… bergensblod (headline only partly legible in the OCR)

This week Leven was “official Scottish ambassador” in Bergen: on Wednesday (12.10.2005) he appeared as musical guest of the British Week at Galleri Nygaten, for the 60th anniversary of the Norway–Shetland ferry link; in the second set the audience was very drunk, and he had to sing the more cheerful songs. On Friday (21.10.) he plays solo at Kamelon, his second Bergen concert of the year. Leven says (self-report) that he never liked Johnny Cash – Cash stood for him for Scottish “rednecks” – until a few years ago he saw the video for “Hurt” in a hotel room in Svolvær; the Rubin albums are fabulous. The title song became the “locomotive” during the recordings in Lebanon as the most positive piece; the release date of 12 September, the second anniversary of Cash's death, is a coincidence. Plans: a Bergen concert with Ian Rankin the following year, a house swap for a week with Frank Nes (Leven and his wife Deborah in Bergen), perhaps a record in Bergen. Elegy got a 5 on the dice scale in BA.