Today, a long day. I planned to meet Björn by the aquarium in front of the ticket bureau of the Stockholm Central rail station at 12:15. I got into town rather early and decided to catch some of the scheduled festivities around the Kings birthday, at the palace in the Gamla Stan (Old Town). So I rushed down and was able to make a rather good audio recording of the 21-gun salute and the fighter-jet flyover, as well as the Royal Army Band playing some marches at noon. I then ran back to the Central Station and met Björn a few minutes late. Our first stop was Galerie Nordenhake, one of the more prominent galleries in Stockholm where we met Bettina Pehrsson and the gallery owner, Claes Nordenhake. We then stopped at another gallery, trE, after checking out the situation with the 400-meter-long smogasbord on Kungsgatan -- which wasn't to begin until 15:00, exactly the same time as the King was scheduled to make another appearance at the palace. We opted to head for the palace after I bolted down a huge salad bar lunch at a tacky French restaurant while Björn had coffee. (I did eat too much today!) Well, not much to be said for the continued spectacle for the King's birthday. He made another appearance, first on the balcony of the palace, then on the veranda with his wife and kids. One wonders about the aristocracies/monarchies of Europe, their function (if indeed they still have one other than something of a clowning sedative for the over-stimulated masses as they approach the brink of the Millineum). Enough said. I did get a few more audio captures which are sure to come in useful in later days of digital production... Bettina did tell me exactly where the Art Node offices are on Skeppsholmen, so after saying goodbye to Björn, I walked over just to see where they are for future reference (of course, nobody was around...). I then headed back to the 'burbs. I got back to the house around 18:00 and helped get a barbeque started -- the special day of celebration features big bonfires all around the country in the evening, fireworks, and family activities. We took the Winnebago over to the nearest bonfire where we met Cristel (and I did a portrait of her and four of her friends). We had coffee and cookies in the Winnebago. The USA vs Sweden hockey match was won by the US, and Canada beat Finland, so Scandinavia is out of the competition, much to Martin's dismay. Strange to be mixing spectacles like this, first witnessing (rather than watching) the King's party (well, part of it, at least, including a 21-gun salute, two big warships moored in front of the palace, multi-jet fly-over, hipp-hipp-hoorah three times, yellow flowers decking the palace railings, a men's choir, a womens choir, and a childrens choir, and loyal subjects singing to the 50-year-old benign monarch), and then seeing the hockey match, then seeing footage of the King and Queen in a receiving line shaking hands and kissing people ad infinitum, and then going to the bonfire, and then back to the teevee watching first a bad English police series (extremely violent and graphic), then a bad American police series. Pretty numbing, the combination of activities. The today of one of the most "civilized" countries of the world ...

On a totally different note (production of spectacle rather than consumption. I just had work (the book of 1000 Buddhas, as a video installation) accepted for a show in Uppsala at Ekeby Qvarn. I called Luciano Escanillo, the organizer, just to check in and see if I should go to Uppsala, he thought it would be a good idea, but do I have the time? Maybe Saturday, but I will be going to Pori via Tampere and Turku on the Silja Line boat early on Sunday morning to see Kaisu Koivisto, so, I don't think I'll have time... Tomorrow the Swedish Stock Exchange will allow trading via the Web. Wonder how that will go? Seems to be a bit risky.