#stad gent

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Graslei at night, Ghent, Belgium

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Got this large hand drawn map of Ghent and our house is on it!

By Karen Van Holm. Visit her website here. See the VRT article about it here.

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[jonisheila]

Busking at Gentse Feesten 2018

Hello friends,

The festival in my home town has come to an end. For 10 days the City of Ghent was the place to be for music, food, beer and busking.

I'm glad I had no expectations otherwise I would have been disappointed. All in all I had a good time. Busking at Gentse Feesten hasn't been profitable for me in years. So I just do it for fun and exposure. The tips I get are a bonus. And it's a lot of fun to perform together with Shiki Violinist. Yes, we reunited after meeting each other in the streets of Melbourne over a year ago. :)

On the second last day of Gentse Feesten (last Saturday). Shiki and I were doing our thing again. We were interrupted by undercover cops who apparently only check street performers.

Only for the festival amps are allowed, but only one per permit. And only for the festival you are not allowed to sell items or give away stuff for free. So we haven't been playing by the rules.

One male and one female cop. They asked if we speak Dutch. I should have said no because Shiki couldn't understand a thing and we probably would have gotten off easy if I pretended to be a foreigner. The male cop was friendly, the female seemed like a bitch. Oh wait, she was a TOTAL BITCH.

Yes, we were wrong by having two amps and having CD's on display (even though we weren't actively selling them or showing a price tag). The amps we have are no match for the bigger acts out there with percussion, brass bands and BIG-ASS amplifiers. I told the cops this.

But the she-cop immediately stopped me by saying "I don't like it when I'm being interrupted. I am a police officer, I can confiscate your gear and arrest you." She went on. "You can't play with more than one amp, you can't sell CD's. Promotion is not allowed. Actually, your business cards aren't allowed either. Oh and your name in your guitar case is forbidden too."

From here on she was just making shit up. This female cop abuses her power, makes up a BULLSHIT rule and threatens to take my stuff. She was clearly trying to get a reaction out of me. I could feel the resentment.

And I wonder. Why are female cops always so BITCHY towards me? I have never met a FRIENDLY woman cop. The guy cop didn't really say much. I am certain if I was guy or if it was two male cops stopping us, it would have been different. When they left, I cried. The guy had ginger hair. The woman was blonde and short (and has a horrible personality I'm guessing). If anyone knows her please give me her name I would LOVE to file a complaint against her.

Why are women giving each other such a hard time? To my ladies, please be nice to each other.

Also can the police just confiscate a buskers gear (if busking is his/her only source of income?

Anyways, the last day we teamed up with a drummer who made a drum kit out of a washing machine. And it went GREAT. Footage will follow. :) The Gentse Feesten have completely drained me though.

That bitch cop has been haunting my mind and with everything that happened in the month before... I can't take it anymore.

I NEED some time off. But don't worry I will still post a new song every month and work on that upcoming EP. :)

Feel free to share your thoughts.

Joni

PS: Shiki and I rock this Imagine Dragons song :)

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Early commuting at Gent-Sint-Pieters

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helpen aan de tweede iMarkt?

Voor het tweede jaar op rij organiseert de Stad Gent een iMarkt. Op de eerste editie waren het vooral de ‘digital creatives’ die zich -onder een stralende zon- mochten laten zien aan de stad. Zag je het filmpje al (link)?

Dit jaar ligt de focus op de audiovisuele sector van Gent. Verwacht je dus aan schermen, beamers en speakers. Maar ook aan klei-boetseren en radio hoorspelen. We doen het graag ouderwets, ja. Het is en blijft een markt... 

Deze editie gaat door op een verrassende indoor locatie, de Bourdon galerij. We zijn op zoek naar vrijwilligers om de mensen rond te leiden, van info te voorzien en flyers uit te delen in de buurt. Je krijgt eten en drinken en digitale knuffels en een verrassing. De iMarkt loopt van 10u tot 18u. 

Mail naar fredo <at> avenuel.be als je wil meehelpen en we vertellen je wat kan doen.