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Monster Magnet

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:36:32 -0400

Had a great day yesterday. Went to see Monster Magnet play Effenaar (Eindhoven). In the afternoon, because of the WK football. Which was quite strange, but in the end it turned out great, since it's quite a journey by train. The show itself was great, a bit shocking to see what age and rehab have done to Dave though. But he sounded great, and that's what matters. They played a lot of classic Monster Magnet songs and, to my surprise, no songs from the new album.

I can tell you this though, I'll be very happy when the smoking ban goes into effect next week. I've so had it with coming home smelling like an ashtray. And since I'm in old lady mode, why does every show I've attended recently have to be so damn loud. My ears still haven't recovered now, more than a day later. I don't remember that ever happening before and I've seen quite a few shows in my time. I'm now actually considering getting custom earplugs.

Anyhow, that's enough complaining. I'll shut up now and play some Monster Magnet. You can try the Forum for comments and photo's.

The setlist was as follows: Dopes To Infinity, Crop Circle, Powertrip, Twin Earth, Third Alternative, Zodiac Lung, Radiation Day, The Right Stuff, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Space Lord // Superjudge, Cage Around the Sun, Tractor, Spine O God

Firefox 3

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:16:01 -0400

Finally released: the new Firefox. Though I'm not too impressed with the changes to the skin, I have noticed a big improvement in performance. Try this Field guide for a list of features or my Delicious for some more info.

Porcupine Tree

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:45:36 -0400

Porcupine Tree will play 2 shows at 013, Tilburg, the Netherlands, on 15th and 16th October. The short run of European shows during October is in order to shoot a DVD based on the Fear of a Blank Planet album cycle, and the main body of the filming will take place at Tilburg, where the band will play as much different material as possible during the course of the 2 nights.

After a brief period of doubt (it'll be my 6th show of theirs in only 3 years), I will attend the show on October 16th.

Shows

Wed, 07 May 2008 11:45:46 -0400

Just found out the Fields of Rock festival has been cancelled this year (due to the lack of headliners leading to disappointing ticket sales). Which is a shame, because I was contemplating attending. However, it looks like all will turn out well, since I was mostly looking forward to checking out Monster Magnet. And they just happen to be playing The Effenaar in Eindhoven on the original festival date (june 22nd). I just ordered tickets! :-)

Madrugada

Sun, 04 May 2008 05:54:14 -0400

I found out Norwegian band Madrugada were planning a few shows in our country some time in mid-March (a great birthday present for me). Because we couldn't really decide between the shows at Paradiso (Amsterdam) on May 2nd and Het Paard (Den Haag) on May 3rd, we decided to attend both. After all, it's not every day you get an opportunity to witness such a great band at work. Especially with all the rumours abound that this may be the tour for their last album under this name. Expecting the usual Friday-night traffic, we left early for Amsterdam and were able to get great seats on the balcony. I love going to shows in Paradiso, it's got a great atmosphere. You'll be able to see for ourself when (hopefully they will) they get clearance to show the performance on Fabchannel. Fortunatly the same thing happened the next day, once again on the balcony, though this time on the other side. The band gave a fantastically energetic performance on both nights. They played a nice mix of songs from the new album and plenty of classics from the back catalogue, including my favourites Strange Colour Blue and Blood Shot Adult Commitment.

Quite special: in Amsterdam we were treated to an English cover of Amsterdam, the Jacques Brel song and, because the crowd was still making a lot of noise after the first encore, they came back a second time to play 2 more songs!

Setlist Paradiso:
Whatever Happened To You / Hour Of The Wolf / Look Away Lucifer / Belladonna / Strange Colour Blue / Highway Of Light / New Woman/New Man / Majesty / Honey Bee / Black Mambo / Blood Shot Adult Commitment / 7 Seconds / The Kids Are On High Street / Valley Of Deception
1st encore: Only When You're Gone / Amsterdam / Caravan
2nd encore: You Better Leave / Hands Up, I Love You

They played a similar setlist at the show in Den Haag. See madrugadamusic.com for details.

Masque

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:41:56 -0400

I recently finally purchased the Theatre of Tragedy 1996 album Velvet Darkness They Fear. My favourite song on this album, and possibly from the ToT catalogue, is And When He Falleth. It features a dialogue from The Masque of the Red Death (1964) starring Vincent Price. I've never actually seen the movie, but now, thanks to the wonder of YouTube, I can at least watch the fragment with this particular dialogue.

Battlestar

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:00:22 -0400

With the upcoming summer from hell (Euro 2008, Wimbledon, Olympic Games, Tour de France and more taking over the Dutch tv channels) I thought I'd try out Battlestar Galactica. I've been hooked pretty much from the start of the mini-series. Unfortunately I'm now already mid-way season 3, so I fear I'll have caught up way before the summer starts. For lots of background info, try the Battlestar Wiki.

The story opens with a genocide, an apocalyptic destruction of 12 planets. Billions of human lives are lost. The survivors run away, fleeing an implacable enemy, the Cylons, who are determined to destroy them, and they're looking for a mythical place called Earth.

Amazon

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:42:31 -0400

The kind folks from the Amazon Web Services have made some changes as of April first. Since I use a crafty nusoap construction on a few different parts of this site to display various covers from the Amazon site, this means I'll have to edit the soap setup. Untill I do, I'm afraid this means no images for you. Shame I can't just use the PHP5 native functions, but for some reasons these aren't available on this server.

Welcome

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:56:04 -0400

It's taken a few months, but finally.. she's arrived! My niece Nora Luz was born just a few hours ago. I was working from home today, completely oblivious, untill one of my brothers colleagues mailed me asking if I had any news. Apparently they'd gone to hospital in the wee hours of the night, but -as agreed- to avoid stress hadn't notified any family.
So I knew now anyway. As you might understand, I didn't get much work done the rest of the day. My brother finally called around 3 that they were now the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl! But, even though I live very near to the hospital, only the grandparents were allowed to visit straight away. The rest of us had to wait untill visiting time starts at 7. Which seemed like forever, but she was well worth the wait. She's gorgeous! Welcome to the family, little Nora!

Clarke

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:29:50 -0400

Writer Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90. From the Obituary on Wired News:

"Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered," Clarke said recently. "I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these, I would like to be remembered as a writer."

From 1950, he began a prolific output of both fiction and nonfiction, sometimes publishing three books in a year. [..] Some of his best-known books are "Childhood's End," 1953; "The City and The Stars," 1956; "The Nine Billion Names of God," 1967; "Rendezvous with Rama," 1973; "Imperial Earth," 1975; and "The Songs of Distant Earth," 1986.