Tomorrow, I was supposed to go on tour in Russia and the Ukraine with my own band, the Håvard Stubø Quartet, but now it seems like it´s all gonna be canceled. God damn it.
The reason is of course the volcano Eyjafjallajökull on Iceland, which is currently spewing out an enormous cloud of ashes all over northern Europe, grounding all air traffic in Norway, Denmark, the UK, western Russia, etc.
Tapani was supposed to come, too, he´s sitting in for the band´s regular bass player, Torbjörn Zetterberg. We were really looking forward to the trip – I´ve never been to Russia or the Ukraine before, and was very excited about going there.
There might still be some hope of making the tour, or at least making the Ukraine part of it happen. Let´s see. Seems like it will take a major shift in the weather or a pause in the eruption to make flying possible…
Well, here´s some video from the bloody volcano:
And these local guys are taking it with a (slightly uncomfortable) smile:
Fredrik, the supertalented genius of the band, is not only a great drummer and flyfisherman, but also one of the best chefs I know, a real athlete, painter, photographer, author, and last but not least, singer. Here he shows something not many people can do: sing the lowest C-note that is on the piano. Simply stunning.
This little video is from my first day of fly fishing up north this year. Lots of ice and not too much fish, but it still felt fabulous to be out and about, fencing with the fly rod!
Here’s a glimpse of one of the fishing trips me and Fredrik did last week. It was the first week of the sea trout season and despite mostly cold and windy weather we had some nice moments of sunshine. I also got a chance to test my new JFF-camera: it’s a GoPro HD Hero videocamera that is waterproof and very tiny. Easy to carry on wherever you go. The week was not only blue skies and sunshine, and also the darker moments were captured on film. So there’s more to come…
Oh yes, I almost forgot! The music on this video clip is a sneak peek to the material we recorded a few weeks ago. The tune is called “Hatch”, and is one of my compositions for this band. It’s not mixed yet, and I mercilessly faded out from the beginning of Tapani’s wonderful bass solo. Sorry Tap!
Me and Joona went to a well known area outside Gothenburg. As we drove to the fishing spot we listened to our new “not-yet-made-CD” in the car. It sounds really hip! Joona also filmed some weird stuff in the car with his brand new super secret camera. He is filming everything (all the time) and since his camera is very small, you cannot see it. I must destroy the content of that camera, otherwise thera will be problems. Hmmm…
Anyway, it was a beautiful day, the first warm spring day this year. We were aiming for the sea trout. We found the sea trout. We caught the sea trout. A NICE sea trout! My biggest so far actually. You see, here along the west coast of Sweden, the trouts in the sea doesn’t get very big. The average size is around, let’s say 37 cm. If you catch one around 50 cm, it is a quite good day. This trout that bit over my fly today had the length of 61 cm! The rod was bent to an o, I was screaming and Joona was (of course) filming. What a day. Later Joona caught a couple of nice trouts.
In the evening I made a nice and easy done fish soup. I have to say that sea trout is one of the best fishes on the dinner table. Some white wine, homemade bread, the soup, jazz music and a bunch of good friends made that evening really nice. It is the JFF-lifestyle.
Lot’s of things are happening right now. The spring is coming, we are allowed to fish for the sea trout, the snow is gone, flowers starts to pop up in the nature and… most important of all: I am free to fish 24 hours a day in one week. So are J-man. The water is still very cold, around one degree (Celsius), something that transforms our legs to ice after a couple of hours out there in the water.
The first fishing day paid of – Joona caught a nice one around one kilo and I managed to catch a slightly bigger one (yes). Since it was the first trout of the year, it of course followed me home to join for dinner. Later this week we will show a nice and easy way to make them very tasty!
There are fly fishers out there who always release the fish, no matter what. Well, I’m not one of those cats (but I release most of the fish I catch), I like to cook and eat fish and feels great to skip the ugly fish in the freeze-box and eat fresh fish instead – fish that not belong to the big ugly fish-industri (grow fast, feed them with pellets, give them more pellets, make them bigger, make them to monsters, sell it to the people who can’t see how we are doing this)
Actually, I realize that I have to go now, Joona is picking me up in five minutes.
Like Joona, Fredrik and Håvard, I too have been complaining here many times about how the winter is too long, ice is too thick and how I have my fly fishing gear back in Finland etc… About stuff that prevents us from going fishing.
Well, yesterday on Good Friday I got a call from a friend of mine – a great bass player called Joel. He asked if I would like to go fishing with him. I knew that we were talking about fishing with spinning rods but I still couldn’t resist the offer. It had been too long time since the last time I was fishing.
As we met at the gas station to buy some groceries, it turned out that he only had one fishing rod – and even worse – only one spoon with him. We would have to manage with that.
I had a feeling this would not be an ordinary kind of fishing trip.
Joel, my guide for this trip
When we biked to the place, it turned out that my guide’s secret spot was just next to a powerplant in an abandoned shipyard. I got the shivers as we moved further. This looks like the place Håvard’s monster cod must live in – I remember thinking at that time…
Strange place for cod fishing
I was a bit sceptical at this point
When we arrived, the sea looked so beautiful. I almost forgot that just behind my back was a huge wind turbine flapping it’s wings. Joel took the first cast with his primitive gear. Sometimes fly fishing can get a bit serious I though to my self. It was nice to relax, I had no pressure of catching fish at least. It would be impossible to catch with this gear and only one spoon…
But then it happened! Joel shouted: “I have it!” And there it was. The cod! The big torsk was bending his rod to the limit as he was fighting it. And in the next moment it was gone. Next cast and another torsk was on! This time he got it up after the fight. And the next cast was mine. And there it was again – my turn to fight the torsk! We were having fun without fly fishing – I couldn’t believe it. And with only one lucky spoon!
Here is a short and shaky video clip from my cell phone:
While Håvard, Joona and Fredrik are gearing up for the start of the fishing season, I’m left gritting my teeth with all my fishing stuff, flies, rods and reels left behind in Finland. (As I mentioned earlier, I had no space left in my luggage when moving to Copenhagen because of the double bass…) For the time being I have had no options to go and get them, and it looks like it may well be may before it happens… Lot’s of jazz and no fly fishing is still ok I keep telling myself…
Instead of fishing, I’ve been going to jam sessions. The importance of jam sessions cannot be undermined for jazz musicians. The roots of this social phenomenon were formed already before and during the bepop era, in 1940’s. Usually there is a set presented by the house band followed by performances of freely formed groups of jazz musicians involving professional and amateur jazz cats alike. The music is improvised on the spot usually on top of the themes and structures of well known jazz standards.
Jam sessions keep musicians always on their toes since no group and session are the same. For the audience it is usually easy to point out, who is making music and who is not. Many times there can be 7 saxophone players waiting to get to show off their soloing skills and the poor bass player has to comp for the whole session since there is almost allways fewer bass players than saxophonists or piano players.
Of course, when this monday I went to Copenhagen’s Blågårds Apotek to get rid of my fishing angst and get to play some good jazz, there were not one or two other, but an armada of alltogether 7 (!) bass players waiting for their turn. I had my chance for two tunes, which was great fun after all.
These great photos from last monday’s session are courtesy of Michael Bauer and they are published under creative commons sa-3.0 license.
The last few weeks I’ve been feeling quite uncomfortable in my own body. It’s like there’s something crawling inside that keeps me somewhat nervous all the time. My wife calmly noticed that I’ve spent a hell lot of money on fishing literature, gear and DVDs lately. No way I can deny that. -It’s because of the abstinence, I say, and know it’s true.
Tomorrow it is the 1st of April, a big day for most of the fishermen in the west coast of Sweden. That’s when the sea trout season begins and the shores get filled by eager fishermen, ones just like me. Well – it’s just that I won’t be fishing on the 1st of April. It’s like being a kid and celebrating Christmas a bit later than the other kids. I will spend that day at work just like normal people do (apart from those who take a day off on the 1/4). Anyway, from Friday on I’m on vacation for a whole ten days and that might include some fishing…
Here are some happy pictures from last years’ season starts:
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