The Hague Todays Art Festival

Last night The Todays Art festival started as it happens just outside my front door. As I look over the central station and through the corridor of ministries, city halls and court houses, I was struck at how interesting this festival is at incorporating everyday objects into the celebration.
It started with the trains and trams that come and go trhough the station imagine the tracks have been laid out with the equivelent of a music box ribbon... it was quite a noise. Here is more from the artists website.
This performance is not just any performance. It uses instruments, but highly unusual ones; the instruments are trains and trams, bicycle bells and the Central Station-building itself, including all the people present. As a part of the performance, in cooperation with NS (=the Dutch railroad company), a whole range of trains and trams will enter the station in a strict choreography called The Tsunami, with all the train and tram engineers working together. Sounds from travellers will also be amplified through microphones as part of the performance. Achim wollscheid will use computer-driven magnets that play the bicycles in front of the Central Station like a toposonic typewriter.

Then H and I headed down the corridor (check the map for the interactive route) to find a go cart race in progress in front of the ministry of VROM... I'm not kidding for those who get the haha about that one. Onwards we passed the ah grocery store and were forced to weave in and out of large blue triangles laid out on the ground. Their significance to be reveled later,
this is the first time we came across the bunny in the sky, a projection project that ended up following us the entire night through in the form of the artist Pictoplasma on a large bakers bike with projector, generator and laptop in tow.

First came a green house filled with costumes, although I am not sure what the meaning was it was quite funny.
Then the skaters and breakdancer area outside the city hall. Half-pipe, obstical course and a premiere of a skate movie projected on the city hall.
Onwards past other greenhouses with bars and snacks to the main plein Spui where the side of the library and city hall had some amazing projections that transformed the tiles to 3d objects. We saw some modular dresses that could react and change to sound, and found out the blue piramids were for a infared cctv camera that was showing people weaving in and out of the passage way without seeing the blue piramids at all.
We further wandered onto the Grote Markt street which was also part of the Blue Light District where we came accross a van with DJ's for the Langeweiliskeit festival and a bunch of people creating grafitti with tape on the ground.. to be honest I think the Grote Markt Street was the most dissapointing, other than hearing some great music being pumped down the corridor there was nothing else happening all the way till the end and it was filled with the same drunks and drugged kiddies on their way home as you would find on a normal Friday night.

We then made a slight detour to the As If Festival held at the Interfacility which was a student gallery where we walked in on a show that was pretty interesting for about 2 min of sounds and frequencys made from hand-made instruments. I found the multimedia exhibit by Palestiniaan artists far more interesting. The most moving was a young artist who painted all his/her pictures in the bottom of cardboard boxes that were then hung on the wall.. quite moving. This symbolised the mental effect being kept caged can do to a person, even if there is no actual bars the wall that was built was having the same effect on many of the people who had to live with it day in and day out. Quite something and by far the most moving thing I saw all night. It is a conflict that never ceases to amaze and astound me, that the super powers in the world turn a blind eye.. is it beacause there is no oil?

We then went to the Grote Markt and watched a video from a web TV company which was very interesting to say the least. I am trying to remember the name still.
And then back through the street to the Spui where we caught a artist with two giant electricity conductors that lightning lept between the two balls to music.. people loved it!
Back along the corridor to the skaters on the half pipe, past the go carts and home made for a pretty interesting and cultural evening.

Song stuck in my head

As many of you know I "heart" music. Lots of different sounds and experiences. I was just tidying up and came accross a bunch of old ticket stubs from concerts I have attended.. some of these date back as far as September 1983 when I saw Platinum Blonde on their Standing in the Dark tour in the Memorial Arena in Victoria.
Also quite dated was the Black Crows in the Forge night club also in Victoria close to a decade later when they were on their first major tour to promote Shake Your Money Maker about 1991.
More recent ticket findings were Buck 65 (good fun), The Dears & Ambulance Ltd (I was having a bad night and did not enjoy, I really do like Ambulance Ltd), Porcupine Tree, Marillion and h, Band of Horses (so/so), Death Cab for Cutie (would have rather stayed in and listed to the CD) BUT Styrofoam were great and a few festival wrist bands and tickets thrown in all from about 2004 till now. Some of these were Live & Coldplay, Black Mountain,Caribou, Marilyn Manson & Metallica, The Frames, Elbow, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Supergrass, Tokyo Police Club, Lamb (their very last show in Amsterdam) & so many more.

I even found a couple of set lists: Do you know who this is?
Giant
Auto
Fall of Man
Life Beyond
Machine
Time Bomb
Influence
Suburbua
Lets Get it On
Rico
xRated
Strange Days
DG
Load
Flash Dance
APP
BTK
sigh! That was a kick ass show!

Anyway, I have seen a TON of shows in my life. I remember Pearl Jam opening for Alice in Chains at Harpo's in Victoria way way back then. Eddy landed on my head stage diving!

I have left very few concerts because of bad performances (Guns and Roses, Death Cab for Cutie) and I have left many wishing it would not end (Depeche Mode, The New Pornographers and Peter Gabriel just to name a few).
I am also looking forward to seeing some new live gigs, The Swell Season, Kings of Leon spring to mind.
My last concert was out in Vancouver with my brother at The Faint which was super cool (and the beginning of a epic night out with the Dude) The opening band's lead (and I use the term loosely) singer should never ever have been given a mic and been encouraged to make that horrific noise, but what can you do?!
I bought tickets yesterday for the Crossing Border festival here in Holland for November and am looking forward to seeing The John Dear Mowing Club for free tomorrow at the Haag's Uit festival should be good.

So enough of me waffling on.. but check out this The Cold Cut blog for more serious music reviews.. he has a nack for picken'em.

Check out the cool illustrations from the super cool Exploding Dog website.

Soundwave 2008

About a month ago I had the pleasure of heading off to the Soundwave Festival in the wilds of the West Coast of Vancouver Island with my Brother Eric. It is a long drive from anywhere to there, but well worth it just for the scenery alone.

We camped on the beach, met great people and danced until we could dance no more.

Respecting the wildlife we made sure not to feed the bears or gorillas, but happily shared out habitat with them.

The stages and bars were made with natural resources such as driftwood found on the beach and it was a wonderful place to enjoy the party especially since the sun shone non stop the entire time. I have been told in the past it has also been known as Drownwave, and having lived up in that area for a time would not be surprised that it can get really really wet at times but lucky for us it was the perfect weekend with great tunes, people and fun. One of the best parts was catching up with my super duper cool buddy John after all this time and meeting the lovely Sarah in the process.

Since I have been going to parties in Germany like this for many many years, I was thinking nothing could impress me in the back woods of Canada. I was wrong!

The party had first class music, laid-back people and great scenery, even the Girls of Soundwave calendar crew were there to head things up before Fame Corp met for their annual stakeholders meeting.

The music came from far and wide. Dirt Crew from Berlin, Death to Sexy from Victoria, Ink Well & Long Walk Short Dock from Vancouver and many more that impressed me greatly. Unfortunatly we only arrived on Saturday afternoon so had already missed a whole day of fun.

I also had the pleasure of meeting a few new people with whom I hope I will be friends with in the years to come. Perhaps is it just because it was my own country and language but it seemed people were much easier to talk to and get to know.

Either way it was a great weekend and I hope that I will make it back for the next one.

Hopefully see you at the next one.

Xavier Rudd

Last night I went to a concert at the Paard van Troje in The Hague at the urging of my friend Martin. Martin is always on top of great music and keeps me in the loop so I was happy to oblige.

Anyway last night was Xavier Rudd from Australia. He had an amazing set up with percussion instruments, guitars, didgeridoo (3), and some other noise making things. He also had a drummer on stage with him for about half the show it was pretty great and you could tell from his songs and style he was speaking about a much bigger issues in the world, Martin later told me he was an enviromental activist & Surfer. His quieter songs reminded me of Paul Simon. I was very impressed and will be looking out for him in future.

Anyway I just wanted to put this out there and ask the question to the few hundred Cloggies that attended, 'why do you feel the need to chat and talk all the way through the gig?'
I can think of better uses for paying money for a ticket and to have a musician from the other side of the world come in and you chit chat like he is just the background music for your conversations, and it is bloody annoying! I hate to say it that it was not just this gig but every gig I have ever attended in Holland that I have been in the audience that people feel it is alright to chat their way through the shows. It is rude and shows a complete lack of respect to the artist and musicians on stage. Grrrr!

Anyway if you want to hear more and perhaps missed his songs last night due to the extreme rudeness visit his My Space for some tunes http://www.myspace.com/xavierrudd

The Music in My Head Festival Day 2

The Music is Dead, sadly the last day of the festival is also the last day of the Festival for ever, The Music is now Dead. Either way the music rocked and Supergrass ended the show in great style. Please respect the photo copyright is mine.

Joan as a Police Woman

Fanfarlo

The Charlatans

Tokyo Police Club

Supergrass

The Music in My Head Festival Day 1

A few weeks ago I got a great chance to take some photos at The Music in My Head festival.. here are the results. Please respect the copyright that is Mine.

The Notwist

Steven Malkimus and the Jicks

Sinead O'Connor
(as if you could not tell)

Where have you been lately?

Geeze it is amazing how quickly life can run away from you. I did not run away to hone my super powers as wonderwoman nor have I been driven mad by the Orange fever that seem to have swept Holland away (Until they got knocked out last week, go Russia go) life has been just happening.
here are some of the places I have been to in April and May,

A section of a wall near Julietts manor in Verona

view of Soave from the castle.
and more photos from the trip can be found here. Italy

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36979&l=51bdb&id=588197679

view of Lake Balaton

Croatia & Hungary
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38127&l=5183f&id=588197679

I have no Super Powers

On Feb 9th I went to a costume party for my friends C&W I went as Wonder Woman, H as White Trash and G as Wolverine.... After a few great hours in the company of Cat Woman, a cross dressing Wonder Woman, A woopie cushion, 2 William Wallaces, a WIFI hotspot, a wanker, and William of Orange the 1st and many cats and witches we headed home.

If you live in the Netherlands and ride a bike you are at a risk of riding into a tram track it took me about 8 years but it happened. It happens to everyone!!

I wrenched my knee, there is nothing broken but the damage seems to be soft cartalidge

A X-ray and a MRI later I will find out the results on Monday.

The moral of the story is if you dress as a super hero you do not actually have Super Powers.

37th Film Festival Rotterdam

Ironically the Film Festival has been going as long as I have been alive, but even so I have been enjoying it for at least 5 years now and although have not seen as many as usual this year I have enjoyed a good few.

I missed the first one due to the fantastic Dutch train service which needless to say was not delivering me to my destination on time.
Thursday January 24th
So I missed The Existence
Unfinished Sky; a remake of a Dutch movie The Polish Bride in fact I am not sure of the logistics as the same Leading actress played the same part in both movies. One set in Holland the other Australia. I liked the filming and acting. It is a great story if only a little predicable.
Monday January 28th
Falling from Earth I can’t say I really liked this movie but interesting story to be told about the situation in Beirut over what has been happening in Lebanon over the past few years.
Tuesday January 29th
A Song of Good Australian movie about a pathetic guy trying to turn his life around. I was not convinced about the story and thought the situations were to ridiculous to be believed and not convincing enough for me to feel sorry for the character.
English, August An Indian movie that I must admit I felt was not as interesting as catching my train. But it portrayed the hot and humid province in India where it was filmed.
Wednesday January 30th
Das Herz ist ein dunkler Wald German movie portraying a young mother who discovers her husbands’ infidelity, and how she deals with her own psychological issues in dealing with them.
Encarnacion A Argentinean movie about a 80’s movie star who is struggling with getting older and her life. On a trip to her niece’s birthday party she discovers how to do all those things. For me one of the interesting parts of the movie is that the actual lead role is played by a former 80’s star in Argentina and I wonder how much was real or scripted.
Thursday January 31st
Dolls Czech road movie in which three girlfriends want to go to Holland after secondary school and find their way to the border with many obsticals along the way. Love, Life & Friendship. Can some girls be so naieve.
Strizh A Kazakhstan movie about a teenage girl who is trying to deal with the life she has, I liked the character but am beginning to wonder if the eastern countries are all depressed and alcoholic.
Friday February 1st
Autumn Ball – Estonian movie, which was fascinating I walked out on this one, not because it was bad so to say but because I was annoyed with the long long shots and that last few moments of a woman who was just so pathetic. As well the director just kept on introducing new characters all the way through the movie.
Persepolis Iranian animated movie about a girl growing up in Iran over a 25 year period. This movie won the public prize at the festival/
Men’s Group Australian, I loved this movie. Not perfect but real and interesting. I loved the story behind how the movie was produced and shot. Not having a script but working with real scenarios and only giving bits and pieces as the shooting when on.
Saturday February 2nd
Deciding between sleep and a movie I have to admit sleep was more important so I passed on Rail Road Crossing, which I hope was really great and am sorry I missed it.
King of Ping Pong Swedish, story of two brothers coming of age and trying to deal with the hardships of life.
Chouga - based on Anna Karenina, the classic by Tolstoy, set in the nouveau-riche world of a rapidly changing and modernising Kazakhstan. Chouga faces the same dilemmas as Anna. I liked it, but did not love it.
Cordero de Dios – Lamb of God – Argentinean, great story of family torn apart by the civil unrest of the 70’s and how to forgive acts of love.
Hidden Faces – Turkish, I actually decided not to go to this, only because I was so exhausted and I heard how emotional it was. I opted for sleep and home instead.

much more music

In the past few months I have had the luck of being able to attend and take some photos of a few gigs.

My dear friend Mark was on tour with a pretty famous Canadian band The Tragically Hip where they played 2 nights at the Paradiso, the first night was truely amazing Gordon giave 200% to his performance. A huge difference since the first time I saw them in Victoria at the Forge back in about 1991. The second night was also good but you could just tell they were a little exhausted from the night before. The best thing about it was though being able to hang out with Mark for a couple of days which we have not done since he was on tour with Dido over 4 years ago.

The second gig I saw was h Natural This link is a little out dated), the lovely singer from Marillion was on a solo tour and was playing in the strangest little town very close to the Hague. It was the quietest gig I have ever attended but wonderful and nice to be in such close proximity to see his humour and talent up close and personal.

The third gig was a small Belgium band called Das Pop which my friend Martin invited me along, the band was lively and fun, but I was told that they used to be much more entertaining and the older songs were better. Either way for Euro 1o it was a good way to spend a Friday night.

Can you guess where this is?

1. Your coworker has 8 body piercings and none are visible. 2. You make over $250,000 and still can't afford a house. 3. You take a bus and are shocked at 2 people carrying on a conversation in English. 4. You know what these acronyms mean: PNE, VPL, GVRD, YVR. 5. You're shocked when it snows in the winter. 6. You've had California roll for lunch. 7. Know more than 10 ways to order coffee. 8. Know how to pronounce Coquihalla. 9. A really great parking space can move you to tears. 10. Your hairdresser is straight, your plumber is gay, the woman who delivers your mail is into BDSM, and your next door neighbour grows weed. 11. The guy at 8:30 am at Starbucks wearing the baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like George Clooney IS George Clooney. 12. Your car insurance costs as much as your house payment. 13. The gym is packed at 3 PM ....on a work day. 14. Can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food. 15. You watch the weather from a Seattle TV station because it's more accurate (see 18). 16. You pass an elementary school and the children are all busy with their cell phones or pagers while waiting for their personal rides home. 17. You're sure you're the only one on the road with a REAL driver's license. 18. You don't even listen when the forecast announces "chance of showers"; 19. The more expensive the car, the worse the driver. 20. Can taste the difference between Starbucks, Second Cup, and Tim Horton's. 21. Feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash. 22. You're not suprised to see geese throughout the whole year. 23. You cant remember.... is pot still illegal? 24. If there's a day of snowfall, however, you consider not going to school/work. 25. You realize there are far more Rainbow flags in the city than Canadian flags. 26. Can name 10 starbucks locations in less than a minute.




Lotus Landers Unite!

Rotterdam Zoo Blijdorp

Last weekend I went to the Rotterdam Zoo. Now I am not really a fan of zoo's but thought it was a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon and an opportunity to take some photos.

I know the zoo is trying to be more modern but I really think they should maybe put a coat of paint on the origional gates and perhaps another person on the cash register for the sunday crowds.

Perhaps it was not the fact the zoo felt a little claustrophobic and the huge amount of screaming kids and their families did not help me feel cozy.

Apparently even a few months ago one of the gorillias, a silverback male named Bokito escaped http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/18/europe/EU-GEN-Netherlands-Escaped-Gorilla.php and caused injuries to some of the people there because the containment fence was not high enough and he must have just got bored with sitting around all day.

I know I would be.

I wanted most to see the aquarium tunnel they have built, it goes to show what a good photo can do as the tunnel is very short and to be honest not that exciting IMHO.

Oh well I guess it just reassures me how much I am not really a fan of zoos, in prtucular the larger animals that are held, the tigers, lepoards and large birds of prey.