Well well well... I know, I have been kinda missing these past months. I have been so overwhelmed from all parts. Professionally, personally, musically...

anyway, after being a year in depression, my life took a new path with a "reborn" relationship. So far it looks ok and big projects seem on their way.

Professionally it is a huge mess as my job requires me to be available anytime during week days from 6AM to 9PM... Ach.
besides my daily job, I was offered to get a job in photography I launched my photo page which is located here so feel free to browse and comment. Most of these pics can be seen on my DeviantArt page right here

Musically...that's the most important chapter here I joined a band earlier this year in order to handle drums duties. And so far it's getting GREAT. O.D.I.L had few shows this year and we'll enter studios to record a demo. I'm very active in this band. Not only I supply drums and backing vocals, I wrote a song for the band called Long Time no News and more material from me is on the way for the Band.

Band's MySpace is located here and we just uploaded brand new live videos from our last concert in Paris which happened last November 20th at the Divan du Monde a great venue in which once played Spock's Beard and the Flower Kings...

and I might start up a side project... something more progressive I've just started to gather some ideas.

That's it for now sorry for the late delay I promise I'll be more active in the future...

Brought to you by the letters D.A.N

When I spoke with you today
I didn't know what to say
It's been so long, so long
I said I'm doing fine
But what haunts my troubled mind
Is where it all went wrong, so wrong
I did not suspect
That we would not connect
And end up strangers

I could dance with you all night
Make love by candlelight
We could talk and talk but it's all in spite
Because you'll never be my friend
I could walk with you through the rain
We could share each other's pain
We could do all this but it's all in vain
Because you'll never be my friend

As time goes flying by
I have to wonder why
I don't see you anymore
they call it chemistry
What will or will not be
What's missing between you and me

I could dance with you all night
Make love by candlelight
We could talk and talk but it's all in spite
Because you'll never be my friend
I could walk with you through the rain
We could share each other's pain
We could do all this but it's all in vain
Because you'll never be my friend

When I spoke with you today
I didn't know what to say
Maybe so long, so long
If you chance on me some night
Underneath some lone streetlight
Just wave and say,"So long ,so long"
I do not regret
The chance I shan't forget
And we're no longer strangers

You could dance with me all night
Make love by candlelight
We could talk and talk but it's all in spite
Because I'll never be your friend
You could walk with me through the rain
We could share each other's pain
We could do all this but it's all in vain
Because I'll never be your friend

Never be my friend,my friend
You wouldn't be my friend
And I couldn't be your friend
So long,so long...

Doug Ott wrote this song and Enchant plays it.
You nailed it down, man. There's no other better way, thank you.
www.myspace.com/enchantband give them some love, hoping they will restart the engines (Amen)

I love her, eternally.

After talking about the loss of somebody, let's talk about something much cooler : music.

For almost 6 years now, a friend of mine (excellent guitar player by the way), usually blesses me for I made him discover unknown new killer bands. And he always used to ask : Man, where do you get all of that stuff ? . This question made me laugh. I remember Toto's Simon Phillips once telling : you need a pair of big ears. Guess I have a huge one lol.

To be more serious, I think the first time I talked in passioned terms of a band I've just discovered is back in 1998, when I discovered Prog-rock band Enchant. I was in my fav record store and their album Break was played. And I was like : What the hell is that ? Immediately fell in love with the band and it was the beginning of countless times telling friends : hey man, like Dream Theater, Genesis and so on ?, Then listen to this, you're gonna love it. And believe it or not, the hell IT WORKED ! lol.

So my buddy Matt, used to come and visit me. Funny kinda ritual, he'd sit on the bed, looking my cd shelf, and would say : So what's up in your cd collection this week ? . Now I moved, I don't meet Matt anymore, it's been a long time and I miss these days, definitely.

Since I joined www.progressia.net back in march 2000, I never thought I'd spend so much time spreading the word on some bands like Enchant, Prymary, and more recently Riverside and Jetliner. I think my approach of discovering new bands is the same as listenning to older music like Blues, jazz, funk I mean here roots.

For instance : I'm a member of Queen's French Message Board Innuendo Forum. What I usually do is that when I think a band I know can appeal to other members, I post a link and people can make their opinion. That way some people were able to discover bands they thought they couldn't exist. In case of Queen's message board, some people discovered : Robby Valentine, ACT, Pain Of Salvation, Threshold, Spock's Beard, Enchant, Shadow Gallery and Jetliner. If I submitted these bands it's because there is something in their music which can appeal to Queen Fans and I know it !

How the hell do I know these bands ? I have an answer actually but before that, I have to give you my conception of contemporary music : Imagine a pyramid on which you'll find Jazz at the top. From Jazz, Blues came out, from Blues, R'N'B, Soul, Funk, Rock'n'Roll and pop came out. From Rock'n'Roll, Hard Rock, Psychedelic Rock and Progressive Rock came out and so on. It's all a matter of subdividing musical genres. and there you have it !

Before I discovered countless e-cd stores, I used to go on every links page from band's websites and look which bands were on. The way I discovered Jetliner is totally funny. I was browsing New Age piano section and found a little article on them : "This band is the heir apparent to Queen...The best singer since Freddie Mercury." hey, to write such a thing like this : either you're drunk or you're serious and then you have a big pair of b$$$l in the pants. Let's face it : when I read that I was laughing. But I decided to give it a try though and it was a real slap in the face.

Then it's all a matter of tastes : either you like clones or not, up to you. But this just to show you that in music, curiosity does not kill it helps. And bands like Jetliner, Riverside, ACT and Enchant honestly deserve much more exposure than they have right now : almost none. Their music can definitely reach a bigger audience. So there you have the formula to discover new talents and know the art of discovering new talents. To put in a nutshell Three words : Browse, Listen and Spread the word.

Following what I wrote yesterday, I'm still at loss for words about this tragedy which happened to a people, part of my circle of friends-workmates. Today was the funeral, but I didn't go. I wasn't strong enough. I went to funerals but not that way. My father's funeral (june 16th 1992) was sudden, definitely wasn't prepared for this (heart attack, may you rest in peace dad). Man, when something like this happens to you, the whole world stops spinning around. You're in a bubble. Especially in my religion, during the first 7 days following the death, you have to stay adrift from your relatives you can't neither eat nor sleep with them. In my case, I stayed with my uncles & aunts, my mom and my brother. You also can't change your clothes and wash yourself for seven days. Then you can't shave yourself for a month.

During the year following the death, you can't go to gigs, parties and any places where music can be heard. Pretty tough isn't it. You wouldn't believe how hard it was for me to live without music during the first months. I was blamed for I've played an audio tape at this time. When my time will come, I want to be buried with my guitar. Don't care about what people will say, that's my last will so let it be.

I've noticed that, after going through such an event, you don't perceive life the same. I mean here : you lived your life before losing someone and now you must learn to live anew, with the weight about losing someone and his thought. In these cases, you always look at life like alike I don't know in fact. I think about : Seize The Day, Carpe Diem, cherish your life while you're still around but let's face it, who can dare pretend have lived his/her life fully ? Nobody.

14 years after, I still think about my father, I still miss him more than before, I still think it happened yesterday. And it's been 6 months I haven't been mourning on his grave knowing I used to go once a month.

Blame me for that, Dad. I deserve it. I love you though.

Suite à ce que j'ai écris hier, je cherche encore les mots pour cette morbide histoire arrivée a des gens sans histoire que je connaissais. L'enterrement a eu lieu aujourd'hui, mais je n'y suis pas allé, je ne me sentais pas. Les enterrements pourtant je connais, celui de mon père (16 juin 1992) était soudain, on ne s'y attendait pas (rupture d'anévrisme, qui peut prévoir ?).

Quand ça vous arrive, la terre s'arrête de tourner c'est évident. Et l'on est comme dans sa bulle, coupé de toue relation avec le monde extérieur surtout dans ma religion. Les sept premiers jours suivant la disparition du défunt, il vous faut rester éloignés de vos cousins, amis. Il est même interdit de manger ou de dormir dans la même pièce qu'eux. Dans mon cas j'étais avec mon frère ma mère et mes oncles et tantes. Il est également interdit de se changer de vêtements, de se laver pendant ces sept jours. Il est aussi proscrit de se raser le mois suivant le décès. L'année qui suit est interdite de toute réjouissance : concerts, mariages, soirées, tout endroit diffusant de la musique est interdit de fréquentation.

Dur n'est-ce pas ? Imaginez la difficulté : ne pas écouter de musique pendant les premiers mois. Je me suis même fait enclencher par mon oncle parce que j'ai eu le malheur de mettre une cassette audio : le blasphème ! Merde, quand mon heure sera venue, je n'aurai qu'un seul souhait : être enterré avec ma guitare, j'emmerde les qu'en dira-t-on. On me demande ma dernière volonté ? C'est celle-la, point barre.

J'ai remarqué qu'après avoir traversé une telle épreuve, on ressort bien entendu différent, mais je veux dire par la que la perception de la vie n'est pas la même … Je ne sais pas comment expliquer mais maintenant ma philosophie de la vie c'est Carpe Diem, profite, vis ta vie a fond, quand il sera trop tard des regrets émergeront.

14 ans après le souvenir de mon père est là, bien ancré en moi. J'ai l'impression que c'est arrivé hier. Ca fait 6 mois que je ne me suis pas rendu sur sa tombe et ca me rend malade, d'habitude j'y vais une fois par mois. J'ai honte Papa, mais là, je le mérite.

It's pretty funny how your perception of things can change from an extreme to another. This morning I watched the news and they talked about a young man who's been kidnapped for three weeks. They found his body as he was slowly dying. He died during his transfer at the hospital. Until this, in normal case you go like : man this is tragic. But when it appears that you know the guy in question, it kinda turns your life inside out.
I knew him. Undirectly. His mother was a workmate of mine during almost five years. Worst of all, the way he got caught reminds from a french movie based on real facts : the victim meets a girl who kinda attracts him into a trap and then he gets caught and you know then what comes next.
It leads to an important discussion here. I usually avoid which is capital punishment, life sentence, death penalty etc. In normal times, I skip it but this time that's enough. I usually think : fight fire with fire : if someone kills a man, he should be killed, if he's charged for rape - castrationand so on. I'm angry, full of rage, and right now If I had my hands on those guys I think I'd lose control and beat them to death
Today I thought all day long about Ilan's mother his mother, besides being a workmate, was a kind of a confidante, with me. My thoughts are with Ilan's family as they go right now through some horrible times (and I mean it for I've been through the same pain). Life will never be the same now.
May you now rest in peace as your suffering are now over. We miss you

C'est fou ce que la perception des choses peut passer d'un extrême à l'autre. Ce matin j'ai regardé les infos et ils ont parlé d'un jeune homme kidnappé et séquestré pendant près de trois semaines. La police a retrouvé son corps nu, attaché et brûlé. Il est mort pendant son transfert à l'hôpital. Jusqu'ici la réaction habituelle est un mélange de dépit avec un peu de colère. Mais quand vous vous apercevez que vous connaissez la personne en question, ça vous flingue la tête.
Je le connaissais, indirectement. Sa mère était une collègue de travail pendant près de cinq ans. Pire encore, c'est la manière dont son enlèvement s'est passé. C'est inspiré par le film français, l'Appât, lui-même inspiré de faits réels. La victime rencontre une jeune fille qui l'attire dans un piège par le biais d'un rendez-vous et à partir de là tout s'enchaîne. Cela entraîne, mine de rien, une discussion importante que j'ai pour habitude d'éviter : la peine capitale : Mort ou perpétuité, entre les deux mon cœur balance, mais cette fois la coupe est pleine. Sans trop le montrer, j'ai toujours penser qu'il fallait combattre le feu par le feu : Un meurtrier est attrapé : Exécution, pour un pédophile la castration et ainsi de suite, un peu radical certes, mais est-ce que les auteurs de ces actes connaissent vraiment la douleur ? Non, alors il faut leur montrer.
J'ai la haine, mélangée à de la tristesse et de l'incompréhension. Sur le champ, si je mets la main sur ces gars, je pête un plomb, c'est indéniable et je les fais saigner à mort.
J'ai pensé toute la journée à Ilan et surtout a sa mère. En plus d'une collègue, c'était une personne à qui tout le monde pouvait se confier. Mes pensées leur sont consacrées en ces jours extrêmement difficiles (je parle en connaissance de cause). Leurs vies sont bouleversées à jamais. Tes souffrances sont terminées alors repose en paix.