STORIES
last update: 29-03-2005

Here you will find written stories and impressions about the convention.
Some were taken from the Nits Mailing List, some from the Nits Yahoo Group and others were written specifically for his page

Anna Adrichem

I saw so many 'thank you' mail coming my way. And also many thank you on the Nitslist.

Although I initiated the INC 2 and had the lead in the organization, that does not mean that I did it all by myself. We worked as a team in preparing the great day on March 20: Ria Heeringa, Dia Bravenboer, Clemens van Driel, Maarten (two a's) Eijkhout and myself.

It started in Naaldwijk, autumn 2003. Maarten and I talked with Henk after the show 1974 in Naaldwijk (Netherlands). I told him that I would like to organize a second INC. Henk immediately was very enthousiastic, mentioned that he loved to hear Lice again and suggested me to make contact with Clemens about it. So I called Clemens and we talked about the possibilities. At that time Clemens was very busy with his work.

First it was my intention to have the INC 2 on March 20, 2004; the day Nits would perform in Paradiso, Amsterdam. But, Nits were too busy then with the show and the preparations for the DVD.

Second try was organizing the INC 2 in autumn 2004; and we waited for Aad to tell us a fitting date. In the meantime we came together one time: Maarten, Dennis, Clemens and I. Dennis then told us he was too busy with his new job. And also there would come a busy time at home.

So we started the three of us. And our third try was to organize the INC 2 on December 12, 2004. That would be exactly 30 years after their first official show.

At the end of the summer Clemens went to the Werf and talked again with Nits about our plans. Luckily for Nits they had so many performances - solo, together or with Freek de Jonge - and that's why we had to move the INC 2 to 2005. And so we all agreed with the date: March 20, 2005. I then asked Ria and Dia to join the organization. They are so very enthousiastic, know a lot about Nits and have a lot of good ideas.

In December we started our first meeting. We looked back at 2000 and we looked forward to 2005. Maarten picked up to organize Lice again. It goes too far to mention all the activities we did the last months; we did it as a team.

In Stairway the program went very good. What the NIts would do, was also for us a surprise. And that's why the end of the day was less organized than the other parts. And so be it.

And hereby I want to thank again all people who contributed to this -like Marten (one a) says- : *wow* ,*oleeeeeeeee*, *jippie* *wooooooooow* - great day. And also thank you to the members of the team; we did a really good job together!

Regards and thank you all for coming to the INC and making this day ever memorable.

Marcel Bestebroer

It was awesome! What did I see today?

* A future Nits member (but we'll probably have to wait a dozen years or so before he'll even be able to join; this kid was great on air guitar
* A lot of video's I hadn't seen before. Mostly of gigs I wasn't able to attend at the time, but also some compilation of older Nits gigs the band put together.
* Some very good live performances by fans (this includes 'Lice' of course, but there were other memorable performances, like Jos' version of 'Rainfallagain', or Jelle's and Leona's duet 'Sometime in Winter', with Leona on guitar as well. And it was only her second time on guitar, she warned us ahead of time).
* An awesome live performance by the band (at one time all former and present members were on stage; unfortunately Alex, Joke and Vera couldn't make it today).
* A fun quiz, not too hard for the most part, but the last section was barely doable, especially for non-Dutchies. Dennis won.
* A special guest star joining the band for Cabins: Kevin Hearn from Bare Naked Ladies.

I probably missed a boatload of stuff now, but I just wanted to give an impression to those that couldn't make it today.

Kudos to the entire convention committee for putting this day together.

Oh, Henrico, did people look funny at you on the train ride back?

Dia Bravenbroer

Ria Heeringa

You can try to organize something to the best of your abilities, but if people don't come, or if people who do come don't respond in a good way, the day will drop dead. It didn't happen, we all had a great time and thanks to all who came and made it fun having fun.

Incidently. I'm planning to make the compilation DVD that was shown available as either a vine or a request for non-burners, if there's enough interest, since there were many inquiries about it.

The compilation was made especially for today, featuring a song per album, starting from 'The Nits' preferably in the set-up who played it at the time, although I didn't manage entirely.

Marten Holst

first of all, please excuse my *wow* writing so late, I wanted *oleeeeeeeee* the tex to be not too interspersed *jippie* with
senseless stuttered syllables of enthusiasm *wooooooooow*, which would have been unavoidable just a few days before.

Was it great? Yes it was. It was great. Great was it. Great, indeed, is precisely what it was. So, it was great.

I greatly enjoyed my time, despite the - at least for me - quite early start in the day at 4am and me still being some minutes late due to the fact that I did not remember this region of one way streets in the center of Utrecht from my last visit, which incidentally was Nits related. But being there was nice.

We had great fan performances (I just loooooooooooooove Adrian Whittaker's GND - anyone want a cup of coffee? Additionaly, I learned about a new instrument with more strings than "resonance body" (not a musician, don't know the word)). We had great Nits performances (as a surprise, some of the band were actually there). We had another go at this incredible TomTelman quiz, telling me how much I am lacking of Nits knowledge (and even if I know something, I'd need more time to humm intros to myself). This time I was lacking Marjolein's help, too ;) Dennis, how the heck did you manage 29 points? But still: I got my ASB record's lyrics and you don't :-p

And finally, I had just a wee tad little weeny more time to talk to other people than 5 years ago, which was great as well. Unfortunately still not enough time to talk to everyone. But I had "first time talks" with Tenno, Symeon (okay, we said "Hello" 5 years ago), Kirsten, Olav, and some more. It's a start. Looking forward to the coffee table discussions in 5 years' time :-)

Personal highlights included:
Kevin of BNL. In case you don't know Barenaked Ladies, go to the next record shop *now*, break the windows (they won't probably be opened on easter monday) and get yourself a record. (BTW Kevin, sorry about talking a bit too much about the Gordon record - next time I'll mention Stunt more often ;-) )

Mr. Appeldoorn. No, that wasn't his name. Some place where I had to change highways. Anyway, Jelle. Seems to me like he'd practised. But I actually do not want to single out a single member, we had a great Lice reunion concert and great "solo" or "duo" artists with some incredible versions. Lice as well. Where do they get those forgotten 70s from. Never will wear a yellow pullover again.

Michiel, Leona, Peter, Martin, Aren, Titia - the "old ones" back on stage - especially Leona looked happy all over.

Martin's (?) son being cuddled by him and Arwen while they were playing their instruments and performing. Finally he got a rattle (?) from Rob to take part.

THE TOM TELMAN QUIZ. Sorry, had to scream.

The discussion about alcohol abuse and sexuality in Nits lyrics with Jochen, Tenno, Symeon and Tennosfriendwhosenameiforgotrightnowsorry. I will never listen to "5 Hammering Men the same way" ;-)

So basically everything was a highlight :-) It was a truly 1a performance, if I may say so. So thanks to 2a, AnnA, Mia, Ria, Pia,
Nia, Lia (ehm, sorry, anyway, I hope I did not forget somebody of the ia-ladies), Clemens, their families and everyone's families who let their loved ones go to a totally senseless event in the middle of the Lowlands. This life in the lowlands... means something...

Jasper de Jong

Thanks to the organisation team for this great day!!
I enjoyed me very well and it was very nice to meet all the other Nitsfanfriends.

Dennis Versteeg

Five years ago I was involved in the organization of the first Nits convention and I only have good memories of that day. when I was asked to be involved with the second convention I was happy to offer my help. Unfortunately it turned out that co-organizing was not possible for me due to various reasons, but I luckily could contribute some things (e.g. some design stuff and this website) and of course my participation in LICE.

Before it was of course uncertain if the success of the first convention could be repeated and now that it's over I can say: it was at least as much fun as it was lat time. Personally I enjoyed the fact that there was even more music than last time with more fans contributing.

I only saw parts of the DVDs that were shown, but I think that that they were great backdrops for all the people meeting in the venue. Again I saw many familiar faces and could add a few more faces to names I only know from the computer screen. The first set of performances was great. Lots of variation in all the different songs! It was great to see several Nits members onstage with fans. Personally I joined in with Adrian, Maarten, Anna and Rob Kloet on Crane-Driver to sing backing vocals. Unfortunately there was no way to rehearse so we had to do it for the first time on stage.. It wasn't too bad I guess..

The quiz was, like last time, a lot of fun. Tom made something special again. I loved seeing/hearing all the fragments. It was actually the first time I saw the Three sisters video. The quiz was hard, but I managed to get most things right, which resulted in me winning the 1st prize!!

 Then it was time for LICE. Our second performance ever. Just two rehearsals this time, but a completely new set and two 'oldies'. I sang lead on 3 and played electricguitar on 3 more. Especially playing guitar was fun for me to do and I think the singing went pretty well this time around. It's a fantastic experience to share the stage with fellow fans and sing and play some of our favorite songs. udging from the audience reaction and comments afterwards I think that the audience had almost as much fun as we ourselves had..

Nits closed of the performances with many old members joining in. The song choices were maybe a bit less surprising than last time, but seeing so many familiar faces and hearing so many familiar voices in unique combinations is a great joy. Guest performer Kevin from the Barenaked Ladies was a cool bonus! It was obvious the Nits members had a lot of fun themselves as well.

Afterwards it was saying goodbye to many friends and I'll absolutely be there again next time!
Thanks to Clemens, Marten, Anna, Dia and Ria for organizing a perfect day!!