I hope this is fine to post on this messageboard since I don't think that it infringes on Stina's privacy as such since it's so long ago, but that it's something worth sharing:
Anyway, I've been a Stina fan for years, and last April I was in Sweden visiting for a couple of weeks. (I'm from Sweden but have lived in Ireland since 2004). My mum and I decided to go to Stockholm for a couple of days to have a look around and also attend a Strindberg play at the Royal Dramatic Theatre.
I am an avid record collector, so if I see a music shop, especially of the old, nowadays all too rare browser-paradise kind I like to check it out. Anyway, mum and I stayed in an area of town called Kungsholmen, bordering on Vasastan. Vasastan is a lovely area where, notably children's book author Astrid Lindgren used to live, it's got a neighbourhood feel similar to Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin; close enough to the city centre but pretty quiet with neighbourhood cafes and many green areas.
Anyway, we decided to go for a stroll in the lovely spring weather, and suddenly mum pointed out a record store to me, since she knows how much I like browsing for music. It was kinda off the beaten track, pretty small. When in there I browsed the vinyl crates and found 'The sensual world' by Kate Bush and decided to buy it. But just as I was about to go to the counter I looked up and saw 'Memories of a colour' in a display pocket on the wall. The vinyl was 30 euros but I just couldn't resist getting it so I asked to have it taken down for me.
Then the shop assistant guy asked me if I was a Stina fan and I said yes. He said so is he and he then went on to tell me that Stina herself used to shop there a lot around the time when she was working on the 'This is' album. She used to come into the shop every week and buy and trade albums, mostly punk stuff according to him, she'd get one thing and trade it for something else. She also used to talk to him about how the work on the album progressing and about ideas that she had. At one point she had decided to put out two versions of the album; one version with a DVD with art videos for each song and one regular version. In the end she scrapped the first idea, but a handful of copies of the video disc had already been made so she gave the record store guy one of them as a gift. He told me it's his most treasured part of his Stina collection and one that he's not willing to sell. (I also believe some of these DVDs have been much coveted collectors items online?).
He also told me a very funny anecdote of how one time, when Stina was in the shop, an unassuming customer came up to the counter and enquired about a Stina Nordenstam album and Stina bent down and put her hand in front of her face to hide and the shop guy played along with her and of course made sure not to blow her cover, while the customer of course never got to know that the elusive ms Nordenstam had been in the shop at the same time!
I then asked him if he knows what she's up to these days or if she still comes in to the shop, but he said no, after 'This is' was released she stopped coming in and he doesn't even know whether she lives in Stockholm these days. To him it seemed like a phase for her, she went to the shop a lot, shared the stories of the album-making with him and then vanished completely as soon as it was made.
I thought it was cool to hear the story anyway and he went down into the basement and fetched a handful of CD singles to show me as well. I ended up buying Lori Glori for 10 euro but the others were a bit pricey and could be got cheaper online (I subsequently bought a few of them on ebay), but he said if I want to check whatever Stina stuff he gets in in the future I could contact him again.
He seemed like a really nice guy, a genuine fan, but also by being a genuine fan there were no bargains to be had since he knew exactly how rare these items are and how much he could get for them. I loved hearing his story though and the MOAC vinyl is exquisite.
On another note; I was in Dublin a couple of weeks ago and rooted through a 'new arrivals crate' in a record store and found the 'Dynamite' 12" promo single for only 4.99 euros! I couldn't believe my luck, but then again, those kind of bargains can only be had when people don't know the value of what they're selling
Ok, that's all for now!
