High Life in Amsterdam

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Trip Start Feb 23, 2007 Trip End Jun 15, 2007 Next
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  Amsterdam, Netherlands
Friday, February 23, 2007

(Amsterdam, Friday, February 23, 2007)-After the long flight from Memphis across the eastern U.S. and over the Atlantic Ocean, it was a great relief to land in Schipol Airport and find my Dr Dorothy waiting for me in the arrivals hall. I'd dropped her off at the Memphis Airport 24 hours earlier by the clock to catch her 10:10 am flight to Atlanta, bide her time there for five hours and get on board for Schipol, arriving at 8:10 am Friday morning.

I strolled out with my bags at 11:29 and bam! Here we are to start off our life together in the Netherlands. Dorothy's never been to Europe and her eyes are bugging out as we take in the welcome sights of the intelligent, tolerant, well-organized social order that prevails here in Holland. We take the train into Centraal Station and hail a cab to take us directly to our new apartment in the Jordaan.

I may have said something about our new pad before I left Amsterdam two months ago. I was looking for a place to bring Dorothy to in the spring when Larry Hayden told me a guy named Reza who I knew from the Sensi Museum Coffeeshop had a really hip apartment in the Jordaan that he was trying to rent starting February 20th because he was going to move to Washington DC to be with his American girlfriend. There was a drawback in that the government was shaking him down for back taxes and he needed 3000 euros to get straight with them for the coming year.

Larry assured me that Reza was trustworthy and was ready to show me the pad. I took one look and was ready to move in. The nice, clean, cozy first-floor apartment overlooks the Lijnbaansgracht canal just two short blocks from the Westerstraat, one of the main drags of the fantastic neighborhood called the Jordaan. We're two blocks from the No. 10 tram line to the Leidseplein and just a few short blocks from the Rozengracht where we can catch the No. 13 or 17 to the Dam, the Nieuwezijds Kolk and the Centraal Station. Or we can take our leisurely walks through the Jordaan when there's no hurry to get somewhere.

Dr Dorothy has just sold her house in Staten Island, bought a smaller place in the Endless Mountains of northern Pennsylvania and is ready to come to Amsterdam to live with me. We agree with Reza on 800 euros a month (I'd thought it'd be twice that) and Dorothy arranges to wire four months' advance rent to Reza's account the day before I leave Amsterdam for Detroit. Now we've got the pad and only the two winter months in America to get through before we settle down on the side of the canal and begin our new life.

This is really a new experience for me, since this is the first time I've had my own apartment to come home to since I first started moving my base of operations here in the fall of 2003. I've been housed through the mercy and generosity of my friends like Mark Ritsema in Rotterdam, Donald McSorley in 's-Graveland, Rod on the River, Clay Windham in Holendrecht, Anthony Murrell in Bos en Lommer, Rev. Ferre van Beveren, Wild Bill, Dwayne at Amsterdam Dreams, Alan Lieberman at the Get Lucky Hotel, Andrew Jones & Rita in the Nieuwmarkt, and my patron James Millard.

Those were some hard and lonely times, surviving from meal to meal and trying to establish a place where I could bring my wife Penny to live with me over here. After two and a half years she opted out altogether in the summer of 2005, and things were even harder & lonelier until I hooked up with Dr Dorothy last year and we decided to join our lives together.

Now all of that is behind us. We unlock the door and step into the new apartment, ready for whatever is coming convention center as I head out for the High Life Cup at the RAI convention center, where the Radio Free Amsterdam krewe will spend the weekend making radio shows, Here's the first one:

John Sinclair Radio Show #124
High Life Cup, RAI, Amsterdam
Friday, February 23, 2007@ 6:10 pm-7:10 pm [20-0704]

Three hours after my plane lands and I meet Dr Dorothy Goodman at Schipol Airport to begin our European adventure together, we've checked into our new apartment in the Jordaan and I've hopped on the 10 and 4 trams to get out to the RAI convention center at the end of the No. 4 line where the Radio Free Amsterdam krewe is waiting for me to do the first of our three scheduled programs from the High Life Cup 2007. We have conversations with participants in the Cup like SuperDude, Sidney Daniels of Ceres Seeds, Michael Schwwartz of Storz & Pickels Vaporizers, and Geert of iGrow-box, exhibiting across the aisle from us. Plus there's great music by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dinah Washington, Alma Mondy, Bobby Charles, the Drumbo Brown Blues Band with Mark Ritsema, the Detroit Cobras, Dell Stewart, Charlie Parker, the Coasters, Connie Allen with Todd Rhodes & His Toddlers, Archibald, Dr. John, and a Mardi Gras Tune Feature produced by David Kunian & Bill Taylor.

Playlist #124

[01] Opening Music: Dirty Dozen Brass Band: Blackbird Special
[02] Intro, ID, Comments & Opening Tokes by John Sinclair
[03] Dinah Washington: Fast Movin' Mama
[04] Alma Mondy: Baby Get Wise
[05] Bobby Charles: Take It Easy Greasy
[06] Comments & Conversation with SuperDude
[07] Drumbo Brown Blues Band: Bring It to Jerome
[08] Detroit Cobras: My Baby Loves the Secret Agent
[09] Dell Stewart: Mr. Credit Man
[10] Comments & Conversation with Sidney Daniels of Ceres Seeds
[11] Charlie Parker: Cosmic Rays
[12] The Coasters: Young Blood
[13] Connie Allen: Rocket 69
[14] Comments & Conversation with Michael Schwartz of Storz & Pickels Vaporizers
[15] Dave Kunian & Bill Taylor: Carnival Time Mardi Gras Feature
[16] Comments & Conversation with Geert of iGrow-box
[17] Archibald: Crescent City Bounce
[18] Dr. John: Life Is a One Way Ticket

Hosted by John Sinclair for Radio Free Amsterdam
Produced, engineered & recorded by Henk Botwinik
Mastered & posted by Henk Botwinik
Executive Producer: John Sinclair
Special thanks to Sidney Daniels, Adam Brook, SuperDude

©(p) 2007 John Sinclair

Podcasted by www.RadioFreeAmsterdam.com @ February 27, 2007

Okay, now I've got my current Travelogue set up, so I'll finish the Winter in America series and try to write up the missing stops from the Summer of 2006 series before I forget everything that happened. Tomorrow I meet Mark Ritsema at Schipol for 1:00 pm and we fly to Sevilla, Spain for the Musica y Palabra Festival. Nice work when you can get it!

-The Dolphins
Amsterdam
February 27, 2007

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