Bugbearing hugs on zithered tones

Busy bee weekend.
....One of those that started on Friday by lurking on a few hefty bouts of tripel before heading out for some Russian disko and Balkanized folk dances till 5ish. This all in the knowledge that only 3 hours of sleep were left to snooze, before a workday of say, 14 hours, would unleash its fricky sting on me. Not that I bothered. I had the initial victorious feeling of tripel in me. It came without solid warranty though.

Saturday the Day of the individual happened in Utrecht, initiated by some friends and I took part from early on. It does sound scary ey? Our idea was just to focus positive attention on the social status of *the individual* as a way of life. This is mostly seen as a taboo in society nowadays yet this lifestyle is very much on the rise, especially in western societies and governments to not react to it with solutions, but treat it like a stowaway subject. Yeah, hide and seek in world of tight ass bureaucracy, with no free-place in sight.

Plus by having this day, we were kinda giving the newly elected *christian* minded dutch government (with conservative CDA topping it) the up-yours finger...though in a positive manner, hah :) They have outlined in their 4 year rule message that they will promote family values as the sole cornerstone of Dutch society, instead of accepting and adapting to changes in society. Conservatives surely are forward thinkers, n'est pas?
Though to stress; this idea is/was not ment to support sob themes such as ''oh how sad is it to be alone'' or give attention to *egocentric* souls, but rather to positively stress the fact that individualism simply IS becoming a way of life within current society as any other, instead of casting it off as some ill social effect.

our blog... all in dutch though.. http://clubvan1.web-log.nl/

There was quite some national media attention for this through national TV, Radio and a few newspapers all morning on. I kinda had to arrange all things musical/poetry in a central cafe that we had at our total disposal (super!). Rigged up the equipment together with Michiel (thanx bro) as my brain hadn't woken up yet and it was a hectic mess. Things evened out during the day and the many poets and songwriters did a great job, even more so since they all played for free in light of our day to support us. I especially enjoyed the globehopping Lake from Texas with her serene blues and her trembling soulful voice. The occasional John Henry reference did it for me. See the splendid video rendition of a JH song on her myspace page, it soothes and sways. (yup, I promise we'll do those old timey swaps and blues cuts in A'dam soon! done deal).
Another American expat living in Amsterdam who gave a special set was Jerry Spurlock, playing only an ole' zither and singing folk songs. By that and given his older age, he was not the token songwriter among all the youngsters, which earned him the freakfolk king title . His raspy fingerpick style (with 10 malty brown grown nails) and his folky words of fantasy yonder made me cuddle name him Grandpa Newsom, hah ;) I would have liked to put up a few songs of him here, but it seems impossible to track anything down from him...images and sound alike. grumble.
Great day all in all...afterwards we had a big party for all volunteers and anyone who wanted to join us. The bands Mono, Titmachine and songwriter Eva-Louise Williamson. Afterwards some idiots played dance muzak with a route of rockabilly, eastern european folk, post punk and breakcore ;)

Oh, during the day I unexpectedly found myself running around for a while in a special hugsuit, with which you errr, could hug people. Giving out free hugs to people passing by alone on the street..but what was the catch? That seemed to be on most people's minds who objected the offer while other more freely folks accepted my gesture. It was a bizarre situation but I can be optimistic now, as it did work to make people feel joyous and smiling, plus myself too. Lord, the idea that such bodily contact can create sudden happiness so easily, is kinda freaky, but I'll embrace that thought from now on ;)
Check out here for more info. The *spirituele fitness* section is even better, with self-fabricated gadgets to connect yourself to nature...from the treehugger to pre-birth bag to the atmosphere amplifier (woah!),...great stuff for the urban hippie surely.

Now, resting time mood. For as long as it gets.