Salud Amigos!!!

The weather over here in Amsterdam is truly freaking me out. We've had a serious heatwave that now is broken by a tropical monsoun. It's really pouring cat's and dogs since last week and it ain't gonna stop soon they say.

So, intended upon escaping the heat excesses and monsouns of mainland Europe, I am headed to the Spanish Canaries for its more consistent climate. Even so, last week's hot weather in Gran Canaria also reflected the unusually high temperatures in the Spanish Peninsular as well as much of Europe.

Sin problema: a grande cervesa fria at the Maspalomas piscina will do the job just perfectly.

So, 'have to close CAFEDA for a while and I hope to see you back within a few weeks. Enjoy your holidays, I will too :-)

Salud Amigos !!!

Another 50 innocent civilians killed in Lebanon

If you prefer main stream media coverage on Lebanon, don't watch George Galloway here!!

Israeli air strikes killed more than 50 people yesterday, making it one of deadliest days for Lebanon in the war. And while diplomats wrangle over a UN draft that makes 1000 people killed and more than 915.000 people homeless. CEASE FIRE NOW, STOP THIS MADNESS!

DON'T READ THIS

According to Human Events these are the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries:

1. The Communist Manifesto
2. Mein Kampf
3. Quotations from Chairman Mao
4. The Kinsey Report
5. Democracy and Education
6. Das Kapital
7. The Feminine Mystique
8. The Course of Positive Philosophy
9. Beyond Good and Evil
10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money

Honorable Mentions include:
The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
Beyond Freedom and Dignity by B.F. Skinner
Reflections on Violence by Georges Sorel
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Madness and Civilization by Michel Foucault
Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead
Unsafe at Any Speed by Ralph Nader (???)
Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
The Greening of America by Charles Reich
Descent of Man by Charles Darwin

Interesting list to heat up the fireplace although my pick would be The Holy Bible and -Quran ex aequo on numbers 1 -20 !!

Mea Culpa

I must have been the worst bartender in Amsterdam lately and all of you must be raging thirsty. You see, the thing is, that my service provider got bankrupt and I lost the home internet connection. Besides that, I have been redecorating my home last weeks. The glassroom has become a small atelier with several painters easels and a lot of charcoals, brushes, knives and other handy tools. Now when I get home from work, I cast off the monkey suit, poor myself a nice glass of Ott Rosé, open the garden doors, smell the fresh summer air, put on some Motown music and let creativity flow. You may check out AtelierDA for some first results if you like..

Click here for a short visit to ATELIER DA

Next to that my drum teacher is getting me up to speed and making me exercise some difficult stuff. I have been following lessons with Cesar Zuiderwijk from the Golden Earing, (e.g. Radar Love) for the last half year now and his valuable tips and tricks are really starting to pay off. We have exercised drum strokes, Snare drum techniques, Double Bass Drum Techniques, Hand & Foot Coordination, Drum Fills, Drum Solo Techniques and so on. Sometimes we just play together.

I started out with lessons from students from the Amsterdam conservatoire but that didn't work as I am to pigheaded and self-willed and definately don't want to read notes. But when one of the best European drummers says your technique sucks, it just sucks. No discussion possible. 'Guess that's the only way it works for me. Next week I will get a new Internet connection so my virtual life can get back in order and CafeDA will be the most enjoyable (Bush bashing) virtual Amsterdam cafe again.

Until then...take care my friends and enjoy the weekend!!