Every day Ed picks a topic, does a web search and picks the bones out of various international blogs. The varied viewpoints and opinions coupled with Ed's humor should make you think, grimace and grin.

And this is the flag of?

Dour by name but not by nature

Dour is the name of a place in Belgium where anything but dour DJs, alternative bands and grand master mixers congregate for a live 4-day Music Event July 12 to 15.

I know this because one of the Wavumi members, Koolman, is the guy who runs the blog, indeed the whole damn website for the Dour Festival, and with a billing like that, I couldn't help but take a look.

How do they have fun in Belgium?

Belgium, famous for rain, chocolate and fries, plus van Damme and Merckz the Cannibal, is a country full of culture. And it should come as no surprise that thousands of Europeans converge on a small site in the great Belgian outdoors to camp, eat, drink and make merry gratuitously to hip alternative music.

For just €75 you get a 4 day festival pass, not bad for sessions going on from lunchtime right through to 5am. Pick the bones out of these bands! What stamina these Euro party goers have.

€15 also gets you a camping spot, toilets and lighting plus somewhere safe to burn your waffles and sausages.

Surprisingly, they even have mobile homes in Belgium, surprising for such a small dot on the globe. But if you were thinking of parking up at the festival site in your $200k Meet the Fokkers mobile home, think again. Even a quaint place like Belgium isn't crime free, and Koolman has to announce that there is no longer any room for mobile homers at the Dour inn, so to speak, due to too many thefts in the past.

Rock on in Europe

The Dour festival is just part of the Euro fest scene this summer, and there are another 20 energy-sapping concerts to choose from, including the Montreux Jazz Festival, yo, and Eurorockéennes - yowza plug those ear drums, man, and lock up your daughters, here comes Marilyn Manson.

I had to smile at the countries involved in this particular circuit. The usual suspects Belgium, France, Spain, Hungary, and Iceland, Burkino Fasso and Canada. Sounds like an Axis of Revel.

Thanks to Koolman for opening our eyes to that little lot. Are you going to any fests that come close to the orgiastic musical events going on in Europe this summer?