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
As many of you know from my past blog posts here over the years, due largely to my own wide-ranging pursuits, interests and inclinations, I've been watching Sky News andFrance 24'sEnglish and French language service for many, many years and have been watching them again since
this terror attack happened in Paris yesterday.
(And SVT,SVT Play, TV4 and TV4 Play in Sweden, too, of course. Especailly the morning news shows like SVT's Gomorron Sverigeand TV4's Nyhetsmorgonboth of which I watch when I can and whose daily newsletters I receive, just as I receive Channel 4 News' daily Snowmail. I'll even admit to a bit of a crush on TV4 presenter Tilde de Paula Eby! Then again, over the past five years or so, I've gotten VERY frustrated with BBC America's mediocre programming lineup that for so long has featured StarTrek-TNG episodes instead of the sorts of engaging and compelling news shows and documentaries that have recently aired back in Great Britain, which I'd much rather be watching.)
The news coverage of yesterday's Paris terror attack at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo remindsus of what we've complained about for years: inferior news coverage of foreign news on U.S. TV networks. Save yourself the aggravation of watching PC MSM newscasts in USA that sanitize news and start watching Sky News and France 24's English service if you really want to know what's going on in France right now
I strongly encourage you to check these tow news outlets out so you can see and hear the facts
for yourself and not be forced to wonder, as so many do, why the highly-edited and highly-sanitized
versions of reality seen on US. network evening newscasts, especially important news in foreign countries, seem to leave out so many important and salient facts after they are edited out in London:
LIVE via @TV4 - Nazis and counter-demonstrators clash at demonstration in upscale Östermalm section of Stockholm.
http://t.co/vsel5L8beV
— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) November 9, 2013
LIVE via @TV4 - Nazis and counter-demonstrators clash at demonstration in upscale Östermalm section of Stockholm
Noon Eastern EST Update re Stockholm demonstration b/w Nazis and counter-demonstrators, TV4 is now just interviewing cops and showing news photogs smoking cigs while chatting away on mobiles in aftermath, so it's basically all over for the day.
I actually recognized some of the shops and restaurants that were better prepared
than the others -including ones I couldn't afford on my trip there in January-
who foolishly left tables & chairs out where they could be used for other purposes.
TV4 had LIVE coverage for three hours.
Question: What media group would do that in the U.S. if it was happening here so you could watch online if you wanted to? Exactly.
Remember, with time change here and there the past three weeks, Stockholm is now 6 hours ahead of Eastern U.S., so anyone in the world can watch their 10 pm newscast LIVE online via SVT play if you're curious, at 1 pm Eastern:
Miriam will be playing at Sommarkrysset TV4 tonight!
Don't miss it, and make sure to read this article! http://t.co/VTfVMvbrko — Stereoscope Music (@StereoscopeAB) August 3, 2013
One of our musical favorites, Göteborg's own, Miriam Bryant, performed on Sweden's TV4'sSommarkrysset TV show on Saturday night from Gröna Lund, mere hours ago, and as you can see, I have her most recent performance of "Push, play" from her Raised In Rain album for you all to see
Miriam not only sang great but looked great! Frankly, to me, she seemed much more relaxed and comfortable playing before an eager audience AND wearing shorts on a warm night, instead of walking around on stages wearing those long black/dark outfits she's favored so much the past few months, that seemed a little overly-dour during the summer. http://web.stagram.com/n/miriambryant I was very pleased for her!
While I've known for a few days that Miriam would be performing on the show Saturday night, I was reminded of that again on Saturday afternoon around Noon by a handful of readers from Sweden coming to the blog and doing queries about it, even though all the people doing so from Sweden are, in fact, the ones who are 6 hours ahead of me in time, NOT the other way around. So it seemed odd to me that they'd think I'd have something up on the blog before anything appeared online there. Made me laugh, actually. But maybe it's some sort of slightly askew compliment, no? This has been a very good week for Miriam all around, since she and her Raised In Rainalbum were tweeted about on Sweden's official Twitter site on Monday, @sweden.
which made me think that perhaps she was so busy that she didn't even know about it.
As it happens, there was also a very interesting newspaper article on Saturday morning by Aftonbladet entertainment reporter Frida Söderlundin about Miriam's future plans that some of you may've already heard about and that concerns the details of her trip to Los Angeles in June.
Below, a photo Miriam shot in Santa Monica of an iconic Southern California spot:
Svenska stjärnskottet supersatsar - i USA, Miriam Bryant jobbar med Gagas producent: "Absurt" http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/article17235906.ab She's going to be working with the producer of Lady Gaga's current album, Anton "Zedd" Zaslavski, who really likes her voice and her songs, and may well be releasing an EP in the United States, and, presumably, Canada.
Last summer Miriam was working as a waitress at Järnvägsrestaurangen at the very popular Liseberg Amusement Park in Göteborg, and this year she's singing there to very appreciative crowds.
The closing paragraph is spot-on and, essentially, the comments said of Miriam, fortuitously, as history will likely show; again paraphrasing:
Before the concert a young man in his blue rain poncho spoke to the crowd and said that due to the poor weather, Miriam's show would probably be an I-was-there sort of gig that attendees would be bragging about years from now, because "small gigs may soon be history for Miriam Bryant. She's destined for bigger stages."
Nice!!! See also:: "Framför allt får man lov att fucka ur" Av Camila Astorga Díaz 2013-05-04 13:00 Miriam Bryant har blivit hyllad till tusen, om och om igen. Hon har blivit kallad "den nya Adele" och förväntningarna på henne är stora. Med debutalbumet lovar hon mer pop och mindre soul. http://gaffa.se/nyhet/72003
My two previous blog posts that mentioned singer Miriam Bryant were: APRIL 9, 2013 If Miriam Bryant isn't on your musical radar yet, she ought to be ;) Miriam Bryant - Push Play (Official), Finders Keeper (Official); @MiriamBryant http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/if-miriam-bryant-isnt-on-your-musical.html MAY 14, 2013 On Wednesday you'll be thanking me for introducing you to ANOTHER amazing singer from Sweden: Cecilia Nilsson, a.k.a Cissi or "See See"; Cecilia will sing two songs LIVE on Radio P4 Gavleborg on Friday at 15:30; @CissiNilsson, @andreasjismark, #inmyroom http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/on-wednesday-youll-be-thanking-me-for.html ----- Here's the official video released months ago
Miriam Bryant YouTube Channel video: Miriam Bryant - Push Play (Official). Uploaded April 8, 2013. http://youtu.be/h6GgeK3irUs Push, play, stop, rewind, you drown your heroes in red wine...
TV4 video: Miriam Bryant - Push, Play (with piano & bass only -NO drums!) on the Jenny Strömstedt Show. Originally aired March 4, 2013.
SVT video: Prinsessan Madeleine fick sin Chris. Ett ”ja” – och ett ”I will” I dag gifte sig prinsessan Madeleine och Christopher O'Neill i Slottskyrkan i Stockholm. PUBLICERAD 8 JUNI 2013 - 15:13 – UPPDATERAD 8 JUNI 2013 - 20:46 http://www.svt.se/nyheter/sverige/kungligt-brollop-i-stockholm
Princess Madeleine: A dynamic and modern princess finally gets married and gains the love and peace of mind she's always wanted ♥!; But what about the music? Me, I'd have gone with "This Guy's In Love With You"; #madde, #sweden, #tihi, #bröllopet, @JesperParnevik, @MarcusCooks
Well, I watched the whole kungliga bröllopet, royal wedding, LIVE on Saturday morning here in Hallandale Beach via both SVT Play and TV4 Play, going back-and-forth at the beginning but mostly watching SVT after the "I will's" and the "Ja's," Just like the annual Super Bowl, I pride myself on ignoring the lengthy pre-game coverage because at this point, you either fully know what's going on and everyone's back story or you don't, and I do with the happy couple, so I picked up the coverage right about 10 a.m Miami time and watched with great interest and amusement with my legal pad on one side of my desktop and some cold Dr. Pepper on the other. (I don't think I've watched more than five minutes of the annual marathon of pre-Super Bowl TV coverage since the last time the Redskins played, when I lived in Arlington County, VA -January 1992.)
I found it sort of amusing in a counter-intuitive way that in a country as cosmopolitan and outward-looking as Sweden that a TV commentator actually seemed a little out-of-sorts that so much English was being spoken, but then Chris is British and American, and his family and friends could hardly be expected to undergo a crash course in Swedish just to know what was going on and being said at the Royal Chapel. And in his case, getting married on LIVE television, with millions watching, knowing that EVERYONE is focusing intensely on how he acts or any little mannerism or tic, it's not too much to ask that you get asked such important questions in English.
Above and below, some of my better screenshots; I'm having a problem with some of the photos, so I'll have more in the days ahead...
There were two pop songs that were sung very nicely once Madeleine and Chris were up front together for what what turned out to be quite some time actually compared to many weddings, royal, celebrity or otherwise.
Marie Fredriksson of Roxette sang "Ännu Doftar Kärlek"
Just Click HERE:) YouTube Channel video: Marie Fredriksson "Ännu Doftar Kärlek"., from SVT1's coverage Uploaded June 8, 2013. http://youtu.be/FZkGjIHdHj4
and Peter Jöback sang Roberta Flack's Grammy-winning "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."
TheLpib1 YouTube Channel video: Peter Jöback "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" Uploaded June 8, 2013. http://youtu.be/szZinuE4bvI
If it were me choosing the music, instead of the latter song, I'd have chosen one which I know would have brought a big knowing smile to nearly everyone's face, and maybe even caused some people to sing sotto voce to themselves in church, since it's an instantly recognizable song that nearly everyone can sing because of the easy phrasing and tempo. Herb Alpert's performance of Burt Bachrach's "This Guy's In Love With You"
thegoochman YouTube Channel video: Herb Alpert "This Guy's in Love with You" performed July 20, 1971. Introduced by The Carpenters, who recorded on his label, A&M Records. Uploaded March 8, 2008. http://youtu.be/4WZjqdPVaI0
I think you see what I mean.
Professional golfer Jesper Parnevik was a busy bee on Saturday, tweeting from the chapel, on the streets of Stockholm, on a boat and then at Drottningholm Palace.
And world-famous Swedish chef Marcus Samuelsson, in Stockholm from his famous Red Rooster restaurant in NYC, where he hosted a family get-together in May, tweets:
The wedding today is paid by the King of Sweden out of his own pocket, unlike last year's wedding, as HRH Victoria is the next in line
— Sweden.se(@swedense) June 8, 2013
* One last thing and I've gone back-and-forth on even mentioning this but.... There are, sadly enough, thousands if not tens of thousands of people in Sweden and elsewhere in the world whose lives are so miserable and full of bitterness -i.e. they have few friends and low self-esteem - that they have nothing better to do than troll on YouTube writing stupid and inane comments about the various videos regarding this weekend's wedding, insisting that Swedish taxpayers paid for everything associated with it, which is NOT true. And that it's a conspiracy or it's this or it's that or... No, Madeleine's father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, is a very, very wealthy man, and while he isn't Queen of England wealthy, he has the means and the desire to pay for whatever needed to be paid for related to his youngest daughter's wedding. It's really as simple as that. Madeleine, having the personality that she does and being fourth-in-line to the throne, knows perfectly well how bad it would look for everyone concerned if the taxpayers were being forced to pay for her wedding and the bridal flourishes within it. If taxpayers paid for it, you would have heard about that already, wouldn't you, no matter where YOU live? If that were the case, the very competitive Swedish news media would be in a feeding frenzy to get to the bottom of it, leaving no stone unturned or invoice ignored. And even in the U.S. and Great Britain, whatever information the Swedish media had unearthed would've surely made its way into the American and British dispatches about the wedding in the months leading up to it, wouldn't they? Of course. If it was true and there was proof, that would be hard to ignore. But it isn't true. You didn't read about it or hear about it because it's NOT true.
Roger Lundgren, the editor of a Swedish magazine about royalty, told Associated Press news agency the occasion was not as big as Crown Princess Victoria's wedding "because Madeleine is not a successor to the throne".
"Secondly, this is a private wedding - the king is paying for it himself," he added.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22823898 But some people, whether sheerly out of ideology or cynicism and bitterness can't accept reality. They can't accept that their wanting it to be true in order to prove some political point, DOES NOT make it true. Only supportable facts make it true, not ideology. IF it were the opposite, that is, as all the oddball know-it-alls keep claiming, she would be properly mortified and no doubt insist the wedding take place in New York -where they already are living and plan to keep living- to prevent her father from being placed in a bad position. Because her father has the means to pay the freight, the wedding was in Stockholm. It's no more complicated than that. I mention all this because I shared this small but fairly well-known fact yesterday with someone online, and this morning, I'm getting dozens of angry emails from people, mostly in Sweden and other parts of Europe, who insist that, contrary to the maxim proposed by the late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, they are entitled to their own facts. No, they're entitled to their own opinions, not their own facts.
It just seems very strange and quite sad to me that so many people want to take the time to show how truly uninformed they are to strangers who actually know the facts. Trust me, if I don't know something, the last thing in the world I'd want to do would be to contact someone who actually knows what they're talking about just to show how ignorant I was. But clearly, everyone doesn't feel that way! Especially people who spend an inordinate amount of time on YouTube watching videos that seem to make them angry politically.
Knowing what Madeleine has been through the past few years, I'm very happy for her that she can FINALLY have the life she's wanted all along, and has FINALLY found the peace of mind she's longed for...
But as these emails I've received make clear, lots of people want her to be just as plain miserable as them. But she's not -she's very happy and relieved!
Again, the Royal Court photographs by Ewa-Marie Rundquist are here, so take a look: http://www.kungahuset.se/
Video: As the first anniversary of British singer Amy Winhouse's death approaches next Monday, her father Mitch Winehouse discusses her struggles with substance abuse, her excitable nature, reflects on his last meeting with her while looking at family photos at her new home after she'd thought she'd lost them, when he misses her most -she phoned him five times a day- and how his family will commemorate her death next week in SoHo. From Sweden's TV4 Nyhetsmorgon "Abbey Road" morning show. Aired July 15, 2012. Mostly in English with Swedish subtitles. http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter_och_debatt/nyhetsmorgon?title=mitch_whinehouse_om_sista_motet_med_dottern&videoid=2205356&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=permalink&utm_campaign=tv4play.se
If video doesn't load or play the first time, please click "Ladda om" -reload.
Above, the segment that Channel 4 News in Sweden ran this morning on Syria, as the United States continues "to condemn." How's that working out so far? It’s time for President Obama to back up his rhetoric with firm action.
The Washington Post While Syria burns By Charles Krauthammer Published: April 26, 2012
Last year President Obama ordered U.S. intervention in Libya under the grand new doctrine of “Responsibility to Protect.” Moammar Gaddafi was threatening a massacre in Benghazi. To stand by and do nothing “would have been a betrayal of who we are,” explained the president.
In the year since, the government of Syria has more than threatened massacres. It has carried them out. Nothing hypothetical about the disappearances, executions, indiscriminate shelling of populated neighborhoods. More than 9,000 are dead.
It's completely impossible for me or any of my like-minded friends to think of any time since he's been in the U.S. Senate when 'nice guy' Bill Nelson has said anything nearly as pointed or effectively as what Rubio has done repeatedly on Syria since last year.
My vote for Senate will be FOR people with similar intelligent and articulate views and AGAINST someone who wants to be a U.S. Senator because they think it would be cool. That completely eliminates Connie Mack IV and puts George LeMieux back in the U.S. Senate.
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'stalent, 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
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.
Pop culture kitsch and traditions straight from the heart of summer-loving Sweden -Lotta på Liseberg 2011 - A new year of music memories begin.
Yes, I have the whole sixty-six minute long first show of the summer here, above, plus the TV commercials that will no doubt give some of you some insight into the minds of what Swedish ad agencies think will catch the attention of savvy, consumer-friendly Swedes. Lotta's musical guests: Alexander Rybak, Orup & Le Kid, Loa Falkman, Sanna Nielsen, Matts Paulsson... with band conductor Curt-Eric Himquist.
Oh, and EVERYONE knows the lyrics.
Nobody loves celebrating sun-filled summer like Swedes, even when they have to wear jackets to a summer ritual like Lotta på Liseberg in Göteborg, a weekly Monday night music and pop culture get-together for eight weeks that's a middle-class family entertainment TV tradition that appeals to cute Soccer Moms, IM-ing teens and their younger siblings and blue-haired grandmothers -and everyone in between.
(Like the Indy 500. Feel the need, the need for speed.)
It's sort of like a combination of the current Live withRegis & Kelly TV show and the 1960's Lawrence Welk Show but on tour on a cruise ship-cum-beloved amusement park, yet with impressive audio and video technology and a pop sensibility that is uniquely Swedish, heavy on the cornpone -and schlager.
Yes, in that sense, it's got a lot in common with the next few months before the Iowa Primaries -especially the part closest to Minnesota!
The required rituals that make that political dog-chasing-its-tail routine what it is: national news reporters from New York and Washington complaining about the candidates, the summer heat -and corn- and the bicycle races -and their boredom- and corn- and pancakes breakfasts...
All of which is likely to be organized to a 'T" by someone whose last name is Petersson, Larsson,Luhrsen or Svensson, displaying some sharp organizational and logistical skills that are in very, very short supply in South Florida, as the evidence all around us clearly shows.
(Editor's Note: The Quad Cities in summer - with no ocean breezes: Good times! LOL!)
Because this particular episode of the show aired LIVE nationally on Monday night at 8 p.m., June 20th, it'll only be available to watch on TV4's Play website until probably about 6 p.m. or so Sunday U.S. Eastern.
There's currently a six-hour time difference between Sweden and Miami, and they DO keep to those time constraints, so if you are west of me and want to watch this, even for a few minutes out of curiosity, you best keep that deadline in mind.
TV4 Play'shomepage for Lotta på Liseberg is chock full of embeddable clips from the show if you want to just see the songs and not the banter. More get added with each show.
Par exemple, here's a clip of Sanna Nielsen from Monday singing I'm in Love, which was actually taped during one of the show's commercial breaks, since they want to keep the vibes going with the LIVE audience at the famed Gothenburg amusement park.
While there is, of course, no sign, per se, at the park's entrance that says "No Hipsters Allowed," it's just sort of assumed that they would never go anywhere so happily middle-class and fun, hence, the lack of signage.
Sanna Nielsen - I'm in Love - Lotta at Liseberg, Gothenburg, Sweden, June 20, 2011
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