Hi all!
As some of you know Soda Fountain Rag recorded an album in Italy quite a while ago. This album will be available on vinyl sometime next year! As it is recorded with the guys it has a more live-ish sound than my other stuff. I think it's really great. Some of the songs are recordings of older ones (Give yourself a Break, Too Late for us etc. - these songs were originally recorded before I knew anything about recording, so the old versions are perhaps for special interest groups), and there are also some brand new songs.
I'm currently thinking of the title, and I fear it might be silly (eller det man på kristiansundsk kaller "dryg").

There will be more updates later!



Håhå, vinyl! Det er så jævlig på tide at det finns inte! 

Well, the title says it all, doesn't it? It's Rag Time! is now on Spotify - just in time for the oktoberfest.

Yes, sir. Another song is ready for you all. Like a back to school/work present or back to unemployment present or whatever you like. It's called Revenge, and was originally named "Revenge (Army of Silent Kids III)". As "Work (Army of Silent Kids II)" isn't quite finished yet (and it might never be), this title seems like a slightly bad idea. But now you know anyway.
Sometimes I check last.fm and someone keep playing a Soda Fountain Rag song called The Saddest Boy in the World. This is a bit weird as I have not written that song yet. But I suppose I will, as it would make a nice ending to a Saddest Boy trilogy.

Also I was in Italy this summer (saw Aida and Turandot in Verona) and met Ale who gave me a mix of the new Soda Fountain Rag mini album. It sounds really great. Some small adjustments, some mastering, artwork and printing and stuff, and then a new vinyl will be ready for you. Will keep you updated on this as we make progress.


There's a lot of words in the new song. If you want to sing along, here they are:

“In my mind I’m a fighter”

Sit alone, playing with my lighter

Thoughts go spinning by themselves

Drifting back to old times, dusty shelves

A place I seldom visit, almost only in angry lyrics

A nightmare, a small piece of hell

My childhood school, no place to dwell

But now we’re free

No more gymnastics

No more fear

No more humiliations

No more snowballs hitting hard

When your mind wandered for a while

No more laughter at outfits

No more laughter ‘cause you know things

Hope the others feel the same

I hope somebody feels the blame

Will she ever stop complaining?

This is like her seventh lyric

On this very well used subject

Will she ever stop this blaming?

Can’t she see they were just kids

Just having fun with other people?

All those fat and stupid kids and

All those nerds and geeks and all the

Other kids they might have messed up

‘Cause they saw no worth in none of us

And still my heart is bitter

Still I want to see you bleed

To see you suffer

Just like we did

See you beaten up

Like we were

To see the fear in your eyes

When bullied kids come back

You pay the prize

Am I too mad?

Is this just sad?

Well, I don’t care

I think I’m fair

No justice was done

For all this fun

The backs were turned

T’wards those who yearned

For some adult who’d take notice

But you could care less for us

You’re just as bad as all the bullies

No, you’re worse

You were supposed to be the guardians

Of the small kids

Ended up as such a joke

Now stand back, ‘cause we’ve grown in time

We’re someone you should fear

We are the

Kids you messed up long ago

Because you saw no worth in us

And still my heart is bitter

Still I want to see you bleed

To see you suffer

Just like we did

See you beaten up

Like we were

To see the fear in your eyes

When bullied kids take their revenge

You pay the prize

I will try to upload a more happy song next time. There's still a lot (!) of songs in my wine cellar.

Hei godtfolk!
Som dere ser skal Soda Fountain Rag rett og slett gjøre en potensielt trivelig oppvarmingsgig for japanske Shugo Tokumaru på Landmark den 9. juli. Hovedattraksjonen hørtes jo fet ut også. Har dessuten fått en ny forsending med CDer fra sjefen sjøl, så om det er noen som ikke har kjøpt It's Rag Time!, og som ikke tør dra på platekompaniet, så kan denne nå kjøpes fra meg personlig til en, for oss begge, fordelaktig pris.

Snakkes, kjekkaser!!!1

Hva er "dont" egentlig? Dette er et forsøk på en helt vanlig blågg. Vi får se hvordan det går.
I dag har jeg lest gjennom en dørgende kjedelig artikkel, som det dessverre var jeg selv som skrev en gang i tiden. Hvordan holder dere ut egentlig? Temamessig var den forsåvidt fin, da den dreide seg om Strawsons 'Freedom and Resentment'. Fin artikkel det, så vidt jeg kan huske. Mens jeg leste snuste jeg litt rundt på hin computer etter fete basstrommesamples. Vi snakker simultankapasitet her. Fant et par. Deretter gikk jeg til byen og cashet in himmelblåsjekken fra nrk. Fy faen så sur jeg ble da jeg ikke kunne høre låten min på den derre episoden den skulle være i. Hva skal man si. Det er vel fint å få betalt for ingenting også. Jeg skal ikke klage. Ikke i dag. Etter dette dro jeg opp på høyden og printet ut nevnte artikkel. Det gikk fint. Høy grad av mestring. Jeg hadde også en mildt dramatisk episode med en elektronisk stiftemaskin. Den skulle hatt bank. Ikke fullt så høy grad av mestring. Så gikk jeg til biblioteket. Gud signe bergen offentlige. Lånte to diktsamlinger av Jacques Roubaud og en portabel Beat reader. Den ene av Roubaud heter Lewis' mangfold av verdener. Den er altså litt inspirert av salige David Lewis og hans modale tenkning. Litt nerdeloffete det da. Jeg rufset litt rundt i beat readeren og så til min store forskrekkelse at Bob Dylan var med. Ved nærmere ettersyn er han nevnt i den delen som kalles "other fellow travelers". Men likkavæl da. Hva er poenget lizzm? Waldman, Baraka og DiPrima er jo i den samme delen. Jeg synes det er rart jeg. Derefter kjøpte jeg noe kjedelig mat og dro hjem. Etter litt pusling med dette og hint rotet jeg frem platespilleren som var gjemt under x antall lånte CDer fra bergen offentlige. Og så spelte jeg noen singler gett. Bl.a. Kiss Kiss King Kong sin, som var fin. Dette får være min offentlige beklagelse for at jeg ikke har hørt på den før, men gutter, dere skulle sett den haugen som var oppå spilleren altså! Etter litt graving fant jeg frem den gamle gode split-singelen med Murder City Devils og Gluecifer (er ikke sikker på om jeg noen gang har hørt på Gluecifer-siden av den dog). To låter på hver side, og på MCD-siden er det In this Town og Can't seem to make you mine. Herre jemini. Det er så bra! Ble pent nødt til å saumfare internettets youtube for å finne mer av det samme. RIP er på nedlasting. Nå jeg får penger skal jeg kjøpe. Iom at jeg først oppdaget MCD under A.Schaus vikariat for Harald Are Lund på Hal9000 sommeren 03 fikk jeg det innfallet at radio novas kvegpels kanskje var å finne på nettradio, og det var det du. Så fint. I tillegg til alt dette mistenker jeg at jeg har fått pollenallergi, da mine øyne føles som to baller med bomull som klør noe så inn i h.

Da skulle dere være oppdatert.

Alle var enige om at det hadde vært en fin dag.

Wow! After months of silence I've uploaded a new song for you. This one is still just a demo, but I wanted to put it up anyway. It was written sometime in february I guess. I hope for better times now. Tomorrow is my first day working in a kindergarden. I'm the one they call when people get sick. I really, really look forward to it.

Here's the lyrics to the song:

................

Everlasting coffee break....

.. ..

Waiting for the day to come
Waiting for the special one
Who will take her far away
Waiting for the special day
Neverending coffee break
Staring at the street all day
Watching life go by
While it’s hard to tell the weeks apart

It seems she don’t try
She don’t try
She don’t try
Disappointment’s the only thing
Surely left by
By her side
By her side
She could never have known
How fast meaninglessness
Becomes the world’s strongest force

Waiting for the week to end
For a phone call from a friend
For a postcard in the mail
For a sign of spring – a snail!
Everlasting coffee break
Nothing’s really happening
Yesterday was just the same
Evenings wait for mornings
And then

When the night comes
She sings a song to make her sleep
Quite pathetic
Trying to feed her dreams with this:

“Please don’t die yet
Someday your life will be of worth
To somebody
Somewhere
Now sleep and dream of
Someone who will own a horse
Someone with a castle
Where there will be one million doors
That will lead to rooms filled with
Books from floor to ceiling
(I’m sure you know the feeling)
One endless source of happiness
Endless source to dreams about
Someone who will own a horse
Someone with a castle
Where there will be one million doors
That will lead to rooms filled with
Books from floor to ceiling
(I’m sure you know the feeling)
One endless source of happiness
Endless source to dreams about
Someone who will own a horse
Someone with a castle
Where there will be one million doors”
None will lead to this

She is sure               

.. ..







***Still waiting for the deus ex machina***

To break the silence there's a new cover over at the cover site. The song is by norwegian artist Jokke. A truly great songwriter that sadly passed away some years ago. The title translates "no one's to blame".

There's also an interview by Zonda here. 

I think there will be some new songs on this site in the not too distant future.

oh, I just noticed there's a video at the end of the interview! It's the song "dog". I don't think I've seen this video before.

This was a nice thing to wake up to.

By the way, I got Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid from Anders for Christmas. And if I've got any power as a recommender of something or other, I would like to recommend it. I don't know if you'll like it if you strongly dislike Gödel, Escher and/or Bach, but it's worth a try. As this is a rather thick book I have not yet finished it (don't spoil it!), but so far I am loving every minute. I get a strong feeling that I should use some time to repeat how one was supposed to prove Gödel's incompleteness theorems. Maybe tomorrow.  

here

 

And this from daggerzine.com:

SODA FOUNTAIN RAG- IT'S RAG TIME- YES BOY ICE CREAM- I like the label as they released a fine June Brides tribute cd a few years ago (and the most recent Michael Knight cd). This band with the awful name is one woman from Norway named Ragnhild Hogstad Jordahl. Yes, the name is a mouthful but she sure has unique idea about pop music. The record is all over the map and occasionally I hear some vague B & S bits (when Sarah sings) while others are more scattered and rock-ish like Tilly and the Wall. It's all hart dot take in one sitting but break the record in half (not literally) and listen to it as 7 songs at a time and it's just much easier to digest. Like a Krispy Kreme donut. www.yesboyicecream.com

I like the (when Sarah sings)-part. I love her.

And what about this ? Total slaughter? Ah, who cares! I'm deciding that it's great! :D

Here is my best of list for this year. I secretly referred to 2008 as "the year of no ambition" last christmas holiday. It didn't quite turn out like that. I don't know if it's been a good year, but it has surely been a fast year. Usually I say that fast is good, so then I guess that all in all it's good.

Here's the list anyway.

Best songs: Biber - Christi Darstellung im Tempel, Eminem – till I collapse, Say Goodbye Hollywood, deLillos – Suser avgårde alle mann, Slagsmålsklubben – Han som tuggar med öppen mun dör, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Pandora's Box, Lily Allen – Littlest Things, Cats on Fire – Mesmer and Reason,

Best albums: Vapnet – Döda Fallet, Hästpojken – Caligula,

Best books: Tarjei Vesaas – Is-slottet, Amalie Skram – Sjur Gabriel, John Divers – Possible Worlds,

Best TV-series: Fraggle Rock, Dexter

Best gigs: Patti Smith @ Grieghallen, Vapnet @ Garage, Dido & Aeneas @ Lærerhøgskolen

Best friend in tough times: my violin

Best poet: Hjalmar Gullberg

Quite possibly the best memories: Watching Shrek with Anders and Ludvig, being the passenger on Anders' bicycle in summertime

Best visit: The Italians!

Best weather: snow

Best new thing: a white and blue coffee cup

Greatest achievment: It would be utterly rubbish not to say my master degree, but developing my skills as a housewife, and learning to eat fish and yoghurt and raisins should also be mentioned I think! Oh, and my album of course!