Verity to celebrate milestone @ Kirstenbosch

On the 25th April this year on the Friday SA Music Spotlight I posted a piece on Verity. She is funding her cd release by involving those who pre-purchase her yet to be released album in the creation of it.
Since then she has reached the all-important 2000 pre-sales mark. This means she can fund the printing and posting of the album for those who have bought into the project.
As things have turned out, her concert this Sunday at the Silvertree Restaurant in Kirstenbosch will become a celebratory event.

With Nelson Malela on keyboards, Helder Gonzaga on bass and Frank Paco on drums she assures us it will be "high energy music filled evening" showcasing all the songs off the album!

If you would like to be there, please call 021 762 9585 asap to book a table. Tickets cost R100 & include a welcome drink & soup.

Eish !! SA Music Friday

Friday has morphed into SA music day here @ Eish!!

From now on, each Friday we will be featuring a South African artists, highlighting the exciting pool of talent we have here. The focus will be on (but not necessarily limited to)those artists with a web presence of some sort, those that are using the new media platform to get noticed.

Please, if you have an artist you would like featured, send a mail to eishblog@gmail.com (or comment below) with the artists name and links to web sites, MySpace, video clips etc. Or send the word out to those artists you thing could do with a little nudge.

Previous artists featured :

• Watershed
• Wesley Fredericks
• The Parlatones
• Lira
• Loiuse Carver
  

SA Blog Awards - Entertainment Finalists Review

After perusing the SA Blog Awards finalists and reading a comment on my previous post listing them, I figured it might be useful to select a category and do a quick review of the blogs that made the cut as well as maybe Eish's predictions as to who will walk away with 1st place. The review would in particular of interest to those who may never have read or experienced the finalists. I will attempt to cover as many categories as possible over the next two weeks.

So here goes. The first randomly selected category is ...

Best SA Entertainment Blog


[Weblogs about movies, television, celebrities, theatre and topical issues with entertainment value]

... damn I would have to chose arguebly the most difficult category!

• chump-style.blogspot.com : The 'Chumpstylers' take great pride in the irreverent look at the entertainment and online worlds. One of three finalists who were also a finalist in this category last year and winners of the "Most Humourous South African Blog" in 2006, Wezzo andJoffers are not newcomers to the SA Blog Awards. Their writing is short and easy to read and always well illustrated. Perhaps a little male-centric, but Eishman is certainly not complaining.





• hottestgossip.co.za : Presentation is important, and it must be said that I'm not a great fan of the logo/banner, not that we can talk here @ Eish!! That aside they clearly have a massive readership as they are extremely high on all the necessary SA blog lists. The writing is short and to the point telling it like it is. No editorialising here, this is unashamedly gossip as the name says. Unfortunately, not been a regular reader and due to the lack of an 'About' page I cannot give you any further gossip on those behind the blog.
  
  
• bangersandnash.blogspot.com : Here's a blog I haven't visited in a long time! The relaxed writing style and diverse topic spread has always appealed to me. A quick revisit shows that none of this has changed, although there is much replication of content available on other blogs, a phenomenon prevalent in thus category. An easy read and entertaining. Again no 'About' page so I can't provide any info on the publisher(s)/writer(s)!
  


• peakperformances.co.za : Sorry Rouvanne, every time PeakPerformances reaches into my consciousness, I can't help but thing that this is a sport psychology or motivational blog. But no PeakPerformances is a music booking and production services company, makes sense the moment you hear 'music', doesn't it? The blog is an extension of this and allows them to share thier passion for the South African music scene with their readers. The layout is classy and content insightful always worthy of a read. Should PeakPerformances not have been on the list, it would have been a great injustice.
  
  
• splattermail.org : Ok, so yes, I could look at the top banner all day! "Touching you where it feels nice" Splattermail, has been around for some time, and was a finalist in no less than 5 categories last year, won "The Best Lifestyle Blog" in 2006 and the shared "The Best New Blog" award in 2005. So clearly this is a blog that resonates with those who count! Over time it has been usurped by more 'mainstream' publications at the top of the various lists, but the blog remains an entertaining and enjoyable read, not limited to entertainment related topics, it must be said. btw, go and check out their 'About' page!
  
  
• blog.ecr.co.za/breakfast : The online presence of ECR's Daryl Ilbury, this blog took the blogosphere by storm when it decided to 'get listed.' The radio/online link obviously assists with the massive amount of visitors it garners, but even those out of the reach of radio signal will enjoy diverse and entertaining posts. Impressively, unlike most blogs of this nature, the posts have substance and very often are longer than the two paragraphs most djs feel obliged to share with their readers.
  



• 2oceansvibe.com : Again the name of this 'entertainment blog' conjures up images of a different type of weblog in my perhaps warped, mind. I can't help but think of a site that will inform me of weather and tides. Again, a second thought gives you that Ah! moment. Seth has been around for many years and 2Oceansvibe is a multiple award winner and nominee at the SA Blog Awards. Last year he won "Best Post on a South African Blog", in 2006 they walked away with "South African Blog of 2005", "Best Post on a South African Blog", "Best Writing on a South African Blog", and in 2005 they scooped the "Best Overall South African Blog." So clearly this is a heavy weight, and the one to beat. While the content continues to entertain, the layout has gotten a little long in the tooth and there are some serious contender that have entered the blogosphere over the past 18 months carrying similar and/or the same daily content, which makes winning this year anything but a certainty.
  
  
• themuso.co.za : Sadly this first-class voice of South African Indie music has all but closed up. The Don and The Muso have introduced me and many others to artists from this great country, that we may never known existed. Their insider knowledge and passion for the music scene here in SA shone through in the various expose's. Nevertheless the blog exists still and is thus eligible for this year's award. The layout has always been world-class and the content and download offerings fantastic.
  
  
• imod.co.za : I am a little surprised that Chris and/or his readers decided to nominate iMod in this category. Although there are frequent posts that tackle the various entertainment genres, I am sure that Chris would not classify iMod as an blog on entertainment. Having said that, iMod is one of SA's premier blogs, covering a diverse set of subjects from an intelligent and engaging point of view. iMod is a much read for anyone remotely interested in the online world from an South African point of view.
  
  
• CelebratingMovies : Celebrating Movies, is a blog written by FliekVlooi, who clearly has a passion for movies, in fact he clases himself as a cinephile. This is more of a review site than a blog on entertainment news as such, however the effort and indepth look you get from the posts on the various movies on the circuit makes this a deserving finalist. Unfortunately FliekVlooi is hampered in so far as design is concerned being hosted at 24.com, however the fact that this blog has made it into this list despite this restriction speaks for the content it provides.

So for my prediction.

• I suspect that chump-style, 2oceansvibe and imod are going to engage their readers and get a fair whack of votes, however the ECR Breakfast blog was very quick to marshal it's troops and has an obvious advantage over the others. I pick the ECR Breakfast blog to take this category.


• Eish's pick : themuso.co.za

Friday tune

I found my good friend Wes on YouTube the other day. I am ashamed to say it's of a gig I never made it to and was posted in May last year.
Do yourself a favour and press play. You will not be dissappointed. It's a great way to ease into the weekend.

James Blunt to tour SA

Ex-British Army Captain, James Hillier Blount now known around the world as James Blunt, has announced that we will be touring South Africa in May.
We will be playing three converts, one in each of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

While some may deride is folky-pop sound he sold over 11 million copies of his first album 'Back to Bedlam' and well of 2.5 million of his follow-up 'All the Lost Souls', so there will be no shortage of takers for the R250+ tickets on offer from Computicket.

Oh, and parents memorise the dates and keep your daughters under lock and key. (Explanation here)

Some interesting James Blunt trivia (source - Wikipedia) :
In 2006, the name James Blunt was entered into the Dictionary of Cockney rhyming slang (a 'right James Blunt') in reference to the word c*nt. Blunt is said to have responded, "John F. Kennedy got an airport named after him - I got my favourite part of the female anatomy"

Tour Itinerary
Saturday 24 May
The Coca-Cola Dome, Johannesburg
Tickets from R250 to R500 (excluding service charges)

Monday 26 May
The Botanic Gardens, Durban
Tickets R300 (excluding service charges)

Wednesday 28 May
The Grand Arena, Grand West Casino & Entertainment World, Cape Town
Tickets from R250 to R450 (excluding service charges)

From one "Lank Tired Oke' for another

An email arrived in my inbox yesterday. The first paragraph reads :

"Howzit okes, and chicks, my name's Duncan Farenheit and I'm like, a muso from Obs. I used to play bass for a band called 'The Tired Okes', but the main oke in the band, an oke called Attie Pienaar fired me for forgetting to turn my amp on, so I formed my own band, bru, called Duncan Farenheit and the Lank Tired Okes.But then all the okes, like left the band, so then I became just One LANK Tired Oke. Or "OLTO", as I was also known as for awhile, even though I am like more of a baritone. Then I formed another band called 'No Friends of Attie'. But then we broke up, so I went solo. But I'm going to be playing like a reunion gig with the Lank Tired Okes at the Autonomous Riempie Chair Cafe' in Obs lower main road. Should be kief. So howz to come like check us, bru? Don't tune me nooit, hey. Shot. ... and Oh Ja, tell lank okes and chicks about it, 'cos it's a vris winter and it's better if we like huddle together to keep warm, you check." - Duncan Farenheit (& The Lank Tired Okes)

After an introduction like that I reckoned that I could forego the usual Friday video and rather give those lucky readers staying in and around Cape Town something to go and do this weekend. So why not waltz off to the Orange Street and park off at the Intimate Theatre for what appears to be an hilarious musical evening.

Check out his blog for further info.

Online DVD deal launched in SA - 1 Year Ago!!

I like, wherever possible, to try the services and products I review or even just give a mention here on Eish!! I want my readers to know that what is mentioned here is not a done so because the author has been has been paid or couldn't find anything else to write about.

With that preamble in mind let me review an online DVD rental service I found at CherryPicka, a site I reported mentioned earlier this month. Pushplay is the DVD rental solution we have been waiting to be offered here in SA for a long time. The online DVD rental market has essentially been stifled by the prevailing broadband environment, but now as the broadband uptake is rising exponentially the time has come.

Actually contrary to Tuesday's News24 article Online DVD deal launched in SA stating that the recently launched BigPix is the first of it's kind in SA Pushplay was launched nearly a year ago and started delivering in October 2006, so I guess their time came a while ago.

Ok, now I've gotten that out of the way, let's explain the concept. We are used to going into a DVD rental store, searching through the movies, carefully keeping our gaze away from those movies that have no empty DVD case on the shelf so as not to be depressed by all the options we don't have. Those two fo you who are really proactive may have remembered to book a DVD you really wanted to see, but then you still have the stress of firstly fetching the thing and then remembering to drop it off before the return time the next day. Pushplay takes the stress out of the game. They offer various monthly packages, and you can watch as many movies as you like during the contract period, and take as much time to watch them as you like. (I guess how long you take depends on how polite you are as you will be holding up the queue) You browse online and select the movies you want to watch. Not one, not two but upwards of 20! And their selection is pretty damn large. So the moment you hear of something you want to see you can quickly go online and select it. When selecting you decide on how much importance you want to place in it. Then as it comes available they send you the DVD by post. No fetching. Once you have watched you return it into one of their various drop-off bins and they send you the next movie available in your queue.

As always, let's look at the catch. Actually there are two. Firstly, while they are on the verge of launching nationwide, they currently service Cape Town only. So, knowing there are a fair whack of readers in Gauteng, you guys are going to have to wait just a little while longer. Deborah @ Pushplay assures me your areas will be serviced very soon. Secondly, they deliver via SA Post Office. I have found that this can mean delivery times can vary. Thankfully PushPlay empty their boxes very regularly and are very quick in acknowledging receipt and sending the next DVD in the queue. I have been testing their service for a few weeks now and have found that it can take anything from 2 to 5 days from date of sending to you receiving the DVD in your grubby paws.
There is a way around it, however. Simply take the 2 DVD option. That way you can cycle the DVD's and always have something to watch.

They are currently offering a 2 week free trial, so again, it's an opportunity to try something new and not be out of pocket. And if you want to show Eishman your appreciation, drop me a mail or comment and I will send you a referral. That way you get your two weeks free trial and Eishman gets to extend his contract for another month! (as per the preamble, this is not the reason for the post, merely a added bonus for Eishman) Thereafter you can do your own referrals and you to can get a month's free DVD watching for each new PushPlay member. Ah, the beauty of viral marketing.

Let them sing it for you

Here's something to make your Monday pass just a little quicker.

Let them sing it for you is a little website that allows you to get your message sung. You type in your text and the within seconds you have it sung back to you. There is a catch, but it is rather cool. The words are cut out of a multitude of songs. The very craziness of the result is it's beauty.

Have I explained this coherently? Click the link below and you will see what I mean.

http://www.sr.se/P1/src/sing/index.htm#

btw. Month-end is coming. Last month I complained about the bandwidth glut experienced when South African ADSL users ensure they utilise their full bandwidth allocation for the month. As a result I polled the top SA blogsites for their experiences. I have purposefully left the publishing of the results for month-end. So pop back soon.

A great spoof on America's priorities (Video)

There are serious challenges facing the United States!!

Enjoy!!

My problem with the Circus

We took the children to see Brian's Circus last night. They thoroughly enjoyed it, which truly is the most important thing. But I had one problem.

Now I know that there are many people who have all sorts of issues with the circus. There are those who take issue with the way animals are confined and made to perform tricks for their human oppressors. There are those who find the cost of going to see the performances too expensive thereby making it inaccessible to the masses. There are those who take issue with periodically finding themselves being made neighbours to the band of nomads and a rather stinky menagerie. Still others feel the workers too are exploited. Not me, I have a much more deep-rooted issue. Choice!

You see, being just privileged enough to afford tickets for a family of four, but not enough to afford the expensive seats, we had to sit in the unbooked seats. This choice thing became an issue the moment we managed to get close to the front of the queue to get into the tent. This meant we had a couple of hundred unallocated seats to choose from the moment we entered. But which to choose. The ones in the middle? The ones closer to the back that were more raised? No wait, surely the ones closest to the expensive seats? I mean if they paid so much for their seats ...? And how were the poles going to effect our vision? Where were the performers going to be performing? The choice. Please, please, please someone tell me I have to sit somewhere, because now, no matter where we choose, there's always going to be the what if!!!

I am not going to tell you where we decided and if they were good seats. You need to go and enjoy a performance at Brian Boswell's Circus yourself and see if you can figure it out for yourself.

Check out their website for there tour schedule. I do know they are in the Cape Town environs until the middle of April.

The Most Amazing Show!

What do you find yourself doing on a Thursday evening @ 10pm?
If you have not yet done so, watch SABC 2, yes SABC 2, and check out The Most Amazing Show .
It's a show that's difficult to describe. Silly? Yes. Funny? very often. Deep? They seem to think so! But, you will (okay maybe you won't) find it hard to flick the remote to another channel.
I dare you to give Corne and Twakkie, the main protagonists, a watch this Thursday.
If you like, Corne has a special request for the Eish readers...
'... please just tell those what see your blog
to also vote and to also love you as much as what I do.'
You can do so by popping over to their website, declare that you are not kak and cast your vote. They are desperate for a 3rd season!

You can't lose. At the very worst you will see Twakkie do his very best to 'moer' someone!

Lotsa love, Eish!!

Give someone an earful

On the the 11th April Stuart Taylor (Going Nowhere Slowly fame) will be having a special fundraising performance as part of his Techni-Coloured tour at the Artscape in Cape Town.

The performance will be raising money for a little boy, Jamie Lewis, who is in need of a cochlear implant. What a pleasant way to help out a family trying to give their little boy a chance to enjoy the aural pleasures we take for granted.

'Best Known as “the guy from Going Nowhere Slowly” Stuart Taylor was the reigning S.A. National Comedy Magic Champion, a title that he held for 3 years. Suave sophisticated Stellenbosch graduate, Stuart started doing comedy to ensure that people "laugh at my jokes and be mystified by my magic - and not the other way around!"' (Excerpt from www.stuartaylor.co.za) To be suave and sophisticated despite being a Matie is an achievement in it's own right!

You free on the 11th April? The show starts at 20h15. Tickets available from Computicket for just R65-00. I have mine.

Hope to see you there!

If you would like to help the Lewis family in any way whatsoever please make contact via email to pmchurch@mweb.co.za

Ching Chong Cha

Quick !! Looking for something to do this Human Rights Day? I bet you didn't know there was a major sport's event happening today.

Unfortunately it's too late to enter, you would have to have done some serious training by now anyways, but it's sure to be a crowd pleaser. Make your way down to 'The Independent Armchair Theatre" in Observatory, Cape Town for the Ching Chong Cha Championships. The only known such event in South Africa. The big event starts at 9 o'clock.
Click here for more info : The Independent Armchair Theatre Ching Chong Cha Championships.

Interestingly it's appears that the name is distinctly South African. The other, more internationally recognisable name being Rock, Paper, Scissors. Our friends down-under in Australia change it around and call it Scissors, Paper, Rock (switching it around like they do with the cricket score) and the Kiwi's call it Paper, Scissors, Rock. According to Wikipedia, they call it Paper, Scissors, Stone in the UK!
Just some education for the public holiday.