Steve Stevaert
Steve Stevaert (April 12, 1954 - April 2, 2015) is a Belgian politician of the Flemish Socialist Party: the SP.A.
In 1972 he started his career as a bar owner. Ten years later he became politically active. In 1995 Stevaert became mayor of Hasselt. In 1997 his policy of free public transport made him very popular. By 1999 he came vice prime minister and Flemish Minister of Mobility, Public Works and Energy. From 2003 to 2005 he was head of the SP.A and from 2005 until 2009 he was governor of the province Limburg. In 2015 he committed suicide.
Quotes
"As a bar owner I played records by Lou Reed and Frank Zappa to give my business its own style, as a politician I followed the same known path." [1]
About John Lennon, commemorating the 25th anniversary of his death in 2005: "If Frank Zappa had been the one who was shot, it would have hurt me twice as much." [2]
When Stevaert choose ten musical tracks of his favorite musicians he choose Bobby Brown Goes Down[3] and said: "There weren't many bars in Belgium where the owners had everything by Frank Zappa. My bar did. And I swear: he made a lot of albums! Not that I played them all, but it looked neat. It was good for the image and attracted visitors to my bar." [4]
Notes
- ↑ http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=GN37F1R1
- ↑ http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=GPNLC70Q
- ↑ The newspaper article incorrectly refers to the track as "Charlie Brown".
- ↑ http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=GPGGS4KB
