Since Richard Wagner’s death, the music story in Germany has been one of a long, slow, seemingly unending and inexorable decline, with The Scorpions, Kraftwerk, and Rammstein the few exceptions. Perhaps there is no brighter, glaringer example of this than at Oktoberfest. The songs heard at Oktoberfest with German lyrics are often also sung at… Read More Oktoberfest: Top-10 American Songs
THE LONDON TIMES Filed on October 13th, 1810 Munich — Yesterday, on a cold, damp, drizzly Friday afternoon, October 12th, 1810, Bavaria’s Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese Charlotte Luise Frederica Emilie of Saxony-Hildburghausen, at the Hofkapelle inside Munich’s Residence, in front of about 200 witnesses. Bavaria’s favorite son, and Saxony’s most eligible lady-in-waiting tied the knot just after 2 pm. During a… Read More Oktoberfest’s Backstory: Ludwig Meets His Match
The Germans are fond of saying “April, April, der macht was er will.” April, April, he does what he wants. In Germany, April gets a bad rap for its weather. That is saying a lot in a country where cold drizzle falling from skies imbued with more than fifty shades of grey is as ubiquitous… Read More A Bit About April
This is not a normal post for this blog, but it seemed appropriate for the day. A true story. Many years ago, when I was first cutting my teeth in the restaurant business as a server, I was scheduled to work a dreaded Valentine’s Day evening. All the ‘newbies’ got these shifts because all of… Read More A Valentine’s Day Ghost
The money is gone. It isn’t coming back. Most of the Germans I’ve spoken to on the streets or in the cafes of Munich have known this since, like, FOR-EVER! Was there ever really any doubt? Not really. Hey Germans, your leaders have been lying to you! Or they are completely incompetent (as if they… Read More Germans Are Bad Actors
With all that’s been happening with the demonstrations for or against immigrants in Germany, I thought now might be a good time to look at a list of ten things I’ve done (or plan to do, if I can ever get a signature from my wife on a few of them) to integrate, and ingratiate,… Read More A Short List (for Beginners) on How to Integrate into Bavarian Culture (F)
Laptops And Lederhosen 