Visit Iceland

“With a national population of barely half of the greater Seattle area but a staggeringly high literacy rate and a tendency to support all areas of artistic endeavor, Iceland boasts a high concentration of musicians — many of whom are in multiple bands at once. … Since punk first took hold of the city, its central tenets have remained strong – not the later interpreted tendency to piss off one’s parents but the necessity to do something different. No two bands in Reykjavik are alike. There’s just not enough room! And that has lead to a microcosm of music found nowhere else.”

–Jim Beckmann, Seattle KEXP.org, 90.3 FM blog. (See the entire blog here: http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2010/10/13/iceland-airwaves-day-1/)

“For me, it’s obviously the show but winning this contest came with a lot of other perks that I’m excited about. For instance, we get a free trip to the Blue Lagoon hot springs, bottled glacier water and, as they put it, ‘extremely warm hats.’ The hot springs look other-worldly, I can’t wait to check those out. I can’t believe I’m bringing swim shorts to Iceland. The whole thing is pretty damn cool. The moment I think about the most is getting off the plane and really being in Iceland. Right now, it just seems like a fantasy.”

– Singer Ethan Anderson of the band Massy Ferguson of winning the opportunity to play the Iceland Airwaves music festival [http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2010/10/15/song-of-the-day-massy-ferguson-%E2%80%93-long-time-no-see/]

“Got to see a ton of Icelandic bands I can’t spell, Toro y Moi, James Blake, and went to the Blue Lagoon to swim and rub mud on (my) face. Going to see Robyn, Bombay Bicycle Club, Mount Kimbie and some others tonight. Iceland is a dream: the bars don’t even close until 6a.m. and the girls are pretty, tall and blond.”

– Joseph Costa, music director, WRSU, Rutgers University radio, on his trip to Airwaves

“The Imagine Peace Tower consists of a cylindrical ‘Wishing Well,’ about seven feet high, covered with special slabs of pure white glass onto which are carved Ono’s instruction ‘Imagine Peace’ in 24 different languages. The tower stands on a platform 55 feet in diameter and is faced with three types of native Icelandic stone. When the beams happen to coincide with the Northern Lights, as has occurred on a few nights, the celestial spectacle becomes a truly awesome tribute.”

– Anne Lindall, ArtInfo.com, Oct. 14, 2010, See it at: http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36030/yoko-onos-imagine-peace-tower/