Svenska musik
March 3, 2009
I would like to interrupt the Retro blogging for a moment to bring you a bit of my Swedish music experience. I really thought Swedes would be talking music all the time seeing as Sweden is the third biggest exporter of music in the world, after the US and the UK. But I’ve really had to pull band recommendations out of friends like beets out of Smaland soil. I’ve still managed to export some knowledge home to you all. Below is a range of notables thus far:
Swedish musicians are really good at being sentimental, soft, melodic, and poppy with a wee edge. Perfect, I say! I heard about these guys while still living in the States, but I don’t get sick of them.
I went to see this lady the other night in Helsingborg. She’s from the South, but lives way up North. Her laid back fashion really surprised me, as Swedes are usually dressed very particularly. She won the Swedish Grammy last year, but I just found out about her recently after (trying) to read the local paper Dagens Nyheter. She’s likeable, but too much of her starts sounding generic. When asked to describe her music, my Swdish pal Jens said she’s “easy listening.” He didn’t mean it in the way Americans mean it, but I kind of do. I like her, but in doses.
This guy used to rock. I really like his music from ye olde days. But when I saw him last summer at Malmöfestivalen, I felt as though I was at a John Fogarty show like if John Fogarty played now. That said, Pugh still rocks in my book.
Dungen provides us with the opportunity to see what going to a psychedelic rock show in 1975 was like. For this I am grateful. Smoke machines, bright green lights, and long hair. It’s such a wonder that they exist in Sweden.
The original version of Dungen.
Adorable and energetic. Love is All reminds me of going to shows while at school. They also are friends of a friend, and that makes any band more endearing.
Special mention: Alphabeat
They’re Danish, so maybe they don’t belong on this list. But since I only live a half an hour from Denmark, they’re in. I just love this infectious sugary single so much, I had to share it. They make me feel like I am riding in mom’s minivan and we are listening to Casey Kasem and it is 1987.
I also want to mention here that there’s something very rehearsed and almost too perfect about seeing Swedish bands. Its as though they are performing on Gossip Girl for the lead ingénue’s Sweet 16. Hair is always just so, clothes are genre-specific costumes, the sound is evenly balanced, and there is very little audience interaction and impromptu riffing. Though I appreciate the Swedish audio guys’ talents, I very much miss the rough edges and mistakes that come with seeing bands in America. Sorry, Swedish friends.
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Happy Birthday Dad!
Retro blog #6: July 6, 2008
I went for an extended bike ride today and managed to snap off scenic shots of Malmö’s coast. The bridge you see is the Öresund, which connects Malmö to Copenhagen.
I also want to take the time to give you but a glimpse of the madness in Folket’s Park (English translation: the people’s park). It’s a city park near my house, but unlike any other. Its got a ferris wheel, a petting zoo, a meeting hall, several ponds, three bars, and generally a good deal of the city’s riff raff. And its all condensed into an area about the size of Chicago’s Wicker Park. It is in this strange place where I spent many summer nights sipping boxed wine with friends and people watching. Here are some images just to give you an idea of the spectrum of bizarreness:
This is just a typical weekday night in the park – madness!
Right about now you’re judging me for the boxed wine mention. But I’ll have you know that it’s a very big deal here. I think its come a long way. And if you can manage to spend a few more Krona on it, its comparable a regular $9 bottle.
One of the bars in Folket’s Park is called Far i Hatten, which usually has a bunch of Gubbes and Gummes (old men and women) hanging out there. I could best describe it as cross between a summer camp activity house and a Jimmy Buffet concert. With an open roof. This particular evening one of the local record shops Rundgong was celebrating its 4 year anniversary in the bar. Watching my pal Kristian’s band AHRM playing at the celebration was a grand time. Music, pals, a little beer and some fresh air…man do I love me some summer.
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A wee bit of home in my new home
Retro blog #5: July 4, 2008
I decided to throw a birthday party for America and for Natalie in one go. I instructed everyone to dress American, but the only person who really followed the rules was Anna, bless her heart. Vanessa baked a very choice cake, Jud brought Caesar salad (which she feels is distinctively American) and we all dined the American way, BBQ-style.
I wanted to be as obnoxious as possible.
Albert Man-ing the grill
I stole these pictures from Anna (thanks dude).
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Midsommer
Retro blog #4: June 24, 2008
I had heard so many stories about Midsommer – the drunken carousing, the dancing around the Maypole, the sill and more sill. I had been anticipating this day ever since moving to Sweden and was excited to travel to Gothenburg to spend it with Jen.
We had talked about traveling out to the Archipelago to celebrate, but rain shot that plan down. So instead we walked to the center of town where the city park was. The weather improved a bit and we had a great time watching rings upon rings of people dance around the Maypole with their children, singing songs we couldn’t understand.
The rest of the day was spent consuming all of this:
Three different kinds of sill – mustard, onion, and dill; airplane bottles of Aquavit, radishes and strawberries.
The next day we took a drive out to Marstrand to see more of the west coast. Marstrand is perfectly quaint and charming in the way Marin County is (translation: big $$$ houses on the water and no dirt in sight). King Guvstav’s summerhouse is there, but I don’t think he uses it anymore. There’s also a giant fort there – Carlsten Fortress. It has some very interesting prison cells, a chapel, and incredible views from the lookout:
When we made it to the lookout point over the sea I felt one of the strongest winds of my life. Hair management was out of the question (pictured).
From Jen’s place in Gothenburg, I went straight to Stockholm for a week-long intensive Swedish course at Berlitz. It was a gorgeous week and it was a bummer to spend it alone. Big clouds in a Swedish flag-blue sky almost all the time. But then in came Jen again! Since I already had planned to be in Stockholm, Jen and her Norwegian pal Elin decided to join me for the weekend. We ate crepes in Sodermalm, danced at Debaser, and I sipped on my first bloody Mary since living in Sweden. The sun in these pictures is deceptive, as it was definitely jacket weather (in late June!)
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The Man Comes Around
Retro blog #3: June 1, 2008
A lot happened. The weird transitional life I was living in Älmhult died and resurrected itself into my new, much cuter and more fulfilling life in Malmö. True, I missed the 6-minute walking commute. But its much more having more than one pub in town. And more people to fill those pubs. And more variety of dogs to admire (I was getting sick of that one Dachshund I kept running into).
So instead of biking by the lake, I now bike by the sea. And instead of eating pizza from Pizzera Elmé, I dine on cheap falafel. We have a ton of middle Eastern immigrants here in Malmö, not to mention some fine-tasting Kebab downstairs in my building..run by some Iraqi dudes. Needless to say, I try to avoid looking, acting, and dressing American around them. I don’t think they have much too favorable of an opinion of us right now, sadly.
Another big moment from the past month or so was the visit of my man to Scandinavia. We had grand ambitions in the beginning of a trip to Stockholm and the North of Sweden. But we ended up deciding that we would rather spend time staring into each other’s eyes dreamily than sitting in an airport or train station whining about delays. So we stayed around Skåne and Småland – the regions where Malmö and Älmhult are, respectively. Ryan got to see where I worked and more importantly, got to have Swedish lunch with a few of my closest colleagues.
We cruised around Malmö a lot, made some dinners, including a cookout. And on his last day here, we visited the university city of Lund, which he developed a crush on. We also (accidentally) went to a gay club, which was expensive but otherwise a good time, since the company of Jud and her man and Nat and hers was great.
Ryan and I, visiting Lund
We also visited Copenhagen, where we visited the Danish Design Center (kind of a letdown overall, but has a very cool museum shop). We walked around a ton, and made our way to the infamous Christianistad. It’s a mini Amsterdam of sorts. It’s a lawless bohemian society that’s not part of the EU. I wish I had pictures, but cameras are not allowed. The area used to have legal marijuana, and now even though it’s been outlawed, the Danish authorities don’t seem to crack down on them much. It’s still sold and prevalent there but no one’s exactly flaunting it.
The feeling while walking around Christianistad was very much like the day after a large festival. There’s assorted litter and stray dogs, people who haven’t showered, alcohol being drank, and the smell of grass abounds. Quite frankly, Ryan and I felt on edge, as these places tend to have a handful of people who are tweaking out just a little too much. So we left and bought chocolates at a very confusing convenience store.
It’s strange, I’ll tell you, to be spending Danish kroner rather than Swedish Kroner. Why haven’t these countries joined the Euro? Hm. I think its only bizarre because traveling to Copenhagen takes less than half the time it takes for my commute to work. So it seems strange that I should be exchanging currencies. And dang is it expensive there.
1 Swedish krona = 0.112035 U.S. dollars
1 Danish krone = 0.171318 U.S. dollars
Not such a good conversion rate, I’m afraid. When people ask me what I miss about the States (and I have probably mentioned this already, as I really really miss it) is not just food, but the accessibility of good, cheap food. I miss Mexican the most, which is a surprise to me. But my old apartment in Chicago used to be a skip from Taco and Burrito Express #3 where you only paid $4 for a burrito the size of your head. Now, I can’t even get a bottle of beer for that. Sigh.
Anyway it was good to have the man here, for you really need to dine on a cold shrimp and mayonnaise sandwich (räkor macka) in order to understand what its like to be a Swede.
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Ü
Retro blog #2: May 4, 2008
Petter and his art cohorts threw a gigantic party last night in efforts to raise money to make more art. He drove all the way to Germany just to buy the beer, as its much cheaper there. It might be worthy to note that there are no kegs in Sweden. This is due to the governmental policy of wanting to lessen overconsumption…which is also the reason System Bolaget keeps such strict Lutheran hours and why booze costs a ton and why Petter trekked to Germany.
I met Jud at her apartment before heading out, and we biked together over to Über Studios, which looks like a granary. This giant banner was hanging down the side of the building:
The party was a success for the art kids. Lots of types of everyone showed from teenage kids to dads pushing 40. I think it was a great embrace to springtime.
I was actually trying to pop my collar here, ok?
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The trees have leaves
Retro blog #1: April 30, 2008
April 30 is Valborg. It’s a pagan holiday originally (like everything else), but is still celebrated in Germany and in Sweden. The average Swede couldn’t explain why it still exists, but it signifies the beginning of spring. Basically, everyone just makes bonfires and drinks alcohol.
Petter was awesome enough to invite Jud and myself to his neighbors’ house in the forest of Älmhult. His neighbors were welcoming and open – the man of the house was Petter’s Spanish teacher in high school and I spent a good portion of the party listening to him talk about how learning Spanish changed his life. The rest of it was spent in a discussion with Jonas about how he wants to become a music producer.
After the house party, we decided to continue on with the evening and took Älmhult’s only taxi to Älmhult’s only nightclub, Speakeasy. I felt as though I had walked into Thanksgiving weekend in Woodstock. Petter reunited with kids from his high school days and some of our colleagues assaulted us at with inebriated greetings. We saw Petter for 7 seconds the rest of the night. However, we did see bright yellow balloons with the letter ü printed on them. These were promotions for Petter’s s art collective and party space “Über Studios and Über Mental Bar.” He had a party there that weekend (blog entry to follow). Jud and I danced to some phenomenally bad Swedish club hits for about 20 minutes then left, feeling completely blasé.
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Grand Re-Opening
As many of you know, I have put in my resignation with my employer. However, I won’t actually be living in the States again until the end of April because this particular company requires three months’ notice. It’s definitely strange having to go to work for that length of time when you know its going to be over soon.
But what does this mean for Hej Dudes? This blog started as a way to keep in touch with people and pftttered out when those people stopped emailing me because they felt that they had maintained their connection with me through the blog. Other amateur bloggers I’ve talked to have experienced the same.
Plus, I got distracted. Swedish summers have filmic, beautiful light that lasts until 10 at night. So instead of sitting in front of the light of a Mac screen, I was basking in the light of Scandinavia. I feel guilt about the long absence, but justify it by telling myself I was too busy picnicking…
I knew I disappointed my fans when Elizabeth took me off her bookmark list due to inactivity. So I am sorry. But now I’m back. And I will give it my Rambo montage best to remember the stories behind the past year. The dates are estimates and the memories are selective. But for posterity, I need to have a record of what I spent all my non-work time doing. One day, I’ll share it with the grandkids and they’ll say “what’s a blog?”
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Laissez-faire blogging
It’s been…well, I am embarrassed to say how long it’s been. And now, we have lots of catching up to do. I’ve been quite the busy gal these past weeks, doing everything from securing my new apartment to fighting a nasty virus (with me own two white blood cells) to celebrating another 365 days of living. It’s been wild and I am so sorry to all of you. I’ve missed you so. It’s just that I have been busy living in lieu of blogging. So now I will take you through a superficial rundown of what I’ve been doing.
The first event is a minor one, but a beaut. For the first time since my residence in Sweden, it snowed a big snow. I like how spooky it made this innocent town look.
Or, wait – is Älmhult innocent?! Because this happened while I was away too:
http://www.thelocal.se/10782/20080329/
I will be sad to leave this town, actually. It’s been a great home to me and a relatively easy place to get settled in to my new country. But I am also glad to be moving on up and in to my new apartment, which you can kind of see below.
Note: That is definitely definitely not my furniture. I do not own heads.
It’s 40 square meters, or roughly 430 square feet, to all you normal American folks. Which is small. Smaller than I have ever had to tolerate live in. I have already warned Judith( who is a great interior designer) that she will have to help me with my small space nightmare solution. But I honestly do love the neighborhood I am in. It’s charming and close to lots of things and there is a coffee shop, dry cleaners, bike store, and kids’ clothing store all within 300 feet of my door. Its also very creepily and very accidentally in the same building as my colleague and friend Amy. Which has not freaked her out yet, but probably will once I move in and we share the same bus stop and I ask her if I can come over and play Wii sports and go to the movies and for walks in the park and to borrow sugar and to go shopping…oh dear.
Guess what you also missed? My first trip to Copenhagen. First impressions include:
– costly
– adorable
– the most bike-friendly place I have ever encountered, perhaps on or a little above par with Amsterdam
– bigger, much much bigger than Älmhult. I’m afraid I might be too accustomed to my tiny town life…it took us 45 minutes to an hour to walk from our hotel to our restaurant – wowza!
It’s also left me with a desire to go back very soon.
Copenhagen is like, so Euro.
Oh yeah and it was my birthday last weekend. I do not mention this out of selfishness (well, not entirely out of selfishness)…I mention it because I am so grateful my gracious coworkers, which I now consider friends of course. But they have made my transition here so much easier. Their ears are always open, as well as their homes, their music collections, their life stories, and of course their hearts. I am not just being flippantly sentimental because its my birthday or because of hormones or because I miss home. The people I have met thus far in this country are just great humans. And again, I am grateful for them. I can’t wait until my world here has mini-collisions with my life in America. Here are some pictures of these aces.
I will be back soon. And I mean it. Barbies for real.
Note: There are clearly some image issues with this post. WordPress has changed their awesome photo insertion tool and now it is confusing my frail brain.
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Night Falls in Älmhult
Upon learning there was a movie theater in Älmhult, I had to go. What would a Swedish cinema be like? Would they have salted exotic licorice candies? (Nope, only at the convenience store). Would there be beer? (No.) Would there be only one trailer? (Yes, for Mamma Mia, starring Meryl Streep I mean can you see Meryl Streep doing a musical? She will definitely not win an Oscar for this one, kids. However, Pierce Brosnan plays one of her old love interests, which interests me since now I have an answer to what he’s been doing since 007 and Mrs. Doubtfire).
Judith (pictured, with bike), upon lots of begging, agreed to be my date for this Wednesday evening of fun. I told her that because the movie was only playing twice a week, this was our last chance to see mopey Keira Knightly try and pass for something other than a clothes hanger. It didn’t really work. No matter how hard she tries – and man, does she try really hard – she cannot act. So there we were, eating normal popcorn and drinking fizzy water and being bored by overdramatic British “ dramatic tension.”
Oh – did I mention Swedes love sparkling water? We have it coming out of the bubbler at work, along with normal tap stuff. At first, I thought it was silly. Now I realize it fills me up quite well around 3 pm, when all I want to do is eat Ritter Sport.
The next set of pictures are from this past Friday evening. Natalie (yes, I have more friends that just Judith, thank you!), who is a new copywriter from Bristol, and Judith and I went out on the town. Just like three spinsters, we headed to the Ikea Hotel to seek wine beverages. However, with just one lonely hotel guest inside, we decided to cruise for more bumpin’ ventures.
Natalie swore she saw a pub sign. I said no way. She said yes way. I said fine – let’s find this place. After inquiring at the convenience store (and being amazed it was open past 6), we walked up a hill on the main street of town and there it was! A pub! It didn’t open until 10, so we decided to hit up the pizza place first.
Then after not eating pizza but drinking a carafe of um, hot tea, we had to get past the Greek/Eastern European-maybe pub owner. He asked Judith if she was from Tyskland (Germany) immediately – how did he know? This made him ok with us.
We ventured into a basement that I later commented could have been your creepy Uncle’s (everyone agreed). It was actually one of the coolest places I have seen in Älmhult, simply because I was so surprised it existed. Judith and Natalie ordered Long Island Iced Teas, which cost around 11 bucks! Fancy Älmhult. I mean, just look at the dance floor! Crazyeee!
We eventually ran into one of our coworkers, Peter (pro. Pet-her) and he invited us back to his studio:
It’s an amazing old farm building of some sort which they have fixed up the top floor and converted into an art studio of all kinds. They split the rent between maybe 5 people? Later on, we decided to roll Peter and his friend in this innertube.
This is one of their renditions of the Queen of Sweden. Quite nice, I think!
Then, bed.
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Hej dudes 
