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Hey there! How are things going? Did you have some extra time to read my last post? I hope so, because I wrote it under a lot of pain, you know? I had a Paronychia, a skin infection around a fingernail (my case) or toenail. I went to the doctor, I was medicated, so there was not much to do, except waiting for my immune system to react (the capacity of our body to rebuilt itself is a true wonder, don´t you think?), while the antibiotics did their job (hooray for science!). Oh, yes and hold the pain. This was the most difficult part.

One of my strategies in such situations is to increase the good mood factor. Basically, I try to reach affective memories, hiding myself in a bubble of protection. Anything goes: songs, scents, food, cartoons or old tv shows, such as the 1960s production I dream of Jeannie.

At first, I didn´t like it, when I realized that the streaming service only provided the version dubbed in Portuguese, but after the first episode I didn´t mind it anymore. After all, those were the same voices from the rerun I used to watch in the Brazilian tv in the late 1980s. I was immediately taken to a very nice place in my head, full of fond childhood memories and it helped me to forget the pain. At least for half an hour.

Watching a TV show aired from 1965 to 1970 in 2021 is very close to an anthropological exercise. The main plot is already, let´s say, problematic: a young blonde, blue-eyed lady representing an Arabian genie, dressed with very revealing pink clothing, calling a guy “Master”. Yep. On the other hand, it is also about an experienced woman with a free spirit and a lot of joie de vivre, not ashamed to use her powers, nor to defy her “master”. Actually, most of the fun in the sitcom comes from the inversion of the expected roles in the master-genie relationship.

That said, I must confess: the gags make me laugh and this is quite a lot for a fifty-year-old production. But what I really liked about the show was the music. From the opening theme to the soundtrack, Dream of Jeannie represents a time when Jazz was “the” thing and anything else was… square. And it gets better: suddenly, there was also Tom Jobim!

In the episode “The Greatest Entertainer in the World” (season two, episode 23), guest star Sammy Davis, Jr., playing himself, is shown in the middle of a rehearsal. And guess what? He sings The Girl from Ipanema in a (maybe unwillingly) Bossa Nova and Latin Jazz mix version. It felt so good to remember that Jobim was everywhere (and Vinicius de Moraes, João Gilberto, Baden Powell, Astrud Gilberto, Sylvia Telles, among many others stars from the time), representing Brazilian music. A flowering legacy, that I am honored to honor.

I couldn´t help smiling. Jeannie girl, you did it again.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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Hey, there! Good to see you again. That means you stick with me despite my random posting days. Thank you very much for that! Maybe you are also like me: sometimes a step ahead, but mostly a few steps behind the schedule. If so (and even more if not), thank you for the company! It really means a lot me.

As you know, March was hard, but I cannot complain about April. I was interviewed for the Ilustre Podcast, a small jewel made by an illustrator, my dear friend E., and could talk about my musical and research projects (to be aired on April 28th, stay tuned!). There is also another comic art related event coming by the end of the month, but I will not tell about it now. Oh, the mystery …

A busy month, as you see. Well, maybe not so busy for you, but quite so for me, since I had to add to the current month´s agenda all the remaining activities from last month. Procrastinators have the toughest life, trust me. To confirm my theory that procrastination can hit us all and nobody is really safe, I got an e-mail from one of my favourite newsletters and, guess what? It was about procrastination! And coming from one of the most productive professionals I know. Earthshaking!

My secret to keep a positive attitude about procrastination is cheating on it. How I do it? I fill my procrastination time with things that I can use later: from cooking to doing the laundry, any mildly challenging household activity will usually do. But some days require major measures, like watching a movie. Following the suggestion of my cinephile sister, I saw the 1969 classic They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

Set in 1932, during the great Depression, the plot brings light to a lesser known moment in the USA history, the dance marathon contests. It is impossible not to be amazed by the accurate way it shows the origin and the essence of today’s reality television shows. Scary! A masterpiece, no doubt, but what really caught my attention was that the only tender element in the bitterly sad story was the music.

The beautiful jazz ballads from the 1930´s bring rare moments of relief to the tense narrative, and the black musicians playing it are portrayed as having way more dignity and class than the pitiful, starving bunch of white marathon dancers. A new approach made possible by the late 1960´s social movements maybe, but certainly something to think about today.

See how far procrastination can take you?

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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“My grandmother was born on April 5th. I was nine years old when she died but as I age, her traces seem to be more and more present in me.”

I started the sentences above yesterday, the day I´ve planned to release this text, but then I was too busy and I missed the date of birth of my grandmother. I didn´t want to do it, because I have a great respect for dates and I really wanted to honor her birthday accordingly, but the fact is that I missed it.

I wonder how many times my grandmother missed or had to give away things that were very important to her, simply because life came in between, changing plans, re-arranging things we took for granted, leaving us no choice than recalculating the route. And sometimes we don´t even know which route we are in.

Belated or not, I would like to share a few words with you about my grandmother for she is probably one of the strongest, most interesting women I will ever meet in my life, and I am not only considering the way she managed to raise her seven children despite being often in dire financial straits (and frankly, we should stop reducing a woman´s bio to her role as a mother and how good or bad she played it), but also how ingenious she was. Every time she faced adversity, she dribbled it, as we say.

She was a short-tempered free thinker that would make her point looking straight to the eyes of the person she was speaking to, rather than in her/his back and, according to my family, I inherited all the previously mentioned characteristics. She was an avant-guarde woman in many ways, an excellent cooker and hers is the finest reply to a racist comment ever (long story).

Her name was Aurea, which means golden and I cannot think of a better word to describe her. She was made of gold and I know that somehow, she never stopped shining. She never will.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

p.s. Many songs remind me of granny, who had a good voice and also liked to sing, but this one has a special meaning to me and I try to include it in all my performances.

p.p.s. Wanna see a picture of granny as a young lady? She is on the collage of pictures on my Facebook profile (top left)

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Hey there! If you are reading this post, it means that I somehow overcame the tremendous inertia I was in during the month of March. Did I post my weekly reflections? Yes, but the concept of “week” had to be a bit extended. Do I think this is problem? Of course I do, but after an year of social isolation, I learned that the recipe to avoid anxiety is… well, I don´t know what it is, but I would guess it includes a bit of self-indulgence and a lot of acceptance, two ingredients that I generously used this month.

Nevertheless, I new month is about to start and I promised myself that things would change around here, although I didn´t know exactly how, so I decided to start by checking my to-do list. I always discover something nice there and I feel like moving fast forward every time I rearrange its items. Good, old to-do list!

On the top of it, I read: “upload last tour videos”. Ok, sounds good. Can do it. Let me explain it to you: on the last year of the old normal, aka 2019, I had a tremendous experience travelling through a lot of places in South America in a double mission: both as a singer and as an assistant to Prof. L., who was interviewing cartoonists in Montevideo, Córdoba, Santiago, Lima and Quito. Remember the good days, when we could travel like this? Boy, oh, boy!

Anyway, the double identity led me to a poor amount of visual content of the trip, but I do have some pictures and short videos that I would like to share with you on my YouTube channel. This is my big task for April. You may find it too humble of a task for a whole month, you obviously ignore the size of my to-do list. It is really very long, but seriously, if you are one of those “I keep my to-do list short” kind of person, keep on the good work! And, please, tell me your secret. Meanwhile, I will be realistic. Besides, April is also International Jazz Day month, but this is another story, Morning Glory.

Be seeing you!

G. F.

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And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It’s the end of all strain, it’s the joy in your heart

Waters of March (Tom Jobim)

What is your favourite season of the year? In Rio de Janeiro this question has a limited number of answers, since Winter is usually very mild and Spring and Fall are hardly noticeable in their most subtle details. On my previous post I talked about personal quests, the great causes that lead our lives, and today I would like to share another song-related experience with you, this time related to Summer or, better saying, the end of it.

I am not really a fan of high temperatures. A big disadvantage if you live in a tropical country, but to be totally frank with you, even when I lived in the north of Germany, where Summer sometimes lasts no longer than a weekend, it was not on the top of my list. I believe it has something to do with the lazy, on-pause feeling connected to the season. Do you know what I mean?

I was on one of those “on hold” periods, at the very beginning of the production of my first album, when a heat wave hit town. I tried to stay calm and follow the recording schedule, but everything seemed to be a bit harder under the hot temperatures. In the middle of this mess, After Summer , lately added to the album repertoire, came to my mind:

“I want the end of summer
I want another season
Stop thinking about what is going to be
And see
everything that goes on around me
After the summer I will be
Magazine covers, invitations to interviews
After the summer will happen
Magazine covers
Invitations to interviews
As soon as the summer is over
You’ll see
I want the end of summer
I want another station
Going out at noon wearing a heavy coat
Golden shades on my eyes
Highlighted by the autumnal light
As soon as the summer is over
it will happen
Magazine covers, invitations to interviews
When no one notices
Magazine covers, invitations to interviews
After the summer I will be
the one”

The magazine covers are still waiting, although I´ve already given a couple of interviews, but the truth is that when the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I am felling sad I suddenly remember this refrain and then I really don´t feel so bad.

I may not know about your Summer dreams and I bet that lately a lot of them had been ripped at the seams, but remember: there is always room for hope and faith, no matter which season this is.

Be seeing you!

G.F.