The Etta James Experience in Vanslag

There are many great musicians that you’ll never be able to see live. Either because the ticket-prices are outrageously high, because the artists never cross that great ocean or because they have sadly passed away. And I’m really quite allergic to the average tribute band, especially when the original is still up and about, but there definitely are exceptions and yesterday was such an exception: the Etta James Experience.

As we’ll never get to see Etta perform live (then again it’s halloween soon and you never know what may come to pass), last night I saw a terrific performance by a huge Dutch band paying tribute to the late and great Etta James.

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Black Bottle Riot in Poortershoes

I do love new musical initiatives. A few years ago the church in Borger was transformed into a concert-stage which has earned it’s place in many a bands agenda, a few years before that some friends organized houseconcerts in Groningen, which eventually grew to concerts in the synagogue and a four night programming at Groningen’s Noorderzon festival, I’ve seen the birth of the German Static Roots Festival and now a few friends and colleagues of mine have decided to organise several concerts in the community house Poortershoes in Groningen starting with Black Bottle Riot. To kick things off at full steam!

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Drentsch Peil in Vanslag

In the third weekend of September Drentsch Peil -a showcase for new bands from the province of Drenthe- came to Borger to play at Vanslag. A perfect opportunity to see what’s up and coming in my province and to see the good people of Vanslag again at the beginning of the new season.

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House of Cosy Cushions in De Buitenplaats

Autumn has started which means that as festival-season is at an end the concert season is finally starting again. My season started in Eelde of all places, in the museum De Buitenplaats with a concert by House of Cosy Cushions.

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The Profronde Surhuisterveen 2018

Last year I missed the post-Tour de France criteriums, but this year I at least made it to the race in Surhuisterveen. Only two days after the Tour de France. The first race is traditionally held in Boxmeer, but Surhuisterveen is really close by and… as the only racing crit after the Tour this one was attended by Geraint Thomas, accompanied by Tom Dumoulin, Baule Mollema, Laurens ten Dam and Ramon Sinkeldam. A pretty damn impressive list of cyclists.

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Red moon and a sunset

After all the hype about the Red Moon, or bloodmoon or lunar eclipse of yesterday, the moon had quite a bit of stage-fright and didn’t really want to show itself. And when if finally did, I didn’t get the clear, sharp shots I wanted.

On the other side of the horizon however the sunset was beautiful and that did give some pretty nice shots. And it was really nice in my walk looking for the moon to see lots of cars and bikes parked next to the roads and in the fields with people all looking out for that bright red moon. Sort of a shared experience…

Assen

More photos after the break…

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