December 2015: The crossing border festival

The crossing border festival is my highlight of the festivals in the hague in autumn. Designed as a  blend of music and literature, the musical performances seem to get much more attention.

Mike's favorite, Bianca Casady, designs a mysterious and suggestive parallel world starting from an untuned piano, a dusty typewriter and stacks of poems.

The project is a sythesis of the band with a metamorphic dancer and video. It had its premiere in Hamburg, and was also performed in London and at the Ruhr Triennale

My favorite were the british Kitty, Daisy and Lewis from Durham:

They present a veried potpourri of blues, country, and rock and roll.

They have performed at live shows at many famous festivals like Glastonbury, Lowlands, Rock Am Ring, and as an opening act for Coldplay, to just name a few.

They are all multi instumentalists playing guitar, piano, banjo, lapsteel guitar, harmonica, double bass, ukulele, drums, trombone, xylophone and accordion between them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDoDQTIwyig

Another of my favorites, Samantha Crain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cssvT1W4c8

 

A descendent of Coctaw Indians from Oklahoma, she might have been labled a protest singer in the time when there still were protest singers.

The highlight of the literature part was Ryan Gattis. He read from his latest novel  All Involved. It is based on the riots in Los Angeles in 1992. The reading was accompanied by music of Stef van Es

Bewilder, a dutch band which tries the bridge from country and folk with Indie riffs.

and their guitarist

The guitarist of the babe rainbow from Austalia...

Their debut album is to be released next year

Coming up:

PAARD, Den Haag
FRI, 8.1.          CORB LUND, country-rock from Canada
WED, 20.1.     SASS JORDAN, canadian rock diva, "as if Tina Turner and Janis Joplin walked
                        together..."
FRI, 29.1.       RESERVOIR DOGS BANG BANG, Spaghetti western rock
THU, 11.2.      KING OF THE WORLD, dutch blues by well known faces
SAT, 20.2.       MALA VIDA,  Dutch south european rock
FRI, 26.2.        MARINA & THE DIAMONDS, one of Mike's all time favorites

TIVOLI, Utrecht
SUN, 31.1.     PATTI GRIFFIN, a great voice
SUN, 28.2.     CANTECA DE MACAO, a light version of the Gipsy Kings
WED, 2.3.      FRED EAGLESMITH, folk from Canada

ROTOWN, Rotterdam
SUN, 24.1.     HIDDEN CHARMS, i would not say it sounds like the kinks, but....
SAT, 30.1.      MAISON DE MALHEUR, V11, finest blues rock

PARADISO, Amsterdam
MON, 11.1.    WISHBONE ASH, legendary british rock band

MELKWEG, Amsterdam
THU, 14.1.     ZITA SWOON GROUP, belgian pop
SUN, 14.2.     TONIGHT ALIVE, Punk pop
SUN, 6.3.      10CC, well known

November 2015: Patty Smith

The highlight of October. Patti Smith, 69 years, on the replay of "Horses", he first album recorded in 1975. 

Since 1974, when she founded her band, the guitarist, bassist and rock archivist Lenny Kaye.

Patti Smith was a fusion of poetry and music, the origin of the punk movement and, with her book 'just kids'of her time with Robert Mapplethorpe, also a prize winning writer.

On January 23, 1977, while touring in support of Radio Ethiopia, her second album Patti Smith accidentally danced off a high stage in Tampa, Florida, and fell 15 feet into a concrete orchestra pit, breaking several neck vertebrae. The injury required a period of rest and an intensive round of physical therapy, during which time she was able to reassess, re-energize and reorganize her life. Patti Smith Group produced two further albums before the end of the 1970s.

Even with that, and now being 69, she is still full of energy, and a clearly outspoken message.

 

oday she tours with her son Jackson, of her marriage with Fred Sonic Smith

Other band members today are Jay Dee Daugherty on drums and Tony Shanahan on Bass. 

PAARD DEN HAAG

WED 2.12.        Shantal and Bucovina Club Orchestra, eastern european paprika sound
FRI 4.12.           The sleaze express tour with The Deaf, ZZZ and Green Hornet
SUN 5.12.         Julie Scott, frequently compared to Jeff Buckley en PJ Harvey.
FRI 18.12.         Sabrina Starke, a strong beautiful soul voice
FRI 18.12          La Pegatina, latino rock from Spain

PARADISO AMSTERDAM

TUE 24.11.        The Cinematic Orchestra
THU 9.12.          K's choice
FRI 10.-12.12     De Dijk
THU 16.-17.12.  Blof

MELKWEG AMSTERDAM

SUN 22.11.        Kacey Musgraves, coutries finest
FRI 11.12.         Masmo Park
SUN 20.12.       New Model Army, actie since 35 years
SUN 6.3.2016   10CC

ROTTERDAM TOTOWN

MON 7.12.       K's choice
THU 17.12.      De Kift, not to be missed, in the Paradijskerk
SAT 30.1.2016 Maions du Malheur, not to be missed, Tom Waits blues, Location VII

TIVOLI UTRECHT

MON 30.11.      Golden Earring
TUE 1.12.         Texas
TUE 1.12.         K's choice, fresh rock from Belgium
WED 2.12.        Whitensake, the famous old rockers
THU. 4.12.        Bombino, from Niger, the Jimi Hendrix of the desert
SUN 6.12.         Sophie Hunger
WED 9.12.        De Dijk
FRI 18.12          The Nits, 40 years of Dutch Rock
WED 23.12.       Ben Kaplan and the Casual Smokers, crazy mix of writer, country singer and rock
WED 30.12.       Jaya The Cat, dirty drunk reggae