Strong feeling of déjà-vu

Wait a minute...wasn´t that already last weekend? Oh, I see. Although many other European countries celebrate All Saints´ Day on the 1st of November, both Sweden and Finland always use the Saturday between 31st of October and 6th of November. Very diligent, those Scandinavians. Let´s not waste a working day! So it was a little bit like Halloween revisited and the bakeries were still able to sell their pumpkin doghnuts. Déjà-vu.

We started the Saturday with a visit to a "rock flea market" as it was advertised on the internet. The add said that records, DVDs, clothes and the whole shebang around the world of ROCK would be waiting for us there and I took the bait. Why they provided the exact address but didn´t mention that it takes place inside Nosturi is beyond me. You might remember the venue from an earlier post about Killing Joke´s gig there (déjà-vu?). I bet 9 out of 10 Helsinkians wouldn´t be able to tell you where Telakkakatu 8 is but all 10 would know where Nosturi is located. After a small detour we realized that the flea market must be in that place and ta-daa! - Right we were. It was set in the lobby and the restaurant of the venue and radiated a real cozy and relaxed atmosphere. Not too big, not too small. Not too crowded, not too empty. We even spotted a "punk rock celebrity". Kari Heikonen, founder of the prolific underground record label Bad Vugum, was selling some records and books. A few days ealier I wouldn´t have known who this stylish looking gentleman is but thanks to Finnish television - déjà-vu. The channel YLE Teema is currently showing a series called Rock Suomi. It contains ten episodes and no. 1 focused quite much on the Finnish punk movement. Kari himself contributed some words of wisdom every now and then, of course I didn´t understand almost anything. I was happy when they played some music on the show, I think Finnish punk has a lot to offer. On a side note I would like to add that it´s great to have so much cool music here on the tube, more about that later.

It´s getting dark quite early now in Finland, at 5 p.m. it´s basically dark as night. Perfect for our plan to go to Hietaniemen hautausmaa which is an old cemetary. On All Saints´ Day it´s the custom to bring candles to the graveyard and remember the dead. A beautiful sight and a peaceful aura. Here are some impressions for you:

 After returning home a hot sauna helped to shake off the cold. It sounds maybe lame when I tell you now that we spent our Saturday night watching telly but like mentioned before, they show real cool music related stuff here since the beginning of autumn and I was waiting for the upcoming documentary like it was christmas. Anvil! The story of Anvil. The movie proved to be definetely worth the wait! It´s about the Canadian metal band Anvil. Founding members Steve "Lips" Kudlow (lead guitar / vocals) and Robb Reiner (drums) are trying for thirty years now to become rock stars. Although they had their 15 minutes of fame in the 80ties and the likes of Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer name them as highly influencial they never had a real break through and became something like an obscurity. Getting by with depressing day jobs and hitting 50 already they never gave up and have released a total of thirteen (!) albums over the years. You see disastrous tours with shows in front of 3 people, band internal struggles and fights, problems with their families and tons of devotion for their dream that one lucky day they will make it. Big time!

O Canaduh!

I want to recommend this movie to everyone, regardless if you are into music or not. This movie is about chasing and NEVER losing hope to finally fulfill a dream. It really moved me and I´m happy to read that the documentary helped them to be put back on the map somehow, playing huge festivals all over Europe. They even played in Finland shortly before I moved here. The movie´s similarity to the comedy flick This is Spinal Tap is absolutely striking. Almost spooky that the latter was written and directed by Rob Reiner (remember, Anvil´s drummer is Robb Reiner). Coincidence? Déjà-vu? Some smart guy in the tv station realized that the fictional Spinal Tap and the very real Anvil have a lot in common and put both movies on the programme, yeah! If you have never seen This is Spinal Tap something is missing in your life. It´s hilarious! Do yourself a favour and try to get to see both documentaries, doctor´s orders!

Stonehenge...

Make sure to check out:

www.badvugum.com
www.anvilmetal.com
This is Spinal Tap