Dear friends, here are a few subjects for my newsletter.
Eddie Woods – The Gangster Poet
The story of Eddie Woods' film and our conversation in front of café Co Meijer in Amsterdam’s Goudsbloemdwarsstraat. He opened the café with a long cheerful poem and a warm welcome to new visitors. It quickly became a lively place where poets and musicians could perform — and enjoy a few good drinks.
Eccentric Eddie Woods was a great American friend of mine for many years. A true artistic poet and storyteller who lived in many exotic countries, yet ultimately felt most at home in Amsterdam. Together with his American friend, writer and poet Bill Levy, he often visited my house, entertaining bright artists late into the night. In Germany he became grandfather to Hannah.
When Hannah turned 17, she left Germany and stayed at my villa in Amsterdam, where she met her Scottish love Kester. They spent much time visiting grandpa Eddie.
Eddie lived the rest of his life in Amsterdam with his dear English partner Jane and passed away peacefully in his sleep. Hannah and Jane arranged his funeral on January 3, 2026. Photo by Peter Edel.
Back to the Poet’s Café
I became a regular visitor. I will never forget that first day I walked in, searching for a chair, when a young lesbian poet named Dia Huizinga offered me hers before reciting her own poems that evening.
Something electric happened the moment I sat down. A spark, a quiet kind of magic. Now, in 2026, we are still the loving couple we became that very day. Dia is now a respected swimming coach within Amsterdam’s gay community — and still writes poetry.
MAGICAL MUSHROOMS
Erotic Journeys with the Happy Hooker
Xaviera is finalizing a book she originally wrote in the late seventies and early eighties — a manuscript that waited decades to reappear.
Not a polite travel memoir, but a sensual expedition through Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Bali, and Java. She rediscovers her birthplace and explores the perception-shifting force of magical mushrooms.
Desire, mysticism, landscape and memory collide. Love is tested. Illusion and reality blur. Pleasure and insight intertwine.
Videos
Lie detector
Gert Berg puts Xaviera Hollander on the lie detector — because interviewing her the normal way would simply be too easy.
'Dans & Dwaal' Liesbeth List en Micheline Van Hautem
De bijzondere band tussen Liesbeth List en Xaviera Hollander wortelt in een gedeeld, vroeg getekend verleden in Nederlands-Indië. Liesbeth overleefde als kind de Japanse interneringskampen waarin zij haar moeder verloor; ook Xaviera groeide op in de schaduw van oorlog en ontworteling in dezelfde regio. Dat gevoel van verlies, verlangen en nergens helemaal thuis zijn, hoor je later terug in Liesbeths repertoire.
Het unieke lied 'Dans & Dwaal' van Liesbeth List & Micheline Van Hautem vindt twinting jaar na datum zijn weg naar de streamingplatforms. Het gaat om een film-duet voor 'Off Screen' uit 2005 met in de hoofdrollen Jan Decleir en Jeroen Krabbé.
De mooie foto hieronder is gemaakt tijdens de opname in de studio.
In het filmduet Dans & Dwaal uit Off Screen (2005) zingt zij samen met Micheline Van Hautem een lied dat precies die breekbaarheid en veerkracht raakt. Twintig jaar na dato vindt deze bijzondere opname nu eindelijk zijn weg naar Spotify en andere streamingplatforms.
Luister hier naar de single en laat je meenemen door twee stemmen die elkaar vinden in kwetsbaarheid én kracht. SPOTIFY
Class Mates
The Funniest Love Song Ever
Try to keep your composure as George Younce sings Side By Side — a tender, lightly humorous love song about an elderly couple on their honeymoon. Romance ages far better than cartilage.
