Deserted? No, I didn’t turn up at the Kunst!Garten on Sunday evening and find no-one else there. In fact there were a lot of people there to see local bands Sentinel Hill and Deserted.
Category Archives: Reviews
Mike Andersen – Mike Andersen (Nordic 117)
If you’re not Danish then you very probably don’t know the name Mike Andersen. I’m not, and I didn’t until I had the chance to give this disc a whirl in my CD player.
Andersen’s recording career is actually well underway. His 2002 debut ‘My Love for the Blues’ seemed a clear statement of musical direction and his 2010 effort ‘Echoes’ won high praise and was a nomination in three Award categories at the 2011 Danish music awards. I suspect that those discs are going to be picking up hefty sales throughout Europe though after people get a listen to Andersen’s new release.
Songs From The Road – Oli Brown (RUF 1193)
I remember, in what seems like a previous lifetime but was in fact only 2009, Oli Brown putting the pedal to the metal at the end of a Harmonie Blues Caravan gig and delivering a boisterous version of ‘Black Betty’. On the new live offering it would qualify as the discs ballad. The cover has him looking like John Sykes, the man who put the metal into late Thin Lizzy, and on the disc? Maybe there should be a sticker saying ‘Play it Loud’ on his new live release Songs From The Road. There’s no messin’ with the kid anymore, that’s for sure.
Schooljam
Sunday’s Open Day at Kunst!Rasen saw the appearance of this and previous years winners of Schooljam. The competition is a national one promoting music in German schools and entrants must be a maximum of 21 years old and attending a school or Business School. Special this year was the auction of a guitar signed by BAP frontman Wolfgang Niedecken in aid of fundraising music equipment for a Bonn School. The three bands taking part at Kunst!Garten were: Artig, Casting Louis and Goldmouth.
Kunstrasen Brings The Summer
Drummer Christian Blüm very wisely took a bicycle ride to the opening gig of Kunstrasen 2013. Following fears that the open air field would actually become an open air lake we had a glorious day of sunshine, and there was only one dinghy sailing across the Rheinaue Field. It contained Peter, one half of the brothers that made up this seasons openers Brings, and the ‘sea’ was one of hands. Thousands of them in fact as The KunstRasen Open Air Season 2013 got underway.
Back on board the Jazztrain
There’s a rumbling down in the Tube Station at Bonn Main Station – but not a train in sight. It’s actually coming from the entrance to Thomas-Mann-Strasse and emanates from the assorted trumpet, saxophone and drums of Monkey Moyo. The band, led by Max Schulze-Henning on Sax is opening Jazztube 2013 in Bonn – and kicking up a storm.
Martin Donnelly at FiF
One of the many treats from last years Bonn Folk Club was an appearance by Martin Donnelly. Folk Club Chairman John Harrison was so impressed that he took the next available opportunity to catch the Irish troubador on tour in Bonn. FiF (Folk in Feuerschlösschen) Bad Honnef was the location, with an added bonus in the form of superlative guitarist Annette Degenhardt from Mainz.
Big Walters Blues
Their Facebook page describes them as ‘Vintage Chicago Blues from vintage musicians’ and the first part is certainly true – the second I disagree with (at least one band member was younger than me!)
Big Walter & The Neighbourhood. Their feet may be in Bonn, but their rare gig at the new live venue pub Kater 26 in Römerstrasse showed their hearts are to be found in the Windy City.