I pondered for some time whether to write something about Michael Jackson. I feel like main stream media is saturated beyond what is good. Although I’m not devastated (far from), I have to admit that I have been moved.

It took some time to sink in. Thursday late night (European time), I read about Michael being rushed to the hospital on Twitter. My rational self told me, this is it. But the news didn’t break before I fell asleep. At about 2.00 am my sister called me from Paris and yelled that Michael Jackson had died. My long time friend, Morten, was with her in Paris and he was shocked; my sister told me that he was sitting on the pavement, almost frozen. It didn’t really sink in to me.

I have been a long time Michael Jackson fan. I was introduced to his music in the fourth or fifth grade at a party. Michael had just released the HIStory album, and I was immediately captivated. It was about the same time I met my childhood friend — also called Michael, and also with the initials MJ. In some ways, he was the closest I ever got to Michael Jackson. My friend was a real fan; he knew all the songs and he could do all the dance steps. He taught me how to do a decent moon walk. I was drawn into the world of Michael Jackson, and my friend and I would often practice songs and dance moves together. I listened to his music almost non-stop.

As time passed, this faded away. I got older — some would argue more mature — and discovered that there was more to music than just Michael. Earlier this Spring, I realized that years must had passed by since I put a Michael Jackson record on purposefully. Songs often jumped up during random iTunes play, put I hadn’t really played a record for a long time as you’d do with any other record. I started playing Bad. What a great album.

Now, Michael is gone. As I wrote earlier, it didn’t really sink in the first day or two. I think I rationally understood that the world has lost one of the greatest entertainers we have had. But what I really didn’t understand until yesterday when I saw the memorial service on TV, was that his children lost their father. The children have never really been exposed to the public — Michael has protected them from it; critics would say something different, surely.

I was moved when Paris, his daughter, took the microphone. That was what was really tough for me. I realize that people lose their loved ones all the time across the globe — and it is just as sad, I know. I just can’t help being moved when I’m exposed to it, in the way I was yesterday.

Michael was a great entertainer. I love his music — always have.

Verse from Gone Too Soon, the Dangerous album:

Born to amuse, to inspire, to delight
Here one day
Gone one night

A couple of weeks ago I returned from my New Year’s vacation. After a hectic December, I flew to Manhattan on December 31 to celebrate New Year’s eve with Jesper and Mia and for a full two weeks off the grid.

It was also my very first time skiing. I had had a few moments of cross-country skiing before, but very little — and never downhill. But after New Year’s, we drove to Killington in Vermont for a prolonged weekend of downhill skiing. I believe in challenging the boundaries, which meant a lot of falling in the beginning, but nothing serious.

I think it went well, and on day three I was running the black slopes. Admittedly, they are not the same as the Austrian black slopes, but still. I’m as hooked on this, as I am on water skiing, and have already booked a trip to go to Davos with some friends later this year.

The rest of my vacation was spent on Manhattan, with a couple of detours to Long Island and New Jersey to test drive cars (and my first ever visit to Wal-Mart). As I’ve said before, writing page up and down about New York doesn’t make too much sense to me. Instead, here is a couple of the take-aways:

• Breakfast keeps getting better and better. Delicatessen on Prince st makes my favourite french toast, and the Moroccan on Mott st is great for low key, with a twist (can’t find it online, but it’s on Mott between Houston and Prince)
• Shopping went overboard. Odin is one of my top new fashion stores, but for some very strange reason I didn’t buy anything there. Big mistake. Marc Jacobs keeps ruling the Village and continues to open new stores (now an extra men’s store on W 4 st and Bank). And, Jack Spade now has an extra store on Bleecker. It’s bigger than their other store, well worth a visit.
• Freemans was one of the best dining experiences I have had in New York. It is a hidden treasure — and it really is hidden. You walk up a relatively narrow alley, pass a barber shop in order to get to it. They make great food — and also great Manhattans.

It was cold, but it was great to spend time with Jesper and Mia, who again seized the opportunity to play personal shopper for a day.

Back in Copenhagen, I’m now listening to the new A Camp (Nina Persson’s side kick next to the Cardigans) album, Colonia, which was released yesterday (in Scandinavia, other countries to follow). I loved their first album, and am also very keen on this one.

So far my favourite tracks are Bear on the Beach, Love Has Left the Room, Golden Teeth and Silver Medals, It’s Not Easy to be Human, The Weed Had Got There First. Go listen on MySpace.

And they play in Vega on March 31. Spring is looking great already.

More photos here.

This Summer has been great in music; and the Fall is doing what it can to keep up with two extra-ordinary albums from Danish acts: Carrying Stars from Nikolaj Grandjean (N*Grandjean) and This Is for the White In Your Eyes from Jannis Noya Makrigiannis (Choir of Young Believers).

Both albums are calm, indie pop/rock and very melodic. If you like Munck//Johnson or Autour de Lucie — calm indie in general, try these out, I think you’ll find some new, interesting material.

Check their respective MySpace pages out to get a sample:

• N*Grandjean: Heroes and Saints, Uncuff Me, Love Rocks — all great tracks which are also on the album
• Choir of Young Believers: Hollow Talk and Next Summer are my favourites of the ones available on MySpace — much more on the album

These two albums was recommended by two friends of mine, Marie and Lars, respectively; thanks so much. My prime way of discovering music is through friends, so keep the good stuff coming.

Great September in music so far. And, of course, tomorrow Tina Dickow releases her new album — a triple EP. I can’t wait.

The biggest disappointment of my trip to New York City in the late spring, was that I was unable to find the debut album of Little Jackie, a power duo from Brooklyn. I had heard a single from them, The Whole World Should Revolve Around Me, through Fred Wilson’s blog and I was immediately hooked. But none of the places I went to in the city could help.

Towards the end of the trip, I found out through a comment deeply buried on a website somewhere, that the album was not due out until some time in July. I downloaded it off the iTunes store the minute it was released. (Still not in the Danish store — got it through the US store.)

Little Jackie’s debut album, The Stoop, was worth the wait and a great album. It is very up-beat; think a mix of R&B, pop, and hip-hop — maybe indie rock/pop or indie R&B is a better description. The sound of the band is street/NYC and refreshing with many nuances and peculiarities, such as the use of wood wind instruments. Even though it is probably programmed, it gives it a small jazzy touch. I like it.

My favourite songs are The Stoop, The Whole World Should Revolve Around Me, Liked You Better Before, LOL, and One Love. Two of these are available for listening on the Little Jackie MySpace page along with an additional two songs from the album. If you like this style of music and the previews, I am guessing you will like the album as much as I.

The driving forces behind it are Imani Coppola, who sings and writes the songs as far as I have understood, and Adam Pallin (DJ’ing/programming the music). Imani has a long list of releases behind her, a lot of which she has done herself. Unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to give it a good listen through, but I would be glad to hear if you have had.

In other music from the strange and weird fact file, I am looking forward to the latest album of the Verve which will hit the ground in August. Listen to their single Love is Noise here.

I’m slowly settling down into vacation mode, spending time at the water side with jazz & rock and books. This spring, unfortunately, has been way below average on the books side. So I hope to make up for it during vacation, although I’m sure I’ll get to prioritising at some point.

It’s a mixed bunch of novels, poetry, and business/factual books — and some of them are re-reads. Re-reads go for Atlas Shrugged, The Great Gatsby, The Pyramid Principle, and the Fifth Discipline.

Some of you may notice that there are some key classics in the reading pile as well. Embarrassing, but at least I will get around to them this summer. If anyone thinks I’m making a huge mistake in reading any of the books in the picture — or — have recommendations for great reading in the summer, do let me know.

Soundtrack for this summer is, beyond the jazz age we are now in (Copenhagen and Montreux!), Alphabeat, the Broken Beats, Gnarls Barkley, Hot Chip, John Legend, John Mayer, Neil Young, Portishead, Rasmus Nøhr, and the Stones. I love vacation.

See you on the other side — take it to the max (P.Y.T).

On September 3, Tina Dickow (English site) will release her much anticipated (at least by me) new album: Count to Ten. And judging from what is out there already, it is going to be so good I can’t even imagine.

Tina will only perform three times in Denmark this fall according to the current plan — luckily I got my tickets for the Aarhus concert. I saw her in Ideal Bar some time back — she is just amazing live.

Check out her MySpace page — so far Tina has put up two songs — On The Run and You Know Better. The latter is right in the sweet spot for me. This is beautiful music Tina — thank you so much.

About a month ago, one of my co-workers referred me to Portishead — a band from Bristol, England, and named after the town of Portishead outside of Bristol.

I went right ahead and bought their debut album, Dummy, and all I can say is – wow! I have listened to it on and off since I bought it, and it is absolutely stunning. I sincerely hope, that when I go out and buy one of their other albums, that it will follow up on the great expectations I have inside of me.

According to Wikipedia, the genre of their music is called trip-hop (whatever that means). After having listened to them myself, I think it is jazzy and has an electronic sound to it, but, still, not what I would call electronic jazz. I have only listened to this one album, so it might have to be moderated a little.

Nevertheless, if you are the least of bits into music like that (or you feel like trying something new), this would definitely be one place to start.

It’s always showtime, but I guess it’s a little more showtime than usual in Copenhagen tonight.

I am now getting deeper and deeper into my M.Sc. thesis (which I am writing together with Marie Jensen).

The thesis about capital structure (for non-finance people: the way you finance your assets, i.e., with the bank’s (debt) or your own money (equity)) and strategy, specifically innovation strategies. I will get deeper into what the thesis is about in another post at a later time.

What this post really is about is when the going gets tough — and it does happen when you’re writing a thesis. When it does, Marie tells a joke, starts to gossip, or pulls me to the kitchen for a cup of tea to get our spirit back to the max.

What she did the other day, however, was to buy the new volume of Hôtel Costes (vol. 9) and put it on. And WOW, that album is just great! As is the case with most of the Hôtel Costes volumes, this is a balanced album that covers a great deal of the musical spectrum — and you can keep on listening to it for hours on.

The first song on the album is called The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti. What you would have never thought, when you listen to this song, which is such a great song, is that it is actually about two American-Italians, Nicola Sacco (1891-1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888-1927), who were executed in the United States in 1927 for a murder. Much controversy exist around their guilt and many believe they did not commit the crime.

So this is how far back in history a Hôtel Costes album can take you. I bet you that the hipsters in Paris, who listen to this song, don’t know that :-). Read more about the Sacco-Vanzetti case on Wikipedia.

Crazy by Gnarls Barkley was without any doubt one of the super hits this summer. But, hearing it over and over again (although I still like it) can make it a little worn out.

That’s why I was jumping out of happiness when my good friend Trine sent me a link to Nelly Furtado’s cover of Crazy, which has a nice jazzy, singer/songwriter feel to it. You can listen to it online here.

And — if you haven’t bought it already, you need to go get Nelly’s latest album Loose.

PS: The headline for this post is, of course, from the lyrics of Crazy — the song — and has nothing to do whatsoever with the beautiful photograph of Nelly. Really. :-)