Zeppelin Zone

October 12 we were into the Zeppelin Zone at the X.
Floated so quietly you could hear the breeze,
and people's mobile conversations...

Dusk at the Old City Gate

Every year on october 3 the city of Leiden celebrates its liberation by flooding in fifteensomething after a long siege by the Spaniards.
From one point of view you could say that after being deprived of all resources for a few months, no meat, no grain, no bread or beer, having to drink the dirty canalwater everybody pissed in, it was no small wonder that since then it became a tradition for citizens of Leiden to give each other beers and piss in the canals together on their annual liberation day.



That's one side of the story. The other is one of a town of traders, scientists, of free thinking and religious tolerance, open to all. The people of Leiden refused to bow to the far away catholic colonial King and his fundamentalists, you could say.



The famous Inquisition, the christian brain police, was in the habit of torturing and burning so called 'heretics' and 'infidels', mainly political opponents and people who didn't agree with the earth being flat like the pope said. The sickest joke were the 'witchtrials', where you were thrown in a canal tied to a heavy weight, and if you didn't sink you were considered airy as in 'witch,' and therefore to be BURNED ALIVE, and if you drowned, you were innocent, but dead, BUT, you gained the right to a decent catholic burial and a ticket to the gates of heaven...
No wonder everybody confessed,
or rebelled, if they stood a chance

Anyway, both views are a bit gross and oversimplified, but they do make SOME sense, I think even our local mediaphilosopher and musician Ad Verbrugge would have to ADmit. On last october 3rd, he and his band DUSK appropiately played under the Western City Gate, to celebrate the fact that everybody here is free to think for themselves and say that the world is ROUND like whoever created it

A little late as ever

I've never been good at being organized, so this blog will only be an example of that.

I always seem to have a lot of catching up to do, done in sudden bursts of energetic diarrhea rather than the neat daily diary entries other people seem to be able to come up with. Well, everything makes some sense in it's own way, I always philosophically say. Maybe my way brings a different perspective, if not, it's at best a fine mess...
Here's looking back at some eventful weeks:


On september 29, comedian and musician MANUEL played 'Allene' at the X.
Court Jester,Rain Dog,Brain Trainer,Ironic Entertainer,
Andre Manuel is all of it. Sings, plays,tells stories, and tickles the audience and himself where he can with on the spot improvisation genius. If you think Lenny Bruce was razor sharp, learn Manuel's Diepenheim dialect Eastern Dutch and get spritszhed in a major way. The countryside Carver, the Bukowski of back there, The Tom Waits of Terschelling , Flip Howler of the Cowlands, Manu Elvis, Sancho Panda, no small crosses to bear, but most of all he's the Moonman Of Manuel, and he wears that title well !!! Like hell, he'd probably say...

You can check out his site for his latest album work and giglist.He makes about a solo and a band album every other year and does One Man cabaret shows in the theaters as well as solo and band tours in the club- and festival circuit.
The man works hard and makes sure he's not bored, you could say....

http://www.maneman.nl

Later that night I went to the Ontzettend Leiden Festival in the LVC, where I joined many old friends and Local Loco's in partying until the wee pee hours.
I heard Manuel partied on somewhere back East in a barn...
A big enough one I presume

What seems impossible...

Always love it when artists think BIG for a good reason.
This excellent XL painting was made in a long day of hard work, by a small team of daring cultural athletes, in celebration of 25 years of refugee help work.
It made me think of the many almost impossible challenges most refugees have to face every single day.
AND what a contribution all this talent and commitment is to LIFE !
As you can see even the weather seemed inspired

Highschool Reunions Are Hot

Highschool Reunions are increasingly popular these days, and since I drifted through a school or two, three maybe, in my days, and know a few musicians, I now find myself on stage in nostalgic jamsessions occasionally.
This time I kind of disguised myself as the drummer, to take a few pictures 'from the driver's seat', like Stewart Copeland of The Police used to do, when all of a sudden the MC started to announce the next guest musicians and it was too late to escape when I heard: 'on drums, from the class of 76, mr: .............' and saw a mike under my nose, so I answered:
'Piet Veerman', the first name from the 70's I could think of, and winged myself through the following jam. Nobody noticed anything anyway, apart from Piet himself maybe, if the cat was listening...


















when the song was finished I blended into the backstage area and partied on happily with the long time no sees.

One of my personal highlights of the day was a brilliant Rebel Dada speech by an old friend from the Hollanditis days, dressed up as Jeroen Krabbe. We thought he had given up art for politics, but he proved us he'd found a way to combine them with the use of irony.


































Then we were treated to some very cool Nun Comedy, and from then on the ghost of the seventies was out of the bottle and wild dancing could begin. A band full of pro's from the Musical world and Borsato-bizz almost rocked the ceiling off with their mix of Soulful Sounds and Disco Classics.
If only they would celebrate together like that in schools these days, I heard many a party animal say...

High Quality

Since the Leiden governements prestigious so called 'high art' policies have driven almost all the non-commercial music lovers and their organizations out of their buildings and onto the street, they had to start looking for alternative concert locations
















On sept.9, the annual Monumental Buildings Day, the old rebels of
jazzclub Hot House, culture organization
the X, and the Burcht Society therefore
organized a unique event on the
Highest Spot
in center town, the
ancient fortress, (Burcht in dutch,)
where a FREE concert was given
by DE JONGENS DRIEST, with
the internationally praised
drummer Michael Vatcher and
the CWO Brass Orchestra.
The concert was enjoyed by
the young and old and filmed
and photographed by busloads
of asian tourists who considered themselves very lucky with this
free cultural treat
Yours truly was filming too, and
a U tube clip is in the making, with
permission of the artists.
Of course I will send them the final edits
first for defenitive approval, so it may take
a little time, but its worth waiting for.
For now you can also surf to these sites:

http://www.dejongensdriest.nl

http://www.hairymusic.com
http://www.leidsjazztrio.nl