amsterdam, bruges, live music

im a little closer to saying ive seen enough after this past weekend. Amsterdam was not a big surprise regarding what to do, but more so on the historical side. sure the lure of sex and drugs was enticing and marks an historical date on my timeline, but the city has so much to tell in its architecture, canals, and art, among other things. i managed to get a glimpse of both worlds, as my trip included a canal tour, a tour of the heineken brewery, an art museum, cheese, clogs, and windmills. the other side included a walking tour of the red light district, the most bizaare sex shops ive ever seen, coffee shops, and Oxford Collapse playing a gig at the hotel i was booked in. i decided to leave my camera in the room as i a) didnt want to be the annoying american taking pictures of a night on the town and b) would rather not chance a facebook scandal. the only pictures i took while actually in amsterdam were of the open air courtyard at the hotel. it was a calming place when i wanted to escape people and just listen to tunes.
my camera got plenty of action in Bruges though, as the parts of the city i wandered in were absolutely beautiful. i was only allowed about 3 hours in the city, but that was enough time to grab some gummi crocodiles from a confectionary shop, eat a lamb gyro, enjoy a cool duvel, and chillax with a voluptuous mermaid. time well spent. i hope i can do it all again before Amsterdam is shut down in the coming years.
in other news ive been fortunate enough to get out and see some live music. on the 17th i strolled over to soho to see Women. the venue was Madame JoJo's and it was underground, small, and quite intimate. Women played a good set, with multiple songs turning to white noise for a climax. tonight ill be paying the Forum a visit to see long running death masters Cannibal Corpse. i havent seen them for close to 5 years, so im pretty pumped. and of course after the gig ill be returning to ISH bar to tackle some Queen in karaoke.

let there be rock

just finished my pseudo-sushi lunch and i have some time to get a blog post in during my break. today is great so far. i spilled indie tracks all over the airwaves this morning, the sun is actually shining today, and i got the cool kids in my ears. word.
last week i went down to Proud Camden to cover "AC/DC: Let There Be Rock" for Invincible. i highly advise you to check out the Proud website, www.proud.co.uk. this was the premier night for a new exhibit of rare and unseen photos of AC/DC from the 70's. they were all courtesy of Phillip Morris and the collection was quite amazing. I arrived on the guest list and helped myself to a bunch of free beer while i mixed and mingled with the crowd. i took a bunch of pictures and wrote up a review for Invincible. after 3 hours of chatting, interviewing, drinking, and taking pics the tribute band Dirty DC took the stage. im not much for tribute bands, but they pulled it off. i stayed for 3 songs then booked it. the gallery up at Proud Camden is everything from sweaty live debauchery to smoky candid studio shots. really intimate stuff that helped me realize a bit more respect for early AC/DC. select pics are up in facebook.
in other news, im booked for Amsterdam and Bruges this coming weekend, and lots of live music in the near future including: Viatrophy, Young Widows, Fleet Foxes, Cannibal Corpse, The Cure, and Crystal Castles.

i am evan's superbowl blog post

as promised i will retell my superbowl night and my opinion on the outcome. the night began at 7pm with a beer pong tournament at the ISH bar. i teamed up with my roommate Nick and we volunteered to play in the first game of the 8 team tournament. what was unfortunate about this is that the table was 3 tables put in a row, making the completed table a good 3-4 feet longer than a standard pong table. the cups we had to use were smaller than your standard 10-12 oz cups as well. nothing about this says reguation. but thats what we had to work with. the game ended up taking 35 minutes due to the near impossibility of hitting a shot. Nick and i ended up losing by 2 cups and proceeded to walk away with bruised WI reps. fittingly, after our game the consensus was to remove the shortest table to make the game more manageable. not expecting to lose that early, i found myself with 3 hours until kickoff and no desire to watch that much pregame analysis. the group of WI students/interns played a few rounds of flip cup with our left over pong cups, but one can only play it so much. i made a dash for my room to get some food and less expensive drinks, returning in time to miss a good chunk of the national anthem and see the opening kickoff.
i'll say right away that im not a fan of either arizona or pittsburg. and i dont revert to an NFC team just because the packers play in that conference. i was pulling for the steelers for the fact that they have an outstanding defense, and i greatly appreciate any good defense.
watching the defensive player of the year, James Harrison, return a pick for 100 yards was a dream come true just watching. i honestly thought after that the cardinals were done. that was a tough blow to take right before halftime, but credit their desire and passion to play for not bowing out. it's hard not to love a reciever like Larry Fitsgerald. he doesnt boast or talk trash or make everything about himself. he's a true team player, and is fun to watch. im sure he'll get a ring at some point in his career. by the time the fourth quarter rollled around it was 2.45am in london. i was crashing pretty hard, even nodding off momentarily. but thankfully i was awake to watch the magnificent final drive by big Ben and the steelers. there's nothing more that can be said about Santonio Holmes' td catch that hasnt been said already so ill leave it there. this was a fun game to watch, debatable as the best ever, but needless to say at 3.30am when the final whistle blew i was ready to get to bed. and thankfully due to the massive amount of snow that was coming down, i got to sleep in the next morning.
cheers

the london experience

wow it has been an interesting and fun time so far. the recent snow fall crippled London on monday, and it was hell getting around. reports estimate that the country lost 1.7 billion pounds due to closings all over. most of the students/interns enjoyed a snow day and made snowmen. i made an afternoon trek and then called it quits to spend the rest of my day relaxing and writing in my journals. this city is not designed to handle snow at all. honestly the snow fall was pretty weak compared to what wisconsin sees on a regular basis, but then again 8 million people in one city compared to 5.6 million in WI does make a difference. enough about weather though.
i did a little more sight seeing last week at the Tower Bridge. pictures are up on facebook. the tour of the bridge was very modest with my international student id and i was able to see the most advanced warship in the world docked on the River Thames. it's pretty badass and if it's still around i might go take a tour of the inside this coming weekend.
in other notable news, i found my flash drive that i thought i had lost, so cheers to that. i bought a new pair of jeans after discovering a hole in my favorite pair. also found an excellent organic cafe to eat at in camden (another small reason camden rules).
this post is getting ever so long so ill wrap it up with tonight's plan of attack:
tonight im covering the unveiling of "AC/DC: Let there be rock" which is a new exhibit at Proud Camden. you can check out the website here: www.proud.co.uk ill be mingling and taking pictures for Invincible and possibly doing a write up for the next issue of the magazine. while not a huge AC/DC fan, im still stoked to be able to attend a premier event for free. makes me feel fuzzy inside. thats all for now. ill check back in soon with my belated superbowl analysis and an overview of tonight's experience.
cheers!