Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Ex-Lordi and Eurovision song contest 2006 winner Sampsa Astala has released a new solo single (we can remember him and his band Stala & So. also from Euroviisut 2011 with Pamela , the participation that eventually made him leaving Lordi for good). This summer also mark's Lordi's 15th anniversary! The song recalls his way from a small town to the top - one can be a small town boy and became anything he wants to, even a Eurovision winner.  He also has a crazy plan to tour all 106 Finnish cities with it - that's a lot of small towns to tour.....

Kita or Sampsa Astala turns 43 today. Congratulations! Kita is a Eurovision song contest winner as a member of Lordi. He left the band in October 2010 when his Stala & So band was taking off. With this band he took part in the Euroviisut 2011 with song Pamela and reached the final but not the top-3 . The band has released already three albums. 

Sorrow in the Lordi family. Tommi Lillman (38) aka Otus has died. Otus came to replace Kita (Sampsa Astala), who had to resign from the band when he wanted t take part in Euroviisut with his other band Stala & So.

Finland did most likely choose the right entry with Paradise Oskar's Da da dam but there were some other worthy entries that I would have supported full blast if chosen. Both fell flat on TV though for the stage act but that is something that could have been fixed before the main event. Jimi Constantine started of as the favourite to win and his Party to party is indeed a catchy Bon Jovi-esque number. Had he only tuned down his performance he might have made it to the final and then... who knows? Stala & So with their Pamela did make it to the final and once again weak performance may have worked against them, no matter Stala is an Eurovision winner already as ex-Lordi. Sadly both songs were never heard again once the Euroviisut was over.

If you check the betting odss in three different companies; Paf, Nordicbet and Unibet they all agree on the first two places: Paradise Oskar first, Marko Maunuksela second. Then we have Saara Aalto, Stala & So. and Cardiant steady on the next places in different order in different agencies followed by Father McKenzie, Johanna Iivanainen and Milana Misic syeady on the next three places. Even in the bottom-2 they agree: Sami Hintsanen is last once and second to last twice, and Eveliina Määttä the other way round. Oskar is also at the moment the fan favourite in viisukuppila.fi but Stala & So. and Saara Aalto are within 2% of votes so it's very tight. Marko? He's in bottom-3.... Will Finnish go all da da dam come Saturday night? Will granny mafia push tango king to Dusseldorf? Or will we have a surprise?

So, after the third semifinal and YLE's surprising wildcard we have the ten finalists for the Finnish final on February 12, 2011 in Turku, the European capital of culture in 2011. And there's a little bit everything from gospel to glamrock, metal to acoustic pop, radiopop and powerballads. All three qualifiers from the internet selection got to the final making way to the big changes next year in Euroviisut. Six songs are in English now and Iivanainen, Hintsanen and Misic have said they will sing in English should they win so only Maunuksela is left in Finnish, and he has said it stays in Finnish no matter what. Two big fan favourites didn't make it, Jimi Constantine and Tommi Soidinmäki and YLE's wildcard went to Eveliina Määttä instead of them. Weird. I guess I'm now for Paradise Oskar and Stala & So. With Johanna Iivanainen (in English) as the black horse... Saara Aalto - Blessed with love Cardiant - Rapture in time Father McKenzie - Good enough Sami Hi...

Live from Tohloppi studios in Tampere the third and last Euroviisut 2011 semifinal. Get ready for a black and white evening with a hint of red! Also YLE's wildcard to the final in two weeks time will be revealed along with the three qualifiers. Come back for live blogging at 20 CET and watch the webcast here . The show has just stared again and Tom and Jaana are on stage welcoming the audience and explaining the prodecure. Tom has a wild hair tonight and Jaana a wild dress: turquoise leopard! Hmm.... Hanna Pakarinen presents the first act tonight. EVELIINA MÄÄTTÄ - DANCING IN THE DARK First of the black acts tonight, lighten up with some neoncolors designed by Teuvo Loman. Very 1980's act in everyway, she sings ok, the choreography's nice enough but most likely the neon vampire act won't get people voting her and she will follow the fate of other dance acts this year and won't qualify. We will see. Anneli Saaristo presents the next act. SAMI HINTSANEN - T...

I will be blogging live as usual from the Euroviisut 2011 third semifinal. It's the last one and features a couple of fan favourites and in the end also YLE's wildcard will be revealed. If the fans are right Stala & So featuring ex-Lordi member will win hands down tonight followed by Tommi Soidinmäki whose song is written by Eurovision veteran Petri Laaksonen (1985, 1987) and Saara Aalto (check her music video here ) would be the third qualifier. She qualified from the open internet selection. Sami Hintsanen doesn't convince the fans but he has a lot of fans himself because of his TV-show so who knows?. And Eveliina Määttä is unknown and may well remain such after tonight as well. I'm all for Stala & So tonight, my only favourite.But as we learned last week everything can change live. But I think the wildcard is Jimi Constantine's. Join me tonight at 20.00 CET

Last but not least in Euroviisut 2011 Stala & So. will take the stage. Stala is of course Lordi's drummer Kita or Sampsa Astala who got himself fired from the band by accepting YLE's invitation. But for once Finland can boast having an Eurovision winner in its national final line up! So. has been playing together since 1997 and today known as Stala & So. it features Stala (vocals), Nick Gore (bass, backing vocals), Sami J (solo guitar, backing vocals), Pate Vaughn (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) and Hank (drums). After several independent singles and EPs their first real album is ready and the first single off it is Everything is money but here's Shout & Bye bye and Spring romance . Stala & So. will end the Finnish semifinals on January 28, 2011 and their entry will be made public on November 29, 2010.

A few weeks ago the news that Kita was kicked out of Lordi because his other band Stala & So were to take part in Euroviisut 2011 made headlines. Now for the first time Kita or Sampsa Astala tells what it was really about in today's Iltalehti: "It all happened very fast. I knew I should leave Lordi if I accepted the invitation for Euroviisut. I spent some sleepless nights.It wasn't easy. After the decision I was sad and a bit down. Over ten years in that band were over. But it wasn't any angry breakup. I have been helping Lordi to get organized for their European tour and we rehearse in the same place with Stala & So. There are no hard feelings " he concludes. Lordi is starting their 30 gig European tour in early November and apparently they have a new drummer already. "Winning Eurovision 2007 was a real newsbomb in Finland but it didn't effect us as persons. We were no teenagers at the time anymore " he says. "We didn't become mill...

Kita, Lordi's drummer has been kicked out of the band after his other band Stala & So participates in Euroviisut 2011. Stala & So is one of the four artists/songs YLE picked directly from the open internet selection to the in the semifinals line of up of 12. As he has sent in a song he must be eager to live the Eurovision experience again, this time without masks. He was part of the 2006 Eurovision winning Lordi line up but his coming out with his own face and name doesn't fit into Lordi's stragedy as the band states in its website: "Kita has made a decision to pursue his own career publicly as himself. T his is in direct conflict with one of the cornerstones of  Lordi’s image. Therefore it is not possible for him to continue as a member of the band anymore. Lordi will continue as always, masked and costumed, consisting of monster personas. Also, the upcoming tour will happen as planned.