STOCKHOLM - For perhaps the first time since 1996 when he gave Gyllene Tider 5 “+” symbols out of 5, Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman has written something very complimentary about Per Gessle. No fan of Roxette, Bjurman’s praise is about the cover version of “I Want To Be Your Boyfriend” that Per has recorded for the forthcoming tribute album “The Songs Ramones The Same” that will be released in March.

  Under the headline “It’s Nice When Gessle Translates Ramones,” Bjurman compliments Gessle’s contibution.

  Anders Nunstedt, writing for Expressen, also had very positive things to say about the song.

  “The cover is sensational…” he writes, “…reminiscent of the summer Westcoast pop that Gessle created so charmingly at the beginning of (his) career.”

  Nunstedt also mentions that Per was recently at the opening reception for rock photographer Anton Corbijn’s exhibition “Mortals” and at the premiere here of the new, Swedish version of the Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus musical “Chess.”

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)
• Expressen’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Marie and Per, along with their spouses, attended the premiere of the musical “Chess” (by Benny and Björn of ABBA) at the Cirkus Theatre, located in the Skansen ecopark here on Saturday, February 23rd. Also in attendance and seen talking to Per was Thomas Johansson of EMI.

  Marie was wearing a shiny brown jacket with a white, glittery blouse underneath. Per, looking thinner than ever, was dressed in a grey/black/brown long-sleeved shirt and tight black trousers.

RECIFE, BRAZIL - A Brazilian band called Capim Com Mel has recorded a Portuguese version of “It Must Have Been Love” in a musical genre known as “Forró” – a characteristic style of music
from the northeast region of Brazil.

  Along with a previous rap version of this same song, this is perhaps one of the most unique covers of a Roxette song that’s ever been made. It’s not a piano-based, but rather an accordion-based version. The song’s name is “Como Esquecer” (“How To Forget”), and you can listen to it via the link provided below.

• http://geocities.com/gusgasgo1/como_esquecer.wma

STOCKHOLM - Fashion model turned jewelery designer Efva Attling celebrated her 50th birthday party yesterday evening, and among the 250 or so guests were Per and his wife Åsa. There’s a small picture of the Gessles arriving at the party on the Aftonbladet site.

  Efva and her partner, singer Eva Dalhgren, are Sweden’s most famous lesbian couple. They are very good friends of Marie Fredriksson, who is believed to have also attended the party with her husband.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)
• Dahlgren-Attling.net

There’s a new site where you can find all the MIDIs ever made (well, many of them at least) of Roxette, Gyllene Tider, Per Gessle & Marie Fredriksson. You can check it out at http://midis.roxette.org

An upcoming album from Supersuckers, a Blues-grunge band from Tucson, Arizona is entitled “Must’ve Been Live” – an apparent paraphrasing of Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love.” No other connection seems to exist between the album and Roxette.

• Rolling Stone article

TONALA (MEXICO) - It was unmistakable. Walking down a crowded aisle in a street fair here in Mexico, the sound of “Nah, nah, nah, Nah, nah, nah…” coming from a vendor’s booth. “That’s Roxette!” I said to my friends.

  It turns out the song was not coming from some pirated CD, which I had expected, but instead from a Konami Playstation game called “Dance Dance Revolution 5th Mix” that is a kind of disco dance simulation. “Centre of the Heart” was one of the options for the player to “dance” to.

STOCKHOLM - Roxette won a special award at the Swedish Grammis gala this evening… a governmental export prize. Marie was there and accepted the award.

LONDON - Roxette’s forthcoming releases won’t be on the EMI-branded label anymore. The UK-based EMI Group is streamlining its company structure and as a result, one of its labels, EMI Records, will be renamed Capitol. EMI Group’s other labels, including Virgin and EMI Classics, will keep their old name and brand.

  Another part of the restructuring is that all local EMI offices will start using a similar organization chart, with a single managing director and externalized back-office operations.

NEW YORK - One of the arguments used in the campaign to save the T&A studio from demolition, was that the Halmstad/Halland area needed to understand that Roxette fans from around the world help boost the economy there by visiting the various “Roxsites.” Apparently, the Swedish Travel & Tourism Council here agrees.

  In the 2002 edition of their travel brochure, “A Taste of Sweden,” Roxette is mentioned on three separate pages.

  The table of contents page includes a photo of Roxette (along with two other photos not shown here) to help identify the “South Sweden” section. Then, in the introduction, they write “Nobel, Bergman, ABBA, IKEA, Roxette, Pippi Longstocking, Volvo, SAAB, Ericsson, Greta Garbo and Björn Borg – all have played their part in giving Sweden its strong profile on the world scene.”

  And on page 8: “…It’s a favorite area for golfers, and Tylösand is reckoned to be among the best of the many courses. Halland is also the home region of the top rock group Roxette.”