I then went to get some food and finally started to play at Karl-Johans gate something past 9. Shortly, however, I had to stop when a lady from the parliament building told me there was a meeting in progress. Eventually, again, I tried many other places, the one that turned out to be the best being further down the street, almost at National theatre. There, a funny thing happened, when a small boy (perhaps 8 years old) joined me for a jam, plugging in his electro acoustic guitar. He was really good, especially given his age, and we even did a little version of Sultans of swing. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture, but wish young mr. Tord lots of luck on his guitarist career awaiting him :)
In the evening, I went to see my "home" Toastmasters club and was amazed by the attendance and the quality of the meeting, as well as happy to see many old faces. And after the meeting, one more old friendly face - that of Ondro :)
That evening, I was literally dead - after three days of playing, travelling, sleeping on overnight buses and getting used to the cold Scandinavian weather, I really welcome Ondro's hospitality, his great soup and segedin and a good night of sleep after which I felt like human again. Thanks man!
In the morning, I met also Roman and we were set to go for the day we gathered here for - 10th of June and a concert of Mark Knopfler in Frogner park. We managed a quick street jam, as well as meeting old colleagues in Rubrikk before, and then we went to the park, joining an allready big queue at the entrance gate.
Long story short, Mark played the best concert I've ever seen him play. He and his band clearly enjoyed themselves and the sunlit atmosphere of a crowd of several thousands. The amazing Hillfarmer's blues, Sultans, Song for Sonny Liston, all the encores and many others have made it clear that he still plays and sings at the very top level - with the latter I would even say better then ever before.
We concluded the day with having some škvarky and bacon that Roman brough, and that almost matched the quality of Mark's playing (if you can compare that to škvarky) but that also caused funny dreams, such as that of a big green snake chasing Roman in some appartment (I mean, that was his dream, I was playing ice hockey with some of my AIMS students from Ghana).
Inspired by Mark, we jammed with Roman the following two days by National theatre, till our fingers almost bled. Playing the whole day, I repeat myself, is tough work. But its also lots of fun, e.g. when 5 Norwegians came and said "you are Mark Knopfler right" and took several pictures with me:D or when another musician named Benjamin stopped by and sang a couple of his really good songs. The guy has left high school for music and has recently signed with a label - an example of someone who's bet all on it, but it pays out eventually. I guess it won't be my case, but there's something in the music, that keeps me dragging back. Writing lyrics, suddenly getting idea for music, funny combinations that occur in unpredictable manner and come from, well, a different world. And then of course, closing your eyes and playing. If there's one thing I'll never fully understand, it's music. But then, I guess I don't really want to.
Still to come in Oslo is another jam, going for a swim, pizzas and a mega-super-kick-ass-turbo party at Aiesec - at least that's the way its usually presented. In reality, it can never match any of the adjectives.. At least not for me - "Party" has been redefined for me - by discussing quantum at Aims, street jammig at Karl-Johan's gate or having midnight škvarky with Ondro and Roman. You know, having fun :-)
Next stop - extending horizons in Bergen. Howgh
No comments:
Post a Comment