2016 was a busy year with a total of 62 shows. 2017 has been busy so far. I have played at Pustervik recently and I have soon enough songs to record a new album. I hope to go to Nashville again in the spring, maybe during TinPanSouth. I have applied to a number of festivals, both as a singer-songwriter and with my band, so we’ll see what happens. Look out for my blog in 2017!
Thanks to all who came to see me play at Vida la vida! More shows are coming up. Again at Vida la vida on December 16, 2016. I’m also doing some private shows with my new band. Please come and see me play är Vida la vida. Friday December 26th 2016 at 6pm. Fjärde Långgatan 48, Göteborg.
Please come and see me play at Vida la vida cultural festival. Friday November 18th 2016 at 6pm. Fjärde Långgatan 48, Göteborg. It will be my 53rd show this year 🙂
Welcome to International Music & Culture Festival Vida La Vida, Friday 18/11 6pm to 10pm! Theme: Love & Peace
Admission: Free!
Artists & speakers :
Thorsten Jakobsson: Country music inspired songs
Fredrik Hagstedt : Improvisin music & poetry for Int.festival Vida La Vida
Patric & Co. “Bien Venue” French music
Martin Lindeskog: Tea culture
Lena Israel: Gypsy and Rusian music
Apadana: Persian pop music
I went to the open mic at Pustervik once again. This time I played a new song that I got inspired to when I was in Nashville the last time. The song is about how many people wish to go to Nashville and hopefully be able to make it there so the can stay. Nashville Skyline Take Me Home is it called. The nice people at Pustervik put the performances on Youtube, so here you can see it.
I used to record a lot of jams, concerts, guitar-lessons etc. with a minidisc-recorder I had back in the day. I haven’t used it in a long time, but when I bought a Sony Xperia Android-phone I suddenly discovered that I had an excellent recording device right in my hand. The built-in microphone is ok, but that wasn’t what I recently found out.
I realized that most Android phones can connect to most USB-devices if you buy a special cable called an USB OTG-cable. You can buy it most electronics stores and OTG stands for On The Go. It looks like a regular USB-cable you use for charging, except that the large USB-connection is a female connection instead of a male.
OTG Cable
When you have this cable, you can connect most USB-microphones and USB-sound cards to your Android-phone. I tested first with a fine USB-microphone at work. There are many very good USB microphones on the market that doesn’t cost much. From 450 SEK (60 $) and up.
I also tested with an USB-sound card I had at home for recording guitar.
There are a few steps you have to do to make this work. First you connect the OTG cable to your Android phone and to the USB microphone or sound card. Next step is to go to settings on your phone.
Here you select device connection.
Next you select USB connection.
Now you select identify USB device. At this point it will take a few seconds and the light on the USB device will light up. Most USB-devices have some kind of light to show that it is on. At this point you can start to record. All you need is some kind of recording app for Android. I use a simple app from Sony.
That is all you need to do and the sound will be excellent, at least as good as the microphone can perform.
I also found that Android supports other kinds of microphones. I have a really nice Sony stereo microphone that I bought a long time ago for my minidisc-recorder. Since you can use head-sets with microphone, I thought I could give it a try. And it worked! Now, I’m ready to record concerts again!
My last trip to Nashville was a great experience. I will write a number of posts about that. But, the first thing I managed to do was to play again at the World Famous Bluebird Café. I have been there before, but never had any photo-evidence of my visits. This time it was luckily filmed by my new friend George Erastus. The Bluebird has become so famous after the TV show Nashville that people stand in line for hours just to be in the audience for open mic!
I have played many times at a café called Vida La Vida. This week it was time to come back for a show. Always nice to come back. Click on the picture if you want to see a video from the show.
There will be a lot of music the following week. On Thursday March 3, I’m planning to play the open mic at Västerhus in Göteborg. On Sunday March 6, I’m going to the open stage at Pustervik. Finally on Tuesday March 8, I’m playing a show at Vida La Vida.
Every time I go to Nashville, I meet new friends. A couple of years ago I met Rich Eckhardt at the open mic at Douglas Corner. This time I had the opportunity to meet up again at the Tin Roof. Rich plays lead guitar with Toby Keith and is also a regular musician on the Abc tv show Nashville. He plays in both Raynas and Lukes band on the show. It was great to hear some stories from the inside.
I love to see the Time Jumpers when I have a chance. This time the show was sold out, but I was lucky and could get in anyway a while into the first set. The Time Jumpers play every monday and every time I’ve seen them, Vince Gill has been in the band! I found a seat on the side and could enjoy a great show. Had also a chance to see Ranger Doug after the show.
The Time Jumpers with Vince Gill on guitar
Me and Ranger Doug
Thorsten Jakobsson Music 