Suff-X in Konstanz, Jonathan Coulton in Amsterdam, The Hooters in Würselen

The gigs with Suff-X last weekend were thoroughly enjoyable. Especially the Opensee concert was a blast! We played a great show in front of 3000 surprisingly supportive people. Wahoo! Playing the drums for a change was a lot of fun. Check out some pictures! I also made a little behind-the-scenes video.

Next thing I knew I was sitting in a train to Amsterdam, where Jonathan Coulton (and Paul and Storm) played his first show in continental Europe. It was fun to meet folks from the forums and be surrounded by the eclectic population that is JoCo’s fan base. The concert was great, the banter hilarious and the city beautiful despite the light rain. I filmed a little travel diary. I also took some pictures.

Then I saw the Hooters in Würselen (near Aachen) at a beautiful venue (Burg Wilhelmstein). I sat near the mixing desk for a change and enjoyed the show from that perspective. My view looked like this. The setlist was spiced with a good dose of “Out of Body”, once again. No big surprises apart from that.

52-Second Cover Songs

I will post a new 52-second cover version every day until Sunday. I wrote and recorded an original 52-second song every week throughout this year. So now I’ve ended up with 52 52-second songs. The last one will be put online on Sunday. The cover songs are just a feeble attempt at generating some sort of hype. If you have any suggestions or requests, let me know. (Just bear in mind that it should be Creative Commons music.) I’m also working on a separate page for the collection of 52-second songs for those who are new to this project. (Check out the music section for the time being!)

The fifth and final cover song (for Saturday) is called “Grandma’s Christmas Dinner”. Paul and Storm wrote the song. Their version is a bit longer. But mine has drums! And this video clip.

The fourth cover song (for Friday) is a song by Song Fu veteran Russ Rogers. It’s called “The Homo sapiens Song”. I made a quick lip-sync video with the Christmas tree in the background. The music recording contains drums, piano, vocals, guitar and my keyboard’s bass.

The third cover song (for Thursday) is a traditional German Christmas carol called “Was soll das bedeuten?” (What does this mean?). I just play the piano because it’s one of the pieces I remember from my first piano lessons. (Plus, I don’t know the lyrics by heart.)

The second cover song (for Wednesday) is “Hey Molly”, originally by Mike Lombardo. I turned into a sad instrumental waltz.

The first cover song (for Tuesday) is a somewhat spontaneous piano version of Jonathan Coulton‘s “Drinking With You”. I messed up the lyrics and the sound quality leaves to be desired. But it’s going to get better. And the song itself is cool, I think. Check it out!

Merry Christmas (from Chiron Beta Prime)

For the lack of other news, here’s a song by Jonathan Coulton. I chose the ASL video by Stephen Torrence to go with it, because his face expressions are awesome. The choice was a difficult one, because there’s other nice ones like Christmas lights, Muppets and plenty of live versions.

Also, check out the two new Ninja Dolls songs – good, friendly punk rock.

Jonathan Coulton live in Dublin

Jonathan Coulton returned to Europe. Last Saturday he played a fantastic concert at the Academy 2 in Dublin, Ireland. I had a splendid time along with 200 Irish people. The audience sang along like there was no tomorrow. We even got an unplanned encore. There just wasn’t a weak moment in the whole show. I wish I could indulge in all the little details and communicate better the awesomeness of JoCo. But I really don’t know where to begin and where to end and how to describe the simple fact that I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here’s the setlist:

  1. Betty and Me
  2. Ikea
  3. Shop Vac
  4. Code Monkey
  5. Better
  6. Tom Cruise Crazy
  7. Blue Sunny Day
  8. Big Bad World One
  9. Birdhouse in your Soul
  10. Creepy Doll
  11. Mr. Fancy Pants
  12. I’m Your Moon
  13. The Future Soon
  14. Skullcrusher Mountain
  15. Still Alive
  16. Re: Your Brains
  17. I Feel Fantastic
  18. First of May
  19. Sweet Caroline
  20. A Talk with George

Jonathan Coulton (left) with Paul (right) live in Dublin (2009-11-06)

Ungeeignete Atommülllager und die kleinen Freuden des Alltags

Es gibt ein sehr lesenswertes Dossier zum Atommülllager Asse II in der Zeit. Die Zustände sind geradezu beängstigend und die politischen und behördlichen Vorgänge der letzten Jahrzehnte werfen kein gutes Licht auf alle Beteiligten. Beim Betrachten der aktuellen Handlungsoptionen läuft es mir kalt den Rücken runter. Atommüll ist schlichtweg nichts, was man einfach so unter den Teppich kehren sollte. Die schiere Menge, die bereits bis zum Einlagerungsstopp 1978 vergraben wurde, ist atemberaubend: über 125.000 Fässer! Mehr als genugend, um allen Leuten, die in Trier wohnen, eins zu geben. Am besten mit der Bitte um sichere Verwahrung für die nächsten paar Jahrhunderte. Oder besser gleich Jahrtausende. Viele, viele Jahrtausende.

Auch in Italien weiß man offensichtlich keine transparente, sichere Lagerungsmöglichkeiten. Laut Spiegel Online wurde (nicht näher spezifizierter) Atommüll via Mafia einfach im Mittelmeer versenkt. Na dann Prost Mahlzeit.

Das Problem der ungelösten Endlagerung wird mit jedem Tag, an dem weiterer Müll produziert wird, größer. Es gilt inzwischen nicht mehr nur, ein sicheres Endlager zu finden, sondern man muss tatsächlich ein großes sicheres Endlager finden. Für mich ist die einzige vernünftige Entscheidung, den Atomausstieg selber zu machen und bei der Bundestagswahl nicht die Parteien zu wählen, die auf Druck der Lobby der Atomstromkonzerne den Ausstieg in Deutschland hinauszögern wollen.

Um nicht völlig den Verstand und das Vertrauen in die Menschheit zu verlieren, halte ich es ansonsten mit den kleinen (zugegeben nicht immer günstigen) Freuden des Alltags:

  • Heute gab es weißes Twix im Supermarkt!
  • Seit gestern habe ich The Beatles in Mono – großes Ohrenkino!
  • Heute kam per Post aus England die Snowdogs-Single “Radio Me” mit zwei Liedern auf der B-Seite, die ich noch nicht kannte; besonders “You know What I’m Sayin’?” rockt mächtig.
  • Jonathan Coulton kommt im Herbst für einige Konzerte nach Europa, weshalb ich voller Vorfreude schon wieder Reisepläne schmiede.