Johannes Schult

On June 16th, 2009 Chris de Burgh played a concert at the Arena in Trier. I hadn’t seen him before live before, mainly because the tickets used to be somewhat expensive (especially considering travel expenses). This time I could walk to the venue and got a ticket for about 30 Euros. I sat in the last row of the “Innenraum”, right in front of the mixing desk. Needless to say, the sound was fantastic! (No ear plugs required.) The setlist offered a wide selection of classic hits, surprises and lots of songs from his latest album. The show lasted about 3.5 hours with a short intermission in between.

The audience (approx. 4000 people) appeared to have aged along with the singer on stage, so I felt pretty young. What sets Chris de Burgh apart from other artists is

1. his voice: stunning, moving, strong, tender, amazing, unique, soaring;
2. his songs: deceptive – ballads and catchiness were there, but also rock (“Making the Perfect Man”) and depth (“A Spaceman Came Travelling”); and
3. his character: it’s impossible to not smile at his clumsy German stories, to not rejoice in his unconditional believe in the healing power of love, to not get touched by his pure love for music.

He played lots of songs I longed to hear (“Last Night”) and only few tracks I’d call boring (“The Mirror of the Soul”). Halfway through the concert, he sang “Borderline” without the rest of the band, accompanying himself on the piano. His hauntingly beautiful performance earned him frenetic applause that was well deserved. The one-hour long finale was filled with his great songs as well as a powerful version of Toto’s “Africa”. So attending the concert was well worth my time and money. Chris de Burgh is still one of the best voices and writers out there.

1. Last Night
2. Missing You
3. Sailing Away
4. Turn! Turn! Turn! (Byrds-Cover)
5. Oh My Brave Hearts
6. The Long and Winding Road (Beatles-Cover)
7. Without You (Mariah Carey-Cover)
8. The Mirror of the Soul
9. Leather on My Shoes
10. All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan-Cover)
11. Love of the Heart Devine
12. Moonlight and Vodka
13. Borderline
14. Always on My Mind (Elvis Presley-Cover)
15. The Last Thing on My Mind (Tom Paxton-Cover)
16. A Spaceman Came Travelling
17. The Same Sun
18. Where Peaceful Waters Flow
19. The Lady in Red
20. Africa (Toto-Cover)
21. Making the Perfect Man
22. The Words I Love You
23. Bal Masque
24. Ship to Shore / The Getaway
25. Say Goodbye to It All
26. Don’t Pay the Ferryman
27. High on Emotion
28. The Snows of New York
29. Footsteps

On Saturday, June 13, 2009 I finally attended my first Richard Shindell concert. I had come all the way to England from Germany after logistics prevented me from seeing any of the Dutch gigs. This occasion warrants a long, verbose report (which is actually a condensed version of my post on the RS mailing list), although it’s going to bore you all to death. I’m very sorry.

The Headgate Theatre in Colchester was a small place (83 seats); the people there were incredibly nice and polite. Pavlov’s Cat opened with half a dozen songs that fit the bill, but (in my humble/ignorant opinion) lacked the overarching melody lines. This is, of course just me – I saw several people happily buying their cd afterwards. The talk in between songs was very entertaining and helped to access the songs (which I hadn’t heard before). An unannounced support followed their wake: Hannah Scott & John Carden. Again, there was a lot of musical talent on stage, on the spot, but not tense. Again, the music was nice, but didn’t have gripping stories/soaring melodies gripping my attention.

There was a short break and Richard came out to do a quick sound/line check. He played a verse and a chorus of an unknown song. It turned out to be a new composition. He opened his set with it, eventually. It has a steady beat and a rather upbeat mood, although it’s actually about the loss of a pet/dog. It’s possibly called “Abby” as the chorus goes something like “Abby’s gone to the country” – but maybe it just doesn’t have a title, yet. Funnily, there was a guide dog in the audience. All in all, it was a neat opener and a welcome surprise. Still, its lyrics are more in the vein of “Get Up Clara”; there’s not as much drama as in songs like “Fishing”.

The setlist (see below) contained a few surprises (mainly from the album “Blue Divide”). Richard’s guitar work was stunning (e.g., “Get Up Clara”). The dynamics he got of his guitar were amazing. By the way: Richard played only one acoustic guitar during the whole evening; no bouzouki, no electric guitar. Also, no 50-piece orchestra. After the formidable encore “Cold Missouri Waters” I was both happy and sad. It was a worthy ending, yet, of course, so many great songs remained unplayed; no need to list them here.

Richard played about 85 minutes and was (I think) very talkative in between songs. I got to chat with him a bit after the show and he was so humble and nice and everything. He also described in great detail to someone else the (imaginary) location of Mariana’s in relation to the “Not Far Now” cover picture. All in all, the concert was really great (“Reunion Hill”!) and well worth the trip. I sat in the third row and had a perfect view and all was good!

1. Abby
2. Fenario
3. Blue Divide
4. Get Up Clara
5. Balloon Man
6. Arrowhead
7. Reunion Hill
8. There Goes Mavis
9. Are You Happy Now?
10. You Stay Here
11. Transit
12. Ascent
13. Cold Missouri Waters

Yesterday, the Hooters played for an hour at the Arena of Pop festival in Mannheim. There were many people (possibly more than 100000); the weather was nice; the sound was quite good. The setting couldn’t compare to the intensity of a club show. Still, it was nice watch the band win over the audience one song at a time. Of course, they played their hits (omitting “500 Miles” for some reason) along with a couple of newer songs and a rocking version of “Great Big American Car”. Here’s the setlist:

1. I’m Alive
2. Day by Day
3. All You Zombies
4. Great Big American Car
5. The Boys of Summer
6. Johnny B
7. Morning Buzz
8. Karla With A K
9. Twenty-Five Hours a Day
10. Satellite
11. And We Danced

Yesterday, Blind Guardian headlined the second day of the Bang Your Head-Festival in Balingen. It was their only show in Germany this year. Still, the audience wasn’t really packed. To be more precise: many people were scattered across the festival site, but you could easily walk up to close to the stage even while the intro (“War of Wrath”) was already playing. I’m not a big fan of Blind Guardian’s newer material, so I reckoned this was one of the last chances to experience their melodic speed metal stuff without too many distracting modern songs. The band definitely delivered, starting out with fantastic songs like “Another Holy War” and “Traveller in Time” before throwing a couple of surprises (“Blood Tears”, “Goodbye My Friend”). I was repeatedly amazed by the singalongability of their classics. Further highlights included “Time What Is Time” and “Lord of the Rings”, which were accompanied by rain. The rain didn’t diminish the joy I felt upon hearing these pearls. Blind Guardian are not a good show act. Their sparse on-stage action is far from remarkable. Fortunately, the music easily made up for this. As it happened, I found myself singing the chorus of “Valhalla” with a bunch of other fans for a rather long time after the show ended. Wahoo!

1. Time Stands Still (at the Iron Hill)
2. Another Holy War
3. Nightfall
4. Traveller in Time
5. Turn the Page
6. The Script for My Requiem
7. Blood Tears
8. Goodbye My Friend
9. This Will Never End
10. Valhalla
11. Sacred
12. Time What Is Time
13. Lord of the Rings
14. Punishment Divine
15. Imaginations From the Other Side
16. The Bard’s Song – In the Forest
17. Mirror Mirror

During the past couple of weeks a lot of things happened. I have a hard time catching up, so I just list the events here before they’re so last year. Also, the Twitter plug-in (formerly in the right column is misbehaving, so I turned it off for the time being.

• Van Canto played a great open air concert in Trier.
• I saw Richard Shindell live in Colchester, UK. He was as good as I had hoped.
• Finally, I saw Chris de Burgh in concert (here in Trier). He delivered a wonderful three-hour show.

This is a short song about a dream about Dawson’s Creek. Find out all about the recording and also a bit about the writing by watching the making of-video.

This my entry for Song Fu #4 Round 3. Please check out the other entries (all are one minute long) and then proceed to vote for your five favourite one.

Download the song: mp3 (more music)

At first I wasn’t concerned
Things like that happen to everyone
But then it started happening all the time
Now every night, haunting and hazy
I have this dream: Joey dumps Pacey
Every night, strange and crazy
I have this dream: Joey dumps Pacey

In my dream she takes a plane to Europe
And she knocks on my door
She says she wants to spend the rest of her life with me
And just like that we fall in love
And then I always wake up
Every night, haunting and hazy
I have this dream: Joey dumps Pacey
Every night, surreal and crazy
I have this dream: Joey dumps Pacey
Every night, haunting and hazy
I have this dream: Joey dumps Pacey
Every night, weird and crazy
I have this dream: Joey dumps Pacey

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

Song Fu #4, Round 2: “Write a march.”

Oh.

This one started out as a collection of events that occured in the month March throughout the years. I compiled a list out of old diary entries and then realized that the whole thing would become way too long, even if I left out the year numbers. I could make an epic tale using personal and historic events, but 1) it would have been an enormous task to make it all rhyme and fit (no to mention the inflated song length) and 2) there was a deadline to be met. Even with the reduced lyrical load I was tempted to leave out the first verse and chorus. Certainly, some people will skip halfway through the song thinking it just goes on until the 31st. Which it kind of does. But hey, look, there’s a little sad true love story in it! And a WAR! (And in case the lyrics are ambiguous: “we” = “me and someone else”, not “me and the war.”)

Please check out the other entries and then proceed to vote for your five favourite marches.

Download the song: mp3 (more music)

The 1st was a Saturday. The 2nd was a Sunday. The 3rd was a Monday. The 4th was a Tuesday. The 5th was a Wednesday. The 6th was a Thursday. The 7th was a Friday. The 8th was a Saturday.
And my life goes by and time marches on
And all the things I know will soon be gone
And in a century or two there will be no more me and you.
So I enjoy my days as I march along.

The 10th was a Monday. The sky was really cloudy. It rained on the 11th. The 12th was a Wednesday. The 13th was a Thursday. The 14th was a Friday. The 15th was a Saturday. The 16th was a Sunday.
And my life goes by and time marches on
And all the things I love will soon be gone
And in a century or two there will be no more me and you.
But the nuclear waste we made is going to linger on.

The 17th was a Monday. The 18th was a Tuesday. The 19th was a Wednesday and then there was a war. We met on the 21st. I’d hoped we’d come today. Spring was finally here and with it sunny weather.
And my life goes by and time marches on
And up to the present day I wonder what went wrong.
The 22nd was a Saturday and slowly my hopes started fading away.
By the 23rd they were gone and time kept marching on.

24th: Monday. 25th: Tuesday. 26th: Wednesday. 27th: Thursday. 28th: Friday. 29th: Saturday. 30th: Sunday. 31st: Monday.
And my life goes by and time marches on
And all the things I love will soon be gone
And in a century or two there will be no more me and you.
So I enjoy my days as I march along.

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

Am morgigen Sonntag ist Europawahl. Ich appeliere an alle morgen Wahlberechtigten, von ihrer Stimme Gebrauch zu machen. Ein Kommentar in der Financial Times Deutschland spricht eine interessant begründete Empfehlung aus (via @AndreasSchepers).

Zur Feier (?) des Tages gibt es hier ein Lied über ein Thema, das (leider) daueraktuell ist: Atomkraft. Inspiriert wurde es von Hermann Scheer, Bundestagsabgeordneter meiner Heimatstadt Waiblingen und “Solarpapst”. Am 4. August 2007 schrieb ich die Musik und sammelte die ersten Textfragmente. Am 5. August programmierte ich das Rhythmusfundament. Am 7. August nahm ich die E-Gitarren auf. Am 8. August kamen die Bass-Spuren hinzu. Am 17. August arbeitete ich schließlich den Text aus und nahm den Gesang auf.

Wer noch Atomstrom bezieht bzw. diesen indirekt mitfinanziert, kann einfach zu Ökostrom wechseln. (Hübsche Vorstellung: In den nächsten zwölf Monaten vollziehen alle Leute in der BRD den Wechsel. Atom- und Kohlkraftwerke werden daraufhin überflüssig und dicht gemacht. Gleichzeitig explodiert (nicht im wörtlichen Sinne) die Stromerzeugung aus erneuerbaren Energien.)

Download the song: mp3 ogg (more music)

Es gibt in dieser Republik vier große Stromkonzerne,
Die haben ihre Kohle- und Atomkraftwerke gerne.
Sie wissen nicht wohin mit ihrem Müll.
Ich habe da ein seltsames Gefühl.
Ich habe keinen Bock auf ein zweites Tschernobyl.
Ich scheiße auf Atomkraftwerke,
Kohlekraft, du kannst mich mal.
Keinen neuen CASTOR-Müll, ein für allemal.

Es gibt solare, dezentrale Lösungsmöglichkeiten
Und wenn wir die nicht nutzen, drohen der Erde heiße Zeiten.
Der Klimawandel hat schon angefangen.
Die Erderwärmung ist im vollem Gang.
Wenn alle Welt so weitermacht,
Dann dauert es nicht mehr lang.
Ich scheiße auf Atomkraftwerke,
Kohlekraft, du kannst mich mal.
Weg mit Kohlendioxid, ein für allemal.

Ich scheiße auf Atomkraftwerke,
Kohlekraft, du kannst mich mal.
Keinen neuen CASTOR-Müll, ein für allemal.
Ja, ich scheiße auf Atomkraftwerke,
Kohlekraft, du kannst mich mal!
Weg mit Kohlendioxid, ein für allemal.

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

This is my attempt to “write a song from the perspective of an inanimate object” a.k.a. my first entry for the Masters of Song Fu #4 Challenge. Please check out at least some of the other folks. A zip-file containing all songs of this round is available below the individual profiles for your convenience (store). So far I’ve listened to Jarrett Heather‘s TMBG-ish tune and Steve Chatterton‘s edgy uptempo song – both really good! So please listen before you vote.

This being said, I’m quite happy with how my song turned out as it sounds almost serious. (Almost.) I suggest you listen to the recorded version of Natalie Portman’s Doormat first, before watching the somewhat rough live version on YouTube (with a bonus line):

I recorded the song on Sunday eight days ago. It’s just vocals and acoustic guitar this time around. I had the title immediately after challenge was announced. It’s funny that Jeremy Pierson ended up with a similar idea (am listening while typing). It’s also funny that eight years ago someone already put the words “Natalie Portman’s Doormat” online, albeit less literally intended. Disclaimer: my lyrics are a subjective interpretation of reality. All I know for sure is that Natalie Portman and Zach Braff made a movie together and that she recently moved to a new place. If you’re her doormat, I hope you’re not offended by the liberties I’ve taken for the sake of art. The last couple of lines were inspired by Mr. Gordon’s JoCoFo-post, giving the song what I think is a neat closure.

Download the song: mp3 ogg (more music)

I’m already old and torn
I’m battered and I’m worn
My time will soon be up
All her stuff has been packed
This time she won’t come back
And I will be left behind
Although I have been down a lot and almost never up
I’ve always been here on this spot, happy with what I got
I have done things you’ll never do
Zach Braff won’t slip on you on a frosty day
I have felt things you’ll never feel
The touch of vegan heels on a sunny day

I sometimes kept her key
She knows it’s safe with me
Still, she doesn’t even know my name
She never talked to me
She kicked me with her feet
To me it’s all the same
I’m really quite content with the non-life that I had
Maybe I will be reborn, hopefully as her bed
I have known things you’ll never know
Like angels in the snow on a winter day
I have seen things you’ll never see
When she stood over me that sunny day

I waited for her every time she came home late at night
I caught her tears when her dog Charlie died
I have done things you’ll never do
The rain won’t stay with you on a cloudy day
I have seen things you’ll never see
When she stood over me that sunny day

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

Finally, my brother and I have taken our death metal band to the next level: We found a name! From now on we are Cynima. Check out the Cynima Death Metal homepage for a first demo song. More music will be added next week along with other content and a current band picture. Rock!