The Airportline: Observations

Yours Truly Presents: The Morning Benders "Excuses" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

A Singaporean friend of mine posted this video on someones Facebook wall. It was not my wall. But that is ok, it is still a great piece of video. A bunch of San Francisco musicians in a room singing a indie anthem. It feels very collective and cosy and nice. Those are generally seen as positive things, I've heard. In other news, my media blogging friend, and MW Communication founder has recommended airportline to an editor at a Swedish magazine by describing me as an 'international decadent rebel born in the 80s who loves indie music and movies like Me and you and everyone we know.' That does seem like a somewhat glorified description of myself, but hey, as Tracyanne Campbell in Camera Obscura sings: 'I need all the love I can get'.

There was a gay parade in Copenhagen yesterday. Gay in that is was happy, but it was about Pride. A parade for Pride. A parade with gay, and some not that gay, people. I was one that was not that gay, but I walked there, next to a male Canadian water polo team with tiny swimming trunks and weird hats on their heads. I wore shorts and a t-shirt. Possibly the least pimped out person around. There we walked, side by side, waving rainbow colored flags given to us by some store eager to make money. Someone is always making money. Proud people can also spend. This was my third Pride parade in three years. I go places and they appear, with drugged up dancers, proud corporations, on boats, by foot or on pimped out trucks. Proud people, both in and outside the parade. 2007 in San Francisco, 2008 in Amsterdam, 2009 in Copenhagen, each time I surprise myself by how moved I get by these parades. Surprised that pride can be so beautiful, no matter where it is.

Being a hipster is hard work. You see them looming around the internet looking for the next big thing. Or small thing they can leave when it becomes big. You them in second hand stores pulling weird looking scarf's off the rack. And in the foreign magazine section in the book store. Or maybe that is me? Anyhow, last fall Adbusters had a cover story called Hipster: The End Of Western Civilization. The author was less than impressed with the hipster wave, claiming that:
Punks wear their tattered threads and studded leather jackets with honor, priding themselves on their innovative and cheap methods of self-expression and rebellion. B-boys and b-girls announce themselves to anyone within earshot with baggy gear and boomboxes. But it is rare, if not impossible, to find an individual who will proclaim themself a proud hipster. It’s an odd dance of self-identity – adamantly denying your existence while wearing clearly defined symbols that proclaims it.

To further put salt in the wounds of the current hipster he conclude that:
the hipster is a consumer group – using their capital to purchase empty authenticity and rebellion. But the moment a trend, band, sound, style or feeling gains too much exposure, it is suddenly looked upon with disdain. Hipsters cannot afford to maintain any cultural loyalties or affiliations for fear they will lose relevance.

I remember thinking that he is a bit over dramatic and that the author was making some very sweeping arguments. But, its a fun read and as a person very familiar with hipsters through, among other things, my music interest, festivals, and a stint in San Francisco I do recognize a lot in his texts. But then again, generalizations has never been my cup of tea. So I advise drinking it with some milk. And sugar.

Airportline is in Copenhagen. Jumped on a Norwegian flight, and some of you might think that this should mean that I am in Norway, but it doesn't. In Denmark there are Danish people, and even the locals make fun of their own language the way we Swedish people do (it sounds like Swedish being spoken by someone having a hot potato in his/her mouth). Unfortunately they also still talk about the Denmark - Sweden football game a few weeks ago. Otherwise Copenhagen is nice, already tried a kebab in Norrebro (Copenhagens answer to San Franciscos Mission District, Amsterdams East, Berlin's Kreuzberg and yeah, all the other immigrant areas also populated with hipsters and students around the world) and saw that Mermaid. At some point I will make sure to visit one of my favorite restaurants ever, at least that's how I remembered it when I was here, maybe 16 years ago. Now: instant coffee, rain showers and some work.

From my notepad:

And there are Spanish people in the bike lane, and I can’t ring my bell at them, cause the ‘I love my bike’ bell my friend bought me in September has still not been installed by me. So I yell: ‘hey!’ with a strict Dutch sounding voice, the Spaniards open the sea of road for me with jumpy movements. It must have been how Jesus felt when he walked on the ocean floor, I think when the paved, Spaniard-less, road opens up in front of me. In a triumphant fashion I bike past them, and keep on travelling, like I was a very important and busy person with no time to spare on uncoordinated groups of Spanish tourists. And a few blocks later my tire goes flat. And I am forced up on the sidewalk, with all the other bikeless people. It’s about as pleasant as riding the bus in San Francisco through the Tenderloin. My life is not adjusted for the side walk, I think, as a Dutch man rings his bell at me when I try and cross the street.

You might remember the poster containing a rooster on fire dressed in a Priest outfit, hanging over my bed, I told you about before. On another wall in my little room I have a poster where an old picture of George Washington is half covered by an image of a transvestite(?). You can see it in this post. I bought it at the very nice De Jong Museum in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I’m not sure why I enjoy it so much, maybe it’s the black underwear, or the great ideas one gets if imagining George Washington as a transvestite. Here you can see all of Deborah Oropallo’s pictures in this series, mine is the one titled ’George’. There is also a great one of Napoleon, he had good calf muscles. This blog is a certified Oropallo fan.

I’m currently working (well, I was working on it but the development has not been that impressive lately) on a short story called And You People Just Live On Rails. It’s about an office man that meets a crazy guy with a microphone on Union Square in San Francisco. The office man has an interior decorator. So far, this is how I describe this character:

Your cell phone started to vibrate in your left pocket, a reminder of the outside world. You picked it up
‘Hey man, how’s my boy doing?’, and energetic voice on the other side of the line said.
‘Hey, good, I’m good,’ you respond distantly as you take a careful step into the real world when you realized that it’s your interior decorator; a narcissistic gym rat with free flowing brown hair and a fetish for minimalistic steel furniture designed in Denmark. When he fucks his blond assistant; a UCLA-student in love with the Parisian subway, Wes Anderson movie soundtracks and black Starbuck coffee, he fantasize about a 1964 limited edition arm chair from a carpenter in the Danish city of Helsingör. These were things he freely shared during their scattered phone calls, as if his detachment from the physical act of sex was a statement of post modern grandeur. Still, for all his obtrusiveness and his somewhat deranged interest in sharing sexual experiences, you liked him because he managed to be so removed from everyday expectations.

Between the 24th of February and 1st of March The Noise Pop festival is hosting shows in San Francisco. The Airport Line has picked out some bands which you might want to see in case you happen to be in the city during these days.

Ra Ra Riot - Made one of the best cds of last year, popmusic in the same vain as The Shins, Cut Copy and New Pornographers, very nice indeed.
http://www.myspace.com/rarariot
For a free download of the remix of their song Ghost Under Rocks made by Passion Pit, go here:
http://stereogum.com/archives/mp3/new-ra-ra-riot-ghost-under-rocks-passion-pit-remix_048181.html

St. Vincent - Arty singer with a very unique style, a bit similar to Regina Spektor with a mean guitarr, her song Marry Me is really sweet, an artist for people looking for creative female role models. Some of her stuff is a bit too much out there for my taste, but I am but a conservative Swede.
http://www.myspace.com/stvincent

French Kicks - Their album Swimming is a bit weirdly produced, but the song Love In The Ruins is fantastic with it's Jens Lekman banjo and melancolic dreamy feeling.
http://www.myspace.com/frenchkicks

Antony And The Johnsons - Seems a bit expensive, but given that he has maybe the most unique and powerful voices in modern pop history, it might be a concert to look into. A truly unique artist that some people hate, some call pretentious, but most people love, and probably cry to when they are alone.
http://www.myspace.com/antonyandthejohnsons
Here he plays his most famous song Hope There's Someone: