Kongos live in concert

November 7 2014 in a small location in Amsterdam called Bitterzoet the band Kongos put up quite a show. The band consists of 4 brothers and the type of music is quite difficult to explain, but I'll try my best. It's a fresh sound in the rock genre with drum beats that are rather influenced by African drums. It's sort of rhythmic rock, rock with an african bite if you will. 

The concert was very cheap (10 euros) and since I like their album I had no reason whatsoever not to go and check them out. I have seen a number of 'smaller' bands and I am willing to bet that the Kongos will not remain as small as they are now. They gave a great live show. 

The musicality of these 4 brothers shows how talented they are, and they already have a strong connection and chemistry with the audience. They write and play their music and everyone of them plays an irreplaceable role in the band: 

• Dylan Kongos – bass guitar, lap slide guitar, vocals

• Daniel Kongos – guitar, vocals

• Jesse Kongos – drums, percussion, vocals

• Johnny Kongos – accordion, keyboard, vocals

Even though Johnny stood at the far side of the stage, but that would be because of the small venue. 

And even their stage manager came onstage for 2 songs showing that he's a great MC. 

They've played mostly their songs from the album 'Lunatic' and as encore they've played 2 songs from their father. So, all in all it was a great show displaying what a talented family they are. Oh and a lot of head banging with hair going in all directions ~ awesome!

Oh and they actually are very cool guys. They mingled with the crowd after the show and I even got to meet them! 

If you're curious on what kind of music they make, here's a youtube playlist you can listen to (I highly recommend you do)

Last-minute move to NYC?

It's been a while since the last time I wrote here, moving house and work played a huge role in me not having any free time on my hands. But the busy times are almost over thankfully. In the meantime a peculiar dream I've had last night:

I was in New York City bummed out because we just heard from the head of our department that the entire hallway from work will be moving to NYC. Now the reason I was bummed out was that I just moved and had to pay so much money for the floors and new furniture and just NOW he mentioned 2 weeks in advance that the entire hallway will move to NYC and continue research there. Why he couldn't tell us earlier remained a mystery for me. So yeah, I was the only one who was bummed out and not enjoying scouting for a new location for the lab. I wondered why my other colleagues who just bought a new house weren't bummed. Anyway, we walked into a building on Times Square that the head of the department was interested in. It was an interesting setup for a lab. Clear floors with yet no tables and in each of the corners there were 5 desks, but the corners weren't set up logically. So I doubted whether this would work out for a good lab setting. I was just very upset about the last minute move... I finally moved to a nice place and then 3 weeks later I can move again... Great. Just great...

Image taken from google

Rishloo - Landmines

In a previous entry I've written about how Rishloo is back together and how excited I was about an up and coming album. Well, their first single is released and I have to admit I've been listening to it pretty much non stop:

This is exactly why I absolutely love this band. Every aspect is great, from the musicality to the lyrics and how these combine on another adding a ton of emotion to the piece. It's very intricate and even though this single points to a change or growth of the band, it's still very much the sound of 'Rishloo'. I seriously can't wait to hear the rest of the album. 

The roles we tend to play

As a female I've heard many times about how a man should be, how a man should treat a woman. This starts from kids movies and continues through life. The boy saves the girl, the man protects the woman... We are set up to play the role of a damsel in distress. As soon as we clearly show that we can take care of ourselves, that we are independent and able to pay our own bills without any problems, we tend to end up alone, single. Is this because we as successful women set up too high standards for men and these type of men are just too scarce? Or do we scare off men? Or perhaps both? 

Since this world is not set for independent women, it's tough for both sexes to adapt to this. I've read many times that we have to let men feel needed by asking them to help us in simple tasks in the house or simply opening a can. Isn't this silly? Why would you put yourself down this way by asking for help with something you could easily handle yourself? Isn't it better to actually ask for help in things you honestly can't do? 

It's sad that the world today is set up in a way where men have to feel like women need them for solving and/or fixing things? There are women bodybuilders out there. Imagine them asking their husband/ boyfriend to open up a can... Isn't it better to have honesty in this world? Yes it's great to be in someone's arms and feel safe. But I'm sure this goes both ways. This feeling of being safe relates more to trust you feel for the person you're with and not so much feeling safe from burglary for example. So I hope the standards for male and female will change and we could all just be honest with one another without feeling the need to read between the lines or act in a way you feel you have to. We all need to be real and stop trying to portray a character made by the media.