Per Gessle

Per Gessle in Tack för musiken?

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Niklas Strömstedt posted a photo on his Instagram account some hours ago with this text: ”Tack för musiken…originalet. Stay tuned!” This is pure awesomeness!

Marie Fredriksson was a guest of the show in 2013 and when Niklas had a Q&A session on AskFM on 21st January 2014, I asked him which part of Tack för musiken with Marie he liked the most and I couldn’t help asking the question if he was planning to invite Per in the future to his show. He said he liked it very much when Marie was singing Sparvöga and to the Q regarding Per he replied ”well…, we will see”. Then seeing the list of guests of the 2014 series I was a bit sad that Mr. G wasn’t there, but now this instapic of the guys looks very promising.

The episode with Marie was incredibly fantastic. Read our summary of the show HERE. For that Tack för musiken we were able to apply for tickets to be in the audience and Marie was very happy to see some familiar faces in the front when the show was recorded in August 2013. Now it seems this option didn’t exist or at least we haven’t heard about it, because for sure there was an audience. It would have been cool to attend such a fab TV recording. If we are talking about it in past tense. But what if it’s a future happening? Fingers crossed!

In 2013 the recordings happened in August-September and the first episodes were broadcast in December. It’s not yet published when the next series of Tack för musiken will be on air on Swedish TV, but hopefully, it is announced very soon and we can watch it still this year. It’s already too exciting to think about what songs Per will perform live and who will be his guests in the show. If it’s really a complete episode about him and he wasn’t ”just” a guest for some other artist. Haha. But no. That’s impossible. He surely has a complete show. Or is this pic about Tack för musiken, the show at all? Or was it a real music show Per and Niklas attended last night (Peter Jöback & Helen Sjöholm’s I Love Musicals maybe) and Niklas just commented the pic with “thanks for the music” referring to that event? Oh, well… Too many “or”-s and “if”-s. 😉 Looking forward to some more details, aren’t we?

Oct 11th morning update: Niklas deleted the photo, which makes it even more interesting. Hm. And it seems that the event last night was Marie’s book release party. 🙂

 

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Pic by Niklas Strömstedt (Instagram)

 

Per Gessle’s Italy

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As we already informed you about it approximately a month ago, Per appeared on the cover of the latest issue of Sweden’s biggest magazine about Italy, Solo Italia.

solo_italia_01The magazine contains 10 pages about Per Gessle’s Italy. The article is written by Lars Nordin, a dear friend to Per and Åsa and the photos included are also taken by him. When I saw Lars in Milan at the Roxette concert in May, I wouldn’t have thought he was going to publish an article about the show, as well as tons of Italy-related details connected to Per Gessle. It’s a really nice reading and great to see some older (Capri 1994) and new pics attached, too. Thanks a lot for that to Mr. Nordin.

In the article Lars Nordin writes about how awesome and magical the Roxette gig was in Milan, that everyone was standing during the whole show and the seats remained unused. He writes about the goosebumps moments of sing-alongs, how excellent Marie was and for him, seeing many Roxette shows before The Look in Milan sounded the best so far. He also writes about the deafening cheering of the crowd when Marie and Per left the stage and turned back for a last waving goodbye. After the show they (Lars & Co., i.e. some Ferrari fans) met Per in the lounge.

solo_italia_03From the article you get to know Mr. G’s Italian favourites. He says that besides Asian meals, Italian food is his fave. He likes that you often get the ingredients separated: cheese, olive oil, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, etc. One of his most favourite meals is Veal Milanese (Vitello Milanese) with spinach and a little spaghetti, garlic and oil on the side. VM is what he has on his plate on the pic on the right.

Regarding fashion, Per mentions he has no Italian brands he is following closely. Gut feeling is there not only when it comes to songs, but also when it comes to shopping. Right now he wears a lot of Yves Saint Laurent and last year he thought Rick Owens was good for him and his [I quote him] ”weird body”. If Italian, he thinks Costume National almost always do some cool stuff.

We already know Per thinks Italian wines are fantastic and he gives a list of some great regions and wines: Tuscany, Ornellaia, Masseto, Solaia, Sassicaia, Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino.

In Solo Italia Per talks about his favourite Italian cities. Florence and Venice are the top for him, but Milan is fab for shopping clothes and interior stuff. Rome is wonderful with all the stunning architecture. The album cover of Mazarin was photographed there by Anton Corbijn. He likes Lake Como and Lake Garda and mentions the Roxette recordings in Capri in 1994.

Six weeks in the sun. In addition, I won the tennis tournament. Grazie.

solo_italia_02Per when asked about Italian artists, he mentions da Vinci as a classic, but also Modigliani and Fontana. And he says one half of Gilbert & George is Italian, too. Regarding Italian movies, he tells Fellini’s films are still good. He is gladly watching them on a rainy Sunday.

Besides Ferrari, Per finds Pagani and Alfa Romeo nice. He says cars are mostly about the design for him. His fave Ferrari F1 racers are / were Gilles Villeneuve, Kimi Räikkönen and Schumacher.

In the article which was probably written in May, the new album is still mentioned to be out in November. Now we know it’s out a bit later.

The Per Gessle Selection, at least 2 wines from the set, namely Kurt & Lisa and Furet can’t be left out from such an article. Both wines are Italian, from Tuscany and they are the result of a cooperation between Mr. G and Marilisa Allegrini. Per talks about both wines and at Kurt & Lisa he explains it’s the name of his parents.

Both of them taught me early to appreciate the good in life.

When he tells Furet is the name of that part of Halmstad where he was born, he says:

There thrived my passion for fine pop music, neat hairdos and ingenious football feints.

 

All photos in the Solo Italia article © Lars Nordin.

Per Gessle in the Henry Diltz docu

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As we informed you yesterday, the documentary about legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz premiered on SVT2 today. Unfortunately, the film Rock Photographer Henry Diltz – A Boy And His Camera can only be seen in Sweden. Click HERE for watching it on SVT Play.

The docu is almost an hour long and it is definitely worth watching if you are into photography or music history or a wise, positive guy with great sense of humour. Henry who has always been close to music (even singing and playing the banjo and other instruments) bought his first camera, a second-hand one in 1966. Since then he just can’t stop taking pics. Not only of rock stars and musical events, as well as for album sleeves, but literally everything from cows to forks. In the film he tells lovely stories related to his iconic shots and music history at all. It’s not only him talking in the docu though, but several huge artists who became friends with him over the years. Most of them are friends with him since the very first time they met. Besides Ringo Starr, Graham Nash, Michelle Phillips (The Mamas & The Papas), David Cassidy, Jackson Browne, Robby Krieger (The Doors), Micky Dolenz (The Monkees), Julian Lennon and others there is our Mr G. talking. Per says:

I think every artist is probably a good photographer as well, because if you’re a singer or a writer or a painter, whatever, I mean you have this artistic thing going on. And it’s not that big difference, you know. A lot of people who write songs are interested in images. Joni Mitchell is a fantastic painter, you know. And Ringo Starr is a great photographer. Graham Nash is a fantastic photographer. Michael Stipe is a great photographer. It goes well hand in hand with your occupation. Absolutely.

This part is on from 41:30 to 42:07. You might remember Per’s 6 seconds (starting from 00:50) in the teaser of the docu which was published last year. That part is missing from the film now. So either this is the final cut and those 6 seconds (and maybe more PG talking) won’t ever appear in the documentary anymore or there will be that originally planned 90-minute-long version with more Gessle in it. Who knows. Either way, the documentary is very well done by director Janolof Fritze.

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Stills are from the documentary.

Henry Diltz documentary premiere with Per Gessle in it

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As we already informed you about it almost a year ago, Per will appear in a documentary about legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz. The docu premieres on SVT2 tomorrow (4th September 2015) at 20:00.

Originally, the film was planned to be 90-minute-long, but for the premiere it will be a 1-hour-long version. Not sure if the whole conversation recorded with Mr. G will be included, but at least a pic of him and Henry appeared in the 2-minute-long teaser. Promising! 😉

The documentary, Rock Photographer Henry Diltz – A Boy And His Camera has been almost 3 years in the making. 30 interviews and about the same number of great songs from the ’60s and ’70s music scene are featured in the film by Janolof Fritze, Keijo Liimatainen and Gunnar Nordström.

The docu is worth watching anyway. Mr. Diltz was there and photographed big moments of music history. He’s a real legend shooting iconic photos of iconic artists. Hopefully, the film will be available outside Sweden as well.

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Still is from the docu teaser

Another tour leg, another set of Per Gessle guitar picks

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The last time we updated the PLECtionary was 5 months ago. The XXX tour’s European leg did deserve some new Per Gessle guitar picks, so it’s time for another update. Mr. G posted on Roxette’s Facebook page on 28th March that they had just ordered new plecs for the then upcoming tour leg. The picks were ready in time and he posted a photo of the new beauties some days before the first European gig in Milan.

Aaaah at last! My new guitar picks!!! Enjoy and grab one flying like a rocket at the shows, folks!!! /P.

Reading the word rocket I thought immediately of a real gem on The Per Gessle Archives and this went on and on in my head ”Picks are everywhere / catch a rocket in the air / be ready when they’re there / like a rocket in the air!” Oh well… Grabbing a flying plec is really not that easy, but not impossible at all. There are many lucky Roxers who will surely pop til they drop having a Gessle pick in their collection and there are many who still can’t believe they obtained a pick touched by the hand of Per.

When Per thanked Dunlop Custom Picks for this set of his plectrums after the last show in Sweden, he mentioned:

HAVING A COUPLE DAYS OFF THE ROAD

I thought it was convenient to say a big THANK YOU to:
….
DUNLOP CUSTOM PICKS
for those custom made picks I do my best to spread around the globe with mixed results. Hey, you’re pretty good at catchin’!! To my defense, those red acoustic guitar picks are so thin, they won’t fly…..

Sandra Knospe is of course both handy and lucky, so the PLECtionary gets its update. Sandra found the time in between heavy touring and her also busy non-Rox-World-related life and now before the last show this year in Europe she took the photos and shared the trivia she knows about the plectrums. Check out the PLECtionary and look for the guitar picks No. 100-105! It also includes a new print of the latest Professor Lundquist pick. At No. 157 you’ll find another new item, a Mister Magnus pick. You know, he’s the viking member of the band whose fave Rox album is Baladas en español. Vikings don’t need customized plectrums. Haha.

Huge thanx again for the updates, Sandra! Your collection looks more and more eXXXquisite!

So, one more gig is left for this year and you have the chance to confirm that Per is right when he says we are pretty good at catchin’. Once you catch a pick you have to take care of it though. The print on them is a little bit dangerous. Good luck, you all!

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Pic by Sandra Knospe

Per is talking about the plecs and more in this interview.

If you are interested in reading some more about Sandra’s collection, check out the interview with her.