1. The virus that infected my computer yesterday.
2. The 6 hours I spent trying to remove it.
3. The moment I realized it won’t be done.
4. The time I used backing up everything of importance.
5. My lack of sleep sitting half the night formatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows XP.
6. My destroyed next day setting up the computer, downloading a few years of Microsoft Updates, etc etc.
7. Still not being done at 1:59am

Yes, from this moment on my page will be in English. Since I don’t live in Sweden right now, and since I’m getting more and more international friends and contacts, it feels like a natural step to take. I first thought about having the page in both English and Swedish, but right now I can’t come up with a good solution to solve this technically. Maybe in the future, who knows?

One good side affect that I’m looking forward to is the possibility to practice my English, and I hope you can live with eventual mistakes that I’m surely gonna make once in a while!

All parts of the page is not translated yet of course, especially not the blog, which I’m sure gonna take a while to finish, but I will take it one part at a time.

I would also like to say welcome to all my English speaking friends! Hope you will have fun here!

Tonight I’m playing a session opener at Count Davis Jazz Club in Linz, a concert that initiate tonights jam session there. We’re playing in quartet, and the concert also functions as dressed rehearsal for the gig in Wels the 14th of February.

Last Monday I went listening to an Organ Quartet, lead by guitarist Christian Havel, after being invited by a teacher of mine that plays in the band. It was a very nice concert, I sat in on a couple of tunes but was a bit too tired this evening, my playing have been better. Was fun though!

I just discovered that singer Cecilia Ferrer, with whom I have played some in Sweden, uploaded a song that I’m participating on on her myspace. I’m contributing with a short solo at the end of the song Angel Eyes, and her myspace is located here: www.myspace.com/ceciliaferrer

Today I have rehearsed with Vienna Jazz Composers down at Porgy & Bess, one of the jazz clubs here in Vienna. We’re playing a session opener there later this evening, a concert between the main concert and the late night jam session.

As I previously have told you, this is a band with young freelancing jazz musicians, and every time there’s a new set of musicians.
The compositions today, which is written by musicians of the band, was really good, and I think the set will be varied and fun to hear.
I will among other things play solo over a gospel-like tune written by a American trombone player, Phil. I really look forward to that, those grooves just make you fly!

These gigs begin pretty late, earliest at 11 pm, but usually much later, and the following session goes on until the late hours of the night. I will take it a bit easier with the beer than I did the last time, when I met this Swedish guy with company that really wanted to buy me some beer and tequilas. My way home was pretty unsteady that night. Well, thinking about it I went home by taxi, guess it was pretty stable.

Everything else goes on as usual, have been working some with the site and there are some new stuff in progress. He who lives will see (that’s a direct translation from Swedish, does this saying exist in English?).

Reminder to myself: Sure, you can eat at fine restaurants, enjoy a herb marinaded chicken fillet with nice potatoes and red wine sauce, eat a luxury sushi-dinner or slurp down some oysters*. But, when you like me today make some homemade mashed potatoes with mini-bratwursts at the side, there ain’t hell of a lot that top that.

* I never had oysters. The day I get a chance to taste it I will answer if it tops mini-bratwursts with mashed potatoes.

(Happy new year!) Let it be a year with lots of gigs where we play the pants off the audience. Let Sweden and Zlatan win the Euro 2008. And while we’re at it, could we do something about the climate? It’s warm goddammit!

Now I’m soon home in Sweden again, I’m really looking forward to it! On Friday we play with Fabulous Five at Stockholm Concert Hall (Stockholms Konserthus). The concert series is called soppkonserter, soup concerts, and are lunch concerts where you can enjoy some nice music together with a soup if I have understood everything correctly. Will whatsoever be very nice to meet and play with these guys again!

On Thursday the week after we’re playing with Jerry the Cupboard at hotel Hellsten, which I’m also looking forward to! Also nice that I get a little more than a week in Stockholm in between the gigs, plenty of time to meet friends, do some jam sessions and say hello to the city again.

I’m flying cheap with Ryanair from Bratislava tomorrow at 16.35, I hope I will manage to take the right bus here in Vienna. Vienna is undeniable very well located in Europe, it is very easy to travel to many nice city’s from here. Suits me very well tomorrow, since Ryanair don’t fly directly from Vienna, at least not to Stockholm (Read Skavsta, 90 min with bus from Stockholm).

Yesterday I were out shopping Christmas gifts. My plan was to have that done and bring some presents to the family from here, but I only managed to find some stuff for Julia. I guess I have to go shopping some in Stockholm too. Julia and I decided to have our Christmas gift distribution yesterday evening, today we don’t have any time for that. We had a really nice time, eating Christmas-sushi (regular sushi but on the Christmas gift distribution-evening) and giving each other presents. Really nice!

Now I have to work a little before my last school day before Christmas. I’ll get back to ya.

This day has been so slow. Or, not the day maybe, but me. The only thing I’ve done that felt meaningful was to fry fish for lunch and to buy sushi for dinner. The rest: Slow. And lots of fish.

Tomorrow I have to go and try finding a music store that sell reeds for my saxophone, need that for the gig on Tuesday. I hope I’ll find one, otherwise we have a bit of a crisis. But it will be all right, can always call my saxophone teacher for advice.

I’m looking forward to playing, I’m guest artist with a band called Bluesky if I haven’t told you that already. If anyone that reads this blog happen to be in Vienna on Tuesday, it’s punishable if you don’t show up at Club Cenario at 20 pm to listen.

I’ve been having angst. Have been skipping blog-writing for a while, and the more time that have passed by without writing, the harder it have been to pick it up again. Now I decided just to write something, so that I get the flow up again.

As you know I’m living in Vienna now. That’s a good subject to write about, isn’t it? I think I will keep it to a short summary. Everything has started to roll, school is running and I feel that I have started to settle. Julia and I get more and more used to living together, it was a bit strange for both of us in the beginning, but now it’s great!

The school is honestly enough not the best, but I wasn’t expecting that either. It has become pretty clear to me that the classical music have a much bigger priority than the jazz here. I have heard/met/played with quite a lot of good players outside school, so I think it will be nice. The first week I was here I went to a jam session, which have resulted in my first gig, the 30th of October, when I’m guesting with a band called Bluesky. I’m looking forward to that! I also have some other things coming up, and it feels good that things have started to roll a little here as well.

One annoying thing is how hard it is to practice here. In Stockholm there are pretty much complains about to less rooms… That’s nothing compared to this place I tell you! In my institution there are one rehearsal room for around 200 students, and three practice rooms. That’s it! With other words, most students here practice at home. I’m trying to be out in good time and book a room so that I can practice a little in school, but I also play pretty much in the apartment. In the evenings I haven’t dared to, but in the days it haven’t been a problem, no complains from the neighbours.

Another annoying detail with Vienna is the dog shit laying around everywhere. By some reason most dog owners skip the pick up the dog’s leavings-part, which results in that everyone in this city walks around with bent heads to avoid lowering the mood in the tramp/subway/at work. Apparently there’s a lot of arguing between dog owners and people without dogs in media over this.

They also smoke a lot here, which can be a bit tiring. I’m actually fascinated by the total ignorance of no smoking-signs, for example at my school. In the corridors there are big signs with this particular message, and still both teachers and students stand smoking right next to them. A bit like Sweden in the 70’s I’m imagining.

Beside these things it is a lovely town with a rich cultural life and lots of music. I haven’t been at the opera or any classical concert yet, but I’m gonna deal with this soon.

I heard it got cold at home, it’s starting to get cold here now as well, even if it still was t-shirt warm in the beginning of October when school started.
My summer shoes aren’t really keeping the cold out anymore, so to keep mum calm I’m ending this report with a pic of my brand new Spanish shoes. Well… Also because I’m really satisfied with them…

Now I’m going to Fasching to listen to Kenny Garret. Hell yeah!