Music Moments #6

Being that I'm in the car roughly 2hrs a day (school runs & sports) I have a lot of time to listen to music.  You can often catch me using my steering wheel as a drum or singing at the top of my lungs.  But being that I listen to so much music I can easily get bored of a song or cd, so it's important to keep finding new stuff.  (New to me, not per say new to the market.)

During the last season or so of X Factor or American Idol I kept hearing poor attempts at some song called Radioactive.  After a while I grew curious and wondered what the actual song sounded like.  After hearing Imagine Dragons original version I knew I wanted this on my car playlist!  I went even further and gave the entire album (Night Visions) a chance.  Not every song is for me, but I definitely have favorites to recommend besides Radioactive...  Demons, I can play this over and over... On Top of the World, it's just fun.  And even better, we get to see Imagine Dragons live this summer, because they're playing at a huge weekend long music festival and we have tickets!!!

And obviously I can't survive on one album alone when bopping back and forth, so I tossed in some John Mayer also.  (Funnily enough my husband and I stumbled upon his music in the same weekend, while in different countries!)  My husband basically likes one song, Speak For Me... I am yet to get this in my car but will probably get around to it this week.  Me, I've been giving his Paradise Valley album a chance.  There are a handful of songs I like... Dear Marie, Badge & Gun, Waitin' on the Day, & I Will Be Found... o.k., more than I realized!  Needless to say, I'll be looking up more of his music.  (And I don't care that my friends laughed and said they don't take him serious.)

What are you listening to these days?  Any recommendations for my car playlist?

(BTW, still occasionally listening to the songs from Music Moments #5!)

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Kermis (Fair)

A popular thing to do in The Netherlands is to visit the "Kermis" (aka Carnival or Fair) when it rolls in to town.  Luckily for me, there's a "kermis" one town over every year at my birthday.  For some reason quite a few years ago I started the tradition of a b-day bbq followed up by a visit to "kermis".  It must have been because of my nieces or the fact years ago we lived in the center of Best and they literally built the "kermis" around our apartment.  Once our own kid came along it made the "kermis" even more special.  We love watching her face as she gazes up at the large carni-rides or is overwhelmed by the endless lights, music, & food.  This year was one of the first years she was old enough to actually go on multiple rides; and we can only expect even more next year.  If she had her way we would have taken her on all of the roller coasters instead of the tea cups and massive slide.  In order to keep her distracted we kept her busy with all of the games.  Who knows how much we all spent but eventually we won her a jump rope, slinky, & toy guitar, she was over the moon.  I'm sure all of you have been to a carnival or fair, so I thought you might be curious what they look like here.  To be honest not much different, except they are often held in the center of town.  I'm used to where I grew up and we had the Strawberry Festival, it was huge and on a lot of land in a town called Plant City.  (Everything in The States seems to be bigger, there's just more land & space to work with.)  The "kermis" here doesn't have cattle competitions or country music concerts like my part of the woods in Florida.  But I wouldn't say I actually miss that, ha-ha!  Like most fairs, you have cotton candy, baked goods, and of course rides & games.  One thing I missed out on this year was the fun house & house of mirrors, I've loved those since I was a kid.  Maybe next year when our nieces can join!  And yes, my Wordless Wednesday was a pic of amazing waffles served at "kermis"!!!  (Funnily enough, I've never been to the huge "kermis" here in Eindhoven.)

 

Bospop

About a month ago we decided to buy tickets for Bospop (a classic rock festival in Weert).  In the mean time we've been quite busy, and questioned if we were even going to be able to go.  Sometimes planning too far ahead can actually work against you!  I'm not exactly sure who decided it was a good idea to go to a music festival the day the husbands returned home from a business trip in The States but it happened.  Surprisingly enough the men actually lasted until late into the night, probably thanks to an afternoon nap & Red Bull (long live energy drinks).  We didn't arrive until late in the afternoon, which turned out to be a good idea... we didn't get baked by the sun in the open field all day and we were able to stay almost until the very end.  Bospop had two stages set up, a large stage for the bigger acts and a tented stage for all the acts in between.  It was actually funny watching the people rush back and forth.  When we first arrived we did the usual wandering around, people watching, scooping out the event, hitting up the beer & food stands.  But eventually we sent up camp, we were close to the bathrooms and trash cans (convenient), we could see the main stage, and yet we were out of the way and not constantly being stepped on.  Luckily we brought two small towels, just enough for 4 butts, but usually there was always 1-2 people standing.  One of the most memorable acts was Amy MacDonald.  I only knew one of her songs but I must say I enjoyed her entire set, imagine Mumford & Sons just with a female lead.  I love it when artists can perform live as well as they do in the studio.  During her set a woman decided to pass out next to us, my husband & I were totally freaked.  The paramedics laid her on the ground, then eventually took her away, we had to turn our backs, we didn't like watching someones grandma laid out in a sundress flashing the crowd.  Once she was gone we let out a breath of relief and focused back on the performance.  Then she came back, what!  Who passes out then returns for more!  Other large acts were Roger Hodgson & Band and the night rounded off with Crosby, Stills, & Nash.  In between we were able to enjoy a popular Dutch act (Rowwen Heze), it's popular because the Dutch goes crazy and throw beer around during the performance.  When I first heard about it I seriously doubted we would participate, but of course as the night went on and a couple more drinks later, we were ready for the craziness.  Another funny thing was we ordered a pizza, sounds quite simple but apparently everyone was ordering just slices, you should have seen their faces when we said we wanted an entire pizza.  Then the trek from the pizza stand back to the men was also a feat.  Try stepping through hundreds of feet and blankets while getting hooted at from the crowd.  When we finally arrived with the pizza our husbands asked, "and where's the beer?"  Typical, ha-ha!  Luckily at the end of the night our friends sister picked us up, this saved us a bus ride, train ride, and a walk home, thanks!!!  And to top it off the only thing we lost were the towels, I think at the end of the night we decided the old towels weren't worth it.  It was a relaxed music festival, thanks to the crowd... we'd definitely party with classic rockers again!

Sneakerz

Some friends of ours were visiting from Australia so this called for a night on the town.  And being that there is always something to do in Eindhoven, to our benefit there was a huge stage and dj's set up not far from where we live.  We enjoyed a few drinks at the bar many internationals seem to migrate to, the Irish pub.  Then we hit up our favorite steakhouse.  And after that we were off to find out just what the music echoing through the city center was all about.  Turned out it's called Sneakerz in de Stad.  It's a platform for international dj's to present their house music and even better, the event was free!  In my daily life you're not going to catch me playing techno around the house, but when you just want to jump around and have some fun on a night out, techno is perfect to get the crowd excited (at least here in The Netherlands).  At some point when I looked around the event I definitely thought... I'm getting old, all of these kids are in their early 20's...  why am I the only one wearing a fluorescent shirt standing in front by the stage...  don't loose your slip-on shoes because the ground is disgustingly sticky.  But overall, it was fun and worth popping by to join in the mayhem.