We met in the bar of the Boom Chicago theatre in Amsterdam, about two meters to the right of where we are sitting in this picture.
It was a day in early march 2001 and Rose was tending the bar I frequented regularly. I sat at the bar and ordered my “usual”, a hot chocolate and we soon got to talking. How I was a student of music in the conservatory a few blocks away, and how I was struggling to put a background tape together for my final singing exam, as I didn’t know anyone who could sample a particular sound for me to paste it up into one continuous background. Her then-bf Alex was THE man for the job: an accomplished sound engineer who had his equipment in their appartment just two streets away. She invited me to come over to their place sometime that week, and from that day on, I saw her and Alex almost daily.
I always refer to this meeting as “love at first sight”, as I felt a great connection with Rose from the start. She was so enthusiastic about a lot of things, mostly music and the performing arts. We shared some of our musical taste (especially Björk).
It turned out that Alex, by some weird coincidence had also attended the same club as I had on my 27th birthday, the week before.
This first week in March 2001 was the beginning of a roaring time with her in Amsterdam.