Amsterdam Hotels
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Odds and Ends from Amsterdam
Entry 37 of 40 | show all | print this entry |
FUND DRIVE UPDATE
(420 Cafe, Amsterdam, May 26, 2006)-Thanks to the prompt responses by the Red Rooster and to bro. Rick and Boy Howdy Slim in Saugatuck (every little bit helps!), Week Two of the Golden Bard Fund Drive has been successfully negotiated but I'm facing an ugly stretch before departing on June 22nd for the States and paying work there.
I'm doing a lot of work here in Holland as well, but so far there's no rush to pay me anything much for it. I get a free room from The Dolphins and complimentary drinks at a couple of coffeeshops, and every once in a while somebody slips me a little bag of free weed, but other than that it's pretty hard scrabbling all the time.
And it's not like I think anybody owes me a living, but on the other hand I've lived an abundantly productive life for a long time and still have very little to show for it. Yet the incessant insistence on cash for goods and services offers no relief, and payment has got to come from somewhere.
There was a classic blues bar on Mack Avenue east of E. Grand Boulevard in Detroit called Ethel's Cocktail Lounge where the management had posted a notice on the back of the dressing room door regarding the club's guest list policy. It said: "If your friends won't pay to see you, who will?"
Now we're nearing the halfway point in my first personal Spring Fund Drive, with two and a half weeks down and less than four more to go-time to think about making your pledge and fulfilling it at once via my PayPal account at this site.
I know you don't wanna hear any of those hard-core pledge-drive pitches that we hate so much any more than I want to give them, so let a word to the wise suffice and pitch in today if you can. Thanks a million!
COMING UP
(The Reefer Coffeeshop, Amsterdam, May 28, 2006)-It's been a pretty slow week since the sunshine was driven out by the typical Dutch rain. Thursday was some kind of holiday I still don't understand, although everyone explained it to me as "Ascension Day," or the day the Lord of the Christians was lifted from this sphere directly into Heaven. Pretty far fetched, if you ask me, but any excuse for a holiday.
The fine poet Andrew Jones and I have been invited to perform at Cappy Jack's art opening at the Royal Gallery on the Koenigstraat next Saturday, June 3, at 4:00 pm, and again at the Cannabis College the following Wednesday, June 7, at 7:00 pm. Big fun, and they could use a little poetry around here.
Saturday, June 10 will bring the annual LEGALIZE! parade, an energetic romp around the city's streets with floats and bands and merriment of all kinds in support of the recurrent call to LEGALIZE RECREATIONAL DRUGS once and for all.
A lotta people don't know that even cannabis is not legal in Holland, although one can purchase it across the counter at countless coffeeshops thoughout the country. Severe penalties are still imposed on those caught growing, harvesting, delivering or otherwise trafficking in cannabis production and sales before it gets to the hash counter in the local coffeeshop.
This idiotic approach to marijuana and hashish continues to keep people nervous and casts a pall over what should be a joyous, happy and profitable situation for growers, dealers and consumers alike. When will these numbskulls grow up?!?
A POEM FOR BIG RED
On a more pleasant tip, I'd contribute this little ode I wrote in memory of my pal Big Red, who passed away in Lansing MI around Christmas time:
"hold your horn high"
for ron "redman" gulyas
early sunday afternoon
taking coffee at the dolphins
& the spring training reports
from the detroit news on-line,
all of a sudden
i'm at the batting cage
in royal oak 20 years ago
with big red,
a great big motherfucker in his late 20s
who weighed about 390
& played the tenor saxophone
with the sound of yore
like coleman hawkins
& ben webster were whispering
in his ear
while he fingered his horn,
big red
was a great big crazy motherfucker
who could tell you
the high school & college stats
for all the players
coming up on the tigers in the spring,
& he still played baseball himself,
semi-pro for a lansing team,
not the popular lansing lug-nuts
but some obscure outfit
that would pay him a few bucks
to suit up & power a couple of balls
out of the park,
& he claimed to be a gypsy
or either related to the little giant
of jazz, don redman
& he played
anything he wanted
on the tenor saxophone,
incomplete skills but
plenty of feeling, a
round,
warm sound
that was always good to hear,
big red,
my man,
he backed me up so many times
& played in my band (even though
johnny evans couldn't stand
the way he played
the other tenor sax),
a great big crazy motherfucker
who drank more beer
than anyone you seen, & his weight
would go up & down
from 390 to 210
& then back up again,
& in the early '90s
he fled the united states
& roosted in budapest
for a few years
& had a ball playing his horn
calling himself "ron goulash"
like the hungarian stew
& why he ever came back
will never be known
but he passed in east lansing
just before christmas-
big red,
hold your horn high,
let us hear your raspy breath,
my brother, just one more time
--the dolphins,
amsterdam
march 19, 2006
© 2006 john sinclair. all rights reserved.
RADIO FREE AMSTERDAM ALL STARS
We made a terrific radio program last Tuesday night at Clay Windham's Easter Hill studios in Holendrecht with all live music from a cast of Radio Free Amsterdam All Stars that included Clay on guitar & lead vocal, Harmonica George on harp & lead vocals, Denny deVijlder and Little Steve van der Nat on guitars, Roy Lindsay on harmonica & lead vocals, the fantastic Ilene Spain on cello, Dan Joyce on bass and the Heavyweight Champion of the Drums, Jack Dempsey on the tubs. Will Dawson engineered and recorded the whole mess and is mixing it down as we speak. Maybe it'll make this week's podcast, maybe not, but I'll post it here in my travelogue as soon as it's ready.
Meanwhile, here's episode #87 of the John Sinclair Radio Show from entry #36 with the url straightened out:
John Sinclair Radio Show #87
Cannabis College, Amsterdam
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 @ 7:00 - 8:00 pm [20-0617]
Tonight we're presenting "An Evening with John Sinclair" at the Cannabis College, starting with this episode of the Radio Show, followed by a short talk on the Early Days of the cannabis movement, and finishing with a free screening of Steve Gebhardt's film 20 TO LIFE: The Life & Times of John Sinclair. Cannabis College Director Lorna Clay brings the Opening Tokes and some crucial information, Eva the Street Violinist makes a quick appearance, Andrew Jones brings a few poems, and there's music by Miles Davis, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, John Sinclair & His Motor City Blues Scholars 'live' at the Majestic Theatre, John Coltrane, the Abyssinian Baptist Gospel Choir, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux with the Forgotten Souls Brass Band, the Wild Magnolias and Charlie Parker.
John Sinclair Radio Show #87 at the Cannabis College (.mp3)
Playlist #87
[1] Miles Davis: Someday My Prince Will Come w/Intro & Opening Tokes with Lorna Clay
[2] Robert Johnson: Ramblin' on My Mind
[3] Muddy Waters: Oh Yeah
[4] Comments & Conversation with Lorna Clay of Cannabis College
[5] John Sinclair & His Motor City Blues Scholars: Double Dealing
[6] Comments & Conversation with Eva the Violinist
[7] Eva the Violinist 'Live': Bach Variation
[8] John Coltrane: The Invisible
[9] Abyssinian Baptist Gospel Choir: Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody
[10] Comments & Conversation with Andrew Jones
[11] Andrew Jones: untitled #1, 2, 3, 4
[12] Big Chief Monk Boudreaux with the Forgotten Souls Brass Band: Don't Forget 'Em
[13] Comments, Closing Tokes with Larry Hayden & Outro
[14] Closing Music: Charlie Parker: Chasing the Bird
Hosted by John Sinclair for Radio Free Amsterdam
Produced & Engineered by Henk Botwinik
Executive Producers: Henk Botwinik & John Sinclair
Special thanks to Lorna Clay, Kristie Szalanski, Joe Spencer, Larry Hayden & the peerless Cannabis College staff
Sponsored by Cannabis College & The Dolphins, Amsterdam
(c)(p) 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
Podcasted @ May 22, 2006
Okay, th-th-th-th-th-that's all for today.....
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