Archive for February, 2011

Magne donates artwork to charity auction

 

Aftenposten has an interview with Magne today, in connection with a new campaign by LHL (The Norwegian Heart and Lung Patient Organization). He is among a number of artists who have donated artworks for an online auction to benefit research on heart disease among women.

Magne himself has been suffering from atrial fibrillation for a number of years, and is scheduled to undergo heart surgery this summer.

So it’s natural for me to contribute to a campaign like this“, he says.

Magne has recently been busy moving into his new atelier at Galleri Trafo in Asker, and in the process he’s had a chance to go through a lot of his older paintings, graphic prints and ceramic art.

The monotype that he’s donated to the charity auction is from a series of prints that he made around 2000, where the motif somewhat resembles a heart against a background of electrical charges.

Shortly afterwards I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation“, Magne says.

It was almost a bit eerie. These prints were made right before my own heart problems were discovered. Yes, it does resemble a heart muscle. I had, perhaps, an underlying feeling in my body, which caused this to materialize.

The monotypes were exhibited only once, but were not available to buy. Now Magne has brought them out of storage.

This print does fit very well, considering my personal connection to heart problems“, he says.

The charity auction is now underway at the website of auction house Blomquist. Magne’s monotype is available here, with a starting price of 30 000 kroner. The auction is open until February 28th.

Sound On Sound article

Sound On Sound, a UK magazine focusing on music recording technology, has a 6-page article about the recording of “Take On Me” in its latest issue, March 2011.

Describing the studio work on the different versions of the song in great detail, the article features contributions from producer Alan Tarney and engineers Neill King and Gerry Kitchingham.

The March issue of the magazine can be ordered from soundonsound.com. The a-ha article is also available as a PDF file here (includes a preview of the article).

(Thanks to Oliver and Matthew for the tip)

Just Loomis book and exhibition

A sample of the book

The 96-page photo book a-ha photographer Just Loomis was published in Norway earlier this week. It features a selection of Loomis’ a-ha photos between 1985 and 1991, taken in the UK, Canada and Brazil.

The book also includes a foreword written by Magne, an interview with Morten (done by Loomis himself) and a text written by Paul. There are also interviews with Warner executive Jeff Ayeroff and graphic designer Jeri Heiden.

We recognised in Just someone whose ambition and passion for photography matched our own ambition and passion for music: he wanted to take great pictures, we wanted to make great music“, Magne writes in the foreword.

Just Loomis with some of the photos on display at the Stenersen Museum

The book release tied in with the opening of Loomis’ exhibition As We Are at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo on Thursday, February 10th, which also features some of his a-ha photos.

WOTM forum member “Hermetic”, who attended the opening, writes:

“Both Magne and Morten were at the opening of the exhibition, and I was lucky enough to have my copy signed by both + Just. Lauren was there too, but no sign of Paul though (might have left already as I arrived quite late).”

Update: Just Loomis has posted a couple of pictures from the opening on his Facebook page. Here he is with Morten, Magne, The Swing Of Things author Jan Omdahl and head of Press Publishing Håkon Harket. And here is another one with Morten and Jan.

A TV interview with Loomis from NRK Østlandssendingen can be seen here. There were also interviews with him at Dagbladet.no and Foto.no.

“This is the first time I’m in Oslo and it’s a great honour for me to show these photos now, following a-ha’s farewell tour”, Loomis says in the Foto.no interview.

“It’s very special for me to be among those who were there from the start, taking part in the process that eventually turned a-ha into international stars”, he added to Dagbladet.

The exhibition at the Stenersen Museum is on display until April 3rd.

The photo book, which will be available outside of Norway next month, can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

If you’re in Norway, the book is now available from online stores such as Bokkilden and Haugen Bok.

Ending On A High Note coming on CD, DVD and Blu-ray

Several German online stores (like Buch.de) are now taking pre-orders for Ending On A High Note, the recording of the final two a-ha concerts in Oslo Spektrum, which is set for release on 1 April and will be available on CD, DVD, CD/DVD (deluxe) and Blu-ray.

This will be the first a-ha Blu-ray release. The concerts in Oslo were filmed with ten HD cameras.

Cover image and other info is not yet available.

(Thanks to “Elly2” on the German forum for noticing)

2011 a-ha fan calendar now available

 

The West Of The Moon 2011 a-ha fan calendar is now available to order from Lulu.com.

Here’s some info from Catherine on the WOTM Forum:

“This is a weekly desk calendar, NOT a 12-month wall calendar. Please be sure this is what you want before deciding whether to buy – Lulu.com doesn’t do returns or exchanges unless something is faulty.

Because we missed January due to production delays, we added in January 2012 so that everyone could have the January facts and more photos 🙂 As always, this is a non-profit product, you pay what it costs Lulu.com to print and ship to you.

Thanks to everyone involved, and for all members’ support and patience! Let us know what you think of this year’s calendar!

Join the calendar discussion here.”

If you missed any of the the previous a-ha fan calendars from 2007, 2008 and 2010, they are still available from Lulu.com here.

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