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
Showing posts with label Stockholm Arlanda Airport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stockholm Arlanda Airport. Show all posts
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
Final approach on runway 26, Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
Välkommen till Sverige -Welcome to Sweden.
To give you some perspective on how far north Stockholm really is, the air miles from Washington, D.C. to Stockholm, about 4134, is less than 50 miles farther than a flight from Stockholm due south to the Equator.
Above, screenshot of early Monday's Aftonbladet online coverage on this week's trip. Meanwhile, Dagens Nyheter has one of those great graphics they do, this time about the official limo, which always fascinates people no matter what country it is in: http://www.dn.se/sthlm/grafik-sa-skyddas-obama-i-sverige/
SVT news video: Så skyddas Obama. This news segment about the president's protective detail, featuring comments by former Washington Post reporter and author Ron Kessler, ran during Monday night's evening news and is mostly in English.
On Tuesday night I will be uploading my blog post about some things that President Obama really ought to know about Sweden in advance of his flight to Stockholm on Wednesday, but which I'm pretty sure that he will not be briefed about by the State Dept., owing to certain cultural and myopic weaknesses. But I've got it covered. Not so much a Top Ten list, per se, since I'm not sure how many things will make the list, but don't be surprised to see some things mentioned here that you didn't know, or thought you knew about Sweden -but didn't. But as just as a bit of a teaser, I'll remind you, again, that Sweden is NOT Switzerland. (Switzerland is where American actor, social activist and jet-setter George Clooney chooses to live, on Lake Como, and Sweden is where the shining example of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, a man who made a huge difference in the lives of tens of thousands of people, in that he made it possible for them to actually stay alive, quite contrary of the wishes of the Nazis. But in a sign that no good deed goes unpunished, he died in a Soviet prison for his heroic efforts, yet lives forever in the hearts of his countrymen.) But Tre Kronor, the Swedish National Mens Hockey team did defeat Switzerland 1-0 in the IIHF Championships in May in the Gold Medal game played in Stockholm, which prompted lots of celebrating in the hours and days afterwards, including at Sergels Torg, one of my favorite places in all of Stockholm.
Marcus Jerräng @blisk: Samtidigt på Sergels Torg I listened to the game LIVE online via Sveriges Radio despite my lack of knowledge of the words for many hockey terms in Sweden, and watched the game when it was finally televised -NOT LIVE- in the U.S., but rather late the next night on NBC Sports Network with no build-up, which sucked.
SVT news video: Early on Monday morning Foreign Ministry Chief of Protocol Caroline Vicini appeared on SVT's Gomorron program and spoke about what events would be taking place and ironing-out things logistically so everything is smooth sailing.
Here's a copy of the email I received last week from the City of Stockholm: Heavy traffic problems expected during President Obama's visit (Stockholms stad: Kraftiga trafikstörningar väntas i samband med president Obamas besök)
Following President Obama's visit to Stockholm on 4-5 September expected heavy traffic problems in many parts of the Stockholm area.
In particular, the inner city and the main roads to and from the airport will be affected.
Some parts of the city is completely closed to traffic. This applies primarily to the area around Nybrokajen, Harbour Street, Finland - Old Town, around the castle.
All modes of transport are affected: automobile, public transportation; mainly bus, plane and to some extent also boating.
Motorists urged to leave their cars at home and use public transport.
Public transport travelers are recommended to first use of rail transport ie subway and / or train.
All road users can expect delays.
Those scheduled travel days to / from Stockholm and Arlanda should contact their tour operator for details of current departure times
Current traffic information will be provided via Trafik Stockholm. Radio Stockholm and at the following websites:
Below is Police Dept.'s info page on changes to auto, bus, rail, bicycle and pedestrian traffic patterns related to the Obama visit.
Long story short, they want people to avoid going into downtown area if they can avoid it, and even encourage people to work at home if possible.
Because Stockholm is, of course, a series of many islands with connecting bridges and has an extensive subway system, the authorities will NOT allow any trains to run under areas where escorts are taking place, which means that train passengers, both local and regional, will be adversely affected.
Translation -strong possibility that train passengers can and will be stuck on trains for quite some time.
Euronews YouTube Channel video: Euronews reporter Valerie Zabriskie speaks with lucky Abba fan club members selected to get a sneak preview of the new museum in Stockholm. Uploaded May 5, 2013. http://youtu.be/xbDW3FdtEgM
"A" is for Awesome and ABBA and the new ABBA Museum in Stockholm, which officially opens today at 1600 Stockholm time/10 a.m. Eastern U.S. Monday night's gala premiere brought Anni-Frid, Benny and Björn together, cheered on by a select group of invitees from across Swedish society and the music industry, who are, in the end, just fans of the band like everyone else, and very excited that this amazing museum is FINALLY a reality; #abba, #AbbaMuseum, #ThankYouForTheMusic, @stockholm, @sweden
I could mention who some of these VIPs are and why they're important and why they're there,
but that's not worth spending the time it would take today to do that, and besides, TMI as I'm sometimes reminded by friends here in Hallandale Beach and elsewhere around the globe. Plus, I've had a very clear idea of how this particular blog post would look ever since I was there in January, so trying to explain to you all who Carola or Sarah Dawn Finer are and why they are in the video below iis, well, just a losing proposition today.
Tickets for the much-discussed and anticipated museum that's full of innovative technology run about 195 SEK/ just under $30 U.S. for adults, and 50 SEK/$7.63 for children up to age 8, at today's current ratio of about 6.52 Krona to the dollar, more or less.
But fair warning, the museum in the beautiful Djurgården section of Stockholm WON'T take bills or coins, only electronic payments, because as the museum puts it loftily, "Vi har en dröm om ett kontantfritt samhälle, därför går det inte handla med mynt eller sedlar hos oss." ("We have a vision of a cashless society, therefore we don’t handle coins and bills." )
Yes, sorta like in the future as seen in Star Trek, but not quite, since there's a 5% discount with MasterCard. Björn's explanation on why abba-museet doesn't take bills and coins, largely to prevent crime, has a great introduction that only a real genius like him could get away with saying in his Big Picture way
There was a time when bills and coins served their purpose. They replaced cumbersome barter and made trade between people and nations possible. But do they still serve this purpose? Do we really need cash? Or is it a fixed idea like with Scrooge McDuck? Have we lost the ability to see that coins and bills are mere symbols and that those symbols easily could be exchanged for others? Cards and smartphones today and who knows what in the future.
According to Lars Epstein's post yesterday, above, at his Stockholm-centric Epstein's STHLM blog at Dagens Nyheter, the museum is expecting about 217,000 visitors a year.
For someone like me who has been a huge ABBA fan for more than two-thirds of my life, the biggest ABBA fan that most people I've known have ever met, as small as this exhibit at the airport was, in looking at it and reflecting back on everything, it was hard to get over the fact that for so long, like millions of other fans, we fervently hoped that there'd be a museum some day that would be shaped along the lines of,,, well, just what they seem to have actually done: music plus heart -musik plus hjärta.
Like those other fans of the band, over the past 20 years I've given up counting how many interviews I'd seen with the band members, especially Benny and Bjorn, discussing the idea of it, but quite naturally, being somewhat unsure of how to answer such a question without seeming pretentious. But it IS a weird question, isn't it, when you really think about it? Should there be a museum that people pay to get into that's all about you and three other people you've known for most of your life? How do you answer that?
TheSpringOf74 YouTube Channel video: ABBA - Dancing Queen - LIVE at the Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm, June 18, 1976, at the gala tribute to Sweden's King Carl XV1 Gustaf and future wife and Queen, Silvia Sommerlath, the night before their wedding. If I remember my ABBA history correctly, this was the first time the song had ever been performed in public in Sweden. http://youtu.be/33Yj5pbsXAs
Above, in my humble opinion, the single best version of this iconic song ever recorded on film.
Here are those January 10, 2013 photos I snapped at Arlanda before and after grabbing my luggage:
You can see more photos of this exhibit by going to Google Images using these words as your search terms: "Terminal 5, Arlanda, ABBA"
Here's the link to the ABBA Museum-related news videos that have run on TV4, most recent first, obviously, in Swedish, but many with lots of great video of the musem: http://www.tv4play.se/s%C3%B6k?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=Abba
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