Amsterdam Weekly: Vol 5 Issue 8, 21-27 February 2008 by Amsterdam Weekly

Volume 5, Issue 8

21 - 27 FEBRUARY 2008 Go Ajax go!

‘Time to FEEL SOMETHING!’ page 7

FREE

www.amsterdamweekly.nl

Hot news, cold case The Holloway investigation prompts the son of a murder victim to revisit his own options in getting justice. page 6

Muslim broadcaster gone extreme? Or, um, not? page 4 Sleep gentle dear wielklem. An obituary page 5 Get your drone on at Sonic Acts Festival page 11 FILM: An art-house gem is born p. 18 / FOOD: All the world is a sausage. A prime Polish sausage. p. 17

Short List . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Music/Clubs . . . . . . . . . .12 Gay & Lesbian . . . . . . . .14 Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Classifieds/Comics . . . .21

21-27 February 2008

Amsterdam Weekly

CITY SECOND BY PETER CLEUTJENS In this issue and... [Swell of dramatic music...] It was easy to be disgusted by Peter R de Vries and his macho and selfabsorbed posturing as he presented Joran van der Sloot’s ‘confession’ related to the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway three years ago on Aruba. Not only was De Vries’s approach legally dubious, but the television show seemed to represent all that is bad with the growing powers of crass and exploitative media. (There is still certainly a million articles to be written on that theme...) Then after the broadcast, the real media frenzy began and we, the consumers, burnt out quickly and stopped giving a shit about the core story. Meanwhile, the core story for the people directly affected by the unsolved murder or disappearance of a loved one, is that they want to know. And they can see through the cheesy imagery and hear through the sentimental pianoplaying and see the hot media representation of their tragic story for what it is: a tool. [Poignant fade to black...]

On the cover DAYTON DAILY NEWS, 17 MAY 1998 Thanks to Dayton Daily News

Next week Science is fun

Letters Got an opinion? We want to hear it. inbox@amsterdamweekly.nl

Amsterdam Weekly BV De Ruyterkade 106, 1011 AB Amsterdam Tel: 020 522 5200 Fax: 020 620 1666 www.amsterdamweekly.nl General info: info@amsterdamweekly.nl Agenda listings: agenda@amsterdamweekly.nl Advertising: sales@amsterdamweekly.nl Classifieds: classifieds@amsterdamweekly.nl PUBLISHER Todd Savage EDITOR Steve Korver ASSISTANT EDITOR Nina Siegal AGENDA EDITOR Steven McCarron FILM EDITOR Julie Phillips COPY EDITOR Mark Wedin EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Sarah Gehrke ART DIRECTOR Bas Morsch PRODUCTION MANAGER Karen Willey PRODUCTION DESIGNERS Mattijs Arts, Russell Joyce SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Carolina Salazar ACCOUNT MANAGERS Marc Devèze, Simone Klomp, Floortje Mennen OPERATIONS MANAGER Monique Gruter FINANCE ASSISTANT Simone Choi DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Patrick van der Klugt FINANCIAL ADVISER Kurt Schmidt (Veresis Consulting) PRINTER Corelio Printing Amsterdam Weekly is published every week on Wednesday and is available free at locations all over Amsterdam. Subscriptions are available for €60 per six months within the Netherlands and €90 per six months within Europe. Agenda submissions are welcome, at least two weeks in advance. New contributors are invited to visit Amsterdam Weekly’s website for contributor guidelines. Contents of Amsterdam Weekly (ISSN 1872-3268) are copyright 2008 Amsterdam Weekly BV. All rights reserved.

18/02/2008 - 12:35 - MAURITSKADE

Amsterdam Weekly

21-27 February 2008

AROUND TOWN Jeans or burka on TV?

The ripple effect of acoustics and counteracoustics.

NOVA takes on Muslim broadcaster; NMO fights back. Want attention? Use the word ‘extremist’ in the same sentence as the word ‘Muslim’ and you’re in business. The current affairs television programme NOVA has now broadcast two stories criticising the Dutch Muslim broadcasting organisation, Nederlandse Moslim Omroep (NMO), with the key message: the NMO has been taken over by conservative Muslims. The first show, which aired in October 2007, claimed that the NMO had booted the liberal members off its board and the second instalment, which aired last week, accused the broadcaster of cancelling programs or projects that support a liberal agenda. In response to the NOVA special, the Netherlands’ media minister Ronald Plasterk warned the NMO that the station could lose its license if it doesn’t put together a board that represents all schools of thought within the Dutch Muslim community by the end of this month. But instead of buckling under the minister’s threat, the NMO took a stand, positioning itself as a broadcaster that has room for many Muslim perspectives, and filing a civil lawsuit accusing NOVA of trying to discredit the station. Furthermore, on 11 February, the NMO staff sent out a press release saying, ‘Wij zijn het spuugzat!’ [We’re sick of it!], and, later that week, the board held a press conference to say that the NOVA specials misrepresented the Muslim broadcasting company. The board argued that it still consists of people from all Muslim religious and political affiliations, including liberal ones, and that the NMO programs still have room for liberal Muslim views. ‘In the October programme, NOVA used the words “orthodox”, “conservative”, “extremist” and “fundamentalist” as if it all means the same thing,’ said Alfred Broer, a television producer with NMO, after the press conference. ‘It’s up to us to explain that it’s not. Besides, what’s wrong with asking a conservative Muslim for his opinion? We also allow liberal Ahmadiyya Muslims to speak.’ The NMO is one of nine small national broadcasters whose programming is focused on a single religious community. Similar broadcasters exist for Hindus, Buddhists and Roman Catholics, and they are also funded by taxpayers’ money. The NMO has roughly an hour-long television slot each week on the public TV channels and almost two hours on the public radio channels. Programmes

BAS MORSCH

By Floris Dogterom

include ‘Meetingpoint’, in which youngsters discuss topics such as marriage or apostasy, and ‘Eten bij de buren’ [Dinner with the neighbours], a show in which a Muslim and a non-Muslim family get to know each other and discuss a topical issue over meal. NOVA’s criticism of the broadcaster, as stated in its October programme, was that orthodox forces had staged a coup within the NMO board by kicking out the liberal Alevi and Ahmadiyya Muslims. In the second programme, on 8 February, a number of critics of the NMO said that, since the alleged conservative coup, there was no more room for liberal programming. Independent TV producer Ingrid Willemse, for example, related how a programme idea she had been developing with NMO about bridging the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims for three years had suddenly been ditched. The NMO said in a letter to Willemse that it withdrew from the project because of financial reasons and the content of the programme. Willemse said that the financial argument was ‘nonsense’, adding that she thought the only reason was that there was no more room for liberal programmes at the NMO. After last week’s

press conference, at which Willemse was present, she said: ‘My company has been duped by the NMO. I will sue them.’ Annet Betsalel, director of Jewish broadcasting group, the Joodse Omroep, said that all joint projects of NMO and her group had come to an end, on NMO’s initiative. During the press conference last week, which took place in the Hilversum office of the NMO, Lucien Nix, the NMO’s attorney, said the charges made by the NOVA specials were all false: ‘The Ahmadiyyas are still represented in the board by the same person as before,’ he said. ‘The Alevi member of the board has withdrawn for personal reasons. We are looking for a substitute.’ He also said that Betsalel herself of the Joodse Omroep put a halt to a joint internet project. Betsalel reacted by saying that the NMO hadn’t responded to her emails for months. ‘At a certain point I drew the conclusion that there was no point trying any further,’ she said. ‘But I find it really important to set up this website for young Muslims and Jews. I hope the NMO will put a respectable board in place and that they will open the door again, to the effect that we can cooperate again like we used to do in the past.’

The NMO also filed a civil suit against NOVA on 4 February, over, among other things, libel and unlawful use of clips from NMO television programmes. The case will go to court in April or May. NOVA’s editor-in-chief Carel Kuyl said, ‘We will win it, without a shadow of doubt.’ After the press conference, Abderrahman Farsi, chairman of the NMO board, accused NOVA of cheap populism. ‘The programme emphasised the connection between Islam, extremism and fundamentalism; by doing that they discredit us,’ he said. Farsi also spoke of a conspiracy to discredit the NMO. However, he wouldn’t elaborate. ‘For the sake of the lawsuit I can’t mention any names,’ he said. ‘But my co-workers can speak freely.’ And they did. Television producer Alfred Broer identified Frank William, the former director of the NMO board, as the orchestrator of a conspiracy to discredit the NMO. William was laid off last summer under a cloud of controversy. Broer said William uses people for a campaign against the NMO. ‘NOVA reporter Arnob Chakrabarty, who used to work for us, is one of those people,’ said Broer. He went further, arguing that ‘all the people in the programme have a financial conflict with the NMO,’ he said. ‘NOVA hasn’t done any journalistic research.’ NOVA reporter Chakrabaty only wanted to comment off the record, since Kuyl is spokesperson for NOVA in this case, but he disputed these arguments. Kuyl of NOVA said that the charges of conspiracy were ridiculous. ‘Do you really think [Minister Plasterk’s] position is solely based on an act of revenge of an ex-director?’ he said. ‘It’s also very naive to assume that we would lend an ear to conspiracy. We have a two hundred page file on this topic, but the NMO statement at the press conference hardly touched on our information. The only thing they do is blacken reputations. And they don’t deny that liberal Muslims have been chucked out.’ On another current affairs programme Netwerk on 14 February, an anonymous former-employee of the NMO accused William of threatening to rape her. And a spokesman for the Dutch journalist’s association, the Nederlandse Vereniging van Jounalisten, related how William chased a departing NMO employee with a baseball bat, when he came to pick up his personal belongings from the office, after he had quit. William didn’t want to respond to the charges for that programme, nor could he be reached by Amsterdam Weekly. NOVA’s editor-in chief, Kuyl continued: ‘Minister Plasterk is very worried about the situation at the NMO. He is threatening them with withdrawing their license. That has never happened before.’ Meanwhile, if you want to know if the NMO has fully gone burka, check out their programmes on www.nmo.nl.

21-27 February 2008

Amsterdam Weekly

Clamping back the tears A farewell to the tow-truck’s little helper. It’s a cold, bright blue Thursday afternoon, about four ‘o clock, and two people stoically stare towards Waterlooplein through the windshield of their silver Peugeot on Valkenburgerstraat, chins buried in their collars. ‘We’re waiting for someone to take this thing off,’ explains Latifa Rashabi, pointing at the bright yellow ornament on her car’s left front wheel. Latifa and her friend Rachid Pady arrived in Amsterdam late last night and, anxious to get some sleep before their planned one-day exploration of the city, the pair of French tourists forgot to search for a parking meter. When they woke up this morning, they were introduced to one of the city’s longest serving tax collectors: the wielklem. Rachid and Latifa are likely to be among the last people to receive the stainless steel immobiliser, which in recent years has been placed on roughly 20,000 vehicles annually. On Wednesday 13 February, the city council approved a measure to end the clamping business in Amsterdam’s stadsdeel centrum, the last remaining section of the city that’s subject to car-boot enforcement. ‘For years it has been a source of irritation for many residents and visitors of Amsterdam’, the legislation reads. And because foreign tourists are ‘relatively often clamped’, the wheel clamp is ‘bad for Amsterdam’s hospitality and image’. Annelies van Dijk, spokeswoman for City Alderman Tjeerd Herrema, who is responsible for traffic, transport and infrastructure, said, ‘Our ambition is to abolish the wielklem before the end of this year.’ And so it seems that after more than a quarter of a century of loyal service to the city’s treasure chest, Amsterdam’s most undervalued civil servant will finally be granted retirement. The wheel clamp has always been misunderstood. Ever since the first municipal wielklem was fastened in Amsterdam in 1983, the tire bracelet has had to endure cursing, spitting and all sorts of physical abuse. Few people seem to appreciate the yellow hub-protector for what it is: the tow truck’s friendly little brother. Spotting the stainless steel obstruction on one of your pride and joy’s front rims might not be the happiest moment in your car-owner’s life, but at least it gives you room to breathe, if not to move. After a car has been fitted with a clamp, the owner has a leisurely 24 hours to contribute €103.80 to the city’s treasury. Were it not for this metal taxing apparatus, the city might well resort to the less altruistic

DENIS KOVAL

By Remco Andersen

method of relieving you of your driving responsibilities by immediately depositing your vehicle in the confiscated car park. Getting it back would be twice as expensive and take at least twice as long. Nonetheless, many motorists have found it difficult to see the benefits of receiving a wheel clamp. Neither truck nor clamp is needed, some argue; receiving the standard €50 fine in the mail would be punishment enough. And it might well be for residents of the Netherlands, but in the pre-clamping period many foreign wrongdoers traditionally got away without paying their fines. The wielklem’s mission, in truth, has always been a most noble one: to ensure payment from all those unable or unwilling to adhere to Amsterdam’s rules and regulations regarding parking, regardless of the colour of their licence plate. In a way, it

has been an instrument for ensuring motorist equality. But now it seems that this fine local tradition has fallen victim to financial globalisation. ‘The wheel clamp is just not necessary anymore,’ van Dijk admits. ‘There are other means to ensure retrospective tax collection from abroad.’ ‘Retrospective tax collection’ is municipal jargon for fine; if you don’t pay your parking tax before you park, you’re going to have to contribute the fee and the penalty for trying to dodge it afterwards. While staring at the three-figure charge on his ticket, beside the noted time of clamping, 09.33 hours, Rachid admits that he wouldn’t be bothered with paying the fee if not for the boot. ‘If I hadn’t gotten this clamp, I’d have driven straight back to France,’ he mumbles. The time may soon come when illegal-

Widely resented. Deeply misunderstood. Soon to be forgotten.

ly parked visitors will be free to leave, with ‘retrospective tax collection from abroad’ as the wielklem’s replacement. Let us hope that the renewed trust in successfully billing foreigners is not misguided, for disobedient tourists are sure to look for ways to return from Amsterdam without making a major contribution to the municipal treasury. If they should succeed, the ensuing tax collection chaos will force all of us to look at the wheel clamp in a different light: not as a sign of hospitality, but as the icon of motorist equality that it has always been. And maybe then we will finally be able to admit that yes indeed, we long for the days of the wielklem

Amsterdam Weekly

21-27 February 2008

Pullquote 1

The 20/20 producer would have jumped all over that one; the producer would have loved the young boyfriend, a grieving son hammering away on the internet, the pretty pictures of my mother; the old, alcoholic pilot living on a hill overlooking Alcatraz Prison. He would have loved to have me strolling alone on a rocky beach in some Pacific fog, or standing in a ditch in Ohio. Picture 1

Picture 2

Grainy black and white police photo of the crime scene

Close-up of victim’s neck (Shocking)

(Preferably night-shot)

Picture 3

Picture 4

Faded colour photo of the alleged killer

Son of victim walking towards the crime scene

(Wearing his pilot suit, faint smile on his face that suggests that he is drunk)

(A tired grim look on his face)

Pullquote 1

‘Get the media in on it,’ he said. He explained that high-profile cases were highprofile because everyone knew about it, not because the victims were more important.‘Raise hell, that’s the only way they’ll reopen a case that old.’

21-27 February 2008

he first book I read after my mother was murdered was In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. This novel, as Capote called it, was all true and took place in 1959—decades before Crime TV, Peter R de Vries, Dr Phil, Geraldo and Jensen!. The book recounts the story of a wealthy farmer, his wife and their two children who were brutally murdered in their home; it was a story that somehow clawed its way out of the local newspapers and into the New York Times, where Capote absorbed it with utter fascination. The surviving Clutters in Holcomb, Kansas never had an ‘exclusive Oprah interview’ to share their sorrow in front of a TV audience, so as to keep the murder case hot. Besides, justice came quickly: two ex-cons were captured, put on Death Row and eventually hanged. It was left to Capote to give the stories of the murderers and their victims both shape and power. But this exacted a price. Capote spent a few years living in a little motel in Holcomb, scribbling in his notepads, befriending the cops and falling in love with one of the killers. After he witnessed the hangings, Capote left Kansas to work on his masterpiece. When In Cold Blood was finished, all the horror he had tamed came loose and found him. He began to do some serious drinking and drugging. ‘It almost killed me,’ Capote would write. He never completed another book. What compels half the population of a civilised country to park themselves in front of their flat screens on a cold Sunday night in a dark, Dutch winter to watch a thug-in-training ride shotgun in a trickedout Range Rover, as he lets loose one vile brag after another about how he arranged for a half-dead ‘bitch’ to be rolled over the side of a boat in the depths of the ocean ‘like an old rag’ because he was finished with her and wanted to get back home to his warm bed? Maybe we watch stuff like Peter R de Vries’ Natalee Holloway special because we want to be on the knowing end of a mystery; maybe we want to make sense of some things that probably can’t be made sense of; maybe it’s like being a confused 14-year-old boy and reading In Cold Blood a week after your mom is found murdered in a ditch. De Vries and Company made sure they found their way to the pits of our stomachs—you know, way down in your guts—that place where revulsion lives. And all of us in TV Land certainly brought up some bile watching the young Joran van der Sloot in action. But what churned the guts in a different way was the feeling of ‘is this a joke?’ You know what I mean: the beginning of De Vries’ programme— dancing lover-shadows on the beach, the maudlin piano keys tinkling to remind you, ever-so-not-gently, that it was show-time Holland! Time to FEEL SOMETHING! It gave the entire intro to Van der Sloot’s secretly taped confession a 10-cent romance novel look. When was this Holloway thing ever about love? While Pimp my Confession! anchored the front end of the De Vries spectacle, the backend, though just as gut turning, was a different kind of thing altogether. After we were treated to a few hours of Van der Sloot’s wild and wicked stories, we got to watch mother Holloway’s reaction. Beth Holloway entered a private screening room and anxiously settled herself into a

Amsterdam Weekly large, comfortable chair next to De Vries. After the lights dimmed, a single camera in the room (compared to the two that were in the tricked-out SUV) was trained on the mother’s thin face. We saw Beth stiffen as she steeled herself for the secret tape recording about to be screened. With her wet, red eyes darting like crazy all over the place, Beth occasionally reared up in her seat like a spooked horse when one of Van der Sloot’s stories hit her too hard. ‘It’s just like we said,’ she murmured to De Vries when it was all over, her

she hasn’t wavered an inch off her mark since the day after Natalee disappeared: Joran was with her daughter when she died, he knows how she died, and he had help in getting rid of her body. ‘Something happened there,’ Joran says on tape, talking about being on the beach with Natalee. ‘I was lucky. The ocean is huge.’ You watched, I watched and anyone who didn’t wished they had. Beth Holloway got some answers. De Vries exported the

MURDER, MEDIA, JUSTICE AND MY MOTHER Picture 5

Grainy youth photo of pretty mother (Sentimental)

Like many, I was disgusted and amazed with the way the ‘confession’ of Joran van der Sloot was televised by Peter R de Vries.Yet, it also reconnected me to the 35-year-old unsolved murder of my mother. BY MICHAEL MARTIN face now red and twitching. ‘He did it.’ The evening’s denouement was certainly an adult dose of emotional voyeurism. But let’s be fair: there’s no doubt that what we saw sandwiched between Pimp my Confession! and Unbearable Pain was the goods; Holland’s Secret Agent Man got Joran to confess to his involvement in Holloway’s disappearance. And the mother had it right all along;

episode to ABC’s 20/20 programme and started to get justice. ‘Joran will stand trial,’ he told me on the phone last week. ‘Maybe not in a month, but soon.’ But sensationalist TV can grate our sensibilities. At least that’s what people commonly say. For three months immediately following her daughter’s disappearance, Beth Holloway lived in Aruba, camping out in a hotel room, tak-

ing her story to the people. When she wasn’t on Fox News, she was posting flyers, handing out prayer cards, paying for ponds to be drained and literally digging in the sand, looking for her daughter. She befriended people who might help her cause and went toe-to-toe with people she was suspicious of. She talked casino and hotel managers into showing her their surveillance tapes. Within a day of arriving on Aruba, she had the names of the three boys that entered a white Nissan car with her daughter the night she disappeared; one was Joran van der Sloot. A few days later, Holloway was leaning over the gate of the Van der Sloot home, asking the man hiding in the bushes, Joran’s father, Paulus, to come out so she could give him a prayer card and ask him some questions. ‘I’m Beth!’ she yelled at the bushes. ‘Natalee’s mother.’ It was bad enough discovering the Aruban investigation into her daughter’s disappearance was complacent and indifferent at best, and quite possibly corrupt at worst. And then there was the resentment. ‘This kid is just not worth the trouble,’ a rich Aruban told Vanity Fair magazine, when Beth Holloway was still on the island. ‘Is Natalee worth it? Is she?’ But perhaps the deal with the sensationalised TV isn’t as dirty as it seems. Cable networks employ top-shelf investigations outfits—ex-cops, prosecuting attorneys and judges; and De Vries has in fact warmed up many cold cases with his hot media. Some might call it low-rent stuff, trading in your story and pain to be exploited for only a small chance at some real answers. But from where I sit, the question is not how could a person have their sorrow exploited like that, but rather, why wouldn’t you? I wrote the first letter to the cops when I was 16. It had been two years since my mother’s half-naked body was discovered in a ditch by a farmer and I still hadn’t heard much about what happened to her. I knew she had been strangled, but hardly anything else. There had been a week’s worth of local newspaper articles and radio and television stuff. But I didn’t know any of that then, as my father swooped in from Nebraska the day after her murder and took my brother, sister and me quickly out of Dayton, Ohio. Her name was Bobbie Ann and she had three children, me being the eldest, and the four of us lived together in a small brick house. When she was murdered, her second divorce was a week away from being finalised. That husband was long gone. She was 35-years-old and pretty. She had a new boyfriend, a pilot in the Air Force. She drove over to his house on a Sunday night, and when she left our house, she said she wouldn’t be late. At 10pm she phoned to see how we were and to say goodnight. At 2am a neighbour across the street heard some loud car noises and peeled back the curtains of her bedroom window to see my mom pull her blue 1968 Mustang into our drive-way, followed closely by another car. She got into that car, a red car, and it drove away and she was never seen alive again. I wrote my letters, a few every year, to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office until I was 18 and graduated from high school. The letters were overly polite and had things in it like ‘could you kindly inform me of the current status of my mother’s case’, and were peppered with niceties

Amsterdam Weekly

like, ‘at your earliest convenience’ and ‘I would be most appreciative if...’ I addressed them all to the ‘Lead Detective’, imagining a whole slew of investigators, all of them working hard to nail the guy that killed my mom. But it was a fool’s thought; no one ever wrote me back. You hear how it happens. How when you get to the year of the age a parent has died, your life gets stirred up by things you can’t put your finger on. And so, for reasons I’m not sure about, when I was 35 years old, I woke up one morning, looked out across the San Francisco Bay from my backyard up in the Berkeley hills, and decided I needed to know what had happened to my mother. I wrote another letter to the sheriff. This one was short and to the point. I wanted all the documents in the case to be copied and mailed to me. Two weeks later an envelope arrived. Inside were about a dozen documents—police reports, evidence lists, scribbled notes— about 20 pages in all and, except for a short note from a detective, nothing else. It was terrible in its incompleteness, and the worst kind of realisation visited me: my mom’s murder was investigated for two weeks and stopped. We had had no family in Ohio and weren’t from there. I suspected they thought no one cared. I slid the envelope under the couch and tried to forget. But it didn’t work. Several years later, I pulled the envelope out again. If I was going to get the case reopened I needed a plan and I didn’t have one. There were all kinds of names in the report, all men, and most of them I had never heard of. The detectives seemed to be focused on the pilot boyfriend. He had spent a few days in jail, had flunked a lie-detector test and told a couple of versions of his evening with my mom. Though the cops let him loose, the Air Force let him have it. While he was in jail, his superiors lawyered him up, more out to protect the Air Force than the pilot himself. But after the Colonel was released, he was kicked out of the military. I figured from the file he was in his late 60s; I was trying, but I couldn’t find him. I hoped he wasn’t dead. I had designs on digging in and investigating the case myself, and then going back to Ohio to talk with the detective who had sent me the file. I was going to be in control. Then I ran into a friend at a cafe, a prosecuting attorney in Oakland. I told him what I was thinking about and asked for advice. ‘Get the media in on it,’ he said. He explained that high-profile cases were high-profile because everyone knew about it, not because the victims were more important. ‘Raise hell, that’s the only way they’ll reopen a case that old.’ For the next six months I was hell-bent on finding out what had happened in 1972. There was no good reason to believe I’d get anywhere and plenty of reasons why it was a fool’s adventure. The case was 26 years old. How would I find everyone? Was the physical evidence—my mom’s clothes, fingernail scrapings, vaginal swabs—all the stuff listed in the reports, was any of it still around and worth anything? I’d take long runs through the Berkeley hills thinking what harm could it do, just to see how far I could take it? I wrote Tom, the step-father my mother had divorced two decades ago, used the internet to track down people. I read

Picture 6

Son of victim standing on road overlooking ditch (Introspective)

Pullquote 3

Some might call it low-rent stuff, trading in your story and pain to be exploited for only a small chance at some real answers. But from where I sit, the question is not how could a person have their sorrow exploited like that, but rather, why wouldn’t you? about the case in the old Dayton newspaper articles I found on microfiche and ran up thousands of dollars in phone bills talking to strangers. I put together what I thought might have happened. Then in the spring of 1998, I wrote the Dayton Daily News, telling them what I was up to and that I was returning to Ohio for the first time since a day after the murder. ‘This might be a good story for you all,’ I wrote. As it turned out, it was. The day after I landed in Dayton, I met with the detective I had been in contact with. I had already spent a day with the reporter and his photographer; they followed me around in my old neighbourhood as I knocked on doors. My best buddy from New Orleans flew in. He was just a small time bankruptcy lawyer but had ‘Attorney-at-Law’ on his business card, so he filled the role as ‘my attorney’ perfectly. My idea was to take a measured, thoughtful approach to the case; to know more about it than the cops; to get their trust so they wouldn’t think I was a halfcrazed vigilante waiting to settle a score. The next morning ‘my attorney’ and I put on ties and jackets and met the reporter and photographer at the sheriff’s office. We sat huddled around a small table in a sunlit office. I made my pitch, trying

hard to impress upon the Lieutenant why his office, the community and my family had a stake in reinvestigating the case. ‘Fresh eyes on what we have,’ was my mantra. The Lieutenant was a big guy and if you saw him down the street coming at you with his slow swagger, you’d say, ‘that’s a cop’. He pushed his chair away from the table with ease, clearly unimpressed. ‘Without some evidence, something physical,’ he announced, ‘there’s not much I can do.’ But that all changed when the Dayton Daily News article came out a few Sundays later. It was a front page job, with a big screaming headline: ‘SEARCHING FOR A KILLER’ over the top. It was a few pages long and had eight photographs, mostly old ones of my mom that I had given them, and one of me standing next to the rental car along the side of the road where my mom’s body had been found 26 years before. The next day the Lieutenant called. ‘Just hold off a little bit,’ he asked. ‘I’ll take a look at what you gave me. Try to find the suspect. I got the TV guys calling me. I’m not telling them anything.’ Then he paused a second and added, ‘It’d help us a lot of you didn’t either.’ I would learn later that the sheriff’s

21-27 February 2008

office was getting a lot of phone calls, as was the Dayton Daily News. It was mostly old friends of my mother’s that were calling, people looking to talk to me. And what began happening was something I hadn’t expected. I was learning a lot about my mother’s life, and some of what I was learning wasn’t so pretty. My ex-stepfather told me about an affair my mom had had; there was another love-affair too, something one of her girlfriends shared. And there had been a boyfriend before she died, a young man only 19-years-old, not much older than I had been. A lot of people in Ohio were trying to help me sort through things, and it was hard to believe all I was hearing. A few weeks later I flew to New York City and met in a Manhattan cafe with a producer from the news magazine show, 20/20, the same program that De Vries would sell his Van der Sloot confession to. The 20/20 guy had wanted to talk to me about doing a piece on my mother’s cold case. A lot was happening. Before I left for New York my new friend the Lieutenant had phoned me with a little good news. ‘I found him,’ he told me. ‘And you won’t believe this. The guy lives not twenty minutes from you. You believe that? Right across the damn bay.’ The 20/20 producer would have jumped all over that one; the producer would have loved the young boyfriend, a grieving son hammering away on the internet, the pretty pictures of my mother; the old, alcoholic pilot living on a hill overlooking Alcatraz Prison. He would have loved to have me strolling alone on a rocky beach in some Pacific fog, or standing in a ditch in Ohio. I could see how it would be all laid out one evening for the public’s consumption. And for what? To keep the pressure on the investigators? Make it ‘high-profile’ so just maybe some unknown person will step out of the shadows and deliver the goods? I sat across the table from the 20/20 guy. ‘Let’s do it,’ I said. ‘I’m in.’ But I was lying. I had no intention of doing anything with the programme. I gave him a few more details than he had read on the wire, enough for him to call and bug the sheriff’s office a few times, helping my mother’s case stay hot for another year or so, before the whole thing went cold again. Two winters ago I reread Capote’s In Cold Blood. It got me wondering if the old pilot was still alive. So I called him. An old man answered and I hung up the phone. You think you can let go but you can’t; you think it might kill you to do it all again, but it doesn’t. So I got the case hot again and began working with two new Ohio police detectives—stand-up guys both. And when their investigation stalled last year I called up the Dayton Daily News and reminded them the 35th anniversary of the murder was coming up. ‘Might make a good story for you guys.’ And it did. Four days later the detectives finally did what they promised to do, which was head out to California and talk to the pilot. Who knows? It’s a new day. There’s hope in getting what Beth Holloway has been calling her ‘gift’—knowing a good bit more about her Natalee’s death. And when I talked to De Vries on the phone for this interview, we talked some about my mom’s case. ‘Send the file to me,’ he said. ‘I’ll look it over and tell you what I think.

21-27 February 2008

Amsterdam Weekly

SHORT LIST

Amsterdam in de jaren ’70, Thursday, Stadsarchief Amsterdam

THURSDAY 21FEBRUARY Film: Faces Last autumn, French street artist JR caused a medium-sized controversy in Amsterdam, when he pasted huge posters with his photos on buildings across town as part of his exhibition in Foam. This, however, was only an offshoot of JR’s really big project, which had already taken place the summer before in another corner of the world. Huge images of Palestinians and Israelis laughing and making funny faces were pasted next to each other on both sides of the security fence and in major towns in both Israel and Palestine. It was not only quite a beautiful idea, but also an action that took some courage: After all, it was the biggest illegal photo exhibition ever. During the whole project, JR was followed around by documentary ﬁlm director Gérard Maximin. The result is the documentary Faces, which shows the course of the project, from the shooting of the pictures to the pasting of the posters, and captures the reactions of the people that witnessed it as well. Faces premiered at the last IDFA and hits the cinemas this Thursday. (Sarah Gehrke) Ketelhuis and Kriterion, see Film Times p. 20.

Event: StuKaFest Oh yes, student house parties. This calls up memories of traumatic experiences: longhaired people sitting cross-legged on shabby carpets, drinking cheap red wine. Manu Chao on endless repeat. And aaargh: incense sticks! On the worst of these occasions, someone would pull out an acoustic guitar. But of course there’s also a good version of student house parties, which includes twenty people drunkenly cycling over to the house of someone they’ve just met, and who’s got a fridge ﬁlled with beer. And in an ideal world, the person with the guitar at those parties would know how to play it, and have an amp with them as well, and the most talkative guest would actually have something to say. StuKaFest aims at creating this ideal world, with lots of musicians, cabaretiers, poets and the like doing their thang in different student homes, open to the public. Just check the website and pick out the houses you want to visit. Then the night ends in a big afterparty in Bitterzoet. Or maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll meet someone who’ll throw an after-afterparty round theirs! (Sarah Gehrke) Various locations, from 20.30, Various prices. See www.stukafest.nl.

Film: Amsterdam in de jaren ‘70 Ah, you gotta love the ’70s. Vondelpark was one big crash pad with KLM marketing their ﬂights from the US with the line: ‘Come sleep in Hippie Park.’ De Nieuwmarkt was saved from decimation by the righteous rioting of residents. Ajax was actually still a kickass football team. De Bijlmer represented the future of community living. People thought that

their houses would be heated in the short term by nuclear energy. There was still hope in the air—yes, that stuff. Sweet times indeed. And now one can relive those times at the monumental Stadsarchief, where they have put together a series of fragments, commercials and short ﬁlms from different city departments, dedicated to this most heady of eras. And you can watch them for free. Free and easy: good stuff indeed. In Dutch. (Steve Korver) Stadsarchief Amsterdam, (Tue-Sat 10.00-17.00), free. Until 24 April.

FRIDAY 22 FEBRUARY Film: The Big Lebowski Night A very special evening with everybody’s favourite Coen Brothers film, hosted by the KLIK! Amsterdam animation festival and Amsterdam Weekly’s own Luuk van Huët. You know the movie, of course: slacker Jeff Bridges, who lives to drink White Russians and bowl with friends John Goodman and Steve Buscemi, is visited by two thugs who torment him by urinating on his carpet. He goes in search of restitution and ﬁnds himself in a surreal landscape of sex (Julianne Moore), surrealism (John Turturro) and the best bowling dream sequence ever. This is your chance to watch the movie yet again, quote your favourite lines, drink nasty milk-based cocktails, dance to the soundtrack (Nina Simone, Elvis Costello, Yma Sumac, The Gipsy Kings) and compete in a virtual bowling league on the Nintendo Wii. Prizes will be given for the best costumes, so do your best to outshine Luuk, who plans to appear as Philip Seymour Hoffman. (Julie Phillips) De Nieuwe Anita (Fri 19.00), €5.

Rock: The Quazatrons Quatz in a name? Lamenting the loss of the importance of the word ‘The’ from the English language, Amsterdam-based band ‘The Crystal Castles’ have changed their name to ‘The Quazatrons’ (due to complications with a Canadian band named ‘Crystal Castles’). The Quazatrons can be described as The Velvet Underground meets The Stone Roses meets George Orwell meets Joseph Heller. The lyrics (whether they are about paranoid schizophrenia, the Space Elevator concept or selling family heirlooms for twenty quid at Cash Converters) are sung over layers of agreeable noise produced by three guitars, drums, bass and a laptop. They can be romantic too—when it’s about computer games! Listen to ‘Mono’, an ode to the classic Shadow of the Colossus. With the angry-dreamy ‘An Hour Away’, The Quazatrons are solidly rocking away (some cool Velvety/Rosey guitar sounds there). And check out the jazzy riffs in ‘youlikeido’. One thing is for sure; expect more diversity in their forty-minute set than any other band on the circuit. Listen in at www.myspace.com/thequazatrons. And note, they are playing as part of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy party (GRA-party, see Clubs, p. 13) which starts at 23.00. (Marie-Claire Melzer) Sugar Factory, 24.00, €10.

Amsterdam Weekly

21-27 February 2008

SATURDAY 23 FEBRUARY Jazz: Domino Quartet The tri-continental roots (Africa, North America, and Europe) of this superb quartet might make for good copy, but the music on the Domino Quartet’s Radio 3 Sessions (Auand, 2005) is focused so squarely on top-flight collective music making that such details become trifling. The brawny, soulful, and melodic jazz churned out by local winds maestro Sean Bergin (a native of South Africa), Chicago drummer Hamid Drake, trombonist Gianluca Petrella and bassist Antonio Borghini (the latter two both from Italy) willfully ignores any kind of stylistic purity, leaving the music to swing, bluster and bounce in various, visceral combinations. The blues looms heavy here, and the muscular, fat-bottomed attack recalls the best of Charles Mingus, whose ‘Peggy’s Blue Skylight’ gets a powerful reading; it’s also hard to miss the pronounced kwela flavor that dances through several other ebullient pieces. For a group that convenes only sporadically, the Domino Quartet hit like lifelong pals. (Peter Margasak) Bimhuis, 21.00, €16.

SUNDAY 24 FEBRUARY Film: Future Shorts Bless the short film. It’s just perfect for our ever-dwindling attention spans. And lucky for us, the local film label Future Shorts now hosts a monthly viewing at OT301 of some of the best shorts the world has to offer. And their selection is wonderfully quirky. The hilarious ‘Pound’ by American video director Evan Bernard features two friends saying hello and goodbye to each other—but then with the accompanying hiphop handshakes. The intensely trippy Japanese animation ‘Lost Utopia’ by Mirai Mizue, is built up from 5000 hand drawn pictures that turns the tale of Adam and Eve on its head. ‘The Suburban Train’ by Maciej Cuske is a documentary that wittily rips through Russian society and behaviours in a way only a Pole could get away with. Plus there are films on paintballing, a returning father, a man that people call Jesus and a girl who discovers the power of imagination. I’m sorry—what was the first film about again? (Steve Korver) OT301, 17.00 and 20.00, €5.

SUNDAY 24 FEBRUARY World/Club: DJ Dolores & Band To prove the point that Brazil has much more to offer than just samba or bossa nova, DJ Dolores would suit very well. Born as Helder Aragão de Meloin in the north-eastern part of the country, the former graphic designer and television documentary maker was part of the eclectic mangue beat scene in Recife in the ’90s before embarking on solo projects after the rot caused by corporate money and the death of spiritual leader Chico Science set in. By way of provocation, Helder’s artist name is a statement against the macho culture of his native Brazil, whereas the abbreviation ‘DJ’ shouldn’t trick you into thinking of a regular platter spinner providing four-to-the-floor club fodder. Consider this turntablist/laptopper instead as the aural equivalent of a modern, somewhat abstract collage painter, taking his inspiration from rural and urban scenes in and outside his country. Here to promote his CD 1 Real, DJ Dolores may be a tad too intellectual, but in his own way treads the footsteps of Brazilian musical modernists like Heitor Villa-Lobos closely. (Peter Bartlema) Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 21.00, €16 + membership.

MONDAY 25 FEBRUARY World: Ialma Memory, nostalgia, sentiment, celebration—all play parts in a region’s reclamation of its suppressed culture. Galicia, in north-west Spain, faced two factors that silenced its development: Franco’s tyranny—which made speaking Galician a punishable offense—and the predominance of centralised Spanish culture (anyone for flamenco?), which obscured the country’s other regions. Ialma, a group of five Galician female singers currently living in Brussels, came together nearly 10 years ago to promote their heritage. Assisted by five Belgian musicians, the group offers bouquets of traditional Galician songs in arrangements both traditional and contemporary. Spiced by exotic percussion and several typical Galician instruments—one resembles a banged-up bagpipe—the songs range from the spirited to the sombre, often with tints of homesickness. But these gals aren’t only archivists: their latest CD, Nova Era, features their first original songs, along with a cover of a tune by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Galician culture, vibrantly reclaimed, now turns emphatically forward. (Steve Schneider) Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €28.50.

Send details and images for listing consideration at least two weeks in advance to agenda@amsterdamweekly.nl.

Amsterdam Weekly

JAN BAUER

21-27 February 2008

This week, some of the world’s premiere experimental electronic music merchants will drone the light fantastic.

A SONIC SHORT LIST OF SOUNDS MUSIC Sonic Acts 21-24 February, Paradiso, €15/evening, €35-50/festival pass www.sonicacts.com By Peter Margasak

The 12th instalment of the biannual Sonic Acts Festival delivers yet another smorgasbord of progressive sound and cinema, with live performances, rare screenings, and a conference. Considering how quickly digital formats are impacting the world of cinema, it’s fascinating that the organizers have emphasized pre-filmic modes of that visual experience, from the Nervous Magic Lantern performances by American filmmaker Ken Jacobs, which use only light from a hand-manipulated projector—no film or video—to produce a highly kinetic presentation, while Bruce McClure uses the very substance of film as a focus of his performances, using equipment ‘wrongly’ to generate new sonic and visual experiences. There’s also a dynamite musical lineup, with some of electronic music’s most daring practitioners, and many of the film programs feature a sound component

that’s just as daring as what is happening on screen. Simply put, this ranks as one of the most exciting experimental music and ﬁlm festivals on the globe, and it happens right here. The four-day event is crammed with special performances and screenings —but here are some of the music gigs that we rate as most exciting: Signal This trio is kind of a super group of the Raster Noton label, with Carsten Nicolai, Frank Bretschneider, and Olaf Bender churning out characteristic electronic minimalism that layers low drones, sine wave static, and winding synthetic tones over twitchy, chattery beats. The music drifts between nightclub and art space, reducing techno to its core while placing a premium on accretive development. Last year’s superb Robotron—its album art fittingly contains grids of numbers printed over one another until they’re virtually unrecognizable—recorded during various live and studio sessions between 2001 and 2006, is remarkably cohesive given the circumstances, and while it doesn’t do much to advance their individual aesthetics, it certainly finds them all in top form.

Kapser T. Toeplitz French composer Eliane Radigue has been enjoying a late-in-life renaissance, encouraged and commissioned by a new generation enthralled by her longform pieces. The typical work by Radigue demands the listener to invest at least an hour or so to experience her music, which develops at almost imperceptible increments. The former student of musique concrete pioneers Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaeffer generally uses sounds produced on an analogue synthesizer as source material, but it’s the use of filters and mixers where she works her wonders, sculpting her gentle drones into billowing objects of pure beauty and sensation. Elemental II was written for Kasper T. Toeplitz in 2003—the first time she composed for someone else—and it’s astonishing to hear him bring it to life using only an electric bass; textures shift from coarse to glowing, with terse shifting patters streaking through the hazy din, and eventually he starts bowing to make sounds that suggest cries from a very distant hell. Christian Fennesz The world’s most inventive laptop musician, Christian Fennesz has chilled out over the years, eschewing most of the harsh sound bursts that marked early masterpieces like Hotel Paral.lel. But as heard on something like last year’s single ‘On a Desolate Shore a Shadow Passes By’, his unique brand of meditative beauty remains gripping for all of the layers of texture and movement, from acoustic guitar arpeggios through processed electric guitar tones to purely synthetic ripples. Few people can make so much from so little.

Doom aﬁcionado Stephen O’Malley of Sun O))) is one of the Drone People.

Peter Rehberg Whereas one-time collaborator Christian Fennesz has moved his music steadily toward the more contemplative and pretty, Pita (aka Peter Rehberg) has made a virtue of unpredictability, ranging widely from hypnotic ﬂickers to brutal barrages of noise. He’s fond of collaboration and some of his recent work with Marcus Schmickler (R/S) and Stephen O’Malley (KTL) has found him at his most violent and jarring, although no matter how loud he gets there’s a keen sense of dynamics and movement that distinguishes his work from out-and-out noise. Drone People It’s no surprise that the rich, droning sounds pioneered by the American maverick LaMonte Young with the Theater of Eternal Music back in the early 1960s have never seemed more inﬂuential, and this fantastic four-hour program promises to cast a broad net on some of its most exciting contemporary practitioners. Among the highlights is Mika Vainio of the stark Finnish digital duo Pan Sonic, the Icelandic cellist Hildur Gudnadottir (who recently joined the quirky art-pop group Mum), doom drone merchant Stephen O’Malley of Sunn O))), and Cincinnati violinist C Spencer Yeh, whose transformative performances will leave audiences as drained as the drooling musician himself. The event is organized by Swedish noise musician Joachim Nordwall (Skull Defekts, Alvars Orchestra) who will be presenting a 24-hour version of the event in Stockholm two days later.

Amsterdam Weekly

21-27 February 2008 melodies, blasts of humour, and, of course, a healthy repertoire of unlikely covers to mix in with their originals. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 20.30, €12 + membership Pop/Rock: Beneﬁt Party ‘Een Dag, Tien Katers’, with sets from Children Sumadre, Beatzers, Sina Turner and Caspian Hat Dance. OCCII, 21.00, €5 Jazz: Killer Joey Joey Baron stands for endless creativity. He has conjured unprecedented melodic nuances from his drumming in the groups of other artists such as John Zorn, Bill Frisell, veterans Lee Konitz and Jim Hall, but tonight he brings his own legendary formation to town, featuring guitarists Brad Shepik and Steve Cardenas and bassist Tony Scherr. Bimhuis, 21.00, €18 Rock: S.I.N., The Edukators Local rock ’n’ roll outﬁts. Cafe Pakhuis Wilhelmina, 22.00, €7.50 World: Amel Eiland and Elevation Groove oriented tunes taking inspiration from soul, hiphop, funk and jazz. Badcuyp, Noordpool, 23.00, €8 Rock: The King Khan & BBQ Show Trashy rock and loose garage soul from this bizarre duo. They may not grab headlines in the music press but their onstage chemistry means they’re well worth experiencing. Pacific Parc, 23.00, free Festival: Sonic Acts XII (See Thursday) Various locations, various times, €35 festival pass, single events vary

Saturday 23 February Hiphop/R&B: Large Diverse urban sounds from DJs, VJs, MCs and live bands. Comedy Theater, 01.00, €12.50 Classical: Gabrieli Consort and Players Paul McCreesh leads for Brit classics by Purcell and Britten. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 14.15, €29.50/€35 Contemporary: IJ-Salon Violist Nobuko Imai, cellist Quirine Viersen and singer Roswitha Bergmann tackle Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht. Muziekgebouw, 15.00, €17.50

Koop, see Thursday

Pop/Rock: Subbacultcha! Featuring feisty Rotterdam guitar poppers The Cuties. De Nieuwe Anita, 20.00, €6

MUSIC

Jazz: New Solutions—The Erik Satie Project Bassist Andreas Metzler presents new jazzy arrangements of popular Satie works. Special guest for this performance is trumpeter Gerard Kleijn. Badcuyp, Noordpool, 21.30, €8

Classical: Nelly Miricioiù The Romanian soprano is showing off tonight, with backing from the Noord Nederlands Orkest and conductor Michel Tabachnik. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €38.50/€46.50

Thursday 21 February

Classical: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Bernard Haitink conducts for renditions of Schubert’s ‘Unﬁnished’ Eighth, and the First Act of Wagner’s Die Walküre. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €55 Pop/Rock: Bloemetjes Buiten Celebrating one year of poppin’ and rockin’ on Thursday nights with sets from Hopedealers and Simon, plus a list of DJs to drag the party into tomorrow. Winston Kingdom, 21.00, €5

Tim van Hamel, Club 3voor12 Pop/Rock: Club 3voor12 Live radio and TV session featuring sets from Laura Marling, Tim van Hamel and Willowz. Desmet Studios, 22.00, free, tickets: www.3voor12.nl Festival: Sonic Acts XII The twelfth edition of this festival is devoted to ‘The Cinematic Experience’ and includes an international conference, a wide range of concerts and performances, an exhibition and a diverse programme of ﬁlms. See www.sonicacts.com for full programme—if you don’t know where to start with these avant-garde performances, consider the sets by Bobby & Blumm, Cluster and Leafcutter John on Friday night at Paradiso as a good primer, then take it from there. See article, p. 11. Various locations, various times, €35 festival pass, single events vary

Friday 22 February Classical: Lunch Concert With students from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Bethaniënklooster, 12.30, free Wolter Wierbos, Doek&OT Experimental: Doek&OT West Africa meets free jazz, with trombonist Wolter Wierbos, Serigne Gueye of Senegal and Layba Diawara of Guinea. OT301, 21.00, €5 Jazz: Fleurine New York-based Dutch singer Fleurine presents her latest CD San Francisco, which is an ode to three Brazilian composers: Francisco ‘Chico’ Buarque de Hollanda, Francis Hime and Francisco ‘Chico’ Pinheiro. Bimhuis, 21.00, €16 Jazz: Koop A dance jazz and swing crossover from these inventive Swedes. Unafraid of classic Caribbean and Latin influences, they provide a contemporary electro big band feel. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 21.00, €15 + membership

Classical: Anneke van Haaften Violin works by Nigg, Ysaye and Bach. English Reformed Church, 20.15, €10 Classical: Hagen Quartet Works by Webern, Haydn and Dvorˇák. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €35.50

More listings at www.amsterdamweekly.nl. Send listing suggestions at least two weeks in advance to agenda@amsterdamweekly.nl.

Classical: Hagen Quartet Works by Webern, Haydn and Dvorˇák. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €35.50

Pop: Wolter Kroes (See Friday) Heineken Music Hall, 20.00, €42.50

Pop: Wolter Kroes The most popular thing to come out of Wormerveer, excluding the train to Amsterdam. A copy of his new album awaits all concert goers. Heineken Music Hall, 20.00, €42.50 Classical: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (See Thursday) Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €55

World: Nadara Gipsy Wedding Band Transylvanian gypsy orchestra. CREA Theater, 20.30, €15 3xLive Sets from Code3, May and Mauve. Winston Kingdom, 21.00, €5 Jazz: Domino Quartet Four talented and renowned soloists give it a go together: trombonist Gianluca Petrella, sax player Sean Bergin, bassist Antonio Borghini and drummer Hamid Drake. See Short List Bimhuis, 21.00, €16 Chanson: Jacqueline Taïeb & Amsterdam BeatClub ’60s singing star originally from Tunisia. Podium Mozaïek, 21.00, €18 Electronica: Rex...Electronation Live A rare live performance from Detroit techno/electro outﬁt DopplerEffekt. Sugar Factory, 21.00, €15 Rock: The Gutter Twins There may well be a whisky shortage in Amsterdam after tonight. With two of the strongest and instantly recognisable voices of the ’90s rock scene joining forces—Mark Lanegan, formerly of Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age, and Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs and The Twilight Singers—this is hopefully going to prove to be a soulful masterclass that takes the audience to the dark fringes and back again. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 21.00, sold out Reggae: Sean Kingston Young reggae singer/rapper who’s exploded onto the scene in the past year, working with pop stars like Fergie and Natasha Bedingﬁeld. Melkweg, The Max, 21.30, €20 + membership Blues: Wolfpin Blues rock featuring guitarist Marcel Scherpenzeel. Maloe Melo, 22.00, €5

Classical: Salzburger Streich Featuring violinists Lukas Hagen and Nathalie Chee, violist Iris Juda and contrabassist Josef Radauer. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €33.50

Festival: Sonic Acts XII (See Thursday) Various locations, various times, €35 festival pass, single events vary

World: Kora Jazz Trio Combining Mandinge traditional music with the improvisation and freedom of jazz. KIT Tropentheater, 20.30, €16

Sunday 24 February

Punk: New Found Glory Florida punk poppers who mix up the fast riffs and stomping drums with tight

Camerata Busoni Works by Xenakis, Mozart, Busoni and Brahms. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 14.15, €28

Amsterdam Weekly

21-27 February 2008 Classical: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (See Thursday) Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 14.15, €55 Contemporary: Amsterdam Bridge Ensemble Performing works by Martinu, Klein and Dvorˇák. Preceded by a lecture by Helle Hochscheid. Bethaniënklooster, 15.00, €16.50 Classical: Combattimento Consort Amsterdam Performing Händel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo. Muziekgebouw, 15.00, €32 World: Prins Rama Varma A direct descendant of perhaps the greatest composer of the South Indian musical tradition, Maharaja Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma. He plays the veena, an Indian lute. KIT Tropentheater, 15.00, €18 Jazz: Toets des Tijds Curacao-born jazz pianist Randal Corsen will improvise on two pianos—simultaneously. Werkgebouw Het Veem, 15.00, €10 Jazz: The Tone Travellers ’60s-style jazz. Studio K, 16.00, free Contemporary: Trio Kokako Performing works by three distinguished female composers Violet Balestreri Archer (Canada), Sofia Gubaidulina (Russia) and Vanessa Lann (USA). De Cameleon, 16.30, €10 Classical: Groot Omroepkoor Verdi’s operatic celebration Messa da Requiem, with musical backing from the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and Jaap van Zweden. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €43.50/€51.50 Classical: Members of the Wiener Philharmoniker A chamber performance from flautist Wolfgang Schulz, cellist Franz Bartolomey and harpist Xavier de Maistre. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €33.50 World: Night of the Gypsies Party-style Gypsy tunes and Balkan classics from Romanian group Taraf de Haïdouks. Patronaat, Haarlem, 20.30, €20 Heavy: Creative Explosion 1..2..3..4..goooaarrrgghhh! Fast and furious sets from So Called Celeste, Return to Reason and Mindscan. Winston Kingdom, 21.00, €5 World: DJ Dolores Brazilian eclecticism. Traditional carnival rhythms and melodies ﬁnd themselves melded with drum & bass and modern dance grooves. Support from DJ Jairzinho. See Short List. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 21.00, €16 + membership Jazz: SFJAZZ Collective All-star jazz focussed on the works of Wayne Shorter, with members’ originals interspersed. Players include Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Stefon Harris, Miguel Zenon, Robin Eubanks, Renee Rosnes, Matt Penman and Eric Harland. Bimhuis, 21.00, €25 Jazz: Ready for Freddy Fat grooves from Jos de Haas (New Cool Collective), Stefan Schmidt (Zuco103), Alex Oele (Yinka), Stefan Kruger (Zuco103) and special guests. Badcuyp, Noordpool, 21.30, €5 Festival: Sonic Acts XII (See Thursday) Various locations, various times, €35 festival pass, single events vary

Monday 25 February Opera: Wiener Staatsoper Mozart gets operatically comical in the ever-popular Così fan tutte. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 19.30, €87.50/€103.50 World: Ialma Exploring the traditional Celtic sounds found in Galicia, the Spanish region located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. See Short List. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €28.50 Opera: Opera per Tutti! Weekly performance by De Nieuwe Opera Academie. Vondelkerk, 20.15, €20

most recent release was the acclaimed Night Falls Over Kortedala, a so-called compilation of tracks recorded between 2004 and 2007. Support from Turkish indie pop act Kim Ki O. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 19.30, €13 + membership Classical: Christoph Prégardien Romance and German rarely sit on the same page together, but that’s the core of this programme starring Mahler and Schumann. The tenor is backed by pianist Michael Gees. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €38.50 Classical: Wiener Philharmoniker Only one of the most famous symphony orchestras in the world, ending a week of Viennese magnificence at Concertgebouw. Tonight, famous Russian conductor Valery Gergiev leads them through excerpts from Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €116/€137 Classical: Calefax Rietkwintet Rooted in classical works by the likes of Bartók, Paganini, Debussy and Tchaikovsky, the songs performed here all take on a jazzy conversion at the hands of the reed quintet. Het Muziektheater, 20.30, €17.50 Pop/Rock: Nada Surf Oft overlooked in their native US for younger and hipper outfits, this ’90s power pop band stick to what they know best—effortless melodic guitar pop—and are always rewarded with a sturdy turnout in the Netherlands. And it certainly does no harm to have support from like-minded peers Rogue Wave, who sound like Californian sunshine all year round. Melkweg, The Max, 20.30, €12 + membership Hiphop/R&B: One Night Stand A ‘Safe Sex’ special featuring appearances by The Opposites, Deejay KID, Crisizz, Lyon & Billy-D, 2 MaNs and The Vision. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 21.00, free

Wednesday 27 February Classical: Lunch Concert Members of the Academie van het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 12.30, free Rock: Dead Meadow Trippin’ trio from Washington DC, known for their ’70s-style riffs and ’60s psychedelia. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 20.00, €7.50 + membership Classical: Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra Storytelling pieces by Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Elgar. With mezzo-soprano Xenia Meijer. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €21.25/€25 Contemporary: Rising Stars With percussionist Martin Grubinger and pianist Per Rundberg tackling rhythmic works by the likes of Koppel, Grubinger and Xenakis. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €29.50 Rock: Black Francis Now that Pixies are back in hibernation, Frank Black, or Black Francis as the case may be, is once again enjoying the life of a solo star. During the past ﬁve years, he’s successfully knocked out seven solo projects, the latest of which is Svn Fngrs, a fairly raucous affair reminiscent of early Pixies. He also has a bit of a Herman Brood obsession bubbling away at the moment. As well as covering one of his songs lately, he’s also got a Brood-related free ‘ﬂash’ gig taking place at 17.00 by his ‘grave’. Melkweg, The Max, 20.30, €17.50 + membership Heavy: The Dillinger Escape Plan Mathematical freak-out rock and hardcore from this inimitable New Jersey act. Support from metalcore crew Poison the Well. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 20.30, €15 + membership World: Jam Session For raï, funk and rock. Volta, 21.00, free Folk: The Cherry Blossoms Shaggy folk collective from Tennessee. OCCII, 21.00, €5

Bloc Party DJ Set

CLUBS Thursday 21 February Kick Off: Gewoon Gastvrij New monthly night for those seeking a relaxing house and minimal experience. Club 8, 22.00-03.00, free Poptrash Three decades’ worth of rock, electro and hiphop with The Punchout DJs and guests. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 23.00-05.00, €5 Wildvreemd 2.0 Fishy house and techno goings on from Steffi, Thomas Mortojo & Casper Tielrooij, the Bootleg Bitches and Link Loeder. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €8.50

Friday 22 February Rond Volle Maan A Rednose Distrikt full moon special. OT301, 21.30-late, €6 Club Bangkok Weekend Edition A weekly shot of indie-electro-pop for music junkies, this time breaking out into your weekend time. Club 8, 22.00-03.00, €5 De Kraakpiep Breakin’ the law and the sound barrier. OCCII, 22.00-04.00, €5 klinch: Magnetronik Progressive dance tunes from Wighnomy Brothers (Freude am Tanzen), Justus Köhncke (Kompakt), Wesdex (Magnetronik), Estroe and with live painting by Vage Gasten. Melkweg, The Max, 22.00-late, €13 + membership 360 Spinning round and round with Minilogue (Stockholm), Patrice Bäumel and Nuno dos Santos. 11, 22.30-04.00, €12 Disco Schmisco! Musical allsorts with no obvious shame. Winston Kingdom, 23.00-04.00, €6 GRA-Party Who let the students out? Ooof, oof, oof! Featuring live tunes (see The Quazatrons in Short List), DJs, VJs, live art and more youthful goodness. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €10 Timezone Monster munch hits from the last few decades. Odeon, 23.00-05.00, €12 Zuivere Koffie With Brent Rozendaal, Jorn Liefdeshuis, Bert de Rooij and Tom Ruig. Flex Bar, 23.00-05.00, €8

Soul: The Clipsters Vintage soul sounds from a modern ensemble. Sugar Factory, 21.00, €10

Sonic Warfare VI—Return of Deep Medi Dubstep, drum & bass and dark jungle mentalism from Mala, Goth Trad, Kromestar, Quest vs Silkie, Hijak and U Dub. Melkweg, Oude Zaal, 23.59-late, €13 + membership

DNK-Amsterdam Weekly concert series for new live electronic and acoustic music. This edition is a record release party for Gert-jan Prins. OT301, 21.30, €5

Saturday 23 February

Jazz: SFJAZZ Collective (See Sunday) Bimhuis, 21.00, €25

Pop/Rock: Los Campesinos! No, not the latest Brazilian indie sensation following CSS across the Atlantic. This bunch of so-called peasants have sneaked out of Wales, offering a noisy and energetic blast of girl-boy vocal indie pop. It’s been done a million times before, but they certainly do it well, and the short-but-wild blast of new single ‘Death to Los Campesinos’ is probably worth the admission alone. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 21.30, €10 + membership

IREMEMBER With Kid, Evert, Benjamin Brown, Steve Boomselecta, Royalistic, Rodd Starson and Funk-E. The Mansion, 21.00-03.00, €15 Vinicio Capossela

Tuesday 26 February

Singer-songwriter: Vinicio Capossela This theatrical singer-songwriter—a superstar in Italy—is often compared to Tom Waits, owing to his raspy voice and love of ‘oompah’. His latest CD Ovunque Proteggi, on which Wait’s regular guitarist Marc Ribot can even be heard, sat at the top of the Italian charts for weeks on end. Bimhuis, 21.00, €16

Singer-songwriter: Jens Lekman A talented young Swedish songwriter capable of producing both sparse, melancholic numbers and quirky, humorous tales. His

Electronica: Cut Copy Indie electro pop from Melbourne. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 22.30, €7.50 + membership

Au10tique Kicking the electronically programmed jams with Rutger Docter and Olaf Boswijk. De Kring, 22.00-04.00, €8 Hed Kandi—The Winter Ball Featuring both UK and Dutch dance Heds. Hotel Arena, 22.00-04.00, €22.50 Outsiders Diverse dance tunes, from techno right back to soul and then onwards to rap. Bitterzoet, 22.00-04.00, €7.50 Anti Party Italo house, newbeat and glam disco with no posing permitted. Cafe Pakhuis Wilhelmina, 22.00-late, €5

Amsterdam Weekly

14 Reggae Benefiet DFM Jamaican reggae special with a live set from Dreadnaughts, plus the Blackboard Jungle Crew, Magister Tariquat and Daddy Mystic. OT301, 22.00-late, €6 Static Bart Skils gets techlectrifying with help from Reboot (Frankfurt) and Ben Klock (Berlin). 11, 22.30-04.00, €12 Bloc Party DJ Set Enticing the Brit poppers out of town with singer Kele Okereke spinning his fave tunes. Patronaat, Haarlem, 23.00-04.00, €12 Digitalsoul First birthday party with guest DJs Groovemaster Johnson, Andy Callister, Dekky, Jeff Alexander, Miss Sugarware, Miss Covergirl Sunny and more. Odeon, 23.00-05.00, €15 Electronation vs Crème Party DopplerEffekt afterparty with fine electronica from DJ Skurge (US), DJ TLR, Legowelt vs Orgue Electronique (live) and Pawel Bolt. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €15 eRRorKREW One room of acid, house and techno, with live performances from Wouter Hisschemöller and Hakki Takki; in the other room it’s pop, rock and eclectic. Flex Bar, 23.00-05.00, €9 Framebusters An Amsterdam vs Rotterdam special, so it really could be murder on the dancefloor. Escape, 23.00-05.00, €15 F*ckerss If you ask any of Benny Rodrigues, Gregor Salto or Don Diablo, they’re sure to tell you that the starred letter is in fact an I. The Powerzone, 23.00-06.00, €12.50 Global Spirits World dance music. Ruigoord, 23.00late, €8 Jamrock Explosion The official Dancehall Queen Contest with national and international reggae star guests. Paradiso, 23.30-05.30, €15 Gemengd Zwemmen Two rooms of swimmingly diverse noise. In The Max, it’s classic hiphop and funk; in the Oude Zaal, there’s alternative dance, pop, rock and indie hits. Melkweg, 23.59-late, €9

Sunday 24 February WickedJazzSounds Jazz, hiphop, broken beats, nu-jazz, funk and Afro sounds, as classic vinyl collides with live musicians. Sugar Factory, 23.0005.00, €9.50 Shape Sunday workout with Frederik Abas and Santito. Escape, 23.30-04.00, €15

Monday 25 February Cheeky Monday True skool jungle and drum & bass, featuring players from the local and international scenes. Winston Kingdom, 22.00-03.00, €6

Tuesday 26 February Voidd Sessions Techno, minimal and techouse. Winston Kingdom, 22.00-03.00, €6

Wednesday 27 February Rub-A-Dub Inna Winston Reggae and dub love, with a live set from The Youthz Foundation and the Covenant Soundsystem DJs. Winston Kingdom, 21.00-03.00, €5 Black Star Wednesday Reggae that rocks the microphone. Bitterzoet, 21.30-03.00, €7.50

21-27 February 2008

GAY& LESBIAN Edited by Willem de Blaauw.

Thursday 21 February Party: Opening Night After months of speculations, the new gay/mixed Club Roque, housed in the former YouII, finally opens it doors. Before midnight it’s strictly by invitation only, after that we lesser souls are allowed in too. How considerate of them. Host is oldie Nickie Nicole, while DJs Fabian and Skez spin new tunes. Check out www.clubroque.nl for their upcoming programme. Club Roque, 23.59-04.00

Friday 22 February Party: Candy Milkshake Shake, baby shake. Butt-alucious R&B, Hip-Hop and Latin House beats by DJ Moradzo and Cover Girl Sunny Escape Delux, 23.0005.00, €10

Saturday 23 February Club: (Z)onderbroek Drop your pants and dance, drink, talk and cruise at this men-only afternoon underwear party. Strict dress code: shorts, jockstraps, Y-fronts. Music by DJ Benjamin (White Party). Club La, 16.00-20.00, €8 Music: Openminded Party Jasmine’s birthday bash, with live music, spoken word and DJs spinning sexy salsa. Cafe Sappho, 22.00-03.00 Sex club: Club Trash Regular men-only leather/fetish party, held in Thermos Day Sauna so you’ve got 5 ﬂoors to trash it out. Be aware though that it can become very hot, in both senses, so don’t dress up in full gear or you might pass out! Unless, of course, that‘s your thing. Thermos Day Sauna, 22.00-04.00, €20/25 Club: UNK Monthly party with funky electro beats by DJ Lupe and others, a mixed and slightly underground crowd and housed a great location. Club 8, 22.00-05.00, €8

Sunday 24 February Sex club: Sunny Gay Day Friendly afternoon men-only sex party, with lots of (social) interaction. Not your typical scene bunnies, which makes it a lot more fun. Dress code: underwear/ shorts. Note: doors close at 17.00. Same Place, 15.00-19.00, €7,50

Tuesday 26 February Sport: Nude Swimming Weekly nude-swimming hour, which is actually not gay but has been taken over by a herd of happy homos who don’t mind swimming without their AussieBum, Speedo or Calvin Klein—or with the occasional woman. Het Marnix, 21.00-22.00, €3,50

Niemandsland, see Ongoing

STAGE Opening Music/Theatre: Winterreise Normally a sparse sounding mix of desolation and beauty, De Helling are reworking this Schubert masterpiece with a theatrical edge. Ellen Corver sticks to piano, but Gerrie de Vries aims to breathe new life into the vocal performance with help from a video installation by Kees Hin. Muziekgebouw, (Fri 20.30), €20 Music/Theatre: The Pianist Actor Edwin de Vries and pianist Mikhail Rudy tackle this moving piece about Jewish-Polish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman, who was sent to the extermination facility at Treblinka during WWII, but still survived wartime. In 2002, Roman Polanski turned his tale into an Oscar winning film. In Dutch. Theater Bellevue, (Mon-Wed 20.30), €20 Theatre: De Kleine Patriot A theatrical portrait of Anton Mussert, one of the founders of the National Socialist Movement (NSB). It provides a peak into the life of an activist and politician who played such a crucial role to Dutch life around the time of World War II, before eventually being executed for treason. With Harm van Geel in the lead role. In Dutch. De Brakke Grond, (Tues, Wed 20.30), €12 Performance: Bambie 11 Physical mime theatre. This edition takes a look at criminology and murder in the ’20s and ’30s. Frascati, (Tues, Wed 21.00), €11 Theatre: Glanzen Yes, it’s time for David Copperfield and Claudia Schiffer to learn a lesson about capitalism in this magical performance. In Dutch. De Brakke Grond, (Thur, Fri 20.30), €12 Performance: Survival, or how to survive Murphy`s Law High quality object theatre forms the foundations for a mesmerising black comedy. Theater Bellevue, (Thur, Fri, Sun 12.30, Fri, Sat 22.00), €12 Comedy: Samba Schutte—Hakili Jambar Talented cabaret star who moved from Africa in 2001 to study theatre but found his real gift was laughter. Comedy Theater, (Thur-Sat 20.30), €14

Ongoing Theatre: Frankenstein! A comedic reworking of Mary Shelley’s classic novel, performed by d’Electrique and Hummelinck & Stuurman. In Dutch. Frascati, (Thur-Sat 20.30), €14 Theatre: Kanonnenvlees Opium Voor het Volk’s great new tale about art, creativity and happiness. Who’s been peaking into your mind? In Dutch. NDSM-werf, (Thur-Sat, Wed 20.30), €12 Theatre: Schemer Le Nu Perdu explore the region between dark and light, sleep and wakefulness, in a place where everything is still just possible. Their interactive multidisciplinary performances are limited to an audience of between six and nine people, but will be performed several times each day: weekdays from 17.00, Saturdays from 14.00 and Sundays from 15.00. Hetveem Theater, (Thur-Sun), €6 Performance: Mightysociety5 A multimedia project ﬁlled with songs, dance, video and unusual soundscapes, making this more of a youthful installation than traditional theatrical performance. In Dutch. De Brakke Grond, (Thur 19.30, 21.30, Fri 19.00, Sat 19.00, 21.30), €12 Dance: Niemandsland Edgy contemporary dance from Serbian choreographer Jelena Kostic. Melkweg Theater, (Thur 20.30), €7 Comedy: easyLaughs Comedy improv in English. CREA Muziekzaal, (Fri 20.30, 22.30), €8, €5 (late night) Comedy: Now&Lauw: Urban Improv Comedy Weekly ha-ha with Wilko Terwijn and Nabil Aoulad Ayad. In Dutch. Comedy Theater, (Fri 23.30), €10 + membership Music/Theatre: Giulio Cesare Händel’s 18th century telling of love and hate, mourning and triumph in a clash between Roman and Egyptian power and culture. Performed by De Nederlandse Opera. Stadsschouwburg, (Fri, Sat 19.00), €15-€105 Dance: Coppelia Het Nationale Ballet’s major new production this season. A contemporary reworking of the well-known 19th-century fairytale ballet about surface glamour, true love and the manipulation of life. For this production artistic director and choreographer Ted Brandsen collaborates with the librettist Janine Brogt, artist/author Sieb Posthuma and costume designer Francois-Noël Cherpin. Het Muziektheater, (Fri, Sat, Wed 20.15, Sat also 14.00), €22.50-€52.50 Comedy: Op Sterk Water Improv comedy group. Comedy Theater, (Wed 20.30), €10

Amsterdam Weekly

21-27 February 2008

Taryn Simon—An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar In her second of two shows at Foam, award-winning photographer Simon assumes the dual role of shrewd informant and collector of curiosities, compiling an inventory of what lies hidden and out-of-view within the borders of the US. Foam (Sat-Wed 10.00-18.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 6 April

ART More listings at www.amsterdamweekly.nl.

De Koers van de Stad Helping to visualise the growth and future transitions planned for Amsterdam and the surrounding region. ARCAM (Tues-Sat 13.0017.00), until 12 April

Opening A Time and a Place Ten international artists present work using Japanese techniques. Amsterdams Graﬁsch Atelier (Mon-Fri 09.00-17.00), opens Thursday

Show Yourself Diverse excerpts of work by and about Benno Premsela. Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Tues-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), until 27 April

Sonic Acts XII Presenting works that create various forms of the cinematic experience, ranging from music to visual art, installations and media arts. Featured artists include: Julien Maire, Ulf Langheinrich, Boris Debackere, Leerraum and Kurt Hentschläger. For more on Sonic Acts, see Short List. Montevideo/Time Based Arts (Tues-Sat 13.00-18.00), opens Thursday, until 22 March

Benno Premsela—Voorvechter van HomoEmancipatie Books, magazines and photos highlighting the history of acclaimed designer and gay rights activist Premsela. Centrale Bibliotheek (Daily), until 27 April Art Nouveau The best of French and Russian art nouveau. Hermitage Amsterdam (Daily 10.00-17.00), until 5 May

Tobias Rehberger: the chicken-and-egg-no-problem wall-painting The first major Dutch retrospective of works by German artist Tobias Rehberger, who in the mid-’90s gained an international reputation for objects and installations at the interface of fine art, design and architecture. Here he is devising a special installation involving sculptures and light that produce a mural. Stedelijk Museum CS (Daily 10.00-18.00), opens Friday, until 25 May Christine Philipp Paintings that are part figurative, part abstract. Borzo (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00), opens Saturday, until 22 March James Aldridge: Halo of Flies Paintings and paper cut-outs by the UK artist. Galerie Gabriel Rolt (Wed-Sat 12.00-18.00), opens Saturday, until 29 March Jozef van Ruyssevelt: In de Ban van het Licht Paintings by the late Flemish virtuoso artist. Galerie de Rietlanden Exposities (Sat, Sun 13.00-17.00), opens Saturday, until 4 May Laurens Hensbergen & Goran Turnsek Political and social issues are brought to the fore in the paintings of Hensbergen. Slovenian artist Turnsek takes inspiration from sport. AYAC’S (Fri, Sat 13.00-17.30), opens Saturday, until 22 March Levi van Veluw & Laetitia Gendre Photography/ film and installation/drawings. Ronmandos (Wed-Sat 12.30-18.00), opens Saturday, until 29 March Maria Sibylla Merian & Daughters—Women of Art and Science The most important and influential natural history artist working in the Netherlands in the 17th century, this exhibition features more than a hundred rarely displayed masterpieces, including original drawings, watercolours, gouaches, prints and books. Also included are works by her daughters. Rembrandthuis (Mon-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), opens Saturday, until 18 May The Living Museum of Maria Sibylla Merian Tied in with the Merian exhibition at Rembrandthuis, this is all about the live side of her work, showing the real plants and creatures she documented on paper. Hortus Botanicus (Mon-Fri 09.00-17.00, Sat, Sun 10.00-17.00), opens Saturday, until 18 May To Burn Oneself with Oneself: The Romantic Damage Show Romanticism is back with a vengeance. Romantic themes exert an almost universal attraction, which is why they resurface at regular intervals. But what’s really going on? Diverse works by Harmen Brethouwer, Günther Förg (DE), Rodney Graham (CAN), Joan Jonas (US), Michael

MAGNUM Photos 60 years Since 1947, the MAGNUM agency has been providing images of landmark world events. This collection uses photographs, books and texts to illustrate the history of MAGNUM year by year, giving visitors the opportunity to view work by 83 photographers, such as Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Carl de Keyzer. Stedelijk Museum CS (Daily 10.00-18.00), until 12 May Sewing Memories, see Opening

Landy (GB), Renzo Martens and others. De Appel (Tues-Sun 11.00-18.00), opens Saturday, until 6 April Automatische Piloot A ﬁve-day project where artist Aura de Klyn will transform a new lift into a work of art each day—be they in commercial buildings or residential. See www.deklyn.nl for locations. Various locations (Daily), opens Monday, closing Friday Anne van Dijk: Sewing Memories Recycling and reusing old materials for new creations. Galerie Knap (Tues-Sun 12.00-18.00), opens Friday

Museums Jacqueline Hassink: The Power Show A retrospective from this New York-based Dutch photographer in which power is the predominant theme. Huis Marseille (Tues-Sun 11.00-18.00), closing Sunday Document Nederland: Fans The tenth annual Document Nederland photography exhibition. The title of this year’s exhibition is Fans, and looks at the enthusiasm for a range of subjects, not only for famous singing stars, but also for Ajax, the Royal family, TV show Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden and saucy gothic culture. With photos by Raimond Wouda. Huis Marseille (Tues-Sun 11.00-18.00), closing Sunday Aap, vis, boek. Linnaeus in Amsterdam Celebrating the 300th birthday of the renowned botanist in style, by displaying extremely rare books and other treasures of the period Linnaeus spent in Amsterdam. UvA: Special Collections Library (Mon-Fri 10.00-17.00, Sat, Sun 13.00-17.00), closing Monday Giotto in Amsterdam Giotto’s cycle of frescoes in the Arena chapel in Padua reproduced in a scale model. Bijbels Museum (Mon-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), until 2 March

Traces of War—Survivors of the Burma and Sumatra Railways Portrait photos of 24 men who worked as forced labourers on railways near the Burmese-Thai border and in Sumatra during WWII. Verzetsmuseum (Tues-Fri 10.00-17.00, Sat-Mon 12.00-17.00), until 3 March Get Rid of the BlaBla Richard Jansen and Ties Jan de Blij invite the public to separate the real from the virtual. Centrale Bibliotheek (Daily), until 3 March Weegee An exhibition of work by the legendary photographer Weegee, regarded as the prototypical modern photojournalist and one of the most important photographers of the 20th century. Foam (Sat-Wed 10.00-18.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 5 March Designing Leisure Landscapes Student designs for leisure themes in Amsterdam. Maybe the Red Light District will stay red after all. Zuiderkerk (Mon 11.00-16.00, Tues-Fri 09.00-16.00, Sat 12.00-16.00), until 14 March Karel Du Jardin Italian landscapes and aristocratic portraits by the 17th-century painter. Rijksmuseum (Daily 09.00-18.00), until 16 March Gastarbeider Dating A project about identity, feeling at home, being foreign and meeting each other. And the start of a new dating site for the Netherlands. Immigrant Dating features 10 artists from seven different countries who’ll each stay for one week and bring in their friends to help explore their national and personal cultures. Mediamatic (Wed-Sun 16.00-20.00), until 16 March Josine van Dalsum Paintings and drawings by the Breda artist. Jan van der Togt Museum (Thur-Sun 13.00-17.00), Amstelveen, until 16 March Katsutoshi Yuasa Monumental woodcuts based on the Japanese artist’s own photographs. CoBrA Museum (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), until 30 March

John Everett Millais He was the foremost painter of the English Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and Britain’s most successful artist of the latter half of the 19th century. His jewel-like, highly detailed paintings exude a dreamy, serene atmosphere, and this exhibition comprises some 100 works, covering all aspects of Millais’ career. Van Gogh Museum (Mon-Thur, Sat, Sun 10.00-18.00, Fri 10.00-22.00), until 18 May Eyes Wide Open The Stedelijk Museum presents a selection of recently acquired paintings, photographs, examples of ﬁlm and video art, sculptures and graphic works by artists working in the Netherlands or elsewhere. Stedelijk Museum CS (Daily 10.00-18.00), until 1 June Karel Appel—Jazz 1958-1962 One of the nation’s most famous post-war artists, this collection comprises some 23 large-scale works—20 paintings from the early ’60s and the rest from a series of canvases made at Groeneveld Castle in 1961, during the shooting of the Jan Vrijman documentary De werkelijkheid van Karel Appel. CoBrA Museum (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), until 1 June Lucian Freud The first ever Dutch retrospective of this extraordinary and unconventional German artist. Gemeentemuseum (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), Den Haag, until 8 June

Galleries Beacons Vivid oil paintings by American artist Justin McAllister. Torch Gallery (Thur-Sat 14.00-18.00), closing Saturday Marco Gasparri: Simpelweg Mooi Realist oil paintings. Galerie Ei (Sat 12.00-17.00), closing Saturday Country Invasion Jan Stammes presents a photographic journey from the countryside of Friesland to the heart of Amsterdam. De Drie Uiltjes (Sat, Sun 12.00-17.00), closing Saturday

Amsterdam Weekly

16 The Art of Fashion Including works by Alexander Fielden, Mathilde Cabral, Berber Soepboer and street artist Snar. ArtOlive (Mon-Fri 11.00-17.00, Sun 12.0017.00), closing Sunday Frank Ammerlaan & Michael Agacki The awardwinning Dutch and Polish painters team up for the ﬁrst time in this duo show. Horse Move Project Space (Fri-Sun 14.00-20.00), closing Sunday Ramallah Underground Part of the Palestine: the Art of Survival series, musical group Ramallah Underground culled various Palestinian artists whose work attempts personal expression while living in a violent, occupied land. ABC Treehouse (Thur-Sun 13.0018.00), closing Sunday Palestine: The History of Art Showing works from Palestinian artists such as Mahmoud Darwish, Michel Khleifi and Mona Hatoum. De Levante (Wed-Sun 13.00-17.30), closing Sunday Nieuw in De Bijlmer Brigette Mulders spent the last year in De Bijlmer proﬁling newcomers. CBK Zuidoost Tues, Wed, Fri 11.00-17.00; Thur 11.00-21.00, Sat 10.00-17.00, until 28 February Sitting Duck A group show about nomadism. OT301 (Fri-Sun 15.00-19.00), until 29 February voiceoverhead An audio project by Achim Lengerer and Dani Gal which is rooted in a record collection of approximately 350 records, including footage documenting political speeches and language oriented radio programmes. SMART Project Space (Tues-Sat 12.00-17.00), until 1 March Ghetto Fabulous New images from artist Marcel van den Berg. Studio K, until 1 March Discriminatie gestript Fifteen Dutch and Flemish comic strip artists display works around the theme of discrimination. Galerie Lambiek (Mon-Fri 11.00-18.00, Sat 11.00-17.00, Sun 13.00-17.00), until 1 March Mello Six fait le mur Comic drawing improv inspired by visitors and the passing public of De Baarsjes. De Stoker (Fri, Sat 11.00-17.00), until 1 March

EVENTS Discussion: Creative Industries in Finland—An Example for the Netherlands? Finland is frequently praised as the classic example of a social knowledgebased economy. According to an EU study from 2002, Finland, together with Sweden and Denmark, is actually one of the leading European countries in this area. How has this come about? Which policies do the Finnish government employ for the creative industry; speciﬁcally in the area of design and pop music? And how does Dutch policy relate to this approach? Finnish and Dutch creative insiders attempt to get to the bottom of the matter. In English. Felix Meritis, (Thur 14.30), free Art/Film: Afghanistan & Documentaire Featuring a screening of the Danish documentary Smiling in a Warzone. Nieuwe Kerk, (Thur 20.00), museum entry cost Festival: StuKaFest 2008 AKA, the Student Kamer Festival, this really is a case of diverse cultural performances exploding from student rooms across town. All kinds of intimate programmes are available, be it music, comedy, theatre or dance, and there’s some decent names involved too. But to find out what’s happening where, your best option is to visit www.stukafest.nl. A party follows in Bitterzoet, featuring the klezmer and Balkan beats of Caspian Hat Dance. See Short List. Various locations, (Thur 20.30-late), €3.50 per performance; €9 three performance pass Literature: Literature Night Young and established authors talk about and read from their work. Contributors in this ﬁrst edition include Hassan Bahara, Najiba Abdellaoui, Kimon Moerbeek and Tarik Fadili. In Dutch. Pakhuis de Zwijger, (Fri 18.00), free

Echtenstein in Momentum Presenting diverse multidisciplinary works from six artists of the Zuidoost artistic breeding place Echtenstein. Imagine IC (Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat 11.00-17.00, Thur 11.00-21.00), until 1 March Mr Deeds goes to town Drawing its title from the 1936 Frank Capra film of the same name, a group exhibition around the concept of doodling in various mediums. W139 (Sun-Thur 11.00-20.00, Fri, Sat 11.00-22.00), until 2 March My Name is Z Mechanised sculptures and installations serving as self-portraits by the young Korean artist Wang Zi Won. Yoshiko Matsumoto Gallery (Tues-Fri 13.30 -18.30, Sat 12.00 - 18.00), until 8 March Sweet Colors Oil paintings by Wil Jansen and monochromes by Sybille Pattscheck. Galerie Roger Katwijk (Wed-Sat 12.00-18.00), until 15 March Dwanggedachten A diverse melange of drawings from Helen Frik, Pietsjanke Fokkema, Jantien Jongsma, Stefan Kasper, Bas Louter, Rinke Nijburg and Emo Verkerk. Arti et Amicitiae (Tues-Sun 13.0018.00), until 16 March Serial Photography Three contemporary artists show recent work: Peter Cleutjens, Hans Eijkelboom and Katrin Korfmann. All three have a serial documentary approach to photography in the public space. 2x2projects (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 20 March Between the Light and the Dark Multidisciplinary exhibits from Chinese artists Wang Jianwei, Ni Haifeng and Tiong Ang dealing with the theme ‘Chineseness’. Canvas International Art (Thur-Sat 14.00-18.00), Amstelveen, until 22 March Michael Kirkham: Hotel Grande Abyss Lust, sex, pornography and lack of control are all prevalent themes in the paintings of this British artist. Aschenbach & Hoﬂand Galleries (Wed-Sat 12.00-17.00), until 22 March David Powell A solo installation featuring wee paintings the Irishman made between 2004 and 2007. Van Zijll Langhout (Mon-Fri 11.00-17.00), until 30 March It Ain’t Necessarily So A synthesis of Rogi Wieg’s poetry and Elizabeth Kleinveld’s photography, which together tell the story of the transformative effect of having to rebuild anew in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Dikker&Thijs Fenice Hotel (Mon-Sat 17.00-23.00), until 20 April The Day I Got Lost French artist Mijn Schatje, AKA Marie Blanco Hendrickx, creates bizarre and beautiful landscapes labeled as digital pop surrealism. But you might just call them dreamy and delicious. KochxBos Gallery (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 26 March

The Big Lebowski Night Party: The Big Lebowski Night Celebrating the classic Coen Brothers comedy The Big Lebowski with a ﬁlm screening, dancing to the soundtrack, downing cocktails, and even working your bowling arm with a Nintendo Wii in the house. See Short List. De Nieuwe Anita, (Fri 19.00), €5 Party: CultuurVerdieping Sharing the wealth of European, Asian and African culture with a long, long day of workshops, live music, dance, open mic, films, poetry, art exhibitions and more. Expect a bazaar for some Saturday shopping opportunities, as well as plenty of daytime infotainment for the kids who get in for free. Voormalig Volkskrantgebouw, (Sat 13.00-03.00), €10 Party: Thorrablot Icelandic Viking celebration. Turn your nose up to winter starvation with lots of lamb, drinks and Icelandic specialities. Musical guests include Ragga Gíssla and Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson (Sugarcubes, Sigur Rós). Dresscode: fake fur and Viking style. Pacific Parc, (Sat 18.00-late), €65 incl dinner, €12 after 23.00 Party: Carnaval in Mokummerdonk It’s a bit late, but Carnaval is finally arriving in Amsterdam. An afterparty, if you will. Costume is mandatory. Those wishing to enjoy the meal at the start of the evening should reserve a place. Buurthuis Edel, (Sat 19.30-04.00), €10/€20 Poetry: Nina Targan Mouravi Reciting Russian poetry, while Vincent Klos sings songs by Moscow bard Bulat Okudzhava. De Burcht van Berlage, (Sun 14.00), €10 Film: Future Shorts The cutting-edge of the short films scene, hosted by MeccaPANZA Netherlands. See Short List. OT301, (Sun 17.00, 20.00), €5 Discussion: Women Inc Weekly talk show highlighting speciﬁc female issues. This edition asks if it’s possible to be both a lesbian and religious. In Dutch. Pakhuis de Zwijger, (Mon 20.00), free Talk: Talk of the Town The role of the creative industry in city development. This edition looks at the case of De Zuidas. In Dutch. Pakhuis de Zwijger, (Tues 18.00), free Event: What’s Up? Monthly arena for Amsterdam creatives to present their new work and ideas. Pakhuis de Zwijger, (Wed 20.30), free

ADDRESSES 11 Oosterdokskade 3-5, 625 5999 2x2projects Veemkade 350, 489 7471 ABC Treehouse Voetboogstraat 11, 423 0967 Allard Pierson Museum Oude Turfmarkt 127, 525 2556 Amsterdams Graﬁsch Atelier Laurierstraat 109, 625 2186 De Appel Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 10, 625 5651 ARCAM Prins Hendrikkade 600, 620 4878 Arti et Amicitiae Rokin 112, 624 5134 ArtOlive Polonceaukade 17, 675 8504 Aschenbach & Hoﬂand Galleries Bilderdijkstraat 165C, 412 1772 AYAC'S Keizersgracht 166, 638 5240 Badcuyp 1e Sweelinckstraat 10, 675 9669 De Balie Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, 553 5151 Bethaniënklooster Barndesteeg 6, 625 0078 Bijbels Museum Herengracht 366-368, 624 2436 Bimhuis Piet Heinkade 3, 788 2150 Bitterzoet Spuistraat 2, 521 3001 Borzo Keizersgracht 516, 626 3303 De Brakke Grond Nes 45, 626 6866 De Burcht van Berlage Henri Polaklaan 9, 624 1166 Buurthuis Edel Postjesweg 1, 799 5000 Cafe Pakhuis Wilhelmina Veemkade 576, 419 3368 Cafe Sappho Vijzelstraat 103, 423 1509 De Cameleon 3e Kostverlorenkade 35, 489 4656 Canvas International Art Fokkerlaan 46, Amstelveen, 428 6040 CBK Zuidoost Bijlmerdreef 119, 691 1322 Centraal Museum Nicolaaskerkhof, Utrecht, 030 236 2362 Centrale Bibliotheek Oosterdokskade 143, 523 0900 Club 8 Admiraal de Ruyterweg 56B, 685 1703 Club La Kerkstraat 50-52 Club Roque Amstel 178 CoBrA Museum Sandbergplein 1-3, Amstelveen, 547 5050 Comedy Theater Nes 110 Concertgebouw Concertgebouwplein 2-6, 671 8345 Consortium Veemkade 570, 06 2611 8950 CREA Muziekzaal Turfdraagsterpad 17, 525 1400 CREA Theater Turfdraagsterpad 17, 525 1400 Desmet Studios Plantage Middenlaan 4A, 521 7100 Dikker&Thijs Fenice Hotel Prinsengracht 444, 778 1947 De Drie Uiltjes Bloemstraat 152 English Reformed Church Begijnhof 48, 624 9665 Escape Rembrandtplein 11, 622 1111 Escape Delux Amstel 70, 030 231 1577 Felix Meritis Keizersgracht 324, 626 2321 Flex Bar Pazzanistraat 1, 486 2123 Foam Keizersgracht 609, 551 6546 Frascati Nes 63, 626 6866 Galerie de Rietlanden Exposities Rietlandpark 193, 419 4705 Galerie Ei Admiraal de Ruijterweg 154, 616 3961 Galerie Gabriel Rolt Elandsgracht 34, 785 5146 Galerie Juliette Jongma Gerard Douplein 23, 463 6904 Galerie Knap Huidenstraat 21 Galerie Lambiek Kerkstraat 132, 626 7543 Galerie Roger Katwijk Lange Leidsedwarsstraat 198-200, 627 3808 Galerie Smits Fokke Simonszstraat 29, 06 43001833 Gemeentemuseum Stadhouderslaan 41, Den Haag, 070 338 1111 Heineken Music Hall ArenA Boulevard 590, 0900 300 1250 Hermitage Amsterdam Nieuwe Herengracht 14, 530 8751 Hetveem Theater Van Diemenstraat, 626 9291 Horse Move Project Space Oosterdokskade 5 Post CS Hortus Botanicus Plantage Middenlaan 2A, 625 9021

21-27 February 2008 Hotel Arena ’s-Gravesandestraat 51, 850 2400 Huis Marseille Keizersgracht 401, 531 8989 Imagine IC Bijlmerplein 1006-1008, 489 4866 Jan van der Togt Museum Dorpsstraat 50, Amstelveen, 641 5754 KIT Tropentheater Mauritskade 63, 568 8711 KochxBos Gallery 1e Anjeliersdwarsstraat 3-5, 681 4567 De Kring Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 7-9, 623 6985 Kunsthal Museumpark, Westzeedijk 341, Rotterdam, 010 440 0301 De Levante Hobbemastraat 28, 671 5485 Maloe Melo Lijnbaansgracht 163, 420 4592 The Mansion Hobbemastraat 2, 616 6664 Het Marnix Marnixplein 1, 5246000 Mediamatic Post CS, Oosterdokskade 5, 638 9901 Melkweg Lijnbaansgracht 234A, 531 8181 Melkweg Galerie Marnixstraat 409, 531 8181 Melkweg Lijnbaansgracht 234a, 531 8181 Montevideo/Time Based Arts Keizersgracht 264, 623 7101 Muziekgebouw Piet Heinkade 1, 788 2010 Het Muziektheater Amstel 3, 625 5455 NDSM-werf TT Neveritaweg 15, 330 5480 De Nieuwe Anita Frederik Hendrikstraat 111, 06 4150 3512 Nieuwe Kerk entrance on the Dam, 638 6909 OCCII Amstelveenseweg 134, 671 7778 Odeon Singel 460, 624 9711 OT301 Overtoom 301, 779 4913 Paciﬁc Parc Polonceaukade 23, 488 7778 Pakhuis de Zwijger Piet Heinkade 179-181, 788 4444 Paradiso Weteringschans 6-8, 626 4521 Patronaat Zijlsingel 2, Haarlem, 023 517 5858 Podium Mozaïek Bos en Lommerweg 191, 580 0380 The Powerzone Spaklerweg, 681 8866 PRIK Spuistraat 109, 06 4544 2321 Rembrandthuis Jodenbreestraat 4, 520 0400 Rijksmuseum Jan Luykenstraat 1, 674 7000 Ronmandos Prinsengracht 282, 320 7036 Ruigoord Ruigoord 15, 497 5702 Same Place Nassaukade 120, 475 1981 SMART Project Space Arie Biemondstraat 107-113, 427 5953 Stadsarchief Amsterdam Vijzelstraat 32 Stadsschouwburg Leidseplein 26, 624 2311 Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam Rozenstraat 59, 422 0471 Stedelijk Museum CS Oosterdokskade 5, 573 2911 De Stoker Witte de Withstraat 124, 612 3293 Studio K Timorplein 62, 692 0422 Sugar Factory Lijnbaansgracht 238, 627 0008 Theater Bellevue Leidsekade 90, 530 5301 Thermos Day Sauna Raamstraat 33, 623 9158 Torch Gallery Lauriergracht 94, 626 0284 Tropenmuseum Linnaeusstraat 2, 568 8200 Under the Grand Chapiteau Next to ArenA, 621 1288 UvA: Special Collections Library Oude Turfmarkt 129, 525 2141 Van Gogh Museum Paulus Potterstraat 7, 570 5200 Van Zijll Langhout Brouwersgracht 161, 06 2825 9620 Ververs Gallery Hazenstraat 54 Verzetsmuseum Plantage Kerklaan 61, 620 2535 Volta Houtmankade 334-336, 628 6429 Vondelkerk Vondelstraat 120 Voormalig Volkskrantgebouw Wibautstraat 150 W139 Warmoesstraat 139, 622 9434 Werkgebouw Het Veem Van Diemenstraat 410 Winston Kingdom Warmoesstraat 129, 623 1380 Yoshiko Matsumoto Gallery Weteringschans 37, 06 1437 0995 Zuiderkerk Zuiderkerkhof 72, 552 7987

21-27 February 2008

Amsterdam Weekly

Pierogi polonaise Polish Supermarket and Deli Van Woustraat 180D, 707 1703 Open Mon-Sat 11.00-20.00 Cash, PIN I spotted the red and white Polish flag on Van Woustraat after I had consumed a luscious chicken donor at Lehmans. I stopped, pole-axed in my tracks. What's this? I immediately flashbacked to a Johannesburg deli with its trays of salted Baltic herrings, barrels of sour and salty pickled cucumbers, hanging rows of garlic reeking salamis, spreads of smoked and pickled meat and, that deli's specialty, smoked boneless chicken. And there was my late grandmother, large as a battleship, clad in polka dots and pearls, pointing myopically at the goodies, regally placing her weekend order in Russian-accented Yiddish. My kosher Granny enjoyed her meat. (And in secret, also enjoyed the forbidden meat.) And here I stood a half century later again so very eager for non-kosher fare—Polish pork products, to be exact. So I entered the rural-styled interior and the flashback came to life, complete with shelving loaded with pickled vegetables. The owner Marek smiled a warm welcome as I stood transfixed with joy at the sight of all the different smoked sausages and hams in the vitrine. There were numbered signs explaining what they were and where they came from. But where to begin?! Marek noted my obsessive interest and kindly began to cut off bits and pieces for me to taste. 'All our products come from old fashioned traditional recipes,' he said. 'Poland is a country

THE UNDERCOVER GLUTTON As a very special nightcap, I boiled the big bratwurst sausages in beer before grilling. Very garlicky. Very yummy. Very fulfilling. of mountains, lakes and forests. Many different cultural influences make our kitchen rich and varied. For instance, these hams are smoked over juniper branches. They come from a small

province that is the size of Holland.' It was nothing short of sausage heaven with 12 to choose from, both smoked and oven cooked, and the prices vary from €4.70 per kilo for the

cheapest (and most popular) ones for boiling or the BBQ, to the €15 per kilo for the gourmet types. Back home with my prizes, I prepared the delicate and subtly flavoured cocktail pork and poultry sausages by poaching them in stock. My guests and I were quick to polish—or rather, Polish–these off. Later that evening, I loaded smoked and spiced frankfurters onto a bun with sauerkraut and grainy French mustard. Perfect for TV viewing. With yellow smeared above my upper lip, I gloated over Feynoord's three-one defeat to Ajax. As a very special nightcap, I boiled the big bratwurst sausages in beer before grilling. Very garlicky. Very yummy. Very fulfilling. Meanwhile, back at the store Marek had introduced me to the mighty pierogi. These little dumplings are filled with a myriad of different stuffings (such as pureed sauerkraut and forest mushrooms, minced meat, cheese or onion and potato) before being poached in salted water and then fried in butter. While these are best served with sour cream, dill and mushroom sauce, there are other dessert versions with sweetened cream cheese and raisins. Many customers from Poland, Russia and the Ukraine entered the store to buy bottled and tinned goods. It was getting gezellig. Especially after I started popping little vodka-filled chocolates into my mouth. Very addictive. My cheeks warmed as I suppressed the urge to burst into song. Marek's supermarket also acts an information swapping centre for new arrivals seeking work and accommodation, and for Dutch companies trawling for cheap skilled labour. But the focus remains on the food. And as it should. With 14,000 Poles in Amsterdam, Marek should do quite well here. After all, everyone abroad from grandmother's kitchen needs a home away from home. Dowidzenia!

Amsterdam Weekly

21-27 February 2008 The only cafe in town.

Recipe for an art-house hit? Genuine, non-manufactured emotion. And this tale of a group of wayward musicians has it.

LET’S GET LOST IN THE MIDDLE EAST FILM The Band’s Visit Opens Thursday at Kriterion and Rialto. By Massimo Benvegnu

Every now and then a small ﬁlm, usually coming from a small country, takes everyone by surprise with its wit and charm and becomes a film season darling. It’s

not just our love for underdog stories that makes these art-house gems a joy for audience and critics alike. It’s mostly because, despite the endless amount of entertainment on offer at the multiplex, sometimes you can’t help noticing a lack of truly human emotion. So something, anything really, that lets us walk away from a cinema with a good old-fashioned feeling is inevitably going to be embraced

and cherished by the global ﬁlm community. This year’s best example of ‘the little ﬁlm that could’ comes from Israel. In The Band’s Visit, the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Band, a small musical combo specialising in traditional Arab repertoire, flies from Egypt to Israel to play at the opening of a cultural centre. When their guide fails to meet them at the airport, they decide to get a bus to the scheduled concert location themselves, but wind up in the wrong city instead. To their rescue comes beautiful Dina (Israeli superstar Ronit Elkabetz), the owner of the only cafe in town. Seeing the band’s arrival both as a business opportunity and a chance to relieve the local boredom, Dina offers to arrange hospitality. Two of the band members will be lodged with her, the band conductor Tawfiq (Sasson Gabai), an aging Egyptian gentleman of old-fashioned manners, and

the band’s lothario and rebel trumpet player, Khaled (Saleh Bakri). Much to everyone’s surprise, Dina’s choice for a dinner date that evening is the older man, Tawﬁq, who couldn’t contrast more sharply with exuberant Dina, especially when he opens his heart to her to reveal some dark personal tales. In the meantime, Khaled keeps busy by taking his more socially inept bandmate Papi (Shlomi Avraham) to the neighbourhood roller rink—the town doesn’t have a disco—for a crash course in how to seduce women. But the night will go on with more unexpected turns, some touching, some hilarious, and also featuring the other remaining band members and their sleepless night encounters with the local folks. Directed with a firm hand by Eran Kolirin, who also wrote the original screenplay and whose previous credits as director include only TV work, The Band’s Visit gently lets you inside its unique sense of humour. Each actor is perfectly cast, and Elkabetz’s star turn doesn’t upset the balance of the ensemble. There’s no broad laughter here, but lots of charming little moments, sad and funny. Anyone who wants to look for a political metaphor about the strained relationship between Egypt and Israel is free to do so. But The Band’s Visit is also perfectly able to stand on its own terms as a gentle, picaresque culture clash comedy. And, of course, the soundtrack is filled with great music. The moment when the band is finally allowed to play its repertoire is the cherry on top of an appealing cinematic dessert.

Five-Word Movie Review

FILM Edited by Julie Phillips.This week’s ﬁlms reviewed by Massimo Benvegnù (MB),Shyama Daryanani (SD), Angela Dress (AD),Sarah Gehrke,Sven Gerrets,Laura Groeneveld (LG),Andrea Gronvall (AG),Luuk van Huët (LvH),JR Jones (JJ),Joshua Katzman (JK), Dave Kehr (DK),Marie-Claire Melzer (MM),Mike Peek (MP),Julie Phillips (JP),Bart Plantenga (BP), Gusta Reijnders (GR),Jonathan Rosenbaum (JR), Ronald Rovers (RR),Marinus de Ruiter (MdR) and Bregtje Schudel (BS).All ﬁlms are screened in English with Dutch subtitles unless otherwise noted. Amsterdam Weekly recommends.

Festival Sonic Acts:The Cinematic Experience This year’s Sonic Acts conference is devoted to ‘the medium of cinema as a means for creating awareness of our own physical constitution’. Speakers from the fields of film, art, music, science, literature and art history are scheduled to appear; films represented in the four-day programme include works by Ken Jacobs, Rose Lowder, Mika Taanila, Peter Tscherkassky, Stan Brakhage, Jose Antonio Sistiaga, Tony Conrad, Gerard Holthuis, Pierre Hebert and Stephen Vitiello. Ken Jacobs will also perform live. For more on Sonic Acts see article, p. 11. De Balie

New this week The Band’s Visit The obscure feel-good ﬁlm of the year. See review above. Kriterion, Rialto

Faces Documentary on the French street artist JR. See Short List. Het Ketelhuis, Kriterion Jodhaa Akbar In this romantic story set in the 16th century, Mughal Muslim emperor Akbar (Hrithik Roshan)

VEINY CAN OF WHUPASS John Rambo Pathé Arena, Pathé De Munt

Love in the Time of Cholera marries Hindu princess Jodhaa (Aishwarya Rai) to form a political alliance. Then Akbar falls in love with Jodhaa and discovers that, though he knows how to win wars, winning the heart of his wife will need a completely different strategy. The movie is beautiful to watch, with elaborate sets and colourful costumes: director Ashutosh Gowariker has pulled out all the stops to transport the viewer into the time of the Mughal Empire. And the music is composed by the talented A R Rahman. But the love story just isn’t convincing or substantial enough to carry you along through three hours of battles and politics. (SD) 193 min. Pathé ArenA John Rambo The never-ending ’80s flashback has even managed to resurrect the on-screen career of Rambo, that quintessential Cold Warrior, in a flick that takes all its cues from the action films of that era and adds a big bloody helping of digital carnage. This time, Rambo is called into action after a group of American aid workers go missing in Burma. As long as you don’t think too hard about the moral quandaries around Sylvester Stallone’s view of violence as a necessary evil, you’ll enjoy this old-school can of whup-ass. (LvH) 91 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Love in the Time of Cholera This romantic drama by director Mike Newell preserves the odd playfulness of Gabriel García Márquez’s international best seller but sacrifices its eroticism and intricate nonlinear plotting.

Javier Bardem is miscast as a timid Colombian clerk and would-be poet whose first love, a fickle, headstrong beauty (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), spurns him for an aristocratic doctor (Benjamin Bratt, excellent). The clerk becomes a wealthy shipping magnate and pines for her over more than 50 years, consoling himself with hundreds of affairs. Stripped of psychological insight, most of these sexual encounters are reduced to bump-andgrind scenes that soon grow tiresome. But John Leguizamo and Catalina Sandino Moreno stand out in supporting roles, and production designer Wolf Kroeger magnificently re-creates turn-of-the-century Cartagena. (AG) 138 min. The Movies, Pathé Tuschinski

Still playing 2 Days in Paris New York sweethearts Marion (Julie Delpy) and Jack (Adam Goldberg) are on holiday in Europe, and by the time they reach Paris to visit Marion’s parents, the culture clash is overwhelming. Every man in the city seems to have had an affair with Marion, and her family’s sense of humour is driving Jack crazy. 2 Days in Paris is the exact opposite of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, the bittersweet ﬁlms that brought Delpy modest fame. She wrote and directed this movie herself, showing the other side of love and relationships: the side that hurts, annoys and drives people

apart even if they seem destined for each other. Laughout-loud funny and, in a surprisingly tender ﬁnale, very touching as well. (MP) 96 min. De Uitkijk

Auf der anderen Seite Two coffins pass through the Istanbul airport; for the people left behind, life takes unexpected turns. Fatih Akin’s new film tells the story of six people in Germany and Turkey whose lives are connected by two deaths: the widower Ali and his son Nejat; a woman named Yeter, her daughter Ayten, who meets a girl called Lotte; and Lotte’s mother (Hanna Schygulla). After a sad film about love, Gegen die Wand, Akin has made an optimistic film about mortality, families and forgiveness. The film seems heavily edited—it’s clear the director had a lot more material—but the episodic character of the film saves it from appearing pieced-together. Akin’s screenplay won top honours at Cannes. In German with Dutch subtitles. (Sarah Gehrke) 122 min. Rialto Bloedbroeders In 1961, the body of a 14-year-old

boy was found behind a mansion in Baarn and three of his friends were charged with murder. According to Arno Dierickx’ fictionalised account of the crime, the victim, Ronnie (Sander van Amsterdam, a terrifying and energetic presence in the film), first befriends and then blackmails the perps. These are two spoiled, rich brothers (Mathijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen and Derk Stenvers) and their smart, shy friend (Erik van Heijningen), who desperately wants to belong to the club. An excellent character study that allows you to keep hop-

Amsterdam Weekly

21-27 February 2008 ing that what you’re seeing is just child’s play, even though you know the outcome from the ﬁrst scene. (MP) 95 min. Het Ketelhuis

Caramel Layale’s beauty salon in Beirut is a shabby

affair: the water regularly gets shut off, the power goes out, and hot caramel is used as a primitive form of waxing. Meanwhile, ﬁve women connected to the shop struggle with various social pressures surrounding their love affairs. Extramarital affairs, lesbian relationships, dominant mothers, sex before marriage and sex after menopause are difﬁcult barriers to overcome in a religious hot zone like Beirut. Director Nadine Labaki, who also plays Layale, portrays her love/hate affair with the war-struck city in a highly entertaining way, with lots of meaning hidden under the cosmetic surface. In Arabic/French with Dutch subtitles. (MdR) 95 min. Rialto

entertainment. Not as good as The Host, but at least it’s no Godzilla. (LvH) 90 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt

Gone Baby Gone Adapted from a novel by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), this powerful mystery centres on the disappearance of a four-year-old girl whose life has already been sadly defined by her vile single mother and grim working-class Boston neighbourhood. The girl’s aunt hires a pair of private detectives (Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan) to assist the police, and as they get closer to the truth, even the child’s rescue begins to seem like a tragic fate. Ben Affleck directed; his biggest gamble was casting his irksome little brother as a pistolwhipping tough guy, but the picture is so superbly executed in every other respect that Casey seems more quirky than miscast. With Amy Ryan, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman. (JJ) 104 min. Kriterion, Pathé De Munt Heimatklänge

Caramel Charlie Wilson’s War Mike Nichols works his mojo on the supposedly true story of a swaggering Democratic Texan congressman (Tom Hanks), a born-again, boozing socialite (Julia Roberts) and a tough-as-nails spy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who supported the mujahedeen uprising against the mighty Russian army. This culminated in the Communist defeat, the end of the Cold War and, eventually, the rise of Al Qaida. The tone is just a bit breezier than it might have been in our historical hindsight, but Hanks and Roberts break out of their cookie-cutter stereotypes and deliver great portrayals, even managing to keep up with another boisterous performance by Hoffman. (LvH) 96 min. Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski Cloverﬁeld Expectations were monumental after an unprecedented viral campaign that made fanboys froth at the mouth. Luckily, golden child du jour JJ Abrams, who produced this, doesn’t disappoint… too much. While a giant beastie rampages through New York, a small group of yuppie Yankees go on a quest to save a trapped girlfriend, as captured on a digital camera. While the found-footage gimmick is fresh and effective, and there are a couple of neat tricks, the ﬁlm requires a bit more suspension of disbelief to rise above the level of escapist

Stefan Schwietert’s documentary opens with the Swiss musical cliché: man on a mountaintop, exuberantly yodeling. This enduring ‘Heidiland’ image keeps coming back to haunt this film about three performers whose work couldn’t be less like the stereotype. Avant-garde vocalists Noldi Alder and Christian Zehnder have all in their own way managed to take back yodeling for art and soul. Schwietert has a talent for letting artists explain how and where they find inspiration; he follows the three musicians to key sites, where they reflect on their lives and their art. A highly watchable music documentary, gorgeous and engaging. In German with Dutch subtitles. (BP) 82 min. Filmmuseum In the Valley of Elah Paul Haggis critiques the Iraq War; Tommy Lee Jones delivers. 120 min. Kriterion, Pathé De Munt Investigation A psychological thriller, set in Sofia, about the battle of wills between a police detective and her suspect. Directed by Iglika Triffonova, who also made the Bulgarian road movie Letter to America. In Bulgarian with Dutch subtitles. 105 min. Filmmuseum Jumper In this semi-superhero flick by the talented yet inscrutable Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr and Mrs Smith), a group of twenty-somethings have the ability to teleport at will. Now they just have to avoid the bad-ass secret agents who are after them. With the bad-ass role being filled by Samuel L. Jackson, and with Hayden Christensen and Jamie Bell (Hallam Foe) as the jumpers, the casting is pretty solid, and the Colosseum, the Sphinx and Big Ben are colourful locations indeed. But it isn’t enough for the film to rise above the mildly entertaining level. (LvH) 88 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt

Juno Juno (Ellen Page) is 16. Juno is full of life and

sarcasm. Juno is pregnant. Oops. She gives up the thought of abortion after hearing that her baby has already developed ﬁngernails and instead starts looking for adoptive parents. She ﬁnds the perfect couple in Mark and Vanessa. They’re wealthy, nice and Mark might even qualify as cool, since he shares Juno’s taste in music and splatter movies. Ellen Page is beyond perfect as the wisecracking but friendly Juno, who’s bright, yet young and naïve enough to think that there is no harm in spending time with the adoptive father of her unborn child. Add the best soundtrack in ages and a script that’s all about letting people be whoever they want to be and there you have it: this year’s independent American masterpiece. Directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking). (MP) 92 min. Cinecenter, Kriterion, The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt

Juno The Kite Runner After his poignant Monster’s Ball, his pensive Finding Neverland and the daringly different Stranger than Fiction—unreleased here—director Marc Foster offers us a solid and visually arresting but emotionally drained adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. One of the obstacles is the protagonist, Afghan-born Amir (played by Scottish-Egyptian actor Khalid Abdalla), who, in his sullen grownup version, doesn’t evoke much sympathy—or any other emotion. When he was young, he shared a close friendship with servant boy Hassan, the kite runner of the title, but later fell out with him. Still heavily conﬂicted about his misconduct as a youth, the adult Amir returns to Afghanistan to ‘be good again’. In English/ Dari/Pashtu/Urdu/Russian with Dutch subtitles. (BS) 128 min. Cinecenter, The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski, Studio K

Lady Chatterley In the hands of Pascale Ferran,

and in French, D. H. Lawrence’s classic novel becomes an almost spiritual ﬁlm about the transforming power of love and sex. The ﬁrst time Constance Chatterley (Marina Hands) and her gamekeeper Parkin (Jean-Louis Coullo’ch) do it, things are a bit clumsy—and they both

19 remain fully clothed. Their growing intimacy is shown by their increasing lack of garments, until, by the end of the film, we see them not only completely naked but dancing around in the rain, and feel we have gotten to know them. In Hands’s brilliantly natural, César-winning performance, Lady Chatterley is both funny and moving: you can’t help feeling for her. Hands has moved Lawrence’s novel past the pornographic and the feminist to the human level. (MM) Rialto Das Leben der Anderen This Oscar winner by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck mostly deserves all the praise and admiration it has received. A study in the dehumanising effects of state surveillance, it focuses on two men living in East Germany in 1984: a playwright (Sebastian Koch) who attracts the interest of the state and a Stasi officer (Ulrich Mühe) whose loyalty to the socialist cause is starting to erode. Predictable and slightly distant, but also disturbing and effective. In German with Dutch subtitles. (LvH) 137 min. Het Ketelhuis, Rialto Lust, Caution Ang Lee’s latest has been compared to Zwartboek, but it’s actually more akin to the first time you visit a new girlfriend’s parents. Everybody is on their best behaviour, the pleasantries seem to go on forever, you’re forced to watch an endless amount of vacation slides, and it’s only partly made up for by the screwing. Or, to ditch this forced metaphor: solid acting by Tony Leung and debutante Tang Wei, beautiful cinematography and incredible sex scenes can’t compensate for the clunky flashback structure, plodding narrative and absurd length. Could someone get Mr Lee a new editor, please? (LvH) 156 min. Pathé Tuschinski, Studio K Michael Clayton George Clooney is the title character, a fixer for a high-powered Manhattan law firm who’s sick of doing the company’s dirty work. When one of the attorneys (Tom Wilkinson) goes nuts, endangering the firm’s defence of an agrochemical giant, Clayton is dispatched to silence him. This doesn’t begin to deserve the Oscar nominations it’s likely to get, but it’s fun nonetheless. Tony Gilroy directed; with Tilda Swinton. (JJ) 119 min. Pathé De Munt

Mio fratello è figlio unico Accio Benassi (Elio Germano) feels like the least valued member of his family. Perhaps correctly: Accio isn’t his real name, but a nickname meaning ‘pain in the ass’. So Accio does everything possible to live up to his name. He leaves the seminary and instead becomes a member of the Fascist party. Luckily the viewer realises—even

Amsterdam Weekly

John Rambo if Accio himself does not—that his actions are driven not by idealism but provocation. He is no more a serious fascist than his socialist brother Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) is a saint. Mio fratello è ﬁglio unico (‘My Brother Is an Only Child’) is a lighter, less portentous version of La Meglio gioventù—also focusing on two brothers in turbulent Italy. The writers of LMG even co-wrote Mio fratello. Daniele Luchetti directed. In Italian with Dutch subtitles. (BS) 118 min. Cinecenter, Het Ketelhuis, Rialto The Mist Forget the two Stephen King adaptations that gave Frank Darabont his Oscar nominations: the humanitarian touch displayed in The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile has become a sucker punch in the gut in the gloriously misanthropic The Mist. When a supermarket in a small rural town becomes enveloped by a mysterious fog, the bargain hunters soon fall prey to mysterious tentacled critters and other assorted nasty pieces of otherworldly fauna. Even more trouble brews when the local Christian fundamentalist starts preaching the Apocalypse. The ending is a bit glib, but the rest is full of nail-biting suspense. (LvH) 127 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Mr Woodcock Seann William Scott stars as self-help author John Farley, who returns to his hometown, where he discovers to his horror that his widowed mom (Susan Sarandon) is planning to marry his old gym teacher, the bane of his grade school existence. There aren’t that many laugh-out-loud jokes in this comedy, yet Billy Bob Thornton’s portrayal of ass-kicking gym coach Mr. Woodcock is almost worth the price of

21-27 February 2008

Jumper admission. For a time it seems writers Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert will deliver the goods on their premise, which is rife with comic possibilities. But under Craig Gillespie’s uninspired direction, the humor eventually settles into stale, familiar pratfalls. (JK) 87 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Nightwatching Peter Greenaway’s much-awaited return to feature film-making after his Sternesque Tulse Luper trilogy, Nightwatching tells an imaginary tale about the making of Rembrandt’s painting. The English director’s aficionados will quickly realise that the plot is nothing more than a reworking of his past hit The Draughtsman’s Contract (painter conceals hints of a murder in his painting), with the addition of some humorous critique of the Dutch 17th century bourgeoisie and excellent interior lighting to simulate the beloved Hollands licht. Martin Freeman (The Office) does a fine job portraying the Dutch master in the film’s long, elaborate takes, which can be both demanding on actors and hard on audiences. (MB) 134 min. Het Ketelhuis

No Country for Old Men The Coen Brothers’ lat-

est brings Cormac McCarthy’s novel to the big screen, and it’s a shock to the system, simultaneously elegiac and terrifyingly violent. A subversion of the classic lawmen-chase-outlaw genre, the ﬁlm is shot like a cross between a Western and a horror ﬂick. A Texan named Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) takes off with millions in cash he’s found at the site of a drug deal gone wrong. Tommy Lee Jones is the laconic Sheriff Bell, trying to bring Moss in; Javier Bardem is Chigurh, the Terminator hitman dispatched by the

cartel. The Coens give us none of the usual malebonding, hunter-and-hunted nonsense: Chigurh, Bell and Moss are entirely alone, each in his own way, particularly Moss as the slaughter inevitably catches up with him. A stunning piece of cinema. (AD) 122 min. The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski Stellet Licht The ﬁlms of Mexican director Carlos Reygadas are an acquired taste. Not everyone will warm to his distinctive visual style, his use of an amateur cast and his uncompromising depiction of human nature. But if you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, Reygadas certainly delivers. His third feature, Stellet Licht (‘Silent Light’), starts at dawn and ends at dusk; it’s a meditative and languid tale about a married farmer, in a small Mennonite enclave in northern Mexico, who falls for another woman and thinks it might be a sign from God. In Plautdietsch with Dutch subtitles. (BS) 127 min. Filmmuseum, Rialto Sweeney Todd:The Demon Barber of Fleet Street If musicals aren’t your slice of pie, then Tim Burton’s reverential adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s show about a barber out for revenge won’t tantalise your taste buds, but the gorgeously Gothic production values are yummy eye candy all the same. The ﬁlm is leached of all colour except for frequent gushes of crimson, evoking the Grand Guignol theatrical tradition using state-of-the-art techniques. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter aren’t the most accomplished of singers, but they hold their own and look the part, though Sascha Baron Cohen once again steals the show in a supporting role. With Alan Rickman and Tim-

othy Spall. (LvH) 116 min. The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski TBS A convicted murderer escapes from a psychiatric ward and kidnaps a 13-year-old girl in this thriller by Pieter Kuijpers (Van God Los, Dennis P.). A great performance by Theo Maassen isn’t quite enough to save the film, but it might still make it worth watching. In Dutch. 88 min. Het Ketelhuis, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Things We Lost in the Fire In this first American feature from Danish director Susanne Bier (After the Wedding, Brothers), a recent widow (Halle Berry) invites her late husband’s heroin-addicted friend (Benicio del Toro) to live with her and her two children. Gradually, a friendship develops between these two damaged people. Though there are some intimate and touching scenes, Bier regularly veers into melodrama. Her Dogma 95-derived handheld camera and extreme close-ups, especially those of sad eyeballs, feel manufactured. And Allan Loeb’s screenplay fails to provide enough depth for what could have been an interesting American (arthouse?) project with a European touch. If it weren’t for the first-rate performances by Berry and especially the hypnotically watchable Del Toro, Things We Lost in the Fire would be just another TV movie. (GR) 113 min. Pathé De Munt, De Uitkijk Unfinished Sky In this Australian remake of the 1998 Dutch film De Poolse Bruid, Monic Hendrickx reprises her role as a traumatised sex worker who finds solace on an isolated farm, even though she and the farmer can’t speak each other’s language. Directed by Peter Duncan. 100 min. Het Ketelhuis

Special screenings Anatomy of a Murder This 1959 release is a prime contender for Otto Preminger’s greatest ﬁlm— a superb courtroom drama packed with humour and character that shows every actor at his or her best. James Stewart plays a small-town lawyer asked to defend an army lieutenant (Ben Gazzara) on a charge of murdering a local businessman who allegedly raped his ﬂirtatious wife (Lee Remick). George C. Scott is a lawyer working for the prosecution; there are also wonderful performances by Arthur O’Connell and Eve Arden, and even a cameo by Duke Ellington, who composed the memorable jazz score. As an entertaining look at legal process, this is spellbinding, infused by an ambiguity about human personality and motivation that is Preminger’s trademark, and the location shooting is superb. (JR) 160 min. Filmmuseum Beynelmilel In 1982, a town in southeastern Turkey still feels the effects of the military coup of two years before. Among other things, an evening curfew prevents the local musicians from earning a living. To survive, they decide to form a military band. Then the daughter of the bandleader falls in love with a member of a political group and joins the resistance. When the generals of the ruling junta announce a visit to the town, both the military band and the resistance group start preparing a welcome in this likeable comedy. In Turkish with Dutch subtitles. 105 min. KIT Tropentheater, Kleine Zaal

Big Lebowski night Virtual bowling! Come dressed as your favourite character! See Short List. De Nieuwe Anita

Days of Heaven Terrence Malick’s remarkably rich second feature (1978) is a story of human lives touched and passed over by the divine, told in a rush of stunning and precise imagery. A steelworker and his lover leave Chicago and ride boxcars across the open West; they ﬁnd work at a farm, where a love triangle gets out of control. Nestor Almendros’s cinematography is as sharp and vivid as Malick’s narration is elliptical and enigmatic. The result is a ﬁlm that hovers just beyond our grasp—mysterious, beautiful, and, very possibly, a masterpiece. With Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Sam Shepard. (DK) 94 min. De Roode Bioscoop

Deep Throat This 1972 hardcore flick, with Linda Lovelace in the title role, was the first, and one of the last, porn films to be distributed in cinemas. It ultimately provoked a powerful anti-porn backlash, particularly since Lovelace later claimed she had been violently coerced into making the film. 61 min. Melkweg Cinema Future Shorts New movies from all over. See Short List. OT301 The Hidden Kyle MacLachlan stars in this 1987 cult SF thriller, directed by Jack Sholder, about a police detective investigating a series of mysterious crimes who discovers that the perpetrators are all inhabited by an alien life form. (JR) Cafe de Spuyt

The Life Aquatic This is no conventional character

play, but instead an atmospheric delicacy that’s a perfect fit for Bill Murray. He plays a washed-up aquatic-adventure film-maker with nine years of failures behind him. After a deadly jaguar shark kills his pal Estéban, he sails out once again, taking his camera and his entire offbeat family. But forget the shark: the hunt is a soul-searching ritual through which disastrous family relationships finally get a chance to heal. Or not. There’s something oddly comforting about this film, and a lot of that has to do with the mellow atmosphere director Wes Anderson flawlessly creates. (RR) 118 min. Kriterion

Nachtrit Cool ﬁlm about a taxi driver who gets caught

up in the Amsterdam taxi war of 2000. Dennis (Frank Lammers) takes on a huge debt to ﬁnance his own taxi permit. Little does he know that a new law is about to come through that will make his permit absolutely worthless. With good acting, great dialogues and a convincing sex scene, the ﬁlm makes perfect use of the darker side of the city. In Dutch. (LG) 104 min. Kriterion O Brother,Where Art Thou? In the Coen Brothers’ 2000 pastiche, three convicts go on the run in Depression-era Mississippi; on the way they encounter or embody elements of The Odyssey, The Wizard of Oz, Preston Sturges movies and a great gospel and blues soundtrack. George Clooney gives a Clark Gable-esque performance as Ulysses Everett McGill, trying to get back to his Penelope (Holly Hunter). The results are sillier than Fargo, but also less nasty. (JP) 106 min. The Movies

Oliver Twist Roman Polanski has said he wanted to make a movie his kids could see, and clearly his 2005

take on the Charles Dickens novel, with its childhood feelings of panic and deprivation, is free of the postmodern irony most contemporary directors would have brought to the material. Working again with writer Ronald Harwood (The Pianist), Polanski honours the craft of classical storytelling and never flinches from the book’s melodramatic extremes. (JR) 130 min. Rialto Perico Ripiao Perico ripiao is a style of merengue music, and this lively comedy from the Dominican Republic concerns three musicians, escaped from prison, who devote all their performing talents to getting home. This is the first in a new series, from Cinemix, of mainstream films from the less-well-known cinematic parts of the world. In Spanish, no subtitles. Imagine IC Room Temperature Bulgarian artist Zhana Ivanova sets out to remake her favourite Bulgarian film, Toplo (1978) in this four-day cinematic performance piece. The remake will be shot Feb 20-23, and the resulting film screens on Saturday the 24th. If you want to see the film set or have a part in the movie, feel free to stop by Mediamatic in the Post CS building. Party with live music follows the screening. Mediamatic

The Savages Disappointment, delusion, dementia,

death—and all that in a comedy. Wendy Savage (Laura Linney), a failed playwright in Greenwich Village, and her brother, Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a plodding college professor in Buffalo, are called out to Arizona after their estranged father (Philip Bosco) begins succumbing to dementia. There’s nothing for them to do but install him in a nursing home back East; their father may have abandoned them, but they choose not to abandon him, and in trying to preserve his dignity they unexpectedly affirm their own. Written and directed by Tamara Jenkins; not released here yet but getting a one-night Oscar screening (Linney is nominated for Best Actress). (JJ) 113 min. Pathé De Munt Shivers David Cronenberg made his commercial debut with this 1975 horror film (also known as They Came from Within) in which a swinging-singles apartment building is overrun by slimy little creatures who carry an exotic form of VD. Hard to take, the film nevertheless represents a major turning point in the genre—the discovery of the body itself as a source of terror. Cronenberg’s later films on the same theme are superior in technique, though not necessarily in inten-

sity. Also showing: Cronenberg’s 1970 short Crimes of the Future, a pseudo-documentary about a devastating plague caused by a secret ingredient in a line of cosmetics. (DK) OT301

Stavisky Like many other Alain Resnais films, this courtroom drama (1974) has improved with age. Scripted by Jorge Semprún, it tells the true story of a notorious international financier (Jean-Paul Belmondo) whose ruin in 1933 led to a major political scandal and his own death. While the script isn’t always lucid—some attempts to counterpoint Stavisky’s destiny with that of Leon Trotsky appear a bit forced—the power of Resnais’ evocative editing is as strong as ever. Using a gorgeous original score by Stephen Sondheim, elegant sets and locations, and beautiful color cinematography by Sacha Vierny, Resnais models his liquid, bittersweet style on Lubitsch, and the shimmering, romantic results are often spellbinding and haunting. (JR) 115 min. Filmmuseum Supervixens Russ Meyer’s 1975 sleaze, sex and violence romp features Martin Bormann running a filling station in the Southwest and another character masturbating with (not on) a mountain peak. Despite these and other peculiarities, this is less fun than the more baroque Meyer outings, such as Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens—perhaps because too much routine violence and nastiness keeps getting in the way. (DK) 105 min. Melkweg Cinema Tetsuo:The Iron Man An exceptionally kinky and violent Japanese experimental feature by Shinya Tsukamoto (1989). The dialogue is minimal, but the principal meanings are clear enough: this is a highly fragmented, frequently pixilated account of a man and woman, both partially transformed into metal, copulating and mutilating each other with passion and energy. Basically a surreal heavy-metal fantasy, with gory, slimy textures that recall Eraserhead and over the top in every respect, Tetsuo: The Iron Man contains enough frenetic motion that you probably won’t be bored, though you may find yourself worn out before its 67 minutes are over. This is obviously not for every taste—but if you like it, there’s a fair chance you’ll like it a lot. Showing with The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai, a wacky and imaginative 2004 Japanese soft-core film. In Japanese with English subtitles. (JR) De Nieuwe Anita

21-27 February 2008

FILM TIMES Thursday 21 February until Wednesday 27 February. Times are provided by cinemas and are subject to last-minute changes. Film times also at www.amsterdamweekly.nl. De Balie Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, 553 5151 Sonic Acts:The Cinematic Experience Thur-Sun. Cafe de Spuyt Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 86, 624 8901 The Hidden Sun 21.30. Cavia Van Hallstraat 52-I, 681 1419 Babette's Feast Thur, Fri 20.30 Ronja de roversdochter Wed 15.00. Cinecenter Lijnbaansgracht 236, 623 6615 Atonement daily 16.00, 19.00, 21.45, Sun also 13.15 Away from Her daily 16.00, Thur-Sat also 19.15 Juno daily 21.45, Thur-Sun, Tues, Wed also 19.30, Sun also 11.15, 13.45 The Kite Runner daily 15.45, 19.00, 22.00, Sun also 11.15 Mio fratello è figlio unico daily 16.15, 21.45, Sun also 11.00, 13.45, Mon-Wed also 19.15 Naissance des pieuvres Mon 19.30. Cinema Amstelveen Plein 1960 2, Amstelveen, 547 5175 Elizabeth:The Golden Age Thur-Sat, Tues, Wed 20.30 Enchanted Sun 16.00 The Fox and the Child (NL) Sat, Tues 15.30, Sun 14.00, Wed 13.30 Kapitein Rob Sat, Tues 13.30, Sun 12.00, Wed 15.30. Filmhuis Griffioen Uilenstede 106, Amstelveen, 444 5100 Earth Thur, Fri, Tues 19.30, Sat 15.00. Filmmuseum Vondelpark 3, 589 1400 12 Angry Men Thur-Tues 19.00, Wed 21.50 American Tragedy,An Fri, Mon 21.00 Anatomy of a Murder Sat, Tues 21.00, Sun 15.30 Desmond en het Moerasmonster Sat-Wed 13.45 Heimatklänge Thur-Sat, Mon-Wed 17.15 Investigation Thur-Sat, Mon 17.00 Het Schimmenrijk Sun 16.00 Stavisky Thur, Sun 21.00 Stellet Licht daily 21.45, Thur-Tues also 19.15, Wed also 16.30. Imagine IC Bijlmerplein 1006-1008, 489 4866 Perico Ripiao Thur 19.00. Het Ketelhuis Haarlemmerweg 8-10, 684 0090 4 maanden, 3 weken en 2 dagen Thur-Mon, Wed 21.00 Alles is liefde daily 17.15 Atonement daily 21.30, Thur, Sat-Wed also 16.30 De Avonturen van het Molletje Sat-Wed 13.30 Bloedbroeders Sat, Sun, Wed 15.15 Desmond en het Moerasmonster Sat-Wed 12.45 Faces Thur-Sun, Wed 19.30 Das Leben der Anderen Sat, Sun, Wed 12.30 Mein Führer - Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler Tues 19.30 Mio fratello è figlio unico Fri-Wed 19.15, Sat-Wed also 14.15 Nightwatching Sun 21.00 TBS daily 16.45, 19.00, Thur-Sat, Mon-Wed also 21.15 Trigger Sat-Wed 15.00. KIT Tropentheater, Kleine Zaal Linnaeusstraat 2, 568 8500 Beynelmilel Tues, Wed 20.30. Kriterion Roetersstraat 170, 623 1708 Astérix aux Jeux Olympiques Sat-Wed 12.15, 14.45 The Band's Visit daily 20.15, Thur-Sun, Tues, Wed also 22.00 Faces daily 18.45 Gone Baby Gone Thur-Tues 17.00 In the Valley of Elah daily 18.15 Juno daily 20.00, Thur-Mon, Wed also 22.15, Thur-Sun also 18.00, Fri, Sat also 0.15 The Life Aquatic Mon 22.00 Lorange & Co Sun 11.00, Wed 15.00 Nachtrit Wed 17.00 Pippi gaat van boord Sat-Wed 15.30 Ronja de roversdochter Sat-Wed 12.45 Sicko Mon-Wed 17.30 Sneak Preview Tues 22.15 De Wonderwinkel van Mr Magorium Sat-Wed 13.00, Sat-Tues also 15.00. Mediamatic Post CS, Oosterdokskade 5, 638 9901, Room Temperature Sun 20.00. Melkweg Cinema Lijnbaansgracht 234A, 624 1777 Alien vs Predator Thur-Sat 19.00 Control Tues, Wed 19.00 Deep Throat Sun 21.30 Supervixens Mon 19.00. The Movies Haarlemmerdijk 159-165, 638 6016 Asterix en de Olympische Spelen Sat-Wed 14.45 The Big Lebowski Fri, Sat 0.10 The Fox and the Child (NL) Sat-Wed 15.00 Juno daily 17.15, 19.45, 21.45, Sun also 12.00 The Kite Runner daily 16.30, 19.15, 21.45, Sat-Wed also 14.00, Sun also 11.30 Love in the Time of Cholera daily 19.00, Sun 12.30 No Country for Old Men daily 17.00, 19.30, 22.00, Fri, Sat also 0.15, Sat, Sun-Wed also 14.30, Sun also 12.15 O Brother,Where Art Thou? Fri, Sat 0.00 Sweeney Todd:The Demon Barber of Fleet Street daily 16.45, 21.30, Fri, Sat also 23.45. De Nieuwe Anita Frederik Hendrikstraat 111, 06 4150 3512, Big Lebowski night Fri 19.00 Tetsuo:The Iron Man Mon 20.30. OT301 Overtoom 301, 779 4913 Future Shorts Sun 17.00, 20.00 Shivers Tues 20.30.

Amsterdam Weekly Pathé ArenA ArenA Boulevard 600, 0900 1458 Alibi daily 13.15, 15.20, 17.30, 19.50, 22.10, Sat-Wed also 11.10 Alvin en de Chipmunks daily 11.30, 12.45, 13.40, 15.00, 17.10, Thur-Mon, Wed also 15.50, Sat-Wed also 10.30 Asterix en de Olympische Spelen daily 12.30, 15.15, Sat-Wed 10.00 August Rush daily 19.15, Thur-Mon, Wed also 14.00, Sat-Mon, Wed also 11.45, Tues also 11.15 Bee Movie (NL) daily 11.50, 14.15 Cloverfield daily 16.30, 21.00 The Devil Wears Prada Tues 13.30 I Am Legend (Imax) daily 19.30, Thur-Mon, Wed also 21.50 Jodhaa Akbar Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 15.30, 20.10, Sun-Wed also 11.00, Sat 12.30, 17.00, 21.30 John Rambo daily 19.40, 21.45, Sat also 0.10 Jumper daily 12.00, 14.00, Thur-Mon, Wed also 16.00, 18.00, 20.00, 22.00, Sat, Sun also 10.00, Sat also 0.20, Tues also 17.00, 19.00, 21.45 Juno daily 12.10, 14.20, 16.40, 19.00, 21.20, Sat-Wed also 10.00 K3 en de Kattenprins daily 12.40, Sat-Wed also 10.50 The Kite Runner daily 14.10, 19.20 The Mist daily 14.40, 17.40, 20.45, Sat also 23.30 Moordwijven daily 18.45 Mr Woodcock daily 17.20, 19.30, 21.40, Sat also 23.45 No Country for Old Men daily 18.30, 21.10, Tues also 16.00 Sneak Preview Tues 21.15 Step Up 2 daily 12.15, 14.30, 16.50, 18.10, 19.10, 20.30, 21.30, Sat-Wed also 9.50, Sat also 23.50 Sweeney Todd:The Demon Barber of Fleet Street daily 21.35, Thur, Fri also 12.45 TBS daily 12.05, 17.00, 22.15 Underdog (NL) daily 13.30, 15.40, 17.40, Sat-Wed also 11.20 The Water Horse daily 12.20, 14.50, Sat-Wed also 9.45 We Own the Night daily 16.20, Sat also 23.00. Pathé De Munt Vijzelstraat 15, 0900 1458 Alibi Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 12.50, 15.15, 17.30, 20.00, 22.15, SunWed also 10.30, Sat 11.15, 13.30, 15.40, 18.15, 20.30, 22.45 Alvin en de Chipmunks Sat 11.30, 13.45, 16.15, Sun-Wed 12.30, Sun also 10.15, 14.45, Mon-Wed also 10.20, 11.15, 13.40, 15.20 Asterix en de Olympische Spelen Sat-Wed 10.15, Sat also 13.00, Sun-Wed also 12.45 Atonement Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 18.00 August Rush Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 13.30, 15.50, 18.30, Mon-Wed also 11.00, Sat 16.30, 19.15, Sun 15.30, 18.15 Charlie Wilson's War Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 20.50, Thur, Fri also 12.30 Cloverfield Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 22.10, Sat 21.30, 23.40 The Golden Compass Sat 11.00 Gone Baby Gone Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 15.30, 18.15, Thur, Fri also 12.45 In the Valley of Elah Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 21.20 Into the Wild Sat 13.30 John Rambo Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 16.15, 18.45, 21.15, Thur, Fri also 13.45, Sat 18.30, 21.00, 23.15, Sun 17.15, 19.45, 22.10 Jumper Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 14.00, 16.30, 19.00, 21.30, Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed also 12.00, Sat 10.30, 12.45, 15.00, 17.30, 20.00, 22.30, Sun also 11.45 Juno daily 12.00, 19.20, Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed also 16.50, 21.50, Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed also 14.15, Sat also 14.30, 17.00, 21.45, Sun also 14.20 The Kite Runner Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 13.00, 15.45, 19.15, MonWed also 10.15 Michael Clayton Sat 16.10 The Mist Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 17.45, 20.40, Thur, Fri also 12.10, 15.00, Sat 22.00, Sun 21.00 Mr Woodcock Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 12.40, 14.50, 17.15, Mon-Wed also 10.30 National Treasure: Book of Secrets Thur, Fri, Mon, Wed 21.00 No Country for Old Men Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 13.15, 16.00, 18.50, 21.45, Mon-Wed also 10.40, Sat 11.10, 14.00, 16.45, 19.30, 22.15, Sun 10.15, 12.40, 15.20, 18.20, 21.10 The Savages Sat 19.10 Sneak Preview Tues 21.45 Step Up 2 Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 14.30, 17.00, 22.00, Thur, Fri, Sun, Mon, Wed also 19.30, Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed also 12.15, Sun also 12.10, Tues also 19.20, Sat 10.15, 12.30, 15.15, 18.00, 20.45, 23.30 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Thur, Fri 12.10, 14.45, 17.40, 20.20, Sat 16.00, 18.45, Sun 15.45, 21.20, Mon-Wed 15.20, 18.10, 20.45 TBS Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 19.45, 21.55 Things We Lost in the Fire Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed 15.10 Underdog (NL) Mon-Wed 10.45, 12.50 The Water Horse Sat 10.40, 13.15, Sun 10.20, 13.00, 18.30, Mon-Wed 10.15, 12.45. Pathé Tuschinski Reguliersbreestraat 34, 0900 1458 Asterix en de Olympische Spelen Sat-Wed 12.30 Away from Her Thur, Fri 16.30, Mon-Wed 13.45 Charlie Wilson's War Thur-Tues 16.00, 18.20, Wed 15.50, 18.15 Earth daily 15.30, Thur-Tues also 18.00, Thur-Mon, Wed also 13.10 The Fox and the Child (NL) Fri-Mon, Wed 13.30, Tues 13.15 The Kite Runner daily 15.15, 18.10, 21.00, Thur, Fri also 12.20 Love in the Time of Cholera Thur-Tues 20.45, Wed 21.20 Lust, Caution daily 20.30 Macbeth (Verdi) Sun 11.00 No Country for Old Men daily 13.00, 15.45, 18.30, 21.15 Step Up 2 Thur 12.40, 15.00, 18.00, 20.45, Fri, Sat, Mon-Wed 12.00, 14.15, 16.40, 19.00, 21.30, Sun 14.25, 16.45, 19.15, 21.45 Sweeney Todd:The Demon Barber of Fleet Street daily 19.10, 21.45, Thur, Sat, Sun also 13.40, Sat-Wed also 16.20 La Tourneuse de pages Thur, Tues 13.30. Rialto Ceintuurbaan 338, 676 8700 4 maanden, 3 weken en 2 dagen Fri, Sat, Wed 16.30 Auf der anderen Seite daily 21.30, Fri-Sun also 15.30 The Band's Visit daily 18.00, 19.45, Sat, Sun also 13.30 Caramel daily 17.30 Lady Chatterley daily 21.10, Sun also 14.30 Das Leben der Anderen Sat, Sun 12.30 Mio fratello è figlio unico Thur-Mon, Wed 19.30, 21.45, FriSun, Wed also 15.15, Tues 22.00 Oliver Twist Sun 11.00, Wed 15.00 Stellet Licht daily 18.45, Sat also 13.45, Sun also 11.15. De Roode Bioscoop Haarlemmerplein 7H, 625 7500, Days of Heaven Sun 20.30. Studio K Timorplein 62, 692 0422, Alles is liefde Thur-Sun 18.15 Atonement Mon-Wed 18.15 The Kite Runner daily 18.30, 21.00, Sat, Wed 15.30 Lust, Caution daily 20.30 Ratatouille (NL) Sat-Wed 15.45. De Uitkijk Prinsengracht 452, 623 7460 2 Days in Paris daily 21.30, Sat-Wed also 17.00 Desmond en het Moerasmonster Sat-Wed 13.30 Earth Thur, Fri 17.00, Sat-Wed 15.00 Things We Lost in the Fire daily 19.00.

WEEKLY CLASSIFIEDS Ads are free, space permitting. They will be posted both to the paper and online. Guaranteed placement is available for a small fee; see our website for details. Ads may be published in English, het Nederlands or whatever language is best for you to communicate your message. How to submit an ad: via our website at www.amsterdamweekly.nl, by fax at 020 620 1666 or post to Amsterdam Weekly, De Ruyterkade 106, 1011 AB Amsterdam. Deadline: Monday at 12.00, the week of publication. AD OF THE WEEK

HOUSING WANTED

I NEED GLASS! I’m learning to make stained glass HOUSE 4 COUPLE? We are windows and need all kinds of glass. Little pieces a young couple, 24 y.o, living and working in NL. Tidy and are welcome too. Please call Karin on 682 7573. reliable, looking for a double job is only & exclusively dur- bdrm or small apt. Up to €500JOBS ing 12 puntual days during the €600/mth. If you have the REAPIRMAN WANTED summer. You need to be cus- right location mail me at Whirpool washing machine tomer-focused, responsible, hearthtone@yahoo.it. is out of order and seeking a proactive, & have a good comROOM TO RENT MARCH skilled repairman to fix it. mand of English. m.marrocPortuguese female, 26 y.o. contact Bob at 06 4986 7161. co@intercruises.com. looking for a furnished room BIKE TAXI DRIVERS GERMAN NATIVE Are you to rent. Not very far away from WANTEDWe’re in business a German native speaker? the center. Room needed for 365 days a year! Are you ser- Are you looking for a fun job begining of March. Max budvice-oriented, independent, in the centre of A’dam? Are get €400/mth. Let me know if responsible, flexible & you available few hours a day, you have something. ameliagounafraid of Dutch weather? few days a week? Salary is €10 is@gmail.com. Thanks. Climb on the bandwagon per hour. So this might the WANTED: 2 BDRM 25/5 this winter & get priority for right job for you! Interest1/6 Mature doctor/painter best summer shifts. We offer ed? Please call Claudia on 520 seeks light, airy, very nice weekly introduction ses- 5379 or send an email to cgalapt with appealing vista, presions. Contact 06 3882 2683/ lus@guidion.ch. ferrably a canal view. 1-bdrm info@wielertaxi.nl/www.wie ok if set-up works (travelHOUSING FOR RENT lertaxi.nl. ling with female teacher UNDUTCHABLESis looking AFFORDABLE APT Fully cousin). Email or call asap: for Senior Fund and Fund furnished, close by Ooster- michaelpollatsek@yahoo.co Administrator; German Trans- park/Linnaeusstraat. Study, m/ +1 415 309 1962. lator; Credit Control & Collec- living, bedroom(53m2). 1-2 BDRM APT We are a tor Representatives, fluent Equipped kitchen, toilet/showresponsible couple looking to Englishspeaker+Oracleexpe- er, sunny balcony, incl gas, rent an apt in A’dam from 1 rience; Corporate Accoun- electricity, internet €800/mth. March. We are looking to pay tant; IT Technical Support; Single use only. Mail to pinapprox €1000-€1100. Please German CSR. Contact adri- nieplus@hotmail.com. Availgetintouchifyouthinkyoucan ana.angulo@undutchables.nl able from mid-Apr. help.emjan82@hotmail.co.uk. for more information. FOR RENT ON CURACAO 2-3 ROOM APTDutch couple CREDIT CONTROLLERwith Nice holiday house for rent looking for 2-3 room apt to rent at least 1 year experience for on Curacao (Normandie 3). on a legal and long-term basis! international fashion brand Living room, kitchen, 3-bdrms, Max €800/mth. nicole@beatin A’dam. Please send CV to bathroom, carport. Includes sandremixes.com. maria@adamsrecruitment.co TV, washing machine, rental m or call 580 0347. car. Close to public transport, OTHER SPACES LOGISTICS COORDINA- centrally located, close to STUDIO SPACE to rent by TORwith 2 years experience shops & police station, quiet the hour. Suitable for for great company in Schiphol neighbourhood. Call 06 1021 dance/yoga/meetings. A’dam Rijk. Please send CV to 8271 or email info@tulipany.nl south location. Tel 644 2431. maria@adamsrecruitment.c for info. om or call 580 0347. GREAT PLACE FOR RENT PHOTO STUDIO For amateur and professional photogSECRETARIES BY ADAMS Nice furnished apt in A’dam raphers. Can also be used as is a prof & friendly recruit- Westerpark. Bdrm, big living meeting or gathering space. ment Co with diverse & int’l room, kitchen, bathroom, lit- 100m2, €150/day. Possible to client base. We’re always tle balcony. Popular, cultur- rent photo equipment. High looking for English & Dutch al neighbourhood. Near cen- ceilings, good, natural light speaking PAs/Reception- ter/Jordaan. For 1 person/cou- and located on WG Plein, adjaists/Office Managers and ple. April–Oct or longer. €1250 cent to Overtoom. For appointAdmin Assts so if you fit the all incl. ikoorn@xs4all.nl. ment and more info contact bill please send your CV to CANAL HOUSE 74m2, fur- D. Ingel: 06 2883 4224. Jill Whittaker at jill@secre- nished, room ensuite, open tariesbyadams.com or call kitchen, bathroom with bath, FOR SALE 580 0342 for more info. 2-bdrm, balcony 10m2, HYUNDAI ACCENT 1.3LS orginal wooden floor, great 88000km, zeer zuinig in verUNDUTCHABLES RECRUITMENT Agency open view on canal and bruik, 5 drs, zilver metallic, Amstelveen are looking for Tropenmuseum. In the Plan- 2e eigenaar, airbag bestuurSales Support/Logistics Ger- tage area near Artis Zoo and der & passagier, airconditionman or Italian speaking; 7 min from Dam Square. ing, bumpers in kleur, cenInside sales Representative March until Aug. €1750/mth. trale deurvergrendeling,3e speaking Eng + other lan- leonieklomp_30@hotmail.co remlicht, deelbare achterguages; Sales managers (e- m or 06 1482 5038. bank etc. €3450. Meer info. marketing) speaking Ger- IDEAL LOCATION Shared Bel na 17.00: 06 1304 8577. man; Technical Support in beautiful, modern top-floor, FOR SALE Opa bike + lock speaking Swedish. Please 2-bdrm ensuite apt on Muse€40. Olivetti elec typewriter mail amstelveen@undutch- umplein, oud zuid, A’dam: €10. Kenwood tuner KT7300 ables.nl or see www.undutch- 125m2, furnished over 2 floors €50. Toaster €5. Scanner €5. ables.nl. and rooftop terrace, internet Scooter battery 4 amp €15. MULTI-LINGUAL JOBSBlue and TV. Good transport links, SC alarm €10. Battery chargLynx - The specialists in mul- supermarket close. For rent er 8/22amp 6/12v €50. Stepti-lingual, bi-lingual and immediately, €1100/mth excl per €5. B/W 50’s TV €20. WireEnglish language employment gas/water/elec. Pictures avail- less phone €15. Chesterfield 2+3 leather no cushions €100. in NL. Check out our website able. mikeph@gmail.com. for more than 300 available NICE HOUSE TEMP RENT Gas cooker €35. 06 4624 2781. vacancies across many lan- Neg. 3-6-9 mths. €1275 incl. AMERICAN FOODS!Get all guages and industries. Twen- Corner house, garden, good your favorite American foods ty years experience in Recruit- views, at waterfront. A’dam- mailed direct to your door! ment, Contracting and Exec- N-Sloten. Nice open living Take advantage of the cheap utive Search. WWW.BLUEL- room + kitchen, 1st floor, 3- dollar! Cereals, drinks, canYNX.COM. bdrms, bathroom. Free park- dy, baking goods and more. PIER STAFF WANTED to ing, close to tram and shops. www.eatusonline.com. attend cruise guests during Tram 2 at 500m. Close to TRANSPORT disembarcation and embar- Schiphol & business district. cation process at A’dam Pas- Negotiable conditions. Call ENGLISH MAN WITH VAN Can help with removals, big senger Cruise Terminal. The 06 5384 7992.

or small, in or outside of the country. Reasonable rates, quick service. Contact Lee on 06 2388 2184 or whitevan@whitevanman.nl or see www.whitevanman.nl. NEED TO MOVE? Door-todoor moving for only €35. We have 3 vans available with experienced drivers + extra removers. Also the perfect solution for delivering your newly-bought furniture. Book online on www.vrachtverhuizer.nl or call 06 1514 9164.

FREE STUFF TOP 100 MOVIES FREE! REALITY PORTAL connects the strongest movies and docs from last years. What the Bleep, The Secret, The Yes Men, US versus John Lennon, The Fountain, The Last Mimzy, Outfoxed, Blueberry, Simpsons - The Movie and the Great Global Warming Swindle!!! http://www.realityportal.info/content/view/165/129/

SERVICES GREAT HAIR COLOURIST Tints, highlights, colour changes, creative colours. With more than 10 years of experience, if I can’t do it then nobody can do it! Now at Mctavish salon in de Pijp. Contact Daniel for appointment: 06 2413 7392 or danielsmeets@yahoo.com. I also do make-up. DISHWASHER/CLEANER Looking for a reliable dishwasher for your restaurant, cafe or hotel? I am available on 06 4313 7194. Do not hesitate to contact me. TAX & FINANCE Trying to get quality advice and save money at the same time? We are specialised in bookkeeping and taxes, and guide our relations through the entire business process. We work through a countrywide network with professionals who can help on each issue. Call us for RAAD! 691 2217. DATABUSTERS Crashed computer?! No problem! We do data retrieval on hard drives and other media. www.databusters.nl or phone 616 4517. PHENOMENAL VIDEOProvide me with your footage and I’ll edit an engaging video for you and your family. I have edited 2 films that have gone to the Sundance Film Festival and I have an MFA in film production. Please email me a little about yourself and what kind of product you are looking for: syfilms@yahoo.com. ACADEMIC EDITOR I’m a Fulbright scholar, university lecturer and journalist. Contact me if you need help editing your text. References available: 06 1739 4558. STUNNING WEBSITES Experienced designer builds professional and unique sites starting at €300. www.offminor.com/stunning_design. htm. Contact Jordan: jordangcz@yahoo.com, 06 3034 1238. CAREER CRISIS?Unhappy or stuck at work? Isn’t it time to discover what you really

Amsterdam Weekly

22 want in life? Lost purpose, passion or goal? Do yourself a favour, give your coach a call on 06 4998 8986 or 400 4778; email marianne@soul-atwork.com. Soul at Work, A’dam. Sign up for free e-newsletter on www.soul-at-work.com.

and looking for a yoga teacher who is interested in organising weekendswhereacombination of yoga and coaching is offered. Please email reactions to leonieplokker@gmail.com. TIRED OF BEING STUCK? Heighten your quality of life. Improve your relationships, with the help of native English-speaking therapist. My 20 years of professional experience and understanding can help you better cope with feelings and sort through stressful thoughts. Call Sagar on 06 4626 5412.

COSTUME + PROP MAKER Tentacle Studio makes professional costumes for theatre, film, TV and performing arts. With an atelier in Aalsmeer, we have 20 yrs experience and are KvK registered. Need a special costume or stage prop made? Visit www.tentaclestudio.com ACUPUNCTURE Certified or call 06 4648 0125. American acupuncturist SEAMSTRESS/COUPEUSE treats both men and women Fully recovered from the for a wide range of ailments recent Fashion Week in at two locations in A’dam. A’dam... seamstress/coupeuse Coverage offered by many is looking for designers who health insurance companies. need an experienced hand Call 06 2739 9789, email making their designs come info@acupunctuurnoordholtrue. I have years of experi- land.nl or visit www.acupuncence in design, pattern mak- tuurnoordholland.nl. ing and sewing custom fitting REIKI MASTERCombining womens clothes any catego- the natural healing system of ry. Call Susan: 06 2443 8247. Reiki with Past Lives MemLOOKING FOR SPONSORS ory Regression, NLP, visualWe are looking for bar/pub/ isations exercises, psychic restaurant/gallery/hotel own- surgery and interdimensioners who would like to adver- al healing. Develop yourself, tise in our new product, Dex- know yourself, heal yourself. plore. We offer advertising that Sessions, treatments, coursis low-cost, high-volume, tar- es. Danielle Ferrari: 06 2831 geted and in permanent cir- 0125. culation. See our website for URBAN ANGELS Life path more details: http:// www.dexreadings. Psychic readings. plore.co.uk. Accurate and stress-free. By NEED A PHOTOGRAPHER? appointment. 06 5080 5589. Weddings, parties, sporting In A’dam. events etc. Experienced freelance photographer located PHYSIOTHERAPYTherapy in A’dam. Affordable rates. for pain, injuries, rehabilitaFor more information and/or tion, relaxation techniques... samples of my work please Fluent in English and Spanemail me on elwin11@ gmail. ish. Covered by most insurances. Located in heart of com or call 06 2936 4686. A’dam. Call or email us for a BUDGETTAXIfor tailor-made fast appt in flexible hours. 06 private day tours and other 1672 3827/ expatphysio@hotlong distance taxi services with reservation (>50 kms; in NL mail.com. or to/from abroad). Spacious, no-nonsense taxi (airco/GPS) for 1-4 passengers and lots of luggage. Dutch driver speaks English, German some French. Tel 613 8048 or check www.dagtoertaxi.nl.

21-27 February 2008

MASSAGE

IL CIELO STUDIO We offer different treatments such as craniosacral, dorn breuss massage, holistic, ayurvedic and foot massage. The treatments are reimbursed by many HEALTH & WELLNESS health insurances. Info: MARTIAL ARTS CLASS www.ilcielo.org, Unmani, 06 English-speaking Qi Kwan Do. 3004 9738. Combines yoga & self defence. TANTRA MASSAGESacred Women friendly. Works no mat- sensual massage created to ter what age, strength, or build. arouse, circulate & increase No 2 lessons are the same so energy throughout the body. you keep motivated. Reduces Moving energy not only stress & gets you fit. Every Sat enhances awareness and the 12.00, Sporthallen Lizzy Ans- capacity for pleasure, it can inghstraat 88 1072RD A’dam. also be a powerful healing helen.maynard-hill@qikwan- experience. Tantra A’dam & do.com. London. Info: www.erosYOGA TEACHER WANTED trance.com, Shanti@erosI´mapsychologist/healthcoach trance.com, 06 4277 3290.

dance is lots of fun and creates a positive body image, regardRENOVATION&painting,plas- less of age or shape. Why not tering, basic carpentary, any come along and find out? int/ext work. Very exprienced. PHOTOGRAPHY WORKPlease call 330 2634. SHOP New courses starting

HOME IMPROVEMENT

in March at the ABC Treehouse in A’dam. Lessons in English, theory (classes in the evening or Sat) and practice (2 field trips planned). For more information: patriNEED A CONTRACTOR ?? cia@patriciaribas.com. Klussenbedrijf ‘De Klus-Bus’ for all your plumbing, paint- DRAWING AND PAINTING ing & carpentry, electricity, workshops by professional bathroom installations & ren- artist, various techniques, all ovations, kitchen & toilet, styles, from scratch to painttiling, laying floors, roofwork, ing with oils. Contact plastering, garden, general joneiselin@hetnet.nl. construction, technical advice MASSAGE COURSES Il & everything else! 06 1899 Cielo offers year-round cours1782/www.klusbus.net/info@ es for beginners about holisklusbus.net. tic massage, craniosacral, foot reflexology and meditaCOMPUTERS tion. Continues throughout PC HOUSE DOCTOR Spe- entire year. Read more at cialised in virus/spyware www.ilcielo.org or call removal, h/w, s/w repair, data Unmani on 06 3004 9738. recovery, wireless, cable/ADSL ONE WEEK DUTCH Een installation and computer week intensief Nederlands lessons from friendly and expe- spreken. GLOSSA helps you rienced Microsoft profession- to strengthen your confidence al for reasonable price. Con- in speaking Dutch. Are you tact Mario 06 1644 8230. interested in practising your GARDEN WORKTime to get your garden ready for spring and summer? For all garden and yardwork please call 06 2324 5957. Thanks.

NEED HELP WITH YOUR MAC? MAC-lover helps you with basic setups, minor troubleshooting, install, networking, basic MAC lessons, setting up programs, MS Word, QuarkXpress, etc. Help with purchasing the right MAC. Contact Sagar at 06 4626 5412. COMPUTER SERVICEHerstelpunt Computer Service: repairs, maintenance, data recovery, troubleshooting and tweaking of PC systems. www.herstelpunt.nl. Dutch/ English spoken €35/hr, VAT incl. Call 624 8992 or 06 2367 8827.

COURSES BELLY DANCE COURSE Weekly at 19.00 on Thur. Studio in A’dam west. Visit www.zerzura.info or tel 681 0072. This timeless woman’s

Dutch in a 1-week course? Focus on words and phrases of everyday use. Have a look at www.glossa.nl or call 06 1471 5372.

Pianist wanted for professional jazz vocalist, American songbook/swing etc for rehearsals leading to future perforINTENSIVE DUTCHcourses mances. Interested, please at Joost Weet Het! Classes 4 contact lazelle@ home.nl. times per week during 4 hours. PIANO LESSONS from proGood teachers, fun classes and fessional player. Long teachenergetic atmosphere. Small ing experience with chilgroups, Personal approach drens. Contact 06 5043 3880. with Emphasis on conversa- MUSIC STUDIOProfessiontion. 2, 3, 4 and 8-week cours- al music studio Beatsanes.Price:€8/hr.Visitwww.joost- dremixes.com offers high weethet.nl. Email info@joost- quality sounds for low prices. weethet.nl. Tel 420 8146. www.beatsandremixes.com. lentdutch.nl. New: Superintensive summer course. Info: excellentdutch@hotmail.com, 06 3612 2870.

LEARN ITALIAN! Italian native-speaker gives lessons to who is interested in learning a new language. The teacher has a university degree. Flexible hours are possible, available also for children. If you are interested, call 06 2525 6811.

at baselesson@gmail.com

stanzeflamme.de.

THROW UP ON DEMAND? Operation Reflux. Cutting edge performance art. Seeking adventurous artists for a 4-piece public installation. All cutting edge people welcomed. Puke Art! operationreflux@gmail.com.

OUTBOARD OVERBOARD! Outboard motor took brief dive in canal last autumn and has been marooned in cellar ever since. Reward for anyone help get it re-attached and running again. helen.olney@gmail.com.

ENGLISHMAN, RESIDENT in A’dam for nearly 5 years. Ik spreek een beetje Nederlands. Seek work (p/t or f/t) in A’dam. GoodIT(ex-ITconsultant)and business skills (ex-ownermanager). Will consider anything. paulcosier@yahoo .co.uk.

NEW TO HOLLAND? Netherlands info site for visitors, expats & locals. Info on transport, accommodation, jobs, meeting people, eating & drinking, shopping, sports, courses, entertainment, communication, events and festivals. www. insquish.com.

GROUPS & CLUBS HEY! YOU AMERICAN?Join thefunwithlike-mindedAmericans at Democrats Abroad. WithmonthlyDemsFunDrinks, discussions, issue groups, and other activities. You don’t even have to be a Dem to join! Go to www.democratsabroad.nl for more info.

ARCHDRUID EVENINGThe chance of a lifetime. Connect with ancient wisdom. An Irish Arch Druid, Dr. Dwyer, comes to A’dam on Fri 29 Feb. Lecture will be held (to be announced) and the druid will accept private consultations. Info: www.realityporLESBIAN EXPAT GROUP tal.info. To be put on mailing We are setting up a social list write to info@realityporgroup for expat lesbians and tal.info. bisexual women. If you would SLEEPY INSTALLATION like to join in, drop us a line Peas growing out of a bed, at lbexpatamsterdam@hot- video loops and beautiful art mail.com. photography. A quiet and inspiring multimedia instalPERSONALS lation by Emily Kocken, AniTUTCHknowthelanguagefrom ta Kooij, Carst van der Molen, her lover - info@janstorms.nl visit from 7 March till 6 April, NICE QUIET WOMANLook- Fri, Sat, Sun, 14.00-17.00: ing for a nice, quiet woman. Echtenstein 209, A’dam ZO. I am a single man. If you want, 06 3613 5774/www.stichtcall me please on 06 5558 2375. ingzero.nl.

GUITAR AND MORE Guitar classes for ALL levels (jazz, Brazilian, funky, folk, pop), coaching, workshops, improvisation, composing, accompany in different styles, music harmony, ear training & solfege. All of that & much more from experienced interDUTCHLANGUAGECOURS- national performer & teachESEvery month new courses. er. For details please call 06 MILAN FLIGHT GUY Girl in Group classes with max 6 stu- 2956 4595. green shorts saw really cool dents. Sharp Prices! Two locaLOOKING FOR looking guy, glasses, sleeveless tions: A’dam centre near Rembrandtplein and A’dam zuid GRAPHIC DESIGNER body warmer & grey hoodie, near WTC. Check www.kataku- AVAILABLE Specialised in on evening Transavia flight ra-WBLC.nl or call 612 2727. design for print but can build from Milan Fri 15th. Random Katakura WBLC Dutch Lan- simple websites too. Have 5 as this is & not the usual way guage School. yrs freelance and office expe- to meet people... Post an ad. If you fancy getting in touch & IMPROVE YOUR DUTCH! A rience and am looking for a we’ll take it from there. fresh Dutch start in 2008? Pri- p/t job in a studio or an agenprincesspinstripe@yahoo.com. vateclasses,smallstudygroups, cy. Working from home is also conversation, intensive, etc at a possibility. Contact 06 5090 NOTICES Link Taal Studio, Vijzelgracht 0923 or assen@plotki.net. 53, professional approach. Call MASSAGE THERAPISTLes- MUSIC FANS WANTED!for Anja 06 4133 9323, linktaal- bian woman is looking for a a photo project/documentation; search for Musicians/ studio@gmail.com. job in sauna, sport club, hotel, Musicfans, who really express DUTCH COURSES New pension or private. I have 15 their identity in clothes & evening courses starting in Jan years experience. I speak fashion/decorations. Every and Feb, centre of A’dam. €200- English, German and en beet- type of music directions wel250 for 20 hrs. Visit www.mer- je Nederlands. Tel 06 2664 come! More info at mail@concuurtaal.nl or call 693 4250. 3847. (no sex/no erotic.)

MASSAGE COURSESIl Cielo Open Day on 16 Mar from 14.00-18.00 at Mirror Centre where you can learn about holistic massage, foot reflexology, craniosacral & energy work, also combinations. Weekly lesson of 4 or 6 hours each. Also meditation workshops. Info il cielo: 06 3004 DUTCH CONVERSATION 9738 or look www.ilcielo.org. Conversatieweek Nederlands. Kom een weekje Nederlands LANGUAGES spreken bij GLOSSA. One DUTCH LESSONS A'DAM week intensive fluency will Improve conversation/profes- make your Dutch boost. More sional purpose/studies/NT2. information and other trainAlso online. Min indiv rate ing options www.glossa.nl or €15/hr. Adults & children. Mon- call 06 1471 5372. Sat, 10.00-21.00. Also intenMUSIC sive courses. Min intensive: 15 hrs=€215,55. www.excel- PIANO PLAYER WANTED

TATTOO ARTIST Experienced tattoo artist (6 yrs), looking for work, p/t, f/t. Have large portfolio. Willing to learn and very humble. Living in A’dam. Mobile: 06 3471 1843. BASS TEACHER NEEDED I am looking for someone who can give me electric bass lessons. Professional teacher or music student preferred. Please get in touch with me

A'DAM FLICKR GROUP Share your photos of A’dam with other Weekly readers. Join Amsterdam Weekly’s new Flickr Group! Go to flickr.com, search for Amsterdam Weekly under Groups, and start loading your favourite images. MURAL PAINTER Do you have a children’s room or nursery that needs something special to make it unique? I can paint children’s dreams on their walls and decorate a play room with imagination. Any theme, any style. Contact Anna to discus the possibilities: anna@ annagreaves.com or 06 1811 5098.

Jobs