#and i felt the same in helsinki a couple of years ago

[daandori]

wonder if ill ever get to stop being so despondently envious of seeing girls here that get to travel with a fun group of friends

[seventhrounder]

I went thru my folder with old hockey magazines I had saved from around 2011 to 2015 and came across this one and thought it could be a fun to make a post about now in hindsight.

This is Jääkiekko magazine from May 2012, they always have a section of "99 questions with ..." and in this issue they interviewed Teräväinen.

I’ve translated the questions I found interesting under the cut! It ended up being about half of the interview. (*) are my additions.

On the cover "seuraava superjokeri" means the next super joker, he played for Helsingin Jokerit so it's a word play from that. Under, on the blue print it says: "The 17-year-old forward will become a first round draft pick in the summer. The natural goal scorer can dominate in SM-Liiga as soon as next season."

In the 2nd photo the headline and lead paragraph goes:

"A post with dents* - A year ago Teuvo Teräväinen was known only within a small number of hockey insiders. Few passers-by recognize him now either but after a flashy rookie season the Jokerit sensation is on the radar of every NHL team and is a strong contender to become a first round draft pick. Next season with Jokerit the talented second line center will be one of the main talking points in the SM-Liiga."

(*references the net Teräväinen had in his backyard and into which he practiced his shooting)

3. You've been described as a magician, top scorer, wunderkind and a prodigy. What do you think of these descriptions?

TT: Heh, those are some descriptions yeah. What can I really say? Don't really wanna comment on them much.

4. How nervous are you about the Draft?

TT: I try not to be nervous as best as I can. In a way I don't have anything to be nervous about since I don't care which team picks me or at what number I go.

6. Which is stressing you more, English interviews or physical tests?

TT: Maybe both. Bench press (laughs) and English interviews can be tough.

12. How far along have you planned your career with, for example, your parents or your agent?

TT: Haven't really planned things with others but I've thought about them myself. I try to go step by step and not jump too far ahead.

14. How does it feel to be so young with all the star players in Jokerit?

TT: How to say it? I haven't felt like I was young but a part of the team instead. The team's been very good with me and they haven't been looking down at me like: "oh he's young". It's been fun to play in an experienced team.

15. Is there a generational gap between players?

TT: You can see the age difference, older players look older but we're all childish, at least with our topics.

17. What does a 17-year-old do in the sauna nights of the team?

TT: I actually haven't been in any yet. I've always been at national team's camps or something.

19. Did you get the number you wanted?

TT: I did, yeah. I could've taken #18 but Semir (Ben-Amor) has it. But i'm happy with #86, it's good.

23. What are your strengths as a player?

TT: Offensive play and with that playing with the puck, passing, IQ, power play and skill, just the usual skill - skill with hands.

24. And weaknesses?

TT: They are to do with defensive play, strength and physicality. Battles and such but I think I took a step forward last season. That's a good thing.

25. Have you ever been "pressed into a mold" or has your playing style gotten to develop naturally?

TT: As a kid the play was mostly offensive/attacking, I didn't have to think about playing defence. Up until 15 years old, I got to attack pretty freely. Playing defence became more important when I started to play in A-juniors a couple seasons ago.

26. On a scale from 1 to 10 how determined are you?

TT: Maybe 8, feels like an 8.

32. What kind of role are you planning to take with Jokerit next season?

TT: I think a pretty big one. I try to be a top player and not just take others' example but give others example myself too. So that someone in the team can take something out of the way I do things on the ice and off the ice.

35. If you could pick anyone, who would be your car driver?

TT: Nico Manelius for sure. He's been my driver this season. I've had others too, like Riku Hahl but he's not nearly at the same level. Nico’s clearly the best.

36. What are the most important qualifications to be a good driver?

TT: The car is obviously important. Hahl's car is totally awful, he takes a lot of heat for it from the guys too. I wouldn't dare driving with him. Manelius is a steady performer, never lets you down.

38. What sports did you play as a 10-year-old?

TT: Hockey and floorball, probably football (soccer) during the summers at the time too.

42. When did you decide to focus only on hockey?

TT: So when I stopped playing other sports? Three years ago, before that floorball was kind of a side thing, I played a couple of games in the regular season and playoffs.

45. Do you follow floorball or other sports? Go to games?

TT: I don't go to games but I like to watch floorball on TV, it's an interesting sport. Sometimes I watch football too but I don't follow it much. Feels like they never score there.

47. Have you ever played with a wooden stick?

TT: As a kid I did play with a wooden stick.

49. You won the hockey players' golf tournament last summer even though there were more experienced players too. Are you good with all stick games?

TT: Well, I've been pretty good in all of them. I've played golf for a long time and still play it.

50. How is your swing?

TT: Pretty bold, kind of a hockey swing. I don't really care where the ball goes - as long as it goes far.

52. What do you think of off-ice training?

TT: Let's just say it's more stupid than being on the ice but you still gotta do it to be better on the ice.

56. Which word describes your professional relationship (with his coach, Tomek Valtonen), tranquil or colorful?

TT: Colorful of course. At times we're joking around, other times it's more serious but the relationship is really good.

57. Coaching you has been described in many words: good, bad, worse. What are they?

TT: Heh, well... I won't tell them here. He (Tomek) keeps the discipline during practices but sometimes when things haven't gone to a plan I've had to jump on an exercise bike in the middle of a practice.

58. What have been the reasons?

TT: I'll quote Tomek: "when I haven't been present".

59. Have you ever tried to turn the resistance of the bike to zero?

TT: (Laughs) Of course I have and sometimes I've even succeeded.

60. Describe your diet in three words?

TT: Greasy, healthy and good!

64. Your first name is not common for people your age. How did your parents come up with it?

TT: I actually don't even know. Maybe they didn't want a usual Ville*....

(*very common name for men of all ages in Finland)

66. Which of these is the most important: skill, unexpectedness or courage?

TT: Skill!

68. Your longest video game stint?

TT: Six hours, at least. I've played a lot of War of Duty lately.

72. The dumbest thing that has made you upset in hockey?

TT: Probably if I didn't get an assist on a goal even though I should have. Or even worse is if I score and they mark it down for someone else.

79. Have you had any concussions?

TT: I haven't had any, I've managed to always dodge them.*

(*ouch, tho it's good the recent one is his only as far as i remember)

84. In 2011 Team Finland finished in the 5th place at the U-18 tournament. Why only as 5th?

TT: Because we lost to Team Russia in the quarter final, just as well we could have won that game too.

89. You didn't get to be on the ice to accept the SM-Liiga bronze medal (because of the U-18's). When and where did you get it?

TT: I actually still haven't received it, I don't know where it is.

93. What is the population of Helsinki?

TT: There's like 5 million people in Finland so maybe around 500k in Helsinki? (to be exact 596k) Did i really get it right...?

94. Who's the mayor of Helsinki?

TT: I don't know, I barely know the president.

95. Do you think the municipalities in the capital city area should merge?

TT: Luckily I don't have to decide but they probably shouldn't.

96. What do you check first in the news paper?

TT: The sports section.

97. Your favorite tv show?

TT: Putous* was pretty good, I liked a lot of the characters. The grandma was pretty good.

(*Finnish live improvisation comedy/sketch show (there are still new seasons, the latest just finished). Every actor comes up with a humor character with a catchy phrase and one of them wins. "The grandma" is Marja Tyrni and I just got such flashbacks from typing this sentence.)

98. Last book you read?

TT: I don't read many books. The last book was a study book, a Finnish book. I wrote an essay on Tiki (Esa) Tikkanen's biography. An eventful book, great career and a lot of chirps.

99. Who should we ask the 99 questions next?

TT: Riku Hahl could have good stories, he's also seen a lot of the world.

[fyeahkarenchen]

Karen Chen could not help herself. Even while trying to narrow her focus only to the free skate she was about to do at the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships, the bigger picture distracted her 17-year-old mind.

As she came out for her warm-up with the leading six skaters after the short program, Chen, in her first senior worlds, glanced at the overall standings on the video board in Helsinki’s Hartwall Arena. The numbers showed that her veteran teammate, Ashley Wagner, then 25, competing in her seventh worlds after winning silver the year before, had a free skate result that left her in danger of losing ground from her seventh place after the short program.

That meant the United States was in danger of not having a third women’s spot at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which had happened at two other Olympics when countries earned entries, in 1994 and 2010.

It meant Chen, fifth after the short program, not only realized but also admitted knowing that in this individual sport, this performance wouldn’t be only about her.

That will also be true at the 2021 World Championships beginning Wednesday in Stockholm, where Chen and reigning U.S. women’s champion Bradie Tennell are trying to earn a third women’s entry for their country at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Whether the denouement is as dramatic as in 2017 is yet to be seen.

“2017 seems so long ago, but at the same time, when I close my eyes, I can remember my exact feelings,” Chen said via telephone a day before leaving for Sweden Friday.

“I understood what the stakes were: three spots for the Olympic team. So I did feel pressure. At the end of the day, when I stepped onto the ice and then got into my opening pose, all that started to melt away because my focus had to be just on skating my absolute best.”

Then as now, this is the math, for both the next year’s worlds and, every fourth year, for an upcoming Olympics: the top two U.S. women in the standings needed final places that added up to 13 or fewer to get the third spot.

The third U.S. skater in 2017, Mariah Bell, was not a factor after a 12th in the short program and a 13th-place free skate that would leave her 12th. Wagner’s error-filled (and 10th-place) free skate meant that as Chen took the ice, she felt there was little room for error.

“I definitely did not make her job any easier,” Wagner said then.

Chen reeled off her first eight jumps with ease before struggling on the final two, one a fall. She recovered to finish with a characteristically brilliant layback spin.

That turned out to be more than good enough, especially after reigning bronze medalist Anna Pogorilaya of Russia imploded in the free skate. Chen finished fourth and Wagner seventh. Wagner later tweeted her thanks to Chen for “saving America.”

It also turned out, fittingly, that the spot Chen saved was the one she eventually earned for the 2018 Olympics, joining Tennell and Mirai Nagasu in South Korea.

“I have my ups and downs for sure,” Chen said. “But after that performance, I was genuinely surprised about how I handled that [pressure]. Looking back at it now, it gives me confidence that if I could do it then, it is definitely in me to do it again.”

Chen has not been back to worlds since 2017. After a disappointing 11th at the 2018 Olympics, she withdrew from the 2018 worlds with a foot injury and boot issues. She missed the entire 2019 season with a stress fracture, then enrolled at Cornell University in the fall of 2019 but left after the pandemic hit, finishing her first year remotely while moving to Colorado Springs to rejoin her longtime coach Tammy Gambill. Chen is on leave this academic year and next.

“Coming off the year with the stress fracture, I wasn’t sure where I was going with my career or my life,” Chen said. “Then I decided to tack on school, which made my post-Olympic challenges even more challenging.

“I realized last year how much skating meant to me. I can’t be skating forever, so I wanted to go for another two years to try to make the Olympic team again, then refocus on school.”

Chen, third at this year’s U.S. Championships, got the second spot for Sweden over runner-up Amber Glenn based on criteria that take into account results at events over two seasons. The U.S. women did not have a third worlds/Olympic spot from 2009 through 2013, regained it from 2014 through 2018, lost it for 2019 and 2020 and had no chance for 2021 because the pandemic cancelled the 2020 worlds.

Coincidentally, Tennell also relocated to Colorado Springs last spring to work with a different coach, Tom Zakrajsek. Chen said although she and Tennell are often asked separately about regaining the third spot, they have discussed it only briefly with each other.

“There is pressure but there is nothing we can do about it,” Chen says, “What we can control is how we perform and train leading up to worlds.”

Can they reclaim the third spot? Based on the hypothetical (and highly unlikely) case that the three Russian and three Japanese women all skate cleanly, even clean performances by Tennell and Chen may leave them seventh and eighth, although a flawless Tennell would presumably have a shot at fifth even in a flawless field.

Without quads or triple axels, the programs Tennell and Chen did at 2021 nationals have substantially lower potential technical base values in the free skate than the 2021 nationals programs of the top two Russians, senior worlds rookies Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, and the leading Japanese woman, Rika Kihira. The two U.S. women’s base values also are slightly below the potential numbers for the third Russian, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who struggled with a watered-down program at her nationals because she had been sidelined by COVID-19 a couple weeks earlier.

Tennell, who has been working on a triple axel, declined to say last week if it had become consistent enough to try it at worlds. She gave a sidelong answer to the question of whether she needed higher-value jumps to ever contend for a world or Olympic medal.

“I can only go out there and skate to the best of my ability, what I’m training every day,” Tennell said last week. “As long as I do that, I think I will be happy. What more can I ask of myself than my very best?

“If I’m so worried about what everybody else is doing, it’s not a good mental strategy for me. Of course, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want a spot on that podium.”

A third Olympic spot, no matter how it comes about, would also be a worthy accomplishment.

[son-of-alderaan]

When Jasper Pääkkönen walked out of the audition room after reading for the main white supremacist role in BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee was absolutely convinced the actor was born and bred in the States – which is fittingly symbolic for a film based entirely on false perceptions, impersonations, and doppelgängery of almost Shakespearean proportions.

“At some point Spike looked at my last name, which has a lot of umlauts, a lot of dots,” Pääkkönen told Mashable during an hour-long phone interview as he was driving through the Finnish countryside towards the capital.

“Spike stops me in the middle of the scene and goes, ‘Hold on, hold on, hold on! Where are you from?’ And I go, ‘um, Helsinki, Finland.’

That’s right – the most vociferous character in Lee’s poignant and powerful reincarnation of 1970s Colorado Springs white supremacy terrorism is portrayed by an actor from the country ranked as the world’s happiest in 2018.

By the time the audition was done, Lee's mind was blown. “‘You’re not from Helsinki, Finland – you’re from Alabama,’" Pääkkönen recalls Lee saying. "And he starts laughing. I wasn’t sure if it’s a good laugh or a bad laugh."

Turns out it was a very good laugh, because Pääkkönen was cast right there and then as Felix Kendrickson, who epitomises the kind of misguided white male privilege and extremism that infected and filled the ranks of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s — and has once again reared its ugly head alongside the rise of far-right populist politics around the world.

Felix, a Holocaust-denier and terrorist, is second-in-command of a Klan branch being infiltrated by an undercover police team, led by Colorado Springs’ first black officer – Ron Stallworth (portrayed by John David Washington – Denzel Washington’s son). The movie, based on Stallworth’s memoir, remains more or less historically accurate – he infiltrated the Klan, and was, on paper, a card-carrying member, and yes, he really did speak to David Duke on the phone (portrayed by Topher Grace in the film), the then-Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. 

And not just when he was undercover, but more recently, when Duke allegedly called Stallworth to complain BlacKkKlansman made him look bad. 

Pääkkönen's character embodies the toxic rage fueled by a flawed ideology.

Felix is, in many ways, David Duke’s doppelgänger – they are two sides of the same coin. While Duke – always the wolf in sheep’s clothing, tempering his outbursts – is presented in the movie as the precursor to Trump and his "Make America Great Again" slogan, Felix is the extension and epitome of that racist rage as it has been normalised today. He does not hide that fragile yet militant, determined yet deluded, look we’ve been forced to familiarise ourselves with – from pictures of the tiki-torch-carrying white men during last year’s Charlottesville Unite the Right rally to video of alt-right members performing Nazi salutes.

BlacKkKlansman was released exactly one year after the deadly rally, where a woman, Heather Heyer, was killed by a man who deliberately crashed his car into a group of protestors.

Those unspeakable scenes are featured in the film itself because Lee isn’t just making a period drama here. BlacKkKlansman is, above all else, about how the past continues to exist in the present, albeit in different guises. And Pääkkönen's casting is a powerful statement in a commentary about the global spread of an ideology that some may have thought was starting to fizzle out. But then again, as Lee keeps reminding us, nothing is as it seems on the surface.

When Pääkkönen was 17, he spent a year in Maryland as an exchange student at Baltimore’s Owings Mills High School during the 1997-8 school year. He says that experience exposed him firsthand to how racism has permeated the social fabric in America.

“I remember my first weeks of high school is when I realised white and black students were two completely separated groups,” Pääkkönen says. “You get boxed by the colour of skin and everything else is sort of secondary.”

And as most classic high school coming-of-age stories go, Pääkkönen’s time at Owings Mills hit its critical point at prom, one of the quintessential institutions of the American way of life. Pääkkönen took his closest friend from school as his date, and to his surprise, the decision was met with outright protest by “a lot of the people in the community, my host family, some school friends — white school friends.”

The issue was that his date was black and, as Pääkkönen was told, "you don’t do that in America."

"I was breaking the unwritten rule," he says.

Dapper 18-year-old Jasper Pääkkönen's prom night.

That was 20 years ago in a fairly upper-middle class district, in a school with diverse cultural backgrounds. Mashable reached out to the school's principal and vice-principal regarding Pääkkönen's recollection of his time there, but received no reply.

As the central thesis of BlacKkKlansman keeps reminding us, the battle against racism and xenophobia is far from over  – although the pattern is perhaps somewhat different in Finland, where everything has changed over the past 20 years. Today, the Nordic country has come to be recognised around the world for its respect for human rights, freedom of the press, education, and healthcare.

After completing his exchange year and going back home, Pääkkönen kept in touch via Facebook with his American friends and prom date over the years. “She used to send me articles about Finland, completely blown away by the fact that we have this society that seemed to her like a utopia," he says. That stayed with Pääkkönen over the years — the fact that two teenagers in the 1990s could be living such different lives.

The cast of 'BlacKkKlansman'.

Pääkkönen received some coaching and assistance from the exchange student organisation before moving to Maryland to help prepare him for these inevitable cultural differences. "They kept telling us, don’t believe what you see," he says. "If you get shocked by something, just give it some time and you’ll start understanding it.

"I remember I kept telling myself during my first month there, 'This skin colour issue can’t be true,'" Pääkkönen says, bursting out in uncomfortable laughter.

"Six months later, I had to accept the fact that my first impression was the right one. I was different from the other white kids because colour wasn't the precursor for whom I made friends with — I was seen as that foreigner trying to change traditions."

When Pääkkönen told Lee about his time at Owings Mills, Lee responded with the three words that underscore most 'Spike Lee Joints': "Welcome to America."

Spike Lee on the set of 'BlacKkKlansman'.

Pääkkönen continuously found himself lost in translation. “People in Baltimore wouldn’t believe me when I told them I’m Finnish and when I told them what life here is like," he said. Then, once back home, people would show the same kind of disbelief when he shared stories of how segregated his school was in the U.S.

When Lee met him, the director was convinced he was the guy for the part — "That's my guy," as Lee said in an interview.

"When I got a call from my agent about the audition, I was told there's no script, but that I was going to be sent two scenes," Pääkkönen says. "That's all I had."

There was no mention about the location in those scenes, but there was a general sense the scenes were taking place somewhere in the South. So he WhatsApped a friend from Kentucky, who recorded the lines for him. For a couple of days he replayed the audio recordings and learned to mimic her accent until it felt natural.

When he learned the film was set in Colorado Springs, Pääkkönen booked an accent coach. But Lee told him to forget about it and do everything just like he did in the audition. "Don't change anything," he said.

Felix attempting a bomb plot against civil right activists.

Yet, even though the latest Spike Lee joint was Pääkkönen's first Hollywood project, it was not his first film portraying a white supremacist.

“I made a Finnish film about five years ago, called Heart of a Lion, which is a film about neo-Nazis, and I had to get pretty deep into it to understand my character,” Pääkkönen says. “I worked with a reformed neo-Nazi for a while, a very prominent figure in the 1990s in Finland, trying to understand what motivates these people.”

While the histories of the spread of nationalism and racism differ across borders, the consequences, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, follow a pattern — an increase in hate speech and crimes, the emboldening of xenophobic political discourse, and the activation of fractions of society that have hitherto remained on the fringes.

Lee recently visited Pääkkönen in Helsinki and addressed that exact question. "‘Don’t think this is a film about just American problems,'" Pääkkönen recalls Lee telling reporters there. "'It’s a film about what’s happening here and in France, in the UK and all around Europe. The rise of the far-right movement is quite prominent in the States, but it’s just as prominent in a lot of European countries as well.'”

Felix is the only character who is suspicious of the detectives. 

If BlacKkKlansman is a powerful political statement about the enduring grip of racism for Spike Lee, for Pääkkönen it was actually a reset button on his relationship with America. Following the release of the movie, he says he would be stopped randomly on the street by people thanking him for bringing Felix to life.

"I remember this older black lady, who looked deeply into my eyes and held my hand in hers and said, 'Thank you so much for portraying this hatred,'” Pääkkönen says.

Pääkkönen has always been an outsider looking in on the cultural divides that underpin everyday life in America. For the first time with this film, he says, that barrier was broken.

"You realise that they didn't just go into the movies and watch the film as a story about America in the 1970s without having too much emotional attachment," he says. "The personal experience that comes through when you receive that feedback is quite a shocking revelation into how serious it is. And what people have lived with and what kind of hatred they’ve encountered in their own lives."

When asked if he's received any negative feedback following the film, or if he's been targeted by far-right trolls, Pääkkönen says he hasn't — at least not yet.

But then, just as 20 years ago during prom, Pääkkönen today remains firm in his moral code. "I’ve been an actor for 20 years and I’ve encountered all kinds of criticism, so I couldn't care less about some racist idiots trying to @ me today."

[mr-bowerbird]

A Designer of  the Generation.

Asit Mandal is a designer who thrives on freshness and wit. He's someone who is on a constant search of inspiration. He inspires us everyday with his bold, yet eclectic and artistic approach. It's very rare to come across someone who has a knack for taking the ordinary and turning it into something uniquely extraordinary.

Chatting over cups of what he calls therapeutic tea, we discovered Asit's house to be a personal museum of sorts. Filled to the brim with one of a kind pieces picked up from his numerous travels. Every little nook and corner is filled with these artefact like pieces. No wonder he and and his maid are always at loggerheads about dusting and cleaning!

Here's a little glimpse inside Mr Mandals head and a little peek into his charming little apartment.

Asit currently works with Ed-Hardy India and instills the brand with his rich design and philosophical approach.

Q. What are you working on these days?

A. A couple of projects but I have been traveling a lot in last few months and feel guilty for not being on schedule. At work I’m currently designing the Autumn Winter 18 collection for Ed Hardy India. In my personal time there are some interiors and home products shoots that I am trying to finish.   

Q. Do you always like what you create? Rather do you always create what you like?

A. It is a really good question....well in the beginning when I am given a task to create something its not necessary that i completely relate with it or like it. But once i get into the process I always create what I like.

Q. You are in your day job but would you like to go on your own in future?

A. I am not sure but I definitely always want to do something creative on the side. I love to look for inspiration from day–to-day life and anything done with creativity inspires me. Currently I am making my portfolio in styling home products and space design. Interiors photography is also something that I am really interested in. There are so many ideas running in my head and I am sure all of this is taking me in a defined direction.

Q. What makes you happy? Can you define it in detail with setting?

A. I like happy people around me that makes me happy. Hanging out with friends with good music in the background is just a perfect day. Basically food, music and friends are my way of being happy. Gardening is one of my newer passions and I love the greens and the cold.

Q. You seem to have a lot of friends. Have you always been like that or it has developed over a period of time and how? 

A. As a kid I was “lost in my own world”. I have 3 siblings and they completed all that I needed in a friend. I was in my safe zone and it allowed me to explore my curiosity towards nature, people, different cultures and different backgrounds. I love observing people and their behaviour. This actually helped me to connect with people better.

Q. What are those things in your surrounding that you wish to change? Define your ideal world.

A.  I don’t like any fixed ideas. I feel people in general have so many possibilities within them but they don’t really explore. Reasons can be many. I believe people should become self aware and have bigger perspectives and inspirations that keep them moving.

Q. You seem to be a collector, every hole and corner of your house has something interesting to look at and admire. Talk about somethings that are closest to you and where did you find them.

A. Whenever I travel I always pick up things to carry back home. I love collecting various handicrafts, pop art related posters, post cards, packaging material, rugs, textiles and ceramics. I like to collect various things my likings because it creates tangible memories of the land I have traveled to.

Q. What evident changes do you see in yourself now, when you look back at yourself five years ago?

A. I see a lot of changes in myself, there were a few rough years in the middle, that broke me up completely, but when I came out of it my whole world changed. I became more inspired and an open person, I started treasuring smaller things. It helped me build my own identity, I became more specific about my needs and things that I did not want. I like to keep people that inspire me and keep adding the inspiration. Hence I am very selective now.

Q. Do you like traveling, can you tell us about your favourite places that you have visited. 

A. I love traveling. Its always exciting to see new places and experience different cultures. If I have to list down my favourite places Ladakh comes first. Ladakh is out of the world, it is something everyone should experience once in their lifetime. Europe is another continent that I am privileged to have traveled a few times. Helsinki in Finland is one of the cities I really like. It is a quiet old town with a sea front. People there are majorly into gardening and have a laid back nature. My third favourite place is Barcelona. I have never felt the same vibrancy and youth elsewhere.

Q. Can you define your clothing style?

A. I don’t have a very distinct style but I like cleaner cuts and more of a classy look. Comfort is something that matters to me the most these days.

We would also like to mention that we were lucky to have Asit designing space for our latest ad campaign. Images Below- 

Follow Asit on Instagram - HERE

Asit is Wearing our Olive Long Line Jacket ( Shop HERE ) 

He is also wearing our Favourite Red Plaid flannel Shirt ( Shop HERE )

Pink tee that he is wearing in one of the pictures is on its way. Link will be updated soon.

~ Pratiti Sachdev for Mr Bowerbird

[frenchibi]

Wonderstone for the ask please and thank you

Hello anon, thank you and you’re very welcome!

Wonderstone: Where’s the most interesting place you’ve been? Would you ever go back?

Ohh, this is a tricky question because I’ve been to MANY fascinating places!! I don’t have a (1) favorite but I can give you a bit of an overview :D

I’ve been to a lodge in the Austrian alps for skiing that was on top of a mountain rather than in a valley and I got to see sunsets and sunrises and incredibly vast skies there and I would love to go back.

I’ve been sailing in Croatia, where I saw more stars (sleeping on deck one night) than I’ve ever seen in any night sky because there was basically no light pollution at all? It was amazing and I would love to go back there as well.

I’ve been to a Provincial Park in Canada (when I visited @josai) and we swam in a beautiful lake and everything there was so vast and impressive and it just… felt free? I’d absolutely love to go there again.

I’ve been to Dublin several times and I’ve loved it every single time I went there, just - the city, the bustling life, the architecture, the small special places I found with the people I went there ( @notinvidia do you remember the Little Kitchen?) - the memories I made there are special to me, and I would love to go there again.

This is a darker one - I’ve been to the remnants of a concentration camp, which has been turned into a memorial and a museum. It’s inevitable, with the history of my country, and I think it’s important that everyone goes to these places and sees the brutal reality of them at least once. It’s… probably the only place I would not go to again, because it shook me more than I can say. But it was still interesting and notable as an experience.

I’ve been to a small town in rural France to visit a long-time pen pal of mine - it was quite isolated, surrounded by vineyards and just… very quaint? Timeless? The floorboards creaked and the taps dripped and it was absolutely beautiful. I’d definitely go there again.

I’ve been on a roadtrip through France with my grandparents, from North to South, and we saw so many cultural highlights along the way - I’d love to do that again, sadly my grandmother passed away a couple of years ago, so it wouldn’t be the same.

I’ve been to Venice, which is an absolutely magical city. It has more nooks and crannies than you could hope to explore, the houses are tiny and colorful, and everywhere is the soft sound of water, which I absolutely adore. The place is full of pidgeons flying overhead and strange and fascinating sculptures and road names and just… magic. I’ve been several times but I’d go again immediately.

I’ve been to Prague and walked its cobbled streets, I’ve seen the old churches and synagogues and cemeteries. I’ve sketched an entrancing lady who danced with fire in one of the town squares, I’ve bought art from vendors on a bridge over the Moldau, and stared down over the many shapes of the city’s roofs from the watch tower. Prague is beautiful and I’d certainly go there again.

I’ve been to Finland, stayed at an estate with a stable attached and a natural pool in the vast garden. I’ve slept in a hammoc and I rode a horse despite my allergies. I’ve walked the streets of Helsinki and admired the harbour market and the small colorful houses. I’d love to go again, especially since it’s a place where I don’t speak the language.

I’ve seen many more places, really - an Island in the Caribbean, theme parks and streetcars in San Franciso and Los Angeles, The Smithsonian in Washington D.C., The London Eye and Tower Bridge, and Brandenburger Tor in Berlin. I’ve been to Switzerland, too, and to Spain, to Scotland, Luxemburg, Belgium, Turkey, Sardinia and Corsica - and, of course, Germany, where I live.

I’ve explored my own city, on foot, by streetcar, by taxi, by train, by bus, on rollerblades, by bike, by car. I’ve found small, special shops and large department stores, I’ve seen trees and flowers, the river and the skyscrapers. I’ve seen museums and art galeries coffee shops. I’ve seen rain and sunshine, hail and snowstorms, and people lending a helping hand and standing together in solidarity. I’ve seen this city as the seasons changed and I’ve grown to love it. I think I’d like to stay.

[aaltohelsinki]

Aalto-Helsinki 2020 is here, come meet us!

The time has come for Aalto-Helsinki 2020 to finally take over the blog! Despite the COVID-19 situation, we have been busy with planning our project since February. We have brainstormed, read countless scientific articles, contacted experts and companies and had a lot of online meetings. 

 Now let us introduce ourselves:

Tytti

I did my Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering and decided to continue with Biotechnology to the Master’s studies. What fascinates me the most about biotechnology is that we can study and engineer the tiniest components of life and at the same time do industrial scale production with them. I applied to iGEM because I’m very interested in entrepreneurship and this project mimics all the different elements that are needed to develop a business. Apart from science, my favourite things in life are playing the guitar, spending time in nature and enjoying tea.

An adventurous trip you have been on? My most recent adventurous trip was to Norway because I had always wanted to visit the Arctic Ocean. There was this fishing boat where some Finnish guy had designed a sauna among other unusual things. After warming up in that sauna, I jumped from the deck to the ice-cold water. It was cool to actually experience the Arctic Ocean fully!

Your most extraordinary skill? Making perfectly thin “muurikka” crepes

What is your favourite board game? Pandemic, rising tide version.

Carla

I am currently studying in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology MSc program at the University of Helsinki. I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Genetics at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), in Barcelona, Spain. I have always been interested in Genetics and Evolution of organisms. I believe that a lot has still to be learnt about evolution mechanisms to make insights that can be applied to healthcare and medicine. In my free time I like to exercise, I am a bouldering enthusiast and I also try to go running as much as I can. I love watching movies as well. I applied to iGEM because it seemed the perfect opportunity to work with a multidisciplinary team and get to know people from different science fields. I consider myself an extroverted and curious person, so this could be the perfect opportunity to make new friends and learn from them. I thought it would also be the perfect opportunity to start a project on a topic of interest for all of us from scratch.

What is your favourite movie of all time? I don’t have a unique favorite movie, but my list of must watch movies is the following: Inception, Shutter Island, Green Book, The Good Will Hunting, The Shawshank Redemption, Jungle, Into the Wild, Mr. Nobody, Untouchable, Captain Fantastic, Interstellar, Donnie Darko, V for Vendetta and Dead Poets Society.

What kind of music do you listen to? I don’t only listen to one type of music, I like all types. Some international artists that I like are: Jonathan Wilson, John Frusciante, Steven Wilson, Eddie Vedder, Chet Faker, Gus Dapperton, Isaac Gracie, Billie Eilish, The Kooks, and Men I Trust among others. When talking about Catalan and Spanish music I usually listen to rumba, and rock, and also a bit of pop.

Your dream travel destination? My dream travel destinations would be: Iceland, Canada, Japan and Australia!

Amanda

I am studying at the Bachelor’s programme in Science in the chemistry study track at the University of Helsinki. In this year’s iGEM team I will work in the wet-lab but I am also involved with the funding, human practices and business. I applied to Aalto-Helsinki team to get the opportunity to take theory to practice and to learn a lot. In my free time I like cooking, baking, crocheting, knitting and gardening. I recently bought a greenhouse, where I will grow lots this summer!

What’s the most interesting or adventurous trip you have been on? Hard choice, but I would have to say the trip to Kenya with my family. So different and we saw a lot of animals and the whole Big Five! 

What is your favourite board game now? And as a child? I think my favorite board game now is Dixit, but as a child I think it was Kimble.

Coffee or tea? Definitely tea, preferably green or white.

Artur

I study bioinformation technology at Aalto University. My minor is computer science. My role in our iGEM team is dry-lab and during the project I will be focusing on modelling as well as wiki development. I applied to iGEM because I wanted to be a part of a student driven team project and international competition. In my free time I enjoy programming, playing video games and going to the gym. 

Your best tip to survive the quarantine? Outdoor activity, that does not require other people e.g. skateboarding and riding bicycle. Also playing video games with friends and watching tv series makes it easy.

 What is your favourite movie of all time? Definitely Interstellar. After watching this for the third time I still get chicken skin. This almost three hour movie is a perfect combination of action, sci-fi and drama. Hans Zimmer did an astonishing job on music in this movie. I still keep one of the movie's soundtrack as my wake-up alarm. It's so good!

 Who is your favourite scientist and why? Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. I remember watching his show on Discovery Channel about black holes and teleportation. He got me interested in science and that's why he is my favourite scientist.

Daria 

I am a second year master's student in Genetics and Molecular Biosciences, with focus on Molecular and Analytical Biosciences at the University of Helsinki. I have done my bachelor's in Biotechnology at the University of Silesia. I have experience in both environmental and biomedical research.

What was your favourite game to play as a child? Scavenger hunt. We lived right next to the forest, it felt good to be there for hours unsupervised. 

What’s the grossest food you ever had to eat to be polite? Bananas. My culinary nemesis. Being grossed out by them is one of my earliest childhood memories.

What was the worst haircut you ever had? Bob at the age of 13. Thanks, mum. 

Emilia

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from Tampere University and I’m now continuing my MSc (Tech) studies at Aalto University School of Chemical Engineering, major in Biotechnology. In my free time, I work out at the gym and love to cook. Also, I enjoy being outside in nature and spending time with my family and friends. I applied to iGEM because of my passion for life sciences and interest in challenging myself. I wanted to be a part of a powerful team of young professionals who share the same goal to achieve something meaningful. iGEM is a unique opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary team and carry out a research project from start to finish. In this iGEM project, my main responsibility is working in the wet-lab and obtaining funding. I will also contribute to human outreach activities and updating the team’s social media. Furthermore, I hope to learn more about bioinformatics and modeling. I have some experience in biomedical research and I’m looking forward to expanding my knowledge in the field of synthetic biology during the iGEM project. In the future, I wish to work with innovations which would somehow improve the quality of life.

What is your favorite time of the day and why? I love quiet mornings. I want to enjoy my morning coffee in peace and start my day without rushing. On the other hand, I also love spectacular sunsets, especially during the summer in the Finnish archipelago.

Your dream travel destination? Iceland. I would love to get to experience its unique nature, geysers and hot springs.

Coffee or tea? Coffee, of course.

Gustav

I am currently finishing my first year of masters studies in biosystems and biomaterials engineering. I applied for iGEM since I have always been interested in cell mechanisms and the intriguing and complex principles behind these cellular-systems. In the Aalto-Helsinki team, I am primarily doing wet-lab and budgeting, which means that I’m currently mostly researching data and cell-mechanisms related to our project. I often find one hobby at a time for which I am very passionate until I get tired of it and eventually switch. Previous hobbies have included been sewing, chess and origami, but for the moment I most do horticulture. 

What is your dream travel destination? I would love to see the Socotra Island and the strange species living there.

 What makes you happy? A cup of good quality tea in the evening.

 Cats or dogs? Both??

Julia

I study Molecular Bioscience at the University of Helsinki. My part in iGEM is mainly in the wet lab, but I also take part in social media and human practises. Outside of iGEM I enjoy reading and listening to music, as well as playing video games and D&D. I applied to iGEM because I wanted to do something different and concrete with my knowledge and skills. Besides molecular biology for the last year I’ve been studying Chinese and hope to be fluent in it one day.

Most interesting trip you have been on? A couple of years ago my friends and I went on a trip to Chongqing, China. The trip was very pleasant despite none of the locals knowing English, the hole in the outer wall of the room or there being no warm water for the first couple of days. One thing led to another and we somehow ended up as models for the hostel’s website, which meant a full-blown photoshoot with free drinks and food. Afterwards the hostel owner even treated us to delicious hot pot!

Also, the baby pandas were cute.

What is your favourite book of all time? The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. The heroine of the story is refreshingly sensible, the plot innovative and the book builds an interesting world for the sequels. Would recommend to anyone who likes fantasy, paranormal, or is interested in librarians using spycraft to steal books from alternative worlds.

Coffee or tea? Most definitely tea. Jasmine tea is especially close to my heart.

Maria

I am a third-year physics student from the University of Helsinki, majoring in theoretical physics and minoring in computer science. My main motivation for applying to iGEM was to apply my science skills to a real-world problem. I’m also eager to learn how research projects work. In our project I will focus on modelling, human practices and social media. Besides science, I love languages, especially French. In my free time I enjoy ballet, board games, walks and reading.

What fictional world would you love to visit?  With all the chaos in the world currently, I’d love nothing more than to escape to Moominvalley. Moominmamma’s pancakes and a worry-free life sound really appealing. I’d also like to visit Hogwarts, I have been waiting for my letter since I was 10.

What skill would you love to master? I’d love to master flying, imagine all the freedom it would bring! However, all my attempts so far have failed. I wonder why that is.

What is your favourite board game? Probably Battlestar Galactica or Dale of Merchants.

Nata

I study Biosystems and Biomaterials Engineering in the program of Life Science Technologies at Aalto University. I completed my Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology and Chemical Technology. In this journey of iGEM, I'm responsible for Human Practice activities and taking part in the wet-lab work as well. In my free time, when I'm not passionately studying life sciences or being fascinated by nature, I keep myself active with group gymnastics, friends and family. I applied to iGEM to be part of the fascinating project in the field of synthetic biology. I'm sure that we will learn precious skills of planning, team working and presenting as well as meet many wonderful people! Currently beside the iGEM, I'm working with seedlings of tomatoes and herbs that I will relocate in my glass house when it gets warmer. 

Describe your dream job: In my dream job, I would be able to utilize the field of life sciences to help people and the environment at the same time.

Your best tip to survive the quarantine? Your favourite movie of all time?

 My tip to survive this quarantine would be to spend time in nature and watch as many movies as possible. One of the movies should definitely be my all time favourite: The Intouchables.

[clonetcetera]

ida here! i’ve been reading everyone’s posts and felt the need to make my own as well. one thing is for sure: i wouldn’t be who i am today without orphan black. i found orphan black pretty late and only stumbled upon the community here a year ago, but it sure as hell has been enough time to impact me in a way that will last! i’ll forever be glad i did - it has most definitely carried me through the past couple years in more ways than one.

i had already been trying to find my identity and come to terms with my sexuality for some time before watching orphan black but i was so scared. orphan black has opened me up to the greatest journey of self-discovery that i could have ever asked for - and i know it’s still only just beginning! through finding both people and characters that i deeply relate to i have grown as a person, felt more powerful, become prouder, gotten more confident and haven’t felt the same loneliness and isolation that i used to - it has changed my life.

orphan black gave me (and will continue to do so!) something to get lost in, something to look forward to, something to find comfort in during rough times. i have thought of cosima when people around me have made me feel less or dirty because of my sexuality or when studying a single page has felt insurmountable, of family not being just about blood when my own home has felt nothing like home and i’m pretty sure sarah manning can be classified as my strength-giving spirit animal at this point… i won’t get too into about how inspired i’ve felt by tatiana, but the answer is very. from kindness and staying true to oneself to being grounded and to her inspiring me in my own artistry and performing.

orphan black taught me about myself, about others, about appreciating and accepting the uniqueness in every single one of us, about the world and made me look for leftover clones every day while walking the streets of helsinki.

@delphinecorniehaus: jobelle, you are incredible, fun, intelligent and full of love. you have helped me more than you’ll ever know! i’m so grateful to have you as a friend. @jossicat: johanna! you said it already, but thank you for the shared passions and for being one of the kindest people i’ve ever known. @krystalgoderitch, thanks for our never-ending conversations about…anything! i’ve learned a lot from you, from the most random pieces of knowledge to bigger words of wisdom - you’re just great! and everyone else, you beautiful, interesting, funny, kind, ridiculously talented and smart people who have also inspired me on the daily: @delphinescarol, @tatianazmaslany, @delphines, @evelynespacifier, @maslanyst, and many others!

we all know it, we all feel it. this show and its characters, the people i’ve gotten to know, the art i’ve seen and the fics i’ve read, the lessons i’ve learned, they’ll all stay in my heart forever and ever. i thought i simply started watching another tv show but ended up getting all of this, pretty amazing!!!! thank you orphan black and let’s keep defying them my pals 💕

[traveldiar]

une 4th - That's how I left my home on my own...

6:00 This night I almost could not sleep. I am finally leaving. LEAVING! Leaving Denmark, my job, my boyfriend, all the sorrows, I am leaving all the overworked hours.

 I am leaving to start the adventure, of my life! ON MY OWN! (Is not like I haven't done it before, but not on such a scale). This time I will be gone for 3 years. Damn, I am nervous...

There is so many what if's running in my head (mostly about the visa to Japan). The rest I am quite cool about it.

6:20 It is time to re-check my bags for the 10th time if I have everything I need. Passport, flight tickets, travel cup, enough underwear... and everything else.

7:00 I am already in the car, heading towards the airport.  My boyfriend asked, out of the blue.

(Boyfriend): - Where is your passport?

 My mind went blank for a minute, but then I remembered it is in backpacks front pocket. 

(Me):- In my front pocket.

(Boyfriend): - That took long enough. It is a bit too late to turn the car around, in case you forgot. What about flight tickets?

(Me):- Check!

(Boyfriend): -  Travel cup?

(Me):- Check!

Finally, we reached the airport, he drove to drop off point. I am looking at him with the confused look.

(Me):- Aren't you gonna send me off?

(Boyfriend): - I can if you want to...

(Me):- You know, I am off for 3 years...

(Boyfriend): - Ok, wait for me in the terminal.

I took my bags from the car and started walking towards the terminal entrance. Just before entering, I stopped to smoke the last cigarette in Denmark. My heart was pounding, I feel nervous. I am about to take off!

I went inside. Immediately, I faced a huge crowd of people. A lot of noise! Groups of people trying to get through each other with their massive luggage's. It seemed they packed for a year or something. The atmosphere was suffocating... But I had no time to waste, I need to check-in! I went straight to check-in screens. When I got there, people were almost pushing each other, it was the crowd. Until I managed to reach the screen to check-in, my flight company was not there! I was even more confused. Anyway, where is he? Just yesterday, he could barely let me go, and now... Where are you?

A few minutes later, I hear my phone ringing. It is him. Probably he cants find me in the crowd... We agreed to meet next to the screens where it shows all the information about the flights. When I saw him again, he was anxious. He kept asking about my passport and flight tickets. Until he felt calmer. 

We checked the screen with all the flights. My flight check-in was not even open. It seemed I had to wait a bit longer. Well, it made me even more anxious, it was already 8:20! Well, my flight was 10:30. but still... What if... 

Meanwhile, I found, an old American couple who was taking the same flight and also waiting... This fact gives some sort of comfort, at least I was not waiting alone. If the plane disappears, then I am not the only victim.

Meanwhile, I was waiting, and patiently staring at the screen, I noticed there was missing check-in information for one more flight which is much earlier than mine. That flight is to Helsinki. It supposes to take off, at 9:00 and it is already 8:30, and still no info about check-in or gate number. WHAT HELL IS GOING ON! At least my flight is 10:30... I should be fine... I hope

8:40 - Finally the check-in for my flight showed up on the screen! and not that far away from where I am located right now! Yay!

Landed to Vilnius. I flew via Warsaw in a business class seat. It was the first time flying with the business class. It does sound fancy, doesn't it? But is not that big of the deal. The only difference, you are the first one get the plane. Then you get free juice, coffee, and a snack. The rest is the same. Even If I am a first passenger in the plain, I still need to wait, until everyone gets to the plain, and leg space is the same.

When I landed in Vilnius, I felt like in the matchbox, I forgot how small this airport is. It took 3 minutes from the moment I stepped my foot out the plain to the luggage pick up area. Still, I had wait for about 20 minutes, until my backpack was loaded on the luggage transporter. I finally left the airport and headed towards the train. Yes, train. In Vilnius, there is a train from the airport to the station. Well, the actual station is outside the airport. Due to the lack of signs, I practically had to guess, where is a station. I got there just in time. Let's pay! Ummm, where is ticket machine, or office, or anything? If it is not here, then do I need to pay? Of-course I need to pay! It is East block!

I went to the local guy, and asked him, in English on how to purchase a ticket. He politely answered in English. That I need to do that inside the train. Well, that was a relief. I suddenly stopped myself. "What? Wait? Why did I speak to him in English, instead of Lithuanian? Oh well, it is too late. It just needs to make sure, that I don't speak to him Lithuanian next time, otherwise it would be awkward. Well, you know, since I am Lithuanian..."

I am on the train, waiting to get off at the main station. Just looking through the window, and thinking "Yep, I am home. That's my country... But, why I don't feel anything?" I was waiting for this overwhelming feeling of nostalgia and freedom. But, nop. Still empty, no revoking revelations, or any hint nostalgia. It was rather foreign, even I have lived here for a year, a long time ago. Maybe too much time has passed. Still the same. Same city, still a lovely city. I did fell in love with this city for a reason. 

Nevertheless, I tried using public transport, I wanted to take a bus to my hostel... Well, no luck. I found out the bus exists, but no one knows where it stops. Then I made a decision, that I will walk. I should survive 2,5 km with bags. I managed, but I admit it was quite an exercise until I reached my hostel.

[burning-up-ao3]

NEWARK, N.J. — While on a five-day trip to Jackson Hole, Wyo. during the Penguins’ bye week late last month, Sidney Crosby began to feel something he had not felt in years, since the most recent NHL lockout in 2004-05.

On the second-to-last day of what was supposed to be an enjoyable vacation, the Penguins captain wound up a couple thousand miles away from either of his two homes, miserable and sick, unable to do much of anything.

“You get used to having to play through colds and stuff like that,” Crosby said. “People go to work with them. It’s a part of life. But sometimes it stops you in your tracks like that. There’s nothing you can do.”

What Crosby went through is common for NHL players, who are constantly shuttling on and off airplanes, checking in and out of hotels and entering and leaving (entirely too) cold buildings, all during the darkest days of winter.

Ron CookRon Cook: Evgeni Malkin may be ready to break out of long slump

No matter how many vitamins they take or calcium they consume, they’re inevitably going to get sick. Sometimes it might get ugly. And they’re well aware that sick days are almost never an option.

Which means that Crosby, given what he contracted, was actually one of the lucky ones, in that he could rest some. More often than probably anyone realizes, NHL players have to play through some ugly stuff, flu bugs and stomach illnesses the public never hears about.

“It happens every winter, where half the team gets sick,” Matt Cullen said. “The training room is busy. Guys are looking for anything to help them get over the hump so they can feel well enough to play.

“It’s why you try so hard to take care of what you can control. You’re getting your sleep and fluids because it [stinks] as a player when you’re sick. You have to play regardless.

“You see it every once in a while, when guys are throwing up in the bathroom during warmup or between periods. I’ve had teammates run off the bench. It’s part of the deal.”

2. And when it happens on the road, Bryan Rust said, there’s nothing worse.

“It’s miserable,” Rust said. “It’s kind of a helpless feeling; it’s not like you’re in your own bed, and you can rely on someone.

Matt VenselPenguins blue line hopes to keep up its contributions on offense

“You also feel bad for the maids who have to come in there afterward and clean up.”

It’s a feeling Rust knows well, too. He said he was knock-down, drag-out sick twice: once in college at Notre Dame and another time during the early days of his Penguins career.

What does the versatile winger do when it happens?

“Lie in bed, turn the lights off, close the shades,” Rust said. “And hope it goes away as fast as possible.”

3. It was a funny topic to take around the Penguins dressing room: Have you ever been sick on the road?

Those who hadn’t, immediately found some wood on which to knock. Those who had, launched into some humorous tales.

In 2013, Olli Maatta was playing for Finland at the World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia. Maatta thought he ate something funky, food that was potentially undercooked. The next few days were brutal.

“Not the best thing that ever happened,” Maatta said with a smile. “Although being stuck in my room and trying to watch whatever it was on Russian TV might’ve been the worst thing.”

4. Before he was traded, Riley Sheahan told me a good one about when he was with the Detroit Red Wings a couple years ago. He vacationed in Mexico during the All-Star break and brought back a little present.

“I caught a virus or something,” Sheahan said. “I was sick for like five weeks. I actually had to miss a game, on the Moms’ trip, in Florida. It wasn’t fun.”

Garrett Wilson was a proud member of the knock-on-wood club. Despite playing for San Antonio in the AHL — where they’d have to leave for a month every winter because the rodeo came to town — Wilson has never been sick on the road.

“I don’t puke too often, either,” Wilson said. “Even drinking or anything, I don’t puke. Pretty lucky that way.”

Wilson said he did play with a guy — John McFarland, in the Florida Panthers system — who didn’t feel right until he forced himself to vomit before a game, although that wasn’t related to being sick.

“You definitely hear the odd time a guy is hurling in the bathroom before a game, whether they’re sick or nervous,” Wilson said. “It almost makes you sick hearing it.”

5. Whether or not it’s better to get sick in a hotel room versus at home sparked a lively debate. Matt Murray is all for the road option.

“I think a hotel room is a good place to be,” Murray said before taking his knuckles to his dressing room stall. “You’re not bugging your family or anything like that. You get to sleep it off.”

Wilson agreed.

“I don’t think it’s too bad on the road,” Wilson said. “You’re with the trainers all the time. They’re usually at the same hotel. If you do get really sick, they’re just a text or phone call away.”

6. My personal opinion: These guys are nuts. It’s much worse to be sick in a hotel, with none of the comforts of home.

It happened to me recently, too, around the same time as Crosby. In San Jose, Calif. for the NHL All-Star Game, I literally could not stand at Media Day because I was dizzy and nauseous.

Eventually, with neither Crosby nor Letang there, I decided to cut bait take an Uber back to my hotel room — backpack open the entire way, praying there were no issues.

Yada, yada, yada … the next 24 hours were not fun.

“Hotel room, being stuck in a little space there, it’s terrible,” Maatta (correctly) said.

7. Back to the war stories, though, which turned out to be my favorite part of reporting this.

In Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Rust’s next-door neighbor in the dressing room was former Penguins prospect Jayson Megna.

“One game, between periods, he was hugging a trash can,” Rust said. “On the bench, same thing. It was impressive to see him play through it. I don’t think I would have been able to. It was pretty wild.”

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan experienced the same thing when he played for the Calgary Flames.

“I had the flu,” Sullivan recalled. “Played through it to the point where I was throwing up between periods, and they had to put an IV in me to replace all the fluids I had lost. That was the hardest one from a personal standpoint.”

8. When he was with Minnesota — the first time — Cullen once played with walking pneumonia. To conserve as much energy as possible, Cullen skipped the morning skate and stayed home basically until puck drop.

With the Wild apparently short on players and unable to make a roster move in time, Cullen said there wasn’t another option.

“That was a tough one, running to the bathroom between periods,” Cullen said. “We were in a pinch. Just had to do it.”

Being able to rely on a routine, Cullen said, does help.

“It helps to normalize everything even if you feel terrible,” Cullen said. “You get out and do warmup, get some blood flowing, you’re out in front of the fans, it gives you some adrenaline. But after the game, you feel it.”

9. Tanner Pearson had some good perspective on the matter because he nearly wound up disgustingly sick on the road while with the Kings last February.

Los Angeles had arrived home from a four-game road trip that actually included its annual Dads’ trip — maybe we should blame the parents? — when Pearson started to feel dizzy and nauseous.

“I don’t know if it was something I ate on the plane or what,” Pearson said. “Just hit me like a ton of bricks. We landed, and that was the end of me.”

But there was the benefit, Pearson said, of making it home. He could sleep in his own bed. His wife was there. At least he wasn’t in a hotel room.

“I see guys who are sick on the road,” Pearson said, “and it looks like pure torture.”

10. It can also be downright scary.

Marcus Pettersson had a couple stories, one funny, the other not so much. The first was the 2016 World Junior Championship, in Helsinki, Finland. A couple of Pettersson’s teammates contracted the stomach flu.

“It’s crazy how quickly something like that can spread,” Pettersson said. “You just have to isolate yourself.”

Pettersson also heard a story about Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson’s brother, Jimmie, when he was playing with SKA Saint Petersburg of the KHL in 2014-15. When Jimmie Ericsson told the team’s doctors he didn’t feel well, they treated it like some sort of illness — but never checked anything else.

Turns out Ericsson had a partially ruptured spleen, which they only discovered upon returning home.

“They just thought he was sick,” Pettersson said. “He got medicine shots in his [butt]. They said, ‘You’re good. You can play.’ It was crazy.”

11. The Penguins would never allow something like that to happen.

Sullivan explained the lengths to which the team goes to try and stack the odds in their favor, all while realizing that sickness during a winter sport are pretty much inevitable.

On the road, the Penguins will ensure that sick players get their own rooms, Sullivan said. They also get their own water bottles on the bench, the equipment staff will wash and sanitize things even more than they already do, and Sullivan has no problem sending a guy home if he’s sick.

“It’s difficult when you’re in close quarters like this,” Sullivan said. “But we do everything within our power to see if we can’t contain it when those types of things arise.”

12. Wanted to close with this anecdote from Crosby on not participating in the NHL All-Star Skills Competition when he was probably extremely contagious. Made me laugh, anyway.

“The last thing I wanted to do was get everyone sick. That’s all I need,” Crosby said before cracking a smile. “Of course, I guess it was our division … “

13. Moving on …

The more I think about it, Carl Hagelin would be a perfect fit for the Penguins at the NHL trade deadline, provided they can convince the Los Angeles Kings or or someone else to take Pearson.

Small problem: The deal actually isn’t possible.

I didn’t learn this until recently, and I’m guessing you didn’t know it, either. It’s a CBA quirk that’s actually pretty dumb, in my opinion.

Once a team retains salary in a trade — the Penguins retained $250,000 — they can’t reacquire that player for a minimum of one year after the transaction or until the player's contract expires or is terminated prior to the one-year date.

It’s a shame, too, because I think Hagelin would’ve been worth checking on.

For his penalty killing (Penguins are just 25 for their last 36, 69.4 percent), Hagelin’s fit with Evgeni Malkin and what Hagelin could potentially do for good friend Patric Hornqvist, who doesn’t have a point in 12 games.

14. As for what the Penguins could realistically do, I’m not in favor of anything big. Maybe add a depth forward or defenseman, depending on who’s out there.

But at some point, this group should be allowed to actually play together for a stretch, and we’re running out of time for that to happen.

Many of you have suggested a 1a goalie type as well. There’s a variety of problems with this. One, cost. That guy wouldn’t come cheap, if he was worth anything. Two, what do you do with Casey DeSmith? Three, how does that play with Murray?

I know he’s been hurt a lot, but I can’t imagine that would go over well. Murray is your No. 1. You paid DeSmith to be your backup. Hold onto Tristan Jarry. I’d stick with that.

15. Without Hagelin, I’m curious to see where this goes with Zach Aston-Reese alongside Malkin and Phil Kessel. It’s a tremendous opportunity for him and one for which he’s actually well-suited.

“Any time you can stay on your natural side, it’s a little bit easier,” Aston-Reese said after Sunday’s 6-5 victory over the New York Rangers. “Phil kind of has that signature shot, too, coming down on his strong side. I like to work hard defensively. It’s definitely nice to balance out those two.”

I like Aston-Reese as a lot, as a player and person. He’s extremely smart, quotable and great to deal with from our perspective. If we were ranking most media-friendly players in the Penguins dressing room, he’d surely be up there.

But hockey-wise, he’s going to make a lot of people happy if he’s able to blend some physicality with offense and a willingness to play defense. He’s still rounding out his game in a few different ways, but I think the Penguins definitely got a good one here.

16. It’s obvious — and Post-Gazette columnist Ron Cook wrote this off of Sunday’s game — but the Penguins need to get Hornqvist going. How do they do that?

I see two options. One, I’d consider playing Hornqvist with Sidney Crosby. Nothing against Rust. He’s been great there. But they need more out of Hornqvist.

My second possible solution would be trying Kessel on the third line with Nick Bjugstad — they had some chemistry — and using Hornqvist with Malkin, a situation where the feisty Swede thrived last season.

I hate Hornqvist in the bottom-six, as I’ve never seen his production give the Penguins a competitive advantage in that spot the way Kessel’s has at various times throughout his Penguins tenure.

17. This won’t be a popular opinion, but I’ve actually liked Jack Johnson on his natural left side the past couple of games.

I know what the goals-for numbers are — they’re awful — and I know how Johnson is perceived by the fan base. But if Rutherford or Sullivan are frustrated with Johnson’s play this season, they’re doing one heck of a job hiding it.

Whether you want to admit it or not, Johnson won’t be a healthy scratch. And what I’ve seen the past couple of games — Johnson’s been with Juuso Riikola with one and Justin Schultz for two — has actually been pretty decent.

18. Shut up, Don Cherry. Can we all agree on that?

He scolded the Carolina Hurricanes for, of all things, having fun. I hate giving this any airspace whatsoever, so I’m going to twist it another way: Forget about Dino Don and think of this from a Hurricanes perspective.

Great organization. Great city. A lot of fun to watch. If this gets their fans excited, my goodness, go for it. I think it’s tremendous. And I love seeing the Old (Canadian) Guard get upset over it.

19. Stat of the week: 12

That’s the number of points for Pettersson since the Dec. 3 trade that brought him to Pittsburgh. It’s also one less than Daniel Sprong has during that same stretch.

20. Non-hockey thought of the week: Apparently MLB commissioner Rob Manfred thinks we’re all stupid. Did you see this story from the Post-Gazette’s new baseball writer, Nubyjas Wilborn? Two quotes struck me.

“This narrative that our teams aren’t trying is just not supported by the facts. Our teams are trying. Every single one of them wants to win.”

Yes, they are trying, and they do want to win. I don’t doubt that the Pirates try and prefer winning to losing. But I could race Usain Bolt, and I’d still try. I’d still want to win. The problem is that I would not have taken the requisite steps to do so.

Then this gem: “I reject the notion that payroll is a good measure for how hard a team is trying or how successful that team is going to be.”

There are certainly outliers here: small-market teams that compete and big spenders that don’t. But the two teams in the World Series last year spent the most. Generally if you’re actually paying to play, you have a chance.

The only thing I hate more than baseball’s financial structure is when people in positions of power try to sell us this garbage.

Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

[blankasolun]

source: Metal Hammer 7th May 2020

How Dave Mustaine Took on Cancer and Won

By James Blaine (Metal Hammer) 21 hours ago

Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine opens up exclusively about staring down cancer and what the future holds

The whole world is coming apart at the seams.

At least that’s the way it seems in Nashville, Tennessee this week. A T6 tornado tore the hell out of town just as the coronavirus hit the Volunteer State. Even President Trump is in Music City today, surveying the damage from Marine Helicopter One, hovering above us as we step into a dark, downtown studio to meet with local resident, Dave Mustaine.

The Apocalypse’s first and second horsemen take a back seat, at least for the moment. Right now, we’re more concerned about Dave’s dog. Oblivious to its diminutive size, the long-haired Chihuahua descends upon us like some high-pitched Hound of Hell, menacingly baring his teeth and threatening to devour our very soul if we step any closer to his master. 

“Easy, Romeo. Easy,” Dave says, reaching to save us from the snarling beast. We coil back, cautiously offering the back of our hand. Dave laughs gruffly. “Oh, no,” he says. “That doesn’t work with him.”

As the Megadeth frontman corrals his pup, it gives us a chance to check out the legend after his recent health crisis. Mass of fiery mane – intact. Black jacket, jeans, black t-shirt, white sneakers. Honestly? Well, he looks like Dave Mustaine, like the hellraiser still not sold on cheap or easy peace. He moves a bit slow, but not creakily – more like a man who’s fought the Devil bare-fisted and lived to tell the tale. 

With the hound at bay, he turns to greet us. It’s difficult to know what’s appropriate in this season of paranoia and mutant pandemic, especially for a man who’s just had his immune system nuked. Do we fist bump? Nod and touch elbows? “Nah, I ain’t worried, man,” Dave assures us, shaking hands with a vice grip. “I’m healthy now.” 

The backstory: March 2019. After being bounced from doctor to doctor, Dave gets an official diagnosis that sounds like some dystopian speed metal verse. Squamous cell carcinoma on the base of your tongue. 

  Hold up. Cancer? Mustaine? No way. 

    If anyone seemed indestructible, it was Dave Mustaine. Bad ass, bad attitude, snarling, spitting, raging, red-headed, black belt-carrying soldier in God’s Army, Godfather Of Thrash. That cancer could sink its claws into someone like Dave sent shockwaves through the metal community. Now, one year after the diagnosis, Metal Hammer comes to Music City to hear his testimony first-hand. Because Dave Mustaine kicked cancer’s ass. 

  “Yeah, I’m pretty stoked about that,” he says, grinning as he grabs a bottle of water and motions for us to have a seat in a private, black- walled dressing room. The obvious first question: So, how do you feel? “I’m a little run down, but a lot of that’s from the medication and all the stuff that goes along with treatment. They hit the cancer really hard, nine doses of chemo and 51 radiation treatments, which just beats the hell out of you. My mouth is still messed up but overall, I feel really good.”

  Dave settles in on the couch to tell us how he got the news that he was cancer-free. “I was here in Nashville, at my doctor’s office. He had to reach down the back of my throat, which was really unpleasant, but it was important for him to feel and make sure. And he said my progress was amazing, that both sides felt the same. I’ve got a metal plate in my neck that I figured might cause problems, but the doc told me, “Dave, you are in perfect health, 100%. You’re free to go.” 

  Dave pauses to slide a piece of Big Red gum into his mouth, twisting the foil between his fingers, reflecting before he continues. “It sounds bizarre, but I kind of knew. I took good care of myself. I’d done everything my doctors told me to do. I had tons of support from family and friends. And I had lots of prayer. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I expected it. I had faith that I was going to be healed.”  

At this point, Dave rewinds to early 2019, explaining how he received the grim verdict. While out shredding with Joe Satriani and Zakk Wylde on the Experience Hendrix tour, severe mouth pain struck. “I’d gone in to get some dental work,” he says. “And after, it felt like the dentist had broken a piece of scraper off in my gums. I went back and he sent me to an oral surgeon who checked me out and said, ‘You need to see an ear, nose and throat doctor. I don’t want to say anything bad, but it looks like the Big C.’ Well, fuck, dude! Why’d you say that, then?” 

Dave shakes his head, still pissed, taking a long pull of water. “Anyway, I figured I’d take care of myself once the Hendrix tour was over. While out on the road, a friend of mine knew an ENT at the local emergency room. He came over, took a look, and said it wasn’t anything to worry about. But I knew something was wrong with me. It was just too far down for anybody to see.

“We had a day off and I was home in Nashville, so I saw a local specialist who suggested a scope. I don’t do good with scopes, so they had to knock me out to get the tube in. But yeah, they confirmed that it was cancer in the side of my throat that had spread to two lymph nodes.

  “Initially, they wanted to send me to MD Anderson in Houston for 11 weeks and I said no. fucking. way. I’m not gonna be away from my family for that long. So, they set me up at Vanderbilt, with Dr. Cmelak, who’s actually one of the best radiation oncologists in the country. I had a good team.”

  Fortunately for Mustaine, Music City is also the healthcare capital of the United States. The band cancelled tour dates and put the brakes on a new record so Dave could begin a brutal treatment regime, resting at his farm in the rolling hills of nearby Franklin between blasts of radiation and IV chemo drips. The worst, he says, is over.

  “I’ll have to do another MRI soon and check in with the doctor regularly, three years, five years. But the cool thing is, my voice came back even better than before. I think the treatment shrunk whatever was on my vocal cord that was making it hard to sing. I’d seen pictures of my voice box and there was some kind of bubble on the flap that was giving me trouble. Cyst, tumour, nodule, whatever the fuck it was. But that’s gone now, and they say long as I don’t do anything stupid, I should be good for the rest of my career. I know once you get cancer you’re never really out of the woods, but if the process doesn’t scare you into changing your lifestyle, then shame on you.”

Dave is no stranger to injuries and pain. He suffered career-threatening nerve damage to his left arm during a 2002 stint in a Texas rehab, and a decade later, underwent emergency surgery for spinal stenosis – whiplash, if you will – resulting in titanium implants in his neck. Flashing his trademark maniacal smile, Dave insists he felt no fear in the face of death.

  “I already died once,” he says, referencing his 1993 overdose on Valium. “I don’t remember anything, though. No light or tunnel or any of that shit. I respect death but I’m not living my life in fear. There was a little when I first found out that I had cancer, but it wasn’t so much about dying, as not being able to use my gift anymore, to play guitar or sing. That really shook me. To be inconvenienced is one thing. It’s something else to lose your gift.”

  Dave leans in. His steely glare, coupled with the white beard and wild hair, gives him the appearance of some Old Testament prophet of doom. “When they told me that my arm was 80% and I would never play guitar again, I thought, ‘You have no idea who you’re talking to. I will absolutely play again, and it’ll be a matter of days, not weeks.’ There’s a couple things I still can’t do, but I feel like I can play almost as good as I used to. Going through that thing with my arm was helpful. It gave me the courage to face any kind of medical problem I might have down the road. I’m going to do everything they say and if there’s blood, I can handle it. I’ve seen my own blood before.” 

  We ask about the darkest days, if his reputation causes people to expect an unrealistic level of strength. Dave fidgets with his shoelace. Ruffles the pup sweetly. Reaches for another piece of gum before the reply.

  “I think people do expect me to be invincible. It is a lot of pressure,” he admits. “But when you come out on the other side victorious, they cheer even louder. I like being a man of the people. That might sound corny, but it’s true. The hardest part was having to let others take care of me. I’ve always been so independent that even if I do need help, I’m not going to let anyone know. But overall, chemo wasn’t as ugly for me as it is for a lot of people. I had a couple of days where I got really sick and threw up, but that was it. I tried to be upbeat. When I would go in for treatment, I’d talk with the other patients, try to be encouraging.”

  The thrash titan was forced to miss the band’s inaugural MegaCruise in October, with his daughter, Electra, stepping in to represent the family. Upon completion of treatment, Dave was able to return for the Killing Road tour with Five Finger Death Punch in January. While on stage at the SSE Arena in Wembley, he announced that the cancer was in complete remission. 

  “Actually, I think I mentioned it from the first show of the tour,” says Dave. “If not Helsinki, then Stockholm for sure. I wanted the fans to know that I’m OK and how great the crew has been. And for sure, I want to tell the truth and let everyone know how much I prayed through this whole ordeal. Not just like, ‘Oh, yeah, thanks, God.’ But that I really, seriously prayed.”

Christian for nearly two decades, Dave has always been vocal about his beliefs. While discussing the role faith played in his recovery, he pauses, raking fingers through his beard, measuring his words.

“After growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness, there was a time that I hated the concept of anything that I had to answer to. The church disfellowshipped my sister, Debbie, and I was the only one who would sit and listen to her cry. It flipped me out and all I wanted to do was get back at the people who hurt my sister,” Dave explains. “But now, I try to keep my prayers pretty gentle. I don’t pray for anyone to get hurt or get what’s coming to them, only for God’s will and that he would help me do what I need to do. To me, prayer is just an open, honest, easy conversation like you’re talking to your dad. Essentially, that’s what God is supposed to be, our Father, right? So that makes it easy for me to engage in prayer.”

Asked to elaborate, Dave adds, “In the Bible, the Pharisees liked to pray in public so everybody could see them. They thought the louder they prayed, the more pious they would seem, like it’s an indication of their righteousness. For me, righteousness is something that’s exhibited through consistent behaviour that’s Godly in nature. You sum up the gospels with the Golden Rule. Helping others, no matter what. There’s this old song by the Circle Jerks called Wonderful.” 

  He sings the chorus of the 80s punk classic. Romeo perks up, cocking an ear in his master’s direction. “It’s a great song that talks about how it’s really not so hard to do something nice for someone else. Help a stranger. Smile. If you see a homeless person, give them something to eat. I was homeless once. It was the worst, man. Scrounging for food, living in [bassist] David Ellefson’s van…”  

  Dave apologises for losing his train of thought, blaming the lingering effects of “chemo brain”. After a break, he switches gears, discussing the positive changes that have come from his battle with the disease. “My wife and I are getting along tremendously, and things are really good with my son and daughter right now, too. I’ve got a better relationship with my band. The other day, Kiko [Loureiro, guitarist] says to me, ‘I really like this new Dave!’ What he was talking about, is when you’re dealing with pain, you drink, you smoke, you bitch, because you don’t know what’s going on. But soon as I found out what was wrong with me, I attacked it. Once I did, I could feel myself getting happier too.

Support also came from outside Dave’s immediate circle. His old band brother, James Hetfield, reached out, as did Kiss’s Paul Stanley and Ozzy, who was at war with his own medical demons in 2019.

“Everybody’s treatment is different, but Bruce Dickinson had been through throat cancer about five years ago, so he was able to give me a lot of insight into what to expect. His biggest advice was to listen to the doctors and don’t rush to get back onstage. They told him to hold off, but he went back out to perform and nothing came out. Well, OK. I get it. Bruce waited a month before his first show, so I held off a little longer. My last treatment was in September and I made plenty of time to rest, exercise and eat right before we went back out on tour. We did 22 dates overseas, and I feel great now, except for the fatigue. But I think a lot of that might be due to um, extracurricular activities. Staying up late. Not sleeping. Maybe a little, you know…” 

Thumb and forefinger to his lips, Dave inhales sharply, making the universal symbol for partaking of the herb. Could he be referring to the alleged medicinal benefits of CBD oil? “Don’t screw around with the oil, man,” he growls in the same gravel baritone as his crushing thrash classics. Our eyes go wide as the voice from sixth grade Headbangers Ball comes to life.

  Dave cackles at our reaction, pushing back a wayward strand of hair. “If you’re gonna do it, get the good stuff. I think the world is just now finding out the beauty of cannabis and everything it can do for you. I hear people talk how it’s good for cancer patients. C’mon, it’s good for any fucking patient! The radiation zapped my salivary glands so I couldn’t make spit, which made it really hard to swallow and get food down. They gave me this crazy mouthwash to use that had Benadryl and lidocaine in it, but I still couldn’t eat. So cannabis helped with that, except I got a terrible craving for kiddie cereal. I went to the store and got, like, 20 boxes.” 

  The thought of the Tornado Of Souls singer devouring countless bowls of cereal is a pretty cool picture and we can’t help but inquire about his favourite fix. “Trix with marshmallows. Froot Loops with marshmallows. Frosted Flakes. The kind with little marshmallows. You get the idea. My cancer team told me to try and watch the sugar intake, but they said, ‘Dave, if you can eat – then eat.’ The doctor threatened to put a feeding tube in my gut if I lost too much weight. Well, they scared the shit out of me with that one, but it worked.”

With Dave healthy and back onstage, the follow-up to 2016’s Grammy Award-winning Dystopia is on every Megafan’s brain. Late last year, Dave teased songs that were “heavy as hell” with titles such as Rattlehead, Part Two and The Dogs Of Chernobyl. 

  “I don’t know if any of those titles are still holding up,” he says, revealing that the band has been tracking at Nashville’s Sound Kitchen with co-producer Chris Rakestraw at the controls again. “Whenever I make a record, the names of the songs change so many times. I think we’ve got 14 songs for this album and another folder with six. The songs are constantly evolving and as they do, we change the title to be more reflective of what makes the song distinct.”

  So, will we see a new Megadeth album before 2020 ends? “I hope so, yeah,” says Dave. “We’ll start back in a couple of days and keep plowing until it’s done. Metal Tour Of The Year starts this summer, but that should be fun and easy [Editor’s note – we spoke to Dave before COVID-19 outbreak]. We’ve got a week’s vacation coming up soon and I’m going to go rest up and get ready to come back and make a brilliant record.”

  Nashville traffic is anarchy these days and Romeo looks like he needs to hike his leg. As the sun sets over the Cumberland River, Dave stands and slides an arm around our shoulder, recruiting Metal Hammer to thank the fans for all their thoughts and prayers. It strikes us, how we expect legends to be carved from granite. On one hand, we understand that our heroes are human. But on the other, we never want to see them frail, or sick, or down. And that must be a hell of a burden sometimes. But perhaps, it’s also what keeps them moving. If our heroes can keep pushing, then that gives us the courage to keep pushing too, through all the shitstorms of life, disasters both natural and manufactured, even the ones we bring upon ourselves. Decades later, they still inspire perseverance, hope, and the determination to never let the bastards grind you down. Maybe even a little 21st century metal up your ass. 

  Still, we have to ask one last thing. Dave’s been on the road almost 40 years. Dues paid; the mark has been made. Was he ever tempted to call it a day, sit back on the farm and enjoy a slow, simple life? 

  “Yeah, I guess I could do that,” he admits, shrugging like it’s no big deal. “But I love what I do, and I like helping the band and crew make money. Playing music makes people happy. A lot of times while we’re out there, they share stuff with us, some good, some bad, but we get to bring our own little brand of panacea to people and somehow, that makes them feel beautiful. Even if it’s for just one night.” 

Published in Metal Hammer #334

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Dave Mustaine Talks About His Fight With Cancer source: Metal Hammer 7th May 2020 How Dave Mustaine Took on Cancer and Won By James Blaine…

[talldarknsexy]

The Baltic’s and Finland

The Baltic's and Finland

From Warsaw I left the luxury apartment Magda had allotted me. I headed north and had a good three days riding through northern Poland. After about three tries, I found a shop that was willing to weld my frame. This time, unlike in Brazil, the shop had a proper gas/wire feed setup. Also, they would only accept cans of coke in payment.

In a bout of heavy traffic I bumped into a Spanish cyclist named Emilio. He was headed up and across to Siberia and I rode with him for a good hour or two. He was incredibly enthusiastic and passionate about cycling. I loved his upbeat attitude, but it was almost like listening to an infomercial on cycle touring. The unabridged freedom, the speed of a strong tailwind, the discoveries over every horizon. He was like a dang cycling motivational poster.

Crossing into Lithuania on a Saturday there were a lot of friendly people. Friendly people or... drunk people. Some of them could hardly stand up... We’ll go with drunk.

In the spirit of this jollification I wondered about finding a place to stay that was not alone in the forest. I passed by two very large different celebrations. One was almost facedown drunk, and the second was more of a dinner party. As the sun was setting, I happened upon a village of maybe 10 houses and there was a family drinking and having dinner. I waved and without hesitation the Mama waved me over.

Two of the daughters were back from the city for the weekend and spoke fairly good English. They helped translate why the fuck there was an tall goofy American in their backyard with a tent and a bicycle in the middle of rural Lithuania. Papa Mančiakaitytė passed me a large bottle of vodka with a pre-poured shot. The tradition is to drink, pour and then pass to someone of your choosing. A feast got eaten, questions were translated, jokes were made, and the Vodka bottle got smaller.

They owned some cows and grew most of their own food. I’d already observed that this post soviet country still had huge agriculture, but privately owned. Everyone farms here, and this family grew most of their own food.

In the morning, I was spoiled again by breakfast and I set off with a basket of strawberries and a traditional Lithuanian cake. Very special family and great hospitality.

That next day I passed by the section of Kalingrad Russia. It was a weird feeling listening to Bruce Springsteen on Spotify, but seeing two Migs (Russian fighter jets) flying overhead. I must be getting closer I thought. And Latvia itself does share quite a bit with Russia and its Baltic counterparts almost consider it an extension of Russia.

I don’t remember much of the Latvian countryside. But as it was starting to rain one evening, a lady working at a lodge/campground let me camp underneath a pavilion even though I did not have any Euro bills to pay. I might have snuck in a cold shower as well...

In Riga I spent two nights hanging out with 3 Swiss German cyclists, Vittoria, Flurina, and Noeme. We went out to look at street art, couldn’t find it, and went to go eat instead.

I had three days riding through Estonia with pretty good wind. Also, good camping. They subscribe to the Nordic notion of free campsites, with benches, shelter, outhouses, and even pre-chopped wood. One was right on the Baltic Sea, and it was strange going for a swim at 10pm while it was still perfectly light out.

The next night was the summer solstice and I pushed an extra 40km to make it to one of these campsites. There wasn’t a huge rush though, as it never fully gets dark... but there was a family in a camper-van there and 3 Estonian 20-somethings smoking hookah. I went to join the locals with a beer. I learned that Estonia only has a bit over a million people and most end up moving abroad.

Later, the Slovakian couple from the camper-van came over with a bottle of vodka after putting their kids to sleep. This had been a challenge for them since it’s never really dark. The Estonians left to get some sleep in preparation the St. Johns festival the following night. The Slovakian guy has told me how relieved he was when I showed up. He was nervous about the local Estonians being rowdy or violent... Now maybe I have my perceptions wrong, but Estonians are seemingly quite civilized, reserved people. It’s partying with Solvakians and vodka I’d worry ending up in a gutter, less one kidney. Anyways... They were all good company for the solstice and I went to sleep either that night or that morning. It’s hard to say whether the sun was going down or coming up.

I made it to Tallin the next day, and the following, met with Sandy, an old friend from my hometown. He’d been planning a trip to visit his friend Mimi in Helsinki whom I’d met years before. Sandy was the first friend from the states I’d seen in almost 2.5 years, so it was swell catching up again. We did some tourist stuff and checked out the St. John’s festival in town before they had to take the ferry back to Helsinki that night. I had another day in Tallin and then went ferried over to join Sandy for his last night. We went straight to a public sauna. I didn’t exactly know what to expect, but it was super cool. It was a free, volunteer run sauna outside an industrial park right on the sea. We grilled some sausage on a fire there, drank some beer and rum, sauna’d, and went for a few swims. All of which very enjoyable, all of which very naked. This was admittedly a first for me, and as an American still something to get used to. And as if I need something to boost my confidence afterwards, Karaoke followed.

Helsinki was alright. It was littered filthy with bike paths. It had damn near as much cycle infrastructure as the Netherlands, but with much less cyclists and much less rules. I stayed with a Couchsurfing host for a few days and hung out a bit with Mimi and her friends. I met up with Veera, someone I’d partied with in Asia years before. She was interested in Africa, specifically Botswana. But when I mentioned that their conservation involves a anti-poaching shoot-to-kill policy. She became so discontent with this brash, gun-toting American that she decided to leave shortly thereafter.

That weekend, my host’s family came and so I took off to the nearest national park to camp. It was actually quite far, and quite hilly. I started cursing myself and almost turned back a few times. I finally stumbled upon an established campsite there before dark.

To my huge surprise there were two other cyclists there. Two Finnish guys out bikepacking for the weekend. We shared some food and finished a bottle of rum. With the sun just barely down, they went to bed and I sat on a slanted rock and half-drunk finished my pasta at around midnight. My Africa burner phone slipped out of my pocket and continued to slide down into the lake. I kept eating. After a few seconds I thought maybe it was worth it to try and fish it out and toss it in some rice, but just then a nice sized air bubble came right up.

After I finished my pasta, I decided that the $40 phone was fish food, but SIM card was probably worth it. Since bathing was in order anyways, I waded in and tiptoed around up to my neck, naked in the twilight. I never found it and figured the rock probably must continue on to the bottom of the lake.

The next day I spent writing and riding on my other phone without connection. The Finnish bros took off to do the end of the bikepacking loop, but ended up coming back to the same spot in the evening. They were good company and I enlisted their help to finish the bottle of vodka I’d been carrying since Estonia. The next day I rode back to the city with them.

Mimi had mentioned an older iPhone that was in disuse, so I headed over to her and her boyfriend, Adrian’s, place for that evening. Traded her my speaker for a an iPhone 6 that wouldn’t turn on. And the next day, after a new battery, charging connection, and some $80, had a new (used) iPhone 6.

I hit the road, but the pin codes Mimi had given me didn’t work and I soon had a locked-out phone that needed to be connected to a computer with iTunes. I was getting close to Russia and sure as shit didn’t want to figure it out there. I pulled into the last big town before the border and tried my luck. There was a library, but they wouldn’t let me download iTunes. I found a small tech shop, with an older man, Jens working there. He had some used laptops for sale, but was understandably reluctant about letting a stranger use one and hook up his device. But, after some talking with him and then what felt like a few hours of me tinkering, I finally had a working phone.

The next step before Russia was retrieving my passport. It had been a nightmare applying for it in Poland. It was finally ready and I’d had someone I met once arrange to pick it up with a forged power of attorney letter, drop it off to my friend Magda, then she DHL’d it to an address of a Couchsurfing host near the border of Russia. If this sounds complicated, it shouldn’t. Because in reality it was much, much more complicated. But for brevity, I have simplified.

Anyways, I arrived just a bit before the DHL driver and was incredibly relieved to be reunited with my passport after a month and to have the visa that had been thus far, the hardest to get. And with that, I raced to the border as my visa had already technically started 3 days ago. Onto the motherland!

[nikkifinnie-blog]

Bogans share their music full of spit, spirit, hilarity and energy.

BOGAN-Australian/NZ word: An uncouth or unsophisticated person regarded as being of low social status: some bogans yelled at us from their cars/my family are culinary bogans.

Bogans are an energetic punk band from North Wales consisting of Adam Wright on vocals, Joe Reynolds on lead guitar, Jimmy Wright on rhythm guitar, Tom Hamblett on bass and Lewis Jones on drums.  They are an absolutely hilarious bunch whose music is uniquely their own full of spit, spirit, hilarity and energy and reminds me a bit of a mash up of Anti-Flag, NOFX and Rancid with a sprinkle of The Bouncing Souls thrown in.  I was lucky enough to speak to these lads before they took off for a few dates in Finland and of course, hilarity ensued..

Erin: Well hello there! Adam: Sorry, my dog is trying to hump anyone he can at the moment, and is currently getting intimate with Joes arm. I guess that’s probably an interesting way to start off an interview? Erin: Oh please, totally normal!  How are you guys? Bogans: We’re good.  We are happy to have an interview! Erin: I know you guys have some shows coming up. Bogans: Yes, we have quite a few including 2 in Finland. Erin: I saw that on your Facebook page! Bogans: Yeah, we’ve been quite lucky with that.  Actually, funny enough our second gig was in Finland. Erin: Really? Why Finland? Bogans: We stayed in touch with a few friends that had come over years ago and I mentioned that we had a new band that started and they asked us to come over, so we did! Erin: How’s the punk scene over there? Bogans: It’s awesome! Absolutely awesome! They definitely like the drink over there, which to be honest so do we! Erin: That’s my kind of country! Bogans: Last time we were there, we got rather destroyed before we went on stage and it went down as an absolute blast and everybody loved it. I think we’re doing better in Finland than we are in the U.K. to tell you the truth! Erin: That’s so crazy! Bogans: Yeah, it’s weird but we’ve made a lot of friends out there and discovered a lot of amazing drinks like long drink and salmiakki. I would drink that stuff till my face falls off! Erin: What the hell is in that? Bogans: It’s like a salty, licorice vodka.  It sounds absolutely disgusting but I swear if you try it, it will blow your mind! Erin: So when did your dream of starting a band begin? Bogans: Well, with us guys it started off when Lewis here, basically approached me about starting a band.  When he was younger, like one of his college courses, he had to put on a gig and he got in my old band, SmackRats. Do you want to describe how it ended up? Lewis: I had to put a gig on for our final, so exam I suppose, project.  So I asked Adam’s band and I was in a band with Joe as well at the time, basically we got banned from the venue. Erin: Why? Lewis: Adam doesn’t know how to stay grounded for one, so he’s walking over people’s tables, kicking pint glasses off.  The microphone got damaged, it was good though! Adam: I ruined his project. Lewis: I did pass though! Adam: It was a messy one and a lot of drinks got ruined that night. Lewis: Still to this day he’s walking all over bars! Adam: Yep! Well, it’s a challenge-you gotta go for it!  If there’s a bar there and you can get your head behind it and over the top and try to get a few free drinks while you’re playing. It’s a potluck game, sometimes the bar staff laugh, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes you get beer, sometimes you get a facefull of line cleaner. You just have to take the chances. Erin: Nothing wrong with that! So after that you ended up forming the band and playing together? Lewis: No, that was going back 10 years ago.  We had other bands prior to this band and there was nothing really much going on. Adam: I was getting a bit bored, like normal life was getting to me a little bit.  So I needed a bit of fun time, really to vent out the frustration.  And then I bumped into Lewis here who was up for the band and that’s how we carried on really, you know?  A good way of blowing off steam. Erin: I know you guys are kind of skate punk but then I hear a bit of hardcore influence.  Who are your major influences? Adam: Everyone’s a bit different.  We all have our own taste in punk.  To be honest, I don’t think we sound like ANYONE really! Lewis: We all like Bad Religion and NOFX and Pennywise. Adam: Yeah, I’d say we’re quite influenced by American punk bands and quite a bit of Australian punk bands. Erin: What Australian punk bands?  I’ve spent some time in Melbourne, St. Kilda. Tom: (speaking to Lewis,) That’s where your mum’s from! Adam: Oh yeah!  The Aussie bands reflect a little bit in our music.  The term “Bogan” itself is like an Aussie redneck. We do look up to a lot of the Aussie bands.  It would be nice to get there one day, but to be honest, for us it would be a bit expensive. Erin: It is expensive to get there, but once you’re there the live music scene is INSANE. Lewis: About the live music scene, I was over in Australia and literally every bar there’d be a band playing.  And Helsinki as well.  I think of this other time, this festival we were playing, something small, but people will actively go out and watch a band.  Where like here, in Wrexham, there’s tons of bands, there’s a few venues, and when they play no one goes to watch. Adam: We make the best of what we get and if the crowd is small, that’s the best time to put on more of a show really!  I do have a tendency of rugby tackling people. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always end well! I broke me ribs a few gigs ago. Lewis: Second song in. Adam: Second song in, managed to break me ribs.  I was crawling around on the floor and someone decided to jump on my back and suddenly my ribs go “POP”! I swear I felt each of my ribs pop out. it was agony. Erin: Did you finish the set? Adam: Well, yeah! (We all start laughing.) Just kept myself inebriated and plodded on!  A few whiskeys made it a bit easier! Erin: Whiskey always does!  So, how did you all end up playing the instruments you do? Tom: I just liked bass. Erin: When did you start playing? Tom: About 15 years ago. I started at school. Adam: Yeah, a lot of these guys all went to school together. Lewis: Drums were the only thing I could play!  I just like simple, fast punk beats, so I started with that and then just carried on doing it! Adam: In all fairness though, when we started the band, you (Lewis) did learn to play some guitar to try and write the songs. Lewis: There was a couple of years when I wasn’t really doing anything and I sold me drums and then our friend from college, John, left his guitar at my house.  That was 10 years ago and he still asks for it back!  Taught meself basic chords and then just came up with some ideas.  Then, I was drumming for another band and you know how you can hear riffs in your head? But I could never play them to the other band. Then that band didn’t go anywhere and I sort of started the basis of the first 2 tracks of the Bogans EP and then took it to the practice room and there you go! There’s always ideas coming out of the brain. Adam: This is Jimmy, the newest member of the band, since January. Erin: Wow that is new!  Hi Jimmy! Adam: Jimmy has been awesome!  He sort of jumped in with like, both feet.  And this is our main guitarist and part time dog romancer Joe. Erin: Hello Joe! Joe: My mates brought a guitar over when I was like 15 or 16 and I enjoyed messing around on guitar so I went and bought one the week after that.  That’s how I started. Erin: You just fell in love with guitar and you went from there? Joe: Yeah.  And I just play all the time. Adam: He pretty much just thinks and talks music.  As for me, I have no actual talent!  I have no rhythm or singing ability actually!  But I can run around and rugby tackle people. Erin: And kick over pint glasses! Adam: Yeah!  Being a front man gives me that option!  Rugby tackle people while on stage and get away with it!  Rugby tackle people when you’re not on stage, you get your face bent in! Erin: Do you have any successes you’ve achieved since you guys have been together? Lewis: People like us more in Finland more than home! Erin: Why do you think that is? Lewis: People generally go out to watch a gig!  I think that’s it.  The problem here is, people go to a gig just to watch the headlining band.  Like 3 people will actually turn up and watch the entire gig from openers to headliners.  I kinda like the nonchalant clap people do at the end of a song.  Is it because we suck and people don’t get the music? I’d like to think it’s both. Adam: Personally, I think the British nightlife has been murdered really, because the pub industry is being killed by Wetherspoons which is KILLING live music. Pubs have all gone a  nice safe shade of light beige, Nightclubs are all very, very generic and the price of alcohol going up as well as the smoking ban has really sort of killed off a lot of the British scene. I mean, people are becoming hermits and won’t leave the comforts of home,but when we GET them out and they come to a gig, they have a blast at our show.  I just think it’s a shame in our country.  A few years ago, you’d get a lot more people out before the smoking ban and booze was cheaper.  It’s just bloody expensive!  Even drugs are more expensive!  I think we got to try and bring it back a bit ‘coz if you don’t try, what’s the point? Erin: So then would you say your biggest success is building up a fan base in Finland? Adam: Yeah probably.  I’d say that is definitely one of our biggest successes. Lewis: The EP as well, people seem to like it so I think as far as successes go, we haven’t released a crappy thing! Erin: You’ve gotten a lot of good reviews on the EP so that’s definitely a positive.  For me, having grown up not exactly in Los Angeles, but outside in Huntington Beach which is home for surf and skate punk, so listening to your music is kind of that same thing I grew up listening to, so it’s familiar to me.  I grew up listening to the Adolescents, the Vandals, NOFX even though they were from up north, all those bands.  You guys have fun with it, don’t you? Adam: Definitely.  I mean, you can tell we enjoy what we’re doing.  I think it comes across in the music, that and the general frustration of life.  It’s a catharsis really, you know.  It’s going on stage and playing music as just a way to blow off steam really.  I mean, I really needed it anyway!  I was going mental before I was in the band, with my humdrum repetitive computer based job and I was just fucking miserable really.  It really sorted it out for me and I think that really comes out in the music. Lewis: I just like the idea really, of having all our influences rolled into one and people can relate to it.  I find it difficult to listen to new bands that define themselves by a subgenre.  I can’t really relate to it.  We’re a punk rock band but I think other people might try to put us in a subcategory if you know what I mean? We just want to sound like us. Play the music we like to play. So I find it quite hard to listen to new bands who aim for a particular set style in the way they sound. Yeah we are influenced by what we grew up listening to, but the final product is different. The music is just us expressing ourselves. Although, I sort of like the idea of the next generation saying, “that’s what I grew up listening to bands like THAT”. Hopefully someone might include us in their list of influences one day, but I doubt it. Adam: I think if you dissected our EP musically it might sound like what we were listening to when we were kids, but as a whole I can’t say we sound like any of them. The influence is still there at the EP’s heart though from allsorts of bands we listened to growing up. Erin: Like the Queers, Adolescents, Vandals, where you’re not taking yourself too seriously.  There’s not too much politics or all that bullshit in it, you know what I mean? Adam: There’s a bit of politics in it.  We do introduce politics.  It’s weird.  I think we sound like everybody and nobody at the same time.  It’s all the people we love and none of them at the same time.  It’s weird ‘coz we get mentioned in with U.K. ’82 and I don’t think we sound like the U.K. ’82 bands.  At the same time, maybe we’ve got a bit of skate punk going. Erin: It’s a mishmash of all of it but you’ve developed your own sound and your own way of doing it. Adam: Definitely.  It’s our way of doing it. Lewis: But with each of our own influences. Adam: I think each of us brings our own little bit to the table. Erin: Do you have a funny story of when you were on the road or something crazy that happened at one of your shows that you want to share?  Something that’s just like ridiculous?  It can be as obscene or obnoxious as you want! Adam: Basically we managed to play this gig which is referred to as “Mad Friday,” which is the last Friday before Christmas and everybody is absolutely smashed!  We’re going back and the petrol light goes on.  And we drive past the petrol station, we’re talking out into werewolf country, like full on American Werewolf in London, no lights for miles.  No one on the road because everybody is drunk!  And, the car DIES.  So, I leave these guys in the car and walk in the pitch black to get some diesel, which you never paid me for by the way Lewis! Lewis: And he comes back, puts the diesel in the car and we find I’ve drained the battery watching Simpsons videos in the car! Erin: Oh shit! Adam: So, we got petrol and now can’t start the car. Erin: And no one is out driving so it’s not like you could get a jump start from anyone! Adam: Exactly!  So in the end I’m like, I’ve had enough!  I go down this dark county lane again, walk miles to the nearest town again in the pitch black dark and there I call a taxi because it’s the nearest location I can say is a landmark, sorry the dog’s humping Joe again! So, I call this taxi and it never comes and in the meantime these guys managed to get the engine fixed, so I’m left there, freezing by the bloody cold river, must’ve been 4:00 in the morning.  They came back to get me a couple of hours later.  I’d say yeah, that’s probably one of our disasters along the way! Joe: Or the photos… Erin: Photos?  What photos?!? Joe: We were staying in a hostel in Finland and it was 5 in a single room.  We were all going to sleep and I was naked and I decided to put my legs behind my head and blatantly exposed everything.  That photo is now everywhere! Erin: Well at least you’re flexible! Adam: He’s the only one in the band that doesn’t really drink!  He just does stuff for a laugh! Erin: Those are the ones you always have to watch out for! Adam: At least we have an excuse when we do stupid shit! and don’t forget the video of him eating caramelised onion hummus from his bumcrack. I must’ve sent that video to every promoter I could find. It may have put me off the smell of hummus for life but it may have helped us get a few gigs. Poor promoters didn’t expect that. Erin: Vinyl, tape, CD or digital music? Joe: Vinyl. Adam: I don’t know.  For collection purposes, vinyl is awesome.  But having said that, I’m cheap and generally can only afford CD’s! Lewis: I prefer mini discs!  I think it would be cool to have stuff released on vinyl but then again it just comes down to funds.  I can’t even burn a CD on my laptop anymore because it doesn’t have one!  For me at the minute, it’s digital! Adam: I think digital has given us the freedom to get our music to more people easily and at less cost.  So that has its benefits.  But it’s still not the same as being able to actually hold something.  When you bought a record or CD back in the day, you spent more time with it.  Before you even got home you’d be looking through the book, ready with anticipation.  I think we’re maybe missing a little bit of that nowadays, really. Erin: You can’t get that on Spotify or iTunes. Adam: It sort of carries on with the whole “I want everything now” image that our generation is getting.  Our attention spans are shrinking.  You don’t listen to an album with the same love.  You don’t get to learn to love the track 7 that you didn’t like the first time you heard the album. When you spend money on buying an album you bloody well make sure you listen to it to death. When it’s digital and you’re streaming things, you’re not really listening to the whole thing. It can become background music or you’re just skipping from song to song.  I listen to a lot of music in me car so I don’t always get the option of skipping tracks, so I still have that same passion for albums. Erin: So when can we expect your next EP? Adam: We don’t know about a release date yet but we’ve got a recording date. Lewis: The end of summer I’d imagine. Adam: That being said, we’re still trying to raise the money for the last one!  It’s fucking expensive! So we’re all feeling a bit of that.  Except for Joe.  He feels nothing. Erin: Joe, are you dead inside? Joe: No, I’m good! Adam: He’s very dead inside! Erin: So what other plans you’ve got in the immediate future?  You’ve got some recording time.  I know you’ve got shows coming up in Finland, then also Macclesfield a couple more in the UK? Lewis: We’ve got quite a bit going for us.  Focus Wales, I don’t know if you’ve heard of it? Erin: No, I haven’t!  Is it a festival? Lewis: It’s a 3 day festival (10-12 of May in Wrexham, UK.) and they showcase bands from all over-Canada, Japan, Wrexham, everywhere!  They’ve given us a pretty decent slot which is really cool. Adam: It is a rather big thing, especially for Wrexham. Lewis: Loads of people come in packs. Adam: We live in North Wales and Wales isn’t really known for being a hot spot of music.  Any decent bands normally have to travel to Manchester.  It is a big one, especially for our home music scene. Erin: What’s the best thing you think comes out of playing your music? Joe: I think it’s meeting nice people!  I don’t think we’ve met one dickhead at a gig! Adam: Yeah, we are the dickheads!  It is literally getting out there and meeting new people.  That’s what this band is about; us having a good time.  If we weren’t enjoying it we wouldn’t be doing it!  In a way I need it just to blow off steam.  I work in a library nowadays! I need the contrast. Erin: What’s the band’s favourite song to play live? Jimmy: I’m gonna say “To What End” because people seem to know about it! Adam: I don’t know.  I personally like “Bucking Bronco” because I know Lewis absolutely hates playing it! And he has to sing backing vocals at the same time as playing superfast. Lewis: Any of the faster ones. Joe: I like “Cattle Battle”.  It’s my favourite.  It’s more technical. Jimmy: It’s one of the new ones. Adam: I let you introduce it live just because of how you say it! Say it again. Joe: “Cattle Battle”. (Sounds very prim and proper and we all have a laugh.) Erin: What about venue?  What’s your favourite venue to play? Adam: We played the New Cross Inn (323 New Cross Road in London,) the other week and it was an awesome atmosphere.  The venue is exactly what you want. Although Atomic in Wrexham definitely holds a big place in my heart because it is the perfect kind of dive bar and some of the crowds really get into it. I’m sure there are holes in the roof there from where I had a someone from the crowd on my shoulders and they were just punching holes in the roof. Great times, just avoid the toilets. Erin: I think that’s about it guys!  Do you have any questions for me about anything? Lewis: What was the best gig you went to growing up? Erin: For me, are you familiar with the Los Angeles band Fear?  It was right when they released “Have Another Beer with Fear” in like 1995 and I saw them when I was 14 at a place called Old World in Huntington Beach, California and it was the last gig they played anywhere near Orange County for like 20 years or something crazy because some racist asshole started shit with one of the band members.  But, they played absolutely amazing that night.  I had never seen anything like it.  And it was a big deal to me because I had recently discovered the Los Angeles/San Francisco punk bands like Fear, X, the Screamers, Dead Kennedys and I was so amazed to see one of those bands play live.  That and the fact I snuck out of my mom’s house to meet up with my friends at that show! I’ve since seen them several times and they always put on an amazing show, but as one of my first punk shows, that one really burned into my memory.  Adam: Cool. That is what punk should be about, creating awesome memories and having a great time. People need to do that more. I’m sure the world would be a better place if we all just lived life a little bit more. Erin: Thank you so much for sitting down and chatting with me!  I’m gonna try and see you guys play when I’m over in the UK this summer! Good luck on your Finnish dates! Bogans: Thank you!  Hope to see you soon! http://bogans.uk/ boganspunkrock@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/boganspunkrock/ https://www.instagram.com/bogans_punk/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPX9uxsEa9qdiWboqOvQXQg https://bogans.bandcamp.com/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/6fupj4cJhQcvzGBmCcVErH?si=gCsIKd2dRLyXVaR2x6vTRw https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/bogans/1253504674 https://sites.google.com/view/bogansepk/home Read the full article