The devils playthings
April 12th, 2010Mr. Ambassador Spring Day Dub
March 24th, 2010
Rapid rubadub riffs on a lazy Sunday afternoon
..//..IS-SA SPRING DAY DUB..//..
come… and don’t forget your sunglasses
and your cocktail glasses
and your sexy ambassador asses
Balkenende IV
February 20th, 2010
The poet Cerberus Platvis responds to the fall of the Balkenende IV administration:
Balkenende! Kikkerkoker extraordinaire! Een meester in slepend leven, slapend waken, krakend voegen. De kreupele bloei van een vertrapt gewas, een monsterlijke vent, klevend aan de macht als een druppel teer, een traag en ondoorzichtig lekkend vat. De sleetse koning van het vermoeide land, die zijn luizig schort een hermelijnen pels waant.
Meedogenloos en onvervroren marst hij met geheven hoofd voort door van armoe grijsgeslagen straten, krassend raspt zijn roestig zwaard over de klinkers, luider dan het verzwakt kindergehuil. Een knobbelig gevolg gebochelden hobbelt winden latend achter hem aan, terwijl de ratten hun neusjes uit de riolen steken waar hij passeert. Want al wat hij aanraakt komt tot bederf en verrotting, deze koning stront, deze graatloze barbeel, deze gierspuitende wanminister. Ga, ga heen, ga ver weg en keer nóóit meer terug.
All four Balkenende administrations have disintegrated before completing their full term.
Koud
January 19th, 2010
OUT with the COLD, IN with the NEW!
Preview of latest track recorded @ De Zwarte Molen
Old school breaks and acid snakes - this what we mean by rave
Aangenaam
December 31st, 2009
Prrrrreeeeeview of latest track recorded @ De Zwarte Molen.
PS: Yes there’s still work to do on the mix! Will be all fixed up before release - heus.
The rivers of March
December 11th, 2009In 2007, I was listening to Spanish radio RNE3 while driving through Spain last week. I was on my way home from Gibraltar, through Andalusia and Valencia, across the Sierra Nevada, along the Costa del Sol and the Costa Blanca. Mountains on my left, the sea on my right, the sun in my eyes. Then this tune came on.
I didn’t think much of it at first. It sounded like just another bit of smooth jazz elevator music. But then it wasn’t. The words drifted like waves in the ocean, constantly coming together and falling apart, sung in a voice not quite happy and not quite sad. It was as if the words sung themselves. And suddenly I could see. I could see the musicians, waiting, counting, nodding to the rhythm within, smiling, smoking, then taking their instruments and letting the music flow, as they had done so many times, and the tune opened up, like a crack in the sky. The music flowed out of the radio like thick creamy milk out of a cow.
I tried to catch the name of the performer or the song, but couldn’t understand any of the Spanish babble. So I wrote down as much of the lyrics as I could without driving the car off a cliff. That was just four words: “Stone”, “Stick”, “Riverbank” and “March”.
What are the odds? I didn’t expect to ever find the song. But it turns out to be a popular Brazilian tune called “The Waters of March”, written by Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim, and I found a few versions on YouTube.
The one I had heard is probably this version, in English, sung by Luciano Souza (the video seems to be a homemade holiday video):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=x_PesTqUxhs
Then I also found a version in the original Portuguese, by Elis Regina - you can see her above. Just look at her face!!
Passoaland
October 22nd, 2009
The black limousine glides down the gently sloping hill;
the road a grey ribbon through endless fields of sunburnt grass.
In the distance a building rises from the vast plains.
A house white as snow, shimmering like a cold flame on a wizard’s hand.
The ambassador’s wife smiles as she welcomes the guests.
Old friends lock in tight embrace. Wrinkled lips kiss wrinkled faces.
Alcohol and aftershave.
Diplomats, murderers, renegades.
Space is big, space is dark
September 14th, 2009
Space is big, space is dark, it’s hard to find a place to park
– unknown
Parking along the canals is now so expensive that you can fit a bus in the empty spots.
For those who can afford it, it is convenient. I saw a Porsche Cayenna Turbo S with a license plate from Monaco the other day. Creamy white it was.
I believe cars have been a driving force for social progress - indeed perhaps one of the most democratizing, most emancipatory, most liberating forces of the twentieth century. It is sad to see that they are, once again, becoming a plaything for the rich.
Holiday bar
July 15th, 2009
From the famous Dutch poet Cerberus Platvis:
Het café is op vakantie
De kastelein die leest
Een lege bar vol lege krukken
Nog niet van hun plek geweest
Van de ellebogen aan de toog
Resteert alleen verweerde lak
Een krant ligt netjes opgevouwen
In de hoek een korrel muizenkak
Glanzend weerkaatsen de rijen met glazen
Gestapelde sarcofagen van glas
Even klinkt er geen muziek
Zachtjes zoemt het motormechaniek