There's probably not one single rock n rolla out there who hasn't heard the song "Don't cry". Do I even need to tell ya it's a song made by Guns N Roses? Nah, didn't think so either. The guy who sings together with Axl in the video is Shannon Hoon. And I think most of you would agree with me when I say that he completes the song. Together with Axl they create one of the strongest vocal recordings of all time. So, wouldn't you want to hear this wonderful combination live? Of course you would, but since this was just a spontaneous cooperation it's hard to find videos of these guys together on stage.
Shannon was busy touring with his own band Blind Melon which it went really well for. They sold platinum-records and got to perform at Woodstock in -94. Although this was a honorable thing to get to do, Hoon's strong drug addiction got in the way and he got abusive towards the audience. But it's still rated by the fans as one of the best shows he ever did.
Blind Melon performing "Soup" at Woodstock in -94
Shannon became a father to a girl named Nico Blue in July 1995. During that time he was going in and out of rehab. The band was out on the road again in October, together with a drug counseler who was supposed to keep Shannon away from getting addicted again. But the plan failed and the drug counseler was fired just days before Shannon was found dead, at the age of 28.
Let's never forget what this man did for rock n roll music. Take the time to enjoy this beautiful, and rare, performance with Axl and Shannon on vocals
You don’t have to sign up for anything to believe in yourself.
People are afraid of individuals and they are afraid of people who care enough about themselves to do something to separate themself from society. Just don’t care. And if someone tries to challenge who you are, challenge them right back. No one needs to be sitting in their room feeling like the only way out is to cut themselves or end their own life. Make sure you have enough strength in yourself to know that life is not bad. Life is good, you just have to make it that way. -Andy Biersack of the Black Veil Brides
It's hard to describe Laleh. This Iranian-Swedish woman has the voice of an angel and a prescense that she takes from the bottom of her heart and gives to the audience. The gift that she has to enchant people with her music was the reason for why she got to make a soundtrack song for the Swedish movie "Arn - The Knight Templar". It took me a few years before I watched it, but now I have and I understand why it got so popular in 2007. Not only does Laleh's music bring the movie to life, but the story and the actors are brilliant!
The movie contains many different langugages, so anyone in the world can watch. With some help from subtitles of course..
"The Knight Templar" and the following movie "The Kingdom at Road's End" is the story about Arn Magnusson who is part of the powerful Folkkung dynasty in the mid 12th century. He is the son of a high-ranking Swedish nobleman who is educated in a monastery and sent to the Holy Land. This as a knight templar to do penance for forbidden love with Cecilia Algotsdotter.
When the cityhas snowedover,and the farmhas becomewhite Then you know thatI dream,I dreamyou here Then you know thatI exist,that Iremainin you
I didn't have very big expectations of Kissin Dynamite who was the opening act in Paris. Some think that they are overrated and all over the place in Germany (where they live). So I was surprised to see that they actually had a very talented singer. I didn't hear much of the songs, just enough to know that they definitely had potential. Now when I'm home I have listened through the bands album Addicted to metal. Hannes (the singer) told us in Paris that they had been playing together for a long time, although I don't know if this is their only album.
My favourite song is "Love me hate me" which is played in the Paris blogvideo when we are walking to the bar. Of course I relate that song to a lot of great memories, but it seriously rocks too!! My sister heard it once and now she loves it!
Other tracks that are worth checking out: Addicted to metal, Run for your life, High Enough, All against all, In the name of the iron fist... you know what, I am on my way of writing down almost all of the songs on the album. So just listen to the whole thing, okay? ;)
Love me hate me
Even try to break me
I’m standing tight, just like a rock
Christmas can come now. I'm ready for it!! It's even been snowing a bit the last couple of days, even if it's mixed with rain it's good enough for me. Better than nothing!
The few Christmas presents I am giving away this year have been wrapped. I can't tell you what I am giving my sister in case that she reads this. But the girls who I am a Nanny to will be recieving two books. "Who can love Ella?" and "Kalle as Lucia". Heartwarming stories about children who are just as normal as anybody else, but are still being treated differently by society. It's more common than we think that boys wants to be Lucia too (In Sweden we have the tradition of walking in a "Luciatåg". In the front of the line there is always a girl who represents Lucia with a crown and candles on her head). But grown ups are often against the thought of letting boys be Lucia too, while there is really no reason why they can't be! This debate about gender is on fire right now and I love that. Let's face those prejudice thoughts and let children be children.
The book about Ella is a story of a little girl who grows up on the street. One day when an old lady who has been taking care of her dies, she is found by a male homosexual couple who lets her become a part of their family. A quite deep and emotional story for a young child to read, but I think it's important for learning empathy and that all people are worth the same.
Besides, the pictures in both books are amazing. These are the kind of books that I as a child would look through for hours and hours...
Today me, my family and grandma went to a julbord. To translate.... Christmas table. Don't know how common that tradition is in other countries but you basically go to a restaurant (usually it's an old house out on the country side somewhere) and eat all kinds of Christmas food. As much as you want!! Unfortunately there isn't much for me to eat there since I am a vegetarian. But it's still a tradition I enjoy very much! This year we found a nice place that we are planning on returning to next year. Hässlö Värdshus had several different rooms and it pretty much screamed CHRISTMAS eveywhere! Loved it. We sat there for hours and also took the time to celebrate grandma's birthday. After eating the best desert ever, it was time to go home...
The next day I felt much better. But I still had a really bad cold, my throat hurt and I was weak. In general it was all good though, we had several people staying at the same hotel as us who were going to the gig. All were really nice. I met so many people this weekend it's crazy really!!
We took a long walk to the train station to pick up Viper around lunch. Good to see my bestie again of course :)
When we got back to the hotel me and Charlotte wanted to take our time with getting ready and couldn't care less about standing in the front row because we don't like that. And we thought we'd see well anyways, and we were right. Anna and Viper went to stand in line. There they met Lo and her friend Dan who had just arrived in Paris from England. The line was long. But we would all get mixed together in there anyways, so me and Charlotte didn't mind waiting until everyone had gone inside :)
Kissin Dynamite played first and they were pretty good! Better than I had expected. When they were done the whole crowd split up and some went outside to get a drink. So then me and Charlotte could walk right up to the front of the stage where our friends stood. I'm glad I stayed at the hotel and not outside in the cold for three hours!
Crashdïet went on stage not long after and they were just amazing!! I forgot that I had a sore throat and that I was weak. I screamd SO loud, sang along to every song and danced my ass off, haha! This gig and the gig in Falun is the best ones that I have seen with them so far. We talked to Peter afterwards and he told us to meet them by the merchandise later so that we could gather everyone for the after party. (oh boy had we been looking forward to that or what!)
Blackrain's gig was the best!! It wasn't just a gig, it was a show. During "Overloaded", they brought out the burlesque dancers from that music video! And during the show they had several other guests up on stage too. Like the kid who was 10 years old or something, he played drums during "She's in love". And the girl who played keyboard for a couple of songs that made it feel like an orchester was playing in the background, just beautiful. In the beginning they had three dudes in Scottish kilts playing "Amazing grace" on bagpipes. Max came in playing the same song on electric guitar. Yeah, I almost cried! A couple of songs before the end Simon came out and sang "Twist and shout" with Blackrain. There simply wasn't any better way of ending that evening.
The intro
Afterwards we went to the merch. There were so many people there so we just mingled for a while and took it easy. Blackrain never showed up though so I was worried that they wouldn't come to the party. Then I suddenly saw Peter looking at me from the other side of the room and he waved like crazy, hahaha!
So I ran up and hugged him and we all gathered around to plan the after party. They had some box they needed to walk to our hotel with, to get it shipped to another country. So even though the guards were trying to get us to leave because the venue was closing, we still stayed. In the end we stood outside waiting instead.
Peter came out and we all split up. Me, Anna and Charlotte went to our hotel with him. The others went to McDonalds, we said we'd text them when we knew which bar we were going to.
It was so funny when we were talking to the receptionist in there about the box. Two rock guys who stayed at the same hotel as us walked in and saw Peter London standing there. And they immediately turned into shy 10 year old boys :P you know, so starstrucked haha! It was so sweet. Like "Oh man... Peter... what are you doing... like... here?" :P
Peter then had to go back to pack all the stuff. So we decided to text him when we knew where we were going. Jennifer who we also have had contact with since before the trip, and her whole gang of friends, said they knew a bar not far away. So we all ended up going there! It was so hard trying to describe in texts to Lou and the others where the bar was located, but after an hour they finally showed up. Dripping wet from the rain, poor sweethearts <3
On our way to the after party... crazy fuckers on the subway!
We got there first and then Crash and Blackrain all joined! It was just such a relaxed atmosphere going on between all of these people. I can't even explain. It was like that the whole night! We all sat down and had some drinks, although I only had water that night. I was so high on the adrenalin from the show that I didn't even need alcohol to stay awake or have fun. Because I couldn't possibly be having any more fun than I already was!
The bar was closing around 2. And we thought "where the hell are we going to go at this time on a sunday, nothing is open!" But Swan said he knew a place just one block away that was open until 5! Perfect! So the whole bar of people left to go there. It was so quiet outside and raining a little bit. And there, on the streets of Paris there was a whole parade of rock n rollas walking together. A guy from the Kissin Dynamite crew filmed all of us walking into that tiny bar. I saw only a few people sitting in there and one bartender who was having a calm and easy going evening. Haha well... you should have seen his face when we all showed up. He earned some big bucks, let me tell you. The question remains though, did he really think it was worth it? :P haha
09:00... from one bar to the next...
The oxygen went out immediately :P it got so hot in there because we were so many. Everyone was falling all over each other trying to get from one part of the room to the other, haha...
I just sat down at a table and relaxed with some people. I talked to Hannes, the singer in Kissin Dynamite who was very nice and funny. He did the best Ozzy Osbourne impression!
We decided to leave around 4 in the morning. Drunk Peter was my entertainment while waiting for everyone to come out. He walked around singing "A papaya coconut" over and over :P I told him I was going back to the hotel and he rambled on about how great it was of me to come there and then he kissed my hand twice and bowed so deep that he almost hit is head on the floor, hahaha!
While gathering everyone up outside we were trying to figure out how to do with Vipers bag that she had left at the hotel. I couldn't afford the extra money to bring it with me to Sweden and she couldn't leave the group because then she wouldn't find them again. But it all worked out fine. She came back with us to the hotel.
Then Lou and Dan took a taxi to the hotel to meet up with her. It was just so surreal that me, Lou and Viper barely had spent any time with each other during that whole night. The bar was so crowded and we were on opposite sides of the room. When we finally met outside of the hotel again we felt peaceful. The city was quiet, it wasn't very cold outside anymore. It was just us :) standing there in the middle of the street laughing about how crazy the night had been. I finally had to say good bye and return to my hotel room. Me, Anna and Charlotte were on the flight back home a few hours later... :)
