March 28, 2000

NICE TO KNOW THAT ...
- Gorki has released a second single of "Eindelijk Vakantie". The choice that was made is "Geld en Olie". The OPEC has already protested.
- Metal Molly's new album is now out in the shops. From what we've heard so far (Idaho, Sunconfort International, Elvis went blind), this is definitely worth a run to the shop. Or a click to the shop.
- Jan Verheyen is filming a new movie "Team Spirit", and Jan Leyers has been asked to take care of the musical score. The soundtrack apparently is going to include Novastar, Das Pop, K's Choice and a few well-kept secrets. Tine Reymer of Flowers For Breakfast is one of the actresses in it.
- the second Dead Man Ray CD "Trap" is imminent. Already there was the well-kept secret of the single "Toothpaste". The band has just opened a stylish website at www.deadmanray.com. Meanwhile, drummer Herman Houbrechts has left the band (to join Mauro) and is replaced by Chris de Backer.
- Betty Goes Green have a new album coming up, two years after "The Well". The album will be called "Dreamers & Lovers", and will be released May 2nd. Next week, there will be a first single already, called "Major Crush".
- Axelle Red has just finished her 3-month French tour at "Le Zénith" in Paris, and was buried under precious metals on that occasion : platinum for the cd "Toujours Moi" (400,000 copies), and gold for the single "Parce que c'est toi" (300,000 copies), for the sales in France. She also got platinum for the single in Belgium, and double platinum for sales album over here.

WERCHTER WITH LOTS OF BELGIAN ACTS AGAIN
Just as last year, organizer Herman Schueremans has again programmed quite a bit of Belgian acts for the biggest summer-festival Werchter (previously known as Torhout-Werchter).
As last year, the festival takes up three days again. The names that have been confirmed so far are :
- for Friday (June 30): Wheat, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Oasis + "a big dance act" on the main stage, Flaming Lips, Death in Vegas, Luke Slater, Laurent Garnier & some DJ's in the tent.
- for Saturday (July 1): Groove Armada, Bush, Macy Gray, Live, Eurythmics, Texas on the main stage (three openers will be announced later). Gorki, Dead Man Ray, Horace Andy, Kelis, Laïs, Suzanne Vega, Arid in the tent.
- For Sunday (July 2): Heideroosjes, Asian Dub Foundation, ..., Anouk, Soulwax (only Benelux festival gig this summer, but they will be all over the European festival line-ups. At least, that's the plan), Counting Crows, Paul Weller, Pearl Jam, The Cure on the main stage. Sandy Dillon, An Pierlé, Travis, Moby + four other acts in the tent.
Ticket sales have started now. On the web, the place to be is O-Music.

VARIOUS, SHORT
- Don't say that we did not warn you, part 1 : the Baccara-cup is back. This summer, in Middelkerke, one of the Flemish beach resorts. After eleven years ...
- Don't say we did not warn you, part 2 : K3 have released a new version of their success-album "Parels". Now, there's "Parels 2000", with a bonus cd containing karaoke-versions of a number of songs (as we saw in De Mol, a success all the way to Spain, although not with the Belgian locals over there. wtg Niki, btw).
- Don't say we didn't warn you, part 3 : Sergio has been asked to sing the flemish fan-song for the Red Devils at Euro 2000 (song by Kris Wauters & Marc Vanhie). Meanwhile, they're still quarrelling about the rights to the song of the Mondiale 1990 ("Mondiale, pintje halen" by Rocco Granata, vs. "De Kampioenen, kampioenen" by Luc - Lamp & Lazarus - Van Hellemont).
- Why didn't they warn us (part 1) : Last Friday, Radio Donna celebrated it's 8th anniversary, and handed out the "Donna Jewel" to the best song of the year, according to the listeners of the station (market reach : about 30%). The honour went to X-Session for the song "On and On". The competition was Milk Inc "Oceans", Clouseau "Heb Ik Ooit Gezegd?", Zohra "Look Up", The Oh! "Got To Be Free", Virtual Zone "Heaven", MacKenzie Feat. Jessy "The Rain", and Nunca Feat. Pat Krimson "Movin' Train". Strangely enough "Boy" with "Oh Boy" was not among the finalists.

March 22, 2000

A PRIZE FOR THE BEST COVER OF "I CAN'T LIVE IN A LIVING ROOM"
Studio Brussel has opened up the lines for the public to vote on which of the six Belgian bands did the best cover version of the Red Zebra punk classic "I can't live in a living room".
Contributors were :
- Kolk (did a dub version with a suprise end)
- Pat Ver Elst (dance version)
- Atomic (funky, with lots of extra lyrics)
- Orange Black (dreamy, lo-fi version)
- Janez Detd (surprised many by doing a reggea version)
- Fence (will release on their next cd).
Voting can be done at the site of Studio Brussel (where you can also hear a audio-extract of each version), or through telephone 0900/27444. A jury that includes Red Zebra-singer Peter Slabbynck will also have a say on the end-result, which will be made public on April 1 (the day of the 18th anniversary of the radio station) in club Brussel.

March 21, 2000

IN MEMORIAM ... JOHAN ANTHIERENS
Last weekend, at the age of 62, journalist Johan Anthierens passed away after a lost fight with cancer. He was many things, such as a superior picker of the right word at the right time, a non-conformist and a proud man ... but within the scope of this website, he also was one of the great writers about music that Flanders has seen so far.
He devoted many writings to folkmusic of the sixties (Kleinkunst as it was called here), and has written a book about Jacques Brel (whom he interviewed many times) that was published last year as "Brel, de passie en de pijn". In the very early sixties, Anthierens presented a radio-show called "De Charme van het Chanson", in which he introduced the genre over here.

ROCK RALLY ... THE FINALISTS
The organizing weekly Humo has announced the names of the 10 bands that will have the honour of competing in the Rock-Rally 2000 finals. So, who is going to be the successor to Once More, The Machines, The Chrome, Elisa Waut, the Peter Pan Band, Ze Noiz, Charlie 45, Evil Superstars, Novastar & Das Pop ... (thus having about a 50 percent chance of making it into the Belgian Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame)? They are (drum roll), in alphabetical order (drum roll ...) ...
- Admiral Freebee
- Cranc
- Driver
- Little
- Mint
- Mintzkov Luna
- Phillibustas
- Spaceman Spiff
- Venus in Flames
- Zornik Breknov
Tickets to the finals (in the AB, on April 2, from 15h00 onwards) are just 300fr. in presale and can be ordered from www.abconcerts.be or tel 02/548.24.24

SHOCKING ... A TALE OF SHOWBIZZ, FANS, DECEIT, AND DIRT
Today, the court of Turnhout has condamned singer Bobby Prins to a fine of 30,000 Belgian francs, as he was found guilty of clandestine dumping of garbage. The former success-singer from Itegem (home of Casimir Goossens) had dumped a sack of waste near his home, but was found out as the culprit. There was not even a great piece of police-work required to trace the origin of the sack, as it contained a large amount of fan-mail addressed to the singer.
Bobby Prins is a charm-singer who had his biggest hits in the seventies (Sancta Maria, Twee bloedrode rozen, Te Jong, Toe Kom in Mijn Armen, Maranaio), but has been active in the showbizz ever since. You can bet the amount of fan-mail he'll be receiving the next months will somewhat diminish, as fans discovered this way what the destiny is of their letters of adoration.

March 20, 2000

PRAGA DE RETOUR
Praga Khan has returned to Belgium after a succesful tour in the United States with Lords Of Acid. The tour ran for three months and was actually the first tour of the Praga-project in the States (LOA has been touring there for 10 years already, and is much better known), and included a guest-role for former VTM-face Deborah Ostrega as a singer.
Praga Khan will now focus on "Europe" once again, with the release of a brand new single very shortly, entitled "The Power of the Flower". This is a forerunner for a new Praga Khan full-cd which should see the light of day in the month of May and will be called "Mutant Funk".

NEKKA-PODIUM CROWNS CHERCHEZ LA FEMME
Last Friday, the final of the Nekka-contest was held, a talent search for bands or artist singing in Dutch. The final was won "Cherchez La Femme", a duo consisting of Chris Mazarese and Geert Hanssens (the latter a doctor in medicine who halted a career in music with Clouseau 15 years ago. He wrote the song "Anne"for them, which would become the breakthrough single of that band). This victory has earned Cherchez-la-femme a place at the Nekka-night in April.
The jury (with in it people like Della Bosiers, Jan Hautekiet ...) awarded second place to Jan Speltinx, a poëtic singer-songwriter, and third place to nonsense-rock outfit Tony & De Hangmatten. A prize for "best cover" (one of "Ding-a-dong" by Teach-Inn btw) went to the female cabaret-duo De Dulle Roekers.