Presenting: Results

Hei everyone! I'm sorry I've been awfully quiet on here lately. I promise to do something about it, starting right now with telling you some exciting news!

I don't know if you remember the project I enthusiastically undertook a couple of months back? The one called "Project Makeover"? Yeees, now it's coming back to you. ;) Anyways - if you don't remember the details of the project, I'll recap for you:

I decided to completely change the interior design style of my living-room. And I decided that I wasn't gonna spend any money doing it, other than money I could raise by selling off my existing furniture and nicknacks. And VERY importantly: When acquiring something for the new design - it all had to be second hand or gifts!!

I've written a few blogs about the project as it has progressed, and I'm now happy to report that I DID IT!!! Wooop WOpppp! My living-room is now completely transformed, adhering strictly to the rules of the project. I'm very happy about the result, and feel very much at home in my new living space <3

So here are a few pictures of what it USED TO look like before the makeover:

The sofa-corner. Grey, brown and cold metallic colours are softened up by the use of materials like the white sheep-skin. Note the small table under the crystal-lamp. It houses the DVD-player, router, cable-tv-tuner +++.

The DVD/CD-cabinet and our beloved baby-piano. It is a kid's toy, but a cool one, so it has its place under the baroque -inspired mirror. Metallic candlesticks complete the look. 

The dining area is dominated by modern, white furniture that contrasts the baroque-inspired decor around the rest of the room. Behind the dining-room furniture, there's a long surface (originally a nightstand on wheels - intended to roll up and down across the bed for those yummy breakfasts in bed that I never have...) and under it, three smaller nightstands on wheels where black boxes hide all sorts of clutter ;). The pictures on the wall are made by me, depicting my favourite band.

Taken from the comfy sofa, this picture effectively shows the size of the living-room, by tying toghether the dining-room section with the sofa-section. Also, the white curtains with the black trees are deliberate - again contrasting the metal and baroque, and bringing a bit of nature into the flat. 

The guitar-corner! My beloved Ginger Dove, Gabriels smaller guitar (and a dented little drum) form a decorative corner in the living-room. 

As you can see, the old style I had was very feminine and metallic with it's base in the colours white, black, grey, brown, gold and silver. After the makeover, you will notice that some things are still present, like the two brown swiveling chairs that I got from my grandma, the silver lamp with the hanging crystals and the black mirror that hangs over the baby-piano.

Now, let's have a look at what the same room looks like TODAY:

As you can see, the curtains are in a very different colour to earlier. They were bought at a charity shop, and adds drama and contrast to the space. Under the window, the heater (shaped like a proper oven) was an early birthdaygift from my grandma, after my old heater stopped working properly. 

Can you recognize the chairs? And the pictures of my favourite band? The picture group over the chairs are only pictures that were hanging somewhere in the flat earlier, but they become a statement piece in the decor when I group them together like this. And now, I even have a clock!

The sofa is new, and I'll get back to talking about it in a later comment. The crystal lamp is not perfect for this style, but it has such sentimental value to me that I just can't sell it....! I've decided to go for three small sofa-tables in stead of one bigger one, and the one in the middle used to be the lamp stand that contained the DVD-player ++. The other two tables I found at a charity-shop for a total of 80,- NOK! They have drawers in them, so now I ALWAYS know where I've put the remote and the charger for my phone! :D

Behind the sofa, I've created a (long desired) workspace for me and Gabriel. It consists of the rolling nightstand that used to be up against the wall earlier and is completed by a fabulous dresser that I bought used from a lady in the neighborhood. 

The new dining table is smaller than the old one, but just what I was picturing for this new look! It is norwegian (acclaimed) design, and I got it used from an interior design company here in town. It had been used as lunchroom-furniture at their office. The green on the chairs are one of the splashes of colour that I really wanted in the new design, and ties the retro in nicely with the modern.

Also, the green flower pot is a charity shop buy, and the plastic green stuff inside it is just about perfect for me to be able to keep alive. Any living flowers would probably have to be replaced every couple of months... :p

Where the guitar-corner used to be, I've now positioned my beloved (and very out of tune) piano. Given to me for my birthday a few years ago, it has a lot of history and is a very special member of this household. 

The lamp is a retro thing of beauty! It used to belong to a friend of mine, and it had just been in storage for years. She originally got it from a family member, and I was overwhelmed when she suggested that I get it from her as a gift!! I love it so much, and am so grateful! The shelf behind it consists of the three nightstands that used to live under the rolling one. I removed the wheels on the upper two, and stacked them on top of each other, creating a focal point with plenty of storage for books and DVDs. 

Amongst the pictures we find a few inspirational things. The Dreamcatcher guitar, a Sudanese Pound and the diploma that accompanied the "Talent of the Year"-award that Dreamcatcher won. I like surronding myself with things that have meaning to me, and that reminds me of the good things in my life.

It might not be a real fire-place, but it looks very pretty when all lit up! 

This sofa is just the coolest thing I've ever seen! I had to drive for a few hours in snowy weather to get to the people who sere selling it, but it was so worth it! It's comfy and original, and a good example of the kind of durable furniture that was made decades of years ago. All the pillowcases come from charity-shops and have some of my old cushions inside them, and the sheep skin (that I've had for years) helps soften op what could easily have turned into a masculine look. 

For his 8th birthday, I got my son an african chess-board, and we've decided that it should live on top of the piano in the living-room. It is a beautiful wooden board with metal pieces, and looks lovely in our home!

As I said earlier, I like to surround myself with things that remind me of the important things in life. This sign (from my hallway) tells me one of the MOST important things to remember, and it is in the company of a few guitars and my darling cajon.

For the sake of the mood (and a bit more colour), these light-holders in green, orange and purple just screamed YESS at me when I saw them in a charity shop. They really wanted to come home with me!! 

And finally, two light-holders from the old decor have survived the makeover. A girl can't get by without a little bit of golden bling, right? ;)

So there you have it. My own personal take on retro modernism! (Did I just create a new term there?). My main objective was to bring in a bit of colour and warmth to the place, to go more retro, but to not make it look exactly like a carbon copy flat from the 60's or 70's. I'm very happy with the result. What do you think? xxx

A Glorious Night (Part 1)

I'm gonna tell you all a story about a Friday night. One that was gonna turn out to be a glorious one!! But before I get so eager to tell you everything that I go ruining the excitement of the storyline by telling you that that the story has a happy ending and that I fell asleep with a huge smile all over my face, I'm gonna be organized and start the story where it is supposed to be started. Earlier in the day, before it turned into a glorious night.

...Ehm; Now that I think about it, a good story should have some villains, unexpected plot-twists and a high speed car-chase - none of which occurs in my Friday night... Hmmm... Maybe I should add a fire breathing dragon to the story? Nah - I like my story just the way it is. Because it all actually happened. To me. Last night.

It all started with an email from the SXSW-people. "Congratulations! You've won a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen tonight at the Moody Theatre in Austin, Tx" (The email said a lot of other stuff too, but in the interest of keeping things relevant, I'll edit those boring parts out). With a huge grin on my lips and literally two minutes to spare before the ticket office closed, I managed to get my hands on the golden (aka green) entry-pass to this very, very special event: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (yepp, the whole lot of them) + very special guests Tom Morello (from Rage Against The Machine), Jimmy Cliff, Garland Jeffreys and Eric Burdon!!

All this amaaazing talent in an exclusive, intimate show of only 2500 capacity!!! (pause for effect).

My "golden" ticket and wristband

Needless to say - the gig was EPIC!!! I must commend whoever was in charge of sound that night, because it is the best sound I've ever heard! All instruments and vocals worked together in harmony, and still you could pick out each and every instrument if you just listened for it. And to top it all off: There was plenty of volume, but the decibel levels didn't skyrocket - which meant my hearing was intact after the show :D It is the first time in my life that I've heard such perfect sound! It truly was an eargasm!! <3

I'm not gonna comment on each and every song as I was too busy jumping, dancing and singing along to actually pay attention to the setlist, but I can confirm that The Boss still is in charge, and that he's still mighty fit for his age, running around on stage, climbing up on the grand piano, and even stage diving on several occations!

Everyone I talked to was in full and total agreement that this had been a VERY (emphasis, underline, exclamationpoint) special concert, and that it would go down as one of those rare ones that get's talked about for years to come. As I walked out of the theatre, speechless (and ask any journalist in Tromsø - that doesn't happen a lot... ;) ) all I could think was: I have just been a part of something huge....!

Here are some photos of the finest quality (that my iphone 3gs can provide). ENJOOOOY!!!

Getting to know Austin and SXSW

A new day is shaping up here in Austin. Last night I was so exhausted when I got in that I just went straight to bed without updating you all, so I thought I'd dwell a little on yesterdays events before I start this new day :)

As always when Dreamcatcher does anything, we started with a bang ;) Our breakfast was spent at a closed-for-the-public mingling-party for artists and industry-people, and from there we attended a seminar on how to use modern mobile technology to involve fans even more in an artists career. The lecturers included people who work for artists like Rihanna, Linkin Park, Bon Jovi etc, and we came from it with a few new ideas ;)

Interactive seminar :)

We spent lunch with a great bulgarian artist named Ilona (I've blogged about her previously), and the acclaimed industry veteran Tony Moore. Moore runs his own stage here at SXSW, and at lunch we got to talk extensively about the festival as a whole, what it means to artists to play here, how the whole schabang is run and a lot more...! I'm very grateful that I get to learn so much from the people who are in the know. The music business really is a big community, and the insight that I've acquired so far sends my mind churning to come up with ideas on how to best promote the awesome talent that we have in my home town.

Ilona, Liselotte and Tony waiting for the legendary burritos ;)

Tonight, I'm gonna see Ilona perform on Tony's stage btw. I'm looking forward to it a LOT - and if you're a night owl, you can watch it too online at www.justin.tv/TheBedfordLive. The show starts at 8pm local time which would be around.... hmm... 3am in Norway. (gosh that IS late!). The music is hiiighly recommended though, so if there ever was a night you were supposed to stay up late - this would be the one ;)
  
After lunch, we hit the SXSW Trade Show - a humongous indoor "messe" where different companies present their creative and innovative ideas/products that can ease, revolutionize or simply add fun to the life of a creative business.

Liselotte has been given a complimentary rythm-egg on a stick, and is a veeery happy bunny!!

After a long day of working, our heads felt the need for a break, so we hopped on a couple of bicycles and hit the wonderfully beautiful area of Austin that is the riverside bike and hike trails. Three hours were spent on the bikes, and it was recreation both for the body and soul <3

Sundown at Bat Bridge <3

Talking to the locals about the city

Idyllic

Liselotte has a new best friend :)

Cliffhanging!

A beautiful day in Austin :)

After the sun went down and the bats came out of their hiding place under Bat Bridge (The bridge might have another name... :p ), we hit the main streets for an overdose of music and happy people. Here's a report from the evening:

But now - I'm gonna hit the town again! See you all later lovelies!! <3

Lego City

It's been a loooong day. Got out of bed 26 hours ago and had to dig the car out of the snow to get to the airport in Tromsø. Everything since has been lovely, and now I'm sitting here - halfway across the planet - and am about to embark on an amazing musical adventure.

I'm gonna keep my blog brief this time. Mainly because I'm insanely tired! :p But I have a couple of things I want to share with you :)

I WENT TO NEW YORK TODAY!!!! We had a 6 hour stopover in Newark before our connecting flight to Austin, and since passport and customs were running smoothly today, we decided to take a little detour into Manhattan. My first ever visit to New York - and I can tell you it made an impression.

The thing that struck me about the architecture at Manhattan is that it looks like the buildings were made of lego-blocks that didn't quite fit together, so they are angled and terraced and have all sorts of weird shapes to them. I absolutely love it! It is so beautiful! I could just walk up and down the streets looking at buildings and weird features all day and be very happy. I must say I've fallen in love with the city. On the plane from Newark to Austin I ended up having all the impressions of today churning in my head and I wrote a new song. It's been a while since the last song I wrote, but I'll try to arrange so that you guys can hear it at some point. That point is not going to be today though, but instead - I'll leave you with a few snapshots to look at whilst I crawl into bed and fall asleep ;) <3

05.30, And Away We Go

It's 5.30 in the morning. I've already been up for half an hour, having breakfast and getting ready to head out to the snow-heavy airport in Tromsø. Today is a long awaited day. The day when me and my sister Therese head out to Austin, Texas for a week of musical nirvana at the worlds largest music business festival SXSW.

The preparations have been going on since INTRO announced Dreamcatcher as the winner of the "Talent of the Year"-award three weeks ago. Meetings with industry-people have been arranged. A gig-schedule has been put up. Promo-material for Dreamcatcher has been designed and printed, and a special promotional-CD has been made - shining the spotlight on four fabulous artists from the arctic north; artists that WE believe have a bright future in the music industry! The artists we've chosen are: Peter Estdahl, Oh!, Heidi Solheim and Cazadores. We love them all to bits, and hope you will too!

As we're painfully aware of - music industry representatives such as managers, record-company officials, promoters, bookers and festival-people get given heaps of promo-CDs at SXSW, so to make sure OUR CD stands out, we've hand made individual album covers for all the 50 CD's we bring with us. Armed with misc scrapbooking-equipment, we sat down and spent around 100 manhours on creating these special edition CDs. A huuuuge thanks to the creative people who helped and made it possible. Here's a couple of photos of the album-covers:

If you see us at SXSW, make sure to get a copy of this CD. We personally vouch for the quality of the artists we present there! I've also updated the website www.dreamcatchermusic.com so that you can read more about the artists there and link up to their websites and stuff :)

Anyways... It's time to go to the airport now. Avinor says the airport is still open despite of the ghastly weather, so fingers crossed there will be no major delays.

Please check local newspapers website www.itromso.no every now and then this week, as we'll be having a very special SXSW-blog there reporting on all the weird stuff we're up to ;)

See you soon, peeps! <3

3 Bands You Should Check Out On SXSW!

Wow - there are so many things I want to blog about these days that I don't know where to start! I've spent a lot of my time lately researching all sorts of weird and exciting stuff relating to the upcoming trip to SXSW in Austin, Texas. In case you haven't heard... Me and Therese are going to the superhuge South By South West (SXSW) Music Festival to spread the word about Dreamcatcher, upandcoming music, and to network to the best of our abilities! :D We head out on Mon 12th of March, and there's tons of stuff to prepare before departure! I'll make sure to throw out a few blogs about it this past week and a half before we leave just in case you: A: Want to feel jealous of all the cool stuff we're gonna do. B: Are nosy and want to know what we're up to. Or C: Are going to SXSW yourself, and want to meet up or know what we think are cool things to do while there.

Speaking of option C... I want to tell you about a few bands and artists that I've kept an eye on for a while and that you shouldn't miss when you're in Texas!

THE DUNWELLS (www.thedunwells.com)

These five great lads from Leeds, UK are on the verge of their BIG breakthrough right now! Touring all over USA at the moment, their gigs are PACKED with fans and an astonishingly large percentage of heavy industry people. And the acclaims are superb - as The Dunwells rightly deserve!! I've been enthusiastically following, supporting them and loving their music for a couple of years, and have had the pleasure of seeing them live on a number of occasions. They just keep getting better and better, and I highly recommend that you check them out on one of their SXSW-shows (full listing on their webpage) - I know I won't be able to stay away!!

The genre is hard to pinpoint. They bare resemblance to the folky Mumford And Sons - but are more rock'y and upbeat - and their five-part harmonies and expert musicianship blow all competition out of the ballpark! Check them out and judge for yourself:

The Dunwells - I Could Be A King

ILONA (soundcloud.com/ilona-t)

The next artist I recommend you check out is from Bulgaria. Her name is Ilona and has a strong voice and sassy sound that reminds me of Shania Twain! Although quite fresh to the music scene, she's sparked much attention for her work so far, and I'm gonna make sure to catch her performance at Creekside (Hilton Garden Inn) at 11pm on Wed, March 14th! Hope to see you there too :)

Ilona

ANTONIO LULIC (www.antoniolulic.com)

This guy is also one to check out! His deep, husky vocals combined with intimate lyrics gives the audience a powerful experience of rootsy, passionate and soulful music. I've seen him play a couple of times before, and I've loved every second of it! Therese, however, has never seen him play before, so that will be my excuse to go see him again when in Austin. You should meet us there! And then we can sing along to this one together:

Antonio Lulic - Hey It's Ok