“London Calling” – so what’s up, then?

“London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard,you boys and girls”
The Clash
I’ll be in London from 17th to 20th of August and if you have any ideas how I best spend my time there, please drop me a line! I’m pretty excited about this as I haven’t been to the UK for aaages. Hope to meet some of you people who I’ve only known from the internet so far.

What takes me there? The GYBO birthday bash! It will take place on the 18th. On a boat. Hell yeah. It’s organised by the wonderful Holestar and by Mike Cartel, the heart of Bastard. It has a pretty cool line up:

McSleazy
Dunproofin
Soundhog
Cartel Communique
Poj Masta
Pirate Soundsystem
Lenlow
The_Dr
and eve massacre.

There will be BBQ in the afternoon and open decks (in both meanings of the word). So get over there and better RSVP as the space is limited.

* _ +

First though I’m looking forward to tonight’s WE ARE SICK OF MUSIC AND WE HATE EACH OTHER party at the K4. PALUKA82 and me will do our best to keep you dancing all bloody night long.

Entry is free because we thought it would be nice to have a free party after the CITY OF SUBCULTURE street action that takes place from 3PM to 10PM at the Kornmarkt in Nürnberg.
This year the slogan “Nothing has to stay as it is” sounds a bit doomy to me as the future of Musikverein – the concert group I’m part of – is shaky. The K4, the building in which we set up our shows, will be restructured and gets a new administration from the city council next April. I’m not against changes but as long as we have zero information about our future in there it all seems a bit scary. I really hope people will keep on cherishing the d.i.y. culture we stand for. There’s not so many places left in which people get the chance to be an active part of their culture, not just a consumer.

Sometimes when I think back, the past seems so unreal: When I was young (ouch, sorry for that) the K4 was called KOMM and was self-ruled and open all the time and was so full of life. What’s now the Cinecitta was another huge cultural centre: the LGA. (One of the best shows I’ve ever seen was there: Shudder To Think.) Somewhere between both was the Hemdendienst. To think that the Zentralcafé (and sometimes the Festsaal) at the K4 is all that’s left of this in the city centre is just sad. Back then you had theatre and hardcorepunk show and cinema and political groups and parties and jazz concerts and readings next to each other and I ‘accidentally’ saw a lot of things that I’ve never would have chosen to attend but which turned out to be fun or interesting.
Things like the CITY OF SUBCULTURE street action today brings that back to my mind cause you get a chance to see the broad variety of what’s going on in the niche culture parts of your town. African women who do a fashion show to explain what their clothes, 1000 djs, bands like THE AUDIENCE, also things like a diy bike repair station or impro theatre and so much more, Radio Z airing live from there. I sometimes think that if you haven’t grown up experiencing that all these things have the same background then it’s hard to see what they have in common and maybe also how precious and fragile they are. I sure don’t like all of that stuff, for example I’ve never been a big fan of theatre, but I’m fucking glad that each and everyone of those groups exists cause it shows that this kind of alternative culture in which everybody can take part is alive and kicking.

Well, enough talking – you know where to move your asses and glasses in masses tonight! WE ARE SICK OF MUSIC AND WE HATE EACH OTHER party is go!

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