Why Must I Love The Old To Love The New?

Last night we saw Ozzy at the old Malmoe Stadion. I confess, I have no genuine "relations" to neither Ozzy nor Black Sabbath. I have listened to a whole bunch of songs and appreciate/like many of those. I also agree that without Ozzy and Sabbath maybe Heavy Metal wouldn't be what it is today. When I grew up basically the only Metal music I heard was through the wall when my kid brither played Kiss, Dio, WASP, Metallica, Iron Maiden etc.

What I have experienced though is that most of those metal heads that grew up with the old metal gets stuck there? It's like the old timers grewing up with Elvis and still only listen to Elvis. (Just to make it clear I think Elvis was great!) The only new heavy metal bands they start to like are those who sound like the old 70's (or 80's) bands.

I like to say that I listen to Heavy Metal/hard rock (and punk and pop and...) but somehow, in those "old timers" eyes I always seem to get dismissed as not being a metal head since I don't love the old ones. I've never listened to more than a couple of songs from Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, Whitesnake and so on. Some of them I liked most of them I didn't. I am one of those that started listening to Metallica after the black album (even though I have now gone back and find many of their old songs to be quite good). I'm sorry that I can't appreciate a 10 minute guitar or drum solo and I definitely can't see the point of that. I don't like the "blues-style" metal so AC/DC and ZZ Top is OK for a song or two then they get boring in my ears.

In these days with Spotify etc I often find new and interesting bands to listen to and I don't glue myself to my old record ceollection and dismiss everything else. When it comes to conserts I've seen a few. With bands I loved, bands I hated, bands I didn't know anything about and, as the case of Ozzy last night, bands I know some about but have no "relations" to. Last night's show I found boring and uninspired.

So to all "old time"-metal heads out there I ask: Why must I love the old to love the new?
And I ask a question back: Why are you so hung up on the music you grew up with that you can't appreciate anything else? Are you afraid of loosing your genuin metalness?

Come On! The world of music is endless. Keep rocking, popping or whatever, but open your minds and ears. There might be some really good tunes out there that you're missing because you're afraid to let go.

Oh no... It's Alive!!!
Greetings followers and accidental visitors. It's been a bit over 6 months since my last confession. Since then my broken heart has been partly fixed (because can a broken heart ever be fully restored?). Music and movies, the actual main reasons for me starting to write this, has once a again taken a big part of my spare time - and i LOVE IT!

So, just a quick music and movie tip for you:
Music: Try to find the beautiful track (and cover version) "Here Comes The Sun" by Ghost. In times like this when Summer is just around the corner, struggling to break to harsh chains of Winter, this is the song that could definitely mark its entrance and once again paint the world green. Wonderful!
Movie: Well, actually a TV series classic. I recently bought a new copy of "Black Books". If you love british, dark, humour then I hope by all that's holy that you haven't missed this series from the early 2000s.

Well then. I'm Still Alive (Don't I Deserve To Be? Is That The Question?)

Rock On, maggots!

Blue and Alone...

Greetings emptiness!

Tonight I've been on a journey.

It started with my chest being ripped open and my soul totally revealed and teared apart in the most devine way. I saw Weeping Willows live at Babel in Malmoe. The melancholia, the sorrow, the broken hearts...

"We will never kiss again - I'm under a spell since you've gone
 We will never touch  again - I'm under a curse and I know...
 I feel so blue and alone..."

What started out as Heaven within the sorrow turned into Hell on my way home. When reading this I sence you might start thinking about muggings, abuse etc... but (probably due to mixing a couple of beers with the coctail of heartburst) it was my inner demons suddenly deciding to visit.

I saw the cars driving by on the street and it took me all my remaining strength to keep myself from stepping out in the street. It would have been so easy. One step - no encore.

But, I made it home and I'll probably wake up in the morning again. Hopefully the demons are not there... Tomorrow party time again:

"People say I'm the light of the party - because I tell a joke or two
 Although I may be laughing loud and hearty - deep inside I'm blue
 So take a good look at my face - you see my smile looks out of place
 If you look closer it's easy to trace - the tracks of my tears"

So, cruel world. I've fought the demons tonight- I managed to chase them away... this time...

Tomorrow, I fear they'll walk by my side again, trying to paint a beautiful and seductive picture of eternety.

Friends don't crucify!

Today Easter is on. All the witches our off to their annual Quidditch-game.

Sorry I haven't been writing much the last couple of months.I have been evaluating. What you might ask. Well, mostly life in general. And I must say that right now things are, at least, ok. Not super but then again not totally f**k'd up.

One of the main reason why I can actually call life ok today is friends. I'm not talking about that lame swedish pop/dance band group, but people who support, listen and are offering a shoulder to cry on if needed.

In the modern Face Book world the expression Friends have lost some of its meaning but take a minute to think about it. Friend. What does it mean to you? What is a true friend?

I am married to my best friend, I have friends at work and outside of work, friends hundred of miles away. I have true friends on FB and I even have, believe it or not, friends that are not even on FB. Friends that I know won't stab me in the back and friends thet won't crucify me when I feel sorry about myself after having a couple of beers.

This post is for all of you (and you know who you are). Thank you for being there when I need you and I hope you feel I'll be there for you if the shit hits the fan.

Last weekend I saw a wonderful movie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet which really incorporated the expression friends. "Micmacs" from 2009. If you haven't seen it - Do. And while you're at it, dont miss some of his other great movies, fx. Delicatessen and City of the Lost Children.

Where's Johnny?

Where's Johnny? I caught myself thinking this today while watching the new Narnia movie. It sure felt a lot like Pirates of the Caribbean so naturally I was missing Jack Sparrow ie Johnny Depp.

"Here's Johnny!" Remember "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson. A really scary movie. But interesting to think that in the first example (Pirates) you have Johnny playing Jack, and the the second (Shining) you have Jack proclaiming "Here's Johnny".

One of my favourite songs of the 80's was "Johnny Come Home" by the Fine Young Cannibals. Oh, how I loved that song. Played it over and over.

Otherwise my favourite Johnny in music is of course the man in back, ie mr Johnny Cash himself. What a voice!

So, "Where's Johnny?". Well, Depp is the Tourist, Jack is not as scary anymore, the Cannibals are no more and Mr Cash is entertaining the Lord, but I guess there are millions of other great Johnnys out there and we all have our own Johnny-memories when hearing that name.

Ruby slippers on a lonely day

New Year's weekend has been great but waking up lonely this morning sucked. I looked around and "Toto, I guess we're not in Kansas anymore" or as Prince once sang "I woke up this morning could have sworn it was judgement day". All I wanted to do was to put on those ruby slippers, tap the heels together three times and chant "There's no place like home, there's no place like home". So, feeling sad and lonely most of the day was spent watching season 2 of "Californication". Still wonderful but maybe not as good as season 1.

Aiming for a better day tomorrow. Guess I'll start watching season 3 as well.

Still, I'm happy that I finally saw "The Wizard of Oz" this weekend. Definitely a classic. An awesome movie and it's hard to believe it was recorded in 1939.

Tonight I watched a weird swedish movie called "Karaoke kungen". One and a half hour of my life wasted. Great! Yeah, I know. If it was so lousy why didn't I stop watching sooner, but that's me. I like to finish books and movies that I started watching/reading.

Now it's passed midnight here in Sweden. Tuesdays are usually the worst day of the week, but maybe not this week. Guess I'll follow the yellow brick road and see where it takes me.

Me and Hank and a cold beer

Well, friends, it's been a while but now I'm back.

Considering I've just ordered season 3 of Californication on DVD I thought it was about time that I actually started to watch the show. Man, it's awesome! Tonight I've watched half of the first season and I'm actually considering staying up all night watching the second half of it too.

Hank (David Duchovny) is a sad character. I can really relate to a lot of things in his character. Or maybe it's just the beer(s) making my thoughts blurry.

Ah, well, it's past midnight. I guess I'll hit the sack and continue watching tomorrow.

Goodnight, Hank!