Categories
Cover story Misc

Sail the world

{mosimage}
 

Auli Irjala made her dream come true and sailed
the world for four year with her husband Hannu Aulin. They visited places like Greenland, Tonga,
Mexico,
New Zealand and Alaska, only few to mention. She wrote a
book of their adventures called Meren Selkä Taittuu (The Stories of Sailing on
Kristiina, Edita 2007). It is a great story about the journey itself, good
description of the nature and life on the 11,2 meters long sailing boat called
Kristiina. 

{sidebar id=3}How did you become a
sailor?

It was in
1986 when I inherit some money. Me and my brother bought a 6-meter long
sailing boat as an impulse purchase. I didn’t know anything about sailing at
that time. I had been on sailing boat only once in my life. I just tried to
learn it by myself, but then I gave in and took a course and realised what
sailing was all about. Later I bought my brother’s share, because it didn’t quite
work, owning the boat together. We disagreed on some things about the boat.
Afterwards I let him use it though and it worked very well that way.

How can one learn to sail?

Only way to
learn it is by sailing. When you get more experience you can sail further and
to more challenging places. I remember how great it felt when I sailed from Helsinki to Hanko for the
first time in my life. The great feelings come when you exceed your limits and
challenge yourself.

Did you plan the trip
to be so big before hand?

We were
planning the trip to last for 3 years, but we were aware that those kind plans
can easily change and so we ended up sailing for 4 years. We didn’t even want
to do around the world trip.

When you
are planning this kind of sailing journey, you need to plan the time schedule
and the route very carefully and according to the hurricane seasons and
predominant winds.

How much time did you
spend on planning the trip?

We spent
two years planning the trip, getting information and equipment, fixing the boat
and testing equipment. The hardest part was making the final decision of leaving.
But after the decision had been made, all the problems were practical problems,
which just need to be solved. The better you plan your trip, the less you will
have problems on it.

What were the places
you wanted to go most?

To Greenland. When we got there, we wanted to go to across
the USA
and so we cruised along the rivers of America. We also were dreaming of
sailing to Alaska,
but we weren’t going to do that, because the passage is quite demanding. Then
we met people who had done the journey and we decided to take an extra year and
go for it. And so we sailed from New Zeeland to Alaska.

Do you recommend that
kind of big trip to other sailors?

Yes, if
that is what they want. They should do it rather now than when they are on
retirement pension. You never know what’s going to happen in the future. Our
journey was definitely the right thing for us.

{mosimage}What did the freedom
feel like?

It is
contradictory matter; in the beginning it felt great, like being on big holiday.
But big journey isn’t any holiday, so at some point we felt like having
something to do, some work to do. In the beginning of the trip I felt guilty of
not doing anything useful and that was something I couldn’t have prepared for.
But when the time passed, the feeling faded and I got use to not being very
active. I wrote articles for magazines, but Hannu didn’t have much to do and he
didn’t like being inactive. It may sound weird, but being inactive isn’t good
for most of the people. Sometimes we even missed the everyday life in Finland, but
when we visited Finland
few times during our trip, we were amazed how hectic and stressful life in here
actually is.

We learned
to be more social and learned to rely on the boat and on each other more and
more. We didn’t get bored; our relationship was great and we saw lot of new
things and places on the way. Although there was a bit of numbness: for example
it was breathtaking to see dolphins in the beginning of the trip, but after we
were snorkelling with whales in Tonga we weren’t that impressed when we saw
dolphins. After eating so much fresh lobster we don’t feel like eating lobster
in Finland
anymore.

I could
have stayed for longer, but Hannu wanted to end the trip and come home, for
work. But it took a year to come back after the decision of coming back, so we
had enough time to settle down with the thought of going home. Now I feel great
about it all and I know that I am very privileged to do that kind of adventure.
I really appreciate the experience I had. Now it is my turn to give time to my
parents. It feels good to be here now.

{mosimage}What was the most
impressive experience?

The whales
in Tonga.
We have always been curious about whales and we have seen lot of them before in
Norway.
We also were really close to bears in Alaska,
which is very rare. We really enjoy the nature. Also meeting other people,
different kind of people than you meet back home was very interesting. In Finland we
usually meet people, who share the same background and values, but overseas and
especially in Alaska,
we met these crazy and great people, we wouldn’t get to know in here. It really
opened our eyes to many ways people live. After being moving from place to
place for so long and especially after very thrilling passage from New Zealand
to Alaska it
was great feeling to know that we were going to stay in Alaska for a year.

And the most
frightening moment?

On our way
from New Zealand to Tahiti the mast almost
fell down. The bolt inside of the mast broke and the wire cables went all loose.
It was in the middle of the sea, we were one week of sailing away from the
nearest harbor. Luckily we could solve the problem by ourselves. You will feel
good when you can cope with the situation like that by yourself. Other wise
everything went well, we were lucky, but in addition to that we lived very
quiet life and moved slowly.

What kind of sailors
did you meet?

We met lot
of sailors and got along with them well. Sailors, who do big trips like ours,
understand each others quite well, no matter where they come from. We met lot
of sailing families, even with their children aboard and sailors on all kind of
boats; for example in Tonga
we met this old man who was on his journey by a sailing canoe made of veneer
plywood.

Did you know that you
would be the first Finnish sailors to go to Greenland?

We had
sponsors, because we were going to sail to ashore of Greenland
as the first pleasure sailors under the Finnish flag. I haven’t heard that
anyone else had done the same route; people usually want to go to South.

How was it living in
the boat all the time?

Our
relationship was strong and good before the trip and it was dream of both of
us. Aboard you just don’t want to argue about small stuff. And if something
turns up, you have to solve it right away, because you can’t leave anywhere. Of
course there were moments when we were a bit bored, but there weren’t so big
arguments that we wanted to end the trip. On dry land it is easier to quarrel
about small matters that become bigger issues. And it is so easy to break up
ashore. No one should do that kind of trip to fix a relationship. 

Of course
it was crowded on the boat every now and then, like when we sailed to Greenland and there were 4 of us aboard, wearing winter
clothes. Most of the time it was only two of us and it was nice to have our
family members to come visit us on the journey. We are very different kind of
people, which was only the strength: we always had two different kinds of
solutions to problems and we just picked the better one. Our relationship is
even stronger now, after the experience.

How did you decide
that it is time to go back home?

Hannu
wanted to get back to work and our parents were expecting us to come back,
especially when the trip was already one year longer than we planned it to be.
Distances are so huge, so if we had wanted to sail for longer, it would had
been at least one year more.

What is the thing with
the sailing for you?

The wind!
Sailing is just one way to move and see the world. The most important thing is
that I have seen the places on the way and disengage myself from routines and
everyday life back home. Sailing makes it possible to make that kind of trip
safely and on cheap. It really wouldn’t be possible with motor boat. That kind
of sailing is a life style.

You sold Kristiina and
bought and a new sailing boat, why?

We bought
bigger boat with the shower inside. In Kristiina the shower was on the deck.
This new boat is a project; we are going to change lot of it. It’s name is
Manta.

You left your job
before the trip. Was it right thing to do?

Yes it was.
Now I work as a freelance journalist and writer. At the moment I am writing a
book about history of gaff schooner called Joanna Saturna. It is build in 1903.

Where to next?

It takes approximately five years to fix Manta. I would imagine that the next place we are going to sail
is somewhere cold, no matter if it is to South or North. You see so much wild
life in arctic area, which we are seeking. I like to be in tropics, but only
shorter periods. When we leave, we probably will stay for several years on the
trip; we just take our home, Manta, to some cool place, where are lot of whales
and birds. This summer we will sail in beautiful archipelago of Finland.

Categories
Cinema DVD

A rifle in your life

{sidebar id=22} We saw snipers in
films like the new version of The Jackal (1997, and by the way, for
those lovers of the detail, the action of the movie was starting in Helsinki) or most
recently with Jarhead, a shout of alert against the paranoid mood that
accompanies the American soldiers while staying in Iraq.

I must
recognize that until now, Antoine Fuqua was a director that had never been
able to convince me. I always consider him too lucky to handle enormous budgets
for creating mediocre products. He is the man behind movies like Replacement
Killers or Training Day, and although he always achieves some
exciting action sequences, their films have always lacked some “punch” to turn
them into real classics. But well, it seems that he has finally
achieved it with The Shooter, his most solid film so far.

The storyline
is good with excellent twists; the action is astonishing, the actors are credible
all the time and you feel hooked to the plot from the beginning to the end.
Probably the success is in great part due to the excellent cast: big names and
great recognized actors like Danny Glover, Elias Koteas and Rade Serbedzija
together with promising new blood like Rhona Mitra and Michael Peña.
The main role as the “difficult-to-kill” sniper goes for Mark Wahlberg,
who shows film after film great skills and good taste when choosing new works, not
only like a tough guy but also touching other genres like comedy (check the
excellent I love Huckabees). Does anybody still remember him in his young
years as the political non-correct white raper singer Marky Mark? The
times are changing…

I hope that Fuqua
can make honour to his status in Hollywood
in the future with more interesting works like this The Shooter. One of
the best action movies of the year.

Categories
Cinema DVD

Eddie Murphy x 3

{sidebar id=21} The king of the
comedy is back, and stronger than ever! 2006 was an important year for Eddie
Murphy with two new films released: Dreamgirls and the one in
spotlight here: Norbit.  

After making us laugh with his voice as the Donkey
of Shrek, the help of new technologies plays an important role again, (same
than happened in latest products as The Nutty Professor 1 and 2), to
transform Murphy into three totally opposite characters: The young, sweet, naïve
and sometimes slow minded Norbit, his ugly fat wife Rasputia and the Asian
owner of the orphanage where Norbit was raised, Mr Wong. A multi-role formula
that has worked pretty well for Murphy all over the years.  It comes to my mind in his extended filmography
the exhilarating title Coming to America where he played already four
different roles! Those were “Chocolate sexy” times!

And what can you expect from Norbit?
Well, the story is well known: A poor guy married to the wrong woman, and whose
old love from child times appears again to bring fresh air to his life. But in
this case, the cocktail has tones of…weight personified in Rasputia, Norbit’s
dominant and monstrous wife, who heads the clan of brothers that rule the city
with the muscle: the Latimores.

Murphy’s biggest virtue is that he knows how
to make fun of everything, starting from his own black race and continuing with
all kind of stereotypes. The movie does not bring anything new to the comedy
genre, but I must recognize that there were some exhilarating moments where I
could not stop laughing. As co-starts, a couple of big names in Hollywood: Cuba
Gooding Jr. and Thandie Newton, but the ones who really take the
glory after Murphy are Norbit´s curious pimps friends Eddie Griffin and Katt
Williams. Norbit is recommended for watching with the family or with
the girlfriend in a rainy evening.

Categories
Albums Music

Sixx:AM – The Heroin Diaries

{mosimage}The Heroin
Diaries is the soundtrack to Nikki Sixx recently published addiction memoir. In
the book Motley Crüe’s bass player shares mesmerizing diary entries from the year he spiralled out of control
in a haze of heroin and cocaine. Surprisingly enough, the soundtrack to the
book does not have much to do with the music of the band that put the bassist
into the spotlight and eventually led him into drug addiction.

According to Nikki Sixx, this album is a
collaborative effort with James Michael and DJ Ashba. The result is an
overproduced pop metal collection of songs with some spoken excerpts from the
book and some touches of circus music. Instead of edgy and dark sounds, The
Heroin Diaries is an album full of soft ballads with sweet melodies. It brings
to mind the music of The 69 Eyes, HIM and other love metal heroes.

Nevertheless, for this style the album has
some good songs, like the rocker Pray for Me, the mid tempo Tomorrow. Perhaps
the most interesting song is the closing track Life After Death, which has some
cinematic qualities and a contemporary Alice Cooper sound.

The Heroin Diaries would have been a solid
debut for a new band. However, one could have expected Nikki Sixx to deliver a
different soundtrack to his darkest memories.

Categories
Cinema DVD

Magic against Fascism

{sidebar id=19}
Reality and
fantasy world get mixed in the last work of director Guillermo del Toro: Pan´s
Labyrinth, being the second of his films framed on times of post civil
war in Spain,
after his terror tale in an isolated orphanage in The Devil's Backbone
(2001).  

The film is
visually astonishing, with detailed and marvellous scenarios that catch totally
the attention of the spectator in the fantasy sequences, all seen through the
eyes of Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) who turns to be one of the youngest
revelations of Spanish cinema. But the narration has undoubtedly its best
moments when the very real characters step into screen. The cast of Spanish
well known actors is simply magnificent, with an excellent Álex Angulo
as the rebel rural doctor and one none less excellent and more mature Maribel
Verdú, far from the usual erotic roles of years ago. All of them turning
around Ofelia's stepfather, Captain Vidal interpreted by Sergi Lopez in
a superb role  as a violent fascist who
has to face the guerrilla hidden in the mountains of north Spain 4 years after
the end of the Civil War. Lopez is almost better known in France than in Spain and after
this praising work, it is about time that his skills get more recognized
internationally.

The film is
a beautiful cry in favour of the liberty and the hope in own believes until the
end, surrounded by a fairytale atmosphere. But do not get mistaken, this is not
a film to offer to your children while eating popcorns in front of the TV set.
Violence is often and brutally present all over the film, and the final is not exactly
what you would call “happy made in Hollywood”.
All in all, Del Toro has achieved a very difficult task: fidelity with history in
a film where historical happenings are wrapped into a fabulous atmosphere,
achieving a product that can satisfy equally to fans of American and European
cinema. Brilliant!

Categories
Albums Music

Uniklubi – Luotisade

{mosimage}Uniklubi, the young band from Tampere, releases their
third studio album, Luotisade,  after having becoming the favourite of many
teenagers in Finland due in great part to their previous hit included in their
first album (and named after that song): Rakkautta ja Piikkilankaa.

Being quite an unusual feature, in Uniklubi  the bass player, Teemu Rajämaki, is the
one who composes most of the lyrics. About the new work, just after a curious
short intro where you can listen to the voice of a child in a lullaby that
could perfectly be extracted from a Tubular Bells album, in Luotisade
you can find good and catchy melodic rock in tunes like Vnus or the more romantic one Luotisade
that gives name to the album.

There is also space for heavier sound as you can
find in the seventh track Varjoon Juuttunut. Singing all the songs in
Finnish language, the bands market gets reduced basically in a great extent to their
native Finland.
Uniklubi faces quite a tough competence in this national market against other bands
with similar style and more experienced as Apulanta (many guitar riffs
sound exactly the same), Technicolour or Negative but album after
album the “Tamperelaiset” boys achieve quite a personal sound and own style
that undoubtedly will make them gain positions in the band list of future
summer festivals.

Categories
Albums Music

Turbonegro – Retox

Turbojugends
of the world, rejoice! Get your asses ready! The best fat gay Norwegian punk
metal band has a new album out and it is a helluva album. With Retox,
Turbonegro goes back to the basics, gets heavy and deliver its best album since
the classic Apocalypse Dudes (1998).

Turbonegro
returned from hiatus in 2003 and since then the band has been very active,
touring constantly, while the fan base of Turbejugends grew and show the
Turbonegro official uniform across the planet. Retox is the third album since
the comeback and it is somehow different than the previous Scandinavian Leather
(2003) and Party Animals (2005). While those were pompous productions, full of
clichés and easy wow-ooh chorus, Retox is a return to form with a raw and edgy
sound.

The album
sounds furious and energetic since the very beginning with the explosive We’re
Gonna Drop The Atom Bomb. There are some heavy riffs and many songs are metal
flavored: Welcome to the Garbage Dump, Boys from Nowhere, Hot and Filthy, You
Must Bleed/All Night Long.

Apart of
the violent riffs and chords, there’s a bit of sex obsession: No, I’m Alpha
Male is one of the most outstanding songs in the set and probably one of the
best ones Turbonegro has recorded since Apocalypse Dudes. And of course, there
is a tremendous sense of humour which characterizes the band. Singer Hank Von
Helvete takes a look at the mirror and laughs at himself in the songs Every
Body Loves a Chubby Dude and Hell Toupée, which is the great hymn to male
baldness every written: “Spent my life fighting off the
pigs, drinking beer and smoking cigs / stealing riffs and a blowing gigs, but
now I'm stuck googling for wigs / Skin is glowing, dome is showing, my
bio-clock is ticking so fast / And it's gonna be Hell Toupee”.

The album closer is the eight-minute prog/metal/punk
suite What is Rock? This is a three-part song which brings the best of
Turbonegro and which in its last part answers to that philosophical question.

Less glam,
more metal, 100% Turbonegro!

Categories
Misc News

Many millions more to arts & culture -draft state budget

The long-desired Archive would contain material from both public broadcasting company YLE and other broadcasters and will most probably be connected to the Finnish Film Archive, according to Riita Kaivosoja, Director General at the Ministry of Education, responsible for culture politics, in Helsingin Sanomat (4.8.2007).

The Ministry is also willing to support digitalisation of Finnish cultural heritage by 2 million euro. Public libraries will have to make do with the same amount of state funding as in 2007: about 2.5 million euro. The Ministry rejected a request for a 2-million euro state subsidy for culture export.

In total, 209.6 million euro in the draft state budget is allocated to arts and culture. Another 205.1 million would come from the profits of state-owned lottery company Veikkaus.

The Government will decide on the draft budget in negotiations beginning on 30 August.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Sources: Helsingin Sanomat, Finnish government, draft budget 2008 – Ministry of Finance) 

Categories
Antonio's blog Blogs

From rainy Tartu with love!

I assisted to Tuska festival in Helsinki at the beginning of June; the
streets of the capital were literally taken by an army of metal fans dressed in
black. There I had the chance to talk for almost one hour in the backstage with
Fernando Ribeiro, the singer of Moonspell (interview will appear
in our pages pretty soon) while outside Stratovarius was totally blowing
the audience. Fernando and the rest of the band were very friendly with me and
it was a pleasure to spend some time with them before they left to their hotels
to celebrate the amazing gig they offered to the public. One of the best
performance at Tuska this year. Also the festival made me remember what a good
band Stratovarius is! I sadly had the chance to see only the first half an hour
of concert before the call of duty leaded me to the backstage, but what I saw
is the powerful coming back of one of the best metal bands of the last decade.
They sounded tight, aggressive and in excellent shape, which really makes me
very happy. Stratovarius reminds me of my younger years where together with Blind
Guardian, they were absolutely my gods! The Germans were also present at
the festival, so this was like a flashback to one decade ago, but I did not
enjoy their set list and sound so much.

Among the huge list of bands I want to highlight a couple more of
names: 45 Degree Woman that exhales tones of quality, great lyrics and a
great voice for their singer Mikko Viman (It is a pity that the
audience’s response is not so massive like with some other bands) and the
exoticness of the Japanese D'spairsRay that counted with many fans, specially
among the young female teenage audience.

Well, but if we really want to complain about the weather, nothing
better like looking back at the first day at Roskilde festival in Denmark. It
rained cats and dogs over there! That was literally a battlefield, and people
could not survive without rubber boots. I was quite a privileged since I
arrived the second day, and could stay every night at friend's place in Copenhagen, where a nice
hot shower awaited me. But I suppose that more than one regretted to get the
ticket for finding themselves surrounded by so difficult conditions. In any
case, the festival atmosphere was nice and more relaxed that in the Finnish
ones, thing that surprised me pretty much. Musically, I received the, maybe,
greatest disappointment of the summer due to the poor show of Red Hot Chili
Peppers. What was the problem with those guys? They did around 10 solos all
over the show, they were not able to link one song after another, and the
singer hardly spoke 3 words to the audience, hiding his face with a hat that
covered half of his head. Maybe they did not take care of themselves too much
before the late show at night (it started at 1:00 a.m.), but, come on guys!…you have to be more
professional when coming to play to Roskilde in front of such a huge audience.
In the bright side of the festival, the Swedes The Ark, gave another magnificent
concert. Ola Salo is really a great showman who knows how to entertain
the audience, with his funny speeches or with his voice, and they showed what a
good concert is about, while featuring old and new songs from their last
recently released album A Prayer for the Weekend. The Muse and Arctic
Monkeys also came to Denmark
meaning business, while during Beastie Boys and Queens of the Stone Ages
shows I was more interesting in the research of the quality of the Spanish wine
sold in the supermarkets of Denmark.
Also to remark the big amount of Finnish who assist to the festival, you can
meet groups of them quite easily all over Roskilde.

About books recently read, I was totally hooked to A World Apart,
the odyssey by the Polish writer Gustaw Herling in the Communism work
camps, years before The Gulag Archipelago 
was published. Pretty recommended, although not suggested for sensitive
people. Hard stories about a hard life and how human values can get so twisted
during war times. Second World War continues present in my present literature,
since I am now embarked in the reading of Mephisto by the German Klaus
Mann. And on Wednesday a quick visit to Helsinki. The reason: I can’t get no
satisfaction!!! Their satanic majesties, The Rolling Stones, are coming
to town !!!

Categories
Misc News

Leningrad cancels Ankkarock, replaced by …part of the band

Spitfire was founded in the early nineties as a garage rock group but
later turned to a unique way of playing skapunk. The band from Saint Petersburg has played in
Finland numerous times and performs in both Russian and English.

Ankkarock is held this weekend (4 and 5 August) in Vantaa. Spitfire will play Saturday at 4 pm.

Spitfire – official website
Spitfire on MySpace

Leningrad (in Russian)

Ankkarock

Categories
Albums Music

Hanoi Rocks – Street Poetry

{mosimage}Any new
album by Hanoi Rocks has to be celebrated. After so many years, it is a wonder
that Michael Monroe and Andy McCoy are still doing music together. Some might
even say that it’s a wonder that they are still alive. But indeed, they are
very much alive and Street Poetry is their best album since they reunited as
Hanoi Rocks in 2001.

 

 

{sidebar id=16}Street
Poetry sounds like a band’s effort, instead of individual parts put together,
with Conny Bloom and A.C. completely integrated in the group. Actually that is
how the recording was done in a studio in Suomenlinna. The whole band playing
together live in the studio. There are not many overdubs, synthesizers nor
artificial effects nor experiments like Reggae
Rocker. This gives a very fresh feeling to an album that sounds like good
old rock and roll.

Indeed,
Street Poetry sounds very classy. Conny and Andy deliver a good amount of rock
and roll riffs and the guitars don’t sound so metal as in the previous release
Another Hostile Takeover. There are some good rockers, like the opening
Hypermobile, Tootin’ Star and Powertrip that includes some good guitar licks
with slide. There are even some retro sounds: Teenage Revolution has all the
qualities of a classic Alice Cooper tune. Even its chorus features the vocals
of the 6th graders of the Suomenlinna elementary school. The new single, This
One’s For Rock ‘N’ Roll, is a classic rock and roll anthem that could have been
penned by Ian Hunter and his Mott The Hoople.

But after
all, this is Hanoi Rocks and in Street Poetry we find the mark of The Muddy
Twins: the catchy choruses, the riffs, Michael Monroe playing sax… even the song
Transcendental Groove has the same vibe as the classic Taxi Driver.

Street
Poetry is 13 songs and 45 minutes of good rock and roll. It will be a real
treat to see them played live. Indeed this one’s for rock’n’roll.

1. Hypermobile

2. Street Poetry

3. Fashion

4. Highwired

5. Power of Persuation

6. Teenage Revolution

7. Worth Your Weight In Gold

8. Transcendental Groove

9. This One's For Rock´ Roll

10. Powertrip

11. Walkin´away

12. Tootin´Star

13. Fumblefoot and Busy Bee

Categories
Cinema DVD

The Last King of Scotland

{sidebar id=15}The first
feature film of Scottish director Kevin MacDonald focuses on the figure of Idi
Amin, army officer and president of Uganda between 1971 and 1979. But rather
than being a biopic of the atrocities and actions of the dictator, the film shows
the relationship between Amin, played by Forest Whitaker, and the fictional
character of his personal physician, Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy). It is this
relationship what creates a consistent story and takes a glimpse at Amin’s
brutal regime.

The viewer
discovers the character of Idi Amin through Dr Garrigan’s eyes, whose vision of
his friend and leader drifts from sympathy to fear. And so the mood of the film
varies. Considering the subject matter, there is much comedy. The funny first
part of the movie precedes the uncomfortable course of events.

Much has
been talked about Whitaker’s performance, including an Academy Award. But
indeed, his performance is impressive. He steals the show, even though the
screenplay seems to appoint the physician as the main role in the film.
Whitaker recreates the complex psychology of Idi Amin and presents the leader’s
paranoia and egomania.

The Last
King of Scotland lives up to the hype with a solid narrative and its focus on
people and its relations, putting aside easy clichés.

Categories
Albums Music

Suomipoppia 10

Just look at the names in the list: Apulanta, Hanoi Rocks, Ari Koivunen (the young heavy metal singer, last winner of Finnish idols) Viikate, Liekki, Sunrise Avenue, Uniklubi or Tea gives some good examples of how healthy the hard rock scene is nowadays in Finland, while new names like Hanna Pakarinen (the Finnish representative during last Eurovision song contest) can be compared with other female top dogs in Finnish music scene as Jonna Tervomaa.

As in most of the cases with this kind of albums, Suomipoppia 10 turns to be the perfect album in situations like finding that hit from the Finnish radio that you liked so much and did not know the author, as a present to a friend or relative or as a good first introductory step to get immersed into the fascinating music scene of Finland. Although next time, for avoiding misunderstandings among the buyers, we will have to see if the guys of EMI can make the difference between pop and other music styles.

Tracklist 

1. IRINA Miksi hänkin on täällä
2.  UNIKLUBI Vnus
3.  ARI KOIVUNEN On The Top of The World
4.  PMMP Joku raja
5.
JONNA TERVOMAA Läpikulkumatkalla
6.  HANOI ROCKS Fashion
7.  APULANTA
Viisaus ei asu meissä
8.  YÖ Satukirjan sankari
9.  SUNRISE AVENUE
Diamonds
10. KRISTIAN MEURMAN Lapin kesä
11. ALEKSI OJALA Koditon mies
12. HANNA PAKARINEN Leave Me Alone
13. VIIKATE Ei enkeleitä
14. SIR ELWOODIN
HILJAISET VÄRIT Rouva Fortuna
15. BLOODPIT Wise Men Don´t Cry
16. LIEKKI
Marie
17. KALLE AHOLA Nämä päivät ovat meitä varten
18. JUHA
TAPIO Sitä jotakin
19. TEA Si-si-sinä Mi-mi minä
20. JUKKA POIKA Hän
haluu huussin

 

Categories
Concerts Music

Pleased to meet you

{mosimage}They are
very close to the Steel Wheelchair Tour 2010, but on Wednesday The Rolling
Stones confirmed once again that they are the majesties of rock and roll. As
usual, the Stones put an extraordinary show supporting an unbeatable collection
of songs that can hide any defects (which are many) of their playing.

 

After a
stormy and cold eve, the good weather and the sun did not want to miss one more
Rolling Stones concert in Finland: a nice summer evening welcomed an audience of
35,000 people at the Olympic Stadium. The band came on stage around 9pm with a
big bang of fireworks and the famous riff of Start Me Up and everyone stood up.
It was a rocking start in which the band adventured into an odd succession of
songs, which included not so popular songs such as All Down the Line, She’s So Cold
or Love Is Strong and ended with the country rock ballad Sweet Virginia.

This was
the most outstanding fragment of the show. All the special effects were put
aside and on stage there was just an honest rock and roll band with all its
virtues and defects. Although focused on the show more than one could have
expected, Keith Richards’ playing is nowadays more erratic than ever, hitting wrong
notes or just stopping playing. But that’s Keith Richards, anyway. Ron Wood showed
some nice slide guitar playing, Charlie Watts played a solid beat as usual and
Jagger held everything together.

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This first
part of the show manifested the curse of the Stones. The tremendous popularity
and the stadium do not seem to allow them trying new things. Of course, they
just do not need it, although the music would improve if they would bother to
dig deep into the band’s repertoire or to explore the country influence that has
been present in many of the Stones albums. Sweet Virginia sounded sweet, with
Jagger laying down some good country vocals. They could easily deliver great
performances like the ones that were compiled in the magnificent Stripped album.

After the
extended jam of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking and Keith’s moment (he sang amazingly
clearly You Got The Silver and he looked amusing hugging his guitar in I Wanna
Hold You), the concert became predictable: all the hits. But there is not a
better collection of rock classics. It’s the greatest hits of rock and roll. It’s
the time for the visual show: the trip to the back of the stadium with a moving
stage, the giant balloon tongue on the stage… Sympathy for the Devil is the
great “golden god” (or better evil) moment for Mick Jagger. Dressed in a red coat
he stood on top of the stage. But that’s what deserves. He is the best frontman in
rock and so it showed in Helsinki: dancing, running from one side to the stage
to the other, speaking Finnish to salute the crowd…

During the
last segment of the show, the whole band sounded tighter, louder and rocking.
They played a terrific version of Paint It Black that was probably the most acclaimed
song of the entire night. The encore of Brown Sugar preceded the fireworks and everyone
was happy.

There were
no surprised, but again… it’s only rock and roll!

 

Toots &
The Maytals

Introduced
as the greatest reggae band opening for the greatest rock and roll band, Toots
& The Maytals were indeed a good opening act. The Jamaican band played a
short set based on from its first album: Pressure
Drop, Funky Kingston and even the cover of John Denver’s Country Road. It was
just a pity that a stadium is such a big place for an unknown legend like Toots
Hibbert and his band and the crowd did not pay the deserved attention.

The only bad
thing of the evening was the tight security. One wonders if it is really
necessary to have one security guard for every 100 people during a seating concert, with a
mainly mellow and aged audience. Indeed the security did not help at all to create
an enjoyable atmosphere, especially when the guards would not allow anyone to
dance or move more than ten centimeters from his place. After paying tickets costing up
to 100 euro, the audience deserves some right to enjoy the show and not be
observed and watched like a flock of sheep. After all it was just a rock concert,
not a mob convention.

Categories
Misc News

DMX gigs in Finland cancelled

According to the hip-hopper’s management, DMX (real name: Earl Simmons)
was arrested at the airport passport control for failing to attend a
court session earlier this year and prevented from leaving the United
States until the case has been settled.

The court case involved driving without a driver’s licence, a minor offence, so it shouldn’t take much time to solve the matter, the management reassures.

A replacement concert at Kulttuuritalo will take place at the end of August. The exact date will be announced as soon as possible. 

Ticket holders who can’t (or don’t want to) attend the gig at Kulttuuritalo on the new date can have their tickets refunded at Lippupalvelu ticket offices.

UPDATE:  

Early on 3 August, the organizers of Pipefest in Vuokatti announced that American rapper Cassidy will take DMX's place the same day.  

 

DMX – official website
DMX on MySpace

Cassidy – official website
Cassidy on MySpace

Kulttuuritalo
Pipefest  (in Finnish only)