NEWSARCHIVE

Period : March 12 - 16th, 1999
In this issue : dEUS, Pukkelpop, Vaya Con Dios, Purple Prose, Knack, Suikerrock, Opium, Humo's Pop Poll, Bluesnight Wuustwezel.

Tuesday March 16th, 1999

dEUS
Over here in Belgium it's hard to escape from the fact that the new dEUS-cd "The Ideal Crash" has now hit the shops (also on the internet, see for instance at Frontstage à 538 Bef). In the margin of all this, there are also some new facts to be heard :
- the official internet-site, http://www.deus.be, has now opened. Not quite living up to the expectations that had been raised, but still a good site that will also launch quite a few events.
- During the two days of the already sold-out gigs in the Ancienne Belgique of early April, there will be a chat with Jules Deborgher & Klaas Janszoons on April 1, and a live-internet-broadcast of the second gig in realaudio.
- For the rest of us who are not equipped with an ISDN-line (you need it to hear or see the audio-video n-on the site) it is probably less frustrating to just wait two days : then dEUS will perform at the german "Oster-rock-nacht" (Easter evening), that will be broadcasted live on the WDR-show Rockpalast. There also, the organizers announce a chat with the band at the chatpage of Rockpalast.

PUKKELPOP
Pukkelpop doesn't break the tradition this year of asking it's visitors to help : fans of the biggest "alternative" festival in Belgium can send in their list with most preferred bands for the festival once again.
Maximum five bands on a paper or postcard to Pukkelpop, Diestersesteenweg 152, 3970 Leopoldsburg, Belgium.

Monday March 15th, 1999

VAYA CON DIOS
It had been known for some time that Dani Klein, the singer of the internationally renound Vaya Con Dios, would be starting with a solo-project. Record firm BMG now has released details about the form of this. On april 26th this year, the cd "Purple Prose" of the group PURPLE PROSE will be launched, with on it 13 songs that Dani has written herself, with lyrics in English, French, Spanish & German. A few weeks earlier (about April 6th) there will be an advanced single with the title - believe it or not !- "Purple Prose".
The band consists of Dani Klein (vocals), Thierry Plas on guitar (known from Pierre Rapsat, Machiavel ...), Jan Cordemans (was part of Rick Tubbax & The Taxis, The Mood, The Responsibles), Werner Braito on harmonica, Marc Isaye on drums (another Machiavel-member).
The record firm didn't give a conclusive answer about the question wether this would mean the definitive end of Vaya Con Dios, but it certainly looks this way.

HET BELGISCH POP & ROCK ARCHIEF (deze site dus)
As far as incestuous news goes, this is a good one, but still I'd like to take this opportunity to point you in the direction of a small article that appeared in this weeks Knack-magazine, by the hand of the Zamu-journalist of last year, Jan Delvaux : "only minutes after her national victory in the Eurosong preselections, Vanessa Chinitor was on the web with a picture & sound clip already. Thanks to the young Dirk Houbrechts from Genk, who has been running The Belgian Pop & Rock Archives during his leisure time since January 1998. That hobby-ism is nowhere to be seen though. It is a website that has the solidity and attention to detail of a magnum opus. ... Since the man has started a poptelex a few months ago, also his speed and ingenuity strike the attention. New Belgian singles are available for further analyses right after their radio première. There's hardly anything that escapes his attention ..."
My ego left a notice to tell it really knows to appreciate such a positive criticism.

SUIKERROCK
The line-up of Suikerrock, the festival in Tienen, that has been growing nicely the last years, is already complete.
Saturday July 31st, you can go and watch 't Hof Van Commerce, The Selecter (english reformed ska-band), Raymond van het Groenewoud, Noordkaap (the cd "Massis" is lying in the shops from last Saturday. My first impression is very ok!) and Machiavel (to get some walloons from the other side of the language frontier).
On Sunday August 1st, you can witness performances of the Muchachas (formed by members of Ivan's Land and The Same), Mama's Jasje, Samantha Brothers Love Orchestra (the new disco-inspired band of Ralph Samantha a family), Jo Lemaire (partly with her own work, partly with the songs of Piaf she's currently bringing), Clouseau (their new cd was presented to the press last week) and finally Kid Creole (possibly with a few Coconuts but certainly with a few of his hits such as "Annie, I'm not your daddy", "Stool pigeon" ...).
Other good news is that the festival will still be free (there goes my chance of a free ticket) but they are still looking for ways to get a balanced budget (with advertising for smokes banned now). Willing donators can contact them via the Suikerrock-website, where there's also a lot of info on the past editions.

Friday March 12th, 1999

POP-POLL
Thursday evening, the yearly "Humo's Pop Poll Awards" were handed out during a festive, humerous & noisy celebration in the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels.
The award winners (in the Belgian Music Categories) were :
Best Male singer : Arno, before Raymond vh Groenewoud, Helmut Lotti & Stef Kamil Carlens
Best Female singer : Axelle Red before Sarah Bettens, Jo Lemaire, Yasmine, An Pierlé & Els Helewaut
Best Group : K's Choice, in front of Soulwax, dEUS, Zita Swoon, Gorki & Evil Superstars.
Best Single : "Much Against Everyone's Advice"(Soulwax), before "Believe"(K's Choice), "Song for a Dead Singer"(Zita Swoon), de Kwakhak (Michael's Beatbox), "Everything for Free" (K's Choice), "Chemical"(Dead Man Ray), "Ik Ben Aanwezig"(Gorki & Tom Barman), "B.A.B.Y."(Evil Superstars), "Dommestik & Levrancier"(Hof van commerce) & "Conversation Intercom" (Soulwax).
Best CD : "Cocoon Crash" (K's Choice), in front of "I paint pictures ..." (Zita Swoon), "Much against everyone's advice" (Soulwax), "Berchem" (Dead Man Ray) en "Lotti Goes Classic Final Edition" (Helmut Lotti), "Tot Morgen" (RvhG), "Boogie Children-R-Us" (Evil Superstars), "Con Solo Pensarlo" (Axelle Red), "Ik Ben Aanwezig" (Gorki) en "Blue Wonder Power Milk" (Hooverphonic).
The ceremony was filmed and will be broadcasted on Canvas, Saturday 13th at 22:35.
Source : Humo of course.

OPIUM
"A hurricane in a glass of water" - I don't know if this is a valid expression in English but in Dutch this means "much ado about nothing" - is the news that Joyce De Troch is leaving the band Opium. This group, a blend of three sexy ladies and very commercial tunes, that started out half as a joke and completely as a marketing-offensive, that had the most succesful song of last year's summer with "Doe me goed" and managed to seduce quite a bit of people during their numerous playback performances around the country, loses her most renound singer with this (she is posing for the Flemish Playboy for the second time this month). Her motives for leaving the success-band are not completely clear.
In the meantime there is now some busy speculating going on about the replacement for Joyce within the group, because both the management, Katia Alen & Inge Moerenhout, have confirmed that this will not mean the end of the ride. It is rumoured that one Claressa D'Hondt would stand the biggest chance of being the lucky girl (but I doubt this, since she has never featured in P-Magazine. (Meanwhile : the name was announced : Saritha, a Dutch-Surinam girl).

BLUESNIGHT WUUSTWEZEL
Friday April 30th in Wuustwezel: while others are calling it quits or are scaling down ... the 14th "Night of the Bleus", according to their own descrition : "small & cosy but top quality on the stage".
On the menu :
- Mr MOREFUN (Blues from the Antwerp Delta)
- BIG JOE & THE DYNAFLOWS (usa - jumpblues - an exclusive Belgian première)
- MIKE MORGAN & THE CRAWL (usa - Texaanse topgroep)
- MIKE HENDERSON & THE BLUEBLOODS (usa - Blues & rock from Nashville)
info: +32/3/663.70.11 of boozebrothers@ping.be

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