We have a car!!

Fredericksburg, VA, USA

Finally it's warm outside, can't believe how beautiful it is down here in Virginia. We finally got a car and we call it Seyless after the kitten that didn't make it. Seymour is ok though and will probably find a home soon. If you don't know what I'm talking about check the past posts. The car is a 91 Toyota Previa and we can fold down the seats and sleep on a mattress which will save us a lot of money.

It was not easy getting that car, after 4 days of DMV visits trying to get plates for it we found out we had to drive up to Maine for Christian to get his insurance since he has his address there. They said it would be enough for us to cross the border so we left by midnight so we could be there in the morning, getting it done quickly so we could drive home quickly again since Christian was going to work later that day. When we got there they said that we had to drive to Cs' hometown, it wasn't enough to it in the state of Maine...we we're so disappointed but we decided to drive to Bath and there we got the plates easily but C had to take the day off.


After we got the plates we drove to a mechanic who told us that the car hadn't been inspected so the guy we bought the car from lied to us. We had to buy a new windshield for it to pass inspection but we couldn't get it until early morning the next day. The plan was to go there 8am, have the window replaced then drive to Philadelphia where I had a show at World Cafe' Live at 7pm..good thing I had brought my guitar in the car just to fool around with because I had all my other stuff in NYC.

The next morning we go there and finds out that the window wouldn't arrive until 10.30 so C and Helena drove me to Boston as fast as they could so I could catch a trian to Philly than they returned to get the car fixed..

I had a great show at World Cafe Live, after my show a girl called Birdie Busch invited me to play a couple of songs on her set later that night. Although I was a bit worried I wouldn't make my Greyhound back to NYC where I was going to meet up with H and C. But I played my 2 songs, ran out of there, caught the bus, slept in an awkward position for 30 minutes, met up with my friends in NYC.

After 3 hours of sleep me Helena Christian and Malissa had breakfast at Neptune Diner and planned our trip. We we're glad to find out that Malissa had decided to come with us. C and M couldn't come yet though, we'll meet them in North Carolina next week.

Yesterday we played Fredericksburg, met new friends and had a great time. It was as folk as it could get and the 4 performers took turns in performing one song at a time..

Good times,

G

2 Kittens found and they need a home!

Dear possible animal lover,

We saved 2 kittens today trapped underneath a fence at a subway stop and we call them Seymour and Seyless since Seymour has one eye open and Seyless has none of them open. They are right now living here in Queens NYC with us but they would like a permanent home so please let me know if you find someone who could be interested. If we turn them in to pet reciever they wil put them to sleep so please et's show what myspace can do!

Seymour is a boy and Seyless a girl. They are around 3-4 weeks old and are cute as hell. They have eye-infections though. The top pic is Seaymor, the one below is Seyless and bottom is of of course on them both..

Maine, Brown Dog Studios and Car vacuum.

I just did my laundry, felt good. These last couple of days has been great but also a pain.

I did a show at the Bitter End in New York City last Sunday. It was a great show and I really enjoyed it. We managed to gather almost all the friends we made here at one single place. The atmosphere was great but we had to run to take a greyhound up to Maine. Me, Helena, Malissa and Christian jumped on the night bus around midnight and arrived in Bath, Maine in the morning. Christians friend Olivia was kind enough to pick us up in Portland and drive us to Bath where we had breakfast at Family Cuff's diner, thanks Graham for the delicious avocado sandwich!

We came to Christian's parents house and there we found Earl and Brown Dog Studios. We were exhausted from a night on the bus that didn't stop us to record, jam and write all day long. Those 3 days I recorded demos for 5 new songs, co-wrote a song with Christian, played bass, banjo and slide. Damn that was fun. We rounded it up with a show in the studio in front of an audience that consisted of Christian's high school buddies. I hope to put up a live-track or two on my profile soon, just waiting for the mix.

We're still car-hunting and it seems like me, Helena and Christian are going to cross this huge country soon. We thought we would have a car by now but the plan didn't work so we never made it to Washington DC today and I'm really frustrated about that. Hopefully this car issues will be solved soon, I really really hope so becuase it's wearing us out. Today I will probably write less but post pictures!

Slow day..tunes in my head

/G

Currently reading : Travels with Charlie By John Steinbeck Release date: 1963

Burlesque, Sugar and Madness

New York City.

I've had a great week in this big apple and it's a bit sad that it's coming to an end but we have more great adventures that is out there lurking in he bushes..

Today is St Patrick's Day..have to hit the town soon I guess and join the crazy parade. Malissa, Christian and Erica were nice enough to let us sleep on a huge airmattress in their apartment in Queens! This is the first time for a while that we can relaxe so we just sleep all the time. This place is filled with guitars and laptops..I passed out on the coach after I ate 4 French Toast and some sort of Jelly-shortbread..this american lifestyle is hard to keep up with!

We celebrated Malissas birthday the other day and it was quite a wild evening, we found this bar and the owner went nuts and poured like 20 straight whiskey shots then he barricaded the door so we wouldn't get out, he lifted poor Josh and swung him in the air and it was all madness... after that we had Falafel and dessert at Sugar - thanks Sammy. ...we also saw central park that day I think. a bagel and a coffee sitting on rocks on a beautiful spring day. I can truly say that I haven't felt that good in a looong time...

Oh well, then came the snow again.. F*^K! I couldn't believe it..

We've played two more shows since I last wrote to you. 3 days ago we played a place called Goodbye Blue Monday in Brooklyn with two other great acts: Darren Hayes and The Radio Roots. I have to find this guys on myspace now when I think of it.

I have to talk about yesterday as well, we were going to play this show that our friend Chris Cuzme set up for us at the No. 43 Stage 2 Jimmy's. Before we were gonna play our show there was this Burlesque show and it was madness all over...huge women showing me what they were good for..I swallowed those chocolat stouts so fast I wobbled up on stage when it was time for us to go on. The show was fun though, we managed to gather a number of New York-friends in our small but decent crowd. Thanks guys.

After the show a couple of us went for drinks. Christian (with the hazelnut eyes, haha) took us for a tour that of course ended up with dessert at Sugar. I had an excellent mushroom soup at 5 in the morning. Take that, kebab eaters!

I'm not sure what I'm talking about, I'm just exhausted..sorry..

/G

Goldschlager, Rockwood and Helsingborg

I just had some great coffee that I got from my new friend Linus who is staying at the same guesthouse as me in NYC. We came here 4 days ago after doing our last leg on our Upstate New York Tour.

The highlights last week was Clinton and Albany – two shows that we played a couple of weeks ago and the now came back to do a second show. In Clinton we recorded it all live, the audience was brilliant and we all felt happy somehow...after the show me, Helena, Nick, Jennifer and Rocky shared a big bottle of wine and goldschlager! It was very sad saying goodbye to all of them; we'll come back though – somehow.

The next day, we woke up with only a couple of hours sleep and we took the greyhound to Albany where we met up with the king of Albany, Ralph and his dog Benny. We went to see this instrument-guru that had a look at Helenas cello but he said it was too much work to do in one day so Helena has to find someone to repair it in NYC today.. Ralph is also an amazing guy and we'll miss him a lot! We gave him a book about how to speak Swedish from 1976 and he seemed happy about it.

We played our third show at The Red Square and it was really great! The audience was brilliant; we met great musicians and great people. Tiffany who owns the bar let us stay at her house, the morning after we took the next greyhound, finally back to NYC. The reason why I say finally is that we were planning to go here much sooner but we've ended doing more shows in New York State but now it was back for the return. If I didn't tell you guys before, for you who never been here, this city is magnificent (!)

We did our first NYC show at the Rockwood Music Hall, a cool little venue where some of the best acoustic performers hang out, at least that's what I've heard. I'm so glad we did that show because I met a couple of new friends who had very interested things to say! Christian Cuff invited us to come up to a house in Maine and record for a couple of days next week and I just can't wait. We did a show with him and his friend Malissa at the West End Café in New Brunswick, NJ yesterday. Meeting new people really is inspiring.

Otherwise we've been cruising around this big apple together with our friend Linus who is half Swedish half Korean and raised in Australia but born in Helsingborg! What's the odds, I come to a guesthouse in Queens NYC, meet up with this great guy who left MY hometown when he was 3? I mean, I come from quite of a small town. He know some Swedish so we've been encouraging him to speak more. Hopefully Linus and our paths will cross soon again.

I haven't done any sightseeing yet, but I've turned in my laundry for 8 bucks.

/G

3 NYC SHOWS!

Hi guys!

Check us out in the city next week,

ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL
03/12/2007
12:00 PM
196 Allen Street, New York, New York 10002
Cost: N/A
Description: Together with Helena Arlock. between E. Houston and Stanton take the f and v subway to 2nd ave

GOODBYE BLUE MONDAY
03/15/2007
09:00 PM
1087 Broadway, Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York, New York 11221
Cost: N/A
Description: Together with Helena Arlock.
VENUE INFO:
http://www.myspace.com/goodbyebluemondayinc
http://www.goodbye-blue-monday.com/

THE BITTER END
03/18/2007
10:30 PM
147 Bleecker Street (between Thompson and LaGuardia)
New York, New York 10012
Cost: $5
Description: write me if you want tickets! Together with Helena Arlock on cello & vocals

Ta-ta!

/Gustav

Home away from home

Monday morning, Clinton USA.

Friday, March 2

I have to tell you a little bit about the weekend and how I ended up in Clinton again. Last Friday we played at Muddy Cup in Catskill. After I got my brain-freeze (for you who have been reading) me and Helena passed out on their couches while people were having coffee around us. Then we went to the library to print map quests, posted some stuff, had lunch and then back to the venue. All this time we were feeling lousy for the lack of sleep. We laughed at each other how ugly and worn-out we looked. The show at Muddy Cup was really nice, thank you John for inviting us! We we're suppose to sleep on the same couches that night but Joy and Kathleen who were sitting in the audience wouldn't have it. We went back to Kathleens house and got a BIG bed! I can't explain how good that felt.

Saturday, March 3

After we woke up we all went to Joy and Joe's house to have a big American breakfast with a lot of bacon and sausages that we had to turn down since we don't eat meat. I always feel kind of stupid when that happens. Oh well, I won't break my 10 years of no meat-eating for good manners.. These people live around the Catskills mountains and it's so beautiful up there, someday I'll post more pictures.

So we had to rent a car to get to Southington, Connecticut. A Ford Focus with a bad smell and expensive..or maybe not too expensive but I would rather had taken a bus, you know? Now I was a professional so the driving was easy and we got to Norm's place around afternoon. Norm greeted us with orange juice and a college radio station. After a great dinner me, Helena, Norm and his daughter Hannah left for Jitters to play some tunes. The coffee shop was very nice and Shirley, the owner gave me a clam chowder that tasted brilliant. Hannah is a bongo drum player by the way!

Sunday, March 4

After pancake breakfast we drove to Kingston that is quite close to Catskill and very close to Woodstock. When we saw the signs we just couldn't help ourselves. Woodstock was a nice little town with a lot of "spirit-towns" and nice little restaurants. Unfortunately is was sooo cold there but we met a nice guy called 'Paul' that looked like he'd been around the glory days of Woodstock. He said we looked like 2 people he knew: Magnolia and Valentine..he also once sold a painting to Stockholm and wondered if we had seen it. We shook our heads and thanked him.

We found our Muddy Cup in Kingston thanks to my navigator Miss Arlock and the place was stony and echoing in a good way! Great acoustics I'm telling you all road-runners out there. I really enjoyed that show and I tried a lot of new songs. Thanks Nikki, you're awesome.

Joy had been so kind to say that we could go back to her place for the night since we were returning the car in Catskill anyway and since we didn't have a place to stay. So we went back to her place and saw an episode of Desperate Housewives with her before we fell asleep. We were so glad to be back in that big house in the country that Joy's husband built all by himself when they got married. I was amazed. I love that old-fashioned way. Can you do something greater to your love? I mean a house? Man…

Monday, March 5

We drove to the car-rental place to return the car then Joe was going to pick us up to drive to the train-station in Hudson. We had 40 minutes before he would show up so we went and ate disgusting food at Mickey D's. Strangely enough I sold a record to a guy that worked there…never did that before. He just saw our instruments and was determined to buy a record. Thank you, Dan!

Joe pulled up in his daughters pink car and drove us to Hudson. We said our farewells and after 2 hours of waiting and lyric writing at the station we were heading north again! The girl who checked our tickets shook her heads and smiled when she saw we were going all the way up to Utica: "So you're going that way, huh". We had to make a transfer in Albany before boarding the train that was going to take us to our dear friends Nick and Jennifer in Clinton – our home away from home. The snow was blowing and it was ice-cold but damn it was great to see them again!

After some wine, cheese and crackers I fell asleep like a little baby.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Today it's cold as hell and I just had some coffee, we have today off but tomorrow it's back to work. 4 shows in a row again. This tour is really expanding and I like it.
……………………………………………………………………………………
I'm going to steal a quote from my friend Alina's myspace:

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page. -St. Augustine"

4 lanes, smoothie, trucker land

Our stay in Washington has been great! Thank you Jesse, Josh, Laura, Hash, Tom, Mike, Justin and rest of you beautiful people! We had the best time.

After the show yesterday at Wonderland Ballroom we got a ride back up north by Kelly, our friend and current mentor. She drove the half first and I drove the second. I think it was about an 8 hour drive. My God it rained and there was so many lines and trucks everywhere. Everyone else in the car was asleep so I just had to guess, halfpipe here, intersection there and so on..now I've arrived in Catskill and both me and Helena are extremely tired - we'll probably pass out at the couches here soon..

Thank you again Kelly for helping us out!

Yesterday Jesse took us to this cool pirate radio station called CPR and we played a couple of songs. It was an honor to share the studio with a band like These United States. At Wonderland we played together with Rose and The Great White Jenkins. Thanks to all of you who came to see us, especially our fan base from IOTA! We're trying to figure out how we are gonna get from Catskill tomorrow, no buses, no trains.....car rental are bloody expensive just because we're not ADULTS(?) 25? C'mon people. what are we dealing with here? Ok, I feel whiny today but the owner of this coffeeshop just gave me a smoothie to cheer me up..I got a bit of brain-freeze and that felt good actually..

/G

Tenley Town

Washington is treating us very well! We're living at this crazy house that are filled with musicians, a studio, a label and so on..

Tonight we played the IOTA and it was a great night, made a lot of new friends and heard some great music. Today I saw the White House, bought a pair of shoes and walked a lot of miles.

Tomorrow night we're playing Wonderland Ballroom and I have a really good feeling about that show. After the show we're driving up to Catskill together with Kelly.

I'm quite tired after several days of constant drinking so I'm going to make this short. Rumours say that we might go to Texas..but I don't know yet.

/G