dick from africa

2010-08-29

one

My father was Diederick (Dik) de Poepjes. My mother was Elsa van Piest. They were Dutch Calvinist missionaries who had been commanded by God to bring the one true savior, the Christ, to the San of the Kalahari. There I was conceived. There I was born. There I lived the life of a San for almost 13 years.

The last time I saw Diederick and Elsa, their limp bodies were being dragged away by lions.

People are always saying that life is short. And I guess you can see it that way if you choose. But for me, a life is a really, really long time. For me, almost any life, even the most common, is epic.

2010-08-30

Here’s our newest music video

2010-08-31

You might want to crank this one up

2010-09-10

two

So how did a skinny white kid, who was raised as a Namibian Bushman, end up in a punk band on the stage of CBGB? I’m not sure I remember exactly. I’m old now. Memories are starting to turn to smoke. I just want to get them written down somewhere … the hunts, the runs, Bujimi and Manu, The Crise, the eatthepenis song, the bangy bangy dance, hookerman, bone whistles, sauci leaf dreams - the dizzying, nauseating sauci leaf dreams, The Ten Contentments, Dick Too, Uncle Benny and Aunt Tuzi, the wars, the music, the bands, the groupies, the drink, the drugs, the serendipity of it all … I just want to get them written down somewhere before they all blow away.

2010-09-19

three

Every night as a young man, Dik de Poepjes got on his knees and asked God to tell him what he should do with his life. By the time God got around to speaking to Dik, he had already met Elsa and was serving an apprenticeship as a muffin maker at the famous Gerard Besseling bakery in Amsterdam.

This is what God finally said to Dik on that fateful night…

“Dik de Poepjes! Dik de Poepjes! Take Elsa as your wife and go and live with the San. The San will make you as their own. You will kill many Eland, eat much tommi, dance bangy bangy, play hookerman on your bone whistle, dream many sauci-leaf dreams and you will be eaten by lions. There, among the San, Elsa will become big with child and you will give that child to the San so that their ears and hearts will open to My Word.”

And so Dik married Elsa and they left everything they knew for the service of God.

In time, Dik and Elsa gained the trust of the tribe they had chosen by totally emersing themselves in the San way of life. They dressed as San, they ate as San, they celebrated as San, they mourned as San. Dik hunted with the San men and Elsa foraged with the San women.

When it came time for Elsa to give birth, she followed the custom that all San women have followed for tens of thousands of years; she walked off alone, about a mile from the village, and delivered me into a leaf-lined hole dug into the warm sand. Once recovered, she scooped me up, covered my placenta with wet Sauci leaves, and carried me back to the village.

Eventhough she doubted whether her faith was strong enough, Elsa also followed through with the rest of the custom …

Upon reaching the village she carried me to the “children’s hut”, kissed me on the cheek, laid me on the ground by the door then turned and walked away.

2010-09-25

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

SuikerPad Genoemde Jesus – Ik Ben Vrij
Here’s the full version of Ik Ben Vrij. It’s off of a demo we made around the same time as the film clip.

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four

Please indulge me in this little disruption of my story’s timeline but I just recently came across this old bit of digitized film from 1966. It’s from the very first band that I was in called SuikerPad Genoemde Jesus (SugarToad Named Jesus). I’m the one in the white t-shirt playing guitar - the singer is Heinrik Rotmensen (dead now almost 30 years), aka Harteloze Duivel (Heartless Devil). Heartless is the reason I ended up in America but that’s jumping too far ahead.

After running away from that orphange in Rotterdam, I ended up on the streets of Amsterdam where Heartless had been a homeless urchin for most of his life. Our first interaction was when he tried to sell me a ball of Algerian hash. He said “Hallo wil het penishoofd, één of andere knoeiboel kopek?” (Hey dickhead, wanna buy some hash?) or something like that. I just remember I really didn’t like his attitude so I thought I’d teach him a lesson by grabbing the hash, punching him in the mouth and running away as fast as I could. I hadn’t gotten far when suddenly everything went black. I came to in the hospital with my head all bandaged up - 28 stitches and a concussion - Heartless had heaved a brick that nearly brained me but you gotta love that European healthcare. Anyway - long story short - we ended up becoming friends. I helped him sell drugs - he let me stay with him in the furnace room of De Kleine Rode Engel, one of the brothels that use to be on Warmoesstraat.

The interesting thing about this clip is that the style of music we’re playing is what came to be known in the U.S. in the late 90’s and early 00’s as “metalcore” but we were doing it in 1966!!!! Don’t believe that crap you read on Wikipedia that Metalcore is a sub-genre of Heavy Metal blah, blah, blah. Heartless and I invented “metalcore” in that hot as hell furnace room of De Kleine Rode Engel on Warmoesstraat after a night of teenage wantonness and dissipation. To the trained ear the rhythms are the rhythms of “hookerman” and that voice is the trance voice of “the old ones” growling out the “eatthepenis” song with the sound of a mighty lion.

2010-10-01

The Lions In The Distance

There are still mornings when I wake with this song in my head.

If you take my hand, my son
All will be well when the day is done
We will all sleep together as one
and all will be well when the day is done
When the day is done.

Tell me why you’re crying, my son
I know you’re frightened, like everyone
Is it the lions in the distance you hear?
Will it help if I stay near?
I am here.
I am here.

You ask me why I’m sighing, my son
You shall inherit what man has done
In a world filled with sorrow and woe
If you ask me why this is so -
I really don’t know
I really don’t know

2010-10-15

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

The Tokens - The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Heard this in a bar the other night. As you can imagine, this song had a great impact on my life. Whenever I got homesick I put this on, closed my eyes, and I was there.

I can still remember the first time I heard it. I was in Rotterdam - at one of the earlier foster homes - Greta Holstein’s, maybe. Yes, I think it was her - her kitchen radio (god, I can still see her moving that ponderous body to Chubby Checker and Elvis, secretly smoking cigarettes). I was upstairs in my room cowering, crying, swearing that one day I’d get back home.