My music weekend in Berlin

Several months ago, Robert Hoare, a Canadian ex-pat teaching songwriting at the Berlin School of Popular Arts, dropped me a line about my 1000th Ongoing History show. The email ended with “If you’re ever in Berlin, I’d love to have to in to speak to my students.”

Me? Berlin? Sold. The necessary arrangements were made, and I flew in last Thursday and the workshop took most of Friday afternoon in front of about fifty students. But before and after, I (thanks to Robert) had a chance to sample some of the city’s music scene.

Between Friday and Saturday night, we walked somewhere close to 20 km throughout the city, checking out as many musical landmarks as we could.

My hotel on Potsdamer Strasse was a two-minute walk from this place: The apartment Bowie and Iggy Pop shared in the 70s. The bar on the main floor is as funky as you could hope. I’m told you can get a private tour of the apartment, but it costs €495.

Robert showed me this place, the site of an old club where Bowie and Iggy used to hang. Nick Cave was once a patron, too. It’s no longer any kind of a venue but it still an occupied building.

I also went by Hansa Studios, the complex where he recorded some of his Berlin trilogy, including Heroes. U2 made some of Achtung Baby here, too. This is in the window.

If you ever find yourself in Berlin, I suggest booking the Bowie walk. It’s a guided tour of all things Berlin and Bowie.

It was also Gallery Week in the city. All the city’s art galleries were open to the public with many featuring live music. One place (I think its name translates as “Tweet Machine”) featured a three-piece Berlin-style punk band whose members had an average age beyond 70. The crowd was older, too–lots of grey hair–but they were TOTALLY into it.

Zam, the guitarist, is 78. He’s originally from LA and a musician, painter, artist, and all-round man of the street. The dude knows everybody.

Walking around the city on Saturday, there were street performances by musicians and DJs everywhere.

I had a total of 36 hours to take in the musical sites which was nowhere near enough. I wanted to check out the Ramones Museum again (worth it). We didn’t make it to the newly UNESCO-designated techno club scene area. There’s the Kreuzberg 36 area, the home of some gritty culture and nightlight.

Needless to say, there’s so much modern history to take in. Checkpoint Charlie. The pat of the Berlin Wall. The still-standing remains of bombed out buildings, complete with bullet holes. And if you have extra time, rent a car, point it east on the autobahn, rev it up to 150kph and you’ll be in Poland in no time.

Getting to Berlin from Canada requires a connection–there are no direct flights despite the shiny new Brandenberg airport– but it’s worth the effort. Trust me.

Thanks to Robert and Zam for an awesome couple of days. I’ll be back.