Celebration of the holy 21st birthday - the college way

My roommate James turned 21 some days ago. I have seen the beerstick, usually hanging on the wall like a sacred object, in use for the very first time. It is like beer injection and makes you drunk within a few seconds (even with the hilarious budlight). It is somewhat disgusting. But who cares. The goal is to get wasted...

                                             The holy Bierstick...

                                     Ready...

                                     Go...

                                  Yeah...

                          

bedcamp, zombies and Sheppard Fairey

Saturday late afternoon we comfortably rested for a long. Putting my air matress in the living room we had build up a pleasant bedcamp. It was enjoyable tasting like family and reminded me of the many great hangovered sundays with movies and ordered burgers. Friends, that is one of the things we do at first when I am back!

Going to AS220 later on, we realized that it is Zombie Night in Providence. We felt somewhat awkward between the infinite mass of scarry, dead characters..

We had some Narrangansetts and I got an AS220 shirt. The bartender told me that the logo is designed by Sheppard Fairey, the street artist from California. Furthermore, Fairey has also brought this piece on a huge, endless wall behind the bar. I hand in the picture later...

Berlin paintings, Berliner Weisse and late night drawings

Originally I planned to attend the Providence gallery night extensively on friday. However, time was rare and I just made it to go to one gallery. This was not actually a gallery and just a bank that exhibited some paintings of Mollie Hosmer-Dillard. When I watched her pieces I wondered about the names of two them as they included the words "Temepelhof" and "Emmas Friedhof". On the infoboard I figured out that Mollie lived four years in Berlin and moved back to Providence in 2009. I am in the US and Berlin seems to present everywhere. I talked to Mollie for a while how much we love the enjoyable area of the Tempelhof airport and miss pleasant Berlin. Berliner, it is fall. Go out to Tempelhof and have a walk there! It is lovely. Mollie also told me about the little box gardens you find in the area. I have not seen them before. But they look nice (https://picasaweb.google.com/115023284387629053061/UrbanGardeningBerlin#slideshow/5627700456164795010)
Anyway, the urban gardening project inspired the following painting...

I love Mollies playful paintings that have an impressionistic note. My most favourite painting is this. Her somewhat comic style is cute I feel.

When I went with Joanna and Christine to the E&O bar next night, I was faced with Germany and Berlin again. One of the bartenders told me when she heard I was from Berlin that I could talk to father, who owns the bar, in German. So I talked for a while to Mr. Richard Dannenfelser, who was stationed as a U.S. soldat in the 1960s and studied Theology in West-Germany later on. He even bought a round Berliner Weisse - Weihenstephan wheat beer with raspberry sirup. It had not the signficant red tone, but was delicious anyway. Thank you Mr. Dannenfelser. That was very generous.

The night ended with a two rock concert in Local 121, where Christine and me perpetuate with drawings on the table cloths. My lack of skills and creativity indicates clearly who draw what...

Occupy Providence

Occupy Wall Street, Occupy anything all over the world and Occupy Providence - a huge tent camp in Burnside Park in the heart of downtown. When I arrived with Peter Pan on thursday afternoon, I was completely surprised to find the park occupied. After my friend Joanna picked me up, we visited the park at early evening. Joanna is pretty much involved and works in the food working group. I just walked around observing curiously what is going in the park. No matter what one might think about the occupy movement, I felt that it is pretty cool that there is some stuff going on in a central public place of Providence. People there have huge, idealistic goals. They seem to be very emotional demanding solidarity and social equity with an emphasis on love. It is a nice idea to want to change people's hearts. However, the ability of judgement with a sense for solidarity is more a gift, a trait than unfortunately less people own. If you want to make the world a better place, you can not appeal to people's love but change society's institution and political structures instead. I tend to say "hier liegt der Hund begraben". To develop power to change policy the activists who are mainly stick together because of their shared emotional anger have to formulate realistic goals they want to achieve. I don't think there is great likelihood that this happens. But it can work out on a local political level, and I hope so.
However, the Occupy Providence is pretty well organized. They have a media tent from which they broadcast a live video stream about the activities in the park. They also have a huge food tent. A lot of very encouraged people cook their and provide free food for visitors, activists, and the homeless of Providence. The homeless also can sleep in some tents. Of course there are never enough space and resources for all of them. But many of the homeless have a better time than usual for a while. They are helped, and that is definitely a good thing. This is why I washed some dishes one day to make a little contribution though that did not change anything in long-term. But as I mentioned, to act in a solidaric sense on a individual level is less a matter of intellect, but related to the moral, social  voice that speaks to one (or not) and initiate a simple act of support...

Music, Music, Music - the first own guitar, Andy Irvine, and late night lession in music theory

On tuesday after my dancing class I talked to my dancing teacher for a while about what makes people interesting for us. We agreed about that it is someone's desire for and engagement in an interest no matter what it is, that makes a personality to take somewhat shape. He dances and plays music, because he wants to use the time in college to learn something else except from the formal education. After thinking about this for a while, some days ago I decided to learn playing the guitar. On the way to the Andy Irvine concert last night, I drove with Ali to buy a used guitar from someone in Eastern Hartford. I have a guitar. Now I just need to learn to play it...
The folk performance of Andy was awesome. We listened to beautiful ballads and many funny songs about crazy boozy evenings, played with guitar, mandolin and harmonika.
To give you an insight I seriously recommend that beautiful sad song "empty handed". It is about an immigrant farmer who has to tell his family that they are ruined...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOoh1w400fU

Who don't like the heart-warming ballad should check the very funny song "The Close Shave". It is about a man who see's everything twice when he gets drunk. So one evening he believes to go home with two beautiful women...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUgrdzpJVDI&feature=related

I hope that I really got come to age now, because I have a feeling that this could happen to me one day completing the infinite number of antics!

After the Concert I drove with Ali to his hometown Middletown to attend the bar Eli Cannons having some cyders and a huge mountain of nachos with tons of cheese!

 Being overeaten and sick we drove to Ali's house listening to Bob Dylan's epic Highway 61. Arriving there at 2 am, I got my first lession in music theory with writing down notes, scales, and chords on the backside on a monopoly game box. Finally, we watched a awesome Jazz documentary and fell asleep...It was the best sleep I have had for a long time resting even until 1 pm in contrary to my usual habits...
Ali, buddy, thank you for the great weekend!

Cinnamon Whisky and Shake Down

Friday night I went to a concert of the band Shake Down, a cover band of The Grateful Dead. Already the drive to Hartford was so much fun with listening to the great wild and exciting Bebop tunes of  Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gilespie and Max Rouge at Massey Hall 1952 while Snoop Dogg's voice on the TomTom directed the way. A extending chill out in the car with more jazz and some bigger sips of cinnamon whisky followed before Ali and me joined the bar. The composition of the concert audience was very diverse. Adults in the fourties, girlies, hip-hopper,  heavy-metal rocker, even groupies all went crazy and danced like hell with evening's proceeding. Even the cool Berlin hipster, appropriately dressed with wolly hat wearing his holey canvas tote bag (thank you Leila), got thrilled by the swinging rhythms and grooves, shaking and bouncing his head and started to dance. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed to see all these happy and thrilled people on the dancefloor around me. The special moment of the night occured during the concert's break. When I hung out with Ali in the car smoking a joint, someone suddenly knocked on the car's window. It was the lead guitarist of the band, a 58 year old men. With his white long hair and glasses he had more the appearance of Santa Claus. However, while Ali and me had to cough like teenagers smoking their first joint, the old man slammed the joint like a cigarette. That he really loves weed was proofed at least ten minutes later. Ali and me have been listened to some Miles Davis tunes thrilled to bits, when the Guitarist suddently showed up again. Leaning in the open window he asked us whether we would smoke a second joint. So we did and talked about America's weirdness. But most strinking was that this man managed to talk some sentences in German to me. He learned German in school for five years. After more than 40 years he remembered even some phrases, while younger Americans could not say a single word. Respect! By the way, despite whiskey I have been a good boy without black out and antics. Do I really come of age?

backflips, homecoming and diana's pool

On sunday the fraternities after being absent for one week to celebrated their homecoming with a huge parade of trucks which functioned as stages for their presentations and performances. Furthermore, the south campus was transformed into a amusement park providing the chance to live out my infantile play instinct. It was awesome and I did all attractions - took the slide on a potato bag, flight around on the carrousel which made me  feel like flying away on my chair when I closed my eyes, fought Dan with a pillow on a bar, and made backflips and supermans on the bungee trampolin. Fooling around like a child was sweeeeet, but also sweaty.

Afterwards I went with some friends to Diana's pool to swim in the Natchaug River. The walk through the forest along the river jumping from stone to stone which lay on and next to the path reminded me of the great jungle tour to that waterfall on La Gomera many years. The first exploration of American nature was awesome. The waterfalls at Diana's pool are not very tall but beautiful anyway. We swam in the cold and clear river water and after having explored the deepness of the water, I took some headers jumping from some bigger stones. The nature around me seems to be beautiful. I am an idiot that I did not start earlier to explore it. I start to make good for this neglect this sunday...

lesson in strictness

 I got kicked out from clubs many times. Being mostly too drunk and exhibiting bad manners, it served me right. Wheather I danced the cockalorum-dance crashing down with someone on the dance floor and getting my shirt ripped at the Golden Gate, or throwed a ice cube toward ignorant, cocaine and coolness soaked bartenders at Kater Holzig, I always agreed the ban, at least after I was brought to reason.  But when I got kicked out from Thirsty Dog saturday night,  I was completely innocent. Because the bartender did not see me behind the edge I waited forever to get a drink. To got served I decided to take a cup and hint at filling it by my own. Neither  I did not intend to do it, nor I touched the tap, but acted as if I would. I thought I was smart as the bartender showed up to my surpise within a half second. Unfortunately, another half second later I was collard by the stuff gorilla who took me out pushing and shouting as if I had attacked someone. Apparently, to observe the rules strictly make staff loose their basic manners and even worse their sense of humor. Folks, relax, this response was completely overexaggerated. But actually it is so hilarious that I can't wait to walk right into the next invisible American no-go-red-alert-trap...

 

 

(Life) As a matter of fact II

New hair cut, new attitude. I have been to the UConn hairdresser. My hair, which was in danger to overgrow, is now bobed to norm, though it is not short shaved. The old lady words: "Oh my god, who cut your hair? (It was Lisa) That is not professional at all. I need to take the fringe off. Then you look decent again." The haircut was not a brainwash, but coincidence with my realization of this life here as matter of fact. It took two month until the cosmopolitical-scene-hipst-berliner-city-owl stopped to resist against the limitedness of UConn. I urge so much to explore the world, art, music experiencing all the wonderful pluralism and colorfulness out there. But in fact, Storrs is neither the place for art and music, nor for pluralism. For a long time I felt, making a confession, some hatred against the campus life, feeling like prisoned in a small, narrowed world characterized by uniformity and naivety. But the ghosts of the felt exile are excorcized and the stance of the German whinger is vanished. It is not too bad, though I will always hate the bunk bed. Well, Art and music have to wait for two more month. I attend a dance class meanwhile learning west coast swing dance. It is a couple dance with origins in Swing and can be danced to Country, R'n'B, Hip Hop. My teacher says we will generally learn to dance by predicting the music. Swing swing swing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3ZxiPKmacg

As a matter of fact

My plans for the thanksgiving break are set, flights booked. I fly to New Orleans, go to Memphis, Nashville and fly back to Connecticut from St. Louis. This route is a music tour leading to the homes of Jazz, Elvis, Country, Ragtime and Blues. I will listen to a lot of great music. Awesome! From another point of view, this route is kind of dangerous. I should not tell this my mum, but St. Louis and Memphis are among the top five cities of murderer statistics. New Orleans is also among the top ten. My roommates said they wouldn't go. On this occassion they also told me teasingly, that it would not be too bad if I die, as they would compensated with getting all classes this semester graded with A's.I considered that as pretty odd wondering for what they should get compensation. But actually it is consequent and corresponds with the basic idea of campus life. That is to bring together young adults in small shared rooms and even shared bunkbeds to promote closeness and friendship. When your roommate dies, you not only loose a roommate, but a friend.
In fact, I live in a highly regulated and protected huge boarding school with several limitations. As a matter of fact, this is my life. It's time to arrange with it instead of fleeing every other weekend...