17
Jul

14JUL08: Heartbroken at Studio80

By Your Raconteur 0 Comments
Categories: Birthday Parties, Clubbishness, Music I LOVE, Partyshots and Video
Tags: ,

My buddy, Frankie D, has cranked up a new weekly bash on Monday nights at Studio80 called Heartbroken.

This was the second week, and surprisingly enough, they pulled in a nice crowd!

The music was sweet!

All kinds of stuff that your raconteur loved hearing somewhere new…

“Frankie D. and guests spin the sweetest soul, sophisticated jazz, dirtiest funk with a splash of hip-hop.”

It’s a fact.

And on a Monday night too!

Met a bunch of really nice fellow feestbeestjes* and saw a good number of friends there as well.

(*Party Animals, of course! ;) )

There were lots of pretty girls! :)

Speaking of which, we had a beautiful birthday girl and her crew…

We EVEN had Super Heroes!

(Did I mention this was all on a Monday Freaking Night?!?)

I can prove it!

Y’all KNOW that I have the definitive evidence of the wild goings on at Studio80!

It’s my job.

*snicker*

This is the last video from the night… (Shot at 0358 local time)

Looks like FUN, huh?

I uploaded three more short clips to WUIA TV! (Go check them out!)

Now for the pics! (Click below)

All pic sets are caught up, just in time for WKND tonight!

Wish me luck, huh? ;)

17
Jul

Obama: More Heat (and some laughs) On The Way…

By Your Raconteur 0 Comments
Categories: Laughs!, World News, evil bastards and politics
Tags: , ,

With ever increasing amounts of attention being paid to the upcoming US presidential election, these kind of things have to be expected!

It’s not just coming from the political right wingers anymore, either…

Here are my three examples: one is kinda funny, the second, most certainly ISN’T, and the third might fall somewhere in the middle.

A friend from Seattle just shot your raconteur this piece:

May We Mock, Barack?

By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: July 16, 2008

WASHINGTON

When I interviewed Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for Rolling Stone a couple years ago, I wondered what Barack Obama would mean for them.

“It seems like a President Obama would be harder to make fun of than these guys,” I said.

“Are you kidding me?” Stewart scoffed.

Then he and Colbert both said at the same time: “His dad was a goat-herder!”

Read the rest: May We Mock, Barack? - NYTimes.com

We’re starting to see more mocking of Barack Obama, as well as outright criticism from sections of his base of support on a couple of fronts, particularly his current support for telco amnesty for the illegal wiretapping they carried out at the behest of the Bush administration.

Hence this poster…

(via BoingBoing)

Last is this T-shirt design from rstevens at diesel sweeties.

(Yes, him again, I saw this while I was finding the link for the last post)

Click on the image to see the T-shirt order page.

r writes:

Obama may be the best option left, but he’s looking a lot more center lately. This shirt is a great way to let your idealistic friends down easy. Lowered expectations make for happier marriages!

Cut the dude some slack for not being Jesus and you’ll probably be a lot happier with him. The most inspiring politician in the world is still a politician.

There’s also the chance that McCain will win… but even the cynical t-shirt copywriter in me doesn’t want to contemplate that.

Obama will probably win in November, the man has my vote…

But what happens after that is still very much anybody’s guess.

I believe that it’s in ALL of our best interests that he succeeds in his political endeavors…

Here’s me hoping that he gets a serious chance to at least start to put my country back on the proverbial right track.

We will most certainly see, won’t we?

Maybe I’ll just order the T-shirt now… (It’s on the way)

15
Jul

I Got This New T-Shirt…

By Your Raconteur 1 Comment
Categories: Laughs!
Tags: ,

["Mr. Big Ideas" T-Shirt by rstevens of Diesel Sweeties! Get yours HERE!]

Greetings from Amsterdam!

I’m SO loving the T-Shirt you recently sent me… Thought you might like a picture!

Yours,

TLG

–
Todd L. Gilbert,
US Army Retired, R.N. (Ret.), Philogynist, Raconteur, Tech Freak, Blogger, Podcaster, Rabid Hyver,
Photographer, and WickedJazzSounds Ambassador!

Read “Waking up in Amsterdam!” http://wakingupinamsterdam.com
E mail - todd [aT] agitprop [D0t] nl
Skype Me: agitprop777
Twitter: http://twitter.com/agitproper

Diesel Sweeties is one of the very coolest comics on teh intarwebs!

Your raconteur showed his support for the effort by spending a relatively tiny bit of cash for a cool new T-Shirt!

(The adorable girls, I found at SugarFactory on Sunday Night at WickedJazzSounds here in Amsterdam! :) )

UPDATE: I got a rapid reply!

god dang, you’re living the life! can i post that?

My response:

Sure you can post it! I just did… ;)

14
Jul

NEW Video: Alphabeat - Boyfriend

By Your Raconteur 0 Comments
Categories: Music I LOVE and Video
Tags: ,

Your raconteur would have to confess to having a certain infatuation with Alphabeat’s tasty euro-pop ways… The girl singer, Stine, is basically adorable, with wicked pipes and a powerful stage presence!

Hmmmm, kinda sounds like another girl singer that I know… ;)

“Boyfriend” has been thoroughly re-produced from the album version and I’m liking it!

Anyway, here’s the latest video from Alphabeat!

12
Jul

Video: The WickedJazzSounds Band LIVE at Paradiso [27JUN08]

By Your Raconteur 0 Comments
Categories: Clubbishness, Video and WickedJazzSounds
Tags: , ,

Your raconteur had blogged about this gig HERE, but this video just popped up on Hyves and I hadn’t linked it up yet, so here y’all go…

Enjoy!

12
Jul

10JUL08: WKND at Studio80 (Lee’s B-Day!)

By Your Raconteur 1 Comment
Categories: Birthday Parties, Clubbishness, Kittens!, Partyshots and Video
Tags: , , , , ,

If you’ve been to Studio80 at all lately, you’ve probably seen my friend, Lee, working hard behind the bar.

He spends LOTS of time on this job, good thing he likes it so much, huh? (He’s really good at it too!)

Your raconteur rolled into the rembrandtplein club zone around 2330 to find that we were celebrating his 26th birthday with one of those abbreviated “on the job” type parties.

Y’all know what I’m talking about here!

Lee requested apple pie with colorful candy sprinkles, I thought they were called “muisjes” but I might be mistaken…

It’s been known to happen from time to time! ;)

The obvious advantage to having this in a club would be actual champagne…

So we kicked off the night with a spot of the bubbly!

Good thing it was just a glass each… ;)

DJ Timstr was in the house as usual, but he wasn’t playing… He was playing host and pimping WKND!

DJs Juan Sanchez and Dorine Dorado had the duty tonight, doing a terrific job!

Dorine had the early set, while Juan finished the night up right!

MY night was made when Princess Mina surprised me by showing up unannounced to party with us! I love it when she does that! :)

By 0115, we had a good-sized crowd so the place started to heat up fast and I got busy with the camera!

I got a couple of short video clips for your dancefloor viewing enjoyment… ;)

Clip 1: Sugar Daddy OH!

Clip 2:

See these (and 3 more!) at WUIA TV!

Here are the partyshots! (Click below)

I uploaded this set to flickr last night, and these four pics have been attracting the most attention so far! (It’s not hard to see why… ;) )

If you were there, you know how good it was!

If you weren’t, come see us next Thursday night!

As the party ends, Mina rides off into the (almost) sunrise…

I, on the other hand, stuck around and shot a few more pics…

Check the end of the set!

10
Jul

NEW Page: “Pictures & Video”

By Your Raconteur 0 Comments
Categories: Housekeeping..., Partyshots and Video
Tags: , ,

Pictures & Videos

By popular demand, an easier link to your partyshots and videos on this blog!

Look up!

It’s under the title header…

You got it!

10
Jul

How is YOUR week going?

By Your Raconteur 1 Comment
Categories: Amsterdammers, Clubbishness, Housekeeping..., Video and WickedJazzSounds
Tags: , , , , , ,

Your raconteur’s has been BUSY!

I’d mentioned that I’ve been conducting a major assault on the learning curve for web video compression… It’s kind of a “black art” of sorts and I’ve poured quite a bit of time into it, but I’ve had a bit of success, Campers! :)

I recoded all the clips from last Sunday night and they look (and sound) considerably better than v.1.0!

I’ve still gotta LOT to learn yet though…

Check out the fruits of my labors with this previously unreleased clip of The WickedJazzSounds Band’s rockin’ song, “Biggest Sin”, from Sunday night!

See them all at WUIA TV on Vimeo where they look best! (They’re on YouTube as well, if you absolutely must… ;) )

I’ve also been helping out an old friend with all kinds of techie stuff (and playing with his amazing new MacBook Air!) which necessitated a bit of local travel and resulted in the following set of pics from around Centraal Station and Schiphol!

08JUL08: Traveling in Amsterdam: Boats, Trains, and Aeroplanes!

Traveling in Amsterdam

Since it seems to be Thursday, (it IS Thursday, right? *snicker*) tonight’s destination is, of course, WKND at Studio80! There should be at least a kitten or two at this party…

WKND @ Studio80

If I don’t see you there, have a good night!

08
Jul

06JUL08: WickedJazzSounds at SugarFactory (The WJS Band!)

By Your Raconteur 1 Comment
Categories: AWESOME!, Clubbishness, Kittens!, Partyshots, Video and WickedJazzSounds
Tags: , ,

Your raconteur hit the ground running, so to speak, to make the 2330 start time for tonight’s performance of The WickedJazzSounds Band at SugarFactory!

I loaded up with hot batteries, cleaned the lenses, and strapped my gear on in the tram, fer chrissakes!

I needn’t have worried so much though…

They held it up til just after midnight so that everyone could get inside!

Good problem to have, huh? ;)

The show was spectacular!

As per usual, of course! (We get pretty spoiled at WickedJazzSounds!)

The band played until about 0120, then DJs Phil and Leroy kept it humming until they turned on the lights!

Sadly, Prinses Eva couldn’t make it, poor kitty fell asleep on her couch, but I made do… ;)

Much dancing and merriment ensued!I recruited a wonderful new pair of kittens to play with! :D

They bought me tequila and I bought them Jager Bombs!

(I’m not usually such a bad influence… Honest! ;) )

THE BAN wasn’t even a big issue!

We just deal with it.

SugarFactory’s smoking lounge is kinda nice, in fact.

I went maybe 5 times total…

I was having the time of my life and as a result, I shot the bloody hell out of this party!

Geweldig!

Before I’d even started on this post, I’d already been told the night’s pics (and VIDEOS!) are pretty terrific too! *blush*

Wanna see them??? Sure ya do!

The WJS Band: Laurens Priem’s guitar solo on “Biggest Sin”

Here is the seriously freaking HUGE set of pics from the night’s festivities! (Click to enter!)

WJS @ SF (WJS Band)

The early response has been terribly gratifying, to say the least!

Laurens (the killer guitarist seen above) has shot me a couple of Hyves messages already…

Hey Todd, what’s up buddy!

Just checked all the pictures on your flickr site, must say they are AMAZING! Not sure if you have new equipment but I’m really impressed. I’m sure all the band members will be happy to see those, sending them the link now.

Best,
Laurens

Then THIS one hit my inbox!

Just noticed the videos you posted, this is really great stuff man!!!

THANKS A MILLION!

WOW, right?!? Wow indeed…

Bonus Video:

The WJS Band: “Let The Music (Guide Your Life)” (Lead Vocals by Berenice van Leer/Trumpet solo by Robbert Scherpenisse)

The WickedJazzSounds Band:
Berenice van Leer - vocals
Renske Taminiau - vocals
Paul van Kessel - vocals
Robbert Scherpenisse - trumpet
Floris van der Vlugt - alto sax
Bastiaan Woltjer - trombone
Laurens Priem - guitar
Gilian Baracs - keyboards
Hugo den Oudsten - bass
Tim Dudek - drums
Roel Calister - percussion

wickedjazzsounds.com
sugarfactory.nl
wakingupinamsterdam.com

Enjoy! (and please leave comments!)

08
Jul

Coming NOW: Video on WuiA!

By Your Raconteur 1 Comment
Categories: Clubbishness, Housekeeping..., Video and WickedJazzSounds
Tags: , ,

I’ve started to experiment with video, Campers…

Have y’all got any idea how hard it is to get a video to look good on YouTube?

REAL damn hard!!!

Your raconteur has learned more about video compression in the last day or so than anybody should ever have to! ;)

Now, go check out The “Waking up in Amsterdam!” Channel on Vimeo.
Here’s an example:

more about “06JUL08: The WickedJazzSounds Band @ …“, posted with vodpod

These guitar solo vids are the EXACT same file, processed in QuickTime Pro and uploaded to each service…

Neither one is perfect, of course, but the difference is pretty seriously clear to me!

What do y’all think? Lemme know in the comments below!

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Your Raconteur:

Todd L. Gilbert

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

(It's like applause, y'all!)

Email me: blog [at] agitprop [d0t] nl

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