Guy Forsyth Back To The Roots

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Guy Forsyth is one of my all time favorite Austin musicians. I have written about him on this blog before, and Friday night I saw him at another pre SXSW late night show at the Saxon Pub. I can’t count all the different settings I have seen and heard him in, everything from solo, with a tuba, with the Asylum Street Spankers to a pop band setting some 10 years go. This time he was reunited with his old compadre George Rarey, and he played one of the best sets I have ever heard from him.

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Rosie Flores at the Continental Club

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Few of us have got the honor of getting our own day. Rosie Flores is one of those few, and August 31st is official Rosie Flores Day in Austin, Texas. From yesterday and all of next week the town is filled up with SXSW attendees, and it is a great tradition to start it all at the Continental Club the night we get in, and last night Rosie Flores was the main attraction there.

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By:Larm 2014 – The Last Day

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Saturday was the closing day of this year’s by:Larm. The festival, including the conference has been a success with lots of people visiting the venues and high quality booking and also seminars. The official numbers and evaluation isn’t done yet, but having attended all 17 by:Larms since it started in 1998, I feel safe to say that this must be one of the best. (Picture above: Deathcrush)

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By:Larm 2014 – The Second Day

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Friday night at by:Larm was different from Thursday in that there were less bands with a direct appeal to my taste, but on the other hand, I got to see bands I would have avoided in another setting. Two of the artists impressed me, but in diametrically opposite ways – Linkoban from Denmark and Kaja Gunnufsen from Norway. (Picture above: Linkoban)

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By:Larm 2014 – The First Day

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

By:Larm – the Norwegian showcase festival – is a yearly event in Oslo, located in the center, around Youngstorget. The town square is filled with tents that function as venues for the festival. Yesterday night was the first night of showcases on these and the surrounding venues. Here are some pictures of the acts I managed to see last night. (Picture above: Veronica Maggio and a photographer)

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Artistic Success For highasakite

Posted on February 22, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

The band highasakite originally started at the jazz conservatory in Trondheim where two of the band’s members studied. They released their first album All That Floats WIll Rain in 2012 to great reviews. They also have had success live, with sold out venues. Just recently they released their second album, Silent Treatment to even better reviews than their first. Yesterday they played a packed Blaest in Trondheim.

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Claudia Scott – Norway’s Americana Queen

Posted on February 15, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Claudia Scott is born in Newcastle, but moved to Norway with her family when she was a child. Her father, Clive Scott, started Norway’s first country band, The Skywegians in the late 60’s, and Claudia performed with the band from when she was 10 years old. Yesterday she played a release concert for her newest CD, Follow The Lines, and she has come a long way musically since her recording debut in 1970.

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Thom Hell Live At John Dee

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

We have many very good songwriters and artists in Norway, but few as good as Thomas Helland, or Thom Hell as he calls himself. He has released four solo albums plus a best of album in his own name, the latest, Six, was released a few weeks ago. Yesterday I saw his release concert at John Dee for Six in Oslo.

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Al Kooper, 50 Years Of Music

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

If you have heard Bob Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone or The Man in Me or You Can’t Always Get What You Want with the Rolling Stones, you have heard Al Kooper’s organ. And these songs are but a few of the songs Al Kooper has played on, written or produced during his 50 year run since he started out in the early 60’s. February 5th he is 70 years old.

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Ung Pike Forsvunnet at Kafé Vanguard

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Per Ole Hagen

Ung Pike Forsvunnet is a Norwegian band that was active in Norway in the 80’s. Their musical style was hard and funky, and all their lyrics were in Norwegian, a somewhat unusual phenomenon at that time. Thirty years later they started to play again, if not as actively as before, and last night they held a concert, this year’s first.