(NOTE: I do not know why, but all the videos cited here are gone. That's too bad. I hope he did not get some kind of copyright threat. Fun while it was all there and I'll shoot Gary and email and see what happened ... 1/07/09)
His screen name is bongorilao, and he occupies a small but rhythmic corner of the Internet.
The video above is one of my favorites from this 47-year-old musician who has some 238 such videos for you to view at his YouTube page. His skill really shines when he is surrounded with drums as he plays and improvs with George Benson's "On Broadway". But his musical selections include The Beatles, Jethro Tull, Bob Marley, Uriah Heep, Black Uhuru, Sly and The Family Stone, The Allman Brothers, James Brown, Elton John, Earth, Wind and Fire, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, The Gypsy Kings, The Guess Who, Sting and much more.
His profile says:
"I hate negativity and all manifestations thereof, but hating is negative, too, so let's not talk about it. Just want to play bongos under a palm tree somewhere but the rat race has me.
Tell it, my brother. Like you, I'm here to do my verbal bongo thing.
I own a pair of bongos my parents bought for me when I was about 8 years old. I never learned to play them well, but I have always kept them and would not let them go for any price.
And here on this page of the Internet, I get to riff as I wish too, on my own little corner where I set the priorities, selecting what I wish to post about, write about, laugh at, celebrate and share with a few dozen or a few thousand people. I love writing about movies, for instance, and do so every Friday here, and those posts are always the most least read thing I place here. People don't care diddley squat about what I write about movies. But I do it 'cause I love it, not because someone seeks me out to read my movie musings.
Millions of people write online constantly, or make music, or share information and videos and only a handful become hits o' the internets. We do it because we can and because we love it.
Say on brother.
ReplyDeleteHello, Joe, bongorilao here! Just out of curiosity, I was doin a google search on the name bongorilao and I was very surprised to find your blog. Yeah, I agree, we're not doin this to become hits on the internet, but rather just doin it for ourselves and to be creative. I've read somewhere the purpose of Life is to create, so it's best to create positive energy with our thoughts and how we "think" about things. Anyway, nobody sees me sitting here in my room playing bongos when the camera is turned off. That's when I am in my own world creating and then it's not about ratings and comments, it's all about just trying to get into a state of simply "being" ... which is hard to do in the rat race. Too much criticism and negative vibes out there in the concrete jungle, man. Thanks very much for the positive vibes. Peace. Gary.
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