Chez Natasha

Finally, after about two years of hard work, the Filles Fragiles CD compiled by DJ Guuzbourg of Filles Sourires fame is finally here! The CD contains French pop music with an emphasis on soft sung female singers. On November 24 the launch was kicked off by a short yet nice performance by Paris’ Peppermoon (who are still looking for a record label). Then, DJ Guuzbourg along with myself, DJ Natashka alternately manned and womaned the turntables. And after that, special guest DJ Martin Hemmel all the way from Munich did what he does best: mix up French cuts to perfection while everyone dances it out of their system.Yes, people, there is a French scene in Amsterdam and it’s a groovy joint effort at that. Pictures coming soon, we’re still drinking coffee at this point.

I am having my four sites upgraded to WordPress 2.3.1, hence the new look of things on 24oranges, Dunglish, Radio Oh la la and Chez Natasha. And then once this is all sorted, we (as in me and some friends) will be launching blog/website number 5, more on this when it’s ready.

Look out for an article with me and some francophile friends in Dutch magazine HP/De Tijd within two weeks. Guuzbourg and his new Filles Fragiles CD and Les Playmobils will be mentioned too.

I’ll also be going on about podcasts again at the upcoming second edition of the Lifehacking Academy in Arnhem, the Netherlands, and maybe I’ll throw in some info about webradios as well. I still thing people just want to see my nice microphone.

All the way due North in Groningen, the very first Lifehacking Academy got underway in a nice film theatre complete with Macs and Fat Boys (huge modern beanbags) all over the place. There were presentations of all kinds related to hacking your life with tips and tricks, how to work smarter and how to promote yourself. I myself gave a workshop on how to podcast your story, and I was lucky enough to get to tell my story twice. Read the full programme in Dutch of the day here.

I heard some interesting things, one of them was from Erno Hannink who I listened talk about personal branding, a story I had already heard from friend and fellow woman on the web, Marieke Hensel. As expected, they know each other.

I also noticed that it’s not just the huge foobar surrounding paying for the right to podcast music in the Netherlands that deters people from podcasting, but also the lack of technical knowledge and equipment. I enjoyed talking to Lykle de Vries, who I heard give a workshop on Web 2.0, about music rights in the Netherlands and discussing how the music authorities are so incredibly stupid that they dare ask for money from podcasters who use non-copyrighted music because they don’t understand the concept. In fact, major radio stations, which were logically the firsts to podcast here have axed their podcasts because they couldn’t take dealing with the stupidity anymore. I told Lykle that podcasters could pull an ‘RTL’, my personal expression referring to four TV stations (RTL, 4, 5, 7 and 8), which although Dutch in content, broadcast out of Luxembourg to avoid stupid advertising laws.

It was a creative and positive day, and that’s what counts.

On November 24, French grooviness will descend upon Amsterdam in a big way. Recent news reveals that Peppermoon will be giving an acoustic performance to kick off the evening’s Filles Fragiles CD launch. The liner notes contain a text by Dutch writer Ronald Giphart, which I was asked to translate into English. He coined the Dutch neologism ‘zuchtmeisje’ (a girl that makes you sigh), which I translated as ‘girl to sigh for’. It could be misread as a girl that sighs, and so I did have to think about it.

Not only will I be DJing alongside Guuzbourg, the French fan of Bossa Boogie, who will be letting out his inner unshaven, chain-smoking Gallic twin, but the famous Martin Hemmel, resident DJ of Munich’s Atomic Cafe will be making his first Amsterdam appearance!

So this may all sound like night time fun, but it is business! Think of me next time you need anything French and cool for a product launch, a company party – you name it, I take requests.