Fun for all - on & offstage with Sunny Skies
Ever the chameleons of pop, Sunny Skies fitted onto the tiny stage of the Poppelsdorferfest as snugly as they fitted onto the rather grander Harmonie stage or indeed the ‘Grand deluxe’ of the Museumsplatz (supporting Black Fööss in July). With the added bonus that here, for a once a year festival amongst the bier and bratwurst vendors, they could play until 11pm. But first they all had to get on the stage at once…
The King in Bonn this year
“Got my first guitar when I was 12 … I was in love.
If I was feeling lonely, I’d pick up the guitar, feel like talking, pick up the guitar; something’s bugging me, just pick up the guitar and play out the anger.
It was an incredible luxury to have this instrument whenever the passion overcame me, and believe me, the passion overcame me night and day”
– from ‘Blues All Around Me’ the autobiography of BB King
3SongsBonn wishes Mr BB King a very Happy 86th Birthday on 16 September.
May you never lose the passion BB!
Gone - 'Big Shows' under the 'Big Tent'
Despite numerous meetings and long discussions no one is willing or able to take on the responsibility of bringing music to the Bonn Museumsplatz. As a result there will be no Open-Air Season as we know it in 2012. Vague promises of future Live Open Air music from Bonn’s Head of Culture Martin Schumacher, that the Bundeskunsthalle will continue to support ‘smaller events’ will not lift many spirits. The promises contain no ‘where’ or ‘how’.
In memory of those who lost lives or loved ones on 9/11…
A whole lotta Ludwigs
There’s a lot of Beethoven coming Bonn’s way this week with the beginning of the Beethoven Festival.
Celebrated pianist Helene Grimaud gets the Festival underway from the Beethovenhalle.
For more information check the BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL WEBSITE
Buddy Holly would have been 75 today on 7 September. It’s hard to imagine today that audiences were shocked to see a white man playing ‘black music’, but the likes of Buddy, along with Elvis, Jerry Lee and Eddie Cochran paved the way for people like Clapton.
Happy Birthday Buddy. Wish YOU were here – glad your music IS here!
Tangoyim on the fiddle
A look at the Bonn Folk Club Blog-site tells me that they are now 19 shows old. Time, as the great poet Dylan (Bob, not Thomas) once said, is indeed “A jetplane”. Not that the original writer of John’s opening song would have known what a jetplane actually was. ‘Charlie is me Darling’. Not a pion from Camilla to the current Prince of Wales, this song goes back to a much Bonnier Prince Charlie’s time – when heads were routinely hacked off and men hung drawn & quartered. Ah well, I didn’t say a ‘better’ time… Another famous nod to the Bonnie Prince came also in the form of ‘Over the seas to Skye’. John Harrison also filled us in on the historical context of the texts, but if you’re reading this you’re on the WWW and can flipping well ‘Wicki’ it yourself! If you missed the boat to Skye you could always go on a ramble with ‘Ewan MacColl as John sang ‘I’m a Rambler’: “I may be a wage slave on Monday, but I am a free man on Sunday” Certainly something to print on a T shirt and wear to the next Company barbecue…
With all the uncertainty over future gigs at Museumsplatz there is still plenty of guaranteed music pleasure to come in Bonn.
Latest attractions to the Harmonie concert hall in Endenich are the legendary Dr Feelgood (left) with a very special guest in the form of young Canadian Blues star Jimmy Bowskill (5 February) Proof of Bowskill’s pedigree as a guitar vituoso is his last date in Bonn at the Museumsplatz on the bill with Joe Bonamassa and Jeff Beck. Also booked in February are another legendary British Act The Blues Band, led by Paul Jones of BBC radio Blues fame. There are lots of other top acts to look forward to, as a look at the revamped Harmonie website will reveal.
