Forget Luxury - Go With Le Flo
{http://soundcloud.com/soundslikerstin/bright-blue-gorilla-go-with-le}
I dreamed about it lots of times - leaving everything behind and traveling around the world doing what I love just going with the flow. I even started planning it - and I guess that's my problem: making plans and going with the flow do not work together that well. So I was very curious to meet Robyn Rosenkrantz and Michael Glover. Together they are Bright Blue Gorilla, musicians, filmmakers, globetrotters, adventurers and extremely friendly people in colorful clothes.
In 1990 Robyn and Michael sold everything they had exept for some travel essentials and their guitars. The money got them two one way tickets from Los Angeles to Amsterdam. Ever since they are traveling doing what they love just going with the flow.
I met Bright Blue Gorilla in Los Angeles where their latest labor of love had it's theatrical premiere: Go With Le Flo, a romantic comedy in German and French with English subtitles filmed in Berlin. It is full of wonderfully flawed characters, devastating and absurd misunderstandings, surprising connections and collaborations. You can't help but smile coming out of this movie which was produced with a crew of 200 people from 20 countries payed with nothing but love, good food and great company.
And why would a couple from the US speaking only very basic words of German and French write, direct and produce a foreign movie taking place in Berlin? Well, why not? And actually there are a few very good reasons: They always wanted to make a movie with subtitles. A lot of their friends live in Berlin. Rent is cheap. Berlin has tons of locations for almost any scene you can imagine: dark or light, sinister or romantic. People are actually super friendly and super generous. They allow you to film in their restaurant, bakery or galerie for free, donate designer clothes, bicycles, gourmet food, salami and bread. I know - that was not really my impression the 15 years I lived in Berlin. But maybe I never asked as friendly as Robyn and Michael do.
So what is their recipe for success? How did they record 11 CDs, played more than 3000 live concerts all over the globe and produced five feature films without having a steady job or permanent residence and with all their belongings fitting into two - admittedly huge - backpacks?
"No attachment to luxury, lots of meditating, working with people you like, having a thick skin, not giving up, not setting a time limit for any of your goals, trusting the universe to give you what you need," was their answer.
That might sound a little too Californian to some. For me it is really inspiring. It does not mean that everything comes easy once you follow that advice. Au contraire - Robyn and Michael put a lot of hard work into their projects planning, writing scripts and music, performing, keeping the cast happy and relaxed, baking banana bread and cooking chilli at night. "Even 16 hour days preparing a show or rewriting a script do not feel like work," says Michael. "Because I am doing what I love, while after one hour working in an office - which I have also done - I cannot wait until it is over."
Of course there are drawbacks to this life style. There have been times when they did not know how to pay rent or get to a place they needed to be. They were sleeping in really uncomfortable spaces and barely had enough money for the next meal. They had to borrow money from relatives and their agent. In the end it always worked out and they keep living according to their motto 'Remain Calm ... Share Your Bananas ...'
"The most important thing for me is my artistic freedom," Robyn says. "If that means not having a home, a car or a closet full of clothes but staying in India for six months then filming a movie with friends in Berlin and getting a surprise invitation to a film festival in China - doing what it takes to keep living like that, that's my goal!"
Sounds good to me.
Now how do I get rid of my planning obsession?
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