For the soul-lovers

I bought an EP on ITunes today. It was a VERY good buy!

Ladies and gentlemen; let me introduce you to: ALLEN STONE

Pressphoto

I fist came across this soulful singer through a friend of mine, Phillip Jaurigui who runs Sunset Strip Music Festival in Los Angeles. We were at SXSW Music Festival in Texas and he highly recommended that I drop by private party to check out Stone. And so I did. And so I discovered the soulful r&b-inspired music that seems to be a recipe for good mood. Check out this video from the performance I attended at SXSW:

Us Dreamcatchers were so impressed with him, that we even gave him a proper mention in our travel-blog in the local newspaper. Originally from Chewelah, Washington, Stone grew up in a home highly influenced by gospel-music, and after discovering soulful funk from the 60'es and 70'es in his teens his path seemed set. By american press he is most often described as a mixture between Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake, Marvin Gaye and Donnie Hathaway, and I'd gladly add Norways very own Bernhoft to that list. A lot of the music he creates has lyrics that deals with issues in society, such as f.ex the economic crisis and the toll technology has taken on relationships. In the US, his popularity is sky-rocketing and he's made many national TV appearances, including Conan and Letterman. Right now, he's on tour in Europe, and I only wish that there were any Norway-dates on his tour-schedule....

"Allen Stone on Letterman"

After I downloaded his most recent release "Allen Stone - EP" earlier today, I haven't been able to stop listening to it, and I'm fairly sure that tonight I'll be having dreams about putting on what would (in my mind) be the ultimate musical soul-experience I can imagine at the moment: Lineup: Tromsøs own soul-kings Oh!, Allen Stone, Joss Stone and Bernhoft. 

Just imagine....... *sigh*

And btw, if you are as convinced by that video-clip (despite being poorly shot with my iphone...), why not go all the way and get his album on vinyl here: BUY ON VINYL

Bukta Bigstep

Today has been a proper milestone in my life. I started working again!! Now, for those of you not paying close attention, I've been out of the job-market, recovering from work-related mental exhaustion for over two and a half years. In a previous blog-post of mine; "The Long And Intricate Truth", I wrote about what it's been like to be struck by such an illness like that - and shared some reflections that I have made surrounding the long, tedious and frustrating process of recovering.

And now if all of you who just took a click'y detour to read said blogpost have returned and joined the rest of us, let me tell you about the next chapter in my recovery-history:

For a long while I dreaded that I was going to end up "workless and worthless" for the rest of my life. I know it's a defeatist (and statistically unrealistic) thought, but when you're frustrated by the fact that every step forward in your recovery process is accompanied by a blow and a stagger backwards, thoughts like that  have a way of grabbing hold of you. Also, because your illness is work-related, you know that you have to start from scratch again, building a new career and a new network in a completely different field to what you have ever worked in before - because returning to a job-environment similar to the one that made you sick, would be counterproductive, downright stupid and would make you sick again.

Now I've always been a stubborn and ambitious girl, and after only a few, short rounds of soul-searching, it didn't take long for me to decide what area I saw myself working in sometime in the future. And because that stubbornness and ambition is paired with impatience and creativity, I soon started using most of my time and energy to focus on shaping what would someday become my new life. Music.

Dreamcatcher became such a huge success in my life that I could no longer convincingly tell myself that I was useless. It opened up a network of people to me that made me have to deal with the outside world, and not barricade myself in my apartment and develop social anxiety. It gave me musical experiences that put a smile on my face and awe in my heart. And most importantly, it pointed the way to my future - and I couldn't wait to take each step in the direction it pointed.

And today, the step I took was a huge one! The Bukta Open Air Festival; one of the best rockfestivals in Norway, have agreed to house me at my first job since I got sick, and they welcomed me with open arms. I've been involved in the festival for a few years already, both as a volunteer and as a member of the assistant staff, and I've admired and appreciated the way they conduct their business. And now I am a member of their administration :D

I caught myself grinning where I sat at my desk today - so happy that I've come so far that I'm re-entering the working world again. And so grateful that I can work at a place that accepts me for who I am and what I am capable of, strengths and flaws included! I honestly think that I have never started a job with more honest and realistic pretenses before - not pretending to be anything I'm not, and not feeling any pressure to over-achieve and enter into a mode that will bury me in work and lead to another breakdown.

And can I tell you a secret? I actually think the removal of that pressure might be one of the keys to unlocking my recovery....

My new workplace: The Bukta Open Air Festival

The 12-hour Curse and the time before Christmas

It's only the 14th of November, but in my head, the preparations for Christmas are already well under way. The first presents are bought and wrapped in beautiful vintage paper, the first home-made cookies are baked by the masterchef that is my 8 year old son, and I feel the christmassy spirit sneaking up on me.

I think that this year I've been determined to start the preparations early for two particular reasons.

1. My illness makes me have to write everything down in order to not forget it... So I expect there to be surprises I hadn't considered... And because I suffer from a phenomenon I've aptly named "The 12 hour curse" (Definition of The 12 hour curse: Anytime I do something that wears me out mentally (f.ex spend time in a shopping centre, arrange a Dreamcatcher-concert, hang out with friends, have a therapy-session ++) my mind gets so worn out that I collapse into a comalike-state for a minimum of 12 hours before I wake up and am ready to repeat the whole thing all over again), I keep losing huge chunks of days, so I recon that in order to get it all sorted in time for Christmas I have to start early.

2. I have a very busy December planned with gigs, touring and most importantly, starting my new job, so I expect to be struck by the 12 hour curse a lot, losing a lot of that wondrous pre-christmas time... :p

But despite the obstacles, I am determined to have the best pre-christmas time ever, with my son, my friends and my amazing family. And then.... The best Christmas ever! I'm already looking forward to it like a little kid, and here are a few photos from last years holidays to get you just as excited as me ;)   

So there you go: That was my postcard perfect Christmas of 2011. Now all I'm left with is this slightly worrying feeling: How on EARTH am I going to capture the Christmas of 2012 without photographing  the exact same things as in 2011??! :O