Post by Helmut83 on May 15, 2019 3:11:25 GMT
I'm going to tell you a story that happened to me just a few hours ago, one of those funny things that happen on social media (not the only one that happened to me recently, but I'll leave the other one for another occasion).
As you all know, I'm a huge fan of Per Gessle, the songwriter and singer of the Swedish band Roxette. Well, Per's first band was not Roxette, but a band named Gyllene Tider (Golden Times) that he had since the late '70s with all people from Halmstad, his hometown. As opposed to Roxette who sing in English (which made them famous worldwide), Gyllene Tider's songs were always in Swedish, so while the band is very big in Sweden (some say the biggest Swedish-singing act ever), it is pretty much unknown outside of it.
On Instagram I have lots of followers whom I don't know, probably because my rule is to follow back whoever follows me (I think reciprocity is only fair). Among them was this guy by the name "bonitoband" from Denver, Colorado, who sells bracelets and from time to time promotes them on Instagram, appearing on my feed.
Last week he appeared on one of his posts surrounded by lots of bracelets and wearing a Sweden national team jersey with the number 17 on it's front. He made a "contest" in which the first one who guesses whose jersey he was wearing (the name was on the back) won a bracelet of his own choice.
I finally got right that the player was Henrik Larsson (not that people were killing themselves over answering ). Football fans might remember Larsson because he was a very prolific striker for Feyenoord, Celtic, Barcelona (he was instrumental in winning the '06 Champions League), Manchester United and the Swedish national team.
So I won the bracelet. Today, the guy by the username "bonitoband" asked me which bracelet I wanted -even after I warned him that I was in Argentina meaning that the mail would cost him and offering him to leave it there, but he insisted-, so I took a look at his photos to see the options, and among them I find this one of Gyllene Tider (Gessle's Swedish band). I had seen it before I think but had paid no attention. Now I wondered why this guy in Colorado would have a bracelet of a band that virtually no one in the USA is even aware of.
So I told him I wanted the Gyllene Tider bracelet, to which he reacted with a bit of surprise, as if it were the last thing he was expecting. He told me "I don't have the license to commercialize that one" (it was true, under his post it said "these ones are not for sale"... I don't know why he was promoting them). I'm not sure sending it to me because I had won the contest would have been commercializing, but even like that, he didn't have the licence. An instant later he told me "wait a minute, I will send Micke Syd (Andersson, the band's drummer) a message and then I'll be back to you". I thought "what's this looney talking about? Next thing he's going to tell me that he has Gessle on the phone". About 5 minutes later he copied me a conversation he had had in that very moment -in Swedish- with Micke Syd himself. I was like .
I asked the guy how on Earth he got in contact with Micke Syd and he told me the story. It comes out that despite living in Denver he was not American but Swede (which also explains his Larsson jersey), from Halmstad. He had attended the same school as Gyllene Tider's members and he had remained friends with a few of them. He even appears in a picture in Per Gessle's book. He told me that Gessle's ability for creating music was very noticeable since he was very young, that he would sit on a chair with a guitar and pull out great melodies as if anything.
In the conversation he had with Micke Syd this man told him about his bracelet contest that was won by a guy from Argentina who picked a Gyllene Tider bracelet, followed by a "you guys are famous everywhere!". Then he asked him for authorization to send me this un-licensed bracelet. Micke Syd said "what a story, that's amazing!" but answered that it was not him who had the power to decide that, that he was going to check with the management of the band and be back to him but he couldn't promise anything. All of this was in Swedish, a language I manage the basics of thanks to being a fan of this band, and also thanks to Duolingo which was introduced to me by Uno.
So let's see in the following days if the band's management gives this man authorization to send me the bracelet. But in the least of cases, Micke Syd Andersson has heard about me today.
As you all know, I'm a huge fan of Per Gessle, the songwriter and singer of the Swedish band Roxette. Well, Per's first band was not Roxette, but a band named Gyllene Tider (Golden Times) that he had since the late '70s with all people from Halmstad, his hometown. As opposed to Roxette who sing in English (which made them famous worldwide), Gyllene Tider's songs were always in Swedish, so while the band is very big in Sweden (some say the biggest Swedish-singing act ever), it is pretty much unknown outside of it.
On Instagram I have lots of followers whom I don't know, probably because my rule is to follow back whoever follows me (I think reciprocity is only fair). Among them was this guy by the name "bonitoband" from Denver, Colorado, who sells bracelets and from time to time promotes them on Instagram, appearing on my feed.
Last week he appeared on one of his posts surrounded by lots of bracelets and wearing a Sweden national team jersey with the number 17 on it's front. He made a "contest" in which the first one who guesses whose jersey he was wearing (the name was on the back) won a bracelet of his own choice.
I finally got right that the player was Henrik Larsson (not that people were killing themselves over answering ). Football fans might remember Larsson because he was a very prolific striker for Feyenoord, Celtic, Barcelona (he was instrumental in winning the '06 Champions League), Manchester United and the Swedish national team.
So I won the bracelet. Today, the guy by the username "bonitoband" asked me which bracelet I wanted -even after I warned him that I was in Argentina meaning that the mail would cost him and offering him to leave it there, but he insisted-, so I took a look at his photos to see the options, and among them I find this one of Gyllene Tider (Gessle's Swedish band). I had seen it before I think but had paid no attention. Now I wondered why this guy in Colorado would have a bracelet of a band that virtually no one in the USA is even aware of.
So I told him I wanted the Gyllene Tider bracelet, to which he reacted with a bit of surprise, as if it were the last thing he was expecting. He told me "I don't have the license to commercialize that one" (it was true, under his post it said "these ones are not for sale"... I don't know why he was promoting them). I'm not sure sending it to me because I had won the contest would have been commercializing, but even like that, he didn't have the licence. An instant later he told me "wait a minute, I will send Micke Syd (Andersson, the band's drummer) a message and then I'll be back to you". I thought "what's this looney talking about? Next thing he's going to tell me that he has Gessle on the phone". About 5 minutes later he copied me a conversation he had had in that very moment -in Swedish- with Micke Syd himself. I was like .
I asked the guy how on Earth he got in contact with Micke Syd and he told me the story. It comes out that despite living in Denver he was not American but Swede (which also explains his Larsson jersey), from Halmstad. He had attended the same school as Gyllene Tider's members and he had remained friends with a few of them. He even appears in a picture in Per Gessle's book. He told me that Gessle's ability for creating music was very noticeable since he was very young, that he would sit on a chair with a guitar and pull out great melodies as if anything.
In the conversation he had with Micke Syd this man told him about his bracelet contest that was won by a guy from Argentina who picked a Gyllene Tider bracelet, followed by a "you guys are famous everywhere!". Then he asked him for authorization to send me this un-licensed bracelet. Micke Syd said "what a story, that's amazing!" but answered that it was not him who had the power to decide that, that he was going to check with the management of the band and be back to him but he couldn't promise anything. All of this was in Swedish, a language I manage the basics of thanks to being a fan of this band, and also thanks to Duolingo which was introduced to me by Uno.
So let's see in the following days if the band's management gives this man authorization to send me the bracelet. But in the least of cases, Micke Syd Andersson has heard about me today.