swede
What started out to be a pretty promising weekend of picnics and parties and gigs turned into one of the most exciting EVER! at least for the ladies amongst us.
Okay.. so I exhaggerate. A little. But that's what happens when you spend three days unexpectantly in the company of the 15th SEXIEST MAN IN SWEDEN!
It all started on friday. I went to the pub with Matt Nal, who calmly informed me that Mr Studmuffin himself was going to be at pop league that evening. WHOA! I was already looking forward to his Sunday gig as the highlight of my weekend.. I never actually expected to MEET the fella! Or *gasp* DANCE with him! mmmmm.
I got giddy with excitement. GIDDY! Like a silly schoolgirl! In fact, the feeling didn't really leave me all weekend. It's a bit embarassing.
I wasn't the only one, either. I get the feeling girls melt at his feet wherever he goes. The boys among us seemed quite amused to see our reactions. And were quite confused when they finally met the man himself.
Ok, I have to admit, he wasn't quite as sexy as I remember him - from a distance, at a gig in Boston months ago. His forehead was wide and his frame was small and he was just wearing a plain old jeans and tee shirt. And he spent much of the time sitting quiet and forlorn and bored looking. But still... there was something about him...
Still giddy, I ran to my friends Cathy and Katie and chattered away and pointed excitedly and all around squealed. Katie seemed simply amused. Cathy quickly became a convert, and I think by the end of the night she was even more keen than I was, which is saying something.
There was an embarassing moment when we first met. Tara introduced us - he was staying on her and Calumn's couch - and he looked at me funny and said 'Have we met before? You look so familiar'. Uh oh. I found Jens on friendster a while back and sent him a pretty pathetic message... something along the lines of 'You're amazing. I love you. When are you coming to Glasgow? Can we be friends?' Surprisingly, he never replied! And now it seems that perhaps he had committed my image to memory - or printed it out and posted it on his wall - with the word STALKER emblazoned across the bottom. Er... yeah... I feigned ignorance and our relationship moved on from there. By 'relationship' I mean me occasionally plopping onto the seat next to him making silly small talk between dances, and swooning from a distance. mmmmm.
At one point we also danced together to Annie. magic.
Anyway.. before parting company at closing time, I nonchalently asked what Jens was up to the following day. He said: 'Oh, I dunno. I think there's a party and... a picnic?'
PICNIC! He was referring to THE SINISTER PICNIC! The one I half-assed help throw together at the last minute. Oh. My. God. No pressure to now make it FABULOUS or anything!!! That, and the fact that Linda was coming all the way down from Edinburgh to attend! Eeks!
I woke up early on saturday, fully intending to get my ass in gear and bake cakes and be super organised... only to fall back asleep, not rising until 1 PM! And the picnic was to start at 2! Ack! I assumed - rightly so - that everyone would be at least an hour late. But still, that gave me next to no time to prepare, and definitely not enough time to bake. So Richard and I ended up running to the corner shop for sandwiches and pringles and the most vile fairy cakes I have ever had to misfortune to taste. Ew.
The weather was less than promising. Actually, it was very promising when we first walked out the door - blue skies and happy white puffy clouds - but by the time we got down the street, the good old Glasgow grey had returned, threatening rain. Still, we managed to stick it out (only slightly freezing) for a few hours on a picnic table near the fountain in Kelvingrove Park.
Jens never turned up for the picnic. He was too busy rehearsing free form jazz with some of his co performers. Probably for the best, as I could do without the added pressure.
After some eating and chatting and lots of shivering, we finally caved in and headed indoors, to the under-new-management-again-thank-goodness TAP pub. The music was pretty awful in that cheesy (but not even fun) 80s way. But even that grew on us after awhile. More importantly, the place was empty, so we were able to commandeer an entire corner couch section for our own nefarious purposes. We whiled away a few quiet hours drinking and it was generally very relaxed and comforting.
We scattered at about 7pm, being surprisingly responsible, and regrouped later at Ally's flat for a bit of a housewarming/Cathy going-away party. It was pretty hopping by midnight, full of people I didn't even know! And Jens, of course *swoon* and some Finn/Swede record producer guy, who was the toughest conversationalist I've ever encountered!
The following day, Sunday, many of us gathered again at Mono for the GIG. It was finally time to see Jens at his performing best. And as an added bonus, he was to be joined on stage by B!ll Wells and Isob3l Campb3ll! And Steph3n Past3l was on the decks. and Stev!e Jackson and M0mus were in the crowd. And I'm pretty sure there were other notables there as well, I just can't remember them all now. After opening act Uter, B!ll Wells was in control of the motley crew, and there was lots of freeform jazz. I think it was quite good, if that's your sort of thing, which it's not... mine, that is. Then Jens took the stage - solo at first - and it was AMAZING. I think the girl behind me was actually crying. I was certainly swooning where I stood. And there's not much else I want to say about that.
Afterwards, there was talk of continuing the action with a bit of dancing at 0ptimo with Tara and Jens and the Finn/Swede producer and the Camera Obscura fellas but it never happened. Instead, I returned home to my bed to nestle up and dream of sexy swedes all night. Mmmmm.
So yeah... pretty great, eh?
Next weekend... ROAD TRIP to LONDON for dot-to-dot's big town debut! Will the excitement never end?
