GENESIS

Somewhere in Genesis is written that "it is not good for a man to be alone",...
but believe me...

At times it is such a damn great relief!

(variation on J. Barrymore)

Enjoy,

HK

(Genesis 2:18 that is for those interested)

TAKE MY BREATH AWAY

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,

but by the moments that take our breath away.

Enjoy,

HK

@ TV SHOW

I went out with a bunch of colleagues from work last night. We had dinner at "Benny Beer" (bear) in Rotterdam, one of the many "Beer" restaurants in our country.

I had spare ribs (one my favourite dishes), but once again was a bit dissapointed at the tenderness of the meat here. Have had much better at other restaurants (Gauchos, Dakota - Roosendaal, Zwarte Schaap - Zevenbergen,...)!! Oh well,... we had a good time.

The main destination for the night however was attending the TV registrations for the "Raymann is Laat" show at the Schiecentrale (Rotterdam).

A fun show, presented by Jurgen Raymann. His guests were former SP politician Düzgün Yildirim and tv presenter Nelleke van der Krogt. One of my favourite items in the show is "Achmed the Islamic butcher". And the interview Raymann does as "Tante Es", dressed in a typical Surinam koto misie.

photo from a mobile phone... sorry for the poor quality

We were all treated to some excellent music too!

Enjoy,

HK

NO LONGER LOVE BIRDS

A long love story is over!

Petra the swan and her swan-shaped paddleboat are parting ways at a German zoo in Münster. Petra, a black swan, became so attached to the boat (which is shaped like an oversized white swan) that she refused to leave its side.

Officials in the western city of Muenster decided to let her stay with it over the winter, bringing both bird and boat into a city zoo.

However, Petra met a live swan this winter.

The Zoo director says she and her new mate (a white swan) are building a nest together.

The boat is to be returned to its local owner on Thursday.

Enjoy,

HK

NEW HOUSE

Moving? Who,... me??
Well... no,.. not yet!

In Chattanooga in the State of Tennessee (USA) there was an interesting house for sale last week. It's shaped like a flying saucer. The Space House sold at auction Saturday for a down-to-earth bid of $135,000. Terry Posey (the auction representative) says he's surprised bidding didn't go higher.

The sale of the 38-year-old, three-bedroom structure perched on six "landing gear" legs attracted worldwide attention. The lucky (??) new owner is Pearl Johnson of Cincinnati.

The house has a retractable staircase that lowers to the ground. A neighbour says that feature came in handy for one former owner who was having an argument with her husband. She pulled up the stairway, drove her husband's truck underneath it so he couldn't get the stairs down and left him stuck inside.

Enjoy,

HK

SAD NEWS TO REPORT

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community.

The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes.

Despite being a little flaky at times he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, two children, John Dough and Jane Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

If this made you smile for even a brief second, please rise to the occasion and take time to pass it on and share that smile with someone else that may be having a crumby day and kneads it.

The Pillsbury Doughboy on Youtube

Enjoy,

HK

BIG JAZZ NIGHT BREDA

I just arrived in Breda at the MEZZ podium. Tonight there's the annual BIG JAZZ NIGHT, featuring some excellent bands on two stages.

I am always invited here to shoot a series of photos for the organizing committee, to be used for publicity and the festival's website.

This year the festival management got some help from students of the NHTV (tourism). The Big Jazz Night festival management are members of the Jazz Connection.

The show's going to start at 9PM,... so found some time to update the blog.

I'm definitely going to have another great evening tonight!

Enjoy,

HK

GREAT THEATRE PRODUCTION

Went to the GROOT NIET TE VERMIJDEN show in our home town theatre yesterday evening.

What a great evening! What a fabulous show! Great music, excellent gimmicks, incredible creativity and a bunch of good laughs!!!

Always enjoy running into people I know through work, or school, or whatever at this theatre. Unfortunately there's also I'd rather not see!

Jazz concert in Breda tomorrow!

Enjoy,

HK

IMPRESSIVE BALLET

I went and see a performance of Nederlands Dans Theater II in Schouwburg Kunstmin last Friday night and I was thrilled as usual.

The company performed three ballet, each of approximately 20 minutes.:
Skulls and Bees (Stijn Celis)
Dream Play (John Inger)
and Mammatus (Medhi Walerski)

I particularly liked Mammatus, named after a type of cloud!

I had seen Dream Play in an earlier production of NDTII in the same theatre, but that didn’t bother me at all. On the contrary!
With Dream Play Johan Inger has created an abstract yet narrative ballet to Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps.” He gives a new perspective to the heavily charged story of the ritualized spring sacrifice, reducing it to a daydream inspired by a fleeting sexual encounter. Then comes a wish-fulfillment dream, an erotic and sometimes aggressive game in which the six dancers occasionally play rough with the inventive set. Inger’s earthy, expressive movements mesh perfectly with Stravinsky’s raw sounds.

Decor and costumes for Dream Play: Mylla Ek

Light: Erik Berglund

World premier: November 16, 2000, Lucent Danstheater Den Haag

Nederlands Dans Theater II was founded in 1978. In its more than 25 years of existence, it has developed into a top quality, internationally recognized company performing in theaters all over the world; Spain, Czech.-Republic, New Zealand, Turkey, USA, France, Germany, South Korea, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the Dutch Antilles. Nederlands Dans Theater II consists of 16 dancers between the age of 17 and 22, all of whom completed a classical ballet training. Dancers are recruited from all over the world.

The initial aim with Nederlands Dans Theater II was to 'feed' the main company (Nederlands Dans Theater I) with its young dancers. It served as a bridge period to mature the freshly graduated dancers from the various classical conservatories and schools, and prepare them for a professional dance career. Today over 70% of the dancers of Nederlands Dans Theater I started their career in Nederlands Dans Theater II.The repertoire of Nederlands Dans Theater II is quite varied, working with established choreographers such as Jirí Kylián, Hans van Manen, Ohad Naharin, Paul Lightfoot/Sol León and Johan Inger, but also--more importantly--working with young and upcoming choreographers.

Over the past few years, Nederlands Dans Theater II has developed into a company of today. Working closely with young choreographers, and confronted by different choreographic styles and techniques, has given these young dancers the opportunity to react closely to contemporary developments in music and art of the 1990's. These talented young dancers are able to mirror the realities of today and incorporate these elements into new productions as a kind of Zeitgeist of the 21st century. Nederlands Dans Theater II especially aims to interest and excite young audiences for today's dance.

Enjoy,

HK

SIGNS

I had a good glass of wine at ZOETE BELOFTE - a trendy lounge bar in town - tonight and noticed some neat signs on the wall.

Dinner choices:

1) take it

2) leave it

"Taste Life,... It's delicious!"

"Good food ends with good talk."

I didn't eat there tonight though,.. and not much of a talk either.

Some other time (and in good company)...

Enjoy,

HK

PLANNING TRIPS FOR 2008

I booked a first flight for this year... to London.

Easyjet! (pretty cheap!)

We have a gig there with the Jubal drum & bugle corps on Friday night.

Obviously I can't join the corps when they leave by bus early morning (because of work), so I found a cheap flight to Gatwick late afternoon.

The train from Gatwick will take me straight to Trafalgar Square, where we will gve a concert that same night. So I am hoping to meet the corps there in time.

The following night we will participate in the Drum Corps Europe Power Regional held at the Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium in London.

Other trips I'm looking forward to are Paris (of course...) and Italy.

This summer I am most definitely going to the USA again for about 5 weeks, then Spain, and some sunny place in October.

Major advantage of my job,... !

Enjoy,

HK

NICE OUTFITS AT "BAL RAT MORT" IN OOSTENDE !

Here's some shots of some of the creations people wore at the Bal Rat Mort in Oostende (Belgium) last weekend.

Enjoy,

HK

BEST PARTY EVER !!

HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!

I'd say I've been to quite a number of parties in my life, but last Saturday's beat them all!
What a party!!! Had a blast!

Our band (De Rammen) was invited to perform a few sets in the Kursaal/Casino building, which is right on the boulevard in Oostend (Belgium).

Every year the BAL RAT MORT (first held in 1898!) is held the first weekend of March and draws some 2500+ enthusiastic people to the Kursaal.

ALL of them were dressed up. Most had dressed up in the theme of the event - "Sambacarnival in Bahia" - so an incredible lot of feathers! A large number of women only had little clothes on - Brazilian style bikinis, bling bling and lots of skin. One even appeared fully body painted, only wearing tiny yellow shorts and feathers.


Met quite a bunch of ladies from the UK! (Coralie, Eve & Jan - Thanks for the photo Coralie!!) Great fun! Of course we had our pictuires taken with them! I was once again mistaken for Anthony Hopkins,... something I have been hearing the last few years... the junior version I hope... Haha... (Better than being compared to Gordon, right?)

It was quite some day though!
We left Dordrecht by bus little after 1PM, which gave us plenty of time to cruise the city and have a drink at a bar and eat chicken at "De Koekoek" (a restaurant open 24 hours a day, with just chicken and bread on the menu! Cheap too!).

When we opened our first set in the entrance hall at 9PM at the party, the crowd started rolling in. We were absolutely stunned at some of the incredible creations people were wearing!

The Kursaal has three large halls, where bands were playing on stage (continuously from 9PM through 4AM!). The central hall had a DJ on stage. Our Venetian outfits fit OK with the theme and even in this ambiance drew quite some attention. The organization enjoyed our presence and repertoire, so hopefully we will be invited in the future as well.

We were talking to two of these British girls I mentioned earlier when we were standing close to the podium. At that moment a competition was being held for the best/prettiest outfit of the night. I jokingly told them and my pal Ed we were NEXT on stage. Got a registration number from the organization, we led the ladies on stage, did a little dance with them for about half a minute, left the stage and couldn't stop laughing we actually did this!

Right after our third gig in the Delvaux-hall, the award ceremony was held on stage. Among all these incredible creations Ed and myself never counted on winning anything...

But then surprise struck...
In fourth place (out of 15 available prizes): Number 26.... THAT WAS US!
So we actually came in fourth!!!! hahaha. We couldn't believe it. Unfortunately the lovely ladies were not present top join in the celebration!! Oh well...


Party went on for another number of hours. Our bus left little after 2:30AM.
We all agreed this was one of the very best (if not THE best) party we ever played at. Looking forward to going back next year. If not invited to play, then most definitely as a guest!


Enjoy,


HK