My Jo’burg Stay Away
When I heard that a group of guys I know actually spent the whole of the festive holiday playing Monopoly, I was really intrigued… I mean, yeah you’re home and have nothing to do, mara Molopoly? Anyway, turns out that it’s the new concrete jungle sport, these guys take their boards everywhere… Wierd, but true! Happy New Year! I sincerely hope that you’re happy to be in the New Year because ready or not you’re in it, whether you’re happy or not or you believe it or not. As for 2006 and all the memories good or bad “can we have amafluit bafwethu?” I hope that you’ve enjoyed yourselves and at least got to enjoy not going to work or to school for that matter and I hope you packed the stomach with all the food and drink that was on offer, which has become synonymous with the festive season. At least that’s what consoled the rest of us who stayed in Jo’burg on chill mode. With all the preparations that I’d made for the December holidays with my boys, my staying in Jo’burg over December was not the plan and it sort of reminded me of when I was still at school. The holidays begin and you have to look forward to staying at home. Broke, and in the dusty streets of Soweto, you knew that you were in for some major boredom, dust, alcoholics and watching chicks that spend their holidays in the front seat of some playas car. So come summer 2006, I’m older, more resourceful, more cash and single with an Audi A3 with an empty front seat (know what I mean), one kinda had the feeling that I had to live up to some playalistic expectations that have been made constitution by MTV HIP POP urban culture. After our Cape Town plans fell through due to spending R12 000 on getting the car ready, paying debts and sundries, it just became practical to spend the rest of the R3000 in Jo’burg instead of going to Cape Town to become a bergie in the name of sticking to plan A. Fair enough December started with a bang, last minute jobs that’ll pay in February, free parties, beautiful weather with afternoon rain. It’s amazing how people behave when December rolls around. It’s like we all behave like school kids who’ve finished their exams and they’re just waiting to GO. And that’s just what happened. People went. It was so evident. It’s actually scary. Jo’burg doesn’t look normal empty. Imagine driving on the M1 South from Woodmead to the CBD at 100km/h at 16H55 and getting there in ten...
Give me my holiday back!
Last year before we all went on a break I bumped into Zodwa in Sandton and when she said she was going to the South Coast on an affordable backpackers holiday, I thought she was going to have the time of her life… endless days of sun soaking and bonding with her friends, little did we both know that it would turn out to be a disaster of note, (I must say the story is quite funny, sorry Zo’)… Click here for our South Coast holiday snaps! I’m back at work and not very happy about it! Not because I hate my job but because I was robbed of my summer holiday! My first mistake was booking me and five friends into X backpackers in Port St Johns (unaffectionately known as PSJ). Store this piece of advice in your memory banks people: Don’t visit PSJ over the festive season. My second mistake was choosing to stay when they told me they had no record of my booking. Funny that. We had paid a hefty deposit! They definitely had record of that. After I threw my toys they put us up in a dingy granny (literally) flat situated about a kilometer from where we were originally ‘booked’ into. The place smelled and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for months. And there were collage photos of someone’s family up on the bathroom and toilet walls. There were enlarged versions of the same photos pasted on the grimy kitchen floor. Tacky! It rained every time we had the vaguest inclination to take part in some adventure sports. And when it didn’t rain, we couldn’t get hold of anyone who was running the kayaking or the horse riding. *sigh*. On a more positive note – we did get to squeeze in two beach sessions when the weather held out. Some of PSJ is truly beautiful and serene (3rd beach), while other beaches (2nd beach) feels you’re on the Durban beachfront. There was not a fresh prawn to be had in the entire town either which was the most depressing part. You always hope that if you find yourself in a small shitty coastal town (like Ramsgate in Natal) at least you’ll be able to get some big cheap prawns! Well not in PSJ! Nevertheless one of my friends was determined to have prawns, so we had them at the last place where you’d expect to find anything fresh – at a local pub on the main road which shall remain nameless. Here we tucked in and tried to make the most of a rather dismal affair. I mean, how much worse could it get?...
The Cape of Good Fun!
Some Jozi girls decided on a roadtrip to ‘Slaapstad’ for their Xmas hols. Although after this review of the city, Cape Town doesn’t really deserve that name, but then again it was December, anything is possible, even in ‘Slaapstaad’. The girls thought the sixteen drive would wear them out (after they unsuccessfully tried staying awake all the way) but it was the buzz of the city that had them out partying almost every single day that wore them out… See the photos here. “Ke Dezemba Bouwss” We spent the festive season in Johannesburg last year, due to a lack of organisation on everyone’s part and even though we had a blast, we decided that when the happy festive ’06 crept in we would to jack up our acts and go somewhere different, preferably the beach.So me, my sister Gontse, and friends Lindi, Fulvia and Bantse decided to pack supposedly small tog bags and drive down to Cape Town.“Yes the Karoo is going to be hot, yes we will be changing driver’s every three hours, yes the passengers will not be falling asleep on the road (I think) and yes Cape Town is very far!” Shoo now that we were done with all of the lectures from everyone who kept advising us not to drive, we hit the Golden Highway on the way to the Mother City. Trying to organise a trip with a group of very opinionated women is not the easiest thing, so even though it took about three months to get people to come to an agreement on where to go, where to stay and what to do I was just glad that it was finally happening. One Blood! According to me The Game’s “One Blood” is the song of 2006, I know they say you should dig deeper to find your song of the year because you might just find songs that you’re forgetting, but then there’s also the fact that some songs are just hits no matter what and I just think the Junior Reid and Game combo was just too seductive, and then I flipped through Game’s CD sleeve after I got it as a Christmas gift and let’s just say I think The Game is ehem, hot. We stopped at the N1 Oasis to get the biltong, chips, drinks, water, sweets and other things that people felt would be necessary padkos, we filled up the tank and off we were. It was raining and we were all very tired because we didn’t get enough sleep but Gontse’s rendition of the old men singing “Take it slow” at the John Legend concert in Johannesburg earlier on in the year had...
Competition: Edgars Music Series
The Edgars Music Series is back in 2007 with a bang on Friday 02 February! Yes, the first Edgars Music Series of the year has a huge and crackling line-up designed to chase away the New Year blues and put you back in the party mood! It is still summer after all, and there are plenty of excuses for a good time, so get your New Year off to a typical party style start with the Edgars Music Series at the Bassline. Come on down on the 2nd of February and see HHP, Magesh and the Blk Jks in action. Joining these acts on stage will be two brand new emerging artists in the form of Character and Black Rose. As usual, The Fashion Police will be prowling the venue, checking out the gents and the ladies, looking for that special look that deserves rewarding. They will be deciding who gets to win special prizes from Sloggi and showing off the best dressed to the crowd! So make sure you are dressed to impress, when you head to The Bassline on 02 February 2007! Dineo Ranaka of Y FM will be the MC and host for the night, and the Y Fm crew will be there in force as usual, so get there early and book your space for the highlight of the Jozi party scene, the Edgars Music Series! The Edgars Music Series at the Bassline Friday 02 February 2007 The Bassline 10 Henry Nxumalo Street Newtown Music Centre Featuring: HHP, Magesh, Blk Jcks, Character, Black Rose AND DJ Mdu and Dj Vini...
AND 1 in SA!
Are you a baller? Well if you are then you will surely recognise the brand AND 1. AND 1 has embodied the sport of basketball for more than 10 years from the 20% of the NBA who wear AND 1’s performance basketball shoes to their worldwide AND 1 Mix Tape® Tour the AND 1 brand connects with every basketball player at every level. In South Africa, AND 1 is the #1 shoe chosen by basketball players and is now sought after by the netball communities due to their performance and technology driven designs. AND 1 South Africa provides a selected shoe and apparel range for the trendsetting yet performance conscious athlete and or consumer. AND 1 has been distributed officially in South Africa since 2004 but the first ever AND 1 Concept Store in South Africa was recently launched on 11 November 2006 at the Village Walk Shopping Centre in Johannesburg. AND 1 mostly concentrates on men’s shoe and apparel however there is a limited range of AND 1 women’s shoes too, the female brand that works with AND 1 is called Ryka and even though these aren’t AND 1’s they do the trick. So get down to Village Walk is located on the corner of Maude & Rivonia Road, Sandton if you want to get your hands on the hottest basketball gear whether it is shoes or clothing. Just for your interest here are some African Basketball Facts: Basketball is the 2nd largest sport in Africa (BMI) It is the 5th most popular sport amongst South African men Basketball is the fastest growing sport in South Africa since 1996 (BMI) NBA conducts their largest Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Camp in Johannesburg, South Africa every September (over $1 million per year invested), featuring the top 100 African prep players from 28 countries in Africa Africa has a history of producing student/ athletes and professional basketball players including Manute Bol, Dikembe Motumbo, Hakeem Olaijuwan, Reuben Bombje Bombje, Luel Deng, Obonna Ekezie, Desagana Diop, Mamadou Ndiaye, Bobacar Aw and Godwin Owinje Check out the tight website on...
Proudly brought to you by:
