I will be by myself, attached only to a guitar and a backpack, and will be doing a series of house concerts throughout Europe.
I need you in a particular city who will find a large house (maybe a coffee house if no houses are suitable), hopefully that can comfortably fit 50-200 people, not bother the neighbors, easy for parking.
Then you will invite your friends to come to this concert at the house which I will play. And even better, you will decide the playlist and also vote for a cover song that I will play at the concert!
You want me to come to your place?
Send me a private message (artist page, please) with your contact details and I will get in touch!
We were supposed to pick up a rental car, that was what I’d planned and then out of a sudden there was no car to pick up. Who screwed up? Well, I am not meaning to say that I am among the greatest of tour managers so I guess I would have to take some responsibility for the fuck up. This time around most of the liability lies with me. Harald’s extent of liability goes as far as making sure there is enough booze in the hotel room for whenever we wanna get in liquor.
(meaning he doesn’t have a clue about what I am planning)
Nearest train station with trains to Leicester is St Pancras. There’s like a train every hour to get out of London at daytime but as few as none for a return after midnight. I knew we were in trouble already, as show time tonight was something like 10PM and last train was 10PM. My flight back home the next day was midday so I couldn’t afford to wait for the morning train from Leicester, and the bus had the same odd timetable, so we had to talk the promoter into putting us on a little bit earlier at The Musician.
(something, which he didn’t mind doing)
Leicester before that was straight from the train to the BBC for a radio interview with Chris Baxter talking about the fjords, the mountains surrounding my home village of Langevaag and whether I liked our winning song of 2009’s Eurovision Song Contest (dah). Also more interesting stuff like who of British celebrities I would compare myself to as a Norwegian equivalent in the religion of Celebrityism. That is just an impossible question to answer as I don’t spend my time thinking of such things. And the answer would probably be some hard-working British singer/songwriter who most of the radio listeners of the BBC’s afternoon broadcast driving home from work still haven’t heard of. Or am I just being wry?
(Fionn Regan maybe… he makes nice music)
I played Out Of Skills on my acoustic guitar and everyone was happy. We had a nice chat after all. I like Chris. He invites me in whenever I’m in Leicester it seems.
(…)
We left the BBC for sound check at The Musician just to find out we had a couple of hours to knock away… We strolled around the windswept streets of Leicester on a lookout for a restaurant with decent food and ended up in one of those Witherspoon Grills and ordered way too much to eat. A bowl of Chicken Wings would have done it for me but I guess I just had to try the Chicken Breast in BBQ sauce, salad, fries and a beer. Just looking at the menu should scare you away from these places. Nobody can have such tremendous amounts of dishes and get away with it. You just know that whatever you order it’s gonna be just okay, nothing more, nothing less. Except from the spicy wings that were just delicious!
(how to satisfy is an x-factor)
The show went down well. I recorded the whole thing. And I rather leave you an mp3 to download then to describe the event. I find it hard to comment on my own shows… (that’s excactly what I wrote yesterday as well, isn’t it?)
Peace = Love,
-robert
Journal of the last day of the trip to be posted tomorrow together with a shit load of mp3’s!
I had a meeting with a music lawyer. Discussing future plans… and me moving back to the UK at some point. The meeting was basically about having to build a new team around me that’ll help move things forward…
(upwards and onwards)
I popped by Fopp in Covent Garden to buy some CDs and came out with the new Sufjan Stevens album, Florence The Machine (Lungs), Season 8 of Family Guy and The Matrix box set. Enough media to accompany me on the rest of the journey. I sat down at some Italian deli near Center Point and had lunch, continued the reading of The Ignorance Of Blood and watched people passing by. Just hanging out. I love the feeling of being a total stranger to almost everyone around me.
(It’s the beauty of the vast city beast)
We took the underground to the nearest tube station to the venue. This reminds me of how low-key this trip is with only a guitar on my back and a bag with a microphone, a tuner, a few 7ins and my newest album. There’s no need to go with Add Lee, or even a cab this time. It’s the old trobadours way.
(…)
The Wilmington Arms is a nice cosy place with candlelights on every table and a little bar in the corner. It can seat 60 people and have 100 standing. Tonight it will be a sitting crowd.
(perfect, I am showcasing new songs)
The show went down well. I recorded the whole thing. And I rather leave you an mp3 to download then to describe the event. I find it hard to comment on my own shows…
robert post 