Instagrams of the week

 

 

Sun. Wine. Music.

Ah, what a weekend for live music in P-Town. My ears are still ringing and my whiplash hasn't gone away but I carry my war wounds proudly. 

On Friday night I covered Goodnight Wembley's debut at Arcade Empire for Perdeby (the article will be in next week's paper). They were magnificent, despite a few teething problems like George van der Spuy's vocals being a bit too soft at times. Their sound is this really raw rock 'n' roll, quite unlike anything we have in the South African music scene at the moment. Shadowclub, one of my favourite local live acts, played before them and were equally as remarkable. The band played a bit of their new material which had a tinge of Radiohead to it. It gave me goosebumps. I'm really looking forward to the release of their second album, hopefully the wait won't be too long. My Epic Vice opened the show but were mostly unremarkable.

Then, today, I went to Park Acoustics at the Voortrekker Monument. Lazing in the sun, drinking cheap wine out of sippy cups and listening to live music is probably the best thing way to bid farewell to the weekend. Dan Patlansky, Holiday Murray, Andrew James and Manny Walters and The Width entertained our ears and boy, did they do a good job. My ears say thanks, and so do I.

I'm going to stop writing now. This is turning into one of those live reviews and for the most part, I hate live reviews. Probably because I associate them with poor quality online music magazines. Ha.

But anyway, hope you all had a good one too. 

Here's some photos from Park Acoustics.

 

Four Cousins out of a sippy cup. These are the days of our (student) lives.

Andrew James is incredible with his acoustic guitar and lap slide. Reminded me of Xavier Rudd.

Holiday Murray. I've been a big, big fan of theirs for quite a while now but only got the chance to see them live for the first time today. Their performance was as good as their recorded material and it made happy.

Dan Patlansky. Are there really any words to describe how talented this man is? No. Watching him play, it looks like he is trying to wrestle a demon out of his guitar. He wins. Every time.

The view from Fort Schanskop.

The Voortrekker Monument as the sun went down. Good weekend, good.

The obligatory Oppikoppi post

I know, I know. It's already been a week since the dust settled over Northam and I'm only doing this post now. Bad blogger, bad. My excuse? Death by post-festival flu. Between being unable to breathe through my nostrils and being on the verge of coughing up a lung, I somehow managed to make it through the week. I didn't get to enjoy Oppikoppi in the same way that other festival-goers did because I covered the event for Perdeby. This involved a jam-packed interview schedule that included both local and international bands. It was absolute madness but equally rewarding in that I learned a whole darn lot. 

Want to know what I learned?

 1. How to deal with stroppy artists.

  2. Not too panic when there isn't internet connection, even at the most crucial of times.

3. Some of the best musicians in South Africa are also the most underrated ones, like Jeremy Loops. 

4. Electro is huge. Massive. Enormous. The Red Bull Stage proved it.

5. Just how long I can survive without caffeine. Ricoffy doesn't count. Who are you kidding?

6. No matter what they tell you, hand sanitizer doesn't work. It just swishes the dirt around. With every day that went by, I looked a shade darker. And dealt with it. 

Enough of me rambling. Here's some photos. 

Ready. Steady. Go.

Navigating around (and sometimes through, I have to admit) potholes...

... to be met by a long, long queue of cars. It's a bit disheartening when you can't see the end of the line for two hours but at least helping to push-start an old turquoise Beetle was quite a laugh. Who takes a Beetle to Oppikoppi? Who? Hmm?

This is the hippie your parents warned you about. Hey guy, hope you survived the festival on the hill.

A marching band with a Pied Piper following.

I managed to catch a glimpse of Peachy Keen while grabbing a bite to eat.

Peter Rabbit performing on the MK Cube. They are possibly the band with the coolest name and the weirdest lyrics. Example? "My love for you is functional, I want to have your babies."

Les Doigts de L'Homme, a gypsy-jazz band from France. They were one of my favourite bands to see over the weekend. This may be because I fell in love with the second dude from the left. You pretty thing, you.

Balkanology, baby.

Diplo performing at the Red Bull Stage. We also 'got down like animals' when P.H. Fat performed there on Friday night. I love me some P.H. Fat.

Weekend in Instagrams

1. Once a month the Perdeby staff congregate at Aandklas to see just how far we can stretch our lovely little bar tab. It is here that I am often reminded that I write for a newspaper that is in fact a haven for psychotic, borderline alcoholics. Bless. How we manage to bring out a decent newspaper every week is beyond me though. 

2. On Saturday night I made my way to Arcade Empire, which was teeming with loud, hair-flipping, prematurely drunk kids. The lovely Laurie Levine kicked things off with Peter Auret on the drums. They deserved a better crowd but you can't expect kids, who were later slurping up Kinky Robot like a celebratory ice-cream after a good report, to appreciate good music. Sigh.

3. December Streets. The reason all the young ones stayed out way after their bedtime. The band were launching their new album, This Is. I won't say too much about it because I am reviewing the album for an upcoming edition of Perdeby but wow, lead guitarist Nico van Loggerenberg's mad guitar skills blew me away. 

4 & 5. Lisa van Leeuwen and Mathius Janmaat from Bombay Show Pig, an indie rock outfit from the Netherlands. The reason I joined the playground party on Saturday. I'll be doing a post on them tomorrow but just know that if you are making your way to the festival on the hill next week it would be quite a smart move to go see Bombay Show Pig perform. You won't regret it.

6. It's become somewhat of a tradition for my mom, Christi and I to go for breakfast on a Sunday morning. This week it was Vovo Telo in Woodlands. 

7. I had the corn hotcakes with a poached egg, rocket, basil pesto and roasted rosa tomatoes. Delicious. 

8. Pastries, cakes and fresh bread. Drool.

9. My mumsie had the toasted brioche with fig jam, roasted almonds and marscapone cheese. I snuck a bite and my taste buds did a little jig of joy.

Hope you all had a good one too!

On Saturday

If you read dear ol'Charlie regularly, you'll know that I'm not very fond of malls. At all. I like shopping (probably a bit too much for my own good) but I think malls are the pits. Come the weekend, I would much rather be outdoors. On Saturday my friend Marina and I made a trip to Irene Dairy Farm. We first sat down to a delicious breakfast of crumpets, berry compote, cream and walnuts and then walked around a bit and even made friends with the smelly little calves.

Afterwards we made our way to the Irene Market. I love flea markets, with all their junk and gems. I picked up a sweet little bag made by a man in Ghana. I'll do a post on it sometime this week so you can have a look-see. 

Hello holidays, hello

 

 I wrote my last exam on Saturday, so second year is officially done and dusted. It's a weird feeling though. I'm not used to not having anything urgent to do so I'm not quite sure what to do with myself first. I did start the holiday off, however, with lunch at Isabella's. It's one of my favourite restaurants because it's all pink and girly and the food is really divine. Just looking at the gnocchi I had is making my tummy rumble. So yes, expect more blogging from me because I am freeeeee!

Shoes, you make me happy!

I found these to-die-for vintage emerald green pumps from one of the stores at Duncan Yard. It's called Cherryamber. This boutique has about a gazillion things that were screaming my name to take them home. This time the shoes got lucky. It would only be right for me to go back for the others.

Duncan Yard

Plans for Women's Day: Decorex. Plan scrapped. New plan: Duncan Yard.
Duncan Yard is a great alternative to being a mall rat on a public holiday. Generally, I hate malls. Yuck. 

Duncan Yard consists of lots of little arty shops, boutiques, a deli and an art gallery.

We had lunch in the warm winter sun at Pappas while listening to some sweet blues tunes from Pierre, The Blues Man. He has a really nice raspy voice. If you're keen to hear some blues, he is at Pappas every Sunday. Definitely worth a trip!

This was lunch. A really really yummy gorgonzola and caramelized onion pizza. 

If you're keen to find out a bit more about Duncan Yard, here's the link to their website.