Sunday, August 23, 2009

ich bin ein berliner (part two)

i shared a room with robbie and svalgard.

we collectively drank a pitcher of potent german beer during our "phuk et meal". careening down die fabrik hallways at 3AM, we were shouting, obnoxious amerikaners. when ike came into our room to use robbie's laptop, he barfed out the definitive phrase of the eerie hostel experience: "zo, gentleman. we are killing ze girl tonight?". laughter ensues, a loud knock on the wall. angry neighbors! sleep.

early rise. die fabrik cafe is right next door and we all agree on it for our frühstück (breakfast, for my american readers). a huge plate of dunkelbrot and käse. the danceable morning music ranged from the bangles to madonna to weirdo kraut jams. i coaxed the very german baristas into doing the robot with me. also, robbie and I put our iphones next to each other to simultaneously film wide screen freakouts of eric svalgard's face. one day we'll project it on a giant screen, i'm sure.

went to the schallplatten shop across the street. picked up records by gyorgy ligeti and gil evans. i delved into the obscure bin and found a german mad magazine LP, which brought back memories of my alfred e. neuman obsession. goodbye, 40 euros.
after the seratonin release of record shopping I walked around the corner, only to find remnants of the berlin wall!



a moving experience. i was only 2 years old when the wall was destroyed, too young to realize the significance of the event. the residual effects of its destruction are obvious. walls of the once pale industrial buildings are now splattered with paint and large line drawings. this kind of freedom is infectious, and evidently it's still new to the people that live here. 20 years is not a long time, not long enough to undo the kind of oppression they endured for more than a quarter century.

strolled back to die fabrik and hung out until it was time to set up our gear at the dot club. thanks again to the fabulous merlin ettore of trap. not only did he blow my mind, but he also lent me his drumset!

great 3 hour show that night. the crowd seemed to enjoy it. the evening's most entertaining moment: a group of young floozies came in during one of our more cerebral jams. can you imagine a group of paris hilton type socialities attempting to do their ancient ritual slut dances to an odd-time keyboard solo? a hilarious sight for any musician. the legendary joe jackson was in attendance as well. i bit my tongue when i shook his hand, because i almost started singing "is she really going out with him?".

afterwards i met my new best friend flora. we discussed the state of american pop culture. it's a shame, i feel like i have to defend myself sometimes, you know, because i'm an official ambassador. our long discussion about bret michael's "rock of love" brought us to the the crux of the matter. mainstream television is devolving at a rapid rate. you have to furrow your brow when an educational network like national geographic is now all reality programming. maybe I should blow up my TV. why do i even pay a comcast bill? oh right. thank god for adult swim. let's all push the envelope together.

14 comments:

J. said...

Adult Swim? Robot Chicken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eric Slick said...

totally! how about tim and eric awesome show?

J. said...

never heard of that one... I'm living a kind of tv-shows-major-lag: just found out about The Flight of the Conchords which is now 3 years old...

Eric Slick said...

the flight of the conchords. ah, i've watched too many episodes. my itunes account is not happy about it.

love your artwork by the way. i did some internet chasing and found it!

J. said...

it's great! I keep laughing forever just with the 1st episode - the one with "you're so beautiful" and "i'm not crying"!

and thank you! It's my hobbie a.k.a. eternal-illustrators-block. It sucks when inspiration takes long vacations!

Eric Slick said...

ugh, believe me i know.
meditation and yoga has worked well for me. and good old fashioned self motivation! sometimes artistic blocks just come from anxiety. it stinks!

favorite line from "you're so beautiful":

i draw you near
let's get out of here
let's get in a cab
i'll buy you a kebab!
i can't believe,
that i'm sharing a kebab
with the most beautiful girl
i have ever seen with a kebab

yes.

J. said...

I tried yoga for a while and it was cool! I remember going back home late at night really high!
I believe the solution is and has always been practising - eventually some good idea will come up! Oh yeah, it would also help if the post office stopped losing the packages with my material...

favourite line - absolutely. A whole new world will open up in front of my eyes next time I have a kebab. :D

Eric Slick said...

true - practice usually leads to creativity.
i want a kebab, but i don't think a girl is going to buy me a cab. or does the cab lead to the kebab?
i've gone and confused myself.

J. said...

Now I remember - the last time I went to a kebab... there was a butterfly on this white sauce.
So the order started as "Hello, I'd like a kebab without that red sauce" and ended up with "well, I guess you can leave just the meat and forget about everything else..." and the man started making fun of me while me and my friends kept looking at that brown-open-winged butterfly stuck in that white sauce.

No cab involved in this story though.

Eric Slick said...

good story!
although being a vegetarian, i'd skip the meat sauce.
and it would be a vegetable kebab.
what other music do you like? share share share.

J. said...

well, a lot of things! Lately I've been curious about the blues but it's a bit hard to find and you gotta be in the right mood to appreciate it 'cause it's not very easy going.
Then... a friend of mine told me about Passion Pit and I can tell they're great for jogging! :D

Hmmm... then you have the classics - pixies (here comes your man and gigantic not included.); starting to get to know lou reed and the velvet underground and the cramps 'cause the discography is huge...
Os Mutantes
Some grunge is also very very nice.

Air and smoke city

easy going stuff like bon iver, fleet foxes, little joy.

What can you advice?

Eric Slick said...

i love the pixies. "debaser" and "velouria" stick out.
i can give you a few bands and their best records:

the dirty projectors - rise above or bitte orca
grandchildren
the flaming lips - the soft bulletin
grizzly bear - yellow house and veckatimest
micachu - jewellry
skeletons - money
el guincho - alegranza

J. said...

Thanks!

A friend of mine told me about micachu a few months ago - they seem alright.
And I'll check the others.

I saw The flaming lips at a festival once but can't remember much - just some red jelly all over the singer...

Oh, check out for dEUS old albums (I heard the last one was crap) "Worst Case Scenario" and "In a bar, under the sea"

Eric Slick said...

thanks joana!