Milano

Can't help but laughing a bit at the sight of this picture: ME... in numero uno fashion capitol of Europe last sunday afternoon - dressed in a sloppy tunic, jeans and converse, and with a hairdo that looks like a miniature easter bonfire. Not even the doves that normally gather in hundreds on the piazza before the feet of tourists wanted to approach me!

.

As always when confronted with religious culture - in this case the Duomo of Milan - I start looking for faults, small accidents and flosses... like missing bodyparts on statues. In St Petersburg of Russia a while back I was informed that visitors to monuments like these sometimes simply break pieces of ornament off to keep as souvenirs and put them into their pockets or handbags... (I hope to yet someday create art someone might find worth stealing!)

.

.

Seems to me the Milanese statues don't need tourists to cut their heads off - they are doing an excellent job themselves. And as for myself? - did I cut anything off? No. Of course not. I have a great souvenir standing in the hallway of my appartment anyway: my suitcase including clothes and other necesseties marinated in extra virgine olive oil... with olives too! I just wish there would have been some smoked scamorza-cheese instead... *sigh*

being, bleeding and believing

Anni Paananen and Kevin Max after concert in Vasa, Finland 21.3 2010

.

... och det är då jag berättar för honom att jag under femton års tid skytt de sammanhang jag just uppträtt inför och jag inte förmår dölja mina tviel därför att det är mycket länge seden jag vetat vad jag ska tycka och tänka om den Gud jag en gång trodde på. Det är också då han säger: "I en värld där vi ALLA är fyllda av så många trauman, av sorg och känslor av misslyckande ... varför inte vara totalt ärlig och just därför det sår som andra kan blöda igenom?"

Det är det jag ÄR. - och inte är jag ensam om det heller.

TACK, Kevin!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

... and that is when I tell him that I for fifteen years have shunned the very context I've performed infront of this evening and that I am not able to hide my doubts because it's been a long time since I knew what to think or how to feel about the God I once believed in. That is also when he says: "In a world where each and EVERYONE of us are filled with so many traumas, grief and feelings of failure ... why not be totally honest and thereby the wound that others may bleed through?"

Well, that is what I AM. - and I'm not the only one either.

THANK YOU, Kevin!

Kevin Max

Kevin Max (US) kommer till Finland för en turné nu i mars 2010. En av hans första spelningar blir på Ritz i Vasa. Tillsammans med gitarristen David Larring (US) framför de Kevins låtar. Kevin Max är känd sångare från gruppen DC-talk som nådde stor framgång inom både den kristna och konventionella musikvärlden. Bandet vann 4 Grammy-priser, 16 Dove Awards, och andra erkännanden. Andra medverkande: Oa Lönnbäck, Daniel S Diago och Anni Paananen.

.

Kevin Max (U.S.) will come to Finland for a tour in March 2010. One of his first concerts will be at the Ritz in Vaasa. Together with guitarist David Larring (U.S.) they will be performing Kevin's songs. Kevin Max is the well known singer from the band DC Talk who achieved great success within both christian and mainstream music genre. The band won 4 Grammy Awards, 16 Dove Awards, and several other recognitions. Other participants: Oa Lönnbäck, Daniel S Diago and Anni Paananen.

[info]

photo by Allen Clark- Sept 2009

Anni Paananen & Niclas Buss Duo

Tomorrow evening (13 March 2010) at Café Albert, Närpes, Finland 21.00 I will be performing together with eminent guitarist and dear friend Niclas Buss. On the repertoir several of my own recent compositions mixed with covers from various singers/songwriters aswell as classical guitarmusic.

.

WELCOME!

"Lemmy's Shades" by Mikael Paananen

Lemmy's Shades from Mikael Paananen on Vimeo.

Under en festivalspelning 1999 kastade Lemmy Kilmister ut sina solglasögon från scenen. Marco Lindholm var den lycklige som fick tag i dem. Tyvärr blev hans väska stulen och tillsammans med kameran försvann alla bevis. Här börjar historien om Lemmy's Shades...

En film om en myt och människorna kring den. En
roadmovie i ett rocklandskap. En liten film om en
stor ikon och hans beundrare, eller en stor film om
ett par små solglasögon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During a festival gig in 1999 Lemmy Kilmister trew his sunglasses from the stage and into the audience. Marco Lindholm was the lucky one to catch them. Unfortunately his bag was stolen and together with his camera all the evidence of the event. This is where the story about Lemmy's shades begin...

A film about a myth and the people around it. A
roadmovie set in a rock’n’roll landscape. A little
film about a great icon and his admirerer or a great
film about a small pair of shades.

"We’re finally here, after fifteen hours of driving, ferry rides and everything, with the Man Himself, Lemmy (Kilmister), who’s now gonna confirm that maybe these sunglasses have belonged to him. So, Lemmy, do you remember these shades?"

I want to ride my bicycle

music is essentially useless

"Music is essentially useless, as life is: but both have an ideal extension which lends utility to its conditions."

~ George Santayana

Coloured sketch of me singing "You are the wind beneath my wings" (Bette Middler) and audience at a ferryboat seminar, St Petersburg, 2004 - as interpreted by Mr Bo Lundell.