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

VG Nett (Norway) reports: Court case against Anders Breivik Behring will start in April, probably after Easter on Monday April 10th

Early Saturday morning Miami time, I first read the news about the Anders Breivik Behring trial date I'd been waiting for weeks to hear, while reading Aftonbladet's always excellent website, http://www.aftonbladet.se/.

Public interest in the trial is so great that a special 150-seat courtroom may need to be built from scratch, modify the existing courthouse in Oslo, or, find a conference center with enough security and the appropriate ancillary facilities for court personnel, victim's families and the huge international press contingent.

There was a story but no video at TV2 Norway otherwise I'd run that at the top of this post.

http://www.tv2.no/nyheter/innenriks/krim/terrorsaken-kan-starte-10-april-3611710.html

VG Nett

Terror-rettssaken starter trolig 10. april

Kan bli aktuelt å bygge om tinghuset i Oslo

Published 14.10.11 - 10:25 p.m., changed 14.10.11 - 23:14 (AP)

By Terje Helsingeng , Dennis Ravndal and Jarle Brenna

Story at: http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/oslobomben/artikkel.php?artid=10014591

The powerful performance by Karpe Diem doing "Tusen Tegninger" in Oslo last month -with Kork & Traces- that put another big lump in my throat that day

Karpe Diem m/ Kork - "Tusen Tegninger" (Live Minnesceremoni Oslo 2011), Oslo Spektrum, August 21, 2011. http://youtu.be/boQPp2pen60

Karpe Diem performs "Tusen Tegninger" (A Thousand Drawings) with Kork, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra/Kringkastingsorkestret, and the Traces Gospel Choir doing chorus). National Day of Remembrance for Attacks in Oslo and Utøya, Oslo Spektrum, August 21, 2011.

The couple shown in the audience at the end of the video above are Crown Prince Haakon and his wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit. Her step-brother, Trond Berntsen, an off-duty police officer working security at the AUF youth summer camp on Utøya, which his own son was attending, was the second of the 69 murder victims of Anders Behring Breivik on the island.

Though I try my best to be as organized as possible when I'm writing here or thinking about what I'll be posting here in the near-future, with often a couple of dozen ideas in some degree of completion in cold storage as a Draft, just waiting for a photo or bit of serendipity to strike to make it seem extra delicious, the problem is that being a one-man band here as I am, with no staff or 'significant other' to peer over my shoulder occasionally to remind me of things I need to mention or say from time-to-time, sometimes, unfortunately, ideas slip thru the cracks.

Good ideas that leave me quite exasperated and mad at myself later when they come flooding back to me.

Today, or rather Tuesday night, about the time I saw the Marlins lose to the Mets in extra innings- 12:45-ish, and Matt Dominguez's first Major League at-bat, which was a HBP, hit-by-pitch- I received an email from a wonderfully talented and thoughtful friend overseas.

She wrote that she'd finally been able to spend some time catching-up on the latest adventures here at the blog over the weekend, after getting back from a trip home in Sweden to see her family, and not really doing anything online for a week.

Yes, a real vacation!

Even though it's getting colder there already.

Anyway, she sorta chided me for not having yet posted something here on the blog that I had mentioned in a previous email to her and some mutual friends who also live in England.

Something that I had seen and which had absolutely floored me, as it had her, though perhaps to a lesser degree.

It was a performance that was, in a word, fantastiske, plus, it put a real lump in my throat on a day when I already had several.

In my own view, it was perhaps one of the five MOST AMAZING things I'd seen or heard all year, which makes my neglecting to post it here all the more embarrassing and upsetting for me.

As soon as I saw two simple words she'd written in the subject header, I swallowed hard, because she was right, I had meant to post it two weeks ago and time was, like summer, running out.

The two words? Karpe Diem.

Not the Latin phrase, per se, rather, the Norwegian hip-hop duo of Chirag Patel and Magdi Abdelmaguid, that, prior to watching the Memorial Service LIVE via NRK's website, I'd only had a vague-to-general knowledge of, having read some things about them before and seen a few of their vids on YouTube.

(That's saying somethingm since I hate hip-hop, at least as it's practiced here in the States.)

I guess it won't come as a surprise to those of you of a more sleuthful persuasion that I'm specifically referring to their masterful performance in Oslo at the Spektrum, as part of the National Day of Remembrance for 22/7, the Minneseremoni, where they were, by far, the youngest of the many talented performers that Sunday afternoon, morning Miami time.

(I've already written several posts about the myriad performances that day.)

And being much younger, of course, they were even more conscious of and the national trauma of so many young people -55- being among the 77 murdered that day in July, which made them an inspired-if-not perfect choice for reasons that you'll see.

After you watch their amazing August 21st performance, watch this video from the original single release, which overtly shows the religious aspects of this song about faith and tolerance, as the two of them, a Muslim and Hindu, are shown in various houses of worship throughout Norway.

It's really quite original and moving!

Maybe even genius!

Karpe Diem - Tusen Tegninger (Official music video, from their album, "Aldri solgt en Løgn") Directed by Kavar Singh.

http://youtu.be/GIRWyUmT36Q

Er både svart og hvit

Er både glad og trist

Han så på passet mitt og kastet et blikk og traff meg

For jeg var fuglen på bakken, og han var tvunget til å ville kappe vingene av meg før jeg fikk sunget

Sunget ut om profeten og om gud

Alle disse temaene som ellers er tabu

Du, tror du må si du ber i smug

Når du veit at mange av dine ville sett på deg som sjuk

For det er sjukt at du må si at gud setter oss fri

Jeg utsetter og si at du ser på muslim

Til jeg allerede har gjort et inntrykk

Vente til vi blir litt kjent, og Magdi ekke sinnsyk

Du ekke redd fordi det er ukjent

Du har rett fordi du tror du kjenner meg og jeg er ustemt

Falsk, du må stemme meg fint

For at jeg er hyggelig, Selv om, men det ekke fordi jeg er muslim

Er både hvit og svart

Er både rik og blakk

Hun sa hun aldri hadde møtt en kar som ikke drakk

Og spurte meg om gud dømte meg svart hvitt

For til og med muslimene hun kjente drakk litt men

Brorskapet ekke lenger mellom de som tror på det samme

Har en bror som er hindu, og det handler om å godta

At andre har en mor som, og kanskje en far som

Lærte dem noe annet som

Livet som at himmelen er et mål og livet kanskje er casting

Har ikke masse svin på skogene, jeg har masse marsvin

Og et marsvin er hodepine og aspirin og hvis det får oss til å gjøre gode ting, så hva synes du om at

dama tror på gud og sånt

aner du hvor mange som har spurt meg det du spurte om

Lurte på, hvorfor jeg ikke tar de valga de tar

Du kanke gi gud, så bare gi faen

As of today, September 7th, there are exactly 14 days left to watch the entire Memorial program -or individual selections- at the NRK website: http://www.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/777779/

It will be removed on September 22nd.

Don't waste the opportunity to see something very special, which I watched LIVE when it aired via the NRK website.

Karpe Diem's official YouTube Channel is

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

Official website: http://www.karpediem.no/

Official website for Kork, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra - Kringkastingsorkestret

http://www.kork.no/side/english/

For more information on the Traces Gospel Choir, based in Oslo, please see http://www.tracesgospel.com/

Haunting performance of "Eg ser' by Bjørn Eidsvåg, then naming the 77 victims who perished 22/7 -powerful emotions that grabbed Norway -and me

Bjørn Eidsvåg - Eg ser (Live Minnesceremoni Oslo 2011), Oslo Spektrum, August 21, 2011.

http://youtu.be/0oMhPDBvSG4

12 minuters eftertanke/12 Minutes of Reflection.

(Live Minnesceremoni Oslo 2011) Oslo Spektrum, August 21, 2011.

Adil Khan, Maria Bonnevie, Ane Dahl Torp, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal and Nicolai Cleve Broch read aloud the names of the 77 victims who perished in the terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utøya on July 22nd.

http://youtu.be/Gvf8gd2kCDI

------

In my post of Monday, Moved to tears... heart sure to follow... Something truly amazing that I saw for myself -the National Day of Remembrance in Oslo

I noted how truly moved and heart-broken I was by the combination of these two performances back-to-back, about 90 minutes into the program.

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/moved-to-tears-heart-sure-to-follow.html

I also noted at the time that I was writing it late Sunday night that an online video of Sunday's performance of Eg ser (To see) by singer and song writer Bjørn Eidsvåg had not yet been posted online, so I could share it with you and you could see for yourselves how powerful and moving that performance had been.

But now, thanks to the efforts of jockemustafa in Sweden, you can finally see it for yourself, as Eidsvåg is backed up by Kringkastingsorkestret, a.k.a. Kork, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

The performance after the victims names were read, continuing this sad and haunting theme, was the Kork performing Beethoven's 7th Symphony, 2nd Movement.

The complete program broadcast can be seen until September 20th at the Norwegian TV/NRK website at

http://www.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/777779/

NRK's information homepage for the attacks, with timeline, graphs and photos, is at:

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norge/1.7723046

Amazing Sissel leaves them proud! Sissel Kyrkjebø - Til ungdommen, National Day of Remembrance for Oslo & Utøya; Minnesceremoni

Sissel Kyrkjebø - Til ungdommen (Live Minnesceremoni Oslo 2011), Oslo Spektrum, August 21, 2011.

http://youtu.be/gKZa6hNFouw

Sissel's amazing and powerful performance was the last of the afternoon and was the exclamation point on a wonderful program that helped Norway come together one last time and remember the 77 they lost on July 22nd.

http://www.light4utoya.net/

Moved to tears... heart sure to follow... Something truly amazing that I saw for myself -the National Day of Remembrance in Oslo

A-ha - Stay on These Roads, Oslo Spektrum, August 21, 2011.

The band had just held their farewell concert there last year before Christmas.

The couple you see at the end of the performance is Princess Märtha Louise and her husband, author Ari Behn.

Related article, Minneseremoni hylles på Twitter at

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article4204626.ece

Moved to tears... heart sure to follow... Something truly amazing that I saw for myself -the National Day of Remembrance telecast from Oslo.

What follows is an excerpt of an email that I sent to someone Far From the Madding Crowd of South Florida, whom I really respect and admire and who has been places and seen things herself, first-hand, that few people have seen.

I sent it to her about 1 p.m. or so Miami time on Sunday afternoon after getting my head and thoughts together after watching the very thing I wrote about yesterday, and encouraged you readers of the blog to see for yourself -the National Day of Remembrance in Oslo, for the attacks in Oslo and Utøya on July 22nd, which claimed 77 innocent lives.

-----

S,

Just wanted to drop you a line to let you know about something truly amazing that I watched this morning -the National Day of Remembrance telecast from Oslo, which was streamed via NRK's website with absolutely amazing audio and video.

I literally felt like I was inside the Spektrum in Oslo.

Because of what you've done in the past and the places you've been, you've seen things that most people can never imagine seeing in-person, met all sorts of interesting and not-so interesting talented and well-known people along the way, and I'm sure that for either reporting or personal reasons, you've also been at your share of impressive memorials for notable people.

I've been to a few myself, but clearly not as many as you.

That said, this morning's ceremony was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, by turns inspiring, poignant and sweet, but most of all, clear-eyed and resolved.

You never heard the word democracy used as much at a memorial ceremony as it was heard today in Oslo.

The combination of the top-level Norwegian music, whether names you know, like A-ha to Sissel, to others I was unfamiliar with but who still left me equally dumbstruck, plus the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, and the amazing heartfelt sets, lighting and stage backgrounds, candles everywhere... well, it really got to me from the start.

For long periods of time there was a golden heart formed by candles seemingly looming over the heads of the orchestra, and it was a very powerful symbol in ways that my mere words here can't convey.

And when, after about 90 minutes, they finally got to the point where five well-known Norwegian performers came on stage and read out-loud the names of the 77 people who perished, as large photos of them were shown on TV and inside the hall, WOW!

And all I could think of was those families sitting at a table in their own homes and knowing that they had to choose one photo to represent the qualities and life of their loved one to the country, one photo, well, it was so quiet that you could hear the sobbing after some kids names were read.

For the families involved, this was the day they dreaded most.

After the funerals and the family get-together in towns big and small, they always knew there would be this national day of remembrance to point to, a day where the whole country would be watching and listening.

A day that the country mourned together and put those memories in their heads forever.

But after today, there are no more ceremonies for the affected families, just the rest of their lives...and lots of haunting, never-ending questions about what might've been.

Here's the link to the complete program which will be available on the NRK website until Sept. 20th.

At some point in the near future, when you have the time and opportunity, perhaps you can see that it was as advertised: truly amazing.

http://www.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/777779/

The performers are listed on the left of the video when you pull this webpage up.

You can even click and hear just the performances you want.

Unfortunately, while I could watch this Full Screen when it was LIVE, the version they have here doesn't allow you to see it quite the same way I did and appreciate the intimate details.

If I come across a better version this week, I'll send the link.

It's just under two hours long and really gets moving after the first 20 minutes.

FYI: when Bjørn Eidsvåg sings the haunting song, "Eg Ser" (I see), with the full orchestra behind him, wow, the whole program goes up another level in intensity.

And then they read the 77 names...

-----

It all began with this...

Susanne Sundfør - Mitt Lille Land (My Small Country)

http://youtu.be/CFIPYsAozBo

As I write this post, there is not yet a video available online of Bjørn Eidsvåg singing from Sunday afternoon that I can post separately here, though you can hear him sing at the link above.

There is, however, an excellent video of him singing this on July 30th, a week after the attacks, at Oslo Domkirke, the Cathedral in Oslo, with an orchestra, and the powerful feeling is just as beautiful and haunting and sad.

It's the very same cathedral where the July 23rd ceremony was held from whence came the screen shots I posted on the blog yesterday, including King Harald and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, both of whom gave very heartfelt and dignified speeches Sunday.

Bjørn Eidsvåg - Eg Ser (I see)

http://youtu.be/UvwNjIjVrZQ

Sunday's LIVE telecast of the National Memorial in Oslo can be seen at NRK at 9 a.m. Eastern U.S./Canada - Minnesceremoni från Norge

SVT Rapport video: Överlevande åter på Utöya. August 19, 2011.

SVT's Thursday night news segment on the survivors returning to Utøya for the first time since the armed attack one month ago, along with dozens of family members of the survivors and deceased and an army of psychologists.

http://svtplay.se/v/2507829/rapport/overlevande_ater_pa_utoya

SVT Rapport video: Sorgen fortfarande starkt närvarande i Oslo. August 19, 2011.

SVT news segment from Thursday night on the strong grief still being felt a month later in the Norwegian capital.

http://svtplay.se/v/2507901/rapport/sorgen_fortfarande_starkt_narvarande_i_oslo

Both videos available at SVT Play website until August 19, 2012.

--------------------------

Sunday's LIVE telecast of the National Memorial in Oslo regarding the attacks in Oslo and Utøya on July 22 can be seen via computer at NRK at 9 a.m. Eastern U.S./Canada.

http://www.nrk.no/video/direkte_minneseremoni_21_august/3D147755BB517E07/

According to the latest information on SVT's website, the following individuals are scheduled to participate:

Music: Kringkastingorkestern, Susanne Sundfør, Leif Ove Andsnes, Karpe Diem, Dumdum Boys, Sivert Høyem, Jarle Bernhoft, Bjørn Eidsvåg, Ingrid Olave, Sissel Kyrkjebø and A-ha.

Readings will be led by actors Aksel Hennie, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Ane Dahl Torp, Adil Khan, Ingrid Bolso Berdal, Sofie Gråbøl and Maria Bonnevie.

The ceremony will be hosted by (reporter/singer) Haddy N'jie.

I've refrained up 'till now from writing about what transpired a month ago in Oslo and Utøya on July 22nd for reasons that are not entirely worth getting into right now. Perhaps in the not-so-distant future.

There were some things, though, that I wanted to share now that I think reflect my frame of mind and what I will eventually post here, and will give you some small guidance if you watch Sunday's national memorial service.

First and foremost, as it always does, timing and opportunity rules everything.

I was reading/watching the LIVE reports of the armed attacks in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik -via Stockholm and Oslo- within mere minutes of it happening, even BEFORE it was being reported in the U.S. media, because of the fact that that particular morning -my time- I was already looking at Swedish news websites like Aftenposten, SVT, TV4, Svenska Dagbladet, Expressen, et al.

I'd also written some recent posts about Norway, so still had the NRK website handy as well on my Bookmark list.

SVT video: NRK:s Peter Svaar direktrapporterar från Oslo. July 22, 2011.

http://svtplay.se/v/2486151/rapport/nrk_s_peter_svaar_direktrapporterar_fran_oslo?sb,k103266,9,f,161015

Above, one of the first on-scene reports of the explosion downtown by NRK's Peter Svaar.

Norska TV2 berättar från Utöya. July 22, 2011.

http://svtplay.se/v/2486325/rapport/norska_tv2_berattar_fran_utoya

Above, one of the first reports from Norway's TV2 on what happened in Utøya, with lots of helicopter shots outlining the island.

I watched the foreign and domestic coverage for a few hours almost continually for days, constantly amazed at the VERY poor and incorrect reporting being done in the U.S. media on this rapidly-evolving story.

In CNN's case, that is, the U.S. version of CNN, that included reporting low casualty figures hours and hours after it common knowledge among the media on the scene that the grim numbers were FAR HIGHER, an upsetting point that I made in some quick emails to some U.S. media friends around the country, some well-known, that I wanted to know the true scope of the attacks, not the old info being foolishly repeated over-and-over on CNN.

One of the emails I sent was this news about an important Tweet warning being sent around the area as people were warned to turn off their cell phone rings.

My subject header was: FYI: Ominous Twitter warnings went out re Utøya: ”Ring inte ön"

"RING INTE FOLK PÅ UTØYA. De gömmer sig för gärningsmannen. Kopiera statusen! (Ambulansen kommer inte fram ertersom det fortfarande är skottlossning)."

which roughly means:

Do not call the island on your mobile as fake cop re-loading gun in search of people to shoot, is listening for rings from phones. Ambulances won't arrive if shooting is happening.

from Ungdomarnas larm från ön på twitter: Hjälp oss, Nyheter, Aftonbladet

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article13364079.ab

I also watched the LIVE telecast on SVT Play via NRK the following day of the Memorial service at the Oslo Cathedral that drew so many notable figures, as well as the families whose loved ones had perished.

Above, right-to-left: King Harald, Queen Sonja, Princess Märtha Louise and her husband, author Ari Behn.

That started at 5 a.m. Miami and was very tough to watch as you'd see people just start crying, tearing-up or sobbing out-of-the-blue.

Especially after the poignant lighting of the candles!

The emotion of the occasion gets to the King and Queen, too.

Above and below are just some of the screen shots of the dozens I took of that church service which I have been holding onto, knowing that it would be impractical to simply post them all, knowing that 99% of you would not have enough context to appreciate what was taking place just from the photos.

While it might not always seem that way to some of you, especially those of you who are in South Florida, I try my best not to be too preachy here on the blog, and I knew that it would be hard to drop ALL those photos on you all, out-of-the-blue, then as now, without seeming either patronizing or...???

Because if you have to explain everything...

So I've held onto them.

But I thought I'd share a few now...

The Royal Family represents.

Above and below, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg addresses those assembled in the cathedral and across the nation.

http://youtu.be/8oPbd9UvZuY

Above, Prime Minister Stoltenberg singing along.

All screen shots on this page by South Beach Hoosier.