Various Finnish Artists
Voyages On Vinlandia
(hear it)

This is a concert that I attended. September 17, 2005, at Nottingham Co-op, five Finnish bands stopped to play during their first ever tour in America. I managed to say "saippuakauppias" to them, a crowning achievement, let me tell you. It means "soap salesman".

When I first moved to Wisconsin I had an easy time thinking of things to do, and recording this concert, which half-Finnish wife Lea was unable to attend, was a clear mission. I called ahead and asked permission my friends at the Co-op, then I asked the "promoter", as they call them, then the Finns. Everyone sort of looked at me with the eyes of a coyote caught being friends with a rabbit. I quickly put up my mics, accidentally placing them next to a noisy chair, which fortunately was also uncomfortable. I plugged them into a decent mic preamp and away we went. It was super fun, and a great way to listen to a concert.

I sort of told the musicians I would send them a copy, but I'm not sure who to contact. I will try today though.

This concert suited me well, because the bands differed greatly, from drastically weird and frightening to casually delightful and calming. I love when a single band covers this territory live.

There's one piece of crowd talk which I cut out, and don't have any more. As Lau Nau, the most affecting band, began to play a tune by Don Cherry on the piano, which in Nottingham has screws and forks and corks and god-knows what-else crammed into the strings, one of the "hamsters" (har har, that's what they call themselves) began to worry about the chaos that would ensue. "The p-p-prepared piano?" Lau Nau did not seem to hear - the sound was awesome. I never have known if they knew the truth about that piano.

bb, 2 Feb 08