Memórias de sorvete

Rápido no sol, ideia
Derretendo o chocolate na areia
Espreguiçando no chão a canga
O homem do caminhão Kibon arregaçando a manga.

Sundown!
Marcas de biquíni fio dental.
Guarda-sol multiuso, guarda-chuva, Bombril.
Amigos, numero um, Devassa, a Boa, família, mariscada
Almoço de domingo, caipirinhas do meu pai, memórias do meu Brasil.
Novela na TV de qualquer boteco arrasando no Ibope mesmo chuviscada.

Ai que bom trocar o sotaque por acento
Calçadões de paralelepípedo,
Corações pulsando, mãos dada em ritmo.
Que maravilha ver passar o tempo.

Não sou Gonçalves Dias
Mas aqueles dias em português!
O que vai ser? Vai cocada ai? Porque amanhã eu não venho, freguês!
E as chinelas do baiano vão batendo areia pra cima.
Bota sebo nas canelas, mulata.
Vamos seguindo, rapidinho no passo do elefantinho.

E a matraca, a chiadeira do biju crocante nos dentes
Olha o Estado, a Folha e a revista!
O homem da rede,
Ai que preguiça!
Ai que delicia!

Não e feira de domingo, mas mulher bonita, não paga.
Quanta simpatia. Quanto custa?
Para voce, eu faço de graça.
Ufanismo miragem, malandragem, traquinagem, doçura e molecagem.
Viagem.

Em família? Uma missão.
Não esquece a cueca.
Submissa.
Tem que encher o tanque, calibrar os pneus.
Sacolinha, sacolao. Porque não põem tudo na mala?
Olha so, enquanto vocês decidem, vou comprar cigarro e bala.
Stop.

Referencias juvenis.
Novos ventos, novas curvas, remexi os meus quadris.
Caminhando contra a brisa, passo no singular leve pelas calcadas
A água reluzente da baia de Sydney. Única e escassa.
Magnânimo Magnum menta e a estupenda vista da Opera House.
Enquanto isso, meu sorvete e eu devoramos memórias.

Come down

Come down
From the 7th hell
Come down, off from your white horse
Come down to step on the grass
And take flight with your grounded thoughts
And not by force
Earthy feelings, calm down, ease now.

Descend,
Turn around the bend,
Get off the loop
Climb up the roof
With your own feet and will,
Look at the view
With your own eyes

And you may see.
And you may feel the breeze
You may feel.

There’s a leak up in the roof!
Pitter-pattering drops sink in through the air.
They hit straight down onto the ground,
While you royally puff away in your armchair.

There’s a leak up in the roof,
When the rain falls.
Sprinkling the walls and splashing on the cold floor
The leak up in the roof that no one sees but I
And no one should restore nor try

But the house, it looks like a palace
With horses and princes
And beasts, princesses and fallacy
Worn out curtains
Torn cushions
And the leak up in the roof
It will rotten the wood
It corrodes the room

And the rumours of wine barrels,
And the quarrels over mistresses of white barons.
So much party, so much feast
No one’s noble to resist
So much charm, so much grace
No one dares but please and praise

Oh the selfish, oh the wanted
Who will blow them away, thump them?
Who will see their lacking character
Of washed out figures and no true carat?

Volunteers?
Well, I shall.
Amidst the waltzing banquette,
During tea time.
Or while they go fox hunting for their own tails.
With squiggly words that will make them
Squirm like agonising worms on hot sand.
I will gobble them up in one go leaving no trail.

And I’ll shake my Can Can skirt,
Frilly for the frivolous!
I don’t mind another quarrel.
Peace is for the weak – oh I wish, oh I wish.
Pull the curtains down, let it erupt the tittle-tattle.
Preach away from your pre edited bibles
From which I have collected morals and quotes
As much as all of us have neglected the poor and the Popes.

There was a leak up in the roof.
For the pias,proof.
For the bias, the truth.
There was a leak up in the roof!
Woof, woof, woof!

The two of you

“And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time.
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game”

In the rhythm of the fumy pans,
Kitchen sink discussions,
Sharp words and hands.
I stopped cooking ‘cause you lost your flavour.
For the starving, I give mass production.
Stir me up, you say, do me a favour.

I’ll give you recipes from the old cauldron.
Pyrotechnics of a wizard from an empty gallon
Tricks from the best selling book are just better sold.
The wise story that is never to unfold

It only makes it to the attic
Those memoirs of shock, static,
What I would have been.
The joy ride I have never seen,
‘Cause you’re going somewhere,
That always takes us nowhere.

With no boundary
Wake up and smell the coffee.
Between the smoke and cold flames from the past
Laughs give way to ashtray floods at last

Routine, I see you, natural predator.
Routine, I see you, natural predator.
Natural.

Jacaranda's leaves bloom from the falling tree.
Purple change sparkles under the moonlight.
Rain in the scene was never meant to be
Drowning in fake drops drifting away from sunshine and out of sight

Pale moths entrenched into the sofa
They’re no butterflies and their lives are over
Warriors, no purpose is their only flag
They’re like mad flies in a lost route in zigzag

A sad battle never even fought.
Young and naked bodies on an air mattress,
Your clouded mind of motionless thoughts.
No actions, says Psyche, your only empress.

I’ll take a rain check.
You take the pay check, merchant.
Have mercy.
No deal is the real deal.
No sweat, sweetheart.

No astrological knowledge,
Water and air just do not fit.
Musically, I piano, piano, piano.
You dwell the duo of ego
With a little bit of human touch.
And you echo all that, brave and proud as such.

Time of the beat, life's only guillotine.
Love is freedom, but not free, dear libertine.
Consensus regardless of harmony
Self-indulging riddles, our only courtesy
Yes, I’ll give them to you in leisure.
Not for you, for my own pleasure.

Sure to never complain and never explain
‘Cause poetry can be deceiving
What only matters is what we are achieving
Shame lists of shameless have no rhyme
And now I know, I’ve drawn the line.

(Crows Nest, 24th Sept 2011)

The wall, the casting couch and the pillow book

"In strife who inquires whether stratagem or courage was used? "

Jerome! Jerome! I'll call you better than Romeo. Get me the ink and the brush. A drop in the water which is now tainted. This was its purpose, ungraspable fluid. As pure as it seemed, always so easily corrupted.

Let's get painting! The wall has been knocked down. Marvellous is an opinion, thank you, rhetoric. You and I don't get entangled in words, written and expressed opinion is synonymous to courage. Highly appreciated. More truthful and naked than the body folded into a pillow book.

Strong, independent and intelligent woman is a statement of fact which when said with conviction can fool those musically inept. Just like saying fog lamps, sporty-looking exterior and interior, ESP (electronic stability program) and traction control really do not catch any experts - unless they can't actually drive.

Good to see you are neither buying nor selling, you're just acting and like you should. Keep on writing all over the notes and we should get in tune more often. Lying is artificial and despicable. Acting is always genuine and entertaining.

Don Quixote fights windmills lost in his imagination believing they are giants. The couch rubs against the wall and what to some sounds like mischief, to most people means renovation.

Let's change the tone, oh Jerome, Jerome. No more hidden agendas.I don't take orders, we can have fun. Let's clear it all up, write it all in a different language. And wipe it off under the water and write again and again.

The more you understand, Jerome, the less it will be understood. Texas...

WA TALENTS PLAY AT THE DARLING HARBOUR FOR EXPECTED AUDIENCE OF 30,000

September 2011 – Perth is showing that it is a city that brings culture, art and people together all over Australia. This coming Sunday, 18th of September, some of Perth’s finest world music talents will be in Sydney performing at the Ritmo Brazilian Festival. Sponsored by the International Office of Edith Cowan University, Marcio Mendes, Thiago Santos from Sambalicious and Brazilian jazz singer Juliana Areias will step on stage to represent Perth’s culturally diverse music talent and encourage study at WA’s most vibrant university in Australia’s most exciting and liveable city.

Created by the not-for-profit organization BraCCA - The Brazilian Community Council of Australia, the 12th Ritmo Brazilian Festival happens this Sunday at the Tumbalong Park (Darling Harbour) and promises to be a fun day of free entertainment and another example of celebration of Australia’s unique cultural diversity.
Filled with music, dance and Brazilian cuisine, people from all backgrounds will join the party and be able to listen to Juliana Areias and Marcio Mendes thanks to Edith Cowan University, Brazil WA and OiExchange.
Their repertoire is still a surprise, but the smoking musicians will certainly bring along with them the hottest and originally Brazilian moves and grooves from the sands of the beautiful beaches of the state that nurtures their talent, Western Australia.

ABOUT MARCIO MENDES

Marcio Mendes started playing the guitar at the age of twelve after having been given it as a present by a family friend. A diamond in the rough at the time, this 360 degrees self-taught musician never let life circumstances dictate his choices and pursued his dream of becoming a musician despite the typical life upheavals, learning as well how to play percussion, “cavaquinho” and saxophone.

Having played professionally since his early 20’s, Marcio performed with highly respected names of the Brazilian music such as Djavan and also famous samba and pagode bands from Brazil such as Mundo do Samba, Arte Popular and Negritude Junior having entertained crowds as large as 100 thousand people in Brazil and Europe with artists such as Leandro Learte and the pianist Tania Maria.

Pursuing his successful music career in Australia since 2003, Marcio Mendes has been one of the founding members of Sambalicious forming together with Tom Foss, Thiago Santos, WAAPA musicians, Tao Cohen and Adam Springhetti, Perth’s most popular Brazilian music band in WA which traditionally hosts the Brazilian Thursdays at the Deen in Northbridge. He has also performed with the Perth-based soul singer, Rachel Claudio, having travelled with her on a music tour to Brazil in 2010. Marcio Mendes currently performs at The Ellington Jazz Club and Ocean One Bar with Juliana Areias and other relevant names of Perth’s music scene.

ABOUT JULIANA AREIAS

Juliana Areias, nicknamed by the Brazilian journalist and writer Ruy Castro as the “bossa nova baby”, grew up in the music scene learning directly from Brazil's most famous Bossa Nova icons such as Roberto Menescal, Carlos Lyra and Ronaldo Boscoli.

Having performed for the past 15 years, Juliana Areias held concerts in Europe, New Zealand and Singapore, and took part of the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

In Perth, the city that she calls home, Juliana Areias shares the stage with other top local jazz musicians such as Victoria Newton (WAAPA), Libby Hammer (Hip Mo Toast), James Flynn, Pete Jeavons (bass), Glenn Rogers (guitar), Nick Abbey (bass), Tal Cohen (piano), Paul Millard (sax), Ray Walker (guitar).


Juliana’s truly authentic Brazilian jazz and sold out performances at The Ellington Jazz Club amazes the crowd for her great passion and talent. Juliana Areias’s performances can also be enjoyed at other Perth venues such as The Kulcha Theater, Ocean One bar and Gypsies Tapas Bar.

ABOUT THE EVENT

Ritmo Brazilian Festival is Australia’s biggest and most important Brazilian event. In it’s 12th edition, it is part of the annual events calendar of the Darling Harbour Foreshore Authority.

In 2010, it attracted 30,000 people fulfilling its aim to promote the benefit and joy of diversity in Australian society. The event is an opportunity for people from all backgrounds to meet and have a fun day whist learning about Brazilian Culture.

MORE INFORMATION / INTERVIEWS:

JULIANA AREIAS www.julianaareias.com
MARCIO MENDES (Sambalicious)
Watch their performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiUDMGTHjGg

CLAUDIA J. RONDON
PR MANAGER
M. 0433 463 802
E. claudiajrondon@gmail.com

4/4

Knock-knock,
Search-search,
Talk-talk,
Tell-tell,

Swim-swim,
Swim more,
Roll over,
Roll up,

Crawl down,
Rush-rush,
Go,
Plan,

Turn around,
Think,
Think,
Knock-knock,

Search-search,
Talk-talk,
Tell-tell,
Swim-swim,

Wave-wave,
Swell,
Swallow,
Sink-sink,

Push-push,
Roll over,
Float-float,
Breath,

Breath,
Breath,
Move,
Float,

Float,
Breath,
Sulk,
Think,

Cry, cry, cry,
Think,
Move,
Cry,

Breath,
Cry,
Swallow,
Swim,

Search,
Hold,
Fall,
Break,

Move,
Knock,
Talk,
Tell-tell,

Search-search,
Knock,bump,
bang,shout,
Scream, beg,

Fall, sink,
Think,
Float,
Breath,

Shake,
Shock,
Move,
Slow down,

Tick-tack,
Slow,
Down,
Dive in,

Rise up,
Swim up,
Stop.

Oh the martyrs! No one wants to be one of them

“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality”, Dante Alighieri

I enjoy reading the dictionary. Because quite often - not always - the words have the same meaning in different languages. Often... Another thumbs up for the dictionary, it is there to help us making sense of things when for some reason they don't make any sense.

So according to the Cambridge Dictionaries online this is what a martyr is: "a person who suffers very much or is killed because of their political or religious beliefs, and is often admired because of it."

Without getting too much into the details of semantics, political views and interpretation, I'll just add that the same publication gives the "disapproving" version of the same word: "someone who tries to get sympathy from others when they have a problem or too much work, usually having caused the problem or chosen to do the work themselves."

And off I go, looking up another word, victim, "someone or something which has been hurt, damaged or killed or has suffered, either because of the actions of someone or something else, or because of illness or chance."

My first opinion on these two words are that a victim, even though him or her may try to get sympathy from others when they have a problem, should never be called a martyr. Because even though the dictionary says a martyr can also be " someone who tries to get sympathy from others when they have a problem or too much work, usually having caused the problem or chosen to do the work themselves.", as soon as the dictionary states it's "disapproving" that shows that statement with a meaning is an INTERPRETATION of the definition and not actually a definition itself.

Linguistics or semiotics? Where is the meaning? What comes to existence? The word or the meaning or the actual object being defined? The discussion can go on for a fair bit. Theories are there to be read (at least!) and I read a few.

Back to the discussion... I was saying, martyr...and let's be redundant because it's more didactic. "A person who suffers very much or is killed because of their political or religious beliefs, and is often admired because of it."

So when people say " I don't want to be a martyr", they are actually more attached to the negative interpretation of the word.
I suppose the world have had enough martyrs for humanity to learn a few core values such as respect, compassion, oh the sense of "mateship".

Big words. Is it bad that people don't want to be martyrs? Is it because they don't want to suffer? Is it maybe because they don't want to be admired? Or maybe because they don't want to have political views - because after all being political causes stress? We are getting close. People don't want to be martyrs because they don't want to get involved.

Involved in anything that is out of the ordinary. A few more words...Ordinary...From an etymological point of view, ordinary is something of usual order. Well, we hit a wall here. I shall not comment on the word order.

If something looks "unusual", the way we all choose to deal with it is by removing it from the scene so everything can be back into "usual".

But most of us in developed and developing countries live in the fullness and beauty of blooming democratic environments, don't we? It is funny, according to the dictionary and not me, how much the values of this same society which "doesn't want to be a martyr" and also "doesn't want things to be out of the ordinary" is so attached to a word like order.

I am not discussing politics here, please don't get me wrong. I am discussing semantics. That is all. I am someone who appreciates reading the dictionary as much as some people appreciate reading labels, manuals and medication instructions.

A society like ours who as reported in the media places itself in the world as such willing to eradicate poverty, global warming, war, diseases, authoritarian governments, a society which believes in the big words I mentioned above and entitles itself free, modern and democratic. Why not be attached to another word like...Well, why not say, I don't want to be the person who kills the martyr? Why say " I don't want to be the martyr?"

Maybe all this got lost in translation. Let's just blame it on semantics. Done deal. People who can't understand words not even with the help of the dictionary. No one can be blamed for that. It's nothing really out of the ordinary.