After having been on Kompoz for a while and also having travelled a bit in my day, I have come to an interesting conclusion, which probably is interesting only to me, but it does help to kill some prejudice and I love doing that :).

We (Europeans in general and Swedes in particular, I think) tend to have some kind of condescending and honestly quite arrogant opinion of Americans. You are cultureless, internationally ignorant and generally a bit stupid and you like to invade countries, wave flags and look for communists under your bed. The funny thing is that I have also heard these opinions (or at least a couple of them) repeated by Americans. They are of course entirely untrue, and being on Kompoz, having had the opportunity to collaborate and chat with several American musicians, only reinforces my conclusion.

Granted, you did elect George W (twice), which maybe was not the smartest move you have made :) (I am Swedish, so what do I know about American politics anyway? Feel free to disagree), but I took a closer look at our prejudice items and none of them hold true for any American I know, on Kompoz or elsewhere.

Culture: yes, American culture is a young one, compared to for example Sweden, but that allows it to become the melting pot that gives us blues, jazz, and several other musical styles that we Europeans later tried to imitate (sometimes with good results). So thank God that you don't have a 1000-year old history that ties you down :)

Ignorance of the surrounding world: To this, I say: bullshit. I have not met one single American (except a drunk taxi driver in San Fransisco) to whom I have had to explain that Sweden is not Switzerland. Knowing where my little 9-million people country is - and what it is - is actually quite an acheivement. I can't even name all the new Balkan countries, and they are way closer to me than Sweden is to you.

Invasions, weapons etc: Why is it - again - that none of my American friends are for any of that? It cannot be statistically possible that I happen to come across only the pacifists or more intelligent people, who may be patriots but are definitely not war-mongers.

I also have to say that I am generally impressed with the Americans' knowledge of American history. I can probably not even name the presidents that you have on the dollar bills, but it seems to me that you can all name every single president? Of course, I can name about 20 Swedish Kings, but that is cheating, just take "Karl", "Gustaf", "Erik" or "Johan" and put a number between 1-7 after and you will be guaranteed to have named a Swedish king. Prime Ministers are trickier...

Where is all this leading? Nowhere, really, I was inspired to write this by a TV show that made fun of Americans here (and it was damn funny), and also it is a way to say a collective "Thank You" to all my friends in the US who have made invaluable contributions to my music and whose technically skilled, musical and creative performances never cease to amaze me.

There is a willingness to take chances (musically) among American musicians that I do not see as often in the European counterparts, and that kind of spirit is what drives us all forward. There is also a more intense dedication to the task than we (or at least I) have.

Thank you, friends and never forget that Oslo is the capital of Copenhagen, and the Swedes make damn good watches!

Rock On

B