Megan Abbott – Aus Der Balance (Pulp Master, 2023)
Gelesen: 05. – 10.03.2023 (netto 402 Seiten).
Übersetzt aus dem Amerikanischen Englisch von Karen Gerwig und Angelika Müller.
Wow – was für ein spannendes Buch. Wobei die Spannung weniger Crime, weniger Hard-Boiled und weniger Who-Dunit? sondern ganz subtil der Alltag ist.
Ein Alltag voller Normalität, gewürzt mit eine Prise Psychoterror. Und eine heile Welt – Ballett, so leicht, so unschuldig weiß – die sich in Chaos auflöst.
Am Anfang steht die heile Welt: Dara, ihre Schwester Marie und ihr Ehemann Charlie. Und die von der Mutter geerbte Ballettschule. Die Vorbereitung auf das Highlight des Jahres – der Nussknacker.
Mit einem Auge für Details, mit einem Ohr für Gefühle und mit Klug verstecktem Verrat geht Daras heile Welt den Bach runter: Das Ballettstudio eine Ruine, das eigene Haus entpuppt sich als beinahe Verlust und die Liebsten wie bei einer Explosion aus dem Zentrum nach ganz weit außen katapultiert.
Dazu Totschlag. Verrat im Sonderangebot (nimm 4 spar 2) und durchgeknallte Ballettkinder. Und noch durchgeknalltere Ballettkindereltern.
Kein Krimi. Sondern eine Alltagsbeschreibung. Wo der Leser wie der Zuschauer bei einem Hausbrand einfach nicht weggucken kann.
It has been a while that i have been to a Rock Show. And it’s been a while that i have been to the Grünspan (a place that i normally connect with Rock Shows only). Reason was lure by those who saw The Damned rather recently and where actually full of praise.
I saw them the last time early to mid 80s in the Markthalle and i think it was a show that had playback in it (at least that is my vague recollection). Never bothered about them after and Another Great Record From The Damned (1981) is the last Damned record in my collection.
But as always, sometimes it is good to challenge choices and habits, hence i choose to take them on. At the Grünspan.
Kick off was with the locals from The Jaded, who had to setup their gear in front of the Damned gear, in best Rock Show tradition. In contrast to that tradition they had a near perfect sound, maybe nowadays they guys on the mixing desks are more professional (and less influenced by the main band).
Known faces on stage and a very crisp set. Actually they grooved rather fast through their set and where done way ahead of the allowed time, so two encores where added citing some of their references.
The Jaded (Grünspan, Hamburg, 07.03.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
They claim they play Rock ‘n’Roll which i guess technically is true, i think they play a nice mid-tempo with loads of references to the sound of the UK towards the end of the 70 and early 80s, call it Punk Rock, New Wave or else. Their biggest asset sure is the native Englishman on vocals, it gives the whole thing a great glue, the needed banter and fits the sound perfect.
I never saw them before, i think i would not run away from them next time they take the stage.
After a quick turnaround it was time for The Damned, this year with Dave, The Captain, Paul Gray on Bass, Monty on Organ/Synthesizer and Will Taylor on Drums. All but the drummer came as stage personas, whereby the stage personas of Dave and The Captain sure being known icons. Monty sported a nice Skull nightgown (i’d say dressed for the occasion!).
The Damned (Grünspan, Hamburg, 07.03.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
They started of slow and with stuff years outside of the initial Punk Years. That said, the sound was near perfect and all of them are absolutely gifted musicians. And that made the whole thingy more pleasant.
For my ears though it was too much of both that Gothic and Psychedelic style that actually is way off my liking though sometime with great melodies, nice choruses and surprisingly well glued song structures. Albeit, way to the right of the 02:20 mark of a proper pop song. Yes, sometimes lengthy for my ears.
The Damned (Grünspan, Hamburg, 07.03.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
Towards the end they did throw some of the old stuff in, sometimes super fast, sometimes as a nice deconstruction of an old hit. They played for i guess almost 2 hours, something that i did not expect, so cudos for that.
Within that and towards the end another Rock Show moment did happen, Paul had problems with his Bass and was trying to get first attention and sure then resolution of the Guitar Roadie that was stationed next to The Captain.
Paul Gray vs. Guitar Roadie, 3rd Round (Grünspan, Hamburg, 07.03.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
And from there it went sour, downhill and – for us at the front on the stage side where Paul was – rather funny (for an observer). I guess Paul pointed out he wanted the replacement Bass waiting for action on the side, the Roadie seem to have deducted that the problem was the sling on Pauls current Bass and worked on taking the sling off the replacement Bass.
More than once Paul point out that he needed the new Bass rather, but that fell on death ears. At the end it ended in a song break with Paul basically going on strike and Dave and The Captain taking the piss out of him for not being able to master his gear and the sling.
Although Paul had sun glasses on you could see that he was angry, furious and about to kill the Roadie. It took a disastrous amount of time (at least for a professional rock show) to get resolved.
Bets where taken if the Roadie survives the tour, some assumed he would be lifted home immediately. Lets hope he survived.
Did i like the show? Not too much. Did i enjoy the show? Yes i did somehow but more as an outside observer. Will i volunteer to see The Damned again? I guess not. Did i enjoy the company around me? Yes i did, plenty out of the Punk Rock Hamburg community where around.
The only odd item was the aftermath, as i had to fly out to Amsterdamned on the red eye flight at 06:00 in the morning, facing a long work day. But it was not too cumbersome as i choose to stay sober and did not sip on beer nor booze. Lucky me!
Michael Mann, Meg Gardiner – Heat 2 (HarperCollins, 2022)
Gelesen: 20.02. – 04.03.2023 (netto 677 Seiten).
Aus dem amerikanischen Englisch von Wolfgang Thon.
Hach, das war ein flottes Lesevergnügen. Fast ein alter Don Winslow. Auf jeden Fall aber eine flotte, spannende und in Teilen auch sehr realistische Story.
Das ganze ist ein Prequel zu Heat, ein großartiger Film von 1995 mit Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer und vielen anderen. Während Heat ja eigentlich auf einer wahren Figur aus den 1960er Jahren fußt, ist der Film und dieses Buch deutlich später angesiedelt.
Aber das der Regisseur und Drehbuchschreiber Michael Mann dann so viele Jahre später die Geschichte nochmal aufgreift und so als Buch umsetzt – Chapeau!
Das Buch spannt einen Bogen rund um den Film, inhaltlich wie auch zeitlich: Es beobachtet die Protagonisten von 1988 bis 2000 und zeichnet dabei wie diese damals in Chicago das erste Mal übereinander gestolpert sind und wie Chris, der einzige Überlebende der Gangsterbande aus Heat, viele Jahre später wieder in Richtung des Cops Vincent Hanna stolpert.
Härte, Tempo und jede Menge Spannung. Schade nur das die Brücke zwischen den Zeiten durch eine Nebenrolle (Otis Wardell als Frauenschänder in Chicago und L.A.) erledigt wird – das wird der gesamten Geschichte nicht wirklich gerecht. Lustig aber das Chris im Exil in Paraguay lernt das seine Raubzüge zwar clever waren aber nur Peanuts waren. Die chinesischen Mafiosi für die er dort unerkannt arbeitet reißen sich ganze Industriezweige unter den Nagel und machen damit nochmal soviel Geld.
