080624 – Timo Räisänen – Liseberg

It was a wonderful evening. Ann and I went to Liseberg to see Timo Räisänen play on the big stage. The weather was sunny and blue and he sang a variety of songs from ballads to synth rock. He was bubbling with joy at how many people had shown up. To my surprise, his keyboardist and apparently second man was Hans Ohlsson from Universal Poplab who was also the man who mixed the music for our first video “Anzuelo”. It’s a small place, this wonderful town of Gothenburg. Timo’s music was not so familiar to me (I saw him playing once before), but he got me swaying to the music and smiling many times. A good concert!

Thank you Malle, once again!

The 5 elements of a perfect culinary experience

I have my strange little theories about life. I have a pretty complex one about time and how I perceive it and how I think one can control it, but I still need to work out some details before I put it in writing. Today I want to talk about my theory on the perfect eating experience.

Eating is definitely one of the great pleasures in life. I love eating good food and often when I am out eating I think about the experience and what makes it so magical. So I’ve come up with a theory of what the necessary elements for the perfect culinary experience are. I guess if I were a food or restaurant critic I would grade the following five aspects: Atmosphere, Service, Quality, Quantity and Company, as I consider them to be the five elements necessary to make eating a full pleasure. I will now describe them all in detail (one by one) so you understand the entirety of my theory and how it works. By the way, I would make a terrible critic and my theory doesn’t really work to rate restaurants fairly as there is a variable that the restaurant has no say in, company (who I choose to eat with).

Atmosphere:
It is very important that the place is appealing to the mood and type of food one is eating. So I am not always after exclusive, fancy restaurants. When I am out in nature on a cold and windy day and come to a little nook by a lake that looks like Hansel and Gretel’s home and this cafe provides me with warm tea and pancakes, the atmosphere gets top raitings, even if the windows are old and crocked. That is the way they need to be and the door ways a bit short, so you have to duck to go inside. You need to feel confortable and at peace (no needs unmet). Sometimes candle light is best, sometimes loud music, sometimes a view of the ocean, sometimes sitting on the floor. Like film music is best when it is so well woven into the mood it goes unnoticed, the atmosphere needs to feel so right it goes unnoticed.

Service:
This one is sooooo important. I am going out to spend my hard earned money, I want to be treated right. That doesn’t mean I always need to be treated like a king. Sometimes one wants to be left alone and go unnoticed. In any case, the waiter/waitress needs to be observant and keen to pick up those signals and give me the service I want. I always want to be made to feel welcome, like they are happy to see me again, even if it’s the first time I come. The service needs to always be friendly and quick. Which doesn’t mean I want to be rushed. But when I have a need, I want it to be met quite quickly. I worked as a waiter for some years and know that this is hard work and tricky, but one always has to be available. Not necessarily come by and interrupt the conversation, but at least be constantly looking out for eye contact, which would indicate there is a need to be met. I like it very much when the waiter introduces the food with pride. Even if it is a simple grilled sandwich, it’s still a rye bread and three pepper cheddar grill made just for me. Smiles, eye contact, elegance, pride, patience, friendliness and an awareness of my mood are all essencial elements for good service.

I’m going to tell a short story here to explain how the slightest miss in service can ruin a wonderful meal (a true story). I was out to dinner with my date and another couple. It was Valentine’s and we had chosen a nice restaurant. We had of course high expectation as we were dressed up and the atmosphere was a classy minimalistic Scandinavian design, hip music. The service started out great, friendly, fast. We ordered our meal, the food sounded spectacular. We were chatting and having a great time. After 20 minutes our food came in and I was really looking forward to it. Our waiter had unfortunately just stepped out for a smoke right before our dishes came out. So as he placed the dish in front of me, all of this wonderful experience and the delicate smell of great food was ruined by the stench of his cigarette. What otherwise could have been a great experience was overshadowed by this one miss. All I remember from that restaurant is the smell of our waiter after he had been out smoking, not the cool design, the taste of the food.

Quality:
This one is quite obvious and self explanatory. The quality of the food needs to be great. Not complex, simple is often better. I was out today at a wonderful restaurant which taught me a great secret. We ordered a Pane Parmagiano, which is basically a baguette with Parmesan cheese and garlic butter, but they brushed the bottom of the baguette ever so slightly with fresh lime, which made it unique and unforgettable. A wonderful balance of four simple flavors. All products used need to be fresh and of excellent quality.

Quantity:
This is a difficult one where my thoughts may differ from the main stream. In order for the culinary experience to be perfect, I need to eat not too much, not too little. As the Swedish would say “lagom”. Most people I presume like generous portions. For me, feeling I am so full I need to lie down doesn’t do it. I don’t want to feel heavy as I walk away, or like I need to unbutton my pants to feel comfort. It’s basic health. So my rule is, if the quantity is perfect, you should, after a meal, feel like you want to get up and dance a waltz. The food has given you the nourishment necessary to do an simple athletic activity, but you need to feel light enough to sway weightlessly over the dance floor, as a good waltz should feel. Most elegant restaurants serve small portions on big plates, which can seem deceiving. One should never leave a table feeling hungry or that one didn’t get enough. But one should not feel the need to leave food in order to not feel one has over eaten. So a really excellent restaurant should when serving their guests, take into account the size of a person. A petite man measuring 5 feet does not need the portion of a 6 foot woman weighing 250 pounds. So add an extra slice of of beef for the bigger customer, serve the petite man smaller potatoes (without changing pricing). We are all individuals and an excellent restaurant will treat us that way. I have always had a hard time knowing exactly how much I should eat during a meal. I unfortunately eat too fast, so I easily manage to squeeze in too much, before my body can tell me to stop. But I was told a simple trick which sounds logical to me and has made it easy for me to have a ballpark idea. A doctor told me, a normal portion should be that which would fit in your two hands if you made them into a cup. It seems like very little, but when I use that trick I usually feel very satisfied.

Company:
This is, of course, the most important element in an excellent culinary experience. I could be in a dirty little workers lunch hall in India with someone wonderful and have the most unforgettable meal. Or I could dine at the White House and not enjoy it one bit. This is a factor only you have control over, so don’t leave it up to chance. Whether one or many, at the moment of sitting to break bread, always share the experience with special people. In my opinion there is something very deep and intimate about sharing a meal. An old saying says, “The family that eats together, stays together.” I think there is a lot of truth there, and for heaven’s sake, turn off the TV while eating.

Today I was out with wonderful Sonja and ate at the restaurant Portofino. We ordered a strange combination of things, sharing only a Pane Parmagiano (a starter) and then a strawberry dessert, to a glass of white wine and a cappuccino, but it was exactly what we were after. A definite 10! May I? … I ask to the 1, 2, 3 of a string quartet.

Oh and my favorite restaurant of all time? The Inn Kensington just outside of Berkeley California! A 10 every time! Don’t believe me? Read what others have to say!

Make friends, not customers

I have learned that most people don’t think like me. I am clearly and bluntly reminded of it from time to time in the swedish business world. There is an overall lacking sense of customer service, which I think is the number one reason why the swedish economy (within a global community) could wash down the drain in a matter of seconds. I am not making a moral judgement here, I simply believe that because of the small size of the country and their instantaneous economic success after World War 2 has created an economy where competition has not been a factor. So as long as you produce something of decent standard (by the way Swedes have excellent standards when it comes to quality), it will sell. Almost no advertising necessary, no consideration to competitive pricing and certainly no customer service necessary. In my ten years of living here, there are only two examples which come to mind that live up to the standards I know of business excellence in all areas (quality, pricing, CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!), IKEA and Clas Ohlson.

My example today is of absolutely no significance, but it is just its minuteness that I think illustrates the situation so well.

I am building a box to ship the few belongings I have left to the US. It is a very educational experience, as I have no knowledge about how shipping things around the world works, but am curious to learn. As I know it is a multi billion dollar industry and one of the corner stones of western consumer society (which I have very alternative thoughts about). In any case, merchants have standardized certain things and of course come up with very simple and practical solutions. There is a concept most of us are familiar with, the pallet. Basically a wooden base designed in such a way that it can easily be lifted with a fork lift. What I didn’t know is that these pallets can have collars. Which is exactly how I am building my box. A collar is basically four wooden sides held together by metal hinges. The most common standard for a pallet I have learned is 120 cm x 80 cm and each collar is 20 cm high.

So you can stack one collar on top of another, thanks to small holders which overlap on each of the 4 corners, making it all very stable and simple to do.
 

My box is 160 cm high, giving me almost 2 square meters of packing space. But I am taking a keyboard which, when in its case is exactly 160 cm. I’m not sure how dangerous it will be to have it so exact as the lid you put on top of the box seems to go into the packing area 2 cm. Of course I don’t want to damage my keyboard, so maybe I should add another 20 cm and leave some empty room on top. But maybe it is better for the packing to be tight and if nothing terribly heavy will be put on top of my box it would be fine, I don’t know. So I decided to call the company where I bought the box for some friendly advice.
I called and told him my situation and the two options I was considering. He didn’t really have any advice as he is not sure how things are packed or shipped on the boat. So I asked him if I could buy an extra collar (which costs roughly 8 dollars) to take with me to the harbor the day I will be shipping it. If at the harbor they advise me to add some extra room, then great I will use it be a happy camper. If I don’t use it, I was wondering if I could return it, as I will have no use for it. Logical, I thought. This is were we differ.

He was shocked that I could have the nerve to call and suggest such a thing. To quote him exactly, “I’m sorry Mr. but that is not how I do business. What you are requesting would basically mean I am lending you a pallet collar. You can’t call and ask such a thing.” I thought to myself, “I just did call and ask such a thing.”

Yes, to some extent he is right. If I were to go to the docks with the extra collar and it turned out I didn’t need it, he would have just leant it to me. If I did need it, he would have made a happy customer. As of now, he’s lost a customer and all the other people I was going to recommend to him. Isn’t that the idea with test driving a car? I lend it to you, if you like and need it, buy it, no strings attached. I bet you could crash during your test drive and still walk away without buying it (I’m sure the test car is insured for that, though I would definitely ask, before trying it). I’ve heard of music albums which have been recorded entirely on borrowed studio equipment. A band goes to a pro-audio store. buys everything they need, keeps the receipts and packaging and as long as they keep the stuff in new condition and are done within a month, return it all for a full money back refund. Who cares, why not promote culture, and I’m sure if that band ever makes it big, they will be back to buy everything they used and more. That fits my view of modern consumer society. We all collect to much stuff, don’t buy what you don’t need in the long run. Borrowing is a great idea, even in the business world.

I work primarily to survive and feel fulfilled. Not to make cash. My dad once gave me a sign with 5 steps to success in business and one of them was, “Make friends, not customers.” My work place, in my adult life, is probably one of my main sources for socializing. I want to meet people, make friends! Of course I want to do favors, of course I want to lend out something that someone else maybe or maybe doesn’t need. Am I crazy? Somebody pinch me!

My last 5 cents. Never open an account in a Swedish bank unless you absolutely have to. I still don’t understand how they get away with the concept of “I give you my money for safe keeping, so that you can use it to make more money and charge me for that privilege.” Has nobody here heard of “Free banking”? The only bank I do recommend is JAK Member Owned Bank an interest free banking cooperative, which I am happy to be a member of. Very interesting, check it out!

Oh and finally, free advertising and a recommendation to an excellent business partner during this learning experience of mine. The guy who I am sending the box through is a wonderful, caring, effective and knowledgeable man in the shipping industry, whom I highly recommend if you ever need to ship anything anywhere from Gothenburg, Lorenzo Urquiaga. I’m not surprised to see the first thing you see on his website is his motto: 35 years of service excellence. So I guess I was wrong, there were 3, IKEA, Clas Ohlson and Lorenzo Shipping.

Have any experiences you’d like to share, I would love to hear them (write a comment!). Are there any other examples of business excellence in Sweden I should know about? Hopefully they will catch on soon. Otherwise it is a great place to live and work and I’ve gladly paid a lot of taxes to help sustain a society that cares for the less fortunate. I am very blessed.

What does Andrés Solé do a sunday afternoon at 4 pm?

Many different things… But I would say this last Sunday was rather typical, I was working, at least by my definition of work. I was out in the center of town having a pillow fight with a bunch of friends and strangers. The occasion, Gothemburg Flash Mob #7. We had a wonderful time and definitely made a lot of onlookers smile. I have always loved performance, theater, improvisation. Flash mob events are all that and also a chance to let your inner child out and play.

 

I don’t know why we adults have such a hard time with that. I am reading a book called “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron which talks very much about how important play and the child within are an essential part of creativity. Pablo Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” Carl Jung said, “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” That is the way I see musical composition, it is me playing with objects I love, rhythm, melody, harmony, sounds, textures, words. So I feel the exercise of allowing myself to play is part of my job, an important component in the success of my career as artist.

Doing theater somehow makes play seem natural and easy. I love painting my face and dressing up. Just recently I had an easter party at home where after painting eggs we went on to painting each other’s faces. As part of a anti-elitist artistic collective I am a different character at each gathering. Last time I was Pierre, the thief of kisses.

 

It is quite often that performance and dressing up shows up on stage in my concerts. I have a funny story of a concert where my dressing up only half worked. It was at a party with theme “Black’s and White’s (after a Carnival in Colombia by the same name). So I had painted half my face white and left the other half as is with only a black line down the middle of my eye, as you see in the picture.

I thought I looked quite nifty! I got off stage and went around mingling and ran into Brent, a good friend of mine who asked me, “When did you paint your face, I thought you just got off stage?” We’ll he was standing in the audience to right of the stage and during the entire concert seen only a rather common looking Andrés Solé perform.

Is palyfulness important? Have you tried being part of a flash mob, if not, why not? When was the last time you had a pillow fight? I’d love to hear your thoughts…

Article published the 19th of april in Swedish newspaper

Several people have asked about a translation of the article published by Göteborgs Fria Tidning. Well here you go:

Andrés Orjuela aims for Miami

Who hasn’t dreamed of just leaving everything behind, of walking out the door, closing it and never coming back. A person who actually turns dreams into reality is singer Andrés Solé, who is leaving Gothenburg for sunnier horizons.

It is very often a thought stays only as a thought and nothing comes of it. This is definitely not the case with Andrés “Solé” Orjuela who is the singer in the latin rock band Solé. I meet Andrés in his one room apartment where classical music and sunshine sets the backdrop for our interview. A bed and other furniture have been squeezed together to make room for his elegant black piano, studio equipment, guitars, computers and CD’s which meet in a creative order. In the corner a manequin with a pink wig stands and points at an Elvis poster. The manequin has already been sold as has the piano. The studio and everything else will soon be part of a huge garage sale. Andrés Orjuela is moving. In August he is will be leaving Sweden to continue life’s journey in Miami, USA.
“I’m moving to follow my dream! I love music with a passion and want to live from and for my music,” says Andrés and smiles as he thinks about his solo career. It is obvious that he is completely focused. August is just around the corner and there are a lot of things to take care of.
His life is made up of many ongoing processes. The musical creation process and that of letting a concert take its form are some examples. Moving to Miami is another. And the process of getting rid of many things he has gathered over the years requires a lot of work. But he points out that it is important to not allow oneself to become to emotionally attached to things.
“Things shouldn’t weigh me down, hold me back” he says.

It is easy to be dragged along by Andrés’s strong drive and will to develop. He speaks with passion about the process of change.
“You can prepare yourself for what you think is coming, but one must be sensitive and open to following where destiny leads you.”
Letting himself be inspired and following his gut feeling is something Andrés has done most of his life. Since his childhood in Bogotá, Colombia, he’s followed his heart, studies and job opportunities to Miami, Santiago, Berkeley and Gothemburg. His desicion to return to Miami came while visiting it during the winter of 2007.
“As I walked down the streets I could feel how Miami called my name. That is where I want to live” says Andrés. “After I had made the decision, I felt a strong and positve force within me and a deep sense of internal peace.

Miami is said to be the world capital for latin rock. He has already made some important contacts within the music industry to continue growing as an artist. Miami is the third largest “Colombian city” if one counts the number of Colombian’s living there, despite the fact that it is in the US. For Andrés, Colombia holds a very special place in his heart.
When we talk about his years in Sweden and what he will remember, he spontaneously says, “Closeness to nature! Swedish cities integrate nature into the cities in such a wonderful way which is very different from how Colombian cities are built.” He adds that Gothemburg is small enough that he is constantly running into friends around town, but large enough to have a sprawling cultural life.
“I also love the fact that Gothemburg is a port. When I stand and look out over the ocean, I feel infinitely small and endlessly huge at the same time; it inspires me and helps me think big!”

Much of Andrés’s life is about making his dreams reality and his expectations of the future are extensive. His hope is that his music will really reach out and touch people’s lives.
“With my music, I want to create social events for people to meet. If I can, through my music, inspire someone to grow, I’ll feel completely satisfied.

Text by Carina Sundqvist
Photo by: Jacob Zocherman

Aikido, non-violence and emotional intelligence

I have a wonderful friend called Brent who is passionate about aikido. He invited me to come along and see one of their trainings. It was a beautiful night where I saw discipline, human bonding, care for the body and mind, respect and joy. Of all the martial arts, it is probably the one which I identify most with. I love their thoughts and philosophies. Here is a short but good description of aikido which I found in one of the books I am reading at the moment “Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman (which by the way was the most influencial book in my life last year, a book that deserves and will eventually get its own blog entry):
“Aikido is the art of reconciliation. Whoever has the mind to fight has broken his connection with the universe. If you try to dominate people you are already defeated. We study how to resolve conflict, not how to start it.”

As much as I enjoyed the aikido training I felt it still did not call to me. As many males say when trying to break off a relationship, “It’s not you, it’s me.” I wasn’t trying to squirm my way out of any commitment and there is nothing wrong with aikido. It is just that I live by a philosophy of non-violence. So even if the goal is right, that of resolving conflict, the method is not what I would choose. Although aikido is actually not violent (since by definition violence is aggressive and with the intention of causing harm), the physical strength and techniques used in aikido can be, of misuse or plain mistake, quite harmful.

A problem I have always had, is that in some situations where confronted with violence, I have maybe not really understood a better solution. But today I had one of those “Aha” moments of enlightenment. The tool I need to be able to solve violent situations and live by my philosophy of non-violence is emotional mastery.

Here’s the story Daniel Goleman tells that inspired this entry. A friend of his, Terry Dobson, who was at the time studying aikido in Japan, found himself in a situation where he was met by violence in a subway and was about to put his knowledge from aikido into practice and in some way physically dominate a big, drunk man, who was being violent towards fearful passengers on the train. Just as he was about to do use aikido in this situation, an older, wiser man taught us all a lesson in emotional mastery.

“Terry stood up slowly and with deliberation.
Seeing him, the drunk roared, ‘Aha! A foreigner! You need a lesson in Japanese manners!’ and began gathering himself to take on Terry.
But just as the drunk was on the verge of making his move, someone gave an earsplitting, oddly joyous shout: ‘Hey!’
The shout had the cheery tone of someone who has suddenly come upon a fond friend. The drunk, surprised, spin around to see a tiny Japanese man, probably in his seventies, sitting there in a kimono. The old man beamed with delight at the drunk, and beckoned him over with a light wave of his hand and a lilting C’mere.’
The drunk strode over with a belligeren, ‘Why the hell should I talk to you?’
‘What’cha been drinking?’ the old man asked, his eyes beaming at the drunken laborer.
‘I’ve been drinking sake, and it’s none of your business,’ the drunk bellowed.’
‘Oh, that’s wonderful, absolutely wonderful,’ the old manreplied in a warm tone. ‘You see, I love sake, too. Every night, me and my wife warm up a little bottle of sake and take it out into the garden, and we sit on an old wooden bench…’ He continued on about the persimmon tree in his backyard, the fortunes of his garden, enjoying sake in the evening.
The drunk’s face began to soften as he listened to the old man; his fists uncleanched. ‘Yeah… I love persimmons, too…’ he siad, his voice trailing off.
‘Yes,’ the old man replied in a sprightly voice, ‘and I’m sure you have a wonderful wife.’
‘No,’ said the laborer. ‘My wife died…’ Sobbing, he launched into a sad tale of losing his wife, his home, his job, of being ashamed of himself.
Just then the train came to Terry’s stop, and as he was getting off he turned to hear the old man invite the drunk to join him and tell him all about it, and to see the drunk sprawl along the seat, his head in the old man’s lap.
That is emotional brilliance.”

I come from Colombia and the violent situation there is something I hurt for and feel very deeply about. I would not be able to handle a drunk on a subway as the elder man did. Someday I hope I could. I can not imagine having to face some of the horrors of violence that occur in my country on a daily basis, both physical and psychological, let alone have the peace and strength to be able to react with emotional mastery. Kidnapping is one of the most horrendous things that I can imagine, for both the person kidnapped and for all the loved ones left in that psychological horror of uncertainty.

I have met someone who has that kind of emotional mastery. He is the father of a friend of mine from school, a man of much culture and understanding, an actor by profession. He was kidnapped in the early nineties and was retained for almost two years. His reaction to the situation was to try to understand and love his captors in any way he could. After some time he made friends with some of the members of the guerrilla group who had him in captivity and realized that many of them did not know how to read or write. So he dedicated those two years of his life to teaching some of those who had kidnapped him to read and write. He was “miraculously” released unharmed and with no ransom paid. That is emotional brilliance.

I know that Colombia is full of everyday heroes, whose stories are never heard, since the media has an interest in publishing fear and horror. If you know of one, I would love to hear his or her story.

(The image I posted is my favorite picture about the war situation in Colombia, taken by Leon Dario Pelaez. It was published in the October 2007 issue of the magazine “Reporters without borders” that was given to me by my wonderful friend and mentor Malle. Thank you Malle!)