toysfornoise

on the road 2011 usa - week 5

2011-07-19T03:45:00.036+02:00

This one is big ... loads of pictures, but I wanted all of them in it ... also taking advantage of an amazing spot I am right now .. Ship Bottom it is called .. on Long Island, New jersey ... standing right by the sea and houses on my left, seemingly there is a wifi signal coming from somewhere so instead of doing these updates in a starbucks when I actually want to drive or see things, I can now do it in peace, after dinner .. so here it is ... the final week of the first leg that started in San Fransisco and ended there too ....

WEEK 5 --------

31st may

I am still in ....

More wolf action today as I had gotten up nice and early at 04.30am making my way to Lamar Valley around 5am ... And like the other mornings during this magical and unique "roadblock week" there were not too many cars and people around, so it was another great morning .. this time there had actually been a fresh kill. What happened was when I arrived to the Lamar Valley I quickly spotted the people that follow the wolves as the "leader" drives a big yellow 4wd and he actually has radio receivers for the chips that the wolves carry so he knows when they are around ... there were some folks there by the side of the road with their scopes, trough which you could follow it all up close, and this was pretty amazing stuff ... a wolf had killed a baby deer with the mom still hanging around, totally in shock. When it was too late she scared the wolf away, it came back later for it was far from finished eating. What a scene to witness ... makes you feel real tiny ! scopes dont take pictures, so you have to make do with the grizzly bear I spotted from far away (luckily as these are huge and you dont want to surprise one of them on your hikes .. you can see the bump they have on their shoulde, this distinguishes them from the black bear, apart from their colour, although most black bears are acually brown coloured .. uuuuuuh ....

After a couple of hours watching the wolves, deer, pronghorn antilopes

and some coyotes do their thing I went back to my bus for food and coffee, feeling very satisfied by what I had witnessed. Took a much needed nap and later that day I went for a great hike into the slough creek area, great colourful fields with loads of birds, a squirrel that walked the wrong way and ended up right in front of me and my camera

I even spotted this beautiful grouse when I was trying to get closer to an interesting looking spot in the forest.

After my hike and some food I made my way to the Lamar valley again for more pictures of the sunset

and more gazing trough my binoculars, made a short hike up the hill, spotted the bighorns !!!

yes, these are creatures you dont get to see from the road and even when you go out there, you hardly see these .. amazing stuff ... the sunset was magical from up there

and as light faded I decided it was time to head "home" for another relaxing movie and a cup of tea after a tiring and long day .. that's what happens in these places, you get up so early, and go to bed late because you want to see the sunset and then re-arrange some pictures and write a bit in your diary .. and before you know it it is midnight or even later, and there are only four to five hours left before nature will unfold itself again in all its beauties .. aaaah what a dilemma ... ha ha .... and then I haven't mentioned the stars that come out at night ...

1st june

Woke up nice and bright, the sun was out, it was going to be a nice day, decided to go for a hike around the lost lake since the road to the rest of the park still was not open and I did not feel like making the big detour to see more of the rest of the park. I'd rather enjoy the peace and uniqueness of being in a cutoff part of a place that is normally heeving with people.

So, on the trail again, starting with a nice waterfall and a deer that noticed me but did not run away when I passed by. Then I went off the trail as I made my way to a point high up, so I could have my sandwiches with a view too ...

I guess by the time I had made my way back down I was hungry again but hey, brought plenty of food and drink

I dropped by the ranger station on my way back as the ranger I had met earlier when I went to ask about the closed road condition had told me she would help me to let my parents know that all was ok by sending an email from her own mail address. I had not been able to communicate with my parents in any way for 10 days (no phone or internet there), which is on the edge of being not nice anymore cause I like to keep them updated when I am so far away, so I was pleased she would help me by notifying my parents. Then as I was at the ranger station the news came in that they had just opened the road that connected the tower area with the rest of the two loops in the park. This was an earlier "press release" about the rockslide

Yes, I thought at first, here we go ... but as I made my way to undiscovered areas over there .... it was strange, the feeling was different, there were a lot of ignorant people. And I mean that in many ways .. But I did see some amazing stuff again, and lots of snow indeed ....

Went to yellowstone lake and the fishing bridge area where they had a campsite with public showers and a place where I could do my laundry .. finally clean socks and underwear again .. yeah ... Check the snow levels here ....

Made the long drive back when the sun was setting, which was again a nice experience with this smoking surreal landscape gliding by as you make your way driving slowly because of the emerging wildlife at night.

You can not even think you have seen these parks when you have not experienced a sunset and - or sunrise .. I can easily spend hours before, during and after these daily events if the spot is nice enough and allows me to immerse myself in the "whole" that the inca's call hunabku .....

2nd june

Woke up all restless, since the road had opened up the day before I had to go and see new grounds I guess, I mean I had done all the hikes one could do in the rooseveld area and wanted to see new stuff. So I made the move from Yellowstone to Grand Teton National Park which lies just underneath yellowstone.

Had a marvelous drive with my friends the sun and the clouds ... wow, how they continously made the scenery change dramatically, it was at times hard to not just stop and watch it all go on and on ... Yellowstone Lake was still frozen and looking like a white wonderworld.

The mighty Tetons are also still covered in snow, but the area around it is blossoming with springfever, the greens are amazing, depending on the time of day, the same place changes a thousand times per hour ...

Drove on to Jackson a real "western town" with the "famous" antler arches

and cowboys for the tourists ...

some shirts that actually do sell ...

And I went to town to see if I could get aa much needed oilchange there, but no, that was impossible as the car was noty know in the exisiting systems .. all sorts of vw models, but not this one .. "need to do that in idaho falls or some other big place sir" .. ok ... I will . .. and then I gave them too a small demo of the bus as they were amazed to see this "spaceship" there with a folding roof ..... Then it was on to fidn a spot for the night outside the park, as these campsites were 25 dollars .. no way was I gonna pay that much being in such an area with loads of "wild spaces" But then as I drove into the national forest area I ound a nice spot, Atharton campsite,

outside a place called Kelly ( I happen to like the colour Kelly Green), and that is just outside the national park boundary, also it is national forest, making it again a cheap night as I get 50% discount with my NP pass. So for 6 dollars I get a room with a view, literally. No need to look on for a free spot in the forest when you have a place like this to make "yours" I parked the van so that I had the lake and the towering peaks in sight trough the backwindow, there were loads of clouds continously shifting the shadows and lit up parts, it was hard to stop watching and make diner.

3rd june

And another amazing morning, with the sun hitting the tetons from far away, what a sight, and I could not even see the "core" of the mountain range that came in sight as I turned the corner ... .

went to the ranger station / visitor centre for some info about the trails. The station was a great place, as was the case for all of the national parks so far ... it had a cool exhibition about the region and even free wifi to do some communicating with the outside world. So I did some much needed emails and equipped with some trail info and maps and a "glow in the dark" stargaze map i left the ranger station .... ha ha ready for the night skies later that day ... then I took off on the hike to the two lakes at the foot of the tetons, the hike was supposed to be passing some patches of snow but it was eventually leading me into deep snow with patches of green so to say, and later even the green patches disappeared completely.

Luckily you could stay on top of the snow for most of the time , and occasionally you sunk in, but never with two feet so it was ok, in the end it did make my feet soaking wet, even with my goretex hiking boots on as the snow was dropping in my boots from above .. mmmm .. no use for the goretex here ...

At the second lake I met a guy called Lee, who was on the road too and it turned out we had a similar preference for certain books (especially the beatniks) we swapped books, talked loads and exchanged travel stories .. decided to have dinner together, which was nice, I had my first dinner guest in the bus after eating all by myself all the time (the picture would have been perfect had he been a she and single ..) After dinner and a good cup of coffee we parted ways and I went to find a spot for the night. I camped at a free parking space between kelly and the official campsite

I guess it serves as an overflow for the busy summer as it also had a restroom (when the official campsites are full they need to place the people somewhere I guess... but they dont like you to go there when there is still place at the campsites that want revenue .. ha ha .. I prefer the free stuff ... ) it was ideal.

4th june

Today it was time to leave the Tetons and head west again, but not after doing a final hike in an area with less snow ..

when I spotted this squirrel I managed to get real close, and when some people passed they looked curiously but they did not see what I was seeing and I was not gonna tell them cause I did not want to chase this amazing creature away .. watched it for a good 20 minutes ...

Later when I left to head west again, I drove for hours, and after a while the huge open land I passed trough felt strange, and I guess I now know why, this piece of land has the most nuclear power plants in the world.

All underground ... there even was a museum close to a place called Arco, which was the first place on earth to be lit up with nuclear energy ... but I arrived too late for the museum .. ah well ... in Arco I spotted some american football going on, watched for a while and then asked some local policemen if they knew of a place to park for the night. They refered me to this dirt road going up into the hills right before you go uphill into the craters of the moon monument ... So, that is where I went, little did I know that the road would be so long .. but hey, once you pass a certain number of miles into the spot spotting .. I tend to go on ... I wont settle for a 2nd choice place when there might be this awesome spot just a little further ahead ... its all part of the adventure ... and boy did I find another amazing "bedroom" It was about 2 miles from craters of the moon, and in the end it was a cool 20km drive away from the main road .... It was on top of a mountain with an amazing view, so the madness of the long drive on the dirt road got rewarded ...

5th june

Woke up at first light of the sun hitting the car, after 4 hrs of sleep again, man ... how will I ever sleep 9 hrs in a row ... I guess not .. and actually it does not matter, feel great ... did loads of music refreshment yesterday. I finally bought some empty cd's to fill up with mp3's as the ipods are nice but so much work to update and change, stupid Itunes ... I hate that program ... But the music system in the car only knows how to communicate with specific models of the ipod series, so we have three old ipods , the 4gig and 6gig Ipod mini models that do the trick ... Anyway, made sure I was gonna be able to listen to some cocorosie, radiohead, deus and more non u2 music ... No I am not getting fed up with u2, no worries, but I needed fresh input for these long strips of highway that I am about to conquer along my way to Oakland. First thing today was more blog updating .. want to upload my first weeks travelstories today so ... need to make sure it is ready before it makes me restless, we cant have that on the road, only if it is to head further into the unknown, but not from unsorted business .. so to say ... so I am typing this in the middle of nowhere, on top of a hill, with the sun starting to colour the surroudings in nice green and yellows ...

it is gonna be another beautiful day, on to the craters of the moon national monument.

The craters were nice but after having been to the vulcanic islands at the Galapagos Islands earlier this year, this was a bit so so ... but hey .. enjoyable never the less .. the caves were cool, and made this awesome picture of a bird with blue wings, leaving its nest ....

Struggled with changing clocks ... drove into Nevada .. and slept somewhere along the way at a quiet area of a semi disused truckstop .. perfect for tonight in between two "days made for eating miles"

6th June

Finally found some place where I could do the much needed oil change, an official vw garage in Reno, on my way to Oakland where U2 was gonna play the next day. And at this garage too I had to give the guys a demo of the car, all the sales guys and mechanics came out for that ha ha .. it remains a miracle for them, the popup roof, the mieage, the chairs and the table hidden away ... what ? 30liter watertank, heater, airco AND 4 motion ? Had some taco bell after that, nice and easy, popped into the goodwill store and found a great book about the national parks for 2 dollars, it seems my antenna for these things still works ...

On to Oakland, driving trough real desert .... which gave me amazing colours again .. It was strange to realise that it had been exactly one month ago since I had left San Fransisco and here I was, heading back to that place after having seen so many amazing things and having traveled 8000km ... the first part was originally gonna be much smaller going from san fransisco to reno to lassen volcanic park (inlands as opposed to the coast) and then on to yellowstone and back to oakland ... instead I decided to follow the coast and and go all the way to seattle .. I am glad I did !

I arrived in Sausalito a quarter before 8pm which was just in time to see Nick and Fer (from south america) Fer had actually traveled together to Oakland with Arlette, a girl that I swapped tickets with last year in Amsterdam .. strange small world .. They were leaving at 8 that night to go to the line for the concert the next day .. they had started the line a day earlier so they had somewhere to go ... not me ... I am done with that lining up thing ... mad stress and people around you that dont sleep for days and are not very enjoyable after hours spend wating (ok not everyone, but most of them ... mmm ) ... not eating enough, not drinking enough ... ah well .... everyone does what they want to do ... I guess .... Nick insisted that I'd make use of his place when they were gone, so I did

I treated myself to a nice chinese dinner from a great place down the road, spotted the "usa-canada model of the vw transporter ... by far not as nice as the california model ..)

watched some telly after I figured out how to work all the remotes .. and even had a relaxing shower. Did not take up his offer to take the red mustang for a spin ... although I was tempted ... ha ha .. Then I went off to the harbour again, the same spot I used for the first night, one month ago ... There were more guests on their way from far away (Ireland and England) but these guys were driving down from Seattle and they were not to arrive untill after midnight, and that was too late for me ... I went to my little safe haven ...

on the road 2011 usa - heading east - week 4

2011-07-01T02:01:00.037+02:00

on my way to chicago as I type this "intro" ... it has been amazing to travel trough the westcoast - both north and south ... the national parks are insanely beautiful and demand more time in the coming years .... scotland has got a rival ... utah .... as they say here ... : Utah Rocks !!!

but back to idaho and wyoming .... here is week 4 .....

24th may

On the way to yellowstone I visited the Lewis & Clark Caverns, wow ... totally worth the money and time .. 10 dollars for a 2,5 hour trip trough wonderland down below .... great stuff ... A bit tricky that the explorers Lewis & Clark themselves never set foot in these caves but hey .. it atracts the tourists huh ...
and they are amazing caves ...

When I went for some info about he area and options to spend the night, the ranger from the park told me about a free campsite that even had a natural hotpot ... it turned out to be a bit of a drive .. ha ha .. he did not exagerate at all when he had said it was a dirt road leading to the campsite .. but if he had told me about the mud along the way, I might not have gone all that way at all.

But boy was I glad I did .... and glad I had this great 4-motion vehicle with wintertires .. it was gonna get me anywhere ... I just thought that if there was gonna be more rain, I would probably have to spend some more time at that far away campsite, which would not be a problem at all ....

The campsite was actually totally deserted, small spots of snow were left in shadowy places, it was really perfect with a small river and peace ....

25th may

In the morning I went to the hotpot first before I made my way to yellowstone .... wow .... the tub was really like a small hot tub, without the bubbles but with hot water coming from deep below the ground, the place was properly set up with a drainage pipe and a small terrace made of wood so you could put your clothes there and get in .. yep .. bud naked .. and then enjoy this amazing view of the surrounding mountains with the snowcapped peaks .. unforgettable ...

Then it was time to head down, but not before the ranger very subtly asked me for some supplies I might have for him .. ha ha .. the guy hardly made it off the site and could do with some fresh vegetables or beer . ... I did not mind passing him some, so I left him a happy chappy and went on my way, the road had dried up quite well so the return trip went a lot faster ...

And then, finally, I made my way to the west entrance of yellowstone national park ... yes ...

Imagine a big national park, surrounded by mountains covered in snow, the roads inside the park consist of a figure 8 so basically there are two loops that lead you around the park and each loop is about 140 km long so you can see its a huge park ... The park can be entered from 4 sides but this time of year the east entrance is only accessible between12 midnight till 8am as there is too much snow up there and they want it to be frozen solid when you pass trough there as there is a risk off avalanches during the day.

I entered trough the west entrance (lower altitude and no snow there) and stayed in the lower loop for the first day, saw amazing landscapes full of steam and smelly sites ...

Saw Old faithfull do its thing and lost myself in that fairytale landscape.

That night I slept at a 20 dollar nottin special campsite but made sure that the next day I got up at 5am so I could get to the campsite of my choice at 07.30am.

This getting up early thingie would probably mean I would get a spot at the Tower Fall campsite, that is where I wanted to be, it was the smallest site, located in the top right hand corner of the upper loop, and very primitive without running water and pit toilets, but that was fine for me as there would be no huge rv's that had generators and screaming kids or small barking doggies they took along. The campsite I wanted hosts only 39 spaces of which most are meant for a tent and there is loads of space in between the spots and its on top of a little hill, in the midst of a forest. This site is "wanted" so to say, and you can not reserve spaces, it's first come first serve ... gotta put in some effort sometimes .. but that was a mission for the next day, first it was time to explore the geiser area with the sun setting ...

unforgettable again ...

26th may

5 am .. wakey wakey rise and shine .. before 6 I had started up all systems and was on my way .... wow ... it was hard not to stop everywhere ... so amazingly beautiful this place ,,, but ... I needed to push on, I was on a mission.

When I got to Tower Fall I found one site free, and it was perfect...

filled out the paperwork and after reserving my spot, I took off again, back into magic country ... I went back to the mammoth area where there was the visitor centre with an office for the backcountry ranger, that is where I wanted to go because there was the great memorial day holiday weekend coming up which probably meant a lot of people were gonna hit the main roads, so I wanted to make sure I knew where to go, off the beaten track so to say ... The guy was great, gave me loads of info about hikes I could do and so I did .. first I had to capture this guy I spotted, it was a challenge to get close .. but I did ...

then made a great hike to the beaver ponds that day, never saw the beavers, but there was the dam they had build .. fascinating stuff ... Then as I came back, it started snowing and I mean .. snowing for real .... the trip back was an adventure with bison crossing the road when you could hardly see a thing ....

but hey .. I got there ... there was already quite some snow at the campsite which added to the whole experience ...

i slept like a baby ...

27th may

Woke up in a white world ... what a present this was ....

Today I stayed close to base ... did not want to repeat that return trip to the site like last nights ... I did an amazing hike trough this white wonder world.

There were a few rivers that I had to cross sometimes, making for an exciting moment as they were big and flowing fast due to all the melting snow ... and I did fall one time, trying to walk across the river over a tree, but it was very much eaten by termites, so it almost snapped when I made my way across, did not fall in the water, but was left with some great bruises and scratches ...

The rest of the day was filled by visiting the nearby waterfall and river and I explored the Lamar valley, where a bunch of wolves were re-introduced some time ago ... I needed to see these but this would need to wait untill some early morning when the wolves would be up and about .. Spotted my first black bear and grizzly bear, be it from far away so no intimidating pictures for you to see ... the sight of the grizzly was truely awesome, this thing is BIG and you don't wanna run into that thing on your way trough the park ...... !

The night turned out a bit different as someone had decided to pull up into my site, what the fuck ..

They told me there was no reservation sign at the pole there (which at first I refused to believe cause I had even used ducktape to stick my proof of reservation to the pole, but nottin I could do, if they said there was nottin there ...... ) so they took the spot .. It was a french couple from canada with an older model volkswagen and they had their campfire going for a while, so I considered my options, I mean if I wanted I could make them move but I saw a free spot close by, not as nice as my original spot and closer to the neighbours there, but I could go there for the one night and that would mean the french couple could stay at their temporary basecamp and I was gonna return to my spot the next day .. so, thats what we did ... the night was spend very quiet again ... that campsite was magic !

28th may

Woke up with someone screaming : "there is a bear, dont run, dont run" wow ... are they actually in the site ? And yes, they do roam around the campsite from time to time .. so that was a proper warning for the hikes I was gonna be doing that day ...

Had another great bonus ... there had been a landslide on the one road that was open and was leading you towards our campsite from the rest of the park .. "we are dealing with an entire mountain that is trying to come down" said the ranger .. "so the road is closed and we dont know when it will be opened again" ...

uuuuh ... that meant two things, one, I could not get to the other area;s of the park, and the second was that no-one could get from there to here .... and that with the memorial day weekend and labour day coming up ... all americans have a long weekend off and traditionally it means the start of the season for most national parks, so it was gonna get busy, normally .. ha ha but with this landslide it was a different ballgame ... yes .... that was actually pretty special .... it meant we had this entire area of the park for just a small bunch of people ... ha ha ... great .. this meant undisturbed hikes and perfect moments of spotting wildlife without other people approaching and scaring them away ... I was gonna have a blast here ... let the road be closed a little longer .. please .... (little did I know that the road stayed closed untill the next wednesday .. so I was getting what I wanted, and more, for a full week .... A truely unique time in the park while the busiest weekend was getting on its way in the rest of the park ... busloads of tourists hopping from one site to another ... taking their pictures,, be loud and obnoxious and move on again.

I did loads of hiking today, doing the specimen ridge trail ...

awesome views .. flowers and animals ... very nice ...

hiking is one of the perfect ways to loose yourself in the moment ...

simply ... B E

29th may

Today it was time for the hellroaring trail, another part of the valley was ready to be explored, it was beautifull to see yet another part of the tower - rooseveld area -- on my way I found an antler of a moose (moose paddle)

before I crossed the yellowstone river bridge, then, soon after crossing the river for the second time I also found a deer antler which in turn was not far from the carcass of a bison that had been eaten completely, but the sight of that huge animal being totally stripped down to nottin but hair and bones, pfffff ...

Wanted to get out of there just in case there was a hungry bear somewhere around, before I left I decided to take one of the two horns from the bison to have a closer look, later I put it up at some tree for someone else to discover ... did the same with the two antlers I found .. but first I made some use of the thing .... I actually used the deer antler to make some proper noise ... with a stick I would bang on the antler to let possible bears know that I was around and making my way trough the area .. bears dont like people and they get dangerous when you scare them, or surprise them .. so you must make noise and shout out loud every now and then ... I had this whistle with me, playing referee in a deserted forest .. ha ha .. I also did some proper singing about two bears making sandwiches (a well known childrens song in holland) so I never saw any bears (apart from the one crossing the road early in the morning on my way to the trailhead) .. I did get to see a marmot , some deer, beautiful birds, squirrels and pronghorn antilope .. and not to forget the landscape ... wowie .. all in all It took me a great 5 - 6 hours to hike some 10 miles, lost in paradise .. for real ...

That night was filled with re-arranging some pictures and I watched a nice movie, too tired to do anything else.

30th may

By late sunday and monday right before sunset the animals would come out to eat and drink and as it was so extremely quiet in our area, they had gotten used to the idea that they were sort of out there alone too .. still, they were allways " potential pray" and they were allways on the alert ... bizarre how I got to see a baby deer that could barely walk, let alone run ... the parents had run away as they heard me coming, I could just see the baby being all shook up and try to run after the parents, but it couldn't, I could see it did not know what to do with its legs, it tried but soon, it simply duck down, slightly underneath some grean bushes, covering it somewhat. The parents were standing 10 meters further uphill, clearly worried, but I had seen in some nature documentary once that these animals know what to do, and this was a survival reaction.

On tv they showed that the baby dropped down as it had gotten a few feet away from the attacker after it first had been grabbed but then as it was being played with by the wild cat or cougar it managed to jump away, and drop down in the high grass withoit the cougar being able to find it again ... it meant it got away from death and lived on to see another scary moment turning into a lifechanging event .... it's truelly life or death, eat or be eaten out here .... literally, as I had read in a brochure about the park, the green gets greener and the sounds get intenser knowing that around the corner there might be that great grizzly bear to give you the scare of your life ... when you are OUT THERE.

Wow .... what a morning this was, spotted my wolfs, yes ... that is what I had wanted ... this was cool stuff. .. it was trying to hunt down some pronghorn antilopes and in doing so it actually made its way to the road, I was in a line of cars, all following the "leader of the pack" There was this guy who was following the wolves for a government programm, he also had a radio system that allowed him to track the wolves, so as soon as you would see the yellow range rover drive by, you knew something was on ... when the wolf started to come towards the cars, it was time for another government official to step in and chase the wolf away, as that was behaviour they could do without in the park, they cant have wolves approach human beings, they should be scared of them .. so they chased it away .. I was stunned, here was my first wolf, getting closer and closer, and now someone chases it away .. later when I heard more about the what and how of it all, it was ok but for a moment I was pissed off ... Not long after that I saw more of the wolves, as they had a dead rabbit and a carcass that they were chewing on .. a nice sight from far away, again, I needed someone else's scope to see, cause my binoculars were way too primitive for it all ... I started to understand why all these folks are out here with these huge camera's and professional scopes ... it gives them a true live national geographic experience !

In the afternoon I needed some rest after the early morning for the wolves, so I slept some of the afternoon away and felt great when I woke up at 17,30 ready to make a good supply of pasta sauce for the coming three days. The night was filled with some reading, a movie and ... pictures .....

Actually I need to check out my pictures for this last day and the coming week ... I made so many .. and I cant find some of them for my blog ... so ... its a quick finish .. on to week 5 ... and I am on my way to chicago right now .... ciao4now

on the road 2011 usa - westcoast - week 3

2011-06-16T22:10:00.017+02:00

Hi there ..... I am getting more and more up-to-date ... it;s 16th june as I type this week three update ... being on the road all the time, there is simply to much stuff to be experienced, I lack the time to do digital updates with all these amazing national parks around me ... so you will have to be patient ... although I must say, week 4 is almost done, just like some of the past two weeks .. so ... I should be closing in on myself ... and also ... you dont have to read this stuff ... it's mostly done as a sort of diary for myself, but I know some of you like to read along and hopefully some get inspired and go out there to make me part of their own travelstories ... the world is big and amazing . get out there, stand up and evolve !

17th May

Woke up at the beach at the magical Cape Kiwanda, nottin had happened that night, no cops chasing me away, no locals burning some rubber off their tires either ... so it was great to have the peace of the morning there, the thought of jumping in the sea popped up for a second but very quickly left my head as soon as I remembered the cold from the day before ... no way jose .. Made my way up north, I stopped at a safeway supermarket for some much needed supplies and as I was loading them in I was approached by a guy in a big white van, offcourse he started about the bus .. as they all do .... ha ha .... he asked me what my route was and as he heard of my plans he pulled out a book that contained info about hot springs in the southern part of the usa. Mineral wells that pop up out of the earth, boiling hotpots full of healthy water and more amazingly, most of these were at brilliant locations, free and in the wild so to say ... "Keep it" he said, i carry a spare copy most of the time, so I can give it away .. yes .. lucky me ... That book would maybe lead me to some more amazing spots

As I rolled further along highway 101 I made my way into washington via an amazing bridge

and not long after I found a nice campsite right by the water

so I decided to pull in there because this was Indian Land and there was a lot of police and locals that would not agree with me pulling up at somewhere for the night. And after all I had been having some free nights so the 15 dollar charge was "bearable" again. I made a nice fire, watched the full moon rise on one side and an amazing sunset in the west

and only made it to bed at 04.30 after all the wood had gone and I had listened to loads of music, loud over the headphones, and after Mother Moon had been wished well ... yep, I slept like a baby ...

18th may
Despite the late night I woke up fresh and early, another day awaited ... filled up my water tank with fresh 30 liters of water, ready for more miles .... on my way towards yellowstone I decided to visit the Lewis and Clark centre today, these guys pioneered the trail to the west in a way (after the indians were long there offcourse) but these guys had to confirm stories about raging rivers and places where steam was coming from the ground (yellowstone) and other places that were unimaginable to the ones who had never seen or experienced these sights. I mean, can you think of a canyon 1 mile deep, with stones in all colours of the rainbow, and a whitewater river rushing trough it below ? If so, you probably have seen a discovery channel programme about the grand canyon or the likes ... in these days they only had painters that were taken along the discovery trips, so they could somewhat register what they see, and with their paintings they could take these sights back into the civilised world along to the curious ones waiting at home for news about these new unseen lands .... .. and so off they went, trough canyons, over rivers .. fighting bears and indians and rattlesnakes. It is an amazing story to read and see things about. When they had reached the Pacific Ocean, it meant the end of their journey, they stayed there to wait for spring and to collect salt from the sea for the journey ahead, and as the snow had gone, they went back east with a bag full of stories to be told ....

It was good to witness more stuff about the american history, after all that is partly why I am here .. After this cultural injection (and a Nike outlet store that had the perfect hoodie waiting for me ... again, beautiful baby blue, michael jordan "design" basically meaning nice and baggy, and now they sold it for 20,- instead of the regular 70,- .... in the pocket along with some shirts for 5,- that had the brilliant print: just do it - made in 1972 - you might be able to guess what year I was born .... so I had to take these along ... After the small shopping spree I drove further along the coast and into the Olympic National Park which is big ... very big .. almost covering the entire peninsula on the left side of seattle, the park is unique cause it has a combo of rainforest, dunes, beaches and snow covered mountains, all closely connected.

I made my way to the sea side and found a nice campsite where I could stay for 6,- as I got 50% discount with my annual pass

(or so I thought, cause as I type this I now know that the access pass discount means a discount for disabled persons, who get a socalled access pass .. to me the word access was the same as annual - pass ... as it gave me access to all the parks for a year, so .... it also seemed normal that with a pass you would get a "prefered treatment" over the regular visitors but hey ,.... some smart ranger told me the exact rules when I entered Death Valley and asked him if there were any places that offered the pass discount ... uuuuh what discount you mean ... ha ha .. ok ... gotcha ... but to be honest, I played stupid after that and filled out my access pass number and paying the discounted price, it also looks like they dont check if you have a pass or if you are disabled etc .... so hey ...

Anyway .. so I paid 6,- and the campsite was sorted for that night, I made my way to the beach for a nice hike with amazing pieces of wood ..

I left this one there for others to enjoy .. its one of natures most amazing sculptures I found so far ....

I love the Pacific !!!

19th may

Today it was time to visit the neighbouring village of La Push which was part of another indian reserve as where I had camped, this was on the other side of the river and as I pulled up in the harbour I saw three indian guys who seemed to be kiling time in front of their trailers with some drinks and a beautiful view of the sea. It turned out they had gone fishing earlier that day for the village bbq later that night, we started talking as he wanted to swap his vw beetle for "my" van ... They were cool guys ... telling great stories about the neighbouring village having killed a whale but ending up shooting the poor thing with a 50mm canon instead of using oldskool spears etc to kill it ... the pictures were horrid seemingly, and even the United Nations asked questions about it, as the killing of whales has been forbidden (yeah right .. come on Japanese whale killing bastards ... tackle these guys first UN !!!)

We even played some golf (I stopped after 2 hits after a first hit nottin but air and the second attempt I almost broke the glass of one of the big campers that was parked bekow ... uuh so much for me hitting goldballs .... I needed some more practice I guess .. scotland had been a while.

here is the "airshot - literally hitting nottin but air" ....

here is the camper I almost hit ....

and here are the Indians .. !

The guys burned some cd's with original Indian songs for me to listen to to and get in the mood for some spiritual hike to certain places along the beach that night and next day .. nice ... I promised to use some of it for a tekno remix and send it to them when I get home ...

After that great encounter I did a great hike along the beach and those spiritual places ...

awesome with a blue sky and seagulls soaring ... For the night I decided to drive to Lake Ozette as there was a campsite and possibly soem free spots to be spotted ... The campsite was nice but there was a big group of youngsters that were tooo present, not exactly what I was after ..... so I made my way to a point where boats can be launched into the lake, and from there I found this small road that was a disused logging road, it actually stopped after 500 meters so it was an exciting but perfect looking spot for a good nights sleep ..

it turned out that the frogs from the lake kept me awake for a while, but when I let go of the fact that they were not singing in sync I slept soon after .... breakcore frog lullaby ...

20th may
Walked up to the most northwestern point in the usa today, awesome pacific ocean again .... earlier on, on my way there I did not really like the vibe from the indian village that was located in the corner of the peninsula ... You had to pass trough their area to reach the tip of the peninsula and in a way the village had a troubled feel .... even though there was a huge fishing community, the atmosphere was strange ... as if they were relying on the visitors to pay their access fee but they only liked the money and not the people ... (you needed a pass to go trough the area) so most people go and buy these passes, and buy some more shit along the way in the stores selling these passes .. I decided to play stupid .. I was not gonna stay there anyway .... After spotting some great eagles in the harbour,

which was a treat I went east again ... I decided to start heading for seattle, and when darkness fell I found myself looking for a spot and after leaving some campsites behind that were ok, but not really what I wanted, I saw this great public parking ... really a big field with no one there .... ok .... I 'll take it, for free ... ... and slept great with sweet Indian dreams heeja hoo heeja heee ..

21st may

So today I went back to civilisation, bigtime. As I headed into seattle there was a special feeling coming over me, what a city, very friendly and green .. great atmosphere.

First parked the bus safe in a garage and then put on my walking shoes, I did the tourist thingie by hopping on the monorail and got off at the needle ...

made a ton of pictures and then made my way downtown for more sightseeing, found the library, designed by Rem Koolhaas, it just needed some more open space surrounding it I thought .. but hey ... space ismoney these days ....

had a stroll inside and then did not know what to do anymore, this was downtown, and I felt lost with all these expensive stores, restaurants and cafes. As I walked back to the parking garage I saw a bus that headed for the U-district and that U- was short for University district, and that is where I wanted to go, in the guide books they all write these great things about this part of Seattle but it was too long a walk from downtown so here was the answer .. i hopped on the bus (busses here even have a system that allows you to take your bike along) and the driver was a great guy, he let me off right at the corner of where a street festival was taking place ... with my nose in the butter so to say ... Had a great evening there, found amazing shoes in a second hand shop ... I swear I wasn't looking for any but these were just perfect and waiting for me ... after some great chinese food and some unexpected compliments and ego boost from some woman who were smoking outside a bar (too bad they were smoking .. ha ha ) This time I used the -bus in the garage- as an excuse to take off .. but if turned around ... uuuh "I could pick up my bus tomorrow early in the morning, but that would mean I have nowhere to sleep tonight ?) .. might try that at some point ...

I made my way back to the parking lot as I needed to pick up the bus before midnight ... Then made my way out of town, said goodbye to the skyline and its twinkling lights and not soon after I had left Seattle I pulled off at some business park, drove all the way to the back in the dark and found out the next day that it was a perfect spot that I would not have driven to during daylight, but in the dark, I was sort of guided there ...

it was quiet and served me just right after the busy Seattle dayout ......

22nd may
Finally it was time to head for yellowstone, the long awaited part of the journey was about to begin ... going east .... but later that day I had a change of mind, there was this great Roosevelt Lake area with the Coulee dam that I had seen on the map, and it was not far away .. earlier on I had thought of going there but in the end I decided not to go, I mean I have seen dams before .. and artificial lakes .. but yes, you guess it .. for some reason I ended up taking a detour to go there in the end, .. and boy, it was great, the landscape along the way was amazing, canyons, lakes .. big skies ... yes .. bring it on ...

Checked out the dam and Electric City (now that is a cool name ..) and spotted a national forest area not far from the dam, you can sleep for free in the national forests as long as you are away from official campsites and paved roads, so I went there, into the hills and Indian territory and I had in mind to take a small ferry across the colombia river the next day to take me back on route to yellowstone.

The spot I found that night had an amazing view as you can see and it was a joy to see darkness take over here ....

23rd may

the ferry across the colombia river ...

Almost turned around to drive the long way back, but then the ferry popped up from around the corner of the river

yes .. here it was, and it was exciting to get on that thing ... it was small, and in a way I was glad there was no wind .. On my way out of the lake area I drove trough more (small) canyons and headed east towards Yellowstone. Visited a tourist trap town .. they have big signs up with : amazing mine tours, or historic old town etc ,.. but it is mostly run down stuff ... went to a dusty museum that gave some insights about the mining that had gone on there, it was gold digging country after all, but it was a cheesy exhibition ... or better ... dusty .. justy like the folks working there .. kiling their days there .. literally ...

As night fell I went towards a campsite in a small town that I passed trough, campsite was deserted, but looked ok and quiet, but then I noticed the area behind the campsite looked even better .. right by the river and I found a disused railbridge, and some bushes that were perfect to hide behind as I would probably get some visit from the local sheriff if they would see me camp out there (right behind the campsite) ...

it took some manouvring but it was perfect, woke up once because of the rain and thinking I needed to move the bus as the river could swell and flood the area where I was ... but soon let go of that crazy thought and went back to sleep.

and that was week three .... on to yellowstone ..... via a place called potosi ...

on the road 2011 - usa - westcoast week 2

2011-06-14T22:29:00.013+02:00

10th may

This was the day it was all starting for me .... I was gonna hit the road all by myself ... First me and my parents made our way back from Yosemite, which was a nice drive... Dropped mum and dad at the airport in san fransisco, one more emotional goodbye, I guess we've had quite a few this past year. All for the dive into the great unknown, filling up your days with new smells and sights, turning knowledge into wisdom and gathering some new knowledge along the way, it's evolution that counts, instead of running to stand still ... ..

So start all engines, lock your doors, seat belts on, 55 miles is 88km per hour .. no speeding here .. here we go .... First I went to haight ashbury for a cup of tea and some vinyl searching, ended up with a mint copy of U2's lp Boy, with the "altered" sleeve design. A picture of a young boys face was the design for all other countries, but this was not possible in free and brave america kaaaaa ..... so they changed it's photo for the sleeve to a morphed thingie of the faces of the four band members ....

After the record hunting and landing on earth from saying goodbye to my folks, and really realising that it had all begun ... it was time to hit the road, on to sausalito, just outside san fransisco. There I had spotted my first free and comfy parking spot a few days earlier. It is located right next to the first houseboats you see when you come off the highway and enter sausolito after you crossed the golden gate bridge. There is a small cluster of houseboats, or what looks like them in some instances, cause it is really messy looking and if you dont know better, some look as if they could sink any day ... anyway, right next to the last "hippy" colony sort of thingie, there was a small parking area, right by the water. That was gonna be my spot for night one, along with the guy that was sleeping it rough style, a few meters away from me, out of sight for anybody as he was behind some big logs of wood and tucked away underneath some blankets. I guess he had a full tummy as earlier that day I had left him the cans of tuna and some corn that was left from my parents and since I dont eat that stuff, he was a good "candidate"

Did some much needed re-organising of the content of the bus, stuffed all the books away inside the clothing compartments, and i was glad i found some room by the gas and water tanks, so with those out of the way I could easily fold down the bench, to make it into a bed for the night, without having to deal with a full stack of things, now it was a done deal in a matter of a minute. Then it was time to warm up the pasta my mum had left me, and have an early night, I was exhausted ...

11th may

Woke up all fresh and ready to go, it was a blue sky and straight away I made a major change of plans, after all it was day one, and from what I had seen the past copuple of days I was not gonna go on the major highway north, and slightly east towards reno, on the way to lassen national park as "planned" originally. Instead I decided to follow the amazing coast driving on the 1 and 101 north. This pacific northwest coast, you can not imagine what it looks like, especially with the spring colours and the sun that played along. So, highway 1 and 101 it was from then on ... on to redwood national park, and up north .. maybe ...or cut inlands to lassen np ... ?
After a great drive along the magnificent pacific ocean I found this amazing campsite where I had a very nice and huge campfire and peaceful night, even though I had to pay 20 dollars, I got a lot of "inner rest" so to say ...

This place also meant sleeping upstairs on the bed that sleeps like a dream ... unreal for a small camper van like this, the bed is modified with a proper matrass and wow ... the freshness from all outside air coming in trough the ventilation nets that you only have in the canvas that makes up the fold up roofs outsides all around. And the sound of the sea, making me fall asleep in an instant ...

no cops chasing me away, a nice spot for a fire, loads of wood to be scavenged in the forest right next to the campsite ... it was bang on by the sea with a nice beachline to be explored just before the sun was to set, and found a nice chair ... took some running for the pic .... ha ha ,..

no cops chasing me away, a nice spot for a fire, loads of wood to be scavenged in the forest right next to the campsite ... it was bang on by the sea with a nice beachline to be explored just before the sun was to set, and found a nice chair ... took some running for the pic .... ha ha ,..

12th may

today was all about the redwoods and the avenue of the giants, huge trees along the way, so impressive, making you feel like a little tiny thing compared to these monsters that are some 2000 years old. The camping was expensive in the park, as usual ... So I decided to continue a bit inland after the point where highway 1 had connected to highway 101 again, here was the huge jedediah smith forest, that was a national forest, this meant that you can roam around, and find a spot as long as you are not too close to an official camping. Ideal ... went to the ranger station to ask for some tips, and boy did I get some ... I made my way up a dirt road, into the forest and up the hill, decided to leave the first "spots" alone, as they were a bit too close to civilisation and made my way further up untill I found a spot right by the river without any possible room for any neighbours, perfect ... Build a huge fire again, by now I had a full set of clothes for campfires, the smell was too much to wear during the day, but at night ... things changed ... and after that nightly intermezzo this time it was not the sea but the sound of the river that made me fall asleep in an instant after I had once again, occupied the upstairs bed.

13th may

Decided to stay in the forest, it was amazing here. Did some more wood hunting but could not complete the entire route along the mountain, as there was a gap that was too deep and big right in the middle of the road, making it impossible for the bus to clear .. ah well .. it was ok, I had spotted my coming nights spot along the way a little while down the hill,bang on a bend in the road, giving you a clear amazing view of the mountains that embrace the jedediah smith forest.

Build myself a nice kickass campfire and made a nice office with a view ... music maestro please ... although it remains strange to have your headphones on while there is this amazing campfire that is making its own set of noises besides the occasional owl that was going off .... it was another great night after a relaxing day ...

14th may

Today I left the forest behind, time to head north. Along the coast again, small winding roads, going up and down the hills. Made my way to the drive trough tree, a huge sequoia tree with a man made hole so that you can drive your car trough it. Paid 5 bucks entree fee with the guy looking at the car and saying yes uuuh I think he will just fit trough uuuh maybe uuuuuh yes i think so ..... only to find out that the bus was too big to fit underneath the tree... grrrr ... tree still looked amazing though, one of the huge sequoias along the way. When looking for a place to sleep, it turned out that this was gonna be a bit more tricky to find myself a good spot ... as it was an area with only one real road and no ways leading off it, the in a bend where traffic slowed down there was a small parking area next to a closed and deserted coffee shop and from there I spotted this, on the other side, which turned out to be an exciting spot, great ... the ingenious cooking pot grabber did not what it was supposed to do when I was clearing the water from the freshly cooked pasta, 500 gr pasta down the bushes ...

15th may

Did a lot of miles today, finally ... after some days of slowly making my way up, today was a nice change. The coast was mesmerizing along the way. Also as I made my way into Oregon it was a joy to see the landscape fill up with lakes in all shapes, the population was definitely geared up for water. Most cars had the option to pull huge boats, or had big canoes on top, the outdoors was very much alive here. It turned out to be hard to find a spot today, so after some exploring in Newport Beach's harbour without any luck as everywhere they had signs up telling you it was forbidden to sleep there. Then I spotted a police man and decided to simply ask him, he should know ... . He refered me to some logging roads after you get out of town. Ok, that was an option but as I made my way to the outskirts of town I spotted my first Wallmart.

This meant a sleeping place as wallmart allowes rv's to spend the night on their parking lots.. It was not my preferred option, but when I saw I could hide in a quiet corner behind some of the garden stuff they were selling, it was ok.

Sometimes these parking lots are used by the local youth as a hang out and then you dont get any sleep ... But tonight that was no problem .. And next morning I would have a toilet close by ... sometimes wallmart rules.

16th may

Making my way north along the coast was a joy again, the sun was out and it was astonishing to see what water has done with the rocks along the way. Cape Kiwanda had a big parking right by the sea, it also has a big ramp allowing cars to get access to the beach so they can launch their boats into the sea. When I arrived there it was quite clear this was a bit of a magical place.

With on the right hand side a huge rock heading out into sea with at its land-edge a huge sand dune that could be climbed, I thought it was much more interesting to get into the rock that heads out into the water to see how the beach looked from there.

And I was not dissappointed, boy was it beautifull, I actually spend my entire afternoon there, even jumping into the ice cold sea, ha, 2 minutes at the most, longer was impossible as I was literally freezing, my legs were all tingly and I was glad there was a small camping not far from the parking where I could go to catch a warm shower, felt a different being when that was done ! Then made my dinner, let all of my pasta fall straight into the sand when I wanted to get rid of the water after it had cooked .. fuck me, secodn time that happened .. ... did it all over again and was extra carefull, succes .. in the end I could eat right by the sea, about one hour before the sun was to set. Then I spend the rest of the evening in awe as on one side the sun was going down with a fantastic colour pallette spread out over the ocean and the rocky coast. And on the other side the moon was coming up, almost full ... right above the hill ... picture perfect !

Slept like a baby at the parking lot, some locals had told me it was ok, ignore the signs and simply sleep there ... ha ha ok .... ciao4now ....

on the road 2011 - usa - westcoast 5th may - 10th may

2011-06-06T20:06:00.009+02:00

It was the 4th may when I left for Brussels, I had planned to arrive around midnight at the train station as I had to take an early train to Paris the next morning. It was impossible to reach Brussels by train so early, so I went there the night before my actual departure hoping to find a somewhat comfy waiting area, one that you normally find at airports and some trainstations, but i guess not this one. Little did I know that the area where you could wait during the night inside the station did actually not exist at night time. It was closed from 12 midnight and opened again early in the morning, offcourse, belgium logics ...

So without any sleep I got on the 8am train to Paris, arrived at the airport smoothly and went to check in my luggage, only to find that the transport system for the luggage had broken down. After half an hour they collected the luggage in a big cart and told us to go ahead, it would all be ok .... You can probably guess what never got to san fransisco that day ! The fact that my suitcase would now arrive one day later meant that I had to sleep somewhere else than my tent, as that was inside my suitcase that was still in Paris. Luckily the airline gave us an allowance of 130 dollars to spend on things we needed as a result of the missing suitcase. So I booked myself a luxury hotelroom by the beach, and close to the rv park where my parents had parked their bus.

But again it had been necessary to show some persistance at the airline desk as not every one got to hear the rule they had about the 130 dollar allowance, neither were they given a comp toiletry bag with usual stuff like tootbrush and shaver etc but this one also contained a plain nice white tshirt, so I was all ok when I left the desk and went on to go see my parents, who must have been waiting for almost one hour.

The choice for a good hotel turned out to have been a good choice and ideal, with a great breakfast the next day although it was still hard to eat due to the excitment of what was finally unfolding itself ... .

It was nice to see my parents again, I guess I felt very fullfilled in seeing them have completed the panamerican highway, from argentina to san fransisco, more than 20.000 kilomters and on the road 6 months. I guess I felt proud too! Very proud actually, because it is quite something to travel together for such a long time in such a compressed space. I mean it is a vw transporter, and well equipped, actually pretty nifty in design as it has everything you could possibly need on the road: it's a tdi 4 motion, with foldout roof with double bed that sleeps like a dream, the bench has an ingenious slide and flip mechanism so it folds out to a double bed too.

Stealth mode camping requires me to sleep below, not allways, but only when far away from civilisation or well hidden from view and bears. It is bear country that I am travelling trough after all. Smiling .... It has a smal sink, a fridge, airconditioning, heater, nifty lights and a cabinet for your pots and pans. Also the clothes can be hidden away in the sides and it really feels like a little home on wheels.

So as me and my parents spend the first days in the san fransisco area we discovered a nice spot in sausalito, a little town just across the city right after you cross the golden gate bridge. There are loads of bigass houseboats, but few remain from as they were in the 60s and 70s but there was still one small area that felt different, and it turned out that the small piece of land in front of the boats, that served as entrance, the parking area was their own property too, so I was welcome to be their guest said a guy called Scout, who came to say hello and wanted to buy my dads bus ... and so this little encounter turned into me finding my first free camp spot.

As we drove around the bay area we visited my old dorm that was my house away from home and had soon turned into my home, along with 200 other students among whom loads of foreigners from all over the word. What a wake up call that was ... I am still very gratefull that I have been able to have had that experience, that realy threw off my blinds and woke me up.

So we also went to chabot college, to see the field I played at for their famous soccer team and worked in the bookstore to make some money to spend on my first raves that I was exposed to in 91-92 ha ha .. my house is your house and your house is mine.

Chabot college was nice to rediscover, bookstore had moved, canteen was still serving great food and drinks ... Berkely was again nice, and the 49mile drive was too ... including the crookedest street in the world .. lombard street with its 9 bends and my mum and dad driving down it with my dad hanging out of the window, and my mum waving with one hand whilst driving the bus down the street and me photographing it all at the crossing right below, I had gotten out of the bus as we had come down for the first time .. ...

We also went to dream out loud for my mum ... we went to see yosemite national park, I had booked a spot at one of the few campsites that was open that time of year as there still some snow in the park, so they said ... and so it was ... man, did it snow when we were there .. it must have been my brother sending us some snow flakes and perfectly round and soft hailstones that were perfect for making snowballs ... the huge sequoias were a perfect target .. trees that had been standing there for 2400 years .. some grown together with their brothers and sisters, forming a huge wide base and multiple crowns ... the crumbly red of the bark of the trees and green of the fresh leaves from the tress that had only just started to sprout, all in a layer of snow .. it was magical to be there, and as later that day we had the joy of the sun that accompanied us for some areas that we visited, magic pure magic ...

being on the right path can give you it all, just make sure you dont try to hard to get somewhere ... strange how nike made that into : there is no finish line .. just like they had brilliantly stolen the: just do it line ... ah well, as long as they print 1972 on their shirts, I wil buy one and even wear it .. (found some for 5 dollars a piece in the nike outlet store, sorry mum, more shirts on the way ...)

So after Yosemite for two days, it was time to head back to San Fransisco to drop off my parents at the airport, they were heading back home, leaving me with the bus to hit the road .... for 3 great months ..... And boy am I glad I am not driving one of these huge fuckers ... everywhere you see tourist who have rented one of these huge things, struggling to cut corners, or get their bus parked at the campsites or various tourist sites .... and here is me ... I guess the bus is the same size as the average pick up truck with 4wheel drive that most americans are driving here .. only big difference is that the bus does 25 miles to the gallon .. and these huge v8 engines drink fuel like water rusn down some waterfalls in yosemite after all this snowfall ....

So much for the first part ....

On The Road 2011 USA West Coast 2 East Coast

2011-05-03T22:27:00.005+02:00

Finally it's time to hit the big one ... on the road for real ...

5th may I will fly from paris to san fransisco where I will meet my parents who by that time, will have driven from argentina to san fransisco in 6 months time, now their road trip will finish and they will fly home, where I wil take their bus (a vw transporter) and drive it to it's final destination New York .. this is gonna take 88 days as I have planned to visit several national parks and ancient forests etc while on the way ... also I have the luck that the Irish Boy band U2 is gonna be playing the states this summer, so I am gonna cross their schedule a couple of times without having to do too many crazy detours ...

I will go and show my parents where I stayed in 91-92 as I attended a college for a year, played semi pro soccer and discovered my first raves ... so the college and the dormitory will be cool to rediscover ... also San Fransisco will be great to see again as it is truelly a friendly place .... after that we will go to Yosemite National Park for two days and then my parents will make their way back home on the 10th may.

Then I will start my long awaited road trip ... starting in SF going to Reno, then North end east again to end up at Yellowstone national park and Teton national park, Salt Lake City and back to oakland (u2) then it's time for another dream place to visit ... I hope to find the spot where the famous joshua tree is resting ... I got some coordinates, some foto's and the recordsleeve ... then it's time to go to anaheim for two u2 gigs, then up to Las Vegas and hit east on the famous Route 66 ...
I might head up towards Denver, or find another interesting road on my way to Memphis and Nashville (u2) in Tennessee, then northbound to Chicago (u2) - Detroit -- into Canada - Toronto - Montreal (u2 double) and back to the usa to hit the famous East Coast where I will see my final U2 360 gig in East Rutherford and then have one more week to see some real life jersey shore uhum ... then get the bus into a shipping container to get it back to holland, surely my parents can't wait to hit the road again ... me neither .. ciao4now

hello from ecuador

2011-02-18T05:23:00.005+01:00

I am high up in the ecuadorian andes today, enjoying the thermal baths of papallacta
tomorrow I will make my way to quito where I will be saying goodbye to my parents after having travelled trough peru and most of ecuador together for 3 weeks. It will be good to not have to put up my tent every day and finally sleep in a proper bed in a hotel for 4 nights, after that I hope to make my way to the jungle via lago agrio, from there its a nice canoe trip up the river before we hit the amazon. Still 2 weeks to fill with all sorts of colours sounds and adventures ... here are some of the past weeks .....

mad lines in the nazca desert ..... truelly awesome !!! planes were too dangerous so we stuck to the look out tower .....

amazing sunsets at teh westcoast of peru with my little red tent next to my parents bus ... we did need armed security here ... kind of mad ...

incredible animals at an island group of the peruvian coast, called islas ballestas
seals, pinguins, pelicans and tons of shit producing birds .... really smelly and luckily they missed my head ....

huge temples from pre.inca times, they needed 143 million adobe )mud) blocks for the sun temple .... thats how they paid their taxes ... creating a certain number of blocks per family..

sweet cats that remind me of home ... it wont be long muts ...

crazy banana plantations in ecuador .. ecological and very good for the workers and their family who get proper education and food ....

passing trough the andes above the clouds, over 4000 meters up ... luckily our /roetfilter/ has not caused any more troubles, lack of oxygen high up makes a different burning mixture in the enginem blockingh the carbondioxide filter ...

Macchu Picchu

2011-02-06T04:01:00.003+01:00

Hello hello ...

Unbelievable what a trip sofar ... cuzco is an amazing city that is indeed the inca capital of the world, if only they would leave me alone instead of trying to sell stuff all the time .....

before we visited macchu picchu we slept in macchu picchu pueblo, so we could get up at 5am and take the bus at 5.30 in order to see the sunrise over this sacred place .... and wow .. was it worth the short night ... sad thing was that my mum was sick and had diarrea cause of some bad food, or salad that was washed with bad water .. luckily she managed to come later at 12pm ... my dad went along with the group, but I had to go up this huayna picchu from where you have an amazing view ... the trip is a huge steep climb, somewhat dangerous but so worth the effort ...

at the ned of the day before we headed back to cuzco I decided to have an icecream .... bad idea ..... it had been defrosted maybe cause of some powercut or something. and then frozen again, but I did not want to be an arsehole and return the icecream when I saw it looked somewaht deformed .... I should have ... really ...
cause it caused the biggest instant foodpoisoning I ever had ... throwing up and spraying diarrhea all over the trains toilet was only the start .... after that the 2 hour bus trip back to the hotel was broken up by multiple stops where I left my genetic code all over the countryside .... I never felt so bad ...
all I wanted to do was sleep, feeling totally dehydrated etc ... my mummie took care of me, and boy, did I sleep .... it took another day for me to feel better again, and as I am typing I am somewhat recovered .... never again ..... no more ice cream in peru, no matter what ...

right now we have arrived in nazca where we will not fly over the lines, as it is too dangerous, they even make you carry your passport on your body when you do decide to fly ... I wonder why .... too many planes have crashed in the past .. we shall do it by foot, and use the lookout tower ....

also we are happy to have left the amaizng andes ..... going over 4500 meters and dealing with loads of sliding stones and water flows as a result of the bad weather of the past days ....

Off to bed now after a day of too much input ... more later

ciao ciao

peru 2011

2011-01-30T10:53:00.002+01:00

It,s 05am waiting at the airport in Lima for my connection to Cuzco where i will meet up with my parents who are driving the panamerican highway with their own vw bus ...

It has been quite a trip sofar .. Due to snow in NY my first flight was canceled from Brussels, I was pleased that they gave me a hotel incl meals in the mercure airport hotel. Otherwise I would have had to go back to Tilburg and then back to brussels the next morning ... no way ..... The next day I was hopefull that my flight would take me on the road, and it did, but 2,5 hours late which meant I would most likely miss my connection in newark, and as there was no other flight to Lima, I was gonna be stuck at the airport for 24hrs .. mmmm...... nottin I could do about it .. In Newark I had to collect my bags and go trough customs before I could re'check my bags for the next flight,and find out if I had missed my flight or not, there was a chance that the other flight was delayed also. The customs took ages, with very big arseholes behind the counters .... clearly treating coloured and muslims differently, also me with my dreads was made to wait longer ... luckily I have learned to shut up, cause if I would have said something they would have only slowed things down even more ... When i finally could re-check my bags, they told me the other flight was delayed, and i was gonna run, I would be abel to make it .. woeaaahhhhh ... yesss .... I ran like a madman across the airport to gate c 126 ... even managed to talk my way to the front of the Q for the next bagage scan ... but upon arrival at the gate, I was told the flight had left 2 minutes earlier .. fuck me ....

Totally out of breath, and with the sweat in my underpants I was very very pissed off .. they knew we were on our way, but still they left .. ok ... switch ... now I needed to make sure I was gonna go on the next days flight, which was almost full as the day prior, no flights had left Newark due to the snow ... also I was gonna see if they would get me a hotel again like in Brussels, cause I also realised that as my flight to cuzco was on the 30th very early morning I was up for another night at the airport (which is going on right now) which is not much fun as you have to watch your stuff and try to get some sleep ...

First they told me 4 times that all they could do was give me a list of hotels, but that they could not offer me a free night .... I could get a paper which entitled me to a distressed passenger rrate ..... which would still be around 65 euro ... or 80 dollars .... not acceptable .. that is what I told the lady that was helping me, or better, that ws trying to wave me off .... and again, she said the same thing .. and again and again ... so I decided to ask for the supervisor as I was not gonna accept this .--- 10 minutes later the supervisor decided not to come out but give the lady the green light to get me my room for free .. yessss ...... they tied to blame it on the weather ... being an act of god (wha ha ) so I told them that in brusseld i actually did get a room, with the same reasons for delay .. they must have checked that in their system .... cause now they changed their act ..
I also got meal vouchers again ... so I was ok with it all ....

Unfortunately I was too tired to go into NY city for couple of hours, so I decided to take a nice relaxing bath, have a good meal and get some proper sleep ...

And today I finally made my way to Lima, where I am right now, spending from 23pm till 08am before my flight to cuzco will depart ... 1 hour ago I could drop off my big bag, and with only 3 hours to go I decided to go for a coffee .. and get some help from the pc and the screen to keep me awake .... so .. here is the first stage of my 5 week adventure ...

My mum and dad have already arrived in cuzco, they also have setup my tent next to their bus and they will be picking me up in 5 hours time .... I am preparing for some bigtime altitude sickness as cuzco is way high up in the mountains .--- will need loads of sleep and some aspirine I guess .... acclimatise before I will be joining my parents on the way to Machu Pichu .-.-- we will go by train as the inca trail is closed in february for repair works ... will return another time to do the inca trail properly ! After that I wil jump onboard my parents bus to go towards Nazca and on to the sea and up towards ecuador .... Might get off the bus earlier but I think I will stay on board for 3 weeks untill I get to Quito where I will have to choose to either go to the jungle or go for a nice mountain trekking adventure ..

and in case you are ever flying with continental, please do not expect a veggie meal .... the fuckers managed to do this twice ..... leaving me with nottin but salad and bread .... good thing i brought some cheese and bread myself for the first stage and some leftover pizza for flight nr 2 ----

lets see what they will get me for flight nr 3 -------

ciao4now

wide awake in europe ep

2011-01-14T21:21:00.002+01:00

boy, am I happy to finally get my copies that I ordered from the states ...
I ordered three copies as soon as the pre-order had gone "hot" ... never expecting to actually receive 3 copies .. there were only 5000 copies made and nobody knew where they would go, apart from independant vinyl stores .... one of the copies is for my "u2"mate and one stays in my cupboard ... the other copy has been played, it skips with i'll go crazy, and the sleeves have been damaged in the packaging process .. they have dropped the records too hard, both in the innersleeve, and the outersleeve .... or maybe they should have used thicker cardboard .... ?? anyway ... I dont care too much ....

wide awake no matter what ....

Slide projections for X-mas gala 2010

2010-12-25T01:52:00.005+01:00

For the third year in a row I got to light up a small white chapel for the annual x-mas gala night for the Lions service club.

They raise money for a good cause and try to spread some fun along the way, I try to transform the location by projecting two huge x-mas balls on either side of the stage and then add yellow projections to the two walls next to that. Then there is the ceiling that consists of rows of long panels to improve accoustics, on the balcony I set up two sets of 6 projectors at either side to transform the ceiling from front to back with yellow / green-blue projections.

The actual glass-in-lead windows are lit up by plain building lights at the outside, simulating the sun in a way ... and then to top it off a mirror ball magically helps in creating a star lit sky at the back of the stage ...

This year there was a mobile hanging in the centre of the chapel, they were huge angel like figures holding various items, made of paper/cardboard, and ideal to serve as a moving projection "screen" ....

newyears eve ----

2010-12-25T00:39:00.002+01:00

gonna be playing records and fresh homemade tunes from 4 - 6 --
we will be hosting a small room along with jitze and hans --
music from 12.30 till 06.00 doors close at 04.00 !!!

location: de hall of fame - tilburg -- there will be three areas -
variety of music on offer -- good vibes and unfortunately an entry fee of 7 euro presale and 15 on the night , max capacity 500 which will be sold out fast ... ...
c ya there

make some music ... please ....

2010-11-06T16:38:00.002+01:00

saturday 06th nov 2010 somewhere in belgium ....

acid in the woods and system operator will join together for an evening of fun, food and music .... I will be bringing my liveset along for some musical entertaining ...

check your local network for the address

see you there

gone again

2010-09-21T16:55:00.002+02:00

heya

sorry for the lack of updates .... it was busy and happy times !!

was on the road for a month -- st petersburg - moscow - athens and istanbul were amazing to explore and discover ....

now its time to hit the south ...

brussels - paris - san sebastian - sevilla - coimbra and then two more weeks on the road in north portugal and spain ... slowly making my way back home ...

I promise I will upload some more tracks when I am back ...
right now very busy selecting new music for the next accu releases and cant choose what to pick and what to let go via my soundcloud page ...

this will be my home for the next 4 weeks ...
see you on the road

U2 - 360 in Frankfurt

2010-08-15T16:51:00.001+02:00

monday the 9th of august, waking up with excitement as today was the day that I was finally gonna go away again with my bus. Off to frankfurt as U2 was gonna play their second concert of this summer, after having seen the first one in turin, I was filled with joy, cause they were rocking like never before ... It took me some time to arrange my stuff, but then it was departure time .. speakers were blasting out old bootlegs from the 80's to get in the mood, as if that was necessary ...

It took quite a while to get to frankfurt as my bus is quite old, from 1975, quite heavy and big and therefore prefers a cruising speed of around 80 - 85 km. As soon as I entered the area around the stadium, I started looking for a place to park, but offcourse the goal was to get as close as possible, looking for a spot, I soon had entered the ring around the stadium for the 2nd time, but this time it was leading me back to the airport, another 12 km extra to go ... hmmmm so the next time I was close to the stadium, I parked in an area with houses I had spotted, about 2km from the venue, I got my bmx bike out, it was 00.30am and wnet off to the stadium to check things out. When I arrived I found the first nutters who were gonna sleep outside, all close together at one of the four entrances that were gonna be used the next day, each with its advantages and shortcomings. E5 was the only one "equipped" with a dixie and together with E3 the closest to the field entrance, so the least running was involved the next day, but rumours were flying that not all entrances were gonna be opened at the same time etc .. ha ha .. here we go ....

I decided to check out all different possibilities, but found out that there was no one at the other entrances so decided that the next day I was gonna go for E5 also ... but, as it was allready getting late I thought it would be wise to get a proper sleep first, after all I did not bring my bus for nothing ! Said hello to some familiar faces, and asked how to get to the big parking right next to the stadium, then headed back to my bus and quickly made my way to the parking to set up basecamp so to say ... Decided to hit the bed without my alarm clock set, reassured by stories that the germans are not as mad as the italians, where at 06.30am there were allready 700 people in line ... stressing out like mad ... (well, the first 200 were not, as they had been there the longest and gotten pretty at home around the venue, but from nr 400 up they were standing from 09.00am onwards, nuts, totally nuts .... as they did not get in untill 16.15pm)

ok, slept like a baby, woke up at 10 made some breakfast and coffee and got my camping chairs and umbrella along with some spare mats for those around me sitting on the ground, lets share the luxury .... Got nr 231 and felt pretty relaxed ... met Cathal again, who wrote the Me & U2 book and who is travelling around europe also this summer, got acquainted with an english man with his daughter and chatted time away .... Around 13pm I made some pasta in my bus, wich was ideal, and enjoyed lunch along with Leo, a spanish guy I met in torino who was gonna stay in my bus in Hannover after Frankfurt. Then it was waiting time again, around 15pm I moved all of my stuff back to the bus, as shortly everyone was gonna go and stand up and the Q was gonna get a bit more compressed, but it was very relaxed all teh time .. the germans are chilled !

Around 16.15 it wa stime to get in ... had all of my drinks and food prepared in see trough bags, so security could see easily, and it went very fast and smooth, no stress ... then it was running time ... untill we hit security again, who told us to take it easy, they were still shocked from the terrible thing that had happened at the love parade some weeks earlier (20 people died as they were all pushed together in one big tunnel, really terrible, so I can see why they were so "tense" it was ok ... we went with the flow ..) When I entered the stadium from the back (strange as normally we run towards the claw (stage)) I was aiming for my favouriste spot, in the centre at the rail outside the catwalk ... but saw some people there allready ... fuck me .. they had let the other entrance go in first ... ah well .... so now what to do ... either go to either side where there was still space, about 6 meters from the centre, or take a risk and go for the centre and hope I could fit in ... it was the last ... fast and furious I went .... and succeeded as there were two separate "parties" trying to block too much space with too little bodies .. also they did not need all the space, so I jumped in between, not without communicating at the same time, beacuse after all, I was gonna have to spend the entire concert with them as neighbours, I hate the wars that sometimes start at these tense moments ... but hey .. all was ok, apart from my left neighbours, who were really two big ladies, each weighing about 130kilo and they were not happy with me and Leo (he was following shortly after me) grasping the rail next to them .... but hey .. tough luck .... luckily I was not next to them, Leo was ... and he has had a tough evening with loads of elbowing and silent fights for space without any communication ... thats what can happen ... my neighbours on the right were dutch, three in total ... and very pleasant company ... The area was set up with an extra barrier, so that not too many people could get in one area, dividing teh field in 2 which was ideal, as they let only soo many people in, wristbanded them and then it was our space ... really cool ... cause we could easily go and eat and use the toilets, and come back ... it was gonna be a great night !!!

And so it was .... too many beautifull things to mention from the concert ,.. the crowd was amazing .. probably also loads of dutchies, as U2 does not hit holland this year, and frankfurt is close by ... they were doing teh wave and clapping like mad before showtime ... it felt better than Italy ... amazing ... never expected this .... but it took off like a rocket ....

U2 had decided to play new years day after opening with beautifull day ... yes yes yes , one of my favourite songs ... man ... the crowd went nuts, and so did I .... jumping like mad, happy as a baby ! The setlist rocked bigtime, with the guys ending up right in front of me many times .... mysterious ways with edge and bono ... and most amazingly, the crazy remix with bono doing the discotheque snippet improvisation 50 centimeters away from me .... if I was a girl, I would have fainted there and then ..... then he sat down on his knees and started Sunday Bloody Sunday ... ok, you could wipe me away then ... I needed some time to take it all in .... this was amazing ....

The rest of the concert went by like a dream and it was great, really one of the best shows I have seen out of the 17 -U2360 shows I have seen so far .... yup .... for real .. in germany ... ha ha ..... When it was over I said goodbye to my neighbours and friends, off to my bus, but not before I had scored a nice souvenir, one of the big posterboards outside ... its now in my bus, but way too big to hang on the wall .... ah well ... wil find a good destination for it ...

I slept on the parking again, which was nice ... no more travelling, or waiting for the cars to leave before you can get out ... the next day I walked into the stadium without any problems, so I could use the toilets, then made some breakfast and coffee ... while looking at the stadium .... nice ... waited for my passenger Hille, who was gonna drive along to Hannover, and around 14pm, left frankfurt behind ... what a gig !!!

de zilvervloot 13 july amsterdam 2010

2010-07-16T01:02:00.007+02:00

another unforgettable day !

arrived in amsterdam late monday night, parked my bus close to the nsdm wharf, across the water from the central station, where its free and safe to park, and you take the free shuttle boat to the station ... bring your bike !
then discovered the route, and took my spot pretty early, next to the three ladies who made that great banner " welcome home heroes " I also made sure no commercial rats managed to dress up "our bridge" with their coca cola or heineken flags -- we brought our own flags !

to kill time, the crowd had fun kicking balls across the canals, one window broke, but the kicker even went up to the owner under loud cheers, to sort it out .... when my chance came I thought about those windows too much, and my attempt ended in the water -- where the water police picked them up so we could continue ....

when the boat finally came, the crowd exploded including myself ... what a discharge, to charge their batteries a bit ..... ruuud hesp threw one of the orange "I am sterdam" caps up to us but it ended up in the water, the flowers he threw after that, I did manage to catch .... kept one orange flower !

surprise gig at glastonbury 2010

2010-07-04T12:26:00.003+02:00

mad things happen at glastonbury, out of the blue, there was tom yorke, singer of radiohead, doing a mini gig at one of the smaller stages, joined by his guitarist they played 5 beautifull songs ! I got a perfect spot on top of one of the trainwagons they had build there .... till security kicked us off after a few songs ... but then I found another spot where I could climb high up to see and hear it all ...

music maestro ... please ....

2010-07-01T01:22:00.001+02:00

Latest tracks by toysfornoise

accu records 004 - 005 - 006 artwork by typhique

2010-07-01T00:58:00.003+02:00

out now : accu 006 loud dreams e.p.

2010-07-01T00:33:00.003+02:00

accu 006 - loud dreams e.p.
all music created live by toysfornoise

mastered and cut by Simon at the Exchange
pressed on 180grams black vinyl by record industry
housed in a plain white sleeve, artwork is another typhique short circuit --

support the system

- contact me for a copy of the real deal .... vinyl = 7 euro

accu 005 surrender e.p.

2010-05-22T01:58:00.003+02:00

accu 005 surrender e.p. - all music recorded live by toysfornoise

chargeside: surrender
actually recorded 30th may 2009 during the acid circus party at area 51 eindhoven --

dischargeside: scheur / thunder

This one was also mastered and cut by Simon at the Exchange London
pressed on 180 gr black vinyl by Record Industry Haarlem
housed in a white sleeve and the artwork is another typhique short cut
300 copies were made -

- support the system -

29 mei 2010 wirwar aan de waal .....

2010-04-29T20:51:00.003+02:00

lets see if we still know how to hook up our sound system ...
skatepark waalhalla in nijmegen will be the place ... on the 29th may ...
come along for some fun and some dance moves ...

also the new accu records 005 - surrender ep will be out that day !
so support the system and buy some of me ....
cee ya there ....

dream out loud ... for real ...

2010-04-21T18:08:00.002+02:00

its a sad world ....

2010-04-19T13:58:00.003+02:00

trying to get the records out in the world .. with the help of toolbox distribution :

and some unwanted help .... bloody audiorippers ....

what a sad world we live in .... I have been working so hard to make a nice product ... and here come the audio rippers ... spreading the mp3s all over the net ..

now I have decided to let it go as well ... I will return to making the high quality mp3 version available on my own pages for free, as it used to be ... and then put the wav files in the stores ... as a bonus to the analog release ...

support the system ... or choke on it !!!

accu records nr 004 ....

2010-04-08T13:52:00.004+02:00

its another exciting moment, as accu records nr 004 is seeing the light of day today, and soon the darkness of night I guess ....

perfect imperfection it's called .... all music by toysfornoise
pressed by record industry on 180gr black vinyl and an amazing master and cut by Simon at the Exchange ... you know ...... or you willl ..... 300 copies limited ...

13th march 2010 nosleeptillburg-DJ bash ....

2010-02-16T18:24:00.002+01:00

saturday the 13th march .... free warm up event ... its the nosleeptillburg djbash ....
two rooms in 013 will be filled up with a total of 18 djs ... each will be manning the wheels of steel for about 30 minutes, making for a total mashup of styles, should be (could be) very interesting ....

20 feb 2010 Hall of Fame -- Spindemtunes # 10

2010-02-16T18:20:00.002+01:00

saturday 20th feb

on the decks ..... from 21:30 till 01:00
in no chronological order ....

zuur79 (hans)
Ben Lukkie (dennis
toysfornoise (ikke)

some oldskool - noskool - and much more, come and do a little dance with us .....
lets break da beat ....
free entry ....

2010-02-15T20:32:00.001+01:00

looking for ...

2010-01-31T21:05:00.003+01:00

accu records is looking for fresh music, in line with the labels musical mission --- exchange energy ---- I now have a new way to enable you to drop some of your stuff .. literally, its called a dropbox, connected to my still very fresh soundcloud page, with 12 hours of music --- mixes, livesets and tracks ... finally I can output some more stuff ... aaaah ... ad fresh vinyl on its way too ..... testpressings have been played and approved .... ha ha .... its almost there ...... making room for new stuff ...

Send me your track

15012010miksformichelle by toysfornoise

2010-01-22T00:17:00.001+01:00

found a new "nest" for my music and mixes -- lets see how it will go, a fresh mix has been added .... enjoy

15012010miksformichelle by toysfornoise

what a night ...

2010-01-21T22:16:00.003+01:00

batcave totally packed --- it was back to the old days ...
visuals were amazing, livedrawings being "gamed" onscreen, creating cool extra dimensions behind the dj-s ....

cutting the first track at the exchange

2010-01-21T22:03:00.001+01:00

acid teknooooo

2010-01-21T21:54:00.002+01:00

cutting lacquers for accu records

toysfornoise | MySpace Music Videos

mastering and cutting fresh lacquers ...
never mind the noise from the vacuumcleaner that is sucking away all the acetate that the music is being cut into .... without the hoover it sounds very fine indeed !!

ha ha ... acid teknoooooo

off to london

2010-01-09T23:04:00.003+01:00

studio 1 -- the exchange London here i come ....
studiotime has been booked on tuesday to master and cut new accu releases ...
the exact what and how will unfold in the coming months ! It's a joy to finally be able to let go of the tracks and cuts, selecting these has taken it's time ... but hey ...

I will be in London from monday till thursday ... booked a cheap room for 28 euro close to hyde park and will be roaming the streets of London till my feet hurt I guess ... look forward to seeing this great painting in the tate modern .... jackson pollock

16th jan wirwar bangbangboom

2010-01-09T22:59:00.002+01:00

saturday 16th - batcave - 013 - tilburg
singularity dave will not be playing live, but teaming up with Ivar on the decks ...
see you there .... keep your ears open for some freshly mastered cuts :]

atomic --- projecting colour in rotterdammm

2009-12-21T00:26:00.003+01:00

shooting colours from a nice position, they had arranged proper ground supports and trusses so I could put my projectors high up, allowing me to light up the entire hallway in between the restaurant and the theater from different sides, it was going from yellow and green, to the deepest purple, radiant light blue and firy red ..... ha, it was a joy to be able to immerse myself in these colours for 14 hours or so !

one step closer .. accu 004 toysfornoise - perfect imperfection e.p

2009-12-17T05:10:00.008+01:00

that's the name ... the tracks have finally been picked ..
now its time to get the fu**er mastered and cut, for that I will be going to the Exchange in London in january which will be exciting to do ! The labels are being made by marco2 lets see whats gonna come out of the mad scientists lab for this ....

i'll keep you posted !

marco2 also made the most amazing birth card I've ever seen, for the birth of his son finn it took some folding and some glue, but then ....

sensitive colouration

2009-12-16T05:12:00.004+01:00

Last week I transformed a small chapel / church for a x-mas ball of a local Lions service club, a real black tie gala event, with an art auction for a good cause and a big band and some singers for entertainment.. this promised to be good fun like last year. Cause the place is totally white in the inside, it is ideal to light up with the slides that my dear brother finsent invented 6 years ago. These slides still do something more than just form images on the walls ... they radiate .... to me anyway ..

It was again amazing to see how the slides did their job, they transformed the place, using yellow and for the ceiling and outside I used the yellow and blue/green slides, in the back I placed a mirrorballl with some pinspots on them to create a sky filled with stars and to top it off two beamers each projected a huge traditional silver christmasball on either side of the stage. Basically a repetition of last year, but with 6 extra projectors the whole picture was really complete and filled up.

Next week I will be in rotterdam with the projectors ... inside a small hallway, curious how that will turn out, at least I am free to choose my colours then ... this was all on request ...

project(ing) atomic -- dec 19th

2009-12-02T22:00:00.004+01:00

loads of projectors, colourfull slides and some walls will do the trick ...

ATOMIC -- Tracks Tricks & Tronies
Zaterdag 19 december 2009

ATOMIC is een nieuw initiatief van een groepje creatieve breinen uit Rotterdam en Den Haag.

Dé nieuwe multidisciplinaire avond waar de kruisbestuiving plaatsvindt tussen zeer uiteenlopende stijlen van vernieuwende jonge muziek, mediakunst en visuele kunst.
De eerste editie vindt plaats op zaterdag 19 december in De Unie in Rotterdam. Zowel het cafe, de foyer als de zaal van De Unie zullen benut worden om de bezoekers van inspirerende zintuigelijke input te voorzien....

Programma:

Voor de oren...
DJ Glow (Trust, Oostenrijk) ... funky sfeervolle electro...
Peverelist (PunchDrunk, UK) ... delicate en verfijnde dubstep met techno invloeden...
Pametex (Clone, NL) ... chicago punisher...
Strange Fruit Collective (NL) ... mixing soul, jazz, hiphop en blacktronica...
Charly White en Geazah (Dirty Agga Crew, NL) ... britse bassline en dubstep...

Voor de senses...
Daan Brinkmann (NL) ... installatie Skinstruments...
Daan Brinkmann experimenteert met audiovisuele interactieve installaties waarin het lichaam van de toeschouwers letterlijk deel uitmaken van het werk. Skinstrument is een muziekinstrument die de huid van 2 spelers gebruikt om geluid te genereren.

 Voor de ogen...
CO2RO (NL) ...optikinetics..
Noorderlicht010 (NL) ...lichtmanipulator...
Toys for Noise (NL) ...illuminator...

CO2RO, Noorderlicht010 en Toys for Noise zijn de lichtmanipulators van de avond die met hun performance, optikinetics en andere bizarre projectoren het geheel zullen illumineren  .

22:00 - 05:00
 6 euros  

@ De Unie 
Mauritsweg 34
 ROTTERDAM

analog sequencer

2009-11-22T04:57:00.004+01:00

how about this for an analog sequencer :

its a roll of paper, with black dots, as the roll moves, the black marks activate photosensitive switches and these in turn, activate the individual air releases that are placed in each arm ... so its like a giant scottish bagpipe that makes this immense soundscape that is ... this installation ..

amazing ....
all found here ,....

http://www.wonderhowto.com/wonderment/building-sized-berorgan-emits-heavenly-music-and-farts-0113557

the green green grass of ...

2009-11-21T23:07:00.003+01:00

... scotland...

on a day like today I wish I was there,
in the middle of the highlands, or on one of the islands,
being able to go outside and not see any human beings ... ok maybe some sheep or deer ... but for the rest, only moors and green and purple and brown valleys ...
inviting you to roam and discover their grounds ....
actually I could have gone to a beautiful nature reserve sort of thingie close by where I live, but it would still mean I have to go and get there by getting out of the city (or big village as I call it) ...
I wish I could be there, by simply stepping outside, like when I was camping in the wild in scotland, or malta (another beautiful island) .. every day a different view .. although camping would be a bit cold now ... but then again, a nice small cabin somewhere in the forest with a fireplace, and a closet full of food, some electricity to make some music (get some solar panels) ...

mmmm sometimes my middle name is hermit ....

untill I remind myself it is actually michiel and that I really have to go out and get myself some coffee and yoghurt ......

uit de ouwe doos ...

2009-10-20T22:10:00.002+02:00

deze kwam ik tegen via mario 010 van de cybx bende .... finnie, in t prille begin van t hele tekno avontuur ...

qui que boe

2009-10-20T21:37:00.004+02:00

heya, its been a while .... instead of quite regular updates from my u2ouring adventure, all cause I have been working my ass off !
literally .... the back hurts, the elbows squeek, all the result from 6 weeks of literally, scanning shitloads of suncream in stores, it needs to be taken back, off the shelves cause summer is over here ... packing it in boxes, dragging it to your van, driving from one store to the next, and doing so for 8-12 hrs a day .. returning home with 600 kilos of suncream and various old metal displays filling up every last cubic centimetre in the back of the van ... .. whaaaaaaaa its enough now ... four weeks, ok, five mmm .. nr 6 is getting to me, especially haveing to go to utrecht again .... good thing its holiday now, not too much traffic, still jams but way less ... three more days ... and then no more .... honestly, I have to admitt, I am very pleased though, never had dreamed that I would get a project like this so close after my mad u2 summer that did cost me quite a buck, so i needed some sort of job .... ideally one, with shitloads of work, in a short perios..... and this project truely allowed me to fill some holes, and in the meantime, because its coinciding with the freshly announced plans for the 2010 tour .... it is sending me on my way already .. sort of .... first concert and plane tickets have been bought, first hostels have been reserved, madness I know, buying tickets now, for a concert on the 2nd october in coimbra portugal, or the 6th september in istanbul but hey, i feel very lucky i am able to do so .... wonderful cities to be discovered !

Hollandicassette 34 by toysfornoise

2009-10-20T21:34:00.001+02:00

here is a first on a new platform that seems to work pretty ok ... its not cheap, but not too expensive. I needed a new place since all my stuff on musicv2 dissappeared out of the blue .... i wont be mentioning any of these new platforms on my recordsleeves like I did with the musicv2 thingie .... still got some unsold records that need the address crossed with a black marker .....

by the way, here is an oldie .... result of days of rumbling machines, and some recording done on cassette ....

Hollandicassette 34 by toysfornoise

Natural surprise ...

2009-09-01T12:32:00.002+02:00

this one is funny ... everything set for the timed photo ... here is the neighbour ... even messing with the focus ... yeah !!

I am busy with my music ... sorting stuff for the next accu releases and recovering from a great weekend we had in a disused fort in Namen, in belgium .. it was a huge bunker, where we housed a couple of smaller soundsystems and a few bigger collaborations, all in all we transformed the fort into a booming tekno zone ... it was good fun, great people, nice weather and the beer tasted nice ... yep ... it was one of those 5 times a year I get drunk --- weekends ... did not need much ... 1 liter of heavy dark beer, and that was me .... toast .... and asleep ... we had fun, loads of it .....

what a finish ... cardiff 22nd aug 2009

2009-08-25T02:11:00.008+02:00

the final word

this guy found some pretty accurate words to describe the gig in cardiff ...
he even managed to put them in such an order, that they give me almost goosebumps !

so have a read or skip it ... but really,
after reading it you should realise,

this ain't normal,
live is where we live ....

a sort of homecoming .....

2009-08-25T00:29:00.006+02:00

Again, in my bright orange shirt ...
CARDIFF 22nd Aug 2009 final gig European leg 2009

the rail outside of the catwalk,
the polish delegation next to me, who I had seen quite a few times before ... Hilla and Ingo from germany, we had a truelly great time in line during the day and ended up besides each other at the rail, Rotem from israel, I had met her in the hostel and she went along early in the morning ...

and see how this pic really shows how the crowd position themselves, making sure everyone has a shoulder or had to look over, the madness starts when the crowd starts moving, this means almost everyone needs to move if they want to see what they saw just a little earlier on ... ha ha ..

not at the rail though .. . we were there on purpose, arriving around 6am, making sure we were within the first 100 - 150 people to get in ,.,, there were 20 individual entrance turnstiles divided over 3 entrances, one lacked the bars to divide each lane so at 6am everyone was in line in front of the first two gates ... they had proper fences in between each lane ... then seemingly the confirmation came that the 3rd gate was also gonna be used, at the same time as the other two ... they would place special dividers in between the lanes later .... so that meant that the few bold that were sitting there were lucky, and then the rest of the waiting bunch either went there, or moved forward in line 1 and 2 ... I was not there myself ... I had left just before to check in into my youth hostel and when I came back, my spot with the 4 germans and 1 israelian girl, had moved also ... it now was right in front the outer line of gate three ... I was gonna be 3rd to go in .. !!! WIth the first 60 people to get in ... maybe sooner, maybe later ... this all depended on the speed of the gates opening, they had individual doors and bars that held them closed, some jammed when they were opened, making vital seconds pass by ... you just have to be lucky ... our gate firstly heard the terrible news that our line was not gonna be used at all....

and only then was it that I noticed the end of our line had actually got a turnstile, but there was no bar to turn ... it was the removal line ... used to chuck people out .... oh yes ... we quickly moved to the line on our left, they were too nice letting us quickly get in their lane ... now we made everyone in front of us pre-bend the tear off part of the ticket .. there was no barcode so they either mark it with a pen or marker ... or tear of the tearoff bit off ... you can even rip it yourself half way to speed up your entry .. then came the moment ... we saw gates opening ... ours did not .. others opened, ours still did not ... fuck it ... it was stuck ,,, 7 - 10 seconds passed, some lines moved some did not, it was surreal ... then the door opened, first 4 steamed in, very fast .. yes ... no bags checked, no body feels .. for drinks or cameras etc .. nottin !!! ha ha ... then the two german girls, lightning fast .. and me ... yes ..... gone ... awesome .. to the right, down the steps .. and forward .... going as fast as possible without physically running, I did get slowed down few times, but still ... I went fast . it was offcourse to my advantage that I did not have to come to grips with the sight of that awe inspiring claw .. I saw others standing still, wondering what, how, and where to go ... no, not me ..... straight on to the centre of the rail .... and yes .. got there ! Keeping spots free for Hilla and Ingo, making myself look like three people, then Rotem arrived from the left, was among the first 5 - 6 at the rail ...they had slightly misjudged the centre it looked ... look for the sticker with mic 1 at the catwalk, that is where you want to be .. ... and then there are the great people around me, we were lucky with only a few territorial battles being fought now and then, the guy behind me despite my warnings, did get me on top of his toes a few times ... he moved backwards into the safe zone, where I did not land after a while ..

get on your boots, on my new boots literally .. first they got me up on Penn Y Fan and Corn Du and now they served me well during the show ... comfy and bouncy ... jumping like mad, thankful that camera never got stuck in my face !

my view ... in the centre at the outside of the catwalk....

Came back at 19.00pm tonight .....

14 gigs ... 8 countries ... 11 flights and a missed one ..

more words later .... but here is the present I got upon arrival ...
one of the photographers for walesonline shot the most amazing shots I've seen so far ..

get on your booze ....

2009-08-21T01:56:00.004+02:00

Before I got to cardiff I actually did make it to Glasgow in time to see the boys play .. I flew from Amsterdam, arriving in Edinburgh at 18.00pm where the cab driver was indeed waiting for me with a plain paper that had my name printed on it .. ah well .... no fancy signs then huh ...

He told me the traffic was heavy .... all the way to Glasgow.... oh fuck .. here we go is what I thought ... but I had already decided beforehand that I was gonna take it as it comes ... no way I could change it ... just go with the flow ... and swim along. And yes, at times it was very heavy traffic, makeing us roll at 30 miles per hour on the highway but still .. we were moving .... and once we got in glasgow .. it seemed most traffic had cleared .... looked like most folks had already reached their destinations by then .... clearing the way for me to get all the way to Hampden Park ... yeah .... Arrived there at 19.45 with the gig starting around 20.15 ..... quickly made my way to the Box office, picked up my ticket and went in .. Was amazed by how many drunk Scots there were ... some even staggering allready, before the gig ..... Some small fights were going on, loads of police was present, mmm this was a strange atmosphere ... still friendly mostly, but heated up in a way ..
I checked out the fieldfirst,it looked as if I could make my way easily halfway the field ... but that was not my plan ...

I was gonna dance this time, and not want to get stuck in between some too drunk scots ... ok ... first had to piss .. which I did ... took me 10 minutes .. as there were more clients for the toilets ... Then made my way to the front, to check out the space at the side of the stage ... people wanting to enter the front pit were refused entry as it was full ... and so they turned around. One of the security guys turned around, and was not watching his little isle ... ha ha ... I was bold, and decided to walk in as if I belonged there .... and they did not notice me ... or felt `i belonged there I guess, they were not there for me and I was not gonna look at them with the question on my forehead: is it ok to go in >>>> ???? no, the decision was followed with the left leg moving towards the middle entrance ... I did not hesitate for a split second and walked straight trough ..
.. and yes ...

I could not believe it ... here I was, arriving at edinburgh at 18.00 and two hours later I was in the pit .... then just before you turn left into the main pit that circles the stage I even found a wristband on the floor ... which made my presence in the front completely legit ! Checked out how far I could get to the centre in front of the stage, but that was impossible .. I got to the side, at Adams side, seeing the whole band clearly, but the sound was not very good there and too many people around me with damn cameras, and more importantly, they did NOT sing along ... Went to the back of the stage for the entrance of the band, saw them come out of the corridor and making their way to the stage, from the front of the field you can see some spotlights moving, and the crowd starts to go nuts ,, ... now I saw them before hardly anyone in the stadium saw them, which was nice to experience ... seeing the spark coming, and lighting up all the little wildfires .. then went back in the pit and stayed there outside of the rail, to adams side for a while, was nice, but only few there knew the words to the new songs ... the choir which was impossible to reach seemed to be consisting of a smaller bunch, more central up front it seemed .. and after elevation I made my way again to the back of the stage ... where there was tons of space ... logical, as you had to watch the screen, or look at the drummers back, or side .. at some spots you can peek a bit underneath the stage and more funny things you normally dont see ... so hey ...

I had decided I was gonna loose myself in the music, and dance .. so I did .... man it was fun ! Finding the ideal spot where the speakers gave me a proper mix of bass and mids and highs ... being a few yards away from some of the crew that made sure the technical stuff was arranged, saw the towel girl up close ( she is lovely) (she allways brings frsh towels on stage for the boys, and some water .. not a bad job to have ..) and saw the volunteers getting ready for their walk on performance ... also witnessed the exit of the boys after the concert....

It was great to see all these things, and have a blast at the same time ...
Once again I was gone after the remix of I'll go crazy ... I had to sit down for a few minutes, decided to go and get a pint .... which was tasy actually ! Then took it easy for a few songs, and then was able to dance like mad again .... All in all .... a great night ... with some strange sound problems during MLK and Walk On as all sound was cut out ..... Then after the concert stayed in the pit to see if I could find some familiar faces ... met Montse again, by surprise .. the girl I had met in Wembley and whom I spend some nice hours with .. chatting away, making time fly .. we both had to go to the central station, hopped on the bus not realising it was gonna take some time for it to make its way trough traffic ... hardly any bus lanes .... luckily we got at the station in time, and then each of us went our separate ways, I had to go to glasgow national airport to fly to cardiff at 14.05 the next day and she was gonna go to glasgow prestwick, to fly to dublin at 06.00 .. she actually had to work at 09.00 that must have been fun ...

I had a leaking airbed at the airport, I woke up after one hours sleep on the floor ... nice one .... moved to the seats, and slept again, only for a wee while, as very soon I was woken up by a huge group of teenagers, that were all lining up in front of the check in, at I had chose the wrong side ... man, it was the far side of that huge hall ... .. I thought I was dreaming .... but no ... the flight to Alicante was leaving at 04.00 and here was this bunch of drunk over excited kids ... all ready for a week of partying .... I guess next time I know where NOT to ly down and try to sleep ... ah well ... I moved to the back, laid down on the floor, and closed my eyes ... and gues what ... I was once again, roughly woken up by this thundering sound ... was that a train coming or what ... ??? Nope I had actually positioned myself right next to the door that was used to let the unused trolleys pass by .. after check in all these troleys get left, and they need to be brought down again ... so they line m up, and then simply let them roll down hill by themselves ... and I was right next to the ramp, tha was hidden by this rolling door ... oh yes .... what a night .... few lessons learned ... AFter that .. I just spend some time checking the newspapers, had some breakfast and loads of coffee, hurray for the free refill ! And then flew to Cardiff with a propellored airplane, which was exciting .... and smooth flying I must say, small airplane, great service .. fly.be is OK !

So, that was how I arrived in glasgow, and cardiff ... after missing my flight a dew days earlier ..... quite a colourfull story even if I say so myself ...

going crazy in cardiff ...

2009-08-21T01:16:00.002+02:00

what a surreal night ... lying on the couch in the Nomad hostel in cardiff and listening to the U2 gig from Sheffield, being broadcast live, eyes firmly closed and all the places I have been to during the past two months, came flying by, it was a very moving night.

The day was great too .... got up nice and early to make my way to Myrthyl Tidfill with the train, then on towards Brecon with the bus, for some proper hill walking. First I had to wait for the bus to Brecon for one hour, I made my way to the shopping mall that was close by, thinking this was smart, making the tourist wait for some time, so they go and spend money in town ..

little did I know that I was gonna have a blast finding these great walking shoes, for 25 pounds, instead of the usual 70 .... they were great, water proof and they felt as if I had had them for years .... this was what I needed if I was seriously gonna go up the hills ... instead of the skate shoes that I was wearing .... I did not bring my proper hiking boots as they were too heavy and big for my bagpack .. I only tpook my handluggage on the plane ... being a cheaper way to fly these days ... so walking on these new shoes .. with a huge grin on my face ... now I was ready ...

Got off the bus right besides Penn Y Fan .. after Snowden, the second highest hill in Wales, and despite the bad weather decided to go for it .... It was very very windy, and cloudy too.. some rain showers were droping down, and as I was making my first steps on the hill .. the rain came down in such great drops that I decided to take out my wee brolly and duck underneath for 10 minutes ... Which was a great idea as it actually saved me from getting my pants wet .... with such a long way to go and these winds, it would have been far from comfortable to have wet pants .... literally, that would have been pants .... SO, the heavy rain stopped and I made my way up, the skies opened up sometimes, giving me incredible views of teh Brecon mountains and sometimes I literally was in the clouds .... especially as I was approaching the top ... luckily I had some great clear moments before all hell broke loose ... I was on top of Corn Du, right next to the top of Penn Y Fan when I could see this black cloud approaching, decided it was time to duck for cover ... made my way down a bit, hid behind a huge rock, out of the wind and held on to my wee brolly again, which means .. small umbrella .. Man, really all hell broke loose ... and pretty soon small waterfalls came thundering down the hill .... here I was, in my waterproof jacket, and freshly bought waterproof shoes, trying to keep my pants dry by hiding underneath my umbrella .... it did work but after a while, the umbrella gave up, started leaking and I was hoping it would stop raining ...

And yes, it did ... even though the clouds kept sweeping over the hill, without the rain, it was ok ... I moved towards the other hill, met two people who were wet as if they had been diving underwater .. I tell you ... they looked like drowned cats ... we had a l;augh together, and they went down ... for a few seconds I thought about making my way to the top of Penn Y Fan, only few meters away, but soon decided I was gonna say goodbye to that hill, and visit it again next year, I was gonna make my way down, and so I did .... not soon after that the rain was back ... within seconds giving me my wet pants I had so dreaded ... I decided to up the tempo and soon passed the couple I met earlier on ... not soon after that , it stopped raining again .... man, that hill was very angry that day ... with the wind in my face, drying my pants on teh way down .... it was then a nice walk down .... the skies cleared again, making me wonder for a wee moment if I should go back up ... naaaaa no way .... it was all ok ! I had had my moment of surrender I guess ....

Once I got all the way down, in the valley, with some waterfalls and green fields it was peacefull as anything, the sun was shining and I sat down and had a nice snickers ... I was totally amazed to see families making their way up the hill, with only shorts, and a light rain jacket, they had NO idea what it was like up there .... ah well ... they would soon find out I thought . When the couple came down that I had met on the top I decied to ask them if they were going to Myrthyll Tydfill by any chance, cause the bus would be another 1 hours wait ... and they decided it was only a small detour for them, and they kindly dropped my off at the train station .. yeah .... nice one !

Made my way back to Cardiff, and decided to go into town before going back to the hostel ... ended up in one of the many sportshops, as there are loads of these in the UK ... I remembered from my two years in scotland, that these shops allways have great sales for comfy shorts or trousers ... found myself a great pair of swimming pants and some other great pants, for very very little .... stil used my credit card ... yeah .... on you go ...

Then went to the hostel, had a great bath and shower, made some nice pasta, filled up my tummy and then settled behind the pc, on the sofa, feet up offcourse ... actually fell asleep during Mysterious Ways .... with three songs to go .... ah well ... you cant have it all I guess.

Tomorrow I will have a lazy day in the sauna and do some exploring at the coast of cardiff .. think of a way to get rid of my bag on the concert day ... I do have this hostel booked for the 22nd but plan to get at the Millennium Stadium early in the morning, before I can check in ... so .... ah well ... it wil get sorted ...
Bedtime for now .... off to the l;and of the little fairies .. welsh fairies ..

catching a flight from the wrong airport ...

2009-08-17T23:30:00.003+02:00

oh yes ... it had to happen ...
I missed my flight today .. went to the wrong brussels airport, to find out there that there was no ryanair flights from that place .... oh oh ..
missed my flight by 20 minutes .... oh yes ... I felt miserable ...
quickly realising that there was little I could do ....
so.... traveled 11 hrs today, to arrive back home ...

now I have set up an emergency scenario, cause I have already got my tickets for glasgow and cardiff, and flights are boooked to get there, and back ...
so .... now I am flying from amsterdam, arriving at 18.00 at edinburgh, get a cab to hampden park in glasgow ... which will take a rib out of my body but hey ....
it has to be like that ...
otherwise I will likely miss half of the show,as the airport in edinburgh lies west of the city, you need to go into the city first, Then take a bus or train westbound again to get to glasgow .... impossible !
The band will start around 20.15 and to get into the city takes 30minutes, to get to glasgow takes 1,5 hrs then need to pick up my ticket from the box office ...
thanx to ticketbastard, they never send me my ticket, with the excuse they had run out .... yeah sure ....

but hey .... I guess this way I will feel like a VIP ... I will be greeted at the airport by a cabdriver, who will be holding a sign with my name on it, then take me to hampden asap .... .. I will keep that sign .... ! Mr Important ! On the back I will write the cab fare ... to remind me ... ah welll ...

Transporting myself like this will mean I get to see the glasgow gig, catch my flight to cardiff the next day, hike for a couple of days in wales, and finish off this amazing summer with the final gig of the european leg ...... yeah ... bring it on . I cant wait ...

for those who dont know ... the audio from the gig in sheffield will be broadcasted live on the 20th aug ... via internet .... so ... close your eyes .... and imagine being here .....

building the xoxbox

2009-08-02T02:24:00.003+02:00

Feverishly working hard to get it to work ..
the xoxbox .... mine will hopefully sing its first notes in the coming days ...

what a shot --- dublin 25th July 2009

2009-08-01T02:24:00.003+02:00

Here I am, once again, dressed in the dutch orange national colour that makes it easy to identify myself, it also happens to be the accent colour U2 is using for their stage setup . I made it to the rail ... but it took a little war to get there ...
More words later, some pics for now ...

dublin 24th July 2009 Wide Awake, an emotional discharge !!!

2009-07-30T18:11:00.005+02:00

Friday, first gig in Dublin, and I was gonna take it easy ....

Spend most of the day writing letters for the boys, as for a long time I had this idea to give the boys all a copy of the brotherhood e.p , the first release on my own record label Wide Awake records ...

This name came from the song BAD which has always been a very important song for me and my brother Finsent.

For those who dont know, my dear brother Finsent passed away 5 years ago along with his girlfriend Michelle, Finsent and Michelle had this sad accident while they were on their first day of their snowboarding holiday in Alpe d'Huez france ....
It was the blackest day in my entire life, and ever since I have been trying very very hard to deal with this, actually if anything, it has made me live my life more than anything, doing what feels good each and every day, and actually, making the most of each day, cause before you know it, it can all be over, here and now ...

I call it being Wide Awake !!

After his death I decided to start a record label to keep his music "alive" the label is called Wide Awake Records, my brother and I had always been obsessed with making and playing music ourselves ... This label was gonna feature our own music, without any concessions, and for the record sleeves I was gonna use some of the amazing pictures Finsent had taken over the years, being a student at various art academies.

This is the record sleeve, front and back folded out ... the brotherhood ep

We played the song BAD on his funeral and then last week U2 played the same song in Amsterdam on the 21st July, while my parents were sitting behind the stage, and I was in front of it, crying my heart out ... man, it was emotional ... and healing at the same time !

So, after the amsterdam gigs I was gonna go to Dublin to see the boys play three times there ... I decided now was the time to give the boys a copy of the record, and write them a letter, explaining what and how .... I had brought four copies, each wrapped up in smiley paper and on the friday I had been writing the letters, all hand written, analog as hell ... On the thursday I had been to the Clarence hotel (owned by Bono and the Edge) to find out if I could drop the records there, and that was not a problem they said .... so on friday, before the gig, I went there, with a bag full of emotions

... And guess what ... they refused to pass it on ... no way ...

They told me they were under strict instructions not to accept any gifts for the band, what the f**k ? You can imagine I was very upset, I decided to ask for the manager before I was gonna be asked to leave the hotel .. no way I was gonna end up at the concert carrying this bag with me ... I mean, how could I enjoy the concert if I was to take care of the bag at the same time ? The manager came out and told me that they really could not take it, and that principle managements office was dealing with all PR things ... so I made clear that one of his members of staff had told me something totally different the night prior, and that I wanted a solution, he looked at me as if he saw water burning but he quickly realised I meant business here ....

He then pulled out this small map of the centre of Dublin, marked where I could find the Principle managements office and told me to go there. I made sure there would be somebody there, cause I was not gonna walk 30 minutes, and end up in front of a closed door ... and then I just told him once more that he needed to instruct his staff properly to avoid disappointing moments like these ... I had to ... and off I went ...

I walked fast, and soon reached the office, close to where the original studios were located, in an area that is almost considered holy for the u2 nutters .... I rang the bell and was let in ... The guy quickly made his way out of the office, meeting me before I could set foot inside the actual office, where I could see several memorabilia hanging at the walls ... ah well, I was not there for that ... I was on a mission ... I told him that I had brought 4 records, each with a personal letter, and if he could please make sure that the guys would get them .... and here we go .... he told me he could not ....... cause they did not accept any demo's .... ha ha .... he thought I was giving him a demo .... man .... that meant I had to pull out the whole history as described above .. and he soon realised it was totally not what he thought at first, he then took the bag, and promised me he would pass them on, I asked him again if he was really sure that they would get it, cause it WAS IMPORTANT to me !!! And he reassured me, they would definitely get the records !

And that was it, I could not do any more, I simply had to let it go .... it was my moment of surrender ...

I felt strange walking out of the building, towards Croke Park, and soon felt the need for some food ... decided to have a pizza before I entered the stadium and I simply needed some time to let it all fall into place ....

It felt good, I had realised another dream I had had for long, I felt very vey emotional and sad and happy at the same time .. a total charge - discharge experience!

I then went inside Croke Park for the first of three gigs I was gonna witness there, and it was electric, the stadium with its history of Sunday Bloody Sunday (the english had gunned down 18 Irish on the field, after the irish had killed several english spies the day before that) and the mad Irish that stay outside the actual stadium, cause they are not allowed to drink inside ... and if there is one thing they want to do ... it's drink ...

I got my spot in between the sound desk and the catwalk, right behind a few small italians, so I thought I was allright there ... I could see the stage and hear it all very well, the speakers that are hanging from the stage are long throw speakers, so you need to be a bit further away if you want to have a proper sound experience ..
the warmup bands were Damien Dempsey, an Irish bloke, singing his heart out, it was very impressive, and I actually bought 4 cd's to take home ! And Glasvegas, and the fact that I sat down, and they did not make me want to sit up, says anough ..

Then as the concert was to start, all hell broke out, here come the Irish Lads ... drunk as hell, ploughing and shoving, making their way to the front, they reckon they are Irish, and have any right to be at the front, but they were not gonna wait in line for hours, as all others had to get to where they were then .. ... shit man .. it was hell ... they made the whole field shift and before I knew it, there were tall lads in front of me, and the Italians were right beside me ... we could not see a thing ...
We soon decided to regroup, and it looked ok, untill the concerts started, here come the camera's F**KING hell !!! I HATE THEM I REALLY HATE THE CAMERA's !!!!!!!!!

People in front of us, holding their camera with two hands, so you could not see over their shoulder, nor their heads ... and as everyone was trying to see what was going on at the stage, the field was a continuous sight of moving and shifting bodies ... I soon took out my dextro energy tablets, broke them up and started throwing them at the camera's ... I was not gonna let them ruin my night , no way .... It took 4-5 songs and some proper aiming, but they soon realised I meant business, and most cameras stayed below head level then ... with the occasional exception offcourse, but that was ok ... I had to tell the german girl in front of me that she was really starting to piss me off with her camera, cause I could not loose myself in the moment as there was this shiny thing in front of me all the time ... she was pretty shocked by my directness, but I told her, that she had to do what she felt like doing, but that I was gonna do the same, and in this case that meant, tell her she was pissing me off !!
She harldy positioned here camera in front of my face after that, so that was the camera issue ....

Next ... there were too many folks there who seemed to be there to witness it all, but not participate .... they did not jump, they did not sing, they were more concerned about their newly bought t-shirts... they did not dare to place the bag on the ground, but decieded to haneg them from their belts, making the bag dingle back and forth all the time, and you can gues what, these bags were touching me all the time, acting like a total distraction, f**king hell .... another issue to deal with ... it meant I had to reposition myself, out of reach of the dangling bags ... but at the same time I had to make sure I was not gonna block anyones view ... so it took some strategising .... and all of this ... took away energy from the whole concert experience ... and man what a concert it was ..... What a setlist ...

They played the entire set they played in Amsterdam on the 21st July, with the addition of The Unforgettable Fire ... wow .... it was totally amazing ....

They also played BAD again .... on the day I dropped the records ....
It was not the same as it was in Amsterdam, logically .. as things had evolved !

But it still was amazing ... for one of my new made Italian friends, Gianluca (and his girlfriend Francesca) it was so touching .... we all dropped some tears, and had the time of our life ! I also met Francesco and Terri his girlfriend from Rome, I have a feeling I will see you all next year in Rome or Amsterdam or Dublin again .. !

For the last few songs I decided to say goodbye to my Italian friends, and get away from the crowded spot ... went all the way to the back of the field where I had loads and loads of space to dance and jump, without anyone getting upset that I was landing on their feet ... these wining and moaning idiots should stay home next time ... and watch the dvd from the comfort of their home ... please !!!

After Moment of Surrender .... I was a very happy man ! Glad I had decided to fulfill my dreams, dreaming out loud and going to Dublin to see the boys at their hometown !
Also, I decided there and then, that I was gonna try and get a spot close to the catwalk the next day, cause being there, meant no cameras, and a rail to hold onto, allowing me to jump even higher ... so as I was making my way round the stadium, I soon discovered a small group of people, waiting outside, and yes, they were the line for the second day .... I joined them, and waited insructions from the security guys.
They told us we could go home to get our tickets and airbeds etc but then we had to sleep inside Croke Park, as we could not stay in the streets outside the stadium, until they would move us onto the space in front of the stadium, so, after there seemed to be some confusion with another group of people that had decided to line up elsewhere .. we soon combined the two lines, and I ended up with nr 13 ... we went inside, found ourselves some pieces of cardboard to put on the cold ground, and started waiting, untill the moment would come where we could go to the hotel to get our stuff ... At first they changed their minds, locking up the gates, telling us we could not go outside untill 6am ... what the f**k ?? I was not gonna do that .. no way, I still had my contact lenses in and needed to get some sleep after this very emotional day. After 30 minutes they changed again, and allowed us to go out ... I walked back to the hotel, 45 minutes walk ... got my stuff, and sat down on the bed, re-thinking my plan ... was this the right thing to do ???? I then decided I only live once, so, let the adventure continue ... when would I have the chance again to sleep along with some nutters, inside Croke Park ? Making sure I would get the spot I wanted for teh next day .... so ... jumped under the shower and walked back to Croke ..
Blew up my airbed, got a piece of cardboard as my blanket, cause I did not have my sleeping bag, and tried to get some sleep ... man .. here I was .. inside Croke Park, amidst some new made friends that I had met in Barcelona, Milan and Nice ... and all in the same boat ... some were sleeping underneath their flags, some in a tent and me, underneath some piece of cardboard from a box, used for french fries ... ha ha ...

I slept for one hour, when we were all woken up ... and escorted to the the next holding spot .... more about that later .. cause after all ... it was the 25th.. day 2

dreaming out loud !!!

2009-07-29T01:19:00.003+02:00

this is me in Nou Camp in barcelona for the second gig of the tour, on 2nd July

picture was taken by Jon, one of the aussies in front of me, notice the couple behind me, about to do some great kissie kissie ..... I did not bring a camera for the first 5 gigs, wanted to take it all in, loose myself in the moments, but when I got this pic, I was glad Jon did bring his camera and took this shot ....

irish delight

2009-07-29T01:09:00.003+02:00

just got back ...
saw all three shows in dublin, tired as hell ..... and a happy man !

I actually think bono was drunk on dublin 3rd night ....
he had to look at the lyrics so many times it seemed ..... dont know if they hide a autocue or something behind the monitor ... but he was looking there very very often ....

I stood slightly to his right, with two small girls in front of me ..
not bad for nr 268 in the line .... what a story that queing was .... more about that later ...

They played new yearsday, it was announced as: and now for my polish friends ....
so I could not stay quiet .... screamed NYD ..... and yes .. it rocked as hell !!!

and what no one seems to get ...... the ones tat are moaning that they should have played longer that night ....

the sound check --- rehearsals .... WERE the encores !!!!!!!

they really felt like they were .... it was awesome .... I will follow full and very loud and clear, then drowning man also very clear and full, no stops ....... then new years day, without Bono ..... which could have signaled they would play it tonight ..... and then electrical storm .. stopped, then played in fulll too ....

I guess instead of paying 800,000 euro fine ....
why not reward the diehards that have been out there all day, and night ......
and so they did ... with this awesome ----moving --- unforgettable rehearsal !!!

second night, with the rain .... the umbrellas on stage were lifted up with unforgettable fire .... amazing sight as they also hold the smoke from the smoek machines, and reflect teh lights .... bono was singing so many RAIN snippets .... he was truelly on fire on night two ... mysterious ways was played , with the very short but moving Mothers of the dissappeared snippet, it was awesome !

on night one I had to sacrifice half of my dextro energy tablets, broke them in pieces and threw them at these bloody cameras that were blocking my view for the first 5 songs .... fucking hell I hate them !

the ones that were taking pictures soon held them down cause I was not giving up .... also bottles were chucked, plastic ones .. the idiots were holding the cameras with 2 hands, above their heads, so we could not look over shoulders nor heads ....
stop moaning about setlists (especially if you were not there),
start a petition against these bloody cameras !
the trouble with the cameras made me decide to camp out for night two, I stayed at croke after night one .... so I could be at the catwalk rail, without any of these bloody things in front of me ...! I succeded !!!!
but that was not without a big very big war cause security fucked up the two line system they were enforcing .... one line with wristbanded folks for the pit, with 2300 in it ... they were not to be let out of the pit ... so that line two, without wristbands, could take possession of teh field .... and the much wanted rail at the catwalk ...... imagine sleeping at croke under a piece of cardboard, cause I had no sleepingbag .... slept one hour, was nr 3 in the field-line .... and entered the field as nr 1 only to see the catwalk taken by wristbanded people, that against all promises, were allowed out of the pit .... total war broke out then ...

I was lucky that a guy who I had met earlier, he wrote this book, me and my u2, he is called cathal, he stood up and gave me his spot at the rail !!!! I almost started crying .... quickly took my spot and was shaking for 1 hour ! all of our group started a riot ! security did not know what to do .... people started taking off their wristbands, playing as if they did not know, or even, as if they had never had a wristband , fucking bastards ! saying they had not been told about the two way system etc .... come on, you got a bloody wristband, so you knew all along what your tactics were !!! security made loads of people get up and give up their places, loads refused etc ..... what a helll !!!!!! yep, call yourself U2 fan ... man, how dissappointed I have gotten from all these little line-wars and rail wars etc ,..... there are loads of bloody arseholes out there, saying they have once been the victim of bad policies, and line cutters, and now they simply do the same !!!!

I have almost gotten into fist fights with some of them ....
I play the game honest and if you dont, I WILL KEEP TELLING you that you suck !!!
BIGTIME

sorry, had to let you know this peculiar side to the dublin experience .... need some sleep now .....

more words later about this great three-some !
but I tell you, 5 GA shows in 8 days is on the edge of total madness .....

feels good though

dubln here I come

2009-07-23T00:24:00.003+02:00

I will be leaving on the 23rd from eindhoven flying straight to dublin, staying in teh ardmore hotel with 24 other dutch u2 nutters .,...
I will be attending the concerts on friday 24th, saturday 25th and monday the 27th ...... ready for a huge party, only thing is I can not sing along .......
I lost my voice in amsterdam ......

not very strange .....
when you look at the setlist on day 2

back next week ....

wide awake as never before ....
ciao ciao

more pictures ... 20th july

2009-07-22T16:28:00.002+02:00

pictures 20th july

2009-07-22T16:27:00.001+02:00

amsterdam arena 20th July what a night !!!

2009-07-22T16:23:00.002+02:00

pico ... in green .... I can see ya !!!

unfuckingbelievable

2009-07-22T16:14:00.002+02:00

lost in tears after this ....
gone ... totally gone ...

this one was for finnie !!!

we are wide awake !!!

going crazy in amsterdam

2009-07-22T15:27:00.001+02:00

I was right in front of the three musketeers ..... at the good side, facing the boys .,.
what a song .... what a night ....
macphisto eat ya heart out ,,,,,

they caught me on u2.com

2009-07-22T14:12:00.003+02:00

concert 21st July amsterdam
rail at the catwalk ..... during magnificent they filmed this for u2.com
and I was there ... as you can see ...
second face from the left ...... next to the guy in blue ....
and you can hear me too ...
go to u2.com
check the movie called, a note for bono
after the girl screams bonoooooo ... there is a loud whaaaaaaaa
comes from my throat .... from very deep .... as I had no voice left after day 1 in amsterdam .... I tried singing along .... but hey ....
sweet this souvenir !!!
ciao

U2 likes their discoballs toooo

2009-07-19T13:42:00.004+02:00

This one is for Sanne ...
In their stage setup ... they had this amazing disco ball on top of this huge spike, with a minaret-like shape and a cross ... mixing the muslims with the christians ..... on top of a disco ball !!!

Also at the bottom, they had this disco ball hidden ... at the end of the concert it pops down, with spots on it, making the whole stadium twirl ..... yeah .....

I think its for finnie and michelle a little bit !

discotek

Nice very Nice

2009-07-19T13:39:00.002+02:00

I knew they were gonna make and publish a poster in the Nicematin newspaper
so I put on my orange shirt, you can see me at the rail, against the sound desk in the back, right in the middle ...

Nice to leave Nice at 8am the day after the concert, with this amazing souvenir in the pocket ... a full size poster ....

Charles Ehrmann Stadium Nice

2009-07-19T13:36:00.002+02:00

In Nice I was right at the sound desk ... in the middle ...
the sound system almost blew me away ... yeah ..
thats how I like it .... lost in the sound

The stadium was the smallest in the tour, only used as U2 has their holiday homes close to Nice ... it was amazing, the stage blew the stadium away ... as you can see ..

Nou Camp Stadium Barcelona

2009-07-19T13:32:00.003+02:00

Nou Camp before the concert ....

On entering the stadium ... I was blown away, even knowing what it would look like !

And during the concert ... I was right in teh middle .... ha ha . goosebumbs all over !

san siro stadium Milan

2009-07-19T13:28:00.000+02:00

back home for a wee moment

2009-07-19T13:00:00.002+02:00

Hi there,
I got back from my first leg, on the road seeing U2 play and play and play ... saw them 5 times now .... I have finally slept very well for two nights after having been in strange beds for three weeks ....

In Barcelona the bed was fine, had a pretty good sleeping couch in the appartment that I had booked along with my parents, and after they went home, I went to this amazing hostel, called the in-out hostel in barcelona. Its right at the outskirts of the city and in the middle of a nature park .. its run by disabled people, making it a very special place ! The place is busy, but there is the option of sleeping outside if the room is too noisy .. the bunks are pretty well constructed, but in the weekdend most people go out, and get back, drunk and noisy ... so I decided to take my sleeping bag and go to the swimmingpoool area where they had some matrasses and I slept like never before ... although it was short as I simply went to bed late, and the sun woke me up ...

In Milan I thought I would treat myself to a one person bedroom in an appartment so that I could have some peace and rest before I was gonna see the boys play 2 days in a row .... guess not ....

Imagine a room with a bed on the right, some space in the middle, and on the left there was this cupboard, closet thing, with 4 doors, two of them I could open, and access the closet and place my things inside ... the other two were shut ... and could not be opened, I soon found out why ...

They were only to be accessed from the room next door ...

I knew I would share the floor and the bathroom with a double bedroom, but never in my life I realised that the two rooms would be divided by this closet ... they had constructed the wall around it and left gaps in between, not big enough to see trough, but all sound went trough without a problem ... 2 nights I was lucky to have a taiwanese girl as my neighbour who was quiet, but the first night and the last night there was this snoaring monster next to me ... the last night I actually decided to take my mattrass downstairs into the living room cause I could not get to sleep ....

For the rest the appartment was very nice ... a great kitchen and bathroom and close to the metro, a great pizza place close by, the size of the pizza blew me away, I had to get a so called doggy bag .... and in the train to Nice the leftovers went in very well ! Across the road there was a crazy cafe, with great cheap espressos .. only 1e and some cool locals, that would get more and more drunk as the day evolved ... yep ... they sold glasses of wine for 1 euro too ,. so they slowly got hammered, and started staggering around the place .... I soon found out the morning was the best place to be there .... Milan is a very warm and stuckup place ... loads of fashion victims, boys with louis vuiton bags and watches so big they can hardly carry them on their wrists ,... good to see the place, but it is too much for me ...
The Duomo is amazing, but again, way too big ... religion uses fear to persuade people to start believing and impresses them with too big buildings like these.... ah well .

On the 7th and 8th of July I got to see the boys play .... wow ..... nothing can prepare you for an Italian crowd .... First day I got there around 10am got in the back of the line, but then the shit started ,... italians jumping the line, and getting in from the sides .... when teh doors opened they all pushed their way in, leaving the centre of the line behind .... hell ..... I was not gonna let this ruin my concert ... I did make it into the inner circle, running like mad ... once inside most people had sat down, leaving space in between groups and individuals etc ... so I made my way to the front, with some sort of communication and some ignoring too ... I ended up right in front of Bono, with 4 small italians in front of me .... yeah ... that was gonna be amazing .... and it was .,... On day two I was not making the same mistake ... got at the stadium around 11am and joined the line at the side, where there was still some shadow ... this time I was with the first to enter ... and I got my desired spot ! Right at the front at the rail, in front of Mr Edge .... ha ha !
This was amazing .... I met some great peeps there, and also had this bloody woman behind me, that was very small, and way too fat .... she was all friendly before the concert, but she soon started pushing me with her fat tummy when the concert started, she wanted to get at the rail ... no way jose ....... fuck off .... I was not gonna give up my place, the rail is ideal to hold on to and it allowes you to jump without tumbling etc .... also you get some water from security and that was much needed !
I decided to land on her feet a few times, shake my ponytail ildly, so she soon backed up, allowing me to enjoy the concert in full !!! Man this was amazing ... so close up ! SO energetic with these mad Italians .... There are all sorts of different things that pop up, and I will add these here later ....
For now this has to do .... too much staring at the screen after three weeks on the road makes my head hurt .... so ... more words later ....

U2 360 Kicks off in Barcelona

2009-07-04T22:39:00.002+02:00

Wow .... still I get a smile from ear to ear when I think back to the two nights that U2 rocked Nou Camp in Barcelona,the first night me and my parents were bang in the middle of the field, right on the kick off spot and what we saw and heard from there was truely mindblowing !
The boys have created this giant spaceship that has the most amazing screen you have ever seen !
then there is the innercircle, surrounded by a catwalk, that is connected to the mainstage via two moving bridges, yep, moving ..... and offcourse, as they are almost in the center of the field, there is people everywhere around them , and us .... which is unbelievable!
Nou Camp with 100.000 souls, all standing up, clapping, singing, jumping ...
I literally had several times where I watched the crowd, as opposed to the boys in action ....
so, first night I was further from the stage, which meant we got teh full effect of the audiovisual spectacle they had come up with ... and I mean full !!! I am used to quite some soundsystems, but this one .. it blows all of m away ! The second night I only had one person between me and the band ... yep, only one, and it happened to be the girl that got pulled up on stage ! I knew her as we had swapped tickets earlier that day, and met a few days before .. she was one of those in the line in fr4ont of the entrance 48 hours before the start .. yep ... 48 hours .... but as it was well organised, they had a list with names and numbers etc, so everyone could leave the line every now and then, for a meal, or a shower etc .. I actually had lined up around 13.00pm on teh day of teh concert ... very late I know .. but other things needed done first ... I was nr 926 in line, and that meant I would make it into the inner circle ! So in I went .. and as I entered the inner part, with the biggest smile ever on my face ,.. I saw empty places everywhere as people had started sitting down on the floor, and as most are in small groups, this means there is room for individuals ... and all I did was ask If it would be ok to move to the next empty spot .. and so I ended up all the way in front, right next to the peeps I met outside .. Ian and John from australia, and melissa from venezuela, and eduardo from spain etc etc .... you should have seen their faces when they saw me right behind them .. all they could do was congratulate me in full awe .... here we were ... nrś 6, 7 and 8 and 926 ...at the rail ... ready for some singing and jumping while having the boys at 2 meters from us ..

This position did mean we hardly got to see the screen .. but who cares when you get the energy of 100.000 people towards you .... I will never forget that ! The first night the band was struggling a bit with some aspects, logical as it had been 5 years since they played like this, the 2nd night they were tight as anything, the energy and joy was infecting everyone there, resulting in a crowd that at times, did not let bono make his speeches ...they were all singing olleee olleee ole oleeee at the top of their voices, and the boys enjoyed it bigtime ! We got the first ever performance live of electrical storm, we got partygirl, were melissa got pulled up, and desire ... as different songs from the first night .. also, they were shooting a video for the new single, Iĺl go crazy if I dont go crazy tonight, and the girl that got pulled up, is quite pleasing to the eye, so she surely got filmed, and if they filmed her, I am on it too .... ha ha ... watch me on MTV this summer .. or it might end up as a video for the new blackberry commercial, we dont know yet ....

It was midblowing, having been on the field in amsterdam with the vertigo tour for the first time, this ,was again, something else .. I heard they are even crazier in milan, starting the line 4 - even 5 days before hand .. I guess I will see soon enough, tomorrow I will go to milan, where I will stay till the 10th

And last thingie .. today I am in the in-out hostel in barcelona, right at the outskirts, in teh hills, in a nature park ! it is run by handicapped people, and it is a non profit organisation, so it feels great here .. free internet, great beds (dont need those as I will sleep outside again, right next to the swimming pools and soccer pitch, I now know where the sun comes up, so It wont wake me this time .. actually .. yep, u2 again ... but this morning the boy that made me my coffee (Ivan) turned out to have been to the actuial dress rehearsal that U2 gave in Nou camp the night before they opened the tour .. they invited 300 people, all connected to the special olympics ... and my waiter was one of them .. what are the chances .... ???

It all has to be like this ..... and it feels great !

Except for the sunburn and the blisters ..... but hey ....

ciao ciao

U2360 tour 2009 ... leg 1 ....

2009-06-22T23:17:00.003+02:00

call me crazy, call me mad, but I'm gonna dream out loud this summer ... !!!
no more wondering what it will be like to be in one of those huge kickass stadiums myself ... come july, I will know what it's like ....

after months of anticipation for the new album No Line On The Horizon, it all of a sudden was there ... online .... yep ... online ... leaked, some say ... anyway ...
it now has been played by me many many times, and I like it ! a lot !

Then they announced the 360 tour ... At first I wanted to go only to the dutch shows, and one or two foreign concerts maybe .. then out of the blue, and sort of molded by coincidences, I developed this plan that has now resulted in a summer full of u2 concerts and nice breakaways .... thanx to people I dont know that seem to have their hearts at the right places ... selling tix for the face value as opposed to the money greedy scalpers ... also bought some tix online myself and traded the rest ... funny to know that a girl from mexico is coming to amsterdam where she will give me my dublin tickets in exchange for her amsterdam tix ... this is only the start of colourfull stories and meetups that will come out of this whole tour thing ....

6 nights from now ....
It all starts sunday the 28th june
I will fly off to Barcelona with my parents to go and see U2 start off their worldtour in Nou Camp stadium (I'm not yet gonna show pictures here of the amazing stage that they have designed for this tour, as my mum prefers it to be a surprise when she enters camp nou ... ha ha , what a surprize it will be ,.... I cant wait ...)

back on the tour .... they will start off 30th june and me and my parents will be on the field that day ! it's gonna be amazing for them to experience that, last time we were in dublin, in the stands, perfect seats, but ... seated ...

then U2 will do another concert in camp nou on the 2nd july for which I also have my ticket in hand .... and that time I will make sure to be among the first ones to enter, to be all the way up front, surrounded by so many other voices ... ha ha cant wait .... but actually ... seen the new set up of the stage etc, I am sure every place in the stadium is ok ! especially on the field ... my mum and dad will go back home on the 3rd and I will continue my little tour ...

on the 5th july I will fly to Milan, where they will play on the 7th and 8th and I'll be there both times .. then on the 10th july it's on to Nice for a nice break by the sea that gets broken up to go and see the boys play in Nice on the 15th july then on the 16th its homebound ...

where I will need to get ready for leg 2 ... this looks mad ....... it will be tooo !
They will play in Amsterdam on the 20th and 21st and then I will fly off to dublin on the 23rd july to see them play 3 times ! back home home on the 28th july

and then there is the final and 3rd leg where I'll be heading for the UK for my final 4

In short it looks like this ... (imagine me smiling when I type this up ...)

Barcelona 30th June
Barcelona 2nd July
Milan 7th July
Milan 8th July
Nice 15th July
Amsterdam 20th July
Amsterdam 21st july
Dublin 24th July
Dublin 25th July
Dublin 27th July
Wembley 14th Aug
Wembley 15th Aug
Glasgow 18th Aug
Cardiff 22nd Aug

Spain, Italy, France, Holland, Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales .....

guess what .....

they will be back in 2010 ...... see ya on the road !!!

lazerrrrrrrr

2009-06-22T23:13:00.003+02:00

this was my view from where ~I was doing my set ... nice lazerrrrr

making noise in eindhoven

2009-06-04T19:43:00.004+02:00

wow .... what a joy .... let me in the sound ....
u2 sings about it, I got to do it ... in full ...

they had arranged a place for me on the dance floor, and they hired extra speakers, making it an amazing wall of sound, for me to model and arrange ... haha! yes ... this is what playing livesets is all about .... standing in front of the sound, allowing you to feel every little tiny frequency shift, that when applied in the mix .. results in an interconnecting force that seems to speed things up .... this is why I bring all my gear, so I can truelly alter every little corner of sound that is there ... and the pleasure comes when you start mixing, and then the instinct takes over ... as your gut and your inner ear are being massaged, they also start to guide and control ...

ok, maybe you have to experience it for yourself to understand fully ..
but hey .... what a joy it was !

they also had arranged this amazing laser, that can shoot out every colour in the rgb spectrum, pretty special for a laser, even in this century yes ... they did have to pull a huge cooling unit up the stairs in order for teh laser to work, but they did not mind, they really made a huge effort to make the night a special one ...

Also I got to play later ... played from 1.30 till 3 ...
my set was a lot of work ... as the direct sound, even more so, points out all things that should sound a little tiuny different, not too much, but just a little bit .. making you work ... call it being a musician ...

it was great to experience that the plan of attack worked, as I got to practice the night before, I had decided to change my set completely ... this time slowly building up the sounds, then after 45 minutes, making a drop from 164 to 132 bpm ... making the synths scream for real with the kickdrum dropping holes in between ... ha ha what a joy ... then in the end I speeded things up again and then all envelopes were pushed, making use of the amazing headroom in my mackie mixer and I danced my own arse off the last 45 minutes of my set .. and thats when I am truelly enjoying myself ... loosing myself in the music ... the set has been recorded ...
thanx for the great welcome, and sound etc ! sound was extremely clear, thanx dieJ
thanx for the invite, lets do that again !!!
ciao

surprise gig

2009-06-04T19:13:00.003+02:00

friday night 7 o'clock phone rings, ferdy asks if can come and bring my liveset to merlijn tonight in order to play a full liveset, surprise surprise ....
as filterfedde dropped out last minute, ferdy was looking for a replacement and as I was gonna go to nijmegen anyway, along with the RAF acid machinery .... also, I had to play the day after in eindhoven, so I actually had prepared a set for that night, and had started packing up my set earlier that day, I was eating my dinner when the phonecall came ... ha, it did not take long to decide ... that was that .... packed up my things, and filled up my car with gear .... not forgetting the piece of paper with all notes from the night before, when I made my selection of patterns that were ok, and some that were not to be used, I was almost ready for the saturday, but not totally ready ... the list of notes still left me with a big mess of possibilities, all sorts of rythms and sequences, all unarranged, leaving all of that for the onthespot turning and twisting of the knobs and sliders .... doing it all live ...

for me, a liveset is truelly a road full of evolving sounds, instead of loads of clean climaxes .. it must also be the way to the unexpected moment when you get a beautiful collision of sounds and then after that, also the path that takes you away from it ... to reach another hot spot .... its all part of the liveset 1,5 hrs of discoveries ...

ok, back to teh night ... first up it was Unit Moebius .... then me and then the Rythmic Alkaloid Factory

loads of slowmo acid, twwisted beats and effected sounds guaranteed ..... some bad cables here and there ... loads of machines on stage, and yes, it was there .. the laptop .... I had one too, but only to record my set ...

There was not a lot of people ... guess it was the first signs of a busy weekend, with monday being that traditional festivalday .... pinkpop and loads of other things were on that weekend ,... and we were in nijmegen ... on a friday .... hey hey ...
I had fun, learned a lot again ... and was happy to do the job ...
.... next time I will bring longer cables ...
thanx for the unexpected invite !

acid circus

2009-05-26T21:40:00.003+02:00

i'll be playing live, around 12 o clock
there will be extra speakers, lasershow, dj's liveacts, surprise acts and more
bring your skateboard ....

this sleeve still amazes me ...

2009-05-26T21:34:00.003+02:00

somatic responses

2009-05-18T17:38:00.002+02:00

finally, I got my chance to see them live ! After 16 years, somatics are gonna perform live .... and its only 30 km from home, and free entrance ! How is that for a change ! Back to the old days .....

Ok, I had to wait till three and I was there early, as it was 300 max capacity ...
so I was hoping for some good music ....
dmdn was nice, three decks at times, sometimes bonky off beats and clean acid records can do funky things indamix , and dmdn mixes !!! Nice ! bliksm liveset was nice but I missed the high hats, and more variety ... also nice analog stuff, but the rythms were digital ... soundcard dependant ... and the analog-digital were not sync sometimes it seemed ... interesting though ! Then a dj, and then pennik ettek LIVE ... which was good but a bit easy .... and then ... the brothers ....
I was a bit synical at first, but willing to give them a chance with their laptops ...
also, when they turned out to take turns, they each had their own laptop, it turned out to be ok, and as they progressed, much more than just ok ! This is what I need when I go for some dancing .... maximum input please ! Not just one rythm box and one synth singing along ... nooooo .... give me 4 -5 synths and four drummachines battling it out ... it was amazing, the stereo image was intriguing at times, the sound was clear and defined, hard and direct ... hitting home ! 16 years ago I heard them for the first time .... lifechanging music we called it ! Inspiring, unique and ever evolving .... wow .... this night they really build up to a giant climax ... making me bang my head, shake my toes and pinky en jump and shout !
My voice is gone, my body still hurts, old man as I am ... but yes .... am I glad I went ! Finally, a direct hit by the brothers from Wales !

THANX !!!

if only I would have had his phonenumber ...

2009-05-17T18:17:00.003+02:00

the worst act ever ? no, I am not gonna give him that honour, but what an incredible experience it was ...

imagine this ....

It was the crackbeats night in the batcave in tilburg, a small dark place, being the third and smallest room in a big dance venue here, it's actually the place where I got de-virginized as a musician ! I like it !

This time I walked in and immediately noticed the visuals, two screens behind the dj stage where its normally a dark wall, refreshing ! Also there was a drumset on stage, looking promising .... This was actually not the "so to speak" worst act ever ... this one was ok, it turned out it was one man behind a laptop and one live drummer, nice to see, and well done at times the only thing was that the sound was very closed up .. maybe bad soundcard or what ?

Then it was time for the next act, and thats the one I am on about ... a guy from australia called rainbow ejaculation, yep, whats in a name, it turns out he also has a fetish for porn movies, big dicks and gay stuff .... all in rainbow colours offcourse, thats what the visuals tried to make clear I guess ... but the most offending part was this ...

He walks to the mixer to take over the controls and then he connects one end of the cable to to the mixer, and the other one, believe it or not, goes into his phone ! He then fiddles something with the cables of the mixer, it later turns out that made one channel into a dubbing channel, with the same signal, but overdriven ... he then presses play and the music starts .... soon there is a new record that gets sort of mixed in ... but all he does is flick the cross fader ... uhum ?? the mix goes on, and it is happy hardcore mixed with herman van veen (dutch folk singer) and other hits or not from any genre, mixed up, with the bpm changing all the time... fuck this ...

The sound quality is really damaging my ears, especially the harsh high frequencies ... and the sight of that guy, with an orange woolen hat over his face with two holes cut out, frantically playing with that cross fader and turning the frequencies without any real finesse ! I mean, if you then find a balanced spot between teh clean and distorted signal, and then do something interesting with phasing frequencies .. but no, offcourse, the mix would leave no room for that ... ... no way ....

I tried to make clear that I thought he sucked, putting up my arms expressing the whats this alll about man ? He waved it away, and after I looked at this idiot for 3 more minutes and then I decided to get up next to him, and pretended to be handling the turntable that was there, unused ... I wanted to make clear to him that I wanted him to either mix for real or go away .... man come on ... the mix he played had been downloaded three months ago by loads of people that were there ... some had even come to see him, and paid entrance and train etc ...and then he does this ! what a complete asshole ! I had a discussion later with a guy who also was playing later that night, maladroit he is called, dont know him, anyway .. it was ok to talk to him, hear about teh aussie scene and I guess it all remains a matter of personal taste ... but when I finally got my chance at teh end of his set, to boooo him away ! I did so ! Loudly !
fuck off and come back with records or cd's and mix live, for real ! then I will be abel to maybe enjoy your mix and choice of music, now, you give me no chance !

Ah, and yes, I wish I would have had your phone number that night !
but you probably turned that option off
professional that you are !

After I sat out his set, cause I wanted to hear eitherherd ... it was time for one more deception .... another great laptop act, frantically waving along with his liveset ... ableton I guess it was, but the way he was pre-reacting to the changes and stuff ... fuck off .. no live nottin .... it seemed he was fulfilling his own expectations ... and not surprising himself ... uhum ....

10 minutes and that was it ... off home .... with a bloody beep in my ears ..

bourges video

2009-05-09T06:32:00.001+02:00

bourge off 2009
Uploaded by mixopif - Explore other music videos.

colourfull !

2009-05-05T23:35:00.001+02:00

food for the eyes when I'm mixing records ...

303

2009-04-26T15:50:00.002+02:00

bourges off 2009

2009-04-26T14:58:00.003+02:00

What a week that was !!!

It all started in that mad busy paris, as I had to go and see toolbox, the record distributor to drop off my accu 003 release. The place is truelly a tetris-like space, using boxes of records as building blocks !
Met some great people, with a great heart for music! Then it was off to Boutigny, where I was gonna spend the night prior to going to bourges. Julien lives in this great place, bang in the middle of the forest ! Amazing place ! Later that night we ended up at his sisters place, it was her birthday, and I had the honour of being at the table with a complete french family, including the mammie, and mama of the bunch .... it was great to be their guest, but at the end, a bit too much french for my head ... next day ... it was again exciting as it was off to bourges, not knowing what to expect as it was after all, legal .... and strange in a way ...

As soon as I saw the rainbows on the way there, it was all gonna be ok ... I just knew it ... it had to be .. it wasn't gonna piss with rain all weekend ... they were not gonna find my little stash of marijuana I brought as a present for my friends that I had not seen for years ... no ... it was all gonna be ok ... Then we hit a little dirt road, and shortly after there was the welcome committee ... loads and loads of gendarmes ... plus helicopter and drug dog jeaaaah ! Bring it on ...
I had some explaining to do about the huge pile of records I had brought ... mmmm selling them huh ? Why ? Ok, you are an artist ... ok ... eeeeeh little confusion .. but in the end they let me keep my records, as they require you to have a permit to seel thinmgs at events like these .. jeaaaaah ... thanx for nottin mr sarkozy ...
Then after the dogggie had made its way trough my bus, they even put him all the way up, on top of my bed ... but nottin ... haha ... they could not believe it, a big bus, from holland, and no drugs ???
So off I went, and was then welcomed by someone from system18 who had sort of hosted this whole thingie, together with some other systems ... that was very nice, a warm welcome in a different way completely .. ... I was reassured and told I could play that weekend, at their combined system ... so ... I only just entered, and I could start relaxing fully .... and so I did ..... Drank a couple of heavy duty beers and staggered around the terrain on friday night, danced my arse off, what a great drum-n bass system they had ! thanx guys for the great tunes .. also, overall ... the people were amazing, great costumes, masks, smiles etc ... very exchanging atmosphere as
opposed to the energy I felt when I was at marigny couple of years ago .. that was much more scary feeling, this was open .. and warm .... no worries ... It's party time mate !!! and we are here to do so !!!! join us ......

Met great people, sold loads of records and cd's, had a blast playing saturdaynight in front af a kickass system .... wow ... what a sound that wall produced, shame it was a little bit too risky with the rain, to stand in front off that huge wall ... opne day I will , for now we staying in the tent, right off the wall ... which was nice too ! Great view over the dancefloor !!! My little toy did its magic again ... And then the "job" was over and done, it was much enjoyed by myself !!! its great when you can enjoy what you do ... haha .... Sunday was relaxed, again, great weather .... Monday I went to go and see my parents, who were 100km from bourges, with a broke down car ... as it was getting fixed, I took them along in my bus to go to the loire, for a great walk at the riverbeds at orleans, then dropped them off later that day and they continued their holiday the day after, while I was making my way slowly back to holland, discovered great sites along the route nationale, had a swim and a sauna, great spots in the forest, and at the water ... and then .. yes I had to go back ... which was hard, but ok ! My battery was after al ... fully discharged and recharged !
Time to evolve further .... Immediately connected my lifeset back up when I came back, even played a bit but almost fell asleep with my head on my mixer so, full of inspiration ....

noorderlicht 010

2009-04-26T14:51:00.001+02:00

noorderlicht 010

2009-04-26T14:44:00.002+02:00

wow, what a night that was ...
and day,
by the way .... and the water !

Great to see all participants interweaving their lights and crafts making the busstation at rotterdam noord a very cosy warm place indeed, despite the wind and cold ...

right next to my alltime heroes .. but a bit strange ....

2009-04-06T01:04:00.004+02:00

right next to my heroes from dublin,
and the prodigy etc ...

the strange thing is, all these sites are selling my music, and I dont know nottin about it all ... let alone that I get any money ...
the f**ked up thing is, the site where I hosted my tracks is bankrupt ..., that site was my answer to these illegal mp3 sites ... basically this way, anyone could download my music for FREE in the highest quality mp3 possible.... and the diehards will buy the vinyl anyway ... so I hope all these mp3suckersites choke on it ..

slide project-tower short movie

2009-04-06T00:54:00.008+02:00

hey,
for a long time the movie about my brothers slides I projected was gone,
lost in the digital highway...
now I found it again, on the same highway, guess I took the right turn this time,
so here it is .. it was a few years ago ... one of the first
lighting tribute projects for my dear brother Finsent
.... with many to follow ..

http://www.brabantsdagblad.nl/video/regionieuws/article1552967.ece