Nordic escapade II – 50 back on the Road

I am on the train to Helsinki. We leave Kuopio on a Sunday morning. It’s carpeted by a light layer of snow – which delights my travelling companion to no end. Like the first time I saw snow too. It seems Christmas is closer than we think, and a long winter here in the Nordics.

I love trains. What would be an escapade without a train journey? We zip through the forested countryside broken now and again by fields and rivers and lakes at 180 km/h.

On our last night in Kuopio we went to see the rapper 50 cent in concert. 21 years later and a millionaire a few times over, he seems to have come out of unannounced retirement (is it alimony costs or the tax man? or he is just bored with sitting at home? we were all wondering) to become a minor star working the washed out star circuit of minor venues; perhaps like the O’jays and Bonnie Tyler and the has – beens that the music world churns out in the viral manner of new stars born.

In his heyday, 50cent would fill up whole stadia of screaming fans (somebody screeeaam!), now he is down to small venues in small countries. But he still respects his audience and works hard to entertain with pyrotechnics which include video montages of his younger self. But the live semi-nude twerking stripper-type models further cheapen his rapping. But then this genre of music is built on that and there is no shortage here of pimply young buys (getting their groove) and bottle blondes and brunettes screaming into their phones as the excitedly take selfies and video for posting on the myriad of social media portals and hashtagging how cool/real/woke/awesome the show is.

They pay tribute to some fallen friends including Coolio and at the end of the show 50cent, through those clenched jaws is all somber as he says, “see you again, maybe”. I suggest a change to gospel Mr Nordic escapade II – 50 back on the Road

I am on the train to Helsinki. We leave Kuopio on a Sunday morning. It’s carpeted by a light layer of snow – which delights my travelling companion to no end. Like the first time I saw snow too. It seems Christmas is closer than we think, and a long winter here in the Nordics.

I love trains. What would be an escapade without a train journey? We zip through the forested country side broken now and again by fields and rivers and lakes at 180 km/h.

On our last night in Kuopio we went to see the rapper 50 cent in concert. 21 years later and a millionaire a few times over, he seems to have come out of unannounced retirement (is it alimony costs or the tax man? or he is just bored with sitting at home? we were all wondering) to become a minor star working the washed out star circuit of minor venues; perhaps like the O’jays and Bonnie Tyler and the has – beens that the music world churns out in the viral manner of new stars born.

In his heyday, 50cent would fill up whole stadia of screaming fans (somebody screeeaam!), now he is down to small venues in small countries. But he still respects his audience and works hard to entertain with pyrotechnics which include video montages of his younger self. But the live semi-nude twerking stripper-type models further cheapen his rapping. But then this genre of music is built on that and there is no shortage here of pimply young buys (getting their groove) and bottle blondes and brunettes screaming into their phones as the excitedly take selfies and video for posting on the myriad of social media portals and hashtagging how cool/real/woke/awesome the show is.

They pay tribute to some fallen friends including Coolio and at the end of the show 50cent, through those clenched jaws is all somber as he says, “see you again, maybe”. I suggest a change to gospel Mr Curtis James Jackson III (to you the name your momma gave you) or Jazz…it just lasts much longer and suits the mid-life stage we are all in.