Cadillac

At the age of nine, before I became the number one fan of E-Rotic, my favourite song in the world was 'Cadillac' by The Renegades. I even took my Simply the best of the 60s c-cassette to school were we had a 'levyraati', a song competition, in which we gave points to songs others had brought. Of course the cool kids usually won with their Smurfs CDs. I think I actally won once too, when I had Captain Jack's video with me. You can't beat babes in wet white t-shirts.

Well, back to the Renegades. The story of the band is quite unusual. In 1964, they came for a one off gig to Finland to play at a fashion show and everyone went crazy about them. A seven week tour at local dance floors made them the 2nd Beatles and they ended up recording 4 albums in Finland. After that they had some success in Italy and continental Europe. What makes their story unusual is that they never achieved any big success in their home country and still managed to have such a high impact on the rock culture in a country as remote as Finland at the time.

Mentally Retiring

On Friday I went to see Risto at Tavastia.



On Saturday I saw Polanski's Cul-de-sac at Orion:

"Deux gangsters en cavale vont bouleverser l'existence de George et Teresa, un couple de petits bourgeois qui vivent isolés sur une île.

Polanski présenta parfois Cul-de-Sac comme son meilleur film. Nombreuses furent les difficultés durant le tournage. C'est une œuvre d'une grande liberté de ton. Françoise Dorléac est superbe et Donald Pleasance très étonnant."



Evening & Nepalese food. Almost as good as Dundonian curry.



On Sunday I visited the Finnish Museum of Natural History. I had forgotten how cool dinosaurs are.

River Delta

On New Year's Eve I attended the opening of the new Suisto (River delta) club in my home town Hämeenlinna. The tickets were shit expensive (18e) so we took the liberty to smuggle in some rhum of our own with Oskari. Result: I talked to several mums, danced with them, invited a million people to Scotland, criticised the lighting of the club - well, was obnoxious in general.

Cowschwitz

Long time no write. Well, my flatmate came to Finland for a week a while ago. It ended up being a binge, as was expected..

Day 1:
Kossuglögi (Finnish vodka Koskenkorva mixed with Glögg) in Riihimäki. Ken was immediately given shock-treatment by the Finnish alcohol prices. Welcome to hell, Scotsman.



Day 2:
Aulanko National Park. It started snowing the night Ken arrived. Rural Belarussian scenery avoided!



Started the evening with sauna and rolling in the snow behind the garage of our apartment building. Then Hämeenlinnaean karaoke and striptease feat. sweet xmas elf Melanie! Unfortunately only Ken has the photos of the babes and the dildos.. and of him winning the 2nd place in the Vuoden Pukki -competition (Goat of the Year).

Day 3.
Again reindeer for dinner. No more breadcheese for Ken, please.



In the evening we went to see some (Ice) Hockey Playing Knights. Millions of leather jackets. Finland is the place where cows come to die, Cowschwitz.



Later we headed to Helsinki and Redrum for Misf*ts club night. 'We are like in one those cool Scandinavian magazines of yours!' And so the money was gone.





Day 4.
Some sightseeing in Helsinki.



Ken, being a cheap Scot, made A. Asplund to give him one of his necklaces for free..



Then it was time for Turku; Ella's farewell party and my favourite club in the world - Dynamo!



Day 5.
Nintendo Wii, American Gladiators and booze tasting, perfect pre-party for another night of Dynamo-ing. Vlad, Absinth, mint, tar and liquorice vodkas do not result in sweet dreams; I was bitten in the eyeball by my evil ex-stepmom's dog and then beaten with an ice-hockey stick.

Day 6.
Tuomas joined us and we boarded the ship for Stockholm. Even getting kitchen oiled by a Swedish sex toy maniac the night before didn't spoil Ken's appetite. Between the three of us, we managed to down five bottles of wine in the buffet (and fail at stealing one) in 1.5h, which I consider a decent performance.





Day 7.
Wee tour in Gamla Stan of Stockholm to end Ken's stay.



Tuomas and I returned to Finland by another boat filled with trannies (1) and Gypos (10).

Anton Karas, the man with the zither

You don't have to be Oedipus to enjoy your mommy

As the day turned into night and December 1st finally arrived, flat 1/0 decided to officially welcome the festive season. Hats on, tree up, baby fetish on TV and voilà!