I wear my sunglasses at night

You know that wonderful time of evening, after you've grilled the food, eaten and settled in? It's that lazy dusk sky creeping up on you and easing you from the brightness into the night. Well here, right now, that time of day is extended by about five hours. I can't say that it feels exactly like dusk, it's sort of it's own sort of tired light, but comparable for purposes here.


Photo taken last night at 10:22PM. The lightmachine works overtime this time of year here. The lightmachine gets incredibly lazy in the winter months, but right now it's juiced with some sort of fuel. Rumor on the street is that the lightmachine will continue to pump out late night rays at an increasing rate until the end of June at which point we'll begin that long and slow descent into black.

Sleep Out - It Wasn't Darkness - mp3

On the day of Rockoning

And yet another tradition has been passed my way; last night I partook in the viewing of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. This is considered an extremely important television moment for the majority of folks living within the European Broadcasting Union, which stretches a lot farther than the word "European" would lend you to believe (read: Israel and Armenia). For those of you scratching your heads, he's a short rundown of how this thing works:

The contest, which has been running since 1956, begins early in the year with each country holding their own national contest to select one song to represent the country in Eurovision. Viewers vote via telephone or text message (calls cost about 75 cents). Then a semifinal is held to weed out the competition to 24 countries/songs. What you then have is the final, 3 hour long, Eurovision where each performer plays their song via live television.

Major rule: you cannot vote for your own country. If you live in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia you cannot vote for Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. But what you get are folks supporting their country's neighbors pretty regularly no matter how bad their songs may be. Norway and Finland usually come in towards the bottom of the pack but Sweden is know to always throw a good deal of votes their way. Neighborly.

Sweden has some solid ties to the competition. Abba launched their career in 1974 by winning the contest with their jam Waterloo. I suppose it's not uncommon for unknown acts to break into the mainstream through the exposure this show gives.

Abba would be a good way to judge the sort of music that commonly does well in Eurovision. This is for the most part a family program. We're talking middle of the road songs that Joe Blow wouldn't mind turning up when it plows through Top 40 radio. We're talking about well-groomed 20-somethings singing about love or fun and having the dance moves (and back up dance crew) to help drive the point home. Think a glorified and international Star Search and then you are getting pretty close.

Now, I told you all of that so I could tell you this.




Finland's Lordi took the Eurovision prize last night with their anthem 'Hard Rock Hallelujah'. Bringing this back home, it's the exact same as millions of folks choosing Gwar over Celine Dion on some sort of network TV primetime family fun show. Mind boggling, and wonderful.

Go peep it over on You Tube.

Sing along at home:

Hard Rock Hallelujah!
Hard Rock Hallelujah!

The saints are crippled
On this sinners' night
Lost are the lambs with no guiding light

The walls come down like thunder
The rocks about to roll
It's The Arockalypse
Now bare your soul

All we need is lightning
With power and might
Striking down the prophets of false
As the moon is rising
Give us the sign
Now let us rise up in awe

Rock 'n roll angels bring that Hard Rock Hallelujah
Demons and angels all in one have arrived
Rock 'n roll angels bring that Hard Rock Hallelujah
In God's creation supernatural high

The true believers
Thou shall be saved
Brothers and sisters keep strong in the faith
On the day of Rockoning
It's who dares, wins
You will see the jokers soon'll be the new kings

All we need is lightning
With power and might
Striking down the prophets of false
As the moon is rising
Give us the sign
Now let us rise up in awe

Rock 'n roll angels bring that Hard Rock Hallelujah
Demons and angels all in one have arrived
Rock 'n roll angels bring that Hard Rock Hallelujah
In God's creation supernatural high

Wings on my back
I got horns on my head
My fangs are sharp
And my eyes are red
Not quite an angel
The one that fell
Now choose to join us or go straight to Hell

Hard Rock Hallelujah!
Hard Rock Hallelujah!
Hard Rock Hallelujah!
Hard Rock Hallelujah!

Rock 'n roll angels bring that Hard Rock Hallelujah
Demons and angels all in one have arrived
Rock 'n roll angels bring that Hard Rock Hallelujah
In God's creation supernatural high

Hard Rock Hallelujah!

Sweet and sad

at the same time.

Oh, please add me as a friend over there on the myspace. This one sings.

From that point of view

The Radio Dept. last night at Pang Musik! / Kalmar Nation, Uppsala, Sweden

...and a lazy afternoon just spent with The Jesus and Mary Chain and Radio Dept. songs such as these made for a fabulous pairing.

Pulling Our Weight - mp3
Tell - mp3

Fairway to fairway

While on a relaxing and scenic bike ride last night I was relieved to see for myself that one of the greatest sports ever invented, disc golf, is alive and kicking here in Sweden. Located on the campus of the local agricultural college was what appeared to be a nine-hole course neatly tucked away from anyone who wasn't really looking for it. Seeing the unexpected Pole Hole® sort of made this great big world feel just a little smaller.

See, this sport has come a long way from its origins in California. And besides the fact that the sport is super fun (and free to play, unlike snobby ball golf), I have some familial ties to the sport's progress into the Midwest United States. In the late '70s my stepfather Paul McCallister turned the Joliet Park District onto the idea of the sport and convinced them to turn a portion of the city's parkland into what is still West Park. He not only helped design the course, but along with the help of Joliet Disc Golf Guru Gary Lewis, organized tournaments and promoted the sport to what are now legions of diehard disc golfers in the Midwest.

Never heard of disc golf? Well then you haven't visited the area of Illinois where I come from. There isn't only one disc golf course there; there are no less than ten courses in Joliet and its surrounding areas. How's that for a hotbed of frisbee action?

So I've lived in Sweden for just over six months now and until last night didn't see any trace of disc golf. And wouldn't you know it when about 2 blocks from our apartment m'sweet says, "There's another one!" I turn and look and focus in on a playground in the courtyard of a group of apartment buildings, and I see it...


I'd dare to say that this is the only playground in the world featuring a Pole Hole® as its centerpiece. I mean I could be wrong, but I've got a hunch that some top players will be coming out of Uppsala in the next ten years.

Now unfortunately my bag of discs are stored away back in Illinois so I couldn't actually play last night; at least I couldn't play using the proper equipment. But I still shot pretty good nonetheless...

Ride

Inspiration for this post comes from the Fixed Gear Gallery, a site I've been checking daily for well over a year now. And although I love this bike and depend on it for my daily commute and general sense of well being I don't think it has the bling that a lot of the bikes over there have. But, of course, it's good enough to show off right here.

2006 Specialized Langster. It's all stock except for the: 16T Surly cog, Koobi Au Chrono saddle, Nashbar time trial bars, Cane Creek TT brake lever and the custom handmade (by me, today) top tube pad.




Notice the foam plumbing tubing protruding from my bag. Today in class all I could think about was going to the hardware store to buy it.

Reinventing the balcony

Low-flying street owl checking out Uppsala's Valborg celebration
Similar to tailgating before a Bears game I was up and in full party mode well before noon. The day was blustery and cold but filled with vibes of overcoming whatever not-so-sweet weather the day threw at us. Around 10:00 we were watching failing rafts float down the river. By 1:00 I was celebrating my first beer buzz of the day. By 3:00 we were surrounded by students in their traditional white graduation hats; they tended to break into song. By 5:00 we had retreated to the warmth of a packed dance floor. And by 8:00 I was wrapping it all up (strategically) with grilled bananas and a Lowenbrau.

Yesterday was the annual holiday in Sweden known as Valborg. This "last of April" celebration signifies the official end of winter. While in most Swedish towns this day brings families out together to gather around a bonfire, in student towns such as Uppsala it's a day where the student population (and former graduates) show their numbers in mass. The viewing of the head masters speech is just as traditional as slugging down as much alcohol as you can in a day's time. In my post-graduate and chilled out way of being I kept a lid on the extremity of it and just enjoyed the meandering feel of the day: have a beer here, eat something there, this old house is where you dance, that old house is where they invented the balcony...stuff like that, and a day to remember.