Dorota Lesch and 'Band' Die Madämchen
Just to prove it’s not all sex and drugs and Rock and Roll on ‘3Songs’ I caught these ladies onstage at the Museumsmile Festival in Bonn this weekend.
Die Madämchen are a Ladies Chamber Orchestra that was founded in 1984 in Cologne by Dorota Lesch (2nd left). Their musical roots are in Chicago Ragtime so maybe I am slipping in a plug for something Bluesy in here again. A little different though all the same.
Java born Robert Kreis began his musical career by chance. Whilst working as steward on a cruise-ship he was asked to entertain the passengers on piano. He enjoyed himself so much that enrolment at a cabaret school in The Hague followed. At the same time he began collecting old shellack gramaphone discs from junk shops and jumblesales.
Bonn's famed Open Air Tent
Could this be the last Open-Air Season in Bonn’s Museumsplatz?
The venue that has staged such illustrious concerts as Elton John, David Bowie and The Who could soon be a fond memory. The adjascent Bundeskunsthalle which rents the land where the famous tent stands now demands 2.5 million euros for the renovation of the Tent and it’s location spread over five years plus a regular payment of 60.000 euros each year for future site maintenance + an additional 250.000 euro downpayment.
A good reason to get there early for BB Kings show in Bonn on 11 July – Ana Popovic Rocking Belgrade
Another date for Blues lovers diaries in Bonn: 26 January 2012.
Nine Below Zero – including former Rory Gallagher bassman Gerry McAvoy – are booked for the Harmonie. If you can’t make it, or even want to see them twice – they are also due in Koblenz at Cafe Hahn the next day. From my memories of an excellent show in Koblenz a few years back I can safely say they are worth seeing twice too!
They sing love songs to a City, in a dialect that hardly anyone in that City even speaks. Despite (or because of?) this, Blackfööss play to huge audiences locally, and their concert in Museumsplatz, the second of the current Open-Air Season, was no exception. A Cologne Band being cheered in Bonn? Isn’t this a bit like Liverpool getting a standing ovation at Goodison Park? Where ‘Kölsch’ music is concerned it seems like everyone loves the Band – but is Cologne really the closest thing to Heaven on Earth? Am I missing something on my weekly commute to the Cathedral City?
Meena & Erja - October 11
3SongsBonn has it on good authority that some great International Blues is coming your way at the Harmonie later in the year.
11 Oct Finlands Erja Lyytinen and Austrias Meena
8 November Top slide guitarist from America Eric Sardinas and his band Big Motor
3 December Serbian born Ana Popovic (also supporting BB King at Museumsplatz in July)
I’m still waiting for confirmation of these shows, but 2011 looks like being a hot Winter as anyone who’s caught these acts in previous years will testify.
Check back with 3SONGSBONN.COM for confirmation!
Sax Attack ready for action
Detlef Stachetzki was in Grauerheindorf to capture the latest Folk-Club evening – here is my translation of his review:
Even good weather, a long weekend thanks to Ascension Day, and a qualifying match for the World Championship didn’t deter music fans from attending the Graurheindorfer Folk Club. Maybe because the chances of relaxing at the Folk Club are much greater than the chances of managing to do it watching an International Football Game? Whatever the reason, it was good to see all the familiar smiling faces once again.
New faces were present too. In particular those from ‘The General-Anzeiger’ which had sent a reporter and photographer to find out what all the fuss was about at our gatherings. The result was an excellent report published on the following Monday. Their estimate of the audience number at 140 was a little ‘über’enthusiastic though. Such a large turnout would have practically burst the walls – or at the very least stretched the catering staff to breaking point. We’ve certainly had around 100 people here on a Winters’ evening though, and the 70 or so that were actually there on Friday, made for a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere – as well as allowing our Guardian Angel and Bar Manageress Angelika Bürfent to keep everyone fed and ‘watered’.
