True Colors record release show/best weekend

I finally made it out of the Germany (this was my second time out of the Stuttgart area). Despite the nine hours on a bus in each direction, the trip to Belgium was an incredible experience. I now seriously want to learn Dutch.

I got on the bus in Stuttgart at 8:45 and did not sleep more than about half an hour between then and 5:50, when I got off at the train station in Brussels. This was partly due to the general uncomfortable nature of bus travel, and partly because the guy sitting next to me had no understanding of personal space. He sat with his legs spread wide apart, forcing me to sqeeze to the side, and then for like 5 minutes he was leaning on my shoulder. I'm pretty sure he was asleep, but still.

In Brussels I sat around the station reading for a little more than two hours before I got on a train to Antwerp. I arrived in Antwerp at 9:00, giving me about nine hours to explore the city before the True Colors show. I left the train station heading towards the city center, which I found without getting lost (I did not get lost all weekend, which was a major achievement). In the Groenplaats (green place or Grünplatz in German. Dutch is very similar to German and, to a lesser extent, English) I found the cathedral, which is a really impressive gothic building, with a clock tower visible from many blocks away. That's probably not a very useful description, so here's a picture.

I walked a few blocks past the Cathedral and found the Ethnography museum. I had only been open for twenty minutes, cost only one euro for people under 26 years old, and I had plenty of time, so I decided to pay it a visit. It had an interesting collection of art and artifacts from Australian aborigines, Native Americans (yes, I went all the way to Belgium to see this), a variety of African cultures, and a really awesome collection of Indian, Himalayan, and Indonesian art, as well as some paintings from east Asia. At one point I sat down in a chair and tried to get some of the sleep I couldn't get on the bus, but I felt bad and kept waking up out of fear of getting caught. After leaving I walked over to 't Steen, the castle. It was small, but more of an authentic castle than anything I've seen in Germany. It's right on the river and there are a bunch of modern ships next to it.

It was around noon at this point and my stomach was rumbling, so I made a point of eating some legitimate Belgian friets (french fries). I went to a place that was probably very touristy (evidence includes the old English couple behind me that insisted on ordering "chips" instead of at least trying to say "friets"), but still legit. I paid 65 cents for sauce on my friets, but at least I had the freedom to pump as much as I wanted. Freedom isn't free, but damn, pumpers need to pump. It's also worth noting that the sauce selection was astounding and delicious.

From there I went to the Peter Paul Rubens house, which wasn't really my thing but was still worth seeing as he is one of Antwerp's major claims to fame. After that I went back to the Cathedral to check out the inside, which was impressive, but a lot like every other Cathedral I've ever seen. At this point I went back to the train station to use the bathroom. This is only worth mentioning because, in line to use the bathroom, the girl standing next to me asked if I was in town for the True Colors show. Of course I said yes, and we ended up hanging out for the next few hours. Her name was Kasia, and she is originally from Poland but is living in the Netherlands for school. We walked back to the city center, looked at the Cathedral some more, and got the best asian food I've had since coming to Europe. At this point it was the late afternoon, so we started on the relatively long walk to the venue. About three quarters of the way there, we ran into one of Kasia's Polish friends who had come from London. He was eating at a falafel shop with some other Polish by way of London dudes, and Daniel from Bitter End. Kasia and her friend went back to the city center, but I had been on my feet all day and couldn't handle another long walk, so I went with the other dudes to the venue.

When we got there, the only people there were Wim from True Colors and Filip from Powered Records/Justice. I just kind of sat around and talked to people a little bit, but I felt really out of place being super early and not knowing anyone. A little later people started to show up. I caught up with Dave Byrd at the TC/Bitter End merch table and talked to him for a little bit. It was extremely refreshing to see a familiar DC face in Europe.

The first bad was a pretty weak rock band called Joshua's Song. There's not much to say about them really. They were followed by World Gone Mad (left), who were pretty good hardcore on the tougher end of the spectrum in the NYHC fashion. They sound checked with Malfunction by the Cro-Mags, but during their set they covered Life Of My Own. The next band, State of Mind were sort of quicksand influenced rocky post hardcore. They were fairly entertaining but nothing too exciting. Next came Bitter End (right), who got the best reaction up to that point. I hadn't been a big fan of their recorded material, but as a live band, they definitely bring it.

So at this point we've arrived at the reason I came to Belgium. True Colors. They ruled. I already knew that would be the case. The crowd reaction was a little tamer than I had expected, partly due to the songs from the new LP that kids hadn't heard yet. I was exhausted at this point, but I was still fingerpointing, moshing and stage diving (they had a stage, so young diving wasn't really necessary). They opened with Focus on the Light, and within second I was pushed over onto the stage and there were people clambering over me to get to Packo and his microphone. They played most of the hits from the Focus on the Light LP and a lot of new jams, but I don't think they played anything off the Perspective 7''. They also threw in a cover of YOT's Take A Stand, and it appeared that Filip from Justice and I were the only people who knew it or cared about it, which was disappointing, but it's not the band's fault by any means. They closed with The Way To Myself, which caused the kids to explode out of their idle staring and pile on top of each other to sing along. I was also much too busy to take any pictures of True Colors' set. Also, TxC were selling Force Fed demos for some reason, one of which I bought.

Afterwards, I talked to Kasia and Dave Byrd some more. Dave introduced me to some of his friends from Ghent, including Larry Edge who was nice enough to let me stay at his place. I took a nap in Dave's rental car for a while, and then we went to an Italian restaurant near the Groenplaats for a 2:00 am dinner before heading to Ghent for the night. Dave had also brought a bunch of records for a sort of secret gift bag type thing for his Belgian friends, and he let me take the Ten Yard Fight "Back On Track" LP on orange, which was really generous and really awesome. Some people whose initials are Shana Hurley and Patrick Kelliher may say "Whack On Track", but TYF rules and it has "We Know the Truth".

The next morning was Dave's birthday, and we started off with waffels in the square, followed by hanging out by the canal with Dave's friends Larry, Bart, Bjorn from Rise and Fall, Lino from Dead Stop, as well as his friends from the Netherland Nico, Karolien, and Sophia who was from Greece. I think most of these people were at least 10 years older than me. At this point I should mention that Dave did not drink anything other than beer for the entire weekend, as he announced just befor I left. After sitting by the canal for a while, we went to a restaurant for more waffels, where Dave's was delivered with a sparkler in it and a happy birthday song that was not the same as a real ethnic American happy birthday. I also met Lino's girlfriend and their baby girl, whose baby carriage Dave ended up pushing for a little bit. After this we went to a new restaurant that Lino had opened a few weeks before where we sat around and people who drank had more beer. We tried a delicious cookie flavored spread as well.

We split up after this so Dave and I could grab our cameras from Larry's place before dinner. At Larry's house we had a slight delay in the form of watching his DVD of the last Dead Stop show. Then we headed to a pizza place near the Frontline, where we were going to a show later. After eating some solid pizza, Dave was suprised again with tiramisu with a Corpse Fortress grade roman candle planted in it. At some point during dinner, I suggested to Dave that he have a son named Gary, so that there would be a real Gary Byrd, but he was not particularly amused by the idea, or perhaps the association with Garybird.



After dinner we went to the show, which turned out to be pretty disappointing. Reproach who were pretty cool were playing when we went inside, but there set was over pretty quickly. Vogue, who were the main attraction, had canceled because their drummer was sick, so we were left with just Brutal Knights from Canada, who were just boring. That was a bummer but it didn't really dampen my spirits, which were higher than they had been at any point since coming to Europe. Everyone parted ways after the show. Dave, Larry, and I went back to the Larry's house where Dave and I watched the video of the 86 Mentality and Dead Stop sets at the last ever show at the Lintfabriek. This and the other Dead Stop video were more insane than any show I have ever been to in my life. The last Dead Stop show is just a constant avalanche of stage dives, and the last Lintfabriek show is too packed for anyone to move, let alone stage dive.

I went to bed after the videos were over. The next day we had lunch with Bjorn on his break from work, and Dave went to check out his favorite brewery. I went to the castle, called the Gravensteen (castle of the Counts). This was actually the first authentically medieval castle (besides the one I spent five minutes at in Antwerp) that I had seen since coming to Europe. It had a little museum inside with mostly weapons and torture devices on display. After that I just walked around Ghent taking pictures and searching in vain for a friets joint that was open. After Dave and I met back up at Larry's place, Michel the guitarist from Dead Stop came over, and we went out to meet up with Larry, who was still at work, and get some dinner. After eating it was time for me to catch a train to Brussels and then my bus back to Stuttgart. I got to Stuttgart the next morning at 9, and promptly had all my stuff searched by Passport control people, who asked if I had any drugs on me.

In all, this was an incredible weekend. I'm incredibly grateful to Dave for introducing me to so many cool people, letting me hang out with him and his friends all weekend, and giving me an awesome record, and to Larry for letting me stay at his place. Everyone I met this weekend was absolutely awesome, and I could not have had a more amazing time.

to finish up, here are a few more assorted pictures

first hardcore show

I went to my first hardcore show in Germany a couple weeks ago. I took the train to Stuttgart and walked about half an hour, miraculously without getting lost. The venue, called the Jugendhaus West (or JuHa West), which basically means youth center, was covered in well done but extremely cheesy graffiti, including a tag that said "This is for da B-Girls" (this was the only one I could really read). As I walked by I glanced in a window and saw some kids in a dance studio practicing breakdancing. The actual show space was in the basement with a door around the back of the building, which was easily identifiable by the large number of punx (and hardcore kids) hanging around outside. The UK82 and peace punk styles are a lot more popular in Germany than in the US, to the point that they seem to be the dominant style of punk here. I found a spot on a bench and just sat there for a while breathing in second hand smoke and trying to understand people's conversations. I did make out one dude, who I made friends with later, making fun of someone for having a vorkuhila, which is German for mullet (it's an acronym for Vor Kurz Hinter Lang, which means front short back long).

On to the bands: Escalation, a local hardcore punk band opened. Like most bands they spoke in German, but their songs have English lyrics and titles. Anyway, they played very fast thrashy hardcore with some harder breakdowns. There was one part where their drummer had to fix his floor tom instead of playing a breakdown, but their set was still a lot of fun. They played a cover that I didn't recognize (but "cover song" is easy to understand in German). Afterwards, I introduced myself to Daniel, their singer (the guy making fun of the mullet). I had mentioned to him on the internet that I would be at the show, and he instantly recognized my by my mumbly, timid German, and just said "Bobby?". Apparently it was also my clothes and the fact that he'd never seen me before that helped him recognize me. We ended up talking for a while (in English unfortunately), and I went out and got a bowl of vegan spaghetti bolognese, which was wonderful as I had not had any meat substitutes up to that point (or since, actually). There were tables for a variety of political groups, mostly queer and anti-fascist related, I was given some literature but never really made the effort to decifer the German. This was going on as the second band, Broken Handcuffs, played. I tried to watch them for a little bit, but they just weren't very good. Also their singer played guitar which is exteremly boring.

Straight Hate, the headliners, came on next. Three band lineups are not bad at all. They were on tour from Chemnitz, which I believe is in Saxony. Anyway, they actually weren't a straight edge band, but I'm pretty sure their singer is. He rocked an Insted shirt. They soundchecked with "Chunks" by Last Rights, and I actually started singing along, not realizing it was a soundcheck. Whatever, you're moshing. Despite the cheesy, obviously euro name, Straight Hate ruled. Fast old school hardcore, a little bit of a youth crew vibe, but much angrier. The singer started the set with a young dive, and some other kids followed his example throught the show. This made me feel more at home than I have at any other time since coming to Germany. The show was actually remarkably like a DC show, in that there were young dives and a lot of obnoxious punx trying to push mosh. There was a circle pit for half a second though and some side to side mosh, however. Straight Hate covered "Filler" by Minor Threat about halfway through their set. The cover was really tight and I, as well as a lot of other kids, lost my shit for it. They played a pretty long set considering they have one record (a CD out). They closed without playing "Chunks" but I could see it on their set list and some people started asking for more and I shouted "Chunk" and "Last Rights" repeatedly until they played some joke song that I didn't really get, followed by my jam. I sang along every word.

After Straigh Hate were finished, I talked to Daniel some more, and he invited me to come over to his place the next day for a cooking party (which I didn't make it to, sadly), and I talked to a couple cool younger kids who showed me how to get back to the train station on the Stuttgart U-Bahn (subway). They also told me about one huge free show with really big hardcore bands like Have Heart and Shipwreck. I'm not really into that kind of HC but I'll still go. They also asked me lots of questions about Boston, even though I kept trying to tell them about DCHC.

This was, by far the best night I have had in Germany, and the one time I have really been happy here.

Mittlealter Markt

The weekend before last I decided to immerse myself in authentic German culture, and get away from the touristy trappings of previous outings. So I found myself, along with my friend Adam, at a real ethnic German Renaissance Fair. Later we were joined by Adam's friend Daniel, an actual German who was an exchange student at Tufts last year. He seems like a pretty fund dude. Fourtunately, unlike in America where entry can get really expensive, this only cost one euro.

It was basically everything I had expected. Lots of ridiculous costumes, a stage with a little show. A game involving a mouse running into doors. A stand selling swords, Knights Templar costumes, ornamental skulls, and mead. Another notable aspect is the fact that the fair was extremely popular with bikers. Like leather jackets and everything. Also a lot of patrons seem to have confused medieval with mall goth and jerbang, and wore their best Hot Topic (or whatever they have in Germany) outfits to the fair. In anycase, it was hilarious and a fun way to spend a sunday afternoon. I took some video with my camera, but I lost it, so these pictures will have to do.

(Gandalf the Grey, I assume)

Adam

Daniel

random hardcore sightings

Though small, Tübingen is not devoid of hardcore. I have seen the following around town:

Graffiti in a pedestrian tunnel leading into the train station. The end is kind of hard to read because of the other tags over it, but it says "Hardcore will never die". It's a fact.


Also, more confusing and hilarious (or "Komisch" as they say in German) is this sighting. I don't understand why this was there, but on this poster for a very tacky looking hip-hop show, I noticed a small Token Entry logo on the boombox. I really don't get it, but I also really don't care why. I saw a Token Entry logo walking down the street in Germany, that's what matters.




Also, I bought a bus ticket to Belgium and a ticket to the True Colors record release show. It will rule without a doubt. I should also go to my first real ethnic German HC show on April 24th in Stuttgart. This band Straight Hate from Saxony are playing. They're not totally my jam, but I'm excited to check out a show here either way. This guy named Tommy that my friend Amanda told me to get in touch with recommended them. Tommy lives on the other side of the country but hopefully we'll be able to meet up at a show sometime soon. Also, someone on the bus told me about a group of kids called "send in the clowns" that do hardcore shows in Tübingen. She described them as the really radical "not smoking not drinking" kids, and said that the bands they book aren't melodic at all. This was all unsolicited. I had pretty much said nothing to her at this point except to answer yes when she asked if I listen to hardcore punk.


and finally, just so it's clear, there are plenty of gross crusty, UK82 style traveller punks. A group of them usually hang out with their dogs and panhandle in the same spot near the building that is as close to a mall as Tübingen has. I don't have any pictures of them unfortunately, but I did get one of this radical dude with his dog in Stuttgart:

trip to Stuttgart

The Saturday before last (April 4th), I went to Stuttgart with 4 of my friends from Tufts In Tuebingen, making use of a really cheap 5 person group train ticket. We had a great time and I was very happy to get out of Tuebingen for the day. We were lucky enough to choose to make this trip during some sort of fest in downtown Stuttgart. This featured lots of food, almost none of which was vegetarian of course, a huge amount of people out shopping, and a stage with all sorts of performances, which is very important, but I'll get to it a little later.

On the train, we were lucky enough to see one of these out the window at a stop on the way. Yes it is all in English.

We got off in Stuttgart and got lost for a while trying to find a record store. After going the wrong direction about 3 times we did finally get there. In the end, everything I might have wanted was like 20 euro, which I didn't really want to spend, because nothing was really that crucial.



However, we were lucky enough to spend a long time in the park near the train station trying to find our way around. This granted us a wonderful opportunity to observe the mallgoth/jerbang (Gerbang in Germany?) gathering that was going on. None of the kids were talking. They just sat there, wearing black and red together. This picture doesn't do them justice at all unfortunately. At this point, I would like to address the fact that it seems there are only three types of Germany teenagers. There are mallgoth jerbang types, there are hipster/wigger types who wear obnoxiously brightly colored clothing, flatbrim hats, and huge vividly colored sneakers, and there are these sort of guido type kids, except with huge flat tops. Their hair looks vaguely like that of Paul Phoenix from the Tekken series of fighting games, or possibly Guile from Street Fighter. However, they all have dark hair (I believe it's some kind of Turkish-German subculture), and more importantly, in the back, the do turns into a mullet. They also wear typically wear leather jackets, but not the punk kind.

I couldn't get any photos of actually wigger kids, but I did take a picture of a mannequin done up like one.


And here are some pictures of downtown Stuttgart:











































So anyway, we walked around the city and saw various sites, but really the only thing that matters is the display that was going on when Adam, Chris, and I returned to the stage area in the center of the downtown shopping area, after walking off down the main shopping street for a while. Here we were treated to the end of a fashion show featuring slightly eurotrashy clothing. But then we were lucky enough to catch the Groß Final, in which one dude and three girls, one of whom was of African descent, strutted the catwalk in Lederhosen and Dirndls. And yes this was exciting, but it did nothing to prepare us for the absurd display that came next. Apparently there is something that comes after a Groß Final. A group of more shall we say, traditionally German looking, models came out, also sporting the traditional German dancing garb. At this point, tacky accordion music started playing on the sound system, and the blonde dude with what was almost a mullet, began to do something that in an office evironment would be considered sexual harassment, while lipsynching (very obviously) a number that went something like this: "a blonde, a brunette, I love all women", or auf Deutsch: "ein Blond, ein Braun, Ich liebe alle Fraun!". After that there's really nothing worth saying about this day trip, so I will just leave you with a few pictures of the incident.




There are a few more pictures on my flickr account, http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobbyxwestfall/ but unfortunately there's a pretty low monthly limit for uploads unless you pay 25 bucks for a year of pro account access, so most of my newer pictures aren't up there.

So I have been in Germany for about a week and a half and I finally have internet access, although it is through someone else's university login and password because I still don't have my own. Tübingen is a beautiful old city and it shows in the Altstadt (old town). I was told it looks like a fairy tale and that was certainly accurate. Here are some pictures:

the old town hall

town hall detail, that's Count Eberhard V (Graf Eberhard in German) , the founder of the university
the marketplace

some tiny stairs

Poseidon atop a fountain (shut off for the winter)

a Knight stabbing a serpent above a fountain

a view of the castle (das Schloss) from the main street in town

I have eaten falafel for lunch almost every day since I have been here. It is the same price as eating in the cafetria (or mensa as they call it here) but significantly better. Also, the first and only time I ate in the mensa, my card didn't work and then I got in trouble with the cashier lady who started yelling at me and my friend who also had the same problem. Of course this was all in German which we could only understand half of and we couldn't explain ourselves well enough in German to help at all. We ended up giving her cash, which she undoubtedly pocketed because they don't even accept cash there. After all that, my food was terrible.



Also, I have been on two mandatory but also very worthwhile hikes. On the first, we went out to a chapel on a big hill outside of town that was once part of a medieval pilgrimage route (the way of St. James) to Compostela de Santiago in Spain. The second one went to a small town near Tübingen with a 12th century monestary called Bebenhaus around which a castle had been built in the early 19th century (so not really a castle but that's what they were calling it). I only have pictures of the first hike though.

going up to the chapel (Kapelle)

(a view from the chapel)

the chapel from a distance

me at the chapel

another view from the chapel


the way back (through vineyards)

and finally, the most important purchase of my semester:

There are many more pictures online at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobbyxwestfall/ if you want to see them.