Moon About

No doubt I get into big trouble for posting this. June 11 at Extrapool Phil Milstein talks about Songpoems. This where people write a lyric and a band plays ad lib music to that. You could get in for free that night by handing a lyric. I was there with Elise, who didn't write anything when entering but then had an idea for a lyric. I wrote it down together with her name and lo and behold it was performed later that evening, of course with her name being part of the lyric. So I repost that song, about a cat, here
The complete concert by Moon About can be heard here

Corona Rewind

Corona Rewind is the name of my latest release. I have been back in contact with Mark Schomburg, to some better known as Abo, and also the person who released the second Kapotte Muziek 'Utilities' in 1991. Off and on he returns and now he's back releasing tapes on his labels Incubator and Petri Supply. One of his old, ongoing projects is Composcila, in which he send some recording of 'electrical plasma' to the oldest person to remix, which I believe was David Lee Myers. Then it went onto Jeph Jerman, AMK, Achim Wollscheid, me - or maybe in a different order, it has to do birthdays. I remember doing a remix of it by playing a four track tape on end, so the whole remix I did lasts over an hour. I no longer have a copy. But the four track tape I still have, so on queensday I went into my studio and did an impromptu mix of that, resulting in a pretty dense and noisy piece (actually three). Mark did a really nice cover and its available in an edition of 100 copies. No website, but write to Mark: I have no copies (yet) for sale.

A Curious Coincidence

I could bore you with some talk about how the concerts were in Rotterdam and Venlo (they were great actually, but also tiring, especially a long weekend in Venlo), but this is about something else. My father was born in Venlo and through a surviving brother of his, I found where he was born and which other street they lived. The first curious coincidence is that the B& B Roel and I were staying was on the same street as my father lived after moving from the street he was born. Sunday morning we spend driving to both addresses, and then went for a coffee at Roel's parents, who still are in nearby Velden. We talked a bit about my father and the fact he lived in Venlo and after a while, Roel's father asked me wether I knew 'a Jopie de Waard'. Obviously we referred to him as Joop de Waard, but I am aware in his childhood he was called Jopie. So I said he was my father and it turns out Roel's father and my father went to the same school in their childhood days. What wonders me, later on, is the fact that my father knew Roel Meelkop, but never mentioned he was in a class with Mat Meelkop - I am sure his memory didn't store that after all these years. Now we can no longer ask him.

Rotterdam & Venlo

Next week I'll be playing a solo concert in Rotterdam at Foundation Bad's Aether #4. Also playing is DJ Pedagog from the UK and the lovely Mariette Groot from the excellent Worm shop tells us about five records that matter. More info here
I'll be staying in Rotterdam so Roel and me can prepare some for our concert(s) in Venlo on the 19th and the 20th. Apparently we play as Zebra on Saturday night and sunday (afternoon?) solo's and a Kapotte Muziek concert. Maybe things are different. The location is De Romijnen. I don't know a website to tell you more about this....

One Other Unpaid Job

I was out this afternoon cycling. The weather is great, sunny but a bit windy, so my muscles hurt quite a bit. When I got back home the mail had arrived and brought me a copy of 'Transmission Nederlands', a compilation CD by Infrastation. It features The Dutch Cold Wave from 1980 to 1986 with tracks by Bazooka, Catastrophe Bizarre, Coitus Int, Das Wesen, Desert Corbusier, Ensemble Pittoresque, Flue, Mecano, Mekanik Kommando, Nasmak, Neon, Nexda, Pee Dee, Storung, The Gentry, The Visitor, Ton Lebbink and Vice. And 'liner notes' by me. I was in contact with the label when I bought their re-issue of Das Wesen and they asked me to write about this cold wave, which I did on various train journeys in the cold winter of 2010. This is the third release that has my liner notes of this year, and certainly one more to come. Its an unpaid job I like, especially when I can ramble about the old days. Its an excellent comp, great selection, of course its to be debated why these bands and not others, or why these tracks (why 'Stil Thuis' by Ton Lebbink and not his 'Voetbalknieen'). Anyway I recommend you all buy a copy! The liner notes are also on the labels website.