There is a statue of Evert Taube on Gamla Stan. The statue is either made smaller than he was in real life or he was quite short. Whenever I pass the statue, I pat him on the head, as if for good luck or just a friendly greeting for someone I’d never heard of prior to 2021.
I introduced Lauren and Jason to him back on our 2023 Druncle Day.
Evert Taube (1890-1976) was a singer, writer, artist, composer and, most importantly, a troubadour. He even has a boat named after him. It’s in Stockholm and can be booked for events. I don’t know if Mikael Edfelt and Annika Olsson have ever performed aboard it but maybe they should.
Mikael and Annika performed at Matstudio today and we were there, along with Jari, on behalf of the Riksteatern board to welcome them and the audience and to enjoy a bowl of soup and a plethora of Taube tunes. Mikael sang and played guitar while Annika sang and played piano.
There was a moment of high drama when Annika’s keyboard table collapsed, twice, and another when poor Mikael tripped up onto the stage but, otherwise, it all seemed to go very well. I say ‘seemed to’ because, obviously, I didn’t understand many words or know any songs. This was not the case with other people including KSP who knew all the words to all the songs. Or, at least, every time I looked around at her, she was singing along.
Speaking of not knowing many words…I was fully prepared to give a speech at the start, introducing the artists and, basically blathering for a bit, but Jari volunteered instead and, I thought, did a splendid job. Mind you, he also thanked Mikael and Annika at the end, handing them both the obligatory rose, which Mirinda was going to do.
Jari is quite tall but not quite the giant he appears to be in the above photo. We were sitting right at the front (KSP claimed the best seats in the house when she and Jonas turned up) and looking up. A great spot for photos, as it turned out.
It was all a lot of fun and, I think the audience enjoyed it. It was a bit hard to see them given I was right at the front. Mind you, a chap we spoke to afterwards said he did. Though, to be fair, he also said we should all speak Chinese. Don’t ask me what that means.
In sheer reportage terms, I feel I can’t go any further without mentioning Jonas’s trousers. Bright yellow with little silhouette type images in squares all over them. They were quite the fashion statement. I really liked them but don’t think I could be as brave as Jonas and actually wear them in public. Needless to say, KSP bought them for him. Or, rather, they were free.
I also should mention the Matstudio staff who, I thought, were splendid. Particularly Sara who seemed to be in charge. All of them made the day run as smoothly as falling pianos allowed. I’m not going to mention the bread situation. I’ll leave that to KSP.
After the show, we arranged to meet KSP and Jonas back at the house for a cup of tea then ran into Jim the Poodle Man who we arranged to meet for a drink next Friday. Our social whirl never stops.
Back at the house, I set to cooking, creating a Gazerole for our final dinner with Jason while chatting with KSP and Jonas about crime families, IKEA, yellow trousers and growing up with the music of Swedish troubadours. As usual, it was a splendid visit.
The reason why we were entertaining Jason was because he will be flying out to London tomorrow for a job interview on Monday. This part of his Great Big Adventure is closing as the next part begins.
Having devoured my Gazerole, we sat on the deck chatting about all manner of things to do with co-living, door codes, grabbed opportunities and living in London where knife crime is only as bad as the newspapers you read. If you think about it, while someone might get stabbed on any one day in London, there’s more than nine million who won’t.
Anyway, it was a lovely way to finish off the day.
Incidentally, Jason opened the wine with great skill. I was very proud of him.
