Hamburgians
My recent show at 'Salon-Konzerte im Haus 73' was my first gig in a while, since winter in fact! I'm not so proud of that, but the fact is I'm also not so great at speaking Deutsche (yet) and this has possibly been an eliminating factor in scoring new gigs in Berlin, or maybe I'm just getting too old! haha! Who knows?
However, I always seem to be appreciated in good ol' Hamburg and really enjoy playing there. Getting to Hamburg on the weekend was the first step. When in Germany you quickly learn to travel via mitfahrgelegenheit, and the best way to do that is by car. Basically the way it works is simple, car owners place their adverts on the mitfahrgelegenheit web site and travellers wanting a ride search for one suitable for them, it's a bit like paid hitchhiking. I usually always take a lift by car, but this time I decided to join a group taking the train. However when I arrived to the main station in Berlin (Hauptbahnhof) following specific instructions...the guy wasn't there and left without me, high and dry on Saturday. I was without a lift and pretty pissed mind you, so I took a train to Ostbahnhof and bought myself a bus ticket and joined my girlfriend Dulli at 4pm who was also taking the bus. It was nice to travel together anyway, the only down side for me was that I would now have no time to relax (or eat) before I played as the bus arrived in at 7:30 and I was to sound check at 8:00pm.
Dulli and I arrived in and headed straight to the venue (Haus 73) and I discovered a full room of punters awaiting some folk action. It was a lovely evening, the weather was coolish and a young lady named Janina Dunklau (Hamburg) played some intense minor folk songs as my support. I felt a bit tired but I soon found my fire and opened with 'Spells', one of the more angst upbeat songs written in Iceland last year. It felt like a good call and then the night was away, I felt relaxed and enjoyed joking with the audience. I bashed out all the Iceland material, played 'Beautiful Bird' for Elisa (was nice to see you mate) and improvised a song with my loop pedal and alles gut. I decided to call the Hamburgers, Hamburgians "Calling people Hamburgers is just plain weird!", and a local shouted out "...and Berliners are wieners!" which was pretty funny actually. I think the song of the night was the old Woody Guthrie tune 'So long it's been good to know ya', which is a song my American friend Ian Fisher sometimes plays, and he was right, it's one hell of a crowd pleaser...the whole room was singing along! By the end of the night I received an encore, which was a lovely surprise and ended with a fierce version of 'Changing of the Hours' and then a few of us gathered for beers outside in the beer garden and spun some tales of...Hamburgians and what not.
The next morning D and I were feeling a little under the weather, but we left the band apartment and enjoyed a wonderful German breakfast at Haus 73 (those guys really are very hospitable) and then we were off to a church service where I played songs between the sermons (that I only understood 15% of and my songs were printed in the service phamflet) as I was asked by Jens (one of the organisers) if I could be the entertainment for the service.
Then it was time to head back to Berlin and Dulli and I made our way to the main station in Hamburg and had to meet our lift coordinator, as people can travel on group tickets for cheap. We met this old guy who spoke German but had a weird Eastern European accent and were given instructions (more than a few times) by these very strange men (who seemed like mentally challenged train spotters) to catch the Berlin train (a different train, and not ours) on the other platform. Then we were shuffled onto our train and had to sit in the entrance compartment as all the seats were taken. This is especially difficult with a guitar. The trip was not so fun back and it took almost 5 hours and was raining all the way. No pain no gain I suppose.
However, I am glad I played this show and I want to thank Thore and the guys involved in the Hamburg Project and Haus 73 for booking me. The fact is, I have not had an easy time settling into Berlin. The first 7 months were spent applying for jobs only to be rejected because I did not have a VISA (catch 22 really, considering you need a job to get the VISA!) and I lived in an empty apartment through a gruelling winter, living on the bones and relying on my family (who have been incredible) for support, and taking whatever cash paid work I could find. One of the blessings in my life during this time has been my girlfriend Dulli, whom I met in November last year and has been an angel to me through some very difficult times.
I came to a crossroads recently and had to make a decision on whether to stay in Berlin or return home to Australia (and have been very homesick for a while now). I was recently offered a wonderful full time teaching job, teaching English at a bilingual Gymnasium school (the best schools in the country for children of academic grades). I emailed some friends back home to try and get some advice as to what to do, and they all told me to taken the job! Even Nick from the boats! I was expecting them to tell me to come home, but I guess they see this as a good experience as I do. And I'm sure it will be, I'll even be starting a school band with some of the kids! So, I'll be in Germany a while longer it seems, and I look forward to the next part of my journey.
Bless
Jb x
