SA Rocks

I really get the feeling that some stand-up comedians simply use race as a fallback incase they are sinking.

Tuesday night at The Blues Room in Sandton, a couple of the comedians started to sink and I wish they had. Comedy nights at The Blues Room are a gas. They generally get in top class acts to rip through some fantastic jokes and observations.

Four guys performed last night. Three of the four were black and one guy was a man of colour, but not coloured as he noted, but not white either. Anyways that is besides the point. The point is, comedy is great, laughing is awesome, the occasional well placed insult at an audience member is fantastic but at somepoint if you keep insulting me for being white I’m going to be pissed off.

Out of the four guys the MC – Loyiso Gadwa (please correct me on his name if you know better) was by far the best and most together act of the night. Strangely so in fact as he had the toughest job and longest set. He dragged us out of the depths of suicide and made us laugh everytime he stepped on to the stage.

But then came Ronald or something. A young black guy from Pretoria. Ronald had it for a minute or two but then he threw it away. Racial jokes are great when they are well placed but there is MUCH more to life in SA than race in every situation! Put it this way; I know what my faults are and it is amusing to have them pointed out but don’t tell me what “white people don’t do” or “can’t understand” when I do and understand. Then I get pissed off. The key to a great comedian is phenomenal observation skills. This Ronald character may as well have worked at Mc D’s cause he has obviously never seen a white person other than the Pretoria locals he encounters occasionally. The dude lost it and almost ruined the nite with his crass swearing and over-the-top language in every joke.

The next dude I can’t even tell you what his name is. He was that forgettable so I wont delay.

Loyiso came back on, blew us away and then it was time for Trevor Noah. Trevor is the not so white, not so coloured guy. He was brilliant. After 2.5 hours of racial innuendo’s and blatant awkward insults Trevor was a breath of fresh air. Not a single racial joke in a half an hour-ish set.

The crown jewel in all of the jokes was one related to Dtv (Deaf TV) and muting the sound to answer a phone. The guy was brilliant, effective, equal, honest and open. His skits included stuff about airport announcements around SA, accents, Television, sports and much more. The most refreshing thing was that he insulted, berated and applauded every race as human beings and equals.

I hope I got the two comedians names right, if I haven’t please let me know. If you get a chance to see them sometime, treat yourself.

But I leave you with this note; race is old, outdated material, the man who ventures beyond the obvious will win the laughs of the masses.

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I had a phenomenal weekend, what with the rugby and cricket and all that jazz. The most fantastic part was 94.7‘s incredible Joburg day celebration on Saturday.

On the way to the Randburg Sports Club on Saturday morning I heard that 15 000 tickets were sold for the event. I panicked and rushed to get there in the hope of finding a parking. That was unfounded panic. Yes it was busy but no, it wasn’t full. The police were out and directing traffic to various parking lots that had been set up. I found one, parked my car and got to walking.

Organisation

The roads were cornered off, police blockades were up and the atmosphere was great.

By the time we got inside we realised that we had not actually been searched at any point, this was literally the only bad part of the whole event. I had certain goals for my Saturday in the sun. I wanted to find a space to site – Thanks Courts – I wanted to relax, I wanted to listen to some good music and I didn’t want to be harassed by drunk people. All of these goals were achieved.

Alcohol

This was not an issue at all. The Joburg day event is celebrated as a family affair. And it was most definitely that. There were young people, people drinking and pissed people but all suffered from an extremely pleasant disposition that made the entire day drunk-event-free. The organisers arranged for the bar to be closed for a “cool-down” period between 2pm and 3pm. The bar subsequently closed at 5pm. This allowed for the drunk people to gather themselves and the sober people to get their last beer at 4:55pm. Great move by the organisers. Truly great.

Food and drink

There were more than enough vendors strolling around selling cooldrinks, chips, chocolates, cigarettes, popcorn and other things. Camping neighbours were more than friendly and often shared drinks, food, lighters and smokes. The actual designated food and drink area was well organised, well placed and fairly well priced. Pizza, wraps, boerie rolls, prego’s, doughnuts and many, many other options were around for anyones needs to be satisfied. While the boose runs were limited to a maximum of 20 minutes (most of which spent walking through the masses of people).

Music

I am going to quickly run through my highlights for the day and comment on the pseudo-celebrities and the VIP areas.

My highlights consisted of three bands that are truly, proudly and incredibly South Africa in sound, nature, approach and members.

The first band that caught my attention was the Parlotones. These dudes rocked out as they always do. They are crowd pleasers and their on-stage antics are incredibly entertaining. Their new music is great and their radio-friendly sound made them the perfect band to play the mid-afternoon slot at 13:30.

Mango Groove stole the show. Claire Johnston knows how to do it (she has been doing it for long enough I suppose) and kept the crowd involved from the minute she stepped on to the stage with her brilliant band, backup singers and dancing school children. I have never seen 15 000 people jump to their feet that quickly in my life.

The best part about the grooving mangoes is watching everyone from all walks of life trying to find their very own “groove” to the music. I love watching black people dance, there is something mesmerising about it and something that us unrhythmical people will just never understand. But nevertheless everyone was bopping (yes I just said “bopping”) and jiving (yes, I know) to their incredible sound. They are without a doubt one of the best things that SA has or has ever had to show. Brilliant.

Finally, Freshlyground came on stage at just the right time (Watershed were a bit of a downer). This band gets better and better with every performance and almost every day that passes. Their eclectic background, sound, feel, groove, vibe, jam, soul is just mind boggling. I have received criticism on this blog before for posting about SA bands that sound generic. This band is most definitely not generic. I have never heard anything like them, or seen anything like them in my life.

There were a few wanna-be-pseudo-celebs at the event. One being Danny K. I really didn’t think he was fantastic. It sounded like he struggled through his whole set. Many of the songs he sang were covers and generally not very good ones at that. NKD was also there and didn’t particularly tickle my fancy. The VIP areas always get to me. Who are they meant to entertain? Highveld DJ’s and celebrities? The VIP tent that I was next to was empty for most of the event. Even a friend of mine who had a VIP armband wasn’t allowed in to this very-VIP area. Anyways. Moving on.

In general Saturday’s Joburg day was one of the best events that I have attended in JHB in a very long time. If you missed it, make it next year or you’ll be sorry.

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This weekend I attended an absolutely fantastic event called the Taste of Joburg. The event featured 17 of the top restaurants in Johannesburg as well as various other stands containing wine, fruit juices, ice-creams, pesto-sauces and much more.

There were no cash transaction so the currency of the day was the “Crown”. One crown represents R5. This made for interesting mathematical calculations from a journalist such as myself. I did spend quite a bit of money over the four hours I was present. Entrance cost R120 so just getting in wasn’t cheap.

No meal was more than 8 Crowns or less than 4 Crowns. When I say meal what I really mean is a taste-sized plate of food. None of the meals were a true restaurant size meal. Most were a single, smaller sized portion of food. When I say food what I mean is top quality cuisine from top chefs in Joburg and top restaurant. Many of the meals were really not worth the 8 Crowns they would cost so I skipped past those. I tried food from the Saxon, March, Roots, Yum and many others.

Overall everything about the event was classy, well-organised and fantastic to be a part of. It was not particularly well attended on Saturday but I think that was due to late advertising. I was impressed with the vast amounts of Marquees and the great state of the “Nice” toilets supplied by Berman Hire; nice toilets really do make an event of this kind a pleasure to attend.

Next years event is sure to be just as good and more than likely even better.

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It’s time to unify the bloggers in Africa and more specifically SA. The Bobs are here and thanks to the White African I have discovered the awards that are proving to have large sponsors and great pull…but no African blogs.

The image above is a representation of the nominated blogs for the Bobs. What the hell is wrong with this picture? The White African asked the same question. I don't have a clear answer but I can't say that until reading the post I had never heard of the Bobs. Maybe this is the main problem.

Its not even like the Bobs are irrelevant and unknown, there are some big names involved:

Technorati, Global Voices, Toshiba and O’Reilly to name a few

So this is my call to vote for SA blogs and African blogs in the Bobs! Pick one, pick many, lets discuss it one here and pick a few, pick whichever blog you like but lets get some African representation in the nominations.

Go forth now and submit your African blog of choice!

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Who would’ve thunk it?! Apparently the Archbishop is a braaier and has endorsed Braai Day on the 24th September.

What a stroke of luck, great marketing and brilliant endorsement for a project that I have shown support for before on this blog. I am so chuffed for Jan and the Braai Day team that the Archbishop is on board and showing his support.

I hear you asking for proof? I hear that you want to know what happens when the Archbishop eats a wors-roll, done, have a look:

I am definitely going to be braaing if given the opportunity on the day. Unfortunately I have a conference to attend so there are no promises! But I will be trying my best to braai, will you?

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Some may argue that it’s utter bullshit that only now, thanks to 2010, things are being done in SA to change the state of things.

I am of the mind that any sort of jump-start is worthwhile, necessary and relevant. Better late than never.

Do you think that things have been left for too long? Is 2010 to late and should we be making such a point of doing all this work specifically for 2010 world cup? Should we not be making a difference for the citizens of SA instead of the visiting tourists?

I am interested to know what your thoughts are.

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I was very saddened to hear about Eendrag’s third story burning down and the roof collapsing. I know from my time in Res that I kept many of my memories in my residence. Not only my physical possessions but many of my experiences and lessons were created and learned in my residence. Life was grand back then.

We had fire drills at least twice a term. Luckily so too had the students in Eendrag and apparently close on 300 students were evacuated from the building in under 4 minutes. Brilliant stuff.

However the moving acts of kindness occurred after the event. All of the students were left without a roof over their heads. Not for long as Stellenbosch locals stepped up and offered their spare beds, couches, flats, chalets and any accommodation they could to the homeless students. That is incredible. That warms my heart. That makes me proud. Humanity is intact, South Africa is intact and we will all be OK if there are people like this in SA.

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There hasn’t really been much feedback regarding the event that created so much of a stir on SA Rocks. I then proceeded to post a follow up post about any solutions that people had to the issues that SA faces and received little to no response.

I must admit that I am impressed with Act4SA for their attempt at rallying some support for our nation. I still stand firm that it is misguided and the protesters would do better to be in SA and use their acquired skills here. But a turn out of 300 is not what I call filling the streets. I am glad that people attended and am interested to know what sort of response (media or otherwise) the protests received over there.

I did manage to find one article in one newspaper (not that I looked particularly hard), The Sunday Tribune, regarding the event. A nice photo, a cover story and a nice write-up. All in all I think a fairly decent outcome.

Just an aside here: Why does the Tribune have their content under lock and key? Times they are ‘a changin’, make content freely available, seriously.

Here’s a pic of the front page story:

Have a look at the Facebook group for more information and to see exactly how many Saffas over there attended compared to how many were invited and turn down the invitation. Apparently less people over there care than anyone actually thought.

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Accelerate Cape Town has just launched their website recently and in honour of this the AddiCT(s) have launched a competition that I think SA Rocks readers should get involved in.

What’s it about. We want to know what you envision your perfect city to be like. Let’s harness the power of collective imagination to develop a vision that is so powerful and compelling what we all will be catapulted into action to make our vision work for Cape Town. Here is how the challenge will work.

Write a post on your website or blog about your vision of a perfect city. Don’t think specifically about Cape Town or anything. We want you to describe your own, imaginary, perfect city. Let your imagination go wild, describe how it feels, use all your senses, describe the activities taking place, describe the people, add some graphics, audio, video, whatever you like, above all be creative. It can be long or short, no limits on size.

If you don’t have a blog, submit your entry to us via info [at] webaddict [dot] co [dot] za and we’ll feature your post here with credits to you.

Submit it to us. Trackback or link back to this post (http://www.webaddict.co.za/2007/08/10/my-perfect-city-challenge/) and we’ll list your post here for voting.

Entries accepted: 10th – 17th August 2007

Vote. Those posts listed here will be voted upon by you, our readers, for 1 week, where the person with the most votes wins.

Voting accepted: 17th – 24th August 2007

In case you are wondering what Accelerate Cape Town is, here is something from the new site:

Accelerate Cape Town believes that our greatest chance for international success over the next twenty years is to focus on serving the country, the continent and the world in the creative and innovative sectors. Our vision is to achieve the development of the Cape region as the world’s Creative Capital.

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I am glad that the guys at Braaiday are trying there hand at the web eventually! They have redesigned their website and I think they might have created this video:

I am not 100% sure that the Braaiday mense created this video. If you know the truth, set me free. Whether they did or not it’s still spot on and in true braai spirit!

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