in my brain,blowing up my cranium- the blue eye was blinking furiously and Do It Again euphonous beats played in my cochlea.

I've seen it pumped electric
Oh my God, what have I done?
All I wanted was a little fun
Got a brain like bubble gum
Blowing up my cranium

All insane

Take my face and take my drug
Hold my bone up to the sun
Bang my drum and paint my face
On my plane to hyperspace

Slovaks pregaming outside, its dark, dank fog emanates from peoples mouths, some of it smoke, some breath. We run to a mini mart to pregame- I think we bought some vodka to split, we are quick to drink since we cannot bring the bottles in. Olivia is ready to roll, the trunk of the car is ideal! Or not! As she dexterously begins, the wind sweeps everything out of the paper and all our weed is all over this random car,s trunk, ok so we are a little messy but we r drunk and sooo exicted that we finally made it to Bratislava. I am so grateful that Olie let me drag her on my riduc journey. We gather the remnants of the weed and rush to the show. We decide to finish rolling later, now we will try to find some E. Olie asks these guys and they respond in exasperation and shock. " NO , we are clean!" OMG what kind of people are these? Is this a fuckin Chemical Brothers show or what!

Im getting into the dj opening stuff and Olie goes to the bathroom to roll us a joint. As soon as she leaves it gets insanely crowded, the Brothers enter the stage, the green streams of jagged light flood the audience, flashes of pink light bounces of everyone faces. Hands and fist waive in the air, in my face, short little me cant see very well behind these taller Slovaks. I wait ,I dont move becasue Olie should be back soon. Then I realize that the crowd is so dense that she will not find me afteralll! Im lost, oh crap my favorite song, I begin to search for Olie always remaing somewhere enar where she left me! Shes gone! I get direty looks from these Slovak, the rest are jumping, knock into me. I start to worry, bad. Olie has my bag, all my shit, money and cell phone. WHat if I dont find her, wtf then? OK i chill I enjoy the songs, although I widh I could already find her. The visuals include neon orange robots- FADE out - oranage cockroaches scattering up and down with a black background. The light show is sick, green strobe rays penetrate every dimension and the fog between it creates a harddrive jungle ecstacy play land. Then a clown with yellow teeth laughs and looks at me with insidiuous eye, yellow whites! I decide to get closer to the front, some Slovak girls grill me and push me and start saying shit in Slovak to me. BUt then I see her, Olie! In her 80s , tight fitted hoodie sweater with neon ribbons streamers! We hug eachtother and start jumping, OMG OMG! We start to enjoy the show finally! The blunt is ready and these tight ass, square Slovaks yell at us and shake their heads when we smoke. Fuck em! We dance and jump! It felt great to finally be there, to have this goal accomplished. Higher, higher HIGHHHHHHHHHHH-er... no finish. Where is my orgasm? Nihil!The stage booms with silver blair! Boom, the stage goes dark! Its over!!!!!!????
The lights come on, stage crew began to unplug stereos and pack up eqipment! WTF! WE cheer for the brothers to come back! Oliva yells at the top of her lungs, with her Mexican accent." Hermanos Chemicos! Una otra, una otra" We realize this was the end! Just as we started to enjoy it and finally founjd eachtoher. Im a little upset, I really,really wanted to hear Where do I start, Where do I begin, this song, was what got me hooked in the first place!
We start to talking to the sound guy and complain about why they ended so early. I came all the way from NY , Mexico,Prag! His name is Ricadilly, like Picadilly, he says that he has been with the Brothers for 10 years and they dont really need to be doing this anyways! Also the ghetto arena has a 10pm curfew! Oh man.( We have the whole night ahead us- our bus doesnt leave till noon the next day ) The security guards are kicking everyone out. The arena is blue and silver, I'm dazed,drunk and sweaty and want more! We stand behind the stage and Ricadilly offers us some wine, and invites us backstage! WOOT! We met the Chemical Brothers!! except we didnt even know it. We went for the food and booze first, guacamole. The Chemical Brother who always rocks the dark shades - Tom Rowlands sat on a couch across from us, we mingled in a small circle and met some others... these blonde German, press or whatever media bs bulshit reps started speaking in German, we stood there completely left out from this Deutsche exchange. Then it was time for them to go, they had a show in Bologna the next day... it was the wee old hour of 11:30pm ... I started to feel anxious like what the fuck were we supposed to do ALONE IN nightime BRATISLAVA 4 the next 14 hours??? We didnt know anyone or know any places to check out.
I was so thankful to Ricadilly, he said to friend him on myspace and said he could hook us up for VIP passes for the summer tour! WOOoT!! I met ( sort of ) the Chemical Brothers. Well now I know Beth Horton is the angelic, passionate and sensual female vocalist in Where do i start, where do i begin!!!
OK so we started walking to the bus stop, according to reccomendations. It started to storm as we walked. 10minutes pass, 3 inches of snow on the ground, wind wind windd long abandoned streets. We bundle and keep walking. Then we see a taxi and tell him to take us to some joint we were reccomended.

We had some fun dancing in this bar, then we met some weird Slovakian guys , while we dance with them . He whips out his id , which identifies him as police! Wtf. He goes I am police, we today we are friends. creeepy! They buy Olie and me some rum and cokes. Mine tastes pretty nasty and i get this weird feelings like i should have my guard up and be extra cautious. I felt like Oliva might be too drunk and it might end up being me to take care of shit tonight. My head throbbed and I needed to get away from the loud bass, we left this place and walked toward this bulding behind the white trees. The cold was so refreshing and clear, i needed it to soberize myself. It ends up being some university housing for a nearby college. Its broken and the cafeteria has broken glass all over the floor and some passed out men, def. not student age. We start talking to these Slovakian boys who are deranged... "Bratislava is better then Prague" he responded after we said how we enjoy studying in Praha...
The next few hours suckkkk -

Its only 3am by now and I rush out of the cafeteria place to vomit- except Ive never vomited this much in my life. For the next 5 hours I vomit every 10-15 minutes. I was so exhausted I had nothing left but bile, then amidst this projectile vomiting, head pounding chaotic pain, head smells of that funky rum and coke I realize i must have been roofied- those Police Slovakian guys?? It had to be, after being a human vomiting machine for hours I was sure because the last time I felt this chemical taste, those motherfucker. I had only drank a little but it was enough for this.
I felt so alone and Olivia and I started argueing, where would we go- the boys she met invtited us to their place but i was this vomiting nightmare and i didnt trust anyone. Lets cab it to the bus station... so we did.
5am-6am we are passed out and sleeping but the guards wake us up eachtime we doze off, apparently there is a law against sleeping in bus stations.
Fluorescent lamps above, putrid, tinsel and jolly decorations, a red bus turned coffee shop to our right- time goes so slow. I finally stop throwing up!

I really just want to get back into my bed in Prague. Olivia probably regretted coming to the concert- we are out of money and she discovers that her cell phone is gone- what a shitty night. Then I get an idea that maybe we can exchange our noon tickets for earlier ones. Its 7am now, people begin to populate this forsaken bus station...This ticket exchange ended ebing a bad idea b/c they took our tix and returned half the money- we didnt understand! Customer Service and asking to speak to a manager in Eastern Europe - neither exist. SO now we dont have a ticket back to Prague and not enough cash to get another one. they stole our ticket we knock on the windows and they tell us to fuck off!!
Olivia was about to freak out, we hated Slovakia at this point. Collectively, we had been robbed, roofied and cheated out of our ticket home!
We jsut barely scrounge up enough crowns to pay the bus driver after waiting for an hour in the cold for this bus. One woman threw us a few crowns and anothers, then witht the student discount we finally can get new tickets! I was so relieved not an atom in my organism could bare remaining here for another moment.
Never was I soo happy to see Florenc bus station in Praha , walk across the bridge to Malostranska climb into the futon bed in the Kolej! We had survived!

Uz Jsme Doma album poetry ( we are already home- Czech band )

words are slugs
they are slow and leave a trail behind.
words can also be rain,
when it rains during the day
there are sunbeams mixed among droplets
and a person gets wet and warms up
at the same time.
there are too many words
and that is why each of them is important.
If it happens to rain at night,
words are in tuxedos, dont forget about that.

-------------------------------------------
Photography is PAINTING
with LIGHT
manipulating the tangible
burning in the intangible

developer meets the blackness
fixer meets white
blacken the hues
omit the cues
don't give in,
even if you lose
Magnet beginnings,
silver endings
silver linings
Starting beginings


Where do I start,
where do I begin
at the same point of deep
breath
passion
feelings
feelings of passion
A brink, a swig
broken twig
cymbals dash
jingle /jingle
symbols flash
faster
faster
ominous
Together
Sneeze/ Bark!

OMG OMG OMG hyperventilation, oncoming anxiety attacks, my conscious leaking out of my ears and meandering thought with very few places to go. The program ends in 2 weeks! I cant believe it! It went by so fast! These 3 months feel like 3 weeks... And now I am in pursuance of extending my stay here. Im still on 90 days traveler's arrangement where no visa is necessary but then they can track me down. So for the holidays I will visit Anna, who i stayed with in Kiev. I wish she lived in Italy or any mediterranean temperate climate, but alas i will travel into Kiev whilst the temperatures are freezing, there is already piles of snow there for the past month and here I arrive with my thin NY blood.

So i was registering myself on the travel.state.gov website for my so called protection as a US citizen also I was inquiring if I need a visa to ukraine, apparently not since im staying less than 90 days. So after i registered myself on the Bureau of Consular Affairs I got this message in the end. It was interesting to read the rhetoric of the government, the "ongoing events", the blameless, innocent third person as though events transpired of their own accord, " US interests in multiple regions, at least that is not downplayed, but ambiguity and fear are injected into the whole text. BEing outside of the US allows for this new perspective, that we truly truly embody the big stick diplomacy, it has never subsided in the least since the beginning.
AMerica the beautiful... ok the end. I still need to finish my paper on Josefov synagogues, the 1389 pogram with 3,000 Jews slaughtered and I must find a place to be for the month of January after my Kiev visit, cant over stay my welcome. I will spend New YEars there and then maybe hit up Berlin? Then i can crash at Domshke's for a few days until i can go back to the Kolej once the new semester starts up. Coming home for one hot minute would be a big tease, i think I will opt out even though I miss certain people dearly. But a part of me misses nothing at all. What/ Who was there ever to miss?

" This Public Announcement updates information on the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against Americans and interests overseas. This supersedes the Worldwide Caution dated October 11, 2006 and expires on October 9, 2007. The Department of State remains concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks, demonstrations and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests overseas. Current information suggests that al-Qaida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics to include assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings and bombings. Ongoing events in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East have resulted in demonstrations and associated violence in several countries. Americans are reminded that demonstrations and rioting can occur with little or no warning. "

I

theres no real reason

look up look down
there is dog shit all around
( Word association inspired by this Golden city, accredited to Olie who felt this pang of inspiration at Pavla's Nova sin performance)

today it feels like this

One two three four

Wakey wakey
rise and shine
it's on again, off again, on again
watch me fall
like dominos
in pretty patterns
Fingers in the blackbird pie
i'm tingling tingling tingling
it's what you feel now
what you ought to, what you ought to
reasonable and sensible
dead from the neck up
because im stuffed, stuffed, stuffed
we thought you had it in you
but no, no, no
for no real reason

Squeeze the tubes and empty bottles
take a bow take a bow take a bow
it's what you feel now
what you ought to
what you ought to
an elephant thats in the room is
tumbling tumbling tumbling
in duplicate and duplicate
plastic bags and
duplicate and triplicate
dead from the neck up
guess im stuffed, stuffed, stuffed
we thought you had it in you
but no, no, no
exactly where do you get off
Is enough is enough is enough
I love you but enough is enough, enough
a last stop
There's no real reason

you've got a head full of feathers
you got melted to butter

- IN RAINBOWS

there is no path to follow

Tonight I was visually devirginized! MINdfucked! I saw my first David Lynch film- Inland Empire, and what a sweet 3 hours mind orgasm it was. SO strange i need to watch more, We finally made out to Aero in Zizkov, it was wonderful. No better way to spend a rainy, mildly cold Sunday night than this way. We spent the day fiming for Pavlov's project and I was taking pics in Letna Park again by the Metronome. It was finally a sunny day, seeing sunsetis rare, Sunshine is rare, i dont think its been sunny for over 2 1/2 weeks, withdrawal!! Then we stuffed our bellied at some restaurant in Hradcanska. Mmm I finally ordered grilled salmon, i havent had fish my whole time here! Soo damn goood and this Gambrinus never tasted as well either.


So i need to go back and update my backpacking trip which im starting to forget details from. Ive been thinking to much. So basically i actually might be staying in Prag for another semester. Its not completelt finalized due to the abnormal levels of douchebaggedry coming from the Stony Brook end, and I have to deal with SUNY New Paltz as well. But if I have a chance to graduate here in Prag why not take it. God willing if Stony accepts all the credits trandfered over then theoretically i can finish the Spring Semester here and go back home in May to graduate? Ofcourse nothing will be that easy as pie for me, never is so I have to wait and consult with an advisor, but Stony has neglected me its hard to get their attention via email, they just dont answer or transfer responsibility to New Paltz, monkey in the midddde! This program/semester went by so fast, in 3 weeks, less even its over. It sucks because a lot of people are leaving. i dont know if i should live here next semester or find a flat with Olivia. the thign is that the Program fee already includes housing, so paying doublefold would make no sense. But do i want to live with a fresh influx of wideeyed Americans looking to party cheap in Prag? Not exactly... but then again I need to meet new people for next semester... So manyy issues.. im currently in a brain fart state, dont know exactly what framework to deduce all the factos with to get the right answer. As much as I despise MAth and never truely understood its essence I wish there was a set theorem so i can plug in number, I could find X! Cant fenagle that now, this sucks people are leaving that I like and who will be left. I still dont know if im making the right choice.... but I will take each day as it comes. " THERE IS NO PATH TO FOLLOW! "
Tommorow is ChEmical Brothers in Bratislava! We are finally going, I have been planning this since the beginning of the summer!

A few shots from the trip last month!!

Munchen Cathedral





Olivia & I with our couchsurfing host Dominik- Salzburg, Oct. '07



Reichstag Glass Dome

hoodedhooligan owl eyes

Matrix last night- Zizhkov the so called bad part of town, too many Roma?
too many highschool dreadlocked kids, green streams flashed - broke into pieces paired in flashes
across my arms,
on Allison's face, the eyebrow ring winked in the strobe light

the visual looked like two owl eyes
cajooing, hooting into the room,
made of smoke the pupils movedfrom side to side,
then the eyes coalesced together,
reverse mitosis, the fusion of owl
eyes.

The everyone danced to their own rythym you could tell who was hearing the
slower reggae bass, it was smooth and required downward spiral movements
The eletro techno beat was running over it, cutting it swiftly, they coexist.
I sway slow because that is whats in my mind.

Jsem Martin, Jak se mas?
my czech is bad I just smile and stumble on a few words
We pass around the bubblegum pink waterbong.
on the left hand side.
all around the leather booth we practice our non czech skills with these dread kids

Dominik doesnt dance , i tease him about always going to Blind eye
he proposed once more.
Chip tries to get acid from the kid.

"17:00 456-876-678, Martin"

he leaves this information on my old tram ticket.

I realize my wallet is gone, the yellow velvet pouch.
I had just started to replace everything from my last wallet stolen the other week.
Thank god i left my keys at the front desk at the Kolej.

That motherfucker! In the red hoodie wearing a hat!
I ran after him i corner him half way up the stairs toward the entrance
and i start giving him a pat down, front pockets- nothing
back pockets no yellow wallet, i was starte to think for sure he had handed to a friend
in the time that had elapsed.
" Do you have something that isn't your? Because now would be the time to give it back"

The kid looked nervous, eyes evasive and looking in all directions, soo sketch this made me even more confident that he did in fact jack my wallet. People began to stop , thinking i was trying to come onto this kid
a few hearty howling, sounds were made . No wallet still, he had his hands up proclaiming his innocence and that was that.
SO i give uo and walk downstairs to Chip and Allison, in our booth a moment later Allison ducks under the table and resurfaces with my yellow velvety wallleT !! SAA_WEET! Im so happy that its back, I dont even care that I harassed this poor kid who was a victim of my careless drunken sordid state! Oy vey! Maybe a little douchey but he was acting super sketchy...
That weed had to be chronic or hash that bubble gum pink water bong- sickk man.

So we finally leave Matrix, Im starting to sober up. As we are transfering at I.P Pavlova to our traim I see some drunk kids frolick on the ground. They cant seem to get up, it looks like they are laughing on the ground. As we come closer we realize its in fact the opposite its this one guy laying on the ground getting the SHIT kicked out of him. It must have been one of the most gruesome instanced of someone physically deformed from street violence i had witnessed. The guy on the ground had his eye sunken into the socket from repeated kicking and bashing, broken glass all over his face drenched in blood. There was blood on the ground up to 10 feet away. A girl who was probably the guys girlfriend was frantically hysterically crying and shouting at the skinhead who was beating her man. I dont want to assume this was racially motivated but the guy looked like a skinhead and ever since the Neo Nazi March on the anniversary of Kristal Nacht, I have been hearing about more and more skinhead crime. But this guy, omg he looked scary. His bald head glowed, juxtaposed to the night and around his mouth was a ring off blood, it looked like he was a messy vampire, had just sucked blood and was too in ectasy from the high to wipe his mouth of.

This wasnt the worst part.
The worst part was the reaction of the police.
That was my first thought, wtf are the fuckin corrput ass Czech Po-po?
Well we ran into them, a male and female officer, they casually strolled to the crime scene.
During their leisurely walk to the fight, the skinhead got in a few more vigourous kicks at the guys head, good jolt up his brain a bit b4 the cops come. I watched in complete shock how the police stood so close before the guy stopped hurting the other one. No rush, no fuss, no adrenaline rush please. Maybe officer Jana and Petr had a different agenda like getting coffee and this was rudely interupting them. Then the skinheas stopped and they all stood around the body on the floor. We has walked away by then. Next thing I see is an ambulance, the lights are flashing blue and white- sound, its going like 5mph, great reaction time, in true Czech fashion. Then we see the skinhead pass us while we wait for the tram, bloody still and yelling , mumbling something.
How many laws did that just break, I can't even count. Not arresting the agressive party, letting them walk away from the crime scene? What the hell? The police report will reflect all these errors. Moral of the story- dont get your ass kicked in Prague, the police hardly give a shit, maybe they jsut see this shit all the time, I dont know but it really shirks me to see this apathetic, non emergency, unurgent reaction by the so called justice system, its even worse for the Roma...
The kid I was getting with before also was attacked after a bar by 6 skinheads, not as bad as the other guy, he only suffered a black eye and broken nose...I wonder how much goes unreported or misreported better yet.

Our Itinerary:
Praha--> Wien
Wien--> Salzburg
Salzburg--> Munich
Munich --> Berlin
Berlin--> Praha

BAckpacking adventures! Woot! Shit i cant fucking believe it I went backpacking literally! My not so low maintenance self squished a weeks worth of clothes and some redundancies of course into a tiny backpack, not even the full backpacker one but one half that size. It was me and my girl Olivia, a sweet girl from Guadalajara easy going,potsmoking, silverjacketwearing,picturetaking wonder. All we had is a one way ticket to Vienna on Student Agency bus company. It was only $13 to get there. So we start off without knowing anything, I mean anything . All we knew is that we had a hostel for two nights in Wien and then a couchsurfer by the name of Dominik in Salzburg for the rest of the week we would play it by ear.

Olie and I arrive in our hostel that we share with Drew and Jen, they hadnt come yet so we set out to eat our disposable non perishable food which include caned sprouts, spreadable cheese- Laughing Cow ofcourse and Juice box wine. We get a nice buzz and then Jen and Drew arrive after a short detour to Bratislava since they missed their stop. We are soo pumped that we are in Vienna we smoke and head out for the night. We walk along the Danube river , the city resembles Prag with the river running through it. We hang out at this warehousemetalspraypainty joint- Flex its big and filled with beer and loud bass. We drink some and then we leave to another place that this guy leads us to. He is not cute and tries to sell us weed, we still have our own, we say no, then he goes on a rant of how Wien is infested with rats and as he says this i see one run by. On the bus ride to the next club he explains how he works by testing toxic chemicals on rats. So basically every other word out of his mouth is rat, and he looks like one too, we are high and start cracking up on the bus. We get off and we are at the famous ferris wheel - the Wiener Riesengrad! I wish they had this club in Prag or at home the music was 70s funk and mod beats. We fell in love with the DJ who looks like the hot French actor in Unfaithful- the mysterious book seller!
In the morning we all go to the main square to explore, its really cold so we walk around and decide to go to the Museum Quarter. Leopold Museum= Egon Schielle and Klimt. We didnt see the Kiss though, but i did fall in love with everything Schielle had. Next we went on a hunt for a real Viennese dinner and that means Wiener Schnitzel- pounded pork- so its super tender in a breaded encompassment! Mmmmm. We finaly found a place and that meal was amazing , it was the Stiegl microbrewery, candle lit and i still remember how good my schnitzel was- best 12 euros spent! We looked up some clubs to check out but due to our lameness aka poor navigational skills and an impending case of food coma we went back to the hostel. We smoked and started playing cards. My new thing was this - Olivia who has a Spanish accent soudns incredibly funy to me so Im laughing like crazy at her every comment, i need to record what she says bc its hilarious and i regret that i cant for the life of me remeber what it was. swissss cheeese. O man. you have to be there, and be me , and be high lol. So that was out night in Vienna.
We tour Schonbrunn- the palace of the Royal Family- Franz Josef who Drew displays an uncanny resemblance of( there will be a picture ilustrating this) and Maria Theresa and Cici- Elizabeth . This is also the place where Congress of Vienna was held and Mozart gave his first performance at the age of 6. The pictures are beautiful but the day was drained and void of brightness. But the Schonnbrunn terriotry is amazing , we didnt even have enough time to see the labyrinth since we had to catch the train to Salzburg.

Salzburg:

At the Age of 20, you feel like vomiting all day

The John Lennon Wall!



One of the classes I'm taking, which I dont have enough is Alternative Lifestyles and Culture taught by Pavla Jonssonova. She is this ex underground punk rock singergoddess nymph! . She is beautfiful, spiritual, free, into alchemy (wtf) and my new role model. She ruled the 80s and now she teaches, sings writes poetry, writes articles on cultural analysis of anything so called alternative. She was on the panel at Forum 2000 for gender and peacekeeping, sitting with dignataries and ambassadors from South Africa, Sri Lanka, etc. The reason for this description is simple, I like to write about her. Pavla knows individuals from this amazing band from back in the day and many of our assignments are related to this Musical Era. So the 1980s in czechoslovakia is said to mirror the US in the 60s, all new bands were emerging, things were stirring, bands were passionate, things truly were underground in the Iron Curtain. One of these new bands are the PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE. They started up in the 1960s, this hippie band did covers of the Rolling Stones and the Doors and then started their own stuff. They are electro jazzy funk love, Frank Zappa and the VelvetUnderground esque as well. One of our assigments for class was to go see them at a concert.( We came late and missed them!) So they started to become big, but were constantly harrassed by the Communist Regime. The concerts we disbanded, records confiscated and burnt! Its crazy, imagine you are going to see your favorite band play with some friends and them the fuckin Popo tell you that you can't because this artist is promoting disruption of the Socialist homeland! What the fuck man! So these Plastic People decided to create a commune in the woods and their woodcutting products would finance their musical equipment. They played weddings of friends since that was the only instance where state involvement was minimum also the wedding would be used a guise for them to rock out. The secret police had found out about this through an informer so they arrested the band when they played a giant Festival/Wedding party in 1976. Intellectual dissidents protested against they arrests and the prison sentences that followed,this is when the band became politicized. After an average 1 year sentence, the group was not able to perform in public again. The state run media depicted them as deranged alcoholic untalented beatniks. By 1989 they could play for the president Vaclav Havel who led the Velvet Revolution and they played Irving Plaza in 1998! Here are some lyrics from Egon Bondy, the singer

Twenty

At the age of twenty today
you feel like vomiting all day

But those that are forty of age
have even more to spew at that stage

Only those that reach sixty, senility at hand
can go off peacefully to slumber land
--------------------------------------
Toxic Chemicals ( Toxika)

I am the victim of an addiction
a mania for all things toxical
it could be an affliction
but instead its rather comical

I drink beer, I pop pills
still I hardly sleep at night
come morn I'll sell the empties to get some bills
Julie will help me with my plight

----------------------------------------

Early Bird ( Ranni ptace)

The Early Bird
gets the worms.
I will kick it
till it squirms
--------------------------------

My Country

Just like a kiss from a queer
my country gets up my rear
it chews me over in its gums
as I walk around feeling dire
in the public baths with no attire
-------------------------------
One hundred points ( 100 bodi) my abridged version

They fear painters and singers
They fear the free flow of information
They fear to let people out
They fear to let people in
They fear the left
They fear the rights
They fear the agreements they signed
They fear tommorow morning
They fear today and everyday
They fear the future
They fear the past
They fear what they said
They fear what they wrote
They fear jokes
They fear the talented
They fear Marx
They fear Lenin
They fear the truth
They fear freedom
They fear democracy
They fear Human Rights Accords
They fear socialism

So why do we fear them?

Time goes back

The more time I spend in Praha the more I think of my family.My stay here is strengthening my connection to my family and myself . I realize how I resemble different family member and it makes me happy. Its different thinking about them compared to when Im home, distance gives me a new perspective . Like for instance I keep having random thought when Im doing something that it is in such a manner that my grandmother would do. Ofcourse I was conscious of this before but now I really appreciate it . Its like they are here and I think what would mom say about his goulash mess in the kitchen, quick wipe it of the stove before it becomes increasingly hard to rub off. Or I left my makeup on the kitchen counter, Mom would chime in thats not a place for this stuff! But thats just surface stuff. I like to think how my granpa would react in certain experiences I have . I realize that all these years i dismissed my family as dysfunctional. It is infact ,this dysfunction that I can love them so much. I guess to really understand one must know my family history.
I though of dedushka when we were watching a screening of Jan Weiner's"Fighter". Jan Weiner is 87 years old and is a famous man. A local Czech legend as well, may a bookstore carries his book "Muj zivot" -my life. And frankly im honored to have his class 20th century history. First of all let me say that Jan Weiner has an amazing story, witnessed his father commit suicide as war began. Accused of being a British spy during the war , after he was a flyer for the Royal Army. As a result served 5 years in a hard labor camp working in the steel mills where he lost most his ability to hear. After the war his mother and sister had perished in Nazi concentration camps. Not to mention all the anti-semitism through out the years. In a scene from his life story He went to ask for clothes and asked for 4 pairs of shoes, the attendant replied , "Dirty Jew you wont even wear out one pair by the time they are through with you!"

The scene that reminded me of grandpa was one of levity, Jan and his friend are taking vodka shots. Ofcourse Jan's friend had his shirt off. I immediatley imagined Dedushka in the backyard on Brighton 11thst, he always hung out in just shorts or boxers. And when Slavic men drink, it means businesss! Shirts must come off! to prepare for the impending rise in body temperature and just to feel natural, free, masculine and happy! Na Zdarovye! To health! My grandma would always bring out watermelon in the summer , i celebrated my 7th-10th birthdays there probably pizza partys in the shabby little backyard a mere 20 feet from the train line. This is where he taught me how to play Dominos, Durak- a card game, grandma would give me old toys to play with little plastic green army men and little cars, i think these were Dima's old toys. I think of Dedushka so really he is still sooo alive! And my love for him perhaps even stronger. Now when I think of him I feel good instead of coming to tears. At home they are choosing a gravestone for him. I want the grave to have a noble etching of his portait when he was in his 30s-40s. I realize he died young , 77, Jan Weiner is 87! Still walks with no assistance, save that of a cane, is married to a 67 year old teaches history and his biogrpahy to a over 75 college students and has film students recreating a scene when midway through a game of chess his father tells 17 year old Jan that he has decide to commit suicide. Some of us are meant for more epic lives, the simple ones at times persist to be among the most commendable. Its hard to gather my thoughts, they seem to always be on shuffle a playlist is hard to make in my head. Mercurial thoughts but good ones.

Letna park, skateboardingcabrons and Tulip cafe! oh my!

OK so im officially likehow do you say in english a - pothead? All day I've been smoking , its finally 2am and it has come to a stop. We frequent Tulip Cafe way too much... how can you not when the only thing standing between you and a nice toke is Saying to the bartender one Gambrinus and 2 grams. The girls and me went to the Letna Park today where skateboarders attempted to spit a big loogie at Olivia and VA,missing ofcourse that cabron pedo, dickhead. Then he asked his friend of the accuracy of his shot and his friend replied you missed man too bad. But yea this is where the Metronome is, it used to be a high lookout spot , where Lenin's larger than life statue rested, You can see all three brigdes at once the Legi bridge , some one i dont recall the name of and ofcourse Charles Bridge. This statue was destroyed in 1990 and now its some sort of punkskateboardinggrafitti filled haven. So we went to a little flea market, many things were made by patients at a local mental hospital. Olie and VA got these amazing lamb wool knitted funky bags for 10 crown each! Around 50 cents! I got a little funky velvety yellow zipper pouch/coin purse to house my ipod and phone. Content with our purchases we went to smoke, it was the perfect time to do so too, the sun was beginning to set and the clouds looked flirty, devious and tranquil... Then we walked back I watched the sun glare off the metal tram rails embedded in the cobble. Then Olie goes i feel soo
" COMFORTABLE" she always says this meaning she feeels divinE! aka fuckin high as fuck!
Mmmm we went grocery shopping at Alberts and we cooked some bad ass pork and stir fry! We headed to the Globe to play boardgames! The globe is expat owned so the prices are high but you cant beat non stop scrabble, cards, trivial pursuit and chess. I hereby prnounce that I know how to play chess! I could never say this until 3 nights ago! So this kids from Cali taught me how to play and he was patient and all with my mistakes since Im borderline retarded in that department! So i will make not now that nothing will happen, nothing good at least since he lives in my building. All i KNow is that night at the Globe I was so turned on by him. In between moves, we made eye contact, eye fucked a bit, and then I watched him stir his espresso, the spoon slowlytueing clockwise, dispersing the grains,invisibble grains. He licked his lips a little meanwhile. At that point I had to restrain myself just a bit... He helped me with my moves than and now, but claimed I was pretty good and kept up an interesting game for a beginer. He has long curly hair, shoulder length. Then we walked back to the Kolej, nothing happened. The next night we went on a walk toward Petrin Hill, we passed a nunnery monastery where they were making a fire. We passed the German embassy and we just talked. On the way back he hopped on to a huge statute of Jan whats his face ( everyones name here is Jan or Jana) founder of Prague or something like that he pulled me up because i was to short to get on myself. I sat in between his legs as he was sitting indian style, it was nice... holding hands. Then he gave me a massage which was well needed since the beds here are basically futons, cushions.
Later that night we went to a medical party his friends invited to at a club - PM... everyone was Indian from the Uk and from Butswana, we danced on the black and white checkered floor after having very displeasing mojitos. Then me and him started dancing , it was weird, I dont want to say it was devoted to the inebriation but I felt so good dancing with him. Our movements immediatly sychronized and I fit into his arms, his back - so broad he used to be on the football team. Then as soon as we made eye contact we had to kiss. So there we were making out on the dance floor. He is officially the first person I hooked up with here and it was quite a nice first. I love braiding his hair he is so California oh another funny thing he has a weird fuckin roomate . This kid wore an orange camouflage kilt and an ornage plaid shirt with an orange cap to this club. We ducked by the bar so he wouldnt find us! So that was this weekend. Im trying to plan the Berlin, Wien, Budapest trip Im soo excited ! The break is coming up in 2 weeks and I feel comfortable , with or without the assistance of some weed...

The 23 arrived promptly as I exited the metro at Malostranska, i got onto my favorite part of the tram the end where you have a giant window to gaze out of. The jingle of the tram signaled its movement and we sailed off. I hoped for a shot of the metal tram lines in the cobblestone with neon lights from cars behind us but indeed it was too dark. Some guys from an overhead bridge waved and i put my hand to the window to say hi. Thats when I kind of felt at home here. Praha feels like home, i could potentially live here. It has that city vibe without being so stressful and strangling as NYC. I could be an expat, perhaps one day... I even juggled around the idea of taking my last semester off from college and staying here. But I probably do not have enough balls to do that, although I like to pretend like i do...
So the tram took a turn , long u turn around this rose bush garden and if you look outside the window it feels like the tram is off the tracks and its freely skidding, whizzing around like a sled on fresh snow. The idea of derailment! YES!
Yeaa... so this weekend we went to Petrin Hill, by the eifel tower looking structure. Its a beautiful park and this is where Tereza walked Karenin in unbearable lightness of being, everyone is reading it now for class. This was the very park where Tereza dreamed she was going to be executed when she could no longer bear Tomas' infidelity. Maybe thats why I feel like Praha is home, the feeling of deja vou, teases, the walk in Petrin did not seem new. It felt like I had been there before, like I had seen the graffiti before and seen the rose gardens, the children on pony rides... I like the feeling of home on another continent, the world is not that big. I like it this way

endearing euro idiosyncracies?

The oddities of the modern European: ( list should be updated soon)

1. Body Odor runs rampant, most noticeable when one is on close proximity to others on the metro, Mustek or Muzeum stop!

2. The floors here include floor -1, and Floor 0, There 0 floor is our 1st floor- so it gets confusing

3. Despite the 5inch thick hefty cobble, sometimes half a foot in length with deep abyssmal crevice between cobble women sport the thinnest stilletos. I suspect they had a course in highschool to in conjunction with home economics class

4. Praha loves its dogs, and these dogs run all over without leashes, doxens and furry labs!

5. Their fashion seems like a hyrbid of the 80s and early 90s, very Hasselhoff, denim paired with denim, etc.

6. They have awesome street art, stencil graffitii is big, or stickers since grafitti is taken extra seriously here. Hardcore jail time for desecrating any structure so artists place weird toys on facades of buildings or sticker them up.

7. Hair color, PDA : All the kids here have such funky hair! I love it, little punks and their girlfriends are constantly making out

8. No flip flops, but here socks with sandals is a must

9. There's no such thing as an alcoholic- recreational drinking! Pubs open as early as 10am, they even serve Gambrinus in our school cafeteria and McDonalds! Sa-weeet! The only difference is in degrees, you'll order a decatka, 10 degree beer in the afternoon and somethign stronger at night, dvenatska, 12 degree.

10. Animals at the zoo are way more liberal, my roomate saw some Hyena sex and incestuous monkeys- Father on son action

11. They adore dairy and especially yogurt, There are as many diff type of yogurts here and new emo bands that sprout out of LI ;TESCO may be the mecca for yogurt lovers, 3 aisles of different brands to be exact, right now im hooked on Activia with pieces of Grain inside

12. Pickled everything! They pickle their sausages too, you can get a whole jar full

13. People are pretty quite on the trams, face forward unless there is a rambuncious group of Czech youth who pregrame on the trams.

WORK MAKES YOU FREE / The secret Jewish prayer hall in Terezin

Trip to Lidice, Litomerice and Terezin and Umela Hmota @ Vagon!

SOoo this nite I got 3 hours of asleep! The night before we went to Chateau Rouge for Latin dancing. There was a Cuban band playing downstairs, and things got sweaty. A lot of people we fucked up so they kept dropping their beer glasses, this place really should introduce plastic. So in the style of an authentic Jewish wedding, glass incessantly broke through out the night. I was struggling to dodge the shards of broken glass. Afterwards we went to this American bar across the street. This blonde guy played acoustic guitar, all trite American songs like Sweet Home Alabama. Then we requested Brown eyed girl!!! YEAAA.
SO it was 3:30 am by now and our dear 22/23 tram line stops running at midnight so we had to wait for the 57 for 40min in tru Brooklyn style. I gotta hand it to the local Czech women for still rockin stilletos and heels because I nearly twisted my ankle in heels, the cobblestone is not merciful!
3 hours later we got up for the trip to Lidice, a town that was destroyed by the Nazis in 1942, it was razed to the ground, all that remained was the door of their former Church, which was on display at the museum. Their was a big picture of a school picture of the children of the local school, 2 weeks later they were all taken away in trucks and gassed. OUt of the 100 children in the town only 15 survived, the ones Aryan looking enough that were sent to SS families for Germanification. Their was a video of the letter they wrote from the concentration camp asking parents for food and warm clothes. Outside was a memorial statue for the kids. It portrays all of them, different ages and is beautiful, beside the statue are toys that people bring to them. The site was also newly renovated and revered because after the Communist regime, people interpreted such sites as part of their propoganda, they took credit for the memorial when there was no affiliation to it. Then we went to Terezin. It was a small fortress but actually a whole town that served as labor camp. People constantly died from the horredous unsanitary conditions but when the Red Cross came for a visit to do an evaluation, they gave it a favorable review. For the 4 hour visit they spent 2 hours of it having lunch with the SS and didn't even look inside. They published a review saying that the Jews were looking to have such a nice place, they should be grateful to Hitler! There was even a propaganda film made where this little boy says that he likes it and doesn't miss anything, a week later he was gassed. But this town was creepy b/c its a modern day functioning town outside the fortress with just a population of 2,000. The fortress inside was designated for political prisoners, we came to Gavrilo Princip's isolation cell. He assasinated the arch Duke Franz Ferdinand and since he was not even 18 he couldnt be sentenced to death. He was given life but died of TB 2 years later. The trip was good and it reminded me of Yad Vashem in Israel, there are so many memorials and gravesites. Its disturbing to think that in 50 years there will be more for the victims of Darfur.

We got back at 6ish. We went to Tulip Cafe with Olivia's friends, expats Kyle, Tony, and this German chic which I later elbowed in the face by accident when we were dancing! It has never been easier to get weed. You go up to the bar order a Pilsner then just say how many grams you want. The bartender kneels down and resurfaces with a blak bag full of ziploc bags! 250cz a gram! niiiice! So we chill there then we went to Vagon! This place was awesome. We came in to see this sickk Czech band called Umela Hmota! ( accent mark on the e! ) Plastic Matter in English! The lead singer was in his late 50s , hair as hell, rocked out with no shirt. He wrapped the mike cord around his neck like a noose and blurted out random angry Czech lyrics whilst singing the same note on his harmnonica. It was so bad it was good. That one harmonica note was hypnotizing! The key boardist was soo hot. He had long Rapunnzel like shoulder lenght hair. And he was soo high, he kept on making this weird faces. The pseudo Ozzy singer roared and the only lyric we understood was komrade which means friend. The headbangers in the crowd wore 90s grungeKurtCobain sweaters or flannel Ts. It felt like a time warp, everyone seemed to have long greasy hair. When they finished their set, Rapunzel blew me and Olivia a kiss we melted so we wanted to go up 2 him and say hi. But then this girl jumped on him and they made out and dry humped for a few minutes. haha. then the screen started playing 90s metal and rock. Pearl Jam, Metalicca, Rammstein, Beck!!! They played Give it AWAY !!! and i never get a chance to dance to my Peppers anywhere else. This was one of the best nights so far second to the ill train ride to Ostrova where we kept out heads out the window the whole time and drank wine! Im going to the Opera- Carmen tommorow and Vagon is having an RHCP cover band on Wed.! WOOT!

This is currently my screensaver,my images will henceforth be much less pictaresque since I cant stand postcard imagery, stock photos almost, but I had to since im still in awe of my new surroundinds and thankful that im not in NY!

the town of a 100 spires

The praha blog, as I consciously affirm will likely both end and start here, perhaps to some form of resurrection in the near future. My typing must be furtive and cadenced for a roommate sleeps less than 3 feet away from my bed. Praha is amazing cold literary, smoky, cobblestoney, thronged with tourists, checkered in Czechs ,tramvajs , Ahoj! The post communist revolution? Has the culture really changed? How! How not?
Today I got stung by a mysterious creature while attempting to pose for a picture on a giant life size chest set, in the Pilsner Urquell brewery. Middle thumb stung like a mother for a few minutes. Swoll up red, swoll for the whole day, I hope Im not poisoned horribly… I have been reduducing my peronsality? Am I too negative, socially inept, blocked from attaning emotional connections, too dry in humor, sarcastic? I think Im not funny … like lately I feel like my personality has been drained? Did I get a lobotomy when I wasn’t looking at some point during the summer. I used to be quicker on my feet, wittier, refer to knowledge faster in an applicable way. I don’t know…. I ve felt slightly uncomfortable in my own person, perhaps because im in a new place… Its alarming since I have been happy with me, in that department for a while… but I crave some sort of reaccessment and pray to resurface in a flourishing state. Its like this Nietzsche quote.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." -Friedrich Nietzsche

By the way I spell "Nietzsche" write effortlessly thanks to a paper I wrote for my friend on Nietzsche sophomore year. 15 pages worth required incessant mention of Nietzsche.