So it’s been a pretty interesting year so far… And everything still feels all bright an shiny.

I started this year with a new job and very “opgewonde” as what to expect. The new job is awesome! I get to build cool stuff, learn rad things and be surrounded by cool tech all day. The people are awesome as well. It’s been a great experience so far.

I started doing capoeira with Jay Sizzle so as to get in shape… What a rad sport! It has also taught me to count to 10 in Portuguese. More on the sport to come I’m sure this year…

Drew put his hands up for Detriot and went to go train some people over there. In his travels he managed to pick up a 6th generation iPod Nano for me… in green!. What an awesome little gadget! Having to install iTunes (who needs it when you have MusicBee?) to manage the damn thing made me do something I haven’t in years: Listen to podcasts.

One podcast that Nico rickommended has been providing me with a lot of audio pleasure… and that my friends is “Joe Strummer’s London Calling”. The show is an 8 part (split into 16 29-minute podcasts) radio series and features Strummer and his awesome eclectic music taste… think reggae, rock and folk… real world music stuff. Read a bit more here or grab it on iTunes here!

Do yourself a favour and grab the series and give it a listen!

^5!

Study, study, study, work, study, Bloemfontein (punk as fuck), driving home, study, study, study, study, study, work, players… that’s pretty much been my last couple of weeks. Test week at varsity is over, exams are around the corner, and I seem to have a work ethic. Weird.

#1

Nearly There!

The drive to Bloemfontein on Saturday 3 October was about as exciting as the drive back to Pretoria on Sunday 4 October. Actually the drive back was more fun as we played some good ‘ol games of “I spy with my little eye” and some others I can’t remember off hand. The “festival” that we made the trip for was dusty, filled with punks and was actually everything I had hoped for. Nico and the team from Libery Valance rocked out… quickly, but rocked out none the less. Lungs filled with dust and drizzle, my homie MC was kind enough to “show us around” and took us to the Mystic Boer… hilarity ensued, pizza was eaten and smack was spoken. Good times.

#2

Image taken from here!

The second grand thing that has happened to me has been a sudden new found love of Tom Collins’. Greatest drink ever! I mixed some up at T-Bones braai on Saturday. They were enjoyed, too much and no one took photos for you to see. As a consolation prize, I managed to take this great snap of a nasty bug that was running around that night.

Pretty gross!

I have also taken the liberty of sharing the Tom Collins recipe I got off of Wikipedia:

Tom Collins IBA Official Cocktail

Type: Mixed drink
Primary alcohol by volume: Gin
Served: On the rocks; poured over ice
Standard garnish: orange, cherry, or lime
Standard drinkware: Collins

IBA specified ingredients:

• 2 parts gin
• 1 part freshly squeezed lemon juice
• drizzle of sugar syrup
• chilled carbonated water to taste

Preparation: Mix the gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup in a tall glass with ice, top up with soda water, garnish and serve.

Drink it!

#3

I’ve been eating loads of these awesome noodles. Go buy them, they rock. The Chinese shop where my tofu comes from sells them (Yat Kee Chinese Supermarket, Maroelana Centre, 27 Maroelana Street, Hazelwood). Add a little ginger to the mix as well for maximum awesomeness.

Thats all for now,
Rick Disco, over and out
^5!

I was reading my blog posts on this site today and I have to apologise for writing some really boring drivel that is really boring boring the old man is snoring. So I have ended that. Rad.

I got sick last week, throat infection or something and it was totally badass. I spent a few days in bed being lame and watching series and sleeping and taking photos of my dogs – they were hanging with me in my room.

I captured Abbie in the middle of a yawn… She looks badass here, but is actually really sweet.

I finally read Moxyland (it’s been on my shelf since my birthday in March) and I have to say that Lauren Beukes is one talented author(ess?)… go to Exclusive Books tomorrow and have a look at the book, read the back, want to buy it… and then go home and logon to Kalahari.net and save a lot of money and get it delivered to your house.

I watched some weird movies as well. Surveillance is directed by David Lynch’s daughter Jenny, ’nuff said – It’s violent and awesome. IMDB says it’s about: “An FBI agent tracks a serial killer with the help of three of his would-be victims – all of whom have wildly different stories to tell.”. It got a crap rating there, but I rickommend it. Tonight I watched Public Enemies… What an awesome film! It is shot incredibly well, has a great story, is about bank robbers and is based on a true story! WIN! Go watch it! If you don’t like it, your opinion is wrong.

I will be putting up some photo’s from the past few weeks worth of gigs that the dirtyoldDisco have played at sometime soon.

Stay tuned.

Rick Disco, Over and Out!
^5!

Dang the last week has flown by super fast… so I’m spending today catching up on all those things you miss out on when doing too many things. Nothing beats sitting back in your comfy chair listening to music and reflecting… [listening to IAMX - Kingdom Of Welcome Addiction as I type]

This post includes the Drunken Banshees, Pretoria Botanical Gardens, my new controller, Cool Runnings, Juri, bad movies, dirtyoldDisco, university, work, bluetooth and a wireless antenna.

Read all about it after the jump!
American punk band the Drunken Banshees were in South Africa for a bit of a tour. They stayed with Andrew so we got to hang and be punk as fuck. I went to the show at Shivas on Friday 17 June. Shivas is a little shit hole in Pretoria… it’s dingy, but has rickdiculously cheap booze so was probably the perfect place to watch 10 punk bands and be roudy. No photos made it onto my camera that night so check out the band on myspace for more: www.myspace.com/drunkenbanshees!

T-Bone!

Croquet!

Drew and Nelia Face!

The following day we all went off to the Botanical Gardens to have a little eat loads of snacks and nurse that hangover day for Thembas birthday. The weather was great, nice and sunny… some folks even brought croquet!

On Sunday Juri graced us with his presence for a quick beer at good ‘ol Players… good to see the dude again… after that we watched Fanboys. What a lame movie, but I’ll leave you the funniest line – “I’m William Shatner… I can score anything!”. I also ordered my new controller and posted it to my aunt in Canada. My folks are off to visit her next week end so they will bring it back for me just in time for the dirtyoldDisco’s next gig The controller is a Hercules RMX and is one powerful DJ controller! I can’t friggin wait for it to arrive!

My new controller

On Tuesday saw the launch of Pluto Was A Planet‘s debut album at Tings an Times. Themba and I finished the evening off with some banging electro as the dirtyoldDisco. The crowd loved it and the gig rocked! Thanks to the band for inviting us… ^5! Check them out here!

The rest of the week saw me at university being unmotivated but at least I managed to build my wireless antennae I’ve been busy with for too long. I also programmed my bluetooth remote and set all that up… tech posts on those projects as soon as I’m happy with the results.

I’m off to a braai in a bit so that’s all for now!

Soon
^5!

Friday night I headed off to The Woods to grab a live set from Mtkidu. The Woods is a cool venue but damn, why can’t they open up the seating area? When it is so packed, all you do is get bumped around the whole time and it ends up being a bit lame. Apart from that, Mtkidu played a killer set… I love their new material and can’t friggin’ wait for their up and coming album release! Grab some of their tracks free from electrotrash!

Read all about the last few days – recording, Lotus, birthdays – all after the jump!

MtKidu being Kool Kids!

Saturday was a chilled out one… I stepped into the studio with good buddies Liberty Valance to add my voice to some gang vocals they were recording. They are recording a few tracks for a demo, so I will link to the tracks asap for you all to hear! The tracks are sounding epic, punk-hardcore sort of stuff… give them some love (and listen to an older recording) on their Facebook Fanpage here!

The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling, some Vida E, some Entourage and much later some drinks at good ‘ol players. Sundays was also super relaxed, being the first day I have been able to sleep in on for ages… In the evening grabbing some sushi at Lotus Thai… FANTASTIC sushi + some great wine… Good times!

Monday saw a long day at work and then we headed off to Tings to celebrate Warrens birthday… Jackhammer (?) played as well. With those law kids, it’s always a party! Some photos below

On a side note, I added mobile phone support for my blog, so if you are on your phone, don’t be scared to hit up rickdisco.com… It will all render properly and be nice and small for whatever phone you are using!

Thats all for now…

Take it easy
^5!

Woah! Another semester has flown by and once again it wasn’t blogged about much… so let’s catch up…

This issue includes varsity, working, Mabula Game Lodge, HAEZER, Twitter, moving Andrew, DJing and a whole lot more!

Read all about it after the jump!

Varsity was fairly uneventful in terms of cool stuff that I got to build so i won’t even bore you with anything else. I managed to pass all my exams (no re-writes either! ) which totally rocks… I can finally see the end of my degree approaching! As my exams ended I managed to get a job at an electronics firm to do a bit of holiday work… this means no holiday for me but at least it will result in a bit of experience.

Drew and I showing our muscles that would get the job done!

Andrew moved into a new flat… Themba, The Tonner and I moved him in… In a day! We hired “the tonner” (a 3/4 ton trailer that I had to learn to drive in like 5 minutes) and began to load all his stuff up. We also carried this stuff up stairs, I almost burnt his new place down (accident!) and we bashed things that wouldn’t fit through doorways until they did. It was great fun and made me never want to move… ever. Thanks Andrew.

T-bone and I, with the Tonner, in Drews new driveway!

Don’t put boxes on stoves…

If it doesnt fit, get the saw!

Managing to get away and join my folks at Mabula Game Lodge for a long weekend at some point, which was real relaxing and hence kicked ass! My sister (Natalie) and George – who I definitely do not see often enough – came along as well.

We saw some impala…

… some Red Hartebees…

… and a gemsbok!

Natalie and George!

Drew, dirtyoldThemba, Nelia Face, T-shirt Terry and I rolled off to go and see Saturday Night Live Superstar Wayne  Brady! Wow! What a rad show! As far as impromptu stand-up comedy goes, this was hilariously enjoyable, if you get the chance, go go go!

The dirtyoldDisco in action!

The Viral Underground party was a great success… Thanks to all of you that came out to support! The next one will only be in August due to some lame venue owners but I’ll keep you posted!

HAEZER live at the Woods!

My current favourite local performer HAEZER was doing his “I’m touring South Africa” rounds and I got to see him twice! The first show was at Tings and was cool although it was a bit weird dancing to this BANGING electro there. My boys T-bone and sAdam joined me for that one! The Woods show killed and we friggin’ raved until the wee hours of the morning. Oh Yeah!

Adam and Jess at Tings!

T-bone at Tings!

HAEZER live at Tings!

The dirtyoldDisco at the Woods!

I also rejoined the masses on Twitter and I actually use that pretty often… so follow me if you feel like it! Find me at twitter.com/rickdisco. Electrotrash is also on Twitter, so follow the site at twitter.com/electrotrashZA to grab the updates!

I think thats about it for now!

Take it easy
^5!

This year has been flying past me, way too many things to do in such a short time! Electrotrash has been growing from strength to strength with loads more content being added a lot more regularly (we even have a Facebook fanpage now… here ! University has been insanely busy but has also been really interesting so I haven’t minded too much.

Read more about partying on my birthday, The Bloody Beetroots, Indian food and more randomness after the jump!

[back, left to right] Andrew Pandrew, Nelia Face, Rick D
[front] T-Bone

My birthday was last week and I was thoroughly spoilt by everyone. I also got to watch The Bloody Beetroots on the day which was a totally amazing experience. They played at the Alexander Theatre in Jo’burg, it rocked (see the event posting here)! Go have a look at their Myspace and listen to some of their music here. Check out photos from the gig on electrotrash here! Thanks to all you folks that rolled through and partied with me!

I also found a new restaurant to go and eat at… It is a North Indian Punjabi Restaurant called Tranna situated in Hazeldean Square, corner of Lynnwood and Silverlakes Roads. It’s quite far out of the suburbs of Pretoria but well worth the drive. They have a “website”, but its more a badly scanned in version of their menu… go have a look at it at www.tranna.co.za. The Naan breads are amazing and everything else we have eaten there has been pretty darn awesome!

Drew brought me back the Justice – A Cross The Universe DVD… WOW! This is definitely rickommended (rickism’s are the new cool!)! I grabbed the official teaser for the DVD off of DailyMotion:

Justice – A Cross The Universe Official Teaser

Well I think that’s all for now…

Take it easy
^5!

So I got a new phone yesterday and part of the fun of setting it up was finally having a phone that supports the awesome, free, QR code reader Kaywa! Using the QR Code generator from my buddies blog, I made the above sample as well as the one after the jump for you to play with! Check out his post on QR Codes as well!

QR Code of the URL http://www.rickdisco.com

So after a lot of thinking, planning, procrastinating and finally implementing the new improved version of electrotrash.co.za is up and running!

electrotrash.co.za is a website that a friend of mine and I started around 4 years ago or so. It focusses on the South African electronic music community, exposing new artists, advertising events and creates a meeting place for people that are into electronic music and live in South Africa!

So go and check it out, enjoy!

^5!

It’s been so quiet up in here because of a damn thing called university… it’s been keeping me so busy that there just hasn’t been enough time to do a lot of other things. I did get to build some cool electronic stuff for this project of ours, so it wasn’t too bad!

Woah! A wireless receiver!

Want to hear more? Rest after the jump!

Sometime in between all the building electronics I got to play some electronics at a gig at a really rad venue in Jo’burg – The eXtreme Cosmic Bowling Alley! I grew some mad chops for the event, just ’cause I can! I’ll have you know, it was also much easier to say “Shut Up, I’m Dancing” looking like a biker.

Got chops?

On September 29, 2007 my sister got married! Natalie married George, pretty crazy huh?! It was a great day. Casey got all dressed up and accompanied me to share the fun. This wedding meant that I got a +1 in the brother department… good times! We danced a bit and drank some more and woke up with sore heads!

Natalie & George, married!

Some dancing…

Sore heads!

Their was also a lot of random partying in between all the studying… here are some snaps of those times over the past few months…

My homeboy Nico had his 21st birthday party… as you can see, it ended well!

Great ending?!

We also headed out to Rosendal in the freestate for a debaucherous weekend away in celebration of Nicoles 21st. It got pretty damn crazy out there so I have decided to only put up a photo showing the cool sound we had in Andrew’s car…

Cool sound? Indeed!

We hit Jo’burg for some parties and said goodbye to Horror Cafe (R.I.P) and them fantastic Secret parties…

Andrew and I are seen here, being badass!

Juri and Jenni, Kapow!

Good times!

Jenni and I went and did some bowling at the Cosmic Bowling Alley, what fun!

I wore a size 9, she wore a size 5…

NOFX also came to South Africa to rock out, so we got all punked up, got into Lynns car and became band sluts!

Me doing my best to be PunkAsFuck (P.A.F)!

Drew & I: PAFs for life!

Band sluts are disgusting

Then exams came along and kicked me in the stomach. Thanks exams.

But…

Now this bad boy is on holiday and ready to party it up again!

^5!