48 hours

the time has come. a 48 hour countdown to my europa departure. i'm back in berlin now, after a great week in stockholm with my cousin oscar.

as i mentioned in one of my earlier posts, yours truly & cousin o. have started work on a collaborative musical project. first conceived at the fusion fest this summer when he came down to deutschland, we've embarked on a hip-hop inspired duo project. we are Error Flynn & Johnny Valentine. we are lovers of the good life. and we are making an album to provide the aural soundtrack to living it.

in the few days i was in stockholm, we began work on the music and so far, the sounds are 'soopa'! look out for a crazy mix of fat basslines, crazy samples, catchy lyrics and, most importantly....good good fun...

our working method is simple and direct:
1. morning swim
2. freshly brewed coffee
3. gourmand eats
4. morning, afternoon, evening, late night, early morning music listening sessions
5. cut samples
6. play instruments
7. pause
8. glad dansker
9. more music
10. converse
11. evening walk
11. well chilled drink

haha. sounds like i'm writing a personal ad. but seriously, these are some of the central ingredients for having productive, creative work days....and some of the most important elements of the good life.

well after a few days of staying inside o's hot top floor apartment, on wednesday night we finally made it out of the house to go and see a really fun, 15 piece party reggae band called the Club Killers down at the hip Debaser club near Slussen...it was a night of much dance partying, crazy expensive scotch & sodas, and Error Flynn working his smooth romantic magic. the band rocked the house with its 7 piece horn section & 2 fabulous guest vocalists, mostly doing covers of old reggae & ska tunes, but also throwing some great old soul tunes into the mix. the sun barely sleeps in the scandinavian summer, so when we left the club at 4:00am the light was a beautiful hybrid sunrise & sunset. then it was home to rest before our morning trip out of the city.

thursday midday was spent half slumbering on a bus out of town, to the Tilman fam's country residence in the Stockholm archipelago. in just over an hour's journey out of town, you can be nestled amidst the serenity of tiny islands, tiny picture perfect red scandinavian summer houses, and nearly complete summer silence (aside from the hum of crickets, birds, breezes, and far off motor boats). the tilman summer spot is a sprawling expanse of green, rock, wood, and red exteriors - all perfectly kept and beautifully peaceful. inkan, ulf, pernilla, ludvig & emma had been there for several weeks already and O & I arrived to enjoy an afternoon of rest & recuperation and an evening of veggie BBQ and apfel strudel...

before dinner, Flynn & Valentine made the short walk down to the water where we swam in the balmy summer sea and johnny v. practiced diving off the dock for the first time in many many moons. it had been 8 years since i was last in sweden and it was great to come back for even a short visit. the family all seem happy & relaxed and we had a great long evening meal til the sun descended.

o & i spent the last final hours of evening before sleep doing some rough mixes of our 'good life' tracks and woke early to get our bus back to town. i flew back to berlin last night and have until monday morning to enjoy my final fix of this great town before i return to my mile end casa in Mont Royal.

it's been a fabulous trip & an inspiring summer. tonight i'm off to do some vox recording with berlin producer Flo...and tomorrow night will be the final hurrah...hopefully gathering all the good folks i've spent time with this summer here in deutschland.

if you stumble across this page again in a few days, it will be complete with photos & video. even though it will be the end of the trip. ahem. next year i've got to get my own camera.

ok friends, gotta get some lyrics written! take care of yourselves.

love johnny

ps- song of the week: bo marley :: 'fleisch' - amazing danish dub/reggae band i discovered at the fusion fest this year...