Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.08.2015, Blaðsíða 2

2
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 1 — 2011
“Wait For Me” is an extremely personal
ballad for Agent Fresco’s vocalist Arnór
Dan Arnarson. He wrote the song while
meditating not only on the death of his fa-
ther, but also on the amount of time that
he’s missed spending with his family due
to his career choices. “I’ve been absent
from my loved ones through so many life-
changing moments,” Arnór explains in the
video’s description. “Time hadn’t stood
still [...], and realising that was just heart-
breaking.”
His heartbreak is palpable, and the
song makes that explicitly clear. It’s full of
mystery, with an undeniable sense of pain-
ful longing. Arnór's buttery voice just proj-
ects emotion, and that combined with the
melodic nature of Agent Fresco makes the
track just wash over you with a veil of both
sadness and beauty. You viscerally feel for
Arnór, and by god, you’ll most certainly
wait for him.
Why wait? Go download “Wait For Me”
RIGHT NOW at www.grapevine.is.
2 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 13 — 2015
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík
www.grapevine.is
grapevine@grapevine.is
Published by Fröken ehf.
www.froken.is
Member of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association
www.saf.is
Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25.000 copies.
Editor In Chief:
Haukur S Magnússon / haukur@grapevine.is
Journalist & Travel editor:
John Rogers / john@grapevine.is
Journalist & Listings editor
Gabríel Benjamin / gabriel@grapevine.is
Food Editor:
Ragnar Egilsson / ragnar@grapevine.is
Editorial:
+354 540 3600 / editor@grapevine.is
Advertising:
+354 540 3605 / ads@grapevine.is
+354 40 3610
Publisher:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson / hilmar@grapevine.is
+354 540 3601 / publisher@grapevine.is
Contributing Writers:
Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir
W.H. Auden
Melissa Coci
Davíð Roach
Grayson Del Faro
Björn Teitsson
Mark Asch
Helgi Hrafn Guðmundsson
Paul Fontaine
Óli Dóri
Hannah Jane Coen
Ragnar Egilsson
Sveinn Birkir Björnsson
Bob Cluness
Kári Tulinius
Baphomet
Vera Illugadóttir
Editorial Interns:
Ciarán Daly / ciaran@grapevine.is
Sam Wright Fairbanks / sam@grapevine.is
Art Director:
Hörður Kristbjörnsson / hordur@dodlur.is
Layout:
Hrefna Sigurðardóttir
Contributing Photographers:
Art Bicnick
Anna Domnick
Hörður Sveinsson
Sales Director:
Aðalsteinn Jörundsson / adalsteinn@grapevine.is
Helgi Þór Harðarson / helgi@grapevine.is
Óskar Freyr Pétursson / oskar@grapevine.is
Distribution manager:
distribution@grapevine.is
Proofreader:
Mark Asch
releases:
listings@grapevine.is
Submission inquiries:
editor@grapevine.is
Subscription inquiries:
+354 540 3605 / subscribe@grapevine.is
General inquiries:
grapevine@grapevine.is
Founders:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson,
Hörður Kristbjörnsson,
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson,
Oddur Óskar Kjartansson,
Valur Gunnarsson
The Reykjavík Grapevine is published 18 times a year by Fröken
ltd. Monthly from November through April, and fortnightly
from May til October. Nothing in this magazine may be repro-
duced in whole or in part without the written permission of
the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine is distributed around
Reykjavík, Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Seyðisfjörður, Borgarnes,
Keflavík, Ísafjörður and at key locations along road #1, and all
major tourist attractions and tourist information centres in the
country.
You may not like it, but at least it's not sponsored (no articles
in the Reykjavík Grapevine are pay-for articles. The opinions
expressed are the writers’ own, not the advertisers’).
On the covers:
Erna Ómarsdóttir & Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir
Photographer:
Saga Sig www.sagasig.com
+ Complete Reykjavík Listings Lots of cool events Get the FREE Grapevine appsAppening, Appy Hour and CravingAvailable on the App store and on Android Market.

GOATS

SEX
NEWS
MUSIC
Yes, goats!
Betty Dodson will teach you!
IN THIS ISSUE
We were delighted,
terrified by Reykjavík
Culture Night!
Iceland vs. Russia?
kimono are going
to hurt you.
CULTURE
× 2015
August 28 - September 10
Issue 13
YOUR FREE COPY THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND
Institutionalized
Erna Ómarsdóttir in conversation
with Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, page 20.
Dancer Erna Ómarsdóttir now occupies the office
of artistic director at the Iceland Dance Company.
But she's still screaming.

+ Complete Reykjavík Listings Lots of cool events
YOUR FREE COPY THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELAND
Get the FREE Grapevine apps
Appening, Appy Hour and Craving
Available on the App store and on Android Market.
× 2015
August 28 - September 10
Issue 13

GOATS

SEX
NEWS
MUSIC
Yes, goats!
Betty Dodson will teach you!
IN THIS ISSUE
We were delighted,
terrified by Reykjavík
Culture Night!
Iceland vs. Russia?
kimono are going
to hurt you.
CULTURE
Wonder Woman?
Some people are saying that actress Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir
should be Iceland's next president, on account of her sharp
vision of Iceland's political present, and future.
She hasn't said no...
Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir in conversation
with Erna Ómarsdóttir, page 20.
CONFLICT, STRIFE, TURMOIL, MAJESTIC
WATERFALLS & CUTE PUFFINS
Lately, we at Grapevine often find ourselves in a somewhat
difficult position when it comes to reporting on life in Ice-
land.
On one hand, we are clearly and proudly a tourist publi-
cation, one that has the stated aim of serving visitors to Ice-
land and offering them a critical window into local events,
culture and discourse. This has been our MO since our very
first issue, way back in 2003, when only around 60,000 trav-
ellers passed through Keflavík International Airport (last
year, the number amounted to roughly 1.4 million. My, how
we’ve grown).
On the other, we care deeply about our local communi-
ty—the people; their values, culture and traditions—and we
try to actively support and participate in it. The culture that
has evolved in Iceland through the ages has value in and of it-
self (much like any regional culture, anywhere in the world).
What our ancestors have built is inherently important, and
we are all responsible for preserving it; for treating it with
respect and handling it with care (while of course remain-
ing susceptible to necessary change, and critical enough to
eschew the rotten parts, of which there are plenty).
So, while The Reykjavík Grapevine is ostensibly For The
Tourists, it is also no less meant to foster and support local
culture, offering the natives an outside perspective on their
surroundings while maintaining an active platform for them
to engage in discussion and self-expression. Oh, and we also
try our best to publicize local music, art and other cultural
offerings—to tell the (English-speaking) world about all that
great stuff we’ve got going on, in a language it understands.
---
As the abovementioned Keflavík Airport passenger numbers
demonstrate, Icelandic tourism has experienced somewhat
of a BOOM! in the twelve years since we started publishing
our little magazine. This unfettered growth has, inevitably,
resulted in clashes between the tourists that we serve and
the community we belong to. Which can put us in a bit of a
tight spot.
Whether local concerns about things like “the mass exo-
dus of music venues from downtown Reykjavík” are justified
or not is mostly beside the point. The important part is that
they are an expression of a collective emotion: a clear sign
that the community which voices them is experiencing dif-
ficulties adjusting to a rapidly changing environment—at-
tempts to understand and contend with what’s going on.
Now, tourism is great. It is our lifeblood, and it provides
a steady stream of new ideas and outside influence to a once-
isolated society that has often suffered from stasis and lack
of imagination. Plus, travelling is super fun and everyone
should do it.
Tourism is great, but as any industry—especially one
that’s undergoing a period of unfettered growth—it needs
to be carefully managed and considered, thought out and
discussed. As Grapevine journalist Paul Fontaine noted in a
powerful opinion piece a few issues back, we Icelanders have
far too often placed all our eggs in a basket, gleefully rushing
forward with reckless abandon in a clumsy gold rush orgy
that inevitably ends in tears (seriously, it’s been, what, seven
years since we last passed through a financial valley of the
shadow of death?).
Don’t for one second imagine that we don’t love you guys,
tourists. A lot of us that have toiled making the Grapevine
through the years began our journey as tourists. And most
of the rest are Reykjavík outsiders, formerly isolated country
bumpkins who came here for much the same reason as many
of you did – to partake in this wonderful city’s vibrant culture
and contribute to it to the best of our ability.
To go back to the ever-popular “music venue vs. hotel and
puffin shop debate” it is clear that many of those who criti-
cize the current development have not fully registered that
a thriving downtown area goes a long way towards ensuring
our musicians and artists can make an actual living off their
strife, that there is a market for what they would sell and cel-
ebrate.
Meanwhile, many of those who take offence at Iceland-
ers’ concerns about the effects of mass tourism perhaps fail
to comprehend that the criticisms voiced are not directed at
them, personally, but at the many opportunists who seek to
exploit them for profit.
Anyway: There is nothing wrong with tourism. There is
nothing wrong with profit, and there is nothing wrong with
business. There is, however, something wrong with short-
sighted lunging at an unclear goalpost without considering
the ramifications.
There are no easy solutions to our current conundrum.
Proposed ones, such as seeking to limit the number of travel-
lers that are admitted to the country, or changing priorities
or marketing to appeal only to wealthy demographics, seem
mostly elitist and wrong.
Nope. Our best course of action is to demand that those
we have elected to power—officials on both municipal and
state levels—to take some real steps towards ensuring the
preservation and conservation of the culture we love and the
sites we are fond of, while enabling us to welcome anyone
who would visit with open arms.
---
Also, thank you, Anna. It’s been a blast.
Editorial: Haukur S. Magnússon
TRACK OF
THE ISSUE

A RARE,
ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME
OPPORTUNITY
Visit the largest man-made ice caves
and tunnel in Europe
You can choose from various
tours and book online at
www.intotheglacier.is
Agent Fresco
“Wait For Me”
Download your FREE track at www.grapevine.is
Comic | Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir