Small town, big feelings (I): Best wishes for Marie

We have news about the work of P, C & C team but we want to begin with best wishes for Marie Fredriksson because a lot of things - unfortunately not all of them good - happened tduring the last months in the year 2002, according to Visa Kopu, from The Daily Roxette. These are Visa's words, I could not explain it better.

"We were shocked by the events of September 11th - and by a strange twist of fate, on the exact same date this year, Marie Fredriksson fainted after returning home from jogging. She sustained a contussion and while being treated for that, tests revealed that Marie had a brain tumor. The tumor was later removed successfully, but it still left Marie in pain and she is being treated with chemotherapy. “It’s up and down, she has good days and not so good days. On a scale, she is pretty bad … but she’s a strong and tuff gal so she will be back!” said Per Gessle in an interview with Halmstad’s radio station recently.

Marie’s illness also changed Roxette’s plans for the autumn. They were supposed to participate in a unique tour, performing as the headline act of the “Night of the Proms” concert series. They did not, however, change their plans to release a ballad hit compilation in October, The Ballad Hits.” The ballad album featured two new songs, “A Thing About You” - which was also released as a single - and “Breathe”. In Radio Halland interview, PG concludes: “The only thing that we canceled was the tour. I’m sure [Marie’s illness] in itself won’t affect Roxette’s being or not being. It may affect how we work in the future though".

The new songs, A thing about you (ATAY) and Breathe, were recorded by Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson in June 2002 at Polar Studios Stockholm with the following musicians:

• Per Gessle: vocals and acoustic guitar.
• Marie Fredriksson: lead vocals (Breathe) and backing vocals (ATAY)
• Clarence Öfwerman: Producer, mixer and programmer
• Christoffer Lundquist: acoustic guitar (Breathe), bass (ATAY) and backing vocals
• Jonas Isaacson: electric guitar
• MP Persson: Acoustic guitars (ATAY, from T&A Studio)
• Ronny Lahti: mixer
• Shooting Star: programmer
• Milla Andersson: backing vocals (ATAY, from T&A Studio)

During the promotion of the Ballad Hits in Europe, between October and December 2002, Per has talked about Marie and about new projects after the Pop Hits. As Judith Seuma, from TDR, tell us in August, before Marie's illness, Per continues thinking about a Swedish album. He has recently been in the countryside, in the South of Sweden, close to Malmö, where Christoffer Lundquist owns a music studio.

On 29th November, in Brussels, Belgium, Per said: “A Gyllene Tider reunion is definitely possible,” he continued. “It might be a tour next year, but we’ll see what happens. I’m also going into the studios to record some of my solo-work. I’m gathering a band to do that. Of course”, he smiled, “I don’t have a record deal yet.”

In an interview in the Swedish Railway System Review, Per said: “It’s damned fun to work with Marie, she is one of my best friends, like a sister. We have a history together, a song book people like. Now I feel ready for something in Swedish. I have so many songs that knock and want to come out… don’t know if it will be me solo or Gyllene Tider. I’m not inclined to either. I’m not used working in a band anymore though. In Roxette it’s me and Marie that rule all,” he laughs.

By the way, according to Magnus Börjeson, Beagle and Favorita Web, the Norwegian singer Vibeke Saugestad is working at AGM Studio in her second album, Overdrive, that will be released in 2003. The album is produced by Christoffer Lundquist and the musicians are David Birde (Brainpool), Magnus Börjeson (Beagle), Morten Henriksen and Tomas Dahl (Yum Yums). David and Magnus are the songwriters of most of the songs.

Magnus Börjeson's band, Beagle, is on NotLame's Bubblegum tribute album, Right to chews, released on 13th November 2002. Magnus Börjeson has recorded Edison Lighthouse's 1970 hit Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) in the AGM Studio. The bubblegum songs of the late '60s and early '70s were (mostly) commercially produced singles, written by professionals and recorded by attractive young acts for the maximum commercial appeal. Much like the teen pop movements of the late '80s or late '90s, this produced a mountain of dreck, but also like those teen pop movements, there were some moments of greatness. "I've always been a big fan of bubblegum and when I heard that NotLame was putting together a tribute I knew I had to be on it", says Magnus. Also appearing on the track is another bubblegum fan. Ola Främby (ex-The Girls), singer and songwriter from the same town as Magnus, Lund. You can listen to a snippet of the song (and an extra one) in Magnus' web:

W E L L, I T ' S· O N L Y· P A I N
· LO V E· G R O W S (Where My Rosemary Goes)·

LJdM

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IAT was founded in 2002 by Avi Roig. Everything on the site is written, coded, conceived and designed by Mr. Roig unless otherwise noted. Avi currently resides in Olympia, Washington - about an hour or so south of Seattle. His brother, Jon Roig, wrote the basic code for the content management system which has since been modified heavily. Nick Forte designed the logo. The login/posting code is based off an old version of the BCO message board system. The store system runs on X-Cart. The streaming audio is handled by Jeroen Wijering's Flash Mp3 Player with a little help from James Heinrich's getID3() script.

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Avi Roig, from Olympia, WA, US - It's a trap!

Sandy Mouche Autumn and Winter gigs (II): Sandy Autumn in Malmö (II)

Sandy Mouche continue their gigs on the demostage of Malmö. This time in two cafés.

* Element Café & Design, Malmö 2002 · 11 · 30

Situated at Löjtnantsgatan 4, Element is an oriental-inspired café where students often hang out to read, chat or play a game of backgammon.

* Café Panora, Malmö 2002 · 12 · 05

Situated at Sankt Gertrudsgatan 4A, I've read somewhere that Café Panora is a small place where films and live music are shown.

LJdM

Helena Josefsson, backing singer at AGM Studios (IV): Winokur's Swedish Diary (IV)

Justin Winokur has finished the first recording sessions for his new album at AGM Studios with Christoffer Lundquist. Helena Josefsson has taken part as backing singer. The album could be finished in Spring 2003.

LJdM

My evening started out quite alright. Christoffer had to spend about 10 hours editing vocals. So, my plan was to go to Malmö, drop off a DVD of some tracks for a friend of Christoffer, visit Eggstone at Tambourine Studios, and then go to Copenhagen for the evening.

Tambourine Studios is not flashy at all from the outside, but studios never are unless they are begging to be broken into. There was no sign, no name placard, no hint at what goes on inside the doors. I rang a bell and a man in his early thirties opened the door. He introduced himself as Maurits from Eggstone. Then I met Patrick from Eggstone and finally Per. They seemed a little shy at first, as the exact relationship between us was unclear. I was in a way a fan, but also a peer. I was a potential studio client and also a humble child in the presence of musical heroes. Per Sunding invited me to the Crunchy Frog Records Christmas party this Saturday in Copenhagen.

From left to right: Patrick Bartosch, Justin Winokur, Maurits Carlsson and Per Sunding

My next goal was to meet David Birde from Brainpool at the Malmö Central Station to give him the key to the broken Volvo. His job was to get it fixed for me early the next morning so I could get to work on time. Per Sunding and Hannah (his girlfriend and business manager for The Cardigans) offered to drive me to the station. Getting a ride in a proper car beats the pants off of taking a taxi, so I obliged. We talked about how with Americans, friends are easy come easy go, but in Sweden you have five friends your whole life. Per said that Brainpool was a perfect example, as was Eggstone. They all met at a young age and have been inseparable ever since.

I guess I should go to Copenhagen and see what happens there. My goal is to have some fun and find a cheap or free place to sleep.

Update (4.12.2002): California. I am home. My body aches and I feel so sick. I feel as if I ate something both poisonous and hallucinagenic at the same time. My body is shaky and my stomach trembles: patterns move in front of my eyes. And, being at work is just horrible. But, I finished eight songs and have rough mixes of four of them with me. The other rough mixes will be done in about four weeks, I think. Then we will figure out what changes need to be made for the final mixes. By that time it will be time for me to go back for another three days to record the last two songs for the record. I can't believe I got so much done in so little time. I don't miss Sweden. But, I didn't miss CA either. I missed some of my friends and loved ones. But, I feel a bit out of place here now.

Justin Winokur - JW Diary