Happy New Year!

Not even that long since my last post, I guess. I must say that I do find it increasingly difficult to keep this up. It's just being work and hanging around taking things easy instead of making the effort of sitting down and typing this all up.
Last blog was written the day before the concert, so I guess that same concert is where I'll be starting now. I had borrowed Tina's car again, as the last few concerts in the Culture Room had all proved difficult in terms of transportation on the way home. Having your own car solves that, but getting a parking spot on the club grounds itself was a challenge. A few minutes and someone left a spot, where I was quick enough to pick that up myself. Problem solved. Paid 10 dollars to get in, and found the stage to be set up nicely already.
First band that night was Karrigan [5,5/10] who tried to hard to look cool, sound great and just be something. The only reason they still managed to score this high was because their final song was catchy and good enough of a small boost. Next up where The Bigger Lights [9/10], who have recently "lost their drummer to the music industry", 3 days before the show only, actually, which caused them to play an acoustic set with the drums and some arrangements set up digitally. The vocals, even though high-pitched (not that weird, coming from a reasonably small and skinny guy), sounded amazing, the guitars weren't always that hearable, but the entire set sounded really good, and everyone seemed to love their performance a great deal. Then it was the turn to my band of the evening There For Tomorrow [9,5/10]. Played songs of their two EPs, and a song from their upcoming debut full-length album. The songs I knew were done perfectly, and their new material sounded even better to me. Can't wait for them to finish all that and get my hands on one. I had a little something after the show already, as I managed to catch one of the drumsticks from the band, which was more a face-saving reaction than an actual catch. If I wouldn't have caught it I would probably have taken it against my nose or something. Two girls in front of me who didn't catched it gave me a sincere "we hate you" after which I told them I wasn't giving away the stick. Waited for West Palm Beach's own Hey Monday [8/10] to come on stage. These Florida youngsters are going off to Asia soon to tour with none other than Fall Out Boy. First they had to play a hometown show in Fort Lauderdale. Their lead singer, Cassadee, did a nice acoustic song in the middle of the show, but other than that it never really appealed to me. Sure, they sound good (not as good as the other woman-fronted band Paramore) and they deserve to be supporting FOB later, but they didn't convince me. Or maybe I'm getting too old for their music, who knows!

Not too many days later it was time for a New Year's Celebration. I had the day off, and got Tina's car. Picked up Charlotte from her house, then went to Le Marche to pick up Tina and headed over to Marten's place, where Bart already was. Marten had some fireworks we set off after midnight, and apart from one other blast that's the only thing I've seen all night. Slightly disappointing in that aspect, and I guess this was the first time where I really missed home. Cabaret on TV (which I watched online today, so I caught up with that) and the infamous "oliebollen". And some proper countdown on TV as well, for instance. The night itself was overshadowed by Charlotte being drunk after two glasses and not wanting to go home at any time. She got terribly cold, wearing my sweater and Tina's scarf already, so Bart lifted her in the car and we got her home. Spent some time at Tina's place when Bart got his bike and I went to pick up Georgi from the party (he was at the hotel at the time).

The last two nights, I've been operating a small outside bar, right outside of Le Marche, where we had live music, performed by Juan Areco, an acoustic guitarist who's been in the business for a longtime. Look him up on Youtube or visit www.juanareco.com. He's a great and friendly guy, and a wonderful musician.

Other than that I've been working a lot, catching up on my TV series, and that's about all. Today I've also been spending some time on a Fruity Loops project, but I'm once again not sure if I'll ever finish it as a full song. I'll see what that becomes.

And for a song I've been playing a few times over the last week; "Untouched" by The Veronicas.