Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Lordi will break another record when their movie gets the biggest ever movie audience in Finland. Oulu's ice hall will have up to 5.000 people attending and they will get as a bonus a Lordi concert. The fear is here....

Today's Expressen reveals the name of the much rumoured possible wild card duet by Carola and Andreas Johnson: One love . The Swedish TV has not yet confirmed if it is true, but... We will see and hear. Maybe. It would be Carola's 5th Melodifestivalen and a way to celebrate her 25th anniversary in the business. She won in 1983, 1991 and 2005 and came 2nd in 1990. Andreas would be participating for the third time in 3 years. He came 3rd in 2006 and 2nd in 2007.

Poland has announced its finalists for the February 23 final. Wildcards will be announced later and it is rumoured Kate Ryan would be one of them. In that case there would be two ex-ESC stars in the Polish final as Sandra Oxenryd, a Swede who represented Estonia in 2006... Also Thomas G:son is there with another "international" title Viva la musica... Afromental - Thing we've got Edi Ann - Lovin'U Isis Gee - For Life Kasia Nova - The Devil Margo - Dlatego Walcz Men Meadow - Viva la musica Sandra Oxenryd - Super Heroes Starnawski & Urban Noiz- It's not a game Queens - I say my body Zalewski Krzysztof - Kiełbasa UPDATE: Krzysztof's song has been disqualified and replaced by Plastic - Do something

Mietta returns to Sanremo again and that was for me the best news of the list published yesterday. It is her 8th time and also her 20th anniversary as an artist. Her career started as a model and a radio soap opera star until 1988 when she participated in Sanremo's new comers category with Sogno . She didn't succeed so well but was noted by Amedeo Minghi who wrote for her Canzoni for 1989. She won hands down the New comers category besides winning the critics award or Premio Mia Martini. She gets her first platinum record and wins Telegatto Argento as the best new artist of 1989, voted by Italians. In 1990 Minghi was still acting as her mentor and they dueted in Vattene amore , an OGAE song contest winning song that has become an evergreen. It came only 3rd but stayed in charts forever. Her debut album, also titled Canzoni sells 6 times platinum and is released Europewide and she wins two Telegattos, for the song of the year and the female artist of the year. In 1991 she sing...

Paolo Meneguzzi has a very busy spring ahead; first Sanremo and then Eurovision. Also Mietta returns along with Minghi, Zarrillo, Cutugno, Tatangelo, Grignani and Cammariere. Here are the artists and songs: Fabrizio Moro – Eppur mi hai cambiato la vita Tricarico – La vita tranquilla Loredana Berté – Musica e parole Max Gazzé – Il solito sesso Toto Cutugno – Un falco chiuso in gabbia Sergio Cammariere - L'amore non si spiega Finley - Ricordi Mietta – Baciami adesso Tiromancino – Il rubacuori Michele Zarrillo- L'ultimo film insieme Gianluca Grignani – Cammina nel sole Eeugenio Bennato – Grande sud L'Aura - Basta Paolo Meneguzzi - Grande Little Tony – Non finisce qui Frank Hi-Energy - Rivoluzione Amedeo Minghi – Cammina cammina Gió Di Tonno e Lola Ponce – Colpo di fulmine Mario Venuti - A ferro e fuoco Anna Tatangelo – Il mio amico

Just when you thought the endless semis are over Iceland just keeps going on. Next Saturday we will have a wildcard selection with three songs, one of them going to the final. After that we will have Saturday nights filled with further elimination heats and eventually it seems we will have only 8 songs in the February 23 final... Maybe. These three will try to win a wildcard to the final: Dr. Spock - Hvar ertu nú? Hafdís Huld Þrastardóttir - Boys and perfume Margrét Kristín Sigurðardóttir - Bigger shoes

Teräsbetoni got gold discs for Christmas present for the sales of their latest album. At the same occasion they said "they would bring the Eurovision back to Kojo standards"... Amen to that.

Christal Snow might be Ladbrokes betting office's no 1 favourite to win Euroviisut 2008 but not everyone seem to agree. He was first verbally abused and then knocked out in a night club in Helsinki. He lost his concience and hurt his knee, but says he is back and working hard again with only one thing in his mind: Eurovision. And he filed charges against the hitter.

Movetron entered the Finnish singles charts last week at no 9 and drops to no 10 this week with Ei kenenkään maa (No man's land). Watch the video here: http://www.movetron.fi/ Their latest top-40 single was in April 1997....

Hanna Marsh is getting ready for Euroviisut and has recorded two songs in legendary Polar Studios in Stockholm with Swedish musicians. Production of these tracks is by Lennart Östlund. As we all of course remember Polar Studios are one of the three most legendary studios in the world thanks to ABBA. The other two? Sun Studios (Elvis) and Abbey Road (Beatles). Lennart has been working before with ABBA, Genesis and Led Zeppelin, just to name a few.

Lithuania will have three semifinals and two wildcards already in the final: ast year's 4Fun's singer Julija Ritčik and national final veteran Aistė Pilvelytė. Division of the semifinals and titles of most of the songs will be made public later. Aistė Pilvelytė Angelas - Sunshine Asta Kairytė - Man vis tiek Augustė Vedrickaitė- Do something Buzzer’s - Tell me Cisco kid - Million euros Eglė Lokytė - Laiškas danguje Face time - Celebrate Flaer - New love story Flaxon - Lietuva man kaip Paryžius Funny Beat- Evertown Gyvai - Paukštis Ingrida Paukštytė - I will fight Ingrida Žiliūtė - You Jeronimas Milius - Nomads in the night Julija Ritčik & Girma Justas Lapatinskas - Muzika garciau Justina Adeikytė - Calling your name Kaštonai - The farmer's daughter Kristina Botyriūtė - Life is joyful Laiptai- As rasiu Mini-Me - Yes My Magic - Lady Nerri - Step into this world Onsa - What's wrong Raimonda Masiulytė - Birdie tweet Sasha Son- Miss Kiss Skyders - Neolitas Slapjack- Ligh...

Franco Battiato finally gets his laurea honoris in modern philology in the University of Catania, his Sicilian hometown where he still lives, on the hills of mount Etna. He was to get that already back in 2005 but was blocked by the students for his comments on the comunal elections and other political bla blas... He released his latest album Il vuoto in spring 2007. He also produced a DVD celebrating the life and career of his friend, forever amazing, late Giuni Russo.

The songs and the artists for the third and last Norvegian semifinal have been announced. Avalanche returns and performs their song this time themselves, Maria steps to the spotlight after being chorist to Jan Werner and Elisabeth Andreasson before, then we have a traditional dance band, less traditional self proclaimed king of trolls, a glamour girl and such.... What fun! Avalanche- Two monkeys (on the roof) Maria Trøen- Hear when I'm calling Ole Ivars- Som i himmelen Lene Alexandra- Sillycone valley Torstein Sødal- Eastern wind King Of Trolls- Far away

While we are at rumours I must move from the west-north coast of Italy to a bit south-east, to San Marino. The italian fans have been speculating and apparently some artists have showed interest ... or is it only wishful thinking? Did Jalisse really apply and will they return and get revenge? Will Mietta finally get to Eurovision she was already ment to do in 1990 as the story goes? Has Patrizia Laquidara really applied herself? Will they choose nearly Sanmarinese Mariadele? Or will they blow all of us away with Eurovision wet dream Paola & Chiara?

Toto Cutugno, Raf, Anna Oxa, Massimo Ranieri, Matia Bazar, Peppino Di Capri are just a few names that are rumoured to be taking part in this year's Sanremo. Previous winners that were unlucky for not being able to participate in Eurovision thanks to RAI in speculation include Ron, Simone Cristacchi, Francesco Renga, Povia, Zarrillo and Marco Masini. Other names include Gianluca Grignani, Francesco Baccini, Banda Osiris, Anna Tatangelo, Gigi D'Alessio, Tazenda, Lorenada Berté, Samuele Bersani, Gerardina Trovato, Pacifico, Paola Turci, Max Gazzé, Alex Britti, Amedeo Minghi, Aida Satta Flores, Ottavia Fusco, Mario Biondi, Irene Grandi, Marina Rei.... The Italian super guest stars should be Jovanotti, ex-Eurovision Gianni Morandi, Zucchero, missed Eurovision Giorgia and Eros Ramazzotti. Next week we will know better! www.sanremo.rai.it

The long wait is over, Euroviisut returns to Helsinki, inspired by the last year's ESC. Helsinki is the host after 8 years again and Kulttuuritalo after 18 years again, 2008 being the 6th Finnish final held there. These finals have given us mixed fortunes from the disasters of Nuku pommiin (1982), Nauravat silmät muistetaan (1988) and Fri? (1990) to a classic like Katson sineen taivaan (1979) and a surprise success like La dolce vita (1989)... Disasters beat success 3-2 so statistically it should be a good year! (Yes I know, I sucked in maths at school...)

Czech Republic returns despite last year's glamorous failure and even some artists from last year's selection show up again. Way to go! Check the songs here: http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/program/detail.php?idp=10111524798 1. Gipsy.cz - Benga Beating 2. Tereza Kerndlová- Have Some Fun 3. Čechomor - Józef, mój kochany 4. Issa Sámer- Pick A Star 5. L.B.P. - Don´t Leave Me 6. Temperamento - Další den přijde 7. Le Monde - Another Chance 8. Toxique - Two Sides 9. Iva Frühlingová- Partir et revenir 10. Daniel Nekonečný- Holiday

Croatia will have, after last year's disaster, a new formula for choosing the song. 14 songs/artists will have to fight a place in the final, only six of them will, and amogst them is the Eurovision 1989 winner Emilia Kokić (of Riva) and many Dora regulars. Then we have ten artists invited directly to the final, amogst them wonderful Maja Blagdan (4th in Eurovision 1996 with Sveta ljubav ). These artists will perform songs by invited composers and two more names wil be added later... 1. Vlatka Grakalić - Kaži mi 2. Martina - Idi leđa mi okreni 3. Antonija Šola - Gdje je srce tu je dom 4. Kraljevi ulice & 75 cents - Romanca 5. Danijela Pintarić - Dotakni zvijezde 6. Maja Šuput - Lako zaljubljiva 7. Klapa Bonaca and Nera - Tvoje oko za more duboko 8. Ivana Radovniković - Kakav tužan kraj 9. Zorica Kondža - Za tobom luda 10. Emilija Kokić - Anđeo 11. Đani Stipaničev - Ja san umra za ljubav 12. Ivo Gamulin Gianni - Sanjam 13. Ibrica Jusić - Iskoči sa mnom iz jurećeg vlaka 14. M...

The names for the Sanremo's new comers selection or "Nuove proposte" have been published already some time ago. The list of songs and artists for the main "Big" category should out in the next two weeks. Pippo Baudo is once again in charge and he has discovered names like Eros Ramazzotti, Laura Pausini, Andrea Bocelli, Giorgia so we better keep close eye on these ones: Giua - ? Valeria Vaglio - ? Ariel - ? Daniele Battaglia - Voce nel vento Francesco Rapetti - Come un amante Milagro - Domani Frank Head - Para parà ra ra ra Jacopo Troiani - Ho bisogno di sentirmi dire ti voglio bene La Scelta - Il nostro tempo Melody Fall - Ascoltami Rosario Morisco - Signorsì Andrea Bonomo - Anna Sonora - L’amore Valerio Sansotta - Novecento The three first artists come from SanremoLab talent school.

Måns Zelmerlöf ends the year as " the Entertainer of the year " in Sweden, voted by the readers of Expressen . He's only 21 but has quite a list of big things on his curriculum already: Idols 2005, winning Let´s Dance 2006, Melodifestivalen 2007... Congrats Måns! (Oh, btw The Ark's Ola Salo managed 3rd place and Carola only 8th while Christian Luuk was voted 9th)

The second norvegian semifinal sees the fight of two songs penned by members of Wig Wam, return of last year's Crash! that came third and very awaited MGP debut of Maria Haukaas Storeng of Idols fame. Zuma - Always Always Cube - Would you spend the night with me Anna Hvidsten - A little more Crash! - Get up Sven Garås - I'm in love Maria Haukaas Storeng - Hold on be strong

Bosnian TV has chosen Elvir Lakovic Laka for Belgrad with a song Pokusaj (Try) out of 31 short listed songs/artists. The entry will be premiered on March 2, 2008....

The songs that compite in the two semifinals on February 19 and 20 have been published. Last year's winning song's composer Vladimir Graic is back with a song written for Marija's backing group, The Beauty Queens. Zeljko and Jelena are after a revenge, too, and the list features several other familiar names. 1. Aleksa Jelić and Ana Štajdohar- Beli jablan 2. Andrej Ilić Band - Tijana 3. Beauty Qeens- Dobra vila 4. Betty Boop - Kvar 5. Goca Tržan- U život kockam se... 6. Dejan Vozlić- Ako me čuješ 7. Denis and Obule- Bezimena 8. Drum'n'Zez- Dunav 9. Zoe Kida u Zemlji Gruva- Čudesni svetovi 10. Ivana Ćosić- Kao da hodam 11. Jelena Tomašević- Oro 12. Lejla Hot- Da si tu 13. Marko Vulinović- Sada ili nikada 14. Mogul- Možda baš 15. Negativ- S tobom bih ostala 16. Nenad Ćeranić - Slepa ulica 17. Ognjen and prijatelji- Čućemo,čućete... 18. Sloba Bajić- Prečica do dna 19. Studio Alektik and Cveta Majtanović- Iznad nas 20. Tamara Nikezić- Nisi prvi

Željko Joksimović is back! He has entered a song to the Serbian selection called Oro sung by Jelena Tomašević. She also sung his song Jutro in 2005 and won the Serbian final but lost to No Name in the controversial Serbia-Montenegrin final.... He himself represanted Serbia-Montenegro with ever wonderful Lane moje in 2004 and finished 2nd in Istanbul behind Ruslana despite winning the semifinal. In 2006 he wrote the Bosnia-Herzegovina's entry Lejla sung by Hari Mata Hari that finished 3rd in the final.