Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 09:12:43 +0000 From: Steev Hise To: europe2000ATdetritus.net Subject: report 3: Amsterdam hi, Well, again a lot has happened since my last mail. After writing that I had a quick chat with Joel Ryan of STEIM, who was at Starlab too for a few days helping chris salter with this intelligent clothing stuff. He suggested someone to talk to at STEIM. Most of the staff is out of town in Avignon but this guy tom is still around. For those of you who don';t know, STEIM is a technology art center in Amsterdam that does great work with alternate controllers and interfaces to sound and video. I'm interested in doing a residency there. Anyway, Then I caught a train to Amsterdam. It was a little late and i ended up getting there a little before 10 pm. It was still a bit light out, belive it or not. At Antwerp a guy got on and sat down next to me and I assumed he was Belgian or Dutch. When the train started goign backwards the way it came I got worried and decided to ask the guy what was going on. "Sprecht U Engels?" I said. He answered in English, "Yes I know English." He explained the train was just turning around to change tracks or something. We talked a little more and I realized he had sort of an English accent, though not the normal sort of English accent. It turned out he was Scottish, but born in Bahrain, spent most of his life in South Africa, went to london for one year and then a year ago moved to Amsterdam. He was really cool. We ended up talking for the rest of the train ride, about Amsterdam, the Dutch, computers, Microsoft, Tibet, and a bunch of other things. He even asked me about Dr. Dre and Eminem because his daughter liked them and he didnt know anything about them. He works as a consultant to human rights organizations, in Eastern Europe and Holland and Asia. He told me how he and his wife and kid might move to Indonesia soon so he could work with groups there. I told him what I did for a living and about my work for the Milarepa fund and tibet and stuff. He was a really great, nice guy. He told me alot about the Dutch social policies and how people were. He seemed to fit right in. He talked about how people seemed to really care about each other in Holland and that it was "not cool to be uncool" there. People are actually really tolerant and appreciate difference. My experience here so far seems to corroborate that. I asked him if he knew any good books about the Dutch society and he said no, but maybe in 10 years or so if he stays there he'll write one. We got along so well that he gave me his address and phone number and said if there was any help i needed while i was in town I could call him. In a way it seems, from what he and others have said, and what i've seen, that Amsterdam is the real version of what San Francisco, or California, pretends to be. People really ARE nice and laid back, instead of acting laid back but really being assholes. People really are tolerant, much more consistently tolerant, and liberal about what other people can do in society. The people here are really multicultural too, I expected it to be much more homogenously white here. When I got to Amsterdam I changed some money and looked for customs. Wierd, no gates with guards taking passports. Didnt they want to stamp my passport? I still feel like I might have done something wrong because I never did find anyone who wanted to do that. Maybe this is part of the EU or Schengen Treaty or whatever. Anyway, I put on my backpack and started off for my hotel, the Winston, on Warmoesstrat. It's a sort of seedy part of town, right on the edge of the Red Light District. In fact my room has a window/balcony sort of thing that looks right out on a little alley where some prostitutes are plying their trade. The Red Light District is just the most amazing and strange thing ever, certainly the strangest thing about Amsterdam. But it's just one more aspect of their progressive social policy. This is how it works: There's an area about 4 blocks by 8 blocks where prostitution is allowed. Actually I've seen a few "booths" in one other part of the city, which was surprising. But anyway, There are all these little plate glass doors that look right out on the street. Inside the doors bathed in redlight is a woman, usually with nothing on but lingerie. People walk around staring through the glass and if someone wants the services of one of them he steps closer and the woman opens the door and they talk briefly, and then the guy either goes in or doesnt. If he goes in a curtain closes. There are some streets that are special types of girls, like Asians or big plump Africans or blond white anorexic model types, or even transexuals or dominatrixes. some of the streets are also incredibly narrow, like in the rest of Amsterdam, they are just tiny alleys, more like hallways. There are also tons of other sex-related businesses around, like shops that sell videos, and strip clubs. The most amazing thing is that this is just a family tourist event in the early evening. Couples of all ages and groups of friends of both sexes wander the alleys causually gawking and joking around. As the night gets later things get more serious, packs of drunk men are the norm, making courser jokes and yelling and stuff. Even later at night things get almost scary. At one point I was wandering through a REALLY narrow alley, like only one person wide, and all these guys that were like English football hooligans, really tough crude guys, were in there too coming the other way and it was really tense. Not that they threatened me or anything but it was like the sheer force of testosterone and alcohol and claustrophobia might throw them into a killing frenzy at any moment. Well, enough about the red lights. On to other things. Yesterday, monday, I wandered around town with my minidisc recorder and my camera just looking at the canals and streets and old buildings and getting a feel for the city. I stayed in the center of town but it was still a lot of walking. Plus the streets are very confusing sometimes, winding around almost randomly and changing names frequently. Basically the city is built in concentric rings of canals and streets. most streets are pretty narrow with really narrow sidewalks, but on the major streets there are always bike lanes with their own little dividers so that cars cant hit the bikers even if they wanted to. it's a very bike-friendly city. Although it LOOKS dangerous, with trams and cars and bikes and people darting about seeminly wildly, you eventually realize that they are all really paying attention and watching out for each other. Rob, the guy on the train, said there was a law that the a larger vehicle is responsible for the safety of the smaller. so trucks have to watch out for cars and cars for bikes and bikes for pedestrians. if you run over someone, it's pretty much your fault, even if the bike or walker was doign something dumb. The really cool thing that happened yesterday is that I stumbled upon this hiphop record store called 'Phat Beats'. I decideced to go in, just cause I hadnt been into a record store there yet. There was white board on the door that said that Jurassic 5 was doing an instore that day at 5:00. I said "wow!" outloud andn the guy running the store said, yeah, it'll be cool, and we started talking and he was telling me about this big hip hop and techno festival here this weekend and that i should stay another few days. he was very cool. I told him i'd be back at 5. I wandered home and got more minidiscs and got back there at 5. they were a little late but the band did show up. J5 for those of you who dont know, are a pretty cool group from L.A. who I have some CDs of but had never seen before. They have 4 rappers and a d.j. who goes by the name Cut Chemist. He does *amazing* little cut-up pieces when he does solo work so that was the main reason i was interested. I asked around and someone pointed out which one he was. The only white guy in the group. In fact he looked like a hippie more than a hiphopper. They were just standing around signing records so I introduced myself and we talked a bit. I told him about detritus and he seemed interested, and he said he was working on a solo album but it might take a year or more to finish cuz it was goign slow. Then they did a little instore performance in the basement. the basement had more records and a sound system with turntables and stuff. They did a great little "freestyle" set with Cut Chemist just mixing together whatever records he picked out from the store and the 4 guys with mics rapping, mostly improving. it was really great. And I got it all on disc, though it was so loud that i think my microphones overloaded a few times. The day was then winding down, or that's what my body was telling me. But it doesnt actually even start getting dark till about 9:30, like it's not even twilight till then. finally by about 10:30 it was dark. On my way back from the record store I had dinner at this cool argentinian place. the girl working there waas from Egypt and had only been in town for a couple months. she didnt really like it in amsterdam but her husband was from here. poor woman. Anyway, today I rented a bike and i'm planning to go ride around farther from the city center. And I will hopefully visit STEIM, since I got email back from the guy there. I also will hopefully visit a museum or 2, like the Rijkmuseum, which is their major art museum. Tommorrow, to Antwerp for a day. Gotta sign off, people are waiting to use this terminal. bye for now, smh Steev Hise, At Large steevATdetritus.net detritus.net/steev