Johan Halvorsen

Johan Halvorsen (15 March 1864 – 4 December 1935) was a Norwegian composer, conductor and musician.

Born in Drammen, he was an accomplished violinist from a very early age and became a prominent figure in Norwegian musical life. He received his musical education in Kristiania (Oslo) and Stockholm, and was a concertmaster in Bergen before joining the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. There followed eight years in which he worked and studied abroad, first as a concertmaster in Aberdeen, then as a professor of music in Helsinki, and finally as a student once again, in St Petersburg, Berlin, and Liège.

Returning to Norway in 1893, he worked as conductor of the theatre orchestra at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen and of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He became concertmaster of the Bergen Philharmonic in 1885, and principal conductor in 1893. In 1899 he was appointed conductor of the orchestra at the newly-opened National Theatre in Kristiania, a position he held for 30 years until his retirement in 1929.

As well as theatre music, Halvorsen conducted performances of over 30 operas and also wrote the incidental music for more than 30 plays. Following his retirement from the theatre he finally had time to concentrate on the composition of his three great symphonies and two well-known Norwegian rhapsodies. Halvorsen's compositions were a development of the national romantic tradition exemplified by Edvard Grieg though written in a distinctive style marked by brilliant orchestration. His two best known works today are the Bojarenes inntogsmarsj (Entry March of the Boyars) and Bergensiana, along with his passacaglia on a theme by Handel for violin and viola.

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I want to SHIFT

HTC spit out new mobile devices faster that you can say B-L-O-G. It was only a week ago that I was raving about the upcoming Avantage. Well, at CTIA Wireless 2007 the Taiwanese company will showcase yet another hot little number, this time dubbed the HTC SHIFT. This sexy supermodel features 7-inch touchscreen, 30GB hard drive, Tri-Band UMTS/HSDPA, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi, and runs Windows Vista. Ka-Boom! Is it a mobile phone? Is it an UMPC? I don't know. But I know one thing. The laptop as we know it is heading for dinosaur status. The brand new X60 I am typing this very text on already seems like a heavy stone age machine. Leading gadget blogs reports that the SHIFT will be out in Q3 2007, so we can expect quite a showdown between Paul Allen's FlipStart, the OQO2 and HTC's Avantage and SHIFT small wonders. Note that all of the above are Windows powered. I wonder what is going on at the Apple and Google labs? The iPhone specs originally offered are no longer attractive for anyone expecting a PC in their hand. It is going to be a very exciting year for handhelds. HTC looks more and more like a serious contender for the throne. And what about a SONY Vaio Walkman CyberShot PlayStation UMPC with an Ericsson mobile phone inside? And what about the Korean powerhouses Samsung and LG? (Also watch out for SK Telekom's Helio Ocean project). Not to mention Motorola - no more RAZR's, please! - and market leader Nokia, whose Communicator model was a relatively successful first mover.

Oh, are you reading this on a BlackBerry?

Take a ride on the web:

http://www.htc.com
http://www.flipstart.com
http://www.oqo.com
http://www.apple.com/iphone
http://www.helio.com/#devices_ocean
http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/E61i
http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/9290
http://www.ctia.org
http://umpc.com
http://www.discoverblackberry.com

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Knut

"We Sold Our Soul For Rock'n'Roll"

Black Sabbath

Sometimes you strike gold on the web. Today, while looking at a Rhino Records promotion for "Black Sabbath - The Dio Years", I noticed a small, text-only link: "Watch videos by Black Sabbath". I was expecting a couple of crappy MySpace/YouTube-style Flash (hate that shit) embedded videos not worth watching because of the extremely poor quality. I can understand the popular concept of YouTube, but why on earth do they have to use such low-fi technology? Anyway, I opened up what turned out be is a small goldmine of Black Sabbath videos. Three beyond classic Black Sabbath recordings and a cover version of the 1955 Carl Perkins' classic Blue Suede Shoes in high-quality, stellar formats. You are given a selection of choice of the three de facto web video formats: QuickTime, RealPlayer and WindowsMedia. I picked the the 400K WM files and couldn't believe my luck. I mean, you rarely go to your DVD library and look for a 'The Story of Black Sabbath' type disc, load it and scare your entire family to death with a Black Sabbath video on the flat TV screen, right? You want to watch it on the web at the stroke of a key. Well, here they are. One click away. The videos are so amazing that I have posted them on no less than three blogs: my personal blog (you are here!), my music video blog (www.realvj.com) and the video blog section of my social network (www.bongorama.tv). Oh, and remember: these videos are from 1970-1971!! It doesn't get any better than this.

"Black Sabbath"
"Paranoid"

"Iron Man"

"Blue Suede Shoes"

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Scared of heights? Do NOT watch this video!

The Grand Canyon Skywalk is a tourist attraction, commissioned by the Hualapai Indian tribe, unveiled March 20, 2007 and to be opened to the public on March 28, 2007, along the Colorado River on the edge of the Grand Canyon in the U.S. state of Arizona. The Skywalk will be charging $25 per person in addition to other entry fees. The glass bridge is suspended 4,000 feet (1 219 meters) above the canyon, a height that eclipses the world's largest skyscrapers. Watch the video here [YouTube].

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C is for China? No, It's for...Cigarettes!

Faithful readers will know that I regularly post about the upcoming iPhone, the GooglePhone (that I've dubbed the gPhone, duh!) and other phone-related gadgets. Well, China just entered the race with a surprising set of features: a dualband GSM phone, MicroSD card, an MP3 player and...a pack of cigarettes! Enter the smokin' cPhone. Get it now, kids. [Thanks, Gearfuse].

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Åke Hermanson "Alarme"

There is rarely written about the Swedish composer Åke Hermanson and his works are seldom played or recorded. He grew up in Bohuslän near Norway and lived from 1923-1996. During his lifetime he composed about 30 works. Göran Bergendal recently collected 20 of his compositions for the double album "Alarme" (Caprice). The collection gives a good picture of Hermanson's dramatic style, as heard in chamber music, choir pieces and orchestral works. The double CD comes with an informative 84-page booklet with texts and pictures about Hermanson and his life. Read a review of the album in Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish) here.

Listen to 60 seconds of "Il nuce op. 7" [WindowsMedia] here.
Listen to 60 seconds of "Lyrisk metarmorfos op. 2" [WindowsMedia] here.

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My Neighbour's Dog

I want an Advantage! And I want it now!

Just four days ago I posted an ode to the miniature PC systems, some of them marketed as UMPC's. But today (thanks, Peter!) I heard about a Windows Mobile-powered phone, that looks like a real killer in the ultra portable, pocket PC landscape. Enter the HTC Advantage X7500. Note how the QWERTY keyboard detaches and how the relatively big screen jolts together again via a smart, magnetic feature. It runs 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth. Hallelujah. Apple's iPhone and Google's gPhone (my spelling, again) have to come up with some truly amazing shit to able to compete with this little motherfucker. Available in May, I am willing to commit a serious crime to get my hands on this asskickin' mini machine, built for the ultimate jet- and trendsetter.

Joe Hill

"I've Only Got Record Shops Left"

The Old Vic

White Flight

The Cramps "New Kind Of Kick" [iTunes Link]

Joy Division "Unknown Pleasures" (1979)

This is a beautiful, haunting, classic album by a great band with a controversial name.

Unknown Pleasures is the first album by Joy Division, released in 1979. It was produced by Martin Hannett and recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, England. The front cover image comes from an edition of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy, and was originally drawn with black lines on a white background. It presents exactly 100 successive pulses from the first pulsar discovered, PSR 1919+21 (often referred to in the context of this album by its older name, CP 1919). The cover design is credited to Joy Division, Peter Saville and Chris Mathan. The back cover of the album contains no track listings, leaving a blank table where one would expect the listings to be.

Joy Division refers to a group of women used as sex slaves in Nazi concentration camps, as depicted in Ka-tzetnik 135633's 1955 novel The House of Dolls. In the novel, the Joy Divisions were groups of Jewish women in the concentration camps during World War II who were kept for the sexual pleasure of Nazi soldiers, guards and favored prisoners. The band's name reflected a desire to challenge taboos, and this choice, along with Sumner's adoption of the surname Albrecht, garnered the band criticism for their perceived insensitivity. Accusations of neo-Nazism, a charge the group denied, dogged them for the remainder of the band's career. These accusations resurfaced after Joy Division broke up and reformed as New Order, a name sometimes interpreted as a reference to Adolf Hitler's speeches promising "the new order of the Third Reich", although the band have stated they got the name from a newspaper article on the new society the Khmer Rouge had envisaged for Cambodia.

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Mercedes CLK GTR

Autobahn

The German autobahns are famous for being some of the few public roads in the world without blanket speed limits for cars and motorcycles.

Mars Poster #2

"To the uninitiated, Mars may sound like listening to a laundromat magnified. That's because every instrument is making a sound, but who is making which sound? Instead of one direct sound or beat the music travels in at least 3 different directions, speeds of rhythm making a totally orbital sound, one that never really enters the ear instead spinning around the head. At times it sounds like tortured children singing in 7 different tongues."

Mars Poster #1

In 1978, Mars appeared on the influential No New York compilation LP produced by Brian Eno, along with DNA, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and James Chance and the Contortions, which helped to bring the nascent No Wave genre into the foreground.

Bye bye laptop, hello UMPC

Small is beautiful seems to be the overall theme at this years CeBIT. I no longer consider my (old) IBM ThinkPad T series portable, laptop computers. They are now permantly installed as

a) iTunes music station in the living room

b) projector feed machine in the home movie theatre
c) office pc on the desk

d) kitchen pc downstairs

My (new) 1kg X60's are the only computers I use as portable laptop PC's. 3-4 kg's just isn't portable. It's torture.

I love the X60 (with or without Bluetooth), but I am also looking at the upcoming alternatives:

Paul Allen's Flipstart looks funky and runs Vista, the second generation OQO looks like a must-have and also runs Vista, but my money is on the 'real' UMPC's coming from Asus, Samsung and Sony and backed by Microsoft (the project was originally codenamed 'Origami').

So long laptop PC's, hello UMPC's.

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Flou Kids

The Eagles "Victim of Love"

Just heard this track as an outro to an episode of ENTOURAGE (the one with Mandy Moore). I keep getting back to this classic album. [iTunes USA].

Beastie Boys

The first time I experienced Beastie Boys live was at the Brixton Academy in London. They had just released their first album. They were throwing beer around and the whole venue was one big party. I remember I ended up in the VIP room, where we were drinking hard with Shane McGowan from the Pogues. I believe Matt Dillon was there, too. It was many years ago. This summer, I am gonna see Beastie Boys again. They are headlining this years Roskilde Festival.

Shout Out Out Out Out (Poster #3)

Shout Out Out Out Out (Poster #2)

Shout Out Out Out Out (Poster #1)

Gisele @ Vanity Fair

Masahiko Fujiwara

The model of liberal democracy that Japan inherited is flawed, Fujiwara says. As well as putting faith in unreliable masses – he prefers a cool-headed elite – it overemphasises rationality. “You really need something more. You might say that Christianity is one such thing. But for us Japanese, we don’t have a religion such as Christianity or Islam, so we need to have something else: deep emotion.”

“I always say Japan should be extraordinary; it should not be an ordinary country. We became a normal country, just like other big nations. That’s all right for them. But we have to be isolated, especially mentally.”

Another plate comes – they are piling up on his side of the table – this one featuring scallop arranged as if by angels. “Chinese dishes, of course, are very delicious. But so far as beauty is concerned,” he says, as he examines the display before us, “we pay great attention to aesthetics. In writing we have shodo [calligraphy] and for flowers we have ikebana [flower arrangement].”

In England, he had been shocked to see esteemed Cambridge professors slurping their tea from mugs. “We have tea ceremony. Everything we make into art.”

Japan should learn from England; how to decline with elegance, how to decay with elegance.”

Lunch with the FT: Masahiko Fujiwara

Kevin Berlin

MotoGP @ Qatar

The motorsports season officially begins today with the first MotoGP Grand Prix in Qatar. The legendary Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) (pictured, with his 'furry' number 46) is on pole position along with Casey Stoner (Ducati) and Colin Edwards (Yamaha) in the front row. Last years champion Nicky Hayden (Honda) starts from position 9. There are three race engine classes, the 125cc, the 250cc and the MotoGP series (last year 990cc, but riding 800cc machines this year).

MotoGP is the king of road racing and the bike equivalent of F1 for cars. F1 begins next week in Australia. I am so excited. I grew up with motorsports around me. I still live for and love motorsports.

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Sean Lennon live on Late Show with David Letterman 09.26.06 [YouTube]

Sean Lennon performs the hauntingly sweet "Dead Meat" from his "Friendly Fire" album.

Sean Lennon "Dead Meat" (U.S. single)

Alan McGhee has a good set of ears on his Scottish head. Discovering and working with bands like The Jesus & Mary Chain and Oasis makes a cool CV. I just checked one of his recent playlists and on top was this track by Sean Ono Lennon. I know Yoko Ono has a new record out and I know that Sean Lennon hangs out with The Beastie Boys, but what I didn't know was that this is possibly one the most amazing songs ever recorded. Oh, man this is beautiful. Buy immediately!

I have played this song 10 times in a row now. I am never gonna stop playing it. Never ever. God.

PS. This guy must be the coolest person on the planet. Very charming interview here.

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Toronto Star

It seems like all the cool bands are coming out of Canada these days (The Arcade Fire, Tokyo Police Club, etc.). So I figured I'd better start reading some Canadian newspapers and magazines. I am starting out with the Toronto Star.

The Smashing Pumpkins "Mayonaise"

Fool enough to almost be it
Cool enough to not quite see it
Doomed
Pick your pockets full of sorrow
And run away with me tomorrow
June
We'll try and ease the pain
But somehow we'll feel the same
Well, no one knows
Where our secrets go
I send a heart to all my dearies
When your life is oh so dreary
Dream
I'm rumored to the straight and narrow
While the harlots of my perils
Scream
And I fail
But when I can, I will
Try to understand
That when I can, I will
Mother weep the years I'm missing
All our time can't be given
Back
Shut my mouth and strike the demons
That cursed you and your reasons
Out of hand and out of season
Out of love and out of feeling
So bad
When I can, I will
Words defy the plan
When I can, I will
Fool enough to almost be it
And cool enough to not quite see it
And old enough to always feel this
Always old, I'll always feel this
No more promise no more sorrow
No longer will I follow
Can anybody hear me
I just want to be me
When I can, I will
Try to understand
That when I can, I will

The Soprano’s on April’s Vanity Fair cover

"CONGRATULATIONS, you have the Latest version of Java!"

Triumph Scrambler 2006

The Scrambler is a redefinition of the off-road machines made famous by 60’s thrill seekers such as Steve McQueen. Very few motorcycles can claim to be unique but the Scrambler, thanks to its authentic styling, is most certainly one of them. The flat seat, small headlight and single, round-faced speedometer mark its difference, likewise the pair of high-level exhaust pipes, each wearing an evocative heat shield.

The Scrambler’s 865cc, DOHC, parallel twin-cylinder, eight-valve, air-cooled engine uses a 270° crank firing interval for a characterful and torquey power delivery. Using a strong tubular steel cradle frame and supple suspension front and rear – 41mm telescopic forks and twin chromed spring preload-adjustable rear shocks – the Scrambler is built tough, to iron out the bumps.

Fittingly for such an individual machine, a whole range of Triumph factory accessories are available for the Scrambler, all of which enhance its looks as well as adding functionality. They include a bash plate to protect the underneath of the engine, headlamp grille, number boards for the sides, tachometer, handlebar brace and a single seat and rack.

The Scrambler has a distinct look, feel and personality all its own. It offers iconic style, genuine usability. You get on some bikes and you feel like you’re on public transport. You get on a Scrambler, you feel like you’re on holiday.

Why not visit your dealer for a test ride?

1964 Ford Mustang TV Commercial (Tiffany Award)

Mustang Television ad (1964)

"gPhone"

Everybody is raving about the upcoming iPhone. But hey, apparently is is not even a 3G phone, let alone Turbo 3G. But let's see. For me, however, the 'genuine' iTunes integration could be the killer app that turns me into mobile music players (I still use my laptops for music playback).

Enter 'gPhone' (my spelling), the upcoming phone from the wiz kids at Google Labs. That is exciting stuff. Blogger Simeon Simeonov has more. He elaborates on Tony Perkins' AlwaysOn.

Oh, it seems there's also a 'ZenPhone' in the works. And wait, the CEBIT rumour mill also has a 'ZunePhone' going around. Let the phone-with-a-letter-attached-to-it-and-a-music-player-too wars begin!

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David Shrigley, Glasgow Artist, Scotland, UK

"Usine sur la Mer du Japon"

Bai Ling was on television again today

Faithful readers of this blog will know that the chinese actress Bai Ling pops up now and then. Dressed or undressed. Not only is Bai Ling a hot number she is also a very accomplished actress.

Last night I watched the 1997 movie Red Corner, where Bai plays the attorney of Richard Gere, who is wrongly accused of raping and murdering a model in a hotel room under the influence of 'a lot of alcohol'.

Jessey Meng plays Hong Ling, the dead girl.

It is a classic Hollywood court drama, set in Beijing.

Watch the original trailer for the movie here [WindowsMedia, 300K].

Oh, and by the way: Bai Ling is bisexual and used to date Chris Isaak.

Robert Wyatt "Memories"

Today, I decided that this is my favourite song [iTunes]. It has also been recorded by the avantgarde-disco-jazz collective Material [iTunes] fronted by Bill Laswell (note the fretless bass). The vocalist is a very young Whitney Houston. The saxophone player is the legendary Archie Shepp.

"Substrom"

Disco producer Giorgio Moroder designs sports car

In the mid 1980s, Giorgio Moroder and sports car specialist Claudio Zampolli decided they wanted to create something truly unique. Their vision was of the ultimate super-luxury, super-performance sports car. This car borrowed from the realm of rich men's daydreams would offer everything the wealthiest might want in such a vehicle-bold innovative styling, custom manufacturing, greatly enhanced performance, and infinite luxury. Combining their names (Cizeta is Italian for C.Z., Zampolli's initials), the two men decided to refer to their supercar as the Cizeta-Moroder.

Riots in Copenhagen: The Beautiful People are angry!

Here is an Associated Press report, posted on the CNN web site:

Police searched homes in the Danish capital on Saturday for activists involved in street clashes that began when police evicted squatters from an abandoned building that has served as a center for anarchists, leftists and punk rockers.

Two nights of violence between police and youths protesting the eviction have turned parts of the Danish capital into a battlefield strewn with burning cars and shattered glass.

Two new demonstrations started Saturday afternoon, with hundreds of people marching peacefully toward Copenhagen's main square, Danish media reported.

As the smoke and tear gas cleared Saturday morning, police said 188 people were arrested overnight, bringing the total number of arrests to about 400 since the riots started on Thursday.

"In the last 10 years we haven't had riots like we've seen in the past two days," police spokesman Flemming Steen Munch said. He said police performed house searches early Saturday in "many places" in Copenhagen to track down activists, but declined to give details.

Vandals covered Copenhagen's famed Little Mermaid statue with pink paint. It was not clear whether the riots were linked with the defacement of the statue, which in the past has been beheaded and doused in paint and been blown off her perch by vandals who used explosives.

Police said foreign activists from Sweden, Norway and Germany joined hundreds of Danish youth, hurling cobblestones at riot police and setting cars on fire. In a sign the Danish youth expected foreign help, the Web page of "Ungdomshuset," or the youth house, posted a warning in English that Danish police had increased border controls.

"This is a display of anger and rage after more than seven years of struggle to keep what is ours," Jan, a 22-year-old activist who said he has been coming to the building for the last 10 years, told The Associated Press by telephone. He declined to give his last name, saying that was the norm among the people frequenting the building.

The eviction had been planned since last year, when courts ordered the squatters to hand the building over to a Christian congregation that bought it six years ago.

The squatters refused to leave, saying the city had no right to sell the building, which has hosted concerts with performers like Australian Nick Cave and Icelandic singer Bjork. They have demanded another building for free as a replacement.

Authorities say it has also been a staging point for numerous left-wing demonstrations that turned violent in recent years.

The clashes were Denmark's worst since May 18, 1993, when police fired into a crowd of rioters protesting the outcome of a European Union referendum. Ten of the protesters were wounded.

Justice Minister Lene Espersen urged the protesters "to regain their composure."

Sympathy protests were held in Hamburg, northern Germany, and in Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Danish Music Awards 2007 - the real winners!

Tonight, the Danish music industry, will celebrate itself and the artists, who made a difference last year, at the Danish Music Awards 2007 TV show and after party.

Here are the winners:

1. Male singer of the year: Kim Munk
2. Female singer of the year: Lise Blaase
3. Band of the year: The Ondt & The Gracehoper
4. Newcomer of the year: Breum
5. Album of the year: Heimat Connetive
6. Rock album of the year: The Floor Is Made Of Lava
7. Pop album of the year: The Broken Beats
8. Folk album of the year: Snake And Jet's Amazing Bullit
9. MySpace artist of the year: Choir of young believers
10. Indie album of the year: In Case The Japanese Guy Dies
11. Hip hop album of the year: Mary&Mary
12. Children album of the year: Charlie Dont Surf
13. Hit of the year: Bryan Rice
14. Songwriters of the year: Jannis Makrigiannis
15. Producer of the year: Anders Rhedin
16. Music Video of the year: Mikael Simpson/Niels Gråbøl
17. International new artist of the year: Viking Moses
18. International album of the year: Mellowdrone
19. Bongorama special award: Efterklang
20. Ronnie Rocket special award: Grizzly Bear

Elefant "The Black Magic Show"

Amazon.com's smart technology recommended me this album because I bought the Mellowdrone album (2++6 album of the year?). Well, the technology works, because I am now buying the album. [iTunes USA here].

AMAZON.COM: Elefant frontman Diego Garcia leveraged a privileged upbringing to indulge his taste in Bowie and the '80s UK Ian Curtis/Robert Smith/Morrisey pantheon via his workhorse NYC-based club band. The three years of heavy touring that followed their well received Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid debut has toughened up Elefant's sonic hide considerably on this follow-up, offering an intriguing atmospheric backdrop for Garcia's lyrical postures. Those literary (the title track and single "Lolita" reference Russian classics) and cinematic (the Black Orpheus-rooted "Brasil") allusions balance nimbly between intellectual ambition and artistic pretense, powered by a solid pop craftsmanship beneath their moody textures and driving beats. Fused with the album's unusual creative genesis (most of the songs were written in Garcia's ancestral Argentina home), those sensibilities imparts an inviting exoticism that stretches from the predictable cabaret angst of "Sirens" and upbeat "Uh Oh Hello" to more challenging hybrids like "The Clown" and "Why." Garcia and company wear their '80s influences proudly throughout, yet bring enough fresh ideas to the mix to avoid being mere slaves to precious retro-fashion.

"I really love dark background with soft light.. "

Entourage, Season 2, Episode 14, "Chinatown"

Everybody knows that the HBO television shows rock.

Most girls love 'Sex And The City'. The weird ones with a death fetisch watch 'Six Feet Under'.

Most boys love 'The Sopranos'. The weird ones with a cowboy fetisch watch 'Deadwood'.

I watch 'Entourage'. I especially love this episode with a guest appereance by Bai Ling. Oh, here's a picture of Bai in Playboy. Another PB pix here. Cover here. You may also like this picture.

The show is produced by Academy Award-nominee Mark Wahlberg and is apparently based on his personal life in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

SYNOPSIS: To help pay the bills, Ari lands Vince a gig appearing in a lucrative foreign commercial. The benefits extend beyond the financial compensation, as Vince also manages to bed his beautiful stunt coordinator. Meanwhile, Turtle decides to make his own bank by entering an Xbox boxing tournament, but he gets ousted early on by a young gaming prodigy. Eric continues to stress out, since he's not able to get an advance print of "Queens Boulevard" for James Cameron. Luckily, the A-list director agrees to attend the Sundance screening of the film, offering hope that Vince may still end up with the "Aquaman" role.