BIG WHEELS ...

Leif Bengtsson / Me

The summertime guitarduo touring
1978 (with Morgan Svanberg) Places, mainly churches: Vellinge, Äspö, Skivarp, Sjöbo, Bromölla, Mjällby, Dalby, Åhus, Älmhult, Halmstad, Ängelholm, Höganäs, Landskrona
the musical program was; Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata – GF Händel: Suite nr10 – CG Scheidler: Sonata in Dmajor – A Diabelli: Serenad ( 5 pieces)– JS Bach: prelude, allemande fr english suite + fuga in D major

1979 (with Leif Bengtsson) Places, mainly churches: Växjö, Höganäs, Skivarp, Hemmesdynge, Karlshamn, Mariestad, Karlsborg, Helsingborg, Mullsjö, Femsjö, Unnaryd, Tvååker (the persian saloon…), Falkenberg, Värö(Bua), Skummeslöv, Mjällby, Karlskrona, Eksjö, Tranås, Nässjö, Söderköping, Flen, Västra Vingåker, Nyköping, Jönköping, Halmstad, Falsterbo, Aneby, Vadstena (Kapitelsalen),Hyltebruk
the musical programme was; A Vivaldi: Concerto in ...(?)– D Scarlatti; sonatas L 331 & L 23 – JS Bach Fuga,allegro – M Giuliani: Variazioni Concertanti op 130 – E Granados: Oriental

1980 (with Leif Bengtsson) The list of the places is missing, but from some other indications (local newspaper souveniers…, mostly they wrote nicely and surprisingly much) we at least visited; Silverdalen (Hultsfred…), Falkenberg, Åhus, Frinnaryd (?), Karlshamn, Bellö, Mjällby, Skummeslöv , …and more – this summer was in number next to 1979.
the musical programme was; Fernando Sor: Op. 34 – JP Kirnberger Three pieces – JS Bach Andante from the italian concerto – GF Händel Three pieces – F Carulli: Serenad op. 96 – F Chopin: Nocturne

1981 (with Leif Bengtsson) Places, mainly churches: Landskrona, Skummeslöv, Karlskorna, Mjällby, Vadstena (S:t Birgittas kapell), Söderköping, tranås, Nässjö x2
the musical programme was; D Scarlatti; Sonatas in Gmajor and dminor – JS bach French Suite nr 2 (six pieces) – F Carulli: Nocturno op 227 (three pieces) M Ravel: Pavan (for dead princess…)

All programmes were about 50-60minutes, depending of the length of our few very dry or “funny” comments. As in everything else, you have better days and worse days. I don´t remember too many blackouts during concert... – we were normally in good shape and badly paid. We didn´t really spend daytime at luxury hotels, ...it was more like bicycletourists, we lived in cheap hostels and and it did happen that we had the scale& arpeggio warm up for the concert in the woods, changed clothes on a parking lot, and so on.
But when black-out happens, it´s memorable for the competitors in the audience, the robots who never make any mistakes. I ´ve seen it, memory blackout, happen to others, ...and I´ve seen the competitors reactions, they are unforgiveable..., (scornful people I thought belonged to the staff in an concentration-camp)

I remember some of the churches as absolutely fantastic accousticly. Some parts of the programmes 1980-81 were recorded in separate occasions. We had no great ambitions in that direction, it was just like to take some routinephotos with an Kodak Instamatic Pocket Camera – but fatal and happily; one man ( I´ve forgot his name writing this) wanted to record us in church (Färgaryd), late summer (?) 1980 with taperecorder,... with Big Wheels. We completed with some “home-recordings” 1981, from the next programme. These documents were laying on tapewheels, in the drawer almost to year 2000…, I had some new technique at home... and happened to meet Leif at town…., after some months the most from the tapewheels was on cd.

PERSONAL COMPUTER

After some mindly strolling between the two countries, lived in Helsinki one year (where I heard Frank Zappa, Baden Powell among others), it ended up in Malmoe in southern Sweden for about five years (where I heard Laurindo Almeida, Red Mitchell and many others) Already during the dancehalltimes I took some lessons in classical guitar, occasionally my teacher happened to be Gunnar Spjuth.

We were in the same age and had no problems to communicate, and I found everything about the guitar interesting, if it´s was ancient lutemusic or modern experiments, it didn´t matter. To me he vitally opened the doors for the idiom, for the first time I heard fx guitarmusic by Tarrega and Villa-Lobos executed just in front of me, with full power.

I was surprised of the complexity of the instrument, and how far developed the written music could be. Just a short time after I had began to take lessons, in the early seventies (as said it was still during the dancehalltime…), I also began to do some tests in guitarduoplaying with Leif Bengtsson in Halmstad, and we sharpened those activities in the late seventies, when I lived in Malmoe, which ended up in touring summertime. But the first summertour (mainly in churches, much for the mostly delicate accoustic environment for the instrument – we never used any kind of microphones) was done with, the Malmoe native guitarist Morgan Svanberg. Like Gunnar Spjuth he was very well informed whats in and around the classical guitar repertoire at the time, their teacher was Per-Olof Johnson who was important for the development, lifting up (classical) guitarplaying in Sweden on new educational levels.

Picture: Beside music I always had spontanous interest for writing…, but I never studied it like music. I don´t know too much of good litterature.
In the seventies the PC was; the typewriter and your head. I think it´s good to see all this young people writing today, and many, many of them are young women , …..as a mother of fact it´s normal behaviour, and not only for Gods ----- remember that you Shrinken Zoombiefied Stupidheads in the Duck Pondcity of Halmstad. I know too much people who deal with great problems writing more than their name. It´s not that they have nothing to say, or know nothing…., they just wanna be …perfect...

BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES

Belonged to the seamen who also travelled upstairs….from the steering-wheel of the ship I had good sight over the action, in nights exciting, ...when every command was to be exactly executed, ...when we were only meters from another ship. The icebreaker was able to “cut” loose civilian ships in the ice, by leaning action. The only light we had was from the ships, if the weather was bad.

Sometimes we “parked” in the ice, waiting for civilians, only visible on radar. If the weather was good and calm, moonlight and stars, ...it was like we had landed on another planet. In every direction the landscape was like “on the moon”,... iceblocks so far the eye could see. This could be in the middle, between Sweden and Finland.

Sometimes we had to tow another ship,… if the wire got cut, it was not the “normally” little snap…., it happened with blue lightning.

......Already the years before, while playing in dancehalls, I had decided to take up some more guitar study, classical guitar, play “with fingers”, be better on sight-reading and so on. The reading was no attitude problem for me, because I always wanted that, to know how the structures, signs and systems worked together.
At earlier age I thought that all the secrets how the music may sound were in the text…., my first books I bought as a kid with own money, was two Chuck Berry books…..,(pianoarrangements mainly)
I thought if I exercise hard from the books,... I shall sound like on the records….., tunes like “Sweet Little Rock and Roller”, “Little Queenie”, “Carol”, “Bye Bye Johnny” and many more.
I found at the age of thirteen my own method; how to “read faster”,… by giving the notes some special signs…., like triangles…. Sometimes I see the same behaviour among young pupils today, it´s inventive, what could I say...

When spring came, normally but finally, the ship went back to Stockholm. During the last period and the years after to come I was several times also in Helsinki. The last picture may symbolize these tours, it´s innocent, just friendly.

In the mid-seventies I was not really sure of which country was for my future and I still wanted to develop in music.

WILD ON.....LULEÅ

After the basics we went on a searide from Stockholm to Luleå…., it was late autumn and ice was comin in the north between Sweden and Finland. But, before the northern waters, there was open sea…, and storm on some level…, icebreakers were not perfectly built for that. The whole ship was like an icecastle when we came to our destination, Luleå harbour. (On another picture on this blog, it´s possible to see how high up the life-boats were, the picture is not taken on the “first floor” outdoors.)

At least half of the crew had been seasick,.... and before that,… and after that.... I´ve never done any wilder seajourney. My cabin was in the lower front. They most “safe” way to move, ...was likely to crawl on the floor. But we still did some duty during halfway the trip, I had to do some washing (laundry)… , it was even lower down in the front of the ship. It was like the wildest attraction in an amusementpark (tivoli), from time to time the stomach was were my head was, only seconds later my head was were I had my feet. The only “acceptable” cure, was to lay in bed, and wonder……about the experience. But there was no panic and fear (we were sailors…), I´m not sure how many hours that trip took, but it was too many…

On this ship I had one of my guitars (swedish Bjaerton model by the way...), - later I discovered that the only way to hear what I play, was when I put my ear to the guitarbody, that´s how loud the CRUNCHY noice was when we did go in ice. We did that many times, for months, the whole winter…., but no one really complained for that. The swedish icebreakers were under military navy command, but the job was the help the civilian seatrade.

Who...Who´s ...Site ?

I´ve decided to dedicate particulary this blog more on personal documentary, mostly about “musical surviving”… “Hvemsida” means something like this “Whossite”, but without the questionmark.

Very few documentary pictures are available from the time, and the years after - when I joined the dancehallband. I was seventeen in the “audition” and it was enough for me to play some guitartricks from Leroy van Dykes “Walk on By”. Many so called modern tunes were, in swedish translations , from the popular country&western tradition, sometimes with elements from swingy 50:ies, but I wouldn´t call it jazzy, (f x we did not use too many chords... )
I had, as the guitarist of the band also the special pleasure.., to play some instrumentals, mainly in the style and sound of the 60:ies popular music; yes, "Apache", (some kind of )"Guitar Boogie" and so on. In these times the disco culture was not yet of the dominating kind.
But we played a lot in an lighter domestic folkmusictradition ("gammeldans" = "old dance") That´s common in many countries still today, but surely those days. Years later I joined a local "jugoslavian band" .....but (music) culturally mainly hungarian..., they talked hungarian (and swedish) and played a lot of hot gypsy based tunes ( dances like czardas), but the repertoaire was here also mixed up with more modern music.

The black&white picture is dated 1969, from rehearsal (yes, we did…., quite often). The guitar is the twelvestring model by (Burns&?)Baldwin, but I had only six strings on it. Observe the old type of amp (Backstroem?) on the right, it´s standing on a 6-loudspeaker cabinet (heavy as led to lift, not goody-goody for one person smaller than Arnold Schwartzenegger), properly made for bass…., but I had it for guitar...and I had Echolette tape-echo (delay) machine standing on it too. You can´t see this on the picture, imagine, and believe what I tell.
The stagepicture is surely some years later, from the popular place “Timmerstugan” ("Timbercottage")...in Halmstad located on the “east beach-area" (which actually is in the south). Yes, I have real Fender Stratocaster there, and Fender amp.

Below I have a list ( of poor international interest….) of all the places where we played during my time…, for some reason I wrote it down then, and for some reasons i publish it here. This period was for me important and fatal (in positive meaning…?), - because it formed my way to keep on with music. I´ve got paid from the first moment, I did not ever have my startpoint in front of audience, for example in some public situations in school or something like that.

1(31dec, 1969)Värnamo stadshotell 1970 2Västkustens Pärla Halmstad 3Ramshall Veinge 4-5 El Toro Kinna 6 Burseryd 7 Finnvedens värdshus Bredaryd 8 Ordenshuset Bredaryd 9 Finnvedens värdshus 10 Reftele Hotell 11 Gislaved FolketsPark 12 Finnvedens v hus 13 Timmerstugan Halmstad 14 Finnevedens v hus 15 Forum Hyltebruk 16-17 Finnvedens v hus 18 Värnamo FolketsPark 19 Hotell Åsen Anderstorp 20 Frösakull 21 Simlångsdalen 22 Smålandsstenar Folkets Park 23Värnamo FolketsPark 24 Knebildstorp 25 Smålandsstenar Folkets Park 26 Grand Hotell Falkenberg 27 Klittergården Olofsbo 28 Skillingaryd Folkets Park 29 Halmstad Folkets Park 30 Ambjörnarp 31 Timmerstugan Halmstad 32 Ordenshuset Bredaryd 33 Brunnsbygården Höganäs 34 Skillingaryds Folkets Park 35 Perstorps Folkets Park 36 Halmstad Folkets Park 37 Grand Hotell Halmstad 38 Galejan Halmstad 39 Göteborg 40 Halmstad Folkets Park 41 Timmerstugan Halmstad 42 Landskrona Folkets Park 43 Timmmerstugan Halmstad 44 Ätrasalen Vessigebro 45 Galejan Halmstad 46 Mahult 47 Bredaryd 48 Halmstad Folkets Park 49 Ambjörnarp 50 Halmstad Folkets Park 51 Hyllinge Folkets Hus 1971 52 Halmstad Folkets Park 53 Älvsered 54 Rydöbruks FolketsHus 55 Vinberg 56 Edenberga 57 Halmstad FolketsPark 58 Vinberg 59 Rolfstorp 60 Vinberg 61 Galejan 62-63 Vinberg 64 Grevie 65 Falkenbergs Folketshus 66 Vinberg 67 Halmstad Folkets Park 68 Vinberg 69 Amnbjörnarp 70 Vinberg 71 Villstad 72 Halmstad Folkets Park 73 Vinberg 74 Falkenberg 75 Vinberg 76 Värnamo FolketHus 77 Värnamo Sporthall 78 Falkenbergs FolketsHus 79 Solbacken Furulund 80 Halmstad Folkets Park 81 Göteborg 82 Halmstad FP 83 Rolfstorp 84 Långås 85 Halmstad FP 86 Höganäs Folkets Park 87 Timmerstugan Halmstad 88 Skillingaryds Folkets Park 89 Halmstad Folkets Park 90 Perstorps Folkets Park 91 Sjönevads Gästis 92 Halmstad FolketsPark 93Smålandsstenar Folkets Park 94 Bokskogen Burseryd 95 Halmstad Folkets P. 96 Hids Festplats 97 Frösakull 98 Timmerstugan 99 Halmstad Folkets P. 100 Karsefors Ysby 101 Havsbrus Skummeslöv 102 Timmerstugan 103 Västerhagen Haverdal 104 Galejan Halmstad 105 Solobacken Furulund 106 Halmstad Folkets P. 107 Gislaveds Folkets P. 108 Halmstad Folkets P. 109 Grevie 110 Galejan 111 Harplinge Värdshus 112 Ätrasalen 113 Solbacken Furulund 114 Falkenbergs Folkets Hus 115 Ätrasalen 116 Galtabäck 117 Harplinge värdshus 118 Ätrasalen 119 LundbyCenter Göteborg 120 Halmstad Folket P. 121 Ätrasalen 122 Villstad 123 Harplinge värdsh. 124 Ätrasalen 125 Hyltebruk 126 Halmstad Folkets P. 127 Ätrasalen 128 Gislaveds Folkets P. 129 Harplinge värdsh. 130 Ätrasalen 131 Ambjörnarp 132 Harplinge värdsh. 133 Ätrasaeln 134 Galejan Halmstad 135-36 Harplinge värdsh. 137 Ätrasalen 138 Timmerstugan Halmstad 139 Vinberg 140 Ätrasalen 141 Starkärr 142 Harplinge värdsh. 143 Ätrasalen 144 Alingsås Folkets Hus 145 Halmstad Folkets P. 146 Långås 147 Skillingehus Skillingaryd 148 Ätrasalen 149 Grevie 150 Halmstad Folkets P. 151 Ätrasalen 152 Jörlanda Kungälv 153 Halmstad Folkets P. 1972 154 Galejan Halmstad 155 Eldsberga 156 Långås 157 Galejan 158 Vinberg 159 Timmerstugan 160 Vinberg 161 Grevie 162 Vinberg 163 Värnamo Folkets Hus 164-65 Vinberg 166 Göteborg 167 Vinberg 168 Timmerstugan 169 Halmstad Folkets P. 170 Vinberg 171 Galejan Halmstad 172 Vinberg 173 Galejan 174 Vinberg 175 Grevie 176 Vinberg 177 Göteborg 178 Halmstad Folket P. 179 Timmerstugan 180 Galejan 181 Timmerstugan 182 Grevie 183 Grevie 184 Halmstad Folket P. 185 Limmared 186 Sjönelund 187 Timmerstugan 188 Åkulla 189 Sjönelund 190 Havsbrus Skummeslöv 191 Halmstad Folkets P. 192 Sjönelund 193 Sjönevad 194 Halmstad Folkets P. 195 Sjönelund 196 Burseryd 197 Halmstad Folkets P. 198 Sjönelund 199 Timmerstugan 200 Åkulla 201 Sjönelund 202 Hids Festplats 203 Halmstad folkets p. 204 Fågelsångs festplats 205 Timmerstugan 206 Sjönelund 207 Sjönevad 208 Åkulla 209 Smålandsstenar 210 Timmerstugan 211 Havsbrus Skummeslöv 212 Halmstad Folkets P. 213 Västerhagen 214 Timmerstugan 215 Karsefors Ysby 216 Burseryd 217 Eslöv 218 Galejan Halmstad 219 Åkulla 220 Smålandsstenar 221 Hyltebruk 222 Fjärås 223 Timmerstugan 224 Växjö Folkets P. 225 Värnamo Folkets Hus 226 Skillingehus 227 Halmstad Folkets P. 228 Tjörn 229 Bredaryd 230 Halmstad Folkets P. 231 Ö Frölunda 232 Timmerstugan 233 Gislaved 234 Göteborg 235 Galejan 236 Göteborg 237 Galejan 238 Timmerstugan 239 Perstorp Folkets H 240 Tjörn 241 Solbacken Furulund 242 Halmstad Folkets P. 243 Grevie 244 Timmerstugan 245 Halmstad Folkets P 246 Ambjörnarp 247 Värnamo Folkets H. 248 Ambjörnarp 1973 249 Timmerstugan Halmstad 250 Starkärr 251 Galejan Halmstad 252 Växjö Folkets P. 253 Tjörn (fortfarande gamla bron! innan raset…) 254 Göteborg 255 Halmstad Folkets P. 256 Värnamo 257 Vinberg 258 Göteborg 259 Galejan 260 Vinberg 261 Tjörn 262 Göteborg 263 Nöjesparken Varberg 264 Vinberg 265 Galejan 266 Värnamo Folkets H 267 Halmstad Folkets P. 268 Göteborg 269 Jörlanda 270 Vinberg 271 Göteborg 272 Edenberga 273 Galejan 274 Växjö Folkets P. 275 Mårdaklev 276 Galejan 277 Värnamo Folkets Hus 278-79 Göteborg 280 Landskrona 281 Tjörn 282 Halmstad Folkets P. 283 Tjörn 284 Värnamo 285 Timmerstugan 286 Smålandsstenar 287 Galejan 288 Värnamo 289 Sjönelund 290 Timmerstugan 291 Sjönelund 292 Grevie 293 Halmstad Folkets P. 294 Burseryd 295 Timmerstugan 296 Galejan 297 Varberg Folkets P. 298 Värnamo Folkets P. 299 Timmerstugan 300 Havsbrus Skummeslöv 301 Halmstad Folkets P. 302 Västerhagen 303 Dalstorp 304 Spekeröd 305 Halmstad Folkets P. 306 Havsbrus 307 Galejan 308 Timmerstugan Halmstad…….

My list is not at all extremely long..., I know musicians who joined their bands for decades, and done thousands of nights.....

- and after this period I joined the military service, in the swedish navy, duty on icebreaker…. had took up classical....thats on my next post COMING UP COMING UP ON THIS MOOVIE THEATHRE !! SOOON !!