Mentalechoes

My Venezualan soul brother Balduino came over for a visit tonight. It’s been about six weeks since I last saw the Spanish speaking Love Gun (as he’s known in my apartment), which is really too long a time apart for a friend like he. There is something infectious about his enthusiasm for life and his passion for art, music and culture. It was late when he arrived, as he has started a new job working in a high class restaurant in a chic part of Amsterdam. When he arrived he brought a bottle of red wine and a small bar of Galli 100% pure cocoa dark on white chocolate. It’s no wonder the man has a certain influence over women; who wouldn’t be impressed with an entrance like that.

We took our usual place in the kitchen; whenever he comes around we always sit in the kitchen at my dinner table, and put the wine in between us. Immediately we fell into that easy rhythm of chat that is the hallmark of our friendship. There was a lot to catch up on, even for such a short space of time. He’d been busy with small theatre projects, learning how to cook and wait tables in his new job, as well as his art instruction with children at a local youth center. Of course being Balduino there were these funny side stories about new people that he had met recently and about his family and life left behind in Venezuala. At times I could barely keep slapping the table and laughing at the trouble he manages to get himself into and out of. Then he asked about how I was doing. It was funny you know, I felt before he arrived I had some serious stuff to tell him. But then, after a half a bottle of red wine, and being surrounded by these fantastic tunes from disc one of the Ministry of Sound, Ibiza Annual MOSCD2, all of my recent heavy emotional state seemed to simply fade away into the background of the moment. I’m not sure if it was because of how good I felt at having him there talking, or if it was simply because I have dealt with it now, but I felt no need to sit there and reiterate the last 10 days. So I gave him the movie trailers version, skipping most of the really heavy stuff and just giving him the high - low - lights. He just laughed at me and said in that accent of his, “Oh Andrew, you spend too much time carrying that big rock of yours, one day my friend, you’ll learn to just let it go”. As he said that, the Piano Pimps were hitting the big uplifting chorus to their anthem Everybody, and I realised he was right! Well I knew that already, but it was nice to hear him say it; that was a defining moment I had been waiting for.

I figured that it deserved to be remembered so I asked Balduino if he would do another tattoo for me, something special to mark the moment. Well yeah of course he was totally overjoyed at the idea. His reaction was the same as if he had been commissioned by Queen Beatrix to make some art for the Dutch royal residence. To say he was excited was an understatement.

This peice of body art is going to be a real committment too, because it’s going to be situated on my left forearm mostly on the inner side, swirling outwards to the top and bottom. It’s going to look beautiful when it’s done, I am sure. But I know now that it will mean never being able to wear short sleeve shirts again to my office jobs. But it will be a small price to pay for the Buddhist Pali inscription I have choosen surrounded by Balduino’s utterly fine tribal artwork.

The Piano Pimps played on repeat for a while - I was going off at their chorus each time - and we chatted until just recently about how we’re going to make the year coming our big year, our anthem year! And all the while I just kept smiling a never ending smile!

He’s gone now, but still the soft vibe of the guys presence remains. It makes me think that the world can’t be such a bad place when such good people live in it.

Man, I did get lucky with my friends!

Peace everyone!

Padwanna!

PS: And make sure you download the Original Pimp Mix of Everybody by the Piano Pimps. It’s an old skool anthem that just makes you feel grrreat!