Tempos - Party with a Purpose

Yes, I woke up hungover just in time for lunch but I was so looking forward to this next gig at Tempos that soon I was cured and ready to party. Martin dropped Berny and Brydon at my house and after waiting “patiently” for the boys to finish watching the Rugby Sevens we went to Tempos for the charity gig, “Party with a Purpose”. This was in aid of the Strathyre Girls Home. I love these charity events, so I brought some of my old clothes to donate to the home as well.
It was freezing again, so Berny and I headed straight for the bar and started off with tequila and our usual Smirnoff Storm. I so wish I had slowed down a bit. We went back outside and joined the Aion Truth lads who were standing next to a cozy warm fire. We had plenty of time before the first band started so we caught up with the band and drank and drank and drank. We spoke about what brands of alcohol got us wasted. Jagermeister came up and so it occurred to us that we should have Jagerbombs. And so we had. And I wish I hadn’t.

Two hours later, and several shooters down our throats, Is that Blood? came on. The crowd they had was amazing, so much so that I couldn’t even get to the front to take some photos. Certainly not bad for a band’s first gig! I had listened to one of their tracks several months ago and I looked forward to this gig for a long time. They certainly didn’t disappoint!

After them, it was Libido’s turn and this time we managed to get to the front and partied with Aion Truth. And guess what they offered to the crowd? Jagermeister! Oh dear. I had several shots, which I shared with Morgan, but it still affected me dearly. I could feel my head spinning. They threw some merchandise to the crowd as well, and after a few misses, I finally managed to score a Diesel cap which I wore for the rest of the evening. Libido did their cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” again, which I love, and so we all went craaaaaazy. These guys kickass.

Finally it was my favourite band to go on stage. Aion Truth! Duh! While they set up I got them some water and tried to sober up a little myself, but it was to no avail. Berny and I went nuts in the front and enjoyed every minute of AT’s performance. We even got a song dedicated to us, hehehhhh, their number one fans.

Chromium came on next, but I watched from the sidelines while I let Berny take-over photographing duties. She did well. When I start my own photography services, I will definitely hire her, lol. Morgan was evil enough to get us another round of Jagerbombs and that sealed my fate. I was pissssed as hell. I don’t even think I watched the last band, Hell to Pay.


We left soon after and I climbed into bed as soon as I got home, trying not to think of the hangover that awaited me the next morning. Not only did I have the mother of all hangovers, but also the flu. I still cant stop sneezing. My nose feels like a raw faulty tap. Ugh. I don’t even know why Im at work now. But its not going to stop me from partying up a storm, again and again and again. Life’s a party, enjoy the ride while you still can!

Sam’s not 21 birthday thingy

One of the cool things about being on the UJfm chat room all day (I am a self-confessed addict) is that you get to become well acquainted with the DJs as well as some very cool (and crazy) people, one of the crazy ones being Berny and myself. We have discovered some of our many personalities, occasionally coming in as Patricia Lewis, Amor Vittone and Kurt Darren, among others. This provides barrels of laughter and not much productivity in the end.

There are some regulars in the chat room, other than Berny and myself and we have clicked with some of them, so much that we have now called ourselves the “Fab 5”. A bit presumptuous of us, some might say, but it had caught on quite well and our popularity has soared with the DJs, especially Sam, who does the afternoon drive. And so she invited us for drinks last Friday night to celebrate her 20th birthday.
We got there fashionably late; over 2 hours after the party had started. Thanks to one of the F5, who I will not mention, I missed out on meeting my favourite DJ, Nick. I guess Im just going to have to wait a little bit longer. By then Sam was already tipsy and enjoying the company of good friends, including Fred and Kerran from iNeRsHa, in the cozy little joint in Melville. Eventually we managed to squeeze at one of the tables (which was rather nice since it was such a cold night, what better way to keep warm then to huddle all together?). I felt a bit claustrophobic but a few tequilas sorted that out.

We met some of the other DJs, and engaged in funny conversations, especially with Adam, he is hilarious. He was the last one to leave and stayed with us almost to the end. Sam had left early as she was driving home alone. Smart girl.

We left close to midnight after listening to some crazy chick talk about affirmative action. We all had the munchies so we stopped at Fontana to cure our cravings. I was then dropped off at home and groaned at the fact that I knew I was going to be hungover the next day, when drinking was to be resumed. The story continues…

Tempos - the Rock Soup Kitchen

Luck was on my side as Berny and I managed to find a way to get to Tempos yesterday for the Rock Soup Kitchen gig. This time we got dropped off by her brother Martin, while her younger brother, Brydon, joined us for this long day full of some of the coolest bands in SA. Having won two tickets to the event earlier this week, Berny and I were VIP guests, how cool is that? It felt weird to be there so early – it was just after 13:00. Munkinpure was already setting up on stage, doing sound check. We got some drinks and settled at a table in front of the stage. Travis, the lead singer came over to say hi. Last time we saw him was at the Friday the 13th Fest and we were totally smashed. So this meeting was a bit weird, with us being sober.

Being the first band to play on stage is never the best thing on earth, especially when its 13h00, there is a rugby match and FA Cup final on the way and only a handful of people watching. But this didn’t seem to trouble Munkinpure, as Travis said to us, this is mainly a metal gig, and since they are anything but a metal band, they’d rather play first before the hardcore metal bands get there, lol. I enjoyed their set and recognised two of their songs that have been getting a lot of radio play in UJfm, “Breathe” and “Beautiful Day”. Stunning.

After that, it was Tony Danza’s turn. No, it wasn’t the big nosed Italian actor from “Who’s the Boss”, haha. Instead it was a three man band, who did some interesting covers of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” and a Deep Purple Song. Their new song, “Road Rage” which apparently they had written the night before, had me in stitches. The singer didn’t know all the words to it, so he had a sheet of paper sprawled in front of him.

We skipped the next few bands so we could watch the Super 14 final inside by the bar. Naturally, Berny and I supported the Sharks (due to personal reasons, I can never bring myself to support the Bulls) and sat at the edge of our seats during this tantalising, nail-biting match. I was getting annoyed with some loud-mouthed, pompous Bulls supporters and fought to keep my glee as the Sharks were in the lead during the dying minutes of the match. Unfortunately, Habana scored a try for the Bulls just after the siren went off, and Hougaard converted, putting them in the lead and crowning them the new Super 14 champions. Needless to say, Berny and I got out there fast enough.

We watched the last few minutes of Far Beyond Driven – really hardcore band but unfortunately I was too distracted to pay attention. Most of the evening bands were starting to arrive so I had a bit of a catch up session and every now and then I went in to the bar to check the FA Cup score. It was 0-0 for the entire match, which went into extra time, right up until five minutes before the end when Chelsea scored and ruined what was supposed to be a great sporting weekend. Kerran from Inersha was in his element, a proud Chelsea supporter. Anyone who listens to Sam’s show on UJfm will know that they had a little wager about who was going to win. Looks like Kerran is the winner.

Knave was on next, I enjoyed every minute of their performance, as well as Namuh’s after that. When Inersha came on, I was surprised to see my brothers arrive as well as Martin and Shawn. I never thought they’d actually come so it was cool to have them there. Berny reminded me this morning of the drunk pirate that came on stage (yes, a pirate) and took the mic away from Fred before he could sing. That wasted about 2 minutes, until he finally gave the mic back. What a noob, lol.

The band that I was really waiting to see was Torment. They were sure on form that night, they were KICKASS!!! I cannot wait for their CD to come out. My throat still hurts from all the screaming. Next on was Chromium, who I always enjoy. I managed to score more drumsticks from Hannes, and a pick from Matt. I also got half a stick from Charles from Torment, so I didn’t have to fight Berny to the death with a wooden spoon for it, my weapon of choice.

Soon after that, Berny and Martin left, so I sat down and watched Agro, the next band. I hadn’t seen them since Woodstock 6, so it was really cool to see them again. By then I was feeling really tired, hungry and halfway between sobering up and falling asleep, but I still enjoyed the band.

Last but not least was Insek. These guys have such cool masks! A little bit freaky, but really cool. Their set was surprisingly short, or so it seemed to me, but it was alright since all I wanted to do is get into bed and die. I thanked Bianca for putting together such a great show, got in the car with my brothers and slept all the way home. Yesterday I recovered indoors, and watched 300 again. Im still a bit fragile though and makes me wonder just for how much longer I can keep this up. Lol. But hey, at least I have fun!

Is Chromium too loud in the morning?

We had this debate on UJfm last week and I think we won fair and square. I am all for loud in the morning - the louder the better, something to wake me and cheer me up on the way to work. Coffee just doesnt seem to do it for me anymore, so why not a dose of good screaming from Chromium? The DJ of the hour was a bit concerned, after having played the track "Control" on the radio at 7am, that maybe it was a bit too loud and rough for the morning and asked everyone to phone in and give their opinions.

He knew that I was going to phone and kick his ass, cause I am a huge Chromium fan so of course I did. Too loud? Pfffffttttt, please, I want all these buggers to wake up a bit!!!! Bring it on! Some old farts said that it was, in fact, too loud, but what can you expect from them. They should just switch off their hearing aids.

If they start playing more of that kak like Nelly Retardo, Timberfake and that other penis Justin (thanks Sam), then thats it, Im done with listening to radio. That was the reason I stopped listening to 5fm and switched to UJfm. I cant stand the crap that 5fm churns out. You call that music? At least UJfm plays good South African music like iNeRsHa, Knave, The Narrow and of course, Chromium. Not to mention, kickass tracks from the likes of Slipknot, Korn, Trivium, Iron Maiden and so much more. Yes, sometimes their playlist goes a bit nuts and plays annoying music from Lady Sovereign (AAAHHHHHH!!!!!) but then I just block my ears and think of tequila.

I just think we need a solid rock radio station, purely for us die-hard rock fans. The other genres get catered for, so why cant we? Dammit!

A wise man once said (and still says): "If its too loud, you are TOO OLD!"

Bierfest 2007 - best by far

I think this year’s German School Bierfest will go down as the best one we have had yet. We had some good laughs with good friends, with plenty of beer. We decided to get there early yesterday morning to we could get a good table and just park there for the rest of the day. We picked the Castle tent (even though I hate Castle) as it was near the stage and the biggest tent of all.

Ferdi, Weasel, Shawn and I met up with Ingrid, Rudi, Ulrike and Uwe over there and set up two tables under the hot sun. The garden umbrellas that were there did not provide us with enough shade so we moved the tables and benches inside the tent, and got a better view of the TV screens so we could watch the Super 14 semi-finals later.

The beer flowed and I happily snapped away with my camera. We soon learnt that it wasn’t safe to leave our belongings (especially my camera) with Ferdi when going on toilet breaks. I have now thousands of pictures of the fat bugger trying on all the girls jerseys. Needless to say, mine went straight to the laundry basket.


Soon we managed to collect several beer cups which kept our boys entertained while they built towers and pyramids on the table. Boys will be boys. Ferdi made more BFFs, by handing out necklaces to Ingrid (finally), Uwe, some of Ingrid’s friends, and other random girls that passed by. Somewhere in the tent, I spotted the new guitarist from Inersha, Colin, so I sent Ferdi to give him a new BFF as well. The poor guy didn’t have a clue as to what was potting. I was almost on the floor from laughing so much.





I was quite happy that there was a Jagermeister tent as well, so I indulged in a few shots plus a Jagerbomb, and kept the test tubes in which they came, haha. For the first round, Rudi accompanied me. On our way back, Mafikizolo was on stage, and we must have been very drunk cause I realised that they were singing one of their popular songs that always gets played at work functions, so Rudi and I joined the crowd and did the “Bart dance” with them. Hilarious, two whiteys trying to keep up with everyone.

Just when the first Super 14 game was about to start, and the most important, as most of us support the Sharks, the TV screens went dead. Apparently the generator had blown. So we decided to leave the Castle tent and see if the TV were working in the others. A few went ahead to check while the rest of us watched a bit of Evolver. But I just wasn’t in the mood to watch, I wanted to watch the rugby. Unfortunately, the other beer tents were packed with people as they all flocked there to watch the rugby.

While we pondered what to do next, Rudi decided to run down a slope instead of going down the stairs. The bugger fell and hurt his knee. He had a deep gash, blood running down his leg, so we dragged him to the emergency tent to get him cleaned up. While we waited, I bumped into Shadley, my “evil son” and his girlfriend and had long drunken chat with them. I was slurring big time, but I think I managed to hold a conversation, haha. By then Weasel looked green and passed out on a bench outside. Ferdi laughed at him and took pics – payback for all the times he let me and Ferdi have it for getting horribly drunk. And what’s even more funny was that Ferdi and I managed to hold our liquor.

Unfortunately Rudi had to be taken to the hospital for stitches so our fun at the beerfest quickly came to an end. Ingrid went with him in the ambulance and while Ferdi and Shawn took Weasel home, the rest of us went to have another Jagermeister and planned to meet together afterwards at the Dros for more drinks. Uli was nervous about having to drive Rudi’s car so I offered to go with her and pick Rudi and Ingrid up at Olivedale Clinic (to this day, that place still gives me the shivers). At the parking lot, his car alarm went off and we couldn’t figure out how to switch it off. The security guys came to check and Uli was more frantic than ever. I was forced to sober up rapidly and phoned Rudi for instructions. After all that was sorted, we got in the car and drove off into traffic madness. I managed to calm Uli down but I could see she was not happy.

After we picked them up, we met Ferdi and Shawn at the Dros but it was closed. Uwe and his friend were at another Dros in Northriding, so after much shouting and arguing, getting lost and me being way too calm and happy, we finally met at the right Dros, sat down and chilled. After recounting all our stories with more drinks, we all had a good laugh about the day’s dramatic events. What a night!

I had promised Berny a drunken phone call (damn, she had missed out) and provided her with lots of giggles while I hiccupped every 5 seconds. Eventually we were cut off when my battery died. I was feeling a bit peckish after all the beer so I begged everyone to go to McDonalds. And that’s where the evening finally ended. If this Bierfest was so much fun, I certainly cant wait for my church’s one in September! Hahaha.

Oh and look what Ferdi chased and caught. Lol