Amsterdam: July 20-24, 2010

Spui with Kevin Whitehead and Michael Moore
(Click any image to enlarge)

What a beautiful week this has been, full of unexpected and delightful surprises. It began with meeting Michael for coffee, his houseguest Kevin joined us. After coffee, we sat around Michael’s mind-blowing record collection as he and Kevin helped me research a paper I’m working on. Not only do both of the guys have an encyclopedic knowledge, they were assisted by Kevin’s use of Tom Lord’s discography…he would mention an album, and Michael had it….unbelievably good time. Spent about six hours post-coffee talking and listening….

Following this, I continued on my search for a Dutch beer that I would enjoy. I’ve had so many Belgian and other ales here, made me wonder where they were hiding the good Dutch stuff. Brouwerij’t IJ turned out to be a great find, I had a sample there…very nice beer, the Struis was excellent. Other pubs visited during the week include ‘t Arendsnest, specializing and carrying only Dutch beers and of course, Gollem where I had the Hopus, a great beer. The highlight of the week (beer-wise) was at one of my favorite haunts, De Engelbewaarder, an old literary cafe and pub. There, Jasper, John and I enjoyed a Rodenbach Grand Cru…phenomenal world class Flanders red ale….(not Dutch). Truly one of the most enjoyable I’ve had.

BUT, not to mislead, this week has not been all about beer: Great coffee and ok tea, great food, crazy long walks looking at the city, wonderful time spent hanging at cafes with musicians and artists. Restaurant highlights include some usual suspects for me: The Golden Temple, De Bolhoed, the ever present and always nearby Maoz Falafel. Best coffee in town still is Lungocinno. I even visited the “coffee nazi” on Waterlooplein. Named by friends after the infamous “soup nazi” of Seinfeld, he is basically nuts: You need to know what you want when you walk in, you order in a certain way, he never takes money directly but instead hands you a tray that you put the cash on, and if you get the coffee to go and dare to linger he yells at you to leave. All for a pretty mediocre espresso. Shtick, when it comes to consumables, is never worth it. Lungocinno (and Cafe van Daele, close second) far surpass it.

Hanging with the musicians is always a blast in this town. Last night, I was invited to a locals pub, Cafe Nagel, located in a neighborhood not far from where I’m staying. John, Jasper and Mila were a bit late…and I didn’t want to go into to this Dutch pub and stand around not knowing anybody so I waited outside. When they showed up and we went in, turned out I knew several musicians in the place already from my previous visits…! Including Seamus Cater and Viljam Nybacka who I reviewed last year here. Had a great time.

This week will be a bit different, I need to start preparing my syllabus and reading list for a course I’ll be lecturing in the Fall at UCSD. The course is titled, “Blues: An Oral Tradition” and is cross-listed as music/ethnic studies and will have around 165 students in it. Should be fun. AND any tips on materials is appreciated…! I also have interviews with artists planned (for my dissertation) and some jam sessions with musicians…one in about an hour…..and of course the STEIM residency and a concert associated with that…more as it approaches.

On a sad note: Dutch legend Willem Breuker passed away this week. What a great and influential musician. He will be missed.