Dear listeners, friends, fellow humans, happy new year. Thank you so much for following along with me on my journey in 2019. It was a bit crazy (and I went through some stuff I wasn’t too crazy about), but all in all it was pretty good.
I have a bunch of great stuff planned in 2020, music-wise, and I thought I’d run over a few things.
Pinocchio
In a few days I’m re-starting rehearsals for a theater production of Pinocchio that I’m involved in. I’m co-writing the music as well as performing, both as a musician and an actor. I’m working with some amazing people on this show, and couldn’t be more excited to start working again. We had a few weeks of workshopping, writing and rehearsing a couple of months ago, but now the real work begins. (In fact, I’m going in for costume fitting in a few hours.)
The production of Pinocchio is happening in the Reykjavik City Theater, which is the biggest one in Iceland. It’s a great honor to get to work there. Of course, just being able to have an actual job as a musician, even if only for a few weeks, is amazing. 😉
A New Album
As I wrote about a couple of weeks ago I’m hard at work creating a new album. If you missed that post, this is a concept album I started writing many years ago, about Henry Lee Lucas, who is now the subject of a great Netflix series called The Confession Killer. When I watched that series it really spurred me on, and I’m now committed to getting the album released, hopefully next May.
In fact, yesterday I put the final touches on the songwriting side, and I have begun the recording process. This time the process is quite a bit different from the way I worked on the last one, and I’m hopeful that this one will be even better, in terms of production. It’s going to sound different, more experimental, and it’s a long piece. I can’t wait to let you guys hear some of it.
New Single
Speaking of letting you hear some of it! I plan on releasing a new single in the next few weeks! One of the songs from my Henry album is coming to an internet near you. Watch this space.
Melodica Hafnarfjörður
You may have heard me talk about the Melodica Festival. It’s an international festival I play every year, in ReykjavÃk and various cities around the world. Last year we had the first Melodica festival in my hometown of Hafnarfjörður, which is just outside ReykjavÃk. We were lucky enough to get a grant from the town for the next one, so Melodica Hafnarfjörður 2020 will be a blast! I’m inviting a few wonderful international artists to come join us, and I can’t wait. I will try my best to do livestreams and fun stuff like that, so don’t miss it.
Melodica Hafnarfjörður will take place on May 22-23. If you’re planning on visiting Iceland this year, hey, maybe join us for the festival!
Non-Music Related Stuff
I never make New Years resolutions. They’re bound to fail, right? Instead, I try to set goals for the year. Last year I started using a very nice system to organise my work, goals, daily routines and so on. A part of that system involves setting annual and quarterly goals. One of the goals I set for the first quarter of 2020 was to allow my sons to pick one dream project and work with them on getting it done.
So what did my boys choose? They want to make a videogame. Which is not really a part of my skillset, but that’s what they want to do, so we’re doing it! I picked up a few online courses on how to create simple games, and we’re on our way. They’re designing everything, and writing the story and so on, and we’re following along with the online courses to get to terms with the programming, 3d modelling and all that stuff. It’s a challenge, but it’s wonderful. An amazing father-son activity. If you like videogames, let me know – I’ll share the game with you when it’s done.
Another goal I set is to start writing fiction again later this year. I used to write all the time, but have sort of fallen out of the habit. My plan is to start again this fall. Who knows, if all goes well, maybe I can share a novel with you guys in 2021.
Thank You!
I can’t thank you enough for being here. Having friends and listeners along for the ride makes this journey so rewarding. I really hope you enjoy my ramblings here on the web site. And hey, let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see more of here on the blog or on Facebook or my mailing list. And of course, if you haven’t already joined the mailing list and liked me on Facebook – well, what are you waiting for? 😉
Alright, that’s it for my plans for the year for now. I can’t wait to share more stuff with you in the next few months.
Folk on!