Wow.
That was really a fantastic show.  I wasn’t sure.  I listened to them a lot when i was a teenager (my first boyfriend was really into them).  i bought the tickets a few months ago and had been going back and forth ever since on whether it was a good idea or not.  I knew matt wouldn’t like them, which i’m still sure of, and so i took the biggest technical music geek i know, dick.

so there are four men on stage: one on harmonica, piano and once some kind of pipe; one on bass guitar; one (bela himself) on banjo; and one (the guy with the pirate hat) on some strange instrument that i hesitate to accurately describe – a "synthetic drum guitar???"  Anyway, they stood on stage and jammed and jammed for about 2 hours.

i am not really that kind of geek, so there were periods of time when i zoned out a little, but most of the time i was just amazed by what they were doing.  i couldn’t believe how well that guy could play the harmonica.  the harmonica!!!  he was amazing.  everyone was extremely talented, of course, and everyone had their solo opportunity, but i think i was most intrigued by the harmonica bit.  and the weird ass instrument pirate guy was playing.  what the hell was that?

dick, as a music geek of the first order, was thoroughly entranced.  staring and staring and bopping around a little and swaying.  🙂 it’s nice to take someone along to something and then see them appreciate it THAT much.  his exact words afterwards were: "wow.  i’ve never seen anything like that!"

anyway, that’s all i’m going to say.  it was amazing.  i’m glad to have seen them.  and for those of you who are now curious what they are, uh:  jazz,  i guess.  with banjo.  🙂  i kind of suck with classifications.

well, first off, i’d like to say that EVERYONE in the band was super nice.  really really really nice.  most of them were exhausted, having had 3 hours sleep then a 6 hour drive to get to zaandam.  they were unloading when i showed up with my little box and got a little in people’s way.  sound check went badly – they only got to do 1 1/2 songs, the violin wasn’t able to be hooked up with the various effects he likes, i don’t even know what else went wrong, just that plenty did go wrong.

but… they were troopers.  seriously.  i heard one person backstage complaining about somebody being a bit snitty, but i wasn’t even sure who it was.  i missed the beginning of the story – it could even have been someone from the venue itself.  i have no idea.  the person telling the story even said they thought it was a miscommunication. 

the show itself was wonderful.  the imagery, the performances… i was really impressed.  here’s a band i’ve been listening to for many many years, and it was really great to see them live… and seeing them live, i thought they did a super job.  i actually was so enraptured that i’m afraid i’m lacking a bit for details.  sorry.  the dancers looked fantastic and their costumes were really stunning.  i liked when one kept getting just a tad off and watching the other for cues.  it didn’t detract at all, just made it more touchable, in a way.  i thought the violin sounded fantastic, even without the effects, and i was really impressed by how much he managed to make it a performance, too.  i personally think it’s a bit difficult to move much while playing.  a little swaying, ok, but he managed some really nice larger moves, which enhanced his overall appearance nicely.  i was impressed with how the little smears of makeup everyone had looked so much more interesting onstage than off.  good thing to remember.  i liked that there were mohawks, dreads and long flowy hair all onstage.  🙂  i remember thinking during a couple of songs that i didn’t know that they were really interesting and i should remember something about them in order to buy them after, but … uh… i don’t.

after, i was planning on heading out, but ended up going back upstairs with troy and nienke to hang out in the large dressing room.  again, i say:  everyone was really really sweet.  i pulled a total fan-girl on monica.  couldn’t help it, i got caught up in the moment.  but really – she’s wonderful.  talked a bit with everyone, but they all looked so sleepy i felt bad for being there.  after a while i said i was going and troy and nienke very sweetly came with me so i didn’t have to go alone.  i was exhausted too.  long day, but really fun. 

oh, and before i forget:  everyone in schwarzblut was also really nice.  extremely friendly.  i wish i’d seen their show.  i pulled a slight faux pas by not really being familiar with their music.  i was asked how it was going with the remix contrast is doing for one of their songs, and though i know it’s happening, i don’t even know the song.  i haven’t heard it.  i felt really bad for not having made sure i was familiar with it in advance.  i did listen to a bunch of their stuff about a month ago, to find out who they were, etc., but i forgot which song patrick and rene are remixing.  oops.  i’ll have to find out later…  bad bad sharon.

well, if you’re in amsterdam or nearby, you should come out to see me play tomorrow, for the first time on stage!

doors are at 3:30, Schwarzblut goes on at 4, we go on at 4:45, then Faith and the Muse at 6pm.  so, easy to get back to amsterdam by train afterward – no need for the night bus!  yay!

am i nervous?  yes… but mostly i don’t think so until i find i’m not asleep yet.  🙂

hi… i’m not sure i remember very well.  the phone rang at 3am, and it took me a few seconds to realize it was the phone ringing and not my alarm going off (i was thinking: "what? did i set my alarm on a saturday?").  then i answered it.  it was my stepdad, cey (pronounced "jay" in case you’re wondering) updating me on my mom.  he thought i’d be awake rocking out – hahahahahah!  anyway, apparently mom’s fine.  the result of the examinations was that her heart is fine, no weirdness, no clotting, no problems.  he didn’t know anything about anything related to vitamin k. the only thing they found was something to do with her gall bladder (sorry- remember i WAS asleep and quite groggy), and there will be surgery later this month (i think).  she’s going home today.

yay!  good news!

right.  i woke up earlier than expected today – matt’s phone was ringing and he was downstairs watching blake’s 7 – and chose to stay up and drink coffee because tomorrow i have to be out the door relatively early and therefore asleep tonight relatively early, so it seemed a good idea.  now, however, i’m extremely jittery (a bit TOO MUCH coffee, if that’s possible) and need to go feed dick’s cat and pick up a new pair of tights – all of mine seem to be filled with varying degrees of holes.

i’ll be posting other stuff later today – i have a few things to mention (concert tomorrow, for example). 

so i WAS going to post this funny flyer that i found in my mailbox yesterday, with commentary… but instead, i’ll mention something else:
yesterday, i got a cryptic email from my stepdad (oh yes, i’m posting about it, buddy, like it or not!) that "don’t worry – but mom’s in the hospital – probably a heart attack."  my reaction was to immediately try to reach him for more details, which i got… basically, that she’d gone in with pains in her back and arms during the night, and that he was just home briefly before going back again.

no news again until about an hour ago, when i got another message, that it was indeed a heart attack and that there were "weird blood things" and that she was still there for more tests.

i’m told that 3-5 days is normal, while they sort out proper doses of drugs, make sure everything’s really ok, etc.

so i called her in the hospital.  apparently she’s got too much vitamin k and she’s puking all the drugs they’re giving her.  so she’s tired and crabby, but she’s ok in general.

anyway, that’s what’s up…

i dressed up as arimbi, one of the indonesian wayang puppets (not the shadow puppets, the ones with sticks and batik skirts).  matt dressed as a green variation of frankenstein, although i tried to tell him that i think only the cartoon frankenstein was green.

people seemed to find us confusing.  they thought we were:

sigh. 

pictures if i find any.  bunches of tourists took my pic, but i’m not sure if anyone i actually know did.  wait, that’s not true… i’m sure someone did.  well, hopefully they’ll send me one.

anyway, it was a fun time even if i was exhausted.  we started by walking past winston kingdom and collecting pepijn for a drink at getto.  then we went back to winston kingdom to see the vulgarettes play.  hung out outside for a long time, then headed to a couchsurfing party on handboogstraat, which was super lame, but we got to see tami and gian’s great costumes, then we went to korsakoff for a while, and ended up at maloe melo for a long time.

note:  the ONLY person who recognized my costume was mano (sp?) whom we met while at korsakoff but ended up chatting more with at maloe melo – as it turns out he (and muriel) are friends of friends.  funny small world.

ah, returned at last from breakfast and book shopping.  here are my latest acquisitions, in order of discovery:

in the "bargain crime & sci-fi/fantasy" section:

• Drood, by Dan Simmons – I enjoyed his Ilium and Olympos, and may well have read others in the list of his previous books, but am having a hard time remembering.  This is an historical thriller, "what really happened to charles dickens during his final days."  We’ll see, I guess.  I like historical novels of all bents, especially when they get really off the historical track.  Like for example, Inglourious Basterds… not a novel, but my appreciation is the same.
• Sister Time, by John Ringo & Julie Cochran – It’s been a while since I’ve read anything by John Ringo, but I like to always buy at least one cheap sci-fi or fantasy or both book on every book-shopping trip, since I consider them the delicious sour gummies of my book enjoyment. 
• Cally’s War, by the same – I realized that Sister Time was a sequel.  Had to get the first one.
• My Boring-Ass Life, by Kevin Smith – just because.  no explanation necessary.  But I don’t know why this was in this particular bargain section.

Moving on to the Sci-Fi/Fantasy new arrivals:

• Butcher Bird, by Richard Kadrey – I was struck first by the nice graphics on the spine.  Then the quote on the front from Wiliam Gibson: "If this novel had been rendered in oil or acrylic, it would be kicking world-class lowbrow ass in multi-page spreads in Juxtapoz or on the walls of La Luz de Jesus.  Go for it.  The man is mad, in every best way."  I decided to simply take Bill’s advice.

On to the Sci-Fi/Fantasy main section:

• Makers, by Cory Doctorow – I started reading this online, through Creative Commons.  Was really enjoying it.  Saw it on the shelf, so picked it up.

Decided to leave my usual haunt in the bookshop and GO UPSTAIRS, to the general fiction and non-fiction:

• A Time to Dance, A Time to Die – The Extraordinary Storyof the Dancing Plague of 1518, by John Waller – ooooh, it’s about St. Vitus’ Dance.  I know next to nothing about this, and the first couple of pages drew me right in.
• Hegemony or Survival – America’s Quest for Global Dominance, by Noam Chomsky – As a former philosophy and linguistics major, I was a big fan of Chomsky, on both fronts.  It’s been a while since I’ve read anything by him, so I thought I’d check out a more recent work (comparatively speaking – this was first published in 2003).
• God is not Great – How Religion Poisons Everything, by Christopher Hitchens – It was right below the Chomsky section, in bright yellow.  The title’s great.  It was enough for me.

i feel like the weekend must already be over, i’ve been so busy.
my weekends, if all goes well, start on thursday night.  so i have all friday to add to my weekend.

thursday i went to ivo & marieke’s to see a movie and eat previously-frozen pizzas.  the movie was The Visitor, and was really very excellent.  i recommend it.
friday i made a huge list of craft objects i needed and went to the cuypmarkt to buy them.  took a large chunk of the day.
friday night i worked on said craft projects, then went to beer club at cafe de wildeman, where i proceeded to drink 6 or so bokbiers, and act drunk and ridiculous.  also went to the burger bar to feast on heaven.
saturday i attempted to proceed with said craft projects, to much failure, practiced my keyboard parts, and watched some season 3 west wing while continuing to work on the projects (that are not going well at this moment).  i also tried on a bunch of my clothes to try and decide what i should wear for the first concert… ha.
saturday night matt and troy came back from prepping their american breakfast stuff, and we hung out, carved jack-o-lanterns, and watched John Carpenter’s The Thing, which was surprisingly quite good.
today i have been emailing people, and now am meeting anne at the breakfast cafe, then will go to the american book center to re-stock, then will work on projects/practice/etc., then will try to join the derby dames for skate practice, then will go to nicola’s for dinner.  somewhere in there i will also call my dad.

when i list things like that, it doesn’t seem like i’ve done as much as i feel like i’ve done this weekend.
oops.  gotta go.  anne’s waiting now…