Birthday
On 2 August, I celebrated my birthday in Ostend, because there was no question of being anywhere else, it’s the city I love most in Belgium!
I arrive
Altro...
On 2 August, I celebrated my birthday in Ostend, because there was no question of being anywhere else, it’s the city I love most in Belgium!
I arrive
Altro...On 2 August, I celebrated my birthday in Ostend, because there was no question of being anywhere else, it’s the city I love most in Belgium!
I arrived early Saturday morning, 1 August, dropped my things at the Airbnb (keeping only my recording and photography gear with me), and walked straight to the beach. The sea, my feet in the water, just walking along…
What a pleasure it is to feel that particular contact with nature, the water, the movement. It’s like taking back pure energy.
Then I walked toward the Vistrap to buy some shrimps! You wouldn’t believe how much you get for just 4 euros. I even tossed a few to two or three seagulls watching me with what looked like envy.
From there I headed straight to what I like to call MY area, Ostend’s east side, Oosteroever, taking the Overzetboot under a beautiful sun, already crowded, but heading in the direction I love.
Once there, I was a little surprised to find almost no fishing vessels at the port, everything more or less closed. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying my time alone. I thought: “Okay, the sun’s shining, I’ve got biscuits, sweets, and a bottle of vodka (don’t judge me, it was my birthday weekend) let’s head to my favourite beach, Oysters Bay, and make the most of this time with myself.”
This beach is rarely crowded, much to my satisfaction, so I set up my tripod and recorder, took off my shoes, rolled up my jeans, and alternated between walking in the water and sunbathing from 11 AM to around 2 PM.
On the way there by Overzetboot, I noticed a huge vessel in the restricted zone of the harbour and decided to head over, hoping I might catch the machinery running or even better, catch the vessel departing.
That’s where the magic happened. I got almost no usable sound, but a few recordings worth keeping so I’ll be adding seven of them as a bonus to my “Vessels” field recording pack, since there are some interesting textures and ambiences in there. But the real magic wasn’t the audio.
I was standing in front of Deschildre Streekproducten, a bar and restaurant that also hosts rare and collectible car meetups on Sunday mornings. A guy walked up and asked if I was some kind of professional measuring decibel levels from the industrial vessels. I explained that I wasn’t, that I record sounds all over the city for techno tracks, with an album coming, and that I sell field recording packs. He was stunned, and we ended up having a great conversation. Turns out he’s the owner of the place, nice guy.
As for the big vessel, it’s called the Moritz Schulte. I couldn’t get close, and even photographing it was tricky because of the fencing, but I got what I could.
Then the second bit of magic happened. I’d been in touch with a venue close to my heart about DJing for Oostende Voor Anker, but the owner and I had missed each other’s messages, and I started thinking maybe I’d done something wrong. Feeling a bit rejected and out of the loop, I told myself it probably wasn’t the place for me and that I should let it go. Then, guess what, the owner cycled past and called out, “Dimi? You there?”
So I grabbed a fresh beer at Deschildre Streekproducten first, chatted a bit more with the owner there, and then headed straight over to sort out the misunderstanding. And this is something I want to say clearly: don’t assume people are against you until you actually talk to them. A real, in-person conversation can dissolve almost any misunderstanding, it’s important to communicate, to say what’s on your heart.
The result? I’ve got my own party on 4 September, underground techno! I’m thrilled, and now I’m working hard to bring in as many people as possible to enjoy great music and grow my artistic connection with them.
I had another beer there, met a lovely girl with an adorable dog, played with the dog, talked with her for close to an hour, and then headed back out to record more sounds around the harbour before returning to the city center where even more surprises were waiting for me.
Part of another post to come ;-)
Dimitri Pike / Wildtek (http://wildtek.net / wildtek.concept@gmail.com)
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