A very merry un(scene) birthday to you...

August 20th: always a laugh-riot for Unscene Berlin.

What's the most exciting moment that you've ever had on your birthday?  Unscene Berlin's birthday has been marked by some truly exciting moments, good and bad.  Every year at this time, I read about some unexpected, dramatic upheaval happening somewhere in the world - usually my own.  My favourite anniversary experience to date was about a decade ago and involved a squatted Dalston primary school, riot police, edible fungus, a gun, and lots of crayon drawings. The friends I was with made it all seem kind of fun, though.  Isn't that just what friends are for?

Glancing at Wikipedia's entry for this date I am wearily unsurprised to see that it has always been a time for random acts of aggression, both good and bad.  Revolutions, riots, coups, assassinations, you name it.   The war of Spanish succession started on this day... Trotsky was murdered on this day... even when people are just talking, it seems to have some warlike connotation on this day.  One of Churchill's famous WWII speeches was also made on this day, for instance.  I just hope that all that doesn't reflect too badly this blogger!

But yeah; aside from a minor Ebola outbreak in Pankow, it looks like nothing too terrible is going to happen on my birthday (although it's not over, so may be too early to tell).  There are, however, still some cool things to do while the skies are falling and wars rage all around us.

Like... the Atonal Festival!  That starts today.  Atonal is Dmitri Hegeman's (of Tresor) experimental noise baby, and its cries throb and grate in strangely appealing, rhythmic dissonances.  I have never ever been to Atonal festival before, but apparently Einsturzende Neubaten was one of its early acts, back in the eighties, when it was still being held at SO36 in Kreuzberg.  The other day I was listening to a tune by Einsturzende Neubaten on the way to work. It was called 12 Staedte.  While I was listening to it, I saw a wine gummy laying on the floor.  Somehow, the wine gummy seemed like a bad sign.  Then I looked up at a nearby television and saw a clownfish on the screen.  That seemed like a bad sign, too.  This should tell you everything you need to know about Einsturzende Neubaten's style of music - and about the Atonal festival, by extension - because, not even wine gummies and clownfish are immune to the serious musical vibes generated by this event's artists!

At risk of sounding like a free ad for Atonal, just check out the photos and lineup of the festival site yourselves:

Whoa.

Heathers is much funnier, to be honest...

So, what else is happening today?  Er, not much.  A few openairs that cost a lot of money.  More suited to a late summer evening is the showing of My Own Private Idaho, a sinister and disturbing cult classic, at Mindpirates tonight.  See River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves as you have probably never seen them before (unless you can recall the nineties as well as some of us can).  It's right up there with Heathers in terms of its dark, teenaged Hollywood subversion... and quite a bit of perversion too, if I recall correctly. 


So enjoy the end of the world Unscene Berlin's birthday, and in the meantime, do let me know if you have any extreme birthday stories of your own to share!