Recently played music...

• 8Oct 08

  allo! allo!

  Hello hello!

  How's everyone been?

  It's seems like ages ago since I posted the previous blog (probably because it actually dates from the time animals were able to speak, banks weren't bankrupted and the good old lay-out of this site was still floating about...those were the times).

  In the meantime I attended a couple of concerts (the Pukkelpop festival was great; saw Sigur Rós there and they were absolutely stunning, Bloc Party was really nice as well, I saw the F#ck Buttons for the first live (what a name!), Two Gallants were great and I discovered this nice band called Black Mountain… )

  Sigur Rós (@Pukkelpop): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IeilO13PeU

  Bloc Party: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R6S5CJWlco

  F#ck Buttons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ph8z8-RCGs

  Two Gallants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqmgUcuQHU

  After seeing Sigur Rós I didn't want to see anything else…I just wanted to cherish the nice feeling they left me with for a little bit longer…so I went straight to my tent. Now, for those who have never been on a festival campsite, it's usually not the quietest place on earth; people (often drunk) shout all night long, tents standing shoulder to shoulder, people get lost all the time 'cause the tents look similar in the dark…anyway, I got into my sleepingbag and whilst thinking of the highlights of the past day I somehow managed to doze off…at a certain moment, I turned around in my sleepingbag with one eye half-open…all of a sudden there's a bloke in my tent sniffing through my stuff! I started screaming "hey dude, this is my tent, get out!"…the bloke didn't expect someone to be inside as I heard him mumble "sh!t there's someone in there" while crawling back through the "door".

  Now, I don't mind some company, but this isn't the way, right? Before I managed to get into my sleepingbag and into my pyjamas, I neatly put my clothes on a pile next to me…later on, I realized that on his way out, the bloke grabbed something from that pile…which happened to be a sock... and my bra! Again; I think that bloke needs to work on his skills. After some scary moments (I was imagining how to get home…braless…(the horror!) I did find it back, not that far away from my tent..in a puddle. The sock, unfortunately had been kidnapped…I sincerely hope that the smell of the sock will haunt the bloke forever!

  Some more gigs on the agenda (all in November): Ólafur Arnalds and…again: Sigur Rós

  I think I don't have to introduce you to Sigur Rós…but here's some Ólafur Arnalds for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6u5D-5LWSg

  Also in November, I'm planning to go to Amsterdam with 3 former (student)flatmates for a weekend…I'm really looking forward to it, as it's my first real trip this year.

  At work I'm still training my sarcasm every day; last week for example, one of the nurses was explaining that she went to the Vatican in Rome once; a guide told her that the statues of the former dead popes on the mausoleums rest their stone head on one, two or three cushions, according to their intelligence (the more cushions on the grave, the more intelligent the pope was, or so it seems). One of my patients said; "gee, I will probably just have one cushion then on my tomb"…I looked at him and with a deadpanned face I said; "nopes, for you they will have to dig a hole just underneath the head of the statue if you want to come ever so close to a resemblance of your intelligence".

  I'm also working on my sense of absurd humour; the same nurse was talking about the Dead Sea later that day; she was telling that, because of the huge amount of salt, it's easy to stay afloat on the water and she claimed no fish can survive the salt environment…my reply; of course there are fish in the Dead Sea; where do you think they catch pickled herring?!?"

  Music and work have been covered…now we get to some pictures, if that's ok

  At the Belgian coast:

  

  

  At the Botanic Gardens in Brussels:

  

  

  

  Take care my friends!

  xxxelkexxx

  • Posted Oct 8, 2008 11:27 am PT
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• 14Aug 08

  beach, birds and festivals

  Hi all!

  As promised, a new blog before the end of the week… I already mentioned it in the previous writings; yesterday we took our patients on a daytrip to the sea, but first we went to the "Zwin" Natural Reserve, where we enjoyed a guided tour. The Zwin is some kind of silted up sea-arm and after the silting up, several creeks were created. The creeks are filled with water at high tide. The sea then pours silt into the creeks and thereby creates a eco-system that is constantly refreshed. Not every part of the Zwin is flooded continuously though; some parts (the salt marshes) are only flooded at spring tide. I'll post a couple of the pictures I took…

  

  

  Different kinds of birds find their habitat in the Zwin…

  

  

  

  

  and after the Zwin we drove to the seaside:

  

  

  

  

  then some music-related news; a couple of weeks ago, I went to the Dour festival in the small village of Dour, situated in the French-speaking part of Belgium. Nice music, nice atmosphere; all in all; a great experience…saw Woven Hand there for the 10th time and although it wasn't their best gig, it certainly was the best gig of the day. The Meat Puppets (you might know some of their songs through the covers by Kurt Cobain on Nirvana Unplugged) couldn't live up to the expectations…

  tomorrow I'm heading for another festival; Pukkelpop! Unfortunately I only have a ticket for Saturday as I have to work tomorrow morning (as well as on Sunday)…but I'm really looking forward to the festival anyway; Sigur Rós plays on Saturday, as does Bloc Party, Two Gallants, MGMT, The Dresden Dolls, M83, and many more (I'll write a short review later). It's also very likely that I'll meet Jane (Skokeloor) again at Pukkelpop…

  • Posted Aug 14, 2008 2:05 pm PT
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• 12Aug 08

  two pics and a promise

  I'll write a blog before the end of the week (this doesn't really count as for now i'm heading for my bed; gotta get up early tomorrow as we'll take our patients on a daytrip to the sea! more about that later...

  good night... i'll leave you with some pics i took last weekend

  

  

  see ya! xxx

  • Posted Aug 12, 2008 3:36 pm PT
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