Uploaded (to my flickr-account) about 30 more photo’s of arrows, letters and other signs painted or sprayed on the road to indicate cycling routes. When I first got the idea to make an inventory of these signs around Kanne, I thought I would end up with 25, well, maybe 40 photos. I have now 64 (haven’t checked for doublures). I did not upload all of them. Moreover, I estimate that I haven’t photographed about 20 yet. My idea to also give an indication of the route itself will probably never be realized. And certainly I will not supplement this series with photos of all the other signs for cycling routes (stickers, forgotten plastic arrows on traffic signs, the various ‘fietsknooppuntenbordjes’ &c.). http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariealt/.

De tweede dag van de Mergelheuvellandtweedaagse meegereden. Of grotendeels dan toch. Na een heel seizoen zonder cyclosportieven, zonder toertochten. Het was leuk — al was de tweede helft van de lange zondagroute wat minder interessant. (De zaterdagrit was natuurlijk veel aantrekkelijker: in de 160 kilometer versie zat de Rue des Heyds naar Fleron).

Eindelijk heb ik ook mijn vlindergewicht eer aan gedaan: tientallen ben ik er voorbijgereden op de Cote de Beusdaal, Schweiberg, Gulpenerberg, Kruisberg, Eyserbosweg en Dode Man — ook de ‘diesels’ die ik op het vlakke had laten rijden. Ik had eerlijk gezegd niet verwacht dat men gemiddeld zo langzaam omhoog zou rijden — of zelfs lopen. (Misschien zaten de goeie rijders veel verder voorin? Ik startte erg laat). Alleen op de helling van De Heeg richting Cadier en Keer werd ik eruit gesprint; maar niet nadat ik 100 meter had dichtgereden op de diesels die ik op het vlakke had laten rijden, en nadat ik tot mijn verbazing met een paar halen meteen maar iedereen voorbijreed. Tja, twee man klampten aan, sprinten me er vervolgens uit. Op het vlakke is het voor mij aanklampen, maar ‘bergop’ reden weinigen zo hard als ik. Ik had niet het gevoel dat het uitzonderlijke moeite koste. Het geeft natuurlijk wel moraal om er steeds zoveel in te halen. De zon kwam niet door de mist heen. Het was een lekkere 20 graden. Perfect voor mij.

Kanne – kanaal – Lixhe – Moelingen – Gravensvoeren – Mesch – start – Warsage – Neufchateau – Les Waides – St. Jean de Sart – Goirhe – Neeraubel – Pietersvoeren – Krindaal – De Plank – Remersdaal – Teuven – Beusdal – Sippenaeken – Epen – Camerig – Rott – Schweiberg – Gulpen – Gulpenerberg – Partij – Wahlwiller – Kruisberg – Eys – Eyserbosweg – Wijlre – Stokhem – Dode Man – Scheulder – IJzeren – Sibbe – Valkenburg – Cauberg – Vilt – Geulhem – Geulhemmerberg – Terblijt – Bemelen – Roese Kuilen – Cadier en Keer – Bronckweg – De Heeg – Cadier en Keer – Gronsveld – Moerslag – Mesch – Moelingen – Lixhe – Lanaye – Kanne

I walk into De Slegte in Maastricht regularly, I pass it on my way to the HEMA & am close when I go to the AH. This afternoon I walked out again with a well-filled plastic bag. Two cheap dvd’s with old horror-movies (Bela Lugosi, Claude Rains) (for the shared dvd-o-theque of F., my brother & me). The 1946 Modern Library edition of Ulysses. The 1969 hardback of Ida Gerhardts translation of Virgils Georgica that I read earlier this year & quite liked. Gilbert Sorrentino’s postmodern classic Mulligan Stew. In Amsterdam going to the public library every week prevents me from making these kind of acquisitions.

Kees Maas is a young doctor and anatomical researcher with a great love & knowledge for contemporary art (and a good friend of M. I think I’ve met him a few times at parties at M.’s place). Now Kees Maas is the guest curator of the exhibition Rembrandt, Death Dissection & Doctors which is on show at the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam. A medical view on Rembrandts Anatomical Lesson, with a.o. work of Joep van Lieshout, Damien Hirst and Erwin Olaf. Also, on mondays: lectures on the same subject — one of which takes place at De Waag. More info, look for Cultural Embassy at http://www.lloydhotel.com. (Uh, yes, also on the programme: a performance of Oorbeek).

It seems that this year I’m also catching up on some Joyceana. First I read Alan McClellan’s Bloomsday, his theatre-adaptation of Ulysses — not sure if that was used for the movie at all. Nice enough to read, well, always nice to read a summary of Ulysses consisting of sentences from Ulysses.

Btw: I have never seen an English copy of this book, but the Dutch translation from the sixties can still be found in secondhand bookshops for a few euro’s.

Then I read Stanislaus Joyce’s My Brother’s Keeper, his account of the first 20 years from his brother’s life. Very valuable, especially wrt the brother-theme in FW (Shem & Shaun) — tho’ ‘der Arno’ (Arno Schmidt) exaggerated the case when he made sense of FW almost solely on the basis of the battle between brothers. (Schimdt translated both Stanislaus’ diary & this book). And that Stanislaus was a ‘blockheaded’ guy. He never went back to Ireland, never had a nice word for religion. Exile, silence, cunning. Well, for Stanlislaus it was rather, exile, silence, stubborn honesty.

& now I’m reading Stephen Hero. A surprise — it is a much better book than I had anticipated (yet it has its weaknesses), and it is much more outspoken wrt Joyce’s views on Ireland, Irish politics, culture & literature.

In between I read H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. I could repeat here what I wrote earlier this year on Jules Verne — good story-telling & flat, overly optimistic characters, together given a perfect perspective on early 20th century-views on progression, science, society… and how it could possibly go wrong. An exploration & extrapolation of that optimistic ideology, typical of a changing technological world. What should I read to get the same for this, 21st century? Toffler? Sterling? Wired-articles? Hollywood SF-movies? Neal Stephenson? Willam Gibson? I wouldn’t mind an European view… (an no, not that of Houllebecq).

I’m only now beginning to appreciate the music & musicianship of Anthony Braxton. I have listened to him in the past, I have seen him perform live a few times, but his music never “arrived”, so to say, in my heart nor head. Yes, I loved him on Dave Hollands Conference of the Birds, I have a record with Ray Anderson, John Lindbergh and Thurman Barker from I think 1979 or 1984, I pushed record on the taperecorder whenever some Braxton would come on the radio. But when I was frantically discovering all the jazz, going from Parker to Dolphy to Coltrane and Ornette, and then on to David Murray, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Henry Threadgill — I somehow skipped Braxton. I knew that he was considered a major voice and For Alto sort of a defining moment of seventies jazz/impro. I knew that I should try to get hold of his work with Barry Altschull. But his tone seemed so thin, he looked so rationally, unpassionately professorlike, that I never did.

But now look at his 1980 performance of Coltrane’s Impressions — at Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o0AYFRFX7g.

My discovery of Braxton is triggered partly by the discussion on 1970s jazz that travelled through various music-blogs last week — after Dave Douglas asked if someone could come up with a list of what is most worthwile from that era of jazz. See a.o. the wonderful http://destination-out.com/ & http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/2006/08/ethan_iversons_.html. A difficult era — if you ask me –. Jazz lost it’s place in the hierarchy of music to rock, and after freejazz there seemed to to be no way ‘onwards’. Looking back in retrospect at the legacy of seventies jazz — even if one leaves out the European free improv-scene and some spaced-out jazzrock — this seems unbelievable: so many great new sounds evolved. I tried to make my list: Henry Threadgill (hardly mentioned, strangely), Lawrence Butch Morris (his conductions are, well, awesome — they move me deeply), Anthony Braxton, David Murray, Richard Muhal Abrams, John Carter, Gerry Hemingway (also hardly ever mentioned — his early trio with Ray Anderson & Mark Helias is wonderful), Roscoe Mitchell, George Lewis… And that’s just a few of the persons who came up with new conceptions, mixtures and radical sounds. See, I don’t even mention New York downtown scene (some of the best Zorn-stuff is late seventies).

When you are there. But I won’t be there. Thursday evening (– when I wrote this entry –) James Becket & the N-Ensemble at STEIM: http://www.steim.nl.

I’m becoming aware of what I’m missing while enjoying the wonderful cycling possibilities in the Belgian province of Liège.

Like, another example: a Mediamatic Salon on monday night, 20.30: http://www.mediamatic.net/artefact-12249-en.html.

Or I should’ve gone again to Enschede (sort of really far away, trainwise, from Maastricht), for the GOGBOT-festival, where it seems they have the same kind of incredible, wonderful summer weather as last year, although we’re halfway september… http://www.gogbot.nl. Wonderful line-up of participating artists.

Of course I’ll miss this too: What is Positive? Why?, exhibition at De Appel, Amsterdam, with work inspired by Buckminster Fuller. Until October 15th. Well, I’ve missed the opening — on saturday. http://www.deappel.

Rondje Kinkenweg. In de omgeving van Teuven en Sippenaeken word ik altijd overvallen door een groot vakantiegevoel — dat vandaag nog groter werd door de zon en de warmte (weer 30 graden). 11.30 – 15.00. Nog geen kilometer op weg word ik ingehaald door een clubje — shirtjes van de wielervereniging van Haccourt. Ik pikte aan, het ging lekker a 35 tot 40 tegen t uur langs het Albertkanaal: dat schiet nog ns op. Kanne – kanaal – Moelingen – Gravensvoeren – St. Martensvoeren – Ulvend – De Plank – Teuven – Opsinnich – Sippenaeken – Hombourg – Montzen – Kinkenweg – Henri-Chapelle – Warsage – Gravensvoeren – Berneau – Moelingen – Lixhe -Lanaye – Kanne.

Warme dag. 30 graden of zelfs warmer. Weinig wind. Voor de verandering over de grote weg richting Ardennen. De tijd die ik daarmee win, verlies ik omdat ik om Dolhain en Limbourg probeer te rijden, richting Membach, me niet realiserend dat er daar een ‘extra’ dal ligt en geen doorgaande wegen. Ik kom er wel. In het Hertogenwald volg ik weer de knooppunten. Terug rij ik door het dal van de Vesdre richting Verviers — eigenlijk een heel mooi traject, heel jammer dat het zo’n drukke weg is, om via de Rue Renoupre het dal uit te klimmen. Daarna is het ook weer wat zoeken, maar ik kom exact op de goede weg (Thimister) uit. Fijn tochtje.

Kanne – Lanaye – Lixhe – Moelingen – Berneau – Warsage – Henri-Chapelle – Hockelbach – Hoof – Hoyoux – via een landweggetje over het spoor, zeer slecht asfalt – Baelen – Membach – Hertogenwald – Herbiester – Gileppe – Goe – Limbourg – Renoupre – Andrimont – Les Plenesses – Houlteaux – Thimister – Crawhez – Aubel – St. Pietersvoeren – St. Martensvoeren – Gravensvoeren – Moelingen – Lixhe – Lanaye – Kanne