Unscene Berlin

I am afraid that Club Alien has no review for you this week. Here is the story of how that happened - or rather, didn't happen. Last Saturday, after going to the Alte Fleischfabrik and finding that it was once again closed at the last minute, the Alien set out to review Kater Holzig instead. Brandishing a bottle of wine she had stolen from a birthday party earlier, she followed (or was it ‘led’?) a group of merrymakers down the Spree to Koepenicker Strasse. Once inside the club, she held her camera up a few times but, being that she was unable to make the double-vision go away for long enough to focus her camera, she gave up and focused on getting more drinks, instead.  Because quite clearly, she wasn't drunk enough, yet...

Why should history get all the glory? Every November the 5th should be just as memorable as the original... "Remember, remember the 5th of November  Gunpowder Treson and plot I can think of no reason  The gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot... " In England, the 5th of November is a pretty big deal. To celebrate it, people light bonfires, set off fireworks and get plastered outside in the cold and, usually, the rain. It's all a part of the 'Bonfire Night' tradition, introduced by the English government in the 17th century in order to celebrate the arrest of dissident Guy Fawkes. On November 5th 1606, Fawkes was caught under the Houses of Parliament with barrels of explosives; he was trying to blow up the government and instigate a state of anarchy (in the U.K.) by bringing down the fledgling Parliament. And the first punk had not even been born yet...! Snake worshipping, (ex) acid-dealing author Moore More than 300 years later, ...

Review: Seismograph @ Alte Fleischerei. New venues are sprouting from Berlin's old buildings. Last weekend I was persuaded to escort one of my fellow guides to a new venue, Alte Fleischerei, in a neglected industrial sector of east Berlin. My colleague had filled me with visions of a free party full of people, which was the only reason why we made the trek to Joseph Orlopp Strasse - a road which is only reachable by cab or by foot. After climbing through a building site fence and stumbling down a long, gravel path that had been turned to mud by the rain, we entered the Alte Fleischerei's courtyard. Its walls seemed to glower groggily at the blue light coming from within, like a wino awakened from his stupor by a siren. Indeed, the venue is so new that it seems to be taken by surprise at its new incarnation as a club...