Last days in San Pedro

There´s been a while since the last blog now. But that´s due to a tight program and a lot of traveling. I hope I will be able to make updates abit more frequently now...

The time in San Pedro has been great! I´ve stayed for free in their small apartment in the basement for more than a week because I did the concert. The concert was on Saturday the 21st. Not many people came to listen, but we had a really nice time anyway. Afterwards I was out driving the car with very low blood sugar (I was out to get myself something to eat.. just to make that clear...) And I was stopped by the police! I drove around without really knowing where to go and got myself into a bad neighborhood. I guess my driving was a bit suspicious since I was looking for a restaurant. And i got nervous when I saw that the police car was right behind me. So I wanted to pull over to a side street, stop and program my GPS. And when I made that left turn, I did it from the wrong lane! Haha. So the flashing blue lights came on. I´m a criminal!! I didn´t even have my license with me... But I think it´s smart to be a hungry, Norwegian turist in a bad American neighborhood. And the policeman even had a relative who had a friend in Norway or something like that... Hehe. So I got away by showing my passport and the rental car documents. Phew... But it was nice to have tried that too!

Besides that I was "on work" for the rest of the stay in San Pedro. I did alot of administrative things, practiced the Scriabin concerto and prepared the departure. But I should mention that I went for a walk along the harbor in San Pedro on of the days. I wanted to see if I could find a place to eat (again.) And they really have some nice fish restaurants down there!! I guess they pull the fish out of the nearby ocean and put it on your plate. I found a non-fancy restaurant. They had plastic silverware and no service by the tables - fast food style. But the fish was ofcourse fresh as could be! You could actually see the food alive before you ate it. They had big aquariums with lobster and crabs from Alaska on death row cell to put it that way. I chose a fish soup to save money, but not just any fish soup. I got a casserole with fish filets, mini squids, tentacles, big clams (with the clams ofcourse), shrimps with heads and everything, other treats from the ocean and some vegetables. It was a nightmare to eat actually, but very good (if you don´t mind really seeing what you´re eating) and a great experience!

I left San Pedro on Wednesday to pick up my parents at the LAX and headed east. More on that in the next blog!!

Siste dager i San Pedro

Det går litt tid mellom innleggene nå, men det skyldes tett program og masse reising. Jeg håper at jeg kan oppdatere litt hyppigere framover. 

Tiden i San Pedro har vært veldig fin. Jeg har fått bo gratis i hybelen deres i kjelleren over en uke mot at jeg spilte konsert der. Konserten var på lørdag 21. Det kom ikke så mange å hørte på, men det var særdeles hyggelig likevel. Etterpå var jeg ut og kjørte bil med kjempelavt blodsukker (jeg var ut for å kjøpe mat for å si det sånn...) og presterte å bli stoppet av politiet! Jeg kjørte på måfå egentlig og rotet meg bort i et dårlig nabolag. Jeg kjørte jo ganske så nølende siden  jeg lette etter en restaurant. Og da jeg så at politibilen lå rett bak meg ble jeg litt nervøs og tenkte å svinge inn på en sidegate, stoppe og programmere GPS´en. Og da jeg svingte til venstre, gjorde jeg det fra feil kjørefelt! Haha. Så da kom blålysene på gitt! Jeg er kriminell!! Ikke hadde jeg med meg førerkortet heller... Jeg tror det er smart å være norsk turist i et dårlig amerikansk strøk. Og poitimannen hadde selvsagt en slektning som hadde en venn eller ett eller annet i Norge. Hehe. Så jeg slapp unna med å vise pass og leiebilpapirer. Puh.. Så da har jeg prøvd det óg! 

Ellers gikk resten av tiden i San Pedro med til å være på jobb. Jeg gjorde unna masse administrative ting, øvde på Scriabin konserten og forberedet avreise videre. Jeg kan nevne at jeg tok en spasertur langs havna for å se om jeg fant et sted å spise middag en av dagene. Og jeg skal si deg at de har fiskerestauranter der nede!! De tar jo opp fisken fra havet og putter den rett på talerkenen din. Jeg fant et sted som egentlig var veldig primitivt restaurantmessig, altså ingen fin restaurant. De hadde isoportalerkner, engangsbestikk og matbestilling ved disken. Men med ypperlige råvarer selvsagt! Der så man maten levende før man spiste virket det som. Det var akvarier med hummer og store krabber fra Alaska som lå på dødscelle for å si det sånn. Jeg valgte en fiskesuppe av prishensyn, men det var ikke en hvilken som helst suppe! Jeg fikk en stor kasserolle der de hadde slengt oppi fiskefileter, miniblekksprut, tentakler, store blåskjell (selvsagt med skjell), reker med skall, kamskjell og noe grønnsaker. Det var jo et mareritt å spise på sett og vis, men veldig godt og en kjempeopplevelse! 

Jeg forlot San Pedro på onsdag for å hente foreldrene mine på Los Angeles Internasjonale Flyplass og satte kursen østover. Mer om det i neste blogginnlegg!

San Diego - English

Friday it was about time to have a concert again. And this time I visited the Norwegian Community in San Diego. It´s a big clan of Norwegians down there, and they have several organizations. The big Valhall Lodge of Sons of Norway would be the major one. So it was great to be able to come here and perform! However, before the concert I went down to Chula Vista, almost towards the boarder to Mexico. There I was going to meet a man called Dr. Jose Jaramillo, an expert on the Mayan Calendar. I got in touch with him through a lady from Reno who attended my concert there.

Jose was a very nice and enthusiastic person with great knowledge both on the Mayan Culture and the other ancient cultures and legends. He made a documentary called Between 2 Wolds about the gregorian calendar which we use today, contra the Mayan Calendar(s). They claim that the biggest dogma we have in our society today is what day it is. We have to be aware of the fact that there was this pope called Gregor in the 1500s who decided that today is Monday. Hmm.. think about that for a while! Everything is relative... But unless we have this super tight structure to cling to, we panic, right. Because it controls time. And we are SLAVES of time. The Mayans had a quite different view on this much deeper than the earths orbit around the sun. They made a calender for consciousness for instance, with 260 days... too much to explain. But it´s very interesting for those who aren´t afraid of tearing down what we view as unquestionable truths in todays world, thinking new and consider other alternatives. 

The concert in the evening took place in Solana Beach, just north of San Diego. A very beautiful area by the coast. The church was really nice and big with grand pianos both upstairs, downstairs and in the reception house. Calvary Lutheran Church also worked as the co-sponsor of the concert. So they happily sold CDs and helped out. I got a pretty big crowd, but they claim that they would have alot more on a Sunday afternoon. So that´ll be next time. I guess I can mention that I´m already planning new tours, both for September 2009 and spring 2010. The people in San Diego are very active and enthusiastic. I got the same impression in 2007 when I visited Vista, abit further north. They had a big reception afterwards with cookies and coffee and they all joined and had a good time. Then I drove for 2 hours up to San Pedro and was home just over midnight. It was nice to get back given the fact that I had a concert at the Seamen´s Church the day after. 

San Diego

Fredag var det endelig på tide å spille konsert igjen. Og denne gangen var det det norske samfunnet i San Diego som skulle besøkes. Det er en stor klan med nordmenn der nede med flere organisasjoner, deriblant den store Valhall Lodge av Sons of Norway. Så det var virkelig fint å få komme hit for å spille! Før konserten dro jeg imidlertid ned til Chula Vista, nesten ned mot grensen til Mexico. Der skulle jeg møte en mann ved navn Dr. Jose Jaramillo, en ekspert på Maya-kalenderen. Jeg kom i kontakt med han via en dame som var på konserten min i Reno. 

Jose var en svært hyggelig og entusiastisk person med stor oversikt over Maya-kulturen og de gamle kulturene og legendene forøvrig. Han har laget en film som heter Between 2 worlds om den gregorianske kalenderen vi bruker i dag kontra Mayakalenderen. De mener at det største dogmet vi har i verden i dag er hvilken dag det er. Vi må huske at det var en pave på 1500 tallet som het for Gregor som bestemte at det er mandag i dag. Det er faktisk litt av en tankevekker... alt er relativt. Men vi får jo panikk hvis vi ikke har denne knallharde strukturen og forholde oss til ikke sant. Fordi den bestemmer tiden. Og vi er SLAVER av tiden. Mayaene hadde et ganske annet syn på dette som går mye dypere enn bare jordens evige rundgang rundt solen. De lagde en kalender for bevissthet f.eks. som har 260 dager... mye å forklare. Men det er iallfall interessant for dem som ikke er redd for å rive ned det vi tror er bastante sannheter i verden i dag og tenke nytt og vurdere andre alternativer. 

Konserten på kvelden var i Solana Beach som ligger nord for San Diego. Et veldig vakkert område helt ved kysten. Kirken var kjempefin og romslig med flygel både oppe og nede og i menighetshuset ved siden av. Calvary Lutheran Church var også medsponsor av konserten og stilte velvillig opp for å selge CDer og greier. Det ble et ganske så stort publikum, men de påstår at det ville kommet flere på en søndag ettermiddag. Så det får bli neste gang. Jeg kan forøvrig nevne at kommende turneer allerede er under planlegging, både for september 2009 og på våren 2010. San Diego gjengen er aktive og entusiastiske. Samme inntrykk fikk jeg i 2007 da jeg spilte i Vista, litt lenger nord. De hadde en stor kakefest etterpå der alle ble med og koste seg. Så ble det en 2 timers kjøretur opp til San Pedro igjen og jeg var hjemme litt over midnatt. Greit å komme seg tilbake hit siden jeg hadde konsert i Sjømannskirken dagen etter.

Malibu - english

Thursday, I decided to do some sight-seeing along the Pacific Coast. As I mentioned, San Pedro is by the coast and on a half-island. There´s a (high)way along the entire coast, through Santa Monica Beach in Los Angeles and onto Pacific Highway 1 to Malibu and further up the coast. This Highway is a tourist attraction in itself! And I must say it was very beautiful. The weather was nice and I passed some very beautiful housing areas before reaching LA. I stopped by a park and sat down by a cliff to listen to the ocean for a while. This was the edge of the half-island and you get a great view in the LA-bay towards the beaches and along the coast to Malibu on the opposite side. I heard that Malubi is a beautiful place where you find the properties of some TV-stars and other celebrities. So I thought it was worth a visit. It was gorgeous, but a bit annoying to drive along the coast like that. Stop signs and lights everywhere. But I suddenly reached Santa Monica and entered the Pacific Highway 1. I was haunted by hunger and made the GPS find a nearby restaurant. I chose Asian today. Vietnamese to be exact. 

Then I drove a bit further and reached the downtown of Malibu. Well downtown.. Since this is along the coast and you have a line of mountains behind, the housing will be along the coastal length. (I´ve never heard anyone use the term "coastal length," but you get the picture... maybe I just invented something new in English. As Victor Borge always said: Hey.. it´s your language, I´m just trying to use it.) So Malibu is not exactly a compact town. Everybody wants to either live by the coastal length (hehe..) or have a view... But oh my, you have some marvelous houses there with great gardens and locations! On the way back I hit the rush hour.. big time. According to my GPS, I would be back in around 30 minutes. But it took more like 1.5 hours. Park and ride on a 7 lane freeway.. there you have LA traffic! And ofcourse, everybody here is very "individualistic," so there is only 1 person in each car. And because of status, they need big cars too. It´s not so much "HAHA, I have a bigger car than you." But they need to have a good overview and feel safer in bigger cars. Psychology... And interestingly enough, women are worse than men in that matter. Could a bigger, safer car be a compensation of their inner insecurity? Personally I feel safer with a smaller car which I can feel in control of rather than a big car you can´t control. It also gives me a better feel for the road. Oh well.. different tastes and opinions. Just another way of controlling. 

So we can all agree that it was a nice day! 

Malibu

På torsdag bestemte jeg meg for å dra på sight seeing langs stillehavskysten. San Pedro ligger jo ved kysten på en halvøy. Det går en vei langs hele kysten, via Santa Monica Beach i Los Angeles og inn på Highway 1 som forbi Malibu og hele veien oppover kysten. Denne veien er en turistattraksjon i seg selv og det var veldig vakkert må jeg si. Været var strålende og jeg kjørte igjennom noen veldig vakre boligstrøk før jeg kom til LA. Jeg stoppet ved en park for å sitte ved klippen og høre litt på havet. Dette var på kanten av halvøya, så du så inn i LA bukta mot strendene og langs kysten til Malibu på den andre siden. Jeg har hørt om at Malibu er vakkert og et sted der mange TV-stjerner og kjendiser har boliger, så jeg tenkte det var verdt et besøk. Det var jo vakkert, men i og for seg litt plagsomt å kjøre langs kysten, fordi det er jo stoppskilt og lyskryss absolutt hele tiden. Men plutselig var jeg i Santa Monica og kom inn på Pacific Highway 1. Sulten innhentet meg og jeg stilte GPS´en inn på å finne en nærliggende restaurant. Og jeg valgte asiatisk i dag, Vietnamesisk for å være helt eksakt. 

Deretter kjørte jeg litt videre innover og kom til Malibu sentrum. Siden dette ligger langs kysten og du har en fjellinje rett bak, vil jo bebyggelsen være i lengderetningen. Så særlig kompakt er det jo ikke. Alle vil jo enten være ved sjøen eller ha utsikt... Men du verden for noen flotte hus og hager og beliggenheter som var der! På vei tilbake møtte jeg rushtrafikken til gangs. Og turen som i følge GPSen skulle ta en halvtimes tid, tok ca 1,5 timer. Krypkjøring på en 7 felts freeway forteller litt om trafikkmengden i LA området. Og siden alle her er så "individualistiske," er det selvsagt bare 1 i hver bil. Og de må selvsagt ha store biler for å føle at de har status på veiene. Det er ikke så mye "HAHA jeg har større bil enn deg." Men de føler mer oversikt og at de er tryggere med større biler. Psykologi... Og interessant nok er det visstnok kvinner verre enn menn sånn sett. En kompensasjon av indre usikkerhet med en stor bil som er så trygg som mulig? Personlig føler jeg meg tryggere med en mindre bil som jeg kan føle jeg har stor kontroll over og med kontroll over underlaget, fremfor en stor bil som har kontroll over deg. Men hver sin smak.. hver sitt kontrollbehov. 

Og alle var enige om at det hadde vært en fin dag!

San Pedro - English

I´m writing this blog from the basement of the Norwegian Seamen´s Church in San Pedro, the harbor of Los Angeles. It´s Thursday now and I´m enjoying myself here. The usual California weather, which is kinda like the Canary Islands during the winter, has returned after the storms. Apparently all the rain came at once this year. And ofcourse, it started when I arrived. I can practice here at the church and I have a room in the basement where I can live. A wonderful solution! So my days here have consisted of practicing and sight-seeing. You may ask what I´m practicing.. in the middle of a tour and everything. Well, I have an exam concert the 27th of May in Trondheim. I will perform the Scriabin piano concerto with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. And ofcourse, I didn´t get the time to learn it before I left... But the days here, and also the days I had in San Francisco, are really helpful. I don´t feel like I´m in a hurry anymore. I´m on track. 

There´s plenty of things to do here in the LA area. It´s a giant melting pot of cultures. You can seek and find everything you want really. I went to Montclair on Tuesday and visited the Vedic Temple. That´s an hour north of here. It´s been founded by an Indian spiritual Master called Paramahamsa Nityananda. They´ve made a wold-wide foundation called the Life Bliss Foundation. They have a number of workshops and programs on all levels. By all levels I mean everything from everyday "problems" to enlightenment - just like Buddah for instance.. And it´s all about dissolving your ego and the mind which is fed by nonsense for generations. Then you can bring forth your true inner nature - pure Being (Bliss). So it´s about seeking inward and bring out your true essence. I had a very interesting visit to the temple. They showed me around and informed me about their programs. I was told that the purpose of having a temple is to have a place to create and store high energy. It´s hard to explain if you´re not familiar with these things. But they see a temple as a big battery where they can go and "charge" themselves. And all I can do is confirm that the energies were very powerful and "high." Very nice experience. 

Yesterday I went for a drive to Long Beach, almost by chance really. I´m having abit fun with my GPS to tell you the truth. It has something called "points of interest." That means that I can seek a number of things, like restaurants, malls, parks, gas stations etc etc. It will then locate the closest ones. I can click on one of them and it will take me there. So I ended up in Long Beach because I looked for a Wal Mart. After this I searched for parks and visited a nice one by the harbor. Later that afternoon I visited a bigger park south in San Pedro. This is the southernmost point in LA, facing the Pacific Ocean. It was a bit too cold to sit and read, but it will get warmer from now on. 

I´ve already practiced for an hour today. But I´m thinking about going for a drive along the coast all the way to Malibu. I think that would be very idyllic on a day like this! It´s best for me to practice in the evening here, becuase the church is closed by then and I can have everything for myself. Tomorrow I´m heading to San Dieo for a concert in Solona Beach for the Norwegian Clan down there. And Saturday I will do a performance here at the Seamen´s Church. Then I have another week off. But my parents will arrive on Wednesday to LA for a vacation. They will join me across the continent to Florida. 

Enjoy yourselves wherever you are in the world!