Fame –
Our neighbor on the next floor is a well-
known author. His latest book was a big
event here in Sweden. It’s 795 pages
long and I am mentioned in the book. In
one sentence he writes that he wakes up
in the middle of the night and can’t go
back to sleep because his neighbor is
snoring so loudly. If these were my
fifteen words of fame perhaps I was
expecting something more.
from my new book .......
My first poem –
Charles Bukowski’s writings inspired me to
write a poem. It was in 1990 and my
first attempt and I tried to tell the story of
when I received a letter from Buk.
It was a lousy poem.
But in a moment lacking self-criticism I
enclosed it with a letter that I sent to Buk on
his 70th birthday. He replied and sent me a
signed photo & a drawing but fortunately
did not comment on the poem.
Some years later Black Sparrow Press had a
poetry contest in honor of Buk.
I faxed them my poem but never heard
anything.
I stopped writing poetry after this first try.
You understand why?
Last year I tried writing again and
some people liked my poems and
I was published in a poetry magazine.
I took out my old story about the
letter from Buk and went over it again.
And now, ten years later,
a new version of that old poem has
been published in Chiron Review.
Listen,
I understand this is
not interesting at all but
perhaps in ten years time even
this poem will be
acceptable?
Dave Liebman at Fasching –
The first time I saw Miles Davis in concert was in 1973 and Dave
Liebman was in his band. 10 years later I was working for a Swedish
record company that was recording Liebman. So when he was playing
at a jazz club in Stockholm and no one from the creative department
had time to go, I volunteered.
Liebman and Richie Beirach were there in their dressing room before
the gig and I went to say hello. Liebman was wearing his trademark
bandana and when he asked me if I had listened to the test pressings I
was stunned since I didn’t know about any test pressings and didn’t
know what to say. Liebman looked upset and told his partner, Hey he
hasn’t listened to the test pressings.
They thought I was a geek and I felt like one.
I listened to the gig and it was fine but I decided not to talk to them
between the sets or after the gig. And I think they were just as happy
about that.
I was new in the record business, later I got more professional and
always said:
“- Yes, it sounds really good. Really good! This will be a classic
record!”
But this time I was just a loser.
Via Formia –
At the train station in Naples we
notice that the next train to
Rome travels via Formia and
that’s were we want to get off.
This was better than we thought,
two hours and we
will be there.
On the way on the train we
are paying for our tickets and
we discover that the train will go
directly to Rome.
But, we say, it said “Via Formia” on the
big sign.
Yes, the train will pass Formia but
it will not stop there.
We had to go all the way to Rome and
then back again.
This is charming when you are on holiday but
this would never happen here in Sweden,
of course.
But here in Sweden there is no
place called Formia,
only places like Eskilstuna and Nässjö,
where trains seldom stop anyway.
For Henry –
A friend of mine worked in a big art gallery in Stockholm and she
promised me a signed James Rosenqvist poster – the artist was
coming there for an exhibition when I was out of town.
She called me later and unfortunately there was no signed poster as
the printer had failed and the colors were not right.
- But I sent you something else instead, she said.
The next day in the mail was a poster of a Robert Rauschenberg
exhibition five years ago. A really nice poster and signed
“For Henry”.
It was a coincidence of course, another guy with the same name had
asked for this poster five years ago but he never picked it up. And
Henry is not a very common name in Sweden; during my fifty years I
believe I have met only two other people with this name.
This poster hangs in my office now and some people get interested
when they see the personal dedication.
Sometimes I tell them the truth.
What do you mean by that? –
I’d had a long day in the office and I was worn out from
phone calls and dramas and by trying to finish a stack of tax
declarations.
Just when I was about to leave I got a phone call from the
director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, he was upset about
the way I had handled the negotiations for one of my clients,
an actress he was planning to use in a theater production.
He thought I was really slow and that we now had to close
the deal. But when he accused me of being unprofessional I
shouted at him:
- What do you mean by that?
and when he started to answer I screamed at him again:
- WHAT do you mean by that?
I cut him off and I told him I would come back the next day
with a counterproposal.
In negotiations it is always good to take it slowly and wait
out the other party, especially if they are stuck with your
client and can’t exchange her with someone else.
And it’s easy to give the client the impression that the
inactivity is a part of your professional scheme.
But I thought perhaps that I should apologize to the guy at the
theatre the next time, for screaming at him.
But, of course, I have never admitted to
being wrong before – why should I do it
this time?
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