Where were you?

Erm, don't tell anyone i'm staying in on a Saturday night. well in Berlin, pretty much Monday to Friday is Saturday night. I had my big night night out on Thursday anyway..It was after Ze had played her fun glam-pop set, in defiance of the raised eyebrows and small crowd at White Trash. Can you imagine? This indian chick in a gold barely there bikini getting crunk in the White Trash restaurant.

Well we were eating "fuck you fries" and sipping "roller girls" and a figure walked purposefully towards the stage and announced over the mic that Michael Jackson had been reported to have had a heart attack and died. Our first instinct was to go and get totally wasted. I was out with my friend Jay and we were across from 8MM where he had never been, so we gathered our belongings and moved on. Actually my first instinct was to check my phone in case the guy at the mic was a joker, i had more than a few messages and they all said the same thing. It turns out I know the barman at 8MM and when i go to the bar to order we clarify that strong drinks are needed. 8MM is full of the usual suspects, the wierdo in the corner, the arguing couple, the dj who looks like she floated off the set of the Virgin Suicides, the drunk scumbag, the barman who's real job is his band, and the circle of bandmates gushing over new song ideas and taking care of business when the scumbag opens his mouth. He was manhandled out of there faster than you can say "Be quiet scumbag".

Hangover of doom the next day, i still made it into work and out to dj at Death by Pop later on Friday night. I played a few MJ tunes and just..felt sad. It's a strange feeling because it's not like I ever knew Michael Jackson. but it must be the same feeling that nearly broke the internet when so many people googled to find out if it was true and the same feeling why everyone is buying up his records. So I never knew him, but he's always been there, grabbing his crotch and tipping his hat, ever since I can remember. I looked at my friend Sven's blog tonight and his post says it all, pop is over.

Watch "the Making of Thriller"

BABY BABY BABY

Yes no yes no yes no. The sun in Berlin can't make up her mind. Thankfully today was YES to the 24th degree. it could only be honoured with going for a jar after work. There's one more nice day this week: 2moro. I'll be holed up in the White Trash office for one half of it and Motor FM studio for the second half. BUT hopefully i'll be exchanging emails with Dita Von Teese (or someone very close to her hehe) and having a chat with the Cheap Freaks, the actual men themselves, so it's for a good cause. Rumour is they will do an acoustic set for our show! Should be airing on Motor FM next Wednesday July 1st! They're from Dublin aswell so i'm a bit exirah at all the hometown slang. "the lads" "defo", "mad egg". These were not all uttered in the same sentence, but if they were, it would go something like:

"the lads are defo coming out tonight, watch out for anto, he's a mad egg!"

Ummmm next week I hope Berlin will be ready with open arms because Appaloosa is sweeping into town to perform at the Bread + Butter / Vice party at - yay the MICHELBERGER hotel.

this is ZE!:



On Thursday, come out and see her perform the FIRST of a few shows she's doing in Berlin over the next few weeks. First stop White Trash Thurs June 26th, next day LUX on Friday July 25th, then Villa Wednesday July 1st then somewhere "TBC" on July 4th. "You can call me Ze, VERY BI-ZE" Get it? Busy? Busy..girl..yup..

Where do you run to

the Cheap Freaks played an electrifying set last night at White Trash. They even have one song that goes something (with more words) like "Freddy / Frightening / Hit by lightning". Coincidentally the sun burned out in a blaze of orange tonight (sun set around 9.30 today) plus a wierd rainstorm, the rain looked all slanty, as if there was a garden hose aimed at Berlin from somewhere. Now thunder and lightning and I'm making miso soup. June? Nearly July? Hmm..

I hope this week we can set up a last minute gig so that the Cheap Freaks can play one more time before they head home! and that we can get them into the studio for an interview. They're here to record an album so will be busy lads! Their first set was ferocius and they were brave and played lots of new songs in their second set.

Word to your moms, Shane is back in B-town. Watch our for glorious coverage of wonderous Berlin gigs. Dawn gave me a free cupcake at Cupcake today. She spoils us rotten!!!! This photo is from a previous Cupcake outing, but you get the idea!

Things to do before we die

Woke up to a phonecall from Shaun Humanzi wondering about back line for the gig at White Trash tonight. Cheap Freaks are playing. They're over here from Dublin for a few days, "I'm avoiding them.." he said, "they've been on the piss for the last 10 hours, I live here, they don't". hahaha.

Last night at Death by Pop we had a benefit for Duncan from Virgin Tongues since he is recovering from a terrible sleepwalking accident. (If you can imagine sleepwalking out of a window four stories off the ground..). I had the honour of playing "6 Feet Underground" and it gave me the shivers. Probably wasn't the most "appropriate" choice of song given the circumstances, but it's one of their best. I think the CD i had was a demo so it sounded a bit rough but still amazing. You can get the shivers too, they finally added it to their myspace page here. There doesn't seem to be any news updates there, just the telling sign that something is wrong by their "cancelled" dates.

Last night before Death by Pop I stopped by Superstore. My friend Asta has opened her very own vintage store, it's amazing!!!! She has had one of the best vintage stands at Mauer Park for years, and now she's going official, with the help of a few friends. Upstairs is a cafe with specially curated art works and furniture (which you can buy of course). I had my eye on the couch with the tropical parrot theme, oh yes. We were served free strawberry cocktails and morrocan chicken, it was a treat.

The vintage area down the steep steps (do not drink too many strawberry cocktails and then attempt those stairs let me tell you!) is STUNNING. This team of kids totally transformed the previous grotty basement to a very not grotty impeccably stylish emporium. They came up with their own AWESOME designs to decorate the walls including huge Egytpian style heiroglyphics and painted on purple leopard print, YES I SAID PURPLE LEOPARD PRINT! It's glorious! I wish i had taken photos, but if you are in Berlin you can just go there: Alsmtadt str. 43. Can't miss it. *Nice one, there are photos on Garbage Dress blog HERE!

Also I just came across a link to the Michelberger Hotel. We had some free drinks there a few weeks ago for a Vice party : ) Well heck it looks like it's gonna be a very cool place, follow the blog as they are still undertaking the refurbishments and looks like they're having a lot of fun doing so! It's all buying lotso f old school furniture, atlases, making lamps out of books and I'm sure tons of hard work and elbow grease. The website is fun - do not even think about clicking "skip" on the intro.

take care y'all.