A small house - from around the year 1800 - in the country (though only 30 mins from Oslo) with a nice, big garden for my dog (and possibly one or two more!).

Here's the reason I've been MIA, guys. Mikkel is my new guy.

Mikkel is cool.

With regards to the conflicts around the Rosanna commercial of late - I was gonna stay out of it, but allow me to say the following:

I do not care who did what or who are to blame. The fact remains, however, that these public conflicts will damage the band in a much more severe and permanent way than any commercial, because the biggest fans are losing respect for their heroes. These are the fans that to a large extent will maintain the career of Toto because they are the ones who rave about the band to other people and call the radio stations.

This is turning into a Jerry Springer show with a shouting audience. This is not about music.

... which doesn't mean that I lived in hell, even though Glasgow is known to be a bit rough!

I have just moved back home to Norway after four years in Scotland, and my goods were shipped by boat. I never expected things to go smoothly - surprise, surprise - sure as hell they did NOT.

This is how my goods arrived (yes, open!!)

Another month, another gig..! Sadly, the last one for a while for me - I do hope they'll come back soon. Bring on the 30th!

Anyway, an old college friend of mine, Lars, drove us up there and we arrived just before the band. While it isn't really that long since I saw the boys and the crew in Reykjavik, it is always such a joy to see their happy (and varying degrees of tired, haha) faces. Lee was quick to update me on the geological history of Årdalstangen - you learn something every day.

... the last time I was in Oslo, I walked past the biggest music shop in Norway, Imerslund Musikk. They have a row of big windows facing out towards a main road - a very few select musicians were featured - and yeah, there's a life size picture of Luke in one of the windows.

It is not a secret that Norwegian musicians hold Luke in high regard, but it was fun to see.

Apparently the guys did a thing for Fox TV today, would be great to see the clip - can someone here get their dirty paws on it?

I bet it's not the first time this has ever happened, but my wee half sister saw some of the pictures from Iceland and spotting Lee, she said

"Why do you have a picture of Santa?"

"Well," I replied "It's actually not Santa".

"Oh."

When we got to the pictures from the gig, she gasped out loud

"That's not Santa! It's ROCK SANTA!"

Fuck - I just wrote a whole long entry and managed to close the window. Recap:

BIG THANKS to everyone for your hospitality and treating me like one of the cats. Awesome hang!

Iceland was wonderful - Reykjavik a bit different from what I thought - I honestly think it's been a bit over hyped in the media, but it was a cool place, and man, can they cook! The promoters were really cool and they really made a LOT of people happy on Tuesday. The Blue Lagoon was awesome - wow!

Sound check brought its own entertainment in the shape of Bob, Robbo and a native plastic chair. The gig was spot on, the guys were giving it all (Luke seemed really focused in particular) - quite a treat for the Icelandic fans who were seeing the band for the first time.