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September 29, 2008
The New Dealers
In this page of the newspaper Østkantavisa you can see my street, and my local grocery store. If you click the image it'll enlarge, and you'll see that above the shop is a banner with the words "Vi bor her. Vis ser deg. Ikke kjøp dopet ditt her!", which means "We live here. We see you. Don't buy your drugs here!"
Continue reading "The New Dealers"
Posted by barry at 5:20 EM
September 25, 2008
Blather North Podcast #2: Nødhavn
The scenario: Blather North's roving and raving reporter, Barry Kavanagh, attends a party at Mir in Oslo for the radio show SuperSoniskSommer on the station RadiOrakel (see poster) and gets backstage to interview Tollef Berger of the legendary musical duo Tøyen, who are playing at the event. This is a reunion concert for the once-famous band. The interview, in which Barry wields his trusty 'list of topics to talk about', is followed with some Tøyen music, courtesy of their former record company.
Recorded by Barry Kavanagh and edited by John Birger Wormdahl.
(Next week: artist Trond Arne Vangen and the Norwegian drinking culture!)
Update August 2009: owing to the unfortunate proliferation of spiders in the Blather Dream Dome, this podcast is no longer available.
Posted by barry at 1:45 FM
September 21, 2008
Is there a 'Norwegian sound'?
One of the things this blog has been is an introduction to Norwegian music for the unwary. But is there anything identifiable as Norwegian music? Is there a 'Norwegian sound'?
(Obviously when it comes to folk music, like Nils Økland and Unni Løvlid, it's very easy to attach the label 'Norwegian music', but folk music is not what I'm writing about here).
Five years ago when asked if there was a definable Norwegian sound I would have said 'yes'. The true answer is 'yes and no'. I would say I was right about what I said 'yes' about, but probably wrong in general. I hope you follow. Let me pour a large cup of coffee and explain.
No, wait, make that a small cup. I don't want to be up all night.
Continue reading "Is there a 'Norwegian sound'?"
Posted by barry at 10:38 EM
September 18, 2008
The Blather North Podcast
#1: Grunneier
Part one of three. Blather North's roving and raving reporter, Barry Kavanagh, attends a party at Mir in Oslo for the radio show SuperSoniskSommer on the station RadiOrakel (see poster) and interviews a random member of the public, a chef called Nils, who had been presented a list of topics he could choose to talk about. He chose the Norwegian concept of grunneier and talks about it.
Recorded by Barry Kavanagh and edited by John Birger Wormdahl.
(Next week: some music from Tøyen.)
Update August 2009: owing to repeated court actions by Concerned Parents Against, this podcast is no longer available.
Posted by barry at 7:03 EM
September 12, 2008
Ireland Processed through a Norwegian Brain
Blather.net is currently being edited from Dublin (Ireland), London (UK) and Oslo (Norway). Needless to say, the North blog is edited here in Oslo. What we like to do in the Blather organization is compare all these environments, totally ignoring all the mad shit that's going on in the rest of the world. So we sent a Norwegian agent to Dublin to give us his impressions of Irish life, and this is what he wrote.
Continue reading "Ireland Processed through a Norwegian Brain"
Posted by barry at 2:44 EM