Departed friend

Svein Sivertsen
My good friend, Svein Sivertsen died peacefully on the night to July 7th. He had been battling with cancer for a while, and lost.
We first saw each other at a Neil Young concert in 1993. He was wearing a John Lennon t-shirt, and I was wearing a Rubber Soul t-shirt, so we noticed each other. The next evening I phoned him, because I wanted to ask him to start writing a bit about The Beatles for the Norwegian Wood Beatles Fanclub I was running, he had been a contributor in the early days of our fanzine and I needed new input. We discovered that we had both noticed each other the previous night, without knowing who we were. We had a good laugh about that.
He started writing articles again, and we became fast friends. He used to celebrate the Beatles’ birthdays by throwing parties at his house and I made an effort to join him for at least one party for each member of the band. He filled his house with Beatle people, making Linda’s veggie meals, playing music, having quizzes, showing Beatles films and documentaries and a high point of every Beatles party was a well prepared lecture either by the host or other Beatles experts. When I called it a day as fan club president, he became my successor, and made a good job at it. In 1996 he and I and two others made a pilgrimage to England, where we visited old Beatles movie locations, sought out their old private residents and celebrated Beatles Week in Liverpool. Nearly a decade later, Svein overcame his fear of flying to join me and another friend in New York to take in the Beatles sites and to see Paul McCartney at Madison Square.
Svein specialized in one of the stranger sides of Beatles collecing, he collected cover versions. That was a result of the meagre years at EMI in the seventies and eighties when no interesting Beatles material was released. Of course, he also collected Beatles and solo-Beatles CD’s. He had abandoned vinyl when CD’s came along. Another of his passions were books about The Beatles, and he had quite a collection. When he got ill he re-organized his collection and read more Beatles books than ever.
He was always a man with a great sense of humour and he would laugh a lot at himself and other people’s strange obsessions. He believed that Beatles fans are able to take themselves a lot less serious than fans of other bands or pop stars.
Another of his facets was that he liked Madonna, and about a week ago he text messaged me and revealed that he had bought ticket’s to Madonna’s concert here in Norway on the 28th of July, and he hoped to bring his family both to the show and to take them on a railroad trip to Hamburg after that. He was worried that he was not in a good enough shape to realize these plans.
Sadly he wasn’t. The last thing he asked for was that something should be played to celebrate Ringo’s birthday. He left behind him his life partner, a daughter, a son and a grandson. And a big gap in my mind. I’ll take his advice and have a good laugh at myself every now and then.

8 Responses

  1. Tammy says:

    Hey, i'm so so sorry to read of the passing of your friend, and the passing of a fellow Beatle fan, i did'nt know him but reading your post made very thankfull for all the friends and crazy fun times the Beatles have brought to me, i'm so glad your friend got to enjoy these same things and know the joy that only the Beatles could bring to our lives.

  2. Jay says:

    Gutted to hear this news. I usually log on to your blog to read Beatle updates and latest news. I lost my own brother recently at just 32 under different circumstances. My condolences to you and his family.

    Hold on to all those good memories.

  3. Anonymous says:

    I'm so sorry to hear those sad news …I hope his family well, my condolences to you my friend.

  4. emixdub says:

    I can only share the thoughts expressed above. What a sad news and thansk for sharing this with us. You made him live again and I know you and his loved ones will carry on. All the best to you, and love and courage to everyone who knew Svein.

  5. wogew says:

    Thank you for your kind words.

  6. paulo says:

    It's always very sad to hear about the passing of a beatles fan. You did a very nice tribute to him.

  7. klark_kent says:

    Thanks for sharing that great story, Wogew. We are all getting to the age where we see this more and more. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those left behind.

  8. Catharina Jerbo says:

    Long time passing, I stumbled on this page looking for something abour Svein. He and I were together for a couple of years back in 1977 (I think). He contacted me again in early 2000, maybe he already had cancer? Well, I am so happy reading your memories, he was the most tender, honest and sweetest man I ever knew.
    Thanks. <3

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