Unscene Berlin

Berlin's leaders want us to believe that the closure of its clubs is an inevitable consequence of economic success. Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this logic? via GIPHY When the specials wrote Ghost Town in 1981, England was in the grips of an unprecedented recession. That economic decline resulted in a situation where, "all the clubs are being closed down" - so run the lyrics of the song.   In Berlin in the present day, clubs are being closed down, too - only now, we are expected to believe that the scene is dying for the opposite reason: the city is a too much of a success . Apparently, the wave of new speculators coming here to invest in our property is just so overwhelming that the city cannot afford to set aside land for the businesses that are already here.  To quote Will Ferrell in Zoolander, "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!" Since when is being too much of an economic success an excuse for closing down local busine...

Credits as per photo, via R19 Facebook page Club R19 is closing. Another phenomenon of the Berlin party scene is vanishing, leaving us grappling to describe exactly what it is.  Or w as .    The problem with R19 is setting yourself apart from whatever is happening there for long enough to describe it.  Stop for a second and someone / something will grab you and drag you along for a ride. Usually, I just show the place to people and let them decide what they t hink it is .  Their reactions vary from wowed to wary but they're u sually closer to the 'wow' end of the spectrum . I’m a big believer in taking party photos ( taken responsibly and with permission ) but I’ve never had time to think about taking a pic in R19 .  T ime or space.  Anything that you do that isn't part of the present seems to leave a palpable vacuum that the people around you pick up on, zero in on a nd try to fi ll ....

The 25th anniversary of the 'Mauerfall' (fall of the Berlin Wall) last Sunday was in some ways similar to the original fall of the wall.  Throngs of people gathered at the old checkpoints, and all along the path of the old political barrier between east and west. It was cold and everyone was tense. But instead of release from the GDR, they were waiting for the release of a  f*** ton of glowing balloons that lined the Wall perimeter.  The release had been meant to happen at 7 p.m. sharp. It was meant to be one of those magical, cathartic moments where everyone would tear up as they looked into the night skies and watched the balloons (which symbolised bricks, apparently) drift away on clouds of helium, dissolving like the Wall itself was meant to do. But as was usual for any Fall in Berlin, it was drizzly, dark, foggy, and people were lucky if they could see from one side of the Spree to the other.   The tourists throngs seemed  enrapt by the displa...