#music bank berlin

[jebeplanet]

240505 ZEROBASEONE KIM TAERAE + RIIZE SOHEE INSTAGRAM

[ohsehun-exo]

180915 EXO Sehun at KBS Music Bank in Berlin © dear my spring do not edit, crop, or remove the watermark

[fyeah-kangdaniel]

180915 Kang Daniel at KBS Music Bank in Berlin © daniel of illusion do not edit, crop, or remove the watermark

[wulfhalls]

will you go to suho concert?

nah if i pay for a flight to germany plus expenses I wanna see at least ⅘ of the exos lmao

[ilyrafe]

𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅'𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 ✧ 𝒓. 𝒄.

pairing: ex-boyfriend!rafe cameron x ex-girlfriend!reader

warnings: angst

word count: 1k

“hi, rafe.”

just your voice is enough to decentralize him entirely. he didn’t expect to see you at sarah’s party, only because he didn’t know you were back to kildare.

you look beautiful as always. your hair is shorter, but that’s the only thing that has changed about you, at least, it’s what he can assume. the flower crown you’re wearing adorns your sage green dress beautifully.

“hi.” he takes a sip of his mock tail, trying to pretend he’s cool with you there, as if he knew.

“how have you been?”

“good.”

you know rafe too well. his short answers tell you he’s not at all amused by your presence, and that breaks your heart even more. he looks so handsome with a buzzcut, and it’s like he knows it.

“i guess you didn’t know i was coming.” you chuckle quite awkwardly. “sarah convinced me to come, she said it wouldn’t be an issue, but... if you want me to leave, i will.”

“i really don’t care what you do, y/n.”

you sigh, defeated. he’ll never forgive you for what you said. you thought that maybe he would have changed, or at least, understood your point, but you see that he hasn’t done either.

“okay, um... i’ll see you around, rafe.”

he watches you leave, and you’re not even pretending to be happy. he ruined your mood and he knows it. rafe sees sarah comforting you, and she shoots him a glare, making him roll his eyes and leave his spot at the bar.

he should probably leave, too.

when he turns his back and makes his way inside tanney hill, he doesn’t look back. he goes straight to his bedroom and plops down on his king sized bed. the music is muffled, thank god.

he’s been trying to make amends with sarah, even letting her come back home and be with john b in peace. sure, he doesn’t get along with the pogues, but if accepting them is what it takes for him to have the smallest sense of peace, he’ll do it.

rafe has also decided to get sober. after almost dying of an overdose, he was really scared and decided to quit. he wants to make ward proud. staying away from alcohol is a lot harder than quitting coke and marijuana, it turns out. the mock tails aren’t as enjoyable.

as if doing all that isn’t hard enough, you’re back. and with you being back, all of the feelings he’s successfully repressed are coming back up again, stronger than ever.

he hates that he’s given you this amount of power over him.

rafe never did feelings before, and the one time he did, you left him because of himself. rafe is his worst enemy.

he really loved you. well, scratch that. he never stopped loving you. you took care of him, you improved his relationship with ward and sarah. you asked him to quit drugs and selling it. you listened to him and you took none of his bullshit. you held him accountable while giving him grace.

deep down, he knows he fucked up. he wasn’t ready to grow up, but no one likes to say they’re wrong, do they?

“i just think it’s funny how you really believe this little island is an entire world for you.” you snorted. “but i know why you don’t wanna leave this shit hole. you’re a nobody outside the outer banks. there is no “kook versus pogue” once you step out of this place. you’re just another trust fund baby with drug issues to everyone else, rafe.”

he never understood your incessant need to “explore the world”, it’s so childish. you always talked about how you wanted to live in paris, toronto, tokyo, london, seoul, or berlin or whatever (honestly, you have mentioned so many cities, he has lost count), and you always said that you would be happy anywhere else, but rafe doesn’t see himself being happy far from north carolina. from kildare. from tanney hill. it’s where he comes from and where he wants to die. it’s what he knows.

a knock on his bedroom door interrupts his thoughts. rafe huffs and rolls his eyes. when he opens the door, he comes across you.

“what do you want?” he questions, irritated.

you enter his room and close the door behind you, drowning out the noise of the music once again. you’ve missed his bedroom. his bed.

“i think... i think i owe you an apology,” you say. “i shouldn’t have been so mean to you that day, it wasn’t right.”

rafe remains quiet, sitting on his bed, just listening to you talk.

“i just�� i never liked it here, and i end up projecting that onto others, and i did that to you. i’m sorry.”

in theory, hearing you apologize should be gratifying, but rafe can’t identify any sign of regret in you. it’s not that he doesn’t think your apology is insincere, it’s that the regret he wanted to see doesn’t exist. you don’t regret leaving kildare nor leaving him.

“apology accepted.”

“thank you.” you smile.

“y/n, are you happy?” he asks.

“hm?”

“are you happy there?”

your smile and small nod tells everything he didn’t want to know. you are happy. in fact, you’re happier than ever.

“i am.”

rafe has vivid memories with you, and your smile has never been so wide, your eyes have never been so bright. maybe this will take him to hell, but he hates that you’re genuinely happy away from there, especially because he isn’t happy. and if he is not happy in where he feels he belongs most, there is no place in the world that makes him happy. 

maybe happiness isn’t an option for him, and the most upsetting thing about this is that money really can’t buy happiness. not the one rafe really needs anyways.

you want to tell rafe how you’re enjoying life for the first time, how being independent is amazing, but also sucks, but it’s still amazing, how the feeling of achieving something on merit is indescribable... but rafe would never understand.

it’s funny how two people who are so similar at first are so different in the end.

“that’s all that matters to me, then.”

i love feedback! let me know your thoughts! <3

[holdingforexo]

holding for jongin: day 614 of 641 ↳ EXO KAI performing THE EVE at Music Bank in Berlin | September 2018

[theboytatu]

sometimes i think about chanyeol. idk he just pops up. rockstar chanyeol is such a thing to me like. he is not a kpop idol he is more. he is an artist, he is a performer so good i would have loved him even without exo. his cover of wind of change by scorpions at music bank in berlin did more for the acceptance of korean music among the old gen eastern europeans (and germans) than beets cpuld ever imagine doing. like he ended generational wars with it. my mother recognises only him and wayvs pets. and i'm kinda drunk rn and i don't make sense but. i had a friend who went because of his gf and he doesn't even like kpop but he cried at that performance and he wasn't the only one. this was our scorpions in moscow after the fall of the iron curtain. in a way. like he did this.

oh my god oomf... you have no idea how much i appreciate this message like no literally... LITERALLYYYY speak your truth i couldn't agree more!! sometimes i think he made a mistake becoming a kpop idol. i think he should be an actual musician cause the idol industry is so constricting and they tried to lock him up in the rapper box because kpop (and specially SM manufactured kpop) is built on boxes and it's like. god. he is really so much more/so different than this. and so few people realize. and this isn't to trash idols cause there are plenty of kpop idols who ARE artists and musicians and visionaires. but chanyeol simply doesn't fit the mold sm has assigned him and it's clear to see.

he should be at the club (the club being his own production house where he writes and creates his own music and plays guitar and tours the world like the rockstar he was meant to be). he should not be pandering to ungrateful kexols who have his career held for ransom and will dictate his success based on how much fanservice he provides. he should be out here taking a page from gdragon's or monsta x changkyun's book and leaving an idol company in favor of a real music label like warner korea or whatever.

ANYWAY..... here's the winds of change cover again cause we all deserve to see it at least once. im so jealous of your friend for having experienced it live.

[louisupdates]

FITFWT24: MASTERPOST

FASHION [x]

LITHOGRAPHS [x]

SELFIES & PORTRAITS [x]

OUTRO SONGS [x]

TWITTER SPREE 23.1.2024

John Delf/ Sennheiser interview: FITFWT Sound Engineering

FESTIVALS

FITFWT23

LOUIS TOMLINSON LIVE - 24.4.2024: Fan videos vs Spotify canvas

ASIA

24 Jan - Bengkel Space SCBD, JAKARTA: video 1, video 2, video 3

AUSTRALIA

28 Jan - Sidney Myer Music Bowl, MELBOURNE (fitfwt24: melbourne)

30 Jan - Riverstage, BRISBANE (#fitfwt24: brisbane)

2 Feb - Qudos Bank Arena, SYDNEY (#fitfwt24: sydney)

TEKATE PAL NORTE FESTIVAL

30 Mar - MONTERREY, MEXICO (cap. 80k) (#fitfwt24: tecate) (PRESS CONFERENCE) MTY 360, Tiempo, El Ambiente, Reforma

IHEART RADIO AWARDS - 1 APR 2023: Joshua Halling wins Best Tour Photographer

PRE-TOUR PRESS RUN, LATAM

2 Apr - SÃO PAULO, Brazil: Radio Mix FM, Foquinha, MTV Brazil, CNN Brazil, Capricho, POPLine Brazil, g1, Nickelodeon, Billboard Br

4 Apr - SANTIAGO, Chile: Los 40 Chile, CNN Chile, Canal 13, Bio Bio Chile, La Cuarta, Radio Disney Chile, Radio Planeta

6 Apr - BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: Los 40 Argentina, TN La Viola, HeinowPY, MTV Sur, Clarín, Sergio Aguero, TELESHOW, #velez sarafield stadium, Esto es Datta, Tu Musica Hoy, Telenoche, Canal 13, Billboard Argentina, Algos De Musica, Radio Disney LA

NORTHERN MUSIC AWARDS - 23 APR 2023: raffle (#northern music awards)

LOUIS IGTV - 27.4.2024

LATAM - IGTV with transcription 27.6.2024

2 May - Centro de Convenciones Amador, PANAMA CITY (#fitfwt24: panama)

5 May - Coliseo de Puerto Rico, SAN JUAN (#fitfwt24: san juan)

8 May - Jeunesse Arena, RIO DE JANEIRO (#fitfwt24: rio de janeiro)

11 May - Allianz Parque, SÃO PAULO (#fitfwt24: são paulo)

12 May - Ligga Arena Cap, CURITIBA (#fitfwt24: curitiba)

15 May - Antel Arena, MONTEVIDEO: (#fitfwt24: montevideo)

18 May - Velez Sarsfield, BUENOS AIRES: (#fitfwt24: buenos aires)

21 May - Jockey Club del Paraguay, ASUNCIÓN: (#fitfwt24: asuncion)

24 May - Bicentenario Stadium, SANTIAGO (#fitfwt24: santiago)

26 May - Arena 1, LIMA: (#fitfwt24: lima)

28 May - Coliseo Medplus, BOGOTÁ: (#fitfwt24: bogota)

30 May - Parque Viva, SAN JOSE: (#fitfwt24: san jose)

1 Jun - Autodrómo Hermanos Rodriguez - Curva 4, MEXICO CITY: (#fitfwt24: mexico city)

4 Jun - Auditorio Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, QUERETARO: (#fitfwt24: queretaro)

6 Jun - Arena VFG, GUADALAJARA: (#fitfwt24: guadalajara)

AWAY FROM HOME FESTIVAL

8 JUN - MERIDA, Mexico (cap. 10k+): (#afhf 2024)

EUROS 2024 (#louiseuros24)

PINKPOP FESTIVAL

22 Jun - LANDGRAAF, Netherlands (cap. 70k): 17:55 to 18:55 (#louispinkpop24)

GLASTONBURY 2024 (#louisglasto24)

MAIN SQUARE FEST

4 Jul - ARRAS, France (cap. 40k): 18:15 to 19:15 (#louismainsq24)

RUISROCK FESTIVAL

7 Jul - Ruissalo Island, TURKU, Finland (cap. 35k): 19:15 (#louisruisrock24)

MEO MARES VIVAS FESTIVAL

21 Jul - VILA NOVA DE GAIA, Portugal (cap. 30k): 21:45 (#louismaresvivas24)

MORRIÑA FESTIVAL

26 Jul- PORTO DE A CORUÑA, Spain (cap. 20k): 23:50 (#louismorrina24)

ARENAL SOUND FESTIVAL

2 Aug - BURRIANA, CASTELLO, Spain (cap. 50k): 23:20 - 00:40 (#louisarenalsound24)

SANTANDER FESTIVAL

3 Aug - SANTANDER, Spain (cap. 15k): 1:30 - 2:30 AM (#louissantander24)

UNTOLD FESTIVAL

8 Aug - CLUJ-NAPOCA, Romania (main stage cap. 30k, 2023 attendance 400k): 21:45 - 23:00 (#louisuntold24)

SZIGET FESTIVAL

10 Aug - BUDAPEST, Hungary (cap. 92k): 19:15 to 20:30 (#louissziget24)

FREQUENCY FESTIVAL

16 Aug - ST. PÖLTEN, Austria (cap. 140k) (#louisfrequency24)

CABARET VERT FESTIVAL

18 AUG - CHARLEVILLE-MÉZIÈRES, France (cap. 90k): 19:10 - 20:10 (#louiscabaretvert24)

VICTORIOUS FESTIVAL

23 Aug - PORTSMOUTH, UK (cap. 65k): 16:45 - 17:30 (#louisvictorious24)

ZURICH OPENAIR FESTIVAL

24 AUG - ZURICH, Switzerland (cap. 80k): 19:40 - 20:40 (#louiszurichopenair24)

FESTNINGEN FESTIVAL

30 Aug - TRONDHEIM, Norway: 17:30 - 18:30 (#louisfestningen24)

ITALIAN GRAND PRIX

31 Aug - 1 Sep - MONZA, Italy (#louismonza24)

LIVE FROM FEST ISTANBUL

6 Sep - Festival Park Yenikapı, ISTANBUL, Turkey (cap. 10k): 21:30 - (#louisfestistanbul24)

LOLLAPALOOZA BERLIN

7 Sep - Olympiastadion & Olympiapark, BERLIN, Germany (cap. 100k): 18:15 - 19:10 (#louislolla24)

SUPERBLOOM FESTIVAL

8 Sep - Olympiapark and Olympiastadion, MUNICH, Germany (cap. 50k): 17:35 - 18:35 (#louissuperbloom24)

Louis’ FAREWELL REEL

UNDER THE TONGUE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF FOOTBALL’S MOST ICONIC BOOT

11 Dec - YouTube (#louisunderthetongue) (transcript)

[evenmyhivemindisempty]

As for Boyd's characters' superpowers, why not both? One power they're dying to have and another based on their personality.

Steve Murphy

Which one he’d want: Dowsing! That would make his life so much fucking easier, if he could just… identify where people/objects are located! He could find narco kitchens and where they hide their money! Hell, he’d know where Pablo is!

Which one he’d get: Er, unfortunately he’d wind up with sleep suppression. He still manages to overdo it. Sure, this means he can function fine on an hour of sleep a night, but… what if no sleep?? What if no sleep for weeks?? All work and no sleep makes Steve a cranky boy!

Donald Pierce

Which one he’d want: He’s wanted a healing factor since he was a kid. Partially because it’s the superpower his favorite mutant has, but also because he thinks it’d help him deal with his stepdad’s abuse better. If there’s no lingering damage, it’s almost like nothing really happened. Like he’s clean.

Which one he’d get: Yeah, unfortunately he gets the much less glamorous power of survivability. (Which is… arguably what he already has in the movie considering all the beat-downs that really should’ve killed him!) He can survive pretty much anything, but he’s not necessarily coming out of it unmarred. He’s still accumulating scars and trauma.

Cap Hatfield

Which one he’d want: Cap would like invisibility, to help him stalk his prey undetected! And to just… go through town when he doesn’t want anyone to see him or try to make conversation with him.

Which one he’d get: Lol, animal friendship. Animals naturally like him! They’ll (sometimes) come when called! He can play with a wolf pack or befriend any horse he comes across!

Clement Mansell

Which one he’d want: Oh, mind control. He’d love being able to just get whatever he wanted from people! Imagine telling some rich dude to just *give* him his penthouse and Bugatti! He could waltz into any bank, ritzy luncheon, or club and just instantly get whatever he wanted! Hell… he could make radio stations play his music! Make venues offer him up spots!

Which one he’d get: Yeah, Clement does not get mind control. What he gets instead is empathy. He’s always been searching for connection with people, while also being generally oblivious to their actual feelings. Now he can feel the emotions of everyone in his immediate vicinity! Will this improve his life or make it worse?? Difficult to say! But now at least he’s gonna know when Sandy’s faking an orgasm!

The Corinthian

Which one he’d want: Aw, he’d want teleportation. (I know it’s implied Corinthian has *some* form of this already, but… I’m not sure how long-distance he can actually go.) He’d love to travel on a whim! Croissants for breakfast in Paris! Lion-spotting in the Serengeti in the afternoon! Chole bhature in Delhi for dinner! A Berlin sex club for dessert! …Escaping Morpheus whenever he comes calling!

Which one he’d get: Alas, the Corinthian instead gets astral projection. He can see any place he wants in any world he wants, but he can’t interact with it.

Eli Klaber

Which one he’d want: Shapeshifting, mostly to make himself into the loveliest lady he could.

Which one he’d get: Muscle mimicry - he’s a bit of a copycat and a natural follower who outsources a lot of his thinking to others; now any physical action he sees, he can replicate perfectly.

Danny Maguire

Which one he’d want: Oh, fear control. He’d wanna make himself perfectly fearless while also being able to intimidate anyone in his vicinity he wanted. He wants to inspire respect (which he maybe confuses with fear) without really… having to put any work into earning it.

Which one he’d get: Kinetic burst! He’s so impulsive, and historically he does channel that into violence, and this just turns that up to 11! If he gets strong emotions he can expel them in a massive burst of energy!

Ty Shaw

Which one he’d want: Duplication! He’s so busy! He’d love to be able to be in three places at once! Helping Mason with reading at the same time he’s driving KC to her acting coach while also working an extra shift at the rig for some Christmas money!

Which one he’d get: Haha, he gets social magnetism. He’s able to subtly influence the attitudes of the people around him - making them inclined to trust him more, to feel drawn to help him out.

Quinn McKenna

Which one he’d want: He’d want super strength! He’s a soldier, he’d love to get an extra boost on the field. And it’d help him move heavy furniture without having to call a friend for help.

Which one he’d get: He gets lie detection! He’s always prized honesty, for himself and others. He hates when people aren’t honest with him, and he especially hates not knowing whether someone’s full of shit. Now he does! This will make him extra annoying! He will call out so many innocuous white lies!

[hndrk]

Twenty-Four of '24

Feels incredibly virtue-signaling to post your favorite songs right at the end of the year, but in truth I have mostly been sick and busy with work (not such a fun lifestyle) and did not listen to new music all that much (definitely not a serious way to live), so it's a statement of necessity if anything. Anyway, here is what I liked this year…

MY FAVOURITE SONGS OF 2024

1. Adrianne Lenker, "Sadness As a Gift" 2. Charli xcx, "Girl, so confusing featuring lorde" 3. angelic milk, "Diana Ross" 4. Das Body, "You leave no traces (acoustic rehearsal)" 5. Billie Eilish, "Birds of a Feather" 6. Isolation Berlin, "In dem Park auf der Bank" 7. Chappell Roan, "Good Luck, Babe!" 8. Pet Shop Boys, "A New Bohemia" 9. Vampire Weekend, "Capricorn" 10. Pépite, "À l’Époque" 11. English Teacher, "You Blister My Paint" 12. Pol Granch, "Haribo" 13. Orville Peck, "Permanently Lonely" 14. Christopher Owens, "Do You Need A Friend" 15. Annie, "The Sky Is Blue" 16. Tocotronic, "Golden Years" 17. Zara Larsson, "Soundtrack" 18. Clairo, "Sexy to Someone" 19. Addison Rae, "Diet Pepsi" 20. DJ Koze & Damon Albarn, "Pure Love" 21. The Cure, "Alone" 22. Carolina Durante, "Elige Tu Propia Aventura" 23. Jennifer Castle, "Blowing Kisses" 24. Jessica Prat, "Life Is"

Bonus tracks:

Marinita Precaria, "Gente Normal" Kelly Lee Owens, "Higher"

///

MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2024

1. Charli xcx, Brat 2. Jessica Pratt, Here in the Pitch 3. Porridge Radio, Clouds in the Sky They Will Always Be There for Me 4. Nilüfer Yanya, My Method Actor 5. Adrianne Lenker, Bright Future 6. Isolation Berlin, Electronic Babies 7. Waxahatchee, Tigers Blood 8. Vampire Weekend, Only God Was Above Us 9. Jennifer Castle, Camelot 10. Helado Negro, PHASOR

///

Leaning on the windowsill You could write me someday, and I bet you will We could see the sadness as a gift and still The seasons go so fast Thinking that this one was gonna last Maybe the question was too much to ask

///

PERSONAL YEAR IN REVIEW

"Financially satisfied, sexually dissatisfied, philosophically trying." 4.2

[jebeplanet]

240505 ZEROBASEONE KIM TAERAE & ZHANG HAO + RIIZE SOHEE INSTAGRAM

[ohsehun-exo]

180915 EXO Sehun at KBS Music Bank in Berlin‬‬ © dear my spring do not edit, crop, or remove the watermark

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

OOR 2009 - Nr 10 - Rammstein interview

Rammstein

Six voices, no harmony

The moment OOR returns from Berlin it drops be in the mailbox: the video clip for Pussy, the first single from Rammstein's sixth studio album Liebe Ist Für Alle Da. It's a kind of, well, wie sage ich das jetzt... Please see for yourself and make your own judgement. Guitarist Richard Kruspe had already warned us the day before: "Bigger, better, more extreme" is still the motto of Germany's biggest metal band. A motto that Rammstein has condemned itself to over the past fifteen years, Kruspe admits when we speak to him about the most difficult record the band ever had to make. OOR visited the guitarist in Berlin and flew with red sympath... sorry, ears back.

by Willem Bemboom

Durch Berlin fliesst immer noch die Spree... The old Berlin song comes up when OOR reports to the German headquarters of record company Universal. Inside a typical modern multimedia office, with Moke's Shorland in the listening post, on the banks of the Spree, you are in the middle of the history of the twentieth century. Twenty years ago, this was one of the most scarred places in torn Berlin: directly to the right of the office, the Oberbaumbrücke spans the river. Nowadays the U-bahn runs back and forth over the picturesque building, but in GDR times the bridge formed one of the borders between east (Friedrichshain) and west (Kreuzberg), meaning that only western pedestrians were allowed to pass. Along the road behind the bridgehead begins the East Side Gallery, an elongated preserved part of the Berlin Wall, where artists have enjoyed themselves. The old Ostbahnhof, gateway to Warsaw and Moscow, is now hidden from view from here by the brand new O2 World sports complex. And although Berlin started a great catch-up race immediately after the fall of the wall, the horizon is still dotted with cranes that plant futuristic-looking new things in the cityscape.

A cityscape that Richard Kruspe, guitarist of Rammstein, hardly recognizes. The riff-slinging flamethrower from the stage welcomes us with the friendliest smile and a diet coke in an office on the sixth floor. Previous interviews with Rammstein always meant the presence of an interpreter, but Kruspe, who lives in New York, has no problem with English as the main language. He uses a lightning-quick, thick American/German accent, which is almost eerily correct in terms of intonation. Only the slightly too long rolling 'r' in his pronunciation betrays a different native language. "I moved to New York in 2000 and I no longer recognize the Berlin of that time. It has suddenly become very hip to live, for artists from all over the world. Life is very cheap here, especially compared to other European cities. If you are a starting artist you have to work at least three jobs elsewhere to pay the rent, and then you no longer have time for your music or paintings. Berlin is perfect for such people and also acts as a magnet to others. I now see a much more vibrant, creative Berlin than I am used to."

And the difference with the GDR period?

"Well, the wall has now disappeared in every respect. When I walk through my old neighborhood, I see a mix, there are no longer places where only people from the east or west live. I actually think that's quite a shame, it had something typical. But Berlin will always keep changing and that is a very good thing. You hear all kinds of different types of German and languages from all over the world. A sign that the city is alive. When I first moved here, that was not the case. Berlin was cold, colourless, generic. I knew I had to go here to start a career and meet people who wanted the same thing as me, but I didn't like it here. It was difficult to survive, not obvious in any case. If there were people with the same ideas, they acted very elitist. As an outsider you were not just accepted into a group. In a sense, Berlin is still hard. When I came here with my ex-wife, she did not like it And neither does my girlfriend at the moment; I showed her some places from the past yesterday and she accidentally walked on the bike path. Then someone got off his bike and hit her in the head. This way I know the city again, I thought to myself. Welcome to Berlin, baby! But the city looks beautiful, especially the old east. The architecture and new city planning make it an open whole. Not so typically German anymore, more a mix of different cities and eras."

Growing up in the Eastern Bloc is something we in the Netherlands can hardly imagine.

"I thought the GDR was fine until I was about twelve. When you're young, you don't know any better and you don't care. Now you know how the system worked, then you felt protected. safe and if I compare it to the reality of 2009, it was: now you have a credit crisis, people going hungry, problems in education, drugs among the youth. This is a different world, much more extreme. We had a very simple and straightforward upbringing - what you don't see doesn't exist. As you get older, your curiosity also grows. You want to go somewhere and you can't, because there is a wall. Only when I was about thirteen or fourteen, I became aware of the wall. And of the other sides of the regime, because the more curious you were, the more you got into trouble. Daily life in the Eastern Bloc was simply not meant for the curious. I started making music, primarily to impress the girls, but gradually I understood that it was also one of the few ways to push your boundaries a little. I always managed to stay within the lines, and then maintain a sense of freedom, no, individuality."

How were you able to push your boundaries within the GDR?

"By moving from the north of Germany to East Berlin. I did that purely because of the music. I wanted to start a band and that wasn't possible at home, simply because there weren't enough good musicians who wanted the same. It was quite difficult, because you were expected to have a full-time job and could only do something with music outside working hours. Or you had to study it, but that was of course not the kind of music I wanted to make. Slowly but surely I started to get some blemish on my political background and I decided that I no longer fit into society in Schwerin. Living with music, it had to be in Berlin. Better than at home, but it was not easy at all."

Why did you decide to escape the Eastern Bloc?

"Nothing musical, I accidentally got into a disturbance, a matter of wrong place, wrong time. I ended up in prison, where I was interrogated and investigated. After three days I was released again, completely beaten up. From that point, you will never be out of the picture of the authorities again. I had the feeling that I could no longer even breathe freely, that I was being watched everywhere. I had to leave, so I fled to the west. That was impossible in Berlin, The chances were better in the Czech Republic 1). The border was not so much open, but more flexible. Via some detours I ended up in West Berlin, where it was easier to start a band. After the fall of the wall, Rammstein was also founded there."

And when Berlin and the band were on the rise, you fled to New York?

"You can look at it that way. I have escaped twice in my life, once from east to west and once from Berlin to New York. The latter was quite spontaneous and non-musical, it was about my private life. That has since blossomed into full bloom, which I would never have achieved on that scale in Berlin. From Rammstein I have always been the one who takes the most risks. In 2000 I wanted my life - now I achieved everything i fought for previously - to give a new impuls. There had to be more than just making music and I am still discovering that in New York."

Moving to New York is an adventure even for someone from Boston or Philadelphia.

"Right! I learned a lot from it, of course not after making every rookie mistake. It is indeed a big challenge, but I am a survivor. I come from the Eastern Bloc, I know that life is hard and a lot of you can take. Moreover, I come from the north of the country, where people are on their feet. A rough man in a rough city, that fits. It's a kind of overarching life lesson. I understand New York now, I can use the city to my advantage. Thanks to Rammstein I have the financial security to do this, I am a privileged person. I have a studio at home, I can make music whenever I want. I can go back to Berlin if I need to, and even more important: leave Berlin again if necessary. It is important for me to be able to distance myself from Rammstein. It is such intense work, sometimes you have to be able to forget it. When I moved, I was so caught up in the band that I no longer dared to hand anything over, I could hardly handle it anymore. A world without Rammstein seemed unthinkable, but now I have a universe all my own. A godsend! That distance has been essential, especially for this record."

Was it a difficult recording process?

"That's the understatement of the century, haha! It took two years and if I didn't have New York, I would have gone completely crazy. The level of bullshit often reached such great heights... It was ridiculous. We already had huge arguments about the smallest things and non issues, let alone about the really important matters. Everything had to be decided per meeting, per conference. Sometimes I was completely overwhelmed. Thanks to New York, I gained some perspective on the whole thing. Once back In Berlin I had some positive energy again. If someone was really insisting on a certain point of view, I would say: do it, at least you'll stop talking about it. In this way, many compromises were made just to end the whining."

Let's start at the beginning: you released Rosenrot in 2005, which was not followed by a major tour.

"That record wasn't really planned. We had six completed songs left after Reise Reise, plus a handful of advanced ideas. Throwing it away would be a shame, so after careful consideration it was decided to sculpt a whole album out of it. And that was it. I was eager to start my own project, Emigrate, and the others needed a holiday. That's why we left the Rosenrot story at that and consciously opted for a time-out instead of a tour."

Rumors were buzzing then; if Rammstein didn't even tour anymore after an album, something had to be wrong.

"The thing was, we had never not toured before. In this case it was more important to save the band through that break. After fifteen years I have learned that it takes more effort to maintain the group than to to create a new piece of music. If you work too much, it will cost you at some point. In that respect, I don't envy those American bands that have to do three hundred shows a year. You just can't keep that up for years. They blow themselves up. We got the first warning during the Mutter tour; our keyboard player couldn't handle it anymore and left for a while. He was done with it. At first we didn't understand it, we just wanted to keep going and going. Until we took a closer look at what we were doing. There had to be a construction that would allow us to spare ourselves. If someone can't handle it anymore, you have to stop for a while. Otherwise, at some point you would have a three-man Rammstein. And that is no longer a band. "

After that break, one day you ended up in the same room again. What happened?

"That was after about two years. On the surface everything seemed pleasant, but everyone had other plans. I didn't want to go straight into the studio, but first go on tour to get the band on the same page as quickly as possible. Moreover, with Rosenrot and Emigrate [Emigrate's 2007 debut] I only saw studios and no audience. However, it was decided to make a record first. I still think that was a big mistake, but hey, it was an honest choice."

How did you get started musically?

"That was quite cool, the first two months. We rented a house in the north and rehearsed in a small room, the size of a broom cupboard. Schneider had a small electronic drum kit and we did not play with our large cabinets but on very small speakers. That is a completely different physical aspect of playing, it was much harder, faster and heavier than we were used to. A lot of ideas came out, which we all recorded and at that moment I still liked it. However, things went wrong when we were transferring those ideas, riffs, melodies and rhythms to the computer to go through it. I thought: keep playing guys, it's going well! But no, the democratic group process was started. And that's when the trouble really started. "

Can you give a concrete example of that misery?

"Some members behaved as if nothing was wrong. Problems were simply ignored, like we were in Pink Floyd. You know, making music in Rammstein has never been easy. As a band we have always been more concerned with discussing than making music In the past there was sometimes a fight, to the death - almost literally. Unpleasant, but the problem was solved. Now we are all a bit older and less aggressive. The devil now lies in the attitude and the words. Rammstein is a convergence of egos that can make things very painful and difficult for each other. We have become a bunch of old whiners, haha!"

Were there things you did agree on?

"That this was a nightmare! For me personally, I think for everyone."

It's a miracle there's a record at all?

"As far as I'm concerned, yes. At many times I thought we wouldn't make it. We were all on the verge of quitting at some point. Not everyone recognized it, but you could see it in the look in our eyes: this it was, done, over. Everything has an end, maybe this is our time. Only no one wanted to be the first. No one wanted to take the responsibility for disbanding Rammstein. Or worse: I was afraid that the band would continue if I quit. This record was made on that energy, call it stubborn, or fearful, or pigheaded."

How did that work practically?

"When the six of us could no longer be in one room, we split the group up to continue working in small groups. In shifts, so to speak. Just to find solutions to finish the record. A regular album is made constructively, grows from ideas and creativity. This was the other way around; everything that was on tape was a problem. And everything that was missing was also a problem. Normally you tick off a track and say: great, another song added. Now it was It was a burden lifted off you every time, and on to the next bottleneck. Man, we were often stuck! Completely. At the end of the ride I didn't care about the music anymore, I was purely determined to get that thing done and get rid of it.”

Um, you know you're here to promote the record?

"Certainly, haha! I'm currently letting a lot of people tell me how good it is. I don't really care for it at all at the moment. Per song, per break or sound, I only hear the endless discussions that were attached to it. I can't look at the songs objectively, but that can still change. If you like the record, I'm happy for you. But myself? I don't know."

In this light: is the title Liebe Ist Für Alle Da another wry example of Rammstein humor?

"Not necessarily. We look for the most extreme forms of love in the lyrics. There is a song called Frühling in Paris, and on the other hand you have the single Pussy. One is romantic, the other explicit, but it amounts to the same thing."

Are there any tour plans this time?

"We've made it a point for ourselves that everything we do has to be bigger, better and more extreme than what we've done. Rammstein is a huge machine and even we can't stop it. Sometimes you wish you were in a band like Pearl Jam , where everything revolves around the music and the feeling and the spontaneity. However: I play in Rammstein. The only way to keep going is to make everything grow bigger. Bigger, better, more extreme. Buckle up, everyone."

Is the atmosphere on tour better than in the studio?

"Yes, certainly. That's a good thing. In fact, now that this delivery is over, the mood in the group is fine, at times even great. We are rehearsing, things are going well, there are still a lot of discussion points, but we are a step further, there is progress. That feeling is good for every musician. Look, we don't hate each other, it's just almost impossible to work with each other. Every decision is a battle. And perhaps that is precisely what after all those years still makes us so strong. Apparently we float on pain and drama and frustration and unrest. If you look back at the past you see that many important musical achievements were built on those things, so maybe it just has to be that way."

Do you secretly still love each other?

"Very much even. And above all, very secretly..."

Rammstein live: December 6 Gelredome Arnhem, December 10 Sportpaleis Merksem Antwerp

--

1) In other interviews Richard mentions having fled via Hungary, this one he mentions Czechoslovakia

--

List of other Rammstein OOR interviews

[herrlindemann]

Sonic Seducer - September 2004, interview with Till and Flake - part 1

Thanks to ramjohn for the scans!

For a long time it was quiet around frontman Till Lindemann's scandalous, muscle-bound troupe, who completely cut themselves off from current music events after their last album 'Mutter' and, apart from the DVD 'Lichtspielhaus' at the end of last year, didn't let anything be heard of themselves.

But from July 26, the Berlin Neue Deutsche Härte flagship rockers will break their strict news ban with their single 'Mein Teil' and the fourth album that will follow at the end of September, in order to once again put the tolerance limits to a hard test after their abstinence and in domestic bourgeois idylls again blowing the deer antlers, cuckoo clocks and dusty Spitzweg oil ham with their bombast metal from the oak paneled walls.

Rammstein are back — with a vengeance! For a good year and a half, singer Till Lindemann, drummer Christoph Schneider, keyboarder Christian 'Flake' Lorenz, guitarists Richard Kruspe-Bernstein and Paul Landers as well as bassist Oliver Riedel have holed up with regular producer Jacob Kellner to work on Album number 4 (whose ultimate title at the time was not 100% certain when this issue went to print, after having already discarded working titles such as 'Reise, Reise' or 'Das rote Album') to go into group dynamics intensively, to collect oneself and to discuss the impatiently awaited successor to the controversial one in Stockholm, completely undisturbed 2001's chart-busting ‘Mutter’ to work. The fact that a lot has happened in the meantime with the notorious Provo Rock pyromaniacs from the Spree can now be clearly heard on the first single release 'Mein Teil', with which Rammstein, after numerous heated discussions, settled for artistic freedom , good taste, piety or political views in the past once again best recommend as probably the most controversial and most polarizing German band of the hour: In the usual ambiguous manner, 'Mein Teil' invites you to a macabre feast, the source of inspiration from the sensational cannibal murder trial of Rotenburg is fed in the middle of last year. After its successful general overhaul, the battleship Rammstein is once again tackling all existing conventions and moral concepts - and it's not just musically that you shoot out of all guns, as Till and Flake, who lined up for the six-eyes talk, make clear in great detail in our multi-part interview.

However, the Berlin command center is not aware of any concerns about finally breaking the bank with his calculated taboo. Fire free for Rammstein: "I wouldn't expect anyone to get upset about 'Mein Teil'. Making a song about something that really happened is the most normal thing in the world to me! Nobody complains to the spokesman for the Tagesschau either, what horror reports he reads again”, says Flake indignantly. "Of course people will get upset again — whether I understand it now or not," Till Lindemann, in the past rather reluctant to be interviewed, also intervened. “With the last album, the headline in BILD was about us: 'Disgusting - dead baby as record cover! This band should be banned!' I was really happy about that and thought for the first time: We've really made it... I think there will be something really, really bad to read about us this time too... “ (smiles). And even with songs like 'Mein Teil', 'Daila Lama (Fear of Flying)' or 'Amerika' the chances of a respectable repeat success in terms of page 1 scandal band are more than good. Since the release of the 1995 debut 'Herzeleid', the blameless average citizen has had a highly allergic reaction to the distorting mirror held up by the widely misunderstood metal satirists and will presumably also react to the new tracks about plane crashes, the Iraq war or masturbation of any kind of humor or Traditionally closed to sarcasm. Entertainment or derailment - as with all uncomfortable artists, the crucial question, the answer to which each listener must be left to themselves against the background of great art. “Actually, you can go just a little bit deeper into the subject matter of the individual songs, read the lyrics or take a look at us, you can't misinterpret Rammstein - unless you're really really stupid!” “Or malicious,” adds Lindemann. “I very often have the feeling that Rammstein is dragged through the dirt with spiteful superiority! I do not know why. There is absolutely nothing to misunderstand with us.”

Such discussions have been held too often and for too long in the past, against more or less unfounded accusations, false suspicions and nasty slander, for one to still feel any great desire today to explain oneself and one's texts to the masses like a mantra . Although, as in the case of some of the content on the last album, this seems to have been a matter of urgency for some. Rammstein is undoubtedly one of the very few German/German-singing bands whose lyrics and forms of expression make you reflect and question them, as Till Lindemann's very own (thought) world and lyrical expressionism are not always easy to understand; the quirky, deep black humor and latent sarcasm are not always immediately apparent and misunderstandings seem to be inevitable. “Many will once again not understand it and will be terribly outraged at us... But you simply cannot change the world, and so we don't care anymore! Let them get upset with us as much and for as long as they want!” That the relationship between Rammstein./. While the general public is irreparably shattered, Flake also has to admit: "One example: I don't like Daniel Küblböck either, but I would never scold him or call him an asshole or a spasm. He gives me no reason to get upset with him and no one forces me to listen to his music either! That's why I can't understand why people complain about us — we don't force anyone to listen to our records either! If people don't bother to find out what our songs are about and if we possibly do things, then they have no right to judge us!”

“It's getting on our nerves so much now, talking about these stories over and over again, discussing it, evaluating everything... - our success simply proves us right! However, the fun stops at these malicious things: If the press writes things that we didn't say, or cuts our statements together incorrectly, then there's a bomb in the leg, as is well known, someone must have noticed that painfully (a few years ago Rammstein played on at a festival, they 'pranked' the then MTV program executive by tying him to a chair and tying a smoke grenade to his leg because the TV station had spread falsehoods about the band). That's just the last thing for me, you just don't do that! Then the journalists should just pull something out of their fingers and write about us in their newspapers and just leave us alone! But if you meet face to face and it is then distorted or lied to afterwards, then it's on the mouth!” Unmistakably clear words from Till Lindemann, who, however, cannot really deny that the cultivated middle-class household shock effect has always been a more or less important part of Rammstein's artistic identity.

With the tongue-in-cheek to sarcastic anti-USA song 'Amerika', they venture into completely unknown territory for the first time; This time, Rammstein pull the manic national pride and the almost totalitarian American Way Of Life hysteria of the American throwaway culture through the cocoa in an almost cabaret manner.

In the past they repeatedly emphasized that they wanted to do without deeper messages in their songs, but this time they seem to be making an exception. “We don't transport a message in 'Amerika', but state facts and facts in a slightly sarcastic way. We dealt a lot with the Iraq war at the time of writing the song and felt that now was the time to say something about it.” Flake adds: “Everyone is quite outraged by the lyrics and asks us how dare we suddenly say something about politics. (laughs). We tried to make a song that sounds very positive and beautiful at first and which is also in a little bit of English so that Americans would be happy! We look forward to the moment when Americans think they're being courted and that Rammstein also ended up writing an anthem to America and that everyone — even Rammstein — would end up loving it now. We think it's a great gag, since anyone who listens to the song more closely will immediately understand what the lyrics are actually about. When it comes to the live implementation of 'Amerika', I could very well imagine that we will drop a few bombs, you could do a great job here with pyro and airplanes...” Rammsteiner-style humor, with many a politically correct joker saying this this time too Laughter should get stuck in your throat...

But it gets even funnier: The second part of our big Rammstein interview will follow in the next issue! No animals had to suffer for this photo session. It is a photomontage.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 1.17

Holidays

Apple Wassailing Day (Carhampton, UK)

Art’s Day (Robert Filliou)

Ben Franklin Day

Betty White Challenge Day

Business of America is Business Day

Cable Car Day

Carnivale begins (Italy)

Customer Service Day

Desert Storm Anniversary Day

Dia de la Divina Pastora Bank Holiday (Venezuela)

Ditch Your New Year's Resolutions Day

Drudge Day

Eartha Kitt Day (South Carolina)

Fire From the Sky

Hardware Freedom Day

International Mentoring Day

International We Are Not Broken Day

James Leonard Tagle Gordon Day (Philippines)

J.C. Penney Day

Judgment Day

Kid Inventors' Day

Lamb Chop Day

Liberation Day (Poland)

Make Your All-Time Top Ten TV Characters List

Martyrdom of Hazrat Fatemeh (Iran)

Menorca Day (Spain)

Military Industrial Complex Day

National Boxer Day

National Carolina Day

National Charlotte Day

National Classy Day

National Day of Racial Healing

National Feedback Day

National Lose the Jet Lag Day

National Public Employees Appreciation Day

National Puggle Day

National Ta Day

National We Are Not Broken Day

National Women in Science & Engineering Day

Old Twelfth Night (UK)

Operation Desert Storm Day

Patrice Lumumba (Heroes’ Day; Congo)

Photo Developing Day

Pig Day

Popeye the Sailor Man Day

Possession Day (South Georgia)

Professional Boxer's Day

Straying Toward the Path Day

USS Nautilus Day

World Lichen Sclerosus Awareness Day

World Rich People’s Day (Turkey)

Zinc Day (French Republic)

Zirgu Diena (Day of the Horses; Latvia)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Bean Day (Fargo, North Dakota)

Hot Buttered Rum Day

Hot Heads Chili Day

National Bootlegger’s Day

National Dairy Day (Thailand)

National Rye Whiskey Day

World Pizza Day

World Scotch Pie Day

Nature Celebrations

Rumex Day (Friendly; Korean Birth Flowers)

World Waterfowl Day

Independence, Flag & Related Days

Liberation Day (Poland)

Menorca National Day (Menorca, Spain; 1287)

Possession Day (South Georgia; South Sandwich Islands)

3rd Friday in January

Arbor Day (Florida) [3rd Friday]

Bean Day (North Dakota) [3rd Friday]

Comfort Food Friday [Every Friday]

Five For Friday [Every Friday]

Flashback Friday [Every Friday]

Fondue Friday [3rd Friday of Each Month]

Friday Finds [Every Friday]

Friendly Friday [3rd Friday of Each Month]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

Hat Day [3rd Friday]

International Fetish Day (UK) [3rd Friday]

National Corrections Day (Australia) [3rd Friday]

Northarvest Beran Day (North Dakota) [3rd Friday]

Straw Bear Festival begins (Whittlesea, England) [3rd Friday-Sun]

TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) [Every Friday]

Weekly Holidays beginning January 17 (2nd Full Week of January)

Amelia Island Restaurant Week (Amelia Island, Florida) [thru 1.26]

Berlin International Green Week (Berlin, Germany) [thru 1.26]

Festivals Beginning January 17, 2025

Bean Day (Fargo, North Dakota)

Chili Quest & Beerfest (Galveston, Texas) [thru 1.18]

Denver Comes Alive (Denver, Colorado) [thru 1.18]

Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo (Fort Worth, Texas) [thru 2.8]

Fringe World (Perth, Australia) [thru 2.16]

International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (Chapiteau de Fontvielle, Monte Carlo) [thru 1.26]

Madfredonia Carnival (Madfredonia, Italy) [thru 3.9]

Massafra Carnival (Massafra, Italy) [thru 3.4]

Montana Winter Fair (Lewistown, Montana) [thru 1.19]

Napa Truffle Festival (Napa, California) [thru 1.20]

Punta Gorda Seafood & Music Festival (Punta Gorda, Florida) [thru 1.19]

Rijeka Carnival (Rijeka, Croatia) [thru 3.5]

Scientific Grower Truffle Grower Seminar (Napa, California)

Winter Carefree Fine Art & Wine Festival (Carefree, Arizona) [thru 1.19]

Winter Wine Festival (New Castle, New Hampshire) [thru 2.9]

Feast Days

Amelbert (Christian; Blessed)

Anthony the Great (Christian; Saint)

Angelo Paoli (Christian; Blessed)

Black Bart (Muppetism)

Blathmac Mac Cu Brettan (Celtic Book of Days)

Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral Day (Hispanic Catholic Church; Mexico)

Benjamin Franklin (Humanism)

Charles Gore (Church of England)

Feast of Wagy (Ancient Egyptian Day of the Dead)

Felicitas (Old Roman Goddess of Good Luck)

Gamelbert of Michaelsbuch (Christian; Blessed)

Genulf (Christian; Saint)

International No Farting Day (Pastafarian)

Jenaro Sánchez Delgadillo (one of Saints of the Cristero War)

Julian Sabas (Christian; Saint)

Meng-Tseu (Positivist; Saint)

Mildgytha (Christian; Saint)

Nennins (Christian; Saint)

Ogoun’s Day (Pagan)

Old Twelfth Night (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Our Lady of Pontmain (Christian; Saint)

Patras Carnival begins (until Clean Monday; Greece)

Richmir (Christian; Saint)

Shakambharii Jayanti (a.k.a. Cher-Chhera Punni; Chhattisgarh, India)

Speusippus, Elcusippns, Meleusippns (Christian; Martyrs)

Sulpitius the Pious (Christian; Saint)

Sulpicins the Second (Christian; Saint)

Thaipusam (Tamil Nadu, India)

Thingfish Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Uzhavar Thirunal (Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, India)

Secular Saints Days

Muhammed Ali (Sports)

Luis Alverez (Science)

Anne Brontë (Literature)

Jim Carrey (Entertainment)

Eugène Carrière (Art)

Robert Cormier (Literature)

Antonio del Pollaiuolo (Art)

Laurent Delvaux (Art)

Benjamin Franklin (Polymath)

A. B. Frost (Art)

May Gibbs (Art)

T. Alexander Harrison (Art)

Rock Hudson (Entertainment)

James Earl Jones (Entertainment)

Sebastian Junger (Literature)

Compton Mackenzie (Literature)

Georges Pichard (Art)

Antonio Prohías (Art)

William Stafford (Literature)

Pieter Van Bloemen (Art)

Hem Vejakorni (Art)

Alfred Wainwright (Art & Literature)

Betty White (Entertainment)

Paul Young (Music)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Good Luck Day (Festival of Felicitas)

Prime Number Day: 17 [7 of 72]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Very Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [7 of 60]

Premieres

The Adventures of the American Rabbit (Film; 1986)

The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, by Henry Miller (Essays; 1945)

All’s Well (Fleischer Gabby Cartoon; 1941)

Billions (TV Series; 2016)

Canoes Who? Or Look Before You Leak (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 16; 1960)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl (Novel; U.S. 1964)

The Cherry Orchard, by Anton Chekov (Play; 1904)

The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier (Novel; 1974)

Choral Hypocrite in G Major, by Erik Satie (Duet for Violin & Piano; 1914)

The Clan of the Cave Bear (Film; 1986)

A Coney Island of the Mind, by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Poems; 1958)

Court and Spark, by Joni Mitchell (Album; 1974)

Drum Boogie, recorded by Gene Krupa (Song; 1941)

Dumb Like a Fox (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1964)

Everyone Says I Love You (Film; 1997)

Fraidy Cat (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1942)

Freejack (Film; 1992)

Frontline (TV News Series; 1983)

Gone with the Wind (Film; 1939)

A Guy Thing (Film; 2003)

Heathcliffe: The Movie (Film; 1986)

Helter Shelter (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1955)

Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear (Animated Film; 1986)

The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Novel; 1868)

In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote (True Crime Novel; 1966)

The Inspector-Detector or A Kick in the Plants (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 15; 1960)

Iron Eagle (Film; 1986)

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Film; 2014)

Kickin’ the Conga ‘Round (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1942)

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Animated TV Series; 1988)

The Nut Job (Film; 2014)

Ride Along (Film; 2014)

Seven Types of Ambiguity, by William Empson (Literary Criticism; 1930)

Snow Business (WB LT Cartoon; 1953)

Somewhere in Dreamland (Fleischer Color Classics Cartoon; 1936)

Sounds of Silence, by Simon & Garfunkel (Album; 1966)

South of No North, by Charles Bukowski (Poetry; 1973)

Toonerville Trolley (Rainbow Parade Cartoon; 1936)

A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute (Novel; 1950)

Today’s Name Days

Antonius, Beatrix (Austria)

Andon, Anton, Antonia, Dona, Doncho, Donka (Bulgaria)

Antun, Lavoslav, Marijan, Vojmil (Croatia)

Drahoslav (Czech Republic)

Antonius (Denmark)

Anto, Anton, Antu, Hando, Tõnis, Tõnn, Tõnno, Tõnu (Estonia)

Anton, Antto, Anttoni, Toni (Finland)

Roseline (France)

Anton, Rosalind (Germany)

Antonia, Antonios, Antonis (Greece)

Antal, Antónia (Hungary)

Alba, Antonio, Iole (Italy)

Tenis, Timotejs (Latvia)

Beatričė, Dovainis, Leonilė, Vilda (Lithuania)

Anton, Tønnes, Tony (Norway)

Antoni, Jan, Rościsław (Poland)

Antonie (Romania)

Nataša (Slovakia)

Antonio (Spain)

Anton, Tony (Sweden)

Anthony, Antoine, Antoinette, Anton, Antonia, Antonio, Antony, Antwan, Ben, Benita, Benito, Benjamin, Bennie, Benny, Toni, Tony (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 17 of 2025; 348 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 3 of 2025

Celtic Tree Calendar: Ruis (Elder) [Day 27 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Ding-Chou), Day 18 (Bing-Xu)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Coptic: 9 Tubah 1741

Hebrew: 17 Teveth 5785

Islamic: 17 Rajab 1446

J Cal: 17 White; Threesday [17 of 30]

Julian: 4 January 2025

Moon: 85%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 17 Moses (1st Month) [Meng-Tseu]

Runic Half Month:Peorth (Womb, Dice Cup) [Day 11 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 28 of 90)

Week: 2nd Full Week of January

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 27 of 30)

[strangledeggs]

Tell me what to listen to next!

I'm stealing an idea from someone else on here to help me catch up on a backlog of music I have lying around that I haven't yet listened to. Up above, you'll see 50 albums, 25 in each list. The lists are as follows:

List 1:

Adele - 30 Les Amazones d'Afrique - Amazones Power The Chills - Brave Words CMAT - Crazymad, For Me Courtney Love - America's Sweetheart Dusty Springfield - The Very Best Of Dusty Springfield FU-Schnickens - Nervous Breakdown Generation Bass Presents Transnational Dubstep [compilation] Gil Scott-Heron - It's Your World Girls Against Boys - House Of GvsB Kool AD - 63 Louis Armstrong - Ambassador Satch Mach-Hommy - Dollar Menu 4 Mase - Harlem World Meat Puppets - Huevos Meredith Monk - Dolmen Music Nirvana - From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah Pylon - Chomp Stevie Ray Vaughan - In Step Terry Allen - Bottom Of The World Thelonious Monk - The Complete London Collection Tyler Childers - Rustin' In The Rain UB40 - Labour Of Love The Velvet Underground - Another View Willowz - Talk In Circles

List 2:

Bell Orchestre - Recording A Tape The Colour Of The Light Carly Pearce - Hummingbird Clem Snide - End Of Love Earth, Wind & Fire - Open Our Eyes Elliott Murphy - Aquashow Gasolin' - Gasolin' Helen Reddy - Helen Reddy Kirby Heard - Mama's Biscuits Lifesavas - Spirit In Stone Lori McKenna - 1988 Marshal Crenshaw - #447 Muddy Waters - King Bee New Wave Dance Music From South Africa [compilation] NRBQ - NRBQ L'Orchestre National Mauritanien - Ahl Nana Randy Newman - Randy Newman Ray Wylie Hubbard - Co-Starring Too Ruby Braff And Ellis Larkins - Calling Berlin Vol. 1 Sacred Soul Of North Carolina [compilation] Skip James - Blues From The Delta Swamp Dogg - Gag A Maggot Tabu Ley Rochereau - Man From Kinshasa Unholy Modal Rounders - Unholier Than Thou: 7/7/77 Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle Yo-Yo Ma - Classic Yo-Yo

You can help me out here by replying to this post picking one album from each of the lists, which I will then listen to at some point in...hopefully the next month? Maybe two? Sorry, my listening schedule for new stuff is slow recently because of work. But a few notes here:

a) First, obviously you must pick two albums (again, one from each list) and you can't pick something somebody else has already picked.

b) As I listen to these albums (I tend to go in alphabetical order on a running list I have), I will post short impressions of them here (I may or may not add a letter grade, we'll see how I'm feeling by the time I get around to it).

c) Pretty much all of these albums were reviewed (or at least recommended) in some way by the critic Robert Christgau, so part of my impressions will involve noting whether I agree or disagree with him on his assessment.

I'm honestly not sure if I have enough followers here for this to work, so it might get cross-posted to a Facebook group I'm in where people are more likely to respond. I'll reblog after a while with an update on what's chosen, and it will close after I get a lineup of about 10-20 albums (or after like a week or two, if no one's responding).

And yes, I am aware that these are eccentric lists.