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
Amy Grant - Christmas Lullaby (I Will Lead You Home). http://t.co/52v82W0A0f My favorite song from her 1999 CD, A Christmas to Remember, :)! — HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) December 22, 2013
Amazing, amazing Amy Grant! She sounded utterly fantastic and angelic at her Christmas concert at the then-MCI Center in downtown Washington, D.C. in December of 1999, when she was in town as part of her national tour promoting her CD and third Christmas album, A Christmas to Remember, which featured the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, who was also there in Washington. That's only one of my two favorite Christmas albums, and one I took with me on my trip to snowy Stockholm in mid-January, which I played frequently in my room at the 4trappor B&B in Södermalm and then the next week in my hotel room at the wonderfully-convenient Omena Hotel Stockholmin Norrmalm, just a block or so and around the corner from the August Strindberg Intima Theatre, http://www.strindbergsintimateater.se/-which unfortunately did not have shows while I was there. I think I played Amy's CD everyday I was there.
The great thing about Christmas music is that the window of time you listen to it is so short you really can’t get tired of it.
— Amy Grant (@amygrant) December 9, 2013
Also part of the action at the concert was the sweet and powerful sounds of Points of Grace -and super-talented Michael W. Smith- my first time ever seeing them live, after hearing them for so many years on CDs. It was heavenly! The members of POG had gone to the same college in Arkansas as my best friend, Shannon, Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, and one of my favorite all-time photos of her was actually a shot of them at a table signing CDs down in Woodbridge, VA, with Shannon flashing that mega-watt smile of hers that always wowed people. Anyway, that's how it sounded to me.
Judge for yourself...
Point of Grace - When Love Came Down
http://t.co/4oE0mGgJNF
Saw POG in 1999 in D.C. w/Amy Grant's Christmas tour -was BEYOND magical :)! — HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) December 22, 2013
Point of Grace - When Love Came Down, from their 1999 CD, A Christmas Story, one of my two favorite Christmas albums, the other being Amy's.
When I finally Saw POG in 1999 in D.C. with Amy Grant's Christmas tour, with that orchestra sound behind them, it was BEYOND magical :) !
This is when the group was composed of four very talented women: Shelley Breen, Denise Jones, Terry Jones and Heather Payne.
Point of Grace - O Holy Night.
From POG's 1999 album 'A Christmas Story.' There's no substitute for perfect harmony!
http://t.co/spX9n4j1gx — HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) December 22, 2013
Yohanna - Don't Save It All For Christmas Day - LIVE on TV3's En Sång För Hemlösa 2009 (A Song For The Homeless)
http://t.co/ZKJHYumvkq :)! — HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) December 22, 2013
Something to inspire you: HGTV Video: Amy Grant's Motor Home: The country music star's tour bus features a private lounge, two TVs and 10 bunks. http://www.frontdoor.com/celebrity/amy-grants-motor-home-video and something to remind you that Once Upon A Time, the American TV networks weren't afraid of allowing a religious subtext in a Christmas TV show, like they are now:
The Andy Griffith Show, S1E11, The Christmas Story, Originally aired on CBS-TV on December 19, 1960. Uploaded December 1, 2013. http://youtu.be/TpKn5ceZaQ4
poriel2 YouTube Channel video: Jill Johnson - A Woman Can Change Her Mind (Live @VärldensBarn2012) Benefit concert for Children of the World. Uploaded October 14, 2012. http://youtu.be/6Uccl5cWwxA jilljohnsonmusic YouTube Channel video: Come Wake Me Up - Rascal Flatts and Jill Johnson. Uploaded December 7, 2012. http://youtu.be/1a4cTBCe25A
Rascal Flatts' new album, CHANGED (Deluxe Edition) will be officially released in Sweden on January 3rd by LionheartSweden
jilljohnsonmusic YouTube Channel video: TV ad for Jill Johnson's latest album, A Woman Can Change Her Mind. Uploaded November 7, 2012.
Unfortunately for me, based on the latest information I've seen from her record company, except for a TV performance for SVT in Göteborg slated for Wednesday January 16th, unless something really crazy happens, I won't be able to see Jill perform LIVE next month while I'm in Sweden because her tour doesn't start until Spring. Which sucks for me, to say the least.
jilljohnsonmusic YouTube Channel video: "Sail On" - Lionel Richie and Jill Johnson. LIVE on SVT's Skavlan Show. Aired March 9, 2012. Uploaded March 10, 2012. http://youtu.be/BatEw1Ci24U
This post was updated in December 2014.
As originally seen at http://svtplay.se/v/2737137/skavlan/lionel_richie_och_jill_johnson_-_sail_on?sb,k104116,1,f,-1 The SVT Play video lapsed in March of 2013 so I replaced that video with this version from Jill Johnson's YouTube Channel. I LOVE THIS VERSION! Through complete sheer serendipity, while looking thru my nightly check list of foreign Internet sources to see before going to sleep, while checking out some things on the always interesting Swedish TelevisionSVT Play website, which I spend lots of time at, I found this utterly fascinating interview with Grammy Award-winning singer Lionel Richie on talk show host Fredrik Skavlan's very popular Friday night TV show, which airs on both SVT and NRK, the Norwegian TV/Radio service.
If I recall correctly, I read this episode from last Friday drew three million TV viewers combined.
I last mentioned Skavlan last year when I posted his interview with singer Robin Gibb of The Bee Gees on his amazing career, his recent health problems, his remarkably talented family and his efforts to help get an RAF WWII Memorial constructed in London, here: FEBRUARY 12, 2011 Robin Gibb and Carola sing "How Deep Is Your Love" on SVT's "Skavlan"; 20-minute interview also! http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/robin-gibb-and-carola-sing-how-deep-is.html
In this interview, conducted in English and originally with Swedish subtitles, Richie speaks candidly with Skavlan about being a survivor: on fame in Hollywood, his two divorces, learning to be a strong parent when his now-equally famous daughter, Nicole Richie, had her substance abuse problems, dealing with death of longtime famous friends like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross, and how their untimely deaths have changed him and dampened his view of the music industry.
And, of course, there the sweet duet of "Sail on" afterwards that he performs up at the top of this post with popular Swedish Country music singer Jill Johnson. As regular readers of this blog know from how many times I've posted about her here in the past, I absolutely adore Jill, and could listen to her sing anything, which is why I subscribe to her terrific YouTube Channel, which is usually pretty current compared to most. http://www.youtube.com/user/jilljohnsonmusic Jill also sang in December's annual SVTSt. Lucia telecast that was great -as usual! I watched that telecast LIVE online via SVT Play, just like the previous year. Originally seen at http://svtplay.se/t/102974/skavlanuntil April 8th, 2012, as follows, 0:35:36 Intro to Lionel Richie... interview, leading to at0:52:20 the introduction to song, which closes the show. As usual, theSVTaudio and video quality is amazing, so be sure to click fullskärmfor the full screen. With that episode of the show no longer available in full length, here is most of the Richie interview in two parts
Because I've gotten behind in posting here about the terrific St. Luciatelecaston SVT, I'm going to go ahead and post one of the songs that Jill sang so well recently at Gothenburg Cathedral. Teaser Alert: The Lucia telecast was sublime again!
Jill Johnson - "Away In a Manger" from SVT's St. Lucia/Luciamorgon telecast of December 13, 2011
Above, five screen-shots I snapped of Amanda Römmesmo Diaz (as Lucia) during the 2010 St. Lucia Day ceremony and concert telecast from Kungsholms Church in Stockholm last year, which was broadcast by SVT.
The ceremony starts Tuesday, December 13 at 7:00 a.m. Stockholm time, which is GMT+1, meaning it's on LIVE at 1 a.m. Miami/Eastern Standard Time.
If you're seeing this blog post of mine sometime on Tuesday morning, it's not too late to check it out again on the re-broadcast at 6 p.m. in Sweden on SVT2.
Everywhere else in the world, including here in Miami, the Land of the Luckless Dolphins. you can see Luciamorgon at SVT Play, specifically at
It will be available for viewing on theSVT Playwebsite until January 12, 2012.
Hallandale Beach Blog/South Beach Hoosier favorite Jill Johnson, along with Sofia Karlsson will be at Gothenburg Cathedral, along with their Boys and Girls Choir, to sing some traditional holiday songs and carols, and actor Tomas von Brömsen will be keeping it real by reading some stories that capture the holiday moment and explain the story of Lucia.
Clips from Jill's new "Welcome Christmas" holiday album with the Gavle Symphony Orchestra. http://tjuvlyssna.nu/
Among other places in Sverige last week, Gothenburg was absolutely flooded with rain last Thursday, and, according to soggy friends of the blog on-the-scene, it was only Monday that water started receding to reveal just how many cars got completely swamped. And more snow and rain, snöfall och regn, is coming toute-de-suite from the west, with very strong winds in tow.
In a sign of the times, due to so many creepy people in the world using Social Media for nefarious means, in Gavle, schools are forbidding families from videotaping or photographing their own daughters -and others- doing their Lucia ceremonies, so that the resulting photos and video are NOT swiped off the Internet and abused by being posted at porn sites or maintained for personal use.
Parents actually have to sign forms acknowledging they know the new rules before attending.
IF only we could get rid of corrupt South Florida pols by tossing 'em off a plane -just thinking out loud per this new season premiere trailer for 2011's Körslaget. Or, how a snippet of a Swedish TV trailer reminded me that for about two years, I have wanted to say something here on the blog about American TV music shows and why I find them so unappealing compared to other countries', so here's my chance to say a thing or two. Körslaget, the popular Swedish TV singing competition show onTV4 features choruses led by a well-known singer battling one another, and has its 2011 premiere on Saturday night the 19th. It has a great homepage on TV4'swebsite, with new videos, photos, and old trailers from past seasons. And just a reminder, it's considered a Premium to see the entire show repeated at TV4 Play. http://www.tv4.se/korslaget but you can see clips of the songs performed for free. http://www.tv4play.se/noje/korslaget?videoId=1.1621208 Here's the Körslaget trailer from two years ago:
Here's an article from two weeks about the 500 people who lined-up for hours in Umeå to be part of one team that would be led by hometown girl and popular singerLisa Miskovsky, whom I've previously mentioned here. Of the 500 who showed-up, 20 were selected for further consideration. http://www.folkbladet.nu/242725/2011/03/01/korslaget-rena-koslaget
Lisa Miskovsky -Still Alive (Theme from Mirror's Edge) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE9gMFR1yFY I believe this sort of show would do extremely well in the U.S. if you made sure that none of the well-known singers competing were under the age of 40, so you could directly eliminate the Teen and Tween media frenzy factor that drives so many American music shows, and which cause me to ignore them, except for Glee.
The thing that's so noticeable to me as someone who watches a lot of music shows from other countries is not only the sheer talent and resolve of participants to be professional in handling the ups and downs, but the fact that the shows do NOT go out of their way to feature obviously bad singers, drama queens or oddballs to fill out the programming the way that American Idol's producers do to fill out the dozens of hours it occupies on the Fox-TV schedule. Instead, it's largely just singing. That more than anything else is why I NEVER watch amerikanska Idol -I don't want to watch someone on TV just because the show's producers think he or she is attractive, interesting or amusing. I want to hear good singing -first and foremost.
That's why I watch the Swedish version of Idol, http://www.tv4.se/idol of whom the 2009 season's Calle Kristiansson is the best example of someone whose self-evident talent is apparent to everyone who hears him, which is why I've posted his Walking in Memphis video here a few times.
That no-nonsense attitude of mine for music shows makes me a member of the minority hereabouts. Plus, I want to hear rockers, not trilling divas, and see talent rewarded, not attitude.
Calle Kristiansson - Walking in Memphis, Sweden Idol 2009, Malmö auditions. The music part starts at 01:18 of the video and the judges are so wowed by Calle that he doesn't even need to finish the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEly4QZaf30 As to the genius idea behind Körslaget, IF you could put together a first-class competition featuring choruses fronted by some well-known power pop singers from the '80's and '90's, like Simon LeBon for instance,it would be EXCELLENT and people would tune-in! Below, the complete acoustic version of CalleKristianssonsinging Walking in Memphis
Have been waiting all week for this game, a rematchof the 2006 Turin Gold Medal hockey game -Sweden'sskillful Tre kronor vs. Finland's Susi Sunday at 6 p.m.
But because the U.S. Men's team plays Canada at 7:30 p.m.onMSNBC, Sverige-Suomi ishockey gets the tape-delaytreatment and will be aired midnight, 12-3 a.m. Mondaymorning, also on MSNBC.
