Once a month i visit my doctor to get the prescription for the pills that give me the serotonin i need so i can fight the panick attacks i had.We talk for 20 mins and then i pay and leave.
Once a month after the doctors appointment i visit a small record store thats in the same neighborhood.. a small nice place full of vinyls and i always buy something for my small vinyl collection.
Today the guy who runs the shop.. a man around his mid fifties show me picking up the Buena Vista Social club record and he told me ... "you know its better to buy the original from the movie and not the one from Carnegie Hall because the recording there it is not so good" and he explained.. " Carnegie Hall its so high and big that the ressonance of the sound it is not good" and he continued and really he had such a bass and calm voice " i saw Buena Vista here in Vienna in Stadtsoper and you know its smaller and the sound its magnificent because it is build for opera" and i told him that i agree because the Opera is built for people who sing without microphones and the sound quality must be and indeed is amazing!
I reached his desk to pay and he looked at the albums i chose ...
Buena Vista Social club
Afro Cuban legends
Cesaria Evora.
He looked me in the eyes with a smile and told me " you know was back at 96 when i saw Buena Vista here in Vienna and at the last song Omara Portuondo the singer and Ibrahim Ferrer danced the last song ... both they were in their eighties..." and he continued "and i will be like them at my eighties one day and then at some point i will die " but he said it so calm like he wanted me to finish the sentence.. and i did as i said to him... " we all going to die at some point but thank god this music will never die..." he smiled at me and reached one of the selves in the back.. and he gave me a small single record the one you can see in the photo "Carifesta 1979" and he told me that usually he doesnt sell singles but he wants me to have it a present this little vinyl from Cuba which was printed before even i was born and for only a single time. And really this act of kindness and this bond between two people who really love music left me with a huge smile as i was exiting the shop :)
Maybe now you are wondering how the two people in my story are connected...
From the one side we have the psychiatrist.. he gets paid to listen by the clock and he is trained to give you the right chemicals in pills and drops form so you can feel "happy".
From the other side you have a musician who owns a small record store... who is willing to share his stories and his knoledge who loves music.and makes people happy.. people like me...
What i want to say is that as i see in my 34 years in this planet.. we forgot how to make each other happy .. because apparently it is easier to make each other feel sad and lonely .. feeding ourselves chemicals,chormones, serotonine and dopamin and setralin and so many other ins... we love through apps instead of going out and flirting ,we listen music alone with our headphones instead of gathering around a record player... we watch movies in our cellphones... we are fucking alone... with our backs turned to each other....and i am the same and i do the same.. but art.. music and painting... this is the last connecting tissue of our souls.. the last bond in our ill fated society... a bond that like neurons can make so weird combinations...like a 50 years old vienesse record store owner who made happy a greek tattooer living in Vienna... life doesnt gives you lemon we are the sour and bitter ones and it is in our hands in our soul's duty to find the ones who with their spirit and their acts will makes us happy .. with no chemicals ans no doctors...
Happy Monday
KURO.
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