Less work, more sight-seeing

Since the amount of work on my plate has lessened recently, I decided to spend some time this week getting out of and seeing some more of Berlin.  Winter is not exactly the most convenient time of year to sight-see, so with spring upon us, I ventured to see the Holocaust memorial and the Tiergarten (on two different days).

I still don't know what to make of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin.  Located a stone's (really good) throw from the Brandenburger Tor, and right next to the American Embassy, the Denkmal für ermordeten Juden Europas (Memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe) is a basically a series of concrete steles (or slabs) that, towards the streets, are fairly short, but the further in towards the middle you get, the taller the slabs get so that you are enveloped by them.  Obviously these unidentical monuments are symbolic, but it's hard for me to decide if the monument is effective.  I saw teenagers flirting and running around and children playing hide and seek within, and wondered if they even knew what the point was.  For me, this is the biggest problem with the monument.  If you just go there without knowing about the Holocaust, the monument can just seem like a maze, or a game.

kids jumping from one slab to another

My other sight seeing trip was mainly to take advantage of the amazing weather we've been having here in Berlin over the last couple of days.  I went down to the Tiergarten (like Berlin's Central Park).  It's called the Tiergarten (Animal Garden) because it was once the hunting grounds for the royalty and such.  It's the oldest (and biggest) in Berlin, and was redesigned in the 1830s.  After being decimated in WWII, the park was restored after.  In the middle is the Siegesäule, or the Victory tower commemorating some victory against France in the 1870s.

It's definitely a peaceful place to escape the city, and on a day when the sun was shining and the temnperature about 18 degrees celsius, it was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Brandenburger Tor

Monument for Haydn Mozart and Beethoven

Beethoven, with gouges from small arms fire in WWII

The Siegesäule

Finally, this week was not entirely without klezmer.  My friends' band from Israel, Ramzailech, had a 3 concert tour in Germany beginning in Berlin on Thursday.  They play what they call "hardcore klezmer" - a mix of klezmer and hardcore heavy metal music.  I sat in with them for their last encore song, and then went to the Klezmer Stammtisch where I klezmered away until about 1:30AM!

Much ado about nothing

So, this post is mainly dedicated to my mother who, wonders about what's going on with me if she doesn't hear anything (or see anything in the blog).  Hi mom!

Basically this blog post is about nothing.  Nothing really interesting is going on (since getting back from Prague).  I've moved apartments to a sublet that's much cheaper, bigger, and just a few minutes away from where I was before.  Despite this 4-block change in geography, it's changed my transit paradigm a little bit.  It's a little further away from the nearest night bus, and it's not as close to the S-bahn station at Ostbahnhof (but there is a bus that goes there).  But, thanks to the great transit network in Berlin, it's still easier than ever to get around. 

Incidentally, I was asked to show my ticket again yesterday, which makes twice in over 3 months.  Had I not had a ticket and paid the fine, I probably would have spent less money overall (although you have to show a ticket to the driver to get on the bus).

Aside from that, I've been working.  Revision upon revision of the dissertation keep me busy, along with the writing of a couple of conference papers that will be presented this month.  The constant rewriting is not only tedious, it's EXTREMELY tedious.  The fact that the end is somewhat in sight is the only thing that keeps me going. 

KlezFactor is on hiatus until the bass player and drummer get back from Argentina, and we're closer to confirming a couple of concerts in the summer, although I'd like to be able to say that we've got more than a couple!

So that's about it.  Writing, rewriting, but I'm definitely trying to enjoy the improving weather!  It's been less grey and cloudy lately, so I've been able to get out and run more!

Weekend in Prague

So I figured I'd write a bit about my weekend in Prague for those of you who want to read about that!

Berlin can be a grey, depressing town, particularly in the winter.  So it was nice to get out of the city for a few days and head to the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague.  While initially a shock to the system, where everything is written in a language I don't understand, I quickly remembered enough about the city to find my bearings and take public transit to my friend Ondrej's house.

You see, dear readers, I've been to Prague before.  Ondrej and I met in 2008 at a conference centered around the theme of Improvisation in Montreal.  In addition to being a Phd student in Philosophy in Prague, he's also a musician.  We exchanged music and both dug what the other was doing.  So when, in 2009, I was in Europe for another conference,* I visited Ondrej and his partner Halke, and their son in Prague for a few days.  During this time, I recorded some tracks on clarinet for Ondrej's band's last album.**

I've been wanting to get back to Prague to visit and perhaps collaborate on some more music with Ondrej.  He's now working on a solo album and wanted to lay down some hot clarinet action, and we spent an evening in the studio on this trip as well.

While the area that Ondrej and his family (with another child now) live in a very "Eastern-European" area of the city -- lots of grey apartment blocks, crappy stores, bad roads, etc. -- the old town is stunning, and makes Berlin look like a bleak grey shithole (no offense).

With some nice weather, Ondrej used my visit as an excuse to get out with the kids and see some of the areas in the city that they wouldn't normally.  We went to the west side of the Charles River, walked around the old castle, seeing the cathedral, and then climbed the hill to the observation point, where you can overlook the city.  There, I split off from my friends, needing to get away from the relentless, unbridled energy of the little ones (one's 6, the other's 2 1/2), and spent a couple of hours walking around, traversing the famous Charles Bridge, and just seeing the sights.

That evening was our studio evening, with Vladya the engineer.  I'm not sure how to describe Vladya.  He's the type of guy who just loves music.  He works for Radio Free Europe during the day and records music for people in his off hours.  He's also very enthusiastic about everything!  He took us to a bar, bought a round of beers***  He also got us these sandwiches which had cheese, pickles and chili peppers.  Sounds gross, but they were amazing.... and spicy.  Ondrej had to excuse himself to stop crying from the chili heat!  We also met this weird Jordanian guy who offered to share his weed with us.

The next day was a lazy Sunday.  I ended up staying at Ondrej's place and getting a lot of work done.  That night, Ondrej and I went on a little pub crawl of cool little music venues, getting to watch part of a Miles Davis concert video from the 80's (Look ma!  That keyboard player has a poodle on his head!), part of a documentary on building and racing a solar car, and avoiding a blues jam that wanted to charge us to get in.  However, we drank a lot of beer and still made it back before the metro stopped running.

Monday was also a "catch up on work."  But it was also a walk around and see how pretty the city is day.  Pictures:

The Cathedral at the Prague Castle

Detail on the Cathedral

City from the castle hill

Tourists (on the Charles Bridge)

Apparently, Jesus was a Jew.  Statue on Charles Bridge

Caption Contest!  My entry:  "Oh no!  It's Godzilla!"

The classic cathedral framed by another statue in the square.

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* Ok, the conference was in London, but i took a few weeks after to do some Euro-tripping.

** They're called eggnoise, and their last album is called Yolk.  Look them up.  They're pretty awesome.

*** Beer is even cheaper in Prague than in Berlin.  A mug of beer at the local bar in Ondrej's neighbourhood cost less than 1 Euro each.

I Want a Divorce! or, how doing a PhD is like a (bad) relationship*

I sit here, on St. Valentine's Abomination ... I mean, Day, and realize that my date is actually my dissertation.  And I'm not even writing it.  I'm revising it, which is far, far more painful.   Thus, I reflect on the fact that doing a PhD is very much like being in a bad relationship.

Sure, it starts of all wondrous and shiny.  You spy a lovely academic field across the room and introduce yourself.... "Oh, Ethnomusicology... let us go off and make sweet music together."

And at the beginning, it is magical.  Getting to know all about Ethnomusicology, "There's stuff other than the music?  Amazing!"  And with Ethnomusicology on your arm, you are the envy of all your friends, stuck in offices working in finance, law, and medicine.  They covet your life, "You get to listen to music all day!  Music is awesome!"  Those other professions never even tempt you . . . you only have eyes for your beloved Ethnomusicology.

As the relationship gets deeper, you enjoy Ethnomusicology even more.  You bask in the sensual pleasures of new musics from different lands that offers more than just a one-night-stand with a strange academic field might offer.  True love is much more satisfying than mere ear-candy.

And then the relationship becomes more routine, hearing the same old songs, dancing the same old moves - after all, you need to settle down and pick a specialty eventually.  You see your friends and their jobs that pay them "money" and which buys them things like "cars" and "houses."**  You wonder what it might be like with those other jobs, if the novelty of their pleasures could be as sweet.  But you tell yourself that mere money and stuff can't match the satisfaction you get from your relationship with Ethnomusicology.  Those moments of true satisfaction can't be replaced.

But four, five, or even six years down the road, the relationship has turned sour.  You can't get Ethnomusicology's nagging voice out of your head. "THIS WRITING IS CRAP!  WRITE ANOTHER DRAFT!"  You don't go out anymore, you're chained to your former beloved.  You sit at your desk, wishing you could be free of the Annie Wilkes that you freely chose.  Ethnomusicology's touch has withered, and the pleasures are only occasional and routine.  There are days that you just can't stand to look at Ethnomusicology, let alone touch it.  You crave for a job crunching numbers in some financial tower downtown, wearing a suit every day, if only the pain would end, and a paycheque will have a couple of extra zeros in it.

Finally, you realize that the only way to ever be free again is to end it.  Hours and hours of paper work go into making sure that Ethnomusicology will never ever have such a hold on you again.  You examine the documents for loopholes and make sure that every i is dotted and t is crossed.  Then, you finally survive your cross-examination, submit your reams of evidence, and when it is over, you receive your get*** and are free from Ethnomusicology's evil hold, once and for all.

Until you try to write your book.

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* Note to academics:  My actual dissertation title is far shorter than the title of this blog.

** Or "condos" if you live in Toronto.

*** -a get is a Jewish divorce document.

Berlin: The Land of Transience

One of the things that has become perfectly clear to me in the two months that I've been in Berlin is how Berlin is pretty much a temporary place for many people here, and for most of the people that I meet.

Being an ex-pat, you meet a lot of other ex-pats, and one of the first questions that gets bandied around is "how long are you here for."  For some it's a few days, others a few weeks, and still others have been here for years and are still not really Berliners.  But, truth be told, there aren't very many real Berliners in Berlin (besides the donut, but they're not called Berliners....they're Pfannkuchen).

Berlin is a rather odd European capital.  Someone told me when I'd just gotten here that it's the only European capital that had a worse economy than the rest of the country.  Berlin is poor.  And not like Toronto which boasts quite a wealthy populace.  Berlin's populace is poor.  And because the populace is poor, the cost of living is low, which keeps the salaries low.  And yet, foreigners and Germans keep coming to Berlin, and leaving again. 

It's this lack of permanence here that really strikes me.  My friends in Toronto are settling down and buying property and having kids, and getting long-term jobs.  The friends that I've met here are in a completely different space, whether they're 25, or 45.  Everything is transitory, and people are constantly looking for a place to live for the next little while because the last short-term rental ran out.  It's a strange feeling to know that friends that you make one week more than likely will be gone soon.  Or you'll be gone soon. 

Just some thoughts on a cold Tuesday night.

Vandalism

Well, today, I discovered one of the down-sides to the vandalism that is rampant in Berlin. 

While I might not have mentioned it before, it's everywhere, and you kind of stop noticing it after a while.... although the bus stop right near my building had the little glass casing covering the map of Berlin smashed last week.

Anyway, this one inconvenienced me much more.

I spent the early afternoon stripping the sheets from my bed, the pillowcases, the covers on the duvets, and packed up my bag to go do my laundry.  The closest "waschsalon" that I've been able to find is a good 15 minute walk from my apartment. 

So, I walked the 15 minutes, heavily laden with bags of laundry and my box of detergent until I arrived at my unattended* Waschsalon.  What do I find?  I sign on the door that says that "due to an act of vandalism" they are closed.

Fuck you, Berlin hoodlums.


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*As far as I can tell, no one works there.  The place is all automated.

A very klezmer weekend

This weekend (it's Friday afternoon at the time of writing) is going to be a great weekend for "getting my klezmer on."

It's already started out on a great note, with the first rehearsal of what will probably become the initial European version of KlezFactor (yes, I'm keeping the "c" . . . I already own the domain name). 

I didn't necessarily know what to expect, particularly since I had only met the drummer and bassist, both from Buenos Aires (no names yet, people), through the mysterious internet.  I had put up a posting on the couch-surfing website looking for "serious" musicians for this project, and the drummer had replied.  I knew they would be professional caliber players from the sound files they sent me, but would they be the "right" kind of professional players - flexible enough to be able to play KlezFactor's music.  Well, the tunes that they really had time to prepare were rock solid, and even the ones that we were looking at without preparation started to groove pretty quickly!  An excellent beginning!

On guitar is an Italian jazz player that I met at a couple of the jazz jams here in Berlin.  He's very solid reading chords and I'm sure once he can bring his effects and gear to rehearsals, he'll have no trouble rocking out!

On violin is a very special Hungarian player who is not only bringing her classical training (gained while she studied at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto), but her experience playing Hungarian folk music!  I can already hear some of the wonderful Hungarian inflections that I can hear when I listen to Budowitz, and it gives me goosebumps!  And she improvises!

So, as any band-leader knows, now comes the hard part.  Booking, scheduling rehearsals, managing scheduling conflicts, etc. 

Also on the klezmer docket this weekend is another klezmer Stammtisch in Berlin at Cafe Oberwasser.  That's going to be Sunday night, and hopefully it'll be as much fun as it was the last time!  I'm also going to be getting together with Franka Lampe (the great accordionist) to play some klezmer tomorrow afternoon!  Which reminds me... need to get little gifts to drop by my neighbours so that they know I'll be making noise, and that I appreciate their understanding!