Amsterdamn!

High 5 Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:37:00 +0000

"High 5 Friday" is a whole day, each and every week of the year, dedicated to unity, peace and belonging, symbolised and realised by the graceful act of the high 5. It brings people together regardless of race, orientation or creed and strengthens this global bond each and every one of us shares.

Did you know it is scientifically proven that a healthy well executed high 5 lowers stress levels, and releases endorphins, giving the "5er's" a mild euphoric buzz...?

On top of all these things, "High 5 Friday" is also a running joke between some mates from work. The High 5 Friday Committee was formed one thursday morning over a lengthy 3 way MSN conversation between Caleb (aka the brains), Toby (aka the face) and myself (aka the muscle). The joke became extra funny when we decided we were going to put posters all around the building presenting the special day. Funnier still when we "pitched" the "concept" to our boss (which we thought it best to do, to avoid the potential repercussions of being accused of wasting company time)... Especially funny when the boss in turn (against better judgment) took the idea to upper management... And hilarious when management actually believed we were serious and agreed it was a good team building thing, high 5-ing your colleagues, introducing yourself and all that...!

All of a sudden it was a go ahead, and "High 5 Friday as born! I was even given AN HOUR off regular work in order to design the posters using microsoft word and then put them up!

About 2 months in, still going strong.

Friday's now regularly involve lots of high 5ing, which is pretty awesome. But as a bit of an unexpected side note, through "High 5 Friday", I have actually met some new friends, united the globe a little more, and released some banked up endorphins.

So I invite you all to come together, shout out "up top", and high 5 everyone you can this and every "High 5 Friday"!

Honest Workin'

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:52:00 +0000

A few little jobs I have done lately for some friends. Not necessarily what I would call high paying jobs, but my mates from Malthus (a heavy metal band) who I originally met through work HAVE given me a band t-shirt... aaand the girls who work at Moriaan (my friends Sanne and Kaja) DID cook me an awesome meal...

At the end of the day all we need is clothes on our back and food in our belly, and the rest is a bonus! So being able to help out a bunch of friends also husslin', all the while being fed, styled and entertained, is what I consider a good days working.

Thoughts...

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:37:00 +0000

I have been pretty slack at updating. I have been busy as usual, just not really doing anything that much out of the ordinary, thus not really warranting a new post. I could write up the news that I have been busy having a great time spending quality time with friends, listening to or making new music, designing a little more again lately, and getting distracted with socialising more than is probably medically advised...

The one thing that has happened a bit more than usual lately is the amount of direct (phone and instant message) contact I have had with family back home.

Which is great!

...I just wish it wasn't so directly related to illness and hospitalisation.

Most of you know what I'm talking about, and I want to make it 'official' (as far as putting thoughts on the internet are) that my most positive thoughts for a speedy recovery and my well wishes are with you all.

Times like this really 'hit home'* the fact that I AM just about as far away from Australia as you can be... And being this far away makes me realise a little more that I need to reiterate the fact that I love you all** and that those few words are pretty important within the family, so make sure you all say them to each other when you feel even the slightest urge to.

*Is that a metaphor, or simile, or irony, or what? Wordy people, little help? Dad? Ryan..?
** Wow, what an emo*** post....!
*** emotional...

Support the underground, how bout a free CD?!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:48:00 +0000

Same deal as below...

(yes foz, I know that is a sole line in a post about sage, b. dolan, cadence weapon and zucchini drive...)

When in Rome...

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:31:00 +0000

Ryan And Chiara got Married, in Rome, and I got to go. It was beautiful – all the love, the great company, and the amazing location!

Ben, Judith and I headed down on the Saturday, the wedding was on Sunday, and we came back on Monday… A whirlwind trip for sure, but we covered a lot of ground in those few days. The flights were in and out of Eindhoven, so there’s an hour and a half extra travel time… but the flights were cheapest from there, AND we flew with Ryan air, which was appropriate for the subject of the trip. I have a fairly average opinion of this airline (see Dublin story), but there were no dramas this time round.

We got in and made our way to our apartment in central Rome – about a 2 min stroll from the Pantheon, settled for a bit, then made our way out to meet some more friends for a late dinner (pizza and pasta – surprise!), and then headed across town to go to an alternative club that Alan (the other guy we were staying with) knew of through some of his friends living in Rome… It was pretty cool, a big outdoor setting with hundreds of punky, gothic and indy rock types. And cocktails. Lots of cocktails… We hung out and had a good ol’ time until about 3:30 or so when we thought we’d better be sensible and make our way back to the apartment... But how? In a taxi? No service at that time on that side of town… In a bus? No stops near where we were… hmm… Good time to start walking. Shit. About an hour and a half of walking later, and once we’d come to terms with our situation It actually turned out to be quite pleasant seeing the outskirts of Rome, and in hindsight, probably just the thing we needed to sober up enough to get moving and make our way to the wedding ceremony. The walk included getting an amazing view of the Colosseum at 5 in the morning unhindered by any other tourists, or any people at all, and a lot of beautiful streets without cars or people. Got some amazing photos.

So, after about 2 hours sleep we rose to get ready and make our way to the wedding ceremony. Against all odds, we made it with time to spare. Ryan and Chiara got married in a civil ceremony (non religious), which meant the whole thing was actually fairly low key, and was over within about 30 mins. The actual “marriage” part of this wedding was fairly plain compared to the rest of this weekend!

After the ceremony, we were all bundled up in to “hatchback sized teams” and driven out to the reception (via a Ben suggested, well needed espresso pit stop). We drove about an hour or so out of the city, into winery country, to (what I think was) a day-spa or sort of bed and breakfast retreat. The nearest town was called Orte’, and it was one of those amazing walled in cities up on top of a hill – I really wish I had some photos of it.

The reception was perfect, hassle free, delicious and relaxing. SO MUCH FOOD! I’m sure you have heard the stereotype of food an Italian wedding, and yep, its pretty much true. I had one of my “holy heck life don’t get no better” moments while looking over this huge valley as a train rolled by, while eating Italian handmade pasta with truffle sauce!

The bride and groom were in great spirits, stress free and just going with it, as were their families. The organisation must have been a huge stress beforehand, cause it all came together so easily and flawlessly on the day.
The day was nice and slow, and as the champagne and wine started to go down easier, the pace picked up, building to an epic climax on the dancefloor (or in this case, dancelawn). But again, the ‘official’ stuff was paled in comparison to the Ryan/Chiara twist on events. The bridal waltz was stock standard, but the dance with the parents was something else, with a nice smooth track all of a sudden (much to Ma and Pa’s confusion and amusement) breaking in to a techno beat! Well played on everyone’s part. And one of the big highlights was Ryan and Ben opening up a dance circle and ‘tearing up the floor, old-skool’! This is definitely one of those moments where you had to be there, but be assured, it was epic!

The only potential hiccup of the day’s was that after everyone had left there was still about 15 of us left, mostly the Canadian visitors, or the Amsterdam/Brussels connection, kind of stranded at the reception, and with the nearest train station being in Orte’, about 15 mins drive away. But the extended Italian family came through, dropping us in to the station, and this is where “The Team” was born!

“The Team” was definitely the biggest thing to hit Orte’ and the otherwise quiet and sleepy station and following train ride was rocked by a powerforce of veritable comedy genius and general awesomeness. Riding in a pitch black train carriage with all the window’s open and sharing beers and laughs with these new friends is certainly something I’m hoping I won’t forget in a hurry.
Back in Rome, and again with only a few hours of sleep ahead before the next deadline of getting to the airport in the mid morning, we retired, well exhausted but very happy. We made it home the next day to Amsterdam without any dramas, and although it was a rushed trip, it was well worth it. HUGE thankyou to Ryan, Chiara and their families for having us out to Italy for such and awesome holiday!

One year on, but I feel like the one that got away with something!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:47:00 +0000

It’s been a little while since my last post, sorry mum and dad… *

It’s not like I haven’t wanted to keep you up to date. It isn’t because I have had nothing to report. It’s actually because I have been super busy ticking off (and adding more to) the list of things I set out to achieve as part of this little adventure!

Craig reminded me that it was (or is soon to be?) queens birthday weekend back in Oz, and that it has been a year since our place got robbed. That robbery could aptly be described as the straw that broke the camels back and convinced me I was due for a change of circumstances. I don’t remember just how much I mentioned it to you at the time (less sure about the rest of you reading here), but I was pretty pissed off with my job, and felt in a bit of a rut as far as friendships, relationships etc. Canberra all of a sudden felt a little bit claustrophobic.

Not wanting to sound too precious, all was rolling along fine I guess, but after 4 years in the one job, constantly fighting to justify my existence, with more and more friends moving out of Canberra, and with me and the rest of my circle going about our groundhog-day like routine, smaller and smaller things started getting me down.

You know I’m generally a happy guy, but I was noticing myself getting pissed off and/or a little depressed from time to time, and being pissed off and depressed is something that pisses me off and depresses me (!).

I had a few things that kept me happy and grounded. One was spending the best part of last year hanging out with/getting to know/and living with Craig. He is pretty much the only person I know (in the real, non internet message-board based world) with more or less the same left field musical tastes as me, with a shared interest in abstract and underground/alternative hip-hop. Another was spending countless hours emailing/joking/scheming and musically collaborating with Ryan and Ben from across the globe. We used the internet to form a band, discuss music, write and share lyrics and instrumentation and even coordinate a virtual recording weekend with hopes of putting together a demo/EP. A weekend was settled on where Ryan went to Ben’s in Amsterdam, recorded vocals over some MP3’s of my beats that I sent him, and they emailed them back to me to mix down into the original tracks…

Those vocal tracks were delivered to my inbox at pretty much the exact same time as my computer was dragged from my house through a pile of wreckage that included the 5 or so remaining CD's from my 200 or so strong collection of fairly specific and in parts very rare music, a few left over cables that were once connected to my computer, musical gear, Craig’s TV, stereo amp, Gravy’s (later recovered but pretty beat up) turntables, Chilco’s now scratched up records… and also through blood drips and broken glass.

Enter the camel and pile of straw. I spoke to Ryan via phone at about 1am Oz time, after I’d taken stock of what happened, and heard his voice for the first time in about a year since I was on the holiday where I met him. Our conversation basically involved me throwing my hands up and admitting defeat. I had had it with my circumstances and conceded to what I’m now happy to call a mid youth crisis. I decided I was going to try and move overseas. Since that day and that decision things have gotten better and better pretty much every day, and I don’t know if I’ve ever been this happy!

One year on, still no EP, but definitely no less enthusiasm. Still a lot of distractions for all of us, but mostly good healthy music related distractions! The amount of talk between the 3 of us about music, the recording of vocals already done, the working, fine tuning, learning new software, understanding each other’s strengths and developing our sound, and the attendance of gigs, meeting musicians etc has kept things moving at their same slow and steady pace. But I’m pretty sure once we all get together and record in the same room at the same time (something that hasn’t happened yet), magic may just happen, and minds could quite possibly explode… That, or we will all have another of the “best days of our lives” hanging out doing what we enjoy doing.

More updates from across the continent soon (with Pics).

*Dad, you have asked a few times about my musical aspirations, and I have been meaning to fill you in (still am, just haven’t got to it yet), so hopefully this explains a bit more.

Doing it Big, Amsterdam Style!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:57:00 +0000

Last week was pretty much one of THE BEST weeks of my life. Actually, not "pretty much", it WAS one of the best weeks of my life! This post is going to partly for keeping you all up to speed, partly to document some happy times, and partly to act as "a test of memory recall against the odds"... with alcohol playing the part of "the odds".

Saturday 26th April. Went down to Brussels with Ben and Judith to see Ryan's "Power Force". We trained to Den Haag, stopped in with Judith's family and had a nice quick lunch before borrowing their car and driving interstate. (international, but...you know, 2 hours should not count as international). The play was really good. I had already read it numerous times while typesetting, so already had preconceived notions of what each character should look, sound and act like. Even though Stacy did not quite come across right in my mind, Mick and Wayne both far surpassed what the script asked for. The night was padded out by some comedy routines in the form of a guitar trio, some spoken word , some improv sketches, and a lot of drinks. After the play we went to a end of show party and got to work on the next mornings hangovers.

Sunday 27th April. Slow start, then off to breakfast with Ryan, Chiara and Valentina. To the park for a bit of football between sunning, as it was an amazing day. Then back to Amsterdam via an hour or two in Antwerp (an awesome looking place that I'm keen to spend more time in soon), a car drop off in Den Haag and a train ride back to Centraal. Motty was there, waiting to meet me and start his huge week in Amsterdam. We went to Ben's to collect some giant bean bags, aka my new spare bed(s), move them across town on the trams (funny story in itself), and then we enjoyed a few quiet beers at my new local bar I'd been keen to visit for a while but had always been alone this side of town. Of course a few quiet beers still involved being asked very nicely by the barman to please leave and stop being charming to the lovely bar girl, as it is now 2 am.

Monday 28th April. Work shifts this week were 8am - 4:30pm. Not too bad really. With the sun staying up till 9:30pm these days, there is still plenty of daylight to enjoy after work, but a 4:30pm clock off still feels like an early finish. I am getting the hang of the job pretty quickly and had a pretty good few days there, which don't need to be elaborated on in this post. Monday night, met up with a few other new friends, Sanne and Kaja, for a few quiet beers and a catch up. Motty went to a gig a bit later in the eve and I headed home fairly early - about midnight.

Tuesday 29th April. Got woken up at 6am by Motty, who was just back from what sounded like an awesome gig. Being up at that time was fine though, as Gav called Motty from Oz, and I got to talk to him. Nice hearing another voice from back home. 8 hours of work pass. Tuesday eve aka Queens Night (the night before queens day, as opposed to the actual evening of queens day, which is known as queens-day-night.... right?!) started with us heading to a ex-squat house/venue that a rapper I like from Canada may or may not have been playing at... Turns out he wasn't there, but the gig/experience was still kinda cool, hanging out with Amsterdam's relatively unseen crusty punk crowd. After that show we joined in on a cycle into the city with a huge anarchic group of these punks, which was great chaotic fun, as there were not many other way's of cutting through the masses of people heading in all directions across the streets. We caught up with the full crew, including Ben, Judith, Dan, Shelle, Sheila (American, not Aussie), Kaja and her friend, and Dans brother Tom, who is also visiting Europe at the moment. After a few more drinks in the city wide street party we moved to Ben's for an impromptu dance party in his place. Home about hmm.... should we call it, umm... 3?

Wednesday 30th April. QUEENS DAY! Dragged our abused bodies out of bed in order to meet up with Motty's friend Leonie at 10am, as she offered to take us on a boat with her friends, an offer that you just don't pass up on queens day. Too right! Spent 2 or 3 hours cruising through the canals, and it was just the most amazing way to start this amazing day. The boat had about 15 of us on it, 2 kegs of beer, and a great old stereo (not that we needed it, there was music coming from everywhere, especially the thousands of other boats also running around the place. The city really goes absolutely crazy for this day, a mass of orange clothing, hats, wigs and whatever else, along with food, drinks, and 2nd hand "anything" lining LITERALLY every inch of sidewalk not filled with people. I hear the population of Amsterdam doubles over Queens Day, from 7 to about 14 million people? Crazy. Afternoon was easy going for us, up at Dan and Shelles before heading out into the streets for a few hours of walking around soaking up this awesome vibe, and dancing in the streets. Important to note that there was next to no hostility between anyone anywhere we went (bar one dickhead that threw a book that hit Judith. No big deal, and the book turned out to be quite funny, providing a lot more joy than it did pain). I really don't think a city wide drunken party of this scale could ever work in Australia (or many other places) without a lot more alcohol fueled violence. Evening ended after a few more hours dancing up a storm at a hip-hop club with Sanne and Kaja, with others coming and going around about the place. Got home at... hmm... shall we say 4am? This day was a constant smile, and really did reaffirm just how super happy I am to be here, even if it is away from family and friends.

Thursday 1st May. Woke slow, another public holiday, so we just chilled until heading over to Ben's place in the arvo, where we all got involved in a big casual cook up, as it was Dan, Shelle and Tom's last night in Amsterdam for a few weeks. Another chilled perfect day.

Friday 2nd May. Woke. Worked. Beers in the arvo with Leonie which turned in to her cooking us a traditional Dutch meal - Stamppot. It was Lekker! Then we dressed in our best formal wear (my old shirt and tie, and Motty in a suit jacket he found on queens day), as we were attending a gig that Sanne and Kaja were putting on (and I did the poster design for) - the Artsy Farty Patsy Party: Pretty Prom Night. Don't ask. I've found thats the easiest approach to understanding these crazy Europeans! It was a nice interesting gig, but we had to make tracks, as we were off to another gig at the Bimhuis (mentioned in a previous post about Pierre Bastien). This time it was an avant garde electronic dance party, featuring 2 warp records artists - Flying Lotus and Hudson Mohawke, and a local Glitch hop DJ - Cinaman. Awesome music, awesome venue, and awesome company (including Sheila, Judith, and her old/my new friend Neils, from Rotterdam). Got home well after dawn.... about hmm... 6ish?!

Saturday 3rd May. Treated ourselves to a nice sleep in, felt we deserved it. Woke up about 12... Made our way towards the city for brunch (I know... but lets call it that anyway), and then off to the Westerpark for a nice friendly game of 3 on 3 soccer. Physical exercise for the week - check! After an hour or so of that (and a controversial Canberra team win) we made our way to a terrace bar to soak up a few more rays and a few more beers, as our angry livers had at this point become addicted and needed weaning or something...?!? After some delicious Indonesian take away me and Motty headed up to club elf (11) - a nice place to take in sunset and a view of the city from one of the highest vantage points, 11 stories up. After this we strolled back in to town with Leonie, via the red light district - the very same district we all agreed that we dislike English "tourists" a lot more than we dislike English "people". Motty and I, knowing we had an early 5 am start to get him onto a plane back to London, decided we should move towards home, but just popped in to the local bar for one or two more quiet ones before bed...

Sunday 4th May. So......... haha.... With a good 45 minutes sleep under my belt, we rose and rode to Centraal, with AT LEAST a minute to spare before Motty's train made its way out to the airport, and I headed back to sleep for another 5 hours!

Holy heck....

In the words of Mr Andrew Mottram, CRIKEY! What an awesome week. I had such a great time hanging out with friends, both old, newish, and new, and actually, I'm kinda bummed that tonight has been quiet enough to finally catch up on writing this!

Having Motty here all week was so awesome, and once again helped shrug off any lingering feelings of homesickness. I was so glad that he got to share/contribute to all this enjoyment, as all my words really don't do the whole thing a lick of justice.

The TomTom Club

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:26:00 +0000

3 and a half months sure have flown by eh.?! Yep. Holidays sure are great! Unfortunately, though, there comes a time in every "intrepid young (and handsome) traveler"s life when he must own up to the guilt of a cruisy lifestyle of 10am wake ups, 3am (+/-) bed times, and no real obligations in between... besides bringing the beer to the next party... or showing up to the gig on time... etc...

Yes, alas, It was time to get a job.

But you WILL be pleased to know that I did my usual "not too much" in order to get this job.

I handed my CV to a friend that works there one week, I got a call for an interview the next, and went in for the interview that afternoon (my idea, as I was off to Paris the next morning). It went really well, and talked myself up more than ever before. Yeah, seriously, this intrepid young (and handsome) traveler talked himself up! It was weird and funny and I was impressed with myself all at once. My last interview was pretty average and typical, so I was quite chuffed with my performance this time round. Went something kinda like this (liberal use of 'wank' for effect):

What can you bring to the team?
Well... In my old job I played both the joker, and the voice of reason, sometimes both at once depending on the situation... So I think I could work a bit like a pendulum and help balance the workplace and find that happy medium...

How do you deal with upset clients?
Well, I'm glad you asked. I have never officially studied psychology or counseling techniques, but I feel I have a natural aptitude to read a situation and adjust my tact in order to push my point and achieve a result that suits my purpose, whilst still keeping the client on side...

And so on. Was pretty funny. Also, the interview was definitely not hindered any by the fact that I had already been for a night on the town with one of the interviewing supervisors.

So yeah, I got a call the next day and the job is mine!

At a week and a half of training in so far... so far so good.

Oh yeah, what I'm actually going to be doing is working as a "Customer Support Officer" for the UK team of TomTom - Europe's leading GPS device company. I will be answering calls from confused and/or angry UK citizens that are having trouble with their TomTom, and I will try troubleshoot a fix or organise a repair.

Should be pretty easy, and pretty fun, with plenty of young, cool and multicultural people working there. Everyone seems easygoing and all that. And I'll be working next to the Nordic team, so atleast while I'm stuck in an office for a bit more of my life, I will be constantly reminded that I'm stuck in an office... in Europe.

Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:08:00 +0000

Last week was spent in France with my Gran, Mum and Aunty. They are visiting Europe, and it would have been just plain rude of me not to take full advantage of their hospitality and crash on the floor of their apartment for a few nights in the Montmartre area of Paris.

It could have just been just first taste of spring. It could have been some subconscious rekindling of old sights and sounds from my childhood. It could have been all the characters walking straight off the Amelie set (or back on to...). It could have been something else.

But there is something about this part of Paris that I just fell in love with.

I took about 200 photos over the 4 days I was down there, cause, well, a picture DOES tell a thousand words.... As my pictures often get to the point quicker and better than I do, Here are 11,000 words.

View out of one of the apartment windows.

View out of the bathroom. Actually out of the window above the bathtub/shower. Each morning I opened the window and took all this in whilst showering. Thats the Sacré Coeur in the middle there.

Typical view from the area we were in.

Totally sweet french graffiti.

We went to Giverny one day, to Monet's house. His gardens were pretty, um.... pretty.

Yep. Springtime is on its way....finally!

Went to the Moulin Rouge one eve, as it was about 10 mins walk from our place. Unfortunately, as you can see, the best tickets I could afford for this place left me with a fairly limited view of the dancers...

Metro. Lamarck Caulaincourt.

Gran and Mums on the Metro.

View from the Australian Ambassador to France's Apartment, top floor of the Australian Embassy. Yeah thats right. We ran in to an old family friend, who also happens to be the Ambassador's wife, and had been in Paris for only a matter of hours when we ran in to each other in the street... We organised to go in to her place for coffee a few days later. Highrollin'. I lived in the same building and had a similar view when I was 4. Oh yeah, thats the Eiffel Tower in the background there.

Wall.

For anyone that has a newer cannon digital camera, I recommend playing with the extra settings. Most of these were taken using the "foliage" option, and as a result, I have not needed to use photoshop like usual to get the colours looking so vibrant.

The Power Force

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:35:00 +0000

My "esteemed colleague", Mr Ryan Millar, has written his first award winning* play. It's also the first play he's written. Period. Not bad eh? I've read it. It's good. It's funny.

PUNCH YOUR LUNCH:
When you see an opportunity you’ve got to just grab it, and squeeze it, and hit the shit out of it until it cries. In that way you make it yours.
- Useful advice from unpublished self-help manuscript The Power Force, by Charles Bell

It’s the second day of her internship at MaxCap Publishing and Stacy Jean Gray couldn’t be more excited. However, when the boss shows up with a brand new set of leadership principles to put into force it threatens to ruin the office. Can Stacy draw on her day of experience and help save the office? If you said ‘yes’, you’ve either already read the play, seen it, or have a pretty good handle on how stories generally go.

Over the weekend on my stop in Brussels on my way back from Paris, (whole other post to follow...) I helped Ryan out, as good mates do, with the design and layout of the book, and design of some promo fliers and stickers. These items are the first "physical" fruits to come out of the 'actual and very much real' Maxcap Publishing wing of the Maxcap Media Empire.

Being that I am fortunate enough to currently be living in the northern hemisphere, I am happy to be able to attend and enjoy the play, and also enjoy seeing one of my buddy's passions come to fruition.

*Winner of the American Theatre Company’s One-Act Playwriting Competition 2007

The Ghetto's of Alkmaar

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:08:00 +0000

Saturday night was one hell of an adventure...

I was excited to hear that one of my favorite underground rappers, MC Epic, was performing in the Netherlands!

I've been in to him for a few years now. At first I kinda liked him for how funny and cheesy his style, delivery and a lot of his lyrics were (like "Straight outta Edmonton like when Gretsky was a rookie / My grandma makes quilts, and bomb-ass cookies"), but as I listened deeper it became apparent to me that hes actually got a lot to say. Slowly but surely I became a big fan.

He is just about as un-hip hop as a rapper can be, stereotypically speaking, from his nerdy voice, straight grey hair and zero interest in "hip hop" brands or commercialism. But his love for the craft and prolificness in the scene is unsurpassed.

He's just a regular guy from the Canadian prairies (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan originally, now living in Edmonton, Alberta), talking about regular things. Things I can actually relate to. Another appeal is his approachability (via the internet). This aspect relates to a lot of my favourite music at the moment.

When I saw on the tree-house (endemik music/clotheshorse records/shadowanimals) forum that Epic, Ancient Mith, Tullie and Pierre the Motionless were playing across Europe I was stoked. For whatever reason the closest gig to Amsterdam was in a small town about 30 K's away, called Alkmaar.

So I checked out the train times, packed a few supplies and headed out in the afternoon to have a look around the town a bit before the gig. Alkmaar is beautiful. Like Amsterdam, but with what felt like a little more order. Wider, cleaner streets, straighter roads and a nice friendly vibe. It was lightly snowing on and off throughout the evening and this added a bit of a fairytale feel.

I made it to the venue as it was opening at 8pm and looked around. It was the only building in a public park, and felt more like a youth drop-in centre than a concert venue. This feeling was based partly on the graffiti everywhere, and partly on all the young "youth centre" type kids hanging around. Oh well, they served beer and there was a stage for the performers, so everything I needed was catered to.

After a few minutes I spotted and introduced myself to a tall, unassuming grey haired chap called Erin (aka Epic). He recognised me as "shortcut kid" from the tree-house forum, and was instantly excited to meet another person there for the music and not just because that's "where everyone else was hangin' ". He was instantly open and talkative and introduced me to the rest of the guy's playing that night, who were also all open and friendly. I played it cool but I was pretty excited to actually be hanging out with people who I look up to musically. Fortunately for me when I get nervous I tend to talk more, not less, so pretty quickly it got comfortable.

I hadn't had dinner, and neither had Erin, so we went for a walk 5 mins back into the city centre and looked for a place to eat. Conversation came easily, mainly revolving around music, Our thoughts on Europe, the appeal of Australia (he's never been) and Canada (I've never been). We opted for a Sri-lankan restaurant, which was some of the best vegetarian I've ever had.

During dinner the weirdest thing happened! A few kids started running up the street out the front of the restaurant... then a few more.... then "holy shiiiii.....!" there were about 30 kids (I'd guess between 16 - 20 years old) having a full on gang fight, like 15 vs 15! Bikes were getting thrown, a shop window got smashed and a few punches and kicks were flying around. It was over (atleast what we could see) as quickly as it started, and police cars were rolling around shortly after, which made the idea of our walk back to the gig a little more appealing. Very strange though! I offered to pay for dinner, which Erin accepted after a bit of hesitation. I have downloaded his music, and while he realises this is how a lot of new fans hear his stuff at all, especially those across the planet, I still felt this was a nice way to pay him back.

On the way back we passed Alkmaar's red light district, which was surprisingly large. Erin had never seen a red light district like Holland is famous for, so we went for a tourist lap around. Funny stuff! He was amazed and I was amused! He couldn't get over the fact that a lot of the girls were attractive, as the stereotype of "women of the night" in the Canadian Prairies is a little rougher, with the districts being referred to more as "truck stops".

Back to the venue, it wasn't long until Pierre the Motionless performed. I had heard a few songs on his myspace page but didn't know too much. He was excellent! Very fast raps. Now I don't claim to be a rapper, but it does aways make me a little bummed when an english-as-a-second-language person just goes ahead and kicks my ass at it! haha! What impressed more was his beats. Talking to him I discovered that he makes a lot of the music and also performs with the group "Motionless", who incorporate a drum machine, a turntable, keys, a trumpet and live visuals. He was also a real nice dude, and I look forward seeing him again in a few weeks when he plays here in Amsterdam (with James P Honey and Thesis Sahib!).

Tullie the Rapper played next and pumped out a few tracks in fairly quick succession. Sort of strange mix of slow raps for the most part, then a blast of fast stuff. Pretty cool. It was kinda cool and funny also that all the music was playing through his mobile phone. Technology, eh?!

Epic was on next, and did his thing. No gimmicks, just him on stage rapping to a backing CD. His style definitely does not appeal to everyone, and those there that were just hanging out quickly decided they were happy sitting up the back or wherever. This didn't seem to bother Epic too much, and it sure didn't bother me, I was up front with Braden (Ancient Myth) singing along, loving it! He played a fairly quick set of about half an hour, but still managed to tick off a few of my favourite tracks - Dave Steib, Another Left Wing Peace Song, Midnight Run, Thought Process - and a few new tracks.

Ancient Mith was last, and dude puts on a hell of a show! All over the stage, up on a beer crate, sitting, laying on an in front of the stage, and even UNDER the stage! He did a good job of getting the crowd into it with a lot of caller-response and sing along choruses. He uses a lot of microphone effects and got me thinking about my own music possibly incorporating some of the same processes.

Overall the evening was great. I picked up Epic's new CD "Aging is What Friends do Together" which is awesome, he has definitely stepped up his quality level and lyrics, and the beats are great as ever. Because I paid for dinner earlier he gave me a copy of "Local Only" as well as a few copies of the new CD. Plus I made a few new friends across the globe, and I am now welcome and have a place to stay whenever I visit Edmonton!

The evening reinforced my love for the underground rap scene, appreciation of the community spirit, and has recharged my musical drive. Yay!

House Hunting

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:38:00 +0000

Sorry people, I have been a little distracted from posting lately. For the past few weeks I have been house-hunting.

Ben gets back on April first. When he's back in his place, Dan and Shelle are back in their place, and I'm....

So about a week and a half ago I thought I should start looking. Thought I'd go with the soft approach of emailing anyone I know and asking them to email anyone they know who may have a room. A few days later, no word. I needed to step up my game a bit, and with a bit of advice and help from Dan, I put together some notices for the public noticeboards at various Albert Heijn grocery stores.

The next day *ring ring*! A call from somebody who saw a notice and had a room at the right price and in the right area! Yay! Checked it out. Boo.... What a dive! A mouldy, dirty, gypsy squat-like dive. Oh, and the "2 rooms" I would be getting had a total floor space of about 6 feet x 10 feet or so. Ha, as nice as it all was, I graciously said no thanks.

A few more notices went up around the place but no calls came my way. So I hopped online and searched out a few more places that sounded o.k, and YAY, I got several calls the next morning - all from the real estate companies that apparently put the adds up online disguised as "real people", and that would happily rent me the rooms if I pay them a months rent as a commission for finding the place for me! Thank guys!

Then I came across another website that actually did have real people putting up real adds (strange as it may sound). I went and checked out a place that I found via this site, which would have been fine, if perhaps a bit expensive.

But in the meantime I had placed a free classified in the Amsterdam weekly - The local English language street press. That resulted in a few more calls and I have now agreed to move into a BIG room in an old house off the back of the Vondelpark (huge public park - great place to relax in summer). The room is an ex artists studio, so has a nice creative vibe, and the live-in landlady was very nice. I haven't met the upstairs house-mates yet but I think they will be pretty easygoing hippie types, judging by the incense in the air and the lentils in the fridge.

More about this place no doubt once I move in next week.

maxcap

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:46:00 +0000

Ben, Ryan and Myself have been pretty busy working on some of the initial behind the scenes stuff, in anticipation of setting up a website to house both our joint and individual creative output.

The name of the collective is "maxcap" - a name Ryan came up with I think years ago, but the idea is basically a catchy way to say Maximum Capacity - the level at which we like to work on whatever it is we are working on, and present whatever it is we are presenting...

I will be housing my design there, we will have music up, writing and video production samples, and, well, whatever else we want really.

It's our house. The beginning of our empire!

Quarter Century in Dublin

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:38:00 +0000

I turned 25 on the weekend. I didn't really do anything out of the ordinary... You see, international travel, seeing new places and things and enjoying the company of good friends has become sort of the 'norm' for me!
About a week or so before this one, Me, Dan and Michelle decided we would go to Dublin for the weekend. Dan lived there 8 years ago, Michelle was keen for a trip to an English speaking country for a change, I have often thought Ireland would be nice, and am always up for whatever is goin' down.

So we booked our cheap flights and off we went on Thursday afternoon from Eindhoven. We arrived and started down Dans memory lane. It was cool to have somebody familiar with the area. We got to our hostel, dropped off things and turned right back around to hit the town.

We made it to our first (of many over the course of the weekend) pub, and it was about as stereotypical and perfect as you could imagine. Friendly attentive bar man who knew everyones order, and had your new Guinness poured and settling before you've finished the current pint. A guy singing cover songs with his acoustic guitar, and the older women up dancing around the place singing along. 2 drunk older local men having stern words and threatening to take it outside, but the situation being calmly defused by the bar man. We watched it all happening from a nice perch at the bar.

Friday was spent walking the city, finding our next few nights accommodation (ended up about 25 mins bus ride from the centre), having a MASSIVE counter meal at a big pub (lamb roast, my first taste of lamb and my first roast since being OS - sooo goood) and then more drinking Guinness in the evening.Saturday we had a typical Irish breakfast (including black and white pudding, sausages, bacon, eggs and toast), went to the contemporary art gallery, an then headed out for the afternoon to Howth, about 20 mins on the train to the coast. What a lovely little town. So close to the city, but had the feel of somewhere like Bateman's bay. We went for a bit of a walk out along the cliffs and watched some porpoises in the sea as the sun was setting. Then back into Howth town for a birthday dinner at the local - yep you guessed it - pub. We watched the Gaelic football on the tellie and drank a few more - yep - Guinness', then worked our way back into Dublin to catch a bit of music and check out a few more of Dan's old haunts.Sunday we went to an area called Smithfield, because Dan remembered that on the first Sunday of every month there is a horse sale on, right in the main square surrounded by shops, houses, and the old Jameson Distillery. Pretty crazy, all the farmer types buying and selling horses for whatever reason, and people racing horses up and down the narrow streets.We had a few more hours of kicking about the city before making our way to the airport and could not have timed it for missing our plane any better. Ryanair have "the highest on time rate" for any Euro airline... and that must be cause they close their check-ins earlier than officially specified, and even though our flight was delayed by 30 mins, they still refused to let us on. Jerks. So we had to book another flight back (with another company) and apart from the extra cost, all was fine in the end, with us flying straight into Amsterdam and getting happily home for some well needed rest about 8pm.

Dublin was a great city, but it was also great getting back to Amsterdam. Riding my bike back to my apartment really reminded me that it is the smaller town pace I like, and I'm still very happy with my decision to call this place "home".

The Dillinger Escape Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:15:00 +0000

Last Wednesday I went to see The Dillinger Escape Plan, one of my all time favorite bands. Judith scored 2 free tickets, one of the perks for working for a newspaper.

My less than subtle "OH MY GAWD you have free tickets..?! AWESOME! You are so lucky! You know If I had a free ticket I'd definitely give it to you....." assured me one of those tickets. I would have bought one anyway if I had to, but it is always nice to save a dollar where you can, and with the money we "saved" (?) we did go out and have some tasty mexican food beforehand.

The gig was opened up by "Poison the Well". I have a few of their album's and don't mind them at all, but have to admit the live show was fairly ordinary. I guess mainly the singer's performance. The screaming was fairly weak and he seemed always a little out of breath, and his singing was terrible. I think his voice was shot, so in that case I'm sure he did the best with what he had. Oh yeah, his between song banter was pretty bad too. I've only been to a few gigs here in Amsterdam, but I'm pretty sure that the locals must be pretty sick of the weed smoking stereotype. No. Just because we don't find your jokes funny does not mean we are all 'high or somethin'.

Anyways, Dillinger on the other hand were not suffering from any ailments, and did not need to rely on pointless banter to keep the crowd well entertained...

From about 3 seconds in (coincidentally the exact point in which I lost Judith in the sea of flailing arms, legs, hair and NOISE!) until the end, it was chaos! Great, epic, smile inducing, head nodding, air punching, amazing chaos!

The band, for those wondering, play a type of hardcore (with a good dose of screamed vocals and distorted guitars), mixed in with I guess jazz (strange complex timing signatures, jazzy breakdowns and super technical instrument playing). And across the past 2 albums they have incorporated more and more "accessible" melodic rock as well, with plenty of singing and more restrained music. There is also a lot of electronic music (glitchy stuff, in the vein of something like Aphex Twin) spliced throughout the current release, "Ire Works".

The (sold out) gig, in all its glory, focussed primarily on the more "up tempo" (read HEAVVVYYYY) songs, and the crowd were more than happy with that! The singer and 2 guitarists spent atleast half the show up on the barricades supported by the front few rows, and if not there the singer, Greg Puciato, was IN or ON TOP of the crowd, up on the speaker stacks, or at one point swinging from the water pipes running along the ceiling! And the rest of the time when they were playing in the more traditional "on stage" sense, there was a steady stream of stage divers running across and jumping from the stage around about them.

This went on for a full hour or so while I was nestled in to a tight little spot in the middle of the room, propped up by the barrier in front of the mixing desk about 10 metres back from the stage, just behind the mosh pit (aka danger zone).

The new drummer, Gil Sharone's performance would have silenced the few remaining "Chris Pennie can never be replaced" critics (if there are any left at all), and Greg has now I'd say shaken most of the "b-grade Mike Patton ripoff" comments. As if sounding like Patton is a bad thing anyway, but his delivery of "When Good Dogs Do Bad Things" was definitely a highlight of the set, and easily as good as Patton could do.

Overall the gig was amazing, as I've come to expect over the the past few years seeing and enjoying this bands music. My ears were blocked for days after, I assume that is just my body's natural attempt at keeping the music inside my head for as long as possible!

Echte schoonheid zit van buiten

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:53:00 +0000

I was quoted in the NATIONAL "De Pers" daily newspaper today. Such poignant gems of wisdom such as:

...De uit Australië afkomstige grafisch ontwerper Andrew McAlpine woont sinds een paar maanden in Amsterdam en vindt boekomslagen hier maar saai. ‘Een goed ontwerp is een geheel: kleuren, beeld en lettertypes moeten bij elkaar passen’, legt hij uit...

and

...‘Die Nederlandse boeken maken ook alleen maar werk van de voorkant’, observeert McAlpine. ‘Foto op de voorkant, foto van de auteur op de achterkant, standaardlettertypes met een schreef, klaar...

My friend Judith is a reporter for De Pers, and for this article she had to "find a story about book covers, and make it newsworthy"*. So last week I went along to a few bookstores to help out however I could.

We came to the realisation that English books that have been translated into Dutch generally have more boring covers than the English versions. The Dutch tend to like photos with straight type slapped on there wherever it fits, while on the English versions there is now a definite trend towards illustrations and customised typography. It was pretty interesting looking at these trends in book design, as I usually just look at music packaging design when Im trying to keep up with whats going on.

The article was (obviously) all in dutch, so I don't exactly know what I am quoted as saying... But I'm sure whatever I did "say", it made me sound smart and witty and attractive in that mysterious, foreign kinda way... right Judith?

*While were all about quoting things that 'may or may not have been said', I'll continue to use my inverted commas and quotation marks in my regular frivolous manner... "ok"?!

A Tourist in My Own Town

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:27:00 +0000

A few weekends ago (not the one just passed, the one before) I got to know Amsterdam a bit better. I did touristy things.

Ryan was up from Brussels on the Friday eve for an intensive 26 hours of music recording, eating, laughing, drinking, scheming, networking... and in our spare time, basically just hanging out like a couple 'a dudes.

Ryan lived here a few years ago, so when we weren't recording he took me on a bit of a "locals" tourist ride. We ate Maoz and FEBO, we went through Ryan's old neighborhood, we went to Boom Chicago where I enjoyed free drinks at the staff table while he performed some improv comedy.... We (he) had bike troubles that we (he) fixed on the fly... Again, "locals" tour...

Pic of my laptop screen, with vocals dropped in along the bottom tracks there. Probably not too interesting to many of you, but it's exciting as heck for me to see those vocals, in that track. It was one of my songs I had READY to go when my old computer got robbed. I re-sourced, re-chopped and re-sequenced the beat a few weeks back in time for the vocal recording session. Kinda symbolic of the whole straw that broke the camel and pushed my decision to move here. No regrets so far!

On Saturday morning we got some fresh produce from the markets on my street, and cooked up a "Commonwealth Breakfast" - not quite Canadian, and not quite your typical Aussie "bacon and eggs" either, and then got back to work.

The Lindengracht markets, from out my window. The whole length of my street, about 300 metres? There every Saturday.

Sunday through to Tuesday I was playing host and resident "local" (theres that word again) to my friend Murray (from Canberra, studying in Norway) and 3 of his school friends - 2 Canadian girls and 1 American. Now my house is a great sized place for hosting 1 or 2 guests, but it did get a bit crowded with 5 people in the place. Ahh well it was fun enough, and I did get out of cooking for a few days.

Their stay involved a few more of your classic tourist things: we hired bikes and rode out to the Museum Plein, went to the Van Gough Museum, rode through the Vondelpark and watched some seagulls walking on the frozen lakes. We went to the Anne Frank House, Rode out to the Amsterdamse Bos (woods), past the 1928 Summer Olympic Stadium, went to the Amsterdam Historical Museum, and we even walked through the red light district and past countless coffee shops.

Seagulls on a pond in the Vondelpark.

Amsterdamse Bos. Photo not one of mine, it's by Scott Hansen over at ISO50. He is an inspiration of mine though, both his photos and his design, check him out.

I now have a better understanding of the "sights", and a bit of the history, so should make for a better tour guide when the rest of you come and visit.

OVERBOARD

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 01:21:00 +0000

Lindengracht = Lindengreat!

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:51:00 +0000

They say a man's home is his castle. And while the place I'm in may not be quite big enough for a pool room for things to go "straight to", It's still pretty sweet.

It's just me here, and its mine for the next few months. I have always dreamed of having a studio apartment where I can set up my music gear, have a spot for art stuff and just generally be able to customise everything to suit me. Now I do like sharehousing - thanks to my old place, the 'Creswell Crib' being what was a pretty exceptional example of how well it can work - and I do look forward to living in one again sometime soon hopefully.

But while its just me I'm gonna take full advantage. Like a rebel with a cause. Livin' by nobodies rules, except my own... 'Underpants only' policy whilst the curtains are closed (unless its sunny out and then its the 'boxers and singlet' sub clause). Music must be played daily, and loudly on weekends. Top shelf of fridge reserved exclusively for beer at all times... Those sort of things.

Here are some photos.
View out my front windows. I'm on the second floor.

My living room (i.e pretty much the whole place. Bed is just behind me).

Kitchen. It might not look like much, but come-on! As if I really know what to do with "a kitchen" anyway.

View out the kitchen window.

Same view, by night. That house looks cool, with all the different colours coming out of different rooms.

To fill out the few spots not caught on camera, there is also a small balcony off the side of the kitchen, a REALLY small one off the front, a bathroom and a small entry bit with a closet.

All I could ask for really. Very happy to be here.

Ace Rizzle

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:46:00 +0000

Saw Aesop Rock lastnight! It was my first time at the notorious Melkweg (the place that taught me how to say both 'milk' and 'way' and dutch), and I was pleased with the venue. We were in the Oude Zaal (old hall), which was kind of like the Metro in Sydney, but about quarter the size. Yep, really small. It had a really good sound system, and an upstairs section which is where we were, so we had a really good view. Not that it would have been hard to see anywhere in a place that small.

The opening act was a Canadian guy called "Anonymouz". He had an amazing (comically speaking) semi theatrical stage show going on. He came out holding a candle looking like a monk or priest or something. At one point he acted out dying/passing out and a buddy of his came and revived him... I think thats what they were doing... At one point they were pooring wine for the people in the front row.. Dan (I think fairly accurately) commented on how the whole thing felt a little bit religious. The music was a bit dark for my taste, but I think under all the acting he had some decent MC skills.

Aesop Rock came out and played with DJ Big Wiz and Rob Sonic. Aes killed it! About half the show was new songs, with the other half filled out by remixed old songs (like Lucy to a double-time D&B vibe beat), Rob Sonic tracks or Big Wiz turntable trickery. The whole show had some cool visuals going on the backdrops, with each song having a different graphic style and artist to compliment the lyrics. Big Wiz had this decks hooked up to a serato thing, which also controlled the visuals in parts, so he "scratched" the visuals as well as the sounds. It was cool.

Aesop was in good spirits and being quite funny on stage. Dancing around like a goof, interacting a lot with the front row and even playing up to various fan's cameras that were recording the show. I think the point of the gig where Aes rapped an acapella was when the non-native English speakers and the less educated rap connoisseur's of my crew really started to appreciate just how talented he is. When I was "selling" the show to Judith I commented on how it may be a bit hard to keep up with his English, but that it didn't matter too much 'cause he seldom makes sense anyway! Tell me I'm wrong, with lyrics like:

flash that buttery gold, jittery zeitgeist / wither by the watering hole, border patrol / what are we to heart huckabee art fuckery suddenly?/ not enough young in his lung for the waterwing / colorfully vulgar poacher outta mulch / like "i'm 'a pull the pulse out a soldier and bolt"

Love it! The more I listen, the more I think Aesop's latest album "None Shall Pass" is quite possibly my favourite from him. Definitely the 'hits' off this album are some of his best. Overall he has proven across the course of his career to be somebody that can innovate and keep it interesting even within his truly unique style.

Australia Day

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:36:00 +0000

Australia Day was fun. We met up at Dan and Shelles (D&S's) place with a simple plan. Cricket and a BBQ in the park. Easy. So at around 2 when we met up the sun had started to fade and we had to move. All we needed was (1) a bbq alternative, (2) a cricket set, and (3) maybe some Aussie beers to start us off.

(1) We came across a dumpster out the front of a houseboat which was filled with wood from a recently renovated kitchen or something. Firewood, score! That combined with the grill from D&S's oven is our bbq. You're allowed to light fires in the park, right?

(2) We used a treated pine paling with electrical tape wrapped around one end as the bat, and a tennisball with tape around it as a cricket ball. Sweet.

(3) We knew of a bottle-o that had aussie beers, so we got some fosters and I got a Boags. It was good, but would have been better if it was cold, less flat and fuller. The reason it was flat and a bit empty is because this city still has enough bumps to shake the bottle and the basket on Shelle's bike wasn't supportive enough to keep the lid from being bumped loose. Ahh well, still had a boags for Australia Day, mission accomplished.

We made it to Westerpark at about 4:30 (an hour before sunset), found our spot, confirmed with a person that worked in a community centre joined to the park that we were allowed to light a fire, and we set up our cricket pitch (bin for stumps, bag for crease, and bike as wicket keeper).
The fire got going after a bit of hesitation and was blazing in no time - well, just enough time for the "politie" (police) to come, tell us off and make us put it out! We got out of a fine due to our combined charm, the fact that it was australia day, and our fingerpointing at the community centre approval.
With about 25 mins of light left we played a quick (intense) game of cricket, had a few more beers and slowly made our way back to D&S's to cook our snags.
Australia Day turned into Australia night as we as we hit the city and had a few more drinks at a few more pubs.

Good Times.

Brews in the Belly, No Bruise in the Back Pocket

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:31:00 +0000

I just bought a 6 pack of Hoegaarden for €3.76 (actually they say €3,76 - with the comma, but whatever...).

€3.76! For Hoegaarden! 6 of them!! The conversion rate, as it stands today, puts that at $6.30 in Aussie dollars (or bucks). For Hoegaarden! 6 of them!!

And during today's research into Australian beers abroad (in time for Australia day) I heard that it costs around €5 (8.36 bucks) for a VB at the aussie themed tourist pub. Has the world gone crazy! Global warming. Terrorism. And now this!

Pierre Bastien

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:08:00 +0000

The other night I went to a gig, pretty much based solely on the fact that the performer made his instruments out of meccano...

What Pierre Bastien does is makes these fairly complex instruments out of a frame of meccano, old record players, chopped up harmonicas, woodwind reids and hundreds of other things it would seem. The instruments are "looped" using cogs powered by dismantled record player motors, that push down the notes, and an electronic pump "pumps" wind through the whole thing. He then plays the muted trumpet over the top. He also has a live feed camera that gets right into the guts of the contraption and shows you, to some extent, whats going on.

Thats the deal of the show I watched, in a nut shell, but according to his website he has created lots of other mechanically played instruments over the years. He also can explain what is going on better than I. Pretty fascinating.

It was really really good, better than I imagined, and better than the brief youtube video I watched the night before. The overall sound that he creates is awesome. As a fan of loop based music (usually more hip hop in nature), but also having a big interest in more organic and eclectic type sounds (including artists like Tom Waits, Ennio Morricone, Tin Hat Trio, Beirut and so on), this was, strangely, a great mix of these two tastes.

He Works Hard for (no) Money

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:47:00 +0000

I have been busy working on a portfolio over the past few weeks. I think its pretty much ready to go out to perspective employers now. Hmm... Just gotta work out who those prospective employers are exactly...

Here are some images. Some new, some old, some re jigged, all in the portfolio:

I am printing it up as an A6 landscape format book. I regularly ride past a digital print shop on my way to and from my "office" (AKA Bens place), so I'll head in there in the next few and get an idea of prices etc. Hopefully I'll also wow them into employing me as a full time designer/print operator or something...

... By Night

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew McAlpine) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:25:00 +0000

A few photos, taken in my usual fashion of long exposure.

Across the road from my place.The colours really haven't been given the justice they deserve by capturing them digitally and then compressing them for the web. Those windows really glowed all across the spectrum.

Out the front of Dan and Michelle's place on one of my first nights here. There is a light dusting of snow over everything. probably one of the coldest nights in my whole time here so far. Guess it was good to get that out of the way early.

Same night, you can see a thin layer of ice on the canal and snow on the cars. I used somebody's bike seat as a tripod, so there was a real chance my camera could have ended up in that canal.

Same spot as the first pic. I like that it has all the elements: Typical amsterdam houses, canal and bridge with boat, and 1 trashed bike for every 3 good ones.

I think most of the shots that will make their way here, for a while at least, will be night shots. Thats cause its dark from about 5:30pm and while I'm unemployed theres no way I'm out the door before 4pm...

...relaaaax, I'm joking mum!

(Oh yeah, I think that if you click the pics they will come up larger. Works for me)