Hey All,

So what has happened since the end of March. Of course there was my birthday in April, a good reason for a party at my place. Some friends and some colleagues came over to celebrate my birthday. During that party I also received some wonderful gifts, like some new CD’s, some whisky. I really enjoyed the party, although it was a bit late that I returned back home…

Some of the CD’s I got are:
- Echo Mountain - K’s Choice: After a couple of years, K’s Choice is back. Sarah and brother Gert went solo for a couple of years, and these CD’s were also pretty good. The new is a bit slower than the previous CD’s, however still a very nice CD to listen to!
- Beans & Fatback – Beans & Fatback: I already told you in my last blog that I liked their music. The CD comes in a great book, which contains the recipes of the main musician. Two of his hobbies are cooking and playing music and for this CD he combined the two. He invited friends and fellow musicians to his place to play a (couple of) song(s). At the end of the day he would serve them dinner. So the book contains the recipes they ate at the end of the day the finished recording :D. So I have some new recipes I can try out and some good relaxing music to play during diner .
- A curious thing – Amy MacDonald, her second album. This is a great album again of the Scottish singer-songwriter which is recorded in the Paul Weller’s Black Barn Studios, which can also be heard on the opening-track (Don’t tell me that it’s over). Another beauty by Amy MacDonald

Since March the weather also improved a bit. For me the weather is perfect, but it’s still not a real summer yet. The temperature is mostly between 15 and 25 degrees, which is a bit cold for this time of year. To play tennis, the weather is really good though, so that is something I’ve been doing quite a lot lately! Just a shame that I couldn’t play competition this year, there were too many people that wanted to play competition this year, and unfortunately I was one of the unlucky guys that didn’t make it …

But since I didn’t have to play tennis every weekend, I had time to go on holiday with my family for a weekend last weekend. It was very nearby (only a 30 mins ride), but it was a very relaxing weekend with little sleep (thanks to my niece (my sisters daughter) whom I shared the room with...). One thing that I really liked on this weekend was the book I brought with me (Rapture of the deep by Michael Zinsley). This is a great book and there are some good quotes in this book, like “I like being hangover because it means I’ve done something that I absolutely love!” .

Well that’s it for now.
Cheers!

Hey All,

It's been too long (again) since I put something on my blog. But lately it's been busy again with music (as usual). Not that I already know how to play the guitar, but I bought some great CD's lately. So here some fast written words about some of the CD's/Artists:

A very good new Dutch singer/songwriter is Tim Knol. I bought the CD and I thought it was a great album, and I was very happy when I saw that he would give a small concert here in Groningen. It was a bit stragne to see a 20 year old guy on the stage playing great guitar, especially during the encore where he played without a band, which was great!

During that concert, Beans and Fatback was the support act. They just were two people on the stage, both with a guitar and one of them was singing. Their music was great, I can't wait for their CD, but I will have to wait untill April 16th :S.

Another great Dutch singer/songwriter would be Daniël Lohues. Most Dutch people will know him from the band 'SKIK'. But after SKIK he toured with Louisiana blues band and the last couple of years he has a solo tour through The Netherlands, called 'Allennig', which means 'Alone'. He just made 'Allennig IV', this is the fourth and last part. Because every album contains songs that are linked to certain seasons. He started with the winter and Allennig IV is the fall. Daniël is from the same part of the Netherlands as I am, and since a lot of his songs are about that area, I can relate to a lot of things he sings about. Not only the lyrics, but also the music is great! So the day his last CD 'Allennig IV' came out, I bought the CD. It's not the best album, but it contains definitely some great songs!

Another CD I just bought is 'Acoustic Extravaganza' by KT Tunstall. I think everybody would know her hit "Black horses and the cherry tree lane", but this CD is also very good! On the DVD of that album she says that "An evening with the skye album would be, sat in on an evening with a storm outside, with a glass of whisky and some friends", so I think I will have to try that sometime. I just hope that the storm won't come for some time, because the spring has just arrived!

Cheers!

Hey All!

My last vacation of 2009 went to Egypt. I traveled there with 11 other people from diving club Piranha .

Piranha written on the briefing board

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Hey All,

January 11th this year I read that Miep Gies had died. She was one of the people who hid Anne Frank from the Nazis during World War II. She discovered and preserved the diary of Anne Frank when she the Franks were arrested to give it back to the father when he returned.
When I read this news, I first wondered why I have never been to the house of Anne Frank. The second thing I thought of was the movie called "The Freedom Writers" (Trailer). Although it is not the real Miep Gies, it is a wonderful scene where she tells the kids that they are the heroes.



I just want to say that if you haven't seen that movie yet, I want to recommend that movie to you, it's a great movie to watch!

Hey All,

A very short blog, but yesterday I'ven been to the movie "a law abiding citizen".

This movie was a good movie and definitely not a good movie for a Sunday afternoon. This is finally a movie again with a very good storyline with some nice twists which you don't expect.

Short, if you want to see a good thriller with a good storyline, this is a movie you would want to see.

Cheers!