words & spices

Listening through the new Waits album Bad as Me for the third time since yesterday. That’s a good sign. It sort of sounds like a cross of Real Gone and Orphan, with the odd reference to his 80s albums.

Satisfied must be Waits’ most direct reference ever to another band – the song is of course ‘I can’t get no Satisfaction‘, and Jagger/Richards. “Well Mr. Jagger, and Mr Richards/I will scratch where I been itchy/ before I’m gone”

Go to badasme.com to sign up for a pre-release streaming of Bad as Me

Tom Waits has been strange for a long time… and great for just about as long. A new studio album has been rumoured ever since the 2008 Glitter and Doom tour was announced (I mean, why bother touring unless you have some new material to promote… right). Now the ‘crooked tree in the forest’ musical storyteller seems determined to rid himself of all those silly speculations by finally announcing an actual album, while at the same time refuelling the myth surrounding the music. Sure, the cd/vinyl may work like any other album out there on a technical level, but that doesn’t mean it really is the same thing. This announcement video goes a long way towards proving that.

And here’s the brand new single to whet our apetite until 24th October.

Tom Waits – Bad As Me by antirecords

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Rasputina’s mysterious, funny and often surprising music has resulted in some pretty good albums over the last couple of decades. The 1998 (1898 according to Rasputina) album How we quit the forest is surely an essential for fans, but for years it has been next to impossible to get hold of. Finally Melora Creager has put together a new limited edition of the album, featuring an all-new booklet. Melora’s cover art is always as intricately handmade as her music, so this is one of those times where you should definitely steer away from the iTunes alternative and go straight for the physical copy.

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(Kronikk i Klassekampen 7. september 2011)

PETTER SOLBERG | billedkunstner

Mens studenter ved kunsthøyskolene i Bergen, Oslo og Trondheim etter fullført bachelor- og mastergrad mottar et etableringsstipend på hhv. 70.000 og 120.000 kr, blir studentene ved kunsthøyskolen i Tromsø og tilsvarende studier i utlandet overlatt til seg selv. Denne forskjellsbehandlingen har pågått siden 2002 og baseres ikke på noen kvalitetsvurdering av studiene eller studentenes individuelle prestasjon. Norske Billedkunstnere (NBK), ANSA, Unge kunstneres samfund (UKS) m.fl har hele tiden kritisert denne forskjellsbehandlingen.

Kulturminister Anniken Huitfeldt (Foto: Wenche Nybo/KUD)

Etableringsstipendet basert på gjennomført kunstutdanning er kanskje et av de viktigste økonomiske verktøyene for å sikre et variert og sunt kunstmiljø. Det er ikke en belønning for lang og tro tjeneste, men en invitasjon til unge kunstnere til å ta ansvar for sin egen kompetanse og karriere, mens de ennå er kreative og motiverte. I 2010 vedkok kulturdepartementet å revurdere stipendordningen. Kulturminister Anniken Huitfeldt uttalte i media at ordningen var urettferdig. Så er det endelig slått fast også fra høyeste hold.

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It’s been a while, but now I have finally decided to set up a new blog. I’ve decided to start from scratch as I didn’t think there was any point in clinging to my old, outdated posts.

I will post here whenever I feel like it. Sometimes it may be updates on current art projects, other times it may be samples of my poetry or just some thoughts on a random subject.

I will swich between posting in English and Norwegian whenever I feel like it

So feel free to check back now and again, and I’ll do my best to make this blog remotely interesting