My Play Live Wish List for 2011

Even though the ticket prices in the Netherlands will be considerably higher next year due to complete ignorance and misjudgement of our government, I'm still looking forward to gigs and shows to go to. Even though going to shows will mean I'm paying to pave another highway and other things not needed, I still love music and still want to experience the beauty of raw and pure music enjoyment. But, if I already have to pay more which won't go to the artists or the venues, I have but a few bands I really really want to see in 2011. So, here's my Live Wish List for 2011. The highly unlikely bands of course.

The Cribs
Four months ago the Cribs went on a 2 year break. I didn't believe it at the time but it kinda really looks like they're doing it. Never mind 50% of the band posting Global Words of Wisdom and Other Signs of Boredom on Twitter, 25% being bored in general (or so we could conclude from, again, Twitter) and the remaining 25%? We can only guess (no Twitter), but probably they are enjoying their break. I think it's fairly safe to say that 75% of the band wouldn't mind to cut down the 2-year-break and here's my plan: get yrselves (all 100% of you) to a god-lost barn in Oregon, lock yourself up and TOUR the outcome next year, in 2011. I don't neccesarily need a new album, I just want to see these guys play live again. I'm having bad withdrawels.

Wild Flag
My heart skipped a beat by reading this band plays Birmingham next year, but of course they meant the town in America, not England. But you know what, instead of playing in venues called 'Sticky Fingers Rock 'N' Roll Chicken Shack' (I'm not making this up! It's in Little Rock), can I suggest playing in 'Paradise', 'the Milky Way' or in 'Bittersweet' instead? Oh, and they're all in Amsterdam. The Netherlands - I didn't mean New York.

Quasi
These guys are soooooo good, I really would love seeing them again. No indie kiddos around either, just perfect. Do the funds stretch? Let's hope so.

The Jicks
Apparently there's a new album in the works and halfway done since early 2010, I don't see why this band shouldn't make their way to the Netherlands.


So far I've given Janet Weiss three oppurtunities to go tour, she will love it.

Boston Spaceships
Look, this band hardly ever plays, they don't have the time as they are releasing album after album but I really wouldn't mind seeing them in Paradiso Kleine Zaal, it would be absolutely perfect.

Wild Nothing
Went to see them this year not knowing what they really sounded like and I got to say, I absolutely liked what I heard. I want to see them again. To see and hear if they can surprise me again. And if their record collection still primarely excists of records by The Smiths and The Cure.

Kate Nash & Marina & the Diamonds
Power women! Solo singers with something to say. You can't see enough of them, can you? I love going to a Kate Nash show, there's so much raw power coming from the stage. And Marina, she stole my heart. I need to see if she takes good care of it.

All Smiles
Seeing Jim Fairchild with Modest Mouse this year was an absolute treat. Such a joy to see this man play. If All Smiles makes it on tour and across the Atlantic, it would also be a good chance to have a good look at mister Joe Plummer. You can't hide on a small stage.

Kent
I refound my love for this Swedish rock band. I lost it because they forgot to rock. I would be absolutely delighted to see them play again, though they tour rarely now and only in Sweden. It's time El Cheapo takes it from Amsterdam to Gothenburg. Or Stockholm, I would even do that.

Top 3 gigs @ Paradiso Kleine Zaal Amsterdam

Am I one of these people who will moan when their favourite band gets this big they will be playing bigger venues? I have to admit I sort of am but not because I don't want the band to be successful and wouldn't want to share this with the rest of the world but simply because I love the smaller venues. Kaiser Chiefs in the 850 capacity Melkweg was much better than Kaiser Chiefs in the 5,000 capacity HMH (and this was not just because their songs had gone drastically down the drain ever since). These smaller venues are real. I just love them. Two of my top 3 gigs of this year have taken place in such a small venue, the little stage of the Paradiso in Amsterdam. And to honour just that, here's my top 3 of my favourite gigs from that very stage, Paradiso - kleine zaal.

3) Ernst Jansz (October 2010)
It was more the whole experience that made it. All seated with some honourable Dutch musicians in the audience, Jansz was playing Bob Dylan songs in Dutch, talked about Dylan songs, showed Dylan pictures. I don't even like Dylan! It was still amazing. Ernst Jansz means more to me than words can say. After the show, where we were all treated on cake and champagne, I tried to tell him anyway. The hug and kiss (on the cheek) I got in return are priceless. That combined with the great musician, singer and story teller he is made this unforgettable.

2) Quasi (May 2010)
Not knowing what to expect from this band they really blew me away. This is how God intended rock n roll to be. For me this show was also some kind of turning point. It was my definite goodbye from general frustration about 'nme-indie', isn't there anything else? Sure there is. And Quasi are the King and Queens of that. Ever since this gig I never felt too old for any show any longer. And let it be said that Janet Weiss and Sam Coomes are two of the most genuine and kindest musicians I've ever met.

1) The Cribs (September 2007)
If the microphone stand of Gary Jarman falls down straight into the plastic cup with beer of his brother Ryan you just know the stage is small. The Cribs (then still a 3-piece) are notoriously known for their raw and energy filled shows, this was no exception, far from it. Sweat literally dripped from them on us. And from us on them. The venue was boiling. Everyone was hyped. There was serious crowd surfing. It was amazing. One of the best gigs I've seen? Definitely. Best live band too.


All pictures on this post are made by me.

Be my baby, baby, baby

There is something you should know if you don't know it already. I do not want children. It's the whole process of being pregnant (I watched too many sci-fi movies about Alien invasion and intergration), never mind the actual birth. Then it's pretty much losing your freedom, though you seem to get a lot in return, and the whole raising the child in a not so friendly environment. I do have my ideas about how to raise a child but I can't influence everyone around me from the paperboy to the wild man on the street preaching about the apocalypse so that's all too challenging for me. Maybe I don't even like children all that much. But then there's a first for everything. One of my best friends, someone who does share my views, had a baby. I visited her a few weeks after her live attendance of a horror movie (read: giving birth) and instantly had a fragile baby in my arms. I must have looked horrified and to be honest, I was a little. Little Alex was so fragile, so small, pooping a lot. I had no idea what to do with it. But somehow, I loved getting pictures of him, loved her stories (not the ones about not being able to go everywhere she likes so easily, though baby Alex has already been to Belgium and Norway and attended a barbecue at a Norwegian river in October) and I was really looking forward to seeing him again as my friend would come to Amsterdam to visit me.

She lives in a smaller town near Rotterdam and took the train. As the trains from her hometown didn't go this weekend due to railwork she had to rely on her husband taking her to another train station and as he had somewhere to go himself that day it was a bit early. Never mind the 08:15 (on Sunday!) train not going either. She decided to take the next train to the Hague, trying to get a train to Amsterdam there. While we were texting I checked the website of our national trainoperator whether there was more railworks. A whole dozen of them! And naturally another one on the track she had to take. "Whatever you do, don't go via Haarlem!" I texted. Because having a buggy in the train being alone seemed hard enough in itself, I didn't want her to get on busses either. In the end she hopped off halfway to get on the train to Amsterdam (I'm still impressed she managed) and we met at the central station.

I had offered earlier that I would like to get behind the buggy, all in the eye of revenge. Trying to to be run over by buggies is not a sport, it's survival. In my eyes, mothers with buggies are simply using their buggy to shamelessly marche their way through town or wherever they are. Really annoying. So, now it's my turn! And my friend let me because she always felt the same about that.

I got the full baby experience. I spent the entire day behind the buggy and it was great. I never walked through the Kalverstraat with such ease as this Sunday. I wasn't even going through town with my zero tolerance policy, I just walked and it's never been that easy. People do look differently at you with a buggy and are actually being nice to you. I know I might have been lucky but it's really a whole different experience. And my friend? She enjoyed walking around freely.
Our first challenge was Burger King. Don't expect anything else open in a Sunday morning in Amsterdam. We wanted a coffee and a draft free place to feed Alex. We carried the buggy upstairs and found a nice place. I instantly had baby Alex on my lap. The little man had grown quite a bit these 4 months and I actually dared to hold him and move at the same time. We caught up, talked and talked, he got a fresh diaper (that's actually the only thing I didn't do during this baby experience), I helped him getting into his jacket again and off we went, carrying the buggy down and into town. Getting in and out the shops. And I was amazed about just how easy that was. Alex didn't mind the bumpy roads, in fact he loved it. Whenever we didn't walk he opened his eyes as if he were to say 'hey come on and keep walking, I like that!'. Getting into the stores was a little challenging, some had a high entrance, but still it went well. People actually held the doors open for me. Wow! Of course he went into a record store where I told him he would be in these stores a whole lot in his life (he's going to be a rocker, of course) and getting into that small entrance wasn't as impossible I believed it was. There's something clever about how these buggies are wheeled. We also went into H&M to get the little man some clothes and I took a teddy polar bear off the shelf and held in in front of him, playing with it and buying it for him. Apparently it's his favourite toy right now. I also fed him at a restaurant later on and though he was quite heavy it was an experience.

It was time for her and him to go so I carried him to the rail station. Carried because he was getting a little moody at that time and started to cry a little. It's true, if the baby crying is yours it's way less annoying, in fact, I didn't think it was annoying at all and managed to make him stop a few times as well, which also included carrying him on my arms. With the elevator we went to her train and had to rush even, I helped her carrying the buggy inside and had time to say goodbye and off they went. Back home where she had to take a substitute rail bus which denied her because of the buggy (wtf man). And as I was walking to my tram I actually missed the little man. The buggy, the smile on his face. Damn.

Did this make me change my mind about having a child of my own? Hell no. It still involves something growing inside of me, it still involves birth and it still involves losing a piece of your freedom. My friend and I talked about this and it was something she found hard as well but the cliché was true, the smile of her baby made it worth it or at least easier. She would do everything for her baby, more for him as for her husband. And of course a 4 month old is a whole different child than a 2-year-old who is learning to walk and run and being naughty. But I did get a better insight on what it's like to have a baby, how it does limit you but also how rewarding that little smile is and that you really do not break a child in two when you move. The purpose of her visit was my birthday (don't worry, it's only next month) and one of her gifts was a Rock Bible. I think I want to be that child's cool aunty. Let's see what he thinks about it when he grows older but so far I think he likes me. And for someone who thinks she just can't handle and deal with children, that's quite something.

The only thing I worry about is if I have removed the cap of my camera while taking his picture or left it stupidly on.