The voting for nominees in this year's Rockbjörnen awards has started on Aftonbladet.se site. This time there are 11 categories, including one new category, "The Best Swedish Live Act."

Aftonbladet has organized Rockbjörnen Awards since 1979. Roxette has been awarded with a golden bear six times and Gyllene Tider four times. As solo artists, Marie Fredriksson has been awarded five times and Per Gessle twice.

STOCKHOLM - Per will sign his new DVD "En händig man på turné," and Per with Sven will sign Sven's new book "Att vara Per Gessle."

Where will they do it? Of course The Daily Roxette has the dates, places and times:

STOCKHOLM Saturday Dec. 8
Hedengrens, 14:00-15:00

MALMÖ Thursday Dec. 13
Åhléns City, 17:00–18:00

HALMSTAD Friday Dec. 14
Halmstad Bokhandel, Brogatan 20, 16:00-17:00

GOTHENBURG Saturday Dec. 15
Wettergrens Bokhandel, Avenyn 21, 13:00-14:00

LJUSDAL - The lead single off Marie's new album has been sent out to radio stations and it's of course "Ordet är farväl." It seems to be a promotional release only (CDPRO4415). The song itself is written by Micke Bolyos and Py Bäckman with Micke on programming, Jokke Pettersson (Marie's nephew) on guitars and Bengan Jansson on the accordion.

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle with family Åsa and Gabriel are in Caroline Roosmark's 2008 calendar "The Women and Men of the Year 2008." This year's edition is dedicated to 16 year old Riccardo Campogiani who was meaninglessly killed on the streets October 7, 2007. "Per usually doesn't do things like these," Caroline says, "but this time he's been very into it. He spent days picking out a good wig!"

As you can see Per, "pop legend," is dressed in a Mozartesque style, with a "guitar" of course (It's called a lute.) He is in May's picture.

You can order the calendar at Caroline's site, 15 SEK of every calendar will go to the foundation of Riccardo Campogiani's memory. The Daily Roxette does not know if Caroline ships outside of Sweden.

Photo is used with kind permission.

(Updated) - Marie Fredriksson's new compilation, "Tid för tystnad - Marie Fredrikssons ballader" ("Time for Silence - Marie Fredriksson's Ballads") will be released Wednesday Nov. 28.

The two "new" tracks are "Ett bord i solen" which is "A Table in the Sun" in Swedish, the other new track is called "Ordet är farväl" "("The Word is Goodbye".) Enjoy the cover.

Update November 8:

Tracklist is as follows:

01. Ordet är farväl
02. Ännu doftar kärlek
03. Den bästa dagen
04. Mot okända hav
05. Aldrig som främlingar
06. Även vargar måste välja
07. Jag brände din bild
08. Tid för tystnad
09. Ett bord i solen
10. Den ständiga resan
11. Medan tiden är inne
12. Min trognaste vän
13. Vinterängel
14. Sparvöga
15. Den sjunde vågen
16. Ett hus vid havet
17. Så skimrande var aldrig havet
18. Berusa mig
19. Tro

German country & western singer Suzie Candell, born 1986, has recorded a c&w version of Roxette's old hit "Sleeping in My Car" on her latest album "I Gotta Be Me." Suzie's album was released in March 2007. Check Suzie's homepage for a snippet. Click "Discografie," then "I Gotta Be Me."

The Daily Roxette has not reached Ms. Candell for a comment. 

Martin M contributed to this article.

STOCKHOLM (Updated) - Per Gessle's new DVD, titled like the tour "En händig man på turné," (5153989) will be released as predicted; before Christmas, namely December 5. The DVD will contain the full tracklist of the Stockholm concert (see below), and also the tour diary previously published on YouTube. Other bonuses included are the clarinet version of "När vi två blir en" and the video of "En händig man."

According to the sleeve the concert is fully filmed in Stockholm. The sleeve is designed by Karl-Magnus Boske, the same art director that designed for instance the sleeves to "The World According to Gessle" and "Have a Nice Day" series. The front sleeve photo is taken by TDR's Thomas Evensson.

Technical specs of the DVD: Dolby Digital and dts, anamorphic widescreen in 16:9 format.

Read more…

STOCKHOLM - EMI Caroline has released a few Gyllene Tider albums in the US – "Gyllene Tider," "Moderna Tider," "Puls" and "GT25!." But it has also released Per Gessle's "Mazarin" and the compilation "Hjärtats trakt." All albums can be found on iTunes USA.

On November 13, "Finn5fel!" and "En händig man" will be released as well.

According to Per this seems to have worked out great for other non-American acts so EMI thinks there's an audience for Gyllene Tider and Gessle in the States. "Amazingly enough, if you ask me, but it's fun nevertheless," Per says.

Naturally we're talking digital releases only.

Caroline Distribution, EMI’s U.S. independent distribution company, was founded in 1983 as a unit of Virgin Records. It has become one of the U.S. music industry’s largest third-party distribution companies for the independent music sector.

STOCKHOLM - Marie Fredriksson will release a compilation at the end of November. The new greatest ballad hits will feature her most well-known ballads as well as two newly recorded songs, one of them being a Swedish version of "A Table in the Sun" (from the album "The Change".)

The Daily Roxette is happy to see that Marie surprises us yet again with new material. The sleeve and release date are TBA.

GOTHENBURG (Updated) - Per Gessle will take part in a seminar September 29 at 15:00 CET at the Gothenburg Book Fair. He will talk about the new book about him. Entrance fee is 400 SEK plus VAT (45€). The price is not just for the seminar that Per will attend, but for the whole day.

The fair, which opens today, is being held at Svenska mässan (where Per played for PriceWaterhouse a few weeks ago.)

SVT24 will broadcast the seminar on Friday October 5 at 14:40