downtown prague = gothic disneyland

I first visited prague in 2001 at the age of 21. the month I spent living there stands out in my memory like an island surrounded by an ocean. Prague seemed like an island to me. I flew in on a plane and traveled around on foot and my subway my whole time there, experiencing a different culture for the first time in my life. Now as I drive in these memories collide with my knowledge of european highways and how everything is connected. When I first came to prague I was a tourist, fresh out of college. Now I am a musician, invited there to perform. Downtown prague is not for the czech anymore. they've been pushed out by capital, by tourists. We see thousands of them on the streets, gawking at mozarts clock or at the punk kids gathered around the horseman in wenseslas square. Prague is a city that is raing it's first generation of teenagers to live under capitalism, and a city where beer is cheaper then water and the ”authentic“ mexican restraunt uses exclusively canned vegetables from mexico. The czech republic is a land locked country and, I'm told, obsessed with the sea. I think about how we all want things we can't have, and how anything can become ordinary, tike these angles with golden wings staring down from the rooftops, or traveling to ancient cities day after day on a european tour. I think about the bitterness I hear in people's voices as they talk about how forginers have taken over the down town and how we're all losing our homes to wealthy people. That's how it is now. If you are wealthy you can just buy your way into any communnity, take it over and reshape it to your desires.