This article is based on this dutch article of Martijn Benders
On that slender stem stood the first Amanita cap of the year, which we were going to enjoy with Veer’s niece and nephew. Veer showed the dried cap, and demonstratively, I took a nibble. The guests watched in bewilderment, but after a brief explanation, they followed my lead— even Veer had a taste— and soon half the mushroom had disappeared.
Each time, I forget what an extraordinary party mushroom this is. There’s an odd sort of mystery in that forgetting. With just half a cap, the four of us were soon wildly dancing to my sister’s vinyl collection, loudly singing: *HIGH FIDELITY, HIGH HIGH FIDELITY!* Strangely enough, although I swore the song *FAME* should have been there, it was nowhere to be found. I also heard a cowbell in one track, which I was certain never had one before, and my companions confirmed it— none of them had ever heard that cowbell either.
You recognize a truly good Amanita instantly: flawless, from a perfect location, like this pine Amanita, and that really makes all the difference. At some point, I noticed Veer had gone to sleep with the light on— yet another curious incident.
As I describe in my book: you must think of this mushroom as a *hypnotic booster.* This description best captures its effect. It sharpens your senses, quiets the mind, and gives off an unmistakable *YOU GOT TO FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY* vibe. ‘Occupy yourself’ could be an apt motto for this mushroom.
In recent days, I’ve been working on an EP, a response to the literary work of Marc van der Holst, particularly his poem *Mysteryland,* in which a gabber drifts by and gets entangled in the branches. That poem, part of a series of self-published booklets, I still consider the best contribution to Dutch poetry in the past twenty years.
For this EP, I came up with the name ‘De Houthakkerhakker’ and titled the record *Takken.* Interestingly enough, if you pronounce the word ‘takken’ with a rough, chopping intonation, it quickly sounds like a demonic ‘Takke-eind.’ That, I say, deserves the label ‘poetic.’ Even a boogie like *Mooie Boom* got a gabber treatment.
It brings me joy, as a near-boomer, to pay homage to the trees for the youth in this way. Whether we’ll soon see a mass of bald tree-huggers, I don’t know— the artist seldom stays with a project long enough to witness its outcome.
Currently, I’m already working on a music video for the track *Slushpuppie in a Vaas van je Oma* from JMH (Je Moerhussel). JMH will be my next full album (following *The Sound of Wonty Love*) and, with the EP *Takken* in the mix, I hope to close the year with two-and-a-half solid albums to my name and a few music videos.
Yours sincerely,
Martinus Benders
