‘Dam tourist..

I spent one of my days off in Amsterdam doing the tourist thing..  hitting some of the more popular attractions in and around Centraal Station.  First we hit the Van Gogh Museum, which I had been to back in 2001 but has since acquired some new works, and which I really didn’t mind visiting again.  The museum is 4 floors and is relatively compact, with paintings and sculptures by other influential and relative artists of the time.  There are plenty of Van Gogh’s more visually familiar works (a few of his self-portraits, some from the sunflowers series, etc.) but the one that caught my eye was “Almond Blossom” from 1890.  Upon hearing news of his brother Theo and his wife having a baby, Van Gogh painted this one for his newborn nephew..

After the Van Gogh Museum we hit “Das Rembrandthaus”, the house that the famous Dutch painter and etcher Rembrandt lived in between 1639 and 1658.  Most of the rooms have been recreated to emulate what they were like back when he occupied and worked in the house, and there was a demonstration on how Rembrandt used copper plates and india ink (made from crushed, burned bones and oil mixed together) to produce his etchings.  This is the facade of the house..

I realized as I was looking at some of his original etchings, all of which demonstrate an amazing display of detail, that I had used one of his works as a pen and ink exercise in high school.  The work was called “Beggars at the Door of a House”, I’m sure I still have it somewhere too..

We also toured the Anne Frank House, where she and 7 other family members and friends hid in a secret annex from the Germans for 2 years from 1942-1944.  Similar to the Rembrandt House, most of the structures inside the rooms are original and intact, although Otto Frank, Anne’s Father and the only eventual survivor after their betrayal and discovery, requested that the house remain unfurnished after the Germans had removed everything.  Even though it was a recreation, it was incredible to see the “actual” moving bookcase that hid the stairs leading up to the secret annex..  and the quotes from Anne’s diary placed on the walls throughout the house were sobering.  It was a really interesting experience..

“The Shock Doctrine”

So I’m reading a fascinating and sometimes disturbing book right now by Naomi Klein called “The Shock Doctrine”. I am only a few chapters in, but so far it is an engrossing breakdown of the tactics used by corporations and governments to yield personal gain from public tragedy. In a nutshell, the book illustrates how these superpowers have utilized and implemented what the author terms “disaster capitalism”, which basically is the aggressive action taken on a “shocked” society in the wake of a large-scale disaster, whether man-made or natural, for corporate gain or government privatization (the lines between which continue to move toward non-existent). Here is Naomi Klein on “Countdown with Keith Olberman” talking about the book..

Werchter

So as I thought it would be, the TW Fest at Werchter on Saturday was fucking amazing.. Juanes played to a pretty large crowd early in the afternoon, and we were done and enjoying Stella Artois by around 5:00 (We didn’t do video for the festival, so we had a pretty easy day as it was). I think it was estimated that there were about 60,000 people there, here are a couple of views from the stage..

Iggy Pop and The Stooges rolled up around 4:30 in the afternoon, and then later took the stage around 7:00. Iggy walked right by me on his way to the dressing room and even though I bet he would have been really cool about it, I couldn’t bring myself to be that annoying guy with the camera asking for a pic (same thing happened with Sting later on in the evening..). I did however get to take some amazing photos of The Stooges in the press pit right from the edge of the stage, all of which I’ll post in an album soon. But here’s a few of the really good ones for now

Keep in mind too that the guy is 61 years old.. And he and The Stooges completely kicked ass. They opened with “Loose”, and played all the good shit, from “1969″ to “No Fun” (which started a good ol’ fashioned crowd bum rush and even a bunch of people who got up on stage and danced around) to “I Wanna Be Your Dog”. Whole bunch of pics to come.

The Police, one of my all-time favorites, took the stage around 9:00. I didn’t have the opportunity to take close-up photos due to their strict photo policy, but got a few quick ones..

An incredible concert with some legends who still put on a great show, more than 30 years later..

Leuven

The show in Cologne was great, we played at a relatively small venue.. about 4,000 people. It was a much more intimate gig compared to some of the larger arenas we are usually in. The place actually reminded me of the Electric Factory in Philly..

It rained all day yesterday in Leuven, Belgium.. Not the kind that just sort of blows through, but the stubborn, steady kind that slowly soaks you to the bone. We still walked around the local area and took a train into downtown Brussels, which was amazing despite the wet conditions. Huge, ornate gothic cathedrals, museums, cobblestone streets and alleyways, statues, corner cafés, Belgian ale houses, and, of course, waffle vendors..

On the way to the train station, we discovered that our hotel was right across the street from the Stella Artois brewery.

Stella is one of my favorites but sadly we didn’t make it, as we were on a mission to get down to Brussels. We will be sure to make up for it in Amsterdam and visit the Heineken brewery..

The Grand Place was spectacular, lots to see there. This is the Town Hall, completed in the 15th century..

More pics to come.

Cologne

It’s a rainy day in Cologne, Germany.. which is unfortunate because it looks like a really nice place to explore. Apparently this is what it looks like on a nice day (thanks, google image search)..

Of course, I have no idea where this place is in relation to where we are.. So i guess it’s OK that it’s a crappy day. We have the show tonight and then travel about 4 hours to Werchter, Belgium..

Day off tomorrow and then on Saturday we play the “TW Classic” gig with (holy shit) Iggy and The Stooges and The Police..

um. what?!?!?

classic..

One of my favorite tunes, covered brilliantly..

Radiohead – “Ceremony”

travel update

So I am currently on tour with a Latin musician called Juanes, doing live video and VJ-related things for his concerts. I worked with him in 2005 for the Mi Sangre Tour, and am back out with him again this year for the La Vida World Tour. We started in March and did a little over 2 months in the US, but have recently embarked on a two month European leg, which will have covered 10 countries in Western Europe. We kicked it off with a show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, to a crowd of about 4,000. Here’s the theatre, pre-show..

After London we went to Berlin, my first visit to Germany. We played the Citadel Music Fest, which also features performances from Rage Against The Machine, Queens of the Stone Age, and a bunch of other great acts (all on other nights, unfortunately).. Would have loved to have seen Rage! Had an excellent time anyway though.. I met up with my friend Dawn who took us out for BBQ on the river and then to see what’s left of the Berlin Wall. Oh and she also brought me cupcakes from her shop. I call this one “Berlin Wall w/ Cupcakes”..

We are in the German city of Cologne right now, it smells very nice here.. :-/

More to come.

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*whew*

Well that wasn’t so hard. I’ve been meaning to start a proper blog for a while now, finally got around to it. Now the only trick is keeping it updated so that it’s worth coming back..