Tuesday, April 12, 2011

ZAPPA Sraatfees

Whenever I have the opportunity to see either New Holland or Foto Na Dans, I get goosebumps of excitement! So when I read the line up for the Zappa Straatfees, I knew I had to cancel all possible plans I had for Saturday 12 March.
At first I was against writing anything about the show, since it was not really my way of experiencing some of our best local acts, giving it away, for free, for all. Also, most people at a gig of this sorts only go because it is free and another opportunity for them to get trashed. I would rather spend R40 on entrance and know that the people next to me are fans as well and they are there for the music. Oh yes. And there won’t be Bergies bumping into me at Klein Lib, would there? But I was truly impressed with Foto Na Dans’ performance and I thought this could not go unacknowledged.
After finishing a lovely bottle of red wine at Aandklas, I headed to the infamous Victoria Street to get my freak on. Upon arrival, Die Tuindwergies were still fooling around on stage, I have to be honest I did not pay much attention, since I was there for my favourite South African acts.
Finally New Holland took the stage and I was jamming out to some of my favourite local tunes. I always enjoy a good ol’ New Holland show, they hardly ever seem to disappoint, but on Saturday their show was pretty average so I won’t be saying much about them. I am an established NH fan, so no harm done here, but I’m afraid that their impact on my flatmate that tagged along was less than mediocre. Lalla decided to go with me since I’m always going on about NH, but at the end of the evening she was more impressed with meeting a DJ from MFM.
Around 8p.m the much anticipated Foto Na Dans took the stage, I was geared with a newbie on my left (Lalla) and my ultimate gig friend, The Lola on my right. We squished through the crowd and made our way to the very front. (You may certainly not watch FND from way back!) They opened with one of their latest singles, Die Vloed, I absolutely loved the base on the intro, the vibrations could be felt through the tar and it got the party pumping. Everyone knows Foto Na Dans is really the best live performance in SA, so I don’t need to tell you that. Alex Fourie was as entertaining as ever and I converted another to his side. She now can’t stop talking about how awesome he is and how we love Trumpet Time!
I really enjoyed their act and as usual the next morning I felt how much, when my neck and shoulders were completely stiff.

Cray-Cray

I know, I know. I promised some updates. I lied. My week was a tad cray-cray (for those of us who are uninformed, according to the residents of Grahamstown, this is the way to go, the new lingo for crazy.). My lovely girlfriend, Marcello, from Grahamstown graced Stellenbosch with her beautiful presence last week.
After my terrible test week and an Economics paper I finally got to see my long lost friend! the Lola and I took her dancing in Bohemia, while Stepdog played a free gig (if you don’t know this by now, Bohemia & DPK presents a free gig EVERY.THURSDAY. for FREE!), her BF Matt won 2 tickets to join us at RAKA (post to follow soon!), but they couldn’t  make it L  we then had some more drinks at Aandklas.  This was potentially not a good idea from the start, since I still needed to study and write my Marketing semester test on Friday. Oops.

On Tuesday we had a picnic in Stellenbosch’s beautiful Botanical Gardens. Lying around in the gardens for more than 4hours drinking red wine and eating sour worms is quite fun and I encourage all of you to do this sometime over autumn! When the gardens closed and they politely asked us to leave, we headed to Bohemia for some more wine and we were joined by Matt.

Thursday came around and it was the first day I attempted to attend class. During an accidental phone call to Marcello, I learned she was in Aandklas with the Lola (this was 1pm), this was a perfect excuse for me ditch my boring ISM class en head over to Aandklas for more wine! The three of us then made mission to Sgt Pepper (Best pizza & Mojito’s in town!) for a late lunch/ some food to keep us sober. the Lola hosted a braai at her house, can’t remember the last time we did a proper house party  vibe. Around 11pm we decided to head into town to see No One’s Arc at Bohemia. What a blast, boogying some more with the Lola and Marcello (oh and Matt!).
On Friday we joined Marcello and Matt at a family gathering and talked about the ‘old days’ and how we want to move to Cape Town next year to complete our studies. How I would love for the three of us to be in the same town! Our week with Marcello ended with a win tasting at SylvanVale, Devon Valley Hotel. We had some wine, some laughs, some tears and a goodbye!
After the wine tasting, the Lola and I made our way to Cape Town for a night out on the town. Or maybe just a couple of bands at Assembly!
So for a while I did actually forget about writing about all the other wonderful things that’s been happening! And also to my defence, I lost all the notes already made for blogging! L This basically means i have to try and remember everything I wanted to say…I promise to get straight to work!

Monday, April 4, 2011

See you soon

So I've been a bit out of action the last couple of weeks, I'm sorry about that!
You can look forward to some awesome posts in the next few days, which include:
-Zappa Straatfees
-aKING Album launch and album review
-RAKA festival

So I'll be making up for my absence and work very hard to satisfy all your needs.
xx