It’s always been great that the Folk Club in Bonn attracts international musicians to visit. When one of them actually comes here to live – well, we’ll take that happily, thank you very much! Rick Fines is a veteran Canadian roots musician with a long and storied career in Canada and possibly one of the country’s hardest working artists, having toured across the Country countless times — solo, as a duo, and with a full band — recording over 14 albums along the way. After several short appearances at Dotty’s it was great to finally see Rick do a full set at the Kulturbad in Rüngsdorf.

Bonn Jazzfans should check out the new website from Dottendorfer Jazznacht. There you will find all the good music coming your way from this very popular venue.

A triple threat as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, Goods has spent over two decades earning his place among Germany’s finest jazz voices. In 2005 he was the only European selected for the final round of the Thelonious Monk Jazz Guitar Competition in Washington D.C., and critics have long reached for superlatives to describe him — the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that he “plays the guitar like George Benson, sings like Frank Sinatra, and composes like Joe Sample.”

Having seen Torsten already in Dottendorf (see above image) I can vouch for of the above!

The concert is on 15 May. Details, you guessed it, on the DOTTENDORFER JAZZNACHT WEBSITE.

Fans of Bonn Folk Club, and indeed older fans of Bonn’s street music, might like to know that there will be a memorial concert today in memory of Hermann Josef Wolf – better known as ‘Fliege’ – who died on 19th January this year.

‘Fliege’ was a street musician with heart and soul – playing the guitar, singing and playing the harmonica –, Colleagues at the Menschensinfonieorchester where he played described him as “a great connoisseur of folk music, a man full of stories, told in his own unique way: sometimes crystal clear, sometimes hard to follow, but always authentic. In the 1970s, he often played on the street with Klaus the Violinist. The street was his natural stage; direct contact with people was his way of making music“

Illness forced a retreat from playing music in public and his last years were spent in a care home. I hope my picture captures a little of ‘Fliege’s’ spirit, personality and joy at playing music in front of people (and in this case dogs too!) It was taken at the June 2022 Folk Club meet (ironically the last public appearance too of Steve Perry)

R.I.P.