Stockholm Weekend

Hey Lovers!!

Last weekend my bestie and I decided to get away from the UK and its bad weather and experience a new part of Europe, but I was pretty pissed when we landed back in the UK to discover that it was and had been warmer here the whole weekend than in our chosen destination. Gutted!

 

So where did we go? Stockholm, Sweden, where the people are tall, gorgeous and life is like a never ending catwalk show!

So what was it like? Clean, stylish, calm and nowhere near as expensive as people made out it would be. Before we left people kept telling us to brace ourselves because it was going to be hella expensive, but in all honesty, financially it just felt like a weekend in London (she says without checking out her bank statement).

 

So what did we do? Landed on the Friday (into the cheaper airport with the shortest runway I have ever landed on in my life) only for our bus that was to transport us into the city to breakdown! Typical! Once the bus got going again we finally made it into Stockholm late afternoon and met up with my besties amiga who was our host for the weekend and went for something to eat at Vapiano in GamlaStan and had a great girly chat!

Later that night we met up with my amiga who has been living in Stockholm for 4 months now but it honestly felt like she had lived there her whole life! We went out for some dessert and then to dance the night away at the Hotspot Fasching until 5 in the morning! It’s been a while and half since I’ve had a night like that but with a DJ that drops a few Prince tunes into his set, how oh how could I ever resist!

 

On the Saturday we slept way longer than we’d intended but eventually found our way out and about exploring Stokholm City by day and by night ended up in a random Thai bar compliment of Swedens Thai wives.

On the Sunday morning we visited Tenstakonsthall an Art gallery in a neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city which my friend liked to refer to as the Ghetto, well if that was their Ghetto it was the cleanest Ghetto I have seen in my life.
In the afternoon we took a boat from the city centre that stopped at a bunch of little islands and hopped off at the last stopped and walked around a town with some very beautiful Scandinavian looking homes. By night we went to eat at a North African Restaurant called Habibi’s which sadly was closed so if you ever go you’ll have to tell me how it was. Instead we went to a Turkish Restaurant across the street Aya Sofya which was quite nice.

On Monday which was our last day we started out with a walk in the woods and Tea and cake at a Castle tea house. Then we met up with my friend for a lunch after visiting the InternationalLibrary which I have to say was such a nice place for a book worm like moi to sit for a while. We ate lunch at an enchanting little café nearby that had every kind of fresh tea imaginable but unfortunately we were cutting it fine and had to rush off to get out flight home, but I we did manage to squeeze in an apple tea.

 

Overall Stockholm is a great place if you love fashion and you love to socialise in cafes by day and restaurants and bars by night. But if you’re the type of person who loves a city with a bit of edge or rebellion of some sort then Stockholm probably isn’t for you. As much as their architecture was easy on the eye, it was also lacking in uniqueness, as for me there was nothing strikingly beautiful about the buildings there that intrigued me in the slightest I'm afraid. But that’s not to say it’s not a great place to visit because I had a fab time, however had me or my friend not known people that live there we definitely would have had a completely different experience to the one we had. Either way we had a great time as we had great company. Would I go again? Despite no being completely wowed... Yes I’ll probably go later this year to visit my friend again as it is the perfect place to hang out and catch up due to it’s calm and socialising culture.

 

Have you been to Stockholm? What did you think?

*Images are a combination of my own and sourced from Google

                                          

Alicia Keys & Maxwell heating things up - Lusty Love

 will keep this short and sweet… I love this song right now!

 

If you had told me as a kid that when I grew up I would have naughty thoughts about Maxwell I would’ve told you’re joking arse to piss right off! Yet here I am having impolite thoughts about this this man! Can someone please tell me where I can find a GROWN man like this for please?

Enjoy ladies, oh and Fellas, Alicia’s in there too somewhere.

Mwah xxx

Arima Ederra - Lusty Love

For the past couple of years I feel like great music has been missing in action. But since last summer things have started to pick up a little and music and I have rekindled our flame. As a result I now spent a lot of time online searching a listening to new and great music that I have stumbled across by chance or that more than likely have been recommended to me by my homegirl who is my go to person for music as her recommendations never disappoint.

So the latest recommendation has been on repeat and then on repeat again because she is soooooo good. Arima Ederra is her name and if you don’t know about her already then you seriously need to get to know.

Image sourced from Google

This girl is BAD ASS! If you like Solange and Jhene Aiko then there is no way that you won’t like Arima, check out her video below for her track ‘Flow Chart’.

 

If you like what you hear then it just got better! If you click here you can download her top quality 10 track album ‘Earth to Arima’ …. For free!! Or you can check her out on SoundCloud or keep up with this talented missy on twitter @ArimaEderra.

Enjoy Lovebugs. xxxx

 

Interview with JP Cooper

The first time I heard JP Cooper I was immediately blown away by his talent , but when I had the opportunity to meet him at the last Soul Live Birmingham I was in no way at all prepared for the pure level of humility of Mr Copper or his enthusiasm, love, understanding and passion for honest music. He is hands down the most intriguingly humblest man I think that I have ever met.

For a man with a rare yet powerful Soul, it’s hard to believe that his musical beginnings started in Rock bands which he said helped to mould his sound and voice that has taken him 10 years to find.

Emerging from a “very white working class” background in Manchester it was through Coopers exploration of Gospel music and being a fan of Soul that he was able to find this voice that I just can’t get enough of.

With Musical Influences like Donnie Hathaway, Bill Rivers and the legendary Stevie Wonder, Cooper is definitely a man who is serious about real music. So to find out why Mr Copper is officially my first music obsession of 2013 keep reading and I’m sure by the end of the interview you'll be obsessed too.

For those that aren’t familiar with your music, how would you describe your sound.

Wow, you know what I really don’t know. In what I do I try to be honest, try to keep things simple, I try to reveal as much as I can and I try and strip it down to the bones and as far as the sound goes… I don’t know, because it isn’t soul, it isn’t folk, it’s number of things.

What sets you apart from the other soul artist out there today?
It’s probably is because I came from such a different background, and I mean here tonight I feel blessed to have been invited into this kind of event, to be accepted. I mean its Soulive, so for someone to say I feel your soul when you sing, that’s what it’s all about.

So how would you explain your background?
I grew up in a very white working class area, so I was more exposed to indie music. I live in Manchester, so the whole Manchester thing was going on and everybody was in Indi Bands, that’s maybe why it took me so long to get into soul music because there weren’t many people sharing that. Luckily over the years I’ve found Gospel Choir, I’ve found other musicians and I’ve learnt a lot, whereas I used to hide behind my long hair and loud guitars.

Considering you started out in Rock, is this something that you still delve into or are you solely Soul Music?
I don’t know if I would go back into that, I probably wouldn’t because I’ve always wanted to do something acoustic, something soulful, I think it was just finding the confidence to bare that and it took me ten years to focus on what I had that was special and individual, so I feel like I’m just scratching the surface now.

 

Who or what inspires you lyrically?
I don’t really know if there’s been any people that have influenced me to write. Most of the things are just everyday emotions, things that I’ve been nostalgic about, things that have moved me in a good way, things that have moved me in a confused way. A lot of the time when I’m writing I’m figuring things out, so half the time I don’t know what the songs about when I’m writing it and then when I finish sometimes it’s a year later that it says something to me and that’s what’s beautiful about it. I do really try and keep it simple and I do want to be able to speak to everybody, I don’t just want to just be able to speak to intellectual people, I want to keep it simple because I’m a simple guy.

 

Keeping with the theme of inspiration and lyrics, ‘Oh the Water’ is one of my favourite songs. What inspired such a powerful song?
I think that when I wrote that song I was trying to speak to a part of myself that tells me that I can’t do something. I have massive doubt issues with myself, I’m kind of working them out. It’s about dealing with self-doubt and not sweeping it under the rug, it’s about facing it and dealing with it and helping a part of yourself that is being beat on. So that’s what that songs about, and it’s another one that spoke to me.

If there is anyone that you could work with dead or alive, who would it be?
There are people that I would love to meet, but I would love to meet and learn from. I’m a huge Donnie Hathaway fan and I got to support his daughter Lalah Hathaway.
Stevie wonder, what a man, what a legacy. It would be great to sit down with Bill Rivers just because he seems like such a great down to earth kind of guy and I don’t know how he’s managed to keep that, that’s a really big aspiration to have.

So there you have it ladies and gents, a little insight in to who this magnificent artist is and where he came from! I definitely recommend you keep a close eye on him and if JP is coming to a town near you, not going to see him live is not an option! But for the time being check out the video below of JP performing ‘Oh the Water’ Live at Soulive back in February, and if you look closely enough you’ll see a little shortie in the front row who looks like she’s in pure heaven … yep that little shortie is moi and if heaven feels anything like I felt during that moment then boy, I better be on my best behaviour!

 

To see more quality Artist’s like JP get yourself down to the Rainbow Warehouse, Digbeth Birmingham on May 11th for round 3 of Soulive! I for one canny wait!!

See you there music lovers. xx

*Images sourced from Google