I am a lover of many kinds of music and the Internet makes it incredibly easy to indulge oneself in more music than can be listened to in a lifetime. One particular interesting type of websites are so-called mp3 blogs, where music aficionados share their own musical taste by offering users the possibility to download songs or entire albums. The legality of this practice has of course been debated for some time but they still exist, the variety of genres broader than ever.
Stewart Lee – comedy genius
Britain has a huge comedy scene which caters for every taste: from the banal Al Murray, aka The Pub Landlord, to more subtle (and surreal) fare such as Britain’s main comedy export product, Eddie Izzard. Upcoming names on their way to fame include Stephen K Amos (see this post) and the Irish stand-up Ed Byrne who lives in London. But there is one comedian that will never fill the Apollo or Wembley but has been a constant part of the scene in the past 20 years and everybody should know him: Stewart Lee.
Mauerfall 2009
Unless you’ve been hiking in the Andes in the past weeks, leaving your smartphone at home, you will have noticed what day it was yesterday: 20 years ago the Berlin Wall fell, beginning with the opening of the Bornholmer Straße border crossing at the Bösebrücke and many events have been taking place in the city in the past days to celebrate this historic moment.
Comedy time with Stephen K. Amos
I am a big fan of British comedian Stephen K. Amos. He is currently on tour with his new show The Feelgood Factor and will also soon release his first DVD, Find The Funny (don’t forget to watch the clip). Until then you will have to make due with this performance in the London Apollo in 2008:
Stephen K Amos Live At The Apollo – Part 1
Stephen K Amos Live At The Apollo – Part 2
Art and politics in Istanbul
It has been an interesting Autumn in Istanbul so far for those interested in modern art. The 11th International Istanbul Biennal has just finished as did a counter exhibition called “My Name is Casper” (see this Hurriyet article) organised by the Karşı Sanat Gallery.
In addition to these spaces, showcasing the new generation of Turkish and international artists, two established names in 20th century art history were also celebrated. A big exhibition on Joseph Beuys and His Students ran in the Sakip Sabanci Museum and still on show is a major retrospective of Yüksel Arslan in Santralistanbul.
Pere Ubu in the Passionskirche in Berlin
After more than 30 years David Thomas has finally brought us his adaptation of Ubu Roi, Alfred Jarry’s famous absurdist play after which Pere Ubu was named, the band of which Thomas has been frontman and singer all this time.
On 3 October Pere Ubu performed “Bring me the head of Ubu Roi” in the Passionskirche in Berlin as part of their current European tour, featuring electronics wizard Gagarin, and animation by The Brothers Quay. As always drummer Steve Mehlman and bass player Michele Temple did a brilliant job in keeping the performance on track.