Leonard Cohen…
Berlin part ein..
A long overnight journey from Amsterdam, through Beifeld, Hannover and finally Berlin. For some reason the radio was playing the whole time, albeit low. Why does Nickelback have to follow me around even in Europe? Slow torture because of that really. 3am rolls around and our Berlin-bound bus suddenly comes to a stop. Two policemen get on and start checking everyone’s passports. Half asleep and half awake we all fumble to get them out, a little nervous just because of authority. They take advantage of everyone. They start asking everyone with their German accents if we they are carrying any drugs? What a stupid question to ask. “Because we came from Amsterdam” a passenger nearby tells me, the German police suspects everyone of carrying drugs on them, which they are intolerant of. If police and government stopped preying on people who smoke the occasional marijuana joint and started attacking the real drug peddlers and addiction mongers, the pharmaceutical companies who are responsible for a 44% increase in western culture’s addiction to powerful drugs which alter your life perhaps then we’d be waging the war on drugs. I’m talking about drugs which they market aggressively to everyone from children aged 0 to adults aged 100 (no one is spared) then we’d really be taking a “bite out of crime” like McGruff the crime dog says.
Anyway I digress, only to say they came up to me, took one look, ok, this guy is not white European, check his passport, so on the phone they get to check the validity of my passport, it’s valid, great. “Do you have any drugs?” they ask.”No” I reply. End of transaction. Off again into the night we go. 9am, bus pulls into Berlin ZOB bus station. It’s on the outskirts of the west end of berlin right next to Kaiserdamm station.
I’m tired but happy to finally be here. Berlin, the city I’ve heard so much about, so full of history, so full of art, music, fashion, design, One of my close friends in Montreal, Katja hails from here and along my trip everyone would sing it’s praises when I’d mention I was playing there. There was much anticipation for this place, many expectations. As is the modus operandi of life, reality dealt me a different hand than what I expected. Berlin turned out to be quite a different experience than the party I’d anticipated. The gritty raw windy view that had taken residence in my imagination was quickly disspiated. Instead I got something much more quiet, much more peaceful, much more…Berlin.
I took the subway to Südstern station in the Heart of Kreuzberg district, east Berlin, below the river they call The Spree. I asked for directions to BucherStraße, to a traffic guard and he told me I was in the wrong neighborhood and that I should take this train and then that train and then… I thanked him and when I was about to take the train I though “no this cant be” I surfaced from the station and there it was before my eyes, the street I was looking for. Why do people give you the wrong directions when they don’t know themselves? why don’t they just say “I don’t know where that is” instead of doing you the disfavor of sending you on a wild goose chase just to look like they know what they’re talking about? Very annoying.
I walked into Kati Fingerle’s apartment at 54 BucherStraße. It’s a gigantic 5 story high yellow building. You see the beauty of Berlin is it’s architecture, very modeled, functional, all post WWII, except a few buildings. It is very colorful and very square. But the buildings just loom over you large, solid, daunting, angular, protective and functional. German traditional architecture, functionality, law abiding and thinking of everything. The buildings are usually struck together one to the next forming long blocks of mammoth stone housing as far as the eye can see. The blocks curve in hexagonal and circular pattern so there are seldom straight streets in Berlin save the larger boulevards. This is great in a way because it gives the city lots of that centrifugal charm and efficacy is a trait more of the world can learn from the Germans, and this applies to Berlin as well as the rest of the country.
History and Art also takes a big role in Berlin. That is to say that design is important especially for the newer buildings. Then there is all the street art that covers so much of the wall space. But this is quality vandalism, this is quality graffiti, sprayed with intent, message and talent and love. Now like all German cities (except for Frankfurt) there is never any skyline. I love that because it’s so nice to see sky even in a megalopolis like Berlin. No skyline, no large buildings (save one or 2 at Postdammer Platz) makes for a really European city, not hiding behind the shadow of it’s banks and multi-conglomerate building but staring intently and directly at the open sun.
Kati was waiting for me downstairs. She is my couch surfing host for Berlin. I am here a total of 4 days to play 2 shows and to discover what this city has to offer. Kati is really nice; she speaks ok English, but has some trouble with vocabulary sometimes. Her apartment is like millions of others, an old East Berlin apartment. Large inside, high ceilings, full of charm, with ornate moldings, old doors and large windows. Absolutely gorgeous. In top shape. If only Montreal apartments could be this well maintained. And to top it all off she pays less rent than I do for my small apartment in Montreal. Her place would almost be double there.
I am jealous at the sheer awesomeness of her place. The buildings usually all have a courtyard where one can park his/her bike, or just hang out in the open air. Many building inner courtyards become the subject of some kid of artistic expression, be it painted or decor or both. It’s fascinating to just peek insides random building courtyards to se how people living there have transformed them.
Kati had to go to work, she teaches at a kindergarten nearby but she was kind and generous enough to leave me her apartment keys and her place to myself, which was very nice. I basically had my own place in Kreuzberg (a district of East London for 4 days! How lucky! I took a warm bath and made a tea, washed my stinky clothes then just relaxed and decompressed before heading out to meet Rali, a young musician who I met on couch surfing. I asked her if she would show me around her neighborhood so I can get my bearings. Full of life and love, very expressive about her ambitions, her inner joy and her love of all things. She is a musician and quite a good songwriter.
We met up outside her place and went inside. She too has a beautiful apartment and lives alone! Lovely Greek alcove, skylight, large rooms high ceilings, man Berlin!!!! She served me coffee and Baklava and we talked for over an hour about everything and nothing. Rali “blesses” her own water with the power of the message from water. What she does is writes notes of love and devotion on a piece of paper and puts a carafe of water on top of it. The messages then filters the water and purifies it. Brilliant! I will start doing that too and svae lots on Brita filters. She is a creative spirit. She removed all the chords from her guitar, which she only started playing recently and wrote all kind of positive reinforcing messages on the frets. Then she restrung it! Brilliant again! I wish her all the best on her journey throughout the UK.
We walked around the neighbourhood and ended up on a famous street because it is pre WWII and was not destroyed by the bombing. It is called BergmanStraße. Today a kind of hip neighborhood with restaurants coffee shops, vintage clothing stores etc. etc. We had a coffee and some yummy chocolate cake at her favorite coffee house, skirted through bookstores, vintage stores, record shops etc etc finally parted ways only to meet up again that night for my show at Madame Claude. Kindred spirits abound everywhere in the world.
That night I took the Ubahn to WillhelmStraße station where Madame Claude, the bar I was playing in was. It’s a cool neighbourhood on the Edge of the River Spree, which is full of bars and clubs. I found my way and walked in. In true Berlin fashion, this was a unique place, low lit, really kind of cool setup with many little alcoves and nooks and crannies where people can find their corner who don’t want to hang in the main room. Funnily enough it’s quite a French clientele (there are many French in Berlin). It reminded me a bit of the Pop In bar in Paris. I setup in the show room, which was in itself a little nook, and the kind and gentle staff helped me every step of the way. Mikka Rishiko, the promoter girl who had booked me was sad she couldn’t make it that night but I was still in good hands. She is in a band called Sissters, and they were working on a tour to start that week, so she was a little too busy.
The place was empty when I arrived but didn’t take long to become packed, packed on a Tuesday night for no real reason except that this is the place to be. This venue is a total winner, awesome place, right kind of people for the music. It was full. Kati, Rali Pacheco and May and a few other friends came to watch. I performed my set to an enthralled and mesmerized audience, I sold bunch of cds (I only have 4 left now!! shit!!) 3 hours later, a pickled liver and a nice sum of money in my pocket and I was on my way back with the girls. Everyone was out, it was crazy, it’s intense to see because in Berlin you can drink alcohol anywhere on the street or in the U-Bahn (subway) so it looks like everyone is partying all the time. And indeed everyone is, even on a Tuesday night.
Wednesday, first day off since Amsterdam. I woke up late, got a late start, and took my sweet time, breathed in the air and fealty happy to be a live. Last night was great. The promoter Mika invited me to her show this Thursday. Goodness all around, time to explore Berlin. First order of business was to get in touch with Antoinette. Antoinette is an old friend of mine from Montreal. We used to hang out in NDG where we both used to live. I met her because we were in the same program in University in communications. She was studying film and I sound. But we did collaborate on each other’s projects, as was the thing to do. She has a twin sister, Emily that is equally as cheerful and expressive. A nice tidbit of information is that their father and his brother are credited for having created the recipe for the popular beer Blanche De Chambly.
KochesterStrauss U-Bahn was our meeting point. Checkpoint Charlie. Where it all went down. It’s more of a north south divide than an east west thing but this is the point where the berlin wall was at its peak. A huge ex checkpoint separating East from West. It’s a high security multi-border checkpoint with guards, snipers ready to shoot anyone dead that tried to cross without permission. Barbed wire, gates, military armament you name it, they had it. Between 1962 and 1989 this was the symbolic gateway that stood between two ideologies, Democracy (or Capitalism) and Socialism or Communism. The American had set up barricade after barricade ready to begin what was to be the longest non- war war between two of the worlds biggest superpowers and once again Berlin was at the nexus of it although it was still the eye of a storm that never really took off, and we can thank god for that.
I told Antoinette I wanted to see the Berlin Wall and what I got was a street corner where the Berlin wall once stood. There was a wall erected with all the historical context written put for all to see and when you look to the ground you see the remnants of the wall repaved with 2 lines of red cobblestone brick and an occasional plaque that reads “Berlin Maur” which means of course “Berlin Wall”. Interesting to the history lesson on the plaques were the profiles as well as homage to all the men and women that have throughout the 27 years of the wall, tried to cross the wall without permission (which was extremely difficult to get if you didn’t come from the east) and only once a year were you allowed to cross for animated amount of time to see family on the other side. Such a strange time of alienation and false conviction. Many who tried to cross illegally were shot down and killed, usually with no question or trial etc. It was murder on site. Civilians, children, mothers grandparents, none were spared.
There is a funny little documentary out called the Rabbits of the Berlin Wall I saw a few years ago about these rabbit population that grew and thrived in the terrain between the 2 walls (Berlin wall was actually 2 walls with a dead zone space in between. That is where the rabbits would forage and dig underground. The movie is great because it shows how the population of Berlin was suffering due to their own self imposed alienation while the rabbits were untouched in this demilitarized zone where vegetation grew and they could copulate at will. It’s a funny documentary, which draws a strange parallel between the animal kingdoms ability to live peacefully amongst the more evolved humans inability to coexist and suffer due to it. I highly recommend it if you can find it.
Antoinette and I spent the afternoon walking up the Mitte neighbourhood and catching up on each other’s lives all the while stopping off at famous points around the Mitte, FrienderichStraße area. We stopped at places like the famous opera house, Tachelles, the amazing three story completely graffiti’s and decorated, Art commune/squat that is facing closure due to gentrification but that is a seminal part of Berlin culture that sells itself to the world by the motto “poor but sexy” thanks to their left leaning, gay and forward thinking Mayor Klaus Wowereit. I bought a postcards there and Antoinette, a poster.
Berlin is very poor, especially east Berlin. Although this is changing the stark contrast between East and West Berlin is noticeable. The west is quite chic and expensive whereas the east has real grit to it and is clearly more the place to be for arts and culture, as well as heritage. I was soaking it all in although I did venture elsewhere in the west to explore as well. Antoinette and I continued, to the old Jewish Ghetto, by a couple of Synagogues, which always seem to have security guards posted everywhere. Funny enough in the Jewish ghetto, which is now, a collection of art galleries, super posh living quarters and small museums, there stands like a sore thumb the Ramones Museum! , which comprises relics of the seminal punk band. It has Marky Ramone’s, sticks, Joey Ramone’s, glasses, leather jackets, rarities and old records. A real gem in these neighborhood along side other gems such as the Gerhard Richter exhibit.
Antoinette came to Berlin about three and a half year ago with her boyfriend Silvio who is originally from East Berlin. They met in Montreal and a month later she was in Berlin starting a new life and beginning to work on her full feature film screenplay. Three and a half years in the making, a whole new language learned (German) a new apartment, new ideas and a new kind of amazing maturity that comes only with the experience of thrusting oneself into the new and unknown.
Antoinette is the shinning example of someone who believes in herself and her dreams. It was good stalking with her. She is easy to talk to about this kind of stuff, and our afternoon was lots of fun just hanging out catching up and walking around. Antoinette had a German lesson to catch so we split ways and decided to meet up for dinner that night at this Italian restaurant which everyone raves about.
I continued on my own and went out to explore much more. I got lost in the process, just walking from one block to the next (the blocks are really big ad long in Berlin). My head upwards, my feat on the move, I was footloose in Berlin, ready to take it all on. I decided to head on over to the very famous Unter Den Linden Boulevard. This was the large boulevard with median in the middle where all this famous footage of Hitler and the SS and all Nazis would parade up and down, from one end at the Victory statue on horse the very famous Brandenburg Gate, where Hitler accepted the title of Chancellor and made one of his famous speeches about dominion, one power, etc. Hitler has envisioned a vision of this boulevard is a symbolic place for the third reich. Dark times indeed.
Funny contrast to the stark underlining of this history. There were two Spanish girls at the foot of the Brandenburg gate. One had a bowl with soapy water and a little rope on a stick device she was using to make the most beautiful giant floating soap bubbles I’ve ever seen. It was quite beautiful to watch her create these specters if color and gelatinous movement. I began to film her for almost an hour and decided to use the footage to make a video, which I will post soon!
She was friendly and let me try as well. It was really fun to follow the massive floating bubbles and film them as if they were the leading role in a play that had Historical Germany as its backdrop. All in all very surreal and subliminal, out of all madness and chaos must come lightness and joy. I promised to email her the link once it is up and will. Still deciding what song to put on it though. I went through the gat that also separates east from west Germany only to find myself in the massive berlin gardens which span 10 to 12 kilometers, includes a network of canals feeding from the river spree as well as the Else angel golden statue in the middle of a very busy roundabout (think arche de triomphe in Paris) the statue is beautiful but it’s location leaves much to be desired.
I continued discovering what Berlin had to offer me WillhemStraße. I arrive back where I began, Checkpoint Charlie. From there I walked back to Kreuzberg a little exhausted from having tread about 14 kilometers around Berlin in just one day, a massive undertaking for someone who works nights as well. Sometimes I wonder where the energy comes from. I like to take pictures (as you might have noticed) and think berlin is the first city that has propelled me to go overboard with the snapshots. I think I hit a peak at 790 pics so I decided to break up Berlin into 2 posts. This one and the next, same with its pictures.
That night I walked along the canal with Kati my couch surfing host to meet Antoinette and her boyfriend Silvia, an awesome guy who also works as a mixer for film and TV, very skilled individual and easy to talk to. After a gorgeous dinner and walk we went for a drink at his fav place called “Schlomi’s” which is funny because I used to have an Israeli friend named Schlomo in elementary school. Wonder what ever happened to that guy; maybe Facebook has the answer to that.
Round 2 then next 2 days in berlin on its way! Here are pics from round one! and here is a couple articles for Berlin..
Craze (Berlin)
Intersoup (Berlin)
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. Now I’m on the streets, on the phones, at meetings, at gathering, at rehearsals at home, at work (tour managing for shakespeare in the park this summer) , running like a chicken with its head cut off. Since I returned form this Europe trip I decided that I would follow on the heels of this dream I had. I decided I would make this One Man Band Festival happen, and happening it is! You see, ever since I started recording, touring and performing as a solo act, the world has opened up to me. I toured all over the world, and have had incredible experiences. As a one man show, I realized I could tour and record inexpensively. I could actually etch out a living as an artist, retain all creative integrity over my projects, explore new dimensions in music, push sonic boundaries and still produce amazing music! I’m sure many if not all solo artists have had similar experiences.
