STOCKHOLM - After preliminary voting by the readers of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Per Gessle’s name shows up as a final nominee in three categories for this year’s Rockbjörnen awards.

  Per is a finalist in all of the three categories that he could have been nominated in: Best Swedish Male Artist, Best Swedish Album (“Mazarin”) and Best Swedish Song (“Här kommer alla känslorna”).

  Update Dec. 20: The gala will be televised on Swedish TV3 with a two hour delay, at 21:00 CET. Artists performing include Broder Daniel, The Rasmus, Moneybrother and Per Gessle.

  Update Jan. 8: The gala is held at Cirkus in Stockholm Jan 18. The tickets are for sale on TicNet. Phone # +46-(0)771-707070.

• Aftonbladet’s “Rockbjörnen” site (In Swedish)
• BiljettDirekt/TicNet (Get your tickets here)

ST. PETERSBURG - Russian EMI representative Gala Records Inc. has recently released special low priced CDs. Among those are Roxette’s “The Ballad Hits” (5975512) and “The Pop Hits” (5975492). The releases are copy protected, have no bonus tracks and no bonus EP. The price will be approximately $8.

  There is also a special red label on the sleeves - inserts, not booklets - saying “For distribution in the Russian territory and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). Except for Moldavia and Ukraine.”

BRUSSELS - Copy protection of CDs is illegal, claims the Belgian consumer rights organization Test Aankoop, who sued EMI, BMG, Sony and Universal for copy protecting their CDs. The companies will have to defend their position regarding copy protection in court. “This kind of protection violates the consumers’ statutory right to copy. The words ’copy control’ do not free the record companies of the law,” the organization says in a press release.

  According to Test Aankoop today’s CD protection misses the target when it comes to hacking and record piracy, while it undermines the consumers’ rights to use the CD as they want for private purposes.

  Their Norwegian counterpart Forbrukerrådet follows the case closely. “We find it positive that the question has been asked, and we’ll monitor the upcoming lawsuit with excitement,” Paal Bjönness, legal councelor of Forbrukerrådet says. “This will probably not be the last lawsuit of this kind,” Bjönness continues.

  Last year both a French and an Australian consumer rights organization sued record companies.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Capitol Records Sweden will release a new low price series of CDs, presumably to fight piracy. Among these CDs are Per Gessle’s “The World According to Gessle” (1997) and Marie Fredriksson’s “Efter stormen” (1987). The price of the CDs will be 65 Swedish kronor ($9), and they are packed in cardboard sleeves.

STOCKHOLM - After having spent Christmas with his family in Halmstad, Per Gessle says it’s now time for him to work on the new Gyllene Tider record that will be released to coincide with this summer’s upcoming 25th Anniversary tour.

  “It’s important so that the tour isn’t only a retro thing, even if we will be playing the old hits,” says Per.

  Per won’t comment how far along the recording process is. “Then you won’t have anything to write about the next time,” Per said to Expressen’s Per Hägred.

  The article claims that the comeback was planned – or at least considered – as early as 1996, during Återtåget. The tour will start in July, local venues are being booked now, and the only worries are that they might not sound good or that it will rain. The new record and the summer tour are presents from Gyllene Tider to their fans.

  The only thing that hasn’t gone the way Per would prefer lately is his receding hairline that tells him he’s reached middle age. “I thought this was something that only happened to one’s father,” he says.

• Expressen’s article (In Swedish, with full-size photo shown here as thumbnail)

STOCKHOLM - Per answers some questions about 2003 from Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman:



Best CD: The Cardigans “Long Gone Before Daylight”. Should’ve been number 1 all over the world… why wasn’t it?

Best song: Outkast “Hey Ya!” Although one’s getting tired of it now….

Best concert: The Stones at the Cirkus. Can anyone beat this?

Best retro: Polanski on DVD. Plus the fact that the 60s more and more seem like, believe it or not, UNDERESTIMATED….. art… literature… music… film….design…. cars…. clothes…. etc., etc., etc.!!!

Worst: The Britney-Madonna-single will probably not be historic. But if you mean something that isn’t really a “musical” experience one can mention that one gets terrified of that Michael Jackson district attorney…..help!

Best pastry: Muffins are nice too.

• Bjurman’s Column in Aftonbladet (In Swedish)

One of the highlights of Swedish TV4’s New Year’s Day program is a shortened version of Per’s Gothenburg concert from this summer. The full concert was released on the “En mazarin, älskling?” DVD in November. The hour-long broadcast starts at 19:00 CET.

• Program info page at TV4.se

HALMSTAD - Good grief!

  I almost forgot to wish you a happy new 2004!!!
And thanks for making 2003 a year that will go down in history as OVERWHELMING!!!

  Who could have anticipated the gold medals from the King, the Mazarin-success or my stunning recent go-kart laps!!
Next year it looks like we’re having new music from Marie as well as some Gyllene Tider-3-chord-headbangers coming up. And a GT-tour called “How old can you get?”. See you there!!



Lots of luv from




P.

Halmstad, Dec 29 2003

The year 2003 was full of happy surprises. All in all, it was a year of Per Gessle, even though Marie did come public with some happy news, too. Per’s Swedish solo album “Mazarin” broke the Swedish hit list records by staying seven weeks in a row at #1 on the album list together with “Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång)” on the single list, also on the top spot for seven weeks.

  But, let’s start from the beginning… Read more…

And a Happy New Year! We also wish Per & Marie a Merry Christmas. Thank You all for reading TDR. We’ll be back with a splendid 2004.

  Visa, Lars-Erik, Judith & Thomas