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!

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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!)

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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

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... 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!

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... 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.

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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.

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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.
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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.

Anni Paananen performances March 2010

13 March 2010 21.00 Anni Paananen & Niclas Buss Duo, Café Albert, Närpes, Finland
21 March 2010 18.00 Guest appearance at Kevin Max Tour, Ritz, Vasa, Finland
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(4 March 2010 21.00 POSPONED Anni Paananen Quartet, Thursday Jazz at Moody, Jakobstad, Finland ---> 29 April)

Lady of the Lake

[LINK]
by Jeffster

Guksi (kuksa)

My administrative work this afternoon is suddenly interrupted by my own curiosity to what is going on in the room next door... "Look at what Your colleague is forcing me to do!" one of my young adepts 'complains', yet unable to hide his own enthusiasm although he tries his very best...

The smell of newly chopped wood makes me feel as if I'm walking through a forest while I'm getting remarks on my tendency to sneak up with my camera where I'm not supposed to...

"WE WILL SHOW YOU WHEN WE ARE FINISHED! GO AWAY!"

"Okay, guys... I'll be back later..."

Meanwhile, for the beholder to admire, some guksis made by my highly appreciated and truly talented colleague Niclas.

everything's gonna be alright this mornin'

I try to be the sweetest girl ever and what reviews do I get on my attempts! ”Du har STAKE, Anni!” (Swedish for “You’ve got guts” or even “You’ve got COCK”)

No, I do not have a cock and some days not much guts either. The fact is, I wish I was a bit more like that. I have made a decision though, not to run around apologising for being myself anymore.

I was such a tomboy when I grew up. I behaved like a boy and I even looked like one. I was always taller than all my friends. But I was shy. Much more so, than anyone ever noticed or understood. I became an expert on hiding both my potential and my personality. Growing up in Ostrobothnia, Finland, is being closely watched and guarded by the law of Jante – everybody knows it, some of us admit it but not a lot of us fight it.

For most of my life, the greatest question when it comes to challenges - or breaking new ground - has NOT been wether I'm ABLE to do something, but rather if I’m ALLOWED to do it. Admitting to being interested, wanting something or GOD FORBID! even asking for what I want… still does not come easy.

I accidentally stumbled into Muddy Waters on Spotify this morning. “The mannish boy”, so full of himself and yet irresistibly charming. Is it ok for a woman to have a rolemodel like that when it comes to selfconfidence? For a shy tomboy?

It’s not like I would ever become a hoochie coochie man anyway.

La Traviata

Det är inte ofta Vasa Stadsteater har en opera på repertoaren. I går kväll hade jag dock äran att göra en god vän sällskap till en föreställning av "La Traviata" (Tack så oerhört mycket, D!).

En stor opera på en liten scen kräver minsann sitt av sångare, kör och orkester men även om kvalitén på prestationerna stundtals var i ojämnaste laget var framträdandet som helhet en mycket angenäm upplevelse. Med all respekt för primadonnan Anna-Kristiina Kaappola måste jag ändå utnämna Vladimir Dmitruk i rollen som Alfredo till kvällen starkast lysande stjärna. Vilken röst! Lägg namnet på minnet, älskare av klassisk sång. Ge killen några år på nacken, rätt huvudroller och möjlighet att stå på de stora scenerna och vi har snart en tenor av världsklass.

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The City Theatre of Vasa does not often have an opera on their repertoire. However, last night I was fortunate enough to be invited by a good friend to accompany him to a performance of "La Traviata" (Thank You very much, D!).

A major opera on a small stage certainly makes its demands on singers, choir and orchestra, but although the quality of the individual contributions at times varied a bit too much, the performance all in all still was a very pleasant experience. With all due respect to primadonna Anna-Kristiina Kaappola I would still have to appoint Vladimir Dmitruk in the role of Alfredo as the brightest shining star of the evening . What a voice! Take notion of his name, lovers of classical vocal music. Give the guy a few more years, the right leading roles and the opportunity to stand on the major stages, and we will soon have a new world class tenor.

[photos/foton]

the Doomsday Clock

... or "Man is the only creature that knows it's going to die"

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After having had a rough day at work facing all kinds af peculiar phenomenons of mischief and misunderstandings I pick up the paperversion of Hufvudstadsbladet (major fennoswedish newspaper) and stumble into an article on religion and the effects religion has had - still has - on the very specific area where I was brought up. The article is a direct "offspring" from several other articles on the same issue, since a 25-30 year old event including pedophilia was recently brought into daylight within one of the strongest religious alignments of this region. The article in Hufvudstadsbladet twists all my senses and emotions to an extent I'm at first not fully aware of.

During my younger years I worked as a pastor of congregation for a while, ending in burn-out, and I have a tendency to become very sarcastic as soon as any kind of problem arises within religious associations. Always makes me feel like I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Anyway, as a perfect icing on my somewhat-hard-to-swallow-piece-of-intellectual-cake this afternoon... I find THIS at Pip's (no offense, mate!)

"Continuing tensions with Iran, the bad weather in Europe and especially the earthquake in Haiti will all be taken as 'end times' indicators," Guyatt, a history professor at the University of York, writes in an e-mail. "My guess is that [apocalyptic Christians] would happily move the clock forwards by a couple of minutes. The irony, of course, is that these guys -- unlike the atomic scientists -- are actually rooting for doomsday."

"Scientists seem to be driven by what's going on politically," says the site's founder, Todd Strandberg, who lives in Benton, Ark., calls himself an end-time believer and recalculates the index every Sunday based on man-made, natural and allegedly supernatural phenomena. "I suppose we tend to be the eternal pessimists because the Bible says it's going to get worse. So any time they move [the Doomsday Clock] back, the general reaction is scorn."

Ain't life grand! As long as it lasts, that is.
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vaivun uneen uudelleen

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dreams do not expire

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I've had a great and creative weekend so far, and I finally seem to come to terms with how things have developed around me during the last six months or so. Autumn 2009 surely took it's toll on me and I still have to be somewhat restrictive and careful with issues that tend to get to me in an upsetting way. However, the last couple of days I've felt the creative forces return and it makes me more content alltogether.

Two new songs arranged and documented today, with the assistance of brilliant guitarist Niclas Buss. I'm also working on a new pastel which I'm planning to blog here in a couple of days. There's never any point in waiting for inspiration - it'll come once You've started, and waiting will just allow Your fears to grow. Always remember though:

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Dreams do not expire on a certain date!

unveiled

post scriptum

HAPPY BRAND NEW 2010!

Lady of the Lake...

Facebook provided me with this collage on status updates for 2009. I've had an interesting year, that's for sure! Fate has it that 2010 will be even more interesting and I will live to tell. As long as I'm alive. Stay with me, why don't You now.

I wish all of us fortune and love, blessing in thousands and for the ones of us who need them: a fair amount of challenges too! Happy Brand New 2010!

fashion report

Fashion report from Esse, Finland. New Years Eve 2009. Outdoor catwalk phenomenon. The one and only. Style icon.

What's her name again...? Nobody knows...? Eh...?

Nah. I didn't think so either.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, cyberfriends! I think the making of traditional gingerbread went really well this year (although my mother shakes her head and strongly disagrees) and the darned little cookies are very durable - You can chew on them for days!

Happy holidays to all of You!

Anni & Jonas