HALMSTAD - For you who are visiting Halmstad this summer, be sure to pick up a copy of the brand new (and free)  lifestyle magazine called Tylösand Magazine. The magazine is published by Ormsmarck Media Group in Halmstad and Joakim Ormsmarck says to TDR "I've always felt there was something missing in Tylösand, but after having a picnic at Tylösand with my wife, some wine, cheese and crackers we both realized that Tylösand doesn't have its own magazine!" Said and done, they created this magazine for all the thousands of guests and visitors that pass thru Halmstad and Tylösand every summer. (And also for the 50 people who visit Tylösand in the winter.)

The premiere copy has, among several interesting articles, also an interesting interview about art with Per Gessle, Lasse Nordin and Nette Johansson - the Tres Hombres - the art gallery at Hotell Tylösand.

CURITIBA, BRAZIL - Writer/director Marcos Marques from Curitiba, Brazil, wrote a screenplay based on the Son of a Plumber song "Are You An Old Hippie, Sir?".  With his screenplay he won the 1st place at the Curitiba Cultural Foundation screenplay contest. As a prize he received $ 6,000 to make a movie based on this script. The short movie is titled "Você É Um Velho Hippie, Senhor?" in Portuguese and was shot November 1. It is currently in post-production. According to the movie producer, Priscila Zaruvny Borges (who kindly informed The Daily Roxette about this project), the story is about two guys at a convenience store and an old man that sometimes looks like an old hippie and sometimes like a serious business man. The two guys spend the movie trying to answer the "title" question. Look for the premiere at Curitiba's Cinemateca in June 2010!

Finnish heavy metal band 'Warmen' recorded a cover of Roxette's "Fading Like A Flower". The song has been released as a bonus track on the Japanese version of their fourth studio album called "Japanese Hospitality". You can listen to the song on Warmen's Myspace page.

Ettexor contributed to this article.

STOCKHOLM - Erik Linder, who made it to the finals in "Sweden's Got Talent" this spring, is set to release his first album this week. The album, which is called "Inifrån" [From the inside], contains some songs in Swedish. Two are covers of Marie's songs "Tro" and "Ännu doftar kärlek" and another is Per's song "Tycker om när du tar på mej." Other artists covered include Patrik Isaksson, Ted Gärdestad and Eva Dahlgren.  View album on CDON

UDDEVALLA - Per will be signing stuff at Torp Köpcentrum in Uddevalla, Friday December 19 at 17:00

Swedish heavy metal band Opeth have released their newest album "Watershed," featuring a cover of Marie Fredriksson's song "Den ständiga resan." Marie fans will be relieved to know that the cover version is instantly recognizable as Marie's song. Opeth have chosen to keep the original arrangement - the vocal is subdued, the melody is driven by acoustic guitar, and the song is punctuated with occasional splashes of electric guitar, just as in Marie's original. It wasn't certain that the song would make the album.

In the footsteps of Tyra Banks and her show "America's Next Top Model," we now have "She's Got the Look" which basically is the same type of show but features women over 35 competing for the title. The show is hosted by Kim Alexis and premieres in the U.S. on June 4. What's The Daily Roxette's interest in this, you ask? Well, the theme song of the show is, of course, Roxette's "The Look"!

SANTIAGO (Updated) - Vanilla Ninja, the Estonian power pop trio formed by Lenna Kuurmaa (vocals), Piret Järvis (guitar) and Katrin Siska (keyboards), a rocking girl band that is a well known act in the Central European scene, and now in Latin America, after participating successfully in the biggest summer Festival in Latin America, the Festival of Viña del Mar, this past February.

Before the girls will go on tour next June in the Baltic states, and their second visit to several countries in Latin America in July - August, they want to release a single to warm up the audience. After discussing this issue with Hector Faune, their manager/promoter for Latin America, Hector proposed to get in touch with Per Gessle from Roxette to have a possible song co-operation, as he feels Vanilla Ninja's music has lots of similarities to Roxette's uptempo and power ballad style.

When Per was approached for a co-operation he sent over two demos; "T-t-t-take it!" and "Every Day Outside My Window" but the girls felt these particular songs didn't suit them; "Per kindly sent us two songs, and we picked one to use for the next release" says Lenna, vocalist in Vanilla Ninja. The song, "Crashing Through The Doors," is composed by Per Gessle, with original lyrics from Piret Järvis and Lenna Kuurmaa. Readers of The Daily Roxette will be pleased to know this is an English version of Per Gessle's "Spegelboll" from the highly successful "Mazarin" album released in 2003.

"The girls are in the studio working hard to get a cool version out of it," Hector Faune says to The Daily Roxette.

On the question if this will be the start of a bigger co-operation with Per, Lenna replies: "Probably. I hope so. He himself was also very interested in it, but unfortunately a person who's as famous as him, his calendar is planned for a year or two."

The song will be released on May 9 to radio stations, firstly in Estonia, and a little later in the Central European Countries, as well in Latin America.

Download a sample. 

GOTHENBURG - Swedish singer Caroline Larsson, hailing from Gothenburg, has gotten not one, but two songs from Per Gessle for her new album "In the Moment" which is due for release in May. "Per likes my voice, it has something special" Caroline says and continues, "Roxette was my biggest idol when I was a kid [Caroline is 21] and I have an incredible respect for Per." The first single "Hold on My Heart (Hey, It's Alright)" is already out to radio stations in Sweden. The song is at the moment a contender for the Svensktoppen chart. Hardcore fans may recognize the title and yes, the song was released by Dutch reality TV-band K-otic a few years back.

The other song Per has given Caroline is "Rainclouds," released in France by Popstar winners What For, then named "Depuis La Nuit des Temps." "In the Moment" is produced by Peter Samuelsson, bass player and singer in Barbados. Listen to a snippet of "Hold on My Heart" by clicking on the link.

Caroline will stay in touch with Per. "We'll see what happens in the future."

Marie Fredriksson's song "Den ständiga resan" has been covered by Swedish metal band Opeth for its latest album "Watershed." However, the song doesn't seem to make it to the album, according to Opeth's site.

Kostis contributed to this article.