Rockin' Park

This is where I spent my Sunday last weekend. I went because to be honest I had a press pass and with the bribe that if I wrote a few words about it I would get in for free. For me the the line up was not interesting enough to even consider buying a ticket, but I thought why not if it was for nothing. All the acts at the two main stages were quite famous but I found the mix to be to eclectic for the many different people they were trying to draw. And then who in their right minds hold a festival concert on the exact same day as Park Pop, the 25 year institution held in The Hague for FREE?! I guess the numbers speak for themselves. 35,000 people in Nijmegen and over 350,000 in the ZuiderPark in the Hague.

We got to Goffertpark and could hear Krezip on stage, I like this little lowlander band, they have spunk and don't seem to sound like all the other Dutch girl bands out there, and they did a rocking version of (Britanny's) Toxic as well to finish up their set.
Just after we got our passes sorted out Simple Plan was about to hit the big double stage. I had only heard of these guys but then found out that they were not only from Montreal, Canada but they seemed to have more energy than was allowable by law on stage, they worked for their audience. Reminiscent of Blink 182 and other such from that genera and not at all like the other Canadian bands that I have been hearing lately such as the Dears, Metric, Broken Social Scene and New Porographers.
Next came Queens of the Stone Age on the other side of the double stage. I am not at all sure why exactly this band has rose to stardom in the last years. I find their music not at all interesting nor their "talent" worthy of all the attention they get. Oh well it takes all kinds I guess.
Then the strangest band on the bill Jamie Cullum, there is no doubt this kid has talent for singing the blues standards, but what the heck was he doing at a ROCK concert? He is booked usually for events such as the North Sea Jazz Festival. I really wonder if the organizers of this even knew who they were booking or they picked haphazardly the acts to fit their schedule.
Keane came next, these guys are also quite popular these days, and I'm not sure why.... exactly. I like the fact there is no bass player in the band and the guys plays the keys which are front and sideways on the stage in barefeet. But other than that his voice is so Arrggg, and to me the music sounds so much the same. I must mention their back drop though, it was quite special and looked to be by the same artist who did the cover for a lesser known Brit band Martin Gretch.

During Keane I headed down to the Tent stage for Interpol. One of my favorite new bands from New York. They were on my iPod when I got it from Wes and I was hooked from the beginning. They also remind me of bands such as The Dears, The Shins and The New Pornographers, somehow the New-new Pop-Rock sound that is out there.

I decided to stay near the tent as I was not that interested in watching Lenny Kravitz nor R.E.M. and was much more intrigued with Nine Inch Nails who were due next in the tent. While we were waiting for than LK came on up the hill on the main stage, I have never really been a fan, but can imagine he probably used to be quite a force on stage, now it seemed fairly wooden. I just heard a lot of noise, and although he was scheduled for 1.5 hours. He wasted at least 10 min walking off and getting back on for an "encore" what a gyp for those people who came to see him play.
Just around the same time NIN started, so did R.E.M. as they moved up their slot a bit earlier. I am guess the majority of people who are big fans of REM are not so into a band like NIN, who have not seemed to slowed down in their stage presence nor energetic and aggressive music... Wow! There was guitars flying into the photo pit, and drum kits nearly being knocked over.
Meanwhile up the hill was a fairly big production for REM, having never seen them I am sure it was a good show. Michael Stipe was wearing his zoro mask and seemed to be doing ok. But I was glad to be down near the tent watching all that testosterone fly about.

Over-all mood of the festival, mellow, quiet and laid back. It just seemed to be lacking some sort of umpff in the line-up. By the time NIN and REM were not even half way through their sets, it looked as though at least 1/4 of the park had emptied out.
Maybe next year they will manage a bit more continuity and draw more people... Perhaps not as many as the ZuiderPark still but you never know.
The photo is of a guy who managed to jump into my frame at the exact moment I was taking a photo... actually it is perfectly framed and quite funny!

I Love Metric!

Metric showed up at a crazy little pub in Rotterdam opening for another Canadian band Broken Social Scene. Metric from the second they stepped on stage were alive and energetic and wow'ed the pants off us.. I did not think a person could move like that and play and sing all at the same time. In fact I was lucky enough to be able to take photos and have some rocking shots of the band that were not actaully totally blurred... I mailed some for the website of Rotown but I am not sure when they might be put up, and Metric have also gotten back to me since and said they love the shots and will put them on their website.. so Yay!











Either way they were amazing live, only sad thing was no Combat Baby.

Broken Social Scene on the other hand was like watching some guys jamming in their garage and smoking a little too much of the wacky tabacky. There was at least 10 people on the tiny stage and including the bass and guitar player from Metric, it had a reminiscence of PHISH or one of those jam bands like The Dead. Emily even got up and sang with the band one song, which made their music actually interesting. The first few songs were ok then they really all started to sound the same. In fact I think maybe they should have stayed in their garage and actually finished a song before going out on tour... and then to amaze me even further most of the people there were young 20 somethings who were really into the band and many who had never heard of Metric. Well I hope they were educated!
But myself and my friends who went were happy to see Metric play on a Monday night and still be able to get home to bed before 12.

Puma Fever!

It is pretty crazy when a whole country is talking about a Puma sighting, I can imagine back in the 50's when things like Big Foot and UFO stories became things of legends because of gossip and speculation. Now with our high speed technology and perhaps nothing else news worthy to talk about... Iraq, poverty, 3rd world debt.
Granted the Netherlands does not have any larger animals running wild much bigger than a small deer but wow the speculation and the Puma Fever is great! I was on a bike ride last weekend and at a stop light, a little boy was asking his daddy about puma's and were they as big as a pony and his dad said as big as a large dog.
The fact is that most Canadians I know have never seen an live one outside a zoo. I have been so lucky and have seen two in my life on Vancouver Island where I grew up and where oldly enough
Then the speculation happens, a zoologist was quoted as saying that it was almost impossible and it was most likely a Lynx because Lynx have been spotted across the border in Germany.
Anyway judging by the very blurry photo through the link in the title it could very well be a puma or a panther or a hybrid Big Cat.. or just a mud covered dirty Puma trying to cool itself off from the heat.
However you look at it, if it has survived this long (apparently 5 years) in the Veluwe then leave it be, If someone trying to emigrate to Holland either through asylum or something like it, stays 5 years then they automatically are given a permit.. why not the PUMA? He/ She has not killed any young children that we know of or eaten someone's livestock leave it alone!

Constantine

I just watched this movie. It was actually quite a good story pity it scored so low on the IMDB. I think it was because the ending was not exactly mushy hollywood BS. But i liked the idea of the guy who was born with a gift and keeps messing it up thinking he will get absolution and yet it is all about his own in-ability to believe in what he actually knew existed... he knew it was there but did not have faith.. Keanu was actaully really good in the role as well, I think he know his limits and sticks to what he can...and he does it well.

The special effects and dialogue are very good and the story is very much like the The Prophecy it hardly made a mark or at least scored the same low 6.4 on the IMDB.. very odd.

Besides the interesting story I particularly liked it because not only was Eric Stoltz great as Simon but also we got a taste of a very wicked Viggo Mortensen YUM!

flipflopflying

Normally I don't have a lot of time to cruise the net and spend my working hours checking stuff out (cough) but this guy's blog speaks to me from the heart. Turns out we cover alot of the same topics as well, the only real difference is he lives in the Uber-cool-city of Berlin... oh the irony!
Check out his other site http://www.flipflopflyin.com/ full of all sorts of fun and games....
cheers Helen

Cancer

And I am not talking about the zodiac sign. I am talking about that thing that can creep up on a body and eat it from the inside out. Well I just got news about our friend Sylvia, she went for another catscan after she returned to Canada and they just told her that it has spread through her body. She was so resilient to the chemo they did not think it wise to put her through that again and that perhaps she should just live her life to the fullest as long as she can. This is a huge blow to myself, my family and I am sure to the rest of everybody who are a part of Sylvias life. None of us can really comprehend just how our lives would be without her around. The Entry A little taste of home was all about this amazing person.
Of course you can say that Life if not fair and why some people and not others. Michiel's dad has had both Lung and colon cancer in the last 6 years and has come away quite ok from both. Another 2 colleagues of mine have both gone through breast cancer as well in the last years and both come away fit as well. I guess it is just in the stars.
So I encourage you all to go out and live each day a full as you can make the most of life and don't for a second take it for granted.
I am planning on going home in a few weeks. I want to be there with my family and friends and spend some more quality time with them while there still is. Life does suck just a little sometimes you have to wonder if it really is left to the stars.

Garbage

The funny thing about seeing this band as well as Duran Duran this week was the only thing they had in common besides coming from the UK is that they both have done pretty cool James Bond soundtrack songs.
The Concert was rocking and a beautiful 1 hour and 15 min. I really don't mind that as long as I feel I was entertained. Shirley knows how to rock! I like the new album Bleed like Me as well it has some great songs on it. And now I can also tick them off of my list of bands I would like to see play live. Sorry no link, I could not find one that was obvious.

Simon, Nick, John, Rodger and Andy

Last Tuesday night we went to see the boys bring back some of the hits from the 80's and more recent songs from the new album.
I actually had seen them back in 1997 in Los Angeles playing a promo gig in the parking lot of Tower Records, by pure chance I happened to be working that week in LA and there they were. This weeks' concert was a Half & Half effort. Half of what they played was great and exciting and the other half was lackluster and boring. Oh well I was there for a show and I got one more or less. Nice to hear some of the oldies that brought me back to junior high and the other songs from the new CD Astronaut that I actually really like.