Sad news today that Mr ‘Hackbraten’ as he would be called in the German translation, Meatloaf, has died.

For those of us lucky enough to have grown up with great Rock music in the late ’70’s the album ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ could only be compared to Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in it’s bombastic splendour. The match of Meatloaf with writer/producer Jim Steinman was one of those magical combinations. The singer got the glory of course and the two fell out. Steinman even had the phrase ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ legally registered. Both men had health issues and disagreements but it was always clear that neither was quite as good without the other.

Jim Steinman died in April of 2021, and now Meatloaf himself has gone. There was talk of a return to the recording studio in January of 2022 and a disc that would also include live tracks from the 1970’s to the present. Expect then some seriously good blasts from the past to be released in the coming months, even if there was no time for the new material to be put down.

In a 2016 interview Meatloaf said he’d had 18 concussions, fallen three stories from a balcony, been in planes where the landing gears failed and was currently being treated for back pain. So why do you still go on tour? was the obvious question. “I don’t wanna travel and I don’t wanna pack, but I DO wanna do shows!” Two out of three ain’t bad indeed. R.I.P. Meatloaf

Wishing all visitors to this website a Happy and Healthy Christmas time.

I hope that despite Covid limitations you can spend some time relaxing with loved ones, and I hope to see you all again at concerts in 2022. To quote the late, great, John Miles:
“To live without my music, would be impossible to do. In this world of troubles, my music pulls me through“

My second weekend visit to the Bad Godesberg Christmas Market, and fresh music to enjoy with a Glühwein in one hand and a Nikon in the other. In front of the Fronhofer Galeria local rockers Winterfeld with Bonn Folk Club’s Daniel Bongart on vocals were busy keeping the shoppers warm with hot music from the likes of BAP’s ‘Verdamp Lang Her’ through Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding’ and even bringing some British humour to the end of their excellent show with the help of Eric Idle’s ‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life’.

If you want to find a symmetric point, you can do so by calculation, or more easily, you can take a bus to Bad Godesberg.  Okay, it doesn’t work everyday, but on Saturday a quartet under that unusual name were to be found playing some relaxing guitar and sax at the Christmas Market.  It was certainly both an enjoyable and a pleasant atmosphere to enjoy Glühwein and a Bratwurst in – which an increasing number of families were doing as the afternoon wore on.   Thanks then to Sascha, Lars, Regine, and Wilfried for providing a perfect relaxing musical backdrop for a Market that was nicely spread out, with none of the hectic busy pressure, and the ‘packed like sardines‘ feeling that you usually get at Bonn’s main Market.

There was a tiny bit of pressure on though as I particularly wanted to check out the mini Xmas Market set up in the Kurpark next to the Kleines Theater, so I didn’t have time to eat or drink before heading up the road.

Organizer Sabine

Organizer Sabine

If you were at one of the excellent shows Unter der Zeder in the Summer you will know the location well, and the little square really does transform perfectly into a mini Christmas grotto – except that instead of Santa Claus I was greeted on this particular Saturday afternoon by John Hay, Eva Henneken and the rest of local/international band CAYU.   In fact, the band is particularly international this evening, joined as they are by drummer Alexandre’s Brazilian father Ricardo on guitar and brother Ric on upright bass.

CAYU’s shows get more varied every time I see them, as traditional World music becomes interspersed with self compositions and now extra Brazilian Samba flair. Add some tasty Bratwurst and Glühwein to the mix – and, with the aid of a snow machine, it truly was, for about twenty seconds anyway, a white Christmas.

Who knows, maybe at next week’s Christmas Grotto ‘Unter der Zeder’ the snow will be for real…
THE next ‘Advent unter der Zeder‘ is on Sunday (19 Dec) from 6 pm to 10 pm with Christmas music from Greencard .  My advice is to come early as the Covid 2 rules + limited space might mean you have to wait in that snow for a while for admission.

There are no more great blues concerts in Bonn this year? Think again!

On Dec. 15 (start: 8 p.m.) One of the best “voices of the blues” Big Daddy Wilson (Wilson Blount) and his great band will still be coming to Harmonie-Bonn. He will be bringing his new CD “Hard Time Blues” and performing great songs like “Yazoo City”, “A Letter”, “Hard Time Blues” (+ a ‘Best of’ Set of his remaining Cd’s).

Limited capacity in the hall and partial seating will ensure no overcrowding, and the Harmonie has an excellent ventilation system. The Corona rule being applied is 2G+ which means that, in addition to 2x vaccinated or recovered, you will also need to have proof of a negative antigen test not older than 24h. To make things even easier, you can even have the test done directly on-site. In the beer garden of the Harmonie there is a test station (16.30-20.30 ) Entrance: Magdalenen parking lot.

There is also a special ticket deal: The special non-commission price of 25 Euros at the box office using the keyword ‘facebook rtp’
No reason not to get the Blues on Wednesday then!