First Italian tour - the gig at Zuni in Ferrara. The last gig of the tour. Lots of people, and a really nice atmosphere. Behind the bar was a beautiful girl, and so the idea of the song called "Pretty Girls make Mojitos" was born. After this gig we drove for hours all through the night. I stayed awake to make the moment last as long as possible (driving in your car).
I wrote the song after returning to Bergen, and some people like it. This version is from the gig at Landmark the summer of 2009. Pretty girls make mojitos fra landmark by sodafountainrag
A while later the girl in the bar contacted me on myspace. She wanted to know about nice places to visit in Norway because her boyfriend lived in Tønsberg at the time. She said a friend had told her about my song. I hope she's ok with it.
Here are some pictures from that tour. No trip will ever be better.
This was the poster. Drawn by Rough Bunnies-Frida
Outside Fabio's house, where we stayed the first night. Now there's a studio in this apartment, and we've stayed there lots of times, last time was in december. This place feels like home. Fabio must have the kindest parents in the whole world!
On the road to Cesena we stopped in Mantova. Cool for an old Romeo & Juliet fan. There were lots of dogs and the very first panino.
This is Alessandro and me in the bar in Cesena (called Lego - really cool place). I don't usually make friends fast, but Ale is different from all people in the world. This was a special night and I felt like a star. People knew my songs!
Lars is telling a bed time story someplace near Firenze.
This is from the gig at Zuni in Ferrara.
Ale and Anders in Ferrara.
I'm listening to Loch Ness Mouse's first album right now. And so should you.
PS. Can I tell you about my day at work? In the kindergarden we take care of the kids if they are sick and their parents have an exam (it's a student kindergarden), so I watched "The Little Mermaid" made drawings and talked and laughed and got payed for it. Sometimes I really do love my job.
Look at this - The Pop! For Kids Project. Will try to make a song for this project as soon as possible. Kids do deserve much better songs than the shit they usually get. Luckily we have some people who take kids seriously, like my old heroes Knutsen og Ludvigsen, but we need more.
The same man also has this great blog: All That Ever Mattered. I was interviewed by him once: here. One of my better interviews if I have to say so myself.
The place described (or mentioned) in this song is the neighbourhood where I grew up - the part of Kristiansund called Karihola. During WW2 the germans built a lot of bunkers in this area as part of Festung Norwegen. This left a perfect playground for us kids who grew up there some 40 years later. Unfortunately some of the bunkers were deemed unfit for children (or people in general) and filled with cement. The rest however were used as places to climb and crawl and hide, to create secret clubs, and to drink the first beer (which I didn't do, but lots of other people did - my friends were too well behaved I guess). I havent been this far out in Karihola for quite some time, as my parents moved to another part of town in 2004, and it just doesn't feel right yet. But, if you, dear reader, should ever travel to Kristiansund, you should take the Karihola bus as far as it goes, then walk up the street called Karihola as far as it goes, then walk into the forest and walk as far as you can until you reach the sea. Sit down. This is the best place on earth.
I grew up in the red house next to the yellow house at the far right end of this picture. This picture was taken after my parents moved, I found it on the extremely local news site brunsvika.net - a nice place to visit for those who are fluent in norwegian or eager to learn.
The Sandmännchen in this song is of course the good old one from DDR. For some reason he was included in the legendary norwegian childrens TV christmas calendar "Jul i Skomakergata", where he presented (or introduced) one childrens right each day (the series was first aired in 1979 - UN's childrens year, if I'm not mistaken). Isn't this a bit weird really, if you think about DDR and human rights?
I got the graphic novel "Berlin: city of stones" for christmas. Really great book. Got part two "Berlin: City of smoke" in the mail yesterday. It's about Berlin during the Weimar republic (towards the end).
