Update.....

Howdy fooks!

I'm sitting here with my coffee and painkillers, cuz I have a huge hangover uhum!
Last night my friend Mirella came by to catch up, drink wine and watch the Live dvd.
We didn't saw each other for weeks, since I was too busy with Live activities and work.
It was fun! Drank too much wine, made a complete fool out of myself by singing "Sober" while I was drunk (and record it....oops)
I'm such a retard when I'm drunk......

Anyways, my days this week were filled with work and guitar practicing!
I have this huge drive to play the guitar.
Patience, practicing, learning the chords and painfull fingers.
I finally found myself a guitar teacher and we make progress.
Yesterday I figured out the chords for "Enter Sandman" from Metallica and it's so much fun to play them myself.
Bas (my teacher) is a kick ass bassplayer and he builds extreme looking guitars for fun!

Check his site: http://www.bas-extravaganza.nl/?page=home

Tonight he's going to show off his skills on stage.
He's playing with his band in a Irish pub in Rotterdam and I'm excited to hear his work.
Rock music and Irish beer! Sounds like a good deal to me......

Winter in Holland!

Yesterday I recieved a text from Hanka! She lives in The Czech Republic and she told me it was snowing outside!
When I drove home today from Rotterdam, this was my view of the road.......

The winter arrived!

Night Of The Proms

For those who doesn't know this project......

It's a collaboration between classical artists and pop/rock musicians.

Every year the organisation puts an new group of artists on stage to work together in a very unique setting!

This year they had a gospel choir from New York, a 70 piece orchestra, a ballarina and a few big rock musicans!

Sinead O' Connor, Live and The Simple Minds.

I went to see the show this Thursday and I was thrilled to see Live playing together with a 70 piece orchestra. I already knew that the classical arrangement would be one big ear orgasm.

And I couldn't wait to hear it.....

Sinead O'Connor was the first big artist to kick off! She started with a killing version of "Troy"

She pierced it right into my heart! What a power and dedication.

"Nothing Compares To You" was awesome......10.000 people were singing along!

Goosebumps!!!!...... The perfect warming up!

Live was next! My heart was pounding in my chest........

I can't count the amount of gigs I saw during my life, so far.

But this was special and I was nervous.

The orchestra started, Ed began to sing "The Dolphin's Cry"

It kicked in right away......

The arrangement was so fricking beautiful and Ed was very good by voice.

The screens on stage showed stuff from the early days and my own life past before my eyes.....

What a journey!

They played "They Stood Up For Love" and my personal favorite "I Alone" what a kick ass version was that.......

Chad Taylor was stomping as a mad man and Adam was glowing and smiling all the time!

The respons from the crowd was overwhelming......

After that experience we had a short break! Because it's too heavy for the orchestra to play 3,5 hours in a row.

Ed come back to perform "Overcome" together with Sinead O'Connor and a guy from the gospel choir, after the break.

Although it's not one of my favorite songs (understatement) I liked this version!

How can I not? If you play it like that, you can make the most horrible songs beautiful.

The Simple Minds was the last band to perform!

It reminded me of my youth.

The sing-a-long with "Don't You Forget About Me" was fun!

The performance was okay, but not that special......

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don't like Jim Kerr, hmmm.

The grand finale was hilarious! All the artists came on stage and I laughed so hard.....

Chad Gracey and Patrick Dahlheimer stood there with tamborines and they didn't seem to like it. Chad Taylor was watching at me, with the look......"please come and rescue me"

So they made fun of the situation.....good choice guys hahaha!!!

They sang "Imagine" together with all the other artists.......Adam played guitar, Ed had some lines in the song and the rest was joking around!

What a great evening!!!

Igudesman and Joo Diary: Adam Kowalczyk

Igudesman and Joo are comedians and brilliant musicians!
They mix classical music with sketches and funny parts......
Adam Kowalczyk was asked to do a sketch for their diary!

It was recorded backstage during The Night of The Proms in Ahoy, Rotterdam.
They let him wear a pink wig and he wasn't even drunk......

HILARIOUS!!!

The perfect evening!

Finally! Phone off, no appointments.....just me and my sofa yeahhh!

The Holiday season is on it's way and that means OLIEBOLLEN (that's typical Dutch, It's a sort of donut with sugar....absolutely delicious)

The best Oliebollen bakery is here in Dordrecht, so I bought myself a few, made some hot chocolate and settled myself in front of the telly to watch 3 new episodes of Grey's Anatomy!

What a perfect evening!!!

Kings Of Leon

Let me introduce you to Kings Of Leon. My new addiction.......
I already saw the band in 2007 on the Lowlands festival here in Holland.
But they didn't caught my attention....at least not with their music (The singer Caleb Followill for that matter did......I think he's one of the hottest man alive uhum....)
But a few weeks ago I heard the song "Sex on fire" on the radio and since then I'm hooked....
Damn, what a sexy voice!

Check out their latest album "Only by the night"

Radio recording at BNN That's Live!!

It's Sunday night around 23.45 pm and I'm exhausted!

Holy jesus, what a weekend.

It was loaded, but I loved every minute of it....

Yesterday I drove together with my girlies Bianca and Cheryl to Hilversum.

More promo stuff!

Ed Kowalczyk was the guest in a radioshow called "That's Live" for a short talk and a few acoustic songs.

It was such a fun afternoon! I think there were around 40 contest winners. All packed in a tiny little bar/studio thingie......

The fans went wild when sir Kowalczyk entered the room! They all wanted a picture with him, autographs....you know the deal.
But what a lot of people don't know is that Ed's really shy.....so he looked around like a haunted animal. I actually thought he was going to run in the other direction haha! Hilarious!!!

After a while he chilled a bit and saw that they were actually really nice! He's such a pussy sometimes! Bless him haha!

I missed the other guys, but I can imagine why they only invited Ed to play, cuz the drum kit wouldn't even fit on that tiny stage (you couldn't even call it a stage)
The show started off with a short talk about the Night of The Proms, Paradiso and the Dutch fans.

Ed took the stage after that and sang "Forever" and "Dance with You"

I didn't like it......I'm too critical, I guess! You can do so much better stuff with an acoustic performance. Use a Djembe for example!!!

Besides that, Ed did a good job. I had a perfect afternoon in the studio.....with friends and too much beer, but who cares haha!

We left the studio around 17 pm to grab something to eat at Bianca's place!
Cheryl didn't had much time, cuz she had a birthday party later on. So we decited to buy some junkfood and crash in front of the telly!

Cheryl left after an hour and I stayed 'till 1am! Bianca showed me her roadtrip movie from California when she visit Beth Hart, last year!
They became close friends and Bianca is doing what I'm doing for Live! So we understand each other perfectly ;-)
She's a Livefan and I'm a Beth Hart fan, so we cover each others asses, which is really nice!

Today I talked and talked and talked some more.......with the boardmembers.
Evaluated the premiere party and discussed our future plans at my place.
After that we had a very nice dinner in a restaurant.
No Japanese! Such a shame, but one of them had to travel 3 hours back home.

Tomorrow nightshift, so I can sleep long......and that's basically all I need right now

SLEEP......LOT'S OF SLEEP!!!

Weekend!

Yeah! My weekend officially started this morning........

I worked my ass off the last couple of days, so I really deserve some free time!

My nightshift sucked. I don't know what it is, but lately I seem to attrack all these nasty trauma cases and it involves usually young persons or new born babies in trouble!

What's up with that?

Anyways, I woke up an hour ago and I needed coffee.......loads of coffee!

I bought this huge coffee cup during my trip in The States and I love it!

I can make a three-double cappucino in it! Wicked.....

(God, I miss Starbucks boooohoo!!!!)

After I finish my coffee I need to write my interview for a Live magazine! They're making a DVD special and they wanna know my experiences during the whole recording process.
I'm late, as usual cuz the deadline was yesterday......oops!!
Well, it's always like that to be honest! I'm at my best when I feel pressure......

My weekend is packed with all Live related stuff again!
On Saturday I have to go to Hilversum for a radiorecording in a show called "That's Life"
Ed will be the guest for 2 hours and he's going to perform acoustic!
It's an intimate setting with a small audience. Almost a private show.......FUN!
Live is all over here in Holland......the promotion goes really well.
The DVD is officially out here for 2 days now and it's took the #5 spot in the DVD charts.
That's pretty awesome!
On Sunday I'll meet my fellow boardmembers here at my place to discuss our future plans and goals. We did a hell of a good job this year, so we're going to celebrate that after our meeting with a nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant!

Live and sushi......what a perfect combination for the weekend!

Getting rid of the bad habit......

That's right! I quit smoking a week ago and it goes pretty good actually!
It thought it was the perfect moment after that energy boost from last week.....
I'm proud of myself that I didn't smoke for a week, although I had a huge breakingpoint last night! I was weak and I almost jumped in my car to buy ciggies, but thank god I didn't......

I was so mad when I saw Adam at the premiere party with a cigarette......
He used to hate smoking and now he starts smoking himself????
Unbelievable!!
He showed me a mirror and made me realize that smoking is bad, disgusting and a goldmine!

I'm going to kick this habit to the ground, believe me!!!!

Wish me luck!!

Gala Premiere Tuschinski, Amsterdam

It's been a week since I walked on that red carpet, all dressed up!
What an experience!

Time to tell you more about it huh?

Here we go!

The day started at 8am....
I packed my stuff and drove to Bianca's house to dress up.

Cheryl was there also and we were determed to kick some serious ass on that red carpet!

After we finished our job we took off to Amsterdam.

I had a very tight time schedule, so we decided to park the car near The Dam in the centre of Amsterdam!

I was so excited to see the Bonnie, Kerrie and Jimmy again after months!

They came all the way from London and The States to party with us......wicked!!!

I hooked up with Misha at the hotel and left Bianca and Cheryl with the others......

I had a limo to catch.....HA!

Misha and I were expected at 14pm in The Grand, a very luxe hotel and we had to walk for 10 minutes......with high heels on very tiny little motherfucking stones pffff!!!

That was a challenge haha!

Anyway.....we survived and arrived on time to join our fellow boardmembers and Sony people.

In The Grand with Nicole!

We were right on schedule and we took off at 14.15pm in the limo......on our way to The Tuschinski Theatre! How exciting......

Inside the stretched limo!

FUN!!!

We arrived around 14.30pm at The Tuschinski Theatre and it was a complete madhouse!!!

So many people, paparazzi.......FUN!!

I made my entrance in style and the people were yelling and clapping, I felt like a real celeb haha!!



We walked inside over the red carpet and waited for the band to arrive! It was so nice to see all my friends dressed up and happy......made me all fuzzy inside!

Mike and Sylvie

The partysquad!

After 30 minutes (it took ages pfff....) the band arrived!

Live's arrival.....

A happy and excited Ed!

Hunted by the paparazzi....

Live's in the house, so put the DVD in the player.....will ya???

We had reservated seatings on the balkony together with all the Sony people, band, management, promotors, etc....

And it was a very nice view to see all the fans below us......excited as hell!

After a short intro the band came up on stage to give a short speech......damn, Ed you're a better singer than a speaker!! What a crap......hahaha!!!

Speech before the viewing

After the speech the lights went out......finally!

You can't imagine how fricking excited I was to see the end result!

My camera debut......

It felt like it was my DVD viewing......my pride......my baby!
The guys were rockin' during the viewing and I was overwhelmed......

Overwhelmed by my own footage, the emotions in the crowd, the passion on stage!

The Entertainment Group did such an awesome job with the recording, un-fucking-believable!!!!

The combination of the bandshootings and the emotions from the crowd is mindblowing!

It's exactly how you experience a Live concert......and that's the whole deal!

To capture that feeling!!! BRILLIANT!!!

And there it was......my name during the credits! I can not express in words what I felt at that moment! The yellings from the fanbase.....the warm and fuzzy feeling.....the emotions!

You know that your name is going to show up, cuz you worked on this project, but to know it or to feel it are two different things......goosebumps all over

This moment goes straight to my "top 10 of best moments ever"

After the viewing the "normal" crowd left the theatre and we went straight to the viplounge!

To celebrate and party......

Taking a picture of eachother....

Chitchat with Bonnie.....

Everyone in the room was ecstatic, happy and releaved!!! We did a really good job together and the premiere was a succes. So all the pressure was gone and you could feel it.....

Ed was joking around, Patrick was the paparazzi, Chad G. was charming as ever and Chad T. God, I love that man (clean and shaved please haha)......it's a damn shame he's married! Oops, did I say that out loud????

Misha and Chris (Live's manager)

Joking around!

I had a blast!!! I felt so special that day and this is absolutely the cherry on the cake, the crown on our work and I'm still glowing!
This has been one hell of a Live year and it's not over yet......the boys are staying in Holland 'till the end of November to do promotion and the "Night of The Proms" project together with Sinead O' Connor, The Simple Minds and a huge orchestra!

More time to hang out and no goodbye's......yet!!!