After an afternoon nap Friday, the first order of business was to pick up my festival wristband from Left of the Dial staffers working in a shipping container on Eendrachtsplein.  The wristband gets you into all the gigs. 

I then headed to WORM, an impressive non-profit arts venue on the Boomgaardsstraat hosting fest lineups.  I saw the Vienna band My Ugly Clementine off admiration for their full-length release Vitamin C.  There was no mention from the stage acknowledging drummer/singer Kem Kolleritsch’s departure from the band.  Kolleritsch quit a few months ago to protest bandmates’ lack of solidarity (hostility, in fact) with Kem’s activism and energy as a trans person.  While the remaining members issued a statement via social media expressing regret about their role in the outcome, they’re continuing to perform under the original band name doing many of the songs made special by Kolleritsch.   

Like many of the venues hosting Left of the Dial programming, WORM has two adjacent stages.  After one band plays, another starts minutes later.  Organizers keep bands to the printed schedule down to the minute.  Forty-minute sets.  Sound checks happen in the ten to twenty minute gaps between performances.  When the sound guy realized the lead singer of the German band Die Verlieler was not present a few minutes prior to the 1900 local “go” time at WORM, he asked the door man to go look for him.  He pulled up a band photo on his phone to aid in the search.  The singer was located quickly and the doorman and sound guy exchanged big laughs when discussing where he was found.  That conversation was in Dutch, so my eavesdropping didn’t shed light.  

Later in the evening, I saw the Manchester, UK band Mewn at Roodkapte.  Singer Daniel Bluer said it was Mewn’s first performance outside England.  Their song “Swell” sounded great.  A smoke machine stage right actively puffed dense clouds into the space of guitarist Rachel Bell. 

I had dinner Friday night at a busy poke’ place between WORM and Roodkapte.  

Rotterdam’s Lewsberg isn’t on the fest sked this weekend but I did see the band’s bass player Shalita Dietrich at WORM.  I was too nervous to approach her. 

Back after a long layoff – inspired by a trip that is starting in Rotterdam, NL.  

I’m gonna try to do daily updates (even if they’re just quickies) as I pass through parts of Holland and Belgium en route to Paris. 

I flew the home team airline Thursday night.  Newark to Amsterdam on a triple-7.  I sat in the middle cabin, a middling experience that was comparatively (as it should be I guess) better than the back of the plane – and not as good as the front.  I sat next to a guy who watched several Friends episodes on the in-flight entertainment system, laughing out loud throughout before he went into snooze mode.  

About an hour before landing, I was served an eggcellent breakfast.  The egg – served hot -somehow survived what must have been a long journey – plus bacon, potatoes, a cup of hollandaise sauce and a bowl of yogurt with berries, granola and honey.   

The train station at Schiphol is just steps from baggage claim.  It’s a transit concept we could only dream of in the states.  A blazing fast non-stop past flower hothouses and rural canal-dotted landscapes to Rotterdam’s central station took a half-hour.  The fare was 16.3 Euros.

I’m staying at an Ibis property four tram stops away from the train station.  The hotel allowed me to check in early for a 25 euro fee.  I’m here for days 2 and 3 of the three-day Left of the Dial Festival, featuring a bunch of Euro bands playing at clubs across the city.     

Beyond the two nights here in Rotterdam, the only thing I have settled is a trip to Breda to see the great Philly band Remember Sports on Sunday night.  I’m not yet sure where the rest of the voyage will take me.  All I know for sure is that I’ll be in Paris by the 27th to see Pavement.