Old-timer

Hi, I am Old-timer, biker and bonfire singer from The Netherlands.

I like to ride motorbikes, and have done for the biggest part of my life.
As a daily commuter (summer and winter) when I was working still.
But now, since I’m retired, mainly for ride-outs, camping-weekends and holidays.

When camping I like to play guitar and mouth-organ and sing at the campfire.
Keywords: Acoustic, Oldschool, Unplugged, (Irish) Folk & Country, Blues & Ballads,
60’s & 70’s Evergreens.
So, whenever I go for a trip on my bike I have my guitar with me.

Although I am just a cover-singer and not really a Singer/Songwriter, I have written and recorded a few songs. You can find youtube-links to these video’s in this blog too. (Click in “Categories”: “Music Videos“).

Being a “bonfire troubadour”, I normally play in the open air (if weather permits),
but in 2014 I joined a Songslam in a German pub.
That was my first indoor performance ever…

AndI was invited to play in a musical Pub in Germany in january 2016.
That was my second indoor performance.
You’ll find more detailsin the category ‘Performances‘ below.

If you shoul feel like posting comments, please do.

Regards, Old-timer

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SUZUKI XF650 FREEWIND TREFFEN, 2/4 SEPTEMBER 2016

The first full weekend of September we traditionally met at the
Freewind Biker Camping Meeting in Oberzeusheim, Germany.
And there was live music from yours truly and Uwe.

Who is Uwe ? He is the man in charge of the musical line-up as well as the ‘technics’ at the Kraichgau Treffen (see below).
But more important, he is a vey good musician, playing both acoustic and electric guitar.
He performs as a Blues, Folk & Country Singer-songwriter under the name
‘50 Cycle Hum‘ (http://www.50ch.de/wp).

And he is the E-guitarist in a 3 men rock formation called: ‘Eternal Engine‘
(http://eternal-engine.de/wp).

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KRAICHGAU TREFFEN – WITSUN 2016
(Previously called: “Born to be Wild Motorrad Camping Weekend“).

As usual there was this great musical Biker
camping-meeting at the Witsun weekend(13/16 of May 2016) near Bretten, Germany, again.
It is a musical biker rally, of which there is no second
in Western Europe !
And I, Old-timer, was lined-up for the sixth time this
year.

In previous editions I sometimes had other musicians
accompany me, but this year a group of 3
artists jammed along during almost all of the songs.

They were great, it was great, I felt great and most
important, the audiance loved it…

From left to right:
Alex; Guitar – Dimi; Vocals – Old-timer; Vocals, guitar, harp – Daniel; Djembé

(By the way, further down you find accounts
of previous editions.)

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MZ-CLUB HOLLAND 2016

Traditionally the dutch MZ-Club has it’s ananual meeting around the middle of April.
And traditionally this meeting takes place during this biker club’s ‘spring rally’.
And if weather permits, yours truly iwill be making music by the campfire.

This year, rains on friday made it impossible to have a fire outside.
But fortunately the camping had a big barn where we could make music.
And so we did!
I’m saying ‘we‘ because there was a lady called Sandra, of another biker club (using the same site as we did) who had brought her fiddle. We ended up making music together.

I simply love these kinds of encounters. It was such a great and very pleasent experience for me (and for her too, as the lady told me).
And since there is a great chance that both clubs will be there again, same time,
same place, we made an ‘appointment’ for next year !
Already looking forward to it !

On Saturday no more rain, so I did my act as a ‘bonfire singer’ again.

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F7 BLUES ROCK KELLER – GERMANY

A musical friend of mine called Uwe has been booked for a night at a musical pub near Heilbronn in South Germany in January 2016.

Uwe is the man in charge of the musical line-up and of the technical controls of the
“Born To Be Wild – Musical Biker Weekends” (See subjects below).
And a very talented musician himself; Singer/songwriter & guitarist (both acoustic and E-guitar) , playing solo as well as in a band.

At a rock-and-blues pub he is supposed to bring a show of about 3 hours.

Uwe invited me as the supporting act, to perform the first hour of the evening.
I gladly accepted !
He himself will fill the remaining 2 hours of the evening with his show.

That was my second indoor performance;
A fantasitc evening at the F7 Blues Rock keller !
The audiance was great and appreciated my typical ‘Bonfire repertoire’.
I was surprised to find that many of the songs were still so popular that the ‘crowd’ sang along with many of my songs !

I must say these performances are kind of getting appealing to me…

January 9 2016: – “F7 Blues Rock Keller” in Brackenheim, Germany:

Old-timer on tour !

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After the Born To Be Wild (in short BTBW) weekend at Witsun, in may 2015, I took part in a few “old-school” bikers camping weekends.

– Starting with a BMW-GS meeting last august in Vianden, Luxembourgh.

– Next was a Freewind meeting in Oberzeusheim, Germany in september.

– The 1-st weekend of october I was in a BMW GS-meeting in the Belgian Ardennes.

– And the last weekend of october I “closed the 2015 season” at a GS-meeting, here in Holland, not far from home.

And of course I was allowed to do my act as a Bonfire Performer…

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The Born to be Wild “experience” was great again!
The new location (a quarry) gave it it’s own unique ambience…

The line-up of artists was very nice and of great variaty.
Some of the artists had added new “sound” to their repertoire, one of which even adopted “psychedelic” music. And really good !

My own performance had improved too, in the sence that a bongo player from Switzerland volunteered to support me rhythmically.
While a German girl – a semi-professional backing-singer – beautifully complemented my own voice during most of my songs.

It was a most precious musical experience to have these artists accompany me spontaneously.
That’s what I like so much about these events; jamming !

The location was in a quarry this time…

The “theatre” was a semi closed building.
But at it was sheltered least in case of bad weather.

The “stage” was still an old Persian rug…!

On saturday night, I was accompanied by a singer I knew from a Song slam
the year before; Melie.

On sunday night I had a Rythmical “back-up” from a Swiss street-performer
called Daniel.

Most of sunday night another “womans voice” sang along with me.
A girl called Dimi, who used to be a backing-singer in a band.
It was a great experience.

Well, it was a bikers-event after all !

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This Witsun-weekend, like all Witsun weekends of the past 6 years, there will be a musical bikers-meeting near the town of Bretten in South-Germany.
The event is called: “Born to be Wild Bikers Camping Weekend“.

German biker friends of mine have organized a camping-weekend at a location where music will be made at a semi-indoor “stage”.
Well, it is a partially enclosed building with one wall missing, so there is interaction with
the audiance enyoing a great bonfire outside.
Amplifiers and soundboxes are provided, and the performers will have a roof over their heads (and instruments), and all they have to bring is their own musical instruments.

Local bands, singers and other amature musicians will be playing music every night of the weekend, starting on friday, up untill sunday night.
For me this will be the 5-th time that I’ll be bringing my “repertoire”on saturday night.

As of 2015 it will be at a new location, but just so you can get an impression of the event, I inserted a picture of a previous year.

You can see “yours truly” doing a sound check, while in the background the bonfire is more-or-less being kept alive…

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