h u l a . h u l a . r o c k . n . r o l l

G E N U I N E · Swedish hula hula rock n roll music video and movie track from the happy 50ies staring famous movie star character Asa-Nisse,played by John Elfstrom, actor in more than 100 movies. Singer Bertil Boo acted in the Asa-Nisse movies in the role as himself, the singing farmer. I have to say that swedish rock n roll have developed since the golden days back then.

q u o r t h o n . b i o

Q U O R T H O N (Tomas F) · was one among my best friends in Vinsta school and Spanga Gymnasium school in the 80ies. He was completely obsessed with music at realy early years. Kiss was the favorite band at this early stage. He put up posters (teared out from music magazines) outside the classroom, posters that covered the walls completely. We choosed group music in “fritt valt arbete” (free school subject), as the only one from the class that dared to play when we where 14. The group music class (two pupils) was conducted by the music teacher, an older man with a grey goatie(called Carl Henry, if I remember right).

D R U M S · A N D · K I S S · Quorthon lived in a big white stone house near the school and I lived at a greater distance and had to travel by bus every morning. My parents and I chosed this scool because it was the best in this part of Stockholm. Unfourtanely I could not spend much time with my schoolmates after school because I had to take the bus home to my district and also studied a lot. Quorthon talked a lot on musical topics on the lunch breaks, like what the intention of a musical solo was, what it meant, and on how to play drums, the members of Kiss. He played Pearl drums that he practised on at home. He was quiet, tall and skinny and I think he had a verry strong and cloes knit family at home, so he didn't took much contacts with mates in school. His dad run a musical business operation called Tyfon that focused on swedish dance bands originaly and I remembered that his dad was young, much younger than mine. I do not know when Quorthon picked up the guitar but I think he had a lot of opportunities to play what ever he wanted at home.

T H E · C L A S S · from school had a reunion on a boat trip to Mariehamn at Aland in the 90ies. Quorthon talked a lot and we shared cabin. He had started out his international music career with the Hammerheart album, was sad for some unsolvable difficulties with his ex-girlfriend from a south European country, Italy I think it was. Most of our classmates did not understand and apreciated his extremly high musical ambitions and his great talent. Music was something you could do on your spare time but not do for a living was the middle class perspective around. Quorthon did not like school much, expect from music of course. I remember that he also was a bit interested in sports and had a bag with the 1980 Moscow olympics logo printed on it.
He used to pick on me because he was almost a year older than me. He was so much more experienced, also tired on school and I was far behind, in his oppinion. He didn't found comfort with the life in school and wanted to be inspired by real life and grown ups outside the school setting.
I remember a travel with the class down to a lake where we used canoes to experience the wild nature. I fell of course out of the canoe and into the water, something my class mates found verry funny. I used to have a picture of all mates in canoes somewhere in a photoalbum.

T I M E · went on. I studied a lot and worked at different sites at offices. Quorthon was 100% focused on music. Mine and Quorthons paths went on diffent directions. We lost contact. After a lot of years I got information that Quorthon lived in an appartment just some kilometers away. He had experimented with his stage name and changed it several times. When I got layed of from my old work I got a lot of time to think and I thought a lot on music and started to think what Tomas was up to. Maybe I should call him up, after all this years and go visit him?

I · D I D N ' T · even know the name of his band at that time. I started to search on the net and I googled around a lot and found out that he had founded and run a metal band for several years and published a complete catalog of albums, had international success, made several promotion trips abroad, most most important of all – invented two musical genres all by himself with his own ears of creativity. Bathory and Quorthon (sounded like a sort of cream cheese to me) at the beginning.

T H E · C O N C E P T · of a branching out or differentation of hard rock to what we today call extreme metal (speed, grind, trash, hardcore etc. etc.) started to be popular in the early 90ies with bands like Slayer and Megadeath. Bathory was influenced by Motorhead. The studio equipment and later musical applications for computers developed so one person could compose, play and produce all music by himself. Bathory was a band that bacame a oneman band with a great recording artist, supported by new technologies.

A T · T H E · S U M M E R · of 2005 I thought of taking up contact, but a big issue crystalized among the rich information on the net. Quorthon had hart failure and he had got a deadly stroke just seven weeks before. That was the irony of destiny, that we never should talk again. I would liked to say hello, but now I only can bow and say thank you alot for beeing such a great person in my early youth and thanks for all your effort you brought into you music that will live on for a long time in the future.

i p h o n e . i n . t o k y o

Thanks Mibook84

i P h o n e . 3 g . s w e d i s h . r e l e a s e

T H E · A P P L E · I P H O N E · 3 g · was released in Sweden today. The doors of Telia Mobile Phone Shop in Vällingby City opened at 10.00. A security guard let one customer from the long line come in at a time. The first buyer waited from midnight when the iPhone was sold out in the Flagship store at Kungsgatan.