365 things you can do

A whole week of things you can do at school is over. We hope your school will be more imaginative, more diverse and that your classmates admire your ingenuity after you have made all seven points.

Generation MP3: I want you to listen. It is time to reclaim the mixtapes. I know many of you don’t even have a cassette player at home but a mix CD will do just fine as well.

But you must remember that the world does not comprise only Crazy Frog, polyphonic ringtones and emo. There’s other music. It must be spread. And the best way to distribute music is to make mixtapes and mix CD’s. But there are some rules:

1. You can only use one song from each artist / band.

2. There needs to be a certain dramaturgy to the mix. Dramaturgy and track order is up to you, but there should be thought behind it.

3. To show that you’ve put your soul into the tape or disc, slap a pretty cover on it. Either draw or write or do a collage of pictures from newspapers and magazines.

After making five discs, send them to five friends along with a letter requesting that they send their own separate disc or playlist to five friends. Perhaps some of the songs from your mix will make it into theirs. Perhaps one of the songs will last several steps down in the chain and get back to you.

When I was little, I had trouble sleeping. I had nightmares about shelters, burglars, men who beat their wives with acoustic guitars and large dragonflies that exploded. To be able to sleep, I started reading comic books. And as you know, comic books often lead to heavier things such as children's books, youth novels and finally there you are eight years old with an 700 page book wondering, who the hell is Stephen King?

The nights grew longer and longer. I didn’t sleep. I wanted to read. After a while I started to ask myself who were these people who had their names written on the books. I realized they were writers. I was told that it was possible to be one. I learned that this could be a profession.

After that I had my dream in my hands.
I decided to become a writer.

From the gray something else comes forward. Welcome. Photo: Joakim Stampe

Today’s guest blogger is named Joakim Stampe, who lives in Gothenburg and is an artist.

The last point of our festival week. We look forward to more creative, intelligent, muscular and open-minded audiences of all festivals in Sweden now. Do not forget to send us pictures of what you did at festivals you visited, info@365saker.se.

The word “nerd” has different meanings depending on who you ask. If you would stop me on the street and ask me, I would smile a big smile from the corners of my mouth. Being a nerd is to be devoted, to love things and phenomena sincerely and to dedicate time and effort to really get involved in this. Star Wars, plate spotting, Harry Potter, Manga, books, flowers, birds or anything really. To be a nerd is to love.

Sometimes, however, I realize that I associate myself with too many music geeks. Myself included. When I go to festivals I always make room for bands that I should see. Bands and artists that I know are good. Sometimes I almost wish that I’d play dice with the schedule and instead go to see an artist I knew nothing about. That I didn’t sit and listen to a selection of bands I decided on before the festival. So my tip for your next visit to a festival is to dare to be unprepared and to dare to listen to bands you've never heard before.