Just got back from USA visiting my friend Greg Girardin with whom I recorded some music in 2005. It was a quick trip because Greg hasn’t been feeling quite well lately. Anyways, a visit was way over due. Especially since he should’ve come to Sweden this summer, but didn’t.

I kept a basic diary to remember everything and all. And there’s a photo gallery at the very end.

Friday 28 Aug

Elin was up all night working and barely got any sleep myself. She was supposed to drive me to the airport but that didn’t make much sense in the morning so I took the train. The flight was ok, except I was sitting near one of the emergency exits and it was darn cold!

Once in Philadelphia, PA my connecting flight to Manchester, NH got cancelled due to bad weather up north so I had some sushi which turned out to be a big plate of raw fish and nothing else. Was superb though.

I made the flight at 9 in the evening. An hour later my good friend Greg Girardin picked me up at the airport in Manchester. Four years (almost to the day!) since we saw each other – not a moment too soon!

Saturday 29 Aug

Breakfast at Denny’s. Man, conversations with Greg are easy. He is a very interesting guy and it’s really a shame that there is an ocean between us. After a quick visit at Guitar Centre to get a cymbal for a friend back home we drive to Greg’s parents in Lewiston, Maine. Once there Bob (dad) treated me to the best corn I’ve ever had and after good talk with Bob and Madeleine (mom) we went to LuAnn (sister) and Tony (her husband) for more awesome food and some great brew. Geary’s HSA – too bad they don’t carry that stuff in Sweden.

Sunday 30 Aug

Me and Greg started recording something that turned out to be an Opeth-clone. We never finished it though. Guess we’ll have to do that online.

Saw the Lewiston Maineiacs (ice hockey) play the Shawinigan Cataractes which was great fun. Then we had canned bread (yes!) with Valerie (sister) and Mike (her husband) and their kids. And if you thought that bread out of a can was weird then I must say that the Dr McGillycuddy’s schnapps took the prize. You drink it and then chase it with a beer and magically the beer tastes like toothpaste. How about that?

Yelling Cinderella songs with Mike Girardin in the car later that night shurely been the highlight of the day.

Monday 31 Aug

It was a surreal experience, standing outside of Stephen King’s house in Bangor, Maine. Not so much because I absolutely love his books or that, but the fact that he probably is the most famous author alive and that he lives in an ordinary neighbourhood and not a gated community. Had took take a few pictures outside that house though, spider web fence and all. I bought the Dark Tower comic books at Bett’s Bookstore after that. Now I must finish the last volumes in the Dark Tower series so that I can read the comics.

Next stop was Bar Harbour and I must say that it was one of the most impressive sights ever seeing the Maine coastline from on top of an island mountain. Man! Pictures can’t explain the view. A 360° panorama view as far as Sweden (almost). It was worth the three hour trip! And the lobster rolls we had weren’t bad either!

Tuesday 1 Sept

In all honesty you can’t compare the view form Black Mountain to the Bar Harbour sights, but just as Greg said on top of Black Mountain: “You’ve got to earn your view” and that is mighty true! After an hour of walking, sitting down on top of the mountain was the sight of this year I must say. I felt a bit bad the whole trip (and had hidden a secret roll of toilet paper in the backpack in case I just HAD to go) but one we were on top all was good again for some reason.

Me, Greg and Bob went hunting for sushi material later that day. We got some great stuff and the the mayhem started. Just about the whole family (20 people at least) came to cook and eat. We had a blast and the swedish cheif did pretty well I must say, but man was I stressed. I think Greg got some footage of the whole event which I’m sure he’ll upload soon enough. A good memory this one I must say.

This was the last night and so me and Greg had a long, great talk about just about everything on earth and beyond. Greg’s has been quite ill the last six months. Some kind of mysterious nerve disorder but he surely is one happy bloke.

Wednesday 2 Sept

Toast in the morning – the breakfast of champions. Had to leave around 11 for Manchester. Staying with the Girardins was something I’d very much like to do again, preferably with Elin (so that she can cook the sushi the next time). Honestly, one can’t resist the love and openness of the Girardins, Labbes and Racines. Thank you so much for the warm welcome and many good laughs (hurdy gurdy hurdy!).

The relatives of Hudson, MA was kind enough to drive to the Manchester airport for a quick coffee. I got a kick out of seeing them again. It was four years since last. Now I’m praying they’ll make it to Sweden again. Hopefully not the same time as the Girardins/Labbes/Racines though because we can only handle so many american psychos.

Almost missed my connection in Philadelphia due to the first flight being horribly late, but I didn’t. Another cool thing was that when I flew into Philadelphia we were just over the Phillies baseball game. Really awesome. The rest of the trip was easy peasy.

And coming home to Elin is always the best part of a trip.

 

Ears are messed up pretty bad. Hurts a lot and I’m half deaf. Might have to check it up actually.

Watched some good movies lately, by the way. The Midnight Meat Train (2008) and Shutter (2004). The first one I watched together with film critic Dave Canfield and friends in Chicago, and I’m writing an article about him this month too. Will be a good one. Shutter I saw together with Elin. Not all are blessed with a wife who enjoys horror movies but I am.

And what a wife!

Pictures from Tijs’ and Hanne’s wedding and from the grand opening of Bart’s piano store.

 

Where? When? How? WHY??!! Well, we first had plans to put on a big show. Big wedding with a huge BBQ for everyone (YES! You too!) but then we just got tired and decided to do the opposite. A small, secret thing. So that is what we did. Here in Örebro where we live.

It was just our parents, brothers and their wives and kids. And a handful of other more or less important people who witnessed the whole thing. This was a month ago (17 May). The ceremony was cool indeed and concisted of music like “Orion” (Metallica), “I Feel You” (Depeche Mode) and “Kashmir” (Led Zeppelin). My good friend Marcus Vahlström (of Polizei famous) did a great job singing on “I Feel You”. Myself I sang “Trip Through Your Wires” by U2. And after all the “yes’s” we had dinner together and then me and Elin went to Cambodia and Thailand.

So that was basically it. It was a supercool day and the trip was simply amazing! Now we plan to live happily ever after – and this week we are going back to Belgium to celebrate Tijs’ and Hanne’s upcoming wedding! Oh, and we’re gonna see Testament, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden! How cool – I got myself a wife that listens to the Priest.

 

A couple of weeks after I got home I had a new tattoo which came out great. It is a pirate ship with an angel and a couple of pirates (who happens to look a lot like my folks) and a banner saying: “Rise & Save This World”.

After that it was time to deal with the burning bush and the beard had to leave. Someone close to me had been complaining about it one too many times. Then Jens got married on the 2nd of June and Artiom and Liron flew all the way from Israel and spent two weeks of sight-seeing with me and Elin. Apart from the Modern Museum in Stockholm I think the Ge-Kås super-outlet in Ullared made the strongest impact :)

Originally we were planning to go to Sweden Rock Festival, but both me and Elin thought that the bands kinda sucked so what better chance to see some great bands, and meet some great friends, than to go the Dessel (BE) and the Graspop Metal Meeting?

Other than emptying Tijs’ and Hanne’s fridge (below, the people, not the fridge) with hung out with the cream of the good Belgian people. Wim and Jasmine took went to Antwerpen with us to check out waffels, the cathedral and lots of other cool stuff. That was a blast. So was the festival. Elin liked Pain of Salvation and Ozzy the most I think. I though perhaps Slayer and Type O Negative were the best. As were Oceans of Sadness. It’s been a while since I worked out in the middle of a mosh-pit but I thought that this was a great opportunity to support some dear friends so I did that as well as to crowd-surf at the end of the last song.

Tijs made the observation that the lot of us were pretty much like a bunch of life loving pensionaires as we went out to restaurants in an old-fashion style, buying the other couple every other day and ejoying the good, grown-up life. Before we left for Sweden he and Hanne expressed their “Let’s do this till we’re 60!” desire which is a done deal.

Wim took as back to the Dusseldorf airport a couple of days after the fest (yes, Ryan Air had us fly to Germany and not Belgium). Wim, you stinky twat! I can not say enough times how glad we are to have such a good friends driving us from and to the airport.

So anyways, mom and dad came up to Stockholm for my birthday a week ago which was great fun. No we are off to the video store to grab something to watch this evening.

I took a plane to Brussels last thursday and Tijs, Nik and Hanneke were nice enough to pick me up at the airport and for about fours days there was nothing but lots of work and a lot of fun. Tijs would keep me busy in the daytime and Wim would keep me busy in the nighttime.

We filmed the show and did some interviews for a promotional video which also came out good. Me and Tijs watched a few movies and Wim and I had a legendary night out where restaurant and pub owners throughout area gave me souvenirs to bring home. That was very loving and amusing I think. We also woke Guy up in the middle of the night.

On the final day, which was monday, Nik and Wim and I drove into Brussels and had a stroll. Then we met up with Anneke for some coffee. I can’t stress enough how glad I am that you came out to help us throughout the week. That goes for the rest of you too, not the least Nik!

 

So between this and living with a hungarian family and then in the semi-slum quarters of Chicago, I’d say I’ve had a somewhat different year as far as living goes.

I’ve been here since early january and I have about one month to go before I move to Örebro. Trust me, it’s gonna feel kinda good to get out of here, but still – I would never want to have it undone. And I have bunk beds so if you wanna come on over and get the hostel vibe, just come…

I’ve also learned to be patient in a way I thought was not possible. My neighbor, Janko the Serb (we call him Janko Dones) helps me with that. He has lenghty monologues when I cook. Some days ago he talked about all the languages of the world. He tried to make a point (took him two hours) in saying that one person can never learn all the languages of the world because there are so many: “Russian, Croatian, Greek, Australia-language, what the Indians speak, Roman, Latin, Swedish, Norwegian, Hebrew, the arab-languages…”.

Now that I think of it I think I will leave Varberg this week.

So anyways, what’s going on? Well, it’s the second week of april. Some of you know that I first had plans on going back to the US in early march. I can now tell you – that didn’t happen. Then I thought of going there in june. I can now tell you – that is not going to happen. And that troubles me a lot. I so want to go visit my good friend Greg Girardin in Nashua. I have no idea when that’s gonna be possible. And Melissa, Hector, Kos and Lopez and the other stupidheads in Chicago. I really wish I could and in time I will, but I fear that by then they will all be scattered all over the country.

So what happens instead? Hmm, this is kinda where I feel not going will be worthwhile. Mid-june I’m moving north to my good-good friend Jens to work with him for a during of God-knows-how-long. This is something we’re both incredibly excited about. I’m gonna keep you all updated on this but I can think of nothing that will change the plans. In a way, this is a dream come true for the both of us. However, the real world might shatter our fantasies and slap us both on the nose.

Bare with me for another couple o’days and I will bring you some nice pictures from Uncle Andy’s trip to the Holy Land. Until then: God be with you and remember that beer is good for the stomach and Megadeth is good for the brain!

 

Some of you know how completely miserable I felt about a year ago. And a year has passed and I feel like it’s all turned around. Every time I’ve been out running in the city I’ve been in complete awe of the exciting place I ended up in. I feel I owe it to God. Call me silly if you want. I don’t care. So big thanx to you God.

The things I don’t wanna leave behind:

1) Daily work at Belly Acres with Lopez, Kos, Dan, Dylan, Darren, James, Tony, James, Dave and Don.
2) Film evenings with Dave “Cantilope” Canfield, Elijah, Marco and Harris.
3) Deep discussions with Hector.
4) Late night conversations about everything and nothing with Melissa.
5) Avoiding aussie girl Brianna.
6) Having lunch with Lupe, Joby, Fippin, Don and Charlie and the rest…

These are the things I look forward to:

1) Seeing the sons of thunder: Albin & Edwin.
2) The calmness of Veddige, Sweden compared to noisy Chicago, IL.
3) Going to Stockholm with brother Bomber to see Billy Idol.
4) Mom’s and Gun’s great veg cooking. Dad’s 2-kronors ice cream from Lidl.
5) Veddige-pizza with Sven. Derome-pizza with Tompa.
6) Spending some time a good ol’ LR Revision.
7) Time off with Martin (Göteborg), Daniel (Västerås) and Jens (Örebro).
8) Meeting up with the Olah crew.

It’s gonna been a while till I get back to Chicago and I do hope I’ll get a chance to get a whole lot done while I’m at home. Send mails and call and stuff if you wanna hang out. That’s it for now. I’m off to the airport!

They threw bibles and sang that “…Christ is the way!” and shouted “To Hell with the Devil” and you can guess the rest. It might sound cheesy to you but the five minute prayer at the end of the show kinda worked for me. I guess Stryper is both lipstick n’ crucifix.

Recently I also made a splendid weekend trip to “Brew City”. Big thanx to Milwaukee maniac Phil Harwood for inviting me! We spent the last couple of days watching hockey and movies and cruisin’. Sure was fun!

A massive pumpkin display along on the lakeside just outside of Milwaukee. Man! Some of these creations were just awesome. There must have been atleast 500 of them – incredible.

Children of the Corn? Hmm, I think not – but it was cool. Looks more like Skeletor from Master’s of the Universe, also cool. While my buddy Phil was asleep (he’s a night-person to the point of being almost a no-day-person) I walked around Thiensville, WI and took a lot of pictures. One is above. And one is below.