Back in the U.S.A.

I left Athens at 2:30 pm Monday afternoon.

Two hours earlier i had kissed my elderly parents goodbye, our eyes filled with tears,
and promised them to be back in September for to celebrate my birthday together.

It was a bright sunny hot and windy day when i left Greece flying with
KLM
to JFK
via Amsterdam.

Amsterdam was covered by clouds, as usual, and after waiting for some delayed passengers
we waved goodbye to
Europe
and started our long flight over the Atlantic Ocean
heading to U.S.A.

We had an additional one hour delay , circulating over a beautifully hazy
New York
due to heavy traffic at the airport,
and i finally arrived home to my beautiful wife in
Manhattan
at 10:00 pm local time, 5:00 am my Greek time.

That was a loooong Travel!

It always strikes me though that whenever i fly overseas with any other company besides
Olympic ,
the plane is always full,while with Olympic is most of the times half full,
and on most of the trips i could get a good sleep,
stretching my legs over three seats and laying ,
not as comfortable as in my bed ,but much better than with any other company.

Of course this company doesn`t do as well financially
and it`s always on the verge of bankcruptcy but i don`t really care
as long as i can fly as i do and direct
to Athens.

Hania`s South Coast.

I would strongly recommend to anyone visiting the island of Crete
to never leave the island before visiting the south coast of the
Hania Region.

This is one of my top destinations anywhere in Greece.

It`s the southest point of Europe and if you like crystal clear
waters,with springs of cold fresh drinking water bubble up from
the bottom of the sea, endless caves that can be reach only
by boat or like in my case by swimming along the beautiful
coast of Agia Roumeli,
staring at the mountains with the remainings
of castles built around the end of fifteenth century to protect the villages
from the numerous attacks of
pirates.


It`s a mythical place at the end of one of the most beautiful
European Ravines ,
The Samarian Gorge,
That starts from the highest point of Omalos,
way up in the White Mountains
and ends at the tiny village of Agia Roumeli.

If one doesn`t want to walk through the gorge,one can take the boat from
Chora Sfakion
and stop at Loutro,
which means Bathtub and it is literally
Like a natural bathtub sorrounded by mountains that mirror themselves
On the crystal clear waters.

The second stop on the route is Agia Roumeli,after that comes the village of
Sougia
Another Favotite destination of mine, and last stop is the town of
Paleochora,
Wich means old town and it`s sorrounded by two beautiful
And exotic beaches.

The sandy one and the white stone one.

Where to swim is simply a matter of taste.

Getting In Tune.

Friday night and the place was packed with people who came
to listen to Spiros Soukis LIVE!

The air was thick with smoke and if they didn`t have the windows open
on such a beautiful early summer night, it would have been impossible to
perform.

I had my trusted Guild acoustic
with me that i run through the house`s P.A system and that night with me
was Kostas ,a local piano player who performs there regularly and was
keen to the oportunity of banging some blues on the piano.

I made an effort to show him some of my Greek songs that the audience
is familiar with and i wrote down the changes on my new ones.

It had been a long time since my last acoustic performance and
although i had to put more effort than i usually do on my electric,
the sound was huge and crystal clear and i could hear my voice perfectly
through the two JBL house speakers .

It was a fun night with people coming up and asking where i have been,
how is N.Y.C and i sold lots of my "Transblues" cd.

First thing coming home was taking a shower,washing my hair and putting
all of my clothes outside on the veranda to get rid of The Smoke.

I spent most of the next day on the beach swimming in order to
clear my lungs of all that second hand smoke.

After living in N.Y.C for almost three years,in a smoke free enviroment,
i have become very sensitive to cigarrette smoke and i wish
they would pass the same law here,so it would be illegal
to smoke in all public places including clubs and bars.

WISHFULL THINKING!

At The Waterfront.

I left Agia Marina Attica Greece
for to swim in
Agia Marina Crete.

In a distance of 10 miles from the town of
Chania,Agia Marina was
not long ago an idyllic small village with a few fish tavernas
on the beautiful waterfront,where you could eat very cheap fresh fish,
sorrounded my smiling faces of local people.

Now it has become a tourist destination and the sandy beach an organized one
with umbrellas and chairs for rent at the price of 5 euros.

The tourist season is not yet at it`s peak so i spent some hours
laying on a comfortable chair,when not swimming at the still
somewhat cold but very refreshing waters.

I spent some hours at my sister`s house listening to
Sonny Landreth
The Rolling Stones
and Pink Floyd
who`s music fits perfectly with the Cretean Landscape,
from her ecxellent stereo system,while sipping on my home made
Frappe "shaken instant coffee on ice" sitting on a comfy
chair at the veranda overlooking the sea.

At around 8:00pm we left the house,to visit Chania`s old Harbor
with all it`s sixteenth hundred architectural Venetian glory.

It`s definetely one of the most beautifully built and well kept old harbors
in Crete and it`s always a joy to wonder through it`s tiny
streets where you think you will meet Romeo singing his love song
to Juliette.

My sister had arrange a meeting with old and new friends
to another beloved Taverna of mine between the ancient
town hall buildings and we spent the rest of the evening
savoring on Cretian Delicacies,drinking Cretian white chilled wine,
and Cretean sweets that it`s their custom to offer,together with chilled Raki,
while waiting for the bill to arrive.

Stin Ygeia sas!
{To your Health}

Chania-Crete.

The forecast for summer days ahead did help my decision to travel to
the island of Crete.

The Taxi ride from Agia Marina {thirty miles northeast of
Athens}
where my summer house is located to the port of
Pireus
was a quick one of forty five minutes through the new great highways
that were built before the
Olympic games .

I took the "Superfast" Ferry Boat at 4:30 pm and i arrived at
Mediterranean`s
largest natural port of
Souda
at 10:30 pm.

My Beautiful sister Sevastianna was waiting for me there
on her car and she took me straight to one of my beloved
fish tavernas on the outskirts of the city ,right on the waterfront
with amazing vistas of the great
Venetian old Harbor.

My sister knows what i like so she ordered my favorite Mezedes:
Grilled octapus,Atherina {tiny fresh fish},red mullets,
Greek sallad,fried potatoes(pilled by hand the old fashioned way
and tasting Delicious}and lots of chilled
Retsina.

After this delicious meal and around 1:00 am in the morning
{Greeks like to eat late} we headed home at her georgeous
house overlooking the sea and a small island,that i used to swim to
When i was at my twenties.

World Cup.

Talk about total obsession.

I don`t know if the same applies for
every nation on the planet but Greeks
{men}are totally obsessed with Mundial.

The official site for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ Germany
Fifa


This is the topic discussion everyhere and all Cafes are fully equiped with
Gigantic T.V screens attracting audiences,who sit there for hours
Sipping on the usual Greek Frappe {shaken cold instant coffee}
And as the night settles in they substitute the coffee for a beer,
Or a Scotch Whiskey,While chain smoking
Marlboros
Lucky Strikes
and other American-European-and Greek cigarettes.

Last night I watched the Game between
Brazil
andCroatia

Direct from Berlin
From a stadium filled with 72.000 fans.


It was a hot night in every sence with a temperature of 25 degrees Celcious
And 70% humidity ,plus very hot Brazilian and Croatian Fans.

I must admit that Croatia played a very good game against
Brazil , which is one of the best teams and has won the world cup
Several times.

Greece ,although the winner of the World Cup in 2004
she is not even in for the finals this year.

World Cup results on your Google homepage
13 Jun - Final score
Croatia 0
Brazil 1

Next game: Ukraine v. Spain: 4:00pm 14 Jun

A Lesson in History.

I have to explain one thing that might have been misunderstood
From my writings.

Greeks have always had
a passion for politics.
After all they are the ones who invented Democracy .

The are the ones who also invented the Twelve gods of Olympus as well ,who had
The same passions and made the same mistakes of judgment as regular human beings.

Greeks reached their peak in
Philosophy ,
Theater, Architecture ,
Medicine ,
Sculpture ,
Music ,
In 500 BC and set the standards for everyone else to follow.

The decline started with Greece`s occupation from the
Romans
And with the rise of
Christianity .

After the second world war Greeks have been influenced by the American culture
and as a result have developed a brotherhood with the American People,
but they deeply despise the American Foreign Policy.


From 1967 till 1974 Greece was under a dictatorship generated by The American Foreign policy which caused many years backwards to Greece`s development ,
in a time that was essential for the country
To move forward and catch up with the rest of the Western European Countries.

So It`s no wonder that these strong feelings of dissentment were settled in
under these seven years.

I too was affected by the stupidity and the obscurity of these years
as everyone else who lived here,
But I was finding refuge in my dreamland of MUSIC.

Room full of memories.

Well here I am sitting in my little studio room
In Agia Marina ,thirty miles northeast of Athens.

The sun is shinning ,but the air is crispy chilled and
Since iam still on medication I rarely sit outside on the
Big veranda overlooking an amazing beautiful garden.

I am listening to
Robin Trower`s “Bridge of Sighs”
Classic album which still sounds fresh to me but brings back
So many memories of the years gone by living in Greece.

As far as I remember I was always an outsider,living in a castle
Made of records,British and American,trying to escape the dull
Greek reality and dreaming of faraway lands where these amazing
Musicians lived .

Later on as I traveled all over West Europe I came to appreciate
The natural beauties of my country,the amazing beaches
The three Hundred days of sunshine that made Greece so desirable
To the European counties of the North.

But as I grew older that fact became less and less important for my well being
And the indeference of the Greek society for anything new,
any change for the better,made it clear to me that I had to make my getaway.

On the last concert here I played my beloved
Blade R4
Through my
Fender "Deluxe Reverb"
and my
Mesa Boogie "Studio 22”.

The sound is awsome and although i love them both l will
Have to sell them because it doesn`t make sence to bring them to
N.Y. C.

But then again I might keep them for some more Musical Adventures
Whenever I play here in my home town..

News from Greece.

The news from Greece are the same as they have always been.

Local news of the worst kind.

Here they are so overwhelmed with the usual strikes,bank robberies,
cinematic escapes of highly dangerous criminals,the every day
invasion of the air space by Turkish fighter planes,
and the new for Greek standards, high child criminality,
that the coverage of international news is none.

The one good thing Greece had going for itself was the weather,
but since i`ve landed here it has been quite cold and ubnormal
for the season so iam under the weather with a vey bad cold.

Maybe that`s the reason iam so pessimistic but it could also
be that i became so depressed with the situation here that
i lost all my immune defences.

The T.V sucks big time and the level of the programs
and especially the reality shows are the lowest of the low.

I don`t know how we`ve made it into the E.U. but that was surely
a miracle EU has to pay for years to come.

MUSIC?
WHAT MUSIC?

I am outta here!