Prepare to meet an amazing musical talent: Anni Bernhard is 'Full Of Keys'; TV4's Nyhetsmorgon: Desolate; Suicide Bridge; Suicide Bridge at Stenkullen LIVE

TV4's Nyhetsmorgon - Full of keys med låten "Desolate" - Aired January 11, 2012.
http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=full_of_keys_med_laten_suicide_bridge&videoid=2136121&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se

Prepare to meet an amazing musical talent: Anni Bernhard is 'Full Of Keys'; TV4's Nyhetsmorgon: Desolate; Suicide Bridge; Suicide Bridge LIVE at Stenkullen

I am SO tremendously impressed by Anni Bernhard's talent, insight and musical sensibility. I first became aware of this amazing singer from Stockholm last Fall, and made a mental note that sometime over the Christmas holidays, I needed to find some free time some Saturday or Sunday -maybe during halftime of a Dolphins game or an IU basketball game- to do some quality Internet sleuthing around.
My mission?
Look for more of her performances on YouTube and other video services and then track down any useful references to her in the blogosphere -mostly in Sverige, obviously- to catch up on what she was doing before I first heard of her.
As you know, for the most part, with a few exceptions, I like to think of myself as an "early adopter," and hate being the last to find out about something good!

This was the captivating video which first brought Anni Bernhard to my attention:

Full of Keys official video: Full Of Keys - Desolate/Suicide Bridge (Official Video), August 31, 2011. http://youtu.be/_1_JNypjsTg

Then, three weeks ago, while looking for something else on the TV4 website, I was VERY pleasantly surprised to come across the clips of her being interviewed and performing LIVE on Nyhetsmorgon on January 11th. 
It literally made my day!

(I even agreed with her thoughts about the current blah state of the music industry, too, which she's clearly doing something to change in her own positive way.)

And now, three weeks later, because I was smart enough to sign-up for her official YouTube Channel after watching those TV4 clips -and sending them around the world to some friends- late last night, I was able to be THE FIRST person among the millions of folks on YouTube to see her new video, just a few minutes after it was posted online and still had "O Views." 
Me, I think I’m doing a good job of making up for lost time!

The debut single:


Full of Keys official video: Full Of Keys - All The Roses (Official Video) April 25, 2011. http://youtu.be/N61plpOjmi4



TV 4's Nyhetsmorgon -Full of Keys med låten "Suicide Bridge" - Aired January 11, 2012.
http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=full_of_keys_med_laten_desolate&videoid=2136171&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se

Here's the video that Anni posted online Friday night after performing "Suicide Bridge" with just an acoustic guitar at the hotel:


Full of Keys official video: Suicide Bridge (LIVE at Stenkullen, acoustic) February 3, 2012. http://youtu.be/9Z-dwOyAf9g

And not to wax overly-rhapsodic about the marketing angle or anything, but wow, on top of all that vocal talent, lyric cleverness and musical sensibility, she's got that AMAZING face of her's!

She's like some glorious combination of Natalie Portman, Gennifer Goodwin, Giada De Laurentis & Rachel Leigh Cook all wrapped into one, and let me tell you, from where I'm sitting, that's one hell of an amazing and interesting combination.

When you see the interview with her below where she sounds off on what she doesn't particularly like about the current music industry trends, and how, unfortunately, too many singers seem to lose their spark once they become a commercially successful artist, about the third or fourth time I played it, and knew what she was going to say, all I could do was focus on that face -and melt.

If you doubt me on this, just go to Eva Warner's photography website and look under "Commissioned" and click Full of Keys.

http://www.silversprej.se/com.php

It's Anni!

TV 4's Nyhetsmorgon - Anni Bernhard discusses her thoughts on the current music industry and wishes there were more dedicated artists who challenged themselves and didn't just settle for being okay. January 11, 2012.
It's in Swedish, of course!
http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=morgonens_musikgast_full_of_keys&videoid=2136084

Full Of Keys new "Traces of a Human" was released on February 1st.
It's available at many sites, including Amazon.com and iTunes

-----

www.fullofkeys.com

http://fullofkeys.com/blog/

https://twitter.com/FullOfKeys

#fullofkeys

Sweet & smooth Christmas a cappella from the sextet called "Vocation" - Ett barn är fött (A child is born) & Sleigh Ride -LIVE on Abbey Road, TV4's Nyhetsmorgon

TV4's Nyhetsmorgon: Vocation – Ett barn är fött (A child is born) LIVE on Abbey Road, December 22, 2011.
http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=vocation_ett_barn_ar_fott&videoid=2126555&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se







TV4's Nyhetsmorgon: Vocation – Sleigh Ride -LIVE on Abbey Road, December 22, 2011.
http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=vocation_sleigh_ride&videoid=2126551&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se


This music makes me think of the music I heard one odd pre-Christmas night 21 years ago at the Abercrombie & Fitch at Georgetown Mall, where, within 15 minutes, I ran into and spoke with both then-Rep. and future UN Ambassador and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and then-ABC News correspondent and Gator alum Forrest Sawyer, wearing a trench coat that made him seem like Joel McCrea in Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent, one of my all-time favorite films.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Sawyer


I was the first person to tell Richardson about his future House colleague -and present U.S. Senator- Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and because he had never heard of him, at first, I think he thought I was joking about Sanders' VERY liberal politics.
"Even for Vermont" I think I told Richardson a few times.


The store had too many contrasting colognes being sprayed into the air for my tastes -by the adorable sale clerk from Kentucky who worked there- but when you were there, it felt like you were in the most Christmas-y place in all of Washington, D.C., besides near the National Christmas Tree on The Ellipse, where I'd been earlier that night.


(Far away from the decidedly un-Christmas feel of SE Broward County this week.)


Yes, back when the late and much-missed Au Pied du Cochon was just a few blocks away up on Wisconsin Avenue, the default hangout for my friends and I after we saw a film in Georgetown, esp. a foreign film.
Back in the early '90's, there were sometimes even two new au courant foreign films playing within four blocks that had the New York Times film critics abuzz, like Indochine or the Chinese film, LIFE.


When I was there with my friends and my then-significant other, the restaurant seemed almost magical, straight out of a film with interesting, attractive people, delicious-smelling aromas, and some "wicked" people-watching wherever we turned our heads.
We felt so "civilized" when we were there, which as pretentious as it sounds -and no doubt was- was no less true.
At certain points in time in the 15 years I lived up there, Au Pied du Cochon was one of the best places in all of Washington, D.C. to be.  


That's where we ate and drank after seeing all three films of the Three Colors trilogy of Krzysztof Kieślowski, starring, respectively, longtime HBB favorites Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy and Iréne Jacob. (I actually bought the film posters of "Blue" and "Red" and had them in frames in my home.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Colors_Trilogy


Boy, thinking back to THOSE days, it REALLY makes this area seem underwhelming, fun-wise.


Downtown Hollywood could do worse than to have one-tenth of the sort of magnetic persona that area of Wisconsin Avenue had at night. 
But in order to have even that, you need something for people to do at night besides eating, drinking or shopping, and right now, what is there?
No movie theaters, no bookstores with either charm or programming, no old-style news stands...


It's completely lacking in energy.


Maybe once the FEC commuter train is running in a few years and most of the shop owners in Downtown Hollywood who are now so rude and unfriendly have fled, someone with some common sense will invest some money and take advantage of its natural advantages.


I must tell you, though, among my friends, many who used to regularly patronize Downtown Hollywood at night, the collective corrosive effect of so much rudeness, second-rate service and products, and perennial worrying about both parking and safety/crime, has burned too many people, too many times.
"They're just not that into you."


Not that this avoidance has helped The Village at Gulfstream Park at night very much, though, because they are NOT going there either.


Some new faces with common sense and personality at Hollywood and Hallandale Beach City Hall, on the City Commissions, wouldn't hurt, either.


Notice all the 4's for Channel 4 above the ginger bread house doors!





Helena Insulander of Vocation is interviewed by Nyhetsmorgon hosts Kristin Kaspersen and and Steffo Törnquist. December 22, 2011.


http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=samtal_med_morgonens_musikgaster_vocation&videoid=2126473&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se


Nyhetsmorgon homepage full of video clips and info: 
http://www.tv4.se/nyhetsmorgon

Update on singer Chris Medina -Interviewed on TV4's Nyhetsmorgon on performing at funeral for Utøya massacre victim who loved his song, his new album, and life since American Idol made him well-known; a guy you clearly have to root for!

TV4's Nyhetsmorgon, Abbey Road LIVE -Chris Medina talks about his music
with co-hosts Jenny Östergren and Peter Lindgren. December 14, 2011.

http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=sangaren_chris_medina_om_sin_musik&videoid=2119478&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se

TV4's Nyhetsmorgon, Abbey Road LIVE -Chris Medina talks with co-hosts Jenny Östergren and Peter Lindgren about his life since American Idol and the months since his successful visits to Scandinavia this past summer. December 14, 2011.

http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=chris_medina_om_sin_medverkan_i_amerikanska_idol&videoid=2119578&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se

My last blog post about Chris Medina was on July 16th of this year -less than a week before the bombing in Oslo and the massacre on Utøya Island carried out by Anders Behring Breivik- when he performed LIVE on VG Lista Topp 20 at Rådhusplassen, (City Hall) Oslo.

My post then about his American Idol performances and his successful trip to Sweden and Norway was called, A talented & worthy American takes Scandinavia by storm: up-close with Chris Medina - One Day In Stockholm (What Are Words)

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/talented-worthy-american-takes.html

As I mentioned at the time, and for reasons I explained, I'm NOT an American Idol viewer, but you don't need to be Quincy Jones to see that Chris Medina CLEARLY has a unique voice and talent.

It's hard not to root for him to have nothing but success.


As I said back in July, the more I see of singer Chris Medina the more I am impressed, and the more he reveals himself as one very-grounded individual in a very cynical world.

And with this interview and these performances -in English- from December 14th on Sweden's most-popular TV morning program, Channel 4's Nyhetsmorgon, he proves that all over again.  

In the TV interview, Medina also discusses his feelings about being asked to perform at the funeral of 18-year old Monica Iselin Didriksen, one of the 77 Norwegians murdered at Utøya on July 22nd, whose very last conversation with her parents -on her cell phone, while taking the ferry to the island- was about her intense feelings for his song, the popularity of which had led him to be performing in Oslo just a few weeks earlier. 

TV4's Nyhetsmorgon, Abbey Road LIVE -Chris Medina sings One More Time. December 14, 2011.

http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=chris_medina_framfor_one_more_time&videoid=2119557&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se

http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=chris_medina_framfor_one_more_time&videoid=2119557

TV4's Nyhetsmorgon, Abbey Road LIVE -Chris Medina sings What Are Words. December 14, 2011.

http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=chris_medina_framfor_one_more_time&videoid=2119597&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se

http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=chris_medina_framfor_one_more_time&videoid=2119597

A few days after his calm and earnest appearance on Abbey Road, Aftonbladet columnist Ronnie Sandahl pondered what it must be like to be Chris Medina now,

and suddenly go overnight from unknown singer working hard to become a success in the industry on his own terms, to becoming a beloved American Idol contestant and popular singing artist whose songs are famously sung back to him with gusto at performances.
But inevitably, he knows that at nearly every performance he gives, the question will arise about his  fiancée, Juliana Ramos.

Medina talks forthrightly about that very issue in the second video above.

 Aftonbladet 

Chris får berätta samma berättelse tusen gånger 

av Ronnie Sandahl

2011-12-19

För vilken gång i ordningen står han där med samma milda sorgsna leende, samma fruktansvärda berättelse?Femhundrade? Tusende?

Det är ännu en dag i nöjesfabriken. Den amerikanske sångaren Chris Medina försöker variera sina intervjusvar,fastän frågorna nästan alltid är samma

Read the rest of the column at: http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/kolumnister/ronniesandahl/article14097494.ab

As you know from my earlier blog post, for weeks earlier this year, What Are Words was the number-one song on the best-seller list in both Norway and Sweden.

http://allcharts.org/music/sweden/singles.htm 

http://lista.vg.no/

UniversalMusicSweden video: Chris Medina - One Day In Stockholm (What Are Words). Chris appears on Rix FM in Stockholm. 
Yes, they DO have 'Morning Zoo' radio formats in Sweden. http://youtu.be/eNjSIKIBE1U 

As I wrote back in July, I received the behind-the-scenes Chris Medina video above within about ten minutes of it being posted to YouTube by Universal Music Sweden, and thus was one of the first persons to see it.

That's the kind of video I want to see more of! 




ABC News Good Morning America: Robin Roberts with Chris Medina.



NRK-TV video: Chris Medina LIVE on VG Lista Topp 20, Rådhusplassen, (City Hall) Oslo, Norway. June 2011
http://youtu.be/ap6oY2cN11E

http://www.youtube.com/OfficialChrisMedina

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChrismedinaVEVO

http://www.facebook.com/OfficialChrisMedina

http://www.youtube.com/user/UniversalMusicSweden

Timotiej appearing on TV4's Nyhetsmorgon performing a mellower version of "Kom"

Timotiej appeared on TV4's Nyhetsmorgon back on April 30th,
performing two songs and doing a four-and-a-half minute sit-down
interview about what's new with the girls and their new album.

The two singing performances included a mellower version of Kom,
performed sans drums and with three of the girls without their trusty
instruments, which seems very strange at first, but without the drums,
you can really hear Bodil Bergström on the accordion in a way that
you really couldn't in their great Melodifestivalen performance of
a few months ago.
The harmonies are just perfect, of course, especially towards the end.

In the Kom video, performed as the show was ending, are, from
left to right, Johanna Pettersson, Bodil Bergström (on accordion),
Cecilia Kallin and Elina Thorsell.

Hjärtat rusar, pulsen slår...

http://www.tv4play.se/aktualitet/nyhetsmorgon?videoId=1.1619851




Here's the sit-down chat about the new album, Längtan.
Tjejerna i Timotej släpper skiva

http://www.tv4play.se/aktualitet/nyhetsmorgon?videoId=1.1619538



The girls also performed Längtan till landet (Vintern rasat)
which I haven't heard in a while.
http://www.tv4play.se/aktualitet/nyhetsmorgon?videoId=1.1619474



This is the new TV ad for their new album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfowcDq27A0




For more on Timoteij, see their Facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Timoteij/286938310265

Their wry and very amusing personal videos can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Timoteij/286938310265#!/pages/Timoteij/286938310265?v=app_2392950137