Unscene Berlin

My friend Katja and I were some of the first people to arrive at Kater Holzig for the reading of " Berlin, Techno und die Wende ", an 'oral' history book about Berlin's rave scene. Katja was kicking herself when she saw how empty the venue was on our arrival. "I am such an ossi ," she cried. "I was so worried there would be lots and lots of people here and I hate being crowded - but it's dead! I'm so sorry." Her fastidiousness had paid off for us though because, by quarter past nine, people were standing from one end of the room to the other. Meanwhile, we were sittin' pretty in some of the second-best seats in the house: just behind the row of sofas at front that had been reserved for the really honoured guests (I thought of our row as being the L.I.P. - Less Important Person - section). After teaching Katja the time-honoured English tradition of blagging cheap drinks we settled back into our seats with a couple of under-pri...

I have been experiencing technical problems with my home internet for the past few weeks but promise that I do have some new entries up my sleeve. Just as soon as I get access to a good connection they will be posted, so please do check back later this week for new entries. Thank you for your patience and your interest in my blog!

If you are reading this in the hopes of finding some hot tips on Berlin Music Week or BMW for short (cute acronym) then I am afraid that you have come to the wrong place. My reasons for ignoring such a huge event are practical: this blog is based on my personal experience and I could not attend half of the offical BMW parties myself, not even if I was magically bestowed with the stamina of a 20-something and an unlimited supply of drugs and cash. There are many other websites covering the festival though, if that's what you're into. On with the preview, then! Above: Stattbad Wedding by Celine Gaulke . The event that I am looking forward to the most this weekend is the Re-opening of Stattbad Wedding . I have never been there before but its reputation precedes it. I'm eager to verify the rumours and continue exploring the fresh sights and sounds which are emerging from Wedding.

Above: A gabba float with smoke machine goes by at the Fuck Parade Because I am blogging on the move this week, my entry may have assumed a rather jumbled look - apologies in advance. Unfortunately, my home internet is down so I am currently writing my blog in the library, next to a one of those lovely people who talks to herself in the absence of a hands-free set. Anyway, on with the weekend review... Was it the sunny weather? The looming end-of-summer holidays deadline? The raft of almost-cancelled outdoor events which went ahead at the last moment? Or a fortuitous combination of all of the above? Whatever the cause, last weekend in Berlin there was an outpouring of dance euphoria unlike any I've seen this summer. Everywhere you went, be it the streets, clubs, or the beaches, people were peeling layers of warm clothing off of glittering flesh and twisting away extravagant stupors, bare feet kissed by earth.   Above: Mixmaster Morris playing acid house @ Suicide Circus Augu...

I had nearly four hours to spare when I set out for a 'secret' open air party on Saturday... but in the end, I only managed to spend about half an hour there. I guess you could say I got a bit sidetracked along the way. I set out for the party by bike at around 4:00 p.m., wanting to catch some exercise and sun en route to Koepenick. About 15 minutes into the bike ride, the concrete  plattenbauten  magically turned into an endless field of countryside bliss. Bushy trees nestled under hills and one of the 3000 Berliner lakes glimmered modestly in the centre of a hidden valley. I told myself that I'd just stop for a minute to appreciate the shade of the waterside trees but lost track of time. Easily done when there's no one around and just another pretty vista around another mysterious bend to pull you forward.  It was quiet enough by the lake side that when I spotted a newly-minted toad clambering through the grass, it wasn't the least bit freaked out by th...

The lakeside beach was striped with bars of light. Sculptures that had been erected earlier leaned sideways in the sand, like mystical relics of a cybernetic race of fairies. Projections played across the waterside trees. Stray lasers refracted off of the water's surface in glimmering eddies. The people sprawled on the hilly shoreline basked in the light-show’s midnight sun as louche young things twisted in a sandy dance pit below. Spliffs were passed around. People asked each other, “Where are you from?” and “What do you do?” and "Hey, do you wanna threesome?" while trying to retrace the steps they'd taken to arrive at this unified state… or maybe I should say, unified 'nation'. And then trace new paths to an even deeper union, it seemed.  The light show and the people were the two greatest things about Nation of Gondwana. Several images stick in mind: the guy lying next to the fire who managed to sleep on blissfully as a burning stick fell onto hi...

I was back at work this weekend but in between shifts, I managed to catch a burlesque show and a few great DJ sets at Rummelsburg Berlin. Everything looked and sounded sumptuous (special kudos goes to Luis Ondo, Lady Lou and DJ Emerson for that) but the place could have done with a much bigger audience. Did the promoters simply take the trend for all things 'minimal' a little bit too far and apply it to their advertising campaign, too? Never mind; I got right into the desert-island vibe, so the party was still a highlight in my weekend. I just couldn't help thinking that it could have used some more word-of-mouth to pull the crowds down to sunny Rummelsburg. After that we headed to Massimiliano Pagliara's record release party. The venue itself requires no further promotion from me since it long ago reached sell-out status. It was almost worth being in Wilden Renate though because of the crisp tech-y house of DJs like Baby G's . If only you could get...

The first time that I went to Peristal Singum, the psychedelic labyrinth in Ostkreuz, I was just bringing a friend to check it out for the first time. He went in before me as human guinea pig to gauge its effect. Nearly an hour later he returned with a huge smile on his face. "I'm tripping!" he laughed. Moments later a petite blonde who had gone into the labyrinth around the same time as him came stumbling out of the labyrinth... in tears! Needless to say, I chickened out of the labyrinth experience on that occasion. But I did make a mental note to return later with my camera; photography is strongly encouraged by the staff in both venues.  (Not!) Fast-forward to a few weekends later, when I was cycling down Hauptstrasse in the early afternoon. When I got within 100 metres of Wilden Renate I could already feel the thrum of music and voices coming through its dilapidated, health-inspector friendly walls. I was in luck: The Fountain of Youth was open. FOY is ...