As you might have notice Dutch Dolls are on a bit of a hiatus...

In the meantime keep up to date with Geeske at www.geesvoorhees.com.

See what's Nanna is up to at www.nannakoekoek.com and www.nannakoekoek.blogspot.com.

Cheerio!

Parade alternatives

Rotterdam boasts itself as a city of festivals. And rightfully so. There are so many it's impossible to go to them all. But which ones to skip??

Next weekend do go to Metropolis - a FREE music festival where you can catch the likes of Les Savy Fav and The Vaccines, as well as tons of other bands that you never heard of but who will (possibly) be famous next year.

This weekend, June 24-26, travel South to the Wolphaertstraat to visit Bazar Bizar. Over 60 (!!) artists will sell their prints, drawings, jewelery, clothing, zines, toys and what not. Plus there will be good food and music (including from our own Geeske).

And/or you could go up North to the bustling neighborhood of Het Oude Noorden for Route du Nord. This route will take you along all the galleries, shops, cafes, restaurants and temporary art spaces that are tucked away in the narrow streets of "The Old North".

A festival you certainly should not miss (unlike me..) is the Open Dans festival. Jan Misker and our friend Janne Eraker hand picked the best, fresh and exciting dance acts that are out there in Rotterdam today. The program is just as divers as the city itself: there will be everything from modern to urban, from tap to tango, there will be video-installations and turntables, there will be more established dance makers as well as young and upcoming ones, plus workshops, live music and parties! And all this for just € 25 (3-day passepartout - separate tickets available too). Skip De Parade, I'd say!

Yellowman: Alive and Kicking

Yellowman at The Globe, Cardiff, photo by Paul Seligman.

Last Thursday I went to see Yellowman. King Yellowman that is. Dancehall legend. His appearance is what you could call remarkable: he's tall, skinny, athletic and albino. In 1986 he was diagnosed with cancer of the jaw and was told he had only 3 weeks to 6 months to live. Thanks to surgery he is still among us, but it left his face disfigured. Being raised by nuns at the Alpha Boys School orphanage in Kingston, Jamaica (it fostered many famous musicians, like Desmond Dekker and four members of the Skatalites), you could say his life hasn't been all beer and skittles, cakes and ale or a bed of roses.

But all these misfortunes didn't stop Yellowman. On the contrary! He rose to fame after winning a toasting competition and had some big hits in the 80s. He became one of Jamaica's biggest stars and was the first dancehall artist to be signed to an American major label.

So you can understand I was very excited that this living legend was coming to my humble town. As with all artists whose heydays were decades ago the show could either be a hit or miss. Well it was no miss. Yellowman is 54 years old, but he is very much alive and kicking, literally! And no DAT or backing track, no he had a full live band, his Sagittarius Band. There was a nice mixed crowd of old balding, slightly overweight men, who obviously have adored Yellowman since 1982 (they went nuts), and younger folks, notably from Cardiff's hip hop scene. Yellowman has been a great influence on American hip hop artists from the 80s (and later), as prove these tracks that sample two of Yellowman's greatest hits: Zungguzungguguzungguzeng and Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt:


Masters of Ceremony - Keep On Moving. Get it here (YSI).


Eazy-E (of N.W.A. fame) feat MC Ren - Nobody Move. Get it here (YSI).


BlackStar (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) - Definition. Get it here (YSI).

I'll let you go with the wise words Yellowman sent us home with and which have been my motto ever since:

"Be nice. And if you can't be nice be good. And if you can't be good be careful. And if you can't be careful.. you're on your own."

A Blessed Mixtape

Unless you've been lying under a rock for the last few months you will know today is D-day here in the UK. And even though I have very little with royalty or the institution of marriage, I couldn't resist the whole royal wedding fever while making a new Spotify mixtape for TwentyTrackTape...

BY ROYAL (DIS)APPOINTMENT contains 20 songs that cover all aspects of marriage: courtship, persuasion, parents' disapproval, objection, going to the chapel, the punch up at the wedding, solidarity, regrets and divorce.

Of course The Dixie Cups are on it with their Chapel Of Love, as well is Morrissey's Will Never Marry. There's Hot Chip's ode to monogamy and some good advice on marriage from Jimmy Soul and Smokey Robinson's mother. As I'm not the romantic type there a quite a few songs about divorce on it, including a song by Marvin Gaye, who recorded an entire album about his split from Anna Gordy (as part of their divorce settlement Marvin had to pay an extensive percentages of royalties of his next album to his ex. Consequently he made Here, My Dear, 14 songs about the deterioration of their marriage).

Especially for those of you who don't have Spotify, I'm treating you to a couple of the 'high lights' of my mix:


The Shangri-La's - Give Us Your Blessing. Get it here (YSI).
The Shangri-La's are one of my favorite girl groups. The girls sing like their chatting to each other, and lots of their songs are a bit sinister with sound effects dramatizing the mood. Wedding bells, a thunder storm and car crash can be heard on this song about two teenagers who run away because their parents don't approve of them tying the knot and crash themselves to death.


The Five Du-Tones - Divorce Court. Get it here (YSI).
A hilarious song that reenacts a court session. Especially one of The Five Du-Tones singing the wife's lines in a high pitched voice, and the husband breaking out in tears at the end!


Barrington Levy - Quick Divorce. Get it here (YSI).
Another song set inside the court. The reggae singer begs and pleas the judge to dissolve his marriage as fast as he can.

The hardest part of making this compilation was to limit it to 20 songs. I would have loved to included a Latin version of Frank Sinatra's Love And Marriage as sung by Peggy Lee, or I Cried All The Way To The Alter by country singer Patsy Cline or any song by The Wedding Present. But alas for them! Also my beloved Mirah didn't make the cut with Til Death Do Us Part, but I will share it with you here.


Mirah and Golden Bears - Til Death Do Us Part. Get it here (YSI).

And if this song was on Spotify it would have definitely made the list. More sound effects!

Roy C - Shotgun Wedding. Get it here (YSI).

Listen to the whole BY ROYAL (DIS)APPOINTMENT playlist on Spotify by clicking HERE. Chick here to visit my Spotify profile.

Dissidents & Dancers

One of my favorite bands from Cardiff is The Method: a five piece that sound like a Mariachi band playing Northern soul infused psychedelic garage rock. Really! Even though I think their music is best consumed live, I am very happy they've immortalized their songs in the form of a record. If you're in the Diff come down to The Globe this Saturday April 16 to celebrate the launch of their debut album Dissidents & Dancers. Tickets are £7 including the cd (£4 without). Support comes from the ever smartly dressed youngsters Houdini Dax. You will dance, you'll feel like a dissident if you don't!!

Here's a track from the forthcoming album that is up for grabs from the Miniature Music Press website. Buy the cd directly from their label See Monkey Do Monkey!



The Method - Fool. Get it here (YSI).

Off-white

I've been sitting in the sun all day so now I'm finally off-white and IT MAKES ME WANNA DOUGIE!




Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie. Get it here (YSI).

Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie (Urban Mix feat. JD, B.o.B., Bow Wow & Red Cafe - Radio Edit). Get it here (YSI).

For Gore Lovers: vintage x 3

So I've been watching scary movies again and there's some great badness that I'd like to share with you!

I: Summer Of Fear (1978)
This one stars good kid gone posessed; Linda Blair. She lives a carefree life with her parents, brothers and horse untill all is disturbed by a new house guest; niece Julia. At first she is very happy with her brand new ‘sister’, until strange things start happening around the house. Soon she discovers that there’s something very scary and disturbing about Julia and that she’s not who she says she is....


Apart from the huge perms, and the scary high-wasted pants there’s nothing really frightning about this film. The make up was quite bad and the plot was not that surprising. But I really enjoyed watching it anyway. Was it the cozy family that gets torn apart but eventually makes it because they stick together? Or was it that yellow seventies sauce? Or the tiny role of Fran Fine? I don't know, it’s just my favorite era for films and Wes Craven is still a hero. If you’re into vintage horror and don't have the need for that sadistic new skool gore.. definately one to watch!

II Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
The film starts as a bad mix of Prom Night, Halloween and Teen Wolf with girls in a shower, picking on the new girl who turns out to be pretty cool after all. So she gets invited to a Slumber Party at the popular girl’s house, which off course turns out to be a bad idea. In the mean time, we see a dude with a van that has some suspicious things going on. When the night falls all elements come together and the killing begins. Leaving very little to the imagination (meaning: wearing no mask or whatever), the ‘driller killer’ comes to business drilling holes in all the girls and the walls and also some furniture. A shame to see 100 hours of aerobics go to waste? Neeh, very entertaining!


III: Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)
Terrible but crazy cool, they had me within the first 5 minutes. It’s about 4 girls that are in a band together (a cheezy version of The Runaways). The girl that plays lead guitar is a survivor of the first massacre and we can tell she’s still slightly confused. As they get together in an empty house to practise for the next show, the trouble begins. Lead guitar girl starts having horrible nightmares starring a killer that sings, dances and carries a bad ass guitar with a screw drill on the neck while he chops of hands and drills holes in everyone. Leaving the spectator with questions: is the director pulling a freddy Krueger?? Why does this guy look like John Travolta? Are these people really dead?? Why do I even like this?


Apparently there is a sixpack of Massacre films, that show us 2 films in 3 different subgroups: Slumber Parties, Sorority Row and Cheerleaders. All of them packed with a typical B-movie visual spectacle and crazy plot twists. The interesting thing about the 1982 Slumber Party Massacre part I is that it was written by feminist activist Rita Mae Brown. Who obviously got so wrapped up in the story of a dude sticking his screw drill in all these innocent half naked teenage girls, that she forgot all about her beliefs.