Friday (22 June) saw the second stage of the SWB Jazz competition JazzTube which brings Jazz talent to the Ubahn Stations of Bonn, with the most popular Act getting a coveted concert in October at the Harmonie. Just listening to two of the latest entrants left me with the phrase ‘Chalk & Cheese’ on my mind. How can you compare a Jazz vocalist (Filippa Gojo) to a Trombone player (Lisa Pflaum)? You can’t of course, so maybe it’s better just to enjoy the music and know that the future of Jazz is in safe hands in the Bonn/Cologne region at least.
Music Connects Generations
Three students at the Deutsche Welle Academy: Gerhard Schneibel, Sayed Musaddiq and Srinivas Mazumdaru, were so interested in Bonn’s Folk Club that they put together this short audio slideshow featuring Barry Roshto, Steve Perry and John Harrison with his daughter Jenny:
More info about the Video: Music Connects Generations.
Museumsmeile Festival 2012
(not) Ringo
Yes, you’re absolutely right, this isn’t actually Ringo behind the drumkit at Bonn’s Museumsmeilenfest. The Beatles Revival Band were a top attraction on Saturday, along with daredevil high-wire acrobatics from Falko Traber and his Team. Here are some snapshots of both Thursday and Friday’s shows between the Museums:
Jack Savoretti–Before The Storm (Fulfill FCCD 140)
Even now I can still ‘hear’ the silence that descended on the packed Harmonie auditorium when Jack Savoretti came onstage to open for Madison Violet this year. It was the silent sound of expectancy that started out of inquisitiveness –”Is this man really going to hold our attention with just a battered acoustic and a microphone for company?!” If you’ve read my review of that concert you will know that he did indeed do so for the whole of his criminally short set. If you wanted to hear more (I did) then there were the CD’s on the souvenir table.
Bobbin’ at the Museumsmeilenfest
A flaming hot boogie from the ‘Boppin’ Bobbin Baboons’
The weather was fine so I took a walk down ‘to the hop’ on Friday. Well, to the Museumsmeilenfest actually – but the theme was decidedly 50’s with music from a little combo with an unlikely name: The Wild Bobbin Baboons, a fashion show and vintage Oldsmobiles.
The Bobbin Baboons, to give them their shortened name, are already a popular act in the area and have played before at the Harmonie as well as in their home town of Koblenz at Cafe Hahn. A potent mix of 50’s classics and stage acrobatics – not many bands set fire to pianos or wave double basses over their heads these days or any days past for that matter. It’s ultimately the music that counts though, and clearly these guys respect and love it in equal measures. As lead singer ‘Smelly Pelly’ told me later, He just heard Rock ‘n’ Roll from the likes of Fats Domino and Buddy Holly and was instantly hooked. “It doesn’t take much equipment-wise to play the songs, and most of them are simple Rock n Roll” as he described his favourite music. The Art of writing classic Rock, Pop, or any other music that lasts of course is creating a song that sounds like it grew itself, which isn’t so simple – there is a wealth of such Classics out there and this Band play it with both a musical and a visual punch.
Bonn Folk Club 27
‘Four Fiddlers’ at Folk Club
It was a case of old (as in familiar!) faces in new places, as Bonn Folk Club Evening number 27 kicked off at Rheindorfer Hof. It proved an excellent venue for live Folk too – if only the walls were further part so we could get more seats in.
Easy enough to find. Turn left instead of right after the bus stop at Grauerheindorf and there it is – Rheindorfer Hof. As I’m taking a picture of the building I can even hear the clattering of horses hooves coming up the road. A rustic venue for sure, perfect for a bit of rustic Folk music. The clattering gets louder and around the bend comes – not a shetland pony, but John Harrison in his best clogs. As we enter the building, I’m wondering if loud shoes are legal in such a sleepy rural corner of Bonn. I’m also hoping we’re not the only ones here for the Folk evening, but it’s soon clear that all the reminders have paid off and familiar faces greet us inside the very appealing lounge of the Pub Restaurant. So many of them in fact, that I have to grab one of the few remaining seats whilst it’s still ‘bottomless’.
Tangoyim at GoVinum
What a wonderful atmosphere in the cosy wood panelled interior of the GoVinum wine bar in Bad Godesberg with this evening’s stars Stefanie Hölze and Daniel Marsch, who together as the Klezmer Duo Tangoyim brought Ulf Breuer’s latest half year of “live acoustic music on the last Tuesday of the month” to a very fitting close at the end of the spring season in 2012 before the long summer break.
John Harrison reports.
British Blues Awards
Readers who know their UK Blues can
VOTE HERE for favourite musicians in this years British Blues Awards.
Many of this years nominees have appeared in the Bonn/Cologne area, so will be familiar to fans here – (Walter Trout, Oli Brown, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Will Wilde, Roger Inniss, Wayne Procter). There is also an International Artist Award where once again Joe Bonamassa is amongst the choices (a strange omission is Seasick Steve).
Other nominees include Cherry Lee Mewis and Clare Free, two talented ladies who have appeared on this site even though they have yet to visit the area. Hopefully that will change!
The Awards will be presented on 9 Sept at the Newark Castle Blues Festival
CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS OF THE BRITISH BLUES AWARDS
Related articles
- Clare Free – Dust & Bones (3songsbonn.com)