PT1 – Booking the ticket
I’ve gotten a lot of questions of how I went about my trip to the USA, so I’ll break it down for you bit by bit in a cuple of posts. Here comes part 1!
When I booked my ticket to go to NY five months ago, people were looking at me like I was a mad person. I’ve always known that somehting was waiting for me across the atlantics, and I’ve always wanted to go. What kept me from going during all of these years was all the practical stuff, since I didn’t know anyone over there. Where would I stay? How would I pay for it? What good would it be for me to go, if I didn’t even know anyone? So I didn’t.
One day, I was sitting in front of the computer at a local café back in Stockholm. I was tired. By that time I worked as the assistant storemanager 10 hours a day at American Apparel at Götgatan, Stockholm, rehersed with the band often before work, then went straight to the studio to write and record, took the night bus home, slept for a cuple of hours, then up the next morning to do it all over again. “Wtf”, I thought to myself. “I can keep telling myself that this is me going all on this music thing. But Im really not. I need to pick up the paste on another level in order to get to where I wanna be.”
I had some what about 3000 SEK left on my account, and I decided to find myself a ticket to go to New York. I didn’t know how I was gonna pay for my stay, where I was gonna stay or how I was supposed to go about the trip what so ever. I just knew I had to start. Somewhere. So I found myself a ticket to leave to New York, JFK the 26th of April.
The most beautiful thing was to see how everything came together, seemingly by accident, once I had booked my ticket. What I did, is that I started out at the wrong end – I acted on faith. Most people would have booked the ticket last thing they did, after having all the practical arrangements made first. I just booked the ticket and had faith that everything would be fine. I believed that everything would work out just fine. And it did!
Just a cuple of weeks later I had spoken to a cuple of friends asking everyone of they knew somewhere I could stay. A good hostel, someones apartment I could rent, just something I could afford. And then it was settled. My friend Elena adviced me to contact Dante (who by the way is an EXCELLENT chef!) and see what was good; 1, 2, 3 and I had a palce to stay; 3rd Ave, Spanish Harlem.
I lived on existence minimum, saved all the money I could and ended up giving away my apartment I had fought so hard to get a hold of. Everything I could to make this trip happen, I was willing to do.
What I also didn’t have, that was essential for the trip, was songs to play to all the people I was going to meet. I had booked my ticket to go promote myself on the other side of the atlantics but I didn’t have anyhting to promote! Great. And stuck at work I didn’t get the time to sit down and write and record. So what did I do? I quit my job.
April the 3rd was my last day. After that I was off to my yoga class bout 5 times a week, and didn’t do anything accept for preparing for the trip by researching, writing and recording. Somehow in all this madess I get in touch with a recently started swedish label and I get invited to their studio out in Haninge to meet two fantastic songwriters – The Galaxy Girls. Turns out - they were to become two of my best friends and my angels sent to help me on my way. We clicked. We laughed. We ate. We handed out yellow cards til we were all on the bench. And they invited me to come to Atlanta and said that it was the place to be for me. I told them to stick to their words, cause I would get that ticket. And so I did.
So… I had booked my ticket, got myself a place to stay in New York, given away my apartment, saved up some money, quit my job, done my preperation and recorded two songs (Love me More & You missed out) at Snickeboa Studios with my homies Kalle och Johnny boy, then got myself a ticket to fly out to Atlanta to hook up with my newly found friends Galaxy Girls.
I was on my way. To the other side of the atlantics, to one of the biggest cities in the world where I had never been, on my own, with only one thing on my mind – Music.
Like
Related posts:
