Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Jackpot


Breaking news, everybody!
I´m pleased as punch to announce that I got a job!! I got a fucking JOB!!!
Still can´t believe it myself but just signed a contract for six months in the same place where I got my työelämänvalmennus (second part of my job training). That´s done with on March 13th, the next day I will become a regular duunari (worker).

This means a lot to me for many reasons.
Needless to say that I get way more money for exactly the same work I´ve done before in that company. Needless to say that life gets so much easier when you don´t have to watch every penny anymore. I don´t have to deal with the mothership KELA anymore. I don´t have to sit up and beg at the employment office for foreigners anymore. But most important:

This means a huge leap forward in my integration process. It feels like a real achievement.

At this point I´d like to emphasize how well the Finnish integration system works if you use what´s being offered and give your best. That´s what I did and at the very least I can say that the system worked for me. I went to the language courses, I took part in the job training and after they didn´t / couldn´t give me a job in the first place, I went there again for a second job training. Spoke my retarded Finnish everyday and everyday it got less retarded. Tried everyday to prove myself as a good worker and easy-going workmate.
And it worked out!

Six months don´t sound much and of course I´m still not able to plan my life-in-hel far ahead but I can´t tell you how happy I am for this new development! I was told that there´s hope my contract will be renewed. Let´s see, I´m not gonna worry about this now.
All what counts at the moment is:
I got a fucking job!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Cheap Czech


Apparently some Czech prankster has tagged Helsinki´s tuomiokirkko over the weekend.
He or she stomped this cryptic text into the snow-covered stairs in front of the cathedral. Pica (can´t find this special c character on my keyboard) is Czech for vittu, cunt or Fotze.
The message of HELSINKI PICA escapes me.

ADDENDUM 04.03.2012:

My Czech blogheads brought some light into the darkness. Looks like the tag translates to "Helsinki fuck yeah!" and that´s something I can most certainly relate to. Thanx a lot, guys!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Old salt makes you thirsty

What a weekend! What a month actually...a lot of music related things have happened in February and if you are following this blog regularly you know that me like music very mucho. The right answer to my little quiz comes of course also from the world of sound: Last Friday my old rockabilly band Black Raven was in town for the second installment of their Worldwide Rockers Tour. Their gig in Bar Dubrovnik wasn´t only the first of the tour, it was also the very first gig for new drummer Jensemann with the band!
It was a running gag to cover Jensemann´s face on all pics.
Not bad at all to have your trial by fire in Helsinki. My first gig with the Raven guys was in Langenhagen, Germany and in case you´ve never heard about that town before, trust me - there´s a reason! Jensemann just replaced my own successor Fritzo, who´d been in the band for about five years and has parted ways with Julian and Torsten only a few weeks ago due to artistic differences. I met Jensemann for the first time that Friday and I´m really happy for the two founding members because they found a new member who fits to the band like a glove. A real nice and humble guy with a good sense of humor - the latter being absolutely mandatory in Black Raven.
And there he is uncovered. He can´t believe that he just signed his first autograph.
I had not seen the band since August 2010, when they played here in Finland (the review was my fourth post on this blog). Time flies, man. It was so cool to hang out with them before the show and realize that they had not changed a bit, it was immediately like the good old days. The first of two personal highlights from that night was Black Raven meeting my band guys who had come to see the show. My original plan to have a picture taken with both bands went awry cause in all this Wiedersehen commotion I simply forgot about it. We also missed most of the other band´s shows, at least we had a glimpse here and there.

First on stage was Pavulon Twist from Poland. They had already been part of the first Worldwide Rockers Tour in 2009 when I enjoyed them in Düsseldorf. Blues harp - yeah!
Next up were The Limiteds from Finland, an all-star project so to speak. I knew almost all the guys from their previous bands (Ellis & The Angry Teens, Cast Iron Arms, The Beetle Crushers). A little wonder that singer Ville was able to perform after some unfortunate encounter that left him with a broken jaw a few weeks back. I liked most of what I caught from their set, I didn´t like that they played "The Punk Bashing Boogie" - and they know it.

Whatever. Finally it was Black Raven´s turn to rock out. Jensemann had been a little nervous prior to the show but you couldn´t tell when he started to massage the skins. Rather on the contrary, he seemed to enjoy himself pretty much. Of course he made some minor mistakes but that´s how it goes. I still remember my own first gig with the band in said Langenhagen and oh boy, that was far from perfect. For a first show Jensemann did very well and I predict that they will have a great time together.

The second highlight for me came after the first half of their set, when they asked me to join them on stage. That was awesome! Although I´ve never regretted my decision to leave the band, I have harbored the secret wish to just play a couple of songs with the guys for quite a while. It was so cool that it happened now in my new hometown as we played
"Don´t Look Back", "Bird Doggin" and "Shaking All Over".
I guess that´s my little solo in "Shaking All Over". Pic by Susu.
After this intermezzo Jensemann took over again and BR rocked and rolled until 2.30am, when the dreaded light sign forced the show to come to an end. Nearly impossible to find an open bar at that point of time so we did the next best thing and translocated our binge to Ville´s hotel room. Must have been 5am when Susu and me took a cab home. Sentimental goodbyes included. Black Raven went the next day to Kouvola for a second gig. Later that day I had a short phone call with Julian in which we confirmed each other how cooool last night had been. And guess what: He told me that Pavulon Twist´s singer DID find an open bar, what the fuck?! What a local tour guide am I?
Sorry boys, next time...

Make sure to check out:

Black Raven
The Limiteds
Pavulon Twist

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Quiz Time

Guess who´s gonna be in town,
guess who I´m gonna join on stage,
guess who´s gonna be pretty damn thirsty
...and all of that already tomorrow?

Here are a few hints for you:

-They are celebrating their 20th anniversary

-They are neither from Italy nor Russia

-They are always the last men standing

-Although their name suggests something else,
 their favorite color is blue...

Weeeell, any ideas?


SONG FOR TODAY:

Jeopardy - Think Music

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Snow White ante portas

Just took this snapshot on Helsinginkatu.
We´re not only blessed with t-shirt weather today (0 degrees) in Helsinki, we´re also under snowfall since midnight. Pretty nice to look at taking a Sunday stroll, let´s see how nice it is on a Monday morning heading to work. Worst case scenario for me though is that my bus is late. I still enjoy this, too much is not enough. But I certainly understand everyone who has to drive in these conditions and wishes all this white stuff would go to hell and melt. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Helsinki Collarbone Massacre


I can´t say that I ever was a fan of Leatherface which doesn´t mean I did not like them. Although the name was always around and I was aware of the band, I just had never listened to their music. For no particular reason that is. This changed when our bass player, a huge fan of Leatherface, introduced me to their stuff and hooked me up with three of their albums during one week only. Quite an overdose of an overview of the band´s output. But listening to albums like their much-lauded "Mush" pleased my ear holes and got me interested in Leatherface´s somehow unique punk rock approach.

I heard a lot of pub rock there, sometimes the music even reminded me of singer/songwriter stuff like e.g. Billy Bragg. The cool twist about their style is that the guitar(s) are cranked up to the max, they throw in a good chunk of hc/(post) punk and "singer"/ mastermind Frankie Stubbs sounds like Lemmy´s little brother. The guy must gargle with rusty nails and whiskey before coughing into a mic. And still he has great melodic vocal lines - miraculous!

Needless to say that our bass man was pretty wired about their upcoming show in Bar Loose, and when he asked me to join in on the fun I didn´t have to think about it more than two seconds. I wanted to hear that live!

Bar Loose is always a nice place to see a show, check out this post if you wanna know a bit more about the venue. First up were the locals of Cigarette Crossfire, who delivered the goods with an energetic gig. The four-piece was in constant motion, so all I got is a blurry pic from their gig - better than nothing and who wants to see a static punk rock show, anyway? It´s not Kraftwerk...

The Crossfire boys had a great sound and were a pretty tight unit. You could tell that they have been around the block a couple of times before releasing (what I guess is) their debut album last October on Helsinki-based Combat Rock Industry. A bit too emo for my taste but still a good opener for the evening´s main act, that started precisely at 22:30.
Man, I gotta say that when they tell you here in Helsinki that the band starts at 22:30, the band starts at 22:30. You can set your fucking watch to it. I consider this a great thing, cause this way you can see a gig during the week, even have a couple of brews AND go to work the next day without looking and smelling like you have recently died. At least not more than usual.

When Leatherface took the stage, they did it with a little surprise for the mostly unexpecting audience. Mr. Stubbs, who also takes care of at least half the guitar duties, had broken his collarbone shortly before the tour took off and thus was unable to play. It´s exactly what happened to yours truly many moons ago when I had just started to play and let me tell you - it fucking sucked! Well, Stubbs made the best out of the situation, moving restlessly (and obviously annoyed by this limitation) all over the stage in his typical epileptic manner. Backed up by Dickie Hammond (a fitting name when you know that dick means fat in German) and some new guy on guitars they provided a great wall of sound that made up twice for the loss.
Blurry again but check out the right corner. Picture in Picture - this is the new age.
Now it became apparent that the place was sold out, it got nicely packed. Fists were raised, choruses yelled, even some minor crowd surfing was spotted. And maybe twenty minutes into the set, in between all of this, I realized that this band finally had me. There is a certain honesty and urgency in their songs that is overwhelming, especially live. Emotional lyrics without being the slightest bit emo, just in your face and to the point. Yeah! I also bumped into some familiar people that I hadn´t seen for a long time - a nice add-on for an overall great evening. After a bit more than an hour the fun was over (at least one encore was played) and I had to split immediately to catch the last tram home, which I successfully did by displaying a Guiness-book-of-records sprint.

Make sure to check out:

Leatherface
Cigarette Crossfire
Combat Rock Industry

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Leatherface


You can run but you can´t hide! Put your head between your legs and say your prayers, bolts and ghouls, for the Leatherface cometh! Britpunks Leatherface are playing Bar Loose tonight, supported by Cigarette Crossfire from Finland. Their gigs will mark as the first punk show I get to see in Finland since I moved here. Pathetic!
High time to get a double dose of 1,2,3,4...
See you later at the bar!

POST SCRIPTUM:
R.I.P. "Otus" Tonmi Lillman

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Stay tuned!

Long time, no post, so what´s new in Funland? Weeeell, as you might have heard we have

a new president...
Sauli Niinistö tried his luck already during the last election six years ago and got defeated by Tarja Halonen (obviously). Her victory back then was thin as paper and this time around Niinistö, who belongs to the conservative Kokoomus party, won over Pekka Haavisto (Green Party) with sixty something percent of the votes. Maybe not a huge surprise regarding his popularity during his last attempt. Somehow interesting though that many liked what his opponent Haavisto had to say - but didn´t vote him cause he´s gay.



a new Miss Finland...
Sara Chafak shed many a tear of joy when being crowned Miss Suomi and doesn´t she look exactly like you imagine a Finnish lady? She´s of Moroccan heritage and reigns now from Helsinki of all places, Vuosaari to be exact. Strange enough as I have friends there but never bumped into her 84-63-91(cm) when buying beer at the local S-Market before drinking with my buddies. Weird...






 and I got a new pedal!
Will the two of us become friends?
 I´m playing guitar now for almost 25 years and this is my very first stage tuner pedal. I always thought I don´t need to spend money on a machine that does something my ears still can do pretty well for free. Also somehow regarded those things as definitely NOT punk rock. Never bought into the "he who tunes is a coward" motto either but you know...it was never really needed. Until now.
In my new band I have my guitar always tuned down a whole step which allows it to easily go out of tune. Then a good chunk of the songs are in drop D tuning (so actually drop C tuning, whole step down, remember?) which makes it even worse.
I´m basically tuning all the time, be it for the sake of the song´s key or to avoid sounding shitty.
In order to avoid annoying the fuck out of an audience going bim - bim...bim - bim...bim - bem mmiiiuuiiuuiiiiii... after every little ditty I got the TU-3 now, which cuts off the signal while in use. Although I still look sceptical in the pic, I´m actually quite happy about this latest arrival. Combined with my chorus and delay pedals it doesn´t make me a shoegazer yet but I have to pay a bit more attention now on what I´m stepping there in the dark...There´s a reason why I bought the tuner at this particular point of time. I´ll post about this reason very soon, so stay tuned!