"ur here for reason"

..facing another late night, early morning.
having just recieved a new title at work and balancing way too many tight deadlines and juggling balls in the air, you have to have to trigger to be able to switch off...

I just watched a program about people working in real estate.The boss hates kids, talking about kids and refuses to believe that his employees should take holidays...
its all about being put on the earth to do a job, he says
certain people are meant to sprint 100 meters, others to govern a country and real estate people to work...u guessed it...real estate.

jeez, this guy obviously gets impotent on poontang and hard on money and work...or what?
sure, guys got money, money,money, money...but is that ALL its about?
I don't know, I just kinda question his ethics..

Back to the Dalai Lama
I reckon life is about getting satisfaction from what you do.If money is involved, so be it.If people want to get fat and lazy at 30, get married, PLAN kids (??) and have their highest prio to buy a safe family car...let them.

The eyes are the window to the soul, not the wallet.Or?
Lifes variables are interesting, most important variable in the equation is knowing what part of the equation you represent yourself to work around the variable.
..with a family motto; either peace or war I was very black or white for many years and stood on that soapbox we call a one sided discussion. Now that the little hair I have has gone grey and with the years of battlescars from discussion I'm finally greying around the edges and its making more sense...Life is of course a war with many battles, and those battles you have to pick as there aren't many, if any, that can win every battle.

so, you may win a battle but it doesn't mean you win the war - life

...keep the dayjob...

Starting to play football at my age is a bit different. Whilst most were out and about kicking a round ball in the park, I was locked up in an instituition where football was regarded as a commoners game and only the purist sports of rugby, land hockey and cricket were allowed, alongside Fives and Squash...I even managed to get caned for listening to unsuitable records with patti smiths "piss factory" and the Ramones "sheena is a punk rocker".....

So now, at the tender age of 41 I head off every monday and tuesday to try and impress my self and the teams that I can play this universal game...confidence is high..
..and then comes the reality that I'm no more than a token who gets a few minutes to keep me quiet. "Keep your dayjob" kinda thing and it bugs me to hell, well it would. Despite having acceptable pace and fitness, the main problem is that I resemble a bunny rabbit under the headlamps as soon as I get a ball around my feet.

I will struggle on. As a friend remarked to me yesterday after an intresting korp game which ended with a fight, two red cards and a 2-2 draw, "it's just not your game ".Maybe I have two high expectations, as the photo above shows "Mr Happy Face" despite a 5-1 win AND they made me Capt, my disappointment is obvious..can't imagine what I'd look like on a 5-1 thrashing..

It's all about Tone....right?

Can't believe its a month since my last posting, christ how things are moving quickly!

Well the virus has gone and the sun has arrived which is one of the positives in Sweden, late nights will a hanging sun way up there! Negatives obviously being that i've missed the tipping point of beach 08 due to all the problems since november 07 and to date the x-ray count is up to 3 with a fourth and hopefully final x-ray (ultra sound) happening this coming wednesday.

They'll probably tell me I'm pregnant and I can sell the script to Hollywood about a man getting pregnant and having a baby...lets see, I could get Arnold Schwarzanegger to play me...and....dammit , its been done already....fucking amazing somebody got paid for that script, they must have seen the producer coming...
If you haven't seen that film, don't.Its beyond crap, and one step beyond that.

So, back to my x-ray, hopefully we'll get a green for go and I can try and get motivated to get rid of the layer of baconrasher thats formed since november.If I was an artist, (not the piss variety), they'd be calling this my " doinfuckall" period , with regards to training.
interesting how artists whose work commands great sums of gold get put into divisions of periods all depending on what drug they were dropping at the time.Lets face it, they're a weird sort, either lashed with wine or doped up with arsenic and acid and the resulting mess created in future generations is called something like, "Large Randy Spot" from XX's Blocks and Spheres period...estimated to auction at $53m...err, I'll have another one just like the other one...

So whats the guts I ask you?
well, many.It's all about tone, so whats that title about?
Once again I'm taking a trip , slightly hungover I may add after another "aprés-rugby soireé" to buy a Pete Townshend Gibson SG replica.I was asked yesterday,
why do you need more than one guitar?
my answer was simple, tone, sustain, sound, resonance, difference....you have to know the difference and hear it.Thinking about that its actually very similar to a lot of things, the differences in tone between guitars is the similar to the difference in people.
....some people you like, some people you don't, same with guitars, and the reasons are the slight imperfections in character, or the way they tone themselves, reliabilty, thick skinned would be like wearing powerslinkys and shredding your fingers,
.some guitars are easy, some are difficult, some appear to be easy and then surprise you by not being, some look good on the outside but are cheap behind the first layer...just like people...
...and with age and maturity they don't always improve despite the price increasing..
I'm at insane? well, nothing new there..

u see, i'm not an accomplished g-player, I just love the sound and the whole business of comprehension through playing and hearing the sound. I just finished the Gibson Les Paul Custom Black Beauty and she is simply amazing, a tone monster that simply sustains for minutes.This is the wreck I bought that was stripped of its parts and shipped from the great lakes in the USA with worn wonderfrets and a neck repair that went wrong and was badly fixed..
She now adorns only the very best gold platina vintage parts that despite costing a second morgage are the only parts she deserves, from 59 grover tuners to a 63 bridge and thumbwheels,60s lightweight tailpeice with original long studs...tone, tone tone
The list of parts on their own mean nothing, but the sum of all parts equates to awesome!

Just had a couple of hours in the old town of Stockholm.You forget just how many tourists come over to this beautiful city and at the same time just how much crap the local try to sell them...not sure how much glass or viking crap there exists, but its all there...I also realised that gamlastan has become Little Italy with a host of Italian restaurants...I recall somebody wrote around 10 years ago that the pizza was the most popular dagens food...so don't go looking for Isterband, you'll be disppointed...
It's actually quite nice to have 3 hours to kill in the capital, especially when its sunny.Every side street and you'll find creepy guys looking out for the fuzz as street hawkers that we've all been warned about trying to play "hide the split pean under a box" and rip off the tourists...its such a con and people actually fall for it...not sure how many pikeys I saw creeping in and around the old buildings...all looks like a foto shoot from a dickens story except they wear those fantastic training suits that you only find in the baltic states...

As I started with, things have been all go with work become interesting and a conference next week in Greece to go too.Suffice to say to the older blog readers there is a twist in the tail of this rather weird cocktail we call life, but more on that next week...as I said, it's all about tone, and my life is getting loads of tone and sustain at the moment, more positives than a mathematics convention regarding "the plus sign and it's function"..

I'm still trying out that new sport, football I believe they call it. Makes people laugh when I say that, but keep in mind I wasn't allowed to play football in school, it was only Hockey, Rugby and cricket...so my debut started with Korp football and is still a new experience for me..can you imagine how fun that is? actually getting "a kick" from playing the biggest sport in the world and trying to master it..so I play (see "try")in two teams at the moment which is great to have something so different and to have some new "goals"......

I'm still failing in everyway to get time to fix the bike which is a real pain and something I really need to put more effort into as the weather is perfect just now...

Right, i've gotta jump off the train, i'll get back to tone once I've plugged the sg in and given it an airing.......

frikken frikken frikken frikken VIRUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nuff said...

four full days off work including last sunday... and now a 24 hour wide awake day on the go..

On top of that, at this very moment I'm 24,000kr outta pocket due to cyberspace fraud...

I never ever thought I'd be that gullible, but yep, ripped off 4000 dollars, money nicely sent wire to wire with a "thanks very much attached"...

Still could be worst, at least I've got my health...oh, thats right, I don't even fucking own that anymore as I obviously sold my soul the last time I was at the crossroads with the fender...

Anyhow, anywhere and anywot? just see how that pans out, its a lotta cash but things can always be worst.I hope.... it could be 240,000...you know, is the glass half empty or half full...yeah, like fuck off I dont need pedagogisk pearls of wisdom when facing an internet fraud...

Found these piccies of flu virus, looks like something jacque Cousteau would pull out of a sharks arse to be honest..who knows, maybe thats where they come from, maybe the garden gnome shark is tired of getting his flippers hacked off so some jap can get a hard-on and prove to his wife that his knob gets bigger than 4cm if he eats the age old potency remedies...dear oh dear..

Amazing isn't it. frikken amazing.

In a couple of years , young people everyday will have to enjoy the stenches and q's to Burger king at the local zoo to see any frikken live animal, doped up to its eyeballs and probably fed quorn as it "just wouldn't be right to feed it real meat"...cos the penguins really do enjoy their daily walk through the bubblegum and half lit cigarettes on the ground..hypocrits! Zoo keepers...nope, give them back their own country land, fence them in and let them roam, not stick them into what is in effect a frikken skatepark halfpipe made of concrete!!!

ok, where was I...aye, thats right, why are we losing the rhino, the elephant, the whale and shark..cos fucking Jimmy Nip and Chippy Chong need to grind down their horns, fins and testicles to get a fucking boner!!And we let them, cos we enjoy their plastic cheap shite at poundstretcher and fucking stereos!!!!

(the japanese government are currently in an International argument, saying they have to mass slaughter Whales ...get this.....for research!!! at which point they get asked,,,,so why don't you just tag them , dont you get a FUCKIN BONER THEN!!!!)

(Nb:this is true and if you care join the Greenpeace "save mr splashy pants campaign")

And you know what...we get Dolphin friendly cans of tuna....thats it....

right then, thats that vented...ffff....sorry bout the language, but I'm sure you'd also care if you watched your family shot, their horns removed and powered down so some impotent little prick can satisfy a "så kallad" toight Thai.

Now you see, if your religeous at all you'd start to understand why God has decided to throw the odd curve ball the only way he can, raining giant frogs, huge tidalwaves and of course the strangest of the strange , Gilbert, Wilma and Katrina...I mean, who names the strongest "killer" Hurricanes in history???not god anyway, he probably hears those names and mumbles obsenitys and then decides as he felt a name like "Tors hammer", "Slicer" and "Ripper" should have been used, he'd send another one, or wait, how about melt some of the icecap the next time President Bush signs a treaty against everything logical and wants the American car companys to build more SUV's....

Doesn't anyone get it? Animals, planet, weather....mix up the letters, write them on blotting paper and wash them at 60 degrees and when you get them out, just like the da vinci code you'll be very confused as to why the albino wears a potato sack and beats himself with a levi belt tightening a barbed wire jockstrap and of course , who shagged who?????

Got me anyways...

El Gath Gath (pronounced GAS GAS)

...is on the mend.

Its a cluster fuck, stripped to the bone, nuts and bolts getting tastly, air tools by KUKEN, Japan being borrowed..DRZ suzuki cams being bought from the highlands of Scotland to strip for decompressor parts, yep, its a long story but the deadline is within 3 weeks.

So far and over a day, the engine is down to the guts, the r/h block needs replaced due to a crack in the waterhousing (hairline) and whilst having a dig around the gear selector fork a mysterious looking object was found...

With pawnshop eyes

Just a great set of words, made into a poem, made into a song.
Thats all..

With a pawnshop eyes and a second hand frown
She sat silent at the table
Her boots were brown, should she leave town
To play the role of lover ex-patriot
A nod to the waiter,always her flirty behavior,
You know she always gets one on the house
She pulls out a letter from a bag
Under her sweater and before she
Reads she straightens her blouse

Theres a passion in being alone a grace in a loveless time
Theres no new cross, theres no new sign
Only the sun and the changing tide

And out of respect, well really must confess
I never lost your number I never
Lost your address
And if we remain friends at best
Sometime later no, no not yet
Well smile and remember it like this

She put back the letter,one tear
Falls like a feather and disappears
On this bar room floor
The gratuity included, you know
The letter concluded

P.s. all my love

”Getting the “bla bla” down first”

Over 3000 years ago, a seedling took root in the dark leech-ridden forests of south west Tasmania.
As it grew, the world witnessed the birth of Christianity, the signing of the Magna Carta, the Industrial Revolution, the discovery of the New World and assorted plagues, wars and natural disasters. That seedling is today an almost fully grown member of one of the world’s longest living species - the Huon Pine.
Its extraordinary longevity is just one of the many qualities of the Huon Pine. The rare wood contains an oil that prevents it from rotting - it is seemingly indestructible. It is favoured by artists and fine furniture makers and its lightness, strength and close grain make it the “holy grail” of boat-building timber.
Huon Pine - Lagarostrobos franklinii, (formerly. Dacrydium franklinii) is only found in Tasmania Australia.

With unique qualities of durability, longevity, amazing grains, rich golden hues that darken with age and fine texture, Huon Pine is a truly beautiful softwood timber, deep in character with exquisite aroma. Huon Pine is extremely slow growing with growth rates averaging a mere 1mm per year. Trees may attain heights of over 40 metres and are amongst the longest living organisms on the earth, they often live in excess of 2000 years and have been known to reach 3,000 years. A tree merely 20 cm in diameter could be as much as 500 years old.

The ‘Piners’, early timber getters, searched the inhospitable wilderness of Tasmania's West Coast to cut and haul out Huon Pine logs. The timber was used for everything where durability and ease of working was required; in furniture and tables, in washtubs and ships and in machinery and patterns for casting. Remaining trees are found in the western and south-western parts of the state, growing along river banks, lake shores and swampy localities in mixed formations.

Huon Pine derives its name from the stands which once occurred along the Huon River. The western and south-western Huon Pine stands are now protected and what timber is available comes from logs salvaged from rivers and areas flooded by hydro electric schemes or logs that are dead fallen. This above personalised panorama piece from the Gordon River Dam contains evidence of being salvaged as parts contain an additional rich orange tannin stain which is drawn into the timber as it lays for years in the water.

Huon Pine is the prince of Tasmanian timbers, the richness of its golden colour and features such as ‘birds eye’ and ‘fiddleback’, make it one of the world's most desirable furniture and veneering timbers. Its durability and workability make it one of the best boat-building timbers known. The wood contains a natural preserving oil with an unmistakable perfume which is also a natural insect repelant, its fine and even grain makes the wood exceptionally pleasant to work with hand tools.

true investment in a piece that is already of great age. As the limited existing sources of flooded and dead fallen Huon Pine diminish, due to its extreme slow growth and protected status, Huon Pine can only become more difficult to obtain and thus, even rarer.

The picture.You get it right?

So now and again something catches your eye and you take another wee peak onto the virtual paper screen that flickers and you mark it down as something to look at before the auction is over. Your expecting the item to go for a higher price than the asking price and at the moment the piggy bank is sliced and in the frying pan.
So, after 7 days you see nobody has made a bid and your curious.
Then , at the same time your selling a 197X Yamaha TZ500/700 motorcycle hub and rim and you guessed it, the same buyer owns what you’ve been looking at.

So, by now you wanna know whats the guts with whats been looked at.

No surprise really, the song remains the same just now.

Life at 41 is about tone and sustain and things of beauty...oh, and of course that have a jackplug and pups that can be plugged in so one can actually use both eyes and ears on that tone and sustain as well as the ever so important resonance.
Yep...another guitar. You see, unlike Joe normal boring person I only have the bare essentials in my living room and as opposed to filling it with ikea cardboard I'm going wall to wall woods and steel strings. Each corner adorned with a different story, different year, different sound. At the moment we have two Gibsons, a fender and a univox. And soon to join the guitar which a certain luthier decided to build and which is a one off...for many reasons, as the wood only exists on one island in the world and is not allowed to be chopped down, the man in question obvioulsy ended up with a chunk and made an exact copy of an early 60's fender Stratocaster body.As his work was guitars, he obviously had bits and bobs sitting around, and to the one off body he added a 1963 pre cbs maple neck as well as certain other items from an L series strat.

"so.....gettin old......"

So do you ever get down to the laundry room too early, say 4 minutes , so you can't be bothered to go back up to your place, and the first thing you do is crouch down and look at the laundry going round and round...I've always wondered why...
Next time it happens though, try and remember your first initil thoughts...mine tend to be scenes from films where somebodys head or a cat has ended up in the machine..

So whats that gotta do with gettin old, obviously nothing. However, you do tend to analyse things more and more.

Last couple a months, since november to be exact, and I've been in and out of x-ray rooms, emptying myself with toilax micro laxative, not eating for 24 hours for examinations and burning my guts on too many perscriptions. So it hasn't been easy and I'm now up for an ultrasound on my pancreas.Lifes been tough and without training its a bear with really bad headache.
With my resignation as National coach and the incoming guitars and more guitars, and of course the comhem tv channels, I've kinda gone backwards in the evolution.

The more time I thought I'd have for training is bye the bye and instead I've put all my energy into trying to play and retaining my sanity. Although, now with the garage doors swung open, the amp valves warming up and the weather changing, I'm hoping for a brighter future.
One of the problems faced with anything in the "petrolhead"void is the chassis, and mine is broken for the now.

It's funny though, as despite my age some things just haven't changed.I stood waiting for the number 60 bus, TZ racing wheel in hand, UFO's version of "Doctor Doctor" blasting in my headcans whilst I plan the building of a 71 Les Paul Custom and at the same time trying to focus on two business trips that require pre-study to Dubai and Switzerland.My back is aching and it suddenly dawns on me, standing there with a smile and strumming my pick hand, that the mix is fantastic between the mental and the pysical, always keeping me in check. The chassis is rusty and hopefully the panel beaters and rust repairers (Roger Daltreys first job) and I realise that around every corner is an anxiety regarding the next pathway, but all in all, its great to have somehow found the DeLorean from "Back to the future" and been caught, back in reverse!

Hurricane Katrina meets a Gibson 69'ner

Things are easy if you have money.
However, maybe you have more fun if you need to work hard and build pieces , or find a skill and improve on it.
A good condition 69 Gibson SG will set you back around $6000.So, if you don't have that kinda money the next best thing is to find a relic and start the hunt for parts.
Its a gamble obviously, as the neck on this one fell off and the whole guitar got reliced under the influence of Hurricane Katrina, The killer Hurricane that killed thousands and destroyed billions and billions. Still, its got history, the neck has been repaired and ok, it looks like crap but its old wood, and thats one thing you just can muck about with.It's a bit like experience, you really have to have the years before you get the suss, although some people really thing they can cheat that equation, which says it all really that they don't have the experience to see you cant.

So, its out there with a price tag..the 71 les paul (c earlier) is on its way so I'm not sure if I need another project, But I'd love to stick some soapbar p90's in it with a badass tail...ala townshend.

"Big Wheels Keep on turnin...."

It's interesting just how many thoughts come through the bottleneck when your standing at a wee shelter in the middle of nowwhere awaiting a bus.Its saturday and the number of buses to the ends of this "earth" can be counted on one paw, so I missed one and have 90 minutes to wait..of course I'm too scared to go back in the workshop for fear that "just perhaps" a bus turns out.

So, its a nice evening and the ipod is charged, and in the middle of this surreal situation I have a 1975 Yamaha TZ500 wheel to take home and weigh up, a beautiful rock breaker Estwing and japanese butterfly blade for company. The butterfly blade was found amongst all my junk and is basically a remembrance from my young teen years where I bought this one in Geneva just to see if I could carry off the spin.The Estwing is from Colorado and the wheel comes from an early project in 87.It's now a rarity, just try and find one on Google or ebay for sale.So I'm letting it go and have to weigh up to ship...anyway, back to the shelter and the ipod. I ran " The Rocky Horror Picture show"..now theres a classic for those of you around th weirdos in the 80s.

To this day Theatres in America run the show and the cult following is incredible.So, there I stood, suns going down, wheel under one arm, a Musical about transvestites and smelling of burned rubber and old oil.

Rewind five days earlier:

Okay, some people would argue your not a man until you've done this and that, kinda changes with the crowd. Well, I'd say you if you've never removed a tyre from an alloy rim with a high beaded edge, you just don't know the concept of "steaming ears"...bloody hell, draw blood first so you don't get disappointed..I even tried to cut through the tyre just to break the bead, but not luck. 1 hour and a ruptured disk later and the bleeder was ready to take off..sweating bullets and blood shot eyes. Its about this time you really need some time in the "quiet room" with Vince Furnier, aka Alice Cooper, with the plastic knives and forks..

The "to do" list today included removing a tyre, washing the racing gear with a view to sell and of course finally the most fun job, stripping down the gasgas 450 supermotard engine.

Cutting a long story short, sometimes you understand why pneumatic airtools were invented..

deadline for the start up after the camchain snapped, is the end of the month.However, I found what looked like the end of a shifter fork bangin around the bottom of the casings..we shall see, I'm borrowing an air tool tomorrow.

The Now:

So it took me around 3 hours to get home. The irony of carrying a wheel along and getting a bus, it got more attention than I did anyway. The evening ends with the usual Volteraine suppository before the back seizes up and suddenly I wake up from a 3 hour daze to the whistling of the old fashioned tea kettle, realising that old age has finally caught up..but thats the next blog, read on..

"rarer than hens teeth"...he said..

Down at the old muzak shop the other day and asking about the Ibanez ts808, or actaully more was the point of the just as hard to get unmodded ts9. The TS808 and TS9 are both called "tube screamers" and basically the most well known players to use them are too numerous to mention.

Looking around and it was gonna be tough to find a TS9 , original and not RI for under 2000kr. If I was lucky that is. Then the techy mentioned the pedal to the left, not a ts but a st9 with a mid boost and two chips to ensure the tubes would indeed scream. "forget the rest, thats the pedal you want, but you'll never find one...etc...)..Never say never, thats what I've heard before..

So I did some research and right enough there are even websites with every link around the planet looking for these pedals. So, I went to ebay germany as if it aint in the uk or Us your next best bet is the Fatherland.. and lo and behold...an original, unmodded TS9.But the shipment was only marked down as Germany , hence the fact it hadn't made the Ibanez fetish club sites..

So I asked the seller if he'd send it North.

The rest is history.

Probably due to the Germans being so efficient and wanting the latest ST9dx with digital chip etc, the old 80's original went for a price that was cheaper than a standard ts9 and under half the price of a new reissue ts. Difference is, next week the rocking horse crap, unicorn horn , fairy dust etc..arrives by mail.

As the A Team finished on...

" I do like it when everything goes according to plan".............

"Is my Siberian Hamster Mr Fawlty"....

...not quite, an albino hedgehog actually which could walk up to you in todays snowy conditions, steal your wallet, watch and shoes without you even seen it...

Thank God there are still some good guys out there...

Jeez, think I came closer to sweating 38 bullets and a heart fibulator padel than ever before....
Just "accidently" send some cally dosh thru me 'ol matey Paypal but only after it was sent did I realise I'd sent euro as opposed to dollars...
Now, if you've ever managed to do this at midnight when the call center is at home sleeping and the help page consists of telling you only how to spend your money and ll the great opportunitys...well , you can imagine. So, basically, all I had to rely on was the decency of a bloke sitting in a log cabin around the Great Lakes in the US (with broadband...) to read my plea in a mail and deny the payment..And he did, take a bow sir! I was already at DefCom 4 and the two keys with the code to start nuclear brain meltdown was well on the way...
..funny that actually...whilst at sat staring at the laptop at my kitchen table going thru every worst case scenario I suddenly has this remarkable thought go through my brainchip....no shit, suddenly out of the blue the following came through the visual reciever...

"what would an astronaut do if he was in this situation...would he stress out and lose control..."

err....pass me the mushroom Dipsy...

suffice to say my resting pulse is down to 174 now so I'm much better...

Well, what can I say, apart from the fact that the winter seems to finally arrived, maybe we'll have spring in august. There must have been around 20cm of snow over the past four days and its a very strange sight to see the colours that had been shooting up all over the shop, now wilting under the heaviness of the snow and been raped and freezin by the ensueing thaw (all typos are deliberate for Bombi to count and point out in another lifetime).
Not much to do but plod on, literally, and my boyz have not been too unhappy staying in and playing pc games and relaxing from their arduous life of been taken care of by a så kallad "curling föräldrar" who does everything for the wee buggers due to a guilt factor that will hang around my head and has since i left their nest...but we have fun, lots of it.

Life has been a breeze and a breath of fresh air since my resignation as an FK in what one could call the "little leagues" of the puddles surrounding the large ponds. Looking at certain cancer cells growing amongst the new victims and the reality show of just how many are there to make your grade shows in the aftermath we call resignation land. More and more, I feel so very content to get out of what couldn't even be called Dodge as that would have been more fun and honest. So new things beckon once I have a clear bill of health, the kidney stone has to go and back to some training without worrying.


The weather will extend the "indoor music sensation" as I would call it, when you dont have any anxiety about being indoors with a guitar. The sun will change that and my idea is to get a Tascam MG TG1 , a guitar trainer which is the size of a box a fags, and get out there turning the Sami Mk1 into a relic within a year.

Right then,
back to the new white paper I'm writing regarding ruggers to present next week in my new role as Tech Dir.

all change...the Holy Grail is found...

If you've been following the scribblings regarding Project G's, you'll know that the whole concept was to use a 95 as a basis and add 59 to 63 parts to ensure the tone and sound would be awesome..The only thing that could improve the lot would be somehow to get the old wood and guess what, the holy grail Les Paul Black Beauty above has been residing somehere around the Great lakes in the US awaiting a recon.
You see, Reissues are fantastic, but even if Tom Murphy gets his aging process on new wood, you still have "new wood".. hence the huge costs of 50's and 60's G's..
In 93 I bought a Les Paul Custom in Nashville Tennessee whilst there on a trip for 6 weeks as a body/money guard. I sold that guitar and always regretted it, so when I came across this relic I simply had to get the calculater out to see if there was any way I could purchase it.

With the original parts arriving in the post including a Burstbucker #1 and rewired paf for the bridge, the only thing missing are pots and knobs and some plastic..but this so called "fretless wonder" simply had to be had...

Plus ca change...

well, not really..

Christ, the plastic keys on this work pc just leave a hollow echo in the room...well, once again, not really but one can use the old "little grey cells" to believe they're made from brass or something exotic..
The place is of course more than 90% empty and it's only the one's that put the "L" in oozer that are left behind pretending that they (see I) have something that just can't wait till next week bla bla...yeah..whatevvaaaaaa (raise head at end to get the nasal sound on the aaaaaaaa..)

Quick questioni, just wondering if it's only me or if other people loop songs time and time again until they get sick and tired of them? Don't mean Radio style where you don't have an option, but like, you download a song you've not heard for years but spotted on the itunes shop and then play it over and over and over and over (etc..) again? I tend to do that more often than not, thing is I don't get bored with the song for several weeks.
of course, nowadays I go home and try and play them if they're easy enough.the buck dropped dead with a 12 guage when it came to Bron Y Aur.....

Back to the echo echo...and it's "something"thursday, which means that everybody has been really smart and gone away for an extended weekend with their family, or something.
Of course, those who have read my blog understand that this is of course a nonsensical due to my planning skills...hence the fact that I just wasted several hours looking at sistaminuten only to finally realise that getting a Vuxen (??) and two boyz on a sistaminuten , like today or tomorrow, for under a couple of hundred quid including taxes, hotel and food is not gonna happen. Bugger..
The Johnson Ligan land in GoaGubbar land tonite. Awesome, been a while and always ends up looking like an MC Escher etch by the time they leave.
The only trip available at the mo is a trip to Glasgow with RyanAir..Scotland for a week may do the boyz and myself some good, sun and sangria and....oh, wrong destination. Not Beige, but grey all day.But we shall see, we always get on so well that we don't have to run away from our everyday reality which seems to be the in thing at every red day..

I just recieved an sms from South Africa regarding a bunch of baboons who have been in a friends car, shit all over the place including her jacket and ate all her fruit and food before leaving out the window. My reply was short, if the Baboons had pissed in the car before they left they would have replicated a rugby bus trip to Stockholm and we would have been one step closer (or further away?) from our DNA Ancestors...25 degrees and sun...jealous as one can be without the crap and babs of course..

So, lets take a wee wander down historys lane and ask what does Jezuz leaving chicago(he just left for u ZZ fans..) on a big block Donkey swathed in the latest Versace cloth and pants duo,,,what has that got to do with yellow hens and multi coloured feathers?? Did he order chicken in a basket on the way out of soddom and gmorre..did the donkey get a feather caught in the back of the throat or indeed are we missing something here with the dead sea scrolls mentioning something about "tar and ...."
There has been a HUGE misinterpretation regarding this period, palm trees , could we be in Trelleborg? Tyres, Trelleborg tyres...the word Tyre comes from Tire, which is what the donkey was? davinci code stuff here..but those of you who have made the trip to Trelleborg have realised that "tar and feathering" would be an oddity down there where "Best of blue grass banjo" has a higher audience than even the Pope..u c, another da vinci thingy whatever special handshake , or was that mikshake?..they DO have a mac a dds...

Anyway, where was I? Right, office is just about dead and buried 'till next tuesday.Even if you push stuff out here the other offices send an auto reply.Sweden works less but on average live longer than any other country..Or..ironically Japan actually has the highest life expectancy and nobody could call them as busy little bees.Strength and Honour in work etc...all for the emperor who is devine etc...wonder if he has a Nissan Donkey?

Well, news in from the family J senior and my bro is gonna head over to Austin, TX for a year. Sounds like a good reason to head back to the states.. on the other end of the scale my Sis who is an officer in the british army is currently circulating around Kabul...think that Austin texas has a nicer ring to it, although if we are to believe the Yanks there is more oil in Afganistan than Texas, hence the invasion..(You would have thought that somebody, somewhere, at some big important "Special Opps" meeting mentioned under his breath, "hey guys...didn't those guys beat the crap outta Rusky Red?"...)

At the same time I've promised another a trip to Singapore..decisions decisions... no public chewing gum or spitting in the street..there you have it, the Triad, Austin TX, Kabul and Singapore..

Wonder how "she" is doing over in Mex... memory glides off in a tangent now and again...I'd better catch it up and write back at ya then..

the guts...

So, apart from becoming Edward scissorfingers cousin, Brian Solderfingers, life is moving on and I'm gonna cover some more GonZo stuff. It's 02.30 in the morning, Magnum just started...nuff said...so I'll write up 2 morrow..

all in all, we're talking Kidney stone blasting in april, a virus and swollen glands as I type, a fall back in the abyss of tobacco and nikotin, a friend in South africa for 10 days of 25 degrees..another friend in Mexico on the beach who actually remembered my birthday or saw it on facebook...projects at work taking off on an international scale..etc...harley racing, gasgas supermotards, tag heuer stopwatches...list goes on.

So, keep your eye open and I'll write 2morrow..

back to magnum?errrr....no

Davoli baby...what the fuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A mate dropped off a freebie, said it was a small valve amp from the 50's...

So, I plugged the EJSRV Sami mk1 and bugger me the neighbours cat must have flown out the window!

It basically looks like an air conditioning unit from the Baltics, but it delivers a great sound , even though i just can't push the sound up or I'll get evicted..I mean, there are no reverb or gain knobs, just volume which ends up distorting anything within 30 meters..

So, just waiting to see if I win the Ibanez Tube screamer Ts9 and then see what happens..

Blues, blues and more blues with some Chuck Berry mixed in...

The Univox got the Dp110 back

As I was home with the deadly Sweden Late Snow virus I got bored and gaving looked around the shop I call home , I picked up my Ramones anthology tab book and regretted the day I removed the dp110 and made the Univox original again.

Johnny Ramone was famous for a few things, and believe it or not he also shared the same passion for a pickup that was released by Dimario as early as '72 and guitarists like Gilmour, Knopfler and the Edge from U2 also liked the overwound and dirty sound of this classic pickup.

So unless you have a shed of cash to buy a mosrite from the 70's and then start to "modify" a la Ramone the next best is to try and find a pawn shop classic like the Univox Hi-flier , mid seventies, and wire in the DP110. One of the problems now is that since Kurt Cobain picked up a Univox and made it his own to get that famous grunge sound even these 80 dollars in 1976 guitars is becoming harder to source.

So I made sure the convert is kept to be able to "back to the future" it and just to get that massive sound from something which is made from a wood that nobody can put a name too.

Kurt nicknamed them "Plywood beasts" which is what they become when a DP is wired up.

Slab plywood with a fretless rosewood neck which can be used as a whammy...

I restored the strap buttons (replaced) and wired in a genuine s/h 3 way switch as well as soldering up the earths. Good as new, probably better and of course, "Sheena is a punk Rocker" now sounds the way it should do.

Part !!! of project Authentic as possible JP signature is nearing an end and I'm running to my letter box everyday nowadays.

As she started as a first run production 95 les paul standard jimmy page signature (mouthful..) she the eliptical neck and gorgeous light honey burst finish with matched and bookmarked mahogany body and neck. But thats the end of what I consider good enough for his name.

hence the 2006 custom authentic made by the custom shop and retailing at high bucks. However, they dont really cut the crust unless you get one of the first Tom Murphy aged versions and they will cost around 20k..pounds and upwards.

And to put that cost into perspective, a genuine 59 Gibson Les Paul standard which the guitar is based on , just now on ebay..$450,000. So..my plan is simple.

The body, neck are spot on and already older wood than the latest offerings.

The stuff on the way though aint.

60s original patent pending Grover gold and word tuners...words can't describe

60's lightweight original tailpiece- tone maker and under an ounce

63 Gold and aged original ABR-1 bridge complete...hard to find, I found one..

used and aged 65 Gibson M8 Cream humbucker rings...just to add that authenticness

Gibson Historic truss rod cover, the standard is replaced by a thicker white rimmed cover

And to finish off , the pups which are over the counter 90's T500, T496 ceramics have to make way for that vintage sounding unpotted burstbucker alnico 2 or 5 sound..However, plans are afoot for me to undertake the insane idea of turning the 59 burstbucker unpotted alnico2 into a 4 wired conductor..meanwhile though, a custom made will be put in the bridge and hopefully by friday another 4 wire 59 classic seymour Duncan NJ (believe it or not, my initials) will be taking care of the sound. Ohm neck will be 7,65 and bridge around 8,9. but I suspect the tone and sound will really make the difference.

I've decided not to attack the caps or pots as they are all specials from Gibson USA for the JP signature.

pics will follow as well as soe sound files when its done.

Tinker taylor soldier spy...

Always been a tinkerer..

Nowadays its guitars, as you've probably read.

The guitar in question is my Jimmy Page Les Paul Signature from 95.

Now, most people would be happy and keep her as she is, but I'm not most people.

Just like Jimmy Page, I'm not satisfied with the t500 ceramic pickup in the bridge, or the abr tunamatic or the very heavy and tone destroying bridge.

Otherwise , the 59 light honeyburst has the lot, 4 pots with phasing, tapping, single coil tap and the only guitar that can join the buckers together to make one massive sound.

So, what's the guts? Well, basically I wanted some vintage pups, as page would have had when he got the original from Joe Walsh, and the ceramics are way too much. The T500 has the same Ohms output as a dirtyfingers/Iommi humbucker, and that on a 59 replica? Naaa

So, how to find a 4 conductor non potted alnico 2 or 5 humbucker?

I was very lucky to find another luncatic in the world in ebay who had exactly that, a Gibson 57 burstbucker which had been rewould to 4 conductor, unpotted and an alnico 5 polished magnet stuck in, final result was 8,6 on the readout.I'll update when its fitted.

8,6 is okay as a neck pup, even back then, but I'm gonna use it as a bridge and stick a modified Burstbucker 59, reound to 4 OR a Seymour Duncan 59 which I just found on ebay.

This is only a start to try and get to that Holy Grail sound for under $450 000 of an original, I found bits and bobs which I'm adding and which will make the beast a relic looking and sounding monster. (I do realise its in the wood, but 95 is 95 and it has the correct JP neck with eliptical mod).

So, 59/60 original Grover Patent Pending tarnished gold tuners on the way

60's original gold (but worn) under an ounce lightweight alloy tailpiece

68/69 Les Paul custom gold (worn) Pat Pend Tunamatic bridge

I spend some of my birthday cash on cleaning gear for the guitars and they all had their rosewood and pau ferro frets cleaned as well as Martin wax on their nitro finish. Take care of them and they take care of you!

(Even the Univox hi-flier worked better after some juicy lucy on the fret board)

So, can't wait to get all the parts together, solder up the pups and put it through the onloan Davoli baby Valve amp that just can't be described...I'll upload a pic at some point...the sound is..clean and 50's..

Speak soon

it's been a while, hasn't it...

...are the days of chain smoking and masi, sitting alone in the kitchen over? probably...
..or the phone bills that reached disproportional levels averaging 3500kr per month..unfortunatly..
oh, and lets not forget the fact that I would wait from 12 to 0300 in the morning ,looking and waiting for the phone to make that dreadful noise that is indeed NOT a ringing sound as advertised...most definitly..

and yet life goes on and with it we take some memories that are special in one way or another.

Sunday will once again be a day of mourning nostalgia, which is to say i once again take one more step towards the grim reaper.And as usual life around me is going at 100 miles an hour and its all fine in one way or another.

Sometimes you need to make a call, a change in direction that takes you off a path you've been walking down a while...in my case a long while. And sometimes you have to bite the bullet and really try hard to play the game of politics or brown nosing, or indeed say nothing at all, whilst all the while you rot inside and like the famous Edvard Munch 1893 painting of "silent scream" bursting out.
So finally one day you can actually look in the mirror and decide enoughs enough and live happily with the decision. I had to make that kind of decision so I could simply live with myself and basically be happy. The shitstorm I was living in was imposing too much anxiety and despair on my personality which after all I don't actually have a problem with. Not anymore anyway.

So things have become clearer and I smile a lot more which is a clear indication that I made the right decision. And so life goes on.

Over the past weeks some names have popped out from the past and I may be taking a trip down to Barcelona to play some guitar and enjoy the Spanish way of living. My days as a guitar tech have caught up and since my decision to get out from the clutches of International Rugby I have turned back to my roots and the love of not only listening to music but writing and playing music. Three guitars now litter the living room and the long nights are taken up by playing simple riffs and rythm and blues through a roland cube with headphones.

There has been a long period of pain which has finally been diagnosed as a stubborn kidney stone that may have to be blasted. April 1'st and judgement day. Can't wait.
With my project at work going as well as ever and the music as well there has been little time to train anyway, and it's showing. So I will have to get motivated after the blast and try and get back into shape.

Just thought I'd drop a note on the blog, its been a long and sorry empty front page for too long and I will update on a more regular basis.

Aye

shhhh...

bloody echo in here.....

så sant, så sant

Not often I would suggest that some text are spot on, despite being in Swedish, but the guy who wrote these knew what he was scripting about...

Jag har hört att du träffat nån,och jag hör att han är allt jag inte var Och jag hör att du är säker nu, och jag vaknar med den tanken varje dag Och jag hör att han är den rätteJa, dom säger att du verkligen menar det Och jag hatar att jag älskar dig,och jag älskar dig så mycket att jag hatar mig...
Och jag skäms för att be, jag skäms för att gråta Mitt hjärta är ditt att förstöra, låt din vän få vetaOch jag skäms för att säga att du är kvar i migskratta åt det för då kommer jag kanske över digHur kunde du falla när han sa: "Jag älskar dig, jag älskar dig så mycket att jag hatar mig..."
Mina vänner säger 'vakna upp' och 'sluta tänk på det'Men vad vet dom, nu är nån annan än jag närmare Livet innan dig kunde jag, utan och innanJag kunde haft det så för alltidMen jag föll för dig,och du förtjänade en nominering för rollen du spelade...
Det kommer alltid finnas en hand för dig nånstansDu kan sluta dina ögon och aldrig känna dig ensamOch alla vill väl ha dig nu,dem har ju väntat på det härOch jag hatar att jag älskar digoch jag älskar dig så mycket att jag hatar mig...
Det var en gång, det var en festoch jag gick med nån för hon påminde om dig Men sen kom gryningen, och jag reste mig och gick ut genom dörrenJag gick genom den tidiga morgonenDen rena, tidiga morgonen
Och jag visste inte varför jag gjorde såÅh, jag visste inte varför
Jag har hört att du träffat nån,och den här gången är du riktigt säkerOch jag hatar att jag älskar dig,älskar dig så mycket att jag hatar mig...

Dylan and a mushroom don't equate to liberate....

... and with that title who knows what I'm on about today.

basically the word of 2008 is change. As in, all change. Pathways have been looked down and fingers crossed I may be looking at a bright future if the 7 month project that I've been working on actually hits home. And as they say in Sweden, I'm half in..

Since the game of golf and indoor football the climb back from injury has been long, as well as all the weinerbröds and over lashings of sugar , thats right folks, its a short and ugly trip to the sugar fetma town and its my bus stop. So, a couple of sundays ago, having eaten 8 buns and 8 weiners as opposed to any real food, I decided to make the call and run to an indoor football training and not look back..and to date , despite having a potgut like a gorbys, I've managed 5k runs at least twice a week and some rugby sessions. They say that there isn't a miracle pill to help out in these difficult situations, but of course there is and hopefully the Stackers will be turning up at some point..
haven't made it back to the gym yet as the gym owners have decided to spruce the place up for Joe average which entails removing every decent peice of equipment out and replacing with modernized shitty machines...so motivation isn't there yet.

Yesterday saw a usual face in the street, for those of you who are familiar with the ins and outs, I saw that infamous "bus" girl walking down the street with a guy who was familiar to the honey monster...she was unmistakable and indeed dwarfed by the laddie. I hadn't seen her for at least half a year and always wondered what her story was. I suppose I still don't really know. Cracking though, has to be said.Well done the honey monster.

So many things have happened since the last retracted post, which is now being held in the dungeons with the dragons. Thats what happens when wee lassies collect their pennies and have too much gander time, its the old klipp o klister baby coop.This wont happen again as the blog that takes care of these subjects has been setup and those in the know have taken a shine too.

Have you noticed sometimes the scripting becomes almost too personal and you not only have to read between the lines but also need to be fluent in the same language as "Yoda".All adds to that personal touch, hihi...thats about as confusing as things get around here, you need a degree in "yoda" to cut through the hidden agendas and mental disorders that seem to fill the vacuums which are filled with string theorys anyway..Vacuums are not empty and devoid of everything according to the latest theories in quantum mechanics..as annoying as those people who don't script themselves but are quik to pik up on spelling mistakes..on the blog haha

okay, lets get back on track. It's usually at this point I can detect those with and without a charisma by-pass and those who believe they have an iq versus those who wish they had a higher iq.As I don't even know what IQ stands for, or indeed equates for in todays society.
If that's getting back on track I'm a runaway train.

Thinsg to do list has become less and less but there are still some toys in the attic that require a polish and serious look at, for a start my bike is still in a bucket somewhere and needs fixin'.Better plan that in. With the Guitar projects finished I will refrain from anymore and I may even offload the JP signature Les paul as my EJSRV which just aquired an EJ neck PU is becoming my favourite despite the large neck profile. The vintage string distance seems to suit my purposes more and the echo bell sound is simply amazing. With a trip to SA on the cards it may be a sweet idea to offload the JP but its not an easy call. The right wrist is stronger and with a supermotard in the building phase and the worst part of the weather over it may be an idea to get the two wheels on the road again.

Ok, losing track of everything just now, important emails coming thru, fingers crossed..

Back later, hope the Gibberish makes some yoda sense...as opposed to loda sense...

dooooooooooo

I ain't lookin' to compete with you,Beat or cheat or mistreat you,Simplify you, classify you,Deny, defy or crucify you.All I really want to doIs, baby, be friends with you.
No, and I ain't lookin' to fight with you,Frighten you or tighten you,Drag you down or drain you down,Chain you down or bring you down.All I really want to doIs, baby, be friends with you.
I ain't lookin' to block you upShock or knock or lock you up,Analyze you, categorize you,Finalize you or advertise you.All I really want to doIs, baby, be friends with you.
I don't want to straight-face you,Race or chase you, track or trace you,Or disgrace you or displace you,Or define you or confine you.All I really want to doIs, baby, be friends with you.
I don't want to meet your kin,Make you spin or do you in,Or select you or dissect you,Or inspect you or reject you.All I really want to doIs, baby, be friends with you.
I don't want to fake you out,Take or shake or forsake you out,I ain't lookin' for you to feel like me,See like me or be like me.All I really want to doIs, baby, be friends with you.

c u blog

...at anon blog.

anon

Note

Due to a misconception and misunderstanding which led to certain people to be disappointed which an article I wrote, I have removed the article and will rewrite.

Upon reading back what I had written I realised that this could have been misunderstood to the fullest and indeed was rather cutting.So to them I have apologised.

As the blog isn't here to be cutting it was disappointing for me to know that I had created such a reaction.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as.

Design, function and X-mas day

X-mas day for me always brings back fond memories of playing with huge plastic tacky Robots that moved backwards and forwards and made horrendous sounds that could only be muted by a very large ON/OFF switch, often frequented by my parents.

As Dylan pointed out a while back , the times they are a changin'. The robot memory was around '73, bout the same time Dylan was still top 10.However, and more importantly, this must be a happy memory as I've carried it around for all these years. It comes hand in hand with the same memory of truly believing that I heard santas sleigh , or the bells on the reindeers, landing on the roof of the house in Switzerland. Back then I shared a room with my brother and every attention to detail is still etched into memory.This would be years before the testing of magic mushrooms as well..

Nowadays I'm pushed into a room and told that the pc's and television will be pre-occupied by WOW (world of warcraft) and PS2 Harry Potter game.. There came a roar of delight from both when they discovered that NHL 08 also included the ability of the players to knock holes in each other... There is no chance that Santa exists , unless he is in a B movie shown on telly and as the Dalai lama points out, its all about fending for yourself in this world of individuals closing the door on others. One child per room, their Mother asleep in another and myself working on the only pc available as it's too slow for gaming and indeed anything else.

I reckon if I'd given them each a robot (they are still available as a kind of nostalgic cheap junk) I would have been given a cynical look and asked what the joke was..

Anyway, let x-mas day reign on I suppose in this post swedish x-mas eve apocolypse of Must and Chocolates.

I had to spoil myself this x-mas having caught a glimpse of a plastic strapped watch designed by one french designer , Philip Starck. The same guy has designed everything from a 2 z .

Something about the design which I couldn't resist.

Of course having looked up the maker it wasn't an import into Scandinavia, and then I discovered the white version had been replaced by grey and black.So, a quick hunt later and a white limited availability model from 06 was found and purchased immediatly.To be honest I'm not even sure if I'll wear it or put it up on my oiled oak shelves, as I only bought it for it's clean lines, out of the box watch design and looks. Merry x-mas to myself..

Back home tomorrow with new year and projx to look ahead too..

It's X-mas eve...

merry x-mas eve then.. more scripting as soon as...

5k 4 30 minutes

Tomorrow is the final part of a two part mini series involving one of my gnashers.

Of course, this all started around 35 plus years ago when somebody somewhere failed to ensure that my education in tooth retention was followed up. In fact, Scottish dentistry is officially on the map as being the worst in Europe.

So, 2morrow at 14.40 I hand over 5000 kronor for 30 minutes of work and some cheapo crown as the other one costs 12,000. So I suppose there is a positive that there is a cheapo version.
Not a bad job though, being a dentist. He probably marks up around 400% plus on the peice of plastic he will glue in place, and thats on top of a root filling that he charged me 4500kr for.

So, 9500:-\ on one gnasher...no frikken wonder I'm one of the one's never to have been in Thailand...

EJS meets SRVS for Sami Mk1

X-mas just around the corner and despite the media tidal wave I have managed to survive due to 200 golf balls and 3 minutes of indoor football.

The result was an acute buggered back which necessitated a weeks rest, injections to the lower back and a 20 day cure of volteraine and dexofen.

I have to say dexofen has the worst write up on it's box I've ever seen. To summarise, if you drink a day before or two days having swallowed a tab, you could die a horrible death..

Luckily for me don't have a huge drinking habit so it's all aboard the opiut based painkiller train.

The worst factor about having a shot back is the fact that nothing is good enough to relieve the pain (except for the dex..), so standing, walking, lying down or sitting are as painful as each other. So I had to do a shake and mix. The time I used well, as you can see by the photograph of the latest fender neck that will adorn my latest custom project. Shes named Sami Mk1 and comprises of a Fender Eric Johnson Signature 57 custom body adorned with a pau ferro fretboarded Stevie Ray Vaughn Signature neck. Parts are all on the way from several corners of the planet and the result should make an interesting sound indeed. I will be updating with pictures.

The 76 univox hi-flier is now completely rewired and has one pickup, new 250k pots and no switch.I wired her up direct as Johnny Ramone, despite having a chrome seymour duncan at the neck, never had it wired up and only used his di marzio fs-1 in the bridge. I've had to make some adjustments to fit the single coil into the humbucker spacing and without wanting to ruin the original body I've had to make up a new pickguard and conversion ring using an Ikea plastic bread cutting board.Very cheap and plyable. I've noticed the string spread across the magnets is wrong and I will now make a better conversion ring to ensure the wires go across the magnets as they should.With some new Ernie ball Slinkys the sound has been massive and the neck is very fast. I can understand where Grunge and Kurt Cobain got the sounds and soul from, as most started on these Univox guitars. Its a trasher guitar, you have to trash the thing to get the bite...

All very far away from the Jimmy page Signature that rests in it's own green lush quality guitar case and only gets taken out when I'm composing.The difference in quality reflects in the price tag of course and one shouldn't compare the two.So I wont. Lets just say the JP signature is magnificent in all areas and is used for different moods and feelings.

I can only compare those days when one listens to Dave Brubeck or Miles Davis as opposed to The Exploited or The Ramones.

Now all I needed was a guitar that would be there purely Blues days and that will be Sami Mk1.

With 3 single coil Vintage hand wound pickups added to the neck and body it will only be there for blues..

So far so good then. back is getting better and sooner rather than later I will put the Supermotard back to glory and then start off loading a lot of gear I have around.

More to come on Projx

Hate is a strong word...

The MASSIVE X-mas media machine is already upon us. Some shops are advertising that sales end on the 4th to ensure that people buy their x-mas decorations before anyone else. I actually have somebody at work whose one of many pleasures is to collect x-mas tree balls…cue head shaking…all to their own thing.

Not sure if it’s age related but my cynicism seems to increase around the “festive” season. Coming from a rather cold background emotionally with regards to x-mas , this really hasn’t helped me to accept and let things be.
Even my own sons at an early age starting sending me their “I want” list. Credit when due they did addend church even though the past years I have had to force the point a wee bit more than usual. And fairs fair it’s actually their grandmother who makes sure they take the time out to go with her to the x-mas session.

I’m at the point where I believe that if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t see any point whatsoever in celebration. Just seems a massive contradiction. Ok, truth be told they call me the Grinchen , as they know me well. But just like the famed “snowman” film I also feel sometimes it wouldn’t be a bad thing to melt as I didn’t make the freezer in time when the temperature rises.
Traditions are all very well if they’re your own. Despite living in Sweden for @ 20 (life term..) I still don’t feel as if I’m fitting in. Maybe it’s the way we announce shop store profits at the same time we do TV galas and charities to feed the starving children of the world or whatever they can force-feed to the desensitised public who’d rather watch reality TV about Posh Beckham or Ozzy Osbourne. When did TV become reality???
Fairness. That’s the lacking around December. And caring. There are those who don’t have it so well who get force-fed the same TV and media to make us feel inadequate if we don’t own the latest x-mas gift, last year it was flat screen TV’s. The irony.
Some of the discussions are always interesting while we scramble the change together to buy the presents. We shouldn’t give to charity as it doesn’t make a difference, or that admin takes 98% anyway. Perhaps anything is better than nothing? Including that 2%. I overheard a conversation which was about how beneficial it is to actually give charity. You get more back than you give. At first I thought this was positive until of course the reality came back, that business contacts could be ensured at high level and more money made. Well, there you go.
One of the truest forms of giving up time in a genuine way was a very famous road racer from Ballymena , Ireland by the name of Joey Dunlop. A pub owner and multi World Champion (he past away a few years ago) he used to collect clothes and toys, pack them into the back of his racing van and head down to Romania on his own to ensure delivery was complete. Respect.
Do you feel that we are targeted at x-mas time more than any other time as they want to prey on people’s consciences. Well, so they should, the amount of money going out to ensure the bottom lips don’t hit the floor has become more and more. I wonder what this years “present to give” will be?

It’s usually at this point, if I discuss the subject, that I get slanted as being a negative and miserable git. Well, actually I’m not, I’ve just be cursed from birth about over analysing and asking questions. This is probably the same reason I have been an International coach with multiple certificates. However, on a more private level this is a curse. Everything is questioned, including motives and morals. And I realised that the most positive place to be is in the “turn a blind eye” comfort zone. I’m envious of people who simply get on and don’t care. And believe it or not, I don’t judge them either. There is a difference between judging and understanding.
I feel that most people are very similar to those elite players that I’ve coached at top level. Despite their position as reaching the top of the pathway pyramid they still work and think in a 2 dimensional way. My job was specifically to take them out of this comfort zone and push them into the 3rd dimension. And that is perhaps something that should be and could be done with those people who simply ignore the 3rd and live in the 2nd. Where TV and media have taken over and steers their every move. They remind me of the kids going into the meat grinder in Pink Floyds “The Wall”.

So, if you’ve read this far you’ll probably notice this post is more a mess than a structured constructive piece of scripting. The effects of the up and coming onslaught I’m afraid, and one I’m sure I’ll be joining in with a second hand frown.

7 years of bad luck..

The one thing I hate about superstitions is the fact that I kinda get sucked into believing in them.I suppose its an old fashioned sentiment, which is why I'm really not happy about breaking a mirror this morning. The only thing I hope is that the superstition doesn't include magnifying mirrors...
Dammit!

Sounds like a joke , but its real life.Luxembourg nite out

So there's a Russian, a Georgian, a Croatian and Serbian who all go out for the dinner.
Before they go out they sit around a table and drink a bottle of whiskey.
At the dinner they continue to swill down everything that’s free and eventually end up at the local disco.

The Russian is adorned with gold chain and open shirt, shaved head and basically not someone you'd really want to mess with. By the time he's in the night club he's had enough spirits to knock out a donkey and his behaviour seems to corrugate this. He obviously feels he's a bit of a ladies man and pours on the charm onto the native ladies. Of course, Russian charm is not the same as what we work, and with this he manages to upset a few boyfriends within the space of 5 minutes. He is confronted by a string of piss who demands satisfaction and who brings along 4 friends just to make sure the point is made...

At the same time the Serbian in the group has forgotten his wallet in his jacket which he's left with the guards and so goes to ask for it back. At this point the atmosphere changes dramatically as the guards discover he is from Serbia and proudly present themselves as Monsters Inc. from Kosovo..
The way in which they talk to him is rather frightening and suddenly you start getting visions of ethnic cleansing, a black bag and the back of the night club.
The Serbian is not taking a step back and is giving them a piece of his mind...

Meanwhile, Andre the Russian is heading behind this argument with 5 Luxemburgish and the Georgian who has repeatedly pleaded to the young and innocent fools that they really don't wanna take on this rather unstable rugby league and Russian Super league player. The reply from the leader of the Luxemburgish is to bitch slap Andre..NoNo the Georgian decrees a gladiator style one on one, and if any of the four jump in they will have to deal with him..

At the same time the Croatian has ended upstairs in the private area of the club and has, together with the Dane and German in the group, no idea of anything else , including his wallet and phone..

At 4 o’clock in the morning the Police came in and demanded everyone left immediate.
A Serbian was last seen swearing at Monsters Inc bouncers who looked almost disappointed this one got through the net to survive another day.
A long string a piss Luxemburger was heard , with muffled cries of help as Andre the Russian Pit-bull was dragged off him with blood from both hands and a broken knuckle. the other four in the gang did nothing as NoNo stood with a glaring eye at them.
The German was the only member in the group to get laid with what he called a 26 year old who still lived at home, went to school and didn’t look a day over 15..
The Croatian and Dane were last seen showing each other their bollocked collar bones that looked like broken coat hangers..
Me? I ended up leaving a bar which I didn't realise was 50/50 bar and having told two men (??) to get fucked and stop pestering me to buy a drink was influenced in going back to the digs before the caveman came out to play..

projex

Basically it has become increasingly difficult to find the time in the day to produce scripts as well as everything else.
Always a good sign though.The to do list is slowly being ticked off.
Sounds//
The '76 phase 3 Univox hi-flier arrived Florida yesterday and had to be tightened up a notch and tuned. The few glitches looked over and of course , having played the 70's cheapo and cult status plywood/cardboard monster the next thing is to remove the strings, the pickguard and clean up the solders and replace the bridge humbucker to a single coil Dimarzio which is on its way from Missouri as I write.Of course, first I have to fit a special single-coil ring to convert from humbucker PU to P90 type. All the parts are at the ready and the next question is wether to fit grover tuning heads.
The sound as it is , is so far from my Les paul JP signature. There is no resonance whatsoever as the body is so thin and lightweight and the whole thing sounds like a massive distortion stick , feeding back and crunching away with a much higher tone that imaginable. Intonation my ass, these things are there to be thrashed and you can actually understand that Grunge and Garage all get they're sound from either cheapo lawsuit Univox or s/h mosrite surf sounding guitars.
Now all I need is a sound proof room and marshall stack!

So, thats in the Pipeline.

MC//
At the same time the box in the kitchen needs to be taken to the workshop where my GasGas 450 Super"Retard"Motard lies in a coma. To summise, the box has a new right hand block, a cam chain and a flywheel removal special tool. Nuff said then, full strip down and rebuild and fingers crossed the valves didn't touch the piston when the chain snapped!

Interior design//
The oil oak shelves are now up. First time and using the over priced mini konsols the entire shbang came tumbling down when the CD's went up, so it was back to the drawing board and some thicker and longer screws used. The cheap oak shelves were given a soaking in teac oil and came up much nicer and darker.
Next move is to take the large 4cm thick wood items and get them according to plan to make the living room table. I'd like to have some box joints cut in but not sure as yet, I believe dove tail joints would be too difficult due to the thickness of the wood.
It should look awesome once it's also finished with the teac oil.
To add to this I have finally managed to get some stuff up on the bare walls, which have been bare since I moved in. There are three different levels of sofistication and purpose in the living room. From huge canvas abstract paintings to the more personal real photograph of a 1921 board track daredevil adorning a 1000cc HD of the era. The detail is up close and fantastic, all credit to the photographer! Feels like he's gonna drive straight out of the photograph with dissonance sound!To match up the rest of the wall I framed the photograph in an oak frame.
Those people who know me will understand the significance of this image. Those who don't will not get it at all, but unlike most people I know I do not decorate to impress the neighbours and friends.
It's not all finished yet, just a few adjustments and lighting and I will be very happy.There will be no carpets of course.
When walking in you can see how the images and sticks and stones of the living room represent my personality well, from abstract to machine and man at speed, to two guitars from different ends of the spektrum and different tonage, to the minimilist style interspersed with glass sculpture and memories of International test matches and awards.
And of course, records, cd's music dvd's adorn the shelves and have two guitar stands underneath them.

Next room to be done will be what I call my shambles room, as that is what it is. The bedroom door is always closed as its a shambles 24 / 7. Just the way I like it , so to reflect I will put up all the different framed stuff I have collected over the years, just to add some colour.Once again its basically an empty room with a 120 bed and some laundry baskets. It's what you'd call an on off room, in every case your either on or off in this room-right?

The downsides of course, I've stopped prioritising training and as nothing is being done at club level to initiate any training its quite depressing going from 4 days a week to none.However, I haven't been very well recently anyway so maybe the time will help to build up again.But that grey zone of non training is always hard to deal with as one feels soft , as opposed to getting fat. But never the less the time of year (dark dark and wet) and the lack of any colour always produces some kind of blue.I will try and get back on track before I also become an extra in tellytubbies..

travelling again

Just spent the last 5 days in Luxembourg.
The entire trip was organised by the SRF and as usual it was the cheap tickets that were the most interesting, so a taxi kicked off the proceedings as no bus left at 0430 to the airport.
Upon arrival to Copenhagen I noticed my plane was delayed, from 0840 to 1040.Ho hum..
At 1030 the neons changed to flight cancelled..so, having been ushered to the travel centre I was very happy to be informed that I would be stuck on the next flight in 7 hours time...
With a free meal ticket of 100dkk I went on my merry way to discover that for this kinda money I could afford very little from the cuisines...
As already scripted I'm not a big fan of flying, and to assist this anxiety I get I always ask to get a seat closer to the front than the back ever since the first episode of "lost", when only the front half of the plane crash survived...
...of course when I got on the later flight they had no other option but to squeeze me in a window seat stuck at the back with what looked like a cast of extras from "Tellytubbies"..nuff nuff said..
Then we went through the standard delays and excuses, boarding nowadays actually means getting on a bus that takes you on a 5 minute tour of the airport (airport sightseeing, a new tourism plan?) but of course once you've rushed onto the bus you realise its a cruel trick to make you believe your on your merry way.Then, once you've actually got onto the plane and waited for those very special travellers that are anal retentive about packing their stuff in the overhead locker, you sit squeezed up with weightwatchers excursion clubbers only to hear over the com that due to the fact that the flight was delayed in alisabbaba they have missed their alloted takeoff slot and they will be starting the engines in 15 minutes and hopefully take off in 24 minutes...This is once again a cruel trick as we all know, they start moving towards their alloted airfield after 25 minutes (at which point the old joke always cues in my mind;are we driving there or flying there?) and at last, 40 minutes later I'm sweating bullets on take off asking myself the same question; when was the last time I spoke to my sons and did I tell them how much I loved them?

I finally arrived at my destination.No further drama.
The trip back was amusing for one reason which takes us back to Copenhagen.When I asked why the flight was cancelled I was informed that it was becoming difficult since the Dash-8 de havilland planes had been withdrawn by SAS after the 4 crashes that happened in such a short time span.(You may recall one crashed at Copenhagen airport a month ago and four days later one in Vilnius for the same reasons, poor landing gear).
Nobody had informed LUXair, who, surprise suprise, use the Bombadier Q-400. This is of course the new name for the Dash-8 by De havilland. So, lets just say the flight from Luxembourg to Frankfurt, despite being short, had a peculiar smell to it....

Univox meets Dimarzio

So, "moving forwards" (irony)

In a land far away and a long long time ago we never had webshops, internet and indeed we never even had Microsoft windows, you had to understand how to program on an old BBC computer on the equivalent of CM dos.
I was a wee lad, and every weekend I used to take a bus from Mussi to the High Street in Edinburgh to a shop called "Sounds".The place was always packed with rockers and punks, skins, basically everyone apart from the dreaded mods and scooter boyz (to come later).

All felt like a scene from "the wanderers" or "warriors" which were of course cult status despite being crap.I used to bump into the likes of "Watty", the lead singer of "The Exploited" and I could glance around at all the mohawks, pins and needles and sex pistol posters for hours.I would always buy something just to prove to myself that I'd made the trip, usually a cheap badge, or if I could afford it a patch that I would later sew on to an undiscovered peice of denim on my denim jacket.
So, now years later, the hair has gone, the denim has gone and the internet and country as well as fashions have misted the past enough.Or have they?
An old passion has been rekindeled in the form of music, one which has always been a priority in my life in every aspect. However, despite working with it, indeed as a guitar roadie before my move to Sweden and then for EMA telstar over here before the ruptured disc put a stop to that, I have once again entered into the fray.
A Gibson Jimmy page Signature sits upright on a stand in my living room asking to be played.
Now, and in order to really get back to some Ramones / Exploited roots I have had to get me a compromise with a faster neck action to play some barr chord punk sounds. So last night, at around 22.00 I secured a 70's univox "mosrite" copy from Florida. These guitars were el cheapo when they were sold in the 70's but are now harder to find.Kurt Cobain made them famous. More importantly, if you want to try and get the sound of a Johnny Ramone Mosrite its the cheapest way to go. Just add a Dimarzio DP110 Fs pickup at the bridge and put some better tuners on it (he changed from Kluson to grover). These things are made of plywood and weigh nothing, but the sound is MASSIVE! So, hopefully I'll be waking up Santa on his sleigh.
Now all I need is a mesa boogie mk1....

So, the plan is to eventually try and put a band together and do some cover stuff like the ramones, stranglers, damned, exploited or whatever.Surf and slam music. We shall see, as I say, your only as old as you want to be.
However, with the Les Paul waiting to be used (and not for punk) there are some compositions which I'm toying with a messing about with. Just need to buy a Handy Zoom 360 recorder off ebay and start laying down some trax.

So, what else? Well, the return of Bombi. Plus ca change...or not.

The TV got moved from the bin and now resides on a blocket.se bänk, and an amazing and huge canvas is turning up in december to hang up. Abstract and amazing, more info on that when it arrives.
I bought some really heavy solid oak (4 cm) with the idea to make a living room table. News to follow.
Despite seeing my shelves fall down on the first go, I managed to make things more permanent with 4.5 x 70 spax screws. So I finally have got the finger out and put some shelves up, having looked for the correct konsols and teak oil to finish them off.A large vase (1 meter tall) also ended up in the living room.So, I'm trying at least...
The shelves are now adorned with the prizes won as a coach as well as cd's for all ages and styles.Nice when a plan comes together.

Of course, to normal people this listing sounds pretty sad, but in all honesty its a huge step for me to try and prioritise the interior.I'm happy it's still minimilist anyway.

Right, I'm off to fix a digital camera that somehow has a screw loose in it....

The gasgas 450 engine parts are finally here as well as the puller, so the camchain swap as well as right hand engine block is also to be done. Can't wait.

Interesting to say the least..or?

Off to Luxembourg tomorrow.Interestingly enough there are some hidden agendas but nothing too devious, just all positive.
Having resigned my position as national side coach due to the incompencies, lack of positive support and sheer lack of transparency it's all fairly ironic.
Talkin' of ironys, it always surprises me when you hear what people are saying behind your back.What is more surprising is the question as to why? Self gain? Why else? To try and gain some higher ground by belittling people to complete strangers? 'Aint right.
But what is really ironic is the fact that half the time you know exactly where you are and with who.
The word transparency has been raised on several levels recently in my circles, and it makes me laugh.At one point I had to ask a certain person what they percieved was "transparency" and their anwer kinda reminded me of the Nixon Watergate scenario.
Here was their answer;
Transparency is information released to people we consider have the interest and right to know"...
Nuff said on that one...

Ah yes, self gain meets the mirror ego. Should be a name of a song.
There are those people around who really think they're theatre act isn't transparent, which is to say they actually have a wee plan that they think is sweet and working, as they haven't given enough credit to those of us who make sure we have all the bases covered.As Sun Tzu scripted, "know thy enemy and make them as your friend so you know their every move"..don't qoute me on that, scripting "sand slant" 'aint my thing.

So, as usual its the lines between the lines, and always for a reason. All i'll say is, make sure you know who to trust and who not to trust. And don't play the same Nixon game, or you'll end up the same way.

Does my natural sponge have a soul?

This came shooting through my mind as I was taking a shower and went through my usual routine of looking at the natural sponge, (which I purchased on my visit to Crete, the more expensive variety of course), and feeling sorry for it in its dried up state and to conclude the ritual routine I run enough shower water through it to “bring it back to life”…

Strange, and perhaps a tvångssyndrome which includes the over washing of hands. Something I find that I have to do after various activities.

But as I ran water through the natural sponge hoping to pump some life into it, this behaviour trait struck me as being rather unusual. Or is it? It does go with my other scripts regarding the sofa and it’s soul, or taking the old car to the scrap yard. But a sponge?

Its been a while, glad to be back.....

Things have been very busy since the last inlägg.

For a start , today is basically the start of a new life for me without my position as a coach for a National side. There is always an emptiness that follows any decision when it comes to affecting relationships in teams or private, and it takes a long time to make such drastic decisions.

There are many negatives that could be written about the reasoning behind the decision. However they aren't new and it is rather amusing when people feel that your blind to the hidden agendas being slowly built around the up and coming changes. Of course the denials come in when something happens out of time frame but basically it's time to move on and start enjoying life without the complications of working with incompetence, hidden agendas or people who simply do not have the same goals and objectives. Interestingly enough, but I have written previously about how usual it is to have persons sitting in high positions who are incompetent and who rely on middle management to make them look good.Well, same same, difference being that I have sacrificed my own integrity and swallowed my pride too often for **************

So, what has happened since september. A whole lot, thats what.
My interest in music is back, so I am now the proud owner of a Jimmy Page Signature Les paul which takes up all my evening time as opposed to sucking a straw and watching TV.
Suffice to say the sound is simply awesome even through a Roland MicroCube. I have to wear headphones but the sound variation is treble fold.
This isn't my first dabbling with the electric guitar, my first was a 71 les paul custom black beauty which I purchased in nashville. However, I sold it on and it ended it's days with a broken neck in a freak accident with one of Uppsalas more popular blues bands.
The approach to playing will be the same approach I use in coaching, which is more on general feeling than technic.It helps if your not tone deaf which I'm not. So far things are awesome and only getting better.

Training wise has been cut back and the body is basically fixing itself. So for a while I will not be doing any gym or training sessions, except for korp indoor football which has started again and always fun. having played 4 games in the elite this year I plan on getting fit and making myself available for the bench once again if necessary. I have to say Ive never had more fun than playing the game than coaching.Different rewards and the only anxiety is the fact that my age is a huge restriction.Can't do much about that.

The passion of motorcycles and engines in general is back and the rebuilding of the blown up GasGas is now in full swing. The Supermotard blew up last year and after an investigation it appeared she had snapped her camchain.
New price is 1650kr, so I have now taken a gamble and purchased another type, from another model from ebay for 100kr. Lets see if that works...

Its gonna be a real adjustment now that I have taken away a huge part from the jigsaw I call my life, but as usual I'm sure I'll keep myself busy and for the first time in a long time I won't have to put up with the negatives.

Will also be posting more often.