low-fi close to none-fi

I dropped by a record store i usually don`t believe in on Saturday, and was amazed by the music played over the stereo and i just had to ask,
Blank Dogs was the answer and the guy behind the counter was so satisfied with me noticing that he gave me the cd that he burned for the occasion; working on Saturday.
i found it funny that he wanted to give it to me instead of having me buying the music of downloading it from itunes, but he told me that Blank Dogs (apparently a onemanband) made all his music available on his page probably to justify the extremely limited releases on LP and Cassette (MC).

Blank Dogs brings me back to the late 90s
i was on of those low-fi guys that believed that rock and pop music is about the melody and not the quality of the recording, spinning my Dipsomanic LPs every weekend for my Dream Theater friends...

Enjoy the man`s blog and music,

best wishes,

herr w

have spacesuit, will travel.

Me and Hilla are having a psych-out period here, listening to Motorpsycho`s Trust us, records from the Pebbles series and the newly discovered Warlocks.
Warlocks was due to Oslo Jazz festival the only rock event when me and my Finish guest hit the town last week, but what an event, sweet noise-rock-psych.

so that should be enough psych for us all but oh no not for my daughter; while on the floor, a far more normal place for a baby than for her father to be, she likes to "read" her favorite book, ironically a book without a single word but full of rather psychedelic of flowers.

These flowers are suppose to help her brain develop, perception, and all the others.
As far as i can see she likes the two-colored stuff b&w, but when she is bored with that there is more to come, both what colors and shapes concern.

Guns `n Roses have done it again

Don`t know about you but it ain`t the first time G`nR does it for me,
since i discovered the EP* Gnr Lies i have preety much followed them in whatever direction, as i have come to realize all to uncritically.
Coz this time Guns is not doing it for me musically; it`s reading Mick Walls unauthorized Axl Rose biography that have led me to a loooooooong sought after reading kick.
So from now on this post will be about everything but Gnr, sorry, more on them later... maybe.


I have written about piles here before and as you all know ; most piles can be figured out, all but one: the ever growing pile of books one is suppose to read. guess i speak for all of my readers.
With this new found urge to read i hope i can make it shrink.

What`s piling?

Mark Haddon`s A Spot of Bother is, i loved his first novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and after starting his new book many times this must be it. I also loved Nicole Krausses History of Love, and want to read her Man walks in to a room.

Kjell Westö`s Where We Once Went is one i can`t wait to finish, i have read half way through.

Michael Ende`s is also piling, after seeing Momo, or the strange story of the time-thieves and the child who brought the stolen time back to the people with Johannes some years ago it freaked me, and some weeks ago Reeta got the book for me.

Not much left of Thomas Moore`s Lalla Rookh, i chose to read only the Paradise and the Peri part since Schumann used it for his oratorium with the same name.

Bob Dylan`s Tarantula...? Anyone?

More Finnish; Tove Jansson`s Trollwinter and Kari Hotakainen`s På Hjemmefronten will both help my understand Finland?

Haruki Murakami is a author many of my best friends tell me to read, J. M. Coetzee is also much talked about among my friends at the moment, and his Waiting for the Barbarians is waiting for me along with Murakami`s Norwegian Wood.

My Mom got me The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova for x-mas, hope i will have read it before next x-mas.

And then at last, I`m reading Pierra Bourdieu`s Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, I have only read here and there but this time i`m reading it all.

i`ve come to realize that this pile is hopeless, will i get to the bottom before more books are added to the pile?

you all know the answer to that question.

* once and for all it stands for Extended Play.

not a big fan

... no I`m not,
it is just too much with this heat,
but we do have a big fan, and it has kept the whole family alive till now,
so lets hope it will keep us through this day, 29th which is thought to be the
warmest during this heatwave.

I have made some new friends that i suggest you visit now that there is so little
activity here for obvious reasons.

Meet;

K and ottAr ,
they publish indie cartoons (wow that sounded cool) at Kertuun,

then there is Miki who tries to keep her self and the family busy in the north of Norway.

Room boy is still in his room,
is he grounded? does he suffer from spacephobia?
oh no, he gets around, and amazes whenever he updates,
and i guess that goes for all of you on my list.

see you around,

baby i love your way

A NEW PERSON MOVED IN WITH US TODAY, AND SHE HAS NO PLANS ON MOVE ANYTIME SOON,
SHE DIDN`T BRING ANYTHING,
SHE DON`T KNOW ABOUT KITTENS YET,
THE SMELL OF OLD BOOKS,
OR SNOW,

BUT AFTER GETTING TO KNOW HER OVER 3DAYS I KNOW THAT SHE LIKES
-SLEEP
-FOOD
-SKIN CONTACT
- WARM WATER

HER NAME IS HILLA,

write me for pictures

last post as ... find out in the post

enjoying life in our new apartment, nice one with space for 2 becoming 3,

i went away, or my inspiration, creativity ,and sense of space and time went away,
but after a couple of looooong weeks underground i`m back at writing here,

summer or something that reminds everybody of summer hit oslo 2weeks ago, whether its nice may weather disguised as summer, or the real thing we`ll see.

since last time;

i`ve started to play snooker, table tennis, seen Einstürtzende Neubauten, move in to the abow mentioned apartment, this place got a fireplace which i believe will play a major part in the battle
between the words our child will chose to be its first.
i think its going to be like the "cave babies" FIRE, or ILD (n) or TULI(fi) and how cool isn`t that.

now i have to go get married,

so this was the last post from unmarried terje,

screw manhattan...

...Berlin is more than we can handle.

went there to see the 2nd Cure concert that week,
first i saw them in Oslo, that was fun though we, me and my sis, was far from the stage, but the sound which everybody complained about was super up under the roof.
they played a hit parade like never before, something like 20 of their 25 singles were preformed,
together with some of the darker tunes they have put out over the years, they played some of the songs that i had hoped for, like Shake dog Shake, 100years, and the big surprise Plainsong,

It was super to see them again, and i had a great time, only thing was that when soaring as high as they did with all the hits there was noway they could get low enough when they were to play the darker song, the gap between "It`s Friday I`m in Love..." and "It doesn`t matter if we all DIE" was too big.

Then Berlin waited, i love that city, most of all its hopelessness.

the concert in Berlin was far better then the one in Oslo, the setlist was more and less the same, but songs like The Kiss, and Drowning Man are unbeatable, i was standing this time, and when the concert started i found my self in happy land, never felt better, NEVER.

P.S.

bored waiting for updates, see the comments, lots of fun.

p.p.s

still bored, check out my links, roomboy is back, and Lilly blogs every now and then.

next time, in march, 1/6 of 08 is gone.

this just in

The Cure is on the road again and finally the road is located in Europe.
They started in Stockholm yesterday and what a start.
According to this guy they played 3h and 3min. and according to this page they played 3 encores, which gives us a total 36 songs .

If this isn`t a Cure fans wet dream then i don`t know what is.

i`m so exited about this that i could die, and its approx 24hours till i`ll be sitting(?!) ready to be blown away.

So what i do i WISH for in the set list? hmmm thats tricky coz, the albums i like best are not always the best live songs, like my favorite song Charlotte Sometimes isn`t a very good live song.
but all the songs from Pornography, Disintegration, and Wish ARE.

I will be the worlds happiest if they play,
The Kiss, The Figurehead, 100years (they always do) Shake Dog Shake, Want, or From The Edge of the Deep Green Sea.

but hei, if not in Oslo, why not in Berlin on Saturday!

Set list from Stockholm:

Intro: tape Mainset: open alt.end a night like this the end of the world lovesong pictures of you lullaby from the edge of the deep green sea please project the walk push how beautiful you are... inbetween days just like heaven a boy i never knew if only tonight we could sleep the kiss shake dog shake us or them never enough wrong number one hundred years end

Encore 1: at night m play for today a forest Encore 2: let's go to bed freak show close to me why can't i be you? Encore 3: boys don't cry jumping someone else's train grinding halt 10:15 saturday night killing an arab

the longing

Every now and every then i start longing, can be anything, really.
A new 7inch, sushi, call Grandma, etc.

interesting,
first i notice that there is something "wrong",
then that i`m longing,
and third finding what actions that can be taken to after come this feeling.

I`m at third step, i have had this feeling for some time now and now i know what i`m longing for

Chopin`s Ballads.

The, often mistaken for being frence , polish composer Frédéric-François Chopin (1810-49) here sen in his last days sick and tired, wrote 4 ballads for solo piano, a ballad is just long piano piece, the first in1833 the last in 1843.
The first Ballade, G Minor,Op. 23, (1833), is probably the most known, and the piece Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) plays for the German soldier in Polanski`s The pianist, not the whole thing of course , but some of it.

Well they all have their strength only the second Ballade, F Major, Op. 38, (1839) is kind of boring, its dedicated to Robert Schumann and Chopin probably didn`t like him that much, Schuman on the other hand loved Chopin and dedicated his Kreisleriana opus 16 to him a today more played piano work, though its rumored that Chopin didn`t even look at it when it came in the mail, but left it unopened on his piano.
here Chopin`s manuscript for opus 38

The third Ballade, A flat Major,Op. 47, (1841) is by far my favorite, and the forth Ballade, F Minor,Op. 52, (1843) is lovely too.

Its been a while since i hear these pieces now, but i remember what they are all about for me:
Melody, all the melodies are perfection. I Can`t say which recording would be best, coz the melodies are so strong that the pianist can`t go wrong.

only thing; i don`t have any recordings, i sold them all years ago, and now i have to get one, but i can`t go out... more on that some other day.

First Coffee in 4days, thats Four days,

kjempe fin start

I can`t say 08 have been very happy,
i have been sick now (on and off, most on) the whole January, missed a good co-workers last day at work and the following party, and just been drained with energy due to all this sickness,

I`m done with Football, after my team, correction; former favorite team tottenham let the team, i will not mention in this blog, score in 94th minute today it was more than i could take.

Being sick is the worst, i can`t stand it, I`m usually never sick and therefore not used to making these calls to my boss that i`m sick, and it`s countless how many of those i have had to make this year.

So what is there to look forward to?

first i`m going to get rid of this flue, then there is plenty to live for, coz this flues negative filter can`t filter away the strong feelings i have for seeing my sis soon, seeing The Cure twice in one week, buying a new pistepirkko album next week, going to Berlin and starting to move to our new place.

January 08 can burn together with the Christians.

sleepless in oslo

i can`t sleep,
i have tried, but it won`t come,

if i was still in Finland it would be 7.07 now and ok to get up,
but i`m not, it`s 6.07 in Norway.

got home safe and starting work tomorrow, eh today, and what a start it will be with no sleep since Sunday morning.

well have to start the day, make my self a nice liter of coffee, and put on the radio,

take in the paper and try to do the sudoku , i will of course be to tired for that, unless its an easy one,
then read the same net papers i`ve been reading all night, FUCK i hate this day already,
what a super way to start the week,

FUCK

what does it mean?

after a quick trip to east Finland, i can still make it with my idea about blogging at least tree times before i leave.

The last days i`ve spent 10hours in a train, but considering the weather i can`t see that i have missed anything.

I had this years first real great concert experience, and to be honest(and in the end isn`t that what we all want to be) it is going to be hard to beat.
it was the Finnish band Cleaning Women- name comes from that they play on self made instruments made of cleaning machines and dressing up like women, nothing like Hurra Torpedo.
they played music to the Russian Sci-fi classic Aelita-the Queen of Mars, from 1924.
and yes you guessed right; they go to Mars, a bored soldier, a crazy scientist and a confused detective. in the cargo; an accordion and what else than communism.
do they inspire to an armed revolution on mars you ask?
-well travel to Kirkenes and see for your selfs, coz apart form tour in Finland is also kirkenes blessed with a visit,

On the train to Joensuu i found that this guy wasn`t welcome in the bistro:
but what does it mean, is it Michael Jackson they don`t want, or people with hats or is it sneaking Film Noir private detectives they don`t trust with normal people...?

from Finland,

herr w

deeper underground

back in Finland,
this time my view on the town; Helsinki is different, probably because i know that i might move here within 3years, and need to see what that might feel like,

i went underground yesterday for some club event with videos and a band playing,
most of the videos were crap, but the band rocked, wasn`t as psychedelic as the picture suggests but nevertheless...

it rains here but that just gives me the time i need to do the couple of things that i have planed to do;
- be on vacation,
- read Kjell Westös book "Der vi en gang gikk"
- figure out Robert Schumann's 3. Piano sonata "Concert without Orchestra".
- and update here more that 3 times while in finland.

tonight live music to one of the films that i have wanted to see for a long time: Aelita

see you soon

does it count?

Thought i felt spring while outside today but it was probably someone else,
i didn`t find anything at the market but miss.r did, a tea lounge next to it,
i don`t drink tea, i drink coffee but lucky for me next time we go there coz it turned out not to one of these Hitler-tea-lounges you read about that serve tea exclusively, but one that will serve me coffee next time, this time i had tea, or peppermint tea, don`t know if that counts .

Made a fish soup using rye flour, does that count?

Took a pic that turn out bad and made it cool with cheap mobile software, does that count.

Practiced an organ piece on my keyboard, does it count?

Was touched by music with German lyrics i didn`t understand, does that count as a genuine music experience?

...
it can play hideous tricks on the brain
...
any day any day any day

silence is golden

I have to confess that i was quite old when i saw my first Chaplin movie, i was maybe as old as i am now, well 3week younger than i`m now to be honest, but in the end isn`t that what we all want to be?

but when i finally got around to see one i went to a viewing with live music played by the Oslo philharmonics. Like in many other of his film he had also written the music for The Circus(1928) as done most other things like casting, written and produced it.

Merna Kennedy from The Circus,
rumor has it that she had an affair
whit Charles during shoting of the film.

It was a good film, i was really entertained and so was the rest of the audience, and some how thats very funny; that in 2007 as well in 2008 were there is so much stuff to be entertained by it doesn`t take more that a cake in the face to make people fall off their chairs. (yes it contained a banana skin joke too). not to forget the great story.

for xmas i got a 3 movie Chaplin box containing Modern Times(1936) (a film in which he goes to jail accused of being a communist ,drinks a lot takes amphetamine and is put to a mental institution) , City Light(1931) and The Great Dictator (1940) great films all of them, well TGD was so and so, but hopefully more on that some other time.

Paulette Goddard, played in both TGD and Modern Times, and was married to Charles for a couple of years.

what intrigues me with all of these film are the women. Chaplin plays "The Tramp" like in most of his films, and then there is, at least in the four films mentioned here, a woman. And always played by a foxy lady at least in 1920 standards, and without exception i fall in love with these characters. And why not, falling in love with dead people is harmless isn`t it, and my girlfriend can`t be jealous at them, coz they are all dead, i`ve checked .

me and Charles probably shared the same test in women, "ed" coz he`s dead too, he often dated had affairs, and even married the women he played against.

till next time,

herr w

Virginia Cherrill from
City Light was discovered by
Charles while sitting beside
him at a boxing match in LA.

up for something in March?

Happy new year,
08 is going to fool us all,
but also bring us joy like roskilde 08 or is it, more on that later.

first;
Just home from kirkenes. where me and miss r spent xmas together with my family, in the dark? yes, in the dark, if anyone dare to say something else i can tell you i am as angry with you that i`m with people who claim that everyone can learn how to draw.

this first month is going to be spent getting back to the urbanroutines i forgot while in north, started yesterday by having sushi with friend.
Then we have to find a new place to stay.

Later i`m going to Finland.
there i`m going to this nice lunch place in kamppi, the music library, then its all the coffee with all the good people of helsinki,
then its a train ride east that i`m looking forward to, i never go by trains anymore after i moved from bergen.

February is Cure time, seeing them twice, first in Oslo and later the same week in Berlin with my good friend, the fresh blogger, Dr. Später and yeah did i mention that i`m going to Berlin, don`t you get me started.

Anyone up for something in March?

Einstürzende Neubauten plays Oslo in April.

May is always nice.

And in June i`m scheduled to be a father,
oh yeah you heard me right, well most of you dear readers already know, but for those of you who don`t, now you do.

roskilde will have to wait...

till next time,

yours,

herr w