Joe Cocker

The first time I noticed Joe Cocker was when I heared him sing the openingsentence: "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" from the 1970 Lennon/McCarthy song with that same title.
I found it a very intruiging sentence, mainly because in our elderly home, where I heard that song the first time on my little transistorradio, it would be quite an achievement to come in through our bathroom window. Not much later, reaching my puberty years, I couldn't help imaging what kind of beautiful girls I wished to climb through that same bathroom window. But, of course, that never happened.
Coming of age, Joe Cocker (born in 1944!) still rocks on, although I doubt he will be able to climb through windows nowadays.

Boz Scaggs

When I first heared the sound and music of Boz Scaggs, back in 1976, I was sold immediately. His then published album 'Silk Degrees' is a very well balanced piece of work. No song doesn't feel or sound out of place. Nowadays this album is still a joy to hear.
After this album, which I bought on cassettetape (!), I started to gain more albums and one that also appeals to me is the one he published in 1971, simply called: 'Boz Scaggs & Band'. An album, which I bought on vinyl, I discovered in the late eighties in a little record store. There are some bluesballads on that album that still gives my goosepimples listening to them, especially "Runnin'Blue" and ''Why Why". Luckily all his work is now available on cd, so I can still enjoy his music. Even at this moment, with his cd 'Moments' playing on my desktop.

Fast Food: the Croquet

Ce ci, n'est ce pas un croquet

Fast Food: Bitterballen

A typical Dutch fast food invention: The Bitterbal. No gathering of people at a semi-or very official occasion will be complete without this snack. It's a very dangerous snack also: you never know how hot the ragout inside the ball will be! Baked in oil of about 180 degrees Celsius (= 356 degrees Fahrenheit) the outside can feel less warm then the inside. So, you'll see people biting their balls very tenderly. Mostly the ball will be picked with a little wooden stick, sometimes decorated with a small paper feature looking like the Dutch flag. It's common to drink a lot of beer while eating the bitterbal. And than start a conversation with someone standing next to you, who just had a bite of hot ragout and is trying to cool it by gasping air into his or her mouth.
Pen and ink and watercolor.

Bruce Springsteen

On his latest album Bruce Springsteen shows, in my opinion, that he knows where he musically started from. After coming of age that's a great achievement. The music sounds great, pure, and the lyrics aren't poor or sentimental.
I made his portrait in pen and ink with watercolor, trying to capture the spirit of his latest album "Wrecking Ball".