Introduction:

"This blog is not necessarily for lovers of art, it includes a variety of topics and whatever. I'm a painter who likes to know what's really going on in the world today. So you might find anything from Shamrocks to Salmiakki mentioned here on my blog. There will of course be some boring, factual and informational posts, but I'll keep them to a minimum, I promise!

And I might get a bit nostalgic now and then.

So you have been warned!"


- Alan Hogan



Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts

Monday, June 19, 2023

It's Imelda May!


Around this time last year (April 8th 2017 to be exact) I popped in to buy a signed copy of Imelda May's latest album 'Life, Love, Flesh, Blood'.  A quick meeting, it was nice to meet such a talented singer and nice person too. Her album is great and the voice is amazing. Favourite song from the album is 'Levitate', mainly because it reminds me of the old James Bond movie themes! This great tune is accompanied by a wonderful collection of songs which come together to make this album a really good addition to any record collection! Almost forgot, there's a great collaboration on the song 'Black Tears' with the amazing Jeff Beck. Definately check that one out!!





Here's a clip of Imelda May's album signing at Tower records on Dawson street, Dublin last year.




While chatting at her record signing I mentioned that I was home from Finland to see my parents and told her my father wasn't well. She kindly asked me to pass on her best wishes to him. She even asked me to say hi to all in Finland. ,,,A nice person!





Imelda May's record signing queue in Tower Records.













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- Alan

   

Sunday, December 10, 2017

My Finland 100 : 31- 40







Finland became an independent state on 6 December 1917. Already there have been numerous events staged throughout the country to celebrate this centenary year. The theme of the centenary year is ‘Together’. 


As I have been a resident of Finland for the past ten years I wanted to do a little something. For this I decided to post 100 images to my Instagram account on social media with the hashtag #finland100_igchallenge .

Anyone familiar with the Instagram application will be aware of the vast amount of wonderful photography posted every day online. There are so many amazing images to be found featuring Finland's stunning nature and landscapes. I imagine my photography may be lack lustre in comparison and as a result may not be noticed. So I decided to simply look closer in and around my new home for another approach. I have posted a variety of images found around my own house and neighbourhood. I didn't know much about Finland before I moved here, so I view this as an opportunity to show others a few things I discovered about or associated with Finland and it's culture. I have included everyday items, nostalgic items, locations, food and also some Finnish-themed artworks which I painted myself while living here. In other words, a bit of everything!!

The images are in no particular order of importance or preference, so I'll continue with 31-40...




31/100

...old Finnish currency!
This is 20 Finnish Markkaa featuring Finnish author VΓ€inΓΆ Linna, best known for his novel 'The Unknown Soldier'.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on




32/100
...Typing Thursday!! ...some Finnish retro...the complete typing course on vinyl!! πŸ‘
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on




33/100
... I got to see some of Akseli Gallen-Kallela's work at the Kalevala art exhibition in Helsinki a few years ago. Definately my favourite Finnish artist and this book has a nice selection of his paintings. Click the right side of this photo to see more images.
A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on




34/100
.. Finland has the highest amount of metal bands in the world per capita, and Children of Bodom from Espoo are one of their best. I'm no connisseur of the genre but I do like this album! (plus it came with a free tattoo!! πŸ˜€πŸ‘Œ

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35/100
...Sibelius Sunday! ...listening to Finland's greatest composer.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on





36/100
Finnish rye bread!! πŸ‘ ...I wasn't too fond of this when I first arrived in Finland, but now I love it! ...plus it's healthy!! ✅
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37/100
..a common find in Finnish homes is the Savoy Vase, designed in 1936 by Alvar Aalto and made by Iittala. ...all i need now are some sweets to fill it! πŸ¬πŸ¬πŸ˜€
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38/100
..definately my favourite Finnish sweets, Marianne are made by Fazer of Finland!!! If you like chocolate in a peppermint shell then these are for you!!! 🍬🍬🍬
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39/100
..Hard Rock Halloween!! πŸŽƒ .. Eurovision got it's big porcelain teeth knocked out by Mr.Lordi from Finland! πŸ˜„πŸ‘Œ

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40/100
..someone once told me the name of these neat little retro door-fittings but i forget now. Press the button and open sesame!
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Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.



- Alan


 

Thursday, December 7, 2017

My Finland 100 : 21-30







Finland became an independent state on 6 December 1917. Already there have been numerous events staged throughout the country to celebrate this centenary year. The theme of the centenary year is ‘Together’. 


As I have been a resident of Finland for the past ten years I wanted to do a little something. For this I decided to post 100 images to my Instagram account on social media with the hashtag #finland100_igchallenge .

Anyone familiar with the Instagram application will be aware of the vast amount of wonderful photography posted every day online. There are so many amazing images to be found featuring Finland's stunning nature and landscapes. I imagine my photography may be lack lustre in comparison and as a result may not be noticed. So I decided to simply look closer in and around my new home for another approach. I have posted a variety of images found around my own house and neighbourhood. I didn't know much about Finland before I moved here, so I view this as an opportunity to show others a few things I discovered about or associated with Finland and it's culture. I have included everyday items, nostalgic items, locations, food and also some Finnish-themed artworks which I painted myself while living here. In other words, a bit of everything!!

The images are in no particular order of importance or preference, so I'll continue with 21-30...



21/100
..Monday sounds! #finland100_igchallenge 21/100 - Finnish band Damn Seagulls 2009 album 'Hunting Season' bears up well! 🐻🐻🐻

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on






22/100
Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki would have been 70 today. (30 Aug 1947 – 14 Jan 1987) - His nickname Badding was derived from Paddington Bear.

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23/100
'Had to try this springwater despite extreme arm pain today. Maybe it has some miracle qualities?!!! πŸ˜‡✨πŸ’ͺ ....A nice new public park called 'Dagmar's Park' opened recently near where I live. A wonderful gift from the Fiskars corporation to the Finnish people and friends of Finland to celebrate Finland's 100th year anniversary.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on






24/100
Late night tv, a Finnish dvd movie called 'RΓΆΓΆperi'. Decent crime movie set in Helsinki with good Finnish humour.


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25/100
Congrats to Finnish director Aki KaurismΓ€ki who's film 'Toivon tuolla puolen' (The Other Side of Hope) has just won the International Federation of Film Critics Grand Prix 2017 award for best film. It's the second time he's won this award, the first time was in 2002 for this film 'The Man Without a Past'. If you haven't watched any of his movies then I recommend this one or my favourite 'Drifting Clouds'.
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26/100
Bronze statue in Helsinki of Elias LΓΆnnrot, 'best known for writing the Finnish national epic 'Kalevala'. ..The long-bearded guy beside him is VΓ€inΓ€mΓΆinen the hero of the story. Statue by Emil WikstrΓΆm 1902. 

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27/100
...around this time every year in Finland the big MEHU-MAIJA comes out of storage. It's a finnish juice extractor and it's making apple juice to be frozen for the long cold winter. 'Just need to plug it in and wait for the good stuff!! 🍏🍏

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28/100
...the dish drain closet! A great idea invented in Finland. Any water from the dishes drains into a hole at the bottom of the closet and down to the sink underneath. Best of all it's functional, eco-friendly and keeps wet dishes out of sight!

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29/100
Finland is the biggest consumer of coffee in the world per capita and here's an old coffee can by a Finnish company called Paulig of Helsinki @pauligfi . The text is printed in Finnish on one side and Swedish on the other, the two official languages of Finland.

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30/100
The word 'Sisu' is best described as the will to persevere through all to achieve ones goals, or determination, or 'to have guts'. It is held by Finns themselves to express their national character. Sisu is also the name of a Finnish truck manufacturer who's factory has been a close neighbour of mine for the past ten years.
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61- 70

71- 80

81- 90

91- 100






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Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.



- Alan


 

Friday, February 20, 2015

Top Hat In Bloom (updated repost)





Kurt Cobain
(February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994)



If he were alive today he would be celebrating his 48rd birthday. Unfortunately on April 8, 1994 Kurt Cobain was found dead after committing suicide by shooting himself at his home in Seattle. While not a huge fan of the singer and his band Nirvana, I did enjoy their sound and I witnessed the impact it had on a lot of people, mostly those of my younger brother's generation in the early nineties.




Kurt Cobain and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth

Dublin, 1991










One concert I recall hearing about while living back in Ireland was their support gig to Sonic Youth at the 'Top Hat' venue in Dublin on 21 August 1991. I recall this gig as I was more a fan of Sonic Youth at the time, and it was a concert I really wanted to be at, but I just couldn't get a ticket. This concert at the Top Hat was held just one month before Kurt Cobain's band Nirvana released their biggest album called Nevermind and it was the first time Irish fans got to hear their biggest ever hit Smells Like Teen Spirit. That moment must have been really special I reckon.




Here's an advert for that concert which I kept from a magazine at the time. (looks like the magazine printed the wrong date!)















Nirvana played support to Sonic Youth at a gig the previous night in Sir Henry's Pub, Cork before heading to Dublin.  

Here's an audio clip of their song 'About a Girl' from that gig.






It is known that Kurt Cobain felt a spiritual connection with the city of Cork while he was there. He researched his family name and concluded that it may have originated from this area of Ireland. It is without doubt that Cobain and his music was and remains much admired in Ireland, and I imagine that he will be remembered once again by Irish fans when fellow Nirvana band member Dave Grohl returns to Ireland in 2015 with his own equally good band the Foo Fighters to play at the mighty Slane Castle. That promises to be something special I reckon.  
Kurt Cobain can be heard in this interview below with rock journalist Jon Savage on July 22, 1993 talking about such ancestoral notions and other issues such as his parents' divorce and the impact of other bands on his music. The video is wonderfully animated by the people at Blank on Blank, (Cobain was found dead in April 1994)



Read also..





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Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.

You can receive my blogposts direct to your email or facebook profile by pressing the follow button at NetworkedBlogs  and you are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button under my signature below.


- Alan 



                     


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The Art Garage, Finland
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