Editorial - 30 August 2006

Euhm yes I saw the first concert ever from Pearl Jam in Belgium. Didn't you ?

Editorial - 19 August 2006

Almost gave up today. Waiting for the free bus to ride to the festivalground I was considering taking the train home, take a shower and crawl into bed for a day or two. Also got a phonecall from my nephew to inform me he drove home in the morning after busting a knee while walking to his car a few hours earlier. No ride home anymore. But as Peter and Lore would still be walking around - not forgetting the other Peter and wife Do - I thought "what the hell, am a wreck already, let's see how bruised and broken I can get". After enduring a hailstorm whilst on the bus (nifty experience) I walked towards the marquee to watch 65 Days Of Static. A noise-combo with references towards Sonic Youth and Mogwai. Feedback, instrumental spielerei and a lot of structured mayhew. All right ! Walked around a bit afterwards and checked out the end of Yonderboi. Not bad, but not that memorable either. Still better than HIM whom sounded so bad, we went to get something to eat (who's idea was it to book these guys ?). I stuck around to go see Alice Russell, while the rest went to see Zita Swoon. However Alice cancelled at the last moment, so I rushed towards a full marquee to see Zita Swoon anyway. As usual good, reliable and a party-atmosphere. You can hardly go wrong with Stef KC and his crew. Talking about going wrong : the Arctic Monkeys. Hyped up british band of teenagers. Granted they have a few good songs on their debut-album, but is all the hype necessary ? It's not like they are the new Beatles. Give these guys a smaller stage and an ego-check and it might work out. Or they could become the next Baby shambles trainwreck ... As it started to pour cats, digs, bears and giraffes as if God himself (or herself whatever) was taking a shower, we all ran for the Dance Hall where Cold Cut was going to start. These DJ cut 'n paste pioneers have made legendary music in the eighties, taken a break in the nineties and quietly travelling through the underground in the new millennium. Again ... forget about dumb dutch guys who twiddle some knobs and put the next record on. That's not a DJ. Cold Cut are. Placebo did their usual routine of the hits with a few extras and a subdued lightshow. Daft Punk on the other hand had an amazing lightshow. The set itself took a break after half an hour - some people didn't like this, I did. At least it gave me a minute to keep my feet from moving. I never dance (can't do it), but some music sure makes me feet tap a lot. Stop grinning you moron ! Missed Fence (crawling out of bed at that time), DJ 4T4 (on the bus), Eagles Of Death Metal (on the bus), The Sedan Vault (on the bus), Alice Russell (she didn't show up), Coheed And Cambria (followed the rest who wanted to watch Placebo instead) and Pennywise (watched Daft Punk instead).

Editorial - 18 August 2006

After a good night's sleep, back to Kiewit for day 2 of belgian's most alternative festival. Yeah yeah, I know about Dour, but a festival with bands no one knows or will ever know - give or take a few - is not alternative in my book. At least at Pukkelpop you have a chance of discovering something new or see some good old names who never went (too) commercial. Sure, they fuck up sometimes (who thought it was a good idea to book HIM ?), but come on, look at their trackrecord. Or look at their line-up of day 2. Soo much to choose from. First up was Urban Dance Squad (hard, heavy, good to see them back, but they need their DJ), two songs by Burst (burst into laughter and had to leave, such a lame band), 15 minutes of Mstrkrft (euhm ? yeah ? I guess ... right ... next !), The Scissor Sisters (completely wrong but with a helluva show), a few songs by The Dresden Dolls (same stuff as Werchter last year, but their War Pigs cover is more than good enough), The Raconteurs (at least as good as in Werchter - love the whole Louisiana blues vibe), The Twilite Singers featuring Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan (beautiful, soulfull and loved the Massive Attack cover), a few songs by Fear Factory (good at first, but as dull as on cd after three songs), Ministry (loud, massive, hard, industrial), and Massive Attack (dance-music with a very dark and gloomy edge). Missed Gogol Bordello (on purpose because they're a dumb hype), Michael Franti (don't remember why), The Shovels (still in the car), Confuse The Cat (seen 'em already) and Keane (deliberately).

Editorial - 17 August 2006

As if 3 days of Marktrock weren't enough, I had to go the full 3 days to Pukkelpop as well. Whoever decided to push that festival a week earlier should be shot. It used to be around the last weekend of August, but no more. Now we have to suffer twice as hard ... and then some. I tend to say "no more festivals" since I turned 30, but for some reason I end up going at least a day because of some bands I'd like to see. But man, this week ... painful. I zombied myself through the last day and a half (which was nice as I didn't give a rat's ass about the one big rainshower on the final day - was hiding out in the dancehall watching Cold Cut anyway) and played dead the whole day yesterday. Fell asleep in the afternoon. In the couch. Watching a movie that I don't even remember. How was day one ? Lemme think ... thursday Pego came over to pick me up and we drove to a sneaky little parkingspot nearby and immediately met up with some friends of his and their 5 year old son. He'd been asking to come with them the last two years, so they snuck him in for an hour or three. You get a lot of looks from all sorts of people (gothic, techno, dance, punk, skate ...) when they see the little guy. And what did I see ? A piece of the Infadels (not my cup of tea), Shameboy (second time in a week, but Jimmy and Luuk rawk), The Magic Numbers (wonderfully new millennium hippies with sweet litle love songs), a few songs by CKY (there's better punk out there, even if it's Bam Margera's brother behind the drums), Snow Patrol (even without their full kit of instruments (lost in Heathrow) they managed to do a set with two acoustic guitars that kept the whole site quiet), two songs by Flatcat (they may be from Belgium, but that doesn't mean I have to like 'em - this is punk for 14 year old girls to sing along to), Beck (amazing as ever), DJ Shadow (DJ'ing as it should be - this is the world's best DJ, not that annoying dutch guy), Nouvelle Vague (we went to see what it was and stayed for the sheer unbelievability of it all and to guess which song it was) and Radiohead (not as boring as I'd expected it - good to see they still know that there's more than their own asses to stare at). Missed José Gonzalez (hanging out by Dancehall at the time), Dr. Lektroluv (couln't get in) and Sweet Coffee (couldn't get in). Did not miss Baby Shambles. As obviously they didn't show up. Again. Can someone tell Chokri to stop booking them ? They will never come. And what the hell has that lame, ugly and lazy drugaddict done anyway ? Does anyone know one song from these guys ? Ever heared them on the radio somewhere ? Do you even care ?

Editorial - 15 August 2006

And day three brought some more good bands. Starting with Ellroy (singer songwriter Wim went to the same school as me), meeting up with long lost girlfriend (as in "she's a friend and a girl") Sarah (who happens to be pregnant now - nice round belly), endure one or two minutes of drizzle rain and decide between watching Bunny or Mo & Grazz ... did both. Ellroy (layensplein) : see full set here. Bunny (vismarkt) : see full set here. Mo & Grazz (layensplein) : see full set here. Sweet Coffee (vismarkt) : see full set here. Shameboy (vismarkt) : see full set here.

Editorial - 14 August 2006

Day two of Marktrock and in the morning it was raining again. Luckily the skies cleared up around the same time as the concerts started. No rain for the rest of the evening. Well almost none, during Milow's gig it rained, but I had some good shelter so no biggie. Besides everyone who's ever been to a festival knows stuff like that can happen. Be prepared. And yeah, again I took some shots. What can I say ? I just love shooting concerts. Milow (layensplein) : see full set here. Bettie Serveert (vismarkt) : see full set here. Buscemi (vismarkt) : see full set here.

Editorial - 13 August 2006

Each year on the 13th, 14th and 15th of August the squares in Leuven are transformed into a festivalsite. Bands from all over the planet and all sorts of music play there. Usually there are big names on the Oude Markt (also known as the worlds largest cafe), more alternative acts on the Vismarkt, upcoming bands on the Layensplein and more bluesy and worldy bands on the Hooverplein. Ten years ago I used to go to the Oude Markt, nowadays I visit the Vismarkt. Which is nice as that's a free entrance square. That's right, you don't pay to see the bands. Walk in, pick a spot, relax and enjoy. I had my camera with me and took shots from the following bands. Larsson (layensplein) : see full set here. Skeemz (vismarkt) : see full set here. Anton Walgrave (vismarkt) : see full set here. Dear Leader (vismarkt) : see full set here. Metal Molly (vismarkt) : see full set here.

Editorial - 6 August 2006

My nephew Lode got baptized today. And as a direct result I had too much to eat. My sister had sandwiches with different kinds of choco-spread (so I ate too many of those) and afterwards there was Hapje Tapje in Leuven. Try out different kinds of food for very low prices (inbetween 2 and 4 euro a portion) from various restaurants in the neighbourhood. I drank some Lovania, had a cocktail and tried what must've been at least 4 different kind of desserts - amongst them one which contained 3 different things. Mousse au chocolat, tiramisu, a french rice dessert, some fruit, cake ... that upset stomach that followed was my own fault. Will I ever learn ?

Editorial - 5 August 2006

Okay, this is weird.

Editorial - 2 August 2006

Last day in London for now. Fixed all last issues on the laptop to be sure I can access whatever's needed from home to work, got some last tips and did some work on new pages. All in all quite a good day. Took the train home around six and arrived in the pouring rain in Brussels around a quarter to ten in the evening. With no trams around it was time to take a taxi and try to get some sleep.

Editorial - 1 August 2006

Day two in London was filled with lotsa work. Now that the FTP's up and running I can finally check out the site's structure. It's ASP based (but being converted to ASPX as I'm writing this) so most filenames you can see in the browser are just templates filled with includes of other files. And those includes is where it's at. One of the UK webmasters is showing me around the field and I'm snooping through the directories, looking for things to change. I'll be doing that in the next few weeks and in all honesty ... that's the best part of being a webmaster. Sift, look, check, change, recheck ... Left a bit earlier today to go and get a shower and then dive into the heart of city. Took the tube to King's Cross and started walking. Did Regent Street and a few others, looked at the big name shops (most of them are open until nine in the evening which makes shopping easier for the hard working Londonners) and checked out the Apple Store. Imagine a big floorplan with some glass desks, each one filled with a range of either iPods, iMacs, MacBooks or speakers for the iPod. All glitsy and flashy but also pricey. I do have to admit that the new iPod has a pretty decent screen to watch videos. I watched a skatevideo on the 60 Gb model and was amazed by the vibrant colours and lack of artefacting. Still wouldn't buy one, but if it's good I'll admit it. Only thing I would buy is such a nifty 30" screen. That's an amazing piece of widescreen to attach to your computer. Huge ! Monstruous ! Gigantic ! Sleek ! Geeky ! Hot ! Damn, I was drooling all over the place. But as usual with Apple, the price was a huge letdown. 1799 british pounds. That's around 2700 euro at the moment. Utter madness. Two more things to tell you : lately I have placed some more pictures online. A few weeks ago there was a streetbasket tournament and early June the people of drieduizend had presspasses for " Leuven In Scene" : a street-theather-festival. Check 'em out if you're on a coffeebreak.

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