"Beautiful Day" with U2

Yesterday was a beautiful day indeed:

• My friend Johan told me that he had got two tickets to the U2 V.I.P-party - after their concert at Ullevi, Gothenburg the 29th of July - and that I could come along! (Tonight I will go to a preview of the new “Fantastic Four” movie due to him too....that’s some friend!)
• The “Sommar”-program with Anders “Moneybrother” Wendin at radio P1 was very funny and a joy listening to
• The sun was shining all day long and I spent all free hours of the day outside at the edge of the river (my company is actually situated at a pier)
• I met my friend Håkan who is currently living in the U.S (Dallas) and was in Sweden for some vacation
• I spent the evening drinking (too much) wine with some colleagues and had a marvellous time
• When I came home a new SIM-card lay on my doormat...soon I will be able to phone people again!

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Beautiful Day" with U2

"Electric" with Leila K

Ten minutes before I was about to go to bed yesterday, there was a major power failure in Gothenburg and everything went black.
Well, not exactly black since this is Sweden in June and it is never dark...but all lights went out and the trams just came to a halt.

I had just one lamp lit, so at first I thought it was just that lamp...but I realized quite soon that that wasn’t the case. Especially since all the neighbours seemed to turned off all their lights at the same time...

Well, since it was 11 P.M the only real problem for the moment seemed to be the freezer and the refrigerator, and even if I was dreadfully expecting to wake up to another water filled kitchen with destroyed ex-frozen food and melted ice-cream, I felt that I couldn’t do that much about it and the best thing was just to go to bed.

But then I realized that without electricity and on the verge of sleeping, a man in the 21st century cannot be completely sure to wake up at a given time next morning. My alarm clock needs electricity and since my cell-phone still is missing that wasn’t an option either. I may have been able to use some service with my regular phone, if this hadn’t been a wireless one that needed electricity to work. What could you do? Walk over to your neighbour and hope he has an old alarm clock you may borrow (or he is willing to set at the exact time you want to get out of bed)?
I finally decided to test the method of "wake-up by yourself", turned off my flashlight, prepared to sleep and hope for the best.

Strangely my neighbour solved the problem nevertheless. He and his girlfriend decided that the best thing to do during a power break is to have wild - and very, very, loud – sex...and by that they kept me awake with their moans, screams and their banging to my bedroom wall until the power break was over and I finally could set my alarm clock to 5.50 A.M.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Electric" with Leila K

"Satellites" with September

Every year at midsummer I make a compilation CD with the songs I think will be the biggest hits of the summer.
These are the songs this year:

1 September/Satellites
2 Angel City/Sunrise
3 Arash/Temptation
4 Helena Paparizou/My Number One
5 Rob'n'Ras feat Lorén/The Snake
6 Christian Walz/Hit'N'Run
7 Rigo feat Pauline/Say Say Say
8 Amy Diamond/Welcome to the City
9 Gwen Stefani/Hollaback Girl
10 Robyn/Who's that Girl?
11 Kelly Osbourne/One Word
12 New Order Feat. Ana Matronic/Jetstream
13 Kelly Clarkson/Since U Been Gone
14 Kent/Palace & Main
15 Daniel Powter/Bad Day
16 U2/City of Blinding Lights
17 Keane/Bend and Break
18 Hello Saferide/My Best Friend
19 Anna Ternheim/Shoreline
20 Blue Lagoon/Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
21 Akon/Lonely
22 Hot Banditoz/Shake Your Balla

In September we know if I succeeded...

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Satellites" with September

"Can’t Get Blue Monday Out of My Head" with Kylie Minouge

Great.
This Monday turned out to be exactly as shitty as the last one...and for almost the exact same resons. Except for that the broken pipes are this week exchanged against a stolen cellphone.
*joy*

I’m turning into that orange fat lasagna eating fuckin’ cat.
I hate Mondays!

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Can’t Get Blue Monday Out of My Head" with Kylie Minouge

"Perfect" with Fairground Attraction

If I let my "cell phone-loss" go for one second I realize that I’ve just had a superb Midsummer:

• A whole bunch of good friends that I meet too rarely, including my new idol Elsa (11 months)
• A fantastic three-floor house with Jacuzzi, a 360º open fire and a terrace with a fabulous view over the sea (where we ate all our meals and sat talking until 2a.m)
• Loads of midsummer food (pickled herring, new potatoes, and strawberry-themed things like strawberry cake, strawberry salsa and strawberry marinated meat)
• Funny contests like throwing a boot between your legs and over your head (which I sucked big time on)
• Ice-cold beer, white wine and gin drinks
• The sunniest midsummer weather in years

It was like a commercial...
See you next year in Vetlanda! =)

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Perfect" with Fairground Attraction

"Bandido" with Azucar Moreno

Yesterday somebody stole my cellphone.

I'm almost shaking with anger while writing this...
Outrage!!!
5 minutes in an ATM-queue sabotaged my Midsummer 2005.

I lived through my beautifully striped Sony-Ericsson Z600...and now it's gone.
And with it went the phone numbers to all my friends (who learns phon numbers by heart nowadays?), my favourit pictures take with it - and all my records for the various games (Space Invadors was my favourite) I used to play on the bus to work in the morning.

Fortenately I have fantastic friends that can keep my mind on other things, and - in combination with some of the best weather for years - in the end it turned out to be a great Midsummer after all.

But I still can't think about my little Z600 without feeling very, very sad.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Bandido" with Azucar Moreno

"A Midsummer Nights Dream" by Mendelssohn

Today it’s Midsummer Eve.

If you don’t know that I’m almost 100% sure you’re not Swedish and almost as sure that you don’t know any Swedish people at all…
Midsummer Eve is so much more the national day of Sweden in every aspect than the 6th of June that it is almost ridiculous.
It’s the only day of the year when every Swede does almost the same thing…and that the whole world doesn’t do these very same things at the same time (like, for instance, Christmas).

So what do we do?

We wear chaplets of flowers on our heads while we take two sticks and bind them together like a cross. Then we attach leafs and flowers to the cross so it looks nice and green, hang two wreaths of flowers on it, and then we rise the cross and…
Voilá!
A maypole!
Then we dance around it and sing songs about walking around it, carousels and about little frogs (while we jump and sound like frogs too).

We eat loads of pickled herring, new potatoes, sour cream & chives, barbecue, and of course litres and litres of (Swedish) strawberries…and then we drink schnapps…and beer. A lot.

We get together with or friends and decorate our houses with Swedish flags, ox-eye daisies and cornflowers, and we play out-door games. There are also different places (like Dalarna, Öland, the West coast archipelago, or any "little red summer cabin with white corners by a lake in the woods") were it is supposed to be more "Midsummerish" to be.

...and then we obsess about the weather for weeks in advance because it HAS to be sunny and warm on Midsummer since it is absolutely necessary to eat outside!!

This is really one of the best traditions I know.
Happy Midsummer Eve all!!

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "A Midsummer Nights Dream" by Mendelssohn

"Used to Be the One" with David Guetta

When I was a kid, today was one of the best days of the year.
This one, my birthday and Christmas.

Why?
Because this was the day before Midsummer’s Eve – a day that for the people living in my hometown Karlskrona were (and still are) the day of “Lövmarknaden” ("The Leaf Market" in a direct translation).

When I think about it, I really don’t know what the proper English word for a thing like this is called…
A market? A fair?
"When a lot of salesmen come to town and put up their booths and sell a lot of stuff nobody needs"?

Well, it doesn’t matter.

The point is that as a kid this was a very big thing for me (and my friends) every year. It wasn’t just that I planned what I should buy for weeks ahead (mainly old comics, cheap music cassettes, candy, and crackers) – it was also the emotional start of the long holidays, the start of the summer!

As a teenager this converted into a day with the market at daytime and a night of party and clubbing afterwards. Quit a unique thing I Sweden where the whole country usually party like there is no tomorrow the following day at Midsummer’s eve….

Then I moved to Gothenburg, got friends here who didn’t have a clue about Lövmarknaden, and gradually lost the tradition completely.
I guess it is about 10 years since I was at the Lövmarknad today.

In a strange way it feels a bit sad…
It would’ve been nice to be there again, see if it’s still looks the same (but probably with completely different objects in the booths…CDs, used computer games, and bad quality Eminem t-shirts) and if I would get the same feeling of a beginning summer.

But then…
Nowadays my summer doesn’t start until my vacation starts (week 29 this year), so I guess I better stay behind my computer today and wait for Midsummer as everybody else do.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Used to Be the One" with David Guetta feat. Chris Willis

"When Tomorrow Comes" with Anna Ternheim

This week's list!

Best this week:
1. Trip to ”Lager157” [New]
Some friends and I drove several miles into the woods to shop at an outlet. Nice!
2. ”Pojken och Flickan” – Book by David Almström [New]
A very good book in ”Parsons/Gayle-style” written by my colleague David.
3. ”Shoreline EP” – Covers Sung by Anna Ternheim [New]
The EP with the terrific Broder Daniel-cover together with very personal versions of Bowie/Iggy’s ”China Girl”, Tom Wait’s ”Anywhere I Lay My Head”, Fleetwood Macs ”Lies” and Eurythmics ”When Tomorrow Comes” is the best music you can buy in Sweden right now. 18SEK on iTunes!
4. Blogs [2 weeks]
I’m in love with this blog…and in my Swedish one.
5. Elsa [2 weeks]
And now she walks!
6. Swedish Strawberries [New]
Well, just read the blog from this Saturday...
7. AXA Balance Bread [New]
A healthy bread that actually tastes good.
8. ”24” (season4) – TV-series [2 weeks]
After twelve episodes, Carlos Bernard/Tony Almeida and Reiko Aylesworth/Michelle Dessler where back in the show again…and of course I rejoiced in my sofa.
9. Power-walks in the Morning [8 weeks]
Some mornings with additional weight in a rucksack…
10. ”HP Pavilion d4075.se Desktop PC” – New Computer [2 weeks]
My new computer, not yet unpacked.

Maybe this week!
”Midsommar 2005” – My Midsummer Compilation CD
Every year (for six years now) I’ve done a compilation CD for midsummer with the songs I think will be the hits of the summer...and this week is the toughest since I have to decide which are in and which are out... Anguishing, but funny!

Worst this week!
Robyn at Liseberg
Well, just read the blog from this Friday…
Sunburn
Ouch!
My Ability to Never get Things Done
Not my best feature. By far.

That's that for this week.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "When Tomorrow Comes" with Anna Ternheim

"Doctor (I’m Only Seeing Dark)" with Scissor Sisters

Yesterday might have been the sunniest and brightest day in Gothenburg (so far) this year.
Strangely enough, for me, it might have been one of the darkest.

So many things just jumped upon me...and I just fell into a sort of black hole.
It felt terrible.
And while everyone was sunbathing and drinking white wine outside in the sun, I was only seeing dark. (Note the subtle reference to the song of today...)

But today it feels much better though - and even if it’s raining cats-and-dogs outside and the thunder makes my windows shiver, my world looks a little bit brighter!

I guess I'm just a bit out of sync.

Song of Today: "Doctor (I’m Only Seeing Dark)" with Scissor Sisters

"Edge of Your Atmosphere" with Kelly Osbourne

This morning I put my iPod on random and measured how far it is to my work in songs.
It is actually these 10 songs from my home to my work:

"Edge of Your Atmosphere" with Kelly Osbourne
"Twist in My Sobriety" with Tanita Tikaram
"Under Attack" with ABBA
"Spooks" with Eric Prydz
"Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World" with U2
"Shoreline" with Anna Ternheim
"Var Mig Nära" with Cecilia Wennersten
"Kids" with Kylie Minouge & Robbie Williams
"Shiver" with Natalie Imbruglia
"Chewing Gum (Mylo Remix)" with Annie

So now we know.

Keep readin'
Tomorrow's a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Edge of Your Atmosphere" with Kelly Osbourne

"Summer in the City" with The Lovin' Spoonful

...and then one sunday the summer came to Gothenburg...
Suddenly laying in the grass outside my flat, eating fresh strawberries, reading "The Family Way" by Tony Parsons, and getting sun-burned (and probably skin-cancer) seemd like a much better idea than sitting inside, in front of a computer, writing something spiritual in this blog...

Keep readin'
Tomorrow's a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Summer in the City" with The Lovin' Spoonful

"Strawberry Fields Forever" with The Beatles

I'm not a very nationalistic guy...
...not that I don't like my country...not at all...I love living here and there are much good things about Sweden...
...but generally;
Swedes aren't that nationalistic and consequently neither am I.

Except for when it comes to ONE thing.
There is ONE little thing that HAS to be Swedish, otherwise I won't tolerate it.
ONE thing that I would park my tractor (if I had had one and were a French farmer) at the road to the parliament for, if they tried to take it away from me...

...I MUST have Swedish strawberries!!

A strawberry, which not originates from Swedish soil, doesn't taste anything.
Just water.
And that is not a prejudice.
Honestly!

And so this week the first Swedish strawberries of the year arrived to my local fruit-guy...
...he's the best by the way. Always open, cheep and with the best stuff...
...and for 30SEK I bought my first litre and just revelled in it

It was heaven.
A Heaven with a low GI-index and served with Vanilla Kesella.

I guess this means that the summer is finally here!
That and that it is still daylight outside when you go to bed.

Keep Readin'
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Strawberry Fields Forever" with The Beatles

"Crash and Burn Girl" with Robyn

Robyn might be the best female artist we've got in Sweden, and her album may be the best album so far this year...
...but her concert at Liseberg amusement park this week really wasn't good at all.
Not at all.

Totally wrong venue, bad sound, and the ugliest backdrops I've ever seen on a stage...the only good thing were the new electronic versions of her old songs.

From where I saw it, it actually sucked.
But then I guess standing at the back with all the beer-drinkin' & chatting people - just there for the fun of it and for the nice weather - didn't help.

Anyway; it's a pity.
That's one talented girl.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Crash and Burn Girl" with Robyn

"Some Girls are Bigger than Others" with The Smiths

Last weekend I saw the movie “Mr & Mrs Smith” by Dough Liman.

I like Dough Liman movies.
"Swingers", "Go", and "The Bourne Identity" are all good films, and in addition to that he directed the first episodes of "The O.C" (a TV-favourite of mine).

Then I also like Brad Pitt.
Not just for the obvious reasons, but also for his choices in movies (everyone involved in "Fight Club" are worthy some sort of life-long admiration from me I guess).

I also recently started to like agents more and more, since "Alias" and "24" are two of my favourite TV-shows.

So this movie experience really should have been a good thing – even if I knew the critics had slaughtered the film...
...but it wasn’t.

Not so much for the movie itself...even if I only would have given it 4/10 maybe.
Not Liman’s or Pitt’s best by far, and even if it starts good, is quite funny sometimes, and stars Aidan Brody in a small part – it really helps having a story to tell that can’t be written on a stamp by a left-handed five year old.
Well, maybe it is enough to have Brad&Angelina, they make a fantastic beautiful couple.
(I wonder who they should pick if they break up? I guess they both have to lower their standards next time around.)

But the movie itself wasn’t the worst part of the experience.
It was the audience.
People are saying that Internet downloads and DVDs are killing the theatres and the box-office.
They’re not.
The teenagers are killing it!

All the THX-sound in the world can’t get louder than a room full of 17-year-olds commenting EVERYTHING on the screen...
...if any of them even sees the screen since EVERYONE seems to be sending text messages (which prevents ME from seeing anything since there are at least 50 little blue screens between me and the screen with the actual movie on it).

Next time Dough Liman makes a movie I’m gonna download it on the internet, sit back in my sofa, turn on my surround system – and just hope he has a story to tell this time...
...because this time I’m going to actually see and hear the movie.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Some Girls are Bigger than Others" with The Smiths

"My Number One" with Helena Paparizou

Suddenly a strange thing hit me:
I’ve written this blog for over a week now - and there hasn’t been a single list in it yet.
Not even a small “top 3”…
…and I’m usually a list-junkie of large proportions!

My longest continued blog is actually a “Best Things This Week”-list, that I’ve been writing every week for about 1½ year now at a Swedish community called QX.
It’s written in Swedish, mostly for my own sake – just like this little blog – and just for the fun of it. My role model has been a friend of mine who has been writing his list for several years at www.catenacci.net

It is actually quite nice to see what things you liked (and disliked) a week/month/year ago. I really enjoy writing my little list.
So, to fill the void for lists in this blog I hereby bring you my list in a compressed form!
(The cause for each post will remain in its expanded form at QX (and in Swedish))

This is my number one, two, three and so on...

Best this week!
1. Blogs [New]
Well, I started this blog this week...
2. Elsa [New]
My best friend's 11-month-old girl is the most adorable thing in my world.
3. ”24” (season4) – TV-series [New]
Just started to look at the follow-up to the supreme season3.
4. Power-walks in the Morning [7 weeks]
Everyday at 5.50 am I walk for about 45minutes - and it feels great.
5. Pink Cripps - Apple [New]
You can't get better tasting apples.
6. H&M [New]
Found a fantastic red sweater for only 190SEK there
7. Rhubarb Marmalade [New]
Home made! And a present from a good friend.
8. Retro-songs [New]
Baccara and The Thompson Twins dominated the play list in my iPod last week.
9. Party with Johan&Fredrik [3 weeks]
My favourite party-pals.
10. ”HP Pavilion d4075.se Desktop PC” – new computer [2 weeks]
My new computer, not yet unpacked.

Maybe this week!
”Mamma Mia! – in Swedish” - CD
I won it, its OK, but it doesn't live up to the show or the original songs.

Worst this week!
1. Broken Pipes
I hate plumbing.
2. Movie Audience
Downloads & DVDs are not killing cinema. Teenagers do!
3. Insomnia
I can (almost) get no sleep.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "My Number One" with Helena Paparizou

"My Best Friend" with Hello Saferide

Yesterday I tried to buy a single legally.
I assure you that sound much easier than it is...

The song is called "My Best Friend" and is sung by Annika Norlin who calls herself "Hello Saferide" as an artist. It’s a minor radio-hit here in Sweden right now, but maybe it will turn out to be one of the "Songs of the Summer 2005"?
It is a cute little song about a girl who wishes her best friend was a lesbian – and that she was one too. =)
Anyway, to find that out if it really is a summer-hit for me, I tried to buy this song legally yesterday.

First I started with iTunes (since I listen to all my music through my pink iPod mini) but they don't have any new Swedish music since they just started their shop last month.
Then I went on to CDON.com, and they had it as a CD single for 29SEK...
...but they would charge an extra 29SEK to ship it...so then they were also out of the picture (60SEK for ONE song??? I don't think so.)
The last internet store I visited was POPLife.se.
They had it!
And as a download!!
In wma-format...
NEXT!

On my way home from work I went by a record shop in central Gothenburg...no luck...and not in record shop two or three either.

Then I took the bus home and downloaded the bloody song on DC++

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "My Best Friend" with Hello Saferide

"Sunshine in the Rain" with BWO

It’s June.
Actuallt, it is the middle of June!
Still the rain is pouring down outside the window of my office and you need a sweater AND a jacket when you leave the building.
Well, I guess it doesn’t look good for the strawberries this midsummer either.
Darn.

Some sunshine in the rain though…
…a mail from one of my friends:

We can now confirm the track listing of the following BWO single,
"Sunshine in the Rain":
1. Radio Edit 3:28
2. Sound Factory New York Anthem 8:50
3. Sound Factory New York Drama Dub 8:13
4. Sound Factory Glamourama Anthem 7:12
5. Johan Afterglow Electro Mix 3:51
6. Johan Afterglow Electro Dub 3:34
7. Italo Mix 4:33

That’s what I call good news.
The best song of the BWO album turned into a single and with six remixes!

The not so good news is that the single will “certainly be ready for late August” but nothing is confirmed yet.

I guess it is the same thing with the weather.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Sunshine in the Rain" with Bodies Without Organs

"Yesterday when I was Mad" with Pet Shop Boys

Yesterday my pipes broke down in the kitchen.

Well, technically speaking it wasn’t yesterday – it was today at 2. a.m - but if you’ve slept at least eight hours since the episode you gonna tell, I guess it is OK to call it yesterday?

Anyway.
I was going to do the dishes – yes, at 2 a.m...it was a slow Saturday, ok? - after the dinner I had cooked for my best friend and me earlier in the day, and suddenly all the brown water (filled with disgusting little pieces of onions and beef) didn’t disappear into the pipes and out of my life as it usually do.
(I say usually, because recently it has been quit a lottery – but after a shot of caustic soda (or three) the problem generally has been history).

But not last night.

At first the brown, smelly water just stayed in the zinc...
...then it started to slowly and reluctantly disappear through the hole...
...just to suddenly re-appear at my feet, gushing from the cupboard (normally just containing kitchen garbage and paper bags) under the zinc.

Nice.
So I had to play plumber in the middle of the night, which really isn’t that funny when there’s no other person involved and the only tool to grip is actually an adjustable spanner.
Well, I wrenched, I pulled the pipes apart, I cleaned them, I put them together, I throw all the wet, meat-water stinking paper bags away, and I went over the entire kitchen floor with a mop and some strong detergent. At 2. a.m remember.
Then I grabbed the (still messy) wok and tried to finish the washing-up.

At first the brown, smelly water just stayed in the zinc...
...then it started to slowly and reluctantly disappear through the hole...
...just to suddenly re-appear at my feet, gushing from the cupboard (normally just containing kitchen garbage and paper bags, but now completely empty) under the zinc.

I finished the dishes in my bathtub
Tomorrow I will call the landlord.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Yesterday when I was Mad" with Pet Shop Boys

"Til Kingdom Come" with Coldplay

Today I saw a snail screaming.
No really, I did.

And for the record:
I DO eat meat.
I have no sympathy for insects or other types of disgusting creatures.
I do like dogs, but I don’t understand cats (or catpeople) at all.
And I always buy the meat&eggs which are the cheapest – NOT the ones that have had a farmer gently padding their heads while they were growing up.

But still, today a saw a screaming snail.

No, I didn’t hear it, stupid.
But I saw it.

I was talking a power-walk before breakfast (I always do that nowadays...works perfectly...yesterday my weight was below 70kg...hurray!), listening to the new Coldplay album in my iPod...

By the way:
The X&Y album.
It is OK, but I’m not joining the public rave yet, though.
The press compares it to U2...
...but I think that if it had been Jocke Berg in (the Swedish pop-group) Kent that had been sleeping with Gwyneth Palthrow instead of Chris Martin, the world would be singin’ Music Non Stop (or something) right now instead.

But back to this morning:
Suddenly (looking down at the road beneath me) there was the screaming snail.
It had unfortunately been run over by a bike, so half of it was totally flat and mushy.
The back half of the snail.
The snail-tail?
Anyway: the remaining part were reaching for the sky, tryin’ helplessly to move forward...screaming for help.

It was SO obvious, even if there was no sound.
Even if there were no voice coming from that black, slimy head of his/hers, it was perfectly clear what was going on down there.
It was screaming with panic.

Of course I just continued to walk.
I had to go home preparing for having my best friend and his 11 month-year-old daughter for a visit.
And really...
What can you do with a half dead, screaming snail??

I just hope I won’t be that snail someday.
Having panic, screaming as loud as I can – but no-one stops since they can’t hear me.
I guess that is one of my greatest fears actually.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "Til Kingdom Come" with Coldplay

"The Devil Sent You to Lorado" with Baccara

Today it’s finally Friday.
(Can’t believe it has only been a four day work-week. It feels like ages since Tuesday.)
So, today it’s finally Friday - and that means “The Friday Music Mix” in our room at the office!
I love our room.
Not only because it is a nice room literally (glass walls with a view over a sun-sparkling river) but because it also contains two nice and good-looking workmates.
Or at least it used to.
Fredrik left for parental-leave a week ago…so now I’m stuck with just Erik.
Well, maybe it is the other way around.
But anyway.

“My boys” are fantastic.
And married.
But who cares.
When we were at a conference in Istanbul last year I shared a hotel-room with Erik…and one morning - after a rather hard evening/night in the Istanbul nightlife – I woke up and found our beds pushed together.
I guess that wasn’t Erik.
At least that’s what he told me.
I guess it is sometimes embarrassing to have a subconscious.
*cough*

But today it is Friday and “The Friday Music Mix” on my Winamp.
And the song I like the most this week is my favourite retro-hit “The Devil Sent You to Lorado” with Baccara. Fabulous lyrics, strange arrangement and wonderfully bad English (almost like mine).
It’s a party-starter if any.

…the devil sent you to Lorado…
“The Däääääviiil!”
“The Däääääviiil!”
…because he knew that I was there…
“Aaaaaahhhhhh!”

Have a nice weekend!

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of Today: "The Devil Sent You to Lorado" with Baccara

"Lay All Your Love On Me"/"I Tryggt Förvar Hos Mig" by ABBA

Yesterday I actually won a contest.
That never happens.
Usually.

But yesterday I actually won.
I won a CD with the Swedish version of the Musical ”Mamma Mia!”.
Don't laugh.
It's a very good prize for someone who like ABBA, like musicals, and who actually bought tickets to this musical in August 2004 and saw it in Stockholm last week…

The musical is great by the way.
No doubt about that.
Go see it!
I actually seen it twice in London before this one in Stockholm, and the ensemble is almost better here in Sweden…
…but it is a very different experience to hear the songs with (new) Swedish lyrics instead of its original English ones. Not that the lyrics are bad in Swedish – in contrary; they are unexpectedly good – but it is not the same thing to have the dialogue turn into a classic lyric if the lyric is not classic…if you understand what I mean.

But back to the CD.
The CD with the original London cast is a bit daft. It is like listening to a CD with stupidly orchestrated ABBA-classics sung by musical actors. The Swedish version is of course a bit the same, but in opposite to the stage the lyrics saves the day here.I can’t get rid of a feeling that it is nice that the ABBA-songs have been “coming home” and got some Swedish words…
…even if not everyone of them have been treated well...like (ironically) “Mamma Mia” or “Money, Money, Money”…
…some of them are very cleaver (like “Dancin' Queen”…turned into a song about a girl dancing’ to the ABBA-song “Dancing Queen” or “Super Trouper”) and some are almost better (like “Lay All Your Love On Me” called “I Tryggt Förvar Hos Mig” if you know some Swedish language).

So it was a nice little win.
I hope it is the start of some kind of a trend for me.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of today: "Lay All Your Love On Me"/"I Tryggt Förvar Hos Mig" by ABBA

"Revolution" with The Thompson Twins

I didn't have that much records when I was younger...mostly due to that my parents didn’t have a record player. But when I was about 12-13 I got my first Walkman and started to buy music.

Well, yesterday I found the 80’s album ”Here’s the Future Days” with The Thompson Twins on the net and it was like time travelling. This was one of my favourite albums back then and I listened to it repeatedly for months….

So yesterday, even if some part of me knows that this isn’t the best record (actually it was a cassette tape) I've owned in my life or excellent in any way, I went nostalgic instantly, stupidly happy, and remembered all lyrics as they appeared in my iPod.
"King for a Day”, "Doctor Dream", "Tokyo" & (…and this one is still good…really…) "Lay Your Hands On Me"…
…and then there was "Revolution".
Yes.
It is the Beatles song.
In some horrible 80’s synth costume…
And I suddenly realized that this was the first version of this song that I heard…
It was from this version I learned the lyrics (so I later in life could fake that I was a bigger Beatles-fan than I actually were – I just got some collections and Sgt Pepper), and I guess this version to some extension made me start listening to Beatles.
Same thing with U2. I started to listen to them when I heard PetShopBoys version of "Where the Streets have No Name"...
...and then we have the Steps version of "Tragedy" vs Bee Gees.

So I guess I shouldn’t complain next time some young girl with big plastic tits makes a cover of any of my favourite songs. Maybe some teenager will learn the lyrics from that and start listing to whatever the original is.

Still, this doesn’t forgive covers like "Tarzan Boy" with Denise Lopez.
Just so you know.

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of today: "Revolution" with The Thompson Twins

"(Even Better than) The Real Thing [The Perfecto Remix]" by U2

So...this is the beginning of an era.
Or something.
My own little blog, where I will try to figure out life through a different song every day.

Had an idea of starting it yesterday on the Swedish National Day (well...I guess we don't have a more proper English name for that day, have we?) and our National Anthem as the first song…but well...lets just say I didn’t.
Instead I start my life as a blogger with this 6½ minute U2-remix.
It is not just one of my favourite tracks (ever) from one of my favourite groups - it is also a remix that encapsulates so much of me and my tastes in music.
It has both the “rock/guitar based” me and the “party/gay-glam” me.
It always works:
As a party starter, as an iTune for power walking, if I’m feeling a bit bored, depressed, shitty-as-hell or whatever, and actually on every compilation tape I’ve ever made.
(Not that I have put it on every compilation tape or CD I’ve ever made…but when I think about it, it may always have fitted. Almost.)

Well…that’s a glimpse of me.
I’m afraid there will be much much more here in the future.

So this is the start of my blogging.
Do you wanna to se how it ends?

Keep readin’
Tomorrow’s a new day and a new song.

Song of today: "(Even Better than) The Real Thing [The Perfecto Remix]" by U2