I attached the newly recorded Christmas single to the email I had just written to my band in Sweden . I had written the song a couple of months earlier , but hadn ’ t been able to record it until I stayed at radio show host Karen Pauley ’ s house in Everett , Washington . Since my band was not with me on the road , I asked them if they could record some addons on the other side of the pond . The Christmas singles are always free giveaways so my band was kind enough to play on the song for free , but in the email I asked them if they wanted anything special from the U . S as a Christmas gift .
“ Sure . I ’ m in . I would like a couple of packets of American Indian for Christmas . The organic kind .
Hugs Christian ”
I remember how my drummer Joakim and my cello player Christian were all about the cigarettes that was given away for free to all the musicians at the South by Southwest festival a few years ago . So when we leave the Olympic National Forest , we stop by a casino with an attached gas station and I go in to buy some “ American Indian Cigarrettes ”. “ Can I help you ?” says the native American guy behind the counter . I scan the shelves behind him . They ’ re stacked with different kinds of cigarettes but I can ’ t see the ones I ’ m looking for . “ Yes ,” I say , “ do you have the American Indian cigarettes ?”. The guy gives me a funny look . “ Do you mean “ American Spirit ”?” he asks . I feel the blood rushing to my face as he produces two packets of American Spirit from under the counter . Did I just ask a native American guy for “ Indian ” cigarettes ? At the gas station attached to a casino owned by Native Americans ? I sure did . I pay and disappear out the door as fast as I possibly can .
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