Dystopian Dreams

4th of July!

Spinal Tap found themselves lost backstage at the Xanadu Star Theater in Cleveland at one point in their career after a 30-foot jog was miscalculated.  Read the rest of this entry »

Here is the reason I love flying at night.  Something about flying over cities reminds me of watching the embers in a fireplace.

Maybe Louisville or Lawrenceburg - hell, I don't know!

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Back at the turn of the century, I was working on a lot of electronic music.  I released a CD of dark ambient tracks simply titled “Umbra” in 1999.  The CD featured a composition called “Charon’s Journey” that hit #1 on the MP3.com Dark Ambient charts.  Even better was that it had happened right around the time of my birthday that year and was quite unexpected.  Another positive experience came out of the success of the CD in the form of having my music used in a horror film which fulfilled one of my lifetime goals.  The Umbra project has continued to surprise me in where it shows up and the interest that it generates.  Even after almost 10 years, some tracks from the CD still show up in the strangest places.  For example, you can hear “Ossuary” in a mix created by a DJ in Latvia if you visit HERE.  The majority of feedback and fan mail always came from Russia, a country I have always wanted to visit and came very close while visiting Helsinki.  I ran out of time and had to put it off with the plan of visiting some other time.  If you want to hear some of the tracks, check out my MUSIC page.

The Royal Friterie

A two-hour ferry ride from Dover (21 miles) placed me in Calais late in the evening.  It was foggy and stayed that way for some time.  Without any Euros and a big appetite to take care of, ducking into a nearby casino provided an opportunity for currency exchange.  The Royal Friterie was open late and whipped up a huge kebab sandwich with a mountain of pommes frites piled on top. Read the rest of this entry »

A Ship Of The Coast Of Gotland

Planes, trains, and automobiles make their way to the Scandinavian summer vacation hotspot of Gotland.  If you do take your car, be sure to use the ferry to prevent any water damage.  The Baltic Sea probably wouldn’t do your automobile much good.  Gotland is the home of the medieval city of Visby which has a stone wall called Ringmuren that is over 2 miles long. Read the rest of this entry »

Which Way To Stockholm?

I took a train from Gothenburg to Stockholm which only took a few hours.  The photo above shows an interesting art installation of a floating face and hand.  One of the first things I wanted to do while in Stockholm was to visit the Vasa Museum.  The story of the Vasa sounds doomed from the beginning.  They spent two years building a ship where construction plans had been compromised and the whole process was rushed to satisfy the King.  The ship was launched despite ballast issues that caused instability and it tipped over, sinking in the way you don’t want a ship to do.  On the positive side, the water it was living in was toxic enough to help kill off ship-eating organisms which aided in the preservation.  It was raised and now resides in a museum along with many artifacts to view. Read the rest of this entry »

View From The Fortress

I briefly visited Kungälv.  In particular, I went to the Bohus Fortress.  The photo shows a view from the fortress with the Göta älv rolling along into the distance.  The fortress was built some time in the 14th century and eventually partially demolished.  The bricks were cannibalized to build other structures.  It even operated as a prison for some time. Read the rest of this entry »

Let me begin this entry by saying “jag talar inte svenska” (I don’t speak Swedish).  Upon arrival in Göteborg,  I did like any typical yank from the states and bought some Swedish Fish.  Okay, maybe that’s not the typical thing to do, but they were quite tasty.  Perhaps I played my part of tourist and purchased a t-shirt first.   Whatever the case, I also took the time to seek out a fine restaurant called Sjöbaren  located in Haga.  (I think the restaurant name means sea bar, but I’m probably wrong).  I ordered fisksoppa (fish soup), svärdfiskfilé (swordfish), and crème brulé, which was all excellent.  I can highly recommend them all, including the candy. Read the rest of this entry »

“Stop The Car.”  It was one of the strangest band names I’ve heard.  It still is.  The following is a photo taken in 1987 (possibly ’88) shortly after I first joined the band.

photo by Elizabeth Underhill

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The following is a list of the concerts I have attended over the years. I’m sure I have left off a few thanks to sketchy memory recall, but at least I remember some of them. You can view the surviving ticket stubs on the photos page.  Just because I attended the concert doesn’t mean I enjoyed it.  Ratt was pretty bad.  On the other hand, Dead Can Dance, Black Sabbath, and King Crimson were incredible.

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