After six months of living the good life in Southern California I stepped onto an airplane flying me out of San Francisco back to my home in Reykjavik, Iceland. I was looking forward to one of the nice semi-warm summer like I remembered, but was in for a quite a surprise. My best friend, Ragga, greeted me at the airport and my 3 week summer vacation in Iceland had begun. One of the things I was most looking forward to most were the 7 AM bar closings. Have you ever experienced going to a bar at midnight when the sun is just going down, then realizing 6 hours later the sun is coming up and you’re still going strong? If you haven’t tried this at least once, I strongly advise you to.
Had plans to go see some shows while I was home but, unfortunately, my state of mind was set on the good life. I did see my friends in Mr Moller Mr Moller for the first time (The only 3 cord punk band in the world that only knows 2 and is very happy with that) play at Grand Rokk one of the darkest bars in the country. There’s something great about seeing a punk band smash a guitar that belongs to their friends, ouch. After their performance at the 220SURFTEAM Surf/Music festival, I couldn’t ask for anymore two or three cord punk. Also saw Hjalmar (The countries only Reggae band) play at Reykjavik’s premiere record store, 12 Tonar (If you come for Iceland Airwaves be sure to check them out), and it was packed , foreigners coming in from the streets to see them play and filling up the store. It was a very graceful experience with smooth reggae tones and red-wine making my day. After spending a week back home I finally got the guts to put up my first photo exhibition at Vinbarinn. It’s still up today and will hopefully be back up during Iceland Airwaves. The exhibition is filled with shots from Iceland, Denmark, and the USA. It ranges from The Flaming Lips to Jakobinarina and everything in between.
On one of my final nights in Iceland I got to see one of the things I had been yearning for for 6 months, my drummer friend Addi playing with a DJ. If you have never seen this before, the DJ spins a tune and the drummer starts playing the beat along with it. It’s a unique site to see, I promise. Check the couple videos below to get an idea. As the sun came up on Addi from DR SPOCK, my time in Iceland was over and now Cali will be my home til a return trip in December.
So, all in all, an excellent trip. Got to see family and friends and party in the midnight sun, what more could you want???
