Category Archives: Events

Ray Charles on ‘Every Sunday’ 1981



ray charles

This is a picture of my friend Lucy with Ray Charles on a TV show in Bulgaria. She used to work as a journalist for Bulgarian TV and someone caught this snapshot of them. I remember watching him on TV when I was just a kid. There was a weekly black and white show on German TV that showed him and other famous artists of that era, but Ray Charles was always my favorite.


The CalArts Capitol Sessions: The First 25 Years



jazz band at calarts

According to the brochure they were playing Pancha Tattva – it was a beautiful piece! Played by from left: Eric Heep, Amir Oosman, Dylan Rodrigue, Vineet Vyas, James Waterman.

jazz band

Jazz artists from the first CalArts CD in 1990 (from left) James Carney, Darek Oles, Peter Epstein, Ravi Coltrane, Mark Ferber, Ralph Alessi reunited for this special concert to mark the 25th anniversary of the annual CalArts Jazz Program recordings made at Capital Studios in Hollywood.

We were late and unfortunately only caught the second half of this small, but fun gathering featuring CalArts Jazz students on this wonderful afternoon on April 19, 2014. Great music and company, and in the end awards were given to all involved in these past 25 years of the CalArts Capitol collaboration. (Note to event planners: refreshments would have been great :))

The Wild Beast Music Pavilion was just the right venue for this concert which is part of the Spring Concert Series at CalArts. For more info and to download the CDs from the past 25 years visit CalArts.edu.

If you have any more details, feel free to add them in the comments.

audience

See who’s just walking in 🙂

ravi coltrane, tenor sax

Ravi Coltrane

joe smith

Joe Smith (right), former President of Capitol/EMI and CalArts Board member, is receiving an award.

 


Monsters of Rock 1984 Karlsruhe Germany



Monsters of Rock 1984 Karlsruhe - Motley Crüe
This was at the beginning of the concert at 11am – Motley Crüe were the first to go on.

Monsters of Rock 1984 Karlsruhe - Ronnie James Dio

I stood in the very front of the pit what seemed like forever when Ronnie James Dio finally turned around and pointed at me! I almost dropped the camera!

Somehow these pictures from MOR in 1984 in Karlsruhe survived me moving about a dozen times, including moving to the US (I grew up in Germany). I went with a few friends and I remember the concert started at 11 in the morning and lasted till about 10 at night. Bands there were Motley Crüe, Accept, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, Van Halen and ACDC. I think it was Motley Crüe’s first concert in Germany; I always loved Gary Moore’s guitar playing; Dio was a blast like all his concerts and so was ACDC – they had to be the best party band around!

Accept and Ozzy also rocked it but everyone complained about Van Halen who totally screwed up that day: Roth was so drunk (or whatever), he left after half a song, the band played for a bit longer and then also left.

We were in the very front pretty much the whole time and the crowd behind us was pushing so hard that sometimes my feet lost touch with the ground and I was ‘carried’ from the front to a few rows back. It was a constant fight to stay in front. It was also very hot that day and we were periodically hosed down by Ozzy haha! After about 11 hours of rock and ACDC’s finale with the canons blasting, my ears were ringing for days … It was so worth it!!

I found a few more pictures of Monsters of Rock here.

If you’ve been to one of the Monsters of Rock back then, tell us about it in the comments! (Deutsch oder Englisch :)) This Monsters of Rock concert took place September 1, 1984.

 

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A great big “thank you!” to Tad (see comments) for sending the following pics:

 

MOR Michael Anthony - Van Halen
Michael Anthony – Van Halen

 

MOR Angus Young - ACDC
The headliners: ACDC – Angus Young

 

 


German Inflation Money



german inflation money 100 Marks

This 100 Mark bill was printed in 1920 – inflation is just getting started.

german inflation money 5000 Marks front

german inflation money 5000 Marks back

The front and back of a 5,000 Mark bill in 1922. The back (bottom) states that falsifying money will get you at least two years in a labor camp.

german inflation money 100million Marks

This one was printed at the height of the hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic in Germany 1923: 100,000,000 – one hundred million Marks. The inflation was caused due to Germany financing the costs of World War I by borrowing needed funds and exacerbated later on by having to pay large sums of money for reparations. A massive deflation and depression years later is believed to have paved the way for national socialism. (More about the collapse of the currency here.)

When my grandma (dad’s side) was still alive I’d ask her about the two world wars in Germany. She had lots of stories to tell, but she would eventually always add these words “war is nothing but hunger, fear and death. I lost my husband (my grandpa I never met), my brother, my neighbors, my friends. Nobody’s life was worth a dime.” And she would always tell me “girl, pray that you will never have to experience a war. It’s hell on earth.” She had gone through two world wars, she knew what she was talking about. Actually my mom would say the same thing, she remembers not having enough food and having to run and hide from the bombs – she had nightmares about that even decades later. Thinking of it, my dad said the same thing too, he had witnessed an execution as a child when he was only five years old that has been cause for distress his whole life.

My grandma was a war widow, raising a child and taking care of her mom. She had to be self sufficient and creative to make it through: she knew how to fix just about everything, build a house (she built her own house, brick by brick), heal just about every ailment with herbs and minerals and techniques she had learned from her mother.

My grandma on my mom’s side was probably the most frugal person I knew. She would save a tiny leftover piece of tomato and cook something with the end slice of a loaf of bread. Talking about being creative! She also lived through two world wars and had five (!) kids through World War II for a total of seven children! My mom would often talk about the proverbial cabbage water they had to subsist on. My grandpa was a phone tech and didn’t have to go to the front because he was needed at home. I remember him as having a wicked sense of humor 😉

Needless to say maybe, but I learned a lot from my grandparents!

The advice I got from them and my parents: live in the moment and don’t keep all your money in savings. Words to live by!