It’s Gallery Weekend in Berlin – a time when the city’s many galleries showcase art from a broad range of local and international talent – so when better to share this film from Monocle magazine on Art in Berlin. Berlin is a hotbed of creative talent. In the 1920s, artists were attracted by the city’s […]
Berlin Songs: Sex Pistols – Holidays in the Sun
My Berlin Songs series, which features songs that are either inspired by Berlin, about the city or by artists based here, continues with Sex Pistols – Holidays in the Sun. Singer John Lydon says of the song on the Sex Pistols website: “I loved Berlin. I loved the wall and the insanity of the place. The […]
Sunday Documentary: Cold War – Berlin 1948 – 1949
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. […]
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 […]