My Friend Oliver

Oliver Weers has been my friend for several years now. I met him at one of Mogens Nørgaard's fantastic events in Denmark, and it's at these events that I see Oliver once or twice a year.

Oliver is a DBA who works for CSC. Like a lot of people I've met in Denmark, he's a very sharp guy. Like a lot of people I've met who are DBAs, he has hobbies outside of work. I have a lot of fun talking to him, and I enjoy when I get to cross his path.

Oliver is particularly special, because his outside hobby is that he's a rock star.

...Not the "finger quotes" kind of rock star like Don Knuth or Chris Date. I mean Oliver is an actual rock star, like Joe Elliott or David Coverdale. Well, he'd probably be embarrassed by that characterization, but that's where I hope his ship is headed. A lot of people in Europe already know Oliver because of his performance on the TV show "X Factor," which is a Danish show that's similar to "American Idol."

I'm excited for Oliver lately because he has just released his first album called Get Ready. If you like your Whitesnake, I think you'll like Oliver. (He'll be warming up for Whitesnake on December 19th in front of 7,000 people at K. B. Hallen in Copenhagen.)

Here's a fun sample from the X Factor show. Try to hold it together for the first couple of minutes. Remember, it's like American Idol where half the fun is to see how bad it can get. Oliver kicks in at 2:22 to straighten things out.

So if you're interested in the Rock Music, have a look at him. Hit Oliver's MySpace page for a good idea of what he's got. This Calling Out For You video is good, too (including a nice interview på Dansk, with a little operatic demo thrown in there for good measure). Good song, and it's kind of fun to remember that this guy can rock in sqlplus, too.

So, please join me in wishing Oliver the very best of luck. He's worked hard at this for many years—the whole time holding down a pretty tricky job. I hope he'll become a huge overnight success worldwide sometime real soon.