'Whenever I See Your Smiling Face I Have To Smile Myself..'

Brian; Jordan, Djibouti, UAE, Bahrain

  A smile can do so much,

 It's the most human and universal reaction to joy the world over.

A simple smile can drastically change things.

Smiles reach accross the generations..

..they can bridge, cultures, customs and symbols.

 A smile has the power to melt away differences between people,



...they reveal the humanity we all share,

...they bring us closer together





More than anything we're trying to bring people music that makes them smile.

..and in turn hearing theirs make us smile.

I think a smile is the essence of peace.

Splish Spash

After our first workshop at the youth center in Bahrain, we played an event at the PA officer's residence for US embassy personnel, alum and invited guests. We set up inder a canopy by the pool and I thought how nice it would be to take a dip.'it was beautiful outside and the setting was perfect for an event. We played out set and near the end Johnny called one of our favorite songs, Ain't no Sunshine. To end the tune, he usually jumps in the air or off the stage and when he lands, we hit the final note. Well that night the song ended in a way that we never expected. he signaled the final chord which we held and while we were waiting for his ending cue, he ran across the stage area towards the pool and dove in. Of course when he hit the water, we hit the final note.
Needles to say, I think everyone was amazed and we definitely made a splash at the party;)

The pool and a still soaking wet JR after jumping in the pool.

The next day was a rest day for the band and I got a chance to do some swimming of my own at the hotel pool.

By the next day we were ready to get back to work and play at the first English language teachers conference in Bahrain. It was sponsored by the US Embassy and included professional educators from all over the the island. They loved singing along with us in language and afterwards, we signed CDs and took pictures with some new friends.

It seems that even English teachers have dreams of being rock stars;)

The director of the event presented us with a beautiful award.

Hopefully he won't take it away after checking my grammar in the blog;)

That evening we got all our gear packed up and left to play at the beautiful Bahrain fort museum on the gulf. When we got closer, the traffic got very heavy and all the roads were closed leading to that area of town. Janan, our wonderful local national embassy liaison, decided to make some calls and it was decided that the concert should be cancelled. We were happy to find out that it would be rescheduled for the next night and when we got there the next evening, the setting and the weather were beautiful.

The stage with the old fort in the distance

The Portuguese had built the fort around 300 years ago

Because the concert had been rescheduled, we didn't have enough tint to do a scheduled masterclass at a local music store. We were happy that the music students were able to come to the concert and afterwards we were able to talk and jam with them.

We really made some connections last night and during our other events. We have already been sharing some fun times on Facebook. I was really moved by the sincerity of everyone's comments on the Johnny Rodgers Band Facebook page and when we were reading some of them this morning, I felt sad to leave our new friends behind. It is these connections and new friendships that make it all worthwhile for me. We are so blessed to be able to travel the world and present our music to these beautiful people in these wonderful places. Thank you to Brad, Shana, Janan and our drivers from the US Embassy. Also thank you to the Bahrain ministry of culture and it's liaison, Mubarak for hosting our stay and allowing us to share our music.

Pulse

Danny; Manama, Bahrain

We played an event for a youth center in Manama Bahrain. We set up in their gym/auditorium and when the Students walked in, I got a sense of a diversity in the crowd. Matter of fact, I realized that since u had come to this country, most of the people we had met were from another country. Most had come to find work, become citizens and find a better life for themselves. Sound familiar? Up to this point, I still hadn't gotten a sense of what this country was about? I couldn't find the pulse as easy here as I have in other countries we have visited. I have since read the paper, asked some questions and now I understand some of the dynamics, but I haven't felt it yet. The more I travel, the more the borders of places get blurred for me and the global/corporate culture seems to obscure the local culture. Also, certain countries have become multicultural because of immigration and this can also blur the lines. As a touring cultural exchange musician, I deal with a lot of people from the service industry as well as embassy personnel, diplomats and and local government officials. This gives me a wide range of diversity in each place I visit. I put all this questioning and thinking out of my mind for a while and then it came to me. The individuals that I meet each and every day, waiters, drivers, sound guys, teachers, audience members. are where the pulse lives, not in the history, stories, the news. For me, each contact I have, each personal encounter goes beyond stories, beyond history and lives in the moment. The thank you's, the smiles, the communion of the sense of being which goes beyond language and words. This is the pulse, that place where we are all human.

This is also the place where creativity and the sharing of music lives. The barriers of race, language and cultural differences quickly drop away when we are all sharing in music.
Rhythm, harmony, melody and texture become the language that we all speak and even though the lyrics might be different, the emotion is still felt. This again became apparent as soon as the students heard the music and the room began to rock.
You could see it in the smiles and faces of everyone in the room.

Group photo at Youth Center

A student gets a chance to show us his groove

A guitar student gets his Latin feel on

The students performed a traditional Arabic dance for us. Their teacher and mentor told us that he was concerned that this traditional form of dance was in danger of fading away. The students were great and you could sense the pride on their faces as they performed for us.

The students in most countries are shy, but here it took at least a half hour or more to get them to even ask a question. Once we got them going, they were able to relax and even sing along with us. There were some musicians who got a chance to perform on a song with the band.

Joe and Johhny have a cutting contest on their new axes ;)

We left the center knowing we had made some new friends and connections.

Many to Many

Joe - Bahrain. Let’s talk tech.  So how does this blog get here – this JRB blog, the blog that you’re reading right now? It’s easy, right? Just go to some beautiful places, play some cool music, meet some interesting people, pay attention, write down what strikes you, take pictures(be sure to ask permission & give credit) and upload it all to the blog. Easy. Well, not so fast. First you need a pile of high tech junk. Flip cams, Zoom Q3s, Smartphones, sim cards, hotel wireless,  blogging tools for each platform(Windows, Mac, iphone, Blackberry, Droid), maybe a soldering gun if things get really dicey and probably some other tools you left at home. My suitcase is always filled with tech junk I think I'll need. Even so, I always leave something I really need at home...

Some of the junk in my suitcase

Now, here are a few things that can go wrong: the photos are too big, the videos are  too long, the hotel wireless stinks, my battery’s dead, I left my charger in my hotel room two countries ago, the SIM card I bought has no data plan… And here’s what you do when something goes wrong: text Amy in Nashville, call Liz in Washington, call someone at the embassy if you can find a phone and remember where you put the numbers for your embassy contacts. Although I’ve learned that you can get Crazy Glue in the most remote regions of the planet, it won’t help your blog (but you can use it to fix your nails if you play guitar).

Every location you move to on a tour is a potential blogger blackout. But, if you do it right, you can post from the back seat of a van on the way to a gig – even videos if you are in the right country. You can post in real time from inside a canyon at Petra. 

I know. I did it. Johnny thought it was violating the sanctity of the place but I couldn’t resist. I had a 3g signal and I used it! Droid phone in front of the treasury at Petra. You know, the place where Indiana Jones went on horseback. 

Once the communications channel is worked out, then and only then, can you post your ideas, dreams, beautiful location photos, meals, bad jokes (maybe some good ones)  and most of all your musical impressions.

So, what’s the first thing I do when we get through customs and baggage claims at the airport? I hunt for a local SIM card to get my unlocked Droid phone on the internet and have local phone service. Once I can do that, I help the rest of the band get connected – two different iPhones and a Blackberry. I currently have six SIM cards – one for NY, one for each country we’ve visited up until now and a global SIM with no data plan just in case I forget what country I’m in. What’s the first thing I do when I check into a hotel? I check the wired LAN speed or wireless speed to get an idea of what we can upload. It’s an instinct. I can’t be out of communication for very long. I think data is becoming like water or air. We can’t live without it. Don’t have enough bandwidth? Sorry, no videos. Have still less bandwidth? Sorry, no photos. Have even less bandwidth than that? Sorry, no blog. And worst of all, I can’t Skype home.

5 of my 6 phone SIMs.

There are all sorts of cameras in this band both still and video - Zoom Q3, Zoom Q3 HD, smartphones, whatever. It’s all good if you can resize, change resolution and move your work from whatever recorder you use to a computer or directly to the web. 

Next are the blogging tools. We use Blogger at Blogspot.com because it has good support tools for computers and mobile devices and, it’s elegant and easy. It’s a Google product so it works well with Gmail, Youtube and Picasa. We wanted to be able to post from anywhere at any time. For example, on my phone I have a very cheap app that can post blogs over a cellular network directly. If I’m on 3g with a local SIM card I can post a video made right on the phone. I’ve posted photos from the van on the way to a gig in the UAE and Jordan.  As an aside, though not blogging, I even did a video Skype session over 3g and showed Allison, my wife who is in NYC, a venue we played at by turning on my phones rear camera. Silly, but amazing. We were at an outdoor venue in Amman, Jordan. 

We’ve stayed at very nice hotels but the wireless networks haven’t been stellar. On the other hand, I’ve been shocked by the quality of the cellular phone networks in Jordan, UAE and Bahrain. In many places they have HSDPA(3g+) and HSPA+(4g). In other words, my cell phone on the road has consistently had better bandwidth than my computer connection at the hotel. Actually, it has had better bandwidth than I have in New York most of the time. It’s no secret that a lot of countries are moving straight to cellular networks and skipping over wired networks to deliver internet services.

Ironically, after working on getting this blog up and running reasonably well, I haven’t had time to post very much. At the end of it all I ask myself, why do I like this technology so much? Part of the answer is this: I believe it’s good to connect people and connect with people. Connections are changing the world. They certainly are changing my perception of the Middle East and its people. I'm very fortunate to be able to help create connections between people through both music and technology. Many to many connections.

The island of Bahrain

Danny; Bahrain

We landed in Bahrain the night before last, the excitement of our Jordan trip, still fresh in out minds. We were met by a liaison from the Bahrain Ministry of Culture, who got us through the modern airport and it's challenges with ease. We got our local sim cards for our US smartphones, got them working and did the customary happy dance;) The challenge of being out on the road so far way from our families and friends, is eased by our modern connectivity. I have felt much more connected to my life situation at home not only because we have smarter phones, better networks, but because our bandmate Joe Ravo is our technical advisor and guru. He has made it possible for us to write blogs and upload photos in real time from our phones.

The hotel is five star and we have incredible views and local restaurants near by where we are staying. I have met many locals that work and live on this beautiful island. Many are from the Philippines, Central Asia and India. Everyone is so helpful and sweet. The Middle East in general is a very spiritual place and I sense that in every encounter I have here.
I've met many people who want to visit America and enjoy talking about how they came to be here in Bahrain. A Nepalese restauranteur told me that Bahrain is such a wonderful, safe and beautiful place to live. I saw a beautiful art gallery/cafe and the owner showed me the exhibit of four wonderful artists. I sensed his pride of the local culture and art scene. He said he'd play our CD in the space during the day.

Hotel

Flower Power

Nearby Mosque

Thai Heaven

Anchors Away

Today our Embassy liaison Shana, took us to the Fort Museum that we will be playing at tomorrow evening.
The museum sits on the Gulf, adjacent to the ancient fort site. Archeologists are still restoring and working on the project and are sometimes housed there during their visit.

Museum and site of outdoor concert

View of fort from museum

Everyone seems to "dig" the site;)

We were invited to do an interview with two journalists from the Bahrain Ministry of Culture. Coffee, tea and JRB. We all laughed and had fin together, telling stories about the band and our music.

We spoke about how breaking the fourth wall between the stage and the audience. How the show is honest, interactive and a two way street, very much like social networks, our blog, life.
We all agreed that it's all about the moment, laughing and having a good time with music. That there are more similarities and things in common with us all and that music bridges all language and cultural barriers.