The end of summer...

Tomorrow is the first day of school after the summer. It's been, mostly, a great summer. Been working a lot, but have also been to a beautiful Wedding in wonderful Cinque Terre in Italy, had one of - if not THE - best concert-experiences in my life, and enjoyed another week in Italy later on. Can't complain.

My iPod has been a bit on and off the last few months, but luckily it's working now, and here are a few songs that have been played during the summer, as well as some other nice tunes. As usual, not brand-new tunes, but tunes worth a listen anyway.


Adele - Someone Like You (Live AOL Session)




Tyler the Creator feat. Frank Ocean - She




Manu Chao - Bongo Bong




Santana feat. Musiq - Nothing At All




Gianna Nannini - Ti Voglio Tanto Bene




And a last little bonus for you, I gotta show some love for my friend Vertel. Check out this song, which I've had on repeat since she dropped it. Ear-candy! Follow her on twitter @vforvertel. It's a good idea. Just sayin'.

Vertel - A Woman's Requiem

Live this summer...

Well, it's been forever, so it's about time with an update. Summer is here, and due to a Wedding in Italy, as well as working full-time for a few weeks, I haven't kept this blog as updated as I would have wanted to. Anyway, here's a couple of tunes from artists which I have seen, or will see, live this summer.

About two weeks ago I saw Aloe Blacc live in Oslo at the Oslo Live Festival. I had been looking forward to the concert for quite some time, and he didn't dissapoint me. Due to bad weather (and maybe the Foo Fighters concert, which was on the same day just outside of Oslo), the attendance wasn't as high as I (and probably Aloe) had hoped, but that didn't stop him. He did a great gig, and here are a few favorites of mine:

You Make Me Smile




Loving You is Killing Me

Aloe performed a great version of this at the concert




Mama Hold My Hand



















In less then two weeks, I'm off to Berlin to watch Gianna Nannini again. Last time I saw her in concert was in Rome 2009. This time, she will be performing in Berlin in a venue with a capacity of 3500, and I'm looking foward to seeing her at a smaller venue then last time, even though the concert at Palalottomatica was amazing. Nice to see her in different settings. Anyway, here are a couple of great tunes from the amazing Gianna Nannini.

Ogni Tanto - from her most recent album, Io e Te.



America - live from the Amiche per L'Abruzzo concert



Fotoromanza - an old classic




Bonus: Fabri Fibra feat. Gianna Nannini - In Italia




Later the same week, I'll be back in Oslo to see a legend. Prince sold out in a couple of minutes when the tickets for his concert in Oslo Spektrum became available. No surprise. Here are a couple of reasons why Prince is regarded a living legend in the music-industry.


When Doves Cry



Little Red Corvette

A journey through the music of a legend.

Stevie Wonder is most definitely one of my favorite artists, and today Stevie celebrates his 61st birthday. Needless to say, this is dedicated to the wonderful music of the multi-talented soul-legend from Michigan. I've had the pleasure of seeing him live in concert on two occasions, and his stage-presence matches his unique sense of musicality.

Although still active today, his best work (in my opinion) is to be found in his releases during the 60's and 70's. The diversity in his repetoire is incredible, as is the range of his voice.

Here are some of my favorite tunes from one of the true Motown-legends. Happy Birthday, Stevie!


Sir Duke

Probably one of the most well-known songs from his funky catalogue, this song is taken from the classic album Songs in the Key of Life.




Free

Taken from the album Characters, released in 1987, this song and the lyrics speak volumes of Stevie Wonder's range, and the choir does a pretty amazing job as well.




A Place in the Sun

A young Stevie Wonder without his characteristic long hair performs one of his songs from the album Down to Earth, released in 1966.



Don't Know Why I Love You

Stevie sings his heart out in this great tune from the album For Once in My Life, released in 1968.




They Won't Go When I Go

Haunting song from the album Fullfillingness' First Finale, released in 1974.




Lately

This ballad was on the album Hotter Than July, released in 1980.




Part Time Lover

Stevie Wonder encapsulates the 80's in less then 5 minutes. From the album In Square Circle from... you guessed it, 1985.




Living for the City

Another great live performance of another great song, from the album Innervisions, released in 1973.




Higher Ground

Funky classic from the same album, Innervisions.




Evil

Amazing tune from the album Music of My Mind, released in 1972.




Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday

Stevie just standing there kicking ass as usual. From the album My Cherie Amour, released in 1969.




Never Had a Dream Come True

Great song from the album Signed, Sealed and Delivered, released in 1970 (with possibly the corniest album-cover he ever had).




Village Ghetto Land

Another song from the album Songs in the Key of Life, this time showing the more socially interested side of Stevie.




I Wish

More of the funky stuff, again from Songs in the Key of Life.




If It's Magic

Live performance of another beautiful tune, again from SOngs in the Key of Life.




You & I

One of Stevie's, in my opinion, most beautiful ballads. From Talking Book, released in 1972.




Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer

Another great ballad. From the album Where I'm Coming From, released in 1971.





To end this journey through the music of Stevie Wonder, here's a few songs that should get your feet moving for the Weekend, as well as the one song I really couldn't leave out on this occasion. Enjoy!


For Once in My Life



Superstition



Happy Birthday

If I sing a song...

Spring has finally settled in Oslo, and this means one thing for a student. It's time for finals, studying and a hellish month before one can finally put the books away and return to social life. This is somewhat ironic, as part of what I'm studying this semester is sociology... Anyway, this blog has been quiet for a while now, much due to the aforementioned school-work, but also because I went to Rome for a week to live the good life. Rome was, as always, amazing, and it only took me a couple of days before I booked myself another couple of days to Rome this summer... Grande!

I've finally "fixed" my iPod, that is to say.. I bought new headphones. Here are some great tunes I recommend you to have available on your iPod as you stroll along the streets of.. wherever you are.

First off, a tune a friend of mine recommended to me.

Charles Bradley - "The World (is going up in flames). Cheers Ståle!



Aloe Blacc should me a name most of you recognize after his hit "I Need a Dollay", which was also featured in the Tv-show How to Make it in America. His album "Good Things" came out last year, and has a lot of great tunes, such as...

If I



Life so Hard




And one of my def favorites from the album:

Mama Hold My Hand




And speaking of songs about mamas, here are two bonus songs. Have a good one!

Tupac - Dear Mama



Nas - Dance

Damien and Lisa

9 years ago Damien Rice released his debut album 'O', an album which is still one of my favorite albums of all-time (of ALL time #kanyewest)... It featured the wonderful Lisa Hannigan on several tunes, and they're collaborations would last for 6 years.



In 2009 she released her debut album, 'Sea Sew', and she is currently working on her sophomore album. Unlike many artists, Damien Rice have been pretty relaxed about pushing out cds, which has resulted in only two albums in total since his 2002 debut. Here are a few of my favorite tunes from the two Irish musicians, both solo and in collaborations:


The Blower's Daughter



Volcano



Elephant



Coconut Skins



Amie






I Don't Know



Passenger



Lille



Ocean and a Rock



Bonus:

I Don't Know - Live



Pistachio

Dedication

We're all familiar with the classical stories of "he lost/gained 80 pounds for his part in (insert movie)". Here's a couple of impressive facts in that regard:

Obviously it's differcult to speak of actors dedicating themselves more then what is usually expected without mentioning the great Robert De Niro. The man needs no further introduction, and these might be known facts for many of you, but anyway. Here goes:

- To prepare himself for portraying Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II, he spent four months learning the Sicilian dialect, and most of his lines in the movie are (surprise, surprise) in Sicilian. As the task of recreating the role of a younger Vito wasn't hard enough after Marlon Brando's oscar-winning performance in the prequel...

- The very same De Niro paid a dentist $5000 to make his teeth look bad for his role as Max Cady in Cape Fear... he then later paid $20000 to have them fixed post-production.

- For his role as Jake La Motta in "Raging Bull", De Niro went through a lot of physical training and even entered three boxing matches in Brooklyn. He won two of them. To portray the scenes of the older Jake La Motta he gained 60 pounds (27.3kg)...



- Vincent D'Onofrio holds the world record for most weighed gained for a role, 70 pounds (31.8kg) for his role in Full Metal Jacket. He also gained 45 pounds (20.5kg) for his role in The Salton Sea.

- Nicolas Cage ate a cockroach in the movie Vampire's Kiss... it took three takes. He also pulled two teeth without anestethic for his role in Birdy.

- Christian Bale, who recently won an Oscar for best supporting actor (The Fighter), lost 63 punds (28.6kg) for his role in The Machinist, a feat which is even more impressive considering he portrayed the not quite so skinny Batman a year later in Batman Begins...



- While shooting Gangs of New York, Daniel Day-Lewis rarely got out of character, and actually spoke with a New York accent the whole day. He also sharpened his knives at lunch (he played 'The Butcher')

- Last, but not least, Massimo Troisi was told that he needed treatment for his heart condition prior to filming Il Postino. Troisi, however, believed that making the film was of greater importance and carried on. 12 hours after the cameras stopped rolling, Troisi died...





Obviously, there are just a selected few, and there are many, many more examples of great transformations and stories of how actors/actresses have done amazing things in order for their portrayal in film to be as believable and true as possible.

Hamm & Haggis

March 10th, Jon Hamm turned 40, and Paul Haggis turned 58. I'd therefore like to share some of my fave moments from these two, who have both done amazing work in TV/film.

Paul Haggis has won two oscars (Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Original Screenplay), and they both were awarded to him for the movie Crash in 2006. A movie which surprised many, and ultimately won the oscar for best movie ahead of Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Munich and Good Night, and Good Luck.

Paul Haggis has done a lot of great work in film, although Crash is to me his finest work (especially as director). As a screenwriter he became the first person to win Oscars back-to-back in 2005 and 2006 (Million Dollar Baby was the other one).

Crash has an impressive cast, including a personal favorite of mine, Don Cheadle. Also starring in the movie is Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Ryan Phillippe, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton and Ludacris(!). A lot of "small" parts in this movie, but they all did great jobs.

Here's a trailer for the movie, which if you haven't seen, you definitely should get to it:





So, Jon Hamm. "Don Draper" turned 40 on March 10th, and one might call him a late-bloomer in the industry. That is so say, he's been around for a long time, but it's safe to say his big break came with the show "Mad Men". He won the Golden Globe for his portrayal as Don Draper in 2008. He was recently in Ben Affleck's new movie "The Town", where he does a good job as FBI Agent Frawley. Here's a presentation of his charachter on "Mad Men":