Pleasantville spielt inhaltlich 15 Jahre nach Black Water Rising und funktioniert wahrscheinlich am besten wenn es im Zusammenhang gelesen wird.
Jay, der Anwalt aus Black Water Rising, hat Cole Oil in die Knie gezwungen – allerdings nur vor Gericht. Gezahlt haben sie bisher nicht. Dazu ist noch seine Frau verstorben, so dass ein ehr verbitterter und müder Jay – mit zwei Kindern an der Backe – irgendwie versucht einen Burn-Out zu vermeiden.
Als eine junge Schwarze verschwindet rutscht Jay in eine Geschichte die Vordergründig eine Krimi ist aber Attica Locke ehr dazu dient eine historische Anklage zu schreiben: Aufstieg und Niedergang der schwarzen Mittelschicht in Pleasantville (es lohnt sich die Geschichte dieser Siedlung nachzulesen).
Locke seziert förmlich den Konflikt zwischen Alteingesessenen und den Jüngeren und legt offen wie das Weiße Amerika (hier in Form der Republikaner) es schaft das Wahlsystem so zu pervertieren das eine Wahl so oder so zu ihren Gunsten ausgeht. Und dabei eben gewachsene Communities wie Plesantville zerstört.
Der Krimi-Plot beschert Jay und seiner Familie jede Menge Ärger, die politische Geschichte zeigt auf warum die US of A heute eine derart verhunzte Demokratie sind und warum das Land so tief gespalten ist.
Kein Krimi, sondern großartige politische Literatur.
2022, the year the pandemie ended. True. But the grip on the live mu-sick circuit is still not gone – too many shows cancled or tours dropped. And my favorite clubs all lost regular customers and face reduced turn-outs. Damn.
At least i was able to see a bit more, but not as much as i liked:
# of shows
# of bands
averange bands per show
Hafenklang
12
28
2
Monkeys
3
13
4
Knust
1
3
3
MS Hedi
1
1
1
Indra
1
1
1
Drafthouse
1
2
2
Faust
1
3
3
Komet
1
2
2
21
53
2.5
More than doubled compared to 2021 but still a lot of misses, be it a dropped show, be it me not choosing to go or simply a great event always when i do holiday (Get Lost Festival that is).
And the best? Now that is a tough one – there where evenigs of great entertainment and there where single big surprises. Let’s try:
On a lonely August eveningThe Bollokos from Guadeloupe did not bother about low turnout at the Indra but gave the few 2+ hours of joy! Thanks Sam! At the Monkeys it was both the return of Kaleko Urdangak and the surprise of Complete Loss during the MOi!n It’s Hamburg Festival that provided the utmost entertainment. The sets of Good Riddance, Youth Avoiders and Career Suicide at the Booze Cruise Festival where also near perfect.
But show of the year was the K-Town Warm-Up with both an unbeaten diverese line-up and a near perfect mangy delivery – an absolut perfect blast of hardcore energy. Runner up only by a short margin where Lysol and Electric Chair upstairs at the Hafenklang just a couple of days earlier in almost the same territory.
On the book front i somehow did not find the time to go digging in my favorite bookstores. As a consequence my consumption dropped:
# of books
# of pages
#of days
Crime
43
15.967
285
Music
6
1.915
91
History
3
1.375
26
SciFi
2
1.248
23
54
20.505
That is definitly less books read than 2021, also the average pages per day dropped dropped from 77 to 71. There where distractions, key one was a house move back into the city. I guess i will need to devote more time in 2023 again towards page turning.
The list is still topped by the Crime series of the Polar Verlag (12 books), followed by the stuff that Thomas Wörtche orchestrates for Suhrkamp (8 books).
Book of the year 2022? Not Crime per se but the Biography of Jerry A. Lang, the singer from Poison Idea. There is more than enough Drugs and Violence in those 3 books that it passes easily as Crime! Runner up from the real Crime Genre where Brachland, Blacktop Wasteland and Das Schnelle Leben. Extra shout out for Lightwood and Bobby March Forever, those books delivered some great laughter on top of a decent crime story.
And on the record front? Discogs tells me i added 54 records in 2022, so will go by that list:
Top 5, without any particular order:
Kinder Von Heute (Crazy) – great re-release of one of the finest Swizz Punk. Get it from Iffy at Static Shock (and get it like me even when you have the original one, it is worth it).
Intercity (Mess) – I took home the 2022 re-press straight from the show (together with all other Mess vinyl on offer). A raw beauty of UK82 all the way from Mexico. Get it from Mendeku Diskak.
Magnetic (Lucky Malice) – The vinly took two years to arrive (technically speaking the record was out in 2020 and i was lucky to get a signed edition. Great all-female Punk with stunning clever and to-the-point lyrics. A must have! Get it from Tonehjulet Kräftpest.
Barbies Don’t Bleed (Retrospective 1986 – 1990) (Barbie Army) – Many years ago i found “Take Down The Flag” on a tape someone gave me and ever since i was wandering if that band had any other songs out. Little did i know, little did i know. As some others had the same urge to get more everything came to light, but only in 2022. A gem of mid-80s girl Punk with a huge P like Pop and Melodies. Anything they ever recorded on this LP and 7″. Get it from Goodwill Records.
Vague Digitale (Sordid Ship) – Another French surprise and beauty, recorded in 2019 but only in 2022 released as single-sided 12″ with the backside being printed over. The 500 beauties are gone i understand, so get it digital from the band.
Whilst at it – this is one of the songs and it a sheer beauty!
Next to it i managed to get three more playlists completed, mixing new and old stuff. Just as a reminder, here they are – a whopping 541 Songs over 19 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds:
14.0 got Covid, 14.1 got Covid too – luckily 14.2 was only ever infested with the will to have a community meet with good music at a great location. The stuff you most likely do not get on New Year, hence the anual family meeting is on the 30th of December and allows you pass by any New Years Eve parties on the final day of the year.
The Razors this time round invited friends from near (Degenerate Ideol from Bremen) and far (Östro 430 all the way from the early 1980s). And the icing that came with it: Diversity. Both on stage but also mu-sick-ally. Can there be a better setting?
Degenerate Idol kicked off early, at 20:00 sharp. Most of the lot was still en-route to the Knust i guess, so they had to face at least some space down in the audience. But it did not deter them, they took the stage with humor, wit and a sound deeply rooted in the R of Punk Rock.
Some of their songs were really funny and their singer is defintly stage aware (and able to control the crowd) but for my liking some of their songs lacked drive and from where i stood the sound lacked guitar force … but hey, as ever, that is down to my own mu-sick-al likings. They had some cheers, some dancing and a good reception. And remember, they are from Bremen. Check them out yerself.
Next the reborn Östro 430. Their original incarnation dates all the way back to Düsseldorf in 1979 and i guess they where the first German all-female Punk band. And in true punk fashion they gave a flying fuck on norms: No guitar and songs with a view from the female mind, heart and i guess cunt. A realy refreshing change of view and views, specifically on sexuality.
Fast forward to 2019 and Östro 430 where re-born in Hamburg, i guess Martina was living here anyway, with locals added on drums and bass. And off it went, actually pretty quickly pretty well (and well received too).
They kicked off Christmas themed and then thanks to Martina being herself (that is largely expressing herself in what we call in Hamburg Kodderschnauze) they delivered some clear messages.
Some of the messages – as back then – where actually too strong to handle by some in the audience, Martina made some pointed remarks towards the use of gender stars etc in language and that seemed to piss off some young punks in front of the stage. To much fun for myself they took it as an offence that need retaliation by leaving the pit. Oh my, sign of times…
Östro 430 where just great, proved that mu-sick works without a guitar (and with double bass, when needed) and that girls (both on and off stage) are to be heard and not only seen. I thoroughly loved it, my guest of the night from Rotterdam was thoroughly surprised by them. Well done girls! All of their stuff is now available, i do hope new stuff is added soonest!
It was then for the Razors to carry diversity forward, they did it by using the big stage of the Knust and Sir Edwar Elgars Pomp And Circumstances March Number One for a grand intro …
Don’t go away now! Sure the lot did not want to go anywhere, here at the Knust they were perfectly happy and more than inclined to enjoy both the community feel and the Razors delivering a complete wash-up of their Œuvre, spanning from 1978 to today.
Whilst they did not have a lot of shows in 2022 they were well rehearsed and took it on like a well oiled old engine, with only a few selected replacement parts. Sven batters foward, Stoffel speeds, Christiane glues it and Klaus delivers it.
And whilst there are fun moments (like this intro with one of the most famous Hamburg Punk nostalgia quotes) there are also loving memories, to those long gone but also to those whom we lost in 2022. For those it was We Love You, followed suit by 1977:
It is exactly this contrast (and that is song origin) and spread that i love the Razors for, being able to glue it all in a still relevant (aka modern) way and deliver it with all the energy they have – giving the audience a change to suck it up and sing it out loud in return. Just purrfect.
I am not sure how much of the Razors repertoire (thsat is i guess around 50 songs) was used as time flew by without a single boring second and without a song that i could not sing-a-long to.
One of Klaus favorites all the way back from the time when Punk entered the scene was sure part of the set, here is their blistering delivery of Heroes.
Now sing-a-long:
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes, just for one day
And you, you can be mean
And I, I'll drink all the time
'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact
Yes we're lovers, and that is that
Though nothing will keep us together
We could steal time just for one day
We can be heroes for ever and ever
What d'you say?
I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes, just for one day
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be Heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day
I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing, by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame, was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever
Then we could be Heroes, just for one day
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be Heroes
We're nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay
But we could be safer, just for one day
Oh-oh-oh-ohh, oh-oh-oh-ohh, just for one day
It is a song about togetherness and together the lot was. And as always there was no boundary on and off stage, as such the family took the stage for the final song and helped Klaus to sing it out loud: You Never Walk Alone.
Razors Family (Knust, Hamburg, 30.12.2022 (c) gehkacken.de 2022)
I had a friend from Rotterdam over and me mate Frosch had a guest from Berlin, both noted that the community and/or family feel they sensed on the night was astonishing and something they do not see or feel back home. I guess they are right, Hamburg has something special going here and it is absoluty a joyful thing.
The joy ended in front of the DJ both over at the Bar, where Christian was doing his best adding sing-a-long and dance-a-long singles from back then and later too much appreaceation by the lot. I was home late, knackered. I kept the promise toward me love to help with early shopping but had to drop dead for another and much longer round of sleep.
Now it is 2023 already and i look forward to a new year with hopefully more shows and this Punk Rock Hamburg community even striving further. Keep the love, keep the memories and look forward.
Can i pencil in Burn Down The Baum 15.0 already? Yes? Great, luv it!
