An Immigrant and His Life – Walter Novak
Last week, I met my friend Walter Novak for a beer and a chat. Walter is a Czech-American that found fame in the US as a photographer and rightly so – he has a unique ability to find the photo. The topic of the conversation drifted to his life story and what he told me I think is very apt given the times that we live in. He left the former Czechoslovakia two-years after the velvet revolution. When he arrived in the USA, he could barely speak a word of English and he had to gain a green card of course. For a couple of years, he had two jobs mopping floors and he got up and demonstrated the movement that he perfected so well as he mopped for maximum efficiency.
Read More »Photo Shoots
Just recently, the celebrated Czech-American photographer – Walter Novak – shot some photographs for me to help me promote a better image around my music. Walter is an award winning photographer who has worked with the stars and so, honestly, it was an honor to work with him. The results I think are startling. His concept was to take the photos at dusk with a long shutter speed capturing a moving Brno tram in the background along with graffiti and so on. It gives a central-eastern European feel while also making me look quite the rocker! I am very pleased with the results. Last night, we completed the second part of the assignment – to take some closer stills of me for my book promotion work. He chose another location
Read More »How To Look At The World
I met Walter several years ago in Brno. He seemed a character and had good stories to tell. Unfortunately, he moved to Prague and from there back to the US. We kept in touch though via Facebook. Then, a few weeks ago I noticed him posting about returning to Brno so I reached out and we agreed to meet. Since then, we have shared a few evenings telling stories and laughing a lot. But Walter is no ordinary person. He sees life in a different way to many and his way of looking at the world is through the lens of a camera. He is also an artist framing what he sees within his lens. His vision captures the humanity of his subjects and casts them mostly in a way
Read More »Looking for Love in A Foreign City
Now I am single again, my attention has already turned to trying to get out there and about. In truth, I’m not ready. I need to heal first. But, love won’t come looking for me sitting alone in my apartment watching Californication and wondering why I can’t act a bit more like David Duchovny’s character. So you sign up for a dating site or two and you set off for any party, get together, or meeting you can find. These dating sites are a crock though. I mean how do you decide if you like a person or not based on their best polished and photoshopped picture? I did get a bit of an ego trip though signing up for one. After just a day my profile was locked so
Read More »Symbols of the Goddess
Over the last few years, I have increasingly enjoyed getting into nature. I am also rekindling my interest in geology and these days enjoy nothing better than getting out into the wild with my hammer. There is a magic about certain places that I have noticed more and more recently. You can sense the nature spirits and of course, the Goddess herself in such places. I have always enjoyed solitude in nature and once spent an entire 6-weeks geologically mapping the island of Eigg off the west coast of Scotland where, for days and weeks at a time, I didn’t see another human. I found that I began to have all sorts of spiritual experiences there including hearing angelic singing and seeing certain things from the other realms (Some of
Read More »In Search of A Barber
I must confess that I have never much liked having my hair cut. I just think that firstly, its a real waste of valuable time and secondly, I hate people fiddling with my ears. Really, fiddle with my ears and I get quite ratty. However, today I had to go and try to have fixed the mess the last cutter made two weeks ago. You see, here in Brno, getting a decent haircut is like asking for a miracle. In fact, why beat around the bush (!), it is a miracle. Prague was different. There you could find a decent haircut no problem and come out looking very dapper. I even found a barbers shop that did a wet shave, provided a glass of whiskey and allowed you to smoke
Read More »Eight Crowns to Brno – Review
Yet another book about an English language teacher in Brno I thought (yes there are others). I started the book and by about Chapter 3, had decided this one, though well written, probably wasn’t really my cup of tea – not really my sense of humor. I live in Brno and what might be deemed funny about the Czechs to someone who doesn’t is simply normal to me now. However, I persevered and I am really glad that I did. Paul Simpson has a talent for writing witty conversation and in Eight Crowns to Brno he succeeds in creating a comedic conversation-driven story that in the end pulls you in and swallows you whole. Initially, the star character, James, came across as a clever know it all jack ass sort
Read More »Work Space Blog Hop
So, once again I have been ‘nominated‘ on one of these blog hop things… this time to show off my work space!! So here goes. I work from home in a small space fondly referred to as my office but in reality its the small guest bedroom and one could scarcely fling a cat in it… Strangely enough, it is almost the smallest room in our Brno apartment and, if you remove sleep hours from the equation, I probably spend 70% of my time sat in the corner of this small space. Rather bizarre when I come to think about it that way. It is my office, where I write, where I promote and market, where I meditate, where I deal with the mundane things like paying bills for example,
Read More »The House on Our Street
I posted photos of some of the decorative pieces on houses down our street the other day amongst which were representations of the green man, Hermes, Gorgons, Mary & Jesus and masons. Plainly, this wealthy street had some sort of masonic connection on the part of its owners or its builder. If perhaps you wonder how I can be so confident in this view, then you need to look at one particular house on the street… I think the hexagrams (triangle and compass) give the game away….. This is what our street looked like around 1920 just after all of these houses were completed. Trams no longer run down the street however. Apparently, many of these houses were built by Frantisk Pawl, an architect who was a Knight of the
Read More »Faces
We live in a beautiful street just outside the city center of Brno in the Czech Republic. Its beautiful because it comprises of houses built in and around 1900 at a time when the Czech Republic was an industrial powerhouse in central Europe. The families that built these homes were wealthy and it shows in the art nouveaux decorations, construction materials and size of the homes. Designed for a well to do family and their servants, most now are apartment buildings with 3-5 families per building. I have always been intrigued by the motifs on the buildings down the street and I am reproducing some of them below. There is one building I am saving for later and will write a separate blog article on it….. If anyone can cast
Read More »