FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL 🛫🌍📺📽️🏈. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'
Beautiful Stockholm at night, looking west towards Gamla Stan
But somehow, despite all that is known about its power to sift and find that hidden thing which you seek, the article above never mentions the power of Google Alerts, something I swear by and testify to. Just saying...
Music's long-tail idea not working out exactly as planned, is it? I last wrote about rock guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen in my April 30, 2011 blog post titled, If the blog is rockin', don't come knockin' - Yngwie Malmsteen: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (HQ); original version by ABBA (LIVE at Wembley Arena, 1979) http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/if-blog-is-rockin-dont-come-knockin.html of which this remake of ABBA'sGime Gimme! Gimme! is but one of many videos there.
Sounds completely crazy as an idea, this mixing of Country House and schlager, but brilliant and dynamite as a reality, as heard on Sveriges Radio'sP3Stockholm last Thursday.
Three different people in Sweden I'd never heard from before, separately emailed me this link and their comments since last week, which is very odd to say the least.
One person I can see, maybe even two, but three different people writing me about the same thing that I hadn't already heard about? Now THAT'S unusual. And then, of course, adorable Cecilia Kallin, long one of our personal favorites here at the blog, the lead singer and guitarist of Timoteij referenced it on her very popular Webstagram feed last Friday just minutes after the song aired.
http://web.stagram.com/p/548994119608663496_229925862/ To me, she seemed, in general, like everyone else -astonished that such a creative Mashup even was contemplated and created, as much as pleased by the wonderful reaction it was receiving, since it definitely caused a buzz throughout Sweden in certain circles. All to the good I think as far as creativity goes!
In any case, as crazy and unlikely as it sounds, I think I may've actually first heard about this song -via email- before one of the most well-informed and well-connected people in the world of music in Scandinavia and schlager, Karl Batterbee at Scandipop, http://www.scandipop.co.uk/
He was smart enough to write about it right away, while I've just been sitting on it, trying to think of a good and logical hook for the readers who come to the blog who would might have no idea who or what I was talking about.
But then maybe I'm over-thinking it, since that never stopped me before.
Here's the original version of both songs, in case you forget what's been changed...
AviciiOfficialVEVO video: Wake Me Up (Official Video) by Avicii. Uploaded July 29, 2013. http://youtu.be/IcrbM1l_BoI
Wescertine YouTube Channel video:Timoteij - Kom (Melodifestivalen 2010).
In case you've forgotten the context, the first time you see Timoteij in the Mashup video at the top of today's post, it's the happy moments three years ago when Cecilia Kallin, Elina Thorsell, Bodil Bergströmand Johanna Pettersson were waiting anxiously at their tables for the results to be read, and their absolute delight when their name was publicly announced, telling them and the world that they'd advanced to the Finals of the 2010 Melodifestivalen in Stockholm with "Kom,"
Rolling Stone
How Avicii Helped Aloe Blacc Wake Up and Break Out
Vocalist on smash 'Wake Me Up' chats about his inspirational team-up with the Swedish DJ-producer
If someone in the world can figure out the formula, timing or complementary rhyming scheme to marry the melodies that can make a successful Mashup of Avicci and First Aid Kit, trust me, it will be like Alchemy 2.0, as heads will be exploding all over a few cities and countries I can think of, many of them originating from Country Calling Code 46.
Aftonbladet TV video: Avicii: ”Aldrig meningen att jag skulle göra country” Svenska stjärn-dj:n i intervju om sin nya genre. (Avicii never sensed he'd do Country. Steller Swedish DJ Tim Bergling interviewed about getting into a new genre, Country House.)
Via my newsdesk subscription I received an interesting press release on Thursday from Universal Music Sweden. Well, the long story short, plus what I know and can share with you, is that 24-year old Swedish DJ Tim "Avicii" Bergling has written music history, becoming the first Swedish artist to ever hold the top three spots on the Swedish singles charts, something that neither ABBA or Roxette ever managed to accomplish, though I think it's a bit unfair to compare the pre-digital era with the current one, due to the much-easier system of logistics and distribution that exist now. All three songs are from his new album, "True, " which is currently number five on the U.S. albums chart. Those three songs of his that are taking Gold, Silver and Bronze right now in Sweden are: 1. "Hey Brother"
UniversalMusicSweden YouTube Channel video:Veronica Maggio - Sergels Torg (Lyric Video). Uploaded August 21, 2013. http://youtu.be/kSdqLlyqZX8 In Veronica's own words from this recent Sveriges Radio interview, it's "a love song about having struggled in vain." 'Nuff said! We knew it wouldn't be the same as her last album, 'Satan i Gatan' -and it's not. Sveriges Radio "Du har hittat mitt mest utmärkande mönster" torsdag 12 september kl 12:25 Nyheter P4 Radio Stockholm http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=103&artikel=562199
Acoustic? Sure, we've got that covered :)! :)! Veronica Maggio LIVE on Radio1 Norway - Sergels Torg (acoustic) Uploaded September 11, 2013. http://youtu.be/Siol4nbT6pw Some comments about the new songs at SVT's music blog: http://blogg.svt.se/psl/2013/08/20/lyssna-veronica-maggio-sergels-torg/ Sergels Torg, released less than a month ago is already at #12 on the Swedish singles chart, Sverigetopplistan, the official Swedish music chart, http://www.sverigetopplistan.se/
EriicTheKing YouTube Channel video: Veronica Maggio - Dallas. Uploaded September 5, 2013. http://youtu.be/Zqzl_udVSkM Still trying to figure out completely what I think of this song.
COPENHAGEN BETA YouTube Channel video: Veronica Maggio - Dallas (Talk)
(In Swedish, with Danish subtitles) Uploaded August 27, 2013.
----- Long story, sort-of-short: In late May, right before the Memorial Day holiday weekend here in the U.S., and just over four months after I got back from my trip to Stockholm, despite having a Google Alert for her, I hadn't seen anything in ages regarding super-talented Swedish singer Veronica Maggio, whom I've written about a few times here, complete with her crazy-infectious tunes. So, I decided I'd spend a little time one weekend at the usual online haunts trying to find out what's the latest with Veronica -whom Google often refers to (unintentionally funny to me) at some websites where its instant translation immediately pops up without you asking it to, as "The Veronicas"- I penned an email to a friend in Sweden with real 'connections' to the Swedish music industry, basically asking ¿Qué Pasa? What's going on with her? Was she sick or seriously ill or have some family crisis?
I asked because all of her various personal Social Media sites as well as the Swedish media sites that could usually be counted upon to note any movement or scintilla of news or activity about her seemed unusually quiet. Too quiet. In the case of her Social Media, it was as if nobody was even bothering to keep them properly maintained, like a lot of dead blogs I could name. That made me only more curious and even a little bit worried about this curious low-profile for one of Sweden's most talented and popular performers. If you didn't know from my previous posts, Veronica isa three-time Swedish Grammy winner, and was Sweden's most-played radio artist in 2012, with three of the nine most-played songs according to STIM, the Swedish royalty collecting society that is sort of like the Swedish cousin to ASCAP in the United States. I certainly heard more of Veronica on the radio than any other Swedish artist when I was in Stockholm in mid-January and walking around with my earbuds underneath my Dolphins cap, checking my ears every so often to make sure they weren't getting too cold, since it was never over 20 °F the whole time I was there, and usually in the single digits. But I heard her even before I left Arlanda Airport and caught my very comfortable ride via the Flygbussarnaairport bus into the city, 40-something miles south on the E4 roadway that had its road lights on full blast at Noon because it was still snowing, though relatively light in comparison with just a few days before. These very reasonably-priced buses are frequent, frequent and frequent, to and from the airport to Stockholm, even late at night as I discovered on my way back late Friday night on my last night in the city, which was spent walking around from the Royal Palace in Gamla Stan up to the skating rink at Kungsträdgården, over to Nordiska Kompaniet for an hour and then down to the bus station at Central Station to get an early start on being ready for my Saturday morning flight, which is why I crashed at the airport. *Warning: Arlanda's International Terminals have ZERO carpeting, so while you can use your down jacket as a pillow under your head, the rest of your body is in big trouble with the hard floors. Also, there's NO real comfortable seats like you can find at BWI or O'Hare, just lots of blocky and hard plastic-like couches that seemed less inviting than a splintered wooden bus bench, quite frankly, which is why once I got onboard my return SAS flight, tired and sore, I tilted back and slept until we got near Iceland.
Veronica's degree of popularity was proven rather conclusively in this article last winter in Aftonbladet, under the category of Mest spelat i radio 2012: 3 of the 9 most popular songs! #3 was Välkommen in, #8 was Satan i Gatan, and #9 was Jag kommar. http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/article15929544.ab In considering why Veronica might be keeping a low profile, even while recording new material, I also thought about what I knew and had learned over several months about the tragic death last year of her 58-year old friend, the acclaimed producer and sound engineer, Tom Hofwander, and how that might've affected her plans. He perished as a result of accidentally falling out of their tour bus in Copenhagen late at night, after they'd finished touring in Denmark in mid-August, and were on their way home to Sweden for their last four dates. From all public accounts, it seems that while everyone else on the bus was fast asleep, he may've accidentally come into contact with a door release button -located at knee-height- in the back, since a back door opened and... Really, what can you say?
Aftonbladet Veronica Maggios ljudtekniker hedrades av svenska artisteliten. Nu slår polisen fast: Dödsfallet var en olycka By Martin Gustafsson 2012-09-19 http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/article15464866.ab A week later, a photo-filled article on the heartfelt performance by Veronica and several artist friends honoring him thru their grief: Här hyllas Tom Hofwander 2012-09-25 http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/article15509685.ab But the few articles I could find about her often made no reference to that very upsetting incident, either, so what could it be? In retrospect, of course, I shouldn't have bothered wondering, because whatever it was, now Veronica has released two new singles from her fourth album, the follow-up to Satan i Gatan and already, fans and critics are raving about them, especially Sergels Torg.
But Sergels Torg is not only a great song, but also a great place that is very important to all of the people of Stockholm, and what an amazing place it is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergels_torg
Only one of my favorite places in all of Sweden and anywhere, and somewhere where I literally spent HOURS standing and walking around it and the adjoining areas in January's cold, marveling at it all. I went inside for an hour or so and gave myself the self-guided tour, and saw the awesome and impressive Kulturhuset arts, retail and civic complex and saw the public library, the theatres, the cozy and chic and alternately swank restaurants, all of which is organized and planned in a stylish way that would cause anyone from South Florida, who is used to the sort of mediocre design and half-assed results we see all around us, to have their jaw drop. Plus the very impressive Stockholm on the Move exhibit! http://www.fargfabriken.se/en/stockholm-on-the-move
2016 Update: That site was replaced byhttp://www.fargfabriken.se/en/
That featured a room with a scale-model display of the entire city of Stockholm and environs and what it might look like in the future, which made me thinks of the diorama located at Gettysburg. That's when all those hours of walking around for days I did really came in handy, since I feel like I now know Stockholm much better than I do Fort Lauderdale right now, which is both odd and comforting. As I've said before, I felt very much at home there. Sergels Torg is the sort of public space writ large of the sort where, when you are there for the first time, at least me with MY particular personality, and living in an area of the U.S. like I do in South Florida with none of the energy and synergy it has, unlike when I was in D.C., made me wish that my friends and family could be there so they could be wowed by it, too. Here's some perspective: http://en.kulturhuset.stockholm.se/About-Kulturhuset/ Oskar Sigvardsson YouTube Channel video: Robyn - Show Me Love (LIVE, Sergels Torg, Stockholm, 2010) Uploaded March 11, 2010. http://youtu.be/T3IdGD9SLwk
Bounce Sweden YouTube Channel video: [OFFICIAL] Michael Jackson Dance Tribute - STOCKHOLM. Uploaded July 9, 2009. http://youtu.be/lVJVRywgmYM At Sergels Torg and Stureplan.
Martin Larsson YouTube Channel video: Stockholm in motion. Uploaded January 8, 2013. http://youtu.be/oV_NEayqfvs
This is a terrific video of Stockholm, and not just because I was at all of the popular locations shown here -but two- within one week of this being video uploaded. The only difference was that there was a LOT MORE ice and snow on the ground when I was there! The photo shown here in the vid is of the fountain at Sergels Torg (Sergel's Square in English), festooned with light-covered Christmas trees and reindeers, with the SEB building in the background, looking slightly northwest from the Kulturhuset, also one of my favorite places! I took a lot of photos right around there because there's so much energy there that it's positively infectious.Sergels Torg comes at 1:38.
Some older songs of Veronica's that we love -and frequently sing and hum to ourselves- and have featured before here on the blog:
BBL.se youTube Channel video: Veronica Maggio - Jag kommer (LIVE on SVT's 'Allsång på Skansen' in Stockholm). Uploaded July 16, 2011. http://youtu.be/3LuMvh8nr00 SwedishStereo2 YouTube Channel video: Veronica Maggio - Välkommen in (LIVE on SVT's 'Allsång på Skansen' in Stockholm). Uploaded July 12, 2011. http://youtu.be/vLP8TLj9cIs
allnicktaken YouTube Channel video Veronica Maggio - Snälla Bli Min (with Benny Andersson on piano) on SVT's "Moraeus med mera," aired September 18, 2011. http://youtu.be/sWOHGCKPRfU
UniversalMusicSweden YouTube Channel video: Veronica Maggio - Mitt Hjärta Blöder. Uploaded February 15, 2012. http://youtu.be/kJafqgvwKMs
UniversalMusicSweden YouTube Channel video: Veronica Maggio - Måndagsbarn. Uploaded March 3, 2008. http://youtu.be/NtJxy0zc7nU
We shall hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to. We shall get them. We shall punish them for this heinous crime. — Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) September 21, 2013
The way we lead our lives; in freedom, openness, unity & consideration for each other represents our victory over all those who wish us ill — Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) September 21, 2013
Terrorism in and of itself, is the philosophy of cowards. — Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) September 21, 2013
The despicable perpetrators of this cowardly act hoped to intimidate, divide and cause despondency among Kenyans. — Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) September 21, 2013
Kenyatta: My nephew and his fiancé lost their lives. — InteriorCNG Ministry (@InteriorKE) September 22, 2013
Kenyatta: We need to work together to fight the terrorist battle. This is not a Kenyan war, this is an international war. — InteriorCNG Ministry (@InteriorKE) September 22, 2013
As of 6:30 tonight EDT Sunday, the Kenya Red Cross has is still reporting that 58 people were killed and 175 have been injured, confirming reports early this morning from Reuters. As of this afternoon, the second floor of the five-storey Westgate Mall was thought to be the only floor that has not been secured by Kenyan Army Special Forces or Kenyan Police, who are now both above and below the 15 terrorists and what officials believe are approximately 30 hostages. Electricity to the ground floor has been cut-off but there are still fears that more terrorists are holed-up in the large Nakumatt supermarket.
US MEDIA: FBI investigating claims that at least 2 of the #Westgate terrorists are Americans from Minnesota and Kansas City, Missouri — NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) September 22, 2013
Sky News hasn't updated this tweet in over seven hours even as more and more people have died in the terrorist attack. NOT impressive. https://twitter.com/SkyNews
So should you. Disappointingly, but in keeping what I and many other have seen and commented on privately, even The Drudge Report has had nothing about this incident many, many hours after-the-fact. That only adds fuel to the, first, speculation, and now, common belief, among myself and people I know throughout the country in the media that despite the record numbers of readers going to that website, the people who are actually physically manning the Drudge Report on weekends, whoever they are, are NOT doing as good a job as readers were used to, and came to expect on weekends years ago. Boring stories stay up far too long -sometimes 3-4 days- and stories that ought to be up stay unposted after even lamestream media has them. What the hell is going on?
As I've detailed here on the blog more than a few times before, contemporaneously, largely as a result of MSNBC and CNN continually sleeping on the job while breaking news was happening around the world overnight -while I was awake and listening to the BBC or Sveriges Radio or watching the morning TV shows on SVT and TV4 in Sweden- Fox News Channel is what I usually turn to first when some Breaking News happens, but today they are TOTALLY f-ing missing the boat. Watching them today is painful, like watching portfolio videotapes of some once-cute girl doing Community College TV newscasts in Oklahoma, circa 1987. Why, why, why??? You have a family relationship with Sky News -you are the younger, dumber and more shallow brother in case you forgot- and yet Fox News is refusing to use any of those amazing resources, including video of the situation and reporters in the area. Why? What are you waiting for, an invitation? We have a huge country where real news is happening all the time and yet Fox News is doing another story with three guests about funding Obamacare? Really??? Can you you please stop kicking Obama and contemplating your navel and your ass for just a couple of hours? It's embarrassing for me as a regular Fox News viewer to see this disregard for viewers intelligence and be served up this swill.
And at 2 pm, as I just flipped the TV back to Fox from a college football game, they give us a tan John Boehner, the soon to be ex-Speaker of the House because of what a horrendous job he's been doing the past two years. (It's a reflection of how much everyone within the House GOP either hates or dislikes Eric Cantor that he can't push over a push-over like Boehner that is barely coherent at times.) Is everyone in New York today inside a TV studio sleeping?
Also, I've wanted to say this for quite a few days and since i haven't seen anyone else say it anywhere -that I've seen- let me be clear. IF hundreds of people were missing from New York City's Upper West Side after a flood there, you better believe the national news coverage would've been a lot more intense, professional and lengthy than what we saw in Colorado this past week, which many NY and DC-based news organizations treated like another bus in India or Bangladesh that went off the side of a mountain and killed all aboard. Colorado, they still consider you "flyover country," even if they come visit you to go skiing. Oh well, hurricane season isn't over yet here in South Florida! And we all know how the people in New York at the TV networks root for us to get hit hard by one so they can fly in and do stories where they can 'act' like brave journalists facing the elements! Just saying...
