MJ
(Sorry to further overload you with this topic which has already been beaten to death like an angora baby seal.)

Perhaps due to my recent carnival experience where I went as Michael Jackson (above), several people left messages of condolences for me after hearing the news. Now, I have never been a fan per-see, as I wrote in February (including that short clip of me dancing in the street), although I have always recognised and tried to promote his awesomeness, and I count myself lucky to be just old enough to remember him as the incredible superstar that he was.

At first, I didn't know what to think. I have always said that he was dead to me after 1993 at the latest, probably earlier. But upon hearing the news, I sat down and watched some CNN reports on the news just after midnight. Then, I put on my black jacket, found my costume hat, and went downstairs to where the neighbours were drinking around a fire. (They are always there) So, there we were, drinking, laughing, reminiscing about MJ, but mostly laughing and drinking, until 4am. I hadn't been planning on drinking at all. At one stage, we heard a classic MJ number playing a few apartments further down. We went along and shared the love. Remember, I was kind of impersonating MJ at the time, which fooled them into thinking I was a hardcore fan. That led to me getting the honour to say a toast, which was something like this:

"Dear God, by which I mean Michael, may you one day dance on our graves like we would like to dance on yours."

It seemed so appropriate, in line with the disturbing and complicated relationship between reverence and ridicule of such a legend. I still don't know what to think, but it surely does put it everything into perspective. No, I'm not talking about the preciousness of life, but the preciousness of good music. The next day, the first of the post-MJ-era, the music channel had devoted the entire day to him. I watched so much, until I actually felt sad. Why did we have to wait so long for this? Can we make this a yearly event? Ideally, MTV should just be a permanent cycle of his music. I mean, the only thing on the airwaves nowadays is generic, manufactured, chemically refined music, sung by shallow, generic, surgically altered, media-refined, attention-and conventional- whores. I am not remotely suggesting that MJ wasn't part of this, hell, he might have invented it. But his music and performance was genius, and hopefully now we can agree and move on.

This also signals a break for me with pop music. It is officially dead to me. Why bother with it anymore? And in this frame of mind, I am entering the just-started music festival season in Holland, to see bands who hopefully will never be shown on TV, at least during times when nudity is prohibited. I have forgotten my point here, but it might have something to do with nudity.

Groundation



One of the great advantages of living on the continent, is that other people do too. Dutch people ask me if I don't miss the "space" of New Zealand, but they forget the advantages of everything being so close.

For me, being in Holland is giving me an opportunity to do something I've never been able to do: go to concerts of artists and bands I really like. A few months ago, I wrote about going to a big reggae concert in Amsterdam, but overall, there has been few big names to come to Holland. I think that reggae artists are like hot girls wearing tube-tops: They come out when the weather gets nice. The first proverbial hot girl wearing a tube-top was Groundation. Now, they are not an incredibly famous band, but I will say it to anyone's face that they are 'the best reggae band in the world.

I am not exaggerating this. I have never exaggerated in my entire life, which is like 100 years, if not more. Almost three years ago, not long after I stumbled across them and fell in love, I listed them as the band I wanted to see the most. Of course, they would probably never come to Japan. A few weeks back, I saw they were coming to Europe. I was prepared to travel all the way to Brussels, Belgium of Luxembourg (Luxembourg) to see them, until I noticed that they were coming to Amsterdam. (Only 40 minutes train away.)

The reasons Groundation is 'The greatest reggae band in the world', in my correct opinion:

They are amazing musicians. Most of the band are individually accomplished Jazz musicians. Concerning reggae, They 'get it'. Look, I listen to a lot of reggae, and it has unfortunately largely become a genre of image. Groundation plays true Roots Reggae, almost continuing where Bob Marley left off, without resorting to imitation. Basically, what I mean is, they aren't preachy. They don't promote a tiny minority religion, or advocate a particular substance- unless that substance is music. The positive vibrations of music.

Reggae is a simple genre, but it is amazing when you hear great musicians play it well, with a purpose. Now was my chance to see them perform live.

I was stupid enough to not buy tickets in advance, thinking that they aren't so famous, and it's a concert on a Tuesday. When I arrived, the whole outside of the concert hall was packed on the streets. Uh oh. However, upon closer inspection, most of the crowd were wearing shaved heads and black t-shirts. This wasn't the reggae crowd, but for another concert in the same place. Still, the overall crowd was incredibly different to the previous reggae concert. As in, the average complexion was much much lighter. I remember at the Richie Spice concert dancing to his song "Brown Skin", and I astutely observed mostly black people on all sides of me. But today, it made me realise again that reggae isn't really so much of a black genre.

The reason for this sudden swing in ethnic ratio's, is probably because of what Groundation is.
i.e. predominantly white. The only black members of the band are two back-up servan... I mean, backup singers. The lead singer (on the right), looks more like an orthodox Jew, or like he drives a horse-drawn carriage every day and on weekends helps build barns with the rest of the village. Perhaps this is why Groundation isn't as well-known as they should be; they don't have street-cred. It is a shame, because as I said and will continue to say, they are 'the best reggae band in the world'.

The concert hall was "cozy", or as singer-songwriters like to call it: "intimate". There weren't any pre-acts, so didn't take long for them to come out- a 9 piece band, and they put on a great show. The band's keyboardist is simply amazing. Youths often use the word "sick" to describe incredibly displays of talent, but this guy was terminally ill, but don't you dare pull the plug. He was like a non-pedofile reggae/jazz version of Jerry Lee Lewis. Beside the normal drummer was a percussionist behind a drumset of bongo's. He was huge (he was introduced as 6 foot 3), and he played the most ridiculous drum solo I couldn't imagine.It was at least three minutes, and wasn't gratuitous or repetitive. The giant of a man must have destroyed his set... The horn section was tight. The tromboner [sic.] was great, and the trumpeter did his part, and occasionally swapped the trumpet for a marracca or a cowbell, which reminded me of this SNL skit. In advance, you're welcome. Remeber, you can never have too much cowbell.


Mostly though, the trademark of Groundation is the lead vocals. And he was as raspy as ever. Amazing. He occasionally spoke interludes praising not Jah, but music, "love and happyness, that's why we play music". Possibly no-one was happier than me, because possibly no-one can play music as well as them. Overall, you could tell they were pro musicians. Everyone played great solos throughout the concert, not just in the encore, revealing that Jazz influence, and how well it blends with the reggae vibe, building up so many layers to the simple reggae beat. I came to understand that for Groundation, reggae is only the vehicle for their musical talents and positive message, albeit a universal one that has long left the shores of Jamaica. I only wish that more people come to know and love them. I know I made one convert to Groundationism by bringing along friend.

They played quite a few well-known numbers, and new material, along with the obligatory encore for which they played an extended version of Bob Marley's Exodus. To me this was symbolic for the hope they will keep spreading their music further. (They could have played "Three Little Birds", since that is the song that is always played at closing time at bars in Holland to get everyone to leave...)

It was a great night for me, and since they were the only band, starting at 9pm, I liked the idea of going to a concert and being home in my bed just after midnight. However, I took the wrong train, and accidentally ended up in Utchecht. Luckily, Holland is such a tiny country, that it was only an 80 minute detour. It reminded me that so much can happen on such a small piece of earth, and I am lucky to be here.

Lelystad

For no particular reason, yesterday I checked out Lelystad. I knew nothing of it before, and as you will soon find out, that was no big loss.








Let's begin by reading a passage from my diary as I was looking out the side window of the train:

I have a feeling that all these towns are new satellite towns. Depressing apartment blocks, construction sites and pretentious trees. I'm beginning to think that maybe Lelystad doesn't have a museum. The roofs are all the same, the rows of trees separate the portions of different architecture. Small cars outside every house. Cranes. Grey skies, and those pretentious trees. They're trying to disguise what these town really are: living factories. They don't belong here, and neither do the people. Uprooted from any culture or convenience for the illusion that they are living richly, like they feel they are entitled to. For their own 40m2 with a window with a view of someone else's window with a view, and perhaps if they are lucky, they can look out upon those pretentious trees, that fail to soften the sharp edges of this depressing reality.
I was right. Lelystad is part of the post-war land reclaimation projects.

The town was established in 1967 and is 5 metres below sea level. I arrived at the brand new station. The glare, the edges hurt my eyes.
Even the artist's drawings have those damn pretentious trees.

Really, these towns just exist as cheap alternatives to living in real cities, where everyone commutes to every day. Part of the construction site of the station had children's art on it. I mean, these kids know. This painting is iconic in this regard. It is a circular train track, going nowhere in a tiny tiny loop. Lelystad: Where even kids get depressed!

I was however wrong about there not being any museums. Just a short 15 minute bus-ride from the station alongside the fake coast were a couple. It turns out, none that I really wanted to go to. However, the place was packed, full of people- even people speaking German and French. Tourists? Yes, this place has a very large outlet mall. I'd been to outlet malls in Japan, and honestly, noone does tack better that Japan, but this place seriously reminded me more of a theme park. Yeesh. This city could not get any more artificial.For big and tall men who still want to dress like douche-bags!

Two little girls, one little boy, and an eager beaver... Fail...


On the way home, between the Lelystad and the other identical towns, this was the scenery. Literally, it is a barren wasteland, brought up from the depths for no real good reason...
I don't know. Maybe Lelystad is a great place to live. Their website talks about it being a 'feat of engineering', but with all the magnificent, pretty and charming towns and cities in Holland, I feel that Lelystad is a defeat of humanity.