Karl E. Stier

“Because in an ugly place, he was born with so much beauty inside him that it was like an act of rebellion. In a world full of sledgehammers, his art was a declaration of war.”
― Fredrik Backman, My Friends

“One of the things that Ed loved so much about guitar was that suddenly, he had more control over his sound—he had more nuanced ways to express himself because he was now in charge of the strings themselves. “With a guitar you can bend or use vibrato to reach all those microtonal notes and those feelings that fall between the cracks on the piano,” is how Ed put it. “There’s a touch involved with the piano, but you’re not actually touching the strings. So there’s an agent between you and the strings—a middleman.” Ed could now enjoy an unmediated relationship with his instrument, and he made the most of that.”
― Alex Van Halen, Brothers: An Intimate Account of Brotherhood and Rock Music

“He didn’t back down in the face of William Lyt”
― Fredrik Backman, Us Against You

“Art teaches us to mourn for strangers.”
― Fredrik Backman, My Friends