finally my brand new studio b is up and running. this is where i draw, make videos, do office work and everything else than record music.
i am currently working on an exhibition for dei nynorske festspela in june. it’s a festival celebrating norway’s second written language; neo-norwegian (wiki). the theme of this year’s festival is “songen” (the song) and they have asked me to be the festival artist. it will be an exhibition of illustration-prints from my three albums (egilolsen.com), some original drawings/paintings and excerpts from my lyrics translated to neo-norwegian. a few of these translations will also be performed live as spoken word accompanied by myself and my good friend and guitar player stig ulv.
art part VIII
women. 2005.
stig ulv strengetonar
made this little video for my good friend and guitar player when he visited my new office / video+photo+drawing-studio in oslo. check out www.stigulv.com
on saturday i played for the kids/teens at UKM at tysværtunet just outside of haugesund. it was marvelous. i should play for more youngsters. i also had time to drop by radio 102 and play a couple of songs and talk.
hear the entire interview and both songs, ‘singer / songwriter’ and ‘do it yourself’ here >
eo
stig ulv heimstad
made a new video for my good friend and guitar player stig ulv. i present to you: ‘heimstad’. check out his website as well www.stigulv.com.
yesternight i performed at the student week festival in volda. in the church of volda. it was a bit magical and a bit scary. i could feel the all seeing eye watching my every move and the all hearing ear hearing my every word. it was a more quiet show than normal. beautiful and enormous acoustics. my ladies karen r olsen and caroline hitland sang backing vocals and my buddies stig ulv on guitar and morten bollis bollerud on accordion joined in.
today i was asked to cover another artist from the festival line-up for their tv-show. at first i said no, but realized that i already almost knew maria mena’s ‘all this time’. i had no time to rehearse (a few minutes on a ferry). printed the lyrics and did my best. enjoy the result.
egil olsen by:larm - big dipper
13.00 a quiet opening. i had actually just woken up. a few people were there. i played more songs i haven’t played in ages.
15.00 after my 1 o clock show i ran to hotel opera to meet with my chinese people from pocket records / sounds great. i brought them with me to the 3 o clock show. more people came by. i got some mad requests from the audience, like ‘back on my feet’ and ‘papers and pens’. i haven’t played those songs since 2007. but i still knew them.
17.00 my good tuba-friend kristoffer lo was back. and my good friend and felllow singer / songwriter, robert post, also joined us on guitar and vocals. crowded stage. good times.
19.00 the very last show. tuba-kristoffer had to run. robert post stayed. this was the only show i did playing ‘go4six’ and the crowd went, as always; nuts! it was a nice ending.
thank you to the few of you who found time, or who could find big dipper at all during these two days. i love you.
egil olsen show by:larm - big dipper
i’m doing 8 shows during by:larm at the record shop big dipper. 1, 3, 5 and 7 PM. thursday and friday. 4 down, 4 to go. here’s a report from yesterday’s egil olsen fest.
13.00 almost finished decorating the stage. i had only slept 2 hours the night before and someone had just broken into my car and ruined the starter. motherfuckers. it didn’t seem like the right day to do 4 shows. a few people actually showed up and i did a 25 min show. no setlist, no plan. did mainly requests from the audience and the big dipper people.
15.00 nobody. well, a co-worker from the big dipper shop in trondheim was there. i started my show as planned. after a couple of songs, one woman came running. she had missed the tram. i did the show for her. exclusive. mainly sad songs. i asked her if she wanted something fun and played boombastic for her. it didn’t seem like she had heard the original.
17.00 now i realized how tired i was and my eyes were hurting from the combination of this and from adjusting to my brand new glasses. quite a few people showed up. i was prepared for another awkward no-setlist-show. all of a sudden i saw my very good friend and uncle’s institution bass player dr. svi in the crowd. in oslo! after the show i knew i needed a break and coffee. and dessert. had a good talk with dr. svi.
19.00 oh yes. tuba! kristoffer lo from the band pelbo joined me on stage. he also plays on my latest album ‘keep movin - keep dreamin’. even more people showed up. the coffee kicked in just in time. played mainly songs i don’t normally play and it was a lot of fun. finally did a version of ‘in the middle of norway’ that i liked. tuba did the trick! we also played ‘rapper’s delight’. more tuba today. 1, 3, 5 and 7 o clock.
egil olsen by:larm 2012
i’m doing 8 shows at this years by:larm. thursday and friday at 1, 3, 5 and 7 PM on my own stage in oslo’s finest vinyl record shop, big dipper (same building as rockefeller and john dee).
between shows i’m signing records and record deals and such, and will be open for a chat or in depth portrait interviews.
hope you find time to drop by at one of the shows.
eo
marit larsen spark tour
after 1 month - 15 shows, marit larsen’s norway tour is over. it’s been great to be in the company of such a wonderful group of musicians, crew members and a true, hard working and amazing artist like my now even better friend marit larsen. she’s like a super hero or a fairytale creature!
i’m very thankful to have gotten the chance to play my songs to thousands of new people. i hope your claps, traps and cries of pleasures meant that i will see some of you again when i revisit your city in a not so distant future.
