Iceland Airwaves Day 0

It officially starts tomorrow, but there were a few events today.

I spent yesterday noon at the pool where I struck up a conversation with two people, one was a thirty-something man I learned was Guðmundur Óskar Guðmundsson, the bassist for Hjaltalín! He was most surprised when I told him I had a copy of one of his limited release albums. My other pool-mate was a friend of his, a lively older woman who was 95 and proud of it (“I still drive!”) and we shared travel stories and commented on the weather (not a cloud in the sky again today!) Today was another beautiful day at the pool (45°F, sunny, no wind, long conversation with an Icelandic woman about Icelandic literature, music, and drama all the while soaking in a hotpot directly across from Ingvar Sigurðsson.) I reluctantly left her and the pool for it was time to officially start this thing. I made my way over to the Iceland Airwaves check-in and got my wrist band.

At 15:00 I saw the teen-age punk-rock band BKPM at 12 Tónar. Before their set one of their fans thought this small venue would be a good place to touch up her fingernail polish:

It gave the show a definite punk rock atmosphere, bring back olfactory memories of teen-age glue-sniffing! BKPM started their engines with a song about “Cars and Autism”:

I returned to my flat to rest and recoup before I went out for dinner, (which is a story for another day.) I just missed Róshildur at Reykjavik Records, I liked her videos so I took a picture:

After that dinner I caught Cyber at a preview night concert at IÐNO:

They were as outrageous as ever, especially since the lead singer Salka had given birth three months prior (“When I jump up and down like this it makes me have to pee!”) The highlight of the night was their heartfelt cover of Britney Spears.

Between sets I talked a bit to KEXP’s Kevin Cole, who was there in a semi-official capacity. He said since they have stopped doing remotes he has actually had more time to listen to bands. Jae Tyler, a hard core rocker, then gave it his best shot, but I had to leave, it was after midnight by the time I got in, I needed to pace myself for the coming days.