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No one can beat VOLBEAT!

6/9/2017

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Finally, we got in the ring with Volbeat last night! After having endured one year of being impatient -as I’d already bought the tickets back in September ’16- we drove into the Strijp-S area on our way to the famous Philips old ‘Klokgebouw’, and all of sudden a huge festival area arised…slowly it occurred to us that Volbeat might be playing there instead of at the Klokgebouw...
While having a delicious dinner at Restaurant Radio Royaal (located behind the stage), Amorphis blasted through the walls. And as we walked into the festival area, Flogging Molly’s Irish carnival music was already getting the party started, thanking Holland for believing in them from the start (as their first show ever took place in this country). And great to see that the youngsters dig them too!
After another round of beer, we paved our way through the crowd close enough to the ‘boxing ring’. The beautifully orchestrated show started off with one of my favorite songs ‘The Devil’s Bleeding Crown’, the opening song of their latest album ‘Seal the Deal.’ After this theatrical opening, Volbeat’s full blown guitar riffs, awesome drum bass sounds and THE voice of lead singer Michael Poulsen filled the whole Strijp-S area and beyond (according to quite a few tweets of heavily annoyed people haha). 
Highly influenced by Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, his voice does resemble. But combined with the hard rock/ heavy metal sounds Michael's voice is still unique in its own way. After hearing him sing again last night, his voice has ended up in my top 3 of best rock voices ever (alongside Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell, closely followed by Axl Rose and Robert Plant…). 
I was torn between staying in the moment and wanting to capture every second of this amazing show packed with fireworks, awesome footage, smoking machines, fire and ‘used toilet paper,’ as Michael joked around:
I couldn’t resist getting some footage of their new song teasing the crowd for their upcoming new album, if I remember correctly it’s called ‘Justify’ and of course 'Lola Montez' and 'For Evigt' had to be captured as well:
I still don’t get that I wasn’t aware of their existence until my first encounter last year at Graspop. They blew me away, so I had to see them again! And will do so for my remaining rock years.

We’ll definitely grow old together!

Oh and last but not least…Volbeat’s guitarist Rob Caggiono reposted my Instagram picture, I couldn’t be more honoured😊:
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Our yearly dose of Life of Agony

15/8/2017

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For the 3rd year in a row, we saw Life of Agony at a venue in Eindhoven. Last year, at ‘Het Klokgebouw’ headlining the ‘Sound of Revolution’ and the previous year at the same venue as last night, the ‘Effenaar’ (as I’ve outlined also in my previous blog about ‘My best memories of Life of Agony’ of the past 25 years). And just like 2 years ago, they kicked off with ‘River Runs Red,’ paving the way for a lot more songs to be played from that iconic ‘90s album. Pleasing the crowd all over again! 
What I find most surprising is that every time I hear those songs live, I get really pumped, and start jumping and headbanging, concert after concert. Isn’t it just magical that you can listen to music over and over again and don’t seem to get tired of it, even if you’ve seen them for the 9th time... In my best LOA memories blog, I counted 8 times, but my friend with whom I’ve seen most of the LOA concerts added another one to the list yesterday, which I completely had forgotten about. 
​That gig was right after their Dynamo Open Air show in ’94 on the 16 June 2017 at Noorderligt in Tilburg as special guest to Prong's show. And as soon as we had figured that out, Prong ‘signs’ started to emerge everywhere. We saw guys with Prong t-shirts at the Effenaar and all of a sudden the DJ played ‘Snap your fingers, Snap your neck’. And we sure did snap our necks afterwards. 
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My friend had said upfront ‘I’m not going to be ‘headbanging’ tonight as my neck is already sore’. But as soon as Joey Z played the first guitar riff, she couldn’t help herself. Unlike the year before at ‘Het Klokgebouw’ where the crowd was too wild and too drunk, the crowd at the Effenaar seemed a lot more respectful to women. So, we did end up just behind the front row. I just couldn’t resist, I had to see the whole band up-close for once and feel their energy. How awesome! Mina and the guys are so intense and you can feel the love for their fans. By the end of the show Mina stood with her arms wide open taking it all in. She was so happy and almost started to cry.
At some stage, Alan Robert (bass), asked the crowd who had seen them at Dynamo ’94 and ’95. Me and my friend and a lot of other guys in the front raised their hands. Alan requested everyone who raised their hands to get in front of the stage and a couple of guys grabbed us along…And then he said: ‘Let’s do what you’ll did back then at both shows! Jump everybody!’ And we did as ‘Bad Seed’ followed.
Aside from playing almost every song of River Runs Red album, they only played a couple of songs from their other albums. ‘Lost at 22 - Ugly’ (which has been selected as one of the best metal songs of the 90s by Metal Hammer) and ‘Weeds – Soul Searching Sun’ as you can see in the video below including a short introduction by Mina interacting with the crowd:
​To my surprise they only played 3 songs from their brand-new album of which Joey Z said: ‘We’ve been working on this album for 18 months and we are so proud of it!’ Just before they started to play their first new song, Mina said: ‘Now we’re gonna play the title track of our new album if you like it or not, and even if you don’t, we’re gonna play it anyway!’ And I was like, why wouldn’t we wanna hear it, those songs are awesome! 
I really wanted to hear those songs live as I was hoping they’d be even more intense then listening to those at home. And they were! Screaming along with ‘World gone madddd’,  ‘Dead Speak Kindly’ (a song that feels and sounds to me like a tribute to Lane Staley of Alice in Chains), and ‘A Place where there’s no more pain’:
As a final explosion, they played ‘Through and through’ smoothly followed by Mina singing: ‘If you don’t walk with me, I will walk alone, yeah yeah…’ and we all felt part of the ‘Underground’ by the end of the show. 

​​Yet another memorable night of more to come! But hopefully they’ll play a few new songs next time…eh next year? As I (we!) do need to get our yearly dose of Life of Agony at the least!
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My best memories of Life of Agony

9/8/2017

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This blog about my best memories of Life of Agony in the past 25 years has been wandering around in my head for quite some time now, ever since I had written a similar blog about Pearl Jam. ​A couple of days ago, I was in the right headspace finally and set myself up to start writing this blog. And just before I started to write , I received the following Twitter notification that Mina is now following me (after I retweeted a post of Mina Caputo sharing a heart-breaking video of Sinead O’Connor):

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I don’t believe in coincidences, but I do believe in signs. And this sign reassured me that I should follow my instincts and passion for LOA and get started with this blog leading up to my 8th LOA concert upcoming Monday...
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Vinyl & Dynamo Open Air ('94 '& '95)

Digging into my memories, my first memory of Life of Agony that comes to mind is me buying the vinyl of River Runs Red and playing it repeatedly on my father’s ‘old’ record player (even though CD’s were pretty common by then). This album just grew on me and never got out of my system.

​Since then, I’ve played the music a couple of times a month (nowadays on Spotify to be exact… as I don’t own a record or CD player anymore :-), and I just don’t seem to get bored of this album. 
The songs always lift me up when I need to get myself going, make me happy when I’m sad, and are great for exercising too. Keith’s* voice and his emotions are so genuine and real, the guitar riffs and the drums are really awesome, they make me wanna jump each and every time like I or ‘we’ did at Dynamo Open Air in Eindhoven, The Netherlands in '94. My first Life of Agony concert, standing side by side with 62.000 fans in a huge puddle of mud. 
* Please refer my 'P.s. 2' at the bottom of this blog why I'm using 'Keith' instead of 'Mina' in the first part of this blog)
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In 1995, we all jumped again on if I remember correctly ‘This time’ at the same spot where the crowd (120.000 people!) literally caused a small earth quake! And at some stage we were throwing all beer cup holders in the air which was quite a funny sight and quite dangerous as well. Again, if I remember correctly (please help me out guys…!). Fortunately, some bits and pieces of these concerts have been recorded by a German Metal TV show (from 53 mins onwards) and MTV:

 Lowlands adventures ('94, '97) & meeting Keith

Back in August ‘94, I saw them for the second time at ‘A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise’. I still have this vivid memory of me pogoing on ‘This Time’ again in between a couple of big guys and this time crushing into one of the poles…Again a memorable concert, even though Keith seemed to be zoning out every now and then...

​For some reason, I can’t remember or dig up if I’ve seen them play in 1996, maybe at Pinkpop, but I don’t think so…
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What I do remember is that the year after in '97, I had quite the experience with LOA…Being a student, I couldn’t afford going to all festivals and simply had to choose. So, I didn’t get a ticket for ‘A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise’ where LOA would play again. Fortunately, I knew some guys from the record label ‘Epitaph’ (The Offspring, Pennywise, NOFX etc.) who knew some guys at Roadrunner Records, LOA's record label back then…And we ran into one of the guys of Epitaph at our favorite rockbar ‘Sam Sam’ in Amsterdam on the night before their gig at Lowlands. He said that some band members of Life of Agony were going to do a signing session that night at the music store Fame in Amsterdam.

So, I joked around saying ‘maybe we can get ourselves on their guest list…’ as I wasn’t particularly interested in their signatures, but I was dying to see them play. And as you’ll have guessed by now, for about an hour or so of walking around the music store, the Epitaph guy was trying to get in touch with LOA's tour manager. Finally, he came back saying, ‘He girls, good news, you’re on LOA's guest list tomorrow night!’ I truly didn’t believe him, but he was quite convinced, so we gave him a big hug and went back to the Sam Sam bar in complete disbelieve. 

As Keith wasn't present at the signing session, we were wondering where he would be. Knowing he loved Amsterdam and his love for smoking ‘weeds' he might as well be at a coffee shop. The bar tender had heard rumours Keith was at a coffee shop down the road and we could not help ourselves to check it out. And yes, there he was, sitting at the bar, looking pretty stoned while holding a joint…

​Initially, I didn’t dare to walk up to him, and finally I had the guts as this would be my one and only chance of ever being able to have a chat with him. And so I did, I can’t exactly remember what I said and what he said, but I do recall that he was really nice to us and that I told him that his tour manager put us on the guest list. Keith said he was looking forward to see us at the show.

But still, we were in complete disbelieve of everything that had happened that night, still not sure if we should even go to Lowlands. What if we weren’t on the guest list, that would be quite a trip all for nothing…(3-4 hrs of trains/buses and we didn’t even know where to pick up the VIP bands…). The next morning, we decided that we should take the chance, as I would regret it for the rest of my life for not trying. 
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So, we jumped on the train with our backpacks, no tent included, but we did know some friends were at the festival hoping they would give us some shelter that night… After a long ride by trains and buses and looking for the VIP entrance walking around the festival area for a couple of hours, completely drained from the rain, we finally found it.

We entered the VIP tent and said with a bit of hesitation that we were on the guest list of Life of Agony…And of course we weren’t…But I was so focused on getting to their concert and told the whole story mentioning the tour managers name etc. They made a few calls to verify our story, and then (even though they weren’t quite convinced) they ended up giving us a VIP band…We were sooo surprised and above all happy! We had to run though, as the LOA show started at 19.00 and we only had half an hour to get in and drop our backpacks somewhere. And as soon as Joey hit his first guitar riff we entered the festival tent. We made it!
And it was an awesome gig, and Keith wasn’t stoned for once as he explains on the album ‘Unplugged At The Lowlands Festival ’97 which they recorded afterwards (a show which we didn’t get to see as we were completely ‘broken’ from everything that had happened in the past 24 hours and we still had to find our friends…I can't even remember if we even stayed for the night or went back...).
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Keith has left the building…(1999)

Following the release of ‘Soul Searching Sun’ just one month later, Keith decided to leave Life of Agony which was quite the shock. But somehow, we all knew it was for the best at the time. Ugly Kid Joe singer Whitfield Crane joined Life of Agony during their Soul Searching Sun tour the following year and I saw them at De Melkweg in Amsterdam. Crane, with his great voice as he proofed once again when I went to see Ugly Kid Joe in Amsterdam last year, sung their songs with so much respect, however it wasn’t the same without Keith…And the band members felt the same way in the end according to Life of Agony’s Wikipedia page.
In 1999, Keith released his solo album ‘Died Laughing’ which I really loved. Knowing he was partially living in Amsterdam like myself, I kept on following his tracks and ended up seeing him in Paradiso Amsterdam (Friday 15th of October 1999), turning out to be a very intimate gig in the small bar upstairs. I remember being in awe for the whole time during the show. It was mesmerising to hear him sing and see him play the guitar upclose, I felt so blessed. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a setlist and I had to dig deep to find out when this concert took place, I only found one small reference online and this emotional documentary from those days with Keith by Loladamusica.

My ‘break up’ with Life of Agony

And then there was silence, at least from my end…Life of Agony toured for quite a while and all of the members took on various side projects, and to be reunited for the first time in 2003, but I didn’t get to see them. In 2005, I migrated to Australia and to be honoust, I had lost track of Life of Agony and Keith by then, still listening to their music though. 
In 2011, I returned to The Netherlands and a couple of years later in 2015 I was listening to Life of Agony together with my brother and then he mentioned that Keith had gone through a transgender transformation and is called ‘Mina’ now. I must admit, I was quite surpised, but somehow the music, the lyrics and his behavior back then all made sense now. I did some research and saw some interviews with Mina and initially, it was a bit weird to see her, but somehow it all felt very natural, also because she was looking very happy and embracing herself. ​​

3x Life of agony @ Eindhoven (2015, 2016, 2017)

Then I decided to find out if they were heading over to The Netherlands for a show and to my surprise they were! I bought tickets for their show on the 15th of June at the Effenaar, once again in Eindhoven. A wonderful small venue. Although her voice was a bit different, I guess a bit higher, it still felt like Life of Agony. I was so excited to hear their major songs live again after all those years (see pics and review by Rockportaal). Mina said a big thank you to the crowd for embracing her for who she is:
One year later, we saw them again in Eindhoven. This time at the old Philips Klokgebouw as they were headlining ‘The Sound of Revolution’ in front of a much larger audience. Somehow, we had this stupid idea of walking all the way to the front row, not realising the crowd was already pumped up by the likes of Madball and Ignite. During the first song we lost each other, got hit in the heads and with beer poured all over us we found each other again after a couple of songs. We decided that we’re not up for this stuff anymore and went halfway in the back, just behind the pit. Being afraid of losing my Iphone while recording, I only dared to make one video during the slow part of 'Bad Seed.' The crowd was so excited and so was I. And I decided to stay in the moment and scream along with the songs.
 As LOA already mentioned at their last concert, they were working on a new album. In april 2017, they released their new single ‘World gone mad‘ and I loved it straight away with the full blown guitar riffs and Mina’s fierce voice and lyrics.  I just couldn’t wait for the whole album to be released. This album has been growing on me ever since. Bits and pieces keep on popping in my head ‘How long, how long to right this wrong…’ is one of them…
In this exclusive interview with Mina about the new album she says: ‘This album was my way of making up the lost time…make amends with my brothers and my friends for all the troubles I’ve caused them throughout the years…’ And this is where my memories end for now and will continue next Monday! Really looking forward to hear you play all the new songs!
Here are some of my favourite quotes from Mina, she just gets it, what life is all about in this wicked world:
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‘I am not gonna let the cruel world let me stop from being me’


‘The more you walk into your fear the easier life becomes, because then you realise fear doesn’t even exist…’

 ‘I live to live dreams’

‘I don’t see the problem of being honoust…’


‘If you wanna see change in the world you have to become that change…’

P.s. 1: 

I really would like to thank Life of Agony for their awesome music and for loving and reaching out to the fans. Always staying true to their themselves, their feelings and acting accordingly. You are such an inspiration to all of us!
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P.s. 2:
@Mina, if you ever read this piece: I wasn’t sure what to call you in this blog, it just felt like I should call you Keith up until my own memories of you transforming into Mina. I hope you don’t mind, I don’t mean to be disrespectful.

@Joey Z: In an interview with KindaMuzik you mentioned that you’ve got a video tape of your show at Dynamo Open Air back in 1994, just wondering if this footage is publicly available? Would love to relive that concert again!

Continue to read:
Our yearly dose of Life of Agony (@Effenaar Eindhoven, 14th August 2017)
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Aarhus - 2nd best City of Denmark

23/7/2017

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When you think of Denmark, Copenhagen first comes to mind as the place to be. During my search for other great cities and things to do with kids in Denmark, I came across a Dutch article  inspiring me to find a place to stay via AirBnB near Aarhus (European Capital of Culture 2017) and close to Legoland.

We ended up at a spacious house near Silkeborg, another lovely Danish City located near the beautiful Silkeborg Lakes. Just a 5-minute walk to the lakes and the owners allowed us to use everything at their place, even their canoes and bicycles. As the owners have kids of approximately the same age, our girls had lots of toys to play with.
​From there, we went to Aarhus for 1 day and started at Den Gamle By. A truly amazing and authentic open air museum where you travel back in time and experience how people lived between the 1600-1975. Fully furnished houses, old bakeries with Danish delicacies, people dressed in style, a little boutique with clothing and hats from the 50’s/60’s and the kids enjoying the antique fairground, to name a couple of fun things to do and see there. Also, the girls fancied a horse-drawn carriage ride, and so we did. Not worth it by the way, even the girls were disappointed (a 3-minute ride for 18 euros/ 170DK…!).
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​Even though it was quite busy, it didn’t feel like an ‘amusement’ park at all. After spending a couple of hours, we took the back door and the girls played for a bit at a playground. Then we climbed up the hill and a huge wind mill and ‘dome’ emerged.

Væksthusene i Botanisk consists of tropical houses where numerous plant collections are presented in 4 different climate zones. Our girls loved every bit of it. The butterflies, the largest water lilies ‘Victoria’ (tropical South American), the beautiful flowers and the big tree house from which you can overlook the entire tropical house. Outside the dome you could see the botanical gardens and the girls climbed a tree right in front of it. 
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​The ARoS museum was next on our itinerary. Unfortunately, the museum closed at 5pm and we only had 45 minutes left. We wanted to see ‘Your panorama rainbow’ on the top of the building, but they didn't sell separate tickets. Hopefully, we can make it another day and explore this wonderful museum and exhibitions as well.
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As we took both of the kids’ stand up scooters the girls didn’t have to walk all the way. It was a great way to explore Aarhus City Centre, the Harbor and the district Latinerkvarteret (‘The Latin Quarter’) where we had a lovely dinner at Olinoco.

​Locals were standing in line to pick up Moules frites (mussels with fries) or fish ‘n chips, so we figured it must be a good place to stay for dinner. We had some fish ‘n chips and I had a lovely menu with figs and cerrano ham as a starter and a ‘kebab’ style main dish which was very tasty. And surprisingly very affordable too as quite a few people warned us about how expensive Denmark would be (only € 45, drinks included!). 

On our way back to the car, we had some delicious ice cream at the organic café/ restaurant ‘Suppestegogis’. After all, a great day, packed with lovely things to do in a very child-friendly city!
​I only wish we had some more time to spent to see for example the ‘Dome of Visions’, to shop till you drop at ‘Magasin’ and to stroll along ‘Molestin’…We’ll be back someday!
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Guns N' Roses - Living rock legends!

14/7/2017

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Take me down to the Paradise City, where the grass is green..., that’s exactly where the Guns N’ Roses show took me at Het Goffert Park in Nijmegen! I feel so blessed having seen these living rock legends for over three hours for the very first time. Still regretting I didn’t go to their show at the same spot 25 years ago, but now I’ve made up for it. ​From the first moment Axl took stage, the energy level increased. ​
Starting off as a 55-year-old diesel engine, ​gradually the oil was running through his throat and became better, higher, lower, and getting up to speed during my favourite song ‘Estranged’.  ​I used to listen to this song in bed at night, lights off and slowly fall asleep…Slash’s guitar riffs are so moving… And so was ‘Civil War’, a song that still resonates.
Another highlight was AC/DC’s Angus Young rocking the stage with ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’. How cool was that?! The crowd really hit if off by then. The whole setting felt like a festival. Wandering, eating, drinking, looking, listening, head-banging and watching as the gunners kept on playing and playing and playing. While eating delicious BBQ balls with smokey sauce Slash rocked out on his guitar, playing one of many awesome solos to come proofing he’s a true rock icon. And from a girly perspective, damn sexy!
At some stage, you do need to go to the loo…after holding it for 45 minutes as they kept on playing old time favourites, I finally ended up standing in line…listening to a live version of ‘Sweet child o’mine’ while going to the loo was quite the experience 😊 Followed by their funniest camp fire song ‘I used to love her’, we rocked out on the stairs overseeing the whole 'festival'. It was so amazing to look at 65.000 fans hangin’ out and having a great time! We all sang along at the top of our longs with ‘Yesterdays’ and ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’. That song always takes me back to the Freddy Mercury Tribute Concert back in nineties, still a vivid memory. And so, it did again.
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Loaded like freight train…Flyin’ like an aeroplane…’ Night train’ was the perfect follow up song. And then as a worthy anti-climax, the first few guitar notes of the next song gave me the shivers…’Black Hole Sun’…tears in my eyes straight away. This tribute to Chris Cornell was truly magical and sung with so much respect by Axl.

Suddenly, I found myself standing on a pick nick table, rocking and headbanging to the remaining songs with some fellow fans. Whistling along with ‘Patience’, shouting ‘Well, well, well, My Michelle’ and jumping in my pink rain boots on the beats of ‘Paradise City’, the final big bang of an awesome, amazing rock legend night!

​Thanks Axl, Duff and Slash (and Angus Young!) for this once ‘in my lifetime’ experience and I’ve become even more appreciative of your iconic music. Another great thing I can cross off my bucket list!
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Eddie Vedder forever!

30/5/2017

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Finally, I had a good cry this morning. With all the tension in my body leading up to this show, I thought that it was going to explode last night, even packed 2 packs of tissues. But somehow, I couldn’t let go completely, as Eddie was joking around to keep up the good spirit. He was very chatty, telling stories, thinking out loud and describing his feelings like only he can. He shared a story about a friend who came out of a coma after one week and said, ‘I really needed just some good stories.’
The last few weeks have been draining, not only for myself by carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, but for anyone who loves music and mankind. 
For anyone who just can’t process what has happened. Obviously I’m talking about Chris and Manchester. Eddie didn’t want to talk about the ‘obvious’ as he sort of admitted. It felt like that if he would say ‘Chris’ out loud, he would just have a complete breakdown right there and then. Or using his own words: ‘I’ve been trying to keep it together for the last couple of days.’ 
By going to a museum in Amsterdam and meeting lovely people there, he has been trying to distract himself. Fortunately, due to the lovely weather he pretended to be in ‘Hawaï’ and turned on an old recorder playing the sound of waves to paint the full picture. Just like we felt while waiting in style  enjoying a cocktail before the show.

His ability to give the crowd a good feeling and trying to be strong for them, is so humble. Even if he would read this last sentence he would be to humble to believe he is humble. He doesn’t want to be adored, but that just happens. I or ‘we’ can’t help it.
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​I've never been to one of his solo shows, only to various Pearl Jam shows throughout the past 25 years. And I always imagined Eddie singing just for me (how selfish…) by closing my eyes while listening to his songs. So, last night, I did the same thing. Throughout each song I would close my eyes for a bit and just listen to his voice. I just can’t think of any superlatives to describe it, but his voice must be from outtaspace, so mesmerising!
Throughout the show he ‘fucked’ up some parts as he said himself, forgetting lyrics and feeling like he had an ‘out of body’ experience. But that just showed me he’s as human as a human being can or should be. And after each ‘fuck up’ he would pull himself together again, and performed even better than I’ve ever seen anyone perform in my whole history of a long list of concerts I’ve been to in the past 28 years…and I’m not exaggerating! And he followed through right until the end.

Just before Eddie started to perform, someone next to me asked which song I would love to hear, and I said ‘Last Kiss’. And my wish was granted! As soon as Eddie started playing the first few notes, I went all teary and couldn’t stop. There’s one sentence in the song that touches me to me the very core as sung by Eddie, ‘Oh where Oh where will my baby be… the Lord took her away from me…’
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​Another magical moment (one of many!!) was when the Red Limo String Quartet from Utrecht played along with ‘Come back.’ Looking at the stars in the background and listening to Eddie’s voice, I felt weightless like I was flying through the sky. The strings completely ‘elevated’ this song. I’m so happy that Eddie asked them to join him throughout the tour (which he only decided that day). (Photo by Raymond van Olphen)
I’m still trying to wear off my emotions, and as Eddie said ‘it’s actually not fair that I get to sing my way through this night and you’re just sitting there…and singing is almost like hyperventilating.’ Writing does that to me, when it’s on ‘paper’ or ‘online’, it’s out there and slowly getting out of my system or maybe the opposite, it gets ‘integrated’ in my system…Similar to the beautiful print of a painting I bought via Facebook which was made by a Chris Cornell fan, only a couple of hours after he had heard about Chris’ death (and which inspired me to write my ‘Farewell Chris...’ blog). He truly captured the essence of Chris, I just had to have that painting. It’s on my way now, can’t wait for it to hang this print next to the Eddie Vedder poster I bought last night. It’ll be my little ‘grunge’ shrine…
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I don’t think this show can be topped, not even by the Dutch ‘Toppers.’ ;-) Both Eddie and Glen made a bit of fun of them, being grateful that a famous opera singer chose to go their show instead of the ‘Toppers’ show last Saturday night. But still, the Toppers united thousands and thousands of people who honored the 1 minute of silence for Manchester, the videos on Youtube were breathtaking. That goes way beyond your own taste of music or entertainment…
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Glen being sick and all, still stood by his friend singing and playing along and even fulfilled Eddie’s request to get back on the stage to sing Glen’s own song 'Song of good hope' which they hadn’t rehearsed. A spur of the moment decision which Eddie really needed and finally brought him to tears as well, it was heartbreaking.
I just love the power of art, to be able to process and express your feelings with an outlet that’s so empowering for other people too. Painting, singing, dancing, playing music, theatre, going to a museum, you name it. I can’t believe that governments are just ignoring the fact that art and culture bring out the best in people, can unite them and provide them with a platform to able to deal with this ‘big hard world’ as Eddie and Glen were singing at the top of their lungs at the end of the show.

This memory will linger on for a long time…
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I am still in awe. Love you Eddie!
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Farewell Chris...

19/5/2017

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When I woke up this morning my first thought was, well actually, it wasn't a thought, but a song that popped into my head: 'I know you’re sick and alone....we can bleed together, we can bleed together...' Chris and his fierce, but beautiful voice were going through my mind over and over again. Why this song?...Maybe I’ll have an explanation later on, after having written down my feelings in trying to process this heart breaking news as it unfolded yesterday…

At around 10 am, one of my best friends gave me a call and said: 'I just send you a Whatsapp message, but then I realised I should call you as reading about it would be even more devastating for you'. So, I said: 'What's going on?' And then she broke the news to me: 'Chris Cornell passed away last night...' My breath just stopped for a moment, I just didn’t know how to respond. My immediate thoughts were that the cause must have been a stroke or a heart attack. I’ve been following him on Twitter and Instagram for quite some time and he seemed to be in the prime of his life. Looking good with his long curly hair, it just felt like he had it all together for once in his life, at least the last couple of years. 
Keeping track of the news during the day and seeing all the messages being posted on social media, mostly messages of disbelieve, wondering about the cause of death, I really felt part of a ’collective grief’. And then suddenly it hit me, Eddie must be devastated too, being one of his mates...Followed by a quite selfish thought, or maybe it wasn't selfish at all as I was sincerely thinking about what Eddie must go through right now...Anyway, I just realised that this will ‘put a cast over Eddie Vedder's tour’ as someone carefully described in the Eddie Vedder Europe 2017 Facebook Group while posting this awesome picture of Chris, Eddie, Jeff and Glen:
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​I’ll be going the second show in Amsterdam in about ten days. A 25-year long dream come true. However, the thought immediately crossed my mind whether Eddie would cancel the tour or at least maybe cancel the first few shows. As most likely, Chris' funeral will be sometime next week, just before Eddie heads off to Amsterdam. I checked the Eddie Vedder Facebook group straight away, wondering if anyone was thinking and feeling the same way as me. And the first posts started to occur, all messages from PJ fans in disbelieve and in grief. Also, someone asking if the tour might be cancelled. 
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Someone else even questioned if this news would break up Pearl Jam (even before the reason of his death was revealed). Well, I can’t see that happening at all, I believe it’ll give them more fuel to keep on doing what they’re enjoying the most: making music from the heart. Probably their only way to handle this devastating loss. ​

I just realised as well, that Kurt took his live one week before the Nirvana concert I was so eager to attend (and had waited in line for a whole night in the cold to get a ticket). Well, I still hope that we can share our collective grief with Eddie and Glen next week. I'm sure they'll follow their heart in making this tough decision.
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During the day, I tried to do some work, but just couldn’t concentrate and just kept checking social media for any clues on the cause of his death and kept on reading all the messages from devastated fans. I kept on feeling this tension in my stomach, a somewhat eerie feeling which I couldn’t explain. I checked his last tweet. And shortly after I read that he died just two hours after this concert, I even felt more devastated. Apparently, he had a few more concerts lined up the following days.
All of this confirmed my thoughts that he was in good shape and feeling well and that it must have been a sudden death due to a heart attack or seizure as I mentioned before. Fortunately, I had some distraction as I had to pick up the kids from school and head off to swimming lessons late afternoon. But still, Chris' death kept on going through my mind, still trying to process it.

​Right after dinner my friend (who broke the news to me) send me another message. ‘Rumors are he committed suicide...’ I somehow wasn't surprised at all and suddenly that eerie feeling was gone. Still don’t understand why though. 
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​Obviously, the first question that came to mind was: Why?! And then it hit me again: Someone who has been showing signs of depressions throughout his life, through his music and his lyrics and having it all together for once in his life and most likely still not feeling 'happy' or still feeling depressed, he just couldn't handle life itself or himself. And to some people that just seems selfish. And many fans were expressing their feelings of anger and even more disbelieve on social media as soon as this news was revealed.

 I know firsthand from my brother in law (who committed suicide 11 years ago) that feeling happy isn't something you can get from the outside world, it needs to come from yourself, from within. You can’t love someone else without loving yourself...A cliché, but true. Then again, a fight which some just won’t win. 
Obviously, speculating about his reasons to take his own life by using 'Dr. Phil' psychology just doesn’t cut it. We’ll never know his true feelings or reasons. Maybe only by reading his lyrics, which we’ll all look at in a different perspective from now on. ​And maybe his last tweet was a final cry out…

Coincidentally (well, I don’t believe in coincidences...), this morning, my sister-in-law texted me as I was writing this blog and asked if my husband had told our kids how their brother committed suicide. As my niece had told her that morning that my daughter once told my niece that my brother-in-law jumped in front of a train. And yes, we’ve told our kids how he died, as the truth will come out eventually. They’d better hear it from us than from someone else…And that just made me think about how Chris’ wife Vicky told her kids about how their dad had passed away…That’s probably the most heart-breaking part. How can someone be so depressed and leave three kids behind…Life really sucks sometimes…
And I’m sure a lot of people can relate to this...
I'll have to pull myself together again, as my life goes on, taking care of my family and doing things in life that I enjoy like expressing my feelings about music and culture through this blog. And hopefully, the rest of the fans can do the same thing, as life is worth living for! And may music keep us united!
Amen.

R.I.P. Chris Cornell 
​

P.s.: Below you’ll find some pics that I’ve added to make sure these memories won’t be forgotten: a compelling story of Eddie, Chris and the ‘uke’, a beautiful painting of Chris, painted by a Pearl Jam fan in trying to process his feelings and who inspired me to process my own feelings by writing this blog. Unfortunately, my whish to see Eddie and Chris perform 'Hunger Strike' live, won't come true anymore. However, this evening someone posted his director's cut of Temple of the Dog Alpine Valley video footage of PJ20, see below as well (many thanks!).

​In addition, I’ve included some pictures of his last solo tour in Australia which I attended in October 2007 (at the time I was living in Australia). Still a vivid memory. Unfortunately, not my own pictures. However, these pictures exactly captured Chris how I remember him standing upclose (many thanks to Faster Louder for archiving these pictures).
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Het Drukkerij Museum in Etten-Leur: Best kept secret!

27/3/2017

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Soms zoek je iets gewoon te ver van huis. Als je aan musea denkt, denk je snel aan de grote steden zoals Amsterdam, Rotterdam of Den Haag. En dan blijkt er in je eigen woonplaats een heel mooi museum te zijn, op maar 5 minuutjes rijden!

Met de klas van mijn oudste dochter (8 jaar) gingen we op excursie naar het Drukkerij Museum in Etten-Leur dat er al 40 jaar schijnt te zitten in een oude boerderij en inmiddels omringd is door een woonwijk. 
​Bij binnenkomst werden we ontvangen door Kees. Kees vroeg of de kinderen een brief hadden ontvangen van Dirk den Drukker (die al 40 jaar in de drukkerij werkt!). Iedereen riep volmondig ‘ja’. En of ze Dirk wilden roepen want die lag nog te slapen. Na luid geschreeuw kwam Dirk er eindelijk sloffend aan. Hij vertelde dat hij een typemachine had verstopt die ze mochten gaan zoeken. 
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En zo geschiedde het. Iedereen liep kriskras door het museum langs alle oude drukmachines, ook boven naar zolder waar ze de typemachine eindelijk vonden. 
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​Vervolgens liet Dirk een hele mooie kist met oude schrijf- en drukspullen zien waarmee hij de geschiedenis van het schrijven uitlegde. Van de veer en de vulpen tot aan de houtstempels en de grote drukmachines.
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Verder mochten ze hun eigen boekje knutselen, met diverse stempels, stiften en zette ze deze zelf in elkaar met een hele oude grote nietmachine. 
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Dirk liet nog zien hoe je met een drukmachine van bijna 200 jaar een afdruk kan maken. Met de zogenaamde ‘bengel’ perste hij de inkt op het papier. De afdruk kreeg de juf mee als aandenken om in de klas op te hangen. Hij vertelde dat ze vroeger wel 60 afdrukken per uur maakte. Daar waren sterke armen voor nodig en hoefde ze nooit naar de sportschool!
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Met een andere kleinere drukmachine drukte de kinderen hun eigen boeklegger. En liet Kees zien dat als je met speciale witte poeder over de inkt veegt, de inkt snel droogt en niet per ongeluk uitveegt. Nadat de boekjes af waren en de kinderen nog lekker buiten hadden gespeeld, was het tijd voor de laatste verrassing. 
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Dirk en Kees stonden bij de grootste drukmachine van het museum en ze daagden de kinderen uit om harder boven het geluid van de machine uit te komen, want ‘dat was nog geen één klas gelukt.’ De machine ging aan en de hele klas gilde het oorverdovend uit. En ja hoor, ze hadden gewonnen! De juf en kinderen bedankten Kees en Dirk met de ‘GOED ZO’ yell dat het einde inluidde van deze interessante, zeer vermakelijke en interactieve excursie.
​Dit prachtige museum is echt een aanrader, zeker omdat vanaf april 2017 op de zolder een hele mooie tentoonstelling gehouden wordt van Fiep Wiestendorp met al zijn tekeningen en de oude boekjes en merchandise van Jip en Janneke. Dus absoluut een bezoekje waard!
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Ondertussen in Casablanca...Gaat dat zien!

8/2/2017

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‘Waarom heb je me niet terug geappt, eikel?!!!,’ riep de kleedster van het toneelstuk vanuit de kleedkamer nadat een acteur - en klaarblijkelijk haar lover- haar had laten schrikken met een masker op. Dit kwam zo uit haar tenen, vol woede, zo echt en zo onverwachts uit de hoek. Ik weet niet of de rest van het publiek dit ook hoorde of in de gaten had, maar dit ene kleine gewone zinnetje typeerde voor mij precies waar voor mij theater (en cultuur) in het algemeen voor mij om draait: EMOTIE. 
Daar waar de gerenommeerde acteur en ‘actreutel’ juist in deze theatervoorstelling werden geïnterviewd over 'wat toneel is', en met hun beste bedoelingen en hoop theatraal geweld daar veelal cynische en te doordachte reacties op gaven, gebeurde het ‘gewoon’ op het toneel. ​
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In een andere scene speelde de kleedster daarna een jonge vrouw die de wereld wilde verbeteren, haar stoute schoenen had aangetrokken en naar Afrika was vertrokken om verkrachte vrouwen te helpen. ‘Die ogen, die ogen…,’ zei ze tegen een jongen naast haar op het vliegveld (want ze ging met hangende pootjes weer terug naar huis). Al huilend zei ze: ‘Ik wil alleen maar een boterham met hagelslag…’ Weer zo’n ‘normaal’ zinnetje waar je zoveel uit kon halen, waar zoveel betekenis in zat en waar iedereen eigenlijk om moest lachen. Daar draait voor mij theater om, het gewone uit zijn verband trekken, een andere kijk op de wereld geven, het publiek echt laten voelen, of het nou een lach of een traan is, liefde of haat.
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​In deze theatervoorstelling waarin de grote hamvraag ‘Wat is toneel?’ aan de kaak gesteld wordt, en waarin ondertussen alle grote wereldproblemen ‘achter de deuren’ van de kleedkamer verschijnen, is de tegenstelling enorm en soms erg confronterend. Waar drie doorgewinterde acteurs (dat zijn ze ook in het echt) het opboxen tegen jonge mensen (in het echt toneelschoolleerlingen) die ondertussen de echte wereld laten zien in al zijn tegenstrijdigheden. 
Waarin verwende jongens staan te golfen op de driving range die geïrriteerd raken door de vluchtelingen die over het hek daarachter klimmen. De interviewster die aan één stuk door aan namedropping doet van bekende toneelstukken, acteurs en regisseurs zoals Peter Brook, Heiner Müller en Gerardjan Rijnders, van Clarice van Houten tot aan Willem Nijholt die op de poster aan de muur van de ‘kleedkamer’ van de Stadschouwburg staat. Van succesvolle toneelvoorstellingen zoals de Oresteia tot aan Don Quichot en toneelschrijvers als Tsjechov en Shakespeare. En ja, ik heb ze allemaal gezien, het was een complete déjà vu voor mij als ex-theaterwetenschapper en een spoedcursus theater voor het publiek. 
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Eén groot feest van herkenning. Zelfs mijn oude studiegenoot van Theaterwetenschappen Simon van den Berg werd aangehaald (al lange tijd toneelrecensent van o.a. Het Parool, ooit oprichter van Moose en tegenwoordig ook hoofdredacteur van de Theatermaker), die volgens de interviewster grote theorieën had gehad over ‘waarom deze acteur zo vaak met zijn rug naar het publiek speelde’. Dit soort analyses had Simon ook al lang en breed klaar direct na iedere voorstelling die ik samen met hem zag, alweer ruim 20 jaar geleden…
Het is niet voor niets dat hij het zo ver geschopt heeft in theaterland. Hij kon toen al precies aangeven waarom even plat gezegd alles goed of fout was gegaan in een voorstelling en waarom. Wat zijn de tekens (zoals licht, geluid, decor, de acteurs etc.)? Hoe verhouden zich die tot elkaar? Zit er een ‘zak’ in de voorstelling? Klopt de rode draad wel door de voorstelling heen, oftewel zit het ‘dramaturgisch’ gezien goed in elkaar? Dat leerde ik ook zo bij Theaterwetenschappen.
 
​Maar waar theater echt voor mij om draait kwam maar weinig aan de orde bij deze studie. Ondanks dat alle leraren wel een grote passie voor theater hadden. Ik kon niet meer zonder echt alles te analyseren naar theatervoorstellingen kijken, en mijn liefde voor theater ebde langzaam weg. Ik vond het verschrikkelijk dat ik zonder gevoel naar theater keek.
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Ergens tijdens mijn studie theaterwetenschappen heb ik toen ook rigoureus besloten om een jaar lang bijna geen voorstellingen te zien…Ik wilde mijn gevoel en eerste emoties bij een voorstelling weer terugkrijgen. Bij de eerste voorstelling die ik daarna weer zag, had ik me nu eens niet uitgebreid ingelezen - zoals een echte Theaterwetenschapper dat betaamde - en liet ik de voorstelling gewoon op me af komen. Het was volgens mij een voorstelling van Alex D’Electrique waar ik groot fan van was met de vervreemdende stijl die mij enorm aantrok. Met Ko van den Bosch als geniale absurdistische acteur en Raymonde de Kuyper die ik laatst nog in een prachtige maar ook zeer cynische voorstelling zag over ‘haar laatste avond als actrice’.
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Het lijkt wel of de gerenommeerde acteurs ‘theatermoe’ zijn geworden en daar nu hun frustratie over willen uiten. Ze willen ook alles weer ‘voelen,’ en niet ‘spelen’, ook één van de boodschappen uit ‘Ondertussen in Casablanca’. Acteermethodes zoals van Stanislavski passeerden de revue in het interview met de acteurs, nieuwe methodes werden bekritiseerd en jonge acteurs zouden niet eens de standaard toneeltechnieken onder knie hebben. 
Dat ze hun ‘cues’ van wanneer ze moeten opkomen bijvoorbeeld niet serieus nemen etc. En op de achtergrond voltrok zich tegelijkertijd weer een werelddrama, juist verbeeld door die jonge acteurs.
​​Al met al een knap stukje theater maken, vol ironie, tegenstrijdigheden en ook gewoon nog eens een hele vermakelijke voorstelling met mooie theatrale beelden en hilarische scenes. Metatheater in het kwadraat! Om er maar weer eens wat vakjargon in te gooien…
​Zelf was ik helemaal hyper na deze voorstelling omdat al mijn theaterwetenschappenfrustraties eindelijk erkend werden, dat de theaterwereld het ook even niet meer weet, en dat we weer terug moeten naar het ‘gevoel’ en wat voor verschrikkelijke dingen er in de wereld aan de hand zijn die aandacht verdienen.

​Laatst appte een vriendin van mij die naar de Cultuurnacht in Breda was geweest en daar een voorstelling van een Syrische jongen had gezien. Ze moest het gewoon even kwijt, die voorstelling had zoveel indruk op haar gemaakt: ‘Deze jongen wilde met deze voorstelling alleen maar laten weten dat hij gewoon het liefst terug gaat naar zijn eigen land…’ Tranen in mijn ogen, zelfs als ik dit typ. Dat zoiets zelfs via een appje kan resoneren, dat is waar toneel voor mij over gaat! Wat had ik die voorstelling graag gezien.
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Ondertussen BIJ MIJ OP DE BANK THUIS, zappte ik nog even langs Nederland 1, 2 en 3 om weer tot rust te komen en viel ik binnen bij de herhaling van De Wereld Draait Door met de laatste vraag van Matthijs aan Cornald Maas, ‘Mensen die TV kijken, en denken ‘ik ga weer eens naar theater, verdomd het is ook van belang, naar welk stuk moeten zij, tussen nu en wat zullen we zeggen mei gaan, waar kijk jij naar uit Cornald…?’ Nadenkend zei Cornald: ‘Er zijn er wel tientallen… even kijken welke zal ik eens noemen…Ga dan bijvoorbeeld eens naar ‘Ondertussen in Casablanca’…Toeval bestaat niet! 
Uiteindelijk heb ik de herhaling van dit interview teruggezien en bleek het te gaan over een nieuw tv-programma van Cornald Maas ‘Volle Zalen’ waarin hij voorstellingen van A tot Z, dus van eerste repetitie tot aan de première volgt en in beeld brengt en waarin hij dicht op de huid van de acteurs en de musici zit, zo ook bij Ondertussen in Casablanca.
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Op de vraag van Matthijs waarom mensen weer naar theater moeten gaan, antwoordt Cornald: ‘Ik vind het heerlijk om het theater in een staat van verwarring te verlaten na een voorstelling en de spanning tussen het publiek en de acteurs en wat dat teweegbrengt te voelen. Dat heb je niet met een film of als je naar een kunstwerk kijkt. Je komt er dan meer voldaan uit’. Ik vond dat erg mooi omschreven van hem.

Of zoals actrice Anne Rietmeijer (de kleedster/jonge vrouw uit de voorstelling) het verwoordde in ‘Volle Zalen’: ‘Toneel kan verbindend werken tussen mensen en dat is denk ik misschien wel wat we juist op dit moment missen.’ Want de platte definitie van theater zoals ik het ooit geleerd heb bij Theaterwetenschappen is simpel gezegd: theater bestaat alleen als er publiek naar kijkt. Oftewel zonder publiek geen theater. 
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En dat is precies waar ik jarenlang voor streed, om meer publiek naar het theater te krijgen. Met bijvoorbeeld een Studentenabonnement (later omgedoopt door ACTPACT, alliantie van vlakkevloertheaters in Amsterdam), en als zakelijk leider van jongerentheatergroep ROTJONG, en toen ik promotie maakte voor de niet bekende acteurs en kleinere voorstellingen zoals in de [NES]theaters - tegenwoordig alleen nog Frascati, waar experimenteel theater niet geschuwd wordt. En waar zulke mooie voorstellingen ontstonden en nog steeds ontstaan die echt de moeite waard zijn voor een veel groter en breder publiek. Daar zou ik me ondertussen wel weer hard voor willen maken, na jarenlang in het bedrijfsleven gezeten te hebben en menig product of dienst te hebben gepromoot.
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​Maar dan wel theater toegankelijker maken door bijvoorbeeld eenvoudigere en wat meer aansprekende teksten in de programmaboekjes te plaatsen, niet alleen maar artistiek gezever over ‘de zoektocht naar... en blablabla’. Zoals een kennis van mij (een regelmatige theaterbezoeker overigens) zelfs over de tekst over de inhoud van Ondertussen in Casablanca zei: ‘Ik begreep echt niet waar die tekst over ging.’..
Ik bied me dan nu ook vrijwillig aan om dit soort teksten te herschrijven naar een tekst waarmee je ook de jongeren en de gewone man aanspreekt en ze juist kunt enthousiasmeren voor theater, ver weg van ‘hautaine’ taal. Zoals voor Ondertussen in Casablanca, een theatervoorstelling waarin de kloof tussen oudere en jongere theatermakers juist verbeeld wordt en waarbij de jongeren een nieuwe frisse blik geven op de wereld, op hun eigen en eigenzinnige manier. ​Ideaal voor een groot en breed publiek! En niet alleen voor de grijze witte massa die in het Chassétheater zat.
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En dat we theater weer aan de man brengen, zeker in deze onrustige tijden waarin cultuur en theater weer een vorm van overleven is geworden na alle hoogtijdagen. Meer publiek betekent ook de garantie voor het voortbestaan van theater, of zoals Cornald Maas in zijn interview met de Volkskrant van afgelopen zaterdag zegt: ‘Theater moet als kunstvorm gehonoreerd worden.’ I rest my case…
Voordat ik aan dit verslag begon, dacht ik dat het een blog zou worden over deze prachtige voorstelling en over mijn oude frustraties over Theaterwetenschappen. Maar wat er nu uitgerold is, is nog veel mooier, het is eerder een ode aan theater en een oproep aan iedereen om theater weer nieuw leven in te blazen, met jonger publiek!

Komt dat zien!

Ondertussen in Casablanca, 2 februari 2017, Chassétheater Breda

Oh en nog een tip: vraag me nooit direct na een voorstelling wat ik ervan vond…
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P.s.: Met dank aan fotograaf Kurt van der Elst en het Nationale Toneel  voor de mooie foto’s die ik graag zelf had willen maken tijdens de voorstelling om de scenes voor eeuwig vast te leggen. Behalve dan het mooie eindbeeld dat ik na de staande ovatie even snel en voor mijn gevoel ‘stiekem’ geschoten had…
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Het Zwanenmeer - 3 generaties genoten!

10/1/2017

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‘Wouw, wat mooi!’ Was de eerste reactie van mijn jongste dochter (5,5 jaar). Nog voordat de gordijnen helemaal geopend waren en ze de balletdanseressen al op het podium zag staan in het overweldigende decor. Even later zei ze verbaast: ‘Ik kan mijn eigen ogen niet geloven!’ Ik genoot met volle teugen van haar primaire reacties. Zo ook de man naast mij. Geïntrigeerd door het oprechte enthousiasme van zo’n klein meisje. En zo ging het eigenlijk de hele voorstelling. ‘Hé, er dansen ook jongens! Ja, jongens kunnen natuurlijk ook balletten, he mama?’ 
Eindelijk was mijn eigen droom waarheid geworden. Ik wist ineens waarom ik nooit eerder naar Het Zwanenmeer was gegaan. Het heeft zo moeten zijn dat ik dit samen met mijn 2 dochters en mijn moeder mocht beleven. En ook nog eens op de 8e verjaardag van mijn oudste dochter. 3 generaties op een rij die allemaal op hun eigen manier genoten van deze prachtige tijdloze balletvoorstelling. Jaar in jaar uit traditioneel uitgevoerd met Russische discipline door het Ballet van de Staatsopera van Tatarstan uit Kazan. 
Marius Petipa (1810-1910) is de grondlegger van de Frans Russische balletstijl en wordt gezien als de enige choreagraaf van Het Zwanenmeer. En dat terwijl de wereldberoemde zwaanscenes door zijn leerling Lev Ivanov gechoreografeerd waren die zijn tijd ver vooruit was door drama en emotie aan de dans toe te voegen (bron: programmaboekje Het Zwanenmeer).

Het samenspel van de melodieuze en bombastische muziek van Tsjaikovski met de uitmuntende techniek en bezieling van de balletdansers vormt een lust voor het oog en oor. De bekende melodie die iedere keer weer terugkeert in de voorstelling bleef ook nog lang nagalmen in onze hoofden: 
Op de vraag aan mijn oudste dochter: ‘En wat vond jij ervan?’ zei ze: ‘Alles was mooi! Maar het liefst zou ik zelf in een tutu op het podium staan...’

Hieronder nog de enige foto die ik kon maken tijdens het applaus en een aantal interessante links die ik gevonden heb op Youtube. Een trailer over de balletvoorstelling zelf en een documentaire over het ontstaan van de Staatsopera van Tatarstan.

7 januari 2017, Zuiderstrandtheater in Den Haag
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