Nils Hammar, online.
Glissers has its own blog now - glissers.com/blog. One month ago I didn’t have a blog at all, now I have two.
Looking forward to putting this blog post in my Skype mood message. I’ll use Skype to promote a blog that promotes a blog that promotes a site that promotes surf accommodations. That can’t work, can it?
Our offices are in this building. Feels like a piece of Moscow in Putney.
Up until Friday we have a nice view of the river, but now we’ve moved behind the big billboard for Sky.
But who cares - we’re having fun 
When I was a younger man, I used to play the guitar in lots of different bands in Sweden. Jazz, rock, punk, reggae, you name it, I played it. And I loved it - getting together with a group of people, rehearsing, the show, all of it.
Today I don’t have the time or burning passion to get involved in a band regularly, but I would like to experience this again, even if it was just for a week or two. Strangely enough, there don’t seem to be much on offer for people like me. There are surf camps, golf camps, tennis camps, sailing camps, etc. But there are no music camps, at least not for people over 25 who don’t play the cello. At least I can’t find anything, using google.
I think there’s an opportunity to create a rock’n roll / jazz / blues camp for adults who want to play in a band. The concept would be the following:
- 20-25 people, all playing different instruments, get together for a week in a nice location (Barbados! New York! Barcelona!)
- Professional musicians as coaches and teachers
- Change band members everyday, so you get to play with everyone in the camp
- Each band rehears 2 hour during the day, and then perform 2 songs in front of the rest of the members each evening.
- All the equipment (amps, mics, sound system, percussion) will be sorted by the camp operator
- It’s all about having fun, playing together, and improving. But it’s not for beginners - you need to be able to play along other people.
I’m not sure there’s any aspiring muscians reading this blog (I’m not sure there’s anyone reading this blog) but it would be fun to get some feedback. I’ll keep googling.
The problem with sites that depend on user-generated content is that you need actual users to generate the content. If the users don’t create anything, your site is dead. After screaming and kicking at all the surfers I know, I still only had 40 accommodations on www.glissers.com. Which is far from the 500 I need for the site to be really useful. So what to do? Call India.
I now have an Indian friend helping me populate the directory. He doesn’t have Hemingway’s natural way of expressing himself in English, but he’s friendly and hard-working. I pay him 2 GBP / hour, and he works over the weekend. I like that a lot.
I was back in Stockholm again this week, and realized why I never really liked it. People are too pretty. It’s one big army of tall, back-slicked, ultra-trendy, aerobic-shaped humanoids. When I’m in Stockholm, I get this instant urge to cut my hair, shave, and go on a week-long shopping session at NK (the Swedish equivalent of Selfridges). But then I go back to Pimlico, and it’s ok again.
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