He shoots, he scores

Growing up, ice hockey was a sort of mysterious sport that I never got a chance to really play, not in an organized manner at least. I remember some attempts on a friend's backyard pond one winter. I could skate pretty good, had average moves, wasn't a goon, needed someone to give me some tips with my slap shot. But, all I could really think about was how hard that puck was compared to my face.

I faired better at street hockey, on Rollerblades. That bright orange ball bounced into various lawns and we ran after it through those lawns on our skates. Neighbors complained and we didn't care. Cars drove by us interrupting play and we gave the drivers dirty looks as if they had driven onto an ice rink or a baseball diamond. This was street hockey, and it was our street. We made goals out of PVC piping and used old bed sheets as nets. If you cranked up a slap shot or flicked your wrist shot just right you'd blast the ball through the sheet, down the street's length until it came to a rest somewhere in the cul-de-sac.

When I was a kid my parents got cable TV. This was some time in the late '80s. I was used to baseball, football and basketball on free television but with this new access to cable I was plugged into the weird world of professional hockey. These guys were rough and gross-looking. Most of them had stringy hair and 5 o'clock shadows. They could throw their sticks and gloves down in the middle of the game and start fighting; the referees would surround them and watch, not break it up. The first game I ever saw was the Chicago Black Hawks vs. the Detroit Red Wings. Before the game they showed an octopus being shoveled off the ice. I liked this because I didn't understand it.

A couple of my all-time favorites...

Murray Bannerman


Dennis Savard


and of course Bob Probert and Tie Domi



And wouldn't you know that quite a few of the names NHL fans throw around come from this place I'm living now? Eventhough I couldn't follow the Swedish commentators' banter I could always pick out names like Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin and Nicklas Lidström. I'd been hearing these names for years back home on good old cable TV.


Theses veterans (as well as rookie goalie Henrik Lundqvist) lead Sweden to Olympic gold last night, and it was a wonderful thing to watch. People are sort of freaking out around here and the team's win has spread good vibes throughout the country. The massive gathering in celebration of the win in Stockholm today looked like quite the party.

This is a secret journal. Don't read this.

You know how people always tell you to "live in the now"? I totally am. I have no other choice. I can mainly only talk in present tense. My language class hasn't really gotten to the concept of the past or the future just yet.

Everything is going on right now and if you blink you might just miss it.

So to help me along in my education I've started with Swedish literature. I'm only reading the classics. And by classics I mean books intended for 10 year olds; you've gotta start somewhere. I'm about 3 pages into 'Berts Dagbok' (Bert's Diary). Bert is an 11 year old boy who keeps a diary about his school life. So far I've been reading about his overall thoughts of his classmates. The ones that like horses, which is surprisingly most of them, get low marks while others who are good at chatting up girls or excel in sports are tops. This Bert kid is likable, although he doesn't realize that sometimes girls who like horses are the sweetest. I'm wondering if he'll come around on this later in the story.

As I come across new words I'm looking them up and writing their definitions in the margins. I think I've got as much hand-written text as there is printed text. Learning curves are steep, especially in language. The difference between someone living here 3 months and 6 months is usually huge. I'm still finding myself in that beginners group where I can only form complete sentences some of the time. I talk like a toddler most often, stabbing at the subject and verb while those pesky connecting words don't always make it through.

I'm already starting to look up to this kid, this fictitious character Bert, because he's got all of these useful words at his disposal. It's sort of like when I get jealous of a kid on the bus that is blabbing in Swedish about something or other. The words just roll off their tongues, so quickly. I almost want to go up to them and start talking English super fast, throw in lots of slang, use geographical references they couldn't possibly relate to, confuse them, make myself feel better. That's just plain wrong. I'm levels behind these kids. They are my teachers. Every sound I hear is a lesson. I hear it all present tense.

From memory

Today I:

waited to talk to people that can possibly help an unemployed immigrant such as myself. Note: these people referred me to other people who can possibly help an unemployed immigrant such as myself.


decided there's no better way spend the money you do have than on a traditional Swedish pastry such as semla.


realized that a number of albums on my iPod were stored as .wav files, reloaded them as mp3s and gained about 3.5 megs of free space. I think I'll fill them up with Radio Dept. and Figurine albums (my newest musical addictions).

I crane my neck

The other day I found myself standing in front of a large map of the world in the room where my Swedish for Immigrants course is held. Each day we take a break at 10:00 where I usually beeline to the vending machine and spend five kronor on "cappuccino". Then, I head back to the classroom, take my seat, hike my feet up and read (English) for the next twenty-five minutes. I was nearly finished with Vonnegut's 'Mother Night' when I felt his eyes. I turned around to find my classmate unabashedly staring at me. He spoke a little English; he wanted to talk.

Before our conversation had gone on too long it was obvious we would need to refer to the monstrous rendering of this good Earth. Off of his tongue rolled names of Chinese coastal towns I possibly never would've heard if this conversation never took place. We stood up and consulted map. He pointed to China's eastern coast, near Shanghai, where he was born and brought up. He asked if Chicago was "in the south" so I pointed it out to him. The conversation moved into what each of missed about home, when we'd return, who missed us, who didn't?

China's eastern coast and the United States' Midwest are about as far as you can get in terms of distance, geographic and cultural. By means unknown to myself the two of us stood, above Europe, are we even in Europe? In Scandinavia, like I said, if you were to find a middle point between there and there you'd land exactly here. And here we are, small and swimming around in it.

Red Team vs. Black Team

For every couple in love there's another couple of loners sitting in dark rooms listening to Gang of Four's 'Anthrax', which compares love to a case of well, anthrax. Some Joy Division records will get played today, this I know. Others will turn to the Cure or an eyelined rip-off of and sulk the hours away until Wednesday arrives. In times of good and bad I prefer the original.

Somehow Robert Smith did what has proved to be nearly impossible, which is to straddle the fence of pure depression and sorrow on one side and the joy of being in love on the other.

In love



Not in love so much (but you're tough)



Thanks to the boys at Missives for turning me on to You Tube.

Fredag Fem

I couldn't name this "Friday Five" because I'd just be ripping off Justin. So, you get a little language lesson instead: I dag är Fredag. Fem kommer efter fyra och innan sex. Now, on with it...

1. I never thought I'd see the words "cartoon" and "international firestorm" in the same sentence. I just did.

2. I never really thought I'd see Danish and Norwegian flags being burned. But in the past few weeks I have, in the news, many times. If I see a Swiss flag being burned (they have run the cartoons also) I will have seen everything.

3. I can't wait to get my little hands on a personalized copy of the never-released Eleventh Hour album, compliments of Michael Lenzi. The anticipation of this ranks up there with the never-released Pulsars album that I finally got a hold of.

4. I liked Jason Pierce's collage "On a Wire" so much that I asked him to use it as the cover of my album. Jason liked it enough to transfer a print of it to a 3x3 canvas and make it available to anyone who wants to purchase it and stick it on their wall. How cool is that!

5. Casiotone For the Painfully Alone's Young Shields

"Are you dark and lonely?"

Here's how last night went down in Stockholm:

+ Get to club and unpack my guitar and computer. First thing: tuner is in some weird mode that tunes the guitar a step and a half (I think) down. I push buttons for way too long. Jesper fixes it.

+ I start tuning the guitar. High E string breaks. I have no new strings to replace it with but I do have old strings, not broken, for instances exactly like this. These strings were weaved in a web so tangled I had to actually laugh at myself for putting myself into this situation. Note to self: always have a fresh pack of strings at all times. You've played hundreds of shows now Mike and you should know better.

+ I can't get the bent up used E string to go through the hole in the back of my guitar so I snip the bent bit off and thread the string through. The string was no longer long enough to reach the tuning peg.

+ During this time my veggie burger and fries had been sitting on a nearby table and cooling down to a tasty room temperature.

+ I realize I have a used B string. This works. I tune up and am ready to rock.

+ I eat the veggie burger and fries, cold.

+ A wasted guy wanders up to our table and proceeds to ask me if I'm dark and lonely. I say no and ask him if he is, in fact, dark and lonely. His response, "I should be." Confusion ensues.

+ Then this happens:

You've Your Spymap Out
Seizure to a Strobe
Flame Out Flyboy
Rats Were Comrades
Event Camera
Teenage Caveman (Beat Happening)
Judge on the Horn
Phonio
Where I Exist in the Corners
Oh Randomness

After a couple months of down time it felt really good to get back to it. Thanks to all who attended! You can browse a few photos if you'd like.

Go Franco go

New look, you like it?

Super Bowl Sunday is 100% not important once you leave North America. People over here really could care less; can't blame them because the sport is nonexistant here. But, one of the free channels is airing the game live. So, if I stay up until midnight I can see the kick off. I have a way better chance of catching 'Jamie Oliver's Italy', which starts in about 5 minutes. The guy drives a Volkswagen bus from London to the south of Italy. That rules. Who cares if he can cook or not.

I'm going for the Steelers though for the simple reason of nostolgia. When I was a kid I was brought to a store to pick out a winter coat. The coats in front of me had football teams on them. I saw the Bears. Then I saw the Steelers. I was the only kid in town with a Pittsburgh Steelers parka, hat and mittens. Remember that play with Franco Harris? Now that's some football.

I miss you all back home right now. Something as American as Super Bowl Sunday is hard to be away from. I hope everyone has a great time. Talk again soon. xoxo.

LUNA85

Rewind back to May of last year. I began posting here the songs that would comprise my debut solo release. Over the next few months I leaked out all twelve songs as mp3s in their entirety with the promise that these songs would officially see release on CD. Why would I leak an album prior to release? Because I knew that in the infancy of my blog and recording career under my own name I didn't have all that many people on board at that given time. But those who were on board were completely sweet and faithful and seemed interested to hear the selections I posted, even if most of them were rough and unmastered mixes.

From what I remember two release dates were set and then passed on. I received word that the label and other parties involved would need a full three months lead time to organize and prep. I had no complaints with this. To rush a release seemed like a silly thing to do. So the waiting began. And now, finally, I wait no longer.

I've personally sold copies of this CD to, perhaps, you. I've been sitting on a stockpile since October and selling them at my shows. It seems like this thing has been out for months now even though it's only been out as far as my car, trains or the airplane carried me. Six months after I sequenced the last song and now available to all accepting parties, 'Adventure, Bless and Don't Be Sorry' sees its official release.

Recording Process
In January of 2005 I decided I was going to make this album but I was unsure how and with whom. I threw around ideas of visiting various studios as well as lending some of the instrumental duties to fellow associates. But as it has before, my mind was subconsciously set on a completely solo recording. I had an eMac on hand and the necessary instruments and microphone. That's right, one microphone. For better or worse I decided I needed no studio, no one else to compromise or even collaborate with. I'm selfish in this way. The decision hurt nor helped anyone except myself. So, armed with a hard drive full of loops and the songs that had been bouncing around my head for the months prior I started what would end up being a six month time span of writing, rewriting pressing the R button on that keyboard and so forth.


Of course this is me, in my basement apartment in Chicago. And of course I documented the recording process.
Twelve songs made it onto the album. There are, at least, five songs that I recorded during the "sessions" but for one reason or another left off of the final product. If enough people show interest in these outtakes I will post them here or there. I have no current plans on what to do with the songs. But all ideas are welcome.

Artwork
The wonderful collage, layout and overall design of 'Adventure' was done by Jason Pierce. Jason is not only 1/2 of the Recordhead duo, he also manages Luna Music which happens to be easily one of the best record shops around. If you are in or around Indianapolis please go check them out. Beyond all of that he is a fine artist who's work I've been a fan of for quite some time. He's done album artwork for Guided By Voices, Tobin Sprout and Airport 5 among many others. Jason played a crucial role in every single step of this album's production. And I publicly thank him for his amazing attitude and unrelenting support he's given me over the years.

Jason designs under the mperfect d e sign co moniker and you can browse through loads of work he's done there. You can also jump over here to see all of the art for my album.

Inspiration
These songs were necessary. If I didn't record them I would have decided to not document some of the most important moments of my life. Between 2003 and 2005 I traveled to Europe three times. The first time I met someone there who changed my life for the better in nearly every way possible. The other two visits are a direct result of our meeting. So the songs are about situations I found myself in because of this new and beautiful relationship. Huge things happened in Uppsala and in Berlin and in Prague. The pictures on my camera told the visual. But these songs are the story.

The songs also deal with existing in the City of Chicago. Sure, I traveled to Europe and found love there. But I had a life and amazing friends and family in Illinois. Being torn between two sides of the world makes for some nice lyrical content. But I captured only a small fraction of what I was dealing with in these 12 songs. It's a start. There is more to come.