Trike Euro Log: Amsterdam and Tiel

Amsterdam:

Our first A'dam gig, EVER! (well, except for the time we played the open mic at The Waterhole and the host asked us to play "Let's Jog" twice)

Cafe Bax. It was a small bar in the heart of A'dam. I really wanted us to play in Amsterdam, so I persisted, until I found Bax on the site of another band, contacted them, and ... voila.

Mirco, the booker, plays music himself and wrote me awhile ago, asking if we could cover his tune "Kijken kijken niks kopen" (Looking, looking not buying). I worked on it a bit in Vancouver, with Zaaack, but when I got together with Xania in Haarlem to try my hand at it, I realized the dutch pronounciation was way too thick and difficult, without enough time to rehearse the song with Xboxx before Amsterdam.

It took a few songs to win people over, but in the end, I think we had a few new fans. One blond woman from Groningen with big sad eyes and an 11 year old girl kept shaking booty to our tunes. We wanted to do Johnny B. Goode, but Xboxx' digital toy guitar wasn't working. Maarten Steenhagen, a handsome sideburned fellow who specializes in aesthetics and philosophy, and whom I used to study with at AKI (and who has worn the same smart black outfit since the day I met him - his cupboards are full of similar suits. no colour, all black with some white and gray, just to shake things up).

When we went jogging (To "Let's Jog"), we went to the end of the block, with Maarten in front of us, filming with his digital camera. We ran back and jogged on Bax' patio tables. The blond woman ran out with the bespectacled girl on her shoulders along with a few others who were dancing and jogging.

We sold a few CDs. I have been concerned about my insomnia/ jet lag, so I've been trying to cut back on boozing my face off, so I had one G and T, a small plate of bitterballen and lots of apple juice. Eventually we drove back to Haarlem, almost getting into a car accident (Ineke was exhausted so she drove into oncoming traffic (gulp!). Slightly terrifying.

Tiel:

Jam Inn. What a blast! We played at Hanneke (the owner)'s birthday on October 6 and had such a fun time that we booked another show four months and two . Hanneke, the booker, is a smiley, blond woman who has a cute little black pug that snorts constantly. She's so in love with him that she has a mural of him on the wall opposite the venue, a painting of him upstairs, and photos of him absolutely everywhere.

Tiel is EXACTLY in the center of Holland: about 45,000 people (VERY small in dutch standards). Hanneke had pumped us like crazy to her patrons so the small place was packed! Everyone was crazy, smiling, dancing... it was a blast. So so receptive. Oh sure, people were chatty at times, but that's dutch audiences for you. We bossed them around, telling them to shut up when Xania was about to tell one of her horrible jokes: "Hou je bec!" (Shut up!) I yelled. One girl responded "You tell them!". They did.

It felt like home. It was like the last show we played there, but way more packed. People who were there last time yelled out things like "Jog!" and "Hey, I wanna get spanked!" so we did both: spanked and jogged. We also played "Kaplow!", which is a song I really like to play that we rarely play, but have been yanking out more often on this tour... so far, anyways. That, and "Jacq", which we also rarely play.

Let's Jog: We jogged into a restaurant down the block. Unlike the Sheesha place in Berlin, where they shoved us out the door and blocked us from jogging inside, the waiter stood to the side, smiling as we jogged and hooted and hollered as the table of 10 strangers stared at us, mouths agape. "Eet smakelijk!" ("enjoy your meal") I yelled and we busted out of there.

I threw foamy cushions into the audience. The dutch gangster was there, smiling away. Him and I chatted about dutch/ moroccan hip hop and racism. I danced like crazy in my gaudy outfit and chatted with beautiful people; like this blond surfer guy who was very drunk and slightly insane and said we could play at the squat where he lives in the center of Tiel. I chatted with his lovely girlfriend for awhile too...

I had about 6 G and Ts. Of course, my sleep was terrible that night, but so it goes. The next day (yesterday) I bought Melatonine, and slept relatively well, in Zwolle, which is where Alex van de Meer (Trike's third wheel... the invisible trike) lives, teaches kids animation and makes his wacky songs and videos. We're here to record harmonica for "Urban Grey" for our album, which is due out on March 14th!!!