The Strokes - Lisboa Soundz - 22/07/2006

Dirty Pretty Things - Lisboa Soundz

Rock n’ Roll, British, Glam, Sexy, Hollywood… I wasn’t a fan of Libertines but these guys seem to have survived the loss of their charismatic member pretty well, their aren’t definitely the next big thing and haven’t revolutionised the music world, but at least they are not a copy of another band and they know how to give a concert with passion, even if not technically perfect, but I always been a sucker for passion between passion vs technical.

She Wants Revenge - Lisboa Soundz

Before going to Lisboa Soundz I read an interview with these guys in which they said they made music for girls because they thought there were enough bands with aggressive music for guys, which was rather weird when I actually saw them on stage. They are not “take you breath away” or “leave you with out speech”, but they are more brutal than Dirty Pretty Things and I doubt there are more girls liking they’re music than guys ;)

Los Hermanos - Lisboa Soundz

A concert with little people watching, although they were arriving slowly, but they just sat down on the floor under the shade and quite far from the stage. At least there where some Brazilians all enthusiastic, one even with the Brazilian flag around his shoulders and they sang along the entire concert. I had heard part of their interview on the radio and they seemed a rather interesting band to watch and get to know as I only had heard the above song. They gave a very good concert, with a wide mixture of different Brazilian music types, so I can’t really categorize them. But I enjoyed them and any musician that is able to play with a football’ ball and play the guitar at the same time is a musician worth listening at least once ;) Some good rock n’ roll and up-lifting music and a treat after Isobel Campbell ;)

Isobel Campbell - Lisboa Soundz

Here I’m sorry but I will have to be really mean as this must have been one of the most pathetic concerts I’ve seen in my life and sincerely it isn’t worth the trouble. Resuming, we had a full grown woman in her thirties acting as a little girl of 5, oh so god dam sweet that any idiot could see straight away it was highly cynical, the type of sweetness some women try to use to manipulate people with their oh I’m so sweet, don’t you think so? Her musicians didn’t smile the whole 30 minutes the concert must have lost and all the times she spoke with them smiling and giggling all so sweetly they didn’t even smile to her and most of the times didn’t even look to her. They played mechanically without any passion; she did back vocals or sang in duets with another vocalist, but mainly only the refrains.

I wonder why the act is called Isobel Campbell if she isn’t the main vocalist, she hardly plays instruments and she even gave us a rather peculiar moment, when we know she has more than a decade of shows on her back… She sat to play her violoncello her band started to play, she ran out of the stage, then returned sat down, her band began to play again but she rumbled through her staves trying to find the right page, then after 3 attempts from her band she finally began to play but then got lost again when she had to turn another page and turned 2 instead…

Basically it was a disaster and what surprised me more was there where actually people applauding and cheering her as if they where enjoying her performance and the little butterfly like runs to the mic to say thanks very low and run away from it straight away, as most of the time she was with her back to the public or singing with her eyes shut. Go figure with Howe there where hardly any enthusiastic applause and even less cheers and with such a pathetic performance…

Howie Gelb & The Gospel Choir - Lisboa Soundz

Due to some really bad directions from the radio (they must think that everybody knows Lisbon’s downtown) and waiting to find out if I would have some company for the night ahead, I didn’t see the first group (some Portuguese band) but was fortunate enough to catch Howie Gelb & The Gospel Choir at the begging of their concert (although I must have missed a couple of songs). It was a great concert with a mix of blues, gospel & country and from the little I’ve found out in the web it seems he is one of the more under-known of American guitarists and songwriters, at least that is what you can read in a Amazon’s comment to one of his albums and the most famous band he belonged to was called Giant Sand. Yet another dinosaur forgotten by the industry…

There were not many people watching the concert, must were still in beaches or whatever and most were people who were there just to see Strokes, specifically the type of kids who only enjoy a band as long as it’s considered cool and hip to like them, the ones that cannot enjoy any type of music unless somebody (their urban tribe or the industry) tells them it’s cool to enjoy them…

Belle & Sebastian @ Lisbon - 17/07/2006

As the only video I found from Lisbon's concert has really bad quality, here goes one of the songs they played and, at least for me, one of the highs of the concert!



Some how I found the concert 4 years ago in Sudoeste more magical, this one was a great concert, no mistake, but discovering them 4 years ago as the last playing band at about 4 AM with hardly anybody seeing them hit me harder. It's funny how 4 years ago I saw them with the exact same fantastic company, altough this time there were more viewers/listeners ;)

My Holidays!!! 14-15-16-17/08/2006

Dia 15
01.00h Morrissey
23.10h Fischerspooner
21.40h Broken Social Scene
20.20h Madrugada
19.00h Gomez
18.00h White Rose Movement

Dia 16
01.10h Bloc Party
23.30h Yeah Yeah Yeahs
22.10h Gang Of Four
21.00h Eagles of Death Metal
19.55h We Are Scientists
18.55h Members of The Public
18.00h Nigthmare of You

Dia 17
00.50h Bauhaus
23.05h The Cramps
21.15h (chk chk chk)
20.30h Maduros
18.00h Shout Out Louds
+ bandas por confirmar

Ya, as I only have one week of holidays I think I will be more tired than I went, but I believe it will be well worth it, I just don't agree with the choice of putting Bloc Party as the head of the 3rd day, I just hope The Yeah Yeah Yeahs will play until we're dead!!!

This was how Mitsy was dressed Saturday

So today I'll put her flag on again to see if luck comes to us once again and the Froggies go home humilliated ;) 

BBC - Radio 1 - Sonar 2002 - John Peel's Video Diaries

BBC - Radio 1 - Sonar 2002 - John Peel's Video Diaries

To remember one of the most important men in Radio, one I at least didn't have the pleasure to hear, but due to new techologies we can hear at least the live performances at his program, unfortunatly I would love to be able to hear some of his interviews.

Bill and Melinda's $60 Billion Challenge

Bill and Melinda's $60 Billion Challenge

There have always been loads of critics against Bill Gates, mainly from fundametalists and computer nerds. He built a company upon the dream that everybody could have a PC and easily use it. Windows and Office may have lots of faults (finally Italy scores, it has been a rather boring game and I really hope tomorrow we will win and face them, cause if they play has well as they did today it won't be that hard ;), but the truth is that nearlly everybody can use a computer (bloody hell only now these Italians wake up) and what they produce is compatible with nearlly all the other PC a person may need to use and this without any need to be a computer nerd, know programming or to depend mostly on a keyboard. Maybe a decade from now a company will be able to deliver such user-friendly programms, then Microsoft will face real competition.

But my post isn't about Microsoft, it's about Bill Gates decision to work part-time at Microsoft and full-time in his Foundation, besides the fact that he has already given more than a third of his fortune to this Foundation, making it the biggest in the world. Many may critizice that he should increase his scope on charitable causes, that he should not focus only on the erradication of poverty and on USA's poor's education or that he only donates to the projects he chooses to. This week The Economist has a great article on this subject, which highly complements BusinessWeek's one. In The Economist its stated that, already with this week's donation, the Foundation only has about $1 for each person living in poverty in under-developed countries. So I agree with The Economist, Bill Gates by focusing on two big causes is acting the right way, because only with that focus he can have a true impact in the causes he defends.

If you scatter your donations, they will be to small to make a difference, an impact in the lifes of those you aim to help. Then there is another thing just as important as focusing in a few causes, making the projects/organizations you donate money to accountable, not because you want to make a profit but to maximize your donation and the potential impact it can achieve. We cannot keep on thinking that a humanitarian organization/project will always to their best and will always be honest, firstly they need to work in a more business like manner in terms of maximizing costs effectiveness, because every $1 saved is a $1 you can employ in what really matters. Yes they need to be accountable to minimize waste and so that the donor is sure his money is not used in other stuff then what he aimed for.

The main reason I say this is because, at least in Portugal, there are lots of "humanitarian" organizations that give their Presidents, Founders and other members high in the ladder perks, which in Portugal's case sometimes are higher than some given to for-profit organizations' managers. In the end there are some less honest people who take advantage of the fact that the organization they manage is not accountable and that most donors don't demand that accountability and the results achieved by the projects to which they gave their money.

I believe a man who built one of the most powerfull organizations from scratch, who became the richest person in the world may be just the most fit person to run the biggest Foundation in our world and make an impact, especialy in a cause that is also my dearest: the development of under-developed countries and the erradication of poverty.