Yannis Loulourgas' Bouzoukis Workshop

The Heraion

When I first arrived at the Heraion in Samos, I approached the marble podium above and immediately this beautiful cat came running out from the trees and perched herself right on the engraving that I wanted to capture in a picture. She was purring loud enough to be heard in Pythagoria, about 11 kilometers away! I named her Hera...and I swear she purred even louder when I called her that! She was a delightful greeter...

 It is said that the goddess Hera was born here on the banks of the Imbrasos river beneath a Lygos tree...

 

 She was betrothed to Zeus and the rest...well, that was just the beginning, wasn't it?

 

 I spent the better part of the day last Saturday at this sacred site.

 

 

                           The enormity of this ancient temple was difficult to imagine until I saw this...

 

               Look to the right of the rightmost column and you will see the height relation to man...!

 

 
This is an overhead rendering of the columns in the temple. There were 155 of them, each 20 meters tall...that's over 60 ft.!...Herodotus wrote: "The most eminent of all the temples we have beheld"

This column, at half it's original height, is the last remaining column out of the one hundred and fifty that stood in support of this, the greatest of all temples honoring Hera...

 

 

 The site itself is over 20 acres and with each step I took, there was yet another remnant of Hera's Temple...

 

 

This site plays an important role in my new book...

For more information, click here

And now for ÆSOP's Fable of the Week...

The Fox and the Grapes


  One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard
 

till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which
 

had been trained over a lofty branch.  "Just the thing to quench
 

my thirst," quoth he.  Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and
 

a jump, and just missed the bunch.  Turning round again with a
 

One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success.  Again
 

and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to
 

give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: 

"I am sure they are sour."

 

 

 

 

TUMI is Home!

OK...I can finally admit it to all of you...

I have been like ÆSOP without DIANA...I thought of her when I fell asleep...she was there at the

moment I awoke...I missed her each waking hour...and now...She's home!

My TUMI!...She is so hot...she was pretty tagged out and exhausted...she said that guys had their hands

all over her...Look at this dude...he's hitting on her right in front of me!

Oh, Baby...I'm so glad you're home, 

I asked her if she wanted to go straight to our apt. so I could undo her zipper...she looked at me kind of

funny then, what she said next I didn't expect...she asked..."Did you go to the Herarion without me?"

OMG!...You know when you have to tell a white lie...just to protect the one you love...

I had to say it..."Why of course not, Tumi...it would mean nothing without you...Let's go right now...

So I opened her door and lifted her into the passenger seat...rolled down the window...I could see that

needed some fresh Samos air and we sped up the hwy to the Heraion about 5 km north of the airport...

She didn't say much on the way, but I knew she was happy to see me by the way her tags wafted around 

her handle in the breeze...when we arrived at the Heraion, it was closed! 

"Oh NO" She cried, "I told everybody in the bag room that we were coming here first thing!" 

Well, I couldn't let her down, so I placed her (she was way too tired to roll out of the car herself) in front

of the locked gate and took her picture...

She felt a little better after that, so I told her how much I missed her and how my life was next to nothing

without her..."I didn't brush my teeth, didn't change my clothes," I went on...I could feel her

appreciation, knowing that without her, I felt naked...unclean...(well I didn't tell her that...)

On the way back from the Heraion, we saw a tree in the middle of the street...that's right... a tree

in the middle of the street, and she said..."How odd...I think I want to have my picture taken in front of

that tree..." Of course, I obliged...she asked me to put her handle down though...I love the way Tumi

is so outgoing one minute and demure the next...

When we got back in the car, she sighed, "I need a glass of wine," so I headed straight for the Port of

Samos and rolled her into the Pythagoras Internet Cafe...and ordered her a Cabernet...

Tumi took a long drink and finally began to relax...she had about three glasses of Cabernet then she said

the words I've been longing to hear...

"Baby, let's go back to the room...I want you to undo my zipper, real slow...tease me...I got something in 

here that you can't live without"...OMG...I love when she talks like that...

But then, I wondered, which of her many gifts I wanted to savor first...

I know...the baby oil...or maybe the shaver...

Oh, Tumi...I don't ever want to be without you ever agin...EVER...

I feel complete...

:)

Note: ÆSOP refused to have one of his fables be a part of this...:(

NYC to Athens - Interesting..and More So...

It started out just fine...

The picture NYC as seen from Delta 132 Leaving
JFK at about 5:00pm Eastern Time embarking upon a 10 hour  flight to Athens...so far so good...

The chicken dinner was tasty...complimentary wine...not bad...took 2 Tylenol PM and slept soundly...

Arrived in Athens, just a little late, at 9:45 am...seven hours time difference between NYC and Athens...

Immigration takes more time than is comfortable because I have a scheduled flight to Samos...at 11:00am on Aegean Airlines...

Get through immigration by about

10:15...tight...however, I remember

the gentleman that curb handled my

luggage at JFK was thoughtful enough

to check it through all the way to Samos...

I'm OK...tight...but OK...between

immigration and the 'Transfer Flights'

sign there is a flight info desk,

so I stop for directions to Aegean Airlines...the nice lady tells me that I must first retrieve my luggage 

from carrousel  4, submit to customs then re-check my bag as I check in at Aegean Airlines...

Time is tight...so I head for Carrousel 4 and wait...and wait...everyone else retrieves their bags and I am 

waiting...it is now 10:40 and my flight leaves at 11:00 from somewhere in the Athens Airport still 

unknown to me...

I head for the 'Swissport' desk which is handling lost luggage...hand

her my luggage ticket whereupon the nice lady explained that since my

luggage was checked through to Samos, it would have been

separated out, for their is no customs in Samos...it would arrive

shortly she assured me and pointed at Carrousel 4...as if she were a teacher and my desk was in that direction...

At 11:05 Carrousel 4 stops...and my bag is not on it...whereupon I

return to the nice lady at Swissport, who then looks into the system

and informs me that my bag has been left behind at JFK...









And now my mind is racing..."What could have happened to my bag at JFK?"...then I suddenly conjure up dreadful images...

Shaking me out of my horrific dream sequence, the nice lady at Swissport assured me it would come in tomorrow...

"OK," I said..."I can live without my bag until tomorrow; however, my Aegean flight has already departed...do you have a suggestion?"

The nice lady at Swissport sent me to Olympic Airways who had a flight leaving at 3:30 pm...the only other flight to Samos that day...

Are you with me?...I'm not sure I am as I am 7 hours lagged and even with my 'No Jet Lag' homeopathic

pills in me, I'm pushing the envelope of cogent thought at this point...

Dutifully I report to the Olympic desk and the nice lady there tells me that I must go to the Aegean desk

to re-issue my ticket...and yes, there is availability on the flight...she points at a desk that looks to be

about three miles away...and yes, I feel as though another teacher has asked me to sit down and be quiet...

I walked the three miles (OK it felt like that) to the Aegean desk and

the nice lady there (are all airline desk people former elementary

school teachers?) tells me that since my original itinerary was booked

by Delta, I would have to walk to the other end of the airport (I think it

was six miles) to have them re-book me onto Olympic's 3:30 flight to Samos...

Are you following this?

So the nice gentleman (there were men teachers in my elementary school too...this one reminded me of 

Mr. Green in 6th grade) looks at my ticket and asks me why I missed the Aegean flight at 11:00 am...and 

I explained as best I could, gasping for air after my six mile walk to the Delta desk, what had occurred...I 

then asked him if he would please book me on the Olympic flight and he balked, because I had missed 

the Aegean flight...I asked him to call the lostage baggage at Swisstageportage and the nice teacher there 

told him that IF my bag would have made it...ya da ya da...but of course that was impossible because my 

bag was still at JFKage, whereupon Mr. Green, the nicage manage at the Deltage deskage issued me a 

ticket for Olympic Airlines 3:30 pm flight and handed it to me as if it were a hall pass and the note that I 

had brought him was a rank forgery...after thanking himage, I caught a glimpse of a McDonalds sign and 

high tailed it for a Big Mac...I felt like my last meal had been on October 11th...

My tummy now feeling Mac'd...I stopped by the LG

battery charging station to pump some gas into my iPod

and iPad and it worked for a little while and then went on

strike...at least my instruments were 1/2 charged...





Meanwhile...it is now 12:30 and Alecos is waiting at the Samos airport for me...I must call him...uh oh,

in the upper left hand corner of my iPhone it says...'No Service'...odd...I've traveled abroad many times

and my iPhone worked well...having arranges with AT&T that whole international travel routine, for

which I now had a masters degree...so Alecos is waiting at the Samos airport for a Yankee he has never met...

So I looked around and there was a lovely youngish Greek woman

dressed in cool torn jeans with rhinestones where the raggedy holes

would normally be and wearing very cool shoes that looked as though

she had taken them out of my agent Kirsten's closet...(Kirsten wears the

coolest shoes ever)...I asked if she spoke english and she nodded a

suspicious yes and I began to explain my plight...about half way through

the rhetoric you just skimmed through (I hope for your sake) she

waved me off and said, "Give me the number you want to reach and I'll

call it for you..." Whew! she did and Alecos answered and that was that...I thanked her and offered to

buy her a Big Mac, she demurred explaining that her flight was leaving...I gave her my card...and

thanked her muchagely...


At last, I arrived in Samos...Alecos is as cool as he can

be...a guide here in Samos as well as a real estate agent...

he drove me to my apartment which is perfect for my

research here...it overlooks the Marina where we

moored the Holo Kai the last time we were here...small world...

More soon...

It occurs to me that ÆSOP encountered none of this in his time...

And now...

The Fable of the Moment...

ο αγόρι που φώναξε Wolf, γνωστό και ως The Shepherd Boy και ο Λύκος, είναι ένας μύθοςπου δόθηκε στη Αίσωπος (210 στο σύστημα αρίθμησης του Perry. ^[1] ) Ο πρωταγωνιστήςτου μύθου είναι βαριέται βοσκός αγόρι που ο ίδιος διασκεδάζει με την εξαπάτηση γύρω χωρικούς να πιστέψουν ένας λύκος επιτίθεται κοπάδι του προβάτων. Όταν ήρθαν να τον σώσουν, διαπίστωσαν ότι οι συναγερμοί ήταν ψευδείς και ότι είχε χάσει το χρόνο τους.Όταν το αγόρι ήταν στην πραγματικότητα αντιμέτωπος με έναν λύκο, οι χωρικοί δεν πίστευαν του κραυγές για βοήθεια και ο λύκος έφαγε το ποίμνιο (και σε κάποιες εκδόσεις το αγόρι). Η ηθική αναφέρεται στο τέλος του μύθου, όπως:

We are in Greece you know...

:)

More Soon...

Yeah, so today is soon...(November 12, 2010)

What a tease...and yet, Zeus, who controls the weather here...(and who knows where else) had his fun

today...and the journey was so worth it...I am about to go to sleep with a gaggle of wonderful memories 

of this day...my first complete day in Samos...

Here's how it started...

Even thought I took drugs...(Tylenol PM) and went to bed at 8:30 pm Samos time...I still awoke at 2:30 

am...full of joy looking out at the Aegean Sea...the clouds began to appear...I walked into Pythagoria, the 

port town here (historically, the 'big city') had an english breakfast at one of the strand restaurants and 

walked the main street...my instinct was to rent a car...now, I must say that I realize that my best quality 

is following my instincts...that is what led me here...but today I get a gold star...or, I should say, my 

instincts get that star...as I walked the main drag...and BTW...the main street is a marble street...that's 

right, MARBLE...I shall take a pic for you tomorrow...I came across a National Car Rental...the door 

was open, but no lights were on...there was a gentleman at the desk...so I enquired..."Do you speak 

English? His response..."I hope so, I'm from Oklahoma..." His name is Richard Wight...great 

guy...rented me a car and drove me to the airport to pick it up...we also checked on the status of my

luggage and found no information and before I could react...Richard said, "Don't worry...it always

arrives..." and he was right...someone called me from one of the airlines a little later...either Delta, 

Aegean or Olympic to say that my bag was on the afternoon flight to Samos from Athens and I could 

pick it up after 4:30pm...after obtaining a local phone here and driving to visit one of the great historical 

sights here...the Herarion, I went to the airport to fetch my bag...only there was a catch...it has been

raining here, the storm was of such magnitude at altitude that the plane carrying my bag turned around 

and headed back to Athens...you know...I'd just like to brush my teeth with something other that the

scrubber I am using on my body...besides, as much as I like 'No Tears' shampoo...it doesn't taste that 

great...about this time I am grateful that I have little or no body odor that seeps into my clothes as I am

going on my 4th day wearing them...I'm hoping for better weather tomorrow...

OK so much for Zeus' sense of humor...here's the best part...

Today was my first full day in Samos...I met seven wonderful people today...al ex-pats...New Zeeland

Sweden...England...Denmark and the U.S. and they all said the same thing about Samos...

They all started with a visit and all seven moved here within a year...and they all gave the same reason...

"We can't explain it...there is something about this place..." I understand that...now I'm not saying that I'll

move here anytime soon, but I feel what they feel...this is a magical place...

Love to all...

Thomas

Two Joyful Steps Closer to Samos

Step One on my research Journey to Samos, Sardis and Sais...On November 4th, I began by flying to Dallas Texas to visit family.

My daughter Wendy and her dear friend Karen fetched me at the airport and together we drove Gordon and Wendy's Arabian Horse Training Farm..."The Brass Ring" in Burleson about an hour from DFW...perhaps you remember Burleson...Kelly Clarkson put it on the map when she became the first winner of "American Idol"...she was a waitress there...

I love visiting Wendy and her family...her husband Gordon, their son Wyatt and the twins...Halle and Grant...

Wendy and Gordon are premiere trainers of Arabian horses with 100 in training and a staff of 25 trainers, grooms and office personnel...quite an organization...including an indoor training facility and stalls for 100 steeds...and all of this the result of their unending dedication to their life's passion...horses...specifically, Arabian horses...

Wendy and Gordon win much of the time, which explains the enormity and complexity of their organization...







Wendy on one of her many winning charges

Gordon on one of his many 'victory laps'








On Friday Nov 5th, I had the opportunity to go to Wyatt and Halle's school and meet their teachers and see the work that they are doing...they are doing well and the real interest was watching them at home.

Wyatt is as enamored with trains as Wendy was with horses at his age and Halle seems like she may follow in Wendy's stirrups...Grant is very thoughtful and loves music and trains as well...I cherish moments with them...

and then, all too soon, on to Step Two...

Saturday, I flew to New York to take up a four day residence at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Tribeca...it is the oldest operating hotel in NYC...

Then...1845

and Now...2010...It has just been refurbished so everything in my room is new...nice!

I thank Nicole Picard at Magellan's travel store in Santa Monica for suggesting this hotel...I'm in heaven...downstairs on the corner of the building is Starbucks, where I can order my 'iced vente quad non-fat latte...mmm...wake me up!

I also was able to watch the USC/Arizona State game at Mudville 9 Saloon across the street....





Where Elizabeth Cromwell spoiled me...

I watched the game on four big screens situated behind the bar, ate delicious wings and drank Guinness...yum...

Speaking of good food...Sunday evening 

I had dinner with my literary agent Kirsten Neuhaus...

I call her my 'Goddess Illuminatus' because she is all that and more...I am happy with my 'book' team...Kirsten my literary partner and agent and Sally Arteseros, my editor...together we are a team working as a well oiled machine...and around the corner the proper publisher to complete the team...together we'll bring our series of books on ÆSOP's life and times to people everywhere...after all, ÆSOP is an ubiquitous character, his work known the world over...he's quoted millions of times daily around the world... 

 Goddess Illuminatus

  

Kirsten and I share many values...not the least of which is good food and wine...

Sunday evening the subway transported me to Brooklyn Heights to meet Kirsten at "River Deli"...a lovely Italian restaurant that is now residing in the  space as the orignal 'River Deli'...somewhat of a landmark in Brooklyn Heights...

Our pasta dinner was excellent, the wine divine...the company superb...

I enjoy 'face time' with Kirsten...each and every meeting producing results...we consistently walk away with valuable new thoughts and insights in regard to how we are building our product line...

Monday meetings in regard to digital marketing and new media advertising...

And now for another thought...

I find it interesting, having spent so much of my life in the music business as a singer, composer, arranger, songwriter and producer...the paradigm shift in that industry...observing as well as experiencing the disintegration of traditional modes of marketing of music and watching new methods arise to a point where iTunes is now the largest distributor of recordings in our industry...I find what the literary world is going through at present so similar...

One more thing...for me, writing a novel is not so different than writing songs or other music for about every medium possible...

This is not a paradigm shift...it is growth...it feels like the same house, a different room...a room full of possibilities...

It seems to me that songs are 'one act plays' telling a story...and novels...well, novels tell a story...long form...more opportunity for detail of the human spirit...music does that too...

I am a very happy boy...

and grateful for my life...

I thank my family and friends for loving and supporting me through my life's journey as I love and support them in theirs...

Now for ÆSOP's Fable of the Week:

A dog was trotting along happily, a large portion of meat in his mouth, when he came upon a bridge...

As he crossed the bridge, the meat was firmly grasped in his jaws...

Then he happened to look down into the water and there it was...

It was another dog, who also held a serving of meat in his mouth! 

But the other dog's piece looked bigger!

The dog on the bridge dropped the meat he was holding...

He lunged to sieze the larger portion from the dog he saw below...

Just then, the larger piece of meat held in the other dog's mouth disappeared into the water...

Along with the one that he dropped...

Love to all!

Thomas

  

Preparing for my research Trip to Greece, Turkey and Egypt

 First I want to thank Jacey Duprie and Grant Leavitt for making this blog possible...

Grant came up with "Anything ÆSOP" and Jacey created the design and functionality of the blog...

Thank you!

Let's start at the beginning... 

It was in September 2008 that we sailed to the island of Samos, Greece aboard Chase Leavitt's Oyster 72...

As we approached from the south and Samos came into view, I perched myself in the bow pulpit like Leonardo DiCaprio in "Titanic"...I felt a strong sense of homecoming...I had been studying all known sources of information about ÆSOP since 1979 and had created several forms of telling the story that came to me over these years...now I was about to walk where he walked...see the landscape he saw...

Samos is among the most lush and verdant islands in all of Greece, boasting two prominent mountains, Kerkis and Ampelos with the latter bisecting the island from east to west as you can see in the NASA picture to your left...

On this island Pythagoras was born around 600 B.C.E...this was an extraordinary time in history as superstition began to give way to methods proven by their ability to repeat the outcome of the feat in question...take Thales for instance...at this time, he placed a stick in the ground and by measuring the speed at which the shadow caused by the sunlight moved around it...Thales calculated the speed at which the earth revolves around the sun...(much later, the Vatican's book of history must have had pages stuck together around this subject...see Galileo)...so they called Thales the "Father of Time"...btw...Thales, also a renowned philosopher and one of the 'Seven Sages of Greece', created the quote: "Know Thyself"...so revered that it found itself on the front façade of Apollos Temple in Delphi...


Find these tidbits interesting? They are all integrated into my novel of ÆSOP's life entitled: 


"Anything Is Possible"

While my story of the life of ÆSOP is re-imagined, so was the first of these books which was written in 400 B.C.E. The writer remains anonymous...(coward)...I'm admitting to it...:)

Legend has it that ÆSOP was born on the island of Samos as well...other areas such as Thrace, Phrygia and Lydia claim him too...I chose Samos...

Back to our first time in Samos...when we arrived at the marina in Pythagoria Harbor, our captain Will had arranged for someone to show us the sites as we had but two days scheduled there...Irene Haralambakis became our guide...

When we told her about my long attention to ÆSOP and his history, Irene engaged us with interest...

Irene was a superb guide and is an authority in many facets of interest on the island for, besides being a top notch guide, Irene is also an archeologist! 

Lucky us...

Over time, Irene has become my contact in Samos and has arranged for an apartment for me to use as my base as I now return for an extended research trip for my next book.

I'll begin my research in Samos with the first aqueduct, the Eupalinos Tunnel...constructed in 600 B.C.E...(see how many cool things were going on in 600 B.C.?)

For more information on this aqueduct, click here

The Eupalinos Tunnel was constructed with the aid Pythagoras Theorem...and dug out of limestone over a period of 10 years using hand tools!

It dig was simultaneously begun from two points as illustrated in the sketch below...

for more information, click here

It was a feat that Herodotus proclaimed as one of the greatest achievements of mankind...

This tunnel will play an important role in my new book...it was built by prisoners from the island of Naxos, known then as the 'prisoners island'...any prisoner alive at the completion of the tunnel would be set free...interesting concept... San Quentin...are you listening?

Also on the island of Samos is the Heraion...believed to be the birthplace of the Goddess Hera, wife to Zeus...yup...right there to your right under that tree...well...a tree...probably not that one because the legend says that it was a willow...

The temple of Hera (the Herarion) was first constructed in 800 B.C.E, it was a wonder of achievement.

158 columns, each 20 meters tall (that's over 60 feet!) created the greatest tribute to the Goddess...(See overhead sketch below)

This temple also plays a key role in my new book...I am enthused about spending time in and around this ancient ground...to see what my characters saw...to experience the elements that do not change significantly over time...

From Samos I'll venture to Sardis, the capitol of ancient Lydia, where King Crœsus ruled, who is, by the way, one of the principal characters in my first book of ÆSOP entitled, you guessed it...

"Anything Is Possible"...


Do you remember the phrase "Rich as Crœsus"...? 


I grew up hearing it every so often and wondered what it meant...here's the 'Tom Notes' (Cliff is so last year) about him...

Crœsus became the richest and most powerful kingdom in the world through the gold gathered and mined in an around Mount Tmolus which you can see in the background of the picture on your left.

I am eager to walk this land as my characters did...I want to gaze up at mount Tmolus' majesty then walk on the banks of the River Pactolus, kneel to savor the cool waters of that body that transported so much of the gold that built the Lydian empire...

For more information about this river, click here

ÆSOP, after a long life of slavery, became, as a free man, ambassador to King Crœsus. (Do you see what drew me to him?) He then lived in Sardis, representing the King Crœsus, traveling over the known world on his behalf...sometimes things went according to plan...other times...well that's what's fun to read about...isn't it?

This river also plays a key role in my books...

From Samos, then Sardis, our next research destination will be in Sais, Egypt, where Amasis II reigned...

I am eager to walk that land and see what Amasis saw...

Point of interest...there is little left, in terms of ruins in Sais, now called Sa el Hager...(wow...Sammy Hagar has a city named after him!) due to water damage over the centuries as well as the pillage of stonework taken south to Rosetta...and yes, the Rosetta Stone came from Sais...

These are the places I'll research on my journey...

I am excited to experience the energy of these historic cities that play such an important role in my books about ÆSOP and the people that were in his life.

I invite you to join me on my journey as I shall be posting weekly with pictures and videos...

and here's the first of my 'Fable of the Week' series which will be included at the end of each blog...

Thank you and welcome my friends...

Thomas

Fable of the Week:

"There was a man, near the end of his life, who sold everything he had and bought an ingot of gold.

He buried the gold in his yard. Every day he would dig it up and look at it.

Then he covered it back up and went into his house.

A worker noticed this daily ritual and one day, after the man had retreated to his house,

dug up the gold and absconded with it.

When the man discovered his gold was gone, he cried out in anguish.

His neighbor came by and offered this advice:

'Instead of grieving, go find a stone, place it where the gold was and imagine it is gold.

It will serve you just as well, for when it was gold, you made absolutely no use of it'."