A stress coach visited us at work yesterday for a “stress workshop”. The idea was to teach us how to get more out of life, cause if you’re happy, you don’t get stressed or burnt out as easily. The more I listened to him, the more I realized that… I’ve got all that stuff down already.

He said that people get so focused on the wrong things (=work, work, work with something that doesn’t fulfill them), that they forget what they truly love or want out of life. That in turn creates resentment and bitterness and next thing you know, you worry yourself sick, literally.

Music is my salvation and it always has been. There is a “soundtrack” for every mood or situation in life. The first time I ever felt jealousy for instance – I must have been maybe nine of ten, I sat in my room feeling sorry for myself, listening to John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” over and over again. There was a lot of boo-hooing, sobbing and fuck the world-ing. But I felt a LOT better after I got it all out. Complete cleansing of the soul. Perfect. That’s the way music works, better than any shrink.

Determination needs Judas Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’“.
Anger calls for Manowar’s “Kill With Power” (die! die! oh, yeah).
Love makes me want to listen to anything by Whitesnake, cause listening to the sexiest voice in the business makes you walk on little pink fluffy clouds! I still laugh at the story told by a male friend of mine who said that when he needed a little bit of help to,,,uh, score, he would put on some Whitesnake and it always got the girl in the mood. Nice trick, and from what I heard, it worked pretty well too. :)

Music is everything.

I’ve been planning my own summer festival tour for months and even just planning it gets me in a good mood. Some people laugh and call me crazy. But the only reason why anyone would think of it as crazy, is because it’s not a norm, it’s not a standard to do what you REALLY want to do.
So what if I see the same band half a dozen times? It’s about taking the chance to experience a good show as much as you can, because you don’t know when you’ll get the opportunity next time.

Too many people are afraid of what others are gonna think. They restrain from doing things they would like to do, and put up boundries that aren’t really there. Because the truth is – you can do pretty much anything you want to do. Just do it.
I don’t care what people think – this is my life and I’m the only one who can decide what’s right for me and makes me happy.

Life is limited. We don’t live forever, eventhough things might feel limitless sometimes. Thinking too far ahead, forgetting about the NOW means that you will let your whole life pass you by while you’re waiting for your dreams to come true “someday“. There IS no “someday”. This is your moment, your chance. This is what you’ve got. Go out there and get what you want out of life.

As Janis Joplin already established back in 1967 – tomorrow never happens – it’s all the same fuckin’ day, man. You’ve gotta call that life. Four months later, she was gone.

As biased as I may sound sometimes, it all really comes down to one thing – music is my greatest love in life and I want to live that life as much as I can. It wasn’t my destiny make it as a singer and travel the world singing for big crowds. I decided to accept that instead of chasing a dream that woudn’t come true. Now, I’m travelling all over the world to see those who ARE privileged to play for a living. The chosen few. And I get my kicks that way, I’m loving every second of it!

[It wasn’t in the stars for me to “make it”, but people generally like my version of this old Savatage-classic. The sweet, kind comments puts a big smile on my face! :-D]

I know that I will be tired, hungry, thirsty, pissed off at all the drunk jerks, the assholes, I will be crushed against the barricades and get bruises all over, my feet will hurt from all the standing and walking, I will be freezing my butt off during chilly nights at the summer festivals, or get burned in the sun during the day.

And I’m sure I’ll get a bucket of ice-cold water in my face when Ozzy does his thing, or get hosed down with foam or whatever the hell it is (is it only me who has my mind in the gutter, but doesn’t it look like people are basically covered in… uhm…a kind of “bodily fluid”…??).
And it’s ALL going to be so worth it, because when the music starts playing, you don’t care about anyting else than THAT moment. It’s pure magic.

I was talking to a friend the other day, who isn’t into the whole music-thing, and I told her how I thought people were stupid for getting themselves piss-drunk at festivals that the had paid big bucks for, and then they end up passing out somewhere, missing the whole thing!

She looked sceptical and asked: “Haven’t you ever had as much as a glass of wine before a concert…? You know, just to party a little, have fun?”

I told her, truthfully, that there is no drug in the world that can make me feel as “high” as a good song, a good performer, a good concert – or all of the above. So, that glass of wine would just be a waste of time and money. I don’t need it.

So, going back to that stress-coach I mentioned before… He kept talking about people wasting their lives doing things they didn’t like to do. He wanted everyone who felt that they didn’t get what they wanted out of life, to make a 5-year plan of what they wanted their lives to be like.

What was their idea of a perfect life – the GOOD life? It’s different for everybody.

I didn’t need to think about it. And I’m doing it right now. I’m living it.

I will have visited 8 countries in 3 months this summer.
I will have seen Ozzy 6 times.
Judas Priest 4 times.
Whitesnake 3 times.
Firewind 3 times.

And a BUNCH of other bands that I love! Mr Big – Megadeth, Styx, Skin, it will be better than Christmas! :-))

Call me crazy, but at least I am a very happy “crazy” person. :-) I can live with that. :)

This is part of my summer:

THE METAL GODS JUDAS PRIEST:
SwedenRock 2008, I’m rocking 3:02! ;)

THE GREEK GREAT GUS-ITARIST GUS G:
First gig I went to this year and look where it got me! It’s all Gus’ fault. :)

 

THE SEXIEST VOICE IN ROCK – DAVID COVERDALE – WHITESNAKE

Singing the sexiest song ever, phew…! ;P Get the new album Forevermore!

Went to see Doro. She was playing pretty early for a rock show on a Saturday night, so the place wasn’t packed when I first walked in. But more and more people kept coming and by the time Doro hit the stage, there was a decent crowd at KB.

I saw a familiar face at the merch stand. Christoph – I got to know him during the Jon Oliva’s Pain tours, then I met him a few times when he was out with W.A.S.P. Now he’s out with Doro and his next tour will be with Arch Enemy. Was glad to see him. He immediately laughed when he saw me and went: “I KNEW you would be here! I had a feeling you would!”

It was nice seeing him and get a short update on what he’s been up to lately. As I was talking to Christoph, another familiar face walked in. Sara, from the band Come Alive, she was one out of two female metal singers in town back in the day (the other one was me..).
Check out the video she made way back in the day (couldn’t be embedded so you’ll have to click your way there: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=394175707033 )

She came to KB on her own to see Doro, cause much like my friends, she couldn’t get her pals to join her either. But we have both been very inspired by metal queens such as Doro, you can’t miss the lady once she’s in town. And still going strong.

What can I say about Doro… What a POWER PACK! The lady is so full of energy, I get exhausted only thinking about it. She doesn’t stand still for one second – and I’m not kidding, it was impossible trying to take pics of her, every single one is a motion blur of her hair cause she’s headbangning non-stop! :) Same thing when I tried to film her. Just when I thought I had a good zoom-in, off she goes.

Her voice is so powerful, Doro DELIVERS!! It also strikes me how true she is to what she does, she is pure metal, no bullshit, no fake, she is a rock chick to the core. And the crowd loves her. No, they adore her. The guys in the front were almost climbing on eachother trying to get closer to the rock goddess on stage.

They wouldn’t let her leave! After “All We Are”, you’d think that was it. Evening over. But no – people kept making noise  and she started taking requests. Whatever people wanted to hear, she sang it. Amazing band, amazing lady. Great show. Talk about inspiring. She is in fantastic shape in every way – physically, vocally…. And she truly loves metal and her fans. We love her right back!

[Doro live on stage – about an hour ago… :)]

I was watching this very interesting interview with Sir Bob Geldof last week – and  found it online, so I thought I would share. I hope others will find this worth watching too.

It’s taken from Swedish television, so just wait about 50 seconds for the host to finish presenting the clip in Swedish, and you’ll get to the actual interview. :)

I admire Bob Geldof for his fire, for his fearless way of sticking out his nose and speaking his mind, for being a man of action – for so many things.
Total respect and admiration, I wish there were more of them out there.

I don’t have much more to add, he says it better than anyone, so listen to what he’s got to say and feel free  to contemplate. :)