Derek Vandivere

Eight years in matching band and the last fifteen in wind ensembles and big bands - I'll have to give this a listen...

Always fun to see my car rising from the depths to, well, to slightly under sea level.

The houtkunstroute is back! Sculptures all through the city made from trees that had to be cut down. #Amsterdam amsterdamsgrachtenhout.nl/houtkunstrou...

Today's gig - Vest in de Stad festival in Alkmaar. Joint concert with amateurs and the Nederlands Kamerorkest. Always good to play with the pros! #trombone

Pretty sure Rowdy Roddydendron shouldn't be blooming in mid-October.

Well, this is pretty darn neat. The aunt of an alto sax player in my wind orchestra decided to paint me! She didn't realize I'm married to someone kinda famous in the local art world and was over the moon to get complimentary feedback from her. #trombone

It's the most magical time of the year - time to poop in a bag and mail it to the government.

New level of cheek from external vendors: an email saying I've been registered for an event (that I have zero interest in), which of course triggers Google to put it in my agenda...

If you're wondering what to watch on Dutch TV Tuesday night, I have a suggestion...starring the best and hottest paintings restorer in the land (aka my wife).

They sell beer with Coca Cola At the autobahn tankstation At the autobahn tankstation

Another day, another spa town concert.... #trombone

Wandering through Bohemia and finding these springs all through the woods - makes me think of @hookland.bsky.social and wonder how many elixirs spontaneously arise from its groundwaters.

Today's gig: Karlovy Vary, Czechia, with about 100 natural springs.

Even in Czechia, they know where there's always money

Guess I don't need to worry too much about how my hair will be received here in Czechia - got a big thumbs up from a few salon workers.

Today's gig - rehearsing in a spa hotel somewhere in Bohemia.... #trombone

The girl's come home from Japan (my wife got to chaperone her on the trip home), and now she'll officially registered with the municipality of The Hague...

We just got home from a walk, this one ran off looking guilty, my Mac was playing music instead of being asleep, and I'm now locked out of my account. I think she must have been looking for kitty porn.

I think I just got gay bashed - maybe? Walking in Oost, some kid runs into me from behind on the sidewalk with his bike, almost knocking me over. As he cycled off I heard him say "kanker homo met je blauwe haar" (basically, "cancer dag with your blue hair"). Not sure what to think or feel about it.

80% of all human fossil fuel emissions happened during my lifetime?!?!

theonion.com/cornell-vows...

The sophisticated beauty of a cat that just managed to tip her bed off the desk and fall to the floor. In the middle of a Zoom call. I may need to find a new intern.

By the way, the first solo on this number we haven't played for at least six months and on which you've never soloed is for you...

Looks like I'll be ending my 57th year with fewer teeth than I began it.

This scratched an itch of which I was previously unaware. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdFP...

Business cat has some feedback on my KPIs... (kitty petting indicators)

Read #47 for 2026: The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck Maybe more relevant now than it was when I first read it in high school. I'd forgotten how angry the book is. uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Article in Het Parool today says that the big train disturbance is because someone attached pipes to the train tracks in 23 different locations.

Discovered that I'd accidentally been carpooling (bikepooling?) today. She seemed annoyed that I destroyed her web cycling home but was already busy reconstructing.

Today's gig

Today's Frankenbrunch: gnocchi alla romano rancheros

Just about twenty years ago, I got engaged. At Oktoberfest. On a roller coaster. That was a cheap Star Wars knockoff. While wearing a mask. It's going well so far.

Had a pretty good boat ride and sunset last Sunday...

Read #46 for 2026 - The Gone World, Tom Sweterlitsch Not sure if this was from a review or a humble bundle, but wasn't expecting this combination of body horror, time loops, and crime investigation. Really good stuff. uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Read #45 for 2026 - Storm Watch, CJ Box (audiobook) A bit more fun than others in the series, but Bitcoin mining as a major plot point in 2023? I guess Wyoming is pretty far behind the times, but still... uk.bookshop.org/p/books/stor...

Read #44 for 2026: The Kingdom of Gods, @nkjemisin.bsky.social uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

So I'm rereading Grapes of Wrath for the first time since high school in the mid 80s. I'm pretty sure I don't remember automatic seeders being compared to penes giving the earth orgasms or bestiality jokes. I wonder if I got a bowdlerized version, or if I was just that clueless at 14?

That'll do, #amsterdam

She's a big fan

Every time we eat dinner out on our bench, we get judged from above by Shitten.

DuoLingo getting frighteningly accurate...

I told Abbie I was going to buy the painting and glue it to the bedroom ceiling

If I ever develop a mutant superpower I hope it's the ability to vaporize the phones of people taking pictures or movies in concert halls

Mahler 7 tonight...only one more summer concert to go....

Today's fun solve-at-home mystery: who pissed in the laundry hamper?

Dammit, Ninja...

Recognize this guy? He had a stroke in Amsterdam 3 years ago, has aphasia and nobody knows who he is. Maybe 'Lucky,' maybe 'Chris from Canada.'

So this ceiling lamp for some reason waita a random amount of time to turn on - anywhere from a minute to a few hours. Working in the dark this morning for two hours, then in a Zoom my colleague asks if I can shed some light on a topic. The timing was PERFECT.