There’s an incessant, subconscious stream of words and phrases flashing through my mind at any point in time. Writing is my first love, and words are my passion. I’ll be cursing and sighing as I search for the right ones and experience an uncharacteristic sense of pride when I finally find them. It’s an irresistible battle for me. A bewitching war with words as my weapons of choice.
The narrator that occupies my brain is multilingual. This means the words swirl around in various languages and usually come out in either my native tongue Dutch, or my adoptive language English. Sometimes it’s something in between, with some Flemish dialect phrases strewn in. (Google must hate me!) It is what it is. I hope auto translate may help overcome some barriers. In any case, ENJOY
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Hope Erodes | Part 1: A gushing review of The Crown
I had learned about them over a year before actually encountering them, from their previous guitarist. Funnily enough, it would turn out I actually knew the current guitarist Tim since way back when. The purple thread of people and tunes keeps on guiding me towards the gems of the music scene. Since…
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Back to Brak 2024 | Part 2: New to Me (Love Equals Death, Comeback Kid, The Queers & Cancer Bats)
With extreme giddy anticipation I’ve been looking forward to the 2025 edition of Brakrock on August 1st and 2nd. In true downsideup tradition, the two week lead up to this year’s Brakrock is for reminiscing about the previous edition. And what a year it was! In part two, I take you with…
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Maria Moctezuma & Rayna Avila live, aka utterances of what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck.
Maria Moctezuma & Rayna Avila | Friday, October 26th 2024, Live @ Muztic, Mechelen. I know. I have said this time and time again. ‘This was the best show I have seen (this year).’ But this time, this time it might actually be true. It is hard to decide when you see…
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Angry Zeta, Live at Long Last!
Angry Zeta | Wednesday, July 10th 2024, Live @ Bar Bricolage, Ghent. This is yet another story about connectivity and synchronicity. Of letting the music and the people lead me to more people and music. All these coincidences that somehow feel fated, and me just happily along for the ride. Around February…
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On the road with Carrie Nation & the Speakeasy, a trilogy in one part | Live in Aarschot, Turnhout and Herselt.
She can write short form like a one part series too? Absolutely, I do whatever I damn well please! Though I must admit that this band most definitely deserves more parts than I can give them at this time. Envisioning a few hefty series in the near future, I swore to take…
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Luke, me and Mister McGee. Tour-along journal, a trilogy in five parts. | Part 5: Apotheosis at Brakrock /AND/ Back to Brak: A continued love song to my favourite festival | Part 1: Bridge City Sinners
Tying up one series and starting on the next, this post is a double whammy! After seeing the guys solo four times, I get to see them in action with the incomparable Bridge City Sinners at my beloved Brakrock. The purple thread of music keeps stringing me along and tying up all…
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A love song to Brakrock 2023 | Part 6: Ode to the wondrous women of Brakrock! (The Venomous Pinks, Jen Razavi and Bad Cop / Bad Cop.)
With extreme giddy anticipation I’ve been looking forward to the 2024 edition of Brakrock on August 2nd and 3rd. Perfect time to look back on the previous year and get you guys equally excited with my tribute to the best festival in the world. The best bands, most idyllic location and greatest…
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A love song to Brakrock 2023 | Part 5.2: Front Row Madness! (Day 2: The Lucky Trolls, Voodoo Glow Skulls and Toy Dolls!)
With extreme giddy anticipation I’ve been looking forward to the 2024 edition of Brakrock on August 2nd and 3rd. Perfect time to look back on the previous year and get you guys equally excited with my tribute to the best festival in the world. The best bands, most idyllic location and greatest…
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A love song to Brakrock 2023 | Part 5.1: Front Row Madness! (Day 1: Good Riddance and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes)
With extreme giddy anticipation I’ve been looking forward to the 2024 edition of Brakrock on August 2nd and 3rd. Perfect time to look back on the previous year and get you guys equally excited with my tribute to the best festival in the world. The best bands, most idyllic location and greatest…
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Luke, me and Mister McGee. Tour-along journal, a trilogy in five parts. | Part 4: Live @ ‘t Rozenknopje
Clyde and the Milltailers + Lightnin’ Luke | Sunday, July 14th 2024, Live @ ‘t Rozenknopje, Eindhoven (NL) Part 1: De PallieterPart 2: The Black FlamingoPart 3: Lou’s Bar While waiting for the Liege show to start, I’d gotten an excited message from Jo who told me he had no choice but…
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Luke, me and Mister McGee. Tour-along journal, a trilogy in five parts. | Part 3: Live @ Lou’s Bar
Clyde and the Milltailers + Lightnin’ Luke | Sunday, July 7th 2024, Live @ Lou’s Bar, Liege. Part 1: De PallieterPart 2: The Black Flamingo After a nice and surprisingly relaxing drive, I arrive way ahead of time in Liege. I find a spot on the terrace in full view of this…
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Luke, me and Mister McGee makes three. Tour-along journal, a trilogy in five parts.|Part 2: Live @ The Black Flamingo
Clyde and the Milltailers + Lightnin’ Luke | Saturday, July 6th 2024, Live @ The Black Flamingo, Nijlen Part one can be found here! After a month long and frankly well deserved break for The Black Flamingo, I finally get to go back to my happy place! Not for just any gig,…
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Luke, me and Mister McGee makes three. Tour-along journal, a trilogy in five parts. | Part 1: Live @ Pallieter De Café
Clyde and the Milltailers + Lightnin’ Luke | Thursday, July 4th 2024, Live @ De Pallieter Café, Herselt. Because of my newfound love of the instrument, I dubbed 2023 the year of the banjo. In november, I declared 2024 would be the year of the violin, ever since Jo had given me…
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A love song to Brakrock 2023 | Part 4: Let the people guide you to the music. (Day 1)
With extreme giddy anticipation I’ve been looking forward to the 2024 edition of Brakrock on August 2nd and 3rd. Perfect time to look back on the previous year and get you guys equally excited with my tribute to the best festival in the world. The best bands, most idyllic location and greatest…
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The Interrupters (+support: The Meffs)| Live @ AB, Brussel | 9 juni 2024
The Interrupters stonden al lang heel hoog op mijn live-zien-lijstje. In 2022 zou ik ze eindelijk mogen meemaken op De Lokerse Feesten, tot een positieve coronatest roet in het eten gooide. Een klein jaar later stak ik dan maar de landsgrenzen over en kon ik ze ontdekken in De Melkweg. Ik zou…
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An ode to Songs from the Rua Room: For the love of the music
The Black Flamingo road leads me to discover some great musicians, but also guides me towards some wonderful champions of the music. Jo kept gushing about the Rua Room, the brain child of Irish born artist and music lover Daithi Rua. He’s a singer-songwriter who grew tired of life on the road…
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Bears in Trees + Happy Fits | Live @ Trix, Antwerp
Bears in Trees + Happy Fits | Live @ Trix, Antwerp | Friday, May 10th 2024 – Trix, Antwerp Part 1: Bears in Trees Bears in Trees came on my radar by way of some Instagram reels. They immediately won me over with their authentic personalities and wholesome content. I only unearthed their…
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Sean K. Preston | Live @ Titanic, Herenthout
Sean K. Preston | Thursday, April 25th 2024 – Titanic, Herenthout It happened again. Of course it did. It’s all an integral part of the sneaky synchronistic ride the magic of the music is taking me on. It feels fated, whether I like it or not. Note from the author: I don’t…
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Pat Carter and Luis De Cicco (Rodeo FM) | Live @ The Black Flamingo, Nijlen
Pat Carter and Luis De Cicco (Rodeo FM) | Saturday, March 16th 2024 – The Black Flamingo, Nijlen This show had already been on my radar since around September ‘23. I remember Jo being thrilled letting me know well in advance that half of Rodeo FM was booked to appear for a…
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Shawn James |Part 2: Live @ Melkweg, Amsterdam
I was trying to resist and contain myself. I needed rest. But when you write the following about a show, and the band is playing a mere two hours away, you cannot NOT GO: ‘From gut wrenching to near growling in an instant. This man and his band are unmissable, I would…
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The Fallen Reverend Van Tastik: An ode to a unique artist + Live in Knokke!
The Fallen Reverend Van Tastik: An ode to a unique artist. It was June of the year 2023. I had followed Pete Bernhard from The Black Flamingo to Tequila Tattoos, and had been anxiously awaiting the show he was going to do with his band at De Casino. I’ve written at length…
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