Does It Offend You, Yeah?

Guy managed to surprise me with the proposal to head out to Paradiso to catch a gig of Does It Offend You, Yeah? which had been flying under the radar for me.

Since my sleep pattern was still a bit freaky from the aftermath of CPX, I figured that getting out of the house for the evening might be a good idea. It was their last gig of their tour, so it was pretty much the last chance we'd get for a little while.

DIOYY was booked for the small stage, and for some bizarre reason in combination with Kamelot, a rather bizarre pyrotechnic orchestral metal band, playing at the main stage. The guitarist of DIOYY quipped that we'd really ought to take a look at the bizarre spectacle after their concert -which was perfectly possible, since their played a measly 45 minutes before leaving the stage.
I'm still a bit divided on the merit of that, but at least it were 45 minutes well spent -unlike the obscenely bad 45 minute performance by Mike Patton & Fennesz last summer (I wish I could undo that unfortunate waste of money, time and credit for Patton).


We had a drink elsewhere to discuss the whole ordeal. We mutually agreed that the bastard who operated the strobe light needs a smack over the head for keeping the thing on the whole bloody time and while it was a short, it was a pretty good concert. Left for home and finally managed to sleep during the night :)

First experiences in the land of eternal cold (no, not Finland)

Arrived in the Netherlands last Friday and did a Bubble Boy regime in my apartment in order to get used to the climate here. First day at the offices in Amsterdam, recouping stories and experiences with the colleagues here.

It's not just the cold. It's the dryness

'nuff said. The temperature got to me pretty damn good (my thermostat pulled a nice 28 °C and I still had to wear a sweater) but the real problem was the total lack of humidity of the atmosphere. This screwed me over more than anything.

Holland has the pussy version of rain

While a bunch of people at the tram stop scattered like cockroaches at the first sight of rain, I didn't really get the point. It remained a puny drizzle that Suriname puts to shame. Tropical rainstorms are the norm there.

The sky: gray. Also comes in gray and gray

I've been here a scant three days and this is the first day I got to see a hint of blue through the gray clouds. It's not even funny.

In all, not bad. But damn me if I don't want to go back as soon as possible.