The George Lite Zone

Eight lone Turks at Fatboys brave an onslaught of chanting German fans. A good game of balls to the wall attacking football. The passion of the Turks against the relentless well oiled machine that is German football. Welcome, to the machine.

These two feline residents of Brussels Turkish quarter seem pretty immune to the frenzy of football that surrounds them. Eat, drink, f**ck, sleep. Cool.

50 Definitive Classic Rock albums, 100 posts on the George Lite Zone, there's a symmetry there of sorts. The second entry on planet rocks definitive album list is an old favourite of mine, Pump by Aerosmith. There are some albums were every track is a dyed in the wool classic. Some bands make a plethora of them, while for some this musical summit comes along once in a lifetime. For Aerosmith the achiement was reached with Pump where each offering hits the bulls eye and then some. Ripping into the groove with Young Lust , sneaking up on you with extreme sleaziness with F.I.N.E , going down with Love in An Elevator , slide guitar par excellence on Monkey on My Back before the sublime Jamies Got a Gun segues into the wonderful The Other Side . My Girl chugs along quite nicely before the digereedoo takes you into the anthemic Don't Get Mad Get Even . The Doorsesque opening Hoodo-Voodoo Medicine Man kicks in next, with the album finishing on a high with the excellent What It ...

I snapped this shot of two Italian Girls sitting in the boot of an estate after Italy's 2-0 win over France. Well, at least it makes a change from being on the roof which some of the Spanish fans did the other week. Maybe they were just born to go.

Heading into Sainte Catherine today I saw a throng of people gathered together around a food stall. On investigation I found it was the Mer du Nord seafood restaurant. A steaming bowl of fish soup, some scampi croquettes, some codling and two glasses of wine later I could understand the reason for this gathering. If you're in Brussels on a saturday and fancy a spot of lunch, I'd highly recommend this purveyor of poissons.

Beer and cheese in Horta's finest. With 450 beers to choose from I think I hit the Moeder load. Taras Bulba, Guldenberg, Montagnarde...there's gulden in dem dere hills.

A cacophony of car horns, people hanging out of car windows waving flags and standing on the rooves of cars. Yes folks, it's Euro 2008 in Brussels and Spain's opening game ends in a victory for them. Meanwhile in Gotham City.... sorry outside the Beurs building, a Spanish chick bangs a drum while a huge national flag is unfurled. Screaming sounds are buzzing through my brain; god knows what they'll do if they go on to win the tournament; is this what they call brainbox pollution?

A mussel bowl to drink from and a jacket to lay on. It's a dog's life in the Bizon Cafe. Nearby a debate ensues about the nature of existence and the emergent nature of time. Meanwhile our doggy friend, Kurt, contemplates the nature of bones and the merits of fetching sticks.

First off the block in Planet Rock's 50 Derivative Classic Albums is AC/DC's (that Scottish band) Back In Black. An album for which the word classic was invented. For me there are two derivative AC/DC albums, this one and Highway to Hell. Highway to Hell has the advantage of Bon Scott's vocals. For me Scott was sleaziness made flesh firing double-entendres and inuendos from the hip like some mad debauched gun slinger (I've still got the new Alan Davey album on the mind). Brian Johnson certainly filled Johnson's boots well enough, but watch a video of the same track performed live by both artists and Scott wins hands down every time for me. However, for the stuff of rock legend Back In Black is probably the AC/DC album to own. Back In Black was released shortly after Scott's death (he died on the 19th of February 1980, it was released a few months later on July 25th). The bell tolling on Hell's Bells still sends shivers down the spine, as does the equally f...

Checking out the Planet Rock website the other day, I spotted yet another list of top Rock Albums. This time it was the top 50 Definitive Classic Rock Albums as voted for by their listeners. AC/DC - Back in Black Aerosmith - Pump Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies Bad Company - Southern Harmony & Musical Companion Black Sabbath - Paranoid Cream - Disraeli Gears Crosby Stills Nash and Young - Deja Vu David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust Deep Purple - Made in Japan ELP - Brain Salad Surgery Eric Clapton - 461 Ocean Boulevard Frank Zappa - Hot Rats Genesis - Selling England by the Pound Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction Hawkwind - In Search of Space Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast Jeff Beck - Truth Jethro Tull - Aqualung Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland Judas Priest - British Steel King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King Kiss - Destroyer Led Zeppelin - Physical Grafiti Lynrd Skynyrd - Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd Marillion - Script for a Jesters Tear Metallica - Justi...