John Fogerty

I have to admit most Swedes have a love affair with John Fogerty. He has been huge in Sweden even after he left Creedence Clearwater Revival. I remember in the eighties, people driving hours from my hometown in Småland to Göteborg (Gothenburg) for you English speakers out there to listen to him in concert. He had a good album with the song "Centerfield" in 1985. The 1986 album "Eye of the Zombie" was a dud. It had it's point with the references to the Reagan Years, but altogether it was a bad album.

Many years went by, I moved to the states permanently in 1994 after a couple of brief stints 1990, 1991-1992. After three years in Knoxville, I heard on the radio one day that John had a new comeback album. It had been ten long years and he had settled the legal mattes with Mr. Zaentz and Fantasy records. Any fan know this injustice done to John so I won't go in to it here, but anyway, the album came out in 1997 it was called "Blue Moon Swamp". In fact people in Sweden refer to John's music as Swamp Rock. It was a pretty good album with some blues, rock and of course some swamp rock.

Where on earth is this going you ask, well let me tell you. I sat done a while ago to tie some fishing flies and I needed some music. I found John's latest "Revival" from last year and the overlooked 2004 album "Deja Vu All Over Again" There are two standout songs on this album in my opinion. The title track "Deja Vu All Over Again" The listener feel the eerie feeling of CCR again and a feeling of Vietnam all over again. We have to remember this song was done at the peak of the Iraq war. If you were against the war publicly back then, you were considered unpatriotic. John sings about the mothers, sending their kids to a war with no end in sight. This song speak to me for some reason. I guess it's appropriate now since the current administration is on it's way out. The second song which stand out in my opinion is the song "Nobody's Here Anymore" It's about how we get lost in our technology and forget our fellow human beings. It's like we think we can eat our mp3 players. The kid is sitting in his room with all the latest computer gear and a stack of Twinkies. It has to be heard to fully be appreciated. Back to tying flies.

New Year and New Hopes

Hope you all had a great New Years Holiday. I have mainly hung around the house doing chores, eating and watching movies. We finished (my wife Lisa and I) another Swedish TV series on DVD which mom brought me back in Sept. It was called "Talismanen" by Jan Guillou and Henning Mankell. Mankell is known widely here in the states as he is the writer of the Inspector Wallander series. They have filmed all the books and made some new for TV as well. Anyway, Talismanen was an entertaining but not ground breaking story with some superstition built in with crime stories. I don't think it's worth running out to try to get a copy but it has great actors from Sweden in it.

I'm going to try to build up my fly collection since I managed to drop my sulphur box in the South Holston River a few months back. I really should be tying instead of blogging. See ya.

I apologize

I have to apologize to the small but dedicated fan base I have. I have been very busy and obviously completely neglected this blog. I'm going to try to give you an update from my life between the last post and today. Puh! here we go. Let me first begin with the picture above. I much rather be fishing and I can't wait until I will be standing in that picture.

As for my life. After the Little River Clean up in November we did a Turkey Creek clean up in Knoxville. We (the FFF club in Knoxville) and Izaak Walton League of America with their local chapter, cleaned up trash along Turkey Creek in the remaining wetland around the development. It was a cold and crispy day but we had a good time. Then a week or so later my wife and I went to see a movie she heard a lot about. "Happy Go Lucky" is the title of it and let me put it this way. I lasted ten minutes before I had to go to the car. My wife came out after another twenty minutes or sol It was pure awful.

Around the house I did some leaf clean up in my yard. I put in a toilet in our master bedroom around Thanksgiving. My wife went to her parents and I stayed around the house doing chores.

I have finally finished my Icelandic crime novel in Swedish translation. It was by my favorite crime writer Arnaldur Indridason. The book "Arctic Chill" should be coming stateside soon if it's not already here. I have begun another Swedish crime novel this week. Kjell Eriksson's "Den Upplysta Stigen" which is his first crime novel from 1999. He wrote a few regular novels before this one but this is his first crime novel. A couple of his books are translated in to english. I personally liked "The Princess of Burundi" which is not about a princess and not about the country of Burundi. He He.

I have tied some flies for my fishing this spring, but I have a long way to go. Mostly I've been tying Zebra Midges with Bead Heads. Lisa my wife and I went to see the latest Bond finally. It was okay but no way near "Casino Royale". I can recommend "Quantum of Solace anyway, for pure adrenaline fun.

This upcoming holiday, probably will be spent at home. We are old and tired and our partying days are over. I might tie some flies and I'm looking forward to my wife's Beef Stew for tomorrow night.

I'm planning on going to see Clint Eastwood's latest "Gran Torino" when it comes out next week.
I'm thinking this is all the important stuff, fishing is on the back burner for me and I'm hoping to do some winter hikes in a few weeks. Until next time bare with me.....

Hello again. It's cold and dreary this morning. We (Federation of Fly fisher in Knoxville) together with TU in Maryville and others cleaned up the riverbanks through Townsend yesterday. It was cold and rainy but not too bad after all. We had a good turnout and the food afterward was great.

I'm trying to finish up Stieg Larsson's book "The Girl With The Dragoon Tattoo" it is pretty good. I also watched two swedish movies yesterday. "Predikanten" by Camilla Läckberg and Martina Haag's "Underbar och Älskad av alla". The first one was an ordinary police drama and the second one a feel good comedy by director Hannes Holm in Sweden. I liked it pretty good. I'm not keen on writing reviews but if you like a somewhat funny and silly comedy you would like this one. It is probably not available through the ordinary distribution channels in the U.S. I got my copy from my mom in Sweden and it's a PAL version region 2. It will only play on a dvd with a region free seeting and converter built in.

I met up with a coworker today, Greg, to fish the Clinch River at Massengill area. It was cold and dreary. I got there at 11 Am and decided to fish a tandem nymph rig. I used a PT BH size 14 with a tied in midge olive BH 20 on the bend. I caught my first Brook Trout ever on the Clinch. A small 6" fish. Greg joined me for a while and we pretty much decide to quit at 1 AM. It was just too cold and nothing biting. We went to Clinton to do some bargain shopping at "Hammers' discount store. Got home pretty early and took a nap. Wow an exciting Sunday. LOL

Well, it's been another week. Work and more work. I guess I should be happy I have a job in these trying times. I have begun reading the first book in Stieg Larsson's "Millenium" trilogy. It's taking off good. The writing is flowing and I guess the translation is pretty good. I'm reading it in English. It is originally published in Sweden. The sad part is that the author passed away of an apparent heart attack at age 50 in 2004. They are now supposedly filming the first book in Sweden.

I haven't fished much lately but I am planning on a trip tomorrow to Clinch River with a coworker. It's supposed to be high fifties in the afternoon. I guess midges will be the ticket. We (Lisa and I, which is my wife by the way) decided to watch an old Swedish classic movie. Göta Kanal, from 1981. This is one of those eighties comedies from Sweden that were so huge. It has not aged well and it is no way near Lasse Åberg material, but fun anyway. One of my all time favorite actors Jan Carlsson, more popularly known as "Loffe" is the lead. He is just so goofy. I feel he has taken a lot fo heat for his somewhat bad performances in Swedish television game shows from the eighties. The guy is pretty funny in movie though. Check out "Jordgubbar med riktig mjölk" from 2001 as well as "Svenska Hjältar from 1997. Not much else to report. I will remain.

I guess it's time for some updates. I have tried to read some books and it's going slow. I'm currently reading an English translation of "Karin Alvtegen's" "Missing". It is pretty good and as I understand it they are working on filming it. As for fishing. Went a couple of hours with Pineman last Sunday to Holston at Nances Ferry. Got skunked. Water temp at 66 degrees. Did a nice hike today with a coworker and her boyfriend. We went to Rainbow Falls in the Cherokee Orchard Area outside Gatlinburg. A very nice and warm day. Unfortunately the drought is causing the creeks to dry up. In this case LeConte Creek. A nice day and maybe I will go fishing tomorrow although I'm supposed to clean the house. Easy choice heh?