Sorry, no postcard from Munich, either. I had one chance to buy one, but left it intending to do it later, oops. Instead here’s a pic of the venue sign ….
Munich is alright, I didn’t see much of the city to be honest, it was a quick in, suss where the venue was, meander back to the hostel, eat, head back for the gig. There is a whole other story about the hostel, but I’ll tell you about that another time. Oh, and there’ll be some very interesting vid clips from that evening on Instagram later (when LC came up against German techno!)
Erm, didn’t buy a postcard in Ingolstadt. In my defence, I don’t think I saw any on sale. It’s not really that sort of town, mind it does have a few museums and Audi is from there. I chose to visit the German Museum of Medical History (incidentally, it was Ingolstadt where Mary Shelley had Dr Frankenstein study) which I can thoroughly recommend if you ever find yourself there. Bizarrely, there was a side exhibition of keeping fit for skiing through the twentieth century, again, some fascinating (and some downright hilarious) stuff in there.
More bizarrely, Ingolstadt is twinned with Kirkcaldy!! Why?!? I heard this from Logan’s Close as part of their list of interesting facts about Ingolstadt, I have no reason to doubt it’s veracity – apart from, well, Kirkcaldy?!
It’s very late, I’ve written enough to cover the back of a postcard, the gig was bloody awesome, more details later.
Bye for now, Brucie x
Well, it’s kind of like a postcard, Ingolstadt’s wavy cycle and pedestrian bridge
Wow! The Prague gig was something else and what a great venue! Cafe V lese is definitely a place to check out, see a band, when you’re in Prague. A cool bar on street level, hot sounds below, sweet.
It’s Ingolstadt this evening at Neue Welt. My penultimate gig this tour, tomorrow morning I’ll head to Munich for one final continental blast at Live.Evil. Folk may wonder at the excessive folly of this trip, but hey, I won’t be sitting in a rocking chair at 85, wishing I’d done it! When music is this good, c’mon!!
I should have written and posted this card a couple of days ago, but well, erm, I was busy?! Not really, hey ho. Dresden is sooo nice. I would definitely be happy to go back again, maybe see in some of the museums next time (especially the one of military uniforms).
Once I’m home and can sort through everything, no doubt deleting half the photos I took, then I shall collect together my thoughts and put them down. Oh, and the photos will find their way on to Facebook and Instagram.
Currently in Prague, a very wet Prague today, but I think the rain should be easing soon. The lads are playing at Cafe V lese tonight; I wonder how they’re holding up? How smelly is the van by now? Are they all still mates or is there murder being plotted?! I might find out tonight.
Just a few choice pics for you….
I’d tell you where this is, but all I’ve got is Dresden They all begin with the letter C?!A bike for a family of three, seriously!
Just a quickie (oo, matron). A postcard from Hamburg. Honestly, I will tell more once I stay still long enough to catch myself. Yes, I know there’s been no postcard from Berlin, look that was the shortest visit and things did not go to plan – buying a postcard was the last thing on my mind. I shall expand on my woes at a later date.
Meanwhile, my postcard….
Well. What else did you expect?! A guy in lederhosen?
Guten Tag aus Bremen! Another town, another Airbnb, more cats. Two cats this time, Gizmo and Alfie, I only met them briefly but they seem quite nice. The place is nice, though the dark grey walls are a tad, well, dark. You may be wondering on my feelings about Airbnb now; I have at least four more on this trip (I haven’t sorted anything out for Munich yet or the few days after that before I fly home) so I’ll hold out for now.
I quite like Bremen, there’s the really old bits, chilled out park areas, ordinary townlife areas, food takeaways of all varieties, studenty parts. Red bricks, it reminds me a bit of lancashire and Manchester!? (hmm, do they have a northern accent here? Haha)
Last night Logans Close played in Odense, hopefully they’ve sobered up from any aftershow shenanigans and are heading this way. Anyhoo, my postcard…..
[If, by any chance, you’re reading this before Friday 10th May 2024 and you live in Munich – fancy putting a moose up for a night?]
Hallo from Germany! Now in Erfurt for a couple of days before I head up to Bremen. Why Erfurt? It was as much erfurt as I could manage, haha (aw, come on). Nah, I just looked at the map and train stops, it fitted in, somewhere to see.
Hurrah, the weather is improving. It’s been a lovely warmish day. A good day for just wandering around. New snack food I found here – its like one large fishfinger in a roll with lettuce and a big dollop of tartare sauce, cold. Well, not cold but not warm either, but very tasty!
Hmm, doing this on my mobile so I can’t really tell the size of the pictures (no, I didn’t bring my tablet, I have enough things to fret about losing without that!)
I’m putting pics up on my Instagram, do check them out. Linz was good, nice and laidback; a great place for a couple of days stopover.
Oh lordy, what a sweet, crazy evening! Oh, yes, last night in Dunbar was as well, but I’m referring to this evening in Stramash. I trotted up there at the back of seven to see The Scat Rats, it was fairly quiet as it usually is at that time, folk just sitting watching the band. Then a couple got up to dance, and how!
I’m not sure who we were all applauding after the number, but the Rats were very appreciative of the dancers; a bit of banter was definitely called for, they were Australian. Well, once Carl started he decided that the group on the other side of the room should show off some dance moves, haha. They didn’t oblige ’til much later but were clearly having a great time.
A few tunes later and Carlos got chatting to the crowd again, the group were from Brazil, as were another table, next two he asked were from Glasgow (oh well, never mind). At the back were a French couple from Paris, but they won’t be there when the Close are playing. Ah yes, that news I knew before – after Logan’s Close play Trento in Italy they’ll be heading to Rome and Paris to support Kula Shaker!!
Now on a definite tour plug, was there anyone in from Germany? Yes! Ah, Frankfurt, not on the tour but not that far from Mannheim where LC are playing on May 5th. No Danes in, he didn’t ask about Italians, how remiss! And back to the music, the aussies were still up to nearly every song, I must say, it is truly a joy to watch a couple dancing and enjoying themselves as much as they were. Oh, to dance like that!
As usual it was John Mackie on sound and lighting, he got a few mentions from Carl. Actually, come to think of it, Carlos may have been a tad drunk, hmm, yeah, he was on the beer tonight (usual for Scotty but not Carl); and there was the shots from the Glaswegian guy. Not that it would ever impair his playing, Paint It Black was particularly excellent tonight. Well, it’s all great but some shine brighter. It all came to a bittersweet end with the usual Bo Diddley cover, of course, the beauty of live music, there’s always sweet little differences and nuances to the playing ❤️
After a spirit deflating day that was a wonderful hug for the soul. I’ll leave you with a lovely pic taken this morning as I headed home from a walk in the park…
Did someone put the heating on? It’s like spring has finally arrived, even the wind hasn’t been so icy. There’s still been plenty of rain this week, rather curtailing my park rambles, bah. Enough about the weather, what’s the moose been up to this week?
Tuesday night those two Scat Rats were back in the midnight slot at Whistlebinkies, needlessto say, another fine time was had by all. That was the last time they’ll be playing at Binkies for a couple of months or so, but they will be at Stramash for the next two Sundays, so there’s chance for a fix before Messrs Marah and Rough head over to the continent.
Tuesday was also cinema night, a double too – two action movies, okay, so one was animated but hell, better than some kung fu films I’ve seen! Yup, Kung Fu Panda 4 rocks, one of the few film series where the sequels haven’t gotten progressively worse. Great voice cast as usual, and hey, I recognised Awkwafina within seconds, a perfect choice for Zhen; Viola Davis played the villian with a wonderfully droll archness.
It was actually my second time seeing it, yes it’s that good. The artwork and animation are just the best, I love watching the fight sequences (really, they need a big screen), but the bit that made me really laugh out loud was recognising part of the soundtrack was Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne but with an Asian twist, brilliant! I reckoned that Kung Fu Panda 4 would be a good light counter to the second film of the evening (a real juxtaposition) Monkey Man; like I said, another action film but the action here is the dark brutal vengeance variety.
Monkey Man is the creation of Dev Patel (most known for Slum Dog Millionaire) as in he co-wrote, directed and co-produced it; it’s “a film that young 14 year old Dev would be proud and excited to see”. Er, okay, it’s an 18 certificate but when has that ever stopped a teenager?! The film encompasses Indian mythology, history and culture, making for a fascinating and enthralling plot-driven film; action and plot in one film? More please, Mr Patel!
Wednesday this week saw the sad announcement that The Jazz Bar on Chambers Street has closed down after almost twenty years. A tragic loss for local and not so local musicians and music lovers. Many will know it as a mainstay of the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival as well as a venue for jazz and blues shows during the Edinburgh Fringe. It is a real shame for the town to lose such an institution.
On a brighter note, Thursday saw the return of The Buccaneers to Stramash and boy oh boy, what a night! Truly Carl Marah was in the zone, methinks he was needing this again, this side needed letting loose to run wild. No keyboards this time, Simon Gibb was having plenty of fun on the drums and Ewan Gibson was back on bass. I will mention as well the awesome lighting and sound management of John Mackie, he knows how to bring a little extra to The Buccaneers sets.
Friday I was back at Whistlebinkies early evening for Jed Potts and Nicole Smit doing their thang. Was just me or was Nicole even sassier than usual? She was definitely feeling good, such a beautiful smile and a sparkling light delivery. Jed Potts was pretty damn fine too! What a great week for music, but there’s more, oh yes….
I’ll shortly be hopping on a train over to Dunbar to see Logan’sClose doing a Special Acoustic Performance in Dunbar Parish Church Hall. It’s gonna be a goodie! So I shall bid you adieu and go get something to eat.
They’ll soon be on the road again
EDIT: Didn’t actually publish this before I went out. Wow! The lads were sooo good – and Mr Marah can play the flute! One pic for you….
Honestly, this wasn’t in someone’s lounge -Scott likes lamps!
Bruce on the Fringe 