November 1, 2000

NOVAMIX MULTIMEDIA
This Saturday, November 4, the music branch of the internet comes to Hasselt. At least, that is the purpose of the Novamix Multimedia day, held in the picturesque location of the local Begijnhof (beguinage).
There will be a number of activities surroundint the central theme "music meets multimedia", such as demonstrations of music software, demonstrations of websites and a number of debates, moderated by Luc Van Acker, with guests such as Jan Hautekiet (studio Brussel), Kloot Per W (klootperw.com), Poppunt (poppunt.be), Louis Vuchelen of Sabam, Marcel Heymans of Ifpi, and as bottom of the bill ... me, who are invited to discuss themes such as the new possibilities and problems of the internet and outlooks for the future.
During the day, there will be also a number of concerts (programmed by Zaal Belgie), by the winner of the DJ-mania-contest DJ Daemon, by Anton Price (turntables & electronica with live drums), Buscemi, Frederic Galliano (exclusive concert from this artist from France, on Laurent Garnier's ultrahip fcom-label) and Eboman (another exclusive for Belgium this year, who will be doing both live music to a film "The driver must be a madman", and a "DVJ show", mixing music and video on the fly.
Entrance for the day is 100 fr (300fr if you also want to see the Eboman & Frederic Galliano concerts). More info from the event can be gathered at www.limburg.be/novamix. The event will also be presented in this evening's "Zipt" (on Stubru from 21 to 23 hr), with central guest Kloot Per W and quite possibly a brief appearance by ... me again!

VEEL TE MOOI (THE END)
The end of a duo : Sanne & Erik Van Neygen have decided that their days a singing couple (but not as a couple in daily life) are over: from 30 october to November 4, they're be giving the last 6 concerts together.
About 10 years after Eric van Neygen (a succesfull artist in the seventies with Pendulum, Louisette and as a solo country singer) discovered the girl at a concert, and the immediate success of their first collaboration (the single "Veel te mooi" sold over 75,000 copies), they have decided to halt it. "This decision was made because I have so more work to do for my art-gallery, and because Sanne has an exhausting job in education. We have always done our music trying to achieve the highest quality, and if the circumstances don't permit to achieve that, it's better to stop than compromising on the quality.
Whether Sanne (who you also might remember as the snow-white that refused to be kissed) will be doing some solo-concerts in the future is unclear, but "for the moment it's a no". There is probably going to be a solo-album by Sanne with lyrics in French in 2001.
You can check for availabilty of tickets for these last concerts at the Roxy in Temse at 03/771.00.03.

October 29, 2000

AND THE WINNERS WERE ...
Last Saturday, some 8000 rather wildly enthusiastic teenagers witnessed the second ceremony of TMF-awards, in the bunker that is "Flanders Expo" in Ghent. No-one fell from the stands, and the ceremony was smooth & professional, only livened up by Joost Zweegers (desperately trying to make a stage act from a solo performance of a slow song), Soulwax (who had "Play" and "Back" written on their hands, and were invaded on stage by the savage S.O.U.L. and the equally brutal W.A.X. from the celebrated clip to "Much Against Everyone's Advice"), and K's Choice (who had T-shirts with the ironic message "I Love Playback", and made clear that they are still very happy being almost happy).
The international awards went to Krezip (most promising), Live (best live act, best rockband), Ronan Keating (best male vocals), Destiny's Child (best rap & r&B), Britney Spears (best female vocals), Bombfunk MC's and their "Freestyler" (as best single), Westlife (as best pop band), Moby's "Play" (as best cd) and Aqua's "Cartoon Heroes" (as best video).
The awards for Belgian acts in the same categories went to Janez Detd. (most promising), Soulwax (best rock band, best video), Jasper Steverlinck of Arid (as best male vocals), ABN (as best Rap/R&B), Sarah Bettens of K's Choice (as best female vocals), X-Session (as best pop band), Milk Inc.'s "Walk on Water" (as best single), Praga Khan (as best live-act) and Novastar (as best cd).
And a good time was had by all (or almost all, as witnessed by this comment in De Standaard : "De bekroningen waren in die mate voorspelbaar dat ze irrelevant lijken. ... Verrassend? Allerminst. Deze ceremonie mogen we dan ook beschouwen als een gesmeerde promotiemachine voor al gevestigde, voornamelijk commerciële acts. Het zal de aanwezigen van vorige zaterdag ongetwijfeld worst wezen. Zij lieten zich gewillig omverspoelen door de opgeklopte feeststemming van TMF.").

IK HOU VAN JOU
Is the title of a new book by Manu Adriaens, the author who last year released a book surrounding the series "De Komplete Kleinkunstcollectie". This time, he has taken the rather more commercial side of flemish popular music as his subject, and has come up with the book "Ik hou van Jou - Het verhaal van de Vlaamse Showbizz", published by De Standaard.
In the book, he tries to chart the Flemish popular song from the second world war to date, by personally visiting the old and new glories, ranging from the elderly La Esterella or Bobbejaan Schoepen, to the new kids on the block such as K3 or Dana Winner. In the book, he mixes their stories from their different angles to a surprising cocktail. The book also has a large number of photographs, some of them quite rare.

October 25, 2000

COMPIL COMPLÈT
Only a few days ago it was announced that Arno will be releasing a compilation of his best work as a solo artist, but now there's the news that there will also be a compilation of the band that brought him and his compagnons the most fame: T.C. Matic. If that name doesn't ring a bell, "Oh la la la" or "Putain, Putain" just might. The title of this best of will be "Compil Complèt", it will contain a number of unreleased songs, and it will be released on the EMI-label (who already have released one TC-Matic compilation "ça vient, ça vient, change pas demain", but that was in 1987).
Arno will be interviewed live in the studio about the TC Matic days in the Studio Brussels show "Rock Bottom", next Sunday between 18:00 and 21:00. Jan Sprengers will also be doing interviews with Marc Decock, a roadie in the days when they tried to conquer the world, and Marcel VanThilt, a roadie in the days when they tried to conquer that cute blonde girl in the far right corner of the bar. The tracks of the album will also feature prominently in the morning show "was het nu 70,80 of 90" (it was 80, in this case), and the Studio Brussels-website promises it will air two exclusive tracks (not even included on the album).
"Compil Complèt" will be in the shops as of next Monday.

VERBODEN TE ZUCHTEN
Another belgian soundtrack release in this season covered with belgian soundtrack releases: "Verboden te zuchten / Le Pressentiment" (forbidden to sigh, the premonition) was presented at the Filmfestival in Ghent and has now also been released as a cd. The author of the soundtrack: Daan Stuyven (best known as the frontman of Dead Man Ray).
The album features new Daan-songs with the assistance of Wouter Van Belle (also DMR, producer of various belgian artist), Guy Van Nueten (the Sands) and Herman Gillis (Volt, Poesie Noire, and inventor of the Sherman filterbank) and lots of atmospherics and weird-sounding dreamscapes. Perhaps not suprising, as the pitch of Alex Stockman's film is : "Brussels, 1999. Joris (26), alone again after a first love, has decided to trade "the city of his life" for a sunnier place. On his way to the station, he gets a strange premonition which prevents him from going any further. He moves into a old hotel. For four days and nights, Joris strays in a twilight zone between remembering and forgetting, between wake and dream".
Buy "Verboden te zuchten" (out on labels, distribution Virgin) at.

CLAUDE BARZOTTI WINS ANOTHER TRIAL
Another victory in the courts for seventies star Claude Barzotti (best known for his romantic song "Madame"): a court in Nivelles acquitted him on monday in a trial which was held against him on the grounds of copyright infringement. The accusation was done by one Luciano Manente, who claimed that the song "Nous, en veut des violons" (the belgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992 as performed by Morgane) had a significant bit (exactly 12 notes) in common with a song he wrote. Strangely enough, the composer was acquited on the grounds that at least 20 more french songs have the very same notes in common! The singer was awarded 5 million in damages for the trial, which might bring him back on track (a track he had lost after another trial: a girl had accused him of rape, a trial which he won last year).
If this plagiarism is a subject you are interested in, you might also want to know the news that Arnold Rypens has once again found enough material to fill a new booklet of his series "The Originals". There's also a website in the making for the series at www.originals.be.