Merry Christmas

Thursday, 21 December 2006

Most people will know Willem Vleeschouwer as one of the best Dutch illustrators, which he is of course. But to me he is much more than that. I have the luck to play in the same soccer team with him for example!
When karaoke appeared in Holland there were little studios here and there, where you could walk in and make a recording. You walked out again a few minutes later with a cassette of your karaoke performance. I cannot exactly remember when this was, somewhere in the early 80’s, I guess. This phenomenon did not last long, most of these shops closed down within a year.
Willem Vleeschouwer was asked to draw a logo for one of the first karaoke studios in Amsterdam. Because Willem didn’t know what it was, the owner invited him to visite the shop. The owner explained how it worked and asked: ”Do you want to try it yourself?” Willem did, gave that cassette to me, probably has forgotten all about it, and now it is here for the whole world to hear it.