IT AIN'T EASY BEING A POP MILLIONAIRE 2 Unlimited is the group every Dutch alternative music fan hates. The Dutch duo that specializes in shouting "techno, techno, techno" on top of catchy but bland house-music riffs, is a kiddie act, and if you're into grunge, punk, or underground dance music, you'll find the mainstream sound of 2 Unlimited appalling. So what could some of those obscurists do but throw beer at 2 Unlimited when, on the recent edition of the alternative-oriented Noorderslag festival, singer Anita Doth and rapper Ray Slijngaard received the "Popprijs 1994" award for being the best Dutch pop group of the year? And what could 2 Unlimited do but prove the narrowminded audience wrong by playing a very entertaining set of its hits? Would you care what a couple of sad indie-kids think of your music if you had millions on the bank as a result of selling nineteen million records worldwide? 2 Unlimited didn't either, and the duo decided to give away the award's small- change prize of US$5000 to a help project in Rwanda.

OLD HIPPIES NEVER DIE He's tried it before; now he's going to try it again. An idea that didn't work 30 years ago could succeed now, believes Luud Schimmelpenninck, an old hippie who now makes his money as an inventor. In the '60s, Schimmelpenninck proposed "Het Witte Fietsenplan" and made the city of Amsterdam buy a large number of white bicycles that could be used for free by those in need of transportation. Of course, people weren't so honest as he thought. Bicycles were damaged and lost, and eventually there were no Witte Fiets left. End of experiment. Now, Schimmelpenninck is determined to make his second version of "Het Witte Fietsenplan" a success, saying cutting down on car use is even more important in the polluted modern era. Since his first effort though, Schimmelpenninck has lost a lot of his naivite, and this time around his plan will include locker rooms to store unused bicycles as well as alarms that sound when bikes are late in returning to their home bases. And these days, money is an issue as well; you'll have to leave a deposit in order to take a bike out. So if you're visiting Holland, plan on bringing some spare change.

PR FOR SQUATTERS Squatters are turning professional. The same people who in the past didn't want to talk to the "bourgeois" press, recently started their own public relations group, "De Nederlandse kraak-persgroep." Of course, they still don't have surnames ("Just call me Boelie"), but the spokespeople with spikey hair, leather jackets, and Dr. Martens boots now love to talk. Show one a microphone, and he'll tell you Amsterdam has thousands of people without a decent place to stay. Pick up a pen and a piece of paper, and one will give you facts and figures about police brutality. Prepare to take photographs, and one will lead you to empty office buildings that could be converted into living accommodations. The squatters don't like being portrayed as violent hooligans, and their PR activities aim at making clear that they're political activists with a good cause: housing for everybody. There's nothing wrong with that, but what's next? Squatters in three-piece suits playing golf?

By Erwin Blom