The Daily Roxette

Today is the day that Per Gessle turns 53 years young! 

I'm sure all our readers will join us in wishing him all the best on his special day.

Happy Birthday, Mr G, from the TDR team - Hope you have a great day!

It's not just Per Gessle who's been involved in a some sort of movie soundtrack project. This time, it's Helena Josefsson – who's been on tour with Roxette this past year – whose name is in the news.

"My Own Worst Enemy," a duet sung by Helena and Robert Petersson, lead singer of the Swedish alt-rock group Takida, will be the title song for "Hamilton – In the Interest of the Nation," the continuation of a series of "Hamilton" movies based on the bestselling novels of author Jan Guillou. The film will have its premiere Monday in Stockholm.

With dialogue mostly in English, the three upcoming films, like the one before it that with additional footage was turned into a television mini-series, are in the political intrigue/action thriller genre. They will be distributed by SF International (Svensk Filmindusti) and, after their theatrical run, appear on TV4 in Sweden and Canal+ in Europe.

Guillou is the same author who wrote the novels behind the "Arn" series of films, for which Marie Fredriksson recorded "Där du andas (Where You Breathe)" as a title song.

There's one more connection as well. Peter Stormare, who was cast as the landlord who is mistakenly killed in the upcoming film "Small Apartments" for which Per Gessle has supplied the soundtrack songs (see article below), played the role of Carl Hamilton in the first film.

As Per Gessle revealed today on Facebook, the songs he's recently written and recorded for a "soundtrack" are for Jonas Åkerlund's new movie "Small Apartments." Read the message by the man himself:

Yes Box Alright! I've done the soundtrack, based on the Son of a Plumber vibe, for Jonas Åkerlund's new movie "Small Apartments". The music has been recorded at the AGM Studio and as expected the mighty Mr Lundquist & Mr Ofwerman have been the cornerstones. The film? Well, it's a "dark comedy" (based on the S.A. novel) starring Matt Lucas, Billy Crystal, James Caan and Peter Stormare in the leading parts. And yes, it's a wonderful movie. And yes, there will be a soundtrack. And yes, we have to release it on vinyl as well. I'm really proud to be part of this. Cheers, P. (P.S. Jonas is God.)

The novel this movie is based upon was written by American writer Chris Millis in 2001. He has adapted the screenplay and is the executive producer of the movie. Here's the blurb for the book:

Small Apartments is the offbeat tale of an obese, slovenly peeping tom, his odd brother, his pothead neighbour, and their quest to hide the body of an unfortunate landlord. The story is accented along the way by murder, strange fingernail collections and the occasional blast from a treasured alphorn.

Behind-the-scenes photos of the shooting of the movie are available on Chris Millis' website and the complete cast is available on the Internet Movie Database.

Another soundtrack Per Gessle has contributed to in the past was that for the 2008 movie "Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In)". In this movie, you can hear parts of the still officially unreleased song "Kvar i min bil (Left in My Car)".

The Look Competition
Open: December 16 - January 6 2012
Prize: Signed Roxette Album and Singles!!!
BE THE BEST BEAT THE REST, SING WITH THE ROXETTE SINGBOX AND COMPETE FOR FAN-TASTIC PRIZES.

To enter the competition simply share your score from singing "The Look" in Roxette Singbox for iPhone on Roxette's Facebook during the competition period.

Prizes

    Signed Charm School vinyl album
    Signed Way Out single
    Signed She's Got Nothing On (But The Radio) single

In a charity auction on Tradera you can win an Ultimate Roxette Kit containing:

10 Per Gessle guitar picks
A set of Pelle Alsing's drumsticks
A signed by Per copy of Charm School
1 tote bag with the Roxette Room Service logo
3 Roxette pins
1 gray Charm School T-shirt (L)
1 black Charm School tank top (M)
1 tour poster from 2011
1 tour poster from Join the Joyride, Stockholm 1992

The profits go directly to Musikhjälpen's charity, this time being the right for girls to attend school.

The auction closes tomorrow, December 17 at 15.20 CET.

Edit: The auction ended at 7000 SEK ($1050).

Here is a special Christmas greeting from Marie and Per:

2011 turned out to be something very special indeed. We don’t really know where to start! The ”She’s Got Nothing On”-single that made it all the way to the-4th-most-played-song-in-the-world for a couple of weeks? The Charm School album that felt like the perfect comeback for this young couple? Or The World Tour that kicked off in February? Oh yeah, let’s start there!

No one expected this kind of reception we got from you guys, we couldn’t even dream of filling huge arenas again. Almost 800,000 people came to the shows this year. That’s an awful lot of tickets!

And you know, we say it again and again, nothing would have been possible without the support, friendship, love + affection we get on a daily basis from YOU; The Rox Aficionados all over the world!!! You make things so much easier.

We certainly hope we’ll meet all of you again in 2012. Looks like this tour will have another 65 shows to go before the finale in October. New cities + new countries are in the can as well as some jolly returns to favourite places.

And, hey, as we’re writing this... we’re just wrapping up the recordings of the new T2 – Tourism 2-album. It feels like we’re having a splendid one coming up, recorded while touring, filled with the positive energy from you + from the superb bunch of musicians we’re blessed to work with.
We la-la-la-la-love it! Have a feeling you’re gonna love it too!

So, folks…..have a wonderful xmas + a mighty 2012.

Cheers,
Marie + Per

2011 has been an amazing year for Roxette with a fantastic world tour and the great success of the new album Charm School. During the first nine months of their world tour they have played to over 800,000 fans at 79 concerts in 31 countries. Next year Roxette will continue to tour in venues throughout Australia, Europe, Asia, South America and South Africa.

Due to the overwhelming response Roxette received when they visited South America earlier this year, Roxette has decided to return and in April 2012. The band will play in Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Brazil. Tickets will be released soon.

Roxette’s album Charm School was released by EMI earlier this year. Charm School has reached the No. 1 spot in several countries. In March next year a new album called T2- Tourism 2 will be released worldwide.

3.3 Jakarta, Indoor Tennis Stadium (Indonesia)
6.3 Singapore, Singapore Indoor Stadium (Singapore)
8.3 Hong Kong, Convention Center (Hong Kong)

17.4 Quito, Coliseo Ruminahui (Ecuador)
19.4 Bogota, Parque Simon Bolivar (Colombia)
21.4 Lima, Explanada Estadio Monumental (Peru)
24.4 Buenos Aires, Luna Park (Argentina)
26.4 Neuquen, Ruca Che (Argentina)
28.4 Mar del Plata, Polideportivo (Argentina)
30.4 Rosario, Metropolitano (Argentina)
3.5 Cordoba, Orfeo (Argentina)
5.5 Asuncion, Yacht Club (Paraguay)
8.5 Curitiba, Teatro Positivo (Brazil)
10.5 Sao Paulo, Credicard Hall (Brazil)
12.5 Rio de Janeiro,  Citibank Hall (Brazil)
15.5 Brasilia, Nilson Nelson (Brazil)
18.5 Recife, Chevrolet Hall (Brazil)

According to the site Nu.nl, Roxette will perform at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam June 29. Tickets are to go on sale Friday. The site also mentions that Roxette is on tour to promote the new album "Speak Now"...

Edit: The site has now changed the new album to "Charm School." The venue's website (Heineken Music Hall) confirms the show in their agenda. Tickets will go one sale this Friday at 09:00 on www.livenation.nl.

According to Per's Twitter message, Roxette's forthcoming tour album and the follow-up to the 1992 "Tourism" album will be called "T2". The planned release date is late March 2012.

"T2" will contain new and old songs recorded during the Charm School World Tour this year.

Update: Per reveals some details on Facebook:

Regarding T2: We have about 18-20 songs in the can. 9 is brand new. 2-3-4 are live ones. Some are from hotelrooms. Some are from soundchecks. Guess the album will hold 14-15 tracks when we're done. We luv it!

Caroline Roosmark, the Swedish photographer who has taken the recent Roxette photographs, has this year also made a calendar for charity. This year's calendar is called Women & Men of the Year 2012. 2012's focus is children poverty in Sweden. "250,000 children live a life in poverty in Sweden. Half of them live with a single parent. 87 % of those are the mother. We want to lift this up on the political agenda so something is actually done about it. A lot of people think that there are no poor children in Sweden, but that's not the case" says Caroline in Aftonbladet.

The calendar is made on a very tight budget, none of the extras or stars get any payment, yet they never turn Caroline down, in spite of their often jam-packed schedules.

Marie Fredriksson, the female star of Roxette is in the calendar, as May. The text on May's page reads as follows (click the photo): She couldn't come along, they took away from her pearls and ribbons, all the visible signs of success. Sparrows' eyes followed her, the birds sat in her hands. The smallest animals by the hem of her dress. A friendly light fell over the backyard and we know: soon she's going out in the world.

Other stars include the actor Jan Malmsjö (Fanny & Alexander), high jumper Patrik Sjöberg and writer Kerstin Thorvall, to mention a few.

The calendar is for sale at Caroline's site, the price is 169 SEK (roughly € 18) You may also purchase the original photos there.

Photos used with kind permission of Caroline Roosmark.