I Got The Juice

In Spanish, we use the word Jugo to mean 'the juice'.  The Juice gives you power.  When someone is using steroids, we say 'he is juiced up'.  But I get high on mango and guava nectar.

In the 90s, I began study of music and martial arts.  I like both playing the guitar and rolling half guard.  I started guitar lessons in 1995 and grappling in 1998.  Hobbies are what you do because you want to do it.  If you start between 8 and 15, by the time you are in your late twenties, you will be a young master.

I could easily teach music lessons and Aikido lessons.  But my main career is in graphic design.  But that is something I do for the money.  If there was no money involved, I wouldn't even do it.  But I love the money.

Both music and any kind of combat sport or martial art is based on your innate body type and personality.  The way you play the guitar is an extension of your innate being.  I am strong and slow with energy and agility in the fingers.  So I play melodic rhythm on an acoustic guitar.  And I have a speech impediment so I must write simpler lyrics that say more with less.  John Lee Hooker was below average everything, and yet he was determined to make something of himself.  And he did.

In combat sports and martial arts, it is the same principle.  Kickboxing is for people who are strong and fast and aggressive.  Judo is for people who are strong and slow and have endurance and know a bunch of funky techniques.  Grappling and MMA is not my style.  There is also traditional stuff like Karate and Aikido.

So I do not believe you can teach one size fits all.  You must analyze what the student is like, what is style is, and what is appropriate to him.  One man's trash is another man's treasure. 

Even in diet, there is on thing appropriate to this man, and one thing appropriate to another.  It is not one size fits all.

So I like music and martial arts because it is big on long island and it is a happening scene.  Kickboxing is very popular, and there are lots of bars in long island and New York City.  I have played guitar at coffeeshops and restaurants.  And it feels good to play a guitar in front of people and pretend I am Chuck Berry on steroids.

So what I am trying to say is, your style is unique and you must express yourself before you are dead in the grave.

Changes

You will find that you cannot outdo your genetics.  You often resemble your parents and have some of their characteristics.  That is why people are proud of their heritage, it defines their identity.  Racial characteristics are very real, and that is why people in America are sensitive about race and gender.  They think they are this and you are that and so we area different.  But this is an artificial distinction.  Race and Gender can change within one's lifetime let alone within many.

I have qualities of my mother and father.  I wasn't raised by my birth parents.  I knew I was different from the people who raised me and different from the people I went to high school and college with.

Overall, I am a Portuguese Jew.  My father is a Latino and my mother is a kind of Jewess.  I also have Native American heritage in me.  I am not a Caucasian and I am not an eastern European Jew.  

I am entering the last phase of my life.  By 40 or so, you are middle aged.  Most people live only 80 or so years, so 40 is mid way through life.  A good Hindu sees that there are four phases of life, and by the third or fourth you should be preparing for the end.

The ideal life is where you start in nutrition and health, then get a career skill, work, retire, and spend your last days meditating on the meaning of life.  To die with contentment is victory.  Yoga is a heroic religion where you win salvation.  It is the real Christianity.

So in my 40 or so years, I went through a lot of changes.  By the time I was a young man, I was a zen immortal, a hunchback, and a musician.  And now in my middle age, that is all I am.  Life comes full circle.  You end up where you started.  The things you do and experience during your lifetime don't really amount to anything, they are just experiences.  That is why rich people are stupid, they want to accumulate possessions when it is better to accumulate friendships and relationships.  They are worth more.

I want to enjoy my time and play more guitar.  Music makes me happy and my music is a combination of music and poetry.  The chords are music and the lyrics are poetry.  It is fun to write a new song.  When I write a new song, I write the chord progression first and then I add the lyrics.  My last song was Song of the Maccabbe which is about the spirit warrior of Jewish mythology.  It is my swan song.  

This world is worthless and you can only grab so much joy from it.  There is a process of life in that you are born in waking up, you go through changes, the sun sets, you enter the nighttime of beings, and then you fall asleep in death.  Your dreams are your mind in the bardo and you are reborn the next day.  So all men and women identify with Osiris the Sun God.  That is where religion comes from.  It started with Osiris, then the Jews innovated the Law, and then Christians synthesized it with Jesus, which is a kind of Jewish Osiris or Dionysus.  Hindus know religion is a kind of mythology from the subconscious and are not stupid. 

I don't mind dying.  I have nothing left to live for.  Music makes dying easy, it is the sound of emotions.  So the best thing I ever did was learn to play guitar.  I have been playing for 25 years which is a quarter of a century, and I feel my music is better than the music of the past 20 years.  I liked Kurt Cobain and felt he let down a generation.  

So I am content.  I am living in a different town now and I like it.  New York City is an important part of the world and Long Island is its suburban neighborhood.  The real estate is expensive for a reason, it is desirable.  Many people live here and work in the city.  And when I drive on the highway during rush hour, I feel bad for the working stiffs who need to spend an extra hour each way sitting in traffic.  The life of a worker seems unnecessary.  It is better to stay local, be less ambitious, and spend less money.  It is possible to live a better life with less money.  Money isn't everything.

So I am learning to like technology less.  I have a couple of acoustic guitars, a notepad, and a drawing pad.  Technology ruins everything.  You think it makes your life easier but it actually enables you.  In every stage of life, technology ruined humanity.  The Industrial revolution made us go from farm to factory.  The car is just a portable bed.  The guitar was the instrument the Twentieth century.  The telephone prevented us from leaving the house.  All new techonology is used for pornography.  And the computer and smartphone made us mindless masturbation addicts.  My life had of been better had I not become dependent on the smartphone and computer.  And driving prevented me from getting out there and meeting people.  

So when you help someone, you are actually belittling them, and when you teach them how to do it for themselves you are empowering them.  It is like that saying 'give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach him how to fish he eats for a lifetime.'

I have been through all the changes in my life and I learned all the lessons.  I can just enjoy the party til I'm done.

The Changing of the Guard

Life is not the same way it used to be.  I was a teenager in the 90s and even then things were getting crazy.  I was depressed in high school and was suffering from disbiosis so I would go like a zombie through school, sleep in the afternoons, and watch MTV all evening and night long.

I didn't accomplish much.  But I can't complain.  I had lots of friends in high school and I gained a lot of talents along the way.  I was already fully formed by 1995.  

By the 1990s, music was changing.  The Grunge Rock was a reaction to the fake music of the 1980s.  These guys were rockstars who didn't want to be rockstars.  This is a bit of a paradox.  I want to be a rockstar and I am not a rockstar.

I feel the music of the past 25 years was crap.  There are a few songs here and there, but I feel my music is the best.  I started playing guitar in 1995 and only started recording albums in 2017.  So for over 20 years, only local people heard my music.  

It was going to a native american festival on long island and being scared by two native american bullies that inspired me to write a song.  I have never seen such fearsome men in my life.  Native Americans do not need to go to karate dojos, they are karate.

So I went home and learned to play a John Lee Hooker song in open G tuning.  And from this I expanded my style.  For a long time I just played boogies and simple one chord tunes until I discovered a book on Chuck Berry and his guitar style.  It wasn't just about his songs, it contained a breakdown of his guitar style, and this influenced me profoundly.

So I went from John Lee Hooker to Chuck Berry and later I incorporated elements of Jimi Hendrix and Robert Johnson.  In recent years I discovered Lightnin Hopkins and he is now my favorite musician.  Watching Lightnin sitting alone with his guitar playing the blues is the most entertaining thing.

So I feel the music of the past 20 years was crap.  Even the actors are crap.  The new generation has nothing going for them.  They are more fit and more good looking and yet they have no talent.  When I see birthdays of celebrities over 40 I am happy, because I understand longevity is merit.   I don't even like people under 30.

The human lifespan is such that by 30 you are past your prime, by 40 you are middle aged, and by 50 your health problems begin.  Life is very short.

So I see this generation as pathetic.  People born in the 40s and 50s are called the Baby Boomers.  People born in the 60s and 70s are called Generation X.  And the people alive now are the Millenials.  The Baby Boomers were wild and free and tried to change the world.  Rock n Roll was a great invention and there was some good in it.  Generation X was in doubt and questioning itself.  They were rebelling and depressed.  And this modern generation is a joke.  All they know is technology.  The computer became popular in the mid 90s, the smart phone 10 years later.  These labor saving devices ruined everything.

In general, technology ruins everything.  The only reason Europeans could conquer the Americas was because of guns.  Native Americans are better warriors, wrestlers, doctors, lovers, and artists.  But the spirit medicine didn't protect them from the bullets.  Most European men suffer from microfallus and cannot punch straight.  So saying survival of the fittest is bullshit.  Native Americans are warriors and would rather die than be slaves.  They were either killed, died by pestilence, were relegated to the reservation, or were intermarried with the white man.  

When Malinche slept with a Spaniard, she was not doing something evil.  She knew she would give rise to a new race that would save the planet.  By nature, a Latino is part European and part native American.  The word Latino is synonymous with Mestizo.  Mestizo means 'mixed race'.  

There are four primeval races, and the Latinos are the fifth race.  And in Native American mythology, there is the prophecy of the five suns and the five human races.  This is the fifth sun, and Latinos are the best people.  

It turns out that art and mythology is not a waste of time.  It is simply using creativity to solve your problems.  I spent my whole childhood studying art, mythology, music, nutrition, and the books I read about judo inspired me to train.  I led a good life but didn't accomplish much.  

So I look at the world with a heavy heart.  The world is not improving.  But a spiritual man knows as one door closes another opens.  The cycles of life, death, and rebirth repeat.  That is the symbolism of trinity in Christianity, Cetlic paganism, and Hinduism.  It is a scientific law.  Every day, the sun rises in the East, goes down in the West, goes through the underworld, and rises again the next morning.  

So I know rock n roll music is kid's music, but it makes me happy.  I am simply going to live my days out in peace and play guitar. I feel I am the last great musician and the one who saved rock n roll.  It went from Chuck Berry to the Beatles to Elton John to Billy Joel to Kurt Cobain to yours truly.  There were great acts here and there in the past twenty years but I feel I am better.  The money is not the issue.  I released 6 albums in three years and my life is great.  I feel so happy to know people are listening to my music and think I am cool.

When I play music, I try to sound like Chuck Berry had he never invented rock n roll.  I go from Chuck Berry backwards to blues and jazz.  He tried to combined Rosetta Tharpe's sound with T Bone Walker's guitar and write lyrics that appealed to the mainstream audience.  So my music is rhythmic and soulful and bass heavy.  I use simple chord progressions and melodic rhythm.  I like my own music.

So I feel I saved rock n roll music.  It is a secular gospel music for modern times.  Chuck Berry was a skillful criminal who executed a plan to manipulate the youth market.  And I took his genre and made it about spirituality and emotions.  So I am a kind of musical rebel.  The meaning of life is Tikkun.  To understand your innate shortcoming, to correct it, and come back from defeat.  I used to love streetfighting, free sex, and listening to rock n roll.  And then I realized this is kid's stuff.  Nobody gets free sex.  Nobody fights without weapons.  And rock n roll is a music of angst and frustration and rebellion.  It is ridiculous for thirty year old men to entertain 15 year olds and manipulate their emotions.  The Beatles suck.

So it is the changing of the guard.  The only good thing about the world now is there is more music than ever.  But there is also more mental illness, technology, strippers, unwanted pregnancies, and violence than ever.  I don't like the modern era.  But what can I do?  

These are dark times.  But all I can do is enjoy my time on earth and be at peace.

Looks and Money

I feel compelled to write this.  Women these days are hard to please.  In America, they are very demanding and expect a lot out of a man.  They want looks and money.  If  man doesn't have a full head of hair, a six pack, a 6 inch cock, a 100,000 in the bank, drives a nice sports car, has a freakin day job, etc... he is not a contender.

I don't like high price women.  I feel all women are losers, and the best women are humble losers.  By nature, any man is better than any woman.  And there is no such thing as a transgender.  Amongst primitive creatures like Portuguese fighting fish, there is cases of males becoming females and females becoming males.  But this is amongst simple animals.

The mythology of Hinduism is based on science.  The first avatar was a simple turtle like creature in the primordial waters.  The last avatar will be Kalkin, the preserver of Truth.  Some say Buddha, the 8th avatar, was an evil incarnation of God who taught wrong religious views like no soul and no reality.

The meaning of life is simply to keep living.  If you want to die, you are a loser.  That is why suicide is considered a crime in the USA.  You are mudering yourself.  Sex is about carring on the genome.  Self Defense is about survival and victory.  Eating is about nourishing yourself.  The root chakra oversees food, sex, and aggression.  That is where you start.

But as you move put the chakras, you end in the crown chakra.  This governs enlightenment and being in touch with the universe.  

Women want looks and money.  Nobody gets free sex.  The reason why high school girls fuck for free is that they live in their parents home so they don't pay rent money.  The reason why children fight without weapons is because their hands are slow and they want to prove their better.  And kids listen to rock n roll because it excites them and makes them want to dance.

I don't like American women.  Most of them are overweight, they are fake looking, they are conceited, and they are deceptive.  In a society where you must hustle to make money, sex is a commodity, and the more beautiful you are the more valuable you are.

But I value different things in women.  I like sincerity, humility, honesty, self reliance, and courage.  These are not typical qualities in a woman.  Most women have no courage and are not honest.

I don't go to bars because that is not where the fun is.  The worst fighters, lovers, musicians, and chefs are at a bar.  I can beat anybody in any bar in new york city.  I am a better musician than anyone in current pop music.  I possess a ten inch cock.  And my home cooking is better than anything I ever tasted at a restaurant.  They use extremely low quality oils and salts in restaurants in order to maximize profit margins.

What I am trying to say is, Reversal is the Movement of the Tao.  People compensate for what they don't have.  In a society where you must be number one or nobody, you talk like you are number one but in your heart you know you are nobody.  This is called the Active compensation mechanism.  You try to pretend to be what you are not.  The reason why I never leave the house is because I don't like the world.  My home cooking is better than restaurant food.  I enjoy playing guitar better than going to a noisy nightclub.  I want peace and feel threatened by punk ass dudes in baggy pants with the hat backwards.  I make friends with anyone around me.  I am a quiet homebody.

I don't like the world.  I don't like most women.  I see no value in money.  I see the TV as being fake ass bullshit.  The world seems to be an illusion.  When you realize the world is an illusion, it doesnt affect you anymore.  When you become conscious, you can solve your problems.   

So I do not like American women.  If I visited Europe, women would approach me at the metro station.  European women are much more easy than American women.  And Christianity died in Europe in the mid 19th century.  They don't even pretend to have morality anymore.   You can see pornography on the newstands in France or Germany.  But America keeps its integrity, that is why America is better.

So I do not want to travel to Europe or Africa.  I just want to stay local and get to know my little corner of the world.  Long Island girls are all pretty good.  They are fit and toned but a bit overweight because they eat too many cinnabons.  But country will grow.

So I must learn to manipulate female psychology and win dates.  Most women are strippers and pornstars.  They just don't walk around saying it.  Most people over 18 have tact and restraint.

I love fighting and keep my integrity til judgement day.  The more danger there is, the more excitement there is.  Because crisis means opportunity.  When there is chaos, there is a chance to both win and lose.  So if you stay at home all day, you accomplish nothing, and if you go out and try, you are bound to win one out of ten times even if you are totally random.

So I will enjoy my home life and strive to improve my position outside the home.

Meet Me At The Bottom

If you are really honest with yourself, you know we are all suffering and in doubt.  I have problems just like you have problems, but most people are interested in gain in society, and hide their problems behind a veneer.  I am more honest and blunt and have nothing to hide.  I know this doesn't make me a popular person, but I would rather have integrity than be popular.

I know we are all equal.  We are not all equal in talent or merit or looks or money.  But we are all equal in that we took a human birth, we have a chance to win salvation, and we have the chance to acquire knowledge.

Howlin Wolf wrote a song called, 'Meet Me At The Bottom'.  Like many of his hits, it is passionate and raw and full of soul.  He was a great musician, and had a great backing band including Hubert Sumlin on rhythm guitar.  The blues is a music about hardship and loneliness and poverty.  That is why I identify with the blues.

When I play, I don't sound like the delta bluesmen.  I sound more happy and upbeat with a more major tonality.  I play rock n roll and rhythm and blues on an acoustic guitar.  I get a lot of fun from performing infront of people.  I perform everywhere I can bring my guitar, including the park, the beach, the Open Mics in my area, and for gigs.  I even play outside my home.

When I perform, I think about making other people happy.  I am not just doing it for myself.  It is a great experience every time I play and I get satisfaction from playing and talking and preaching.

The blues is not evil music.  It is music about real life, just the way it is.  The world is evil, but that is not my fault.  So coming to the conclusion that the blues is the devil's music is a reductionist worldview.  The blues is the music of reality. 

So I will continue innovating on my sound and writing songs.  The possibility of the guitar is endless.  With six strings and twelve frets, there is infinite creativity.  So I will continue what I am doing and be happy with it.

Don't Give It Away For Free

I know I am doing wrong with this blog.  While it is growing, and I am getting a name as a designer and copywriter, I have not monetized this blog, so I am essentially giving away ideas for free.

If I want to succeed, I need to monetize what I do.  That means, get paid for your services.  In any business, you start working for free, and then you start charging for what you do.  It is similar to the business model of the crack dealer.  He gives you free samples, then you get addicted, then you cannot live without his product, then he starts charging you, and then he has a customer for life.

I must learn to be a skillful crack dealer.  But not literally.  My music is pretty darn good.  I have produced 6 official albums and over 100 unique songs.  Just my albums feature over 35 songs.  They are all high quality and feature sensitive songwriting and skillful use of rhythm guitar.  I should be rich, but I am not.  Because I am too generous, lack business savvy, and want to help the world.

By nature, business is not a charity act.  It is warfare.  I am serving you, and you renumerate me with money.  I want to make music and get paid for it.  Streams and Downloads is the lowest way to make money with music.  If you want to make money with music, you must get paying gigs, monetize your YouTube channel, get syncing and licensing deals, do merchandise and poster art, and teach guitar lessons.  What I am saying is that music is a lot like other businesses in the modern era.  You must diversify income streams.

Right now, I only have two income streams from music, and they have not paid out yet.  I have made some money in books and blogs and copywriting and designs.  But this is not where my heart is.  I do not belong in an office.  I belong in showbusiness, because I have the looks and talent for it.  But in reality, there is no justice in this world, and you never get what you really deserve.

So I will balance between hustling for money and doing what I really love.  Music and poetry is what I really love.  I see my college educations as a waste.  I studied for nothing and ultimately got nothing.  It is when you do something out of desire, a little bit every day, day in and day out, that you get what you want.  That is the secret to success and the teaching of Taoism.  Your life is simply the daily practice.  Your job is what you can see yourself doing every day, day in and day out, for the rest of your life. 

I saw a meme on Facebook that said, 'do your hobbies long enough, and they become your profession'.  I have done music for 25 years, I have done martial arts for 22 years, although I started wrestling in junior high school.  My record does not matter.  I am not results driven.  I started young, and never gave up.  So over many years, I developed skill and technique.

Now that I am older, judo and tai chi are no longer relevant.  Music is all I have.  And ultimately, it is all I want.  I love the feeling of performing for people and being a clown.  It is like imitating Chuck Berry, except I am not in it to fool you and make a million dollars.  I just want to make you happy and be loved.

So I will balance between what I do for love and what I do for money.  I will stop posting in this blog so often, because I do not want to give my stuff away for free.  I am aware people are reading this blog and stealing my ideas.  I will never run out of ideas.  The more you use creativity, the better it gets.  You cannot exhaust creativity.  But if you work for free, you are a slave.  I am tired of being a slave.  So watch out for music and books and dayjobs and dates and nights out on the town.  I am not a free service.  You must pay me for what I do.

The whole premise of a civilized society is mutual welfare and benefit.  If one is only giving and one is only receiving, someone is being used.  Love and Business and Friendship is a two way street.  Life is all about giving and receiving.  So Kabbalah wins again.  God gives to us, we receive, and our job is simply to give and receive all day long.  So West same stupid as the East.

I want to make love all day long, and get paid for it.  I am not giving away free shit.  Love is a two way street.  So watch out for more creative stuff from Lior Avni.  I am both a musician and an author, and I have a degree in graphic design.  So I consider myself a Creative Professional.  I will work until I die.

So don't look on this blog as often.  I want to work in silence and just show people the results.  I am planning a new album out by end of summer and a new book out by end of the year.  I am also looking for jobs.  So Peace, and be well.

Is It Really Real?

At some point in your life, you will learn to distinguish fantasy from reality.  And after a while, you will acquire a taste for reality.  Reality is ugly and raw but it makes you more happy than fantasy, which is just an illusion.

This is a principle of life.  Truth is stranger than fiction.  You cannot really create anything new.  Everything you create is a combination of things that have come before.  I never created anything new, I just took old ideas and recombined them in different ways.

Hollywood is all about the appearance of the actor.  MMA is a bully beatdown in a cage.  It is a realistic combat sport.  But sport is not reality.  Sport teaches you the timing and reflexes of a trained fighter.  No combat sport is a legal streetfight.  Streetfighting is by nature not legal.  You should avoid violence. They might shank you, they might blindside you, they might sucker punch you, they might tackle you and get the full mount on you.  A smart man avoids trouble.  Don't go looking for fun.  The fun is inside your mind, it is not out there.

I like reality.  My favorite entertainment is blues music.  It is not a music of fantasy, but rather, the music of oppressed slaves who sang of their hardship.  My favorite musician is Lightnin Hopkins from Houston, Texas.  He was a humble black man who was at once a musician and poet who only played three chords in his whole career.  You can do more with less or less with more.  He did the bare minimum, but he was so creative, he could reinvent an E boogie every time he played or wrote a song.  So he had efficiency in music.

Hollywood is all about appearance.  MMA is about aggression and confrontation and pride.  Boxing is a very competitive sport, but what does it amount to?  Porno is  a part of everyone's life, whether they admit it or not.  But I see it as a necessary evil, not something you should walk  around talking about.  A pornographer is essentially a famous prostitute.  The music industry is extremely corrupt, and the guys who are pop stars are not necessarily the most talented guys. 

The whole history of modern pop music comes from white guys stealing black people's music.  Black people have the creativity, but the anglo saxon have the most musical talent.  I admire the Spanish flamenco guitarists.  They have speed and agility in their hands. 

The way you play guitar is influenced by your innate characteristics like your physique, your talent, your personality, etc... I am strong and slow with agility and intellect and this comes through in the way I play my guitar.  I find the best guitarists are Anglo Saxon and Spanish and Black and there are even some guitarists with Native American blood in them.

My favorite musicians include Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, and Jimi Hendrix.  Bob Dylan was a Jewish man with a terrible voice and terrible guitar style but his lyrics were genius, and that was what made his whole career.  He overcame a tremendous deficiency of talent to be a superstar.  And when he is interviewed these days, he dismisses his own importance.  He knows he is just a punk Jewish rockstar.  Real Jews are doctors and lawyers and rabbis.  Even Itzschak Pearlman is more talented but less famous.  The media is fake.  But even in Babylon, there is wisdom.

I admire Jimi Hendrix.  He was a master of love.  At his heart, he was just an Afro-Irishman who wanted to have a good time and sing about love.  He was a lover, and he innovated on the genre. 

But most of all, I admire Bob Marley.  He came from poverty, started with nothing, wrote numerous great songs, and now he is posthumously known as the hero of Jamaica.  Every Jamaican admires Bob Marley.  I feel his songs were gentle and soft and pleasing, which shows he strong a survivor he was.  It takes strength to be gentle.  If he sang such a soft song, he must have been tough as nails.

You will find some day, that the Taoists are right. Reversal is the movement of the Tao. If you are a punk, you talk tough to hide your feelings of insecurity.  If you are tough, you speak gently and don't need to prove yourself.  I have met many fake toughguys and many real men.  When I look at humanity I see 8 out of 10 are just average and I ignore them.  1 out of 10 is exceptionally good.  1 out 10 is beneath contempt.  Like the Hitlers and Stalins of the world.  I try to contemplate the characteristics of good people and try to not think about the bad.   I don't even remember average people.

I have met a handful of good people in my life.  Most of my friends are good losers like me.  But I admire the good winners.  I have met a kickboxing coach, a rabbi, a commodities broker, a practitioner of TCM, and a good simple accountant.  I admire the qualities of good people and I try to emulate them.  Even with small talent, I can dream big and keep my eyes on the goal. 

There are all kinds of people in this world.  There are many talented failures and many succesful zeros.  But there are few talented successes.  That is why Hollywood and the elite are less than 5% of the whole world.  Very few win the game.  Very few are both good and rich. I have met bad rich people and good losers.  It takes all kinds.

I am opposite of the world.  My biggest joys are zen buddhism, morality, music, and poetry.  I do not value money and women and power and pleasure and porno and MMA and streetfighting.  So despite being poor, I am more happy than most people.  My desire in life is to teach people how to be happy.  The trick is, it has nothing to do with how much stuff you have.  The Buddhists are right.  Happinesss is an inside job.  It starts in your mind. 

So if you want to attain reality and clarity and wisdom and sagacity and ultimately happiness, you must distinguish reality from fantasy.  Reality is always better.  The whole story of modern American society is a bunch of rich people imitating what they see on TV.  If you try this at home, you will get injured.

It is so fake.  That is why I don't watch TV or Movies or go to Nightclubs or read newspapers.  It all seems so fake.  If you want to know reality, go out your door, look up at the sky, look at the trees and grasses and shoots and the street and the cars and people, etc..  Reality is right where you are.  It is not somewhere else.  Do not postpone happiness for later.  You might be dead by the time you reach happiness.

In my life, I must learn not to be a beggar.  Nobody owes me free shit.  In America, there is no socialist medicine or education or basic income.  America was founded on the principle of open market economy.  It has nothing to do with JudeoChristian morality.  The founding fathers were not Christian.  They all smoked weed and raped black female slaves.  John Adams had mulatto trick sons.  I am not kidding.

In this society, you can either sink down into despair or learn how to play the game.  I must see my career in graphic design and copywriting not as a career but as survival.  It is a war.  And even if they despise me, I can show them the results and learn to make do on a low income and be independent.  So my message is a positive one. I can learn to survive, and so can you.

Beyond a day job, I want to teach my knowledge to the youth.  I would like to teach guitar and Aikido and LifeFood and offer all my services to the youth.  A volunteer job pays more than a paying job.  But money is the real deal.  Without money, you don't survive.  Make the money first, then with your time and money, you can really have a ball.  During the evenings and weekends it is your time and your money.  So rock on.

I love reality.  I do not like fake shit.  All my friends admire my honesty and bluntness.  I have had more than five or ten friends and lovers in my life.  They have come and gone.  But some have stayed.  Keep your friends.  Don't burn your bridges. 

So you must ask yourself, what is really real?  Is the visible world all there is to see?  Is there something beyond tangible reality?  We cannot perceive UV light or electromagnetic radiation, but it exists regardless.  Some things are beyond our understanding.  The mark of a good scientists is that he knows he doesn't know.  That is why he is wise.  He knows the extent of his own foolishenss.  So Solomon wins again.  Humility goeth before honor, Haughtiness before a fall. 

Stay humble stay real, keep your eyes on the dream.

They Don't Make Them Like They Used To

You can observe, if you look with an unbiased eye, that everything in society is degrading.  They don't make them like they used to.  In the span of one generation, which is 20 years, society gets worse not better. 

In the 1960s, America was exploding.  Things were better than ever.  The abundance of the 1950s led to the explosion of the 1960s.  And it all centered around rock n roll.  It was originally a black people's music invented by Robert Johnson, made famous by Muddy Waters, and brought to the masses by Chuck Berry.  But in the 1960s, the British musicians took the ball and ran with it.

This was the climax of western civilization.  Even the British bluesmen were not as talented as the musicians they were inspired by.  Jimmy Page was not as talented as Robert Johnson.  Eric Clapton was very good, but wasn't as good as the BB King that inspired him.  Later, Stevie Ray Vaughn was inspired by Albert King and had tremendous technical virtousity.  But white dudes ain't got the same soul.

The main act of the 1960s was the Beatles.  Their talent was extraordinary and they raised the bar for everyone.  At the same time, they made music about being good looking, popular, exuberant, and appealing to the teenage girls who just want to spend their money and dream of pretty boys.  The Beatles were the first boy band.

You can see that the 1960s was the climax of Western Civilization.  Muhammed Ali was the greatest boxing champion of the modern era.  Jack Johnson was the first strong black man to prove Aryan Supremacy is just a myth.  But twenty years later, Mike Tyson became synonymous with boxing.  So in one generation, it went from a heroic champion who could walk the walk and talk the talk, to some sleazy criminal from the Catskills who decided to take up pugilism.  Everything is degrading.

Even in music you can see the same thing.  John Lennon led the Beatles.  He was neither the most good looking nor the most talented, Paul was, but he was the leader because he had the most love.  As the Beatles popularity move on, he became disillusioned with fame and wealth and celebrity.  He went to India to learn Yoga from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  Every good celebrity gets tired of fame and fortune and realizes the best things in life are free.  George understood yoga better, but John was more a man of action and was inspired to act.  The Beatles broke up in 1970, which is 50 years ago. 

John Lennon's solo career was impressive.  Some people don't like it because it was too avant garde, but I think the opposite.  The Beatles music was clever pop music designed to manipulate your emotions.  John' solo career was an expression from within.  He was exploring himself, exploring the world, and making political commentary.  He was the first celebrity who tried to use his fame and wealth for good.  He started a trend. 

I like the songs from the 1970s that he wrote.  'Nobody Told Me', 'Watching the Wheels' 'Imagine' 'Instant Karma' and 'Jealous Guy' were great songs.  I don't like chinsy pop music.  I like exploration and innovation.  A good musician pushes the boundaries.

When John Lennon was murdered in 1980, the world lost something.  In the 1990s, grunge rock rose about as an attempt to counter the commercial pop rock of the 1980s.  That stuff was crap.  All the poodle pop musicians of the 1980s weren't interested in music and poetry, they just wanted money and fame and groupies.  Grunge rock was an attempt to save music and save America.  But they failed.  I remember Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam.  I was a teenager during the 1990s, the last great era of music.  I really liked Nirvana, they were genius.  Kurt Cobain was handsome, intelligent, irreverant, talented, and rebellious.  He was the best thing since the Beatles. 

But ultimately, musicians are just punks who do drugs and sleep with groupies.  They are not heros.  Most of them live terrible lives.  Kurt Cobain was essentially a depressed man who did drugs, hated himself, and eventually commited suicide.  He left behind a wife, a fatherless child, and music was not the same after him.  It was 1994 when he died.  I discovered the Beatles that year too.  And that is what started it all.

So from Muhammed Ali to Mike Tyson and from John Lennon to Kurt Cobain was a big degredation.  Muhammed Ali was a hero, Mike Tyson is a skillful criminal.  John Lennon was an enormous talent who was murdered, Kurt Cobain was a mentally ill genius who commited suicide.  I see the signs.  Even within my small view of music and martial arts, I can observe the trend.  The JudeoChristian bible is not mythology.  We are in the end times.  I cant imagine what the current generation will do.

They don't make them like they used to.  Now, I am 41 which is considered middle aged.  I don't despise the youth, I just see them as young fools.  I'd like to teach their ass.  But they don't believe me. 

In the past 20 years, music is crap, and is all about looks and personality and not about music and poetry.  I only watch videos on YouTube from the 50s and 60s.  Even martial arts is garbage now.  Boxing is all about speed and power and aggression and nobody has a jab or footwork.  That Tyson Fury guy strolls around the ring throwing wild punches, but if he lands its over.  Boxing has degraded, MMA is a vicious cage beatdown.  The times are not improving.  A good man keeps his integrity and realizes the bible is not mythology.  The bible is consolation in an evil world.

But if you understand more than the scriptures, you realize the system of things had a beginning and it will have an end.  But every end is a beginning and every beginning an end.  So I am not afraid.  I know one system will die and a new one will be born.  So I have no fear. 

I am getting tired of combat sports because it is all aggression and gets boring.  But music is essential in life.  Music is emotional therapy, and we are all emotionally ill.  Everyone needs music, not everyone needs art or books.  Musicians will never go out of business.

I have 5 albums online.  I also have 2 books.  And I've made money in copywriting and blogging.  I consider myself succcesful even though I am not rich.  I am just making do.  The main thing in real life is work/life balance.  You can't live without working.  If your work is fun and your play is fun and your sleep is fun, then your whole life is fun.  And I just want to have fun. 

So I observe society degrading but I don't interact.  I don't like society.  I spend most of my time alone.  But I am happy as a loon.  I do not want to postpone judgement day, I want to make it come sooner.  The sooner I die and the system dies, the sooner there will be Paradise again.  And that is what I want, Paradise.

The Birth of Rhythm and Blues

I have several ideas for books in my mind.  One of them I mentioned in this blog.  I am planning a cookbook called, 'Health, Strength, and Self Defense.'  I also am dreaming of a book on art any mythology called, 'The Osiris Myth in World Culture'.  But I think a lot about music and how the Beatles changed everything.

So I thought I'd chat about the birth of rhythm and blues.  It didn't start in the 1960s with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix.  All good musicians start out new, listen to a lot of music, and start to sound like their influences.  Being a great musician is all about who you sound like.  So one decade of music is based on the previous. 

I first like grunge rock in the 1990s. I was a teenager and thought those cats were cool.  I especially liked Nirvana.  Three guys from Seattle who were rockstars but didn't want to be rockstars.  It was a bit of a paradox.  When Kurt Cobain died, the music world was reeling.

After 1994, I got into the Beatles.  Their 30 year re-issue of their two greatest hits albums showed me what real music is.  These guys don't mess around.  Even their mainstream hits were genius, let alone their lesser known songs on their multiple albums.  The Beatles were special.  Each song featured 8 or 9 or 10 chords, and was not chinsy 3 chord pop music like all the music of the 50s and 60s.  These guys were good.

What I came to realize was, was that they didn't invent this shit either.  Their initial sound was four white boys from Liverpool with long hair playing black people's music.  So rock n roll does not come from Britain, they just took the ball and ran with it.

Rock n Roll is black music.  It started in the 1950s with Muddy Waters who discovered Chuck Berry.  These were the two great innovators.  Without Muddy, we would be defunct.  He was the first bluesman from Mississippi to go from the south to the north and from acoustic to electric.  I dig his music.  Visually, he looks like a jokey man, but he as soul and pinnache and can do so much with three chords.  His songwriting capacity is mind boggling. 

Muddy Waters discovered Chuck Berry in 1955 and that was when Maybellene was released.  That was Chuck Berry's first hit and the beginning of his career.  He was already past 30 at the time, so he was a middle aged man singing songs for a teenage audience.  It was a bit pretentious, but nobody seemed to mind.

I like Chuck Berry's music the best.  He was the axis mundi of rock n roll.  It went from Robert Johnson to Muddy Waters to Chuck Berry to everybody else.  His music was profound.  Although it only featured three chords per song, he could innovate on his sound every time he wrote a song and keep it fresh.  He wrote intelligent lyrics that appealed to a mainstream audience.  15 and 16 year old children starting out on working and dating could spend some of their hard earned money on his albums.  This was a great time for America.

Obviously, the era of rock n roll was short lived. I would say, from 1955 to the end of the 1970s was the heyday of rock n roll.  By the end of the Vietnam War, rock n roll was dying, the ghetto scene began, the war on drugs began, and black soldiers came back from the Army addicted to drugs with no relevant job skills.  The past 40 years has been a washout.  Each year, America degrades not improves.  Europe, Israel, and Asia has taken leaps and bounds beyond America.  America is no longer leader of the free world.

But at least when I listen to Chuck Berry or John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters or Elmore James, I can hear the music of the climax.  The black rhythm and blues musicians led to the anglo rock n roll musicians.  Eric Clapton is extremely talented and is now an elderly man.  He is the hero of everybody who likes blues and rock.

So it didn't just start in one place and explode.  Each decade builds on the previous one.  Chuck Berry and his sound was largely based on Rosetta Tharpe and her overall sound and the guitar playing of T Bone Walker.  Great musicians innovate.  They take old things and recombine them and add something new.  I don't just listen to black dudes playing guitar.  I also like Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, CCR, and The Doors.  By now, most of these guys are elderly or deceased.  But those were the days.

Today's music aint got the same soul.  It is all about looks and not talent.  The personality, reputation, and stage presence of the musician is more important than how good they actually are.  I don't think Kanye West knows the difference between a D Major and a D Minor chord.  And Taylor Swift's guitar is essentially a prop.  But they are rich and I am poor so I tap out.

I started guitar right when music was dying.  I don't like most of the music of the past two decades.  I think it is more commercial and has nothing to do with the music and poetry of oppressed people.  Most of the delta bluesmen never got rich or famous, and they invented something of benefit to society.  So it reconfirms the JudeoChristian worldview.  Suffering is Grace.  Even the famous bluesmen like Howlin Wolf and Elmore James are just a minority of the guys who where out there at the time.  Most of them didn't become famous names.

So the birth of Rhythm and Blues is a uniquely American story.  It has to do with white people playing black people's music.  In the 1960s, people were brought together through music.  This was the golden era.  These are dark times. 

So as a middle aged man in the year 2020, I don't have to listen to Nirvana or the Beatles.  I got over that.  I go straight to the source, to black men playing guitars in the 1950s.  I often listen to Lightnin Hopkins, Elmore James, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, and my favorite, Mr. Chuck Berry.  The way a black man plays guitar, it is like he is choking the instrument to death.

So I like blues and rock and I will keep listening to it even if I am no longer relevant. 

No Particular Place To Go

In life, there is nothing to accomplish.  More is not more.  Less is more.  When you have the bare minimum, you have enough.  Less than the bare minimum is dying.  But more than the bare minimum is excess.  Excess is not good.  Moderation destroys all sorrow.

People get addicted to all kinds of things.  Some drugs are legal, some are not.  Sugar is actually the worst, most addictive, and most destructive drug there is.  But they put it in every item in the grocery store.  Once you are addicted to Coca Cola or Cheetos or Frappucino, you are hooked for life.  Sugar has caused more death than tobacco, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, etc.. combined.  Some drugs are legal, some are illegal.  Addiction is a matter of health and not morality or crime or sin.  These are all false concepts.

I've met people addicted to sex, to marijuana, to gambling, to alcohol, to cigarettes, and obviously, to sugar.  I myself love sex.  I see nothing wrong with any form of sex for money.  It is in the bible.  There are good and bad prostitutes.  Prostitution is everywhere.  It might be lurking next door.  Sex addiction is an addiction.  Of all the addictions, I think gambling is the worst.  In gambling, you throw away your money in hopes of getting more money.  But it is just an illusion.  Gamblers always lose.  The house always wins.  I think sex addiction is the most innocent addiction.  But that is just me.  It seems like sex for money is America's biggest business, not a problem.  It's business as usual.

This post is called No Particular Place To Go after a Chuck Berry song.  It one of his classics.  He invented the genre known as rock n roll.  The music of youth and rebellion.  The actual song is a story of  a man and his girlfriend driving around with no destination in mind.  It is cute and ironic and ends with a twist.  Chuck Berry was a songwriting genius.  There were other great musicians out there.  But he was special.

In my life, I have no particular place to go.  I have no ambition or goal in mind.  I simply want to live and die in peace.  I enjoy music and food and sex and I exercise if I have to.  I tend to be lazy.  But that's just me.

So far, I have produced 6 albums and 2 books.  One album came off the market.  Some music platforms are better than others.  Some are a rip off, some are sleazy businesses, some are good business paradigms where both parties benefit.  A good businessman believes in mutual welfare and beenfit.  He is not interested in making a short term killing and making off with the loot.  That is sin.  That is crime.

The whole premise of society is the economy.  If you do the right thing, work with enthusiasm, and get good results, you will be succesful.  It is all karma.  Do good and get good.  Do wrong and get punished. 

So the beat goes on, and I continue making music.  I want music to be my career.  Life is too short to do something boring and useless just to make a paycheck.  I am going to die just like you are going to die.  Only God doesn't die.  Camp Undefeated.  So if my time is short, I want to have money and fun at the same time.  Music is the best career ever.

The distance between rich and famous and unknown starving artist is shrinking.  There are more full time muscians making between 30,000 and 40,000 per year than ever.  But they have advanced marketing savvy.  My talent is extraordinary.  But my business savvy is intermediate.  So I must learn how to market and reach a bigger audience.  1000 streams gets you 7 dollars on Spotify.  That is pesos.  That means you need 1 million streams to make 7000 dollars.  So every musician needs a huge following to make real money. 

Taylor Swift knew Spotify would ruin the music industry.  But nobody listened.  So music fans get it for free, and professional musicians have to hustle.  I know I am a good musician.  I am not exactly Beyonce or Kanye West but I got my own skills.  I play acoustic blues and flamenco.  I am sure there is someone out there who digs it.  I could be a full time musician.  Dollar and a dream.

So I have no ambition, but I do have something in mind.  I have a goal.  I don't want to use my college degrees and trade time for money.  My hours are worth more than 15 dollars, or even 100 dollars.  I just want to live and die in peace and live on a budget.  I also want to find a latina who is good looking and humble but not rich and haughty.  I want to make about a part time income from music.  In this part of the world, that is between 500 and 1000 per month.  If I learn marketing, I can increase streams, downloads, and views.  And then I can branch out into other forms of music.  Like gigging out, teaching guitar, making music-related art, and also syncing and licensing.  It turns out, streams and downloads is the worst way to make money with music.  But right now, that is my only income stream from music.  So I am not rich.  But somebody likes it out there.  So what I must do, is target my niche audience, learn to how to advertise to them, create relationships with the customer, and above all, keep churning out good quality content.  If the content is not good, you have nothing.  But you don't have to have master skill to be rich.  All you need is intermedate skill and advanced business savvy.  Business is more important than talent.  Get real.

So I have hope for the future.  I have other things besides music, but that is what I find most joy in.  And my college degrees did not help me that much.  College is a scam.  All a degree is, is qualification to apply to a job.  It doesn't mean you know the job, can do it well, or even know you are talking about.  In reality, you learn by doing.  Experience is the best teacher.  It takes 20 years to master a skill.  But these days, people with ten of fifteen years experience are teaching.  Don't worship false gurus.  It takes a generation.  I have mastered more than just music and martial arts.  But I want to do music.  I feel it is my last chance.  So I really have somewhere to go.  I have a goal in mind.

Through music, you can rebel and spread ideas and lead people without inciting violence and hatred and bias and scorn.  John Lee Hooker sang a song called, 'The Healer'.  In it, he sings, 'the blues is a healer, it healed me, it can heal you!'.  He was a simple black man who understood music has more value than just entertainment and getting groupies.  It is part of politics, religion, education, culture, medicine, besides other things.  So I am a disciple of John Lee.  I need more than one chord to write a song.  But I am pretty good too. 

So I know my desire and I have a goal to work towards.  All great musicians overcome great odds and limitations to become legendary performers.  Music is better than boxing.  In music, nobody gets knocked out.  In boxing, there are winners and losers.  In music, everyone wins.  And that is nice. 

Look out for my next album which will be ready by the end of this summer.  I will use Routenote to publish it.  It's going to be a good album.  The money doesn't matter, I am building momentum towards the payday.  And that is what I want.  The big old payday.

Peace.

Then You Might Know What It's Like

To sing the blues....

This weekend, I am broke.  I don't have much money to go out spending on food, groceries, or having fun.  But I will not despair.  I know I can survive until my next paycheck.

One thing you must learn as a young adult or someone just starting out on his own, is to budget yourself.  In general, one should budget per day, per week, and per month.  The most important thing is a weekly budget, because some days you spend more and some days you spend less.

Now I know what it is like to be poor.  I can't rely on rich parents or a brother to take care of me.  I have to do things for myself.  And that is a blessing in disguise.  When someone gives you something for free, they are enabling you.  When someone teaches you how to do something, they are empowering you.  When you can do it for yourself, then you are strong.

This society is ridiculous.  There is money coming and going everywhere.  If you were foolish, you could blow your whole wad at the grocery store or 711.  But that is stupid.  Moderation destroys all sorrow.  By being moderate and only spending on what you need, you avoid harm to yourself.

So this weekend will include simple fare cooked at home.  Eggs, vegetables, cheese, beans, tuna salad, sardines in tomato sauce, etc... The best diet is lacto ovo vegetarian with some fish.  But you don't have to be strict.  Most farmers would eat meat from time to time when it was available.  Rice is probably the best food, it is cheap, bland, sweet, easily digested, warms up the body, and goes well with anything.  I eat rice every day.

So I don't worry that I am broke.  It is Friday morning.  On Tuesday morning, I get more money, and the beat goes on.  So this will be a lean weekend.  I can cook, play guitar, write, read, and enjoy myself.  The point of life is not to acquire more stuff or to win anything.  It is to be happy and useful.  I am both happy and useful.  So I attained the meaning of life.

In my career, I plan on releasing an electric album by the end of the summer, and a new cookbook by the end of the year.  The book takes a lot more effort.  The album will be called, 'Rhythm and Blues World Service' and the book will be entitled, 'Health, Strength, and Self Defense'.

So now I know what it is like to sing the blues.  Because I have lived the blues.  The blues is not just about romantic love.  It is also about money and poverty and mental instability and political uncertainty.  The blues is the music of real life, not pop music or fantasy land.

So keep on the lookout for more stuff from me.  Graphic design is just a day job.  I do it for the money.  I want to be a musician and author.  But I am not rich. 

So keep on keepin on.

You Do What You Want To Do

The best career advice I got was from a friend on Facebook.  She posted a meme that had a picture of a girl with a camera and had a caption that read, 'do your hobbies long enough, and they become your profession'.

That about sums it up.  These days, I do music and cooking on a daily basis.  I dedicate one hour every day to cooking, and at least one hour every day to music.  So day by day, my skill increases.  I have been playing guitar for 25 years and cooking for 17 years.

The way to succeed is to do a little bit every day, day in and day out, and never quit on yourself.  The daily grind.  But most people only do what they love here and there and aren't consistent.  Some give up completely.  So they lose.

I do graphic design for the money.  It is my job.  But I really enjoy music and food and other things.  So I do duty and I have fun.  This is a wonderful lifestyle.

In my life, I have met people who have fun jobs.  And the reason they are doing the job they want is because they started early and never stopped.  I know an environmental conservationalist, a vegan chef, a judo instructor, a boxing coach, an art curator, a fashion designer, a kickboxing instructor, so on and so forth.  The thing they all have in common is that they started early and continued for over twenty years.  That means they started in youth on their dream.  Which means educators should expose children to different things between the ages of 8 and 15 so they get a glimpse of what they can become.

I would love to be a teacher of some kind.  In my youth, I went to a Jewish high school and had a great physical education teacher, a great music teacher, a great art teacher, and a great English teacher.  They tried to help.  Teachers are altruistic.  They don't do it just for the money.

In my life, I seperate business and pleasure.  Money ruins everything.  Most people are not professional boxers or pornstars.  Most people are not involved in Hollywood or MMA.  I do the simple office work to get the money so I can have the freedom to do what I want to do.  Money is power, and women are pleasure.

So I continue.  I enjoy my lifestyle.  I do what I must do.  Business before pleasure.  Of course, if I had my way, I would just collect state funds and just vegitate.  But then I would waste my life.  And I don't want to do that.

So the theme of this post is, do what you want to do.  Start young, and never stop.  Life is too short to not to what you want to do.  Do your hobbies long enough, and they become your profession. 

Getting Along

I am learning how to survive on my own.  For the past 11 weeks, I have been in my own apartment.  I am paying rent and utilities, and with a little help from my family, I am getting along.  Life is not that hard.  The main skills for survival are budgeting and socializing.  It is not self defense.  No one is going to challenge you to a street brawl, and if they are intent on hurting you, they will use stealth and weapons so what can you even do?

Besides budgeting and socializing, one should know self care and chores.  I need to work on that, but I am learning anyway because I must learn.  Keeping a neat appearance, basic hygiene, and keeping a clean apartment makes you feel better about yourself.

Freud once said, "work and love, love and work, that's all that is."  He was right.  You do things for money or you do things for love.  Prostitutes literally make love for money.  But that is the lowest profession. 

I know in my life I can do certain things for money and certain things for love.  Most of all, I enjoy music, but I don't make much money from it.  I also enjoy grappling, especially the traditional kinds, Judo and Aikido.  But that also is not a big money maker. 

I have two degrees, one in Acupuncture, and the other in graphic design.  The typical Acupuncturist makes 100 dollars per hour, the average graphic designer makes 16 dollars per hour.  But Acupuncture is no longer an option.  So I have to take a big pay cut. 

But the good thing about the field of graphic design is, it is versatile, always in demand, there is flexibility in working online or onsite, and there is always continuing education.  It is the only real lucrative use of creativity in the modern world.  Not many people become rockstars or celebrity authors.  That is just a fantasy.

The thing is, success in business is not based on talent or merit.  It is based on guile.  To succeed in business, you must have tact, be able to socialize, be able to fake interest, and conform to society's expectations of you.  So some rich people are worthless punks and some poor people are exceptional geniuses.  This confirms the Christian worldview and tends to disprove Darwin and Evolution.  Success is not based on how good you are.  Nobody cares how good you are.

So I see these times as dark times and I become more religious as I age.  I still need food and sex, I have a body.  But I am becoming more spiritual and religious.  When this Corona virus thing lets up, I am going to the Church or Temple.  That's where the fun is.  In the same place, you can get religion, women, and music.  Just a different kind of religion, women, and music.  There are secular people, there are religious people, and there are spiritual people.

Spiritual people are best.  There is a kind of lived religion.  You don't absolutely need to go to Church to be a good person, but neither do you need to believe in atheism, evolution, Aryan supremacy, or survival of the fittest.  These are all wrong concepts.  And man is not meant to be a vegan.

The world is degrading as we approach Judgement Day.  People are less Christian, more antisemitic, and more tolerant towards Islam, which is a religion of conquest. 

Don't be antisemitic.  Try to understand a deeper Christianity.  And don't tolerate wrong religion like paganism, Islam, and Voodoo.  There is clean faith and unclean faith.  And then there is no faith, which is worthless.

So I am getting along and learning quickly things I should have learned twenty years ago.  But it is better late than never.  I am in my early 40s but look 30.  So I am not doomed.  I just wasted a lot of time.  20 years is a human generation.  You shouldn't waste 5 years let alone 20.  But I know that just like a song, you end where you started, with the rootnote.  So if my life started well, it will end well. 

My life began in zen and will end in zen.  So there is nothing lacking.

Music Education

One of the things I keep stressing in this blog is education.  Knowledge is power not power is power.  The first thing you teach a child is nutrition.  By 15, you should be well versed in nutrition and healthy eating. 

Another idea I keep reiterating is the 20 year or 10,000 hour rule.  It takes 20 years of one hour of practice per day, day in and day out, to master a skill.  I mastered Judo and Music.  Other people master other things.  I know yoga teachers, vegan chefs, guitar teachers, judo teachers, sparring coaches, practitioners of massage, etc...  If you start between the ages of 8 and 15 on your hobbies, by the time you are in your late twenties or early thirties, you will be a young master.  The late twenties and early thirties is the best part of a human being's life.

Don't waste your life.  And don't neglect your children.  They shouldn't just go to school and enjoy television and video games and the internet when they are not in school.  Get them involved in extra-curricular activities or they will be helpless later.  Practice your hobbies long enough, and they become your profession.  Most people will not do what I say, impregnate their high school girlfriend, and end up in a dead end job just to pay the bills to support their spouse and children.  Even a gorilla can find a mate, reproduce, and support it's offspring.  So a life of work and women is no better than that of an animal.

I am glad I am 41 and have no wife or children.  I did other things with my life.  I mastered judo, I mastered rhythm guitar, I mastered TCM theory, I write, I draw, and I am close to mastering cooking.  So I am an exceptional human being.

There are other forms of success besides money and children.  I consider myself a uniquely gifted human being. 

I have 5 albums on Spotify and YouTube right now.  I had a first album called Money and Women that came off the internet.  And I have another album coming soon.  This new one will be all electric and feature vocals.

Now that Judo is less age appropriate, I can switch my focus to music.  Music is not dependent on speed, power, timing, or reflexes.  It is a creative expression.  I can still practice Judo in a diminished capacity than when I was in my late twenties.  20 years is a huge period in a human being's lifespan.  It is a generation, and it takes 20 years to master a skill.

So I use judo to be a better musician and a better copywriter.  When I am sitting infront of the microphone with my guitar in my hand, I am totally confident in myself.  I wouldn't be able to do that without judo.  Judo makes you tough.  I also apply to copywriting jobs with no fear of failure because I know how talented I am and if the client doesn't hire me it is their loss not mine.

There are a lot of combat sports and martial arts to get involved in.  Boxing and Tae Kwon Do is pretty cool but has more to do with self defense and ego and less with moral education.  Grappling and MMA is for punks.  Judo can be used for physical education and has more uses than just its efficacy in self defense.  When you randori and compete, and get indifferent to winning and losing, it makes you mentally tough.  This is a good quality for life.  Not to be dissuaded by the outside world.

So I had some boxing potential but decided to switch to Judo because I had high minded ideals.  Whether that was a good decision or a bad decision doesn't matter.  I can't go back in time.  But I can deal with the situation now.

I think, moving forward, that I should take some music education courses at the local community college.  I would like to be around musicians and people who know music theory.  The history of rock n roll fascinates me.  Since the mid 1950s, rhythm and blues became rock n roll and since 1970, the past 50 years have been an explosion of creativity.  You can do so much with so few chords. 

So Copywriting can be a job, Judo can be an exercise, and Music can be a hobby.  I live a full life and not having a wife or child doesn't matter.  I have created things greater than children.

But I enjoy music the most, and wish to hang out with musicians and music teachers.  That is why this blog post is called Music Education.  The post is about music and it is about education. 

So word to the wise, educate yourself, and do what you love.

I Come Electric

Today I started work on my next album.  I decided it will be all electric, including rhythm and lead.  It will be called, "Rhythm and Blues World Service" and feature a couple of classic covers. 

I am more a fan of acoustic music, but I am running out of ideas.  Most of my acoustic songs are in the Key of E, A, or C.  I don't often play in Open G or Open D because that sounds too old fashioned.  The standard tuning of a guitar has the most versatility.

It is easier to sound good electric than acoustic, that is why most people prefer electric.  But I prefer acoustic.  This album will be exploring something new, and I will eventually go back to acoustic guitar. 

When Bob Dylan went electric in the late 1960s, some people accused him of selling out.  But he was just going with the times and exploring different things, he was still a folk rock musician.  I dig Bob Dylan.

My album will probably feature 7 songs or so.  At least 2 of them will be covers, and there will be a few instrumentals.  But most of all, I enjoy writing my own songs.  It is when you push past the three major chords and add something extra that you create something unique. 

So this new album will be lively and original.  I am hoping to create something as good as Lonely Days.  All of my albums are available on Spotify and YouTube.  You just have to look for Lior Avni in the search bar.

Meanwhile, I continue to write and plan a book for release by the end of 2020.  It is harder to write a book than an album.  Books are not easy to produce, but cost almost nothing to produce, so anything you make is profit. 

So I continue to work as a musician and author, and I supplement my income with side jobs.  Life is not that bad.  It is when you stop learning new things that you die inwardly.  You can study all your life and know a fraction of what God knows.  So keep studying.  And that doesn't mean high school or college.

That means the bookstore, the library, Udemy, and Skillshare.  Even Adobe produces free video tutorials.  So you don't need a college degree to be smart.

Knowledge is power, not power is power.  Donald Trump has no real power.  It is by learning about fact not fantasy that you acquire power.  And when you are powerful, you are more joyous.

So I will continue to explore new sounds, new ideas, new exercises, new foods, and new women.  What is life if you don't enjoy it?  If you lived your life without enthusiasm, you missed the point.  When you do the right thing with enthusiasm do you get good results and a good reputation. 

So keep on keepin on.

Love Doesn't Come In A Minute...

Sometimes, it doesn't come at all. 

That is a lyric from a Paul McCartney song.  It is true.  Most things in life, especially the good things, don't just happen in a flash and they are done.  Good things take a prolonged effort, sometimes many hours, many days, many years, before you reach your desired result.  I have been playing guitar since 1995 but only recording albums since 2017.  In three years, a lot has changed.

Even three years is not a long time, and I feel my life has improved dramatically since becoming an online musician.  I have a presence on YouTube, Instagram, Reverbnation, Twitter, and of course, Facebook like everyone else.

If I learned more about business principles and music marketing, I could make more income as a musician.  It turns out streams and downloads is the worst way to make money as a musician.  And that is my only musical income stream.  So I am not rich.

I have published one album through Reverbnation, two through CDBaby, and three through Routenote.  They are all good sites, but I feel intuitively that I am being ripped off of thousands while I get dollars.  The music industry is extremely corrupt and most of the money you generate does not go to the artist himself. 

When I first released Money and Women in 2017, I had no idea what I was doing.  I had a friend who was my music marketing guru at the time instructing me on how he did his career.  I feel my music is above average and his music is below average.  But since he had the experience in recording and publishing, he was the teacher and I was the student.

The best albums were the last three released through Routenote.  It seems like a fair business paradigm where you publish for free and they take a small percentage of everything you make.  It uses mostly streams and views from Spotify and YouTube, which by itself is not that lucrative.  But at least I am doing what I want to do and I have enough income every month anyway.  I do what makes me happy, not what makes me rich.

Coffee Blues, Lonely Days, and Trouble On My Way are good albums.  Each subsequent album gets more creative and masterful.  Some of my favorite songs that I have written include Roll Over and Boogie, Lonely Days, Trouble On My Way, Down So Low, and Weekend Blues.  It is better to feature vocals than to create an instrumental. 

I look on Spotify and see that in 2019 alone, I generated 5.1 thousand streams.  That is not a lot, but in actuality it is for an indie musician with no advertising.  Somebody out there digs it.

Spotify and the MP3 both ruined music and gave it to the whole world.  If you only make 7 dollars per 1000 streams, it is hard for musicians to make money.  But if all the music of the past 70 years is online on Spotify and is free to listen to, music has become a big part of modern life.  We need music.  It is emotional therapy.

So music fans are happy and full time musicians are sad.  It is not easy to make money as a musician, but it is possible.  The distance between starving artist and rich and famous is shrinking.  With clever business savvy, an understanding of marketing, and an advertising budget, one can create a side income of online music.  That is my ambition.  Perhaps music cannot be my main job.  But it is perfect for the evenings and weekends. 

So being a famous musician didn't come in a minute.  And it may not come at all.  But as long as I am creative, playing my guitar, writing new songs, and pretending I am the fifth Beatle, than life is alright.  I can do a dayjob and do music too. 

Get a job.

The Story of Lior J Avni

I will not write out my whole life story in this brief blog post.  All I want to tell you is the history of how I got to be such a great musician and writer.

With music, it all started in the 1980s.  I was young when I first learned about music.  Most of the music of the 1980s was crap, but some of it was good.  It was nothing like rhythm and blues or rock n roll of the 50s 60s and 70s.  I used to listen to mixtapes and dream with my eyes as I heard with my ears. 

When the 90s came, I was a teenager in high school.  I had other interests like swimming, wrestling, food, pornography, and I had many friends.  But music was the most special.  I hated waking up at 6am to make the bus to high school because I am a night owl and can't wake up before 9am.  So I would go through high school like a zombie and come home exhausted. 

Every day, I would nap from 3pm to 6pm and then wake up and watch MTV from 6pm to bedtime.  That was my life in high school.  Between 1992 and 1996, I absorbed pop culture.  I wouldn't even do exercise or homework.  I would always manage to do homework the next day in the library during my free period.  So although I was lazy and self indulgent, I was intelligent enough to graduate high school with a 85 average, which is slightly above average.  Anything above 90 is good. 

Nirvana was the biggest hit of the 1990s, and there where other hit acts then like Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Iced Tea.  Then there was pop music like Mariah Carey. 

This was the last great music of the modern era.  When Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1993 or 1994, he ruined himself, pop music, and western culture with him.  The music of the past 25 years has been commercial crap, with some cleverness here and there.  I started playing guitar in 1995 when I discovered The Beatles.  Their 30 year reissue of their two greatest hits albums was a revelation.  I could hear real music from creative musicians having a ball.

After my youth and obsession with the Beatles, I went back in time to the rhythm and blues that inspired them.  Most of all, I liked Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.  The black musicians of the 50s spawned the British musicians of the 1960s, and the past 50 years have been an explosion of creativity.  Pop music is very important to me.

I am not just a musician.  Throughout my four decades or so, I have mastered Judo, writing, drawing, cooking, the Baghavad Gita, the concepts of Kabbalah, and other things.  My two books on Amazon are about using my TCM education in a way to educate the common people on stuff people in India and China already know. 

Best of all, the Baghavad Gita inspired me to fight the good fight and never quit.  Philosophy can save your life.  By doing the right thing with enthusiasm, you get good results and a good reputation.  I used Hindu Philosophy to be a great Judoka and a great musician.  I am also a great writer. 

I know I should concentrate on writing moving forward because that is where the money is.  And nutrition seems to be a subject that appeals to everyone.  You won't get very far talking about race, gender, politics, the history of America, Aryan supremacy and its fallacy, or the Asiatic Black Man.  These are controversial subjects.  Race and Gender are hot topics in the USA.

Moving forward, I will create more albums or original music with some covers on them, write boooks on health and nutrition, and resume practice of my favorite exercises, like kickboxing, judo, swimming, and yoga.  I have let my physical health go.  Perfect diet is not enough to be healthy.  You must exercise or your body will become decrepit by age 50. 

So my life began in the attainment of zen, and ended in music.  I have learned a lot in 41 years.  By far, music gives me the most pleasure, but it doesn't give me the most money.  And at this point, I need to improve my money situation.  I am not as established as most middle aged men.

So I need to scheme up a way to increase my money situation without relying solely on music.  Judo, writing, health education, fitness, are all possibilities.  I don't want to do the bare minimum for the rest of my life.  I am not doomed.  I want multiple streams of income from online work that help me live a humble but contented lifestyle. 

If I want to enjoy the next 20 years of my life, and 20 years means a generation, I must learn to get out of the house, socialize, create relationships, and be of benefit to someone other than myself.  It's easy to do the bare minimum and just live for yourself.  But that is how a child is not a grown person.  The riddle of Kabbalah is, altruism is more fun than being selfish, but most people are selfish and not altruistic, that is why they are miserable.  Learn early that giving is better than receiving.

My Ding-A-Ling

This was Chuck Berry's only Number One Hit.  And it was a joke song that was meant to be an inuendo about his penis.  It shows you that sometimes the market doesn't have the best sense of what is good and what is bad.

I know in my own music career so far, my favorite songs are less popular, and songs I feel are less meritorious are most popular with the audience.  What I like and what they like is two different things.  But the music is for them, it's not for me.

I want to record the next album, 'Rhythm and Blues World Service' soon.  But first I must learn new covers, write new originals, and practice more with the electric.  I am used to playing my acoustic exclusively.

Now that I am not doing acupuncture or graphic design, I can dedicate all my time to music.  I have other hobbies, like cooking and judo, but music is my main thing.  I wouldn't be happy without it.

So I will start work soon.  I have nothing but time. 

I am Born Again

I spent the last two days convalescing from eating bad soup.  I vomited.  Then I spent all of Saturday in bed.  Now it is sunrise on a Sunday and I plan on using this day fully.

The main thing in life is to be happy and productive.  It is not to acquire a lot of stuff or money or lovers.  Less is more not more is more. 

Right now, a few dollars are trickling in from the streams and downloads of my music.  I know my music's popularity is growing, especially in places like Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, and Sweden.  But I can't reach them, because I am by myself, and I have no money to spend.

If I was smart, I'd invest time and effort in learning digital marketing and network more.  The internet has changed the way humanity does business.  Also, plane flight makes the world a smaller place, so I could theoretically travel.

I have albums out through CDBaby and Routenote.  I am on YouTube and Spotify.  I started playing out at restaurants and coffeeshops. 

The money is not the important part, money is only worldly value.  But I need to survive too.  If I had more business savvy, I'd learn to monetize what I do.

The important thing is to do a little bit every day and never give up on yourself.  I am actually glad I got sick and recovered.  Now it is Sunday and I get to cook, do laundry, and play guitar today.  Sunday Funday.

I envision great things for my music career.  I want to play at churches and synagogues.  I want to teach guitar.  And I would like to someday play on the Indian reservation on long island.  They get it.  Native Americans have a different value system than the White Man.  They feel the boogie.

I may never be rich and famous, but at least I have more merit than the Chinsy Beatles.  That's pop music.  They had some great hits, but they weren't the best music act ever, just the most popular.  My favorite song of theirs was 'Can't Buy Me Love', but I also like their later period when they were more musically mature.

My favorite acts were either blues or blues based.  I like Cream, CCR, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, and all the people who influenced them.  This is the music of unbounded creativity and expression.  In this type of music, you are rewarded for creativity and originality, in this society, you are punished.  So music can be an act of rebellion. 

So I will keep rebelling against an evil society and playing music.  I don't even want to be a copywriter or designer.  That is boring crap and I don't need a house, wife, or children.  Less is more not more is more.

My favorite things are music, poetry, and home cooking.  And I will keep doing that and being happy with it.

Everybody's Working for The Weekend

It's finally here.  After playing at a Mexican restaurant on Valentine's Day, I got a taste of what Open Mic nights at restaurants are like.  It is nice to be an entertainer.  You have to start somewhere.  I don't mind starting at the bottom if the long term goal is to be an entertainer.

I am going again tonight to the Open Mic night at the Mexican restaurant.  I will play a few songs and have some food.  It will be fun.  The thing is, my work week is not that busy, so the weekends are actually the payoff for having a long boring week.

It says in the Tao Te Ching, 'Accomplish the great by a series of small acts.' That means, do a little bit every day and don't give up on yourself.  That is how you gain success.

I'd like to be a musician now that my judo career is over.  I didn't get much for it anyway. 

I don't want a boring day job in an acupuncture clinic or a graphic design office anyway.  I want to learn how to monetize my music.  I would also continue writing books on Taoist Nutrition and how not to get used by an evil system. 

There are a lot of opportunities on long island for a musician.  There are restaurants and bars everywhere.  But the real big market is in NYC.  That's where the money is.  I have to build up to that.  I have to gain experience playing infront of smaller audiences.   So I will accomplish the great by a series of small acts.  The Asians are the best at warfare, because they are bright.  They understand how to use a limited amount or resources in a big way. 

So I will apply my enormous talent in a big way and get a big result.