Author: - The Reykjavik Grapevine

Articles by: Bart Cameron

Editorial: Sunset And Darkness

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Witnessing the fall of an empire After a frantic, peripatetic summer, my seven-year-old child was astonished to note, as we…

Video: Ring Road Damaged, Closed East of Höfn Due To Flooding

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Per Umferdin.is, 50 metres of the Ring Road near Jökulsá í Lóni, east of the town of Höfn í Hornarfirði…

Editorial: A Model of Democracy, Aware Of The Threats

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How an interview for an English-language paper is cause for celebration Iceland has just been voted, again, the most peaceful…

Pavement, Silver Jews, And Bob: Pavements Screening Draws Icon To Ísafjörður

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There are bands that try exceptionally hard but don’t matter. They might result in an online discussion of a pedal-board,…

Canadian Ryan Keeping Attempts Record Run Around Iceland

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Citing folk hero Terry Fox, distance runner Ryan Keeping is attempting to break the record for running around Iceland. The…

Owner Of Beloved Bæjarins Beztu Passes

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Per MBL.is, Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur owner Guðrún Björk Kristmundsdóttir died on September 1, 2025, at the National Hospital at Hringbraut…

Single Review: Of Monsters And Men’s Ordinary Creature Has Extraordinary Appeal

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Iceland’s best-selling alt-folk band creates masterful pop tune with local influence What does a band do with world fame and…

Editorial: On Talking To The Neighbours

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Walking the streets of Reykjavík can be humbling. The street signs contain more syllables than seem possible — I pass…

Editorial: The Grapevine Orbit

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Returning to a paper of substance For more than 20 years I’ve been working with the Grapevine. This is how…

Death At Reynisfjara: Devastation On The Beach

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Another horrific reckoning with modern tourism Yukio Mishima crystallised the empty pathos of life in a once-proud nation dealing with…

Blues Redeem Me: GravelRoad And The Reykjavík Grapevine

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The scores of shitty decisions I made during my fevered dream of a run as editor of this beloved magazine…

The Ceiling On Icelandic Tourism, And Apologies For “The Clinton”

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In 2005, a few months into my editorship, Paul Fontaine and I did a marathon road trip around Iceland’s Ring…

Seven Years Ago

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Hooray! We turned ten this year. For a humble street rag like Grapevine, turning ten is a pretty big deal—we…

We Dream Bigger

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I think I know where the confidence and swagger came from. Davíð Oddsson. Hard to explain how adored he was,…

Morgunblaðið And The American Satanist

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Not too many Americans wanted to hear about Amanda Knox as her year long trial played out. Accused of murdering…

Ísafjörður, Dead Ahead

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A bird slamming into the windshield. That’s my greeting to Ísafjörður. To be fair, there are signs warning that birds…

The Editors Speak

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Valur The first editor My career as editor of Grapevine ended the way it started, being shouted at by ancient…

Deep Down Dirty: Mýrarbolti Matures

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The spectacle of it—just outside the picturesque town of Ísafjörður in the West Fjords, there are hundreds of locals dressed…

When You Open With Blasphemous Orgasms

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It goes like this: I get an email from “Mugi Mugison” saying that the Icelandic pop star is in Seattle,…

That Ignorance is restraining

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Bart Cameron on the death of American writer David Foster Wallace and the state of US-literatureWhen David Foster Wallace committed…

Standing in the Desert, Thinking of Rain

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Yes, the Coachella polo grounds were not rainy. And this astounded the former Pulp frontman. He spent the better part…

The Place Deserves Its Fame

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Hotel Búðir is one of the world’s best hotels – Condé Nast Traveler has said so, as have a few…

Nashville in the North

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In explaining the success of Iceland Airwaves, the organisers, Mr. Destiny, surprised me by explaining that 9/11 had a strong…

Airwaves Highlights

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The star of the show in almost every way was Valgeir Sigurðsson, whose new Bedroom Community label served as the…

Reality Check

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I flew to America on a Tuesday, pretty much due to bad timing. Tuesday, in Iceland, is Rock Star: Supernova…