Writing on the wall

It's complicated...

2010-11-06T22:53:00.003+01:00

There are trends in music!

While progressive rock has been shot and burried, I am hearing it back in more and more new music I buy these days. Take the latest Sufjan Stevens record for instance; It's as complex as an early Genesis and King Krimson album, but no hipsters will ever dare to listen to these two old bands!

The new Sufjan is getting some negative comments from the press though. When I`m listening to it, it sounds very crowded and self indulgent at times. Some people might call these negative espacts, I call them plus points. An artist shouldn`t care about his audience; He should do what he wants to do, and take nobody's ears into account. Experimenting should not always be pleasent to the ears.

When an artist starts listening to what the audience wants, you get bands like U2 and the Kings of Leon. one trick ponys, who learned how tho draw a crowd with their albums, and decided to continue doing this trick till infinity. Bland music. No excitement. Just 3.40 minutes of nothing.

The most intesting thing about Sufjan's Age of ADZ is how he manages to mix the absolute with the relative, the analog with the digital and the ugly with the beautiful. Its an album full of contrasts, and these contrasts make it sound alive.
If you want a demonstration of this, just listen "Too Much". As the second song on the album it is basically a summary of everything to come. Its a mix of electronical beats and classical instruments. Unlikely bedfollows, but he somehow manages to make it work for my ears. It also helps that throughout the album I`m hearing the excellent voices of Annie Clark and Sarah Worden in the background. Or maybe that's just my imagination.

Imagine the Kings of Leon making exciting music. I`ve seen them performing live yesterday on Later with Jools. I`m trying to look into their faces. Trying to spot something in their eyes. Are they consolidating on their current fame? Are they playing save? Are they making the music they actually want to make? Or is their record company pushing them to give birth to 10 other sex on fires?

Questions that might never be answered, but who would even be able to hear these answers through the sounds that make the Age of Adz?

A night on the turntable #1

2010-05-06T22:24:00.004+02:00

You start off with a bit of Marvin Gaye, a bit of "Let's get it on". The most sensual record ever made according to experts: Serving as Gaye's first venture into the funk genre and romance-themed music, Let's Get It On incorporates smooth soul, doo-wop, and quiet storm. It has been noted by critics for its sexually-suggestive lyrics, and was cited by one writer as "one of the most sexually charged albums ever recorded" (wikipedia). Produced for only one purpose. Turn it off after the first song - you don`t want to get stuck on this on a thursday night. Best listened to with the lights off and the eyes closed.

So you move on to Allen Toussaint's "Southern Nights".
Allen is a New Orleans pianist who is relatively unknown to the large public.
A song writer for Irma Thomas, Lee Dorsey and a lot of other New Orleans artists - he also produced a number of solo albums. The latest being "The Bright Missippi" which has got some great ol' tunes which display Allen's skill behind the piana perfectly. "Southern Nights" is a brilliant song, really reminding you off a warm summernight, enjoying some drinks with your girl together with some good music, watching the sun go down.

Next on the schedule is Billy Joel's "Just the way you are". Again a very smooth song - only a bit more sentimental than "Let's get in on". Mostly played on weddings. It's a great song, but it leaves a dirt taste in your mouth. Please stay the same lady, I like you just the way you are. Or is it more like: Do whatever you want - I`ll like you just the way you are?

To get away from this you start listening to Randy Newman, of Pixar fame.
Grab the album "Sail Away" and listen to the title track. It's black, dark as the night.
Cynical is maybe the best word to describe it, although I`m in a bad place to judge the song's content - cause I ain`t no American. And then you`ve got the original version of "You can leave your hat on". Which sounds a lot darker, dirtier even than Joe Cocker's version. Just read the lyrics. This isn`t a simple striptease song....or maybe it is judging from his comments on this BBC show? I`ll let you be the judge.

Baby, take off your coat...(real slow)
Baby, take off your shoes...(here, I'll take your shoes)
Baby, take off your dress
Yes, yes, yes
You can leave your hat on
You can leave your hat on
You can leave your hat on

Go on over there and turn on the light...no, all the lights
Now come back here and stand on this chair...that's right
Raise your arms up in to the air...shake 'em
You give me a reason to live
You give me a reason to live
You give me a reason to live

Suspicious minds are talking
Trying to tear us apart
They say that my love is wrong
They don't know what love is
They don't know what love is
They don't know what love is
They don't know what love is
I know what love is"

Sensual songs..

2010-01-30T01:27:00.004+01:00

I wanted to avoid any cliches here - like taking any song from Marvin Gaye, or Chris Isaak's "Wicked Games". I started with creating a list of ten "love" songs, but ended up just limiting it to three. To keep it select. To keep it limited. To keep the standard high.

(1) Robbie Robbertson - Somewhere down the crazy river

This song sounds like a hot summer night - a night too hot to sleep.
Robberston's smokey voice, the smooth bass, the subtle guitar, the loose drums - it all melts together to make a perfect "love" song.

I'm a man with a clear destination
I'm a man with a broad imagination
You fog the mind, you stir the soul
I can't find, ... no control

(2) Vangelis - Love Theme

No need for lyrics. Without the saxaphone the song is so clean - so beautiful - so untouched. As soon as the saxaphone sets in - it becomes very, very sexy - dirty even at the points where it starts to crack up. It sounds like two people coming together. A forbidden love. They know they shouldn`t, but it's unavoidable...

(3) The Flamingos - I only have eyes for you

Nothing a little doo-wop can`t fix. It's slow, it's gentle, it's warm blooded - and has that great hollow tone. You can serenade it to her - or just be the bass if you can`t make the high notes.
Best part of the lyrics:

You are here
So am I
Maybe millions of people go by,
but they all disappear from view.
And I Only Have Eyes For You

Honourable mentions: Peter Gabriel's Steam, Sade's Smooth Operator, War's Spill the Wine, Santana's Black Magic Woman.....

The True Battle of Chernobyl

2010-01-12T22:36:00.003+01:00

After seeing a documentary on Belgium television about people in France demonstrating against the bad maintenance/state of French nuclear power plants - I got interested in the biggest nuclear disaster we had in Europe: Chernobyl. This documentary is fascinating - do yourself a favour and watch it.

It convinced me even more that nuclear energy is not a viable replacement for fossil fuel.
Although the possibility of disasters like this one are extremely small - I feel it is not worth the risk. Europe was lucky in 1986 - it could have been far worse.

Blood on the Rooftops

2009-11-27T23:45:00.002+01:00

For years I skipped this song.

I heard the intro and thought: "An acoustic guitar playing on and on, it must be some kind of mix-up; this is not Genesis. Probably some Spanish acoustic singer which they accidentally put on this tape. So I went on to the next song of Wind & Wuthering, Genesis' second album with Phil Collins on the lead vocals.

It was my second Genesis album after hearing "We can`t dance" a few 100 times, and it is still my favorite. It has got something magical about it. Something you just can`t touch. A fifth element. For those first years however I kept skipping track number 6 - completely clueless of what I was missing.

I can still remember the day when I kept on listening, passing the 1 minute mark.
Tears came to my eyes. It was the most beautiful piece of music I ever heard.
When listening to the lyrics I always get vivid images in my mind.

A family is sitting in front of a television in the middle of winter. It's warm and cozy inside their home. Outside it's dark and snowing. Snow piles up on the rooftops while the moon is shining bright. It's a cold night.

The family is captivated by the images displayed on the television. It's five past eight in the evening. The world's news is on the television. After a segment about local politics and people complaining about a new tax being implemented the topic switches to a third world country.

War broke out there a few months back. People are suffering. Thousands are on the move, trying to get to the border of their neighboring nations. Many however do not make it. Images of corpses are lying on the side of the road. Rotting, nobody has time to clean them up.

In the meantime the family is enjoying a cup of hot chocolate. The news jumps to the next topic, an important foreign statesman is visiting their nation. They can barely remember the images in the previous news topic. And why should they? They see those images almost every week. They have gotten used to it. Accepted it as something that just "is".

The tube creates distance, and as soon as their favorite comedy show starts they have forgotten all about what they have seen. There's Blood on their Rooftop. It stains the white virgin snow. The ugly truth of a society that is becoming increasingly individualistic - or are we just becoming numb?

Dr. John's Gumbo

2009-11-25T21:49:00.004+01:00

"You can even smell it, a smell like it has been in a bookcase for a very long time", said the Belgian girl to me when I was heading back to the South and was examining my catch from the record fare. It does smell it's age. Recorded & produced in 1972, this record is more than 36 years old. It doesn`t only smell a bit like mold, it even looks a bit moldy from the outside.

I paid about 10 euro's for this record, and while examining the record in the train I`m wondering if it was worth it. The cover is beautiful - The doctor is standing in front of a large wall, portraying an industrial-farm landscape. The back cover shows him lying on several bar-stools in front of "Yudda's Yummy Hamburgers Hot Dogs" - A little hamburger place. When opening the the record the inner sleeve is even more impressive. It has a slightly greenish quality, displaying the doctor from head to toes - dressed in a nice suite and a top hat. With the bad lighting it is however hard to see if the record has a lot of scratches yes or no.

I start reading the insert. It starts with an intro from the Doctor himself what moved him to record this album. Dr. John is born as Mac Rebennack in New Orleans. From the early 1950's he started working as a studio musician in New Orleans playing the guitar and piano. He worked in the studio where Shirley & Lee, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Professor Longhair and Heuy Smith recorded their records. Later in the sixties he started to record his own material - Gumbo is his third record.

The record is filled with New Orleans classics from the 50s and 60s which have been re-recorded by the Doctor and his band. And how. "Iko Iko" starts the record off extremely catchy. I don`t get the lyrics (They seem to be based on Creole), but the music speaks for itself - It's a great mix between "Dixieland, Rock & Roll and Funk", as the Doctor describes it. The only thing I know is that it is catchier, dirtier and swings more than anything coming from the British Isles in the past decade (European music most of the time is very straight-lined).

The song that blew me of my feet however was "Big Chief"; The organ that runs through this song is just amazing. It's unlike anything I`ve heard before and again as catchy as hell. The song is funky. It's hard to stay still during this song. It also sounds like the musicians had a lot of fun playing these song - and the record is in perfect condition - so it all sounds as clear as an ice cold winter morning.

"Mess Around" displays the Doctor's excellent piano skills, he himself describing his solo at the start of the song as "radiating the adiating". The piano is on fire, that's for sure. In his liner notes he tells that this song was written by Ahmet Ertegum for none other than Ray Charles. It would have fitted Ray perfectly. Up tempo, one big celebration.

The second side starts of with "Junko Partner". Described in the notes as "the anthem of the dopers, the whores, the pimps, the cons. It was a song they sang in Angola, the state prison farm and the rhythm was even known as the "jailbird beat". Dudes used to come back with all different verses. The hard-core dopers couldn`t wait to hit the street after their release so they could score again.

"Six months ain`t no sentence
One year ain`t no time
They got boys in Angola
Doing nine to ninety-nine"

Meaning they had no intention of reforming even before the beginning their sentence. It's a song all New Orleans bands had to play: kind if a Calypso-oriented rhythm with Cajun dialect."

The Doctors excellent piano playing accompanies the record right to its end. It's one of the most enjoyable records in my collection (definitely entered my top 10 of favorites - out of more than 300 classics now) - and I can recommend it to anyone who loves music. It was my best 10 euro's spend in a long long time. It's living proof that great music goes beyond the notion of time.

Utrecht Records Fare 2009

2009-11-18T22:00:00.002+01:00

This weekend I will attend my second records fare in Utrecht, and I am really looking forward to it. What hidden gems will I discover this time? Will I finally find that one record I have been looking for the past years? What new old music will I discover?

Why did I start buying records in the first place? It started just before I went to India. I wondered around a flea market and saw a bin with some records in it. Rummaging around it I found one which caught my interest: The first record of the Dire Straits. Sultans of Swing was the track I recognized. The seller only asked 1 euro for it. And so my current collection was born.

As a music lover, records are for me a cheap and easy way of getting to discover great music, great music of any age. With an average price below 5 euro's its even worth to take risks. You for instance buy an old Santana record for 2 euro without knowing any of the songs on it. You play the record and find out it is an extremely musical light jazz album. Or you stumble on a record from Ry Cooder, a guy you know as the father of the Buena Vista Social Club, and find out he's one of the best guitarists ever. Going to a records fare is like a big adventure into a treasure cove for me; you never you what great piece of music you`ll find. Some people might not find old music relevant in this day and age - but for me a good music is timeless. Listening to the first record of Devo or an early Lou Reed can be just as exciting as listening to the debut of the Japandroids or the latest Dirty Projectors or TV on the Radio album.

So what will I be looking for at the records fare? I`ve been looking for the debute from DEVO for more than a year now; Apparantly the band really has a cult following since I`ve yet to see it anywhere. "Blue" of Joni Mitchell would also be a nice addition. Thanks to the Dirty Projectors I`m really getting into the Talking Heads. Perhaps I can also find the debute of Roxy Music? And what am I still missing from David Bowie? And what about Old soul records from Marvin Gaye, James Brown and maybe Lee Dorsey or Otis Redding? Minnie Ripperton - I still need to find the record that made her famous for a reasonable price. Dr. John also created some extremely catchy music and some early stuff from Van Morrison would also not be bad.

I wonder what my budget will be?

Q: Are we not men? A: We are Devo!

2009-10-02T23:11:00.005+02:00

A: We are Devo!
Q: Why are you Devo?
A: With songs as "Jocko Homo" and "Satisfaction" you are basically deconstructing music.
Q: Why deconstruction?
A: Cos these two songs sound like a toddler trying to force a square brick into a round hole. It just does not fit, but you don`t care.
Q: More groups have tried that - why is Devo's effort so special?
A: Besides making square songs they are also completely unpredictable.
Q: Unpredictable as in?
A: Listen you "Jocko Homo" and see how it turns into an anthem at 02:30.
Q: Do they go beyond this gimmick?
A: Absolutely, listen to "Gut Feeling". Probably one of my favorite songs ever. It starts of with a simple guitar riff, speeds up, then the piano sets in, speeds up even more, the piana starts to get frantic, the guitar spits in together with Mark Mothersbaugh's words. At 03:30 in crashes into chaos, only to end with another frantic punk prelude for "Slap your baby down". Crazy and brilliant at the same time.
Q: So you really like this single song, anything else worth listening to on this album?
A: Well, yes: "Too Much Paranoias" makes you feel paranoid and very uncomfortable. In the middle the song breaks up, only to materialize again for one final push. "Mongoloid" is a beautiful song, telling the story of a mentally disabled person who just like everyone else brought home the bacon without being noticed. Such a sensitive song.
Q: Are there any weak points on this album?
A: Yes. The first 10 songs are just one big winning streak. Not one weak link in there; It catches you with its hyperactive jabs and does not let you loose. I never really understood "Shrivel Up" though. It misses a bit of direction, it feels a bit out of place. Still a good song though - but it does not feel as "urgent" or "relevant" has the others.

Q: And why do you still listen to Devo in 2009?
A: Nothing came before, and nothing came after it quite like it. Devo devolve there music like no-one else, and therefore listening to it sounds like a great party where people can only move in stop-motion. Check out there first album at your local record or web store. It's worth the money.

You`re an extra, lost in the scene

2009-07-11T23:23:00.005+02:00

It has been a long, long time since my last post. Don`t let the gap of 3 months fool you: I`ve been listening a lot of music and learning about myself in the process. It for instance seems that I`m a person who likes a bit of structure in music. Groups like Animal Collective and the Dirty Projectors seem to be on the wrong side of this thin red line of mine. I don`t think they're bad, but I just don`t get it (yet). I don`t get what's so appealing about it (yet).

Artists that are appealing to me at the moment are Phoenix, The Pains, Allen Toussaint, Talking Heads (yea,yea, due to the dirty Projectors), Apostle of Hustle, T. Rex, Charles Spearin and St. Vincent.

St. Vincent in particular makes me smile. It's hard to describe how her music sounds like; It's a mix of styles. It's a (lot) rougher version of My Brightest Daimond - with a beat. Her latest album is a carefully constructed patchwork of songs. Some can start of as dreamlike and then at one point fall back into harsh distortion. It is this combination that makes me really like Actor, and songs like Marrow and The Strangers perfectly demonstrate this. Playing them very loud though will get your neighbours yelling at you.

Luckily she has some very neighbour friendly songs like Save me from what I want and Laughing with a mouth of blood. Judging from their titles and lyrics you would not call them upbeat, but they do sound like it. I especially appreciate those nice backing vocals she did on both the songs; the "Watch your step's" give Save me.. that little bit of extra.

Finally, the first single Actor out of work is a great stacato marsh from the start to the end. I really like how the songs builds up to the finale. It's not a second too long at a little bit more than two minutes, and makes you want to play it, again, again and again.

The best thing about this is that I`m going to see St. Vincent live in action in Nijmegen in about a week's time. I`ve taken half a day of to go see her perform her songs. And if this Letterman performance is anything close to what I`ll see that monday, I`ll go back home happy. Hopefully my right foot doesn`t drop off in the meantime.

Two Suns from Bat for lashes

2009-04-04T16:49:00.007+02:00

Natasha Khan is Bat for Lashes and with the first song on her new album "Two Suns" she immediately caught my ears, and after seeing the album cover, she caught my eyes. A beautiful album design placing her in the centre, two worlds in her hand. Is that a tear on her cheek and a crown of stars or thorns? So many questions. Is there a vinyl version? - this would look great on any wall.

It all started when I saw her as a similar artist on last.fm for PJ Harvey and My Brightest Diamond. So basically nothing could go wrong with me picking up her record, and after listening it for several times, we were a match made in heaven.
Her music reminds me of 80s Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush (although I only own one album of the latter) and more recently, Yeasayer. So it did not really come as a surprise when I read that actaul members of Yeasayer participated in the creation of this record. Her voice is indeed almost as strong as those of PJ Harvey and Sarah Wooden, but still unique. Music wise she is a lot smoother than Polly Jean (Check out her latest cooperation with John Parish), and replaces Sarah Wooden's guitar with a grain-shed of other instruments.

As mentioned earlier, "Glass" is a very strong opener, the perfect song to kick the album off. It takes you to a different universe with its echoing (tribal?) drums, synthesiser bass and hollow guitar. All together it sounds epic, and that's wher it reminds me of Peter Gabriel: Serious lyrics, dominating drums and low bass. It's only four and a half minutes long, but you`ll keep repeating it till infity.

I like "Sleep Alone" for the background vocal and cymbal which set in after about 45 seconds. Haunting vocals, subtle synthesizers and nice rhythm which keeps your feet tapping. Together with "Moon and Moon", this song is stuff that puts you into a dream like state (edit: actually counts for the whole album in retrospect). "Daniel" is the first single from this album and a good one. It's got a catchy chorus that you can pick up without a lot of difficulty. Those violins at the 2 minute mark must be an addition of Yeasayer, they sound so recognisable.

"Peace of mind" is a great combination of traditional and modern instruments, woven together into a songs which follows the beat of the drum. "World Music" just popped into my head while writing about this song. "Pearl's Dream" wants me to buy a drum machine and start experimenting myself. Wonderfull rhythm she devised there. Also love the chorus which acts as anchor in all the experimentation and sampling.

"Good Love" sounds like a mix between BSS' "Anthems for a seventeen year old girl" and the Zombies' "Way I feel inside". The organ at the start of the song resembling that of the Zombies, and the generally sad mood of the song reminding of the Anthem. Together with "Two Planets" (Which is the song that is most out "there" on this album), "Good Love" makes sure that the whole album keeps you captivated. There is no filler here.

What is on this album, is a great mix between piano and drum-lead songs. Experimental at times, but highly listenable. Dreamy, but not at all light. Unusual and delicate music with a lot of detail, but without making it sound as complicated kitsch.
In short: Buy it on monday.

The Pains of being pure at heart

2009-03-25T21:39:00.004+01:00

Only 10 songs on this album.
A pretty melo-dramatic band name.
And when I arrive at song four I already feel like I heard this song before on the very same album. There is not much variation in between songs, and I do not really bother listening to the lyrics. They're not really worth listening to.
All reasons why I should not like this album, but something, something about this album just makes me like it.

This album summarized into one sentence: Robert Smith from the Cure (Stay Alive) suddenly starts wearing colorful shirts and convinces the Jesus & The Mary Chain (Contender) to join him on a crusade to make the world care-free.

And every morning when I select this album on my mp3 in the train on my way to work, they succeed. Thanks Robert Smith and Jesus & the Mary Chain!

Black Hearted Love for PJ Harvey

2009-03-24T21:34:00.004+01:00

10 Reasons why I (really) like PJ Harvey

Her voice - Deep & Powerfull

Her guitar - She plays a beautiful Gibson Firebird VII

Her songs - Great lyrics but often not too complex: Less is more

Her lack of genre - She does not fit into one. She is free, creative.

Her appearance one stage - Five years ago I saw her performing on Rock Werchter 2004. While singing some songs the audience was so intimidated by her performance they seemd to back off a few meters. I think it was during "Meet Ze Monster".

Her cooperations - She actually played together on one of the Desert Sessions with Joshua Homme, did some duets with Nick Cave and now joins John Parish for her latest album.

Her residence - She still lives in rural England.

Her lack of any fixed style - Just as varied as her music. One day she can be a classic femme-fatale, the other day a stylish punk and then a conservative victorian girl.

Her attitude - Whatever she does, it's full of energy and emotion.

And finally, she's raw.

When Under Ether

2009-03-17T21:55:00.001+01:00

The ceiling is moving
Moving in time
Like a conveyor belt
Above my eyes

When under ether
The mind comes alive
But conscious of nothing
But the will to survive

I lay on the bed
Waist down undressed
Look up at the ceiling
Feeling happiness
Human kindness

The woman beside me
Is holding my hand
I point at the ceiling
She smiles so kind

Something's inside me
Unborn and unblessed
Disappears in the ether
One world to the next
Human kindness

Lash at that Bat!

2009-03-14T22:45:00.007+01:00

Anxiously I`m waiting for the new PJ Harvey and Jon Parish album. Already read a promising review in OOR, and they say it's going to be a very diverse album covering a wide range of sounds. It will be released in two weeks, so in the mean time I found another great one: Bat For Lashes.

She's a British singer-songwriter and will release her second album later this year. I`m listening to it now for the first time, and those first 5 songs are very impressive. On Last.fm her similar artists are My Brightest Diamond (I like), PJ Harvey (I like like), Cocorosie, Cat Power and Patrick Wolf (I know and interested). So I guess this album and me are meant to be? Hopefully she will come near one day. Or maybe she will play on Lowlands 2009?

On other concert news, I bought concert tickets today for Mostly Autumn, ZzZ and Roosbeef. Mostly Autumn is a British Progrock band who were destined to be the "2nd Pink Floyd" in their early days, but seemed to have had some bumps along the way. Bumps always make people stronger, so I`m hoping for a great concert. ZzZ is a Rock 'n Roll band from the Netherlands who I saw 3 years ago on Lowlands, just after the release of their first album. The play two instruments: Drums and a Hammond. And they sound pretty massive and raw.

Finally there is Roosbeef (she picture to the left), she's a dutch singer-songwriter who seems to be either loved or detested. On 3FM (The worse dutch radiostation there is; they aim at a young audience by playing the same hits every day and talking a lot of sh*t in between) they only played her song a few times and got a lot of feedback from disapproving radio listeners. It had something to do with her singing, she has a certain style..My opinion: Bob Dylan is a great singer, and so is Roosbeef. You just have to get used to it, give it a chance. That's what I will do on a friday evening in May.

Finally: I do not like the Vivian Girls. It's too straight forward and too rickety.

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

2009-03-10T20:39:00.003+01:00

Phoenix are my favorite French band.
The first song I heard from them was "Too Young", which is a great little tune on the soundtrack of "Lost in Translation", a movie from Sofia Coppola. The lead singer is actually married to Ms. Coppola, but do not fear, their marriage had nothing to do with the inclusion of this song on the soundtrack. It does not need the film to be great.

About three years ago I read some reviews of their last album "It's never been like that" which caught my attention. "A french band making an album that should have been the second Stroke's album". I bought the album and indeed, it was full with great pop songs. Listen to songs such as "Consolation Prizes", "Rally" and "Long Distance Call" and you`ll know what I mean. It's just fresh, music without worries, only great catchy songs.

Now they unveiled their first single from their new album "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" which will be released in May 2009. Looking forward to it already. Download it here. Or simple listen to it on You Tube.

Prog Rock Britannia

2009-03-07T15:54:00.003+01:00

Found an interesting documentary about progressive music showing its rise and demise. My music listening experience started with Genesis thanks to my dad, however I only got into their progressive roots gradually. I like the way the band is portrayed in this documentary. From the "Lamb lies Down" they noticed that making another album that would be even more complex, would not please anyone. A joy it is then to listen to a "Trick of the Tail" which is such a briliant song. Genesis did focus more on the songs than on the musical complexity, and that's probably why I never can listen long to Yes or ELP: Complexity only for complexities sake does not make good music.

That first introduction of King Crimson sounds great though, need to check that album out.

Spirit If...Kevin Drew and Peter and the Wolf

2009-03-03T22:05:00.012+01:00

RnR on a Firebird
I will never be a highly skilled technically perfect guitarist.
And I don`t care.
I`m playing this instrument with fun and love.
And that's all that matters in my music.

For music produced by others, I am only looking for something unusual, original, fresh, beautiful, emotional, dirty, soothing, messy, uncoordinated, multi-layered, not too complicated, fuzzy, downbeat, melancholic, intelligent, soft, rough, raw, romantic, crooked, but with a great rhythm. Summarizing: I`m just looking for that certain something that rings my bell.

This is what I found in the past few weeks to be quite interesting:

Peter and the Wolf - Mellow Owl

As the title suggests this is an extremely mellow album. Something to wake up to in the morning. Preferably in a hammock on a tropical island with a view on a crystal blue ocean. The band originates from Austin, Texas, and was formed by the musician Red Hunter. It's genres are defined by wikipedia as "Folk, Lo-fi, Singer/songwriter". The coolest tune on this album? One which displays the album's strength? Definitely "The Bride of S. Travels" which is a delightful little tune. The first thing that makes in great are the "Ahaaaaaaa"'s. Perhaps not the most beautiful "Ahaaaaa's" you`ve heard in a song, but definitely fitting the song perfectly. The second thing that makes this song great is its topic, travelling, which makes the song perfect for daily commuters such as me. If you`ve got to run, safe travels. From the 2 minutes mark the ending of the song is set in, with a subtle guitar and Aya's to lead to song to its end.

Other great songs are "Fireflies", "Ballad of Redhook" and "This Kid I knew". Melancholy, romance and a bit of nostalgia would be to key words to characterise these songs. Finally I`ve got to mention "Bottle Rockettes", a perfect pop song. It already starts of pretty good, but at the moment when the female singer joins in to sing her lines this song goes into higher grounds. And the break "Hey now honey, I`ll be fine. I just got to clear my mind. You go have a super time, I stay here and clear my mind". And then she replies magically....well..just listen the song. It`s just..beautiful.

Kevin Drew - Spirit if...(2007)

Starting off in complete musical chaos you might be inclined to immediately push the eject button and throw the disk in the garbage bin, but please, please, control yourself and wait. After a minute or 2 the song settles down and transforms into something a lot more soothing. If you read some of my previous posts, I kind off dismissed this album compared to other BSS releases, but after 1.5 years it has won me over. It sounds like the intended follow up to "You forgot it in people". What one me however was the fact that Kevin can write a beautiful song titled TBTF. Translated: To Beautiful To F*ck. It's a bit tragic, which I could would be the case if you found a girl who is TBTF. In other ways in can be the ultimate compliment: "You are to beautiful to be touched". Reminds me a bit of Nick Cave's Where the Wild roses Grow, but there the girl got killed. She'll stay forever young, which is again a great Bob Dylan song, a song which in turn again relates to Ageless Beauty from Stars.

Back to the album! F*cked up kid has a great hook in it, just after the line: "ah sh*t..I guess I`m in love..with the f*cked up kid". The Lucky ones is probably my favorite tune on this album. It has an great positive vibe to it, great breaks, a perfect chorus and an even better ending. After this song the more experimental side of this album starts with songs like Gang Bang Suicide, Frightening Lives, Big Love (Great song to test your speakers with or any other audio equipment). This is followed by Backed out on the, which is great rock song. Distorted guitars, loose singing, dislocated solo's..it has fun written all over it.

And then there is Bodhi sappy weekend, which after an easy start shows it brilliance at 47 seconds. That chord progression! Amazing! In general this album has a very relaxed vibe and it is certainly not as chaotic (read: busy) as the second and third Broken Social Scene albums, but it has it's moments of brilliance. Largely due to smart simplicity. I love this album.

Why did you buy..

2009-03-01T14:14:00.011+01:00

Pate Benatar - Crimes of Passion
You better run! You better hide! Pat Benatar was one of the hardest rocking ladies of the 80s and this album is rumoured to be one of her best. I`m checking it out right now, and it reminds me a bit of Bryan Adams' "Reckless". Still waiting to hear "Hell is for Children" which should be a hard rock song about child abuse. <10> Which turns out to be a rather mediocre standard rock song. Ah well, it was the 80s. Musically comparable to the dark ages? Wasn`t this the decade that MTV started? Maybe that's why it was all f*cked up: visuals were getting the upper hand.

Crusaders - Street Life 300S.
Yes! I`ve got it! Street life! I`ve been looking for this song on Randy Crawford albums for the past few years. Why? Well, you can find a perfect performance below from this century, but the first time I saw them was on Jools Holland's Later a few years back. She just has on of the most beautiful voices ever, and the band is incredibly tight and good. Listened to the first side of the album and the 10 minute version of the title song is great. Worth every 1.5 euro I spent on buying the album!

Janis Ian - Between the Lines
Janis Ian - Stars

Janis Ian is one of those songwriters who made a lot of albums during the 70s but has been completely forgotten except for one song, "Seventeen", that has been imprinted in everyones brain the first time they hear it. A song that makes you silent, and perhaps a bit nostalgic. I`m just reading the lyrics and they still hit hard. "Remember those who win the game, lose the love they thought they gained, in debentures of quality and dubious integrity. Their small-town eyes will gape at you, in dull surprise when payment due, exceeds accounts received at seventeen". BAM! Get that hometown queen! I`m pretty happy to find these two albums (in goods quality) of her and hoping they will be a (serene) blast. Funny thing I noticed about these two album covers is the kind of contemplative position of her hand. Interesting..

Paul's Best Music of 2008

2008-11-17T22:07:00.007+01:00

The year is also to an end, and as a music lover it has been a pretty good year. Therefore I am creating this post to share my "best of" list of 2008 with you, together with some additional discoveries. My top 5 are in no particular order, since I simply cannot make a decision which album is best.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - DIG!!! LAZARUS DIG!!!

Since the release of "Abbatoir Blues & The Lyre of Orpheus" in 2004 Nick Cave has been on my play list continiously. This album finds Nick Cave moving in a more "Rock 'n Roll" vibe, probably influenced by his adventures with Grinderman. If you like good lyrics with content, Nick Cave is your man. The title song is already of such a high lyrical level that all other current artists are blown of their feet. My personal favorite on this album is "Midnight Man". Especially when those organs kick in in the chorus. Below you can see a performance on "Later..." of "More news from Nowhere".

Brendan Canning - Something for all of us

Didn`t really like that Kevin Drew album of "Broken Social Scene Presents....", but this one is a lot better. There is something on this album for all of us. The title song, "Hit the Wall" and "Churches under the Stairs" have that characteristic Social Scene sound: Driving drumbeats and bass, colored in by a guitar with nice distorted sound. What stands this album apart from the other BSS albums are the instrumental songs. "All the best wooden toys come from Germany" and "Chamaleon" are two beautiful instrumental tunes, which put you in a dreamy state of mind. Perfect after a long hard day of work, while heading home in the train. All dark outside. Just you and this music in your ears.

The Dø - a mouthful

My parents didn`t really like this purchase. The girl who sings on this album is from Finland, and has a very high pitched voice. I`ve got to admit, sometimes it comes very close to the "irritating level", but most of the time she just sounds incredibly cute. And backed up by a very solid production and a sound ranging from Finnish Folk to Psuedo-hiphop to Indie, this is a delight to listen to. If you want to get to know this band, get your hands on the songs "At last", "stay (just a little bit more", "Unissasi Laulelet" and "Queen Dot Kong". These should give you a pretty complete view of what this two man band is capable of.

Nicole Atkins - Neptune City

So what? I bowed for the girl singer songwriter hype that has taken over our world. Please mind though, this is no "Duffy Winehouse" clone. This lady is from New Jersey and not from the British isles. At for a fact, she actually is closing in on the three decennia mark instead of being far below the legal age for drinking in her own country. I`ve got to admit, it's a pretty dramatic album with a very "noir" vibe to it. Perfect for a rainy autumn day. The production on this album is also very high; there's no song avoiding the violins and other orchestra stuff. But despite this overkill, something on this album wins me over; Her beautiful voice including a number of very strong songs. She also seems to sing very easily, which only makes it more impressive. The thing that won me completely over was her performance on the BBC. She was in complete control and new exactly what she was doing. There are a lot of highlights on this album. "Maybe Tonight", "The way it is", "Cool enough", "Neptune city", "Brooklyn's on fire" and "Party's over" are all songs that I would recommend to listen. That's 6 out of the total playlist of 10 songs. Not a bad score for a first album.

Eagles of Death Metal - Heart On

The Eagles have landed! Their third album, and in my opinion the best of them all. It's starts of perfectly with the classic rocker "Anything 'cept the truth", which might be a bit too long for it's own good. This however is made up by the short and feisty "Wannabe in L.A.", which also happens to be the first single. Things start to really warm up though with "(I used to couldn`t dance) tight pants". Maybe it is due to the friction, but this song man, wow! It's probably the best rock song to be released all year and is really, really danceable. Especially the high pitched chorus line "I don`t want to do what I`m supposed to, I just want someone to get close to". It cannot get any sweater than this. This is followed by an even dirtier "High Voltage" which is like sending out an pack of elephants out on a banana field ready for harvesting.

"Secret Plans" is also pure perfection. High tempo, simple lyrics, great chorus. That's all what a good song needs. "Now I`m a fool" is the perfect song to chill out to and shows the Eagles from a more sensitive side. This sensitivity is abandond at the song "Solo Flights" which is about, well, self gratification. Not many songs in music history must have been about this act, this one pulls it of, just. The last song "I`m your torpedo" has got a brutal rhythm section to kick the life out of you. Sounds a bit like those drums are oversteard? Well, it makes a perfect ending to this Rock 'n Roll album. The finest in years.

The Edmonton Folk Fest (2)

2008-11-17T21:44:00.009+01:00

Saturday was again another beautiful day. My friend Jen was again fully occupied with volunteering (beer tickets anyone?) while the rest of our group was scattered over the festival. For me my day started at stage number three, where there were some interesting combination. First of all there was the garden party with Dervish, Bellowhead and the Carolina Chocolate drops.

The odd one in this group were the Carolina Chocolate drops, the only band not coming from the European continent. From what I can remember, I was pretty impressed by the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I bought their cd the same day, so I must have been. After that there was the masterclass with a great female banjo player called Alison Brown, french artist Daby Toure, Jerry Douglas and Maura O`Connell, an Irish woman with a beautiful voice. There seemed to be a special click between Alison Brown and Daby Toure, who had a lot of fun together when playing their songs. These are the best moments musically at Edmonton: When you notice that two completely different artist who never met before, have a connection with each other and just click. This is what happened at the masterclass. Maura O`Connell the the icing on the cake. Compared to the other songs, her's were a bit more timid and classic, which made a perfect combination with great banjo-picking and african tones.

Now it was time for my first ever view of the Broken Social Scene. Maybe it is a bit of an anti-climax to see one of your most favorite bands playing on a small stage while everyone is chilling out in the sun, but I loved every second of it. The most stylish guy on stage was definitely Brendan Canning; Wearing a pink top with a chequard short skirt. Pretty impressive. Luke Doucet fitted in perfectly in the formation. It was pretty hard to distinguish him from any of the other Socials. John Bottomly was a bit more distinctive on stage as a person, but is music fitted in perfectly with the rest. Another amazing thing about the Folkfest: By going to your favorite band you will also get to know 3 or 4 other bands.

After a spicy dinner I went on and saw the Peatbog Faeries for the first time. A violin and bagpipe play the solo's together, while the rest of the band lays down a subtle groove. It's one of a kind, and the first time I was indeed baffled. Later however you came to realise something: They are a bit of an one trick pony. The bagpipe and violin lead every song and there is not much variation in this theme. Still, in this first concert they were one of the revelations for me for this festival. Heading back to the maintsage it was time for..sleepy music. Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow quartet featuring Bela Fleck was interesting, but they played music that would come much better to it's right in a more intimate setting. I cannot remember anything from Ryan Shaw, which probably says enough. Joan Osborne was on next.

After she finished singing "One of Us", its started raining. A message? A sign? All in all, it was a bit too much "middle of the road" music for me. Aimee mann had a better voice and songs. Last but not least came Michael Franti and Spearhead. Sometimes you just wish that the dead would rise up against the living. In this case the dead guy should be Bob Marley vs. Franti. Shallow, simple and empty. These are the three words with which I would like to describe Franti's music. He can talk all he wants about his former teacher, father or brother, his music lacks the same emotion has he tries to portray in his speeches. Did Bob Marley talk as much? I don`t know..but my opinion is that you should let your music do the talking, and with Michael Franti it was the other way around. What makes it all worse is that everybody was enjoying themselves, and I just didn`t get it. Of course I tried to join in; but after the 20th time where we were asked to jump by Franti I was like; Jump yourself! A good artist giving a great concert shouldn`t have to tell his audience to jump constantly, they`ll do that on their own. Bah..that psuedo-emotional and happy crap was just not meant for my ears. Call me a grumpy old cynic, but you should have seen me during Rage Against the Machine, or Moloko, or the Flaming Lips, or Franz Ferdinand, or Nick Cave...or...or...

Sunday was the last day of the Folkfest. I already had a heavy sunburn that day. Luckily the day started with the Broken Social Scene, Serana Ryder and Royal Wood on one stage. "Looks just like the sun" was a great start of the day. A bit to early apparently for Brendan Canning who joined in a bit later with his bass. Serena challanged Kevin Drew to an improvisation battle, and after some hestitation he took the challange. The lyrics he made up were quite hillarious and made him pass the challange with flying colors. Eventually the band also started to make up a song as a bit of an ode to the Folkfest. Again..my memory abandoned me..I`ve forgotten the lyrics. But believe me, it was a great song and one of the highlights for me of this festival.

After that I made one of my best choices ever: I went to the Mighty Popo. His band is a mix of American and African musicians, and his songs reflect this multi-cultural line-up. He even got the crowd up to dance at some songs, quite a feat at the fourth day of a festival, in the burning sun. Afterwards he would also do a cd-signing. I bought it and got it signed. I don`t know why, but every time I meet a band I never know what to say. You try to avoid the clichee: "wow, that was a great show". But what else is there to say? You don`t know him; You just found out that he and his great music even existed.

Fast I went to the stage where the Carolina Chocolate Drops were performing. I got a perfect seat right in front of the stage, and enjoyed every second of their show. It's not only how they mastered their instruments, it's also their pure enthousiasm while playing. They also have a bit of an experimental side to them. At one of the side stage concerts, the girl, sang a song in gaelic. Quite impressive for somebody from the States. After this performance the festival was pretty much perfect for me. Except for one thing: I still had to see the Broken Social Scene on the main stage.

They tried to get a standing audience in front of the stage, but the security didn`t allow for it. The first half of the concert I thus spend sitting (from a perfect position that I gave us by getting up extremely early) and enjoying the concert passively. I got increasingly annoyed by the clear ambiguity of the audience in front of me. They didn`t seem to care that one of the best and most innovative bands of Canada was playing on stage right in front of them. And they weren`t even performing badly: There was no bad note during the whole concert, it was a tight concert. So halfway the set I decided to go to the front of the stage, and move a bit on the music (some might call it dancing).

A song I especially remember was Ibi dreams of pavement. It's an all out emotional song with a perfect harmony at the end. We were asked to scream our lungs out, and so we did (in the dancing area at least). Thinking back at it, I`m a bit emberassed, but why should I be? It felt good at the time, and if it felt good at that time it was the best thing to do.

For the Duhks I had to get closer to the main stage, since one of my Canadian friends absolutely loved them. I liked what I heard, it was danceable, but that's about all I can remember. Chris Isaac however. Wow! Coming up in a pink suite, runnig around on the field with a hoard of crazy old women chasing him. Trying the climb on the light-tower but miserably (but graciously) failing, running back and finishing his song in style. Then starting to sing a song called bad, bad man. Putting himself in the position of the dictator in the band, who does horrible things to his fellow band-mates (who have been on tour with him for the past 20 years). And to start his most famous song "Wicked woman", and playing it perfectly, still with that same voice as 20 years ago. He changed to an even brighter costume during the second half the set, and continued to play a selection of slow love and rockin' songs. Later I had to explain to me friends that it is not a matter of liking the music yes or no; It is more about the show as a whole, which was just first class entertainment.

What I especially liked was that he does not take himself too seriously: He knows that he is an entertainer, he knows that he is not the greatest songwriter of all time, so what would stop him of giving his audience a great close to a great festival? Nothing! Thanks Chris for beating my expectations of you to pulp! The finale was a song by Ian Tyson; "Four Strong Winds". The crowd sang along en masse. I only knew a few words. Thanks to Neil Young who covered it at the Band's Last Waltz. If the flight-tickets are a bit cheaper next year, there will be a next year. This festival is a lot better than "the way to cocky for its own good" Lowlands. I hate an audience who are trying to be hip a bit too hard. This audience was just nice, gentle and incredibly mellow. And I prefer it that way.

The Edmonton Folk Fost

2008-11-17T21:20:00.006+01:00

The Edmonton Folk Fest! Now I`ve been to quite a number of festivals, and let me tell you, this one beats most of them. First of all because it has a line-up, which besides some big names on the main stage, is completely unfamiliar too me. Next to this, it is a sit-down festival. At some times I found this to be a very frustration position to be in. For some music you just have to get up and dance. Two times I managed to get to the dancing area (both on the last day) to get myself in a more familiar, standing, position. Now I`m not much of a dancer; I`m dutch; a bit of a "houten klaas" (translated, a wooden plank). I try to keep that last thought out of my mind though while standing in the dancing area; It's all about having fun hey?

It all started of with Cat Power. Wow. She was really out there, somewhere. Her setlist mostly consisted out of slow, heartwrenching songs, and she put a lot of feeling in every word that came out of her mouth. I would call it Soul, with a capital S. I wouldn`t buy a cd from her, but that performance was 100% real, no act. Aimee mann was next. I don`t remember much from this performance, and this was not due to too many beers in the beer garden. I do remember being impressed by her voice, and the beautiful slow songs. It was not fireworks, more like watching a candle burn, at a very beautiful night.

Which brings me to the location of this festival. Edmonton has got it all, and thus also a small ski-hill in the middle of the city, close to downtown. Now in the winter I figure that people will ski from it, but in the summer it makes up for the most ideal festival location ever. Great views and sound from all over the field, and a great view on downtown Edmonton also. The weather was also flawless during the 4 days of the festival, which makes it the place were I got most of my tan this summer.

On friday the sessions at the side-stages started, and these sidestages were the places where the action really happenned. We started the day with a session called "Finger Pickin' Good". Three bands were on stage at the same time: Amos Garrett and the the festival House band, Jonny Lang and Don Ross & andy McKee. Now the goal of these sessions is to get the musicians working together, resulting in some awesome and mindblowing jam-sessions. During this first performance I already experienced on of these. Especially the songs lead by Jonny Lang were quite exciting. I think he played some blues-standards, and the good thing about these is that they allow all the other musicians to join in pretty easily. Don Ross & Andy McKee are both specialist guitar players (one has got 15 million views on youtube), and this made up for some great solo's. These two also played some individual songs, but it was when they played together with the band that things really started to become very interesting. Four guitars on one stage creates so much dept in the music (or makes it a mess, whatever's your take on it), that you don`t know to which guitar you have to listen to first.

After that it was time for the "Shades of Africa" workshop. Here I met 4 of my favorite new discoveries of the festival. Bill Bourne and Madagascar Slim. Two old veterans from the festival, and both very capable musicians. They seemed to have jammed with almost everybody these four days, always doing it with a smile. Then there was Daby Toure. A young french musician, who I happen to know from a Peter Gabriel concert, where he was the opening act. He impressed me a lot more here than back then. Especially is drumming on the guitar was great to hear, he had a good sence of rhythm. The Mighty Popo is an artist from Rwanda, who emigrated to Canada a few years ago. He had a great band around him, and made some original and smooth African music.

At the end of the festival I bought his cd and got it signed! So if the Mighty Popo becomes the Incredibly Mighty Popo one day, I can say I`ve seen him from 2 meters distance. Jayme Stone and Mansa Sissoko are an odd but great couple. One is a great Canadian banyo player, while the other has his roots in Mali (I believe). Sissoko plays a strange african instrument with a sound like a harp. Pretty complicated to play I guess, but he mastered it perfectly. Together these four bands really recreated the feeling of being in Africa, in Edmonton.

Serena Ryder. First of all, I listened to some of her recordings now, and she sounds a lot better Live than on cd. Her solo performance on stage 6 was together with only one gitarist and this helped to create a much less pollished , and I guess unique, sound. Especially that voice of her's was just subliminal. At one song she just went all out with it, and I got a lump in my throat. This does not happen very often anymore (except when I see old favorite legends like Genesis and Neil Young), which should indicate that this was a very..very special concert. Her looks are also not working against her, so I was pretty much sold after the concert. Her music could best be described has a mix between country/folk and a bit of soft rock. And then she started to play "This Wheel's on fire", an old Band song. Damn you evil woman! You're doing everything right tonight for me to loose my heart. Which I did, for a split-second.

After that I saw two of friend's favorites. Jonny Lang and Hawksley Workman. Now Jonny Lang used to be a gitarist-wonderkid, and I`ve already seen quite of those come and go. They are indeed great guitar players, but this does make you a great songwriter. My impression of this concert was that he was trying too hard, especially with his voice. I prefer subtle music, but his style of Blues (the 80s rockin' kind, a la Gary Moore but then with less memorable songs) just didn`t appeal to me. Hawksley Workman was something completely different. I came here to have fun, and the music sounded just like that. Modern Rock, with a bit of a dramatic twist to it (it reminded me a bit of Queen at some points, and not just because he played "Under Pressure"). He played quite a bit of covers (3 or 4), a bit of shame since I would like to have heard a bit more of his own stuff. The songs he played were solid, and it was a great show indeed. I only believe that this guy has a bit more up his sleeve that he had shown us that night. I`ll keep an eye on him.

Food & Drinks at White ave

2008-10-11T00:30:00.003+02:00

Part three of my trip to Canada is a bit hazy for me personally. Perhaps it was the alcohol, or the sun, but memory of this period is a bit limited. What I do remember is the following:

The day after coming back from Jasper, Jen dropped Clara and me off at the West Edmonton Mall. This is supposed to be the biggest mall in North America. It ended up being a bit of a disappointed. We went to Galaxyland: The largest indoor amusement park in the world. It does not really have a lot of competition for all the obvious reasons: It is not that wise to built an amusement park in the middle of the building since the space for expansion is limited.

Besides the usual fair attaction they had several rollercoasters, and these were quite stomach-turning. The first one was a rollercoaster where the carts themselves spinned around while you were being tossed around the track. So instead of only having to focus on the area right in front of you, you turned around constantly, losing your orientation in the process. After this ride we went straight to the top rollercoaster. Yes, indeed, the largest indoor rollercoaster in the world. In took three loops (although I completely missed the second one) and an awefull lot of turns. Your body was literally thrown around.

The mall itself...euh...Shops everywhere...exclusive shops..shops with pushy owners..not my taste. But it was surely a great taste of kitsh and the grandest scale.

That evening we had our first real night out in Edmonton. We went to White ave, and old part of the city of Edmonton, and it was quite primitive. Luckily however they had a great bar which was accomodated especially for drinking games. It was somebodies birthday and the drinking game was already going on for quite some time judging by the lack of focus in the birthday boy's eyes. All I remember from playing this game was that my number was three, and that I lost a lot. Mostly intentially. The punishment was drinking a little bit of beer, and since I hadn`t had a drink since entering Canada, this was an end to a long period of drought for me. So we were playing a very loud drinking game which started to attact a bit of negative attention. Finally, around 2am, we prepared ourselves to go back home.

We took a cab, and arrived at somebody's appartment. A pretty nice one I`ve got to say. There we watched some television and had some more drinks. And I, your's truly was the only one to finish his rum-coke! I regretted finishing it in the morning though...ugh..it was a clean night but a bit unstable.

I also remember that Jen, Clara and me went to a Cajun place somewhere along white-ave. Dee-da-do was the name of it. A nice little bar, great 30-40s music, a bit of Jazz. I don`t know exactly anymore what I had, but it was a big sandwich, with a lot of pork on it, and the taste was simply..well..delicious. I had a hard time finishing it though..and for something tasting this good, that's rare!

Now I`m also remembering this great Japanese place I went to on Robson street in Vancouver. I love ramen. I wish we had a ramen shop in Brunssum. Ramen has several things going for it. 1) It's generally cheap 2) It's filled with fresh vegetables and optionally some meat 3) It is a soup. Basically this means that you get two meals for the price of one. And at this restaurant they were simply delicious. Hmmmm.

A Moose's tale

2008-10-08T21:28:00.009+02:00

The bus trip to Jasper was a very long one. Almost 12 hours sitting in your seat. This could have been very tedious ride, if it wasn`t accompanied by the great views of the backland of British Columbia. Never did I have such a scenic busride as this one. And besides the Flaura, the Fauna was also very interesting what kind of people travel with the bus besides tourists. I`ve seen my fair share of Canadian trash. Those classic examples of couch potatoes with clothes that fitted them 10 years ago but not anymore. A very scary sight for sure when you see pure fat just wiggle around like that. A human body is not meant to move like that. Luckily the sights outside were just perfect.

Then came my first wildlife sighting. Right in front of our bus, coming from the opposite direction, we saw a car hitting something. The something rolled into the ditch. That something was a black bear. The car had a serious dent in its hood, probably total-loss. Speeding here in your car has some serious risks.

The Jasper International Hostel was waiting for me in Jasper. My first hostel ever. The had a coed dorm (mixed) and a female dorm. It was refreshing to stay at a place where people of any background can just coexist with eachother, even when sharing a room with 20 other people. Within a few minutes I already met some people with whom I could hike. A Swiss girl and a German guy. I know; long live Europeans, but I would meet those real genuin Canadians later on my trip. We decided to hike the mountain that was in the back garden of our hostel. An 8 km trail, with an increase of height of almost 1300m. The signs all said it would take between 4 and 6 hours, but quite amazingly, after a shocking start (we were already out of breath after 100m), we were at the top in 3.5 hours. And we didn`t even hurry, we just took it slowly, step by step.

On top of the Whistlers we had one of the best views ever. Everywhere around you mountains with snowy peaks, a cold harsh wind blowing in your face. The sky was a bit cloudy, but this only added that extra bit of drama to the landscape: The interplay between shadow and light. We had a nice coffee on top of the mountain, and went back down with the cable car. Sadly, both of my new friends had to leave the same evening, so I had to find some other people to talk to after dinner. I ended up having a little chat with two dutch girls, who were already travelling in Canada for two weeks.

Later that evening I checked my e-mail and so a message from Jenn, stating that I should call her. So I called her. She wanted to drive to Jasper (CRAZY!) to meet me and to do some sightseeing together. So what did we do?

We went to Maligne Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and took a hike on the Moose Lake Loop. This little loop honoured it's name as we closed in on the lake; There she was! We saw it standing there, a female moose! I honestly think it was chained to the bottom of the lake. We decided not to close in to much; The last thing we wanted to do was to disturb it's dinner. Amazing how you can have such a brilliant animal sighting, on one of the shortest hike ever.

Then we proceeded to Malign Canyon, to go for a hike there. However, we (or should I say I? Sorry Jen!) decided to make the hike a bit longer than the 2.6km one of the Canyon itself. We created our own giant loop, walking besides the river and into the forests. It was not the most scenic route, but still incredibly challanging. It took us almost 4 hours to get back to the car, completely exhausted. I estimate we hiked about 12 to 16km. A bit too long for both our tastes I guess. So we decided to award ourselves with some pizza. I took a hawaii-en pizza, while Jen treated herself to a vegetarian. I barely was able to finish mine, and Jen also left the greater portion of hers on her plate.

Around 20:00 we decided to drive back to home. Sitting in the front seat, we had to make several stops before we left the park. We saw some large deer walking in a local river, and some mountain goats. Around 23:30 we arrived in Edmonton, slowly pulling up at her house. I got assigned the guestroom, with a nice soft bed and some thick and warm sheets. Suffice to say that I slept like a rock.

The next morning (a monday), we had to wake up early to go to the Heritage Festival. It's a festival in the river-valley park were all kinds of local cultural organisations come to celebrate their roots. Examples of stands were the people from England (Off with his head!), Wales, Thailand (including transvestite singer), Poland, First Nation and of course The Netherlands. I could not keep myself from trying on of the herings. It tasted just like the ones you can get at The Hague. Sadly the other members in my group did not want to join in this cultural exchange. To think they are alumni from Aiesec! A disgrace I tell you! ;)

In the afternoon it was time to go on a Susan Mary Edey Park Hike (in short: a SMEPH). These are special hikes were she guides you through the wildest regions of the park. While you are struggling to get through the vegetation, you get the impression that she does not know where she is going. Actually, she knows exactly were she is, and just wants to give you that wild Canadian experience. It worked out perfectly, and Clara and me were quite tired after the extensive hikes. Later that day we went to the Provincial government building. It was pretty damn interesting. Alberta seems to be a conservative place, where the conservative party as the absolute majority in parlaiment. They had some strange governers, and simply adore Queen Elisabeth.

The next day I went back to the Rockies, with Sue's parents, and Clara, Sue's friend from Brasil. We first drove to Banff, after which we continued to Lake Lious, going to the Icefields parkway, ending our trip in Jasper. So what did we do in Banff? We started with a hike in Johnston Canyon, a beautiful Canyon with upper and lower falls. We decided to take the full hike, but only after having a wildlife picknick. The falls of Johnston Canyon reminded me a bit of the rivers I saw in Luxembourg, but everything in Canada is just a little bit bigger and wilder.

After this nice hike we went to downtown Banff, and went up a mountain with a cable cart, and hiked a bit more there. Again, great views of the surrounding mountains with the sunset. In the evening we wanted to go to a spa, after having a nice dinner at the Spagetti Factory. Sadly we arrived a bit too late at the spa, and it was closed. Disappointed and tired we went back to our hotel room. The next day I learned that Canadians do not give up easily.

It was a day that started with the incredibly blue Lake Louise. In the background you could sometimes hear some heavy rumbling. This rumbling was caused by parts of ice breaking of the mountain-gletchers. Judging my the demographics of the tourist there, you really saw that both the Indians and the Chinese people have increased there welfare quite a lot lately. They should however become better tourists in my opinion. For example: We went to the Columbian Icefields. We stayed perfectly within the cones (for our own safety). The Chinese just went wondering off all over the gletcher. But besides the Chinese people with a subconcious death-wish, walking on this glether was probably one of the most unique things I ever did.

It felt so strange to walk on a few thousand meters of moving ice. In the beginning I was quite sceptic: It is melting, it will be gone within a few years just like the North Pole. But finally on the gletcher itself I was complete awe-struck. All the sceptisism just left me, and I felt like a little child again while making my way on the glether. An amazing experience, and the sights, well, it becomes an old story: Stunning. I tried to bring some gletcherwater back home to Holland, but on the final day of my trip I decided to drink it. Fluids in airplanes, people just don`t like it these days ;).

After hiking on the gletcher, we took a little hike at the great divide, which did provide some great views, but no real "great divide" (division of the river into two directions, one to the Atlantic, one to the Pacific). Then it was time for some relaxation. We went to a spa near Jasper. There I switched from the hot (50 degrees celcius) and the cold (19 degrees celcius) several times. The feeling in your nerves is just simply amazing. I think I burned some skin on my food during one of the quick interchanges. It was very relaxing though, just before we went back to Edmonton to go to a festival.

Thanks to John and Mary for driving us two around this region. I owe them a few dollars on gas and a lot more.

Vancouver or Van Coeverden?

2008-09-06T21:26:00.009+02:00

Where do I start? Let's start with a little nice fact. Where did Vancouver get its name from? Of course; from an English captain whose last name was Vancouver.
But I quote discovervancouver.com: "Captain George Vancouver, the first European to explore the inner waters of Burrard Inlet, was born in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, on June 22, 1757. He was of Dutch ancestry, descended from the titled Van Coeverden family, whose castle at Coeverden was long an important fortress on the eastern frontier with Germany."

You read it. Captain George Vancouver was from Dutch ancestry. Our golden age is already past us, and with it we left our mark on the whole world. Practically Vancouver is thus a dutch colony. Just like New York, which used to be New Amsterdam (before we sold it to the english for 10 guilders). But let's get away from my patriotism (a rare sighting), and back to my vacation.

My plane lands in Vancouver and the first thing I see is an airport-hanger with "UPS" on it in those big letters. Even on one's holiday one cannot escape from work. The first thing I had to do was to walk through the customs (exciting hey?). They looked like a bunch of bored teenagers, asking me a number of strange questions in an icy tone, and letting me pass. Then I went to the information desk, a girl is there, and she talks to me in exactly the same was as one of my friends I am visiting. At that point I already knew that this trip was going to be a great experience.

So I picked up the airport bus and got dropped of in downtown Vancouver. I had to walk a few blocks to get to my hotel: The YWCA. Yes, I know, normally it is only for women, but this one in Vancouver was for all genders. I had a beautiful double bed and the room had a nice view over the main streets. One thing I immediately noticed was the size of the cars; they are a lot bigger than our European/Japanese tin toys. Especially those Ford trucks are gigantic (Monstertrucks!).

It was raining this first night, but that did not keep me from exploring the direct block, and going to a local korean restaurant to get some korean food there. And it tasted good. But it will never be as good as the dinners I had in korea. Still, I immediately noticed that a fulfilling meal can be death-cheap in Canada.

The next morning it was raining even harder, and I decided to go to the look-out tower and take a walk around the city. The look-out tower was not that exciting with all the rain; the visibility was quite poor. But they had a solution for that: The ticket you buy is valid throughout the whole day. So I returned later in the evening, and then the views were a lot better. As you can see in the picture below.

Then I decided to start walking. From the Telus word of science museum, past the bay, past granville island, past the beautiful condo's, onwards to Stanley park. Did I mention it was raining? ANd that it even started to rain heavier has I was walking on the wall around Stanley Park? The advantage of this was that the park was deserted, which enabled me t enjoy some peace and quiet. The disadvantage was that I was getting completely soaked and tired, and that my summer jacket was not rainproof. Just like my little bag. I already took this into account, so I brought a plastic bag with me, so everything electronical was save in there. While walking along the wall, I could see that Stanley park had been hit quite heavily by a strom, not that long ago. Everywhere there were trees de-rooted and lying on the ground. This gave the place a very wild look, almost like a tropical forest. A tropical forest in the middle of the city.

I took a little hike towards the middle of the park, and there I stumbled on the aquirium. They had dolfins, otters and the famous white balugo whales. The place was incredibly crowded, but the excibits were nice. I took some nice pictures of the dolphins and a seagull who was looking to snatch some fish out of the air.

The next day I went to the musuem of Anthropology on the south island of Vancouver. It was situated in the middle of the campus of the University of British Columbia. They have got a nice campus, but not that impressive as the one I saw in Korea. At the musuem a lot of information was provided about the first nation people. In europe these are better known as "Indians" or "Eskimo's", but those two names have been kicked out of Canada's history books. The totem-poles, boats and other traditional items that wer eon excibit were extremely interesting. They also found a solution for their lack of exhibit-space. They had about a hunderd cabinets, each containing 6 drawers, full of artifacts from all over the world.

After getting to know Canada's history, I travelled all across the city, with the ferry, to North Vancouver. There I took a trip to Grouse Mountain and its park that is beautifully located near the top. At the top, I saw some grizzly bears, a show with birds of prey and some stunning views of Vancouver and the mountains lying behind the city. You also had the option to make a steep climb to the absolute top of the mountain. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am just like a daisy-bug: I always want to climb to the top, if there is a top to climb. On the top, again great views, but the greatest thing append to me when I went back down.

A close encounter of the..second kind? I almost walked into a wild deer grazing on some grass. Instead of running away it just stood there. Obviously he was trained to do this, right? Just look at him, looking over the town of Vancouver. Canada's next top model.

In the evening I went to a small Japanese restaurant (on Robson street) to get some great noodles. I know, again an asian place. I tried to find some typically Canadian food, but besides the buffalo steaks, there wasn`t really anything unique (and affordable) to find.

Later that evening I was lucky enough to catch a bit of the yearly festival of light. It was China's turn this night, and they did a great show from a boat lying the middle of the bay. The amount of people that gathered for this show was absolutely amazing. It seemed like the whole of Vancouver walked out to see this, in an atmosphere that was just so good and mellow. The fireworks were great. For half an hour it banged and banged. To the left you can see a little example.

The next morning it was time to go to the Vancouver art gallery (yup, it was again raining a bit, so this time I decided to find my entertainment inside instead of outside. Here they had four expositions. The first one was called "KRAZY!", an exposition about graphic novels. This was for me the most interesting exposition. People always see "comics" as a lower form of art, but some of the stuff I saw here was simply amazing, and really made you think. I almost bought one book from the musuem shop, but it was just a bit too expensive. And I could probably also buy it at home.

Another exposition focused on the art of Zhang Huan. He is a chinese man who does artbody-based performances, and captures these performances in photographs. For instance: He finds himself the dirtiest public toilet in Bejing andtakes off all his clothes. Then he covers himself with a sweet substance and gets surrounded by flies, while sitting, naked, on the toilet. A guy takes pictures of it, and it has a certain symbolic meaning (certainly endurance is one of them). A fascinating exposition, although I am wondering how much of is appraisal he gets for being Chinese (a communist country, where creativity like this would normally be surpressed).

Then there was an exhibition of Rebecca Belmore. The main topic in her art was the liberation of women. To me, her art seemed a bit "frustrated", as if there was something bothering her and she expressed it through her works. Finally there were a selected number of paintings from Emily Carr and other female Canadian painters. Especially the paintings from ms. Carr impressed me, and I even bought a little magnet with one of her works on it (Above the Gravel Pit, 1936-1937).

After this four hour visit to this art gallery, I was a bit tired, but still decided to go to Granville island, the cities market place. Sadly this wasn`t that interesting, moslty due to the bad weather which just made everything look so grey. I then decided to end the day with a hike through the cities most famous neigbourhoods: Gastown, Chinatown, Davy Street and of course Robson street. I bought some souvenirs, and after this I was all set to leave for my next destination: Jasper.

Choosing a new guitar..

2008-08-31T19:52:00.003+02:00

Is the hardest thing to do!
On the 23rd of September I will finally become 24 years old, and about 6 months ago I decided that this should be the date where I will finally buy myself a new guitar.
My Yamaha RGX 112p served my well in the past 4 years, but now I`m ready for the real stuff. And this I`ve been scouring the internet to find something I would like.

I finally fell in love with two different models. The Fender Jaguar and the Gibson Firebird. Both not the cheapest of guitars, but incredible beautiful. Ater reading on about them, I found out that the JAguar was actually meant as a bit of a surf-guitar, and not as a heavy rock guitar. Since I mostly play alternative/rock'n roll music, it thus dropped of the radar pretty quickly. Fenders also have the tendensy to sound a bit "squilly" and thin. At least, I`ve never really been impressed by the starocasters sound, and altough the Telecaster has a nice buzz to it, it never sounded as powerful as for instance Gary Moore's Les Paul or Neil Young's "Old Black". So I decided that it was going to be a Gibson.

But why the Firebird? Well, the Les Paul is just a boring old design if you ask me. Everybody has them, they are ordinary. I`m looking for something special. The real Gibson are a tad bit too expensive for me (starting at 3000 euro's and up), thus you end up getting awe-struck by the beauty that is a Firebird.

It's unusual body design, it's long neck, it's unqie pick-ups. In every picture I see it looks like a piece of art. Just look at this model:

A true beauty. The sad thing is that this color is not in production anymore. And this is the Firebird VII; the most expensive model. Costing somewhere in between 1700 and 2000 euro's. That's why he Firebird V, which is still available in a stunning sunburst paintjob, is catching my attention now. This one however as two mini-humbucker pick-ups which give this guitar a very special sound. Some folks on the internet say it does not match the sound of full Humbuckers, and this is were the Firebird Studio omes in. The sad thing about the studio is, is that it only comes in black, and misses some of the characteristics that make the Firebird so special. So I might as well go for the Firebird V, sunburst then hey? Well..we`ll see when I get one in my hands.

My favorite songs from Canada..

2008-07-01T21:55:00.003+02:00

3.5 weeks left before I go to Canada, and of course I`m already trying to prepare for any cultural shock by listening to their music. Those Canadians are quite good at song-writing, so hear a top 5 of my favorite Canadian songs:

5) Death from Above 1979 - Romantic Rights

Yea, they already broke up and made only one album which isn`t even that good, but this song! It's catchy and heavy at the same time. It's a song you can dance and mosh to (if you like moshing). It also indicates that the bass is a highly underestimated instrument, which in the right hands can carry a song to great heights!

4) Broken Social Scene - Almost Crimes

Listening to this song is like running way too fast through a crowded street, running into people while screaming your lungs out. Its chaotic, almost buckeling under its own weight, but somehow stays on track. I like a bit of chaos in my music..

3) Joni Mitchell - Fury sings the blues

Joni immediately brings you to the little park, where old Fury sings his blues. It's a very nostalgic song, maybe even a bit tragic. Everything that reminds us of the past will eventually be broken down, leaving nothing but memories, from an old man on the corner.
Singing his blues, lonely and bitter, but incredibly strong.

2) Neil Young - Like a Hurricane

Neil Young perfectly knows how to capture the image of a girl that's just out of your reach.

Before that moment you touch my lips
That perfect feeling when time just sleeps away between us
On our foggy trip

You are like a Hurricane
There's calm in your eyes
and I`m getting blown away..

Somewhere safer where the feeling stays,
I wanna love you but I`m getting blown away...

1) The Band - Chest Fever

One of the best and most powerful songs ever made, just listen that that organ intro! Nothing can compare with it! And then that pounding bass, it's incredible funky! I think this would range somewhere in between RnB en Rock `n Roll? It defies genres and still sounds fresh to me. A lot of modern bands could only dreaming of writing such a gem of a song.

And finally..this one..I could make it number 6 but then it wouldn`t be a top 5 anymore, right? Here's the vid:

Pinkpop 2008

2008-06-07T20:21:00.004+02:00

Yes ladies and not so gentle men!
It's the 7th of June, almost one week since I was walking on the green fields of Pinkpop 2008, enjoying the sun, the rain, the people and of course the music.

This year we went together with quite a large group of people, comprising of family, friends, friends from family and some very old classmates (primary school!).
It all started with the usual routine of finding a space to set up your tent. After an hour of stress, the first beer could be opened. Looking at the program, the following acts caught my attention...

Flogging Molly! The second time I saw this band, but again a very entertaining performance. "Good afternoon B'stards!" were the frontman's first words. Folk-punkrock is probably the best way to describe their music. Sometimes you wish they would play more sophisticated songs, that are more folk orientated, but to hell with that! It's the festival opening damnit! It should open with a bang, and that's exactly what flogging molly did.

After this Irish entertainment it was time to test the local cuisine. Fries with mayonnaise. Delicious!

We needed this healthy food because the next stop would be METALLICA(!!!). I`m one who believes that you can only fully enjoy a concert when you are standing relatively in front of the stage, so me and my two companions waited in line to get into "the pit". While waiting we saw a bit of Incubus, which sounded ok, but I still believe they take themselves (and life) way to serious.

After almost 1.5 hours of waiting it was finally time to squeeze ourselves in front of the stage. After a lot of sweating and a little of pain I was standing at the perfect spot to see..METALLICA(!!!).

METALLICA (!!!) was brilliant. I don`t listen to their music in my daily life, only know their "best of". However, from the second they started playing the first chords it was chickenskin all the way..and that really says something about the quality of the performance. It was better than Rock Werchter in 2004, by miles. Especially when they played songs like "The Memory Remains" and "Enter Sandman" you know that you are looking at one of the best bands still out there. They`re one unit on stage, and it just sounds perfect.

After 2:30 hours of METALLICA (!!!)..I was tired..luckily it was they end of day 1. We walked around a bit, bought some more food, and slowly went back to our tent.

The next day I woke up, and as always (the second time in four years), I had a cold. A pretty heavy one to: I needed two paracetamols to relief my head a bit. The good thing about those pills is that they keep away the pain. The bad thing about them is that you everything becomes a bit hazy. It feels like there is a thick layer of Plexiglas between you and the rest of the world. Could work out good for some concerts, but for others..

For one act those pills really didn’t work out in their favour; Blood Red Shoes sounded like a cheap-ass White Stripes clone, without the catchy hooks. A steady (and this really boring) rhythm on the drums with unimaginative riffs on the guitar.
No, thank you, bye bye!

Luckily Voicst was there to cheer me up. I`m getting sick of hearing that one song of theirs on the radio, but this performance was good! Really good! Well written songs that actually have some depth in them, together with a good performance.

Especially liked the part (during that song that makes me sick due to over-exposure) where they froze on stage for four full minutes. Pete Philly & Co. performed one of their songs during this moment in time. We had to leave a bit early though for the..

EAGLES OF DEATH METAL! I`ve seen them two times already in the past 2 years, but I keep coming back. Why? Well, this is one of the coolest bands out there. No complications, just good ol' dirty Rock 'n Roll! How it's meant to be, you know.
What did they play? Mostly material of their last album.."Death by Sexy". And for the first time I`ve got to say this wasn`t a bad thing. Songs like "Cherry Cola", "Don't Speak.." and especially "I Like to Move in the night" never sounded better! This time Jesse Hughes was also more concentrated on his moustache than the female members of his audience, which certainly helped his performance.

After the Eagles we had to go back to the mainstage for the Foo Fighter. While waiting in the line for the front-section, the Kaiser Chiefs where playing. They kept my mood up during an hour of way too close physical contact with members from the same sex (People were cramped like sardines in these lines..it wasn`t pleasant at all). I`ve got to say, it was worth it. The Foo Fighter are a solid band. It's not exactly my music (too much of the Straightforward Stadium Filling American Rock - SSFAR), but songs like "Monkey Wrench", "One by One" and "Learn to Fly" were still very enjoyable. And one of the persons with whom I went to the festival, was a great fan of theirs, and had the concert of her life. That's all that matters.

And then we already arrive at day number three, the last day. We started of completely at the front for Patrick Watson. Again he gave a great and experimental performance. It was a bit further "out there" than Lowlands last year, which probably wasn`t the best decision when looking at a general member of a Pinkpop audience. Early Sunday morning. Still having a headache from last night. "Man under the sea", "The Storm" and "Daydreamer" where the absolute highlights of his set.

After that we just chilled a bit on the grass, with Cavalera Conspiracy on the background. Pretty good music to take a nap with. It was on this day that we also got a nice sunburn. Napped a bit too long I guess.

We had to gain some energy though for the Grand final. This started of with The Hives. They are an entertaining band with some good songs, but not ground breaking. Good for an hour's worth of fun, but after that..it gets a bit boring. Luckily for us the set was only 60 minutes! And because I had to be in front for the Queens of the Stone Age, I had to leave a bit early.

Along the way I bought some more food, and another coke (the cola variant). I was willing to stand in line for more than an hour to see my favourite band perform life again. I was even prepared to listen to Alanis Morrissette for this. And oh man, was it bad. She has gotten old. She might still have a good voice, but playing all the up tempo songs (like Ironic and Ought to Know) half a tick slower is just murder! It kills the energy that these songs used to contains. It kills the performance. Alanis, maybe you had a bad (birth)day, but please, get some more energy to play those songs at the speed that belongs to them.

Time for the Queens of the Stone Age. And as always, they were tight. They played a lot of songs from their last album, which isn`t bad for me, because I know them all. But the rest of the audience as just standing there. I guess they were already waiting for the Rage. "Misfit Love" and "Turning the screw" turned out perfectly in a live setting though. Not to mention "No One Knows" and "Monster in my Parasol".

Somehow however it seemed that Josh was a bit tired. I think something is nagging him; perhaps the format to which he has to keep himself with the Queens. Maybe something new will be created from its ashes soon. Just like what happened with Kyuss..

The festival ended with none other than the Rage Against the Machine. Got to love the tattoos of the bass player. True body art. Might try it out myself one day. The performance of the band was crazy. People where jumping constantly and the temperature was soon rising to a 30+ degrees Celsius. Luckily there were some songs where everybody could rest a bit. It was probably one of the most exhausting performances I ever attended. But with songs like "Bullet in the head", "Guerrilla Radio" and "Killing in the name" it's pretty damn hard to stand still mind you.

I was completely exhausted afterwards. I had chest pains (due to bad shoes; they didn`t really take the impact of me jumping up and down), my voice was gone (beer, screaming and a cold..what more do you want?) and my money.. still in my pocket?
I actually didn`t spend that much this time around. Less than 100 euro's in three days. And this year I actually had money to spend. Maybe it was just the cheap b'stard in me that kept me from giving away notes of ten..

All in all..it was the best Pinkpop ever! The bands were great, the company was great, the weather was great..the food was great! What more do you want? Nothing!

Not so High Fidelity: Top 5 most intriguing female artists

2008-03-30T14:39:00.007+02:00

A few weeks ago I saw High Fidelity, a great movie with John Cusack in the lead. He played a record-store owner in the middle of another relationship crisis. He makes a top 5 break-ups list, and decides to visit each of the ladies on this list to find out why they broke up with him.

Based on that movie..and my soft spot for girls with guitars (or any other kind of instruments)..a top 5 list of most intriguing female artists.

no.5 Sarah Wooden (My Brightest Daimond)

From the sessions of Lowlands 2007. Saw her there last year and was immediately captured by her voice.

no.4 Alison Goldfrapp (Goldfrapp)

She can be an angel, she can be the devil. She's in control.

no.3 Abi Harding (The Zutons)

Without Abi and her saxaphone, the Zutons wouldn`t be half as fun to hear and look at.

no.2 Roisin Murphy (ex-Moloko, now solo)

Beautiful voice. Just love the way she moves along the stage. She seduces her audience.

No.1 PJ Harvey

PJ has many faces. Rock Chick. Classical Pianist. Alternative Artist. Punk bitch. On thing remains the same: The quality of her recordings and that voice. Truly one of the best and most original artists of our time.

/ignore Fitna by Geert Wilders

2008-03-17T20:20:00.014+01:00

Geert Wilders. Dutch politician. Peculiar hairdo. Extreme visions.

Wilders has used "Islam" in the same sentence with words such as fascism, terrorism, tsunami's and criminality. The Koran has been compared with Mein Kampf, and has been named the "psychological detonation mechanism of fundamentalist terrorism". Wilders is not the kind of guy to pursue any subtlety in his actions and words. That's for sure. He would make a crappy diplomat.

Soon you, the international blog reader, will be confronted with a little section in your newspaper called "Fitna". It's the title of the new (and first) movie of Geert, in which he will uncover "the truth" about the Islam. It'll be almost 15 minutes long, and I`m expecting a not so gentle message where one of the world's biggest faiths will be burned to the ground. Without any common sense, but with false arguments. And while you are reading this message, our prime minister is warning your government for the movie. Giving it more attention than it deserves. It's great free publicity for the movie. Wilders doesn`t have to spend a lot of many on getting this baby some publicity.

Did I tell you that this movie has taken the dutch media hostage for more than a month now? Or maybe I should phrase it differently: "The dutch media has taken itself hostage over this movie". Just as the NME or the Rolling Stone can hype a band to stardom, so can the dutch media propel Fitna to mass attention.

There is one strange thing though, the dutch media is wondering loudly in every tv-program why this movie is getting so much attention. Let me give you an overview of a typical piece about Wilders' movie:

"This is all amazing! It hasn`t even been released yet, and still this movie gets so much attention! Even our prime minister is telling everybody about it! And look, an upside-down Dutch flag has been burned! And over here, mister Wilders is saying something, he says that he will not listen to any advice to cancel the movie! And after the warning from the dutch security agency he again repeats his answer! Amazing! Ah, the movie deadline has been moved! Wow, it will be aired by dutch commercial television! But when, when...WHEN?!!?!"

So why does this movie, and Wilders, get so much attention? I point my finger at the media.

The media, whom for some reason, do not hold themselves accountable for all the publicity that this man and movie are getting. The dutch media say it is their responsibility to report "the news". But doesn`t the media determine what is "news", and what isn`t? It seems they are trying to downplay their importance. Pretty strange for such a group of ego-heavy writers.

I think the media know the truth themselves, but why tell the poor dutch audience that they are the ones behind the hype that surrounds Wilders and his movie? They`ll be killing their own exciting, albeit fabricated, story. And so the saga continues.

Where will it end? Although I absolutely detest every word that comes out of Wilders' mouth, I want him to survive. He is less dangerous alive than death. Just look at Fortuyn and Van Gogh. Did their deaths make the situation any better? No, it only provided gun-powder for people like Wilders. I can only hope that the people who could eat Wilders' guts for dinner will realise this to.

So here I present you with the essence of the problem called "Fitna by Geert Wilders".

The problem is this post. And any other form of attention that they are both getting.

The solution?

/ignore Geert Wilders
/ignore Fitna

Vampire Weekend's Vampire Weekend

2008-02-27T20:49:00.006+01:00

When I first got my hands on this album I was a bit sceptical. Another hyped band that "reinvents" a wheel that already has been reinvented a thousand times? I pressed play and started listening Mansard Roof: Nice little organ, cool drums, pleasant voice, all in all a nice little tune. Next song. Again that little organ. Is this their gimmick or something? Is this little instrument the only thing that differentiates them from all the others? Did they find it somewhere at a garage-sale or something? It's nice song though. An unusual topic; Who gives a fuck about an Oxford Comma? They raise the question themselves, and write a song about it. So they do give a fuck about it. Hope that organ doesn’t come back in the next song, hope they have more tricks up their sleeve.

A-punk sounds like they are cramped into a 2x2 room with all their equipment. Again a very cute song. In the chorus I hear another cute organ , but this one sounds like that tune from that skiing-game I played on my Commodore 64. My scepticism starts to disappear. On to the next song.

Is this Paul Simon? This whole song just breaths the relaxed nature of Simon at the time of Graceland. The major difference is that he is a lot more minimalist in his lyrics that Paul Simon. And then Peter Gabriel gets mentioned in the chorus. I guess "Peter Gabriel to" sounded a lot better than "Paul Simon to" (try it!). M79 starts of as a classical opera, completely with strings and medieval piano. The strength of this song starts at 2:30 minutes. It's a kind crescendo that they also used at Oxford Comma. The song is sophisticated but still sounds very simple and straightforward. The secret for a good pop-song?

Ah! The organ returns at "Campus". This song reminds me a bit of The Strokes. Especially that chorus with the guitars. I guess the Strokes have the copyright on that twin guitar effect. Still, they differentiate themselves with the extra instruments and a rhythm that's not just "1,2,3,4". Bryn flows by like a breeze. It has got its good points, but is not as "peculiar" as the first 7 of this album. With its 2.12 however it is not really a big disturbance.

Up till now I was still a bit in doubt. Is this band just a novelty, or are they really good? It's one thing to make good use of an organ and copy Paul Simon (or Peter Gabriel, whatever..) flawlessly, but can they stand on their own feet? "One (Blake's got a new face)" is the best song on this album, and convinced me that this is indeed a great new band. Just hear those drums kick in together with the synthesiser. They just went into that studio with the intention to have some good old fun, and make a good record in the process. And any band which let's the fun seep through their music, and tries something new, has got a fan in me.

"I stand corrected" and "Walcott" are more laid-back and traditional tunes. Not as inspiring as the best songs on this album, but also not real "filler" material. It kind of suites the album to end at a somewhat slower pace. Most bands would expose this more serious side of themselves on their second album (great examples being the Futureheads, or the Strokes) Vampire Weekend already reveals it on their first. Courage my friend, courage.

"The kids don’t stand a chance" ends their debute in style. One of the impressions I am left with is that it could be listened by a 7 year old kid and your grandparents, and they both would love it. It’s a very positive album. It’s light, but not naive. There is real musicianship and song-writing included and they are familiar with the concept of "less is more". It’s the song that counts, and my…oh my… there are some great and addictive tunes on this fun and original record.

It all went wrong with Lenny Kravitz...

2008-01-28T21:01:00.000+01:00

Here's an artist who I greatly admired back in 1998, when he released is album called 5. With numbers such as "Fly Away", "If you can`t say no" and "American Woman", it was an album I really enjoyed during that time. Soon I went back in time and discovered an even better debute album and one of its follow ups called "Are you gonna go my way". Both excellent albums with classics such as "Believe", "I built this garden for us" and of course "Let love rule".

Anno 2008 there is nothing left of my admiration. Every new song I hear is more uninspiring and boring than the previous one. "Dig in" and "Where are we runnin'" didn`t bring anything new to his sound. Both are just standard and simple songs that just do not swing. Lenny's rhythms in this third millenium are always straight. There is no creativity, no experimentation. It's dead music.

And now, with the new single called "Ï`ll be waiting", I can see where he wants to go with his sound. He wants to go back to the basics, like so many artists did before him when they lost their way. I`m sorry to say, but Lenny, it is just the same old thing. It's the classical ballad which you have written 10 times before.

And now this song is one heavy rotation on the so-called music-radio station called 3FM. I can only recommend to the people who like this song to listen to his first three albums, before you buy his latest. There is more beauty on each of his first three albums than his whole after-2000 production combined.

He's the perfect example of an "has been".

A Mouthful of Dø

2008-01-19T21:54:00.000+01:00

Olivia is Finnish, Dan is from France. Both have there roots in Jazz, with Paris as their hometown. "A Mouthful" is their debut record, and my first of 2008. Defined in one word: Playful.

The record starts of in a kind of Byork style with "Playground Hustle". It heavily relies on the drums, with a cute children’s choir on the back. A bit later in the song the synthesisers start to kick in, and it gets an almost modern R'n'B sound.

"At Last" settles down completely as a nice guitar-pop song. It kind of reminds me of the Cardigans. It is a song sung by a girl who has finally found the love that she was dreaming of. The thing that makes this song special is that she directly talks to the listener with lines such as "Won’t make it harder on you girls". It's a very intimate song.

Olivia's vocals on "on my shoulders" are a bit more distressed and thin. In a world where vocal perfection is the standard in pop music, it is nice to hear a voice which isn’t perfect. It fits the song. "Song for lovers" continues the more laid-back feeling that the previous two song started. It's a plain and beautiful song. "The Bridge is broken" reminds me of PJ Harvey. It has that raw feeling to it, with minimal instrumentation, and those tormented/kind of sexy vocals.

"Stay" is another great and cute little song. Almost a sing-a-long. "Unissasi Laulelet" hypnotises you with it's tribal rhythms. This band has it's influences from many directions, and isn’t afraid to display them all on one record. That might lead to a very incoherent record, but Olivia's voice provides you with a red line to hold on to. The guitars in "Tammie" make it sound a bit like Radiohead, it has a bit of gloomy quality on it.

When I first listened this record these first 8 songs went in quite easily. Then came "Queen Dot Kong". It has a style for it's own. It sounds like...hiphop mixed with a bit of Balkan beat, a Peter Gabrielesk piano and bass section with a creative use of sampling. That Peter Gabrielesk part especially comes forward in "Coda", which is kind of an outtro for the shock that is "Queens Dot Kong". A positive shock of course. The following songs are again a lot more mellow, with "Aha" being the most notable. You could compare it's sound with some of the Britpop band out there.
Finally, "In my box" ends the record as it started.

"A Mouthful" is a very versatile record. It borrows little pieces of almost every genre of music and combines them to create an indefinable sound. It's a very playful record made by people who don’t let their creativity by bounded by the borders of a certain genre. Made by people with an open mind. I love it.

The Era Vulgaris of the Stone Age Queens

2008-01-09T23:35:00.000+01:00

Nervously I plug in my SD-card holder in the back of the computer. I`m sitting in my usual internet-cafe in Jaipur, India, and just downloaded the new album of the Queens of the Stone Age. First I need to unzip it though, but there is no Winzip on this computer, so I also need to download that program. A few minutes later and I am ready to put the unzipped files on my SD-card, but then the damn computer doesn`t detect it. After playing around with the cable I`m finally able get the thing working. There they go, one by one; "turnin’ on the screw.mp3, sick,sick,sick.mp3, i`m designer.mp3, into the hollow.mp3, misfit love.mp3, battery acid.mp3, make it wit chu.mp3, 3’s & 7’s.mp3, suture up your future.mp3, river in the road.mp3, run, pig, run.mp3"***.

I plug the SD-card into my cheap mp3-player and start to listen while dodging traffic and cows on the way back home in Barkat Nagar. Turnin’ on the screw starts nicely, it seems the Queens got their groove back after the heavy and schizophrenic "Lullabies…". It’s catchy as hell, but sounds a lot more difficult and raw than the first six song on that previous album. Probably due to the off-beat guitar shredding throughout the song, and the electronics. I like the part where the sound goes from one ear to the other. Better production than lullabies to, that album really had a "flat" sound to it.

I already heard and saw "Sick, sick, sick" on youtube, which was presented as the first single of this album. It starts where "Feel Good Song of the summer" ended in my opinion. No complicated bullshit in the lyrics here, just a plain message with a great riff at high speed. As a hard rock fan, I don`t desire anything else. "I`m Designer" is a new Queens song. Again the characteristic Queens groove, but this time with eligible lyrics and a real socially conscious message. Coming from a band with lines such as "I seen some things I thought I never saw. Covered in hair", it is refreshing. The song has an interesting construction. As a starting musician I always wonder how you can fit the chorus, verse and bridge/break together, keeping each section original/interesting while keeping the song an coherent one. "I`m Designer" is a great example of how it should be done.

"Into the hollow" is a slower song, in the line of "I never came". It sounds very cold and naked, which fits the lyrics perfectly. At first I wasn`t really impressed by it, but after the first two minutes the song really gets a soul. The song is also heavily lead by the drums. You can clearly hear that the Queens are now three people with Josh, Joey and Troy at the helm. "Misfit Love" is probably my favorite song on this album. It has that groove of the rhythm-guitar and bass, that punch of the drums and that staccato lead-guitar, which joined together make it just perfect. And just as you thought it couldn`t get any better, the song has a kind of "you can`t quit me baby" outro at four and a half minutes. Pure bliss.

I`ve got to admit, it took me a long time before I was able to completely listen to "Battery Acid". Usually life in India was already pretty chaotic, and I didn`t need this song to create some extra pressure on my brain. After I while I got used to the album’s "metallic" vibe , and was also able to listen to this song entirely. It kind of hunts you down throughout its duration. No time to breath, just a continuous (kind of ugly) pounding. Not my favorite song on this album.

I already heard "Make it Wit Chu" on the 2003 Desert Session’s album, and then I already knew that this should be released as a single at one point in time. Such a brilliant tune, it would surely have become a hit in my universe. Homme re-recorded it for this album, probably because the original version had a production quality to it that would not have fitted on this album at all. I prefer the original though, since it has a more organic feeling to it, PJ Harvey on background vocals, and a superior guitar solo at the end. It is hard to change something that is already perfect, which makes it a kind of shame to change it at all. Still a great song though, and a resting-point on this album.

Now where do people hear Nirvana’s "Smell’s like teen spirit" on "3’s and 7’s"? I honestly do not have a clue. Ok, the chords might be slightly similar (pay attention, and you will notice that this happens all the time in music), but the progression and the rhythm are completely different. On it’s own it is a nice and catchy song, an obvious single, on the same level as "Little Sister", but nowhere near the behemoth called "No one knows".

After this run of three close to average songs, Homme gets back on track with "Suture up your future", my second favorite track on this album. It kind of shares the same style as "Into the Hollow", only worked out a lot better. It’s a very compact and solid song. Everything seems to fit together perfectly and is lead by the drums. It also has a "trippy" feeling to it. Like sitting in the back of a cab, with the driver roughly dodging traffic, while you are sitting in the back, completely smashed after a long night out.

"River in the road" reminds me of a marsh of the damned, largely thanks to the drum-pattern. In some reviews it is called filler material, with which I have to agree. It does not really grab you like to other songs, it is a bit forgettable even. The last track completely makes up for it though. "Run, Pig, Run" grabs you by the throat and tosses you around until you can`t..be…tossed…anymore. Or something similar like that. This song again has a similar feel as Battery Acid, but is more structured, has less noise and is easier to listen to. And that little break in the song is brilliant and hilarious at the same time. I thought of George Orwell’s "Animal Farm" while listening to this for the first time. Maybe because the subject matter is the same. The bonus track, "The fun Machine Took a Sh**! & Died", is perfectly described by its title. It has that typical Queens weirdness to it, which makes it a fitting end to this album.

All in all Era Vulgaris reaches my high expectation, but then again, it doesn`t. The vibe of the album is completely different from "Lullabies.." or anything else that preceded it. When I listened it completely for the first time, I didn`t really know what to think of it. Where these the "Queens of the Stone Age" that I learned to love on their previous four albums? Initially the answer was no, and I was even a bit angry and disappointed. But after a few listens I got used to this completely new direction of the band, and started to love it. I started to realise that each of the first three albums had a completely unique sound: Stoner, slick/sophisticated and just plain hard. The first half of "Lullabies.." however was almost an extension of the softer songs on "Songs for the Deaf", with the second half being more experimental. With "Era Vulgaris" Homme continued with the old trend to completely reinvent or develop his sound for each album, something which I cheer at. This development is something that in my opinion distinguishes the Queens from the Muses, Editors and Arctic Monkeys of our time: They dare to change their sound and direction significantly. At the risk that you as a critic or fan might not like it. I am a lucky one. I like it. A lot.

***Back in the Netherlands I immediately bought the new cd.

Beth Hart @ Effenaar

2008-01-09T20:50:00.000+01:00

I saw Beth Hart for the first time at Bluesrock Tegelen, about 3 years ago. She was the odd one between all the heavy blues acts, which made her sound very refreshing that day. Bare-footed she plays straight-forward rock, with a little hint of blues and a lot of energy. Her history is an amazing one, with some familiar elements. Starting out as a talent-show regular (and winner), she recorded her first album in 1996. During the late 90s however she became heavily addicted to drugs, only to re-emerge clean and healthy in 2004 with a new and successful album. Now we are in 2008, and since a good friend of the family was ill, a ticket for Beth Hart was available for me. I was impressed by her a few years ago, and since this was at a small venue I looked forward to seeing her again.

With a big smile on her face she runs out on the stage to face the eager crowd. You directly get the impression that you are dealing with someone who has seen and been to the bottom of a little thing called life. With hard work and determination she climbed out of the cress-pool and she is enjoying everyday of her live now. In some ways the set-list of that night symbolises all the emotions she encountered in her years of fame, addiction and rehab. You`ve got the sad and slow moments that never seem to end. Then the moments where you just can`t keep the anger and frustration inside anymore and need to scream it out over the rooftops (my favourites this night). There are times of celebration, jubilation and pure loneliness. The music might be simple rock, but Beth adds a whole new layer with her performance and voice, which make it very interesting and fun to hear and watch.

Great examples of this uniqueness are the moments when she forgot a chord or lost the key. During two songs she asked (more "ordered") her band very friendly to stop and start over again, since she fucked up behind her piano. She seems to be a bit insecure, but still makes jokes about it with her guitarist, who will "hate her for this in the morning". She even gets the help from her audience to get her back on key, which perfectly reflects the great atmosphere at the performance. During these stops you also hear a lot of friendly fuck it's coming out of her mouth, basically telling herself and the audience not to worry too much about it. Especially because it was her last concert for a pretty long time.

In general it was a solid good performance with a woman who, to her advantage, has some loose strings in her head. She immediately captivated the largest part of the audience, and remained their sole object of interest during the whole set. A few comments though that do not relate directly to her performance. In my opinion one and a half hours is a bit short for a concert, but maybe this is the new trend in the age where the average album is not longer than 40 minutes? And what is wrong with those people who have the urge to keep on talking during the whole performance? If you want to have a decent conversation, why don`t you go to a bar? And besides the distraction it creates for the other audience members, it is also a bit disrespectful for the artist. She is singing her heart out on stage, while a bunch of guys is discussing the 5th unique guitar of the guitarist. Yes, I know it is a white Fender Stratocaster, now please shut up and listen!

Lou Reed's Street Hassle

2007-12-27T22:17:00.000+01:00

Lou Reed survived the seventies, something that many people didn’t expect. Judging from this performance in the early 70s in Paris, you can’t blame them. During that time he had a big hit with "Walk on the Wild Side", which is probably the coolest song to ever make it to the top of the pop charts. And on that same record, called Transformer, you can find "Perfect Day", which is just brilliantly beautiful in a very classical sense. Lou Reed did his best to get of this Glam-rock image with Berlin, a little piece of art not the be listened when depressive. And any artist who is able to release a record like Metal Machine Music, his automatically a legend in my book. Not to mention this 2006 performance at a late night show, where he keeps a straight face while a person is practising Tay-chi during his performance. An artistic expression, or is he just probing how far he can go with his audience (of dumb sheep)? Whatever his intentions may be, he is definitely one of the coolest, best and original artists out there.

Street Hassle is one of Reed's many records released in the 70s, and belongs on the top of this pile. Maybe only for a single (but very long) reason: The contrast between the noise and the beautiful.

It all kicks of with "Gimme some good times", with a dialogue between the star and a fan. It's a cynical song giving commentary on the rock 'n roll lifestyle that is expected from him. Judging from the way he performs it, he does not agree with these expectations. It sounds ugly and dirty, nothing like the rock 'n roll glossiness from his earlier records (great!) . "Dirt" has the same kind of feel to it. Here he dumps a load of crap on persons without any principles, of which one is his former manager. The instruments intentionally stumble at certain points, creating a rhythm that is pretty hard to grasp. It almost gives a bit of a free/jazzy feeling to it. Lou keeps them on track with his brilliant rant.

"We sat around the other night, me and the guys. Trying to find the right word. That would best fit and describe. You people like that. That no principle has touched, no principles baptized. How about that. They'd eat shit and say it tasted good. If there was some money in it for them".

This "Dirt" is followed by "the beautiful": "Street Hassle". It's a story about a girl who pays for a boy. They slip away and make love, high on drugs. The next morning he wakes up, and prepares himself to leave. "Neither regretted a thing".

But the next morning: "Hey, that cunts not breathing". The owner of the motel considers the boy responsible. He advises him to just slip her away. The owner doesn’t want to deal with the cops asking difficult questions. He comforts the boy by saying that it there was probably nothing that he could have done, "But when someone turns that blue. Well, its a universal truth. Then you just know that bitch will never fuck again". Why doesn’t he just lay her out on a dark street, where she`ll just be another hit 'n run? His heart crushed (cause there seemed to be some real love between the two of them), he begs and prays for his baby not to slip away.

This is all guided by a beautiful string section which continues to play the same line through out the song. The three sections of the song each have there own distinctive sound though, mainly thanks to Lou Reed's brilliant "emotionally charged" vocals. Towards the end of the song guitars are added, and it starts to get a bluesier feel to it, as the situation becomes more dire. Bruce Springsteen even joins in to say the final words about her near the end. Reed's heartbreaking plea at the end sounds incredibly real, and marks the end of the first side of this record in great style.

Side two starts with "I wanna be black". A little ditty which is impossible to release in the 21st century. Main theme is that he doesn’t want to be that ordinary boring white college student anymore, but black. For all the wrong reasons. "Real good time together" starts of as a hypnotic song. Mainly thanks to the tremolo effect on the guitars. Is this what it's like to have a real good time together with Lou?

The dirtier sound of the first two tracks on the side one is back with a vangence. "Shooting Star" is one of the songs recorded live for this album, which kind of creates an interesting contrast with the studio tracks. It's not a really memorable song though. "Leave me alone" departs from this average level by adding saxophone to it, and some very "piss-off" lyrics. It is a very straightforward song, but nice to listen to. "Wait" ends the record on a much friendlier and cleaner note. It almost sounds like an apology for the abuse of the songs preceding it. "Wait, I really wouldn't want your hate". Ok Lou, we’ll forgive you.

But only because you produced something as brilliant as Street Hassle, which has the same length as those four relatively forgettable rock `n roll tunes on side number two. Together with Dirt and Gimmie some good times, Street Hassle finishes of a first half which is pretty much perfect. Starting at I wanna be black however, Lou starts to stumble, with the last two songs bringing a bit of original listening relief. And although this does not sound too positive, for Street Hassle alone this album is worth the purchase and your time.

It's time to do `em right!

2007-12-07T19:13:00.000+01:00

One of my best buys this year must be the first record of the B-52's.. Everybody knows them from the song "Love Shack" and maybe their performance in the Flinstones movie with John Goodman. Love shack might be a good song, but let me tell ya, this yellow cover holds a record with a lot of great tunes!

One side one, where one gem is followed by another gem, it all kicks of with Planet Claire. It DOES sound a bit like that Peter Gunn theme, but then off beat, with a touch of mystery surrounding it. Schneider kicks in with his trademark voice: "She came from planet claire. I knew she came from there. She drove a Plymouth Satellite. Faster than the speed of light." Can it get any trippier than this? I especially like the guitar-parts in this song, which later come back even better in "Dance this mess around". Ricky Wilson created these, and therefore I like his style.

52 Girls is the anthem of the b-52's, with Kate and Cindy passing by in the lyrics as the principle girls of the U.S.A. The song has an addictive quality to it, and within no time you're singing the lyrics with them. It sounds like a song that would be a great choice at any party. The same counts for "Dance this mess around", which is my favorite on this record. It starts as a slow song about a relation on the verge of destruction, where she gives you a last chance to think it over..

The next three lines are full with true emotion, which she even manages to transfer into a live performance. After that the song goes a few gears up, to the point where it is impossible to sit still. With slightly absurd lyrics containing all 16 dances, you start to notice that this band was only created for one reason: To have fun! And do you notice the guitar? It is almost out of tune, but somehow, it isn`t, and fits perfectly in the band's sound. I think this part of the B-52's early sound extinguishes itself from later hits such as "Love Shack".

You can continue dancing your mess around during "Rock Lobster", another great party song which is even crazier than the three preceeding it. Did you ever see a rock which wasn`t a rock, but a rock lobster? Or boy's in bikini's? Girls in surfboards? Bakin' potatoes, bakin' in the sun? And a Bikini Whale sneaking from up your back? Does it really matter? Nah..LET'S ROCK!

If you have still the energy, you can now flip the record over to side two. "Lava" contains some romantic tensions between the two behind the microphones (like hot lava). It's a bit heavier than the songs on side one, but still has the same weird guitar sound and style. "There's a moon in the sky (called the moon)" lets the spaced out boys and girls sing about their favorite subject besides rock lobsters. Somehow it is not as addictive and strong as the songs before it, it kind of sounds "the same" on an otherwise very original record.

"Hero Worship" has some great vocals, but just like "There's a moon in the sky" it does not really hold your attention for very long. "6060-842" is again a winner though. It's brilliant lyrics and interplay between the three vocals make it a great end to this record. "Operator, what's wrong? I dial stupid number all day long!". There is a nice note on the lower-right corner telling you that "This is an imaginary phone number and any similarities to this number are purely coincidental".

The record finishes with a version of the old Motown song "Downtown", recorded with a live audience(?) It is a great end to a very original sounding record. Especially the first four songs are a joy to listen, dance and scream to. They breath "fun" in every note of music you hear. It should work perfectly at any party. If it doesn't, you`ve got the wrong friends. You should just throw them out together with a few bottles of whiskey to let them drink themselves to death.

Ok, maybe not that extreme, but come on, this is a party record. Anyone who does not enjoy it should just lighten up a bit in life. Agreed?

Album Review: Jesca Hoop - Kismet

2007-11-28T20:49:00.000+01:00

While reading a fellow blogger’s blog I ran into an album-cover which looked really interesting. I typed in her name in Google and found that she has been the nanny of Tom Waits’ children. Interesting to say the least. So I got my hands on her debut, called Kismet. The first song title is “Summertime”. That name kind off reminded me of Norah Jones’ Sunrise. Her sound however, is completely different from Norah Jones, or any other artist that I know off.

“Summertime” starts this record of with a very light and happy tune. A song that indeed feels like Summertime; birds flying around, the sun shining through the leafs. Just close your eyes and you would start to forget that it is only slightly above zero on the other side of that window. The next song “Seed of Wonder” has a very addictive guitar-lick in it that plays almost throughout the whole song. Around this little lick the other instruments develop constantly though. It is a very dynamic and playful song. At some moments it sounds very empty, while other sections are heavy on percussion (a bit like Byork?). According to an interview with Jesca, she wanted to hear something that was fresh and new to her ears. Here she succeeded.

“Enemy” consists of Jesca’s voice and a single acoustic guitar. She gives, just like in the other songs, a really nice flow to the lyrics. This becomes even more apparent in “Silverscreen”, in my opinion one of the best songs on this record. Her singing style is a lot different here compared to the previous song. A bit child-like, with a little accent. It feels like you are sitting in an old cinema in the 1930’s, and indeed are hoping that they’ve done “good editing”.

“Money” is the song that she dishes in its lyrics: ”Cause if you want to belong you write a sing-a-long”. After a few listens I am singing the chorus together with her. She likes to play with her music and lyrics, and together they have a very strange, but nice, chemistry. In the process she also creates her own sound. “Dreams in the hollow” is again a bit softer and more intimate. It feels like opening a small Pandora’s box, and seeing a little band performing in it. One on one with you in a dark room.

Then the album continues to a little tribute to the victims of hurricane Katrina. “Love is all we have” is again a little acoustic song. Very basic, but also very effective. It allows her voice to come more to the foreground. I especially like the creaking in the background. Like a ship getting a heavy beating on the waves of the sea. I also started to notice that she dubs her voice a lot on this album. It sounds very good, but I am curious how she supports it on her own, on stage.

“Intelligentactile 101” is just a brilliant song that floats somewhere between heaven and earth as a perfect living being. It even has a real rockin’ chorus. And it all fits together as one song! Seeing as the lyrics are about a little girl who’s still in her mother’s belly, this would be my first choice as a single including a video. Fun lyrics, it sounds highly addictive and you can even create a mosh-pit at some moments.

After this absolute highlight we go back into the mystic with “Havoc in Heaven”, which is followed by the more up-tempo and experimental “Out the back door”. You should consider the use of the word “experimental” to be relative, since this whole album is trotting on new ground most of the time (for my young and inexperienced ears at least). Together with “Love and Love again” it again has a very “old” feel to it. It sounds timeless, but she does tell on her myspace that she is influenced by music from the early 20th century.

All in all it is a very strong debut, with virtually no weak points in it. It has a great number of highlights with “Summertime”, “Seed of Wonder”, “Silverscreen”, “Money” and “Intelligentactile 101”. A lot of highlights for one little disk. It amazes me how I have only seen such a limited number of reviews of her album on the net. Even Pitchfork does not have a file on her. Maybe because this album is released under the umbrella of a major label. That does not influence my opinion on this great album. I hope to see her live soon at any stage in the Netherlands. She’ll probably win me over completely, like others did before her (PJ Harvey, Sarah Wooden).

Album Review: Desert Sessions I & II

2007-11-27T15:57:00.000+01:00

The elusive “Desert sessions” were started in 1998 by a young strapping lad called Joshua Homme, who just left a band called Kyuss. Probably still wondering what to do next, he rounded up a number of like-minded musicians at the Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree, California. Ten years later, and Josh Homme is now the front-man of a hardrock-band called the “Queens of the Stone Age”, who are both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The first and second Desert Sessions show us the birth of this band. On an album that is almost 10 years old, out of print and pretty much forgotten. A perfect time to go back in time and argue why this is not only the best of all the Desert Sessions, but should also be an essential part of any music lover’s collection.

It all starts with a drunken and lone redneck preaching to the lord of darkness. A promotion for Man’s Ruin records it seems. But then the magic starts. A pounding drums and bass-line sets in, with an organ joining in a few seconds later. It grooves itself in your head, an echoing and wailing guitar at the lead. The first thing you notice is that there are no lyrics in this song called “Girl Boy Tom”, which in my opinion only adds to the hypnotic qualities of the music. Slowly the song fades out, announcing the arrival of “Monkey in the middle”. A song which sounds a bit tired, like standing in the same traffic jam every afternoon when you are heading back to work. Slowly we head back again to “Girl Boy Tom”.

Apparently the traffic jam has finally lifted at 7 p.m., and you are heading home at 90 miles per hour. At the time of “Cowards Way Out” you notice that you took a wrong turn, and are driving on a long straight desert road, with no other traffic for miles. Your Tom-tom tells you that in about 20 miles there will be a road that leads back to your original route. You decide to press the gas paddle, since dinner is being served at 8, and you don’t want to be late. But then the car starts to make a sound, which, strange enough, sounds like a “Robotic Lunch”. Probably a little bit of a weak point (understatement) in this, up till now, very impressive journey. But a Desert Session wouldn’t be a Desert Session if it didn’t have its little f*cked up moment in it.

Maybe you should just skip to the next track, “Johnny the Boy”, one of the two absolute highlights of this record. This track is pure groovin’ Rock ‘n Roll. The best point is at two minutes and four seconds exactly. I think they call this point a “break”, where you only hear the magnificent riff, with the rhythm section joining in soon after. This is immediately followed by the ghostly “aaaaah’s” in “Screamin’ Eagle”, the second highlight of this album. Again great riffs, which sound just like god (or the devil) intended them to be: massive. Around two minutes the song leads you to a magnificent climax, followed by a lot of groovin' you seldom hear these days in popular rock music.

The last song is “Cake (Who shit on the?)”, which is a great end to this album. Again this is a track divided in sections, just like the two preceding it. It might be a strange comparison, but this reminded me of the time-changes that lot of progressive rock bands (Pink Floyd, Genesis) used to make in there music. The song has a great 70s loose jamming feel to it. Slowly however, this trip is coming to an end. On the radio you hear that redneck preaching again, telling you not to buy any products from Man’s Ruin records. I think that speech ruined them. Luckily you still have the internet.

This enables you to get your hands on this gem, which is the most consistent of all the Desert Sessions, and the only one which has a real “album feel” to it. The album already has the groove in it, which I think can be defined as the signature sound of the Queens of the Stone Age this present day. Also, with Johnny the Boy and Screamin’ Eagle, it has two tracks which define Rock `n Roll in my dictionary. Hopefully these two tracks, and the whole album, will be discovered by a new generation when the old Desert Sessions are re-released in 2008. It deserves to be.

Let me sing you a song that has never been sung before...

2007-11-06T23:17:00.001+01:00

2 months into jobsearch madness and I`m having an even harder time determining what I want and what I don`t want. When you start getting rejected for certain jobs you start to wonder if these kind of jobs are really meant to be for you. And your confidence. Your confidence crumbles a bit, especially concerning what you did during your past. Maybe you should have done more. Maybe you should have taken more initiative. But wait a second. I`ve been to South-Korea and India. Nobody in my family has been away from home for that long that far. I`ve met a lot of people at those two locations. Would I have been living in my university city, I might have never met these people. And that, that would be a (unforgivable..;))shame. I don`t regret anything that I have done in the past. Maybe I should have done a bit more, but the thought did not occur to me at that time. There must be some valid reasons for that, yes? So why listen to those people who ask you why you didn`t do this or that? If they have a problem with how I lived my life up till now, it is theirs, and not mine!

Job interviews are intensive on the mind...hehehe....

Drifting

2007-09-19T21:41:00.000+02:00

It has been one month since my last message.
What happenned with me in this month?
Not much really.

After Lowlands I started writing cover-letters for job applications.
I`ve sent five now. I know, I`m only not really productive, but also a bit selective.
A large number of recruiting-companies and some real companies already approached me with the offer of a financial services job. Although my minor was in finance, I especially focused on the strange animal called stock market with those courses. Talking about investor sentiment and the efficiency of the market. That interests me, but is not my main interest. Most of my courses were related to strategic management. Determining the strategy of a company. Analysing how it can improve its processes to perform better. I know I`m young, inexperienced. Still, I would like to have a job where I start analysing the current status of an organisation.
Up till now I`ve found 5 jobs which fit that description, and for which I stand a chance. Hopefully they`ll find me interesting too.

In the meantime I`m getting a bit bored with just sitting at home. I went to Rotterdam one weekend for a reunion. I went to the cinema and had a drink with a friend in the other weekends. Played a bit on my guitar. I`m watching Deep Space 9 from the start. I`m at season 3 now.

A big change compared to my situation, say, 6 months ago.
And I`m not really enjoying it, hope I can make it change soon.

Greetings,

Paul

Four days loving the Loww-life

2007-08-21T22:57:00.000+02:00

Thursday afternoon we arrived at Biddinghuizen, Flevoland, The Netherlands to go to A campingflight to Lowlands Paradise 2007. I went with a good friend of mine, his cousin and a bunch of friends of that cousin. They were all very nice people, but I was really amazed at the amount of food and other stuff they carried with me. First law of camping: Only take what you can carry. They did not follow this rule, which lead to exhausted faces and a bit of a cranky mood on the first day. That thursday my tent was finally up at 22:00, at a little spot I found at the end of camping one. I was lucky to find some space for our group, because Camping One (of six) was becoming full very fast. We enjoyed some food, a beer and went to bed to wake up for the first official day of the experience that is Lowlands.

Friday morning it was a bit cloudy, it had even rained during the night, and we were all a bit afraid that the festival would again become a mud-fest. Around 12:00 however the clouds stopped depositing their rain, the sun broke through the clouds and it stayed that way during the next three days. Some clouds, some sun, some little drops of rain, but nothing serious.

So we went to the terrain to enjoy our first day. The first act we saw was Alamo Race Track in the Alpha. A dutch band who just finished a tour in America. They sounded solid with some good songs and a nice performance. I cannot remember anything else to note, but I guess that is a good thing in case of a dutch band. After that we went to the Rakes, which was boring. Chord-progressions which are simple, old and..well..just boring. I know those songs might sound nice, but there are so many bands that play nice songs. It's just not the thing I`m looking for in music...I`m looking for something good and unique. I found this at the next performance of My Brightest Diamond. Do yourself a favour and get your hands on the song Dragonfly. It drifts somewhere between earth and heaven, so beautiful. She put up a good performance with a nice dress and a special hair-do, although she joked that it was a failed experiment. I was soon mesmorized by her beautiful voice, and was quite suprised at the limited number of people who showed up at the Lima. You missed something people!

Then it was time for some food. Spare-ribs. Delicious. When it comes to festival-food, Lowlands has the most variation of the big three that I visited (Pinkpop, Lowlands, Werchter).

After this soulfood we went to The Eagles of Death Metal. Along the way we saw a piece of the Battles, which was impressive. A lot of detailed cut-and-paste work was going on at the stage, and I enjoyed what I saw.

I never imagined the Eagles to give a better performance than at the Effenaar last year, but they did, especially thanks to the crazy crowd in the Grolsch. Jessy Hughes looked sleazier than ever before with that long greasy hair and pink t-shirt, and made some great moves on stage. Luckily he also talked a lot less than at the Effenaar, and just played the music, which sounded loud, but good at the front of the stage. There was a bit of crowd-surfing, and a lot of jumping and some (irritating) pushing, all the elements that show that this was a good performance.

After the Eagles we went to the Basement Jaxx. Three years ago I was really impressed by their performance at Rock Werchter. Now they were closing the Bravo stage on friday. We arrived early to get a nice spot in the middle behind the stage to enjoy the show at its fullest. And it was again a great song. The thing that amazes me about the Basement Jaxx is that they wrote so many good songs that you don`t directly assosiate with their name. Where's you head at?! was of course the grand finale. Later it seemed that this little line could be heard at a long distance from the terrain. A brilliant performance, although sometimes the music felt a bit "too crowded", as if they are making too many sounds at the same time. But this was only a minor point in a perfect set.

After the music we went to the Echo to see Death Proof. Yup, Quintin Tarentino's Grindhouse movie. It was great. It reminds you why it is so great to be a man (because women are sooo beautiful), and that Kurt Russell is still alive. He, by the way, is brilliant in this movie as the psychopat who likes to lure pretty girls in his Death Proof car. It was past 3:00 when the movie ended, so we decided to hit the sleepingbag.

Saturday was a bit of a hard day. I was still a bit tired from last night, and had a bit of a hang-over. We started the day by going to Games in Concert at the Alpha stage. This was an initiative of the Metropool Orchestra and a dutch gaming-website. In short: A complete orchestra was playing the tunes of computer games. Most of the tunes were not that impressive though to hear in this way. I did not know any of the games, untill they started playing the Zelda tune, which I remember from the days when I had a Gameboy and was playing Link's Awakening. Really a feel-good moment. After that they played the famous Mario tune in a small ensemble. A great sing-a-long song, since the whole Alpha was clearing their throats.

The Rifles at the India stage disappointed just as much as the Rakes a day earlier. Just another rock band playing the usual rock songs that sound a lot like that song from the other 100 "The" bands. After three songs we left. We gave them a chance to convince us, but they did not. So we went for some food, and to the Grolsch stage for Turbonegro, a band from Scandinavia. First of all the singer as the biggest beer-belly I have ever seen. It was really hypotising me during the first songs of the set. Then you had a guy behind the keyboard/guitar who was trying his best to move around as "gay" as possible. I looked to the right of me, and saw a giant mosh-pit. I looked to the stage. I saw this guy making is moves. I looked again to my right and saw some guys dressed up in their TurboJugend jackets. Which kind of looked as intimidating as the jackets the Hells Angels wear. I wonder if those though guys noticed those dance-moves that guy was making. I still haven`t talked about the music. It was between ok and good. Hardrock like it should be, without any nuances.

After this show I had a nice chat at the Lima with a lady from near Haarlem. She asked me some interesting questions and I asked some back. Implicitly she told me to take a job that I really like (telling me about her experience), and also tried to convert me to vegetarianism. She was convincing, and nice, but not enough to let me drop my addiction to meat. During this talk Nosfell was playing in the Lima. He sounded very interesting, but we had to go to the Bravo for the second time this weekend to see Cansei de Ser Sexy. It was there were my friend left me temporarily to see Interpol . Sometimes I think it is best to just break up, even when you are only with two persons. He wins by seeing Interpol, while I win by seeing CCS. I would not have been happy at Interpol (booooring), while he was not happy at Cansei de Ser Sexy (a bit to simple/crazy for him). CSS was great. I especially looked forward to seeing the singer jumping around in her jumpsuite, and I was not disappointed. The best non-music moment was when she just struggled herself out of the crowd after a little bit of crowd-surfing and said: "Thanks for not stealing my shoes" and "Actually they are not that expensive anyway". They played a very danceable set and I really enjoyed myself although my feet were aching.

After this I went to Patrick Wolf, not knowing what to expect. Within a few seconds after he went on stage I knew what to expect: A unique show. He kind of looks like E.T. who missed his flight back home about 20 years ago, and decided to get adjusted to life on planet earth. Well. Maybe not completely, but he does look like a being from another planet; neither male nor female. I will never shave my legs by the way. He was making maximum use of the stage and jumped and moved around like crazy, during songs which sounded fresh, unique and especially good. I missed Mika, but I think Patrick Wolf surely made up for that with his stage presence and songs. After this perfermance the saturday was over. We could have watched Borat, but I was too tired and decided that it was also nice to meet up with his cousin & friends at our tents and to enjoy some beers & burgers with them.

The last day, Sunday, was the day of the hard choices and nice surprises. We went to the terrain a bit early to see a little piece of The Enemy in the India. They sounded solid. If this is going to be the next best thing according to the NME, I will approve it with less of a hassle than for instance The View. After this came Patrick Watson. From the description in the little lowlands-guide we learned that he sounde a little bit like Radiohead or Jeff Buckley. The first name I know, they second I don`t. He and his band were impressive and very musical. The songs were very nicely structured, with changes in rythm and speed. There was also a great singalong during "Man Under the Sea" where the band gathered in front of the stage to play a stripped down version of this sing. One of the best moments of my Lowlands 2007. Thank Patrick Watson!

After this we stayed for Loney, Dear, again a group from Scandinavia, but now of the sing-songwriter kind. They play beautiful songs throughout the whole set, but it took about 30 minutes before they really won me over. I think they got a bit more confidence of their ability to please the crowd during the set, something that made them relax and smile. Smiles which were reflected by the audience. The guys from Patrick Watson joined in for the last song, which made this the perfect feel-good afternoon.

After this it was time for a big stretch of Alpha stage action. First of all the Kings of Leon. They impressed my as a band, but the song from the last album miss that unique "touch" that made the first two albums special. I am afraid they will just turn into another rock band. but since they only have made three albums, the first two still dominated the set, which was great! They really rocked out at some points during the set (Spiral Staircase, Molly'd Chambers), and it was great to finally see them live.

After that I saw a piece of Sonic Youth, my friend in the mean time going to Moterhead, which I painfully decided to skip to get a nice position for the Arcade Fire. Although I did not intended to see Sonic Youth, I must say they impressed me from the hills outside the stage. It sounded raw and noisy, and I like that kind off music.

Then came Arcade Fire. I had a lot of expectation for this group. I was still waiting for that chicken-skin moment where your whole body is just in a state of extasy. It did not come. It was a very, very good performance though, but just a bit too short. I blame the festival-organisers for that. One small hour of Arcade Fire is just not enough! The song Wake Up however did almost bring me to a state of eternal happiness. The chorus is just massive. Especially when 30.000 people sing it. I also really like the look out of Regine Chassagne's eyes. It looks like they are trying to eat you up. Sadly she is already married to the frontman of the band. Do I stand a chance, be honest?

Finally I received a call from my friend. Motorhead had a pretty bad sound and so I came back to see the Arcade Fire. Whom impressed him. We met up near the left-front of the stage for Tool, the headliner and last act of the festival. I already saw them last year, but since my friend had never seen them perform I decided that it could not hurt to see them again for a second time. Tool is really a band you should see, even when you don`t like the music. Their sound is so massive that it pretty much blows you away. Especially last year at Pinkpop you could feel the bass got through your body and bones. The played a good set of songs, which again impressed me due to their complexity. I don`t think you can really call them "songs". Maybe you should call them "things". Some of them where 10 minutes long. They got commentary from a dutch music site that they were boring the crowd with their improvising. I didn`t really notice the improvising. I don`t know any of their songs actually. Still, when a band plays a tune of which I cannot follow the rhythm by drumming with my hands on my legs, you really have to give them some credit. I`m an expert at leg-drumming, and Tool amazes me with their complexity and massive sound.

At this point the festival was over. Well not really. There was still a lot of stuff going on with some DJs playing, but my feet were just to tired to really go dancing. So we went back to our tent to meet my friend's cousin & co. for a cold review of the day. I went to bed.

The next morning I woke up and realised it was all over, too soon. I packed my bag and we went back home. We lost my friend's cousin & co. along the way back home, I just didn`t feel like waiting any longer. I really enjoyed their company though, and hope that they aren`t to angry about us taking a lead over them on the way back home.

So this was Lowlands 2007. A festival without any disappointments. Maybe that is why I did not get that chicken-skin moment; the standard that this festival gave me when it came to music was just constantly very high. I did get the moment though when I relistenend "Dragonfly" from My Brightest Diamond. As long as song like this are written I will remain very happy and grateful to live on this big blue planet.

Memories and decisions...

2007-07-28T02:12:00.001+02:00

I`m watching television, a documentary about (street) children in Manila, The Philippines. They live on the garbage of the local landfill. They search through the garbage the whole day, looking for salvageable material. Those that do not work there, the real street children, sniff some kind of chemical substance, and remain high the whole day, on the streets or even the local cemetery. The camera focuses on the face of a "high" husband of two children. They live in a tomb on the cemetery, together with his wife who is 19. That look in his eyes. It breaks your heart.

Two french priests do the best they can with their local organisation. They provide shelter, food, and for some, education. With their limited supplies they try to improve the lives of those children.

That made me remember my experiences in India. For three weeks I stayed in the field and interviewed farmers, or village-people. These are the ones that become the people you see lying under the viaducts of Jaipur, eventually, since living in the field is no option. My work there was about a project developed by the government to secure a livelihood for the people in the country-side, and to keep them from moving to the city, where their life will not be a lot better.

I saw how they lived, in those small and simple, but generally idyllic villages. It was easy to observe that a lot of development work already went in them. There I saw the children, wearing simple clothes, and relatively clean for my standards. I still find it strange how "down to earth" I was while I was there. I just played games with them, was not really surprised by the conditions in which they lived, while they are so much different from those in which I grew up. I did not find it strange. I accepted it. Maybe I realised that these children did not really have it that bad compared to those living on the streets of Jaipur, begging for money. Living in the country-side is often seen as worse than living in the city. Maybe it is easier to gather a livelihood (from the landfill) in the city, when the conditions are horrible. When there is a major drought in the country-side in Rajasthan, there is not much left on which to survive I can imagine.

One of the games I played in one of the villages, was an imitation game. While my boss was handing out some pay for the grown-up villagers, I was just being bored together with the children who started to sit in front of me, and of course, stare. So I decided to imitate. First the staring. Nothing is more fun to make one of those little ones blush. Then I started to imitate how they sat with their hands. For the first minutes they didn`t really get it, but after that the frowns started to change in smiles...and it was just having fun. Indian children however get rowdy soon, so the parents chased them away after a while, leaving me with a young bull.

All this made me realise a thing. My goal in general is to help and advice people with the expertise that I got. But do I want to do this in a business consulting job, where I help the organisations that are already wealthy (relatively speaking)? Or do I want to help the people who are really in need? Question is if I can help them? I think this is an argument often used by the western people...I want to, but I cannot. Why not? Because it demands a major sacrifice on part of your own life. You need to move, your income will not be that high, your work could be harder and proably become your life. Then again, you still need money to buy that ticket, visa, your own food. NGOs and other nonprofit-organisations are not the most wealthy.

Isn`t working for personal wealth/development very selfish? The alternative is to work for others people's wealth/development..and with it your own. Then again, the handpalm-reader in India told me that I am a selfish person. And that I will have two women in my life. On of which I will marry. So what should I do?

I`ll just go and watch Cpt. Kirk at 2:50am on BBC2. Maybe that will give me the answers I need.

The kitchen-prince

2007-07-23T00:12:00.000+02:00

The last month felt like two weeks. India is still fresh in my mind. Or maybe just Swati's house. Maybe this is caused by the easy communication I can make with people still there. When they leave the country however, the India as I know it, will be gone.

I have been cooking with a lot of pleasure in the past two weeks. I`m starting to get the "feeling" for it and even openned the cooking-book for some experiments. Some went very well, while others were ok and edible. We`ve been eating a lot of potato's, even more meat (I`m really a carnivore) and of course other vegatables. I didn`t buy that much stuff though, because the refrigarator still had a steady supply of food which has been gathered by my parents. They really buy too much.
This tuesday they will come back, and I will again have some more time for...jobhunting.

About one week ago I had my first little ruenion with a guy (from Afghanistan) who also lived in Swati's house. We talked about the chicken house, girls, what happened after he left Swati's house and of course the future. We did this on a nice terrace in Heerlen, under the comfort of a few beers. I already got a nice invitation to come to Amsterdam, and there are also some vague plans to go to Koln to visit other ex-Swati's house members. I cannot wait!

Another thing I`m looking forward to is Lowlands. I need a festival. I need live music. I`m especially looking forward to sleeping in a tent again after such a long time. After I came back from India my priorities have kind off changed. The television has really decreased in popularity, and even the computer is having a hard time. My guitar is the only winner. Most of the time when some music is playing, I'm stopping with the stuff that I was doing, and picking up my guitar to join the music.

It's cool. But it does take up a lot of time. Time flies when you are having fun..I guess ;)

Imagination

2007-07-15T02:20:00.001+02:00

Another saturday night, and Close Encounters of the third kind was on television.
I dimmed the lights in the room, and sat down to watch this beautiful movie. I like science fiction. It kind of opens your mind. It dares you to dream of the "impossible". The makers of this movie relied on their imagination to come up with that unforgetable tune with which they communicate with the other lifeforms. They communicate through different tones. Luckily they didn`t speak english like the lifeforms I saw in the original series of Star Trek. I`m rediscovering those as one of the best series ever made for television.

Yesterday there was an episode where Kirk (I envy William Shatner, he kisses a new enchanting girl every episode), McCoy and Spock got kidnapped by some species. In the dark room they find a girl lying on some kind of sofa, and they assume that she has also been kidnapped. Then Kirk becomes the first subject to be "tested" by the aliens. The interogate him and hurt him incredibly with some kind of device. The aliens admire Kirks strength and give him compliments. They however do not answer the question why they are doing this. He gets dumped back, heavily injured, in the black room where his shipmates are and where the girl is.

Suddenly, the girl moves to Kirk, and with some kind of power removes his wounds. In this process she transfers them to her body, where they finally heal. She however feels the pain that he was feeling (perfect opportunity for overacting, and so it is done ;)). The aliens come in the room and announce that they need another subject, who will be subjected to even harsher threatment. McCoy uses his medical equipment to put Kirk and Spock to sleep, and thus sacrifices himself for his shipmates. The girl (who by the way does not have any vocal-chords) looks at all this with amazement.

McCoy is being tortured, close to death. Somehow Kirk and Spock manage to enter the torturing room, together with the girl, who they are trying to save. They see McCoy, and want to help him, but the aliens won`t allow it. They are testing the girl. They are testing her species. They want to see if her species is already so developed that they are willing to sacrifice their lifes for somebody they care about or love. Why do they want to do this? Their solar-system is on the verge of collapse, and they can only afford to transfer one species from their solar-system to a save distance. It was all a test. However, in testing the girl for "Empathy" the aliens lose their own sence of "Empathy". Something that Kirk makes them realise with the usual speech.

So those aliens where not simply evil. They just used the humans as test material. Maybe it was a bit un-ethical, but hey, they took a random sample and accidently Kirk and his friends passed by. There goal was actually relatively good. To test ot to learn another species to care for others of her own (and in this case) other kind. I like it when t.v. makes you think.

Back to Imagination.
I don`t like labels. Labels are created to organise things in your mind, but sadly, labels are also often associated with a lot of preconceptions. As in that famous "good" versus "evil". My opinion: What is good or evil lies in the eyes of the beholder. Labels cause your mind to be closed about something. It might be an easy solution to organise data in your head, or to remember things, but it definitely isn`t always right. Just look at the music industry. There is no other place where there are so many labels. You`ve got Indie, Pop, Rock, Hardrock, Metal, Gothic, Deathmetal, Country, Alt Country, Alternative, Disco, Trance, Dance, Alt Rock, Britpop..etcetc. The sad thing is that some artists are labeled in a certain genre and thus are expected to create that certain kind of music. If they don`t, they are getting a considerable harder time with their fans and with their record-company. Look at Bob Dylan when he started playing electric guitar, look at U2 and their Discotheque. Finally these artists use their imagination to start something new, to radically change something, but part of the audience had different expectations. U2 now returned to getting old on the same sound they invented almost 25 years ago. Dylan didn`t give a sh*t and pushed through. Luckily.

Maybe I just don`t like preconceptions. Maybe I don`t like closed minds.
But do I have an open mind?
The only thing I know is that I like to use my imagination.

They are out there. Somewhere.
She is out there. Somewhere.
You might call me mad (another label).
But without the imagination of others I could not have posted this blog.

Gut Feeling

2007-07-09T22:30:00.000+02:00

Is not only just a feeling, but also a great song from a band called "Devo" which I just discovered. It was written by the guy who later wrote the theme of the Rugrats. Yes! THE RUGRATS! This man is obviously a genious.

But back to me. Ahum. Me. I have a gut feeling. And it is not a pleasant one. It is one like this: "I should do something, I should do something, I should do something, I should do something, I should do something, I should do something, I should do something. But what am I doing now? Ah, what I do now is also valuable and necessary, but I feel like a should do something! About what? I don`t know! I want to go looking for a job! Yes that is it! But what do I want? Do I want to find a job in the Netherlands and settle down here? Or do I want to find a job in a foreign country? But Paul, finding a job in a foreign country is a little bit more complicated, and you don`t like complications. Well, then I`ll just have to bite through it? But the money Paul? You`ll probably barely have the money to finance the trip to that possible foreign country. Well, I still have some money left, a one-way trip to any destination should not be a problem. I can buy the ticket back there.

But then you still have to find something. That something is already clearly defined in my head. Maybe I should put it on paper one of these days. I`ve got quite a lot of points. But shouldn`t you be demanding? Why settle for something you don`t like, when you can have something you do like? Why not try at least? Or scan the option of doing it?

Welcome to an average discussion inside my head. Usually ends up in, "don`t worry, it`ll come, eventually", "relax", "Why not?", "We'll see, time will tell".

One week evaluation

2007-07-01T01:30:00.000+02:00

I`m home for one week now. I`m starting to adjust.

The first week I went to a Genesis concert in Dusseldorf. It was an amazing concert. There were dozens of moments where I just felt like crying, because it was so beautiful, so perfect. Let me explain why I had such strong emotions. You`ve been a fan from a band for 16 years, and never you had the opportunity to see them live. From 1992 till 1998 it is basically the only group you are listening to. In 1994 one of their main members decides to quit because it was impossible for him to combine his solo and group career together with his private life. Then they get a new singer and bring out a new cd in 1998. It was well received in Europe, but in America it crashed, together with the tour. They decide to put the band to sleep. Reunion talks had been going on for years, but when Phil Collins decided to have his Farewell tours, hope decreased even further. Then in June 2006, suddenly, there is a reunion. And I got some tickets for that concert. Finally you don`t have to watch those old DVDs lying in your shelf, you can see them in person on stage.

During the concert I sang every line together with mr. Collins. I drummed on my legs. It was the first concert where I could to this for every, and really every, song. The lightshow was simple amazing. Through every song the background changed according to the mood of the music, and the stage also expanded during the show, making the lightshow even more expansive. The sound was perfect, not too loud, not too soft, and no irritating echo. Next to the mr. Collins also showed himself from his humorous side, trying to speak German to the German crowd. We also had the demonstration of the domino effect and public participation during "Throwing it all away" and "I Know what I like (In your wardrobe).

The food there was also great...I had some Salami Pizza, some french fries and most important..a real german bratwurst!

What else did I do this week...I went out for dinner thursday with a good friend of mine to Valkenburg. We went to a restaurant called La Casa. It was a spanish restaurant, so went went straight for the Tappa's section of the menu. There I ordered the Tappa's del Carne (or something like that), which basically boils down to having every different kind of meat on your plate possible. And it was really a lot. And delicious. I was the only one who finished his plate, completely. The next day the toilet had to pay a little bit for it, but I did not get sick. After the dinner we had a beer in Valkenburg (Limburg has some great places to have a beer, visit me and I`ll show you them), after which we went to my friends home to have some more cheaper beers. We chatted about stuff. I told him about the great people I met in India, he told me about his visit in Cannes, Monaco and San Remo and his job.

Besides going out for dinner I am also preparing dinner myself. I decided that I really have to get the routine of cooking, since well, I might be living on my own on a pretty short notice. I also dread to become a person living of fastfood and microwave dinners, bleh...never.

So I made boiled potatoes with brocoli and some pork-chops on one day. Worked out perfectly

Then I made some Reibe-Kuchen. Worked out perfectly.

Then I made some boiled potatoes with cucumber (in a nice sauce) and some cutlets. Again it was all perfectly spiced and it had a great taste.

Then I made some Macaroni. I learned the recipe for the special family sauce, which does not include tomato ketchup (!). Again it was delicious. I actually want to eat the complete pan, but something tells me I should not.

Last sunday and monday I also went shopping for some good music. The cds I bought are all brilliant. The new White Stripes album is probably the best one. This little disc was made with a lots of fun, and when you can hear this in the music, it is also great fun to listen too. It is perhaps a bit less subtle than their last two cds, but it is again pure rock 'n roll.

I posted a video called "No Pussy Blues" from Grinderman on my I-Like application. I love that song. Just look at his face when I sings the lines of his song. This guy (Nick Cave, Australian, you might know him) is 100% in his music when he plays his songs on stage. He just screams his lungs out in this song..out of anger and frustration. You would actually believe he really had that Blues. The song itself is raw, hard and a little bit sexy, just the way I like it. The rest of the cd is a bit less "in your face", but still very good.

The last cd I bought is from the Queens of the Stone Age. One of my family members, who also listens to a lot of music, called it a weird cd. I kinda see that as a compliment. The band is changing its sound into unknown territory. And still they sound like no other band, they sound like the Queens of the Stone Age. There are a lot of easy grooves on this record, and some pretty hard songs (without compromise) also. Again it is all a bit less pollished than the last cd, which I really like. But back to India.

Most of my stories about India have the following structure. First I start explaining them about all the extremes in India. The weather, the poverty, the life of the rich and famous, the garbage, the smell, the noise, the annoying tradesmen who always and everywhere want to sell you something. Despite of these difficulties, it is however still a great country. Why? Because of the people I met there and the house in which I lived. You can see so many temples, palaces and forts. I will forget those, that is why I made most of my pictures there. The people however, the people who lived in Suati's, Orange house and the chicken house, and the occasional friendly Indians, I will never forget. I believe that sometimes I get too "attached" to people too easily, without it really being mutual. From the outside I might seem a bit.."apathetic"..but that is just my calm outside compusure.

But if you ask me the question: Did you want to stay longer? I have to say no. I lost 15 kgs in 5 months. I practically collapsed a bit after Agra and needed a long rest before and after every bus trip I took after that. The country itself was almost destroying me in some ways. The ethical questions you ask yourself at least every week, because of what you see, hear and smell. It's hard and intensive to live there, and I really enjoyed it, but you should not stay too long.

I`ll try my best to meet at least one (non-dutch, cos there will most definitely be a dutch reunion) person again, just like I did after Korea (see the pictures from Pamplona for evidence). Promising something however is very hard, since I don`t know where the wind will blow me...said in Dylanism.

When I went away in that rickshaw on saturday morning a little tear did role down my cheek. I called that place home for 5 months, I`ve seen so many people leave, and now I am the one leaving. It might not be completely mutual for all the obvious reasons, but damn Suati's, I miss you dearly.

Greetings,

Paul

Back Home

2007-06-25T18:59:00.001+02:00

Sorry for the long silence, but I was too busy with either travelling or going out with friends in India. Now I am home, I am tired and slightly disorientated. It is an incredible difference that excists between both India and the Netherlands, and only now I realize it. Tomorrow I will go to a Genesis concert, I hope my mind will be ready for that.

Rajasthan's Burning

2007-06-01T07:40:00.000+02:00

From the Hindustan Times:

The Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan, demanding their community's inclusion in the list of scheduled tribes (ST), claimed six more lives on Thursday, taking the total death toll to 22 since the stir began three days ago.

The violence has spread to 21 of the state’s 31 districts. There were signs it could escalate further after the Meena community threatened to counter the agitating Gujjars. They warned Gujjar leaders they would act if the stir was not withdrawn by Friday.

The Meenas, the largest scheduled tribe in the state, fear that if the Gujjar's demand is met, their community's share of the benefits accruing from their ST status, would be reduced. The STs currently have 12 per cent reservations in jobs and educational institutions.

The Gujjars are at present in the OBC category.

Meanwhile, state government representatives and leaders of the Gujjar Sangharsh Samiti (GSS), which is leading the agitation, held a second round of talks in Jaipur on Thursday, which remained inconclusive. A third round of negotiations had also begun late on Thursday.

The first round had been held in Dausa on Wednesday. The GSS leaders were escorted to Jaipur under the army’s protection. Earlier, as protests continued across the state, police opened fire in eight places to check rampaging Gujjar mobs.

Four people, part of a violent crowd, were killed in Boli town of Sawai Madhopur district, 150 km east of Jaipur. Two other deaths were reported from Kotputli and Bayana. About a dozen people were injured.

Additional DGP (Law and Order) Kanhaiya Lal said that the police opened fire in Boli when a mob turned violent and surrounded a police station. “Four persons died in the incident,” he confirmed.

Defending the police action, state Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, said: “We will do everything to maintain law and order. Counting the number of dead will not solve the problem. In the 60-year-old history of Rajasthan, did you ever see courts, government offices, records, police stations and schools burning?”

The army was called out in Kota, Sawai Madhopur, Alwar and Karauli districts to restore law and order. The Jaipur-Delhi highway was also already handed over to the army, following violence near Kotputli on Wednesday night.

Several other districts too witnessed violent clashes between the police and the Gujjars, who tried to shut down markets in reply to a bandh call given by the GSS.

By late Thursday evening, reports said that the Gujjar agitation had spread to Delhi and the National Capital Region, including Gurgaon in Haryana and Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

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Personally I am not noticing any of the voilences. Only on wednesday I heard a mob chanting on the streets, that was about it. My accessways for travelling to the east have been blocked however now. I could go to the south, but in Kota (one of my stations then) there are also some riots. I think I`ll just go to the bus station on monday morning and see what drives and what does not. I`m not really disappointed since I think the Gujjar probably have a valid point in their demonstrations. I`m not really afraid of the mobs, but when I`ll be travelling I`ll be travelling in state buses. And currently the Gujjar hate the state. So the bus will burn and I`ll be in the middle of nowhere. They`ll probably offer me a cup of tea in compensation.

I predict a riot

2007-05-30T05:51:00.000+02:00

India is a big country with more than 1 billion people, so I guess some voilence in the neighbourhood could be expected. The following article was in the dutch newspapers, and was pretty close to home (Jaipur). I looked up the english one from the bbc website:

PS: Travelling along the Jaipur-Agra road is not in my travelling plan, so don`t worry :)

Riots over Indian tribal quotas
At least seven people have been killed in violent clashes in India's Rajasthan state over the government's affirmative action plans, officials say.
Police fired on protesters from the nomadic Gujjar tribe who had blocked a key national highway near Delhi.

At least one of those killed is believed to be a policeman.

The Gujjars are demanding that they be included in an affirmative action quota which would give them access to government jobs and other benefits.

Police say they opened fire after tens of thousands of Gujjar protesters turned violent. Protesters said police shot at unarmed crowds.

'More killed'

Protesters began their action on Monday night, blocking a key highway which connects the city of Jaipur with the tourist destination of Agra where the Taj Mahal is located.

Police have confirmed only three deaths, including one of a policeman.

But witnesses and local officials in Dausa district where the violence took place say more than double than that number were killed.

A senior police officer told the BBC he suspected that at least half a dozen more people had been killed in the clashes and that protesters were holding six bodies, including those of two policemen.

"The police first tried to negotiate with the protesters," HK Dahmor, chief of administration of Dausa district, told the AFP news agency.

"When the protesters did not budge, the police tried to physically move them from the spot which sparked the clashes."

A Gujjar community leader, Avinash Badana, told India's state-run Doordarshan channel that the police had fired on "unarmed people".

Correspondents say the situation is still very tense and extra police have been rushed to the area.

The state administration is holding an emergency meeting and soldiers are being sent to the area to try to keep the peace.

Influential

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says the Gujjars are a large and politically-influential nomadic tribe spread across north India.

They are demanding that they be categorised as an official tribe so that they may benefit from affirmative action quotas which will give them access to government jobs as well as places in state-supported schools and colleges, he says.

Our correspondent says the issue of affirmative action is a sensitive one in India with many poor communities arguing that it is the only way millions of under-privileged people can benefit from India's economic boom.

But those opposed to it say it is a cynical move by politicians to gain more votes from politically influential communities who make up a large percentage of the country's population.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6700321.stm

Note to self: Do not read dutch newspapers

2007-05-25T06:14:00.000+02:00

Because they will only make you very, very angry.

As usual we have a government in the Netherlands who is afraid to make any major decisions, because who knows, it might get them to lose some votes in the next election. With major decisions I mean the approval of the European constitution. For those that do not know, a majority of the dutch people voted against it in 2005 on grounds of..well...euh...I don`t now...Stupidity? Fear? Protectionism? Conservatism?

I`m pro-Europe. Really pro-Europe. I believe that without Europe the Netherlands isn`t worth anything. I mean, we are an export country, we are dependent on other economies for our survival. Many of our great multinationals would not have survived if they stayed bound to our national borders. I voted in favour the constitution. Why? Because I think Europe needs a unified set of rules to make life a bit easier for everybody. I don`t get this fear for Europe. Since when are we dutch so protective and nationalistic?

We like to think of ourselves as a very liberal nation..but that only concerns our sex, drugs and abortion policy in my opinion. On a European level we are only complaining about paying too much and losing our power. It is time for us to take a good look in the mirror. We are a nation governed by fear for what is beyond our national border, which is fed by a growing ignorance of the people. Our government only seems to support the anti-European feelings..cause hey...it will win them a few votes in the next election. Dutch politics is all about popularity, and not about what is best in the interest of the people. And by "people" I mean the people of Europe, of which the Netherlands is still a part. I hate nationalism and egoistic motives and the Netherlands seems to be full of those two lately.

Bundi

2007-05-24T12:25:00.000+02:00

Deep in Rajasthan, 250 dangerous kilometers from Jaipur, lies the village of Bundi. A city known for its beautiful palace and fort. Within the palace one can find marvelous murals and frescoes. These for instance show the Maharajah and Maharani of Bundi (the king and queen) doing their daily chores like hunting tigers, playing instruments and of course seducing each other. The fort and palace are both very impressive and really well preserved compared to the run-down major tourist attractions in Jaipur.

My two days at this place were very quiet and pleasant. Almost no other tourists besides an English couple, and I was the only one roaming in the fort on Saturday. It was big with many different small rooms, some of them decorated with the most detailed wall-paintings I have ever seen. The city itself was also very nice, with its narrow street and old city center. The people also seemed to be a lot friendlier than in other cities. They genuinely seemed to be happy to see you, and not because you carry money, but because you came here to visit their city.

The food at the hotel was also very good, and my room was cheap and nice. In general this trip only encourages me that the 2.5 week trip that I will make in Madhya Pradesh will be a great success. I`ll visit a lot of smaller, less touristic, places there..so hopefully I`ll be treated just as well there as I was in Bundi.

Venturing into paradise....

2007-05-16T11:21:00.000+02:00

...as we walked through the main gate of the City Palace complex. A beautifully decorated elephant on our left side, another to our right, to welcome us. We walked over the red carpet towards the royal garden, and past a group of lavishly dressed Indian dancers, dancing on the beats and sounds on which this country survives. The lighting was simply amazing and made the palace look even better than by normal daylight. Walls were colored a deep dark red, just as red as the carpet on which we were walking. We passed another gate and there, hearing the volume of Indian flute-music slowly increasing. What we saw, what we experienced, was the Incredible India you see advertised during the commercial breaks of CNN or Discovery.

You stepped into a dream, and what did you see. You saw a beautiful and large lawn, as big as a soccer field. On two sides there were hundreds (yes hundreds) of those typical chef-cook hats. Next to that dozens of waiters were walking around, offering you drinks or exclusive Indian (and Chinese)vegetarian delicacies. A few hours before this wedding I stated that the Indian cuisine bored my too death, here I was proven wrong. Those chef cook hats were of course the cooks themselves, preparing the 400 (no, this is not a typing error) different dishes. Hundreds of people were letting their taste-buds have a night of a life-time, accompanied by a live-band which was centered around a (probably highly) skilled flute-player.

At the center of this fest was a stage, with two chairs on it. After half an hour the bride and groom emerged, both wearing the most beautiful traditional Indian dresses you can imagine. They were getting married. All the people in the palace-garden were invited directly or indirectly. Including us. He seemed a bit out of place, a bit nervous. She looked tired, perhaps because her Sari (Indian dress) carried a lot of gold. Pictures were taken with almost all the guests at the wedding, including us.

The food was delicious, although your's truly avoided the usual Indian dishes, and went directly for the very special Indian food (things I had never seen on my plate before), Chinese food, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and of course a piece of pizza.
A few hours later and a great experience later it was time to leave this dream.

We slowly went outside, over the red carpet, through the gates, and then suddenly we were outside again. The smell of garbage came back to our noses, the stray dogs were again seen patrolling their territory. In the corner a rickshaw driver was lying on his cycle rickshaw, trying to get some rest. Out of the fantasy, and back to reality.

Pushkar

2007-05-14T07:02:00.000+02:00

Already more than one week in the past, but let me give you a description of this little town.

Deep in Rajasthan, near a small lake, created by no one else but the gods themselves, lies Pushkar. It only has about 10,000 inhabitants, which is not that much. These 10,000 inhabitants are however focused on one thing; tourism. Or in other words; the money in your wallet.

It is a place were people force you to have a Pushkar-passport. This is a little red string of cloth that you have to bind around your right wrist, after going through some rituals at the lake. This of course involves paying the one that does the ritual, a nice amount of rupees, since this is of course a holy place where money makes the gods very, very pleased. I thought greed was something to detest, but these fake-priests really push you to the edge to do this ritual. Luckily I`m an experienced Jaipurian who knows how to say no, and how to keep it no. Then you also have the small child beggars, who get send out by their mothers every morning to get some money from the white-man's sympathy. I don`t mind them asking me for money. But sometimes they are so persistent, you really want to beat them off of you. Literally. Because they don`t mind holding your arm or pulling the sleeve of your shirt.

My tactic this weekend was to do the same thing to them. Ask them 1000 times for 50 rupees. Pull their sleeves aggressively and consistently. Ask them for biscuits. They get a confused and scared long on their face, and finally decide to leave this crazy tourist alone. It might sound a bit harsh, since they could actually be poor children, but why don`t they ask the Indian people in this town for money? Why is it always the white tourist that is being harassed? It smells fishy, and so I just walk on.

Of course there are also good things about the tourist doom-town of Pushkar. I really enjoyed sitting at the lake-side, drinking a nice mango-lassy, and just chilling. Then suddenly you notice a 60 year old hippy (Pushkar was a hippy-paradise a few decades ago) dancing around near the lake in some sort of a..purple..haze. It is really nice to see somebody so happy, floating around in space and time, near a lake, not worrying about his surroundings. Then again, it is also a bit sad, cause he was pretty much having fun on his own. Maybe he should have moved on. Later we also saw a young Italian girl visiting her (grand) father at this place. He was again completely Indianised with nice long white hair, and of course a beard in the same color. She, I guess, was happy to see her family again and talk to him.

Also nice the next day was the climbing of one of the hills in Pushkar, to have a perfect view of the sunrise. We got up at 4:30 to walk to the top of the hill, which was a pretty tough climb. around 5:30 we arrived there, and were able to witness the beautiful sunrise. After that we went back down. The girls went shopping (although they did not buy a lot) while me and another guy went relaxing at the hard rock cafe (which was playing Hindi music). For the first time in India I fell asleep at a cafe, and it was brilliant. Never did I feel so relaxed in India..and it happened in Pushkar. Although the city might be as tourist orientated as can be, it is still possible to find some peace here.

Laptop alive, Paul gives a high five

2007-05-08T06:44:00.000+02:00

Well, it seemed it was just my Li-ion battery that was blocking my whole system from starting up. I removed it by accident (was playing with the lock-mechanism), and decided to give me laptop another try. And there it went, past the initial screen, onto windows. Hooray!

I did not drink the special lassy by the way. Someone of our group tried it, but it had such a little effect on him that I decided to just skip it (it is no fun if it does not do anything fun). Pushkar in itself was a very nice and relaxing place, and certainly worth the visit. Even bought some more souvenirs. Slowly my collection is increasing, still need to buy a lot more though.

This weekend I am going to Bundi, if everything goes alright. It is a small city with a beautiful hillside palace. I`ll report about it when I come back.

Laptop fried, Paul cried

2007-05-07T10:34:00.000+02:00

Well..my laptop not exactly fried, it just isn`t starting up anymore. This basically means that I lost hunderds of pictures and 3 weeks of hard work. Initially I crashed when thinking about it, but now...Pictures are only snapshots, while the memory in my brain will remain. I`l just have to tell the stories, without the pictures. The three weeks of work is a major setback, since I only have 4 weeks left here. This means that I`ll have to work my ass off to make something of this report. I`ll try my best, but damn, why did this have to happen to me, now.

reasons for computer breakdown:

1) Yesterday there was a power cut while the laptop was plugged in. Some surge might have fried the harddisk. Strangely enough, the first thing that should be fried, the battery (the thing between your laptop and electricity-source) is still working. In fact, the whole screen even goes one. After that however there is a deadly silence. There does not seem to be communication between the rest of the computer and the hardisk. Power-cuts also happen a lot and all the time the laptop went nicely back on again after it. Good news of this option is...well..there is no good news..if it is fried it is lost.

2) Boot-sector failure. After the 100th sudden shut-down the harddisk said "f*ck-you* and decided not to boot anymore. Good news of this option is that I can just plug it in on another computer as a slave-disk and hope that I can retrieve the data. Bad news is that it might be hard to find te stuff I need for doing that in India. It's pretty unusual stuff.

3) CMOS battery empty. Although this should not be happening in general (since batteries should last for years), this is also an option. If this battery is empty then the communication between all the components of my laptop simply stops, which might explain why my harddrive is not working anymore. The good news is that when the battery is replaced by laptop will be working again. The bad news is it will not be working again untill I`m back in the Netherlands, since opening a laptop is something I don`t want to do by myself.

Greetings,

Paul

Killer mutant monkeys invading from Darjeeling!

2007-05-04T11:09:00.000+02:00

Aah! Today I`m going to Pushkar!
Hippie paradise since you cannot smoke drugs there but are allowed to drink them (and to expand your universe consequently). They call it bhang-lassy. I`m might try it, carefully of course. It is said to cause some hallucinations...wouldn`t be my first here in India since the burning sun and temperatures can make your brain boil easily.

Speaking about hallucinations, yesterday I again had to explain myself why I did not smoke soft-drugs while I`m at the festival-fields. Maybe that is because I just really hate smoking. Maybe I`m already with my head in the clouds enough without that stuff? Maybe I just don`t need it to have fun or to enjoy myself? Why do something when you don`t need or don`t have any desire for it? And why do you end up with the label "a bore" when you don`t smoke it? So cliche..just like the drug itself actually. A bit of a cheap thrill in my opinion….?

I don`t know..what I do know is that a good thrill is when you put up a song and can play every note perfectly together with it on your guitar, with perfect timing and no hick-ups. Or when you start improvising and actually end up with with quite a good little tune. You actually achieved something and feel great…sharp and fresh.

And now I hear you thinking: "but you are going to drink that Bhang-lassy, fool!". Well. It is actually strange to find such a completely legal drink at a place were drugs and alcohol are prohibited. It is unique to Pushkar, and I`ll only end up drinking it once. It does not kill my lungs should I get addicted to it. And not everybody has tasted it in the Netherlands, so it still has some originality-points to it. And so it basically it ends up to this: I take my own path and my own path is my own..and I don`t need to explain my unreasonable reasoning to you!

PSVuuuh Oleeh Oleeh!

2007-04-30T11:40:00.000+02:00

So the people from above the rivers must feel pretty much f*cked now. Good!
After the winterstop PSV started to stumble a bit, and started to loose its 13 point lead it had before the winter-stop. I was checking the nos soccerpaper online and last week saw that suddenly they were in third place. People were writing them off. I still believed in it. AZ are to arrogant to win a championship (I`m pointing at you van Gaal), and Ajax, Ajax always comes a few centimeters short from getting a victory in the last few years.

So everybody will say it is undeserved: They did not play the best few, they did not score the most goals, their style was not an attacking one..blahblahblah. The superior quality of the defensive line, the calculated passing from the midfield and the killer instinct up front make PSV a lot better than all the other teams in the Dutch division. AZ does not know what defending is while Ajax always tries to do it a little bit too fancy.

So I am in a great mood, and going to have a great time tonight!

Lessons learned in India

2007-04-27T09:39:00.000+02:00

Your stay in India can be so much more pleasant if you take a more relaxed stance towards things. Basically, by obtaining the relaxed mindset of an average Indian person you walk through daily life without the constant irritations. Just walk on. Don`t be too relaxed however, but also don`t be too harsh. Keep your guard up, but don`t let it be too strong. Negotiate friendly with a smile and most of the time you will get something very close to what you want. I noticed that saying the prices in Hindi always cracks their little nationalistic hearts…so sweet..hehehe. Oww..and always maintain your composure. It impresses them more when you stay calm under all circumstances, it earns you respect. Anger is a sign of weakness.

One flew from the...

2007-04-27T09:37:00.000+02:00

Let me tell you a story about a man. That man went to Bharatpur, a small city about 200 kilometers from Jaipur. There he went, all excited, to visit Keoladeo Birth Sanctuary. Before he went there he read all kinds of bad press that the place was dry, just a shadow of its former glory, and that it was not worth visiting anymore. All that was just a bunch of crap!

This place was magnificent, for several reasons. First of all there was nobody there, finally I was at a place that is supposed to be peaceful, and actually was peacefull to. I probably was one of the 4 or 5 foreigners visiting that place, and I really enjoyed it. Finally some rest in a weekend-trip, an escape from the busy city life that covers so many of the other tourist destinations. The second point that made this park great was the lack of motorised vehicles. God bless the authorities to keep these tin cans of noise and pollution out of a beautiful park. The last thing were I want to be when watching wildlife, is in a noisy and uncomfortable jeep packed with a pack of other tourists. This time I just rented a big. And no, there was no rickshaw-wallah driving it for me, I was using my own legs! Most of the Indians were probably pretty amazed to see a western tourist drive a bicycle with 43 degrees in the afternoon, but hey, maybe I`m not like that lazy bunch of “developed” people. Besides that, I like a bit of exercise, and the occasional “looking up of your physical borders”. And so I did. I saw wildlife, in silence, very close. I`ve seen jackals crossing the path, I`ve seen at least 4 different species of deer (all pretty impressive), I`ve seen ducks, peacocks, and a freight of small and big birds. And all from a close distance, and in peace. Although the park itself might be at a critical point in its time (the water level is kept at a acceptable level by using pumps), it was still a unique experience and one I won`t forget soon. This was day 1 of my stay. I stayed at a hotel called the Jungle Lodge. It was a nice place with an even nicer garden and hosts.

The next day I went back to mass-tourism in India: I went to Fatehpur Sikri. I took the bus, since I hate trains in India (too many people crammed in the sleeper department, no nice views, a lack of escape routes). Although the bus might be a bit less saver, and maybe a bit more uncomfortable thanks to the heat, I like it. I sitting with the Indian lower-middle class next to me, and just travelling through the country like they are doing. Fatehpur Sikri is a place were about 500 years ago, an eccentric Indian Sultan called Akbar, tried to set up his new capital. He did so succesfully, only to notice after a few years that the place was so dry that it could not sustain itself. It was thus abandoned. Like all thinks in India it must have layed in ruins for some time, untill a team of English archeolegists decided to restore it. And a nice job they did. The palace itself is a bit alienating if you have seen other structures in India. Hinduist architecture is mixed with European, Muslim and Budist styles, to create a whole new style for itself. It was a nice place to visit, although the tourist guides (touts) were quite annoying. “No sir, this building is very big and you will not see everything when you go alone. You will not know the story behind the building. And no sir, your book has a description maybe but it is not precise.” I just said that there is no story behind the building (got the arrogant laughing reaction; so predictable) and that I want to guide myself through it. Guides just rush through the whole structure, and I don`t like following them, I like to determine my own route and pace.

There was also a large Mosque-Palace complex, where I again felt very guilthy. A boy working for the place wanted to guide be through the complex, saying he was doing it for free, and I did not believe him. Eventually I let him guide me through the complex, with constantly the idea in the back of my mind that he would ask for rupees. I was a bit harsh on him all the time, just listening to him and not asking too many questions or showing too much interest. The place was beautiful and interesting though. At the end, he said:”Well sir, this is the end of the tour, thank you for visiting and have a good time”. No question about money, maybe he did expect it, but he did not push it. He was thus a true gentleman. Damn. My distrust against people surrounding tourist monuments made me so cold that I did not threat this boy (who was only practicing his English) nicely.

While my guitar gently weeps...

2007-04-20T08:33:00.000+02:00

...since she misses me so much, and I miss her even more. ;)
What I want to do with my guitar, where I want to be this summer, and what I want to see:

(Controllable noise at its best..I love this band)

Almost weekend..

2007-04-19T12:33:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow night I will go to a goodbye party (with lots of booze and Americans). Saturday morning I want to wake up at 5:00 am. Does it seem logical? Does it fit?
We`ll see. I know that I want to be on the bus to Bharatpur at 6:00am, to be arriving there at 10:30am. I`ll find my hotel around 11:30am. And go to the bird sanctuary around 1:00pm. I`ll probably be going alone by the way. The other guys in my house have to work on saturday, and most of the girls in the house just had a busy weekend and are looking for a rest. Not that I really mind though. I just want to escape from Jaipur for two days, and see how I will survive in the Indian wilderness on my own. You see..I`m probably going to travel three weeks by myself, so this is a good rehearsal. Including other people in my trip would also sabotage my style of travelling: No planning, no schedule, no reservations. I just want to go there and improvise, make it up along the way. If I feel like doing this, I want to do this, if I however feel like doing that, I will do that.

Today I also checked my bank-balance. It is doing ok. Still have to buy a big number of souvenirs though. Already made a list of things I could give to certain people, and also know where I will probably find the souvenirs. Instead of buying the cheap-touristic junk in the Pink-City, I`m going to aim for souvenirs with a bit more quality. These are of course a little bit more expensive, but still cheap as hell. Of course, I could buy the very cheap stuff, but it literally falls apart while you wear it. How often I have seen the ladies of the house with broken camel-leather slippers, and how often I have seen the tread and needle to fix clothes gone bad.

There is a man...

2007-04-16T17:32:00.000+02:00

There is a man in one of the streets close to our home. He owns a little shop. It is an electronics shop. He repairs all kinds of electronic equipment like radio's. He is a man of advanced age. He's got a bald head, about 55 years old. Is face is like that of that famous Italian soccer-referee, Collina. Every time I pass the shop he is sitting in front of his counter, looking at the people passing by. In front of him is a little self-made contraption. It has two lightbulbs in it. One is just a normal light-bulb, but the other is very deep red. The red lightbulb almost has the same shape as his head. It seems to be his billboard: "Come here if you have any issue regarding electronical stuff". And everyday I pass his shop, and everyday he is there. For how long has he been sitting there? I don`t know, one thing I do know is that I want to make a picture of him and his bulb.

Bye toilet, hello world!

2007-04-16T17:18:00.000+02:00

After spending more time on the toilet than ever before, I`m finally cured from my "buikgriep"..or Gastroenteritis in English.

Monday it started with a throat-ache and a heavy head. That night I had a dinner with two colleges, so I decided just to go. After the dinner, which felt very bad in my stomach, I collapsed mentally. My head was on fire, my stomach felt noxious, and I felt like I really needed some sleep. So I lay myself in bed 1,5 hours later. I`m sure that my head never felt so hot as it did then. It was glowing. The next morning I still had the fever, and a stomach going mad. Seems something had to leave my body. In the Netherlands everything would just go out in one go, but in India, in India, things take time, including the disposing food out of your body. Massive amounts of air, combined with little waste, were produced by my stomach...in the following days. Really..the sounds that I sometimes made..unbelievable.
From friday on the fever was gone, my stomach however needed another 3 days to get back to its normal self. Even now I occasionaly have small pains..but not so serious that I have to run to the toilet to decrease the (air) pressure.

All in all..I`m happy that my body made itself healthy again.

To be a tourist, or not to be a tourist?

2007-04-11T07:51:00.000+02:00

I`m facing an ethical dilemma..for the last two weekends.
Of course, I want to see sights in India..but do I want to go to the all too obvious major tourist sights..and cramp this sightseeing in a mere weekend?

The answer is a yes..maybe..no...maybe..yes..no..maybe.

I would love to go to Udiapur this weekend, but the train-trip takes 12 hours, this would mean that I have to leave at Friday night, would arrive at Saturday morning, would spend one night there, and would have to go back on Sunday-afternoon to be back in time to go to work on monday. Of course, I could skip work, but that would cut in my 3 free days a month supply. Maybe I should not care for my NGO or work so much, but damnit..I do. I care for my work, want to make it as good as possible, and want to follow the rules of the game that are stipulated out for me. And even if I stayed until monday afternoon..would it honour the place? I don`t want to run through the sights; running from monument to monument, and always having to check the time when the last train leaves. Besides that..on monday or tuesday I would be completely exhausted..and since my current state (fever, sore throat, headache) isn`t that good, it might not be the best thing to do.

And then again, what are sights? Another temple? Another palace? Another lake? Up till now, the things I have seen are nice..but do they make India? I think that life itself, and the people involved in it, in Jaipur and Shahabad, is what makes my stay in India special. Life in India is eating chapattis, playing real-life Frogger when crossing roads (I`m already at level 56 and still not game over!). It is negotiating with rickshaw-drivers over a mere 10 rupees. It is experiencing 25 degrees Celsius at an early morning in April. It is cricket everywhere..even in the streets of the Pink City Jaipur. It is seeing birds of prey flying right over your head while they are hunting for small birds or rats. It is enjoying a late night beer on the roof-terrace. It is seeing a 10-man marching band being cramped into a little rickshaw. It is experiencing the dozens of near crash situations while riding the state buses. It is seeing the house-servants being completely obsessed by strange India soap-operas. It is having a shower (or bath) with just a large bucket of water and a small bucket to poor it over you. It is having to flush your toilet manually. It is walking on the straight railway and seeing the light of the train in the distance. It is passing by enormous bulls when you walk along the street in your neighbourhood. It is hearing a spoiled cow moaning because she wants her food now, while she is crashing in into the gate of the house where she is normally fed. It is seeing a small squirrel challenging a much larger bird over its territory. It is getting some coconut peaces from some children and having a small cow sneakishly eat it from your left hand.

People sometimes tend to forget that normal life itself here is already very special by itself..it is the people you meet everyday that create the atmosphere and the character of a country named India. You don`t have to travel hundreds of kilometers to see it, you just have to step out of your door.

Of course..I would love to see some sights..but in general I am trying to avoid the bigger touristy places..because a moment of rest while on the streets is almost impossible there. And rest is what I need. I`m also actually planning to go to Udaipur in my three week trip..so maybe it is better for me to stay in Jaipur...or do something else.

So this weekend I might be going to Bharatpur (it all depends on how I feel)..it is a small city, about 4,5 hours by bus from Jaipur (much better than 10-12 hours!). It should have a nice fort..and a bird-sanctuary. The bird-sanctuary however suffered enormously thanks to horrible government policy (and bureaucratics) and is only a shadow of what it used to be. It`ll still be nice to see some other wildlife there..and I can actually drive around on a bike in the park. The place will at least not be that crowded..and hopefully peaceful. And it will again be a great lesson in how India's government is destroying the last few natural beauties that are left.

I also want to go to Bundi. Bundi is a town, about 5 hours from Jaipur by bus. According to my guide-book it is a beautiful and again peaceful place to visit..with a mountain castle and a very historic city centre. Maybe that is also one of the reasons why I am always in doubt about going to far away and bigger destinations; I am looking for rest and clean air..while bigger places often lack these two things.

Shahabad report

2007-04-11T07:45:00.000+02:00

At Shahabad I wrote some nice stories in the dark evenings and early mornings, here is a nice overview of them!

Day 1: Arrived with Martine at Shahabad for my three week stay. I’m hoping that I will get some work done in these three weeks, and I believe that the initial signs are good. The questions I have are good, ordered and rated. Since a lot of them are closed it will be no problem in my opinion to have a decently successful interview. Translation however will remain a major issue, and I’ll have to see if somebody can arrange it today.

Day 2: Here I am, 2 p.m.. waiting for the two people who can help me on my assignment. Don’t know where they are or what they are doing, so I am bored. In my opinion I finished all what I can do now, so there is nothing left. There is no computer free (and also no Acrobat Reader) which means that working on my introduction is also impossible.
Great.

Day 4: …And still no significant business done. Seem mr Tiwari was right; It is going to be difficult. Maybe I should see this as an ultimate test of “things take time in India”. I would love to start screaming and pounding on doors and walls to speed things up. But deep inside I know it would not make any difference and would only agitate the poor Indians who do not know any better. It is a clash of cultures…but still…
I would at least like to do something. Today we went to the FD office only to encounter a closed door: Nobody was home. Well…at least I had a relaxing ride on the back of a motorcycle. And so now it is 5 p.m. and the place is deserted. I kind of miss the people in Jaipur, but not yet seriously. I’ll now for sure that I’ll be hugging them a lot when I go back on the 10th of April (and that date IS fixed).
One thing that irritates me is the lack of English here. I thought that because it was an English colony, most educated Indians would speak a decent word of English. I was wrong. I have no idea why, but only 1 or 2 people here know a decent word of English. And so I constantly get it thrown at my feet that I do not know Hindi. Well…YOU DO NOT KNOW ENGLISH!. English is not my native language but still I managed to master it. Maybe it was just a wave of Indian Nationalism that destroyed English education…or maybe they are just too ***damn lazy. And yes..I know that Florine (a former trainee) knew Hindi, but I wonder how and when she learned the language. I am not Florine, I am Paul. somebody who knows that learning a language for 5 months is a pure waste of time (although temporarily rewarding), since 95% leaves your brain after two months back in your home country. If only this world would learn English…

Day 7:

The wind is blowing
The night is growing
The sun is falling
And the moon is calling
Waking up nights’ creatures
Who, with barely visible features
Are crawling towards you
And hide themselves in your shoe
So that, when you wake up in the morning
Your feet will soon be soaring
But don’t worry, the pain will go
Until the next morning or so…

Day 10:

I’m in the field, waiting for the forest department officers and some members of the Shahpuri FPC. Seems they went together to the field. And it seems that we are again left waiting. As usual.

Day 11:

Yesterday was the day I had my first interview with a member of a FPC, or any other forest related person. It was located at a forest rangers office near the village of Shahpur. We had to wait a long time, but finally the officials showed up and they brought in the locals, the people of the village of Shahpur, the Sahariya. So here I was sitting, the sun going down, against about 10 tribal people, together with my interpreter mr. Choudhary. It was getting darker and there was almost no light, but the interview was going good. We were sitting at the table, and it all went black. The answers and the atmosphere were good. I felt a bit lost as a foreigner, but again this was a very special experience…perhaps one in a life time. Beautiful and perfect that I’m in India…the 1.5 weeks of waiting are over..HOORAY!

The day of April the fifth

From Monday onwards it has been very busy. Village visits, 8 of them, in a relatively short time. I’ve been to small and large villages, nearby and distant, secluded and easy accessible. I’ve met people from the Sahariya and Bhill tribes, have been in their houses, and interviewed them. The people here are very friendly to foreigners. Although they probably don’t have enough money for anything, there has been no begging. The people are proud, strong and pure (What you see is what you get). Yesterday I was in some Sankalp villages where I interviewed women FPC members for the first time. One interview was even with a whole group of women. Without a loud man in sight they can be quite rowdy, despite their timid outward look. They have opinions about things and express them freely. I was also in a village of the Sahariya tribe and interviewed a man called Ramchid, very nice, but during the interview he looked messy and unorganised. When I asked him after the interview for a photograph, he asked my with a smile if his wife could be included in the picture, and he went back “to prepare” himself. Ten minutes later his hair was combed, he was wearing his best shirt, and he had his powerful looking wife beside him. A beautiful picture was the result. I also had a dinner with the local forest department Marshall. With him I discussed issues like the forests in the Netherlands, the landscape, and a bit about terrorism. He said that western people have a different vision, because they have not yet been close to it. A valid point. I am close to Afghanistan and Pakistan..very close. We drank some hard liquor and we had a very good non-veg dinner. A very good time indeed. Although it will of course not influence my reporting later…hehehe…

Greetings

Paul

April the 9th. My stay up till now.

What can I say? 2 months passed pretty quickly, although it feels like I have been here for ages. India is a country that makes you very, very tired. At the moment of typing this message I am sitting at my work with a splendid headache and a sore throat. No idea what I have got, but it could be a pay-back of my body to me, after yesterdays intensive hike to the monkey temple. Since I don`t like the rickshaws here, I decided to walk from Ajmeri gate, all the way to Galtha, a 2 hour walk. Along the way however I got stopped by no less than 3 indians who wanted to talk to me. One was an art student, one owned a medical shop and one worked at a jewelry manufacturer. Since I am pretty polite, I just went through the complete conversation and did not walk away halfway, or cut them off very suddenly. A 2 hours walk to the temple thus became a lot longer. At the temple I saw humans splashing in water, and monkeys doing exactly the same. Quite an amusing sight, and again you notice that monkeys and humans are alike. After enjoying the piece and quiet of the temple, and enjoying the view of monkeys swimming, I went back to the Pink City. Once there, I again was stopped twice by a person I met earlier that day, and some kind of guy that wanted to let me write a letter in dutch to a loved one in the Netherlands. And so I did write the dutch letter to him, and he wanted to do something in return: He brought me to “a very cheap” jewelry shop or manufacturer. In retrospect they were not that cheap, and even with my own untrained jewelry eyes I could still see that some were damaged and not worth a rupee. So I said politely that I was very tired (which I was) and that I was in no mood to buy anything today..I just wanted to go home. So they let me go, and I said goodbye to the man for whom I wrote the letter.

Strange weather in India..and a leaking roof

2007-03-13T10:34:00.000+01:00

Yesterday the roof of my penthouse was almost gone. I saw school dresses blowing in the air over Barkat Nagar. Two marble plates lifted of my roof and fell on the floor. Seems a little storm raged over our neigboorhood. Good news is that everything in my room is still pretty much ok; the roof is still at its place, only the layer on top of my roof has now become a little bit fragile. I`ve got only one leak, and even that one is in a corner where nothing important is present. It only almost touches my eletricity plugs. Today the strange weather continued..hail came falling from the Jaipur-skies! Almost feels like I am in the Netherlands.

Ah..and next week I`ll be going to Shahbad to start take some interviews with the local population. In total I`ve got about 50 questions..so I can ask them questions till they drop death..or just fall asleep.

Last sight-seeing in Jaipur before exploring Rajasthan! (?)

2007-03-11T12:25:00.000+01:00

YES!...

Yesterday I finished the last great landmarks of Jaipur so that I can now honistly say that this city has nothing really, really special anymore that I have not yet seen. Yesterday I went together with Mauro to the City Palace, the observatory, the tiger fort and the palace of the winds to go...sightseeing. The City Palace is the place were the current Raj of Jaipur is reciding. He is a kind of king of Rajasthan. His home is pretty impressive, and pretty big. Only part of it is however open to the public, and part of this part is open as a museum. So I have seen two gigantic silver mugs in which the king kept is water of the Ganges for when I went to ENgland. I have also seen the royal clothes, polo shirts, guns, paintings, carpets, books, elephant-carrages and a small miniature train of "the royal coach" (sorry dad, tried to take it but too many guards around me). It was pretty impressive, although I liked the palace of the winds more. Situated in the middle of the Pink City, this old but beautiful building once served the purpose as window for the Kings 300 wives. SInce they were not allowed to go outside the palace complex, but still wanted to see something of city life, the king built a house with a lot of windows. These look down on the busy streets of Jaipur..a pretty nice sight.

We also went to an observatory (where Mauro had to pay a 50 rupee fine because he was making pictures without a ticket that allowed him to take those pictures. All astronomical machines where pretty weird, and all of them served the purpose to determine the position of the stars and the heavenly bodies..and sometimes the time.

Finally we went up to the tiger fort to enjoy the sun set..and to get away from the hustle and noise of the pink city. It was a nice temperature, the sun went down slowly, and it was a great sight to see.

Ow yea, along the way I was almost but on the horns of a cow (I think it accidently moved its head like that to scare some flies), and Mauro got attacked by another (pregnant) cow. Seems the warm weather also makes these creatures a bit cranky some times.

An Indian wedding

2007-03-11T12:03:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday and Wednesday we went to a wedding, and not just any wedding, but a Rajasthani Wedding. I have been told that people all over India come to Rajasthan to see these weddings, and to enjoy them. I was thus very happy to be invited to one by Sunny, an aiesec trainee from India. Besides me, many other people from my house were invited, so I was luckily not the only foreigner at the party.

The first day was especially a womens day, where different women from the family showed their dancing skills on the center stage. Some of them were actually pretty good dancers, and so it was fun to watch. A bit later in the show however we, the foreigners, were invited to the stage. And so we went up on the stage, and started dancing on one strange Hindi song..and Shakira. Luckily I stood a bit at the back, so that I wasn`t to prominent on all the camera's that were pointed at us. Afterwards we had some great food, what it was exactly I don`t know, but it was a great variation of tastes. You had everything on your plate: something sweet, salty, sour, bitter, gentle, soft, hard, spicy, fresh, strong..and on and on. It was thus a great time for the thong to taste all those different flavours!

Around 22:00-22:30 the party of day one was over, and we went back home.

On the second day the big party started around 20:00, and we arrived a bit late at 21:00 (something that was almost impossible to avoid, since I went with 4 ladies). We already missed a bit of the ceremony, but we were on time to see the bride and the groom sitting ready for a sh*tload of wedding pictures. They were both beautifully dressed in traditional Rajasthani dresses, decorated with everything that shines and looks expensive. Pretty soon we could again start eating our dinner their, and this time it was even more expansive. About 30 to 40 different dishes were waiting for us to taste. Too much to taste them all thus. The indian hostes after that again forced us to dance, especially Eveline who the night before amazed the crowd by dancing the Indian way on the centre stage, without any serious practice. The day after she already had some young (and very old) fans, and soon she was again "forced" to dance (not really forced, cause she loves to do it). The rest of us soon had to join in on the small disco-floor...and again Shakira was played.

After all this dancing it was already getting a bit late (22:30), and the place was slowly streaming empty. We thus also went, but not before we had to search about 1 hour to find transportation home. Life in India takes place between different times than in the Netherlands...

Holi

2007-03-11T11:46:00.000+01:00

Well..

what to say about holi?

It is the color festival, and I think it celibrates the coming of spring, and hopefully a good future harvest. People walk and drive along the streets, carrying bags with colored-powder in them. Anyone passing gets painted with the color, sometimes gently, sometimes pretty rough. And so after a few blocks of walking, you end up being completely colored. I ended up with three layers of watercolor on my face, with a load of powders on the rest of my body and with a few stains that will never get out of my just bought white shirt (bought especially for holi).

We went together in a big group of about 15 people, and along the way on the streets we met a lot of Indian..drunken..people. Note that it was only 14:00, and then you know that this was a crazy party. The ladies in our group even got more color than the men, cause the drunken Indians use this festival as an opportunity to finally touch the women (In normal life they are not allowed to, except for their wife of course). Thanks to the colors you can even see that they were touched on inappropriate places (although they sometimes did that to themselves to).

Later that night we were brought to a small courtyard of a school by Mr Singh (the husband of the landlady), where a giant stack of hay was being burned in some kind of Hindu ritual. Since any small open fire is prohibited in the netherlands, seeing this big fire was pretty amazing. Especially since it was in the middle of a school-courtyard with children running around it, hehe.

All in all..holi was another great weekend in Jaipur..

And a little recent update

2007-03-02T17:06:00.000+01:00

Hello!

Last week was the first week after the one week field-trip. I`m almost at one month in India now, and the good news is that time is flying here (which means that I`m having a great time).

The sad news is that I am the only guy in the house right now. I hear some of you thinking now: "What is he complaining about, he is surounded by beautiful women"

Yes..I am surrounded by beautifull women, but beautiful women don't drink alcohol and they talk a lot about men and clothes and jewelry and haircolors..which..really..does not interest me. In short..I need somebody to talk about soccer..beer..euh..rock-music and electric guitars. About 3 days ago I still had one of those people in my house with whom I could talk about that. But he, Ahmed (Afghanistan, but living in the Netherlands, great guy) left for Amsterdam. So now I`m the one representing the male-race in our house. Maybe I just have to get used to that role :D

Ah..and this weekend is holi! The color festival where all hindus will throw with colored powders, water and paint to everything that moves. So I already bought myself a very cheap (80 euro cents(!!!) but nice) white t-shirt to start the fight.

will post a message afterwards!

Bye!

Finally, the field-trip post!!

2007-03-02T17:00:00.000+01:00

Tuesday was up till now the longest trips I have made. About 350 km seperates Jaipur and the local office in Shahbad. It is not so much an office, but more a campus. On the way to this place I got a taste on how big India really is. I’m still in the state of Rajasthan, even after a trip of 11 hours. What I`ve seen along the way is simply amazing. Farmland, barren land, small secluded villages, buffalos, cows, dogs, pigs, camels and especially a lot of surprised faces when they saw my face passing them by. “Wow, a white man, what the hell is he doing here?”. We arrived around 21:30 and when I stepped out of the bumpy city bus and looked up, I saw something beautiful. I`ve never seen so many starts in my life. High concentrations of them almost seem to looks like nebulas. For a sf-fan like me an amazing sight. The dorm-room was ok, and I had a relatively good night. I`ve got an own toilet (Although it does not flush authomatically). This morning they started to wake people up at 6am. Seems Cecoedecon, my ngo, has set-up a campus/school for tribal-girls, who fell out of the government-eductional-system. Those girls were just singing a moment ago in the courtyard. A great sound to wake up with.

The next day…..

Well, we’re on the second day now and up till now these place really suites me. I`ll defeinitely would like to return here, especially after my friends in Jaipur have left. It is a nice compound. It houses a school for girls, a training office, an official office and a sleeping quarters with appropriate sanitation.
The first day we went to 3 villages.
The first one was pretty smalle and very, very dry. Immediately the local kids went to the car to see who was in there: A pink-skin? We were there to inspect the activities of my company, and to inspect the local forest protection committee. Seems there were two in this village. There seem to be so many people in the village who wanted to become a member, that the forest department (the government) decided to make two of them. Both are now defunct. Woohoo!

The next village was a bit larger, and a larger crowed soon gathered around us. A lot of faces were staring at me as we entered a building and sat on some improvised beds. At the moment of writing this sentence I`m getting some comments on me being a left-handed writer. Continuing with the story, my unit head, Dr. Tiwari, held a speech and he asked me to ask some basic questions to the local population. Is there a forest protection committee here? No? Why not? Ah yes..no forest (anymore). After that visit we went to visit a farm of a local farmer, who with the help of my NGO, created a pretty nice place for himself.

The farmer himself was also a pretty nice character; All dressed in white, a little beard, getting grey hair here and there and best of all, I was wearing some sunglases that looked like those old airplane-pilot glasses from World war II. A pretty funny character, but a good guy. I noticed that although the people living in the country might have a bit more primitive excistence, there is something in their faces that most city-folk miss – honesty and pureness. Especially at the village of the scheduled tribe (formerly known simply as dalits, or untouchables by indians) I noticed that what you see is what you get. These people don`t have any secrets that they keep from you. My boss, mr. Tiwari called them “simple folk” at one point..while I was more thinking about honest and pure. Not yet spoiled by the smell of money and the ambition of getting more, more and even more of it.

The next day we went to visit the local forest department office. It was pretty small, with some old guards standing out in front of it. While we were waiting in the office for the local leader to arrive, I did not expect it to be a woman. But there she came, speaking perfect english and nicely dressed. I wonder if she was forced into this job, as a kind of side-step to climb the governmental job-ladder. Running a regional forest department office in the middle of nowhere in rajasthan did not seem such an exciting job for any person, especially for a woman who still seemed to be pretty young. The meeting was nice though, and she explained me some things in general, and I again asked some initial questions. After this we went to one of the forest enclosures, or parks, where the forest is being protected from grazing cattle and wood-chopping humans. It was a very nice place, late in the afternoon, and we talking a bit with the two men who guard the area. They do this by circleing the 50ha area with their bikes, keeping the people and cattle on the other side of the 1.20m high stone wall.

All in all these 3 days where a very interesting experience, and I certainly will go back in the near future. But first I have to wave goodbye to some friends I made in my first weeks in Jaipur.

1 week and counting

2007-02-12T16:34:00.000+01:00

Already one week gone..and what did I do in my first long weekend? I drank..and drank some more. We had 2 goodbye parties for one south-african guy..Seth..a really good guy. We drank some whiskey and rum, and had some fun, and listened for the biggest part of the evening to my music (I was the DJ!). Some other people went to Jodhpur, to see one of the sights I also have on my wish list. First I felt a bit insulted because they didn`t mind to ask me if I wanted to tag along..later..I was actually happy. They left saturday night and came back sunday night. The trip there and back again took 12 hours. They were in the city for maybe 8 hours? Not worth it in my honest opinion. I`d rather take some more time to see sights like those; If there is one thing I hate, it is running through sights.

My job at the moment is still a big question. I`m in doubt which project to take..currently I`m in child and development, working together with Gina. But somehow..communication is just very difficult, and nothing feels really right. My working-methods are just a lot different from hers I guess, and today I had a gigantic problem just to understand where and what she was doing. Our supervisor of the child and development program didn't..but then again I wonder if she really cares about anything anyway. So I`m thinking about moving to natural resource management, there was a nice project there which had a bit more connections with economics. Of course..I`ll have to work alone again..but maybe it is for the best..I can do it at my own speed, with my own line of thinking and reasoning..that might work-out a lot better. Only problem with that project is that I would have to go to a forest for three weeks to study forest management at the spot. Its a bit long..but then again..it would be a great adventure.

Greetings

Paul

After the first night...

2007-02-04T11:06:00.000+01:00

I slept like a rose, stone..or any other object that stands for a good and long night of sleep. It has been mre than 24:00 hours now since I entered the country, and I think my level of expectations where correct: Having no expectations at all. I think it is a country which you really have to enter with an open mind, and where you just have to let things come at you..slowly.

I`ve got a beautiful room, in sort of a ched on the top of the house. I don`t know if it is water-proof, but the great view when you step out of the room is simply brilliant. So I got up today, and the first thing I did was sitting on top of the roof with the sun shining in my face. Also a nice thing is that the railroads are just next to the house, and the trains always loudly announce their pressence. They are not so pretty diesel-trains, but I`ll make sure to take some pictures for the train-lovers out there.

The people in the house (7 others) are all very nice. Although the names are not yet completely in my mind, it always takes a week or 2 for them to settle in my long-run memory and stay there for the rest of my life. 3 guys and 5 ladies by the way.

I`m also going to try to buy a guitar here, an acoustic one. From my first impression I should be able to get one for maybe around 20 euro's...although I haven`t seen a shop yet. It`ll probably be my first try at aggressive india-style bargaining :D.

I`ll post some pictures one of these days on my msn space, so check that place out.

Greetings

Paul

ps: Good luck to my cousin and of course the little baby!

Nerves!

2007-01-23T07:43:00.000+01:00

As an update to the last post: Everything is arranged, the only thing I need to do is to buy a new toothbrush, and get some stuff for my lenses. That's about it.

And I`m probably going to try to learn to read some Hindi before I leave. One website teaching it said it was an easy language to learn, and they even gave instructions. Hope this would enable me to read and order some food (Not knowing of course what I have ordered). Next I noticed that the 3 other free trainee spots at my NGO employee have been taken, 2 by other dutchies, 1 by someone from Columbia. This kind of his a positive vote for my choice to work at this company; If those three people choose it, I can`t be wrong, can I? All in all it seems to become one big happy dutch colony again, just like in Korea. My mother-language will maintain its average quality thanks to this I guess.

Anything else? Well..I bought 7 records last weekend; Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Winter, The Doobie Brothers, Neil Young, Het Goede Doel, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and another one. This makes my collection go past the 60 mark. I`ve got almost more records than cds now, within maybe a year of starting to buy them. And since the prices are 1 cd for 10 records, I`m a happy man to keep expanding my music collection in this way.

Two weeks left till Paul will be no more (in Holland)

2007-01-21T21:24:00.000+01:00

Two weeks left untill..
Two weeks left untill I will go to India, Jaipur. I`ll be working there for 18 weeks at a NGO called Cecoedecon. At this moment I only planned in 2 weeks for travelling. It might be a bit short, but since the monsoon will be haunting the south of India during June..it won`t be so great to go there. Besides the 100% humidity (which sucks; I experienced it in Seoul for 1 week and suddenly I wanted to be anywhere but in Seoul) I also learned it is better to make choices and just find a destination that is unique and special. Jaipur is also close to some of the biggest tourist destinations in India, so weekend-trips will hopefully cover those.

Besides having to arrange everything, there is also another thing that worries me. I found a waarbenjij.nu site of somebody who did the same traineeship as me..but she decided to quit in one week! Maybe it was a culture shock...maybe she broke the rule that you should create no expectations at all of your traineeship..and just go in there with an open mind..and trying to make the best of it.

Ah well, I`m confident that it`ll be a great experience..whatever happens.

The consequences of being 22.

2006-10-04T23:56:00.000+02:00

1) I bought myself a Canon Powershot A530 and went to the Zoo to test it. This friday I`ll go to Amsterdam to test it more.

2) I`m getting more fascinated with lps and bought 5 last sunday. One of them is Lou Reed's "Street Hassle". It's a great record. I also bought a record from Ry Cooder. You know, that guy behind the Bueno Vista Social Club. It has a very strange cover, but the music within is interesting to say the least.

3) You feel a year older.

Super Size Me?

2006-09-18T02:43:00.000+02:00

After seeing the documentary "Super Size Me" today, I again realized that ethics in companies is a questionable thing. In its heart, a company will always stay a profit making machine guided by the wishes of the shareholders. Marketing is the tool which companies use to cover up for some of their more dubious activities.

That guys experiment of eating mcdonalds food for one month was more fun to watch than I intitially expected. I imagined I would see him puke a lot of times in those 90 minutes, but the count stopped at one time. The first time he tackled the super-size meal. It turned out to be a real documentairy with a lot of information about how the fast food chain makes itself an important part of a lot peoples lives.

The best point in the documentairy was that Fast Food companies do not focus on what they feed you, but on the money they can make from giving you what you think you need. The main cause for this is again the modern society. These days people simply don`t have the time, skills or energy to make their own food. So they go for the easy fastfood.

So after seeing this documentairy I decided to start an experiment for my own. I will not eat any fast-food or any other food that is not prepared or made at home. The last time I went to a fast food restaurant was ages ago (more than 6 months ago), but still, those fries, pizza and chinese each week do count to the easy-to-get-food category. Problem is that I will have to make my own food on those days, but I`m sure my mind will help me with that ;). In combination with a bit more cycling (bike has been repaired since a week, after 4 months of being unusable) its of to the healthier path for me..hehe.

Oww, and the Sopranos is a great series. I`ve seen the first two episodes and its great! Poor Tony...running two "family business'" at the same time..

September!

2006-09-16T02:09:00.000+02:00

September always has been a special month for this family. Three birthdays in 4 weeks explains it all. My birthday is the last in the line and will be on the 23th of September. 22 will be my age. Graduating is probably one of the first major things I will do while being 22. Even birthdays are by the way a lot more fun than odd years. How was life when I was 1? Horrible, all those bottles of milk and feeding at strict times. When I was 3 I had my first day at school. So you can imagine why that must have been a horrible year. When I was 5 I entered group 3 (of 8) of primary school, and I remember having a horrible teacher for whom I was afraid. When I was 6 however I had the best teacher ever (the husband of the teacher in group 3). I remember being 15 was a real pain in the ass, and 16 was a whole lot better. Then came 17..which is not yet being 18, which also sucks. Then 19. Who wants to be 19? 19 is the last year of being a teenager and so it is a horrible age to be since you will be constantly reminded of the fact that 20 is waiting around the corner. I would rather stay 18. 20 was my age when I made my first cross-continental trip, so that year was perfect. 21 up till now has been a very slow year. I planned a lot of things to do, but only ended up concentrating on one: My final thesis. I'll be glad when I reach 22, get that precious piece of paper and do what I really wanted to do while I was 21. To move..develop..change...to do something.

Elvis and Neil's Band.

2006-09-15T17:40:00.000+02:00

Lately I`ve been buying classic vynil records for one or two euro a piece. Three of my best buys are Elvis Costello's "This year's model", The Band's "Music of the big pink" and Neil Young's "Zuma"

I stumbled over This year's model when I was looking in a not so promising collection of albums and somebodies stand. Although it was a bit worn, I still decided to buy it because you don`t see Elvis Costello records at markets where mostly junk is sold. The good records are often left home, or already grabbed away by collecters. Since the only song I knew from Elvis was "She", the sounds of this record came as a complete surprise for me. Each song is short, but very, very sweet. Side A is especially great..no weak or boring song there. I especially like Pump it Up; It is fast, catchy, and a feet-mover. It is a positive up-temp album with a few perfect pop-songs on it. Some of the single-producers of these days should listen to this album.

Neil Young's Zuma is maybe one of the less famous albums of Neil, but that does not mean it is a lesser album compared to others. I bought it because "Cortez the Killer" is on this album, which in my opinion is one of Neil's best songs together with Crazy Horse. The song starts with an instrumental intro of almost 3 minutes. Slow and heavy Neil and the band start this song with a typical "solo" of Neil, putting you back a few hunderd of years when Cortez invaded south america. The band just moves on and on in the same steady tempo while Neil sings and plays his guitar with a lot of emotion. Stupid Girl is also a nice little song, with Neil singing in a very unusual low voice. Danger Bird is another song in the style of Cortez the Killer. And the other songs..well..actually I failed to find any weak song on this album. A great album.

The Band's Music of the big pink is probably the best of the three. Also the oldest. Dating from 1968 it dates back from the period when the beatles released "Seargent Pepper". In general, all songs are great with their multiple vocals (all with a lot of character) and instrumental diversity. My favorite song is Chest Fever. Its grande opening with the organ really shows the beauty and power of the instrument. Then the organ settles and starts to play the main rythm: papaa, paapaaa. Again Rick (bass) and Levon (drums) do the vocals perfectly and the tempo changes really make this a great song to listen too. Also Robbertsons guitar play has to be admired. Instead of filling each song with chords and endless solos he plays in between the bass, drums, piana, organ. He fills the gaps with his guitar, instead of really letting the guitar dominate the whole music. Something you hear a lot in todays music. Everybody knows The Weight, a classic song, but other personal favorites of mine on this album are Tears of rage, To kingdom come and this wheel's on fire.

Daily Show...

2006-09-15T03:59:00.000+02:00

If there is one thing which I really miss in the Netherlands, it is the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. CNN europe only airs a compilation episode once a week. And it just isn`t enough. So I search youtube for clips. Some of those old clips really break me up, and make me laugh in a way I haven't done in a long time when watching dutch television. Here we also have enough satire on television, but in my opinion its a little bit dull and uninteresting. We have a program called "Koefnoen" here where a number of people impersenate famous dutch people. Sadly, the impersenations are in 90% of the cases highly annoying instead of funny. Some goes for other programs. "Kopspijkers" used to be very funny about 4 years ago, but has lost its edge through the years. Then we also have a program based on "..And this was the news" where a number of people make funny comments about last weeks news in a game-setting. Boring jokes, boring people, who writes their lines?

Nah, just give me Jon Stewart. On dutch television please. And no, I don`t want a dutch version of the show with a dutch presenter, because Jon Stewart and his team are what makes the daily show so funny.

Besides, a regular airing of the show would perhaps change the view of the dutch on the americans. That not all are so idiotic as Bush and his administration. That there might still be hope for the most powerful nation in the world.

An example:

Pinkpop 2006 report and more..

2006-07-03T02:23:00.000+02:00

Yes, it HAS been a long time.
The reason was pretty simple: I was busy inserting data for my thesis. I had 36 catagories to fill in, and each took me at minimal 5 hours. So it took me almost a month to finish it. Now it's finished, and now I can finally give you a nice overview of me great visit of Pinkpop 2006!

It all started on friday night, when I traditionaly started to pack my bagpack with
the necessary stuff to survive for three days in a tent. So in general some clean underwear, noodles and of course toiletpaper.

Saturday morning I got up at 5:00am to go to my cousin's girlfriend's place, becuase that would be the meeting-place for the whole group. We were with a lot of people
compared to Lowlands last year..which really was nice: the more people, the more fun.

So we were already standing in line at the camping-place at 6:30. There are several terrains where you can put your tent, and this would be my first year
on camping A. This camping is a lot closer to the festival terrain..and for such lazy people as myself..this was also pretty nice :)

After putting up my tent (which took an awfull long time to do properly; I forgot to "connect" the outer-tent with the fraime..which made the outer-tent move completely out of position when I put in the..euh..those sticks..hehe), I finally went to the festival terrain to enjoy some good music. And what did I see?

Saturday: The Dresden Dolls - Good performance, great band. Only bad thing was that they were playing on the main stage..as the opening act. They should have played it the tent though..late in the evening! The drummer was drumming very tight..and she was also singing very nicely. Coin-operated boy was especially a great song.

Nelly Furtado - Not bad..but the songs missed the rich sound they have on the cd. She also had an extra dancer..just for dancing..pretty annoying and not really necessary?

Alize - Dutch funk band. Not original..but what they did..they did well. Was under the impression that the singer had a bit of stagefright.

Paul Weller - A legend so it seems..since he played in an old band called The Jam. During the performance I found out that I knew two songs of him. He was clearly having fun in performing, and when the band is having fun..the public also has fun.

Admiral Freebee - belguim neil young. Thanks to a very tight rythm-section (bass and drums), Tom van Laere (the lead singer), only neede to repeat one key to bring the public into extacy. I heard a bit of a rocking Neil Young in his music..and I like a rocking Neil Young..so I loved this performance. Be sure to get "Einstein Brain" or "Bad Year for Rock'n'Roll".

Sunday:

The Zutons. A british band with a twist: They have a female sax-player. I liked the sounds of this bands debute album from 2002 or something..and I was glad to see them live now. It's just a fun little band that makes swingin` music. Pressure point was in my opinion the best song of the set. The sound in general was also good and I really enjoyed their performance..(and the sax-player ;))

Danko Jones - Again a highlight. Straight-forward rock without any bitching or moaning. Danko was in great shape at the mini-stage (had he called it), and I wonder of anybody at the mainstage could here us scream when Danko ordered is to do it (to let those people now what they were missing out on). The audience was great and he again made some funny comments. I`ve got his album We Sweat Blood..which is great..but the songs from his latest album are a bit too weak...and soft.

Tool. Never ever had I listened to any of there music and I only new them by reputation. Every reason to go in the left-front space at the mainstage to see this band performing from close-by. This was definitly the best performance on Pinkpop 2006. Since this was the first time I was listening to Tool for longer than five minutes, I was pleasantly surprised by the changes in temp and the complex drumming. Keenan was an impressive appearance, although he was standing at the background. Which was actually nice, because now the bass and guitar player were at the center of attention.

Monday

(It was very..very..very..busy this day..and my face also had a very nice sunbrun. Most of my time I was thus standing at the John Peel stage (a tent). Which wasn`t too bad because the best bands were coming there anyway.)

Living Things - Nice rock. If Mike Jagger would die now, the Stones would have a perfect (identical) replacement in the singer of this band. He looked like, sang like and moved like Sir Dagger. Some songs even looked a lot like the songs of the Stones. Not very original, but still a good performance.

Jamie Lidell Band - Creative, very creative. Was playing with his sampler which somehow resulted in a few beautiful songs. Also the drummer (who sometimes missed the beat) and the pianist (nice gloves) were in good shape. Jamie also has a great voice. I think this person can become pretty big and will whipe of the Cullums and Coldplays from the stage.

The Flaming Lips - Lead singer already checked out the stage for posibilities before Jamie Lidells set. This band knows how to give a good musical, as well a visual performance. Seeing the Flaming lips is not only listening, it truly is an experience. Only those big yellow balls started to irritate me, especially after I got a fist of my completely-stoned British neigbour in my face a few times when she was trying to hit it. But you cannot be angry on her for long with such beautiful music. Race for the prize is my favorite. Best opening song ever.

Red Hot Chili Peppers
two seperate reviews here..one for the

Security - What an assholes. Keeping the gate closed of the left-front space, and claiming for half an hour that the space is completely full. Which was a lie. This certainly didn`t stop the people from pushing. At a certain moment they actually started to pull people away from the back..and so the atmosphere was pretty negative. If they just opened the gate after the last act had finished, there would not have been any problems.

Performance - I was standing in line for an hour, got removed by the security, got back in a decimated line after 5 minutes and got a brilliant spot to see the band (cos the gates did open).

The performance as good, but below expectations. Personally, I would like to have heard some more older and harder numbers. When they played these old songs the crowd wnet wild (woohoo)..but most of the time the played the newer..slower material (boeh!).

Still...at least I can say I`ve seen the Peppers. And I even got a nice picture to prove it (will be posted later).

The rest..well..nothing was stolen from me..Wallace & Grommit and the curse of the WereRabbit was a great film..and the company around me was also great.

Now waiting patiently for the Eagles of Death Metal in the Effenaar at the end of August..

Rejected!

2006-05-29T03:15:00.000+02:00

Wow, it has been a long time since my last post.
I`m a bit busy lately with (school) work and all so the first thing that has to pay is this :)

Last week I had a pretty bad first time experience: I`ve been rejected.
No..no..exclude love..I`ve already (been) rejected a lot there, but more from a proffesional point of view conecerning my life after university.

I decided to apply for an international internship at Aiesec (www.aiesec.net), to gain some work experience and see something more of Asia. I already had this planned in my mind in January, so you can imagine I was really looking forward to it. But I forgot about the application procedures. In their introduction/information presentation they made it all sound so easy: You apply, we check if you are ok, and you can start searching. But things seemed to be a bit more strict..at least in my case. I had an interview, my first interview ever, and it went pretty good. We had a nice conversation and they got to know me better. It was actually going so smooth, that I didn`t really feel very nervous..I felt at ease. So after the interview I had to wait for the call for if I was selected or not. That call came four days later and sadly..it started with "I`m sorry to inform you that..". She asked if wanted any feedback, and of course I said yes.

So I got to here that I was not motivated enough (why did I apply then?) and that I was not the type of student they were looking for, and that they were looking for somebody who know what he or she wants (got me there; but can`t an internship serve as an orientation?)..and that searching for an internship for me would be a very long..long process that might and up in failure (great..hunderds if not thousands of internships and I don`t fit in any of them? And why not prepared to put in a little effort?)..

So as you might guess I was and still am (a little bit)..sad that I didn`t get selected..or was given the opportunity to. But I still yearn for some travelling (in combination with work-experience). So what now? Aiesec was the most clear-cut option, studying in a foreign country was just to expensive (tuition).

So I`m kept wandering and drifting..where will I end?

Can't get this pressure point out of my head!

2006-05-07T04:13:00.000+02:00

Well..its 4am and I`m still up

So a short story about what I did today.
Today I went to Luxembourg (a small country between France and Belgium and Germany)to pay my last respects to a dear friend of my parents and me, who died last year during my stay in Korea. We went together with a nice group of about 10 people, including of course the wife who lost her husband. It was a beautiful day this saturday and the country itself was again, as always, a very peacefull place. The ashes were burried at a very serene location, and all in all it was a very pleasant experience.

It was like saying farewell to a friend, husband, brother, uncle who is and will be really missed. But life as always moves on.

And so this week is going to be a very nervous week. I`ll be working on my thesis, applying for an international internship and finally booking my flight to the basque country to visit a good friend of mine. Besides this I also really want to start picking up my bike again because I really need to get back into shape. And perhaps I will go to the hair-dressers'..big turning point in life is coming up (hopefully..I prefer change over stagnation)..and a fresh haircut fits perfectly with that.

Greetings

Paul

A new blog, a new blogger..

2006-05-06T00:18:00.000+02:00

hi!

after blogs at msn and myspace I decided to go for this one finally.

Why?

Because I read, see and hear a lot of things around.
A blog would seem to be the perfect place to keep people informed about what I do and how things are going.

Besides this, I also love to write..and hopefully this already reflects in some of the old posts I`ve posted. They are taken from an archive from my msn blog which kind of died in this year.

Hopefully this blog will stay alive for a long, long time.

Greetings

Paul

Archive: October 2005, Stories from Korea III

2006-05-05T23:41:00.000+02:00

Arriving at Ulleung-do..

I went to the tourist information boot.
And without saying anything, the girl behind the counter pointed and said something about a sign below the counter: "free english guide". Although that was actually the last thing I wanted...a guide, I decided to wait for the guy since she already called him.

After 30 minutes he arrived, my tour guide for ulleung-do. I kind off forgot his name but I still have his business card somewhere so when I find it I will place it here. He introduced himself in perfect English and told me that he was born in korea, moved to the U.S., and came back to Korea again about 15 years ago. He settled on this island like a kind of tourist guide because it was such a quiet and distant place where living had a different pace than in the heavily overpopulated city of Seoul. He also told me that his house was already distroyed a number of times due to typhoons that hit the island often. His old home was located next to the sea, so as soon as the waves were getting a bit to high he could collect the scraps of his home.

We went out and already found a place to stay relatively quickly, for 30000 won a night I had a room with a view out to the ocean, a beautifull 2 person bed, a television, a shower and a toilet. Of course, it wasn`t the cheapest place, but before I went on my trip I decided that money wouldn`t be a constraint (untill a certain level). I was here to give myself a treat and that was just what I did. Later we had dinner and we decided to meet later that evening to get me a boat-tour of the island and a short walk along the coast.

The boat tour was pretty nice...although very noisy since the speaker on the boat was playing the ullueng-do song,,very, very,very loud. If it wasn`t the speaker annoying me it was the people feeding the sea-gulls chips. All in all it was a noisy tour on a boat cramped with tourists, just the thing I tried to avoid.

I also tried to avoid my tourguide a bit, but this was very difficult. Every person on the island seem to inform him about my position, and being the only non-korean tourist on the island also didn`t really help.
But eventually I gave up the stuburn attitude of: I WANT TO BE MY OWN GUIDE!, and let him guide me for some days of my stay.

The best day I remembered was a trip to a city where he had some children that he was tutoring. The village was a small fishing village with maybe a hunderd inhabitants. We went to a small house were we met one of the mothers of the children. He made sure to show me all the children I tutored (all girls) and I was pretty impressed. He told me that the children of this island had a different attitude than the ones from the city, and were a lot kinder and nicer too. He sent me out with them to give me a tour of the coastline. I got instructions to test their english ability..but like all korean children..it was very hard to get anything out of them (they were shy :)). We climbed some rocks, and again I noticed that they were a lot more agile than a 20 year old dutchmen. While they were jumping (without fear) from rock to rock, I was pretty afraid of slipping and breaking something. They brought me to a large space of relatively flat rock where they started to hunt for small crabs. I joined in the game and was actually enjoying myself. Here I am..on a small island in the middle of the sea..with some korean girls..hunting for small crabs. While playing the game there was actually some non-verbal interaction between me and the girls :)...they were..like most of the people i saw on the island..very beautifull, naturall, free and also very nice. Later we went back to their house and I met his oldest student who was about 16 years old. Her mother was pushing here to speak some english, and finally, after a few minutes..I heard some words..

What did I have for dinner on the island???...well..i`ve had a soup with a whole chicken in it, stuffed with rise. First you ate the chicken, then the rice, and then the soup. It was delicious. But the best thing I had was the squid-bulgogi. It was pretty spicy but the squid...it was heavenly tender and juicy...yumyum..probably the best meal I had ever (sorry mom and dad and microwave)

Other things I did their was climbing the highest top of the island, about 1000 meters. The day I decided to do it it was about 30 degrees celcius with a very high humidity. I made sure to have enough water on me, but if it wasn`t for the old lady sitting halfway up the mountain with some water and tea, I would have never made it. She was very nice and pretty surprised to see a white person climbing a mountain like this on such a warm and humid day. She offered me some more water and wished me good luck to the top. The landscape was just beautifull (as you can see from the pictures), the climb however was hard. When I came to the top my t-shirt was soaked with sweat. I actually took it off on the top and let it dry for a while. I enjoyed the beautifull view ib the top: Green hills whereever you looked and no sound except the a weak wind blowing through the leafs.

After a while I decided to go down and on my way I met some Korean climbers who saw my exhausted face and offered me some chocolates and..you can already guess it...soju. As always they were pretty amazed at the drinking skills of a westerner...hehe. Guus Hiddink got mentioned again and i got another shot of soju. With the sun shining on your head and a pretty high temperature I must say that those two shots hit pretty hard. Stumbling on my way down I again past the place were the old lady was sitting, and this time she offered me some tea and I bought some Pocari Sweat.

I went further down the mountain untill I eventually saw my village again and made a picture of it..
Than I finally came back and it was not long before I got a call from my guide, if I was ready for dinner, I told him that I just climbed the mountain, I called me crazy (in a positive way), and I told him that I was too tired to go out anymore.

In my 6 days of the island I often walked along the western coast line of the island. This was a beautiful path that was partially carved in the rock. So on the left you had a high cliff, and on the right you had the ocean. I often took strolls along it in the night. The only thing you heard then was the sea clutching against the rock and in the far distance you saw the bright lights of the squid boaths. On my way along the coast I came past a small cafe, if you can call it that, and one night I was invited to share a drink with some divers and the owner of the place. Although I couldn`t understand one word of the conversation, I did get that it was about the people off Ulleung-do and the people of the main land. The discussion became intenser and louder with every bottle of soju that they opened. It was pretty fun sitting there, enjoying the drink, and listen to koreans discussing matters you don`t know. Eventually one of the divers wanted a picture off me with his son, as you can see it the gallery. It is just great being invited without any reason by some random koreans to drink soju with them...no stranger in the netherlands would invite me for a free beer..

All in all the days were great on the island and I really enjoyed myself..although a bit of i-house company would have been fun too ;)...but they had to go to other countries...why search for paradise in other countries when Korea has one of its own? Ullueng-do...my paradise island..the place where I want to build a house for my last years :)

Paul

Archive: October 2005, Stories from Korea II

2006-05-05T23:39:00.000+02:00

One thing I remembered just a few seconds ago..

a Membership Training of rhe MAY club..
somewhere in the beginning of the semester hasier and me joined the may club on a membership training
Although none of them could speak very good english (except for one girl), it was a great night..
MAY stands for midi association yonsei and is basically about writing or composing your own songs using computer software. They also had some instruments which could be played (bass, guitar, keyboard).

Because we were invited to join their mt we went with them to a place in the north of seoul, i think close to bukhansan national park. Iit was a nice house with a warm wooden floor and enough place for a group of 30 to 40 people. The mt started with some hanging around, playing soccer and preparing the food.

Later in the evening more people started to arrive and the real party started. Groups were divided and guess what..the only two non-koreans in the room ended up in the same team. Although our group, of the four others, was thus a bit handicapt due to the language-barrier, we tried our best during the games. If a team won a game, they got some food, if the lost..the got soju. One of the games was finding words in the newspaper (which we terribly lost :)) and another was passing chips from mouth to mouth..which we won! We were a team with that game and it really went well..I think we stunned to koreans a bit by our speed and accuracy..hehehe

Later in the evening groups started to form where other (drinking) games were played and i tried to join in in the ones I understood..

Around 3am (or earlier) a jamming session started..with a keyboard and our voices. The koreans could sing really beautifully..and I learned a thing or two. This was really a special moment...the club leader played the keyboard in a catchy tune and everybody got a turn in singing a short part of the improvised song..it was brilliant..

Later Hasier and me got hold of the keyboard and started to jam..I played the rythm, he played the solo or melody...I must say..it actually sounded pretty good! Altough I think that the koreans got a bit annoyed of the same tune for about 30 minutes...hehe:)...but we had a great time...

Even later we went to bed...I went into a small room (4x4 meters, even smaller) where already a large number of people were sleeping..maybe about 10..I found a spot and fell asleep quickly..

The end of a great day...

Archive: October 2005, Love is a Rose

2006-05-05T23:37:00.000+02:00

Love is a rose
but you better not pick it
It only grows
when it's on the vine.
A handful of thorns
and you'll know you've missed it
You lose your love
when you say the word "mine".
I wanna see what's never been seen,
I wanna live that age old dream.
Come on, lads, we can go together
Let's take the best right now,
Take the best right now.
I wanna go to an old hoe-down
Long ago in a western town.
Pick me up cause my feet are draggin'
Give me a lift and I'll hay your wagon.
Love is a rose
but you better not pick it
It only grows when it's on the vine.
A handful of thorns and
you'll know you've missed it
You lose your love
when you say the word "mine".
Mine, mine.
Love is a rose, love is a rose.
Love is a rose, love is a rose.
Wisdom and a great song from Mr. Young

Archive: October 2005: G-g-g-graduation!

2006-05-05T23:34:00.000+02:00

the 14th of october I will get my bachelor-degree!

What to wear...what to wear?

Archive September 2005, Birthday!

2006-05-05T23:32:00.000+02:00

You just became 21 years old and finally you can drink legally in the U.S.

but then you wake up late...exactly at the time that your ride to work leaves

then you manage to get on time in the city of your university..and see your last possible way to get on time at the faculty leaves before your nose..

Then your just newly bought mp3-player brakes down and needs a lot of tweeking till it works (hopefully) again

Then you forget the most important thing you need at work: a pen

Then you have the motivation of a turtle to climb the Mt. Everest

While you still have enough work to do..

and then you read that the government is going to punish people who don`t find work quick enough after they finish their study..

ps: Photo`s of my room (wohoo personal stuff!) will be online this weekend, together with pictures of a very small pixie, blurry people, a lot of junk..in short..lowlands!

Archive: September 2005, What must a man do to get some...

2006-05-05T23:31:00.000+02:00

Korean food or drinks in this &()*&( Country???!!!

Ow yes..we are so multicultural...the only problem is that the average toko (tropical food store) is filled with everything from indonesia to China..but Korea...I have not seen one item in the neigbourhood...
That`s a lie by the way, I saw one bottle with hangul on it..grrr

So yes, tomorrow I will go to Amsterdam, the city of drugs (or was that Rotterdam..or Heerlen?), to go to a Korean/Japanese shop that sells food/drinks and even a small restaurant where you can get bibimbap or mandu..
Its named Shilla (so it must be korean).

This will be in total, at minimum, a 6 hour train trip...and that all for a bottle of soju..and makoli, and bulgogi..and calbi...

Got a birthday in one week so I`ll better buy something that heals the pain of becoming 21. Why pain? Because time is going to fast! It seemed like yesterday when I was a little kid (2-4 years) and banging my head against hard surfaces out of frustration. And now..besides having brain dammage...I`m getting old! ;)

Wish I was an american, at least I could celebrate that is was finally legal for me to buy and drink alcohol :D

ps: To everyone who actually reads my blogg: Thanks!

Archive: September 2005, Stories from Korea

2006-05-05T23:29:00.000+02:00

So it`s two months ago since I left Korea..and still..everywhere I go..stories and memories come in my head about the great times I`ve had there..time to write them down..

At the end of the semester I decided to go traveling in Korea. Most of the people I knew left the country and went to other countries in Asia, but I decided to stay another 2 weeks in Korea to go to more places. I didn`t want to make lightning visits to other Asian countries because it would be a shame only to stay at a place for 3 days and then go on (not to mention expensive). And besides that, I know I will go back to discover the rest of Asia eventually..only death will keep me form doing that in the future :).

So I stayed within Korea and went to the place with the longest travelling distance: The mysterious island of Ulleung-do. First I had to travel about 250 km to the port city of Pohang. I arrived there at about 20:00...and it was getting dark...and I was looking for a motel. I already looked on the internet for a good adress near the sea. But it`s a lot harder to navigate yourself in an unknown city in the dark. So I stepped out of the bus and looked for the first street map that I could find. Trying to determine my position, suddenly an older korean woman (about 55/60) came to me and tried to help me in Korean...well...My korean wasn`t that good (C- as a grade for that :)) and so she brabled a lot to me with me being confused. She wanted to help..I was looking for a bus ride but she told me that there where no busses driving anymore (she spoke a little bit english...very little). Eventually she told me that "My husband speak English, he help"..and she told me to follow her home. So for the first time during my stay in Korea, I would go to an original Korean house! It was more like an appartment but still very "gemutlich" and small. Her husband would arrive at about 21:00pm and it was 20:30. So I got some coffee and dry garlic bread, she was worried about me..and told me to eat..eat!..eat!! drink!
We had a limited conversation where I demonstrated my Korean skills (numbers, kamsahamnida and anjohasejo) and she her English skills. Then her husband came..and as you might understand..he was really surprised (positively) about what his wife brought home. His english appeared to be a little bit limited but good enough to let me make clear what motel I was looking for. He made a phonecall to the motel and told me there were still rooms available. He offered me a ride to the motel (in his KIA) and then offered me dinner (!!!!). So much hospitality, so much help, so nice...you would never NEVER find that in the Netherlands, not anymore. The dinner was great at again the lady told me to eat more, eat more! I told her in Korean that I liked it and thanked her for the food and drinks. I learned that they had a son who lived in America, and that he was a marine in the Korean war. He told me is age and I was amazed..I think i was close to 65 and he looked like 50!

After having a good meal, a good drink and a good talk they dropped me off at my motel and even negotiated the price down for me. For that one evening..I had a Korean mom and dad..if I wanted it or not ;)

The next morning I got up and went to catch the ferry that would take me to Ulleung-do..a 217km long trip..but thats another story..for another time :)

Paul

Archive: September 2005, New Orleans

2006-05-05T23:25:00.000+02:00

So you have a hurricane
So there is a lot of damage
So there are many deaths
So the dykes break
So the town gets flooded
So there is no water and electricity
So the people start looting
So the town becomes a war-zone
So people start dying 4 days after the disaster
So this is the richest, the most developed and powerfull nation of the world

We are doomed.

Archive: August 2005, Lowlands!

2006-05-05T23:06:00.000+02:00

My first time at this festival up north after going to Pinkpop and Werchter in earlier years..and I had a great time!
The weather was great, the food delicious, the people nice..and the music..the music was fantastic!

Pictures will follow later because I didn`t take my digital camera, but some throw-away sh*t...so those will come online in a few days :)

What did I see:

Friday:Beatsteaks - not very interesting...music you`ve heard a thousand times before :)
Polyphonic Spree - Feel good music, men in dresses..their music should make the sun shining..but instead it started raining a little bit..the only rain for the whole of the festival...a punishment from above? :)

Kaiser Chiefs - Great band with a great performance..be sure to get the song: "Everyday I love you less and less"...:)...the singer was injured to his leg and still performed!

Franz Ferdinand - saw them last year on Werchter when the hype was at its hight..again the show was great..the public was great..the band was tighter than last year

The Prodigy - not really my thing and didn`t like it...

Saturday:Little bit of Zuco 103 - Dutch band with a South American sound...great in the early morning to get awake!

zZz - Again a dutch band with a drummer and a "hammond" orgel (forgot the english word for that instrument)..the music was great and reminded me a bit of The Doors...only shame was that two things came on stage halfway to entertain the public with their "seductive" moves..why?why?!

Death from Above 1979 - A distorted bass and a drummer making the hardest rock `n roll on this festival...great band..great bass player!

Mala Vita - Multicultural band from the Netherlands..party music!

Pixies - Saw them last year on Werchter and didn`t really like hem, their show now was much better and even great! The played some beautiful songs and really seemed to enjoy themselves..:)

Zondag: Millionaire - Belgium rock band with pretty "heavy" music...maybe programmed a little bit to early for my sleepy head but the show was still great!

Quit your dayjob - should I take this seriously? Sweden must be a very boring country when you start making music like this :) ..was good for a smile however. Singer Introducing a song: "This song is about finding money on the street." Only lyrics: "Ooooh I found a dollar!" ..and who can even forget the song: "Sperms are Jerms"

Queens of the Stoneage: Good, strong and tight performance..only a shame that Mark Lanegan wasn`t there..and all those Incubus and Foo Fighter fans standing in front of me and being a very dead audience despite the great music..

Four songs of the Futureheads - Nice songs, Nice band! Performed for a way to small audience!

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - because the Foo Fighters didn`t really attract me (you know what you will get: Rock) I decided to go to Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds...and I will never regret it. A great performance! Beautiful song and a great performance of Nick! Especially the last number: Stagger Lee...he was telling this story with his voice and body...just brilliant!..my absolute highlight of this festival!..

Note: I had the best festival-food in years: especially the everzwijn-hammetjes!..you know..the food that Asterix and Obelix eat after a long day of work! :)

Archive: August 2005, Buenos Hermanos!

2006-05-05T23:01:00.000+02:00

"The veteran Cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer has died in a Havana hospital, aged 78" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4128560.stm).

Well, I guess 78 is a nice age but it still makes me sad. Most of you probably heard his voice without knowing him: He was a member of the Buena Vista Social Club which is one of the most famous Cuban groups ever (and probably also one with the highest average age). I first heard of him on the radio when I was riding my bike in the dutch countryside. That was back in the days when Henk Westbroek still worked for 3FM (and it was still a station with an alternative sound). The song was so playful and alive, had a very good rythm and was even funny. The name of that song was "Buenos Hermanos" and after hearing that song I bought his cd (yes buy!). It`s a great cd where maestro Ibrahim Ferrer was standing in front of a number of great cuban musicians. One thing you hear when you listen to the album is that it was made with lot`s of fun and love for the music (something that in my opinion is essential for good music). He did some succesfull tours around the world and his last one was in Europe (He even played at North Sea Jazz in the Hague this year). He was a great guy and his music made the sun shine. Rest in peace, Ibrahim Ferrer.

Archive: July 2005, We lost the English

2006-05-05T22:58:00.000+02:00

because they applied a shoot first (five times in the head) and ask questions later policy..
only a shame that the brazilian tourist could not give any answers to those questions..

Realy feel bad for his family and do not really get why they had to shoot him, in the head, and five times..
I mean, one time in the leg should have been enough to make him immobile..but five times

I know, the bombs in te subway were horrible and should be prevented from happening ever again..
But lets not panic and do such horrible things as this..
Laws are changed overnight decreasing civil liberty and rights..
People are shot 5 times in the head because of suspecious behaviour..
People can be arrested and kept in jail for a long time only on suspisions that they had something to do with a crime..
So in England, when you hate your neighbour, just call the police and say he his behaving very strange lately..especially when he doesn`t have a white skin-color..

Seems that the brazilian tourist got a bit afraid when five (undercover) men started to chase him everywhere..
And his VISA was over date..maybe it was the immigration office..coming to set him out!
No...it was the anti-terrorist group hunting and shooting down every person with strange behaviour..

Governments are enacting harder policy..
It`s only a matter of time before 1984 becomes real and we are watched and controlled in every move we make..
And that all out of fear of the so called terrorists..
And never looking at the reasons ...the source of their anger against the West..
Thinking that force against force is the best answer...

Archive: July 2005, Deadline!

2006-05-05T22:52:00.000+02:00

Allmost August! Only one month left of free time!

I have to do something!

Now!

Before my freedom is gone and work starts again!

Lance wins the tour again. Damn you americans stealing our european competitions! (best dutch guy was 30th)
So i`m going to get on my bike again and drive a minimum of 30 km (20 miles) a day....see if I can get a shape again..and beat that Lance when he`s 55 and i`m 35ish!

Owh yes...and don`t forget to buy some tickets for Lowlands where I will see the Queens of the Stoneage, the Foo Fighthers, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Franz Ferdinand, Pixies, Kaiser Chiefs, Death From Above 1979, The Dresden Dolls, Roisin Murphy, Dropkick Murphys...and throw mud or anything else available at Korn, Marilyn Manson, Incubus, 2 Many DJ`S (They replaced an ill David Bowie last year..I could have seen David Bowie but I saw DJs..yuck!)..

I don`t wanna start with my last year of education..i`m 20..I`m so young..I`ll be 21 when I`m finished..what next? Work for the next 45 years? Only the thought makes me wanna do something to myself...

So maybe..back to Korea..?..a trip around the world..or at least some places I really have to visit..? First have to get some money, which requires a job..uch..working..

Grtz

Paul

Archive: July 2005, Culture shock!

2006-05-05T22:51:00.000+02:00

Yep..i`m back for two weeks now and already longing to go back..
It`s not that living in the Netherlands is that bad but...

There are so many white people..
Everything seems so small now..
People complain so much..
Television still s*ks..
Getting drunk is much more expensive..
The public fear of terrorism..(but not mine)
The use of knives and forks..
No more free sauce..
No subway..
No Norebangs..

No I-House..

But..I`ve got my guitar back..I`m planning to go to some festivals..(Lowlands, Bluesrock Tegelen, Booch!)..and..of course seeing my family and friends again...I will probably start with my Master (and thus my last year!) in September..

And what to do after that..?
Trip around the world? Starting a rock-band and kick Coldplay of the radio? Become the first dictator of the Netherlands? Go to Hawaii and claim it for the Netherlands?

Who knows..

grtings

Paul

Archive: June 2005, Fading Lights

2006-05-05T22:46:00.000+02:00

Another time it might have been so different
oh if only we could do it all agian
but now it`s just another fading memory
out of focus, though the outline still remains

Far away, away, fading distant lights
leaving us all behind, lost in a changing world
and you know that these are the days of our lives
remember.

Like the story that we wish was never ending
We know sometime we must reach the final page
still we carry on just pretending
that there`ll always be one more day to go

Far away, away, fading distant light
leaving us all behind, lost in a changing world
and you know that these are the days of our lives
so remember...

Another chance hello, another goodbye
and so many things we`ll never see again
days of life that seemed so unimportant
they seem to matter but to count much later on

Far away, away, fading distant lights
leaving us all behind, lost in a chaning world
and you know these are the days of our lives
remember