hey, guys – relax. i had just heard that some of you were getting spooked by the mail on sunday interview which i let myself be cajoled into doing... there’s nothing wrong with me that wasn’t wrong before,  but thanks for asking. it’s not the work it’s the worry, as they say.

in fact though, i could not be less worldweary. i have just returned from 4 sun- and fun-filled days in a swanky hotel in barcelona, with my lovely oldest son and all my cold playing friends, their lovely wives and the entirely friendly circus-entourage of a monster-size band at the peak of its game, even managing to satisfy a 10 year restaurant-ambition in the process (elBulli, to the foodies out there).

so if you haven’t already puked at the shamelessness and namedropping by now, you will at least reconsider your concern for my early demise.

anyhow, your nurse-like instinct has provided me with a nice cue for this self-important title (thank-you-very-much), and given me the final impetus to man up and thank you all for the kind words and support of my spacial wordspouts.

over the years, i have invented a few things and shared them with you, surely confused you, most definitely toyed with you, no doubt irritated you - wilfully witheld things from my crowded inner space while exposing quite a few others...

you have read, listened, laughed(?), commented, harrumphed, corrected, touched and defended me royally, followed my labyrinthine doctrines, and (i would assume) all but given up on the way, suffering bad cases of the flummox.

i picture you all now congealed into one person, and i realise that i really like that person.

maybe it all boils down to the banal fact that this person clearly likes me, but i like to think it also has to do with the fact that whoever it is, this person has a heart (baboom baba-boom boom) and a head, grace, compassion, sensibilities, wit, and a wicked sense of humor - what’s not to like!

the fact that this amalgamated person is also predominately female is fine by me. i may come a cross as a bit of a lad, but it is women who bring out the best in me.

so here it is, honeys; i’m outta here. not to disappear off the radar completely of course, (don’t get your hopes up!),  but to create havoc somewhere else. 09.09.09 here i come.

the intellectuals among you have already found this out; for the forseeable future i mean to dedicate my weird and wily contributions to weblife to a most inspiring communal congregation of comrades. yup, you guessed it. 3 of the most beautiful guys you could ever happen to work with. troubled souls, sure, but hey - in my dictionary, troubled is the definition of beauty.i’m of course more than happy for you to follow me should you have the inclination: you are all apparatjiks.

as most of you may know already, a full apparatjik album was recorded more than 6 months ago, but its release continually delayed out of respect for the current (and really good) mew album (also pretty continually delayed). so if you were in this for the music, you know you have something to look backwards to.

(and, hey - if someone has found mr berryman’s iphone somewhere, this means you already have the apparatjik album, along wih a truckload of telephone-numbers you most definitely should not have in your possession!)

before i...eh, you go; i have to say that the ones among you still on my much neglected mailinglist will soon be offered a new way to rid yourself of money with (another) one of my limited edition projects - coming your way in a couple of weeks...all i can really say is that i have never enjoyed having my hand quite this far up morten’s behind. figuratively speaking, of course. once the ’privileged’ have gotten their magne f-ix and are all happy, i’ll post a link to the info on here for the rest of yous.

there it is, folks – in the words of the shepherd:  let’s get the flock out of here.

mf

ps: remind me, would you please, not to make any serious attempt at fictional prose until i have tamed my compulsive need for adjectival adjectives and flowery sentence-structure ...doh!