K3-D

Let’s see what’s been doing lately in tiny Belgium, home to the owners of giant Budweiser, and where there hasn’t been a government in nearly a year. Hmm… it seems the political protests there are a bit different than they are in, say, Wisconsin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVagUPDeNgo

One thing’s the same, however, and that’s consumer frustration over getting the runaround when calling customer service. A group of Belgian pranksters on TV calling itself Basta dishes out some payback.

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/media.theworld.org/audio/030220114.mp3|titles=The World on PRI: Basta protests]

The Flemish half of Belgium is, of course, the land of K3, the Europop girl group. The ladies have a new musical coming up, and it’ll be a first for Josje, who joined Karen Damen and Kristel Verbeke after Kathleen Aerts left the group.

WHY, KATHLEEN? WHY??

I don’t know why Studio 100 doesn’t call the new K3 musical “Alices in Wonderland,” but with three Alices on stage it makes sense to have 3-D effects on stage.

LONDON – Josie makes her musical debut soon for K3 in Alice in Wonderland. “It is the first time I’m going to do a full musical with K3, indeed,” said Karen about the musical, which will contain 3-D elements. In Alice in Wonderland 3-D scenery is used, which is a first. “It’s really the first time this has happened,” said Karen to Show News. “Probably there will be many to follow after us, but we can always say later: we were first.” The musical will play next summer at the World Forum Theater in The Hague.

Here’s one of K3’s more ambitious stage productions, with the girls combining a gospel church theme with 50’s “Happy Days” nostalgia. With so many little kids in the audience it doesn’t get as big a reaction as I think it deserved. Check out the wild backdrop.

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K3 Through the Looking Glass

In addition to their TV sitcom, the ladies of K3 in have a new stage musical coming up. It’s an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (perhaps inspired by the success of Tim Burton’s movie?).

http://youtu.be/PyZCUD7pAHw

With all of the injuries from the aerial acrobatics in the Spider-Man musical, one would hope that Karen, Kristel, and Josje wouldn’t be made to wear wires so they can fly above the stage, but they already did that in an earlier musical, when Kathleen was in the group.

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They must be Belgians

As has been my habit for the past 2+ years, when I’m in a foul political mood, I indulge some light-hearted K3 songs. Somebody was nice enough to put good quality K3 videos on YouTube, saving my site from the storage and bandwidth burdens. These are two of my favorites, with the original line-up, Kristel Verbeke (black), Kathleen Aerts (yellow), and Karen Damen (red) — the colors of the Belgian national flag.

In Love

Is There Somebody on Mars?

Aww, what the heck, here’s Tele-romeo

These are two of the most versatile, talented, hardest-working and, yes, sexiest women in show biz. I am certain the only reason Karen and Kristel aren’t internationally famous is because they aren’t from England or America.

Boring *YAWN* Belgium

On Monday, the Boston-produced PRI show The World turned its attention to tiny Belgium. Here’s the podcast…

[audio:http://media.theworld.org/audio/092720109.mp3]

… and this is the video that’s discussed in the podcast…

http://youtu.be/Ceg6NQKHd70

… but if you really want proof that Belgium isn’t boring, there’s this…

http://youtu.be/VgzFt5hsS7s

BTW… Prue Bury’s family is from Belgium, both of her sisters were born there, and if not for WWII Prue would be Belgian, too.

Baby for Karen, Wedding for Kathleen


K3 — Kristel Verbeke, Kathleen Aerts, Karen Damen

Having just posted an ABBA video, I can’t resist saying something about K3. Karen Damen gave birth to a son, named Sky, on February 17, and she’s already returned to work. Former K3 member Kathleen Aerts is getting married in June, and her replacement, Josje, seems to be working out well.

It’s been almost two years since I first caught onto K3, and it’s been over a year since Kathleen quit. If anyone doubts these women have given everything to their craft, and if you think Kathleen’s departure from the group didn’t matter to them personally, take a look at these pictures of Kristel and Karen from Kathleen’s farewell performance last year — two uncommonly beautiful women, only 33 and 34 years old, respectively, at the time. Obviously, losing Kathleen meant everything to them.


Here’s the K3 original lineup, with one of the finest Pop songs I have ever heard, Hart Verloren (Lost Heart).

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