Categories
Articles Misc

I’m not sleazy!

If you don't believe me go and have a look here.
Am I right? Those of you who don't know my regular charming good looks may be
fooled into thinking that this is my daily appearance, but you would be way off
the mark. I am not a bad looking bloke, even if I do say so myself, and have
managed to dig out the best of my genetic code and handed it on to my beautiful
young daughter – lucky gal!

Naturally I haven't always felt reasonably
comfortable with my appearance, like most teenagers, I wished for a fairy
godmother to wave a magic wand or, at the very least, a paper bag that didn't
dissolve in the rain. Acne, lack of height and a lengthy period wearing
spectacles, not glasses, but spectacles left me dangerously named and exposed
in nerd territory – I even liked Star Trek, which didn't help my dress sense
either.

Medication cured the acne, a painful growth
spurt brought me up to average height and contact lenses were a gift from the
gods, but there were still issues. As I approached my 18th birthday my mum
asked what I wanted for a gift, but when my mind went blank she jokingly
suggested a nose job. Years later, the topic of the nose job came up and she
was shocked to discover that I, Cyrano de Bergerac, hadn't taken it as a joke.

My life had increasingly more
self-conscious moments as the years rolled on, especially on a weekend to Paris
that was destined to become the "Will you marry me?" trip. My future
wife and I were strolling along the Seine when a persistent caricature artiste
captured her in his chair and his cartoonist friend then grabbed me. After a
few minutes of scribbling and colouring they proudly show the childish result
and announce an outrageous fee. Following some angry negotiation, my artist
angrily declares, "Well, I could have drawn your chin bigger – you have
big chin!"

A big nose AND a big chin! I felt as though
my face was swelling up like it had an allergic reaction to a bee sting – at
least they weren't the only big things on my body that were large and swollen.
Anyway, finding shoes to fit by large and swollen fit proved tough on occasion…
what part of my body did you think I was discussing? The whole body image thing
is tiring and even though my wife casually pointed out that my stomach has
become larger the other day I desperately try to ignore it all.

You know the worst part? As time passed by
I have discovered that it isn't just physical attributes that attract attention
from vicious observers. Every week I co-host a live radio show with a Greek
friend and it was due to this show that my voice came under fire from a forum
user: "The Greek certainly came across better, the Brit sounded a bit
smarmy and false." What! Smarmy and false… come on! I do not sound slimy,
but then if you pair the slimy voice with the sleazy photo on FREE!'s front
page there's little left for me to do, except become a lawyer.

Categories
Misc News

Espoo Ciné starts tomorrow

Categories
Interviews Misc

Professionalism on stage

{mosimage}Juan
Echanove is one of the most popular Spanish actors in the last twenty years. Although
known by his sweet and kind roles, Echanove adventures into difficult and
challenging performances like his role in Calixto Bieito’s adaptation to
theater of the controversial novel by Michel Houellebecq, Platform, which was just presented during Helsinki Festival.

 

Platform is
an uncomfortable play. It talks openly about pornography, sex tourism,
terrorism and the differences between the rich Western world and the developing
countries. The three representations in Helsinki are the last ones of a long
year with 200 performances since its premiere in the Edinburgh Festival where the
Spanish actor was honored with the Herald Angel award. Echanove speaks clearly
and frankly. He admits that he is exhausted after so many performances,
although willing to go once more on stage and fight with the demanding role of
Michel. Right after speaking to FREE! Echanove will start warming up his body
and his voice

Why did you
choose to play the role of Michel?

My decision
was completely based on my confidence in Calixto Bieito, our director. I
couldn’t imagine that there could be a play based on Michel Houellebecq’s novel, but if
Bieito was able to see a great show on it, it was good to trust on him.
Probably I wouldn’t have accepted to play this role if Bieito wouldn’t have
been involved.

It is one
of your most challenging works.

The text of
this play is very dangerous. It is very intimidating. It burns. It is a bomb.
In a very precise manner, it tells the lowest qualities of modern Western
civilization, of a nowadays individual from good old Europe. The play shows
normal people of my age, 45-50 years old and their expectations and emotions.
Indeed, it is very challenging and complicated to be for two hours such a
character, with those low human qualities and under the influence of alcohol
and pills.

How did you
create this character?

I went to
Barcelona for six weeks and lived alone in an apartment. I didn’t do anything
else but rehearsals in the evenings and building the character in the mornings.
I tried to make the complex psychology of Michel real, to find out how the
feelings of such a person would be, creating something real beyond the literary
work of Houellebecq. I wanted to know how a person of those feelings and characteristics
would be for real.

Did you do
anything special?

I did the
usual work when preparing a role. There was a lot of background documentation. I
did some research on the main issues that Michel Houellebecq addresses with his
thinking and criticism about society. The issues are the power of money over
poverty, terrorism and pornography and sex tourism.

Is it
easier for you to play a character that it’s so different from you?

No, it’s
the same. Acting is a job. A friend of mine says that being an actor is either
very easy or impossible. With this performance I learned to be shameless of many
things, for example things related to sex. It is not easy to talk about your
father’s dead while looking at a screen showing a double penetration. This is a
very tough role. Every performance I lose two or three kilos and it’s not
because of its physical intensity, it’s because the emotional intensity. But
there must be a good distance between the character and the actor. Sometimes
actors say that they are so identified with the character, that they own it.
That’s bullshit. My job is wonderful, but it is also tremendously complicated.
It’s a job like a pianist or violinist. All my life and education have been
devoted to acting. It’s natural for me to go on stage.

This is a
high point in your career.

It’s funny
because a role like Michel, who has nothing to do with me, marks a turning
point in my life and in my career. It’s a point of growing up. Doing
performances like Plataforma, one realizes that it’s not worthy to go on stage
if there is not a real motivation, if it’s not risky and meaningful.

Do you
think you could have played this part earlier in your career?

Absolutely
not. This was the right time. I think I would not accept if I had been called
next month. But as I said before, Calixto played a very important role. He
called me and I accepted even before knowing what was the play we were going to
do. He’s one of the best contemporary directors in European theater. If you are
an actor, you must be at his command at least once.

How is
working with Calixto?

He is a
sweet guy, very sincere and a very practical person. I like those qualities. He
is honest. He knows the audience; he knows what the audience looks at and why. He’s
unique.

Categories
Cover story Misc

The Helsinki Festival starts today


The Helsinki Festival is this year expanding its
programme. Arts from the Baltic Sea region will be very much to the fore. The
Festival presents three leading orchestras, several theatre groups and visual
arts from around the Baltic. There are also more free Festival events on the
programme than in former years. The revamped Night of the Arts caters for a
wider range of tastes than ever. The sculpture exhibition in Esplanadi Park and
the open-air movies in the Lasipalatsi square will all be free. The summer
season at the Huvila Festival Tent ends with a six-hour open-house day
masterminded by Pekka Kuusisto.


The Helsinki Festival begins with Kaija Saariaho’s dramatised Passion de
Simone directed by Peter Sellars (US) at Finlandia Hall. The orchestra will be
conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. New works by Magnus Lindberg, another
contemporary Finnish composer of international repute, will receive their
Finnish premieres in a two-concert cavalcade of chamber and orchestral music
also starring Lindberg as a pianist and conductor.

The visiting orchestras include the Oslo Philharmonic and the Swedish Radio
Symphony; the St. Petersburg Philharmonic will be playing music by Sibelius,
something it rarely does in Helsinki. Appearing at the Festival will be
violinists Lisa Batiashvili, Viktoria Mullova and Christian Tetzlaff, and
pianist András Schiff – all great favourites with Finnish audiences.
Representing the Finnish vocal elite are Monica Groop, Camilla Nylund and Topi
Lehtipuu, all of whom enjoy a fine international reputation.

The hundred-strong Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra will be playing familiar
tunes from pirate films at the family concert that is always a Children’s
Festival hit. In addition to music, theatre and film the children’s programme
will include an exhibition on the theme of Giotto with numerous workshops and
tie-in events at the Annantalo Arts Centre.

New circus, Chekhov and contemporary European theatre

International circus, theatre and dance are more in evidence at this year’s
Festival than ever before. One of the Festival’s big attractions is Collectif
AOC, a French new circus group that will be erecting a 600-seat tent in
Meripuisto Park near Kaivopuisto. ‘New circus is conspicuous in this year’s
programme,’ says Festival Director Risto Nieminen. ‘Helsinki will also be
acting host to a number of current names in European theatre and dance, such as
dancer-choreographer Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and the enfant terrible
of Spanish theatre Calixto Bieito.’ The Stage festival to be held for the first
time at the Korjaamo Culture Factory has invited along five European theatre
groups.

The four-year Chekhov series culminates this year in three topical interpretations
of works by the Russian master. For the production of The Three Sisters
directed by him Declan Donellan (UK) has formed a cast of leading names in
contemporary Russian theatre. The Von Krahl Theatre from Tallinn is bringing
along a re-reading by Kristian Smeds of The Seagull, while Dmitri Krymov, a hot
name in Russian theatre, will be staging a collage of four Chekhov plays.

New rhythms, nostalgia and mysticism at the Huvila Festival Tent

The packed programme for the Huvila Festival Tent ranges from pop and world
music to poetry and a children’s day. Among the most eagerly-awaited guests
this year are French chanson star Juliette Gréco and blues legend Taj Mahal.

Bringing along a breath of the rich musical tradition of the Middle East will
be the Syrian Ensemble Al-Kindi reinforced with a Sufi singer and a Dervish
dancer, and Turkish Mercan Dede, combining electronic rhythms and Sufi ambience
straight from Istanbul. Ville Leinonen will be inviting dancers to take the
floor at the Huvila Saturday hop. ‘It’s great we were able to get Ayo, an
artist very much on the rise, for the Huvila Festival Tent,’ says Production
Manager Kaarina Gould. ‘In addition to new rising stars and old world music
hands the Huvila profile will take in such hybrid evenings as Lännen Jukka – a
joint gig by J. Karjalainen and one of the leading names in American old time
music, Dirk Powell.

Flow moves to the Suvilahti power station area

The visual arts will be make their presence felt in the city right at the
beginning of May, when the sculpture exhibition Las Meninas by Manolo Valdés of
Spain takes over Esplanadi Park. The series of 21 sculptures can be viewed free
round the clock until the beginning of September. The exhibition of work by
Carnegie award-winning Karin Mamma Andersson from Sweden will be travelling to
the Kunsthalle straight from the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Meanwhile the
Amos Anderson Museum will be putting on an exhibition of oil paintings by Anna
Retulainen.

On each of its three weekends the Helsinki Festival will be screening movies
free in the Lasipalatsi square. The Orion Cinema will be showing a unique
retrospective of work by Iranian Abbas Kiarostami. The life and works of Andrei
Tarkovsky will be portrayed through documentaries about him.

The revamped Night of the Arts, shifted this year from Thursday to Friday
(August 24), is an urban event providing a feast for arts lovers all through
the night. Culture vultures will thus be able to revel in events numbering well
over a hundred in new and sometimes unexpected settings scattered round the
city. The enlarged Runokuu will be taking lyrics and literature out into clubs,
churches, public transport and nature trails and strengthening the role of
verbal art in the Festival programme.

The popular Flow festival will be focusing on the hottest contemporary rhythm
music from indie rock and folk to various subgenres of electronic music and
swinging jazz. One new urban venue is the area round the former Suvilahti power
station. As the August evenings draw in jazz fans can look forward to Viapori
Jazz on the island of Suomenlinna and the UMO Jazz Fest.

Helsingin Juhlaviikot – Helsinki Festival 17.8-2.9
www.helsinginjuhlaviikot.fi

Categories
Cover story Misc

North goes South

{mosimage}
It sounds
strange: a Scandinavian festival in Italy. Usually you
can find a lot of Latin festivals or even African one but never
Scandinavian.
From here the need, felt by a group of people, of trying to organize in
Milan,
with the help of some important partners and sponsors an event that
could promote the Scandinavian culture in Italy with the aim of
stimulating the exchange between different cultures.


 


The
Ragnarock Scandinavian Music and Art Festival opened his first edition on the
7th of July in Milan Magnolia, near the Idroscalo. From 5 pm until late night,
you could find a photographic exhibition of 
the Danish Søren Solkær Starbird, for the first time in Italy, a fashion
show, a Scandinavian buffet and five concerts. Near the stage and the bar you
had also the chance of reading an Iperborea book, the biggest Italian publisher
of Scandinavian literature who has organized a books banquet and a reading
area, or you could also win a flight ticket to Copenhagen or Stockholm.
Everything for only 6 euro.

Starbird
himself, a great example of music photography, explained the criterion by which
he has selected the pictures underlining the aim of the festival: promoting the
Scandinavian culture:“Related to the
philosophy of the Festival, to the promotion of musical Scandinavian talents, I
decided to choose a selection of photographies that mainly show Scandinavian artists,
especially Danish. The theme of the exhibition is, then, linked with the one of
the Festival, in a continuous dialogue between the artistic and the musical
dimension”.

The result
was a musical trip throughout eighteen shots realized while touring with the
most important bands of nowadays.

But not
only photography, as I said: fashion show of five Scandinavian stylists from
the European Institute of Design (IED) and five different bands who were performing
on the stage (Promise and the Monster, Niepoort, Jonna Lee, The Fashion and
Prins Thomas).

One thousand
and five hundred people welcomed this first edition of the Ragnarock
Scandinavian Festival, showing how much is widespread the interest towards the
Nordic culture and stimulating, I hope, the organization of other events like
this.

 

Categories
Misc News

27th Helsinki City Marathon August 18th 2007

{mosimage}The marathon starts in the vicinity of the statue of the legendary
Paavo Nurmi. The finish line is at the Olympic Stadium. Twenty
refreshment points guarantee that runners are well taken care of.

 Every
participant will be given a fine medal, T shirt and  diploma. The
runners are also offered facilities for an exotic experience of Finnish
sauna, shower and swimmin pool at the Swimming Stadium near by.


Program:

Friday August 17th 2007

The race
office is open at the Olympic Stadium from 12am to 8pm

Marathon expo from 12am to
8pm

Saturday August 18th 2007

Disney
minimarathon for kids 5-13 years from 10am to 1pm

Marathon starts at 3 pm

The race
office is open at the Olympic Stadium from 8am to 9pm

For registration and more information
check: www.helsinkicitymarathon.com

Categories
Art Exhibitions

Colours in a natural relation

{mosimage}Dan Beard is
a young British artist who works and lives in Tampere. A couple of months ago he had his
first solo show in Galleria Oma Huone, and now continues moving around the art
scene of Helsinki with this new current exhibition that brings his paintings to
Kanneltalo, the cultural centre in Kannelmäki, Helsinki.

 

 

There, you can see a total of 15 woks where
the colours sometimes get mixed and other times fight with each other, trying to
find their own space in the canvas. Sensual shapes appear as a final result on
some paintings that could even remind of the matrix of our existence: the
vagina. Some other times the colors adopt the form or a millenarian dragon but
most of the times they simply let you explore your own feelings when
contemplating his palette of bright blues, greens and yellows exploding in
front of your eyes. A risky conception of art that maybe will not satisfy the
most conservative viewers, but worthy to check nevertheless.

Together with Beard’s paintings, the
galleria exhibits the sculptures of Jussi Aulis, pieces of metal and
rusty tin composing human shapes that resemble strange warriors or even a
reminiscence of Don Quixote. It is fresh and pretty recommended.

2-27.8
Jussi Aulis' sculptures and Dan Beard’s
paintings in Kanneltalo Gallery, Helsinki (next to Kannelmäki railway
station)
The exhibition will be open also during Helsinki
Night of Arts 24.8.07

 

{mosimage}{mosimage} 
Categories
Misc News

Director French version of Paasilinna film to visit Espoo

The leading role in the French film is played by Christopher Lambert, who is mostly known for his action roles. Unlike the Finnish version, co-written (with Paasilinna and Kullervo Kukkasjärvi) and directed by Risto Jarva, Le Lièvre de Vatanen (2006) is situated in Canada and was filmed in Bulgaria. In the film, the name of Vatanen is about the only link with Finland.

The drama will be shown at the Espoo Cultural Centre in Tapiola, Espoo, on 26 August. Rivière will introduce the film right before the screening. Also Paasilinna, whose books are very successful in France, will take part in the film’s presentation at the festival.

The French language film will be shown with English subtitles.

 

Le Lièvre de Vatanen (in French)

Espoo Ciné International Film Festival

Arto Paasilinna [Virtual Finland]
 

Categories
Outside Finland Travel

Soviet ‘delights’ in Latvia

For under-25s, the Soviet Union is something older generations talk about and those that were a part of it don’t want to remember or prefer obliteration of its existence. This has led, unfortunately, to souvenirs of the ’Evil Empire’ as President Reagan once dubbed it, being really and/or
psychologically air bushed from sight.

Some samples are still around – and have been turned into tourist attractions by enterprising people. Two are in Latvia, one north of Riga, the other in the southern city of Liepāja. Let us journey for an hour first northwards to Skaļupes near Cēsis. In a tranquil setting stands the rehabilitation centre Līgatne. It is however just, literally, a cover for something very serious.

Karostas Cietums

After walking down innocuous stairs 9m underground is the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic’s bunker nicknamed ’The Hotel’. It was built (then SUR4m/€7m) to act as a safe haven behind 2.5m thick concrete for the top 250 communist party officials in case of nuclear attack. Its main purpose in those circumstances was to act as a command and control centre in response. Each soviet republic had one.

Its background began with the Latvian CCP Central Committee’s 1968 decision to build it, but it was not operational until 1982. Despite Soviet planning’s legendary reputation, reality was less impressive: much of the plan remained on the drawing board. Small, but fatal, mistakes are noticeable to the untrained eye.

For instance, beds were to be installed later or brought down from the sanatorium, which was exclusive to elite party apparatchiks. Remember, nuclear strikes were known then to have a 4-minute warning. A missile base to hit back nearby was never started, there was a food store – but it was empty, and although the plan was for the chosen few to be safe and secure for 3 months, inadequate fuel supplies made this unlikely.

With so many to shelter, it is a warren of rooms and corridor connections with all the trappings needed for survival from offices, dining, power, air conditioning, etc. It was so secret that it only opened to the
public in 2003. Now this untouched showcase is an exhibition of cold war mentality.

At 2,000 square metres in area, it’s big, but the first impression is the cold, stark, sterile atmosphere (3 star compared to the next Soviet relic). All power for the facility would be generated by two T-54 tank diesel engines for the array of Soviet ’state-of-the-art’ communications rooms: secure telecommunications with its equivalent in the Kremlin, possible surviving units in the country and internally, all monitored of course.

Obsolete gadgets such as typewriters, telex, teletype machines and telephones using a fixed-line are stacked together. As outside might not exist anymore, it had to be self-contained and self-sufficient especially regarding air purification and oxygen generation, which needed power.

Everything was done in the socialist way: eating together in the less-than-gourmet canteen, the ’games room’ is decorated with Communist Party paraphernalia – Comrade Lenin stares at you in every bunker room – as you groove to the latest approved tracks (I noticed ’Stars on 45’ in the vinyl pile) on a record player. For nostalgic visitors or blue-eyed innocents, a real
meal of the times can be served up if booked in advance.

There are map rooms containing detailed charts that show possible destruction lines that atomic shockwaves would cause if Riga got a direct hit, instructions on what to wear if you went outside (what for is a mystery), how to cleanse late arrivals (!) and so on.

Other planning gaps are all too obvious: where were dead bodies to be put if someone died? There was no refrigeration unit and no method to expel decaying corpses. Like most Soviet reality, it was based on self-preservation. The guide calmly informs its real purpose was to hide from the population after a conventional attack. Because 9 metres is insufficient to withstand a thermo-nuclear blast – it had to be 15 at least!

A night to remember

The city of Liepāja near Lithuania has been home to Russian/Soviet Baltic fleets for over a century. Czarist stubbornness was equal to Soviet inflexibility: the port was dredged and a canal built despite a perfectly natural harbour located up the coast in Ventspils.

Liepaja

There lies a city-within-a-city, the naval base that was home to up to 30,000, but behind a wall. Karosta was an autonomous urban area occupying a third of Liepaja’s land. Originally named ‘Port of Alexander III’ after its modest originator, during Latvia’s brief inter-war independence, locals cynically labelled it ‘Kar Osta’ or ‘War Port’.

Worth a visit in itself, it’s just a short bus ride from Liepaja centre. Inside are Russian Empire red brick buildings and Soviet concrete blocks. Also self-sufficient with its own infrastructure of entertainment, education, libraries, shops that a captive population needs – even its own
internal post! The landmark St Nicholas Cathedral, now restored back to tits original purpose, served as a storeroom in Soviet times.

But it is the military prison that slams home the message. Built in 1900 it has contained a variety of forces miscreants throughout its 97-year history. Russian, Latvian, German and Soviet prisoners have been sentenced and punished here – sometimes by firing squad. Underneath the nearby pines there is more than earth. Nobody ever escaped.

Nowadays ‘Karostas Cietums’ is an award-winning tourist attraction and venue of a popular Latvian reality television show. Groups are frogmarched two abreast around the facility after a thorough dressing-down by guards, most of whom worked here in what they still proudly call ‘the good old days’. Backtalk, marching out of step, sloppy posture are all met with a sour expression, barking rebuke and ‘punishment’ for the offender(s).

Cells had little light, air or heating, the walls acted as inmates’ de facto calendars, prisoners slept on wood pallets in 2m x 3m crammed side-by side with a narrow gutter for those who couldn’t hold nature back. With only 30 minutes in the morning for all ablutions for a cell of 6-7, this was
understandable. Guards would wake up prisoners every hour if they wished. Mealtimes were silent and frugal.

During the 45-minute tour, every opportunity is taken to give you that spine-tingling feel, like being locked in a dark cell with shock treatment (I’m unable to say to keep the surprise element). For the adventurous (or foolhardy) you can stay the night in a cell with only cold water and a Soviet toilet for
luxury. If you’re really radical, you can order the ‘special treatment’ during the night.

These two leftovers from a bygone era are a unique chance to experience what it was Soviet Union was like. You may smile, but it was no joke to those had to endure it.

Categories
Misc News

Nightwish album leaked

The source of the leak has been traced to a French journalist. The person in question has been caught, but the damage has already been done.

‘It will surely affect record sales,’ according to Nelli Ahvenlahti , International Exploitation Manager at Spinefarm Records in a reaction to Iltalehti, the daily paper that first reported the story in Finland. ‘It has been made very easy [to download a pirate copy, D.B.] and the threshold is low.’

Large numbers of  pirate copies of Dark Passion Play have by now been downloaded, many thousands via one single Finnish web service alone.

It is not the first time Nuclear Blast has blundered with Nightwish material. Earlier this year, the release of “Eva“, Nightwish’s long-anticipated first single with new singer Anette Olzon, had to be put forward after it, too, had been leaked onto the internet via the German record company.

Related: 

Nightwish announce first tour with Anette

Nightwish – official website
Nightwish on MySpace

Nuclear Blast

Spinefarm Records
 

Categories
Misc News

Sonata Arctica guitarist sacked

‘This matter, and everything that goes with it, caused a split between Jani and the other band members. This split was impossible to mend without Jani's help and co-operation,’ the statement continues.

Liimatainen was one of the founding members of Sonata Arctica (back then called Tricky Beans) in 1996. He had been absent from the line-up this spring and summer. During those periods Elias Viljanen filled in for him.

Liimainen was asked to leave the band already in May. His departure from the group was only announced publicly this week (6.8.2007) ‘to give Jani the chance to get his life together’, according to the statement

Elias Viljanen will now be a full and official member of the band. Earlier, he released two solo albums and played with metal bands Mess and Arched.

Sonata Arctica is currently one of the biggest names in the international metal scene and enjoys great popularity especially in South America and elsewhere in Europe and manages to play sold out arena concerts in bigger markets like the United States and Japan. After a short break, the band will head to North America for a tour through Mexico and the United States this autumn, which will be followed by a European tour at the end of the year. The group’s latest album, Unia, was released on 25 May.

Related:

A piece of Artic Metal Music
– FREE! Magazine's interview with Sonata Arctica's Toni Kakko (vocals) and Henrik Klingenberg (keyboards)

 

Sonata Arctica – official website
Sonata Arctica on MySpace

Elias Viljanen – official website
Elias Viljanen on MySpace
 

Categories
Interviews Music

That punk on TV

{mosimage}Henry
Rollins is one of the most active characters I have ever
interviewed. He has
done almost everything in the show business, from singing in a hardcore
band to writing poetry, acting and touring as a stand-up comedian.
Nowadays
he hosts a talk show on independent American TV. This summer, YLE
Teema brings to Finland the first season of The Henry Rollins Show. Read what Henry Rollins told FREE! He speaks loud and
frankly. He is not afraid to say anything.

 

 

 

 

How did the
idea of show start?

The producers
asked me if I was interested and then we found a TV station interested in the
program. After the first season, they asked me do you want to continue and I
said yeah, so we did another season that just finished in the US. It wasn’t my
idea. I never thought about doing a TV show, but I like doing different things.
It keeps me awake. Now it takes quite a long time of my year. It needs detailed
planning and it is not easy to make good interviews to people. It burns a lot of
calories.

Do you
choose the guests?

Yes, I do.
I’m interested in a lot of people, so my wanted list is huge. We call them and
most of them say: No! There are various reasons: “I’m not interested”. “Henry
Rollins? I hate that guy!” “We are busy, we live on Mars, we cannot make it”.

Mention
some of your “dream guests”.

There are tons
of them. Bob Dylan, Al Gore, Keith Richards, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese,
Brian De Palma… There are a lot of interesting people in the world, doing great
things from art to reporting. For example, there are many investigative
reporters, like Greg Palast and Christian Miller.

What about
the live performances? Do you also pick the bands?

I didn’t
pick some of them. Since it’s not my money, I don’t get to make all the choice,
so there are some bands that stick out for their MTVness. Nice people, anyway.
They showed up, they played well, but I have none of their records. The rest of
the bands I both know them and love them or I have toured and played with them.
I’m a fan, I play their songs on my radio show. In the season we just finished
we had Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Peaches, Manu Chao, who made his first American
TV appearance ever. He’s huge all around the world, but not in America. He’s a wonderful
guy, very humble. He came to play at the Coachella festival and all the TV stations
invited him, but he said no to all of them and yes to us. Why? I don’t know. We
were lucky. The Good, The Bad and The Queen played also. That was a highlight
for me. I walked into the the studio, turned around the corner and there’s Paul
Simmons, the bass player of The Clash. Wow!! Also Fela Kuti and Tony Allen… I
was like yeah! I love this job.

Conan O’Brien
is very popular here in Finland. Do you watch his show?

I think
he’s good. He does a very normal kind of interview show. They interview pretty
famous people about being famous and pretty. Conan is very talented and funny.
He used to write for The Simpsons! He’s a very funny guy, but it’s not the kind
of TV show I watch. I don’t care about an interview with half of the cast of
Friends. I fall asleep. I don’t care.

You are
very politically outspoken. Do you also follow the events in Europe?

Somewhat…
but quite honestly I’m more concerned about the current Administration in the
US. I’m not trying to devalue what goes on in Europe, I think that America
could learn a couple of things from Europe. I primarily focus on and research
on the daily catastrophe in Iraq. I try to understand our relations with Iran
and Syria and what the president is doing to destroy our Constitution. Right
now Europe is not a priority for me because I’m watching my own country going
up in flames.

{sidebar id=4}In spite of
being clearly against the Iraq war, you went there and did a tour for the
American troops.

Yes, I did
it. I disagree with the policy, but I don’t disagree with the troops. They go
where they are told. My argument is not with the soldiers, it is with the
Administration, with Dick Chaney, Donald Rumsfeld. It’s not with the soldier,
he’s only 22. He’d rather be home. I’ve been in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait,
Qatar, South Korea, and few others. I go far for these people.

Is the show
business industry also a war?

The
business aspect is way more unpleasant. I have my own publishing company to
publish my books, my records. I have a two-person staff. The insights of the
business can be very disturbing. For instance, the distributor of my books just
went out of business, with a lot of my inventory in his warehouse which was now
seized by the government. I cannot get my property and the guy even owns me
50.000 dollars. Guess what? I will never see anything. What is difficult is the
artist who has to become the business man. I have to be the boss and the artist
guy. It’s difficultt to make that separation. I don’t bring the art into the
business meeting and I don’t bring the business into the art.

You are
very active and have worked in many disciplines from singing in a hardcore band to
acting and writing. What is the most challenging?

Writing is
very hard for me. It’s the most time consuming. The talk shows are also very
difficult. There’s no script and It requires lots of concentration on stage.
It’s all difficult, just different levels of intensity and concentration that
you have to give. When you are writing, you have to make it clear. When you are
editing, you are trying to make it better, you have to be aware of the words.
When you are on stage, you need a lot of preparation. When I interview people,
I do a lot of background checking on the interviewee, so I know what I’m talking
about and I don’t disrespect that person. All is a lot of work. Nothing is that
fun for me. I don’t understand fun. I’m a very nervous person. I get stress out
very easily, very much for a long period of time. I don’t sleep very well. I’m
always thinking something needs to be done. I’m a little crazy all the time.

Are you
still a solitary man?

I live
alone. I don’t have any family. I don’t have any kids. I don’t hate people, but
I’m very busy. I write a lot and that takes a lot of my time. Nobody is going
to make that for you. I also travel a lot to places where having someone next
to you could be a liability, like parts of Africa. I don’t want a woman
traveling with me. It’s not that women are not strong and cannot defend
themselves, but in Morocco I don’t want to turn my back when the woman is not
looked out, because she can get in danger. Also when I come back from a two-month
tour, I don’t want anyone waiting for me. I don’t want to have to call someone
and ask: “what is that with the tone of your voice?” I don’t want to have that
conversation. Also, I’m a pretty crazy man and I have seen many awful things
and those things have had a very substantial impact on me. A friend had his
head blown off next to me. I cleaned his brains so his mother didn’t have to
see it. I’ve seen some things that one shouldn’t see.

What is more
dangerous: to sing in Black Flag or to have a big mouth on a comedy show
nowadays?

The Black
Flag experience was physically dangerous. I still have a lot of scars from that
period. I got punched. But I got stitched up. You heal. I hit back. I broke a
lot of people’s noses. Never women, only men. But I’ve beaten the hell out of a
lot of guys. Pretty substantially. No regrets. But I think it’s more dangerous
what I do now in the present climate. To say what I’m saying and about whom I’m
saying it. I think you can suffer.

Do you have
any plans for the future?

I cannot
think of anything specific that I haven’t done. Perhaps catch up with some
reading or get a full night of sleep.

Do you like
reading a lot?

Yeah, I
cannot read as much as I want, but I think you should always have a book going,
you should be reading something.

 

Photos by: Veronika Vera

 

Categories
Albums Music

HIM – Venus Doom

{mosimage}The equally
beloved and hated Finnish band is back with possibly the most internationally
awaited Finnish album (with permission of Nightwish) of the year.

Venus
Doom is the
sixth studio album for the band from Helsinki.
And His Infernal Majesty comes with a stronger and dirtier sound than
the previous one Dark Light, due in great part to the harder and more
predominant guitar riffs by Mikko “Linde” Lindström. But the band of the
heartagram is undoubtedly known overall by his charismatic vocalist Ville
Valo. Valo explores again his darker registers and shouts to the micro,
transmitting the feeling that he feels more confident with his vocal skills now
that in previous years, and that enriches the sound of the album that reminds
for some moments their fist couple of records. But do not get confused. This is
not a heavy metal album even when some want to compare it to Black Sabbath
or Metallica. The “love metal” formula that has attracted so many young
listeners around the world (particularly many new female listeners) must keep
working, and for that heavy riffs have to get mixed in a considerable
proportion with pop style to create a balance that could satisfy (or repulse )
equally to rock and pop fans all over the world.

The album’s
first couple of tracks, Venus Doom and Love in Cold Blood come
out as two of the best to be highlighted, but later the rhythm of this powerful
beginning falls into more monotonous lyrics to rise again with my favourite
song in the album, Dead lovers´ lane with great vocal skills by Valo,
leading to a more than decent final part that keeps the quality up again with Bleed
Well and Cyanide Sun.

Probably we
will never have the same powerful and fresh sound from the first albums of HIM,
but this Venus Doom supposes a good effort to go one step farther in their rock
and metal roots and satisfy some of the fans who had turn the back to the
Finnish band during recent years. Not a bad trick.

Rating: 4/5

Categories
Misc News

Blues legend “Honeyboy” Edwars to play in Tampere

In Tampere, Edwards will play at the Down Home Island festival in Viikinsaari. Other bands on the bill are Honey B and the T-Bones and Jo' Buddy & Down Home King III. The festival is organized on an island and there is transportation, by boat of course, from Laukontori. The show starts at 7pm. Tickets are 15 euro.

More information at Blues-Finland.  

 

Categories
Cinema DVD

Leather, bikes and flames

{sidebar id=23} Director Mark Steven Johnson was not very popular character for
comic fans after his weak adaptations of previous comics Elektra and
Daredevil. It seems that he does not want to “disappoint” anyone with this
reputation completing with this Ghost Rider a trilogy of films to forget.
Not even a couple of Hollywood super stars as
Nicholas Cage as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider and Peter Fonda as the devil
himself are able to disguise the lack of quality all over the film.

The storyline is very weak, the film is as predictable as it can get, so
it turns to be horribly boring. The decoration look cheap and the special
effects look totally artificial. Dialogues make you laugh, but not exactly due
to their inventive and nobody believes even that Cage has that hyper-muscled
body for real. Peter Fonda looks plausible but the gang of demons that wander
with Blackheart would not scare a 5 year old child. I think that Wes Bentley
was looking even scarier when filming a plastic bag in American Beauty
than here…

Added to all this Eva Mendes’s and Brett Cullen’s lines
can make you feel like going to prepare some popcorns in the middle of the
action.

The question is: Was this adaptation needed? In recent years we have
assisted to the chained release of many movies whose inspiration is taken
directly from such a rich source as comics is. There have been products for all
kind of tastes, and not all the adaptations are bad (look at the excellent Spiderman
3 released not a long time ago). But maybe it is about time in Hollywood industry to think twice before wasting budget
in another bad film that will pass to story with no glory. Next time that
Steven Johnson’s name will be announced for a new adaptation, I am afraid that
more than one comic fans body will shake in pain. It is known that Cage
collaborated actively in the writing process of the film. From here, we can
just advice Nicholas to keep just in acting roles.