Part 4 of the fascinating and extensive Cold War documentary series by the Cold War International History Project, Berlin 1948 – 1949, deals with the response of the Western Allies to the Soviet Blockade of Berlin – the Berlin Airlift (Die Luftbrücke). Surrounded as it was by East Germany, West Berlin was dependent on a […]
Berlin Songs: Peter Fox – Schwarz zu Blau
It won’t have escaped anyone’s attention in Berlin that what may have seemed like an endless winter could finally be over. Temperatures have leapt from single digits to nudge the Mercury at 20ºC so it seemed appropriate then that the second instalment in my Berlin Songs series should be Peter Fox – Schwarz zu Blau. […]
Bowie and Beyond: A Music Fan’s Guide to Berlin (BBC Radio 6 Music)
Danny Robins’s programme for BBC Radio 6 Music’s Easter Weekend celebration of David Bowie is called Bowie and Beyond: A Music Fan’s Guide to Berlin but he goes all the way back to the Weimar era in his quest to understand why Berlin has made such a significant contribution to music. This is about more […]
Berlin Songs: Robots In Disguise – I Live In Berlin
I’ve been thinking about posting Berlin Songs for a while now and hearing Robots In Disguise – I Live In Berlin last night has prompted me to get on and do it. The songs may be about Berlin, from Berlin artists, recorded in Berlin or in some other way associated with Berlin. I have a […]
Sunday Documentary: Bomb It
John Reiss’s Graffiti and Street Art documentary, Bomb It traces the development of the movement from the early writers in Philadelphia and New York to the adoption of Street Art imagery in mainstream advertising and exhibitions in galleries. Berlin features along with other cities with an Urban Art heritage and by talking to artists active […]
Ohrwurm: The Lightning Seeds – Pure
Reading about Ian Broudie‘s contribution as producer to my last Ohrwurm: The Coral Dreaming Of You, has given me another, The Lightning Seeds – Pure. I remember buying the single on 7″ from a newsagent that was selling off old Jukebox records and driving my parents mad by playing the song on repeat. For me, […]
Sunday Documentary: Baader-Meinhof – In Love With Terror
The BBC documentary Baader-Meinhof – In Love With Terror tells the story of the Red Army Faction (in the original German Rote Armee Fraktion), more commonly referred to as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, a terrorist organisation formed in West Germany in 1970. The common name of the militant group comes from the names of two of […]
Ohrwurm: The Coral – Dreaming Of You
The Coral – Dreaming of you has been an Ohrwurm for at least a week now and last night I heard it at Rock n Roll Bingo at White Trash Fast Food. The song, released in 2002, was taken from the band’s debut album and was produced by Ian Broudie of The Lightning Seeds fame. […]
Ohrwurm: Die Toten Hosen – “Tage wie diese”
The refrain from Die Toten Hosen – “Tage wie diese” has been my Ohrwurm for days, though I found out on the weekend that I had completely the wrong lyrics in mind. This was one of the songs that was played at Schmankerl-Hüttn and has stuck with me after it closed. The video mixes live […]
Sunday Documentary: FL – Unpremeditated Movie
MTO is a French street artist who bases himself in Berlin and recently posted the documentary FL – Unpremeditated Movie on Vimeo. Art has always had its detractors and modern art will always attract the most controversy. Street Art suffers doubly so because it is attacked from within as well as from the traditional opponents. Over the past […]