A short time back I wrote a short entry bemoaning the fact that Swan Lee, one of the best Danish bands to be found, split up (it happend a couple years back) while another even more known Danish band that mercifully split up some years back announced they were getting back together. Well, the mystery about what alluring Swan Lee lead singer Pernille Rosendahl would do next is no longer.
The answer is The Storm, a project with her boyfriend Johan Wohlert (former bass player from Mew, another popular Danish band). I think I can follow her boyfriend's motives in leaving Mew, because frankly if I was waking up beside Pernille Rosendahl everyday, I'm sure wouldn't be too keen on getting out of bed each morning, and I certainly wouldn't be keen on touring around Europe without her. So perhaps it was a clever move...
The Storm has a Myspace site, www.myspace/thestormdk with one decent sounding track called 'Drops in the Ocean', and a few announced gigs - including one at Store Vega in Copenhagen in April. We'll see what comes next...
'The Storm'
Slightly sunken into one of the (opposing) corners of Sankt Hans Torv in Norrebro, Kaffe Plantagen (meaning 'the coffee plantation'...) is one of those place one hesitates to publicise - a place that is best when busy, but not too busy. Then again, it's a not exactly a hidden gem and that its not exactly unknown (at least to locals).
Aside from consistently producing a fine cup of coffee, what's special about Kaffe Plantagen is the comfortable efficiency of the interior design that has gotten it just about right - great for grabbing a quick java before perusing the fantastic little clothes shops of Elmegade or having a little pseudo-intellectual conversation with a friend or two, but also as a fine premises for those hoping to productively wile away a few solo study hours with a few books and a laptop, be it mid-week and mid-weekend. It's this last point that sets the place apart - and keeps it busy. It's not every cafe that one can enjoy hanging out on their own, whether to read, study, or just gaze out the window watching the often colourful passers-by.
"Excellent! No, more than excellent - the best coffee place in Copenhagen!", as my girlfriend, perhaps one of the biggest fans of the place, succinctly sums up the overall experience.
This morning I woke up to a most curious sight. It was a sight that instantly took me back to the year 2006, which was one I spend in Shanghai - it was a rather common sight over there (and surely still is). I immediately grabbed my phone to snap a couple quick pictures of the moment. Perched outside the ledge of the 4th floor window across the street was a window cleaner. No safety harness, no nothing - very much like how it was in Shanghai (there the window cleaner would perch on dubiously installed air conditioning units to reach the windows above, or hang off skyscrapers attached to a single rope sitting on a wooden plank). It was an entirely superfluous act, I should mention. The windows he was cleaning were the sort that could easily be cleaned from the inside - both front and back. So apparently he enjoyed the buzz of doing the cleaning in this way. In fact, I could easily relate.
"good morning, Copenhagen!!'
You see, the sight also brought back memories of my university days, as I once had a summer window cleaning business way back when. There were moments when I quite enjoyed that job, actually. It was great to be outside all summer, and I came to enjoy climbing the 11 meter ladder that I owned, which was tall enough to reach most 3rd story windows, and usually just get me to onto the roof of 3 story buildings (so I could clean the leaves and other gunk out of the eavestroughs).
Anyway, in the same way I enjoyed climbing that ladder (we would normally only have the need to use it once or twice a day - normally the 8 meter ladder would do the trick, and it didn't have quite the same bouncy swaying action that the 11 meter one had as you climbed it), apparently these guys enjoy having the chance to straddle the ledges of Copenhagen apartments - just because they can. Myself, I generally found a certain passing tranquility and peacefulness whenever I was up that high, looking out across the neighbouring rooftops. I know, I know, it's not for everyone.
In a western world increasingly obsessed with safety, it was somehow good to see a couple guys 'living on the edge', even if just a tiny little bit. Of course, the company they were working for would probably get a hefty fine if such safety-regulation-flouting behaviour ever got caught and reported.
This is as good way a way to fill a Copenhagen Sunday as any, especially if it's one of those Sundays, as today was, when pretty much all of the shops are closed. Skating at Kongens Nytorv. Just show up and rent some skates - until 10 in the evening every night, 7 days a week. For the rest of this month and next.
As I've mentioned before, I have a soft spot for street art - and this one is a beauty. Covering a Nørrebro bench by Dronning Louises Bro (Queen Louise Bridge), what more needs to be said?
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