Various nonsense...NIK: etc.

Fri Mar 4 15:14:59 EST 2005

Hey Folks...

(Note: I apologize if the font/punctuation is all screwed up on this
message...I've *tried* to make it simplified, but I'm having to use this
awful Outlook program that I can't make any sense of.  And I don't know what
the listserv server will do with all my characters until I see it come back.
I did a test mail to myself, and it was OK, so here goes.  I still miss
doing email by way of DOS as it was in 1990, but then I would have problems
dealing with attachments.)

Sadly, I learned about this Mars Volta band too late.  You see, I learned
that they are playing in Zuerich on Monday, and was all ready to go and see
if you guys' recommendations were solid (I think they probably are).  But,
alas, the show is already sold out - what a bummer.  And there aren't any
other shows near here.  Oh well, I'll check out a CD or two and catch them
next time.

Nektar is playing in Dortmund and Bonn, DE next weekend (11. and 12.3), for
those in the area with nothing else to do.  I'd like to be there myself, but
probably won't happen.  I think the Bonn show is for WDR recording and
broadcasting at some point in the near future.  'Evolution' is not at all a
band album, so hopefully the live shows will be good too.  Taff Freeman
seems to be permanently out of the band, so it's becoming less and less the
original lineup, but as long as Roye is still going, it's still Nektar (more
than the Magic is a Child album anyway).

I doubt also that I'll go up to Holland for this one-day event
(Roadburn...details below).  I'm sure it would be worth it, but I hope to
see Litmus later in the year (see below), and that was the No. 1 attraction
for me.  Well, I'd be interested to see what Nik's crew could do as well,
natch.  Anyway, Munich's ColourHaze is playing here in Switzerland that same
weekend, along with another stoner band from Basel (Phased), so I'll
probably go to that show instead.

Lots of other tours now starting to show up in the schedule.

Porcupine Tree

Guru Guru

Robin Trower

UFO

Judas Priest

Jethro Tull

Procol Harum

Danzig (?)

Black Sabbath (?)

I'll catch the first two for sure, and then perhaps a few of the others.  I
won't be sure until showtimes in many cases, 'cause I'll be effectively
homeless during the spring/summer.  (Which reminds me, I won't have official
email after 1.April here, so I'll only be reachable, and only
semi-regularly, via my khenders64 at yahoo.com <mailto:khenders64 at yahoo.com>
account afterwards, if anybody cares.)

My hope is to last all the way until the end of July at least, where I can
catch both central German 'hippie' fests like last year.  I imagine that the
Kosmos fest will be much improved from the mismanagement of the 2004
version, and it looks to have some really strong bands already.  Korai Orom
on the list for Herzberg looks like a great choice (perhaps a Friday
headliner?), although it's not yet confirmed on their homepage so perhaps
they're still talking.  Note that actually listed on the korai.hu site is
mention of UK tourdates starting on April 16 (though absolutely no specifics
are given), so people may want to look out for local announcements there if
interested (you should be!).  This band called Audience I've never heard of,
but it says they're an old 1969-72 classic/prog rock band just now reforming
after 30 odd years.  Hmmm..*another* one.  Can anybody elaborate?

Since there are so many language experts here, I was wondering if someone
could confirm my suspicion about the (lack of) the English dative.  I mean,
it occurred to me that the English 'whom' (which is itself now dying a slow
death) might be a vestigal linguistic organ of the German (dative case)
'wem.'  Is that true?  And is that the only such example?  Anyway, what
other oddities of English are there (e.g., in terms of the various 'cases'
that we have to learn in such languages as German) that might be interesting
to know, and can put my own language study into some perspective.  (Of
course, the more German I learn, the more I learn about (how weird is)
English.  For example, why in the hell do we answer 'Me!' - i.e., a
reflexive pronoun - instead of 'I' when answering anything that starts with
'Who wants to...'?  The Germans use the obvious personal, nominative case,
pronoun in this situation, which made me think.)

Oh, by the way, more than a few English words are slipping back into German
(or Swiss dialect) the opposite way, you know.  'Ausflippen' is my favorite
of these, being that it's half-translated (from 'flip out' obviously).
Einäwäg (Anyway) is used in Swiss German commonly, whereas most 'foreign'
words come from French (Märssi vilmal being a wonderful half-French (Merci),
half-German (vielmals) expression).  And of course, the German word for
female flight attendant is still 'die Stewardess' which is humorously
politically incorrect and outdated.  'Flirten' is the verb 'to flirt,'
complete with improper German 'i' pronunciation, unbeknownst to me at first.
It goes on.

Well, that's all I got, I guess.  Hope to see some of you this summer,
somewhere.  I'm off to Croatia in early April probably and then who knows?
Hiking/camping in central Europe is not like I expected, but perhaps it's
more like what I'm used to up north (Scandinavia) so perhaps once it's warm
enough I might head up that way for awhile.  If anyone has any more festival
recommendations to add to these below, please post them.  It may seem early,
but I want to have my calendar filled up pretty well before I head out next
month.

Ciao zäme..Grakkl (FAA)

Roadburn Festival, 013 Club, Tilburg, Holland - April 9, 2005

The Space-rock Stage [The Choice]:

SPACE RITUAL
(Nik Turner, Dave Anderson, Mick Slattery, Terry Ollis, Thomas Crimble, Sam
Ollis, John Greaves)

BRANT BJORK & THE BROS

ASTROSONIQ

LITMUS
DJ Kozmik Ken [UK]

The extra-heavy stage [Kleine Zaal]:

ELECTRIC WIZARD

HIGH ON FIRE

ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY

SUNN 0)))

DJ BONG-RA (spinning classic-doom!)

The garage rock/heavy 70's stage [Bat Cave]:

HULK

JOSIAH

BLACK MOSES

HYPNOS 69

VIC DU MONTE'S IDIOT PRAYER

NB: Gorilla was forced to cancel due to their own separate touring plans -
Hypnos69 is the replacement

Burg Herzberg - July 14-17, 2005 (same place as last year)

Current working lineup:

 <http://www.manfredmann.co.uk> Manfred Mann's Earth Band
 <http://www.ten-years-after.com> Ten Years After
 <http://www.lovewitharthurlee.com> Love with Arthur Lee
 <http://www.bbhc.com/BigBrother.htm> Big Brother & the Holding Company
 <http://www.wind-band.net> W.I.N.D. (Italy)
 <http://www.mostly-autumn.com> Mostly Autumn
 <http://www.gep.co.uk/iq/> IQ
 <http://www.saxmusicplus.com/audience.htm> Audience
 <http://www.anekdoten.se> Anekdoten
 <http://www.germanrock.de/j/jane> Jane
 <http://www.epitaph-band.de> Epitaph
 <http://www.korai.hu/3> Korai Örom
 <http://www.colourhaze.de> Colour Haze
 <http://www.theamberlight.de> The Amber Light

Kosmos Festival - July 21-24, 2005 (same place as last year*)

*known as 'Herzberg goes Wilhelmsthal' (now under new management..thank
God!)

Current working lineup:

 <http://www.bbhc.com/> Big Brother and the Holding Company
(TBC EXTRA!!! Maybe change date and play on the Herzberg Festival)
(seems likely given the above..KAH)

 <http://www.birth-control.de/> Birth Control
 <http://www.ramses-music.de/> Ramses
 <http://www.godofhellfire.co.uk/> Arthur Brown
 <http://www.litmusmusic.co.uk/> Litmus
 <http://www.mrquimbysbeard.com/> Mr. Quimby's Beard
 <http://www.kozmicblue.de/> Kozmic Blue
 <http://www.sienaroot.com/> Siena Root
 <http://www.shes-china.com/> She's China
 <http://www.heavyzenjazz.de/> Trigon
 <http://www.batschkapp.de/362> Nova Drive
 <http://www.verspielte-zeit.de/> Verspielte Zeit
 <http://www.electric-orange.com/> Electric Orange
 <http://www.sushimob.com/> Sushimob