Swoon CD release!

Good news: on 20 December 2008 the SWOON CD was released by Beta Lactam-Ring records in the USA! The album is now available via their website, but why not please the artist and buy your copy straight from me? Just send an e-mail to info@beequeen.nl and, as soon as my box of copies arrive, you will be able to hum along to the lovely songs that make up SWOON. The reissue contains the full original album. Well, to be honest, not completely full as one track – the truly horrible and very pre-puberal Lonely Eyes – is missing. Be happy. If you do want to hear that one, you would have to track down an original vinyl copy, but don't tell me I didn't warn you. Lonely Eyes is compensated by a smattering of nice bonus songs, including a previously unreleased track from the original sessions that didn't make it on the album, two tracks from the Honey Button EP and an unreleased track from 1993, which I had forgotten all about. Add to this a nice package with a nice image of me and some scene-setting words and you have a pretty cool release. I think. Why not buy a copy and decide yourself?

Requiem

On 22 November 2008 An van Wel ("Tante An") died. She lived in our household for over 14 years. She died at the respectable age of 91 years, just one week prior to her 92nd birthday. She was a remarkable person: honest (even though she was notorious for cheating at Monopoly), caring and with a strong love for her family and the place where she was born (Terneuzen in The Netherlands). She worked for many years as counselor in the "Raad voor de Kinderbescherming" (the board for the protection of children) and, as such, was responsible for adoptations. She was present at my birth, I was present at her death. The day she died was the first day with snow we had in The Netherlands. I miss her dearly but, at the same time am happy that she is now "home with her father and mother", as she so dearly wished. She has had a full life, which has now gone full circle.

Drive my car

There is no such thing as "news". So we'll add a bit of old news (I love the fact that this contradiction is frequently used in print) here. A while ago Beequeen was informed that their track Buzbag Drive (from the album The Body Shop) was shortlisted for a new European AUDI car campaign. The track was planned for inclusion up to the very last minute when the director chose a neutral piece of classical piano music. Boring. Now you know why the automobile industry is fighting for its survival. It would be nice to think that with the right music AUDI would have been the only automobile industry still thriving today. However, it is a shame that Frans and I will now have to live without our complimentary copy of the new AUDI car. Frans' one of course being for polishing and washing only as he doesn't have a drivers license.