Bass player Lars Ericsson (The Summit) sent me this image the other day as he is involved in recording for an as yet undisclosed project in Sensus Studio/Studio 306 in Östersund (Jämtland County). Apparently, the artists that record there has some of my old fanzines to entertain (?) themselves with, which is nice. Lars did pick up a bunch of stuff a while back and I knew that studio owner Johan Arveli was interested. Nice.
(Snapshot by Lars Ericsson, many thanks for the feedback)
Might as well scribble down some highlights from the 2010s as we now say goodbye to this decade. So here we go.
1. DEEP PURPLE/TOMMY BOLIN PARTY
November 23 2013. I throw a Deep Purple/Tommy Bolin Party at Jane Doe in Östersund (Jämtland County). Five DJs, all of them well known in these parts, Lars Ericsson, Micke Mojo Nilsson, Jonas Öhlund, Staffan Eriksson and Björn Höglund. 70 CDs, 40 books, 30 DVDs and plenty of magazines were handed out for free during the night. Several record companies helped out, Johnnie Bolin included, and author Martin Popoff had pre-signed his books. Story about this night came out later in my RETROFUTURE 7 magazine. The time had come to wind things down, but it would not reach the end until RETROFUTURE 8 in 2015.
2. DISCOVERING BABYMETAL
March 9 2017. I finally discover Babymetal after having had my system shocked by “Gimme Chocolate!!” and straight after seeing that video, the 2016 Alternative Press collaboration with Rob Halford. I blogged about them for the first time that day and then I went deep into the Foxhole (as they say). I never looked back, as you all well know…
3. PUBLISHING A STORSIE SPECIAL
May 2012. I went out on a limb with the RETROFUTURE project as I highlighted the Storsie mystery, and in 2012 I finally published a 60 page special titled “Storsjöodjuret”. This all led to TV appearances (as far away as Canada), loads of media attention (like a thumbs up in Dagens Nyheter, a major newspaper) and it eventually landed in an Award from Föreningen Storsjöodjuret (that hangs in my guest toilet, not big on such things). I handed out nearly all of them (1,000 copies) for free.
4. MOVING TO STUGUN
June 16 2018. I finally find my dream house (after a 10 year hunt) in Stugun (Jämtland County) and in less than a week I own it. Then I spend months moving stuff and taking care of business and on April 1 2019 I finally moved in full time (having sold the old apartment in Östersund). Since then I have created a wonderful place and I am very happy to live here now. Many friends helped out, but I have to give Kalle a shoutout. Thanks man.
5. ROCKWEEKEND 2010
July 2010. I catch Over The Rainbow, Tarja Turunen and Cougars (featuring Martina Edoff), Twisted Sister etc in good company (Hi Seth!) at the Rockweekend Festival in Gävleborg County before heading home. I dissed Deep Purple on that festival and I do not regret it (people were disappointed). For me it was one of the last great moments of my musical journey to witness Over The Rainbow at their peak and Blackmore Jr was very good, making this the Rainbow reunion that never was (in my opinion). Too bad that they never issued a live DVD, they deserved a legacy. I saw other bands later on but Over The Rainbow was the best of the decade (of course I never had a chance to see Babymetal, that is still to come).
6. FINAL ISSUE OF RETROFUTURE
February 22 2015. The final issue of my publication RETROFUTURE (#8) arrives. Low key release party at Jane Doe in Östersund on March 4 with Thomas Drevin (220 Volt) and Björn Höglund (Hoven Droven) as DJs. The lovely Nina on the cover as Montana Blue. I think I ended this journey with a bang, a very strong issue. Once this was published and handed out, I had given away 15,000 copies of RETROFUTURE magazines and 5,000 flyers in Jämtland County since 2010. It was my Last Hurrah and I enjoyed it. It was a well publicized period and nobody will ever repeat what I did. I can just say that.
7. THE TRINKELBONKER BLOG
I have to include this blog on this list. I started it in August 2012 and quickly added some Classic Rock interviews from my past and there are quite a lot of them now (and more coming). The traffic has varied, but there has been some amazing spikes. On June 6 2017 I posted the Enter The Twighlight Zone – Babymetal Tokyo Dome (2016) DVD Review and it just exploded. Within days that text had been published in Japanese and Spanish elsewhere, which is very humbling. I know that hardcore fans of Babymetal has been here ever since. But I have had feedback that has generated traffic from Ian Gillan, Deep Purple, Steve Lukather and many others over the years. I do enjoy this little corner of mine, and I will carry on as long as I can.
8. MY WESTERN GALS
I have to give my Western Novel projects a nod here and the models I had the pleasure of working with – Lina (Dakota Jane), Nina (Montana Blue) and Ellinor (Tornado Blaze). This wild idea turned into some of the best stuff that I ever produced in RETROFUTURE and I think it will be remembered by a lot of people. I mean, this stood out a mile in this day and age and I got very nice feedback for it (including from James Reasoner, the famous author). This stuff has its own tag on this blog, My Western Gals, so you have interviews and all sorts of stuff to check out should you want to.
9. THE LEGACY
I think I do have a legacy. Quotes from interviews (that are up on this blog) appears all the time in books – literally every year – and every now and then good things comes out of it. I have helped out with scans from my Deep Purple archive that has ended up on several albums, and in 2013 I helped VH1 out for a Deep Purple documentary that was later aired. Even now, as we move into 2020, the old archive is about to be revisited again (but more on that later). It has been a long journey but even now, five years after the final issue of RETROFUTURE, I feel that what I have done is still appreciated. And I guess Trinkelbonker kind of keeps it all rolling, in a small way. And who knows, maybe I will print just one more issue of RETROFUTURE some day? I thought I was done but then Babymetal came around and I am not so sure anymore.
10. SURVIVING 2019
I was so ill that I was jackpot lucky to get out of it alive this summer, but I made it. I look at life a little bit differently now. And then we are suddenly moving into the 2020s, how about that?
(My images)
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Every now and then the traffic on this blog goes nuts, and it happened again yesterday with a 500% spike. Nearly 200 visits alone for the Top Podcasts post, which surprised me. Good to see this sort of interest though. I will add the last posts of the decade on the blog tomorrow and then we are in 2020. Amazing.
Just listened to the 36th episode of the Deep Purple Podcast (that deals with David Coverdale´s Twitter habits, good fun) and towards the end of it they talk about stats for the show and Swedish visitors comes in as the second strongest lot after the home crowd (Americans). Then they thank me for having helped them out a bit, which is nice. I sent them some magazines a few weeks ago and they mention that too, so thank you for your support guys.
So, 2020… How about that?
(Seen here is my publication SLICE GLOBAL EDITION 2008, Ritchie Blackmore cover shot by Michael Johansson)
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First snow arrived in my neck of the woods this week, so here we go again. It will be a while until it stays but winter is definitely on the way. Got my operation done a couple of days ago. Took two and a half hours (that I thankfully slept through) but I am back home and although I am a bit tired I feel good about the fact that it is done. I pretty much lost this summer and the to do list is frightening. Still, I can finally take care of things proper. In a sense, I begin a new season myself as well.
The blog is still good fun to have a go at every now and again and it is nice to see good traffic for old posts. This week I noted a big interest in a particular story, as the stats for the October 19 2018 post “Babymetal and the Led Zeppelin connection” went through the roof. Not sure if it was fans of Babymetal or Zeppelin, but somebody clearly linked to the blog.
There was also interest from a journalist in the States to do something with the August 20 2012 post on Ronnie James Dio (the big interview, I think the UFO part in particular). So we will see what happens there. I gave her my blessings, no reason not to.
Got Metal Hammer #327 in the mail (first of two versions, the other is on the way) and I have to say that the Babymetal interview by Eleanor Goodman AND the photography by Steve Brown for said story was top notch. Superb stuff. In a sense, they too (Babymetal) have entered a new season, a new chapter. Glad to follow them on this journey from afar, they bring so much joy. And we can all appreciate a bit of that in our lives.
And for the very same reason I just added a bunch of Fred Basset books (2012-2020 stuff from the Daily Mail in the UK) to the old collection, published by Summersdale Publishers Ltd. This is a rather wonderful cartoon and I will enjoy these books very much in the coming weeks.
Thank you for your continued interest in this little corner of our strange universe.
(My image of said books)
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Darned good traffic on the blog right now, lots of Black Sabbath fans popping by at the moment which is good fun. Also healthy interest in my western stuff, the interview with my Tornado Blaze model Ellinor sticking out at the moment.
The 2000 interview with David Coverdale is always a top draw, and I have noticed that his wife has seen it (she used an image on her page), so that is nice. Steve Lukather seems to have checked his stuff out, I can certainly see links. All in all, I can see that loads of people – some that are pretty famous – has been here.
I like this little world of mine, it is what it is.
(My images: model Ellinor in 2012 and Tony Iommi in 1989).
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It has to be said that I enjoyed RETROFUTURE 8 quite a lot, and that´s why it´s so nice that the feedback I keep hearing by word of mouth is so strong, very positive indeed. I took a bit of a gamble with this issue, it featured stuff that you could get your head chopped off for these days and I said my piece about things in general. Not the kind of thing that you see every day in this country, screwed up as it is by political correctness and fear. But I had to do it. I was bowing out after all. No time to hold back then – if truth hurts, then so be it.
As you know, I´ve handed out the RETROFUTURE magazines for free in these parts (14.000 copies, in fact) and so this final issue also represents a climax of a phase in my life as a publisher that was a bit special in that sense. I really spent the last five years of this hobby doing it all just for the pure enjoyment of it all. It also cost me an arm and a leg to do it, but at least I had quite a lot of fun and I also left a bit of a legacy behind which I´m proud of. What I created with RETROFUTURE was unique and I doubt that anybody else will ever repeat what I did in these parts. I think I´ve earned the right to be proud.
Great feedback from prominent journalists (not your ordinary leftist crowd, but really good ones including a legendary publisher – it doesn´t get any better than that you know), and that feels really good I´ve to say. The article about A4, I5 and F4 (see earlier post) went down a storm and will in fact be republished in two publications. I think that says a lot, don´t you?
The major piece on prepping was written last year but it´s all coming true now, sad as that is. I was right on the money and it´s interesting to note that quite a lot of people was drawn to that subject. I think that people know, deep down, that we´re in serious trouble now. A fact that mainstream media still ignores, strange as that is.
So here we are then, the final batch of magazines have been given out (last few hundred went to Teknikland, I hear they just blew out the door!) and so RETROFUTURE is now really a thing of the past. I shall miss it.
Had a blast though, it was a good thing.
(My image on cover of this magazine)
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What a night. I´m battling a cold but I had to put on a brave face and attend the RETROFUTURE 8 release party at Jane Doe (see earlier posts for details). It was very nice to spend some quality time with Thomas Drevin and Björn Höglund though, as they played Kiss and Deep Purple classics all night long.
I´ll take a few days off from blogging right now, and try to get back on track.
(Images by me)
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Got this from the printers yesterday, a RETROFUTURE greeting of sorts for the release party at Jane Doe here in Östersund (Jämtland County) coming up on March 4 (see earlier posts). It will be spread around the locale on all the tables etc, giving the visitor some background information to what the event is all about.
Good traffic to this blog right now as the news is spreading (facebook mainly).
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I visited the annual Storsie meeting yesterday in a small town called Brunflo, located by the shore of Storsjön (The Great Lake). It was held by Föreningen Storsjöodjuret (roughly translates to the Great Lake Monster Association) and friends of this blog will know about their work around this lake. Witnesses talked about their sightings and interesting photographs was on display (as usual). These evenings are always quite interesting. I handed out copies of RETROFUTURE 7 and talked about my 1977 experience. I was also given a Honorary Membership Award by the association, which was nice.
There has been a few articles, including film and photographic material, in local media this summer. The mystery lives on.
(My images)
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trinkelbonker 