UPDATE: The pics from this party are up now! Click HERE!

Stand-by for more coverage from Canvas… I’m off to Panorama!

Your raconteur is staying way local tonight…

Canvas is located on the top floor of the old Volkskrant building, (see pics) they’re having what promises to be an extraordinary “Unofficial” 1st Anniversary Party, and it’s about half a klick from my quarters!

More coverage follows!

Last weekend went WAY off the plan, as far as partying with Brittany anyway…

I did get to spend a little bit of time with her and her boy last Friday night, it was fun, but it was a far cry from her previous visits, which were truly the stuff of legend!

I was starting to get all, “Who are you people, and what did you do with my kitten?!?”

She tells me that they had a good time while they were here, which is all that matters to your raconteur!

I, on the other hand, was workin’ it up one side and down the other…

UPDATE:

love it!!
but when I come with my friend in the spring, it will once again be the stuff of legends! don’t you worry!
until next time, party hard and make me proud!

xx Britt

Here are the pics!

21NOV08: The Dirty Dirty Dirty @ Paradiso Amsterdam

22NOV08: F*ck Minimal @ Ruigoord

It was the best edition of this party yet!

I had a BLAST!

Sadly, Fierce Angel didn’t happen on Sunday night, but Mike van Loon finally joined us at Sugar Factory for his very first Wicked Jazz Sounds!

23NOV08: Wicked Jazz Sounds @ Sugar Factory Amsterdam

I was booked to shoot a party at Hoopman Irish Pub on the leidseplein on Tuesday evening, they recieved the award for Best Irish Pub in ALL of Holland!

25NOV08: Hoopman Irish Pub Amsterdam

Prior to that gig, I’d stopped by Hemp Works/T.H. Seeds to pick up my new Hemp HoodLamb winter coat (The “Tech 420″ in steel blue) only to be informed that they were throwing their big 15th Anniversary Bash during the Cannabis Cup at Bitterzoet that night…

Uh oh!

25NOV08: T.H. Seeds presents SNOB @ Bitterzoet Amsterdam

My second party of the night was as completely off the freakin’ hook as the first one was! Albeit for completely different reasons…

Good thing I’d found a kitten to accompany me! (Thanks, Lara!)

Needless to say, Wednesday was rather quiet…

Thursday was Thanksgiving Day, I basically ignored it this year!

I’d promised the good folks at Hoopman that I’d deliver their pics on a CD that night, which I did!

They were kind enough to fill me up with Guinness and Tullamore Dew…

Tonight? I’m laying low!

Your raconteur has an American kitten visiting from Edinborough this weekend!

Brittany brought her boy over to party, so I’m continuing our little tradition of taking her to the best parties that tourists never see!

Tonight’s Destination:

(UPDATE-22NOV: PICS are UP!)

21NOV08: The Dirty Dirty Dirty @ Paradiso Amsterdam

Tomorrow:

22NOV08: F*ck Minimal @ Ruigoord

Sunday:

Here we GO!

Destination: Amsterdam!

After a really cool gig in Utrecht, your raconteur made his way back home on the train with the folks from Blades Eye Couture at 0-dark:30 on Sunday morning…

They sponsored the party I was covering that night and their product is rather impressive!

Imagine a set of sunglasses (or regular ones! *jumping up and down*) that actually hold to your head instead of your ears…

Blades = Deadly Cool!

Yeah, exactly!

I tried out a set of the sunglasses for a few minutes and I was pretty much WOW’d! (the temple pads that make the whole design work are quite comfortable, and they’ll be even smaller in v. 2.0!)

Expect to see more from me about the coolest eyewear EVAR!

It’s been an unusually crazy HOT weekend around here and the phenomenon has seemed to follow me around…

I can’t EVEN begin to assume credit, I’m just calling things as I saw them!

After a day of quality sleep, I got prepped for the night ahead and left my quarters for rain. 4 Gigs in a weekend is a LOT, especially 2 weekends in a row, but I gotta support my friends!

Mike van Loon is one of them, and his Sunday night party, Fierce Angel, has been one of my very favourite destinations since the very first one!

His opening night was pretty spectacular, but he got a big dose of “Second Night” that I couldn’t save him from, so I only got 3 shots before I had to head south to Sugar Factory. (Fortunately, they’re ALL extremely High-Quality!)

16NOV08: Fierce Angel @ rain Amsterdam

BTW: I’m recruiting a squad for the next edition this Sunday night and the first three Campers that respond get listed up with me! (Bel Snel!)

So I hit the door at Sugar in plenty of time for the Wicked Jazz Sounds Band performance!

I got strapped up, grabbed a drink, shot a couple of hotties, hit the smoker, and then the night went off with a BANG!

16NOV08: Wicked Jazz Sounds @ Sugar Factory Amsterdam

I’ve had the honor of seeing every local concert that the WJS Band has done, and every one has been great!

Tonight’s edition was different… It was just… PHENOMENAL!!!

I know (and love) these people, watching them progress from terrific session players has been WAY beyond fantastic!

Truly a special honor for your raconteur…

That being said, this was the night they fucking RAWKED the house as an honest-to-god BAND!!!

Sunday night’s gig was, without a doubt, proof of concept… (and this is barely the beginning!)

EVERYBODY felt it! (Whether they realized it or not!)

You could see it on the faces of every yummy girl in the room!

My very favourite musicians EVER are gonna TAKE OVER THE WORLD! (And I can say: “I knew them when…”)

Their individual performances deserve a bit of recognition, particularly the singers…

16NOV08: Berenice, Renske, & Paul!

Berenice was transcendent, Renske was SCORCHINGLY hot, and Paul was truly amazing! They were SO workin’ the choreography too!

The WHOLE band was on time and on target! It’s hard to express exactly how good they actually were!

Suzanne Alt stepped up on “Three Elements” and was awesome!

I suppose that there might have been things that could have been done differently… I’m sure they will be if necessary!

But I’ve never pretended to be an impartial observer, Campers… I’m a FAN!

And as such, I was BLOWN away!

So I chased down just about everybody involved over the rest of the night to tell them just how I thought they did! (Sorry if I missed you!)

Next stop, Utrecht! (06DEC08 @ Tivoli!)

15NOV08: NEXT Agency Launch @ Club Poema Utrecht

I’d never been to Utrecht for a party before…

It was such a blast, I just gotta come back!

So, now I’ll be returning to your fair city on Saturday 06DEC08 when Wicked Jazz Sounds swings into the Tivoli for what promises to be an incredible feestje!

So come out and play!

I was off to the throbbing epicenter of the city’s tourist zone on a very busy Friday night, to visit my buddy Zad at the bikertastic Excalibur Café!

They’re working up some new webbishness, so I had an opportunity to take some pics and get a feel for the place.

I met some nice folks, locals and tourists…

I got a bunch of interesting shots and I drank a bunch of interesting shots!

My kind of night!

14NOV08: Excalibur Café Amsterdam

Your raconteur is taking his act on the road tonight!

Well, the train actually…

I’m off to Club Poema in Utrecht for:

15NOV08: Next-Agency Launch, Club Poema Utrecht

Things are crazy FUN for your raconteur these days!

I shot FOUR parties last weekend and a brand-new local Brazilian band on Tuesday night!

My traffic on flickr went WILD too! (link)

08NOV08: Bakers Dozen X3!!! (Girls Love DJs @ Hotel Arena Amsterdam)

09NOV08: Baker's Dozen! (Fierce Angel (Opening Night!) @ rain Amsterdam)

Wednesday was prinses Eva’s birthday, we went to see “Burn After Reading” at the Tuschinski with her sibs, Donna and Ferco.

Then I was fortunate enough to get her all to myself for a couple of hours!

Eva had just signed the contract for her new job at UvA that afternoon, she’s gonna be the new Communications/PR chick for the deep-blue geeks of the Math, Physics, and Astronomy department!

The princess kitten is definitely smart enough to hang with that outfit (she’s going to learn SO much amazing stuff there!) and I just know that ALL those guys are going to be charmed beyond belief! (It sure happened to me! )

I simply couldn’t be much prouder!

Then as I was walking home, I just happened to pass by Paradiso, where Classic Noodlanding was in progress… Y’all KNOW I went in!

I don’t have pics tho… The MFIC didn’t know me, so he was (very understandably) unwilling to issue a photo pass so I could shoot! (They just recently got hardcore about that)

So I went to a party alone for the first time in longer than I can remember without shooting it… (Wicked Jazz Sounds doesn’t count, cos I’m NEVER alone there!)

I almost didn’t even stay, I wasn’t mad or anything! It just felt incredibly strange…

I got over it though!

You find out who your fans really are when you’re not all strapped with photo gear!

Turns out that I have LOTS of them!

It was pretty freaking amazing, Campers… I danced and drank and LOVED the music!

I have to say that I’m rather grateful for the valuable lesson!

Too. Much. FUN!

I’ll be able to get the photography issue solved by several means too. I was used to being able to just show up and shoot before, now I gotta do a bit of prep and all will be well. I can do that!

I’m off to the Red Light District to hang with friends tonight

BTW: I also just had my first shot published…

My first published shot!

Stay tuned for more!

Your raconteur was averaging 1200 views a day on flickr

Then, lightning struck…

I’ve broken 8500 views per day for the 2d time in a week!

(UPDATE: Make that almost four times! 10NOV=8400 11NOV=7100!)

Hey, once is awesome, twice?

Kinda weird!

Thanks for the love!

Fixed 06NOV08

It has come to your raconteur’s attention that my email address is down. My server guy is on the case and I expect that it will be functional shortly. (Yes, I paid that bill… )

This means that the “Contact Me” page is down as well.

If you’re trying to contact me, leave a comment on this post and I’ll get right back to you.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming. *snicker*