Follow Magne in the Gumball 3000 road rally

6 days, 13 countries, 120 cars. It’s the 15th anniversary of the Gumball 3000, a 3,000-mile road rally which this year started in Copenhagen on May 19 and then goes on to Stockholm, Helsinki, Saint Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Warsaw, Krakow, Vienna, Verona and finally Monaco on May 25.

Magne is part of a driving duo with Einar Skjerven, together known as Skjerven Racing // Team 43. They have been driving a Ferrari they call ‘the Black Beauty’ for the first half of the race, but have run into some serious car trouble and sadly the Black Beauty cannot continue.

They do still plan to make it to Monaco though, so if you want to find out how they solve this pretty big road challenge, you can follow updates from the road here on Tumblr – Magne’s updates are all in lower case letters, Einar’s use normal case.

There are also videos from the race on the Gumball 3000 YouTube Channel, including recorded footage from the launch party in Copenhagen, a live view of the Gumballers arriving in Monaco in time for the Grand Prix on Friday, and daily updates from the road in between. Perhaps we will get a glimpse of Team 43 sometime in the rally coverage!

Here are Magne and Einar at race registration on Saturday:

Related Links:

Gumball 3000 Official Site || Wikipedia || Gumball 3000 YouTube Channel

Morten at the Billboard Music Awards

Tonight Morten joined Pitbull and Christina Aguilera on stage to sing the classic refrain of ‘Take On Me’, which was added to the ‘Feel This Moment’ song arrangement especially for the Billboard Music Awards show!

Although his appearance was short, the audience responded with a lot of enthusiasm and many sang along to the familiar lines. The reaction online was full of excitement as well, with ‘a-ha’, ‘Take on Me’ and ‘Morten Harket’ trending worldwide alongside other BBMA artists.

You can watch a video of the performance here:

Following the performance, Morten was interviewed backstage. He was asked about the inspiration for ‘Take On Me’, what it’s like to have a song that has been covered and sampled so much, and which artists inspire him today.

Q: “How do you feel when some of the hotter stars of today want to reach back and make you be a part of it? Is that a good feeling?”

A: “Definitely, it’s a great feeling. It reflects on the way it was for us when we started out as well. We related to a lot of things we looked up to, and that’s how it goes, in cycles. But again, you pick up on young artists as well. I am in my 50s now and I can get a real kick out of very young artists doing great things.”

Morten was also interviewed for a longer time in the press room, and there is a clip available here:

Related Links:

USA Today: ‘Billboard’ awards put on one impressive Vegas show (four out of four stars)

Popcrush: Pitbull + Christina Aguilera ‘Feel This Moment’ With A-Ha Frontman Morten Harket at 2013 Billboard Music Awards

Seher.no: Stjernemøte på Billboard

Kjendis.no: - En fantastisk følelse

VG.no: Harket på scenen med Aguilera og Pitbull

Examiner: Pitbull and Christina Aguilera ‘Feel This Moment’ with A-ha on Billboard Awards

PerezHilton.com: Pitbull & Christina Aguilera Have An A-Ha Moment At The 2013 Billboard Music Awards!

Xtina-Web.com: Backstage photo gallery

Getty Images: Gallery

Morten will perform at the Billboard Music Awards!

On Sunday, May 19, Morten will perform ‘Feel This Moment’ with Pitbull and Christina Aguilera at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. The show airs on ABC at 8:00pm EST (time zone converter).

Don’t miss any of the excitement from the Billboard Music Awards!

Programming starts at 6:30pm EST with the Cambio Blue Carpet Show, when all the stars arrive at MGM Grand Arena. Billboard also has a poll for people to vote for the performance they are most excited for here.

Keep up with the action via the Billboard BBMA page, the BBMA Backstage Stream and of course on Facebook and Twitter.

Apparatjik at SMK Denmark

Nearly a year after their well-received performance at Roskilde in front of as many as 50,000 people, Apparatjik returned to Denmark for a concert at Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK) in Copenhagen on May 3. The Light Space Modulator was assembled on a platform in front of large paneled windows in the gallery, generating an expanded light and visual show for the audience.

Apparatjik performed the majority of the set inside the cube, with an intriguing mix of new and familiar graphic and shadow visuals projected on its walls. The band was joined by Canadian singer Lowell for several songs in the set, including two songs from her EP ‘If you can, solve this jumble’, which were performed outside the cube.

Danish site Gaffa.dk gave the concert 5/6 stars, and called the performance ‘short and stunning’. The reviewer notes that “The National Gallery was the perfect setting for this event, that basically mostly had a character of performance art and multi-media-video-installation-whatever-art event. Therefore it also is impossible to rate it based upon the normal preferences for a rock concert. I therefore conclude that Apparatjik gave the audience a successful, well done and thorough show that worked extremely well during these compact and clear-cut 49 minutes.” (Translation by Heidi)

Set List:

Josie
Arrow and Bow
Pakt
Control Park
Time Police
Supersonic Sound
Do it myself
Superpositions
Shake Him Off (Lowell Ft. Apparatjik)
The Birds (Lowell Ft. Apparatjik)
Snow Crystals
Tell The Babes
Deadbeat

Video:

Photos:

Gaffa.dk posted a photo gallery from the concert here
SMK posted a number of photos on Instagram
Photos below: a-ha.com, Statens Museum for Kunst and Carlos Macia

‘Norwegian Wood’ private view in London

Magne’s new exhibition ‘Norwegian Wood’ opened at Paul Stolper Gallery in London on May 3 and runs through June 1. The works are inspired by Beatles lyrics, and the impulse to create them was a natural progression of Magne’s involvement with the upcoming Beatles movie.

During the day on May 2, Magne was interviewed by NRK at the gallery as final touches on the exhibition were made. You can find the article by NRK here, which includes a short video of Magne discussing his new work, as well as several images of the prints themselves.

In the article, Magne explains that he used antique wood cutting tools borrowed from Sir Peter Blake in the creation of these prints, however he found the tools at times to be too delicate, and would use a saw to achieve the effect he wanted. To provide a glimpse of his creative process, Paul Stolper has posted photos of Magne at work on the prints earlier this year at Atelje Larsen in Helsingborg, Sweden.

Magne was also present at the gallery for the private view from 6-8pm that evening. The event drew an eclectic gathering of fellow artists, musicians, journalists, UK based Norwegians, colleagues, family and friends of the artist, and other followers of Magne’s work, some having traveled internationally to attend. Among those in attendance were Sir Peter Blake, Guy Berryman, Mel C and Steve Barron. The gallery was quite full, at times requiring people to stand outside on Museum Street before entering to see the works; however the weather in London was mild and no one seemed to mind.

In addition to the ‘Norwegian Wood’ prints – which you can see in detail on Paul Stolper’s site here – there were copies of the In Transit book and ‘Alpha Beta’ postcard box sets available to view and purchase. As the more recent release, In Transit was a popular item, and Magne was happy to sign and dedicate copies when asked. For those who are interested, there are additional copies of the book and card sets at the gallery, however be sure to call ahead to confirm availability as the supply is limited.

Screenshot at top: NRK. All other photos: Nicola Hunt, Carmen Capriz and Liz Colclough