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.
It was, in a word, awesome!
Can we dare to hope this year's will be as good?
My popular blog post on that was titled, quite naturally, 2010 St. Lucia Day in Stockholm: traditional songs and sweet sentimentality that ring true across the miles; SVT's Lucia program is sublime!, http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/2010-st-lucia-day-in-stockholm.html
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 the SVT Play website 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.
Excellent!
More on the broadcast and SVT's other holiday programming at their special webpage: http://svt.se/2.114280/1.1789593/ and http://svt.se/2.114277/julen_i_svt_2011
If you want to replicate something sweet and soulful -and sublime- having Jill Johnson sing is a great start!
Jill Johnson -"O Holy Night" at Jullotta På Liseberg,Göteborg, Sweden. December 8, 2011. http://youtu.be/qOfbkzG0dK0
Lionheart Sweden video: Jill Johnson - Välkommen jul (Sampler)
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.
Tack, Helen!
Today's Aftonbladet had these photos of the soggy scene:
Just the thought of that mess makes me want to have some grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup!
Speaking of tomato...
Two years ago yesterday, it was a classic case of Gershwin's "You like potato, I like potahto..."
The Local
Göteborg changes name back to Gothenburg
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Wow!
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.
Sad beyond words...
TV4 News, Gavle, December 12, 2011.
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The performance that first brought Jill to my attention, four years ago...
Jill Johnson - Jolene on TV4's Bingolotto, 2007.
Jill Johnson's official YouTube Channel is at:
