In the good old days Amsterdam had a free weekly magazine aptly called ‘Amsterdam Weekly’. In English, because in the end everybody speaks English here. I thoroughly enjoyed writing for them, and I miss them. Every week. On this page you’ll find a number of articles that I produced for them, as well as the lyrics to my songs and some poetry. Jaro is often found in the small print. I still write, so contact me if you need me for anything.
Anyone who knows Amsterdam a little bit must have noticed a cold and conservative wind of change blowing through the city lately. Especially our famed coffeeshop culture is heavily under siege from forces in parliament that have obviously gone over to the dark side. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, since our fair country is [...]
Dikke Dennis. If you don’t remember him, you haven’t met him. It’s as simple as that. His presence is undeniable, and not only because he goes accompanied by a formidable and entirely tattooed belly. It doesn’t matter how big his body gets, Dennis’ sprawling personality will always be bigger. He’s a tattoo artist. That is, [...]
I was born in 1963 on Rusland, just around the corner from the Nieuwmarkt. Today, of course, thereís a coffeeshop called Rusland where there used to be a ‘kruidenier’, an extremely small Dirk van de Broek owned by a big woman with rosy cheeks. Amsterdam seemed huge to me as child, and back then I [...]
Jarotext
(Nederlands) Over Amy Winehouse
(Nederlands) De Linkse Kerk (Paasboodschap)
WEEKLY ARTICLES Coffeestop?
Anyone who knows Amsterdam a little bit must have noticed a cold and conservative wind of change blowing through the city lately. Especially our famed coffeeshop culture is heavily under siege from forces in parliament that have obviously gone over to the dark side. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, since our fair country is [...]
WEEKLY ARTICLES Dikke Dennis; The Man Inside The Legend
Dikke Dennis. If you don’t remember him, you haven’t met him. It’s as simple as that. His presence is undeniable, and not only because he goes accompanied by a formidable and entirely tattooed belly. It doesn’t matter how big his body gets, Dennis’ sprawling personality will always be bigger. He’s a tattoo artist. That is, [...]
WEEKLY ARTICLES Through The Looking Glass; A native straatschoffie looks back
I was born in 1963 on Rusland, just around the corner from the Nieuwmarkt. Today, of course, thereís a coffeeshop called Rusland where there used to be a ‘kruidenier’, an extremely small Dirk van de Broek owned by a big woman with rosy cheeks. Amsterdam seemed huge to me as child, and back then I [...]