I recently lost $50 in a retail scam. I will survive the economic loss. However, I feel a little embarrassed over this mishap. I have an excellent track record when it comes to buying cds on internet. Until now, that is. This is what happened. I was doing my daily trawling in search of rare and hard-to-find albums. This time I was looking for a rare trashgrass album. Usually not many search results come up, but this particular day I found a new acquaintance in the search results. A website with the trustworthy name "Interstock" allegedly had a copy of the album, find them here (opens in a new window). The price of the item was $15.95 and the shipping cost 19.95 (damn US international shipping rates). I was so exited and eager to get the album, I didn't even ask myself the basic question: how come this general website which sells virtually everything with discount have this very rare cd? It seemed like a legitimate business. You could pay with Paypal, bitcoins or a gift card. However, the Paypal method wasn't working at the time and I was left to choose between bitcoins or gift cards. I bought a gift card on Amazon and paid $50. There was a text field for Paypal refund ($14.10) which I filled in. I got an order confirmation and a tracking number. So far, so good. Standard procedure. The shipping courier, USP Service  also seemed trustworthy with their close resemblance to UPS and their DHL-inspired graphic colour profile, find them here (opens in a new window). However, USP doesn't exist (but I didn't not that then). There were more strange details. The item was shipped from Poland, which isn't exactly a centre for rare and hard-to-find cds. The shipping cost from Poland to Sweden is moreover defintely lower than $20. However, I really wanted to believe that the cd would arrive any day soon. Now a tracking inferno started with updates (see table below). The cd travelled back and forth in Poland and after nearly a month later it "arrived" in Sweden. By then, I had accepted the brutal fact that I had been fooled. My Amazon gift card had instantly been cashed in. Of course, there was no refund of $14.10 either. Some things you have to learn the hard way. If I only had googled the website I had found out that the website was located in US, but the real location was hidden, which means high risk and 0% safety according to this anti-scam website, read more here (opens in a new window). Furthermore, there was no way to check up the shipping courier before the order was placed. USP Service are listed on this website, read more here (opens in a new window). The unneccesary traffic inferno (the scam has already taken place) seems only to be intended to delay the realization of this fact.         

Reluctantly I admire the brute force of the scam. But it has some flaws. I like to end this depressing blog entry with some constructive criticism that could help to improve the scam. First of all, the Polish Postal Service is slow, but not so slow. Second, anyone with the slightest insights in postal handling realizes that the cd is destined to go directly from Szczecin Sort Facility to the International Service Center. There's really no need to send it to Wolomin Sort Facility first. Third, if an item is subject to custom rules it goes first to Custom Clearance, not to a Pick-Up Point. Fourth, Sweden and Poland are members of EU since 1995 and 2004, respectively. All imports are free of duty. Read and learn more here (opens in a new window). And last but not least. There are no Post Offices in Sweden. They were discontinued already in 2001/2002 and were replaced by a plethora of postal agents (i.e. convenience stores, tobacco stores, food chains and others). Live and learn. I know I will.

I was overrun by Carrie Nation & the Speakeasy. Well, not literally but figuratively speaking. Yesterday they played in a small venue called Twang in Stockholm. To my knowledge this is their first time in Sweden. Let it be said. On behalf of the Kingdom of Sweden I want to apologize to the people of Kansas, to the inhabitants of Wichita and, last but not least, to CNS. The number in the audience barely outnumbered the band. What's wrong with you urban hipsters? Still, CNS put on good and rowdy show. CNS started out in a high tempo. When the first song ended the frontman, guitarist and vocalist Jarod Starling ironically asked: "Any questions?". No one had any questions. This wasn't a seminar. Ever heard of a trashgrass band with wind instruments? Well, it has to be a first time for everything. The trumpet and trombone are important ingredients in the CNS soundscape and are given plenty of space to excel. Another weird thing. I've never seen a washboard being handled by someone with his garden gloves on. CNS lyrics deals with social awareness and social criticism with a distinct bite. Compared with the arrangements on their two albums (2 ½ albums if you count the split album with Cletus Got Shot) the songs played yesterday were more elaborate with long and dreamy psychedelic jam sessions. But CNS are best in their short high-tempo songs. One of the highlights was "Way To Kansas". Personally I missed "Obis", "Trying Times" and "I Saw Your Daughter". This is a peripheral remark. I hope CNS can forgive us swedes for not attending and will be back soon.

The main reason why I abandoned vinyl and switched over to cd 27 years ago was that I was getting really tired of all the skipping, scratching and significant surface noise. Of course, I didn't treat my vinyl records as I was supposed to. In fact, they were heavily mistreated. The guiding principle for grading is "The Goldmine Grading System", see link here (opens in a new window). The scale from high to low is Mint (M), Near Mint (NM), Very Good Plus (VG+), Very Good (VG), Good Plus (G+), Good (G), Fair (F) and Poor (P). Most of my records were graded G or F. The new cd format offered an easy and carefree handling. When the cd came it was said to be practically impossible to wear out (with normal use). This is true. Almost every cd in my collection plays without any problems at all. The few cds that have some minor flaws are bought from thrift stores. It's appalling but there are people who never put the cds back in their cases, stack them or use them as coasters. For these cd abusers there's a chance to redeem themselves - a machine. I was totally unaware that such a machine existed. However, if you mistreated your cds despite their relative high price you're not likely to invest in an expensive machine that fix them. The product is more intended for those who care about cds. It's not just plastic. It's a format in its own right.

Let me introduce you to the Disc Repair Machine ECO Smart - a single disc, semi-automatic disc repair system for CDs, DVDs, Books on Disc, Blu-ray, and even game discs. Read more here, (opens in a new window). It has color-coded magnetic pad holders. The machine cleans disc's in less than a minute and most repairs take less than 3 minutes. The ultra-quiet design is perfect for a library or retail environment. No hand finishing or cleaning after the repair process is required. The disc comes out of the machine clean, dry, free of residue. The liquid cooled repair process means no heat or damage to the disc. The ECO Brand disc repair systems have the lowest cost per disc than any other machine. The weight is just 35 lbs (approx. 16 kg) and the measures are 9 * 16 inches (23 * 41 cm). However, the price is high, $ 3 695. This is, by the way, the budget version. Why settle for less? Why not aim high and go for the ECO AutoSmart which is fully automatic and processes one disc at the time. The price for this fine machine is $ 5 780. If you want industrial strength I recommend the Eco Master which is fully automatic and have a disc capacity of 50 discs at the time. The price tag is $ 19 985. "What did you dream? It's alright we told you what to dream...So welcome to the machine". 

I'm a late adopter. I didn't know what Throwback Thursday was until recently. Throwback Thursday is the name of a weekly social media posting trend and hashtag game that people use to share and look back on. It could apply to almost anything that happened in the past. Vanity is one of the seven deadly sins and is highly related to this phenomena. Me, me and me. I've never posted anything that could be filed under this term. Since moments tend to turn into years my throwback moment is a whole year, namely the year 2007. Why? Because this particular year represents the golden age of gothic country. How about Antic Clay – Hilarious Death Blues, Blanche - Little Amber Bottles, Vic Chesnutt – North Star Deserter, Christian Williams – Built with Bones, Christian Williams - Defiant, O’Death – Head Home, Slackeye Slim – Texas Whore Pleaser, Sons of Perdition – The Kingdom is on Fire, Strawfoot – Chasing Locusts, Those Poor Bastards – Hellfire Hymns, The Builders and the Butchers - The Builders and the Butchers, Woodcat – Woodcat, The Peculiar Pretzelmen – Uncanny Eyes among many other albums released this year.

However, I had not seen the light yet (or more correctly the darkness) ten years ago. In 2007, I was mostly listening to wimpy altcountry artists. Your musical taste may change over time. Some musical influences, however, seems to be stuck in concrete. Sometimes I feel a little sad over the fact that I wasn't around back then buying highly obscure and self-released albums in limited editions of 200 from artists and bands that have a short expected (and actual) life. As a late adopter you have to live with choices you make in life.  

Those Poor Bastards is finally here in Sweden. At the moment they are touring in Europe from April 20th to May 6th (just a single day off for logistics) in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and last but not least Russia. The gloomier the music, the happier they will be. Maybe, the dark streak in the music of TPB fits their very troubled mindset all too well. To my knowledge, this is Those Poor Bastards first tour in Europe. It may be a pure coincidence, but they actually played on Walpurgis Night in Stockholm. Debaser Strand is a perfect venue (the closest you get a deep and dark dungeon). It's almost to good to be true. Walpurgis Night is an old pagan rite which has become Christianized (the eve of the feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Francia). Walpurgis Night (english), Walpurgisnacht (german) and Valborgsmässoafton (swedish) are all names for the night of 30 April. In older German folklore this is believed to be the night of a witches' meeting in the Harz Mountains, a mountain range in central Germany. Local variants of Walpurgis Night are observed throughout Europe in the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, and Estonia. In Sweden we light bonfires to scare off witches. 30 april marks the last the day of winter and the first day of spring. It's also a great day for hedonistic student festivities. In Uppsala there's a 36-48 hour party for those who are have the right stomach and disposition. Yes, those were the days. Nowadays, older and wiser, I'm perfectly content watching the bonfires. However, I'm not dead yet and decided to buy two tickets to Those Poor Bastards and went with my friend Johan. Time is of the essence. Someday it will all be over. It may very well turn out to be a once in a lifetime event for a gothic-starving swede. The tour poster is an example of false advertising (depicting The Minister below left). In fact, The Minister (bass, banjo, percussion and backing vocals on studio recordings) never appear live or on tours. The Minister doesn’t want to show his face. For this reason he wears a burqa-curtain like hood. At live shows and on tours Vincent Presley plays drums and moog. A pretty unorthodox band constellation, but it works.  

Well, what about last night? My friend Johan and I arrived ridiculously early, because we believe what we read. The evening started out with Stockholm-based female DJ-duo called Andersson & Räv that played music from the 1960-70's with a great help from a pre-programmed playlist. Very good choices, but the real job was obviously already done. There was an opening act, Vurro, a one-man-band who plays multiple instruments (organ, piano, drums) carrying a cow skull on his head. He was interesting at first, heavily inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis and banging his cow horns on the cymbals, but "he overstayed his welcome" as Johan nicely put it. The opening act's performance serves to "warm up" the audience, making it appropriately excited and enthusiastic for the headliner. A mystery to me. All good things come to he who waits. At 22:30 Those Poor Bastards finally went on stage. They took a firm grip of the audience and never let go. What TPB have to say in a song is said in about three minutes. As a listener, you also need to catch your breath. Their relative short songs works in both ways. The tempo was by any standards furious, no chit-chat between the songs and no crowd-pleasing mutual recognition phrases. In fact, Lonesome Wyatt is totally focused on the music and stares frantically right out and through you. He had the setlist written on cardboard paper on the music-stand, but didn't look at it many times. Those Poor Bastards are perfectly attuned and overly experienced. The soundscape is impressing. Vincent Presley manages to combine exquisite drumming with handling the moog. However, I miss the bass and banjo playing from The Minister, who probably at the moment is hiding out somewhere in Wisconsin. The high-tempo show ratched up even further in "Crooked Man", "Satan is Dead", "Headed Nowhere", "Ten Ton Hammer", "This World is Evil", "Glory Amen" and in the encore "Evil on My Mind". Vincent Presley had some initial problems with the stage monitoring system (too low volume), but the sound quality was very good (by rough gothic country standards). My overall impression of the show: very professional, hilarious and well worth the money. But where were the audience? I estimated that it was only about 150 people in the audience, which is pretty scandalous for a band of this magnitude. Johan and I count ourselves in "we few, we happy few" for going to this maybe once in a lifetime event. As promised, I studied the audience since there are no reference studies for Sweden at all. The method I used was participant observation. Common feature: black clothes and a lot of bunch of keys. This is, however, where the similarities end. The audience consisted of strange mix of young hippies, black and ordinary metal fans, a few David Eugene Edwards copycats, beardy hipsters, some hard-to-define outsiders but only two truck caps. What I experienced yesterday was a blast. When I got home I had to undergo debriefing with Midlake's "The Courage of Others". "You're getting old, buddy!" as TPB elegantly put it.         

Setlist (as I perceived it)

1. The Bright Side (Satan is Watching)

2. Your Faith Shall Be Tested (Behold the Abyss)

3. Stay Away From the Forest Boy (Hellfire Hymns)

4. Unwanted (Sing it Ugly)

5. Crooked Man (Satan is Watching)

6. Open Wounds (Gospel Haunted)

7. The Dust Storm (Hellfire Hymns)

8. No Light (Sing it Ugly)

9. Satan is Dead (Necrosphere)

10. The Accident (Country Bullshit)

11. Headed Nowhere (Sing it Ugly)

12. Family Graveyard (Hellfire Hymns)

13. A Curse (The Plague)

14. Old Pine Box (The Plague)

15. Ten Ton Hammer (Sing it Ugly)

16. Pills I Took (Country Bullshit)

17. With Hell So Near (Songs of Desperation)

18. Chemical Church (Gospel Haunted)

19. I am Lost (Vicious Losers)

20. He of Cloven Foot (Behold the Abyss)

21. Everything is Temporary (Behold the Abyss)

22. This World is Evil (Satan is Watching)

23. Judgement is Coming (Gospel Haunted)

24. Glory Amen (Gospel Haunted)

Encore

25. Evil on My Mind (The Plague)