The Universe Has a Soundtrack

What Pi Sounds Like

Today is Pi Day. I love Math. Did you know that music is a mathematical science? It's true. Watch this video to see what I mean.

Los Angeles, I'm Yours

After three plane rides, about 16 hours of travel time, one missed flight, and one short stay at a Comfort Inn in Atlanta, GA, I am finally home in Los Angeles. It is officially Spring here. The flowers in my yard are all blooming, it's sunny with clear skies and a perfect 68 degrees, and the scent of jasmine is filling the air. Ahhhhhh, Los Angeles.  It's good to be back. I've spent the last two days catching up on sleep and figuring out how to fix my too-much-time-in-the-sky damaged hair. 

It's so frizzy... I'm sure a box of light brown Natural Instincts hair color will solve the problem. It usually does. 

My trip to Italy was one of those life-changing experiences. When I went to Sundance Film Festival in January, a friend of mine said that there is the you that existed before Sundance, and there is you after Sundance. I definitely felt some of that, but my trip to Italy was the trip that really changed me. 

It was my first time really traveling in a foreign country. I've cruised to Mexico, but on a trip like that, you only stay in the country for a few hours. I know what you're thinking. Most people travel to other countries in college or immediately after high school. I'm a late bloomer in this department. In college I had to work a lot, and all of my time and money went to school. There wasn't anything left for travel. Now that I am finally established, it's nice to finally get this experience. 

I see why foreign travel is such a valued experience. The struggle to communicate taught me compassion for new immigrants in the U.S. You've got to really wanna live somewhere to work that hard to communicate... It took a lot of energy out of me just to speak! When I got home, I felt relieved to not have to work so hard to get the words out...

On my trip, there were six different personalities. My husband, my in-laws, my mother, my brother in law and his partner, and me. For two weeks we were together, and you can imagine the struggle that can come up when you have a soldier, a peacenik, a tea-party republican, and a quiet artist among several other personality traits traveling from Florida to Europe... There were a few struggles, but I learned how to hone in on my conflict resolution skills learned from three years of working in a Domestic Violence shelter, as well as the calm focus I have developed from yoga, martial arts, and meditation. It was truly a spiritual experience learning how to stay cool when someone said something about how certain races should stop producing... I wasn't always successful, but by the end of the trip, I looked back and thought I did alright. 

There was beauty everywhere in Italy. From Lavello to Rome. Everywhere. On the people, the buildings, the trees, the streets, the clothing, the simple food... If I spent too much time thinking about it, I got sad thinking about how America compares... But then I think about California, and how I fell in love with it's beauty seven years ago when I came here for the first time.  

So how have I changed? I had a lot of time to think about what is really important to me. The Italians seem to already know. Love, art, music, philosophy, family (whatever that means to you), good weather, simple food. For a few years, I have tried to figure out what direction I will take. After finally starting to feel like I really live in Los Angeles, and no longer feeling like I am simply adjusting, it has felt like a new chapter is emerging in my life.  

I have never been a materialistic person. Going from upper class to broke at a young age taught me how to value the free things in life. In L.A. it is easy to get caught up in wanting more, more, more. It's a competition to see who can drive the coolest car, own the biggest house, have the most sophisticated haircut, wear the most expensive clothing labels. I want nothing to do with it. I only want to live a life dedicated to music, learning, philosophy, friendship, and love. Luckily, it is a well kept secret that Los Angeles is actually home to a large population of sophisticated thinkers and artists. Most of the world sees this place as a plastic wasteland of materialism, but that is simply not true. 

In Rome, it rained a lot, and I spent many days dreaming of the running I would do in the sunny hills of my neighborhood and the slow driving I would do, which is more than accepted here. On my first day back, I was welcomed by my students who are so supportive of me. We spent every lesson freely creating music, and nothing music theory related was said. The parents all smiled and said it was good to have me back. That laid back attitude is classic here. Even though I am in love with Italy, and I will definitely be going back, and it taught me so much, the truth is I love Southern California and Los Angeles. I am so glad to be back. Los Angeles, I am yours!

Finding Beauty in Rome

As a musician, I am in it to win it, and that means learning how to be in front of a camera. I'm very shy for a musician. For many years I have been quite comfortable playing music for myself in my little studio, venturing out just a few times a month to share. But now, I am working towards the next big step. That means I have to market myself. The idea of being photographed makes me nervous. My jaw gets a little too tight, and my smile can feel unnatural... and what to wear? I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl, so this always poses a problem, no pun intended. 

Drinking tea before the shoot.
Calming the nerves.

Being in Italy has opened my eyes to beauty. Everyone here is so elegant, even in their jeans and sneakers. I'm used to living in a high fashion city, but Italy is different... It seems to be part of their DNA... All the women and men are beautiful. Effortlessly beautiful with their wavy hair, high cheekbones, and smooth skin. I figured if I was ever going to feel comfortable posing in front of a camera, Rome would be the place to do it.

I giggled as observers formed behind me.

So, I recruited my talented photographer husband to ride the train to the area where the Pantheon is located. When we were there last week, I noticed some really neat alleyways. I love alleyways in photos. 

Rome Has Alley's A-Plenty

We took 500 photos, and by the end, 50 were chosen. Not bad, according to Chad. The photos will be used for various marketing reasons... website, CD, poster, press releases. Considering it was really my second professional photo shoot, I thought I did ok. I look at the whole modeling thing as a practice like anything else. I have to learn to be comfortable being looked at through the eye of a camera.

We Loved the Graffiti

If you had to pick one for a CD cover, which would you choose?

Love in Lavello

The Original Middle Ages Entrance to Lavello 

My journey through Italy has been life changing. Two days ago, I met my Italian relatives for the first time in the beautiful village of Lavello, located in the southeastern region.  My American family and I are not particularly close. Not like you would expect of an Italian-Amercan family. The truth is, I often felt like a "spiritual orphan," wandering around looking for my home and family. In California, I have close friends who I love like family, but in Lavello, I found my home. My roots.

Roberta and Ananita

After meeting my cousin, Mario, and his beautiful family, I was touched by their total excitement to meet their American relative. In broken Italian and English, we spent 4 hours together catching up, eating pizza and drinking locally made wine. I felt close to them instantly. I wasn't sure at first, but I thought I felt some love from them... I tried not to attach myself to this idea, because we had just met...

A Lavello Troubadour

To thank them for their hospitality, I sang them a song. Mario's wife, Nananita, called relatives on the phone so they could listen to their new American cousin sing in English:

The next morning, Mario picked us up at his family's hotel, and brought us to my great-aunt Tina's house. She was standing outside, in pearls, a beautiful cashmere sweater, and a long matching skirt. She had her hand on her heart, and when I walked up, she embraced me with the most intense amount of love I have ever felt from a "stranger." She kept shouting "Bellisima! Belissima!" as she squeezed my cheeks and looked into my eyes. I was so touched. I felt instantly at home, like I had known her my whole life. She brought us inside, and as the phone continued to ring, more and more relatives walked into the door excited to see us.  I met aunts, uncles, and cousins. I was kissed and hugged more than ever in my life. Everyone was so excited, and they continuously brought us more and more drinks and candy. 

Mom, Tina, Me and Mario

We decided to eat, so they brought us to a local restaurant where we had a traditional Italian lunch. 3 courses, plus desert, about 3 hours long... It was beautiful. Like something out of a movie. Everyone shouted when they spoke, laughed louder than a timpani, waved their arms around, and continued to hug and kiss all of us. At the end, I played my guitar and everyone danced. When I was finished, they sang traditional Italian songs from Lavello.  It was beautiful! 

Lavello is surrounded by beautiful countryside,
rolling hills with olive trees and vineyards.

My cousin, Pia, who is only 4 years older than I am, made us promise to come to her wedding in July. We had an instant connection. Using the iPad's translator application in order to communicate, we discovered that we are both activists, both interested in politics, and our birthdays are only 4 days apart from each other.  The similarities in other relatives were fascinating. I discovered a poet, a journalist, and a musician named, get this, Michele. After lunch, I sang some American folk songs for them, as well as the traditional Italian song "Caro Mio Ben." I admit I was very nervous singing in Italian in front of real Italians, but they were very complimentary, and when I finished, my other great-aunt Sabina came up and planted a giant kiss on my cheek.

Song is a nice way to say "Grazi."

All the excitement and energy it took to understand and speak Italian, as well as the forte (strong) wine, made me feel not so molto buono... so I had to go back to the hotel to sleep it off.  Inside my heart, I was beaming, but my stomach needed me to take a break...

As we approached this group of men,
Mario informed me that one is my cousin.
Big surprise! 

Later that night, Sabina insisted on coming to the hotel with Pia and they brought gifts. A history book of Lavello from Pia and a beautiful Italian purse from Sabina. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude. The next morning, before leaving for Rome, Tina came to the hotel to say good bye, and she had more gifts! I couldn't believe how kind everyone was after meeting them for only the first time. When I mentioned this to Mario, he said to me, family is very, very important and you are family. In the car as we left, I kept thinking about that and felt like I might cry...

A local woman. I did not ask if we were related...

When I was preparing for this trip to Italy, I thought it might bring up thoughts of love, because Italy is famous for that. Every trip I take teaches me a profound life lesson, and as I anticipated this one, I considered that the subject might be love. But unlike the version in the book/film  "Eat, Pray, Love," this international trip brought me a different kind of love. An unconditional, familial kind of love. I felt a strong connection to my relatives in Lavello. A connection I haven't felt before in the states. It was pretty amazing. 

The family eats & eats & eats...

In this blog, I talk about peace and love, two things that I believe are necessary to cultivate in order to change the world. I began my meditation practice long ago in order to attain true inner peace, but love has always been shaky for me. When you move around a lot, you learn how to guard yourself from deep, unconditional love, perhaps allowing only a few people inside.  My relatives in Lavello had absolutely no problem showing me love the instant they met me. I was so struck by this. What if I could show that kind of love to everyone I meet? What if we all could do that? 

The old men on bicycles were so authentic...

In America, it is sometimes hard to show love. We don't touch each other or reveal deep feelings until we have "proven" we are worthy of such intimacy. But in Italy, I discovered that there are many people who grow up with a deep and instant sense of love for others. Lavello showed me what it could be like to instantly share love with someone, and to be vulnerable without any fear whatsoever.  

Happy in Lavello

I hope I take some of Lavello's love home with me to the States. My country could use some serious unconditional love at this point in time.