Tag Archives: video

Berlin Songs: Robots In Disguise – I Live In Berlin

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Robots In Disguise - I Live In Berlin (screenshot from the video by electroxbooshxgirl on YouTube)

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 pretty long list already thanks to Bine but if you have any favourites let me know in the comments.

According to the bio on their website:

ROBOTS IN DISGUISE are fronted by DEE PLUME (guitar and vocals) and SUE DENIM (bass and vocals). Part riot grrl princesses, part monsters of DIY musical mayhem, this maverick electro-indie-rock-dance duo has a reputation for fashion-forward style and energetic shows where Dee’s guitar and Sue’s grooving bass lines dance over chunky electronic beats and tell-it-like-it-is lyrics.

Take another look at their names and you’ll see that the pair are no strangers to the nuances of comedy.  The eagle-eyed amongst you might recognise Robots In Disguise as The Electro Girls and The Goth Girls in The Mighty Boosh.

I Live In Berlin is taken from the third Robots In Disguise studio album, We’re In The Music Biz.

Robots In Disguise – I Live In Berlin

Sunday Documentary: Bomb It

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Bomb It (screenshot from the Street Art and Graffiti documentary)

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 in these places the film examines the roots of the culture and different motivations of the players.

Reiss also speaks to the people who are trying to buff and arrest their way to ‘cleaner streets’.

Bomb it is a must see documentary for Street Art and Graffiti enthusiasts.

Bomb It

Ohrwurm: The Lightning Seeds – Pure

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The Lightning Seeds - Pure (screenshot from Official Video)

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, it’s a great song to banish the cold in Berlin and focus on the sun in the sky and imagine it’s a beautiful spring day.

The Lightning Seeds – Pure

Sunday Documentary: Baader-Meinhof – In Love With Terror

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Baader-Meinhof - In Love With Terror (screenshot from the BBC Documentary)

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 the founder members Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof who were opposed to what they saw as the fascist and capitalist forces of the state.

The organisation outlived its founders, who died in prison in 1976 and 1977, but was formally dissolved in 1998.

I hope you will agree that the quality of the documentary and the intriguing story compensate for the poor picture quality.

Baader-Meinhof – In Love With Terror

Click on the links for subsequent parts: Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7.

Ohrwurm: Die Toten Hosen – “Tage wie diese”

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Die Toten Hosen - "Tage wie diese" (screenshot from Official Video)

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 footage and studio shots of the band, with a few shots from Berlin thrown in for good measure – for instance, The Berlin Holi Open Air features a fair bit.

The name of the band ‘Die Toten Hosen’ literally translated is the ‘The Dead Trousers’ – a German term used to describe a person or an event as ‘boring’, it can also mean ‘nothing going on’ and is therefore used as a slang term for ‘impotent’.

Tote Hose is just one of many German terms that has been explained on Twitter with #dailydeutsch – a hashtag created by the folks over at überlin to help people learn German.

Die Toten Hosen – “Tage wie diese”

Famous Berliners: President John F Kennedy (JFK)

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John F Kennedy (JFK) Ich Bin Ein Berliner (Associated Press)

Image: Associated Press

He was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and never lived in Berlin but President John F Kennedy is probably the most famous ‘Berliner’.

In a speech on the steps of Rathaus Schöneberg on 26 June 1963 Kennedy declared:

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner!”

It was a defining moment at the height of Cold War tensions between the USA and the Soviet Union.  A warning from Kennedy to his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Krushchev, that the Americans would not foresake the West Berliners and a show of solidarity for a people adjusting to life in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.

It is probably one of the most iconic moments of 20th century political history.

A plaque on the facade of Rathaus Schöneberg commemorates this significant event.

John F Kennedy (JFK) Plaque at Rathaus Schöneberg Berlin commemorating his "Ich Bin Ein Berliner" speech

Contrary to popular belief Kennedy didn’t make a linguistic faux pax with the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’.

It is an oft repeated story that in using these words Kennedy said ‘I am a doughnut (or donut for the Americans).

It’s true that in many parts of Germany a jam filled doughnut is known as a Berliner but in Berlin the doughnuts are known as Pfannkuchen and the citizens are Berliners.

Here’s a video of part of John F Kennedy’s ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech for anyone who hasn’t seen it before or those inclined to watch it again.

President John F Kennedy – ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ Speech

Sunday Documentary: FL – Unpremeditated Movie

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MTO - FAST Life (screenshot from 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 decade there has been increasingly intense interest in Street Art, an artform that owes much to graffiti and youth culture.

MTO, as I outlined in a recent post has brought photorealistic art to the streets and no more controversially so than in Sarasota, Florida.

His Fast Life mural, painted as part of the Sarasota Chalk Festival attracted much criticism for what was seen by some as a glorification of gang culture.

In this documentary, MTO presents his version of how events played out.

FL – Unpremeditated Movie

Ohrwurm: David Hasselhoff – Looking For Freedom

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David Hasselhoff – Looking For Freedom (Live in Berlin) sung on the Berlin Wall on New Year's Eve 1989

Today’s Ohrwurm is David Hasselhoff – Looking For Freedom, which seems appropriate on a day when the people of Berlin are again protesting at the wall.

David Hasselhoff singing on top of the Berlin Wall, with the Brandenburg Gate as a backdrop, on New Year’s Eve 1989 came at a time when people were celebrating the fall of the wall.

In fact, according to this BBC article, the Hoff is disappointed that his role in uniting the people of East and West Germany is not more widely acknowledged.

My friend Gilly and I recently discussed the Hoff’s contribution to Berlin and the possibility of a street being named after him.  Hasselhoffstrasse anyone? Or maybe the Hackesche Höfe could become the Hassel Höfe?

Today, Berliners will gather at the East Side Gallery to protest against the removal of a section of the wall to build a block of luxury flats.  The East Side Gallery is a 1.3km stretch of the wall on Mühlerstrasse near the Spree covered in murals by international artists, as an “international memorial for freedom”.

Dmitri Vrubel - Fraternal Kiss (Brezhnev and Honecker embrace) - one of the paintings on the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery

It seems perverse that such a symbol could be torn down, especially in a city that has so many empty and abandoned buildings.

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan’s famous speech in Berlin on 12 June 1987, the message to Berlin’s mayor Klaus Wowereit is:

Mr Wowereit, DON’T tear down this wall!

A petition has been started to halt the destruction of the wall and currently has over 53,000 signatures.  If you’d like the East Side Gallery to remain unchanged you can sign here.

David Hasselhoff – Looking For Freedom (Live in Berlin)

The song starts at 0:55 if you want to skip the introduction from the Hoff.

Ohrwurm: Wolfman feat. Pete Doherty – For Lovers

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Wolfman feat. Pete Doherty - For Lovers (screenshot from Official Video)

There was a time in the UK when it seemed you couldn’t open a newspaper or switch on the TV without seeing a story about Pete Doherty.  And I never really got the hype.

Sure, The Libertines produced a few good tracks but his erratic behaviour and often shambolic performances meant it was always likely that the band would implode.

That’s why I was surprised at how much I liked Wolfman feat. Pete Doherty – For Lovers.  There is something about Doherty’s voice that conveys the desparation of running away to start a new life together.

Wolfman feat. Pete Doherty – For Lovers