Montana Blue In My Heart

I have been thinking about the Montana Blue project from back in 2010-2014. It started with me having a couple of photo-sessions with my lovely model Nina in the Summer of 2010, and then I wrote the novel that was published through the Retrofuture platform. The novel was eventually reprinted twice, thousands of people have seen it in these parts since I was handing out copies for free all around The Great Lake (Storsjön, Jämtland County) back in the day. I had my eye on a comic book version as well and artist Richard Svensson was drafted into the project. I was looking to print it through Retrofuture but the project stalled and in the end only 18 pages saw print (in Retrofuture 7, back in 2014). In 2015, I printed the final issue but this project had been abandoned by then. Quite a shame too since Richard had done a marvelous job with the existing material. And the novel is probably the best piece of work in that field that I have ever done (Western theme, Norse Gods, Great Lake Monsters, you name it, it is all in there). I have had plenty of good feedback over the years and I am very happy about it. The 18 pages that saw print in Retrofuture 7 was in black/white, but the original was in full colour (I highlighted that fact on the back of the magazine). If this comic was ever completed, maybe it could be picked up by a publisher and released as an album? I am basically floating an idea here. Who knows… Crazier things have happened. If somebody out there wants to get in touch, I am right here. Of course it would be up to Richard too, but if interest existed, maybe it could happen. I guess it is one of those loose ends. And I am a dreamer.

(My Montana Blue shots, drawings by Richard Svensson – much more on the “My western gals” tag on this blog)

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Retrofuture Stawka Article Highlighted In Swedish Phantom Book

I was contacted a few months ago by Swedish Phantom (Fantomen) editor Andreas Eriksson on whether it was OK if he reprinted the Retrofuture 6 article on Polish television show Stawka (Kapten Kloss here in Sweden) that Maciek Szatko had penned for the magazine, and of course I said yes. I would say that recognition like this is quite nice to achieve. So why did Andreas think that an article about Stawka/Kapten Kloss suited this book (“Den inbundna årgången 1971 – Del 5”, Egmont 2023), which is, after all, dedicated to the Phantom? Well, this television show was very popular back in the day and it spawned a Swedish comic book as well as pocket sized books, and within the pages of the Swedish Phantom comic, there were ads about all this at the time. Ads that can be seen in this edition of the highly exclusive reprint series. So Andreas probably felt that a bit of history that represented the day was a good idea. I was not sure when exactly this would pop up but now it has. Seen above is said book, the issue of Retrofuture that inspired Andreas to include this in the book, and some Polish media from when Stawka star Stanislaw Mikulski passed away in 2014. The following images is from the Phantom book and from Retrofuture 6 and 7 (Maciek Szatko did manage to give a copy to Mikulski, and so there was a page about that in issue 7 – see also this blog, November 18 2013). In any case, enjoy this trip down memory lane…

(My shots of said book and magazines, many thanks to Maciek Szatko and Andreas Eriksson)

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Still Good To Be Bad

David Coverdale has completed the 15th Anniversary Box for the album “Good To Be Bad” and this will be released on April 28. Only now it is called “Still Good To Be Bad”. The box features 4 CDs and a DVD plus some additional goodies and David has just put up an unboxing video for all to see over at his YouTube Whitesnake TV Channel. The Double LP version looks good too. Seen here is a snapshot of the first spread of a three page article that saw print in my publication Retrofuture (3) back in the day, with the original CD and a small image from the unpacking video inserted (note his new haircut). I think the original release flew under the radar for a lot of the old fans when this was released, so this is a good reminder of its existence and a good opportunity to get in on the action now.

(My shot of Retrofuture 3 spread and CD, YouTube image inserted)

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International Women´s Day

Well, I did my bit…

(My fanzines, my cover shots)

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Raquel Welch In Our Hearts

Here is a throwback from 2010 (Retrofuture 3), two book reviews that both feature the late Raquel Welch in one way or another. The page that you see on the left was dedicated to her book “Beyond The Cleavage” and on the opposite page we have a book review about the history of a truly classic Swedish magazine, “POSTER – Nordens största Poptidning 1974-1980”. Of course I was quick to highlight Deep Purple MK4 in that piece, but you can also spot some classic POSTER covers that features ABBA (2 1976), KISS (5 1976) and Raquel Welch (6 1975) to go with that story. So these book reviews blended in rather nicely with eachother I think. I had a blast creating these old fanzines back in the day.

(My shot of this spread)

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220 Volt Scrapbook (Retrofuture 5)

I figured it would be fun to highlight stuff from the fanzine years again and today I will add a Scrapbook type piece on Swedish rockers 220 Volt from Retrofurure 5 (published in 2012). Of course, 220 Volt is a Swedish band (they still exist) and they are from my neck of the woods (Jämtland County). I did include loads of stuff from these parts in the Retrofuture magazines and I printed 1,000 copies of which about 90% were handed out for free. If I still have copies, they are not free now but I am willing to trade for Babymetal stuff from around the world. In any case this 10 page look at the 1980s was done to highlight how fantastic it had all been. To me, 220 Volt is still the best band ever out of Sweden. Photographers are credited, writers get their due down below. Enjoy.

(My shots of said Scrapbook pages, writers include me (Helsingborgs Dagblad), Yoshiko Watanabe (Viva Rock), Annika Sundbaum-Melin (Aftonbladet), Katherine Turman (Rock Beat) and unknowns)

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Trinkelbonker Still Here After 10 Years

So here we are then, 10 years down the line. I launched Trinkelbonker with a post called “About This Blog” on August 14 2012, and I still enjoy spending time adding stuff to it. Pretty interesting first month if you go back and check it out, how about interviews with Nightwish (August 14 2012), Ronnie James Dio (August 20), Judas Priest (August 22), Commando artist Ian Kennedy (August 22) and Joe Lynn Turner (August 31)? That first month said it all really, if you go back and take a look. Trinkelbonker is a pretty unique place, I do not see too many blogs out there like it. The Classic Rock Interviews has always been a strong draw, loads of quotes has popped up in books in recent years and it seems to be escalating (which is fine). My history as a well known Fanzine publisher in Sweden has been documented in recent times and some of the publications are still available for collectors (Deep Purple Forever!, Xena stuff, SLICE, Retrofuture etc). Recently, fans of Tommy Bolin have arrived in force and I appreciate that very much. I will always love the Deep Purple Family, and I quite enjoy writing about it. Babymetal came into my life in March 2017 and I started to support them quite enthusiastically on the blog, which is just me being me when I discover something that I love (had it been 2002 it would have been Nightwish). Some of the Babymetal posts are among the biggest that I have ever had and the June 6 2017 post “Enter The Twilight Zone – Babymetal Tokyo Dome (2016) DVD Review” just went viral. I mean, it was crazy. It was shared everywhere and within days it had been translated into Japanese and Spanish by foreign platforms. I mean, that is just amazing. At 61, I am still pretty open for new things and I think that this can be seen here as I present new bands etc all the time. Also, I am too old to be “woke” and I think a lot of you can appreciate that. They can try to bring down civilization as we know it without my help. Half of the DVDs that I present on this blog would drive those idiots crazy. Pretty sad really. There is a lot to be furious about out there at the moment but I try to stay out of politics. The prepper in me is pretty busy though. The posts about that subject is also a strong draw to this blog, although I only touch down on the subject every now and then. What does that tell you though? It tells me that we live in interesting times, and maybe we can all feel a need to escape it all on a pretty regular basis. That is certainly part of the success of this blog. I can have some fun, and as for you… If you have read this far, we would probably enjoy each others company over a beer if the situation ever presented itself. In fact, I have experienced that sort of thing on many occasions. People coming up to me on the street, or buying me beer on some pub or whatever. That is a pretty cool thing I have to say. I will probably do Trinkelbonker for quite some time yet. Thank you for your interest. And feel free to share this post on your platforms.

(My shot of my view from the computer – additional shots by Kalle Thelin: Babymetal, Michael Johansson: Tarja Turunen – additional model, Vinyl, DVD and comic book – all new stuff – inserted to capture the general spirit of this blog)

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Johnnie Bolin 2015

Trace Keane shared this memory on facebook from June 14 2015, on the day that I had the Tommy Bolin piece on the blog a few days ago. He took the shot of Johnnie Bolin (the late Tommy Bolin´s brother) posing with the final issue of Retrofuture back in the day. Good times.

(Shot by Trace Keane, Retrofuture 8 inserted)

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Bardot & Cardinale Fanzine Extravaganza

I guess I should have mentioned this in yesterdays post about the “Legend Of Frenchie King” Soundtrack, but here it is. Back in 2010, when I launched the Retrofuture fanzine, I was very fortunate in having Hanz F. Lindström being part of the team. A renowned Swedish author, magazine editor and translator, he was a fan of my work and it was fantastic to have him come in and write exclusive stuff for my publications (usually about legendary movie stars). In the first issue of Retrofuture, as “The Legend Of Frenchie King” had just seen release on DVD in these parts, we decided to go for major articles on Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale. He did a wonderful job and I am honored to have published such outstanding work. For the layout, I largely used old magazine covers and classic posters/promotional stuff from the movie itself. Eight pages in all. The western theme was something that I was very interested in, and I did present the first part of the Dakota Jane novel in this issue, with exclusive shots of model Lina. Good times.

(My shots of Retrofuture 1 – BB & CC articles by Hanz F. Lindström – movie Soundtrack album inserted)

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February 2011

Found this image of my model Nina signing Montana Blue fanzines back in February 2011 in the old archive. Nina and yours truly both signed 50 copies. Still have some, so I will make sure that anybody that contacts me through the Fanzine Newsstand tag on this blog in order to get a copy gets one of these (as long as I can). This shot was taken in my old place in the city (Östersund, Jämtland County). Brings back good memories. Glad to have the Fanzine Newsstand up and running, first contact came out of France. Got to love that.

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