Sausages for a good cause!

As some of you know, I am very fortunate to live in an amazing medieval village on the outskirts of Geneva called Hermance. August is a special time in my village as it traditionally hosts its famous "Jazz sur la Plage" evening. This year I was given the opportunity to get a little more involved as the association "Casa Alianza Switzerland" was holding a sausage stand there and needed volunteers.

Well you can imagine I could not resist the call of the grill! I came with my chef's apron, my chef's mitts and my BBQ tongs and was ready to roll! Six hours later, we had sold 800 (!!!) sausages and made a small profit for the association! Paul, Bouli and I at the grill; Maud, Eliane, Cate, Serge and Patrick at the counter, what a great team! Definitely worth the muscle ache in my hand, arm and shoulder and my sore feet!

I had already come in contact with Caza Alianza in the past via my former colleague Etienne who is a founding member of the Swiss antenna and who got me interested in their work to socially rehabilitate street children in Central America.

You can help just by buying their compilation CD (very cool Swiss bands), through donations or by becoming a member. You may also want to become a volunteer once in a while!

Here's more info in English:
http://www.casa-alianza.org/en/news.php

Mix May 2006 – volume 1 and 2

The new mixes are out. I procrastinated quite long to put these into they final order. As always comments welcome and you know what to do if you want your own!

Mix May 2006 – volume 1

1. The Streets: When You Wasn't Famous
2. Mattafix: Gangster Blues
3. The BellRays: Tell The Lie
4. Blow Up Hollywood: WMD
5. Kula Shaker: Troubadour
6. Morrissey: You Have Killed Me
7. Gary Reynolds & The Brides Of Obscurity: On The Radio
8. Nada Surf: Do It Again
9. Guillemots: Who Left The Lights Off, Baby?
10. Death Cab For Cutie: Crooked Teeth
11. Skye: Love Show
12. Jack Johnson: Girl I Wanna Lay You Down
13. The Twilight Singers: There's Been An Accident
14. Crystal Skulls: Baby Boy
15. The Long Winters: Ultimatum
16. Josh Rouse: Quiet Town
17. Donavon Frankenreiter: Move By Yourself
18. Rachael Cantu: Saturday
19. The Lovetones: Stars
20. Hard-FI: Hard to Beat

Mix May 2006 – volume 2

1. People In Planes: If You Talk Too Much
2. Psapp: Tricycle
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Snow (Hey Oh)
4. Controlling The Famous: Two Sides
5. Mellowdrone: Oh My
6. Lashes: Sometimes The Sun
7. Mat Kearney: Nothing Left To Lose
8. Rocky Votolato: Light and the Sound
9. Lauren Hoffman: Out Of The Sky, Into The Sea
10. Calexico: Lucky Dime
11. Persephone's Bees: Nice Day
12. Eric Lindell: Give It Time
13. Drive-By Truckers: Gravity's Gone
14. Ane Brun & Syd Matters: Little Lights
15. Peter Walker: What Do I Know
16. Margo & The Nuclear So & So's: Skeleton Key
17. Teitur: Josephine
18. Gus Black: Certain Kind Of Light
19. Sing-Sing: I Do
20. P!nk & Indigo Girls: Dear Mr. President (Featuring Indigo Girls)

Futebol Fever: Brazil - New Zealand in Geneva on 4 June

It's going to be my first time at the Stade de Genève and what a first time! Brazill is playing New Zealand. And no, it's not cricket as one of my colleagues suggested today!

I know that most of you are already fed up with the football fever. I quote Elly (on Saturday as I was watching Switzerland-Côte d'Ivoire): ... [and it's not even started yet!] ...

Ok I have to admit it, I am a bit of a football junkie. I have printed the schedule of games, one copy at home, one copy at work and am planning my June evenings. However, I resisted the temptation of buying the Panini vignettes!

Will you watch the games? Which team are you rooting for? Add your comments here!

Explore Web Favourites of Like-minded Strangers

I have done quite a bit of web browsing recently and fell onto a website that allows you to keep your bookmarks online and to share them with people within the site community. You can also look up people you share bookmark(s) with and explore further ideas from their own list. A very cool site to expand your web resources!
http://del.icio.us

Exploring the Web for New Music

I have spent a few hours on the web today exploring new and cool music. I came across an amazing site from the Netherlands that stores full length footage of live performances by alternative artists. To boot, the name of the site was right up my alley!

Concerts by some of my favourite songwriters and bands: Ane Brun, The Editors, Ron Sexsmith, Stereophonics, Andrew Bird, Ani DiFranco, Nada Surf, Howie Beck and even... Madness and Simple Minds!
http://www.fabchannel.com/

In the same vein, Peter sent me a link to a website where you can download (among other things) full-length concerts. Artists who believe in the free distribution of their music post their live performances on this site. In addition to live music, you'll find much more on the site: images, audio, text archives.
http://www.archive.org

Please add your comments to this post to submit links to sites that help you discover music.

Fab