Fanart, Fanfiction and Fangirling

Oops, I still haven't written anything about my trip to Liguria to see The Dead Lovers on the 15th. It was a lovely weekend, even if on Sunday the weather was miserable and I had to give up on my original idea of visiting Genoa (I did try, but it was rainy and cold, so I just took the first train back home after wandering around the area of the port for less than an hour). On Saturday, though, the weather was nice and sunny and I got to walk around Santa Margherita, which is a lovely little seaside town. The only thing I couldn't understand was why they decided to have '90s disco hits playing all around the city centre, with a few Christmas songs thrown into the mix just for the sake of the season.

The concert itself was great. I only knew a few songs, but Wayne and Lula do know how to entertain. Too bad the venue was half empty. But the audience was quite loud and everyone seemed to enjoy the show. I chatted a bit with Wayne before the concert (he was so surprised to see me, even if I'd written to him I would be there) and I stayed afterwards as well, I left with them after they dismantled their instruments and we walked together for a bit, then I went back to my bed and breakfast. I also got to speak some German with Lula's sister, even if I'm terribly rusty.

Funny detail: I actually saw their van drive past while I was walking to my bed and breakfast on Saturday afternoon! (Of course I would instantly spot a van with a Berlin plate.)

All in all, it was a very good weekend, and just what I needed after the early December chaos at work.

I can't believe I haven't posted a Frankfurt report yet. But I've really had no time so far and won't have time tonight either, my neighbours are coming to Berlin and I'll have to meet them. And tomorrow night I'm leaving for Milan. I'm at work right now and I'll try to write down something, hoping the day won't be too busy. Pictures are still in my camera, I don't even know how they came out, I haven't saved them on my computer yet.

I left quite early on Saturday morning and was in Frankfurt around 5:00 PM (Schönes-Wochenend-Tickets are great to save money, but man, the trip was looong.) It was well past 6:00 PM when I arrived at the venue; the usual faces were already there, of course, but it wasn't too crowded, so I ended up in the front row with no problems. Almut arrived just before Smokestack Lightning began and gave me chocolate for my birthday. Thanks. :3

I enjoyed Smokestack Lightning very much, I had already seen them as opening act for Bela last year.

Bela's show was cool, but he should really try to learn his own lyrics. ;) And for Heaven's sake, why did he grow that ridiculous moustache again?! D: It's like he must change his look for every new album/tour and, since he can't do much to his hair anymore, he goes with the moustache. ARGH.

Anyway. "Rockula" was introduced by a very atmospheric strings-intro, during which Olsen, Lula and Paule came on stage. Olsen stood in the back with the guitarist of the HR3 Big Band, Lula and Paule on the left. The strings were introduced as the "Swingo Wings", the "Minderjährige Streicher" (at which a couple of girls looked fake-appalled, as they were obviously not underage) and some other names I can't really remember.

"Schwarz/Weiß" was supposed to be a homage to Frank Sinatra, so Bela sang it holding a whisky glass and a cigarette. Cigarette that was lit using a lighter Paule was keeping in her stocking. The idea in theory was good, too bad he got too caught up in his Frank-Sinatra-character-thing and forgot half the lyrics. And he even threw the cigarette at the audience! WTF? First he threw a pick and I thought "Did he just throw the cigarette?! Ah, no, that's just a pick. I mean, he wouldn't be so careless..." And 30 seconds later he did throw the cigarette. Thank God it landed on the floor and one of the security guys crushed it and kicked it under the stage. WTF Bela! I'm sure the girls standing right in front of him would've fought to have it, but I thought he would have more sense than to throw a lit cigarette at the audience like that. ¬_¬

All right, enough ranting. The concert was very good and the songs sounded great. At the end Bela asked the audience to stay for Wayne's concert, even if it was quite late, because he had invited him personally; he even watched a bit of Wayne's gig from a corner of the stage with Paule.

Wayne's show was also very good, I love his songs, both the album and live versions. He sang a bit of Heroes in the middle of a song, like he had done in Berlin (was it "Shine on"? I really can't remember) and ended the concert with a really cool version of "Love will tear us apart" by Joy Division. I love that song and had just added it to my MP3 player the day before, talk about coincidences. He also spoke some German (phrase of the day: "Ihr seid geil!") and was his usual tongue-in-cheek self.

After someone had thrown a pack of Mentos at him and hit him in the face, he started explaining how dangerous that could've been, then proceeded to jump down the stage and hand the Mentos to a girl in the front row, then said "See, that's the safe way to pass Mentos along!" Crazy bloke.

Almut and I only stayed around a little after the concert, then went to our hostel (we were staying at the same place totally by chance). The next day I went all the way back to Berlin, met up with my flatmate at Alexanderplatz and then we went to Friedrichshain together. While we were on our way, we were even hit by a sudden hailstorm. WTF, hail in March!? Whatever, we took shelter in a bar, where I ate a delicious omelette, then went to the pub where her daughter works and drank their homemade cider for free.

All in all, an exhausting but brilliant birthday! :)

Look what I got in the mail today! :D

( It's so... yellow )

I ordered the ticket on Thursday night and didn't even choose express mail, but it's already here! :D

Yes, I gave in and decided I'm going to celebrate my birthday going to a Bela/Wayne concert after all. I'll probably take the first train back at 5:00 AM the next morning: Wayne's concert should be over around 1:30 AM and after that I'll just go to one of the clubs that are open all night to kill the time. I saw there's one called "Monza", I just have to see it. (For those of you who don't know, Monza is an Italian town about 5 minutes from where I live. And my new province, as of last year.)

Anyone else going? :)

Wanna see Bela being a "theatre actor"? Here:

http://de.video.yahoo.com/watch/7032462/18289402

He's hilarious. XD

Other than that, I had a very stressing day, I basically had to work for two, because the other intern isn't working there anymore (well, she never came anyway, I think I saw her 4 times in 2 weeks) and we're only getting a substitute next week. I'm glad it's Friday. *collapses*

And I'm going to see Wayne's gig tomorrow. :) But now... bed! Yeah, I know it's 10 PM and it's Friday, but I need sleep.

Wayne in "Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten" (snippet + mini interview):

http://gzsz.rtl.de/video/index/show/vid/107461

Goodnight!

I wanted to upload some of the pictures from Berlin and write a proper report during the weekend, but I caught a cold and was quite busy, so I'll just upload the pics now and write the report in list form. This was the first time I used my new camera properly, and most of the pictures turned out awry, over-exposed or just plain wrong. These were the ones that came out decently:

Berlin, 14th-16th March 2009 picture gallery

A few of my favourites:



Saturday 14th March

- I flew in with RyanAir. My flight was full of secondary school students on school trip. Let's just say it wasn't the quietest flight ever. (They even clapped and cheered after the landing, for fuck's sake.)

- I met Maike at the hostel and then went to my friends' place for a "quick" visit. Both on the way to his flat and on the way back, the S-Bahn was crammed full of Hertha BSC supporters. At least they were happy after the match, they had beat Bayer München and reached the top of the Bundesliga after I don't know how many years.

- In the evening we went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. I had been there the very first time I was in Berlin on school trip, but I only rememberd a tiny part of it. A bit expensive, but worth visiting. Of course when we got out of the museum it started raining. Luckily the U-Bahn station was just across the street.

( The rest under a cut )

Hahaha, Wayne was slightly offended by my last cartoon, because I don't "seem to have a very high opinion of his bodily beauty". XD Oh man, I should definitely draw more often.

Anyway! Concert report is done! I need a little help from my wonderful German-speaking friends, though: I'd like to add a quote from Rod, it's in this MP3 file, about 6 minutes into it. I'm having trouble understanding what he's saying at the beginning, I can only understand "blablabla euch aus, ihr Pfeifen!" I know he's asking the audience to form a bigger circle for the "Wall of Death", but I'd like to know what exaclty he says. Danke. :)

After lunch break I'll re-read the report and then post it here in a locked entry, so you can tell me what you think of it before I send it off.

And now: FOOOOOD!

OMG, I'm probably the last person on earth to know this, but I've been looking for this comic book FOREVER! It's not the whole thing, but OHMYGOD! *fangirly orgasm*

A-hem.

Stefano finally booked the flight to Hamburg. If he had booked it when I first told him to, about 2 months ago, we would have paid only 99€ but, oh well. Farin, I hope you'll play a brilliant concert, or I'll get really bitchy about it.

Watching Wayne's interview before going to sleep last night caused me to have one of the most absurd dreams ever: I was at home and, for some reason, the next day Bela would be in my hometown for an interview with Lee Hazelwood (WTF?) that would take place right in front of my uncle's home (WTF???) around 10 AM, and I thought "That's perfect, I'm always there around that time!" Because, for some reason, in my dream I was working there. The next morning I woke up terribly late (TYPICAL!) and when I arrived, everyone had already gone and I was desperate, because HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED BELA IN MY HOMETOWN. Someone told me they had sold some tickets for their concert (Bela playing a concert with Lee Hazelwood in my hometown???) and then went away.

I was so depressed I wanted to kill myself, but my aunt saw me (not the aunt who actually lives there, God, this dream was really fucked up) and told me she had something to show me. While we were talking I saw someone in the big parking place down the road and thought "That totally looks like Bela!" Then I saw a lorry parked there with Wayne and Lula standing in front of it and I thought "OMG I have to go and say hello!" At that point I realised I was wearing my pyjamas (WTF???) and my jeans were right next to the lorry! So I would have to pass in front of them, wearing my pyjamas, if I wanted to get dressed. I tried to sneak past it, but of course Wayne spotted me and started chatting in English and I couldn't understand a word, so I just walked to where my jeans were and was like "Uhm, yeah, I'll be right back." Meanwhile Bela had seen me too (and I was still wearing just my pyjamas, God, I wanted to die) and, for some weird reason, the place turned into a big open-space office and the creepy guy from work was there (someone kill me), complaining because I was awfully late.

I think I can sum it all up with a nice WTF?

And because I have nothing to do, a meme.

( Concert meme! )