Monday, June 7th

‘Taste of Amsterdam’ returns this month

A year ago I posted here about how two Amsterdam specialist agencies – Brownys Events and Downtown Events – were each staging a 4-day outdoor culinary event in the city in June 2009, each featuring a number of restaurants showcasing their signature dishes in tents, and only three days apart. At the time I noted that this culinary clash sounded like a sure-fire recipe for a marketing food fight.

In the event – if you’ll excuse the pun – the 2009 edition of ‘Amsterdam Culinair’, which had already had a stop-go history, was cancelled at the last minute. Anyway, by all accounts ‘taste will out’, as the first edition of the other one – ‘Taste of Amsterdam’ was a success. The ‘news’ page on the Downtown Events website only has a piece about the success of the last year’s ‘Taste’, which may seem a little strange, but the site of ‘Brand Events Benelux bv’ provides links to the official ‘Taste of Amsterdam’ website, where they are listed as the organizers with the same address as Downtown. I finally discovered by visiting the Brand Events UK website that Brand Events Benelux is in fact a joint venture between them and Downtown Events, staging both ‘Taste’ and the ‘Top Gear Live’ events in Amsterdam.

Last year’s four-day ‘Taste of Amsterdam’ attracted 15,000 visitors, and this month’s event seems to be sticking with the formula that had proved to be so successful. As it’s being held from June 24th to 27th, it first seemed to me that there would be some rather stiff competition from the World Cup, especially as Oranje will be playing their last group match against Cameroon during the event’s opening session on the Thursday evening. The organizers have sensibly taken this into account however, turning it to their advantage by proposing that watching the match in the Amstelpark with a glass of wine and a Taste of Amsterdam meal would be an attractive option.

A number of very high quality restaurants are once again taking part, including Peter Lute’s and Ron Blaauw’s prestigious Ouderkerk establishments and one of my favourite Amsterdam restaurants, Toscanini. Tickets for entry to ‘Taste of Amsterdam’ cost from € 15.00 in advance or € 17.50 on the day, and can be ordered via the event site. ‘Florin’ tokens, with a value of € 1.25 and used to purchase drinks and meals, can be purchased on site.

Monday, March 29th

Taking a shine to the canteen

The canteen of an Amsterdam football club might seem an unusual location for me to recommend as somewhere to visit for a great evening of music, but amongst local followers of excellent but less-well-known singer-songwriters, it’s already got a well-earned reputation. ‘WV-HEDW’ may not have the same ring to it as ‘Ajax’, but its roots go back almost as far as their rather more illustrious ex-neighbours, and it celebrated its 100th anniversary last May. And although the acronym is a tongue twister for a non-Dutch native to pronounce, it’s a bit snappier than Wilhemina Vooruit – Hortus Eendracht Doet Winnen.

A good friend of mine is a long-time WV-HEDW member and shares my interests in both football and singer-songwriters of quality. For some years Jos has been carrying on the club’s long tradition of staging musical performances, and during each football season he works wonders in attracting some great musicians to play at the club canteen. The acts typically represent the so-called ‘Americana’ genre, and Jos has managed to attract the likes of Steve Earle, David Olney and Calvin Russell to the canteen over the years. These guys might be expected to turn their noses up at the idea of performing in such a venue, but they've always been pleasantly surprised. After his first gig at the canteen nine years ago, David Olney said: "When I heard I was supposed to play in the canteen of a soccer club, I was very sceptical. It turned out to be the best gig of the tour".

The last part of the WV-HEDW 2009-2010 musical season kicks off (sorry) on Friday 9th April, with two acts that promise another great evening. Singer-songwriter Josie Kuhn (above) from Nashville has been called "one of the original leaders of the Americana movement" by more than one admiring music critic. Ms Kuhn has shared the stage with artists such as Albert Lee, Steve Earle, the Mavericks and Emmylou Harris and has toured with the late Rick Danko (of The Band), Todd Snider, Steve Forbert and Lee Clayton. To describe her music, Jim Ridley wrote in the Nashville Scene: “If you can imagine a cross between Patsy Cline and Buffy St. Marie you’re not far off the mark."

The second act on the bill hail from the south of the Netherlands, but by all accounts they sound more like they're from a mix of the southern states of the USA. The Shiner Twins (above) are a quartet led by Richard van Bergen and Jack Hustinx, who also share the songwriting credits, vocals and guitars. The rhythm section comprises Dick Wagensverld on bass and tuba (great combination...) and Jody van Ooijen on drums. I've yet to see them, but their mix of southern gospel, New Orleans grooves, heart-rending ballads and straight-ahead Rock 'n' Roll sounds pretty cool.

As usual, the evening is free, and starts at eight-thirty. WV-HEDW is in Amsterdam's Watergraafsmeer district. Turn right after the Jaap Edenhal on the Kruislaan into Radioweg. Once you've entered the sportpark through the gates at the end of Radioweg, it's a 5-minute walk to the WV-HEDW canteen. The atmosphere in Sportpark Middenmeer is sure to be as warm as always, and I can heartily recommend it as a great start to a spring weekend.

Thursday, January 14th

Two of the best

I’ve seen John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett a few times separately over the years with their own touring bands, but it’s going to be a real treat to see them on stage alone together, as they say. Their acoustic tour comes to Amsterdam’s Paradiso on Saturday February 13th. I’m surprised to see that there are still tickets available as of today.

I’ve been a big fan of John Hiatt, from the first four albums I promoted heavily in my Soho record store in the seventies, through absolute classics like 1987’s ‘Bring the Family’ and ‘Slow Turning’ the year after, all the way to his last CD, called ‘Same Old Man’, which happily demonstrated that he was. I look forward to hearing a track or two at the Paradiso from his upcoming March release ‘The Open Road’.

I was introduced to Lyle Lovett’s eponymous first album by a friend in the States soon after its release in 1986, and he immediately joined my list of favourite singer-songwriters. His second, ‘Pontiac’, was released the same year as Hiatt’s ‘Bring the Family’, and I still find its opening track, ‘If I had a boat’, always goes together well with ‘Thing called love’ and ‘Have a little faith in me’, two of my favourites from that year’s Hiatt album.

While if I had to choose between them, I’d tend to lean towards Hiatt most of the time, I’d say that Lovett’s much shorter discography has the apparently contradictory advantage of combining more consistent high quality with more variety in style. His ‘country/americana’ albums are often comparable with those of Hiatt, although a little less rocky perhaps – and I think the same goes for his most recent collection, last year’s ‘Natural Forces’ – but his ‘Large Band’ CDs have quite a different style and atmosphere.

I have to admit that I tend to fall into the trap of being somewhat Amsterdam-centric when it comes to checking out possibilities for taking in a bit of culture. No surprise then that it took a trip I made yesterday to a prospective client headquartered in the Rotterdam area for me to learn for the first time that an outstanding exhibition had opened at the end of September at Rotterdam’s excellent Kunsthal.

‘Modern Life: Edward Hopper and his Time’ is a touring exhibition of works from the Whitney Museum of Modern Art in New York. Prior to the Kunsthal it had spent the summer at the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg. In this case held as part of the celebration of 400 years New York (1609 - 2009), it features eight of Hopper’s own works, together with – depending on which press release you read – no less than seventy or ninety pieces from his contemporaries.

Although he was relatively successful in his lifetime, it is only since his death in 1967 that Edward Hopper has been considered by many to be the pre-eminent painter of 20th century America. I’ve included images of the two paintings above – ‘Seven A.M.’ from 1948 (top) and ‘South Carolina Morning’ from 1955 – as I understand they are amongst the eight Hoppers in the exhibition. He’s better known, however, for his subjects depicting the loneliness of big city life, and I guess one or two of these are also on view.

Perhaps just as interesting will be the other great works from the Whitney in the exhibition – it makes me wonder what’s still on show there while all these are away. They include two of my favourite modern American painters, Charles Sheeler (whose 1932 painting ‘River Rouge Plant’ is shown above) and Georgia O’Keeffe, together with Robert Henri (with whom Hopper studied), John Sloan, Stuart Davis, Man Ray, Lyonel Feininger and Grant Wood. Some sculpture and photographs (including some by Alfred Stieglitz) are also featured. ‘Modern Life’ can be seen at the Kunsthal until January 17, 2010.