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December 13th, 06

The "Joe-Job"

A "Joe-Job" is the term internet security people call it when spammers hijack a domain name and use it to send tens of thousands of spam mails. This just happened to me,- I realized something was going on when I suddenly started receiving hundreds of "Undelivered email" notifications daily. They were all apparently sent using my domain name (gregertsen.com) with some other name in front of the "@", and those that were rejected at the receiver bounced back to me.

If you are visiting this site because you were one of the unfortunate receivers, please understand that these spam mails were not generated by me and not sent from my mail servers - once the spammer(s) has hijacked my domain name there was nothing I could do about it (except report it to my domain host and email server).

If you receive an email from my domain that has another "from" name than mine, then it is not a legitimate one and you should not open it.

Death to spammers!!

October 4th, 06

The lap steel clinics at the Vintage Show in the beautiful city of Svendborg, Denmark, was a huge success with a crowd of approx 50 people every day. That's a lot more than I expected for such a 'niche' clinic, and I had a great time.

Got my new 'teardrop' weissenborn from Lazy River just in time for the clinics,- Rance has done it again, a wonderful instrument!


August 4th, 06

The Canal Street Festival in Arendal ended this weekend with some amazing concerts by Angelique Kidjo and Jamie Cullum.

Did three shows myself,- one acoustic gig with my good friend Matthew Fox from the US, one electric gig with Matthew and full band where I finally got to present my CD stuff live, and one gig with the "Vørld Tur" R'n'B band. Great fun, and I'm still recovering from it all....... ;-)

If you ever get a chance to visit this wonderful festival, don't hesitate - it's an absolutely amazing event and you won't regret it!
Check the photos at Canal Street's website and see for yourself.


June 11th, 06

The response to my CD has been overwhelming, check the "Reviews" page for more details.

Had a blast last weekend playing my Telecaster with some of my old "rock'n'roll compadres" at the local rock clubs 25th year anniversary.
Been a long time since I've played guitar standing up, and it was great fun.. :-)

The lap steel clinics at the Vintage Guitar Show in Denmark is a done deal, and I'm really looking forward to it! Telecaster wizard Jerry Donahue will also do a clinic, and I can't wait to attend that,- he's scary..

Some new photos in the gallery, and I'm waiting for some new babies in my guitar collection,- stay tuned!


March 5th, 06

CD has been out for a week now, and orders are steadily coming in.
Have been requested to do a lap steel clinic at a guitar show in Denmark later this year, and I hope it works out, sounds like great fun!


February 8th, 06

Master CD sent off for duplication. I'm very happy with the mastering job done by Brad Sarno of Blue Jade Audio Mastering in St. Louis, it was definitely worth the extra shipping time. Nice dynamics, true to my mixes, and not a trace of the "loudness hysteria" that is dominating so much of today's music production.
As I've always said,- if you want it loud then turn up the volume on the stereo, don't squeeze the life out of good music in the mastering!
The CD should be available for shipping within the end of the month.


January 4th, 06

Happy New Year!!
And a happy one it is, finished mixing the last tracks for my CD just a few days ago, and they're now off to be mastered by Brad Sarno at Blue Jade Audio Mastering.
The "baby" is expected to arrive within the middle of February, and it feels goooood.... :-)

Also check out this online interview, I am "Featured Artist" for January over at Rob Anderliks great website. What an honor!


November 30th, 05

All tracks for my CD project is finished, will let them 'mature' for a little before I make the final mixes. Check for the CD in January 06.

Some new lap steels in the house,- a very original and great sounding Lap King "Bel Aire" 6-string, and an 8-string GeorgeBoards with a beautiful warm tone. I have also ordered a "teardrop" Weissenborn from Lazy River, can't wait to get it!


October 8th, 05

Busy finishing the CD, have cancelled several gigs just to concentrate on getting the job done.
I've set the deadline at the end of October, booked mastering studio in early November, and will hopefully have a finished product to present in December (so now you know what Christmas presents to buy...... ).

The Norwegian Blues Union's magazine "Blues News" claimed, in their review of the "Vørld Tur" concert at the Canal Street Festival, that "nobody in Norway does Clapton better than these guys". That's cool.... Clapton? ;-)


August 21st, 05

Summer report,-
This year's Canal Street Jazz and Blues festival was a huge success, and I enjoyed doing several gigs during the festival; with the "Vørld Tur" R'n'B band, "Bobs Mob" (Dylan cover band) and US singer/songwriter Matthew Fox (link to his website on my "Links" page").
Matthew stayed at my place during the festival (poor guy did 9 gigs in 5 days..) and I truly enjoyed getting to know such a talented player and songwriter, not to mention that he must be one of the nicest guy to ever play six strings at once. I look forward to playing with him again next year!

I've also been busy recording guitars and lap steel for the upcoming CD by Norwegian singer/songwriter Hans Inge Fagervik. I think this will be a great CD when it's finished!

I am back on track working on finishing my own CD project now, and can't think of any reason why it shouldn't be available by the end of this year. To those of you who's emailed me about my music and are waiting for the CD,- I truly appreciate your patience, you will soon be rewarded. :-)
Stay tuned!


May 13th, 05

New recording up on the Audio page, and some new instruments on the Guitars page.
Moved to a new apartement a couple of weeks ago,- new studio room needed to be 'tuned' but it seems to be working okay now, and hopefully I'll have more tunes up in a little while.


March 12th, 05

New (and better?) version of "Poet On The Radio" uploaded.


February 27th, 05

New track up on the "Audio" page, a quiet Weissenborn/synth duet called "Northern Lights".

January 31st, 05

The 6-episode TV documentary "Kripos" is premiering on February 16th. Watch and listen to the opening sequence here.

December 28th, 04

Oops, my latest recording, "God Only Knows", got great reviews over at the Steel Guitar Forum. Guess I did something right, then... Read more here.


December 19th, 04

New song up,- the Brian Wilson classic "God Only Knows".

October 1st, 04

Uploaded some photos from the perfomance of Bård Torstensen's "13.30.55" at this summer's Canal Street Jazz And Blues Festival.

September 26th, 04

SORRY!! My old webhotel suffered a severe crash so my website and mail has been down for almost two weeks. I've now moved to another webhotel, and hopefully my site will be up 24/7 from now on.

During the downtime I recorded a version of the old soul classic "In The Midnight Hour", check it out on my "audio" page!

September 6th, 04

For those of you who may have started to wonder what's happening with my CD project, let me say that I decided to take two steps back and reconsider the direction I was going in.
I have so many different influences, and years as a session player has made me appreciate so many styles of music, that I was beginning to feel this project easily could end up without any direction at all (one of several curses brought on by self-producing...).
So I sat back, took a deep breath, and gave this some serious thought. What I've decided to do will become clearer as I finish new recordings, but let me reveal for now that the temporary title for the project is "Southern Nights - Northern Lights".

Not much else to report, guitars come and go all the time (surprise.......).

August 6th, 04

The local "Canal Street" jazz and blues festival was last week, and I played two gigs. One was at the opening show, performing the piece "13.30.55" by guitarist Bård Torstensen from the Swedish/Norwegian nu-metal band “Clawfinger”, playing lap steel with a 14-piece band. The music can perhaps best be described as "heavy metal bebop blues with a Zappa twist". Or something like that. Either way,- it was great fun!
The other gig was with the local band "Same Ol' Blues", warming up for Norwegian guitar hero Vidar Busk. After spending so much time locked up in my own little studio, it felt good to finally do some live gigs again.
I hope to post some photos in the near future.

Now it's back to work, many ideas that craves attention, hopefully I will post new tracks on a regular basis from now on.

July 10th, 04

Some changes on my "Guitars" page and a new link added. Nothing much,- it's summer..

June 5th, 04

Added a new song, "Poet On The Radio", to my "Audio" page. I've also uploaded a better mix of "A Stranger Here".

May 16th, 04

New song added to my "Audio" page,- a remake of "A Stranger Here".

May 2nd, 04

Rough mix of the CD version of "Waltzing Elisa" can be found on my "Audio" page,- will keep posting teasers of new songs as I finish them.

Several new guitars in, while others have left the building, but that's no big surprise.... :-)

Take care
Steinar

April 7th, 04

I have started recording for my CD, it's been a slow process so far, but it's important for me to take the time I need to get this right. I'll be posting some two-minute cuts on my 'audio' page in the not too distant future.

Guitars come and go, a couple of weeks ago I sold the Superior Weissenborn that got me forever hooked on lap steel. Hopefully it will work its mojo on the new owner also, and make him just as happy as it made me.
It will soon be replaced by a Lazy River Weissenborn that is being finished these days. I can hardly wait........
Also, check out my new 1952 Oahu Diana lap steel, a rare beauty.

Later,
Steinar

Feb. 27th, 04

Now that I've finally learned how to update this website, there may be some action around here.

Since my site was created, I have participated in two CD projects - one C&W album with an artist from the Faroue Islands and another with songs by a Corsican artist, translated to and performed in Norwegian by Audun Meling. Both productions were done in Cross Studio, Kristiansand, and I did most of my work on acoustic steel guitars, using the Celtic Cross Weissenborn and the MayBell parlor guitar. They both recorded beautifully and I look forward to hearing the final masters.

I have also invested in major upgrades for my studio and bought some new instruments. Will start doing some serious recording soon so look out for some new mp3's teasers in the future. My plan is to have a finished master for a CD release ready within the end of the year.

The TV series I did all the music for, KRIPOS, has been delayed and won't be aired until January '05, prime time on NRK1. I've seen a preview of it and I was very pleased with how my music worked in this setting.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me through the email address on my "Contact" page. That's what it's there for. Just remember to make a credible header so I don't confuse your mail with spam.

Take care
Steinar