To say nothing of Berlin's evening and night scene would be sheer negligence. Berlin is as alive in the night as it is during the daytime.
Art, music, dance, and film can all be easily found, sometimes in the same building, such as the Berlin institution, Tacheles.
Situated on Oranienburger Strasse among the crowded trendy bars and restaurants, Tacheles has taken over a former department store turned Nazi administration building turned WWII POW detention center - which was damaged during WWII -, and converted it into a complex of culture. The interior is dark, quite rundown, and covered from top to bottom with art and graffiti. The several-floored compound features galleries of paintings, jewelery, and photography from several artists. A couple of dingy, graffiti-coated staircases take visitors from gallery to gallery, roughly patched together, music playing throughout.
One such gallery is by Alex Rodin. Personally, I could look at his gallery of intricate paintings for hours. Detailed and complex, his paintings - many the size of a doorway - lead the eye from one scene to another. I bought a few prints for 5 Euro each. As they were being stamped as authentic from Alex Rodin's gallery in Tacheles, I asked who Alex Rodin is. The cashier motioned to his right to a middle-aged man engrossed at whatever was on his laptop. I wanted to express my admiration to the artist himself, but, perhaps because of timidity, I refrained.
Toward the top of Tacheles, perhaps on the third or fourth floor, is a bar-lounge and two small cinemas filled with plush sofas and chairs. The first night we visited, they were playing some old American black-and-white classic.
Several flights back down to the base of the building and around the back is a sand-filled courtyard. Makeshift bars - one out of an old bus - surround the place. We found a spot next to one of the few bonfires going that night, which felt good in the fall chill. Locals and fellow travelers spent the evening together around the fire.
Tacheles, which takes its namesake from the Jewish word meaning "to disclose, reveal, or speak clearly," is a unique place dripping with authenticity. In a continent where most of its big cities cater largely to tourists, from America and elsewhere, places like Tacheles, with its raw decor and genuine support of artists, are refreshing. Which makes buzz of its possible impending closure all the more tragic. Due to complications regarding its lease and Berlin's plans to repurpose the space, Tacheles has recently been under almost a constant threat of being closed. If you find yourself in Berlin, make your way past the expensive bars and restaurants on Oranienburg Strasse, past the prostitutes every twenty meters, and find Tacheles, buy a drink, or, better yet, a piece of art, and take in a bit of what's being revealed.
For an evening event with a little more triviality, we headed to Monster Ronson's Karaoke Bar. This is admittedly the second karoake bar we've been to on this trip, which makes us awesome. MR's has several karoake rooms you can reserve with a group of friends, which looked fun, but since we had no friends in Berlin, opted for the main karoake stage.
Maybe we Americans are brazen, or maybe Germans are shy - whatever the reason, Karina and I sang a lot that night. ELO, Springsteen, Carly Simon - I even resurrected a previously-retired version of Mack the Knife, which may have been the first time many people in the room have heard that song. I tried livening it up a bit by enlisting the help of a woman who may have perhaps been alive when that song was popular. No such luck. By the way, the karoake bars we've been to, the other one in Amsterdam, have mostly sang American pop songs, with very few exceptions. The MwC Effect in action in Berlin.
Berlin being a big city, it's of course a stop on many of our favorite bands' European tours. It so happened that the band Of Montreal were playing in October. Karina and I tried to get tickets to see them in Minneapolis years ago, but it sold out within a few weeks. So when we saw they were playing in Berlin during our stay, we bought tickets as soon as we could. Held at The Admiralplast, a venue complex of sorts, we were surprisingly surrounded by many English-speaking fans at the show. The show was pretty awesome. We didn't take any pictures, but a few people were there videotaping. This was what they opened with:
It happened that, a few weeks later, The Magic Numbers were playing a smaller venue in Berlin called The Magnet Club. A little more of what we're used to in Mpls, The Magnet Club was 400 Bar-esque in size and temperament. Having never heard The Magic Numbers live before, it was fun to finally see them, and in a different country no less. Highlights include, but are not limited to: the band singing a song made entirely of band names ("The Pretenders At The Drive-In Smashing Pumpkins Yeah Yeah Yeahs"), a Neil Young cover, and noticing Berlin hipsters look a lot like Mpls hipsters.
This blog post has gotten pretty long, and I could go on about the nightlife we experienced. There's The Weinerie, a pay-what-you-will wine bar for as much wine as you want. The Wohnzimmer, a Kitty Cat Klub-esque lounge in Prenzlauer Berg. Club Icon, an indie-pop club with too high a cover. The Clarchens Ballhaus, with its live cover band and people of all ages cutting rugs all over the place. Or just taking in the action with a beer and a stroll down the street.
No comments:
Post a Comment