30
Sep
09

Song of the Day: “The Biggest Sin”

Your raconteur found this today in the Facebook feed (Thx Laurens! [and Dan, and Gilian]) and it’s insanely great!!!

Berenice looks wonderful! (Nothing new there… *sigh* ;) )

Her brother Ruben and the crew visualized one of my fave Wicked Jazz Sounds Band songs into something very special! (It’s seriously hot too!)

I’m terribly proud of EVERYBODY involved with this stellar production and it’s an honor to share it here.

ENJOY!

Credits!

Official music video ‘The Biggest Sin’ – The Wicked Jazz Sounds Band

Wicked Jazz Sounds Band: Berenice van Leer (vocals), Paul van Kessel (vocals), Renske Taminiau (vocals), Laurens Priem (guitar), Gilian Baracs (keys), Hugo den Oudsten (bass), Tim Dudek (drums), Floris van der Vlugt (sax), Robbert Scherpenisse (trumpet), Bastiaan Woltjer (trombone)

Video is a Westframe & The Basooka Boys production

Ruben van Leer – Direction, Production & Post, Joris Hoebe – Direction, Production, 5Dcam, Femke Agema – Fashion Design, Diderik Evers – DOP, Friso Pankonin – Gaffer, Chris Vingerhoets – Light & Gaffer, Jaron de Paauw – Camera Ast./ 5Dcam, Eric Taal – Camera Ast., Rowinia Pinas – Styling Ast., Mart Reker – Make-Up & FX
Christien Mulder – Make-Up, Berenice van Leer – Singer, Actress, Quinten Rutgers – Actor

Manne van der Zee & Merijn Tiemessen – Managing
Gilian Baracs & Laurens Priem – Music Production

Thanks to: Het Licht, S-Color, CAM-A-LOT, Amsterdam Studios, Action-Pact, Paradiso

All rights: Wicked Jazz Sounds Recordings info@wickedjazzsounds.com

27
Sep
09

Raving in Amsterdam

On Friday night I attended a “dance party”.  As I walked there I thought about things like taking pictures for Todd’s blog.

I’m not so sure now that pictures would be appropriate.  Besides, I didn’t take any.  It was about dancing.  And it was about drinking.  And it was all designed to be overwhelming in a way that a picture can’t describe.  And honestly, it was kind of spooky too.  Because it was also the place the city’s dark side hung out.

The parties Todd photographed were night clubs.  This was a rave.  It was a quasi-legal party, behind private security, deep inside the bowels of a foreign registered boat tied up in the harbour just slightly outside of town.

A factory fishing ship, who’s holds are now dance halls; thousands of guests pour down the narrow metal stairs, leading to ever lower sections and further stairways.  You follow the sounds of pounding music and arrive into a room of bodies.  Everyone sways and moves, the music moves the crowd as a whole.  If you push past there are more hallways, more stairs, and more rooms of moving bodies.  Every room has a bar and intoxicants flow.  Along the way you step on wooden boards covering holes in the gangway.  The only decoration over the refrigeration coils  are camo-nets.  Everything smells of oil.  It’s dark; lights and music hit as one; flashing, pounding.  Spinning?  The hull slopes inward more the further you descend.  “Descend into madness”, you think.

In a word, it was perfect.  Fucking exactly perfectly dead-on to what was expected.  Like a cross between a night-club, a horror  film and a rollercoaster.

And at the end of the night, Thunderdome.  Gone was the private security force that let us in.  They had been replaced by people huddled around burning barrels.  Undead partiers, walking, hobbling, slowly past conveyed the mood. “Morning”.  Not a chipper, hello-day, coffee achiever morning.  It was more like the groaning of the vampire who must regretfully retire to his box of dirt.  There was a shared knowledge that the day was just about to arrive, and other than sunrise, no of us wanted to see any of it.

The first rays of sunlight hurt.  Thankfully I was back at my bike by then.  It was then just a short ride home, to a long day-after.

22
Sep
09

Song of the Day! (UPDATED)

Kenny Loggins – I’m Free (Heaven Helps The Man)

It’s an old one, but it works!

UPDATE: It’s a two for one special!

Your raconteur’s fave Danish pop act, Alphabeat, just released the video for their GREAT new song, “The Spell” for our consideration.

I was already lovin’ the track (the song dropped two weeks ago) and the video is every bit as tasty!

Stine looks yummy as a redhead too! ;)

Regular readers of my humble blog know how I feel about redheads… (Even temporary ones!)

22
Sep
09

We NEED a Public Health Care Insurance Option NOW!

more about “Protect Insurance Companies PSA from …“, posted with vodpod

I’m a former RN, from a family of RNs, and I don’t get confused by the insurance industry’s intentionally distracting side issues…

Why don’t we just find a way to provide effective and affordable health care to ALL Americans?

There’s only one reason.

The insurance companies can’t make nearly as much money if they had to compete with a high-quality public option.

It’s just that simple and it’s terribly sad.

Anything else is a smokescreen…

People NEED health care coverage, The local ER is NOT an effective alternative, and living in Amsterdam has taught me how such a system actually works (and works fairly WELL).

Now that I’ve come back to the US, I’ve stepped up for the cause. I just can’t think of a more critical issue to support than one that negatively impacts 46 MILLION of my countrymen.

Can any of you???

20
Sep
09

Unbefreakinglievable!

Your raconteur realizes that he’s waaaay behind on updates, but it’s truly a case of being a bit too busy living this life to be writing about it as much as I’d like!

I’ve been on the ground for just over a week and haven’t been able to stop to catch a breath! (Although I’m actually breathing MUCH better since I quit cigarettes nine days ago!!!)

Last night, I volunteered to help tend bar at the local co-op watering hole during a spectacular performance of classic jazz by Buck Hill! (He’s a Greenbelt resident!)

They opened the first set with “Take Five” and kept the capacity crowd mesmerized for the entire night!

We were SO insanely busy… It was reminding me of an ER shift on a payday weekend! (With a full moon!)

I was on my feet for the whole night, no dinner break, I passed LOTS of fluids out, *snicker* and I wanted needed to fall over at the end.

On the other hand, there was GREAT music, friendly people, a total lack of untoward bodily fluids, and nobody died! :)

Ray and I even broke the previous record for tips!

How cool is that?!?

Of course, the best part was meeting so many cool people and making a bunch of new friends!!!

I love when that happens… TOTAL WIN!

So Campers, today has been declared a day of rest (by me) and I’m gonna go for a walk around a lake with a very nice blonde girl!

(Me=a sucker for a cute southern accent… ;) )

14
Sep
09

Touching Base

Just wanted to let y’all know that your raconteur is safe and sound in beautiful Greenbelt, Maryland.

I’m getting more love and support (and having more FUN!) than I thought was even possible. Barbara & Ray have opened their home, hearts and life to me and they’ve been keeping me extremely pleasantly occupied  since I hit the ground.

Ya know I got some wild stories to tell, and I DO, but it’s early Monday morning here and I have to get rolling on what will be a very busy week!

Thanks to all of you for the love and support you continue to give me! This mission has barely begun, but I’m starting to feel like being back in the USofA is going to turn out just fine.

In fact, it might even be great! :)

BTW: I haven’t smoked a cigarette in days…

11
Sep
09

Schrödinger’s Todd

Per Wiki, “Schrödinger’s cat is a thought experiment, often described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935.” One cat is placed into one of two boxes. If no observer knows where the cat is, then it is said to be equally in each box, until determined. The idea is often used to explain more complex thoughts in Quantum Mechanics.

Right now, Todd could be used for the same experiment. Is he still in Germany, at Ramstein Air Base? Is he in the U.S., awaiting his chance to interview with Homeland Security? Is he on a plane between the two places and thus no where at all? We don’t know. But what we do know is news worthy…

Todd has left Amsterdam! He’s not here. We’ve looked. And he’s not expected back any time soon.

Alas, for now, Schrodinger’s Todd is so everywhere that no one knows where he is. But we’re all expecting to soon hear that he’s somewhere on the east coast and amongst friends.

03
Sep
09

The End of an Era…

It is for me anyway!

As most of you know, your raconteur has been trying to leave for CONUS all summer, but I’ve only just been able to obtain the final talisman of my quest here. (Many thanks to all of the kind folks at JFC Brunssum for helping out this old(ish) soldier!)

I’ll have to write up the story of my last trip to the south, it was particularly special!

I’m currently shacking up (so to speak) at Hotel Aalborg with a beloved kitten for a few days before I leave town.

This place is GREAT! It’s located right across from the Sarphatipark, there’s LOTS of great places to shop, eat, drink, and just soak up the gezelligheid as I scheme out my imminent departure from this city that I love.

I put us here because Clarolyn was desperate to do a bunch of yoga after 2 months in rural Ireland and the studio she likes is just down the street.

We had a very nice dinner at Sarphaat last night and today I took her to the Cuypmarkt in the rain and turned her on to the joy of fresh stroopwafels:)

More follows!

24
Aug
09

Cocaine’s like that

Last night was a beautiful evening in Amsterdam.  The day’s weather had been perfect, sunny and warm, and given that it was a Sunday too, everyone was out.  I was enjoying myself with friends and acquaintances.  We were sat along the bar at my local and chatting casually amongst ourselves.  And then suddenly, an unstoppable force arrived.  A woman stepped up, introduced herself, and started talking.

And talking.

And talking.

Friends’ faces said it all.  Who is this lady, and is she completely crazy?

It wasn’t long before I was the only one left.  Crazy lady was still talking and I was trying my hardest to be polite.  But in a surprisingly short period of time all my patience was gone.  One story about, something, segued into another about, nothing, and I just couldn’t take it.

“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt,” I said, holding up my hands in the universal ’stop’ gesture.  “But what is the point of what you’re saying, and how should I react appropriately to it?”

“What?  You don’t have to react. “  She said, confused.

“Ah, so then if my response isn’t important why are you telling me all this?” I inquired, impolitely.

“What?  Oh, did I not mention that I just did a line of cocaine?” she asked.

“No, no you didn’t and may I suggest that you should start with that.  The conversation is much easier to follow now that I know you’re on coke.”

“Really?  Does it show?”

I explained it did.  It really really did.  I didn’t explain that everyone else had left to escape her chatter.  Nor did I mention that the first impression of her was of a crazy lady.  And we’re not talking “bungee jumping” kinda crazy.

As a parting idea, I choose to share some advice based on what she had been talking about.  “Whatever you do,” I said,” Just don’t show up to your [upcoming] job interview on coke.  Trust me on this.”

“Really?”  She was incredulous to the idea.  She couldn’t imagine that the cocaine wasn’t making her a better person, more desirable for hiring.  She was sure that her stories were lighting up the room!

I shrugged.  What could I tell her?  Cocaine’s like that.

17
Aug
09

I lived amongst them; I live with them

My first few years living in Amsterdam I essentially lived “near and around the Dutch”.  But I didn’t live “with” them nor was I a part of them.  Indeed, as awful as it sounds to say, there is very much an idea here to the effect that if you aren’t Dutch, you never will be.

Skip forward a few years, a few language courses, a few frustrations and I think I’m actually really truly “becoming Dutch”.  80% at least, as there will always be a North American puritan inside also.

What brings these thoughts to me is the fact that this past weekend I woke up in Holland.  Quiet a way outside of Amsterdam, I was in Gouda (like the cheese) and visiting one of my oldest (longest known) Dutch friends.  The word for the experience was “gezellig”.

Gezellig doesn’t have a proper translation into English.  This is a key point.  My dictionary says,” Pleasant; enjoyable; sociable; companionable,” but these don’t come close.  The part that doesn’t translate is that gezelligheid is an emotion.  More than an atmosphere or experience, it is a shared experience and exists between the people sharing it.

You can’t have a gezellig time alone.  And this is what makes it unusual to us English thinkers.  Gezellig is about a connection.  The feeling of knowing that the other people are enjoying the experience as much as you are.  In English we don’t have many words to describe “feeling how others feel”.

This past weekend was gezellig for me.  I could feel it.  There was a connection between me and my friend.  And as I think back on it all, I believe that this increased the connection between me and Holland.

I think it’s a shame our language doesn’t acknowledge this connected feeling the way Dutch does.  Thus the more gezelligheid I experience, the more Dutch I feel.

[Post by Morgan]




Your Pictures are probably HERE!

International Music Magazine

Your Raconteur:

Todd L. Gilbert

U.S. Army Retired, R.N. (Ret.), Philogynist, Raconteur, Tech Freak, Blogger, Podcaster, Rabid Hyver, Photographer, and
Wicked Jazz Sounds Ambassador!

Living the dream in teh magickal kingdom and sharing it with all of you here!

Feel free to look around and please LEAVE COMMENTS on posts and/or pics!

It's like applause, y'all!

CONTACT ME

Below, you'll find about half a metric assload of links and info for many of the people, places, and things in and around Amsterdam (and elsewhere) that I find to be important, interesting, or just plain FUN!

There's a bunch of my stuff too...

ENJOY!


Wanna buy your raconteur a nice frosty beer to reward his efforts?



ENFP - "Journalist". Uncanny sense of the motivations of others. Life is an exciting drama. 8.1% of total population.

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