Moderat

Despite my survival in Berlin for the last two weeks, it took until Thursday to receive my musical home feeling. And what a welcome!
Moderat (Modeselektor + Apparat) released their new album and celebrated with a party in WMF. As expected, it didn't start until 11.30 pm, although the programm said 9 pm. Being Dutch and anxious to miss out on all the good stuff, we were there half an hour after the original starting time. This, however, gave us the opportunity to acclimatize and join the support act for the warming-up. And hot it was. It must have been at least 45 degrees celsius by the time Moderat came up. I guess that's the best way to start a concert: with a crowd that pictures itself in one big orgy.

As soon as they started, the 'love' was literally dripping off the fans. Their powerful intro made girls scream like boys, excited the stiff, drove newly weds towards eternal love and pleased the rest of the greedy audience with their unconditional enthusiasm. To me, it felt like a two hour emotional voyage around the world of sounds, ending in Berlin by taking us through all Kiez, neighborhoods. And when the encore was given, the trip continued inside my body. Heavy basses in my toes, tickling Charleston under the skin of my arms, mosh pits in my head, people on swings in my stomach, soft feather belly dances around heart and Dita von Teese seductive on my lips.

Moderat definitely can do it, living up to expectated 'kick in the face'. It was oldskool dancing packed in a contemporary jacket. Sending people off with an immeasurable smile......

Give us some dance Rules!

Happy, happy, happy are the three words that pop up when I listen to this album.
It's taking over underground clubs, punkrock venues, record stores and your living room. We can't ignore it any longer: Disco is back and you might wanna ..1,2,3,4. 1,2,3, clap, clap. After Daft Punk, Hot Chip and Hercules and the Love Affair last years' hits, we have some 2009 skinny Berlin white boys telling us to dance. Clap, clap.

Listen to the newest The Whitest Boy Alive album Rules!

And go to one of their concerts if you happen to be in Europe in April!

In charge in Berlin

Day Two. 7.30 pm. Hungry. Need to pee. A little sleepy. New. Done. Still need to pee. Which other excuses can I come up with?
Ok, I didn't do it the German way. Got a bit overconfident. I don't blame myself. Will they?

Yesterday I started working at vbs.tv, the video/internetversion of Vice Magazine. After my big decision that I hadn't come to Berlin to work in an Italian restaurant, it felt as if luck was on my side. I sent out three coverletters and had four (I didn't get it as well) different jobinterviews within 3 days. Against all expectations (a person can get a bit insecure here in Berlin), I not only received compliments in abundance, they told me I could start straight away and regulate my own scedule. It really felt as if I was in charge.


But 'in charge' might not be the proper definition, as I have found out now. In the future, I should at least specify until where my powerzone reaches. This remains the most difficult level of the tricky integrating game I'm playing here Germany. So when my upper/upper/upper GERMAN boss (who had only met me an hour before) told me 'NO, I'm on the phone', I maybe shouldn't have said 'Well, this is for you, so I will talk to you'!

I wanted to add 'briefly', it was all for a good cause (his, believe me) and all the facts written above were happening. But the look in his and in my GERMAN colleagues' eyes said enough.
I'll need to bring extra cookies & Schnaps tomorrow or I'll have to pretend I'm someone else ... the rest of my career.
link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnaps

The Tales of a Devilish Mountain

Although the artificial hill got its name from a lake nearby, its past is rather ambiguous and almost too coincidental. Not only is the Teufelsberg created out of World War Two rubble collected by the Allies. The trash was dumped on that specific location, because the former Nazi military-technical college (designed by Albert Speer) that occupied the space turned out to be impossible to destruct. The only solution, therefore, was covering it with bricks and other waste remaining from the war.



Devil's Mountain was given a recreational destination, but as soon as the Cold War started the American National Security Agency turned it into one of the world biggest spy stations. For more than 30 years it was used by several US and UK intelligence- and security-agencies.
Right after the German unification was proclaimed the prominent electronic masterpiece lost all its former importance and remained empty until an Berlin investor realized its potential. A try-out penthouse was created and plans for future use of the almost 10 acres of land were made. However, a law of building prohibitance was enforced and every renovation was to be ended.

Of course this incredible space didn't remain unnoticed to the rest of the world and the construction laws in bankrupt Berlin kept changing. So it found an interesting new investor: the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace. Their ultimate goal to teach the philosophy of transcendental meditation, however, lost all its credibility during the presentation of the project last year. The filmmaker's partner Raja Emmanuel, who's a Maharishi guru, constantly used the words 'unbesiegbares Deutschland' to explain his view of a new generation students. While this German 'invincibility' caused great consternation under the audience due to their reference to the country's past, Herr Lynch had no idea what was going. A translator was procured after a while , but I believe it was only after the meeting that Lynch realized the consequence of his friends words: no building on the Teufelsberg (stated by the Local Mayor Monika Thiemen)! Which means that the possibilities to reach a higher state of consciousness due to invincibility on the Teufelsberg have luckily been postponed.

This might give the director some time to get enlightened about a more useful cause for one of the few remaining Berlin treasures or at least to find a wiser partner. In the meantime it offers us, adventurers, some extra time to play hide and seek and fantasize about Lynchian times...

LINK Guru's Speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k357ErdUQyk

Berlin Bulb

Just a week after this year had begun, almost all happiness of the Christmas and NewYears atmosphere seemed to have disappeared. Berlin turned to be as dark as I feared she could be. I had just moved to Germany's Capital and had heard a lot about it. Loneliness sprinkled throughout the city. Unappealing abandoned contructionsites. Grey skies filled with crying clouds above me and their tears on the streets beneath. I felt weird and maybe a bit betrayed. I had left Hong 'canto-pop' Kong in order to be somewhere surrounded by alikes. People that couldn't get enough of the soundtrack of life. But was this really the city of endless tunes? A place where no-one ever stopped? The still running afterparties of Sylvester didn't appeal to my taste at that point. Was't the musical creativity suppose to keep this place pumping as blood through veins? If that was so, why couldn't I find it?

But then a small hint. Just two simply formulated sentences on the net: ‘Die Tanzguerilla trifft sich, um im Kaufhaus tanzen zu gehen. Bringt Walkman und MP3-Player mit’. Danceguerilla? The idea of dancing in a shoppingmall made my heart do a Charleston through my chest.

A silent disco amongst hundreds of necessary shoppers, turning a smile on most of their faces. Bodymovement. Excitement. Flirting. For some it's not just plain entertainment, it's a protest. Against capitalism. Against globalisation. Against boredom. Against dark days.

Berlin, known for its rebellion, has always encouraged this way of expression after the fall of the Wall. With dialy demonstrations, these meetings, however, seems to focus on the funfactor. No rules. Just dancing on spots where you always wanted to dance. Supermarkets, subway stations, cashmachinespaces, conferencenters, even the Reichstag received a welldeserved visit.

And then I found out that this was just the innocent beginning. What followed was the introduced to the world of Rave. Through friends, acquaintances and people I didn't know at all, I got informed about the most amazing gatherings. Old factories, parks and forests, bunkers, rooftops. Morning, night, midday. Dressed-up, naked, come as you like. Friday, Sunday, Tuesday. No boundaries. No end. Just dance until the police comes.... and even that is no guarantee.

I knew Berlin had it. Something growing under the ground, waiting to be revealed. But actually discovering and experiencing all these amazing features felt like a bonus, a durable lightbulb for the dark winterdays. So this time, with winter starting, I'm ready and anxious to see what Berlin is preparing to keep us warm.