SXSW 2016 – The First Saturday Night

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Per Ole Hagen

Guy Forsyth © Per Ole Hagen SXSW is on, and the first part of the Film festival plus Interactive have started. This year, as earlier years, I attend Interactive and Music, so these are busy ten days with seminars during the day and clubs and concerts at night. Saturday consisted of an afternoon concert with my big favorite guitarist Redd Volkaert, a concert with another Austin favorite, Guy Forsyth, then the Peterson Brothers and closing it all with a perfect set from Chuck Prophet. Photo above: Guy Forsyth)

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Monday Night In Austin At SXSW

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Per Ole Hagen

Every Monday in Austin some of the same bands play at their “own” venue. One of them is Dale Watson, who performs at the Continental Club on Monday nights, another is Chris Gage who play at Donn’s Depot. yesterday I started out at the Swedish Invasion, an SXSW event, showcasing some of their artists at the Threadgill’s, hosted by Export Music Sweden and local Austin songwriter patron, Troy Campbell, the owner of House of Songs. (Picture above: The Hot Nut Riveters at The Saxon Pub)

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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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A Good Start For Blues In Hell 2013

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Per Ole Hagen

One of my favorite festivals started yesterday. Or rather, they started on Thursday, but yesterday was the official opening. with a full blues night on two stages. When one of the stages is a Magic Mirror tent, you can’t complain about the venue. There is also nothing to complain about with the artists, on the contrary. And for the nimble-minded, Hell is a place in Norway, and it means a cave in the mountain side, not a hot place somewhere else! (Picture above. Candye Kane)

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Blues In Hell 2013 Is Coming Up

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Per Ole Hagen

The weekend September 6-7 is the yearly blues weekend in Hell. In Norway, Hell isn’t a place with eternal fire and damnation, it is actually a place outside of Trondheim. And there is nothing hellish about the place. You can get there by train – round trip or one way ticket, but the easy way to get there is by plane, since Hell is located in spitting distance from the Trondheim airport. The festival is one of my favorites during the year, and here are some of the highlights from last year, while we are waiting. (Picture above: Carolyn Wonderland at the Notodden Blues Festival 2012)

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Guy Forsyth – the Austin Howler

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Per Ole Hagen

The first time I saw Guy Forsyth was when he was a member of the Asylum Street Spankers, a totally acoustic band with “no demon electricity”, at the Antone’s in 1997. I liked what I heard, and I noticed this guy whose voice could be heard over the late night crowd at the club. Since then I have seen both the Spankers and Guy Forsyth with his own band several times. Last night I saw him at the Saxon Pub.