HOW IT ENDS
'It' being 2007. Well, truth is, we don't know quite yet. This year for me personally...I changed my entire M.O.; I tried to be less of a M.F., at least. I took a little from Buddhism, and a lot from just opening up to the people around me, realizing, hey...I have a lot of great people in my life, who are willing to stand by me, if necessary...a few were sort of getting, well, skeptical that their good will spent on my behalf mightn't have been better spent on a HD TV or perhaps a lap pool. The writing was on most household surfaces. My attitudes about friends, food, work, family, have all completely transformed. I was helped by a few angels both incautious and perhaps disguised. I now take nothing as metaphor, and believe very little (but still, sometimes, a little) in fate. Life is only opportunity, and if you are alive and awake, your opportunity is to ease suffering, and quit being such a prick.
I was extremely well taken care of in Larvik during Yuletime, and I really have to express again my gratitude to Bjorn and his family--it's really a bit odd to be the one guy that doesn't go home for Christmas--oh, except the 3-4 billion people who don't celebrate Christmas--but, in Norway, anyway, even people who come from other traditions certainly have to accept the fact that they might as well take the days off too. Anyway, I knew that my family was celebrating elsewhere--and I have family on both US coasts, plus Dom & Aden in France. I slept. A LOT. I think I *averaged* 12 hours a night. From the 24th to the 25th I slept 15 hours!! It was marvelous. My body took in that healthy, if copious, food and decided to go into repair mode. On the 24th, we spent the evening at Bjorn's mom's house, which is 'in town' in Larvik. As opposed to Bjorn's dad's place, which is a working farm in a village outside of Larvik some ways. We went there on the night of the 25th. Larvik really reminded me of Bellingham in so many ways. I think it's a bit smaller, but it's a port city of roughly the same shape and size, and the same kinds of trees and vistas, plus it's about as far from Oslo as Bellingham is from Seattle. Anyway, there were plenty of moments when I found myself thinking I could be in my soggy little hometown, sitting in the Disciplines' soggy little hometown. I had a room in Bjorn's mom's place that was on the top floor in a corner, with a small skylight. The wind and rain made their rounds, rattling the glass to remind me they were there. For which I was grateful; a storm in progress, when I'm immune to most of its effects, is one of the best sleep aids of all time.
On the 24th, I woke up and commenced eating. First a spread of coldcuts and things, and later, a lovely roast lamb with root vegetables--celeriac and a kind of turnip. There was a sauce made from a cranberry cousin, but one who grows on hilltops, not in bogs. I had been given a lovely bottle of Toro red wine from my sommelier friend in Oslo, who wrote later me saying I should hold it for 3 more years, but...I hadn't really much else to offer, and couldn't *not* contribute to the dinner and try to repay in a small way the hospitality shown me. Hey, it was delicious and well appreciated by my hosts, so--thank you Mattias!
My eyes were fluttering as dinner was drawing to a close, but there was still dessert and presents...I had to summon the strength...I managed. I was very happy to receive chocolate from Bjorn (incl. some 99% cacao nuggets...that's how *I* roll), some traditional Norwegian wool mittens from moms, and there was a present for Aden as well! Incredibly thoughtful!
Then I passed out. 15 hours later...
I woke up to eat again! More cold cuts. Then Bjorn and I drove around Larvik a bit, found that nothing was going on, in fact, we saw exactly two people on the streets at all, walking their dogs. Darkness came, and we went out to the farm.
Bjorn grew up here, in this fine little village--I didn't get the name, unfortunately! i saw his school and the places he hung around. We crossed a sturdy looking bridge over a pure black river and went down a little dirt driveway (the VW bottomed out) and pulled up to his dad's place. As I got out, I could smell onions, one of the crops. Just a hint, scallions, on the breeze. Bjorn's dad is a man who likes to lute his own fisk, and I had expressed interest, by which he was delighted. Lutefisk is a running joke among Scandinavians and the people who observe them, and frequently singled out as an exercise in tolerance at best, not something you actually eat and enjoy. Bjorn's dad (also named Bjorn) pointed out that lutefisk used to be something only poor people ate, and it became a delicacy more recently (see also: almost all of French cuisine, especially the bits involving offal). Perhaps this is why it is the subject of ridicule, people's discomfort/guilt/disgust towards the poor--and the humor migrated along as a cover up. In fact, I found lutefisk delicious. You can read about how it's made
here on wikipedia. We had he traditional accompaniments--whole potatoes, mashed up peas, bacon, and some bacon fat to drip on the whole deal. I went light on the sides, and heavy on the fish. Bjorn sr. had done a top class job--you can really destroy lutefisk when you cook it, as the soaking process removes much of the protein, and the fish can fall apart. But this had still a bit of meaty consistency, a mild but pleasant cooked fish flavor, and I ate about a kilo of it. We also enjoyed lots of intelligent conversation (both of his parents seem well educated, arty, and interesting), some aquavit, and I even had a beer. Then we headed back before the roads got too slick.
LARVIK, 12/26
The last gig of the year, at Trudvang 'Castle'. Not so much a castle, but a decently sized hotel that's been around for 150 years or so. It's a homey place, it's sort of like a series of rec rooms from the (18?)70s, and some modern, basic guest rooms. Each year, the locals in Larvik, plus assorted homecomers, gather here for a massive to do--they sell tickets in fact, at NOK300 (about $55/€38), and it always sells out. I think they stuff about 450 people into this event. This year, musical guests were the Disciplines--our first show ever being the same event last year; Oslo indie orchestra
Truls and the Trees; Swedish funk heartthrob
Magnus Tingsek; and our man from London,
Josh Weller. Everybody performed marvelously, I have to say, and they were all extremely diverse in their musical approaches. Josh charmed all with his short acoustic set; Magnus and his band expertly changed instruments every other song and took the beasty beats to the highest level; the Truls filled the room with a merry blend of violin, vocals, drums, and other minstrel tools.
Ah, then our show. Well. I felt like we got that much better than the last show--Helsinki--and came on like a fully pro organization...but with plenty of heart and soul. We were on FIRE. And we were breathing that fire on the (extremely) drunk Norwegies, and they were DIGGING it. I think most of the audience was so drunk that they probably didn't *remember* the show, but, it's in there, somewhere. I got a lotta hugs from Magnus & band and T&TT; before the show, I thought these musicians were so good that they were gonna look at us like total rubes with our simplistic stuff...in fact, we are REALLY starting to sound like a weird mix of AC/DC, Joan Jett, and the Go Gos, and these folks told us they had just been to a ROCK CONCERT the likes of which they hadn't seen since they were kiddies. Wow! I spent a lot of time in the crowd--the young folks were behind a solid defensive line of Claus' dad and his two brothers, who looked like a kind of blonde version of the Green Bay Packers--in fact, when I went into the crowd again at one point, they picked me up and THREW me back onstage! Later, somehow, I jumped OVER them and landed on my feet in a small posse of, well, nice looking young gals, and one of them screamed in a kind of good way. It was spooky! No one got hurt.
For our encore we did the new, "American" version of the old chestnut "Oslo", which we haven't played since the last Trudvang show. Now it's much quieter, and sounds a bit like "Tequila Sunrise" by the Eagles. No shit. It worked! the second encore song was a rippin version of Solar Sister, with Magnus T. co-singing with me. Turns out he is a FOTB lover from the days of yore (people don't believe me when I say ALL Swedish musicians, from EVERY genre, love the Posies), and he did a great job singing the high bits and inventing some new harmonies so we could go in an unbroken line from beginning to end.
I didn't sell a single vinyl afterwards--everybody was down 300 k's, too drunk to care, too drunk to carry something around, and by the way, NOK300 doesn't get you any drinks, so....oh well. I did have a great time hanging with the musicians in the basement, drinking cognac or whatever we could find. We tried to have a big jam later around the piano, but we were all drunk and tired, and it was patently awful. So we all went to bed!
I woke up the next day, and came downstairs for coffee, amazed that the hotel didn't care that I was in the room til 3pm. I think they are so grateful for the business that 450 thirsty partygoers bring that they could give a shit about renting any rooms the next night. I bade farewell to Josh and then Disciplines tech Fredrik and I drove to Oslo. Fredrik is ALSO from Larvik, and is a marvelous, marvelous guy. He is studying criminology and his day job is working at a kind of prison!
That night we tried to go see a movie--but the internet ticketing went down, and by the time we got to town, everything was sold out. I came home to an empty flat, which was more than fine by me, and watched 'the Squid & the Whale', which had come for free with the local paper. Earlier I had dinner with Sara from Revolver Bar, who is helping out Disciplines with publicity--she handed me the latest issue of Spirit magazine, a free mag distributed on campuses all over Norway, that has a Disciplines blurb (with a great photo from our October Oslo show) in the December issue. It was here that I tried the other Norwegian Christmas delicacy,
pinnekjøtt--"stick meat", translated literally. Oh, come on, stop it. It's lamb ribs which are salted, smoked and steamed. So they are falling off the bone, but also sort of dry. You eat them wish mashed rutabaga and potatoes. Again, delicious!
This weekend we've been back at the studio, mostly working on/arguing about this new version of "Oslo". I think we've at last really turned it into something special...it's completely different from the rest of our music. Probably too sweet, but probably a hit single in Norway...and perhaps that's the only place we'll release it. Anyway, we have too many songs for this album, and more on the way via collaborations that I cannot yet divulge on this forum!
I also discovered perhaps the best coffee in Europe (in fact, the owner has won worldwide barista competitions) but I have to write about that next year, as I am going to get all the URL info tomorrow when I go in for a macchiato before the studio.
I was really pleased to get texts and emails from friends all over the world--e.g. a musician friend in Malaysia was thoughtful enough to text me on Christmas. I spoke on the phone with most of my family, and a few friends I hadn't heard from in too long.
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For this ending and beginning of years,
I hope everyone is able to appreciate the fragility of peace, the strength of forgiveness, the connection of ALL human beings...and bring forth a new year of greater tolerance, perspective, and generosity.
I will see you, somewhere.
Love
KS
Oslo NORWAY
