Sun in Szentendre

Saturday Pit Stop

 There will of course be endless debates among the connoisseurs about which is the best coffee in town, but after careful investigation I'd day I am partial to the one at Espresso Embassy. And their cakes aren't half bad either.

Throwback Thursday: Stockholm in the Snow

I am still a bit bitter for not having had a proper winter this year, so here's some Stockholm snow from last January.

Concert Excitement Diary

Let's drink with this man (though maybe not quite as much) to all the great music coming to us this year:

February 15- Goran Bregović at Művészetek Palotája
March 3- Anna Calvi on A38
April 3- Rufus Wainwright at Művészetek Palotája
May 1- MØ on A38
June 14- Gogol Bordello at Budapest Park
June 19- Nine Inch Nails at Budapest Arena
July 2-5 Foals (punching the air with huge satisfaction), MGMT and Woodkid at VOLT
August 11-18 Queens of the Stone Age and Klaxons on Sziget (and looking forward to the rest of the names with paralytic excitement)

Hangmás at Fekete Zaj

It's kind of hard to describe Fekete Zaj to someone who hasn't been there (yes, it sounds a bit like having been to the 'Nam). This was sadly the last one, but for the past few years it has been a festival gathering rather eclectic pieces of the Hungarian underground, with some occasional foreign gems, such as Atari Teenage Riot in 2013. These were the kind of gigs where you would queue up at the bar with people from totally different musical subcultures and casually walk on on some totally mind bending concerts on one of the smaller stages. It's, however, going on a hiatus, at least temporarily, at least in this form- and the last band on the main stage were Hangmás, catering to a rather entranced crowd of late night noise survivors.

Central

Most of Budapest's classic coffee houses are either dead and gone or have become expensive tourist traps-Central is walking on a tightrope, but they do have some fine cakes and rather pleasant Viennese coffee and in the morning to early afternoon you can still spot the locals indulging in their drinks and reading the paper. It also passes the all essential Esterházy test- the classic cake is nutty and fluffy and all around awesome. The evening pianist can veer to rather camp editions of Mariah Carey evergreens, but now and then he'll also play some Quimby to conjure up that good old Central European angst to complement your melange.

Walk on the Bright Side

Walking to work on a chilly February morning could a nuisance, but it isn't really, when you get to walk through the heart of Budapest.

The Real Thing

If anything is Budapest for me- this is it, a place that is mostly unchanged ever since I first came to the city, a place I can read about in the books describing the city of old. The area has just been fancily remade though, so it's a bit of new Budapest too- just a few steps away from where the now mythical fourth metro line has one of its spanking new stops which will start operating come end of March. Or so they say- no Budapester will believe the fourth metro line is real until we first board a train. 

So to celebrate the old-new Budapest here's a fresh and awesome song from a young man who hasn't been to Budapest yet but should be immediately invited. Sziget organisers take note.