Media conference and vomit
I’ve just come back from a media conference in Stockholm. It was such an inspiring couple of days and many memories from my London radio time came back.
There were lots of speeches too. However, my first booked speech was also the last one I attended. ‘Designing for the digital future’ presented by an uncharismatic Austrian was so boring I walked out after 20mins.
Speaking to the visitors and having coffee with the exhibitors was way more entertaining and I learnt lots from the various conversations. I met a guy whose company is recording the sound for Stig Larsson’s trilogy, which is being filmed in Sweden at present. It’s the Hollywood version. Movie scenes need to be filmed over and over again from different angles and actors are either good at delivering the lines in the same tempo and emotions, or less good, which later impact the editing.
Chatting about sound, images and lights also reminded me of all the concerts I recorded throughout the years for Total Rock Radio. I thought of all the live broadcasts we did, especially the one at Ozzfest in Milton Keynes, where I produced interviews with one superstar after another in a small caravan behind the main stage. Ozzy had his entire family there and the kids took turns walking the dogs. The dogs were tiny so they didn’t need to move far.
I haven’t even included my sound engineering or production skills in my CV and I rarely get a chance to think about those days, let alone speak about them. But they are great memories.
I finished off my media conference with dinner at ‘Pontus By The Sea’ in Stockholm. We then went for drinks and two bars are worth mentioning if you’re around: Le Rouge and Fredsgatan 12 – both in Old Town.
Unfortunately the night ended suddenly when I started vomiting near Stureplan and we had to rush back to our hotel overlooking Humlegården. It’s the second time since I moved back that I’ve become sick from oysters or possibly the ice, at two of Stockholm’s best restaurants.
At least I threw up in style in the hotel suite. It’s perhaps as close to my rock'n'roll past I will get right now. :-)
