Legend has it that the incident in question happened in the summer of 1969. Bryan Adams and some guys from school, they had a band and they tried real hard. Jimmy quit, Jody got married. Shoulda known they’d never get far. Those were the best days of their lives. Meanwhile, […]
Like any place, there have always been bands from Port Elizabeth. Their quality and style varies, the scene waxes and wanes and one’s personal taste will determine whether any of them are any good. Sometimes consensus, and the respect of his fellow musicians will dictate that, yes, afro-folk singer-songwriter Dave […]
True love for Port Elizabeth means taking the rough with the smooth, the beaches and the bonhomie with the post-industrial bleakness, writes Hagen Engler. Tim Hopwood is leaving PE. For anyone who knows Port Elizabeth, this will come as no surprise. Tim Hopwood has left PE many times. Also, people […]
This Xhosa rapper is one of our Port Elizabeth homeboys, so we can recognise all the places they shot the video. But the coolest part of Ifani’s steez is that it’s a fresh take on kwaito as we know it – production and rapping-wise. The Shake video was directed by […]
This is the first time we’ve ever watched an entire YouTube ad. And we even abandoned the video we were originally planning to watch! We were just pretty impressed with Chevrolet building a cricket pitch at Cowan High School, which also happens to be in Port Elizabeth, our old stomping […]
“There aren’t many Pirates fans in PE,” says Xolisa, gesturing to the expanse of Zanzibar, which, on match days is packed with punters. Just then a guy walks into the bar wearing a Pirates shirt. It’s Baby’s old mate Trevor. He’s known. He’s a successful guy. Just as we’re saying […]
During the Seventies and Eighties, there was an upmarket shopping centre on Main Street called the Constantia Centre. It was where Pier 14 is now. In my mind it will always be distinguished by being the location of the first set of escalators I ever saw, and for a spectacular […]
“Coming in to Joburg. Sandton swimming pools and Soweto shacks…”Like the song says, it’s the main thing you notices flying in to jan Smuts. Or Joburg International, or whatever it’s called now.What’s it now? Three years I’ve been away. I figured I’d take a bus down to PE from Joburg. […]
The following is the original “10 Reasons Cape Town can Fuck Off” piece. I wrote it under my pseudonym Haai van der Schyff in 1998 for Skyf!! magazine, a Port Elizabeth scene ‘zine I published for a while. The piece was meant to satirise the whole trend of leaving your […]
Dawid Kotze was the fastest sprinter at Laerskool Lorraine. Yooss, he was rapid! In the inter-house athletics gala, he would beat me in the 100 metres by about 40 metres. That’s why he jolled wing and I jolled hooker. When Kotze gave it flat box, he made this “sss-sss-sss” sound, […]