deaf by the deaf

Crossing border 2010 started with concerts of three bands, which were to represent The Hague at
SXSW (South by Southwest) festival in Austin, Texas in march.

The deaf were on this blog before
http://findmypicture.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-york-dolls.html

Spike van Zoest (gitaar & zang), Janneke Nijhuis (bas & zang) en Kit Carrera (drums) richtten in 2007 The Deaf op. Het doel? De beat terugbrengen in Den Haag. En dat lukt. Niet alleen onze eigen beatstad maar heel Nederland wordt getrakteerd op vuige rock, overgoten met een dosis garage punk en rock-’n-roll. Met een nieuw bandlid (Maurizio Pinna, toetsen) en de eerste cd op komst zijn ze klaar voor de doorbraak.

Het is je vergeven als je een voor de hand liggende, zij het oppervlakkige vergelijking maakt met Anouk wanneer je frontvrouw Suzanne Ypma aan het werk ziet.

Kijk beter en je ziet dat deze band veel meer te bieden heeft dan de krachtige vocalen van een blonde vamp. Pitch Blond zet live een ijzersterke performance neer.

Ypma leidt de band op een persoonlijke en enthousiaste manier en tussen basgitarist Vincent van Haperen en drummer Jim Geurts stuitert de energie heen en weer.

Muzikale apen.Samen opgegroeid.Spelen met elkaar.Natuurlijk.Een muzikale viering van vrienden.Op het podium.Samen opgegroeid.

In het moment.Ongeforceerd.Eigen.Een dynamisch ritueel.Toegankelijk.Positieve energie.Songs.Voodoo drums.Blues.Grooves.Rock.Riffs.Organisch.Modern.

The dutch citations are from crossing borders website

We are here because of all the madness in the world....

Music with a message..... Nneka in the Paard, 10.11.10

Nneka gave a concert in the paard in memoriam of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa who was hanged by the Nigerian government for his campaign against the conduct the big oil multies in the Niger Delta.  
http://www.cleanthenigerdelta.org/

Nneka Egbuna (born 24 December 1981) is the daughter of an Anambra state-Igbo Nigerian father and a German mother. She was born and raised in the Delta region of Nigeria, and went to the primary school of the Delta Steel Company, then the secondary school at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. After relocating to Hamburg, Germany, at the age of 18, she pursued a career in singing alongside a degree in Anthropology. She now divides her time between Nigeria and Hamburg. She sings in both English and Igbo.

Her lyrics reflect much of her history and life in Nigeria as well as her time spent in Western Europe. Her songs stress the issues of capitalism, poverty and war and are often loaded with moral and biblical messages and references

This was obviously not very well understood by the audience of the Paard in the Hague, who did not show big interest in any third world problems in general or the environmental catastrophy created by the big oil companies in the Niger Delta. Sometimes they were so loud that it was even difficult to hear Nneka if you were standing in front of the stage   

I did not understand why she calls herself a hiphop singer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-eUlEKsWLc

You think I cannot remeber the words of a song I wrote 37 years ago?

Guess what, you are fucking right....

"My daughter asks me why I have to practice the songs I wrote myself.... That's age"

Steve Harley (born Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice, 27 February 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the 1970s rock group Cockney Rebel

Harley started out playing in bars and clubs in the early 1970s. While auditioning for folk band Odin in 1971, he met violinist John Crocker, with whom he formed Cockney Rebel in late 1972. 

He had no problem to down this little pint of thin beer in one go

Cockney Rebel went on to release The Human Menagerie and The Psychomodo before splitting up in 1974. However, Harley carried on with drummer Stuart Elliot, renaming the band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, with whom he had more success. From the next album, The Best Years of Our Lives, came the number one and million selling single, "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)"

Harley had two more hits during the mid 1970s with "Mr Raffles" and "Here Comes the Sun" which were both Top 20 hits, but he did not have any further major successes, and in the 1980s he all but faded from the public eye, relocating to the United States

In 1999, Harley began presenting a BBC Radio programme The Sounds of the Seventies, of which the last programme aired on 27 March 2008.

In 2005, The Quality of Mercy was released under the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel name, and Harley began touring more frequently, although mainstream success remained elusive.

In February 2010, Harley, a self-confessed technophobe, attributed poor literacy rates and the moral corrosion of British society to modern technology.

Drummer Stuart Elliot is besides Harley the only original band member.

Bassist Lincoln Anderson joined the band in 1998.

Cockney Rebel's original bassist, Paul Jeffreys, was one of those who died on Pan Am Flight 103 bombed at Lockerbie in 1988. He was with his bride on their honeymoon.

one of my favorite songs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVp34tK33VY&feature=related

I had a plan and that is where it ended....

If these people had the plan to be famous - the plan did not end

The cat empire: 2 years ago fairly unknown in Europe, they now sold out the Paradiso in Amsterdam twice

The Cat Empire is a band from Melbourne, Australia. Currently, they are composed of Felix Riebl (percussion and vocals), Harry James Angus (trumpet and vocals),

Ollie McGill (keyboard and backing vocals), Ryan Monro (bass and backing vocals), Will Hull-Brown (drums) and Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala (decks, percussion). They are also commonly backed by the Empire Horns, a brass duo

They met when well-known Melbourne jazz identity Steve Sedergreen decided to form, mentor and develop a group of very talented young musicians from different schools and backgrounds.

The band was called 'Jazz Cat' and had its debut at the Manly Jazz Festival in Sydney in 1999.

The Cat Empire, originally a three-piece, grew out of Jazz Cat

Their sound is often described as a fusion of jazz, ska, funk and rock with heavy Latin influences.

The band's name was taken from the title of a drawing by Felix Riebl's younger brother, Max, and its distinctive cat's eye icon, which is also known as "Pablo", was created by Ian McGill, Ollie McGill's father.

And the support band: Timpan Orange

also from Australia

who are a fantastic life band

and, of course, the Paradiso, one of the greatest places to hear music

Playing for a tip....

Street-artists in Nuernberg, 8.10.2010

"do you play an intrument?""Not any more?, Why not? That is a mistake... You should"
"If I feel down, I come here. I always have a place to go and please people. It makes me happy"