Deutsche Grammophon

Aug9

Used record stores (or any kind of record store) are so rare nowadays that I always try to track them down whenever I’m on my travels. On my recent trip to Germany, I found myself with a few hours to kill in Nuremberg. After a quick search on the internet I saw that there were no fewer than three situated on a street called Jakobstrasse. I found the street quite easily (a rarity for me) and the first shop I made it to was the one you see above, Copacabana Records. The store was longer than it was wide and with a high ceiling, but it was nicely laid out and very tidy. The main area was given over to loads of vinyl records and these seemed to be quite reasonably priced. Unfortunately, I had to ignore these as I wouldn’t have been able to fit them into my luggage. I found the CDs in the corner and these were as neatly arranged as the records. There were lots of jazz, rock & roll, blues and soul and I found a few bargains amongst these. Live in Dublin by Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band is a nicely packaged double CD with a DVD and was the most expensive album I bought on this excursion, though it was still good value at two euro below a tenner. The other four I bought here cost that much between them and, having listened to them, some proved to be better value than others. Brook Benton was mostly known for A Rainy Night in Georgia and it’s the best song on Fools Rush In. Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs had a big hit with the hilarious Woolly Bully and, listening to their Greatest Hits, it’s easy to see why they didn’t have any more. I only knew J.B. Lenoir from Elvis Costello’s version of Eisenhower Blues from his King of America album and that’s not even the best song on this collection. I’ve already got far too many collections of northern soul, but that didn’t stop me picking up After Hours 2: More Northern Soul Masters. I found it hard to pick one track from the album but eventually plumped for Archie Bell & the Drells

Continue reading →

Bavarian Hospitality

Jul30

It’s taken me longer than I thought to follow up my earlier post about my recent trip to Germany. It’s been two weeks since I returned and I’ve been catching up on reading and watching films in that time. I also spent a few days babysitting my nephews and, even though I really enjoyed it, I needed a few days to recover from it. I had spent the earlier part of that German trip outside Bavaria, but the latter half of my visit was spent exclusively in the area that the locals refer to as Bayern. After leaving Micha’s birthday party in Siegen, he drove us both to his place in Nuremberg. Micha was working the next day and I had had a little too much to drink the previous night, so we took it easy and just had a beer or two as we watched a few episodes of the always hilarious Black Books. The next day I wandered around the city of Nuremberg, though I only made it to a few record stores on Jakobstrasse and to a lovely park called Woehrder Wiese. I had been here before and it’s quite large and clean with a nice beergarden. I ate a fine lunch there and was back again that night with Micha and another friend of mine named Christian and his wife Ria, both of whom also live in Nuremberg. We drank one or two beers and decided to call it a night around one in the morning as the lads had to work the next day

Continue reading →

Cartoon Music For Superheroes

Jul18

Last week I returned from what has become an annual visit to Germany. Over the next few days, I hope to tell you about the second half of my week spent in Bavaria, but today I’ll write about my first few days spent near the town of Siegen (about 90km east of Cologne). That’s where my friend Micha’s family lives and I was there to help him celebrate his 30th birthday party with his relations and friends. Micha had the rather novel idea of getting all his guests to dress up as either a cartoon or comic book character. Amazingly, the vast majority of them decided to wear a costume, with cowboys and characters from Disney and The Simpsons proving to be popular. Micha’s brother Dennis was particularly impressive with his belt of Duff Beer in his role as Duffman

Continue reading →

The Longest Day of the Year

Jun21

Today’s the longest day of the year and it always reminds me of an earlier summer solstice I spent in Germany five years ago. You may recall that the 2006 World Cup was taking place at the time and some of my German friends had invited me over to check out the atmosphere. I even managed to convince my brother to tag along as I knew he’d get a kick out of it. Our flight was in the early hours of the tournament’s first Wednesday of football and Jack and I started out as we meant to go along. On the eve of our departure we went out in Limerick for a few pints and ended up playing poker at a friend’s house until a little later than expected. We got a taxi back to my place where we just had enough time to pick up our bags and head out to Shannon. A few hours later we arrived at sunny Frankfurt-Hahn where we had the first of many fine beers before getting a bus and a train to Bamberg, the beautiful Bavarian town where we would be based for the week. My friend Anja took great care of us and I also got to introduce Jack to some more of my friends, including a late visit for breakfast on the Sunday. Sorry about that, Katrin.

Continue reading →

Dreaming of a Green Christmas

Dec9

I was going to wait for another week to put up the Christmas decorations, but a story caught my eye that completely filled me with the spirit of Christmas. You may remember that 77-year-old Willie Nelson was caught with 170g of cannabis a couple of weeks ago. Well, another old-timer in Germany has gone one better than Willie. Earlier this week, police searched the home of a man they referred to as an “old hippie” and an “old 68er”. They found 150g of marijuana, but that wasn’t all they discovered. A closer inspection of the man’s six foot Christmas tree revealed that it was, in fact, a marijuana plant! The man with the green fingers informed the police that he had planned to add more decorations to the tree and put presents beneath it, as was his custom. The incident occurred in the small town of Montabaur near Koblenz and he’s not the only German pot-lover who’s in trouble this Yuletide. A 21-year-old man was also arrested in Munich this week when police took an interest in his Advent calendar. Rather than containing the customary chocolates behind each door, the tabs on his calendar opened to reveal, you guessed it, marijuana. He claimed that it was given to him as a present, but it looks like he could be facing the same fate as the man in Koblenz

Continue reading →

Bretzels, Bier & Banter in Bayern

Mar1

Last week I returned from my first trip of the year to mainland Europe. I spent six busy days in Germany, though it would be more correct to say that I spent it in Bayern (or Bavaria as it’s known in English). My previous visit to Deutschland was last summer when I attended the wedding of my friend Christian and his wife Ria. The main reason for my visit this time was to attend a double birthday celebration in Nuremberg for both Christian and Ria who were born 24 hours apart in 1980. I was also invited to a double going-away party in Erlangen, and I spent a lovely evening with Katrin and Alex in Bamberg and also with Sabine in Augsberg. Here are some words, pictures and music about my visit

Continue reading →

Nice Day For a White Wedding

May18

I’m off to Killarney tomorrow in advance of a flight to Germany from Kerry Airport the following morning. It’s my second time flying from Kerry, although it’s a bit of an exaggeration to call it an airport; I’ve seen taxi ranks that are bigger! It’s the only airport I know that’s beside the road and where there’s more danger of stepping on cow dung than there is of terrorism. On Wednesday, I’ll be flying into Frankfurt Hahn where I’ll be collected by my friend Pia who has promised to take me on a tour of the beer gardens where I’ll get to sample the lovely beer that they produce in her region. Now, meeting Pia and drinking fine German beer is not my only reason for leaving Ireland for a week, although it is as good a reason as any. The main purpose of my trip to continental Europe is to attend the wedding of a good friend of mine named Christian

I spent a year in college in the States a few years ago and Christian and I were the only Europeans on campus. For nine months, we shared a dorm and many drinks and even more laughs in north Kentucky. I had actually requested a single room and I remember being a bit apprehensive when I found out that I’d be sharing with a Bavarian. I needn’t have worried as it soon became apparent that we had a lot in common. We discovered that we had similar tastes in music, beer and even women. We also shared a sense of humour and we never fell out with each other at any time during the year. We’ve since met up twice in Germany and twice in Ireland and we’ve continued to share drinks, laughs and music. Christian now has a child and this Saturday the mother of his child will become his wife. I’m really looking forward to celebrating the day with them and their friends

All this talk of weddings reminded me of a conversation I had a few months ago. At least once a week I meet my friend John for lunch at the Wild Onion. While eating our omelettes we discuss what’s happening in the worlds of music, film, football and what-have-you. Sometimes we’re joined by Dave, a friend of John’s and an acquaintance of mine. Dave’s getting married next year and he’s trying to figure out what kind of tunes he’s going to put on the DVD of the Big Day. Dave likes a bit of alternative music, but he doesn’t want to freak out anyone whose musical tastes are more conservative. Also, he wants to pick songs that the future Mrs Dave will enjoy. I’ve put together 22 songs that could be used to accompany images of the happy day. My selection is bookended by two versions of Billy Idol’s White Wedding, a countrified cover and a mashup with Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game. In between, it features a few songs that bear the name of someone special in Dave’s life, some lesser known cover versions of famous love songs, a classic or two, and a few tongue-in-cheek numbers. So, Dave, here’s a few tracks for you to check out. Their total running time is around 70 minutes. Hopefully, you’ll find one or two to put on the wedding DVD

01 White Wedding (Billy Idol cover) – The Whip

02 Proud Mary – CCR

03 Mary’s Prayer – Danny Wilson

04 Arms Of Mary – The Sutherland Bros

05 Take a Message to Mary – Everly Bros

06 Along Comes Mary – The Association

07 Mary Won’t You Warm My Bed – Colin Blunstone

08 Love Train – The O’Jays

09 Groovy Kind of Love – The Mindbenders

10 I’m Gonna Love You Too – Buddy Holly

11 Grow Old With Me (John Lennon cover) – Mary Chapin Carpenter

12 I Love How You Love Me (cover) – Beth Orton