My friend Kristin posted about her experiences hiring a chimney sweep in America. I thought it proper to discuss chimney sweeps in Germany. The German word for chimney sweep is Schornsteinfeger or some places say Kaminkehrer. Their work is not limited to chimneys, as Kristin’s post explains. They are the guys you might call when you need help cleaning out any kind of shaft, duct or vent. It can be a dangerous job. Risks include respiratory problems, attacks from birds and various rodentia and, holy shit, scrotal cancer (crosses chimney sweep from list of possible careers). It has been listed as one of the worst jobs in Victorian England. I learned after being in Germany for a while, the job does have its perks. One is that they have no problem meeting women. Let me explain.

In Germany and in many other places in Europe, the Schornsteinfeger is considered a bringer of luck. On New Year’s you see little caricatures and figurines of Schornsteinfeger with their black suit and hat and brushes. This has historical reasons. His services would help insure that your chimney was clear of debris that could catch fire causing your house to burn down. Makes sense right? Here is some more information about lucky chimney sweeps.

Now the perk is that if you see one, it is considered good luck to touch him. Thats means everywhere he goes he gets asked, “Darf ich Sie anfassen?” or, “May I touch you?” I have noticed that it is mostly women that ask. Most guys I know aren’t too anxious too ask other dudes if they can touch them. We might circumvent a Brokeback moment by using a manly handshake or something.

So that is not a bad deal. Everywhere you go women ask to touch you because you bring them good luck. If you figure out how to work that angle, there is a lot of potential. Well, as long as you stay clear of that whole scrotal cancer thing.

Allow me to waste 2:31 of your life. I had “Folsom Prison Blues” stuck in my head for like 3 days. I couldn’t shake it. What did I do? I recorded it.

Enjoy(<--2.9MB, .mp3). Done with ProTools/002r and various guitars and pedals in my apartment. I whipped this up in a few hours and tried to get that old Sun Records/Rockabilly sound. Yay Slapback! Don’t sue me.

Like Americans, Germans love to jump on the health/sport fads as well. One thing that has been going on for about two or three years now, and is quite popular, is “Nordic Walking“. I went with M and parents yesterday on a 10k trek through the Lüneburger Heide near Döhle. It was a nice way to spend the Saturday.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again.. Germans will always find an excuse to drink. Keep in mind we were underway with a bunch of health nuts who organized this. Near the end of the hike we stopped at a gazebo on top of a hill that had a great view. They provided bread, cheese, vegetables, sausages and wine. Lots of wine. I emptied my first plastic cup and then went looking for a trash bag. I held the cup in my left hand and was looking for the bag when I noticed the cup get heavier. Oh well. Bottoms up. That happened a few more times. Whoa, how we gonna get down from this mountain? Luckily there were horse-drawn covered wagons to take us all back to the starting point. So we get into the wagons and get underway. Lo and behold a case of beer and lots of schnapps to go around. We didn’t join arms together and start with the drinking songs. It could of happened, had we more time. And beer.

The gig on Friday was depressing. Performance-wise fine. I went through the motions. Afterwards I went to the WunderBAr in Lüneburg and saw Paddy Korn & Band perform. That was amazing. The WunderBAR is turning out to be the best club in Lüneburg to catch a show.

So we took some band pictures (for the current band) inside Sculps this afternoon. Sculps is a barber shop/hair salon here in Lüneburg that has sort of a retro 50’s look to it. The owner/tough guy Mathias was nice enough to let us come in on a Sunday and get in his way while he was doing some renovations. We had some good props like guitars, old refrigerators, barber chairs, mirrors, girly mags and a bottle of Jim Beam. I will post some here once I get them. I repaid the favor with a six-pack of beer and some Muddy Waters CDs.

This entry is mainly for those who live in the Lüneburg area. Na Rallyweb/Lorbas? Kennste jemanden?

Gitarrist in Lüneburg sucht andere Musiker oder Band um Rock/Elektro/Experimentelle Musik zu machen.
Töne, die häufig durch meine Lautsprecher/Kopfhörer fließen:
Sonic Youth, BRMC, Swervedriver, Blues Explosion, Johnny Cash, The Kills, QOTSA, Gangstarr, Portishead, Yo La Tengo, Velvet Underground, John Coltrane, Spiritualized…und viel viel mehr

Klingt interessant?
Then drop me a line at…
nate(the at symbol)chillmost.com

Would you pass the German citizen quiz? I probably wouldn’t.

The 100-question test, drawn up by the state of Hesse but being considered for nationwide use, has received a lot of comment, in part because of the widespread belief that many German university students would have trouble passing it, so how fair would it be to impose it on immigrants relatively unschooled in German culture?

On Monday evening M and I went to hear Fritz Rau speak at the Bergström Hotel here in Lüneburg. He is on tour promoting his new book, “50 Jahre Backstage-Erinnerungen eines Konzertveranstalters.” He was one of the biggest concert promoters in Germany since the mid 50’s. He is sort of like the Bill Graham of Germany. In fact, when Mick Jagger told Rau he wanted to do a huge open air concert in Germany, Rau went to America to hang out with Graham in order to learn about all the logistics involved with such an undertaking.

He told some great stories about hanging out with John Coltrane, Marlene Dietrich, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen and many more. It was very interesting.

It’s pretty boring up in here.

Here’s a funny video from In Actual Fact

Apparently bearded is the new black. Beards are coming back in a big way baby.

The bearded revolution that began with raffishly trimmed whiskers a year or more ago has evolved into full-fledged Benjamin Harrisons.

All the WillyB hipsters are letting them grown. And to think, all this time I thought I was just lazy.

Me being a musician, I don’t like to tell other musicians that they suck or should hang it up. Well, not to their face anyway. Everyone has to start out somewhere. That’s why I will just let this video by Turkish-German rappers Tekkan speak for itself. This is becoming a very popular meme in the German blogosphere. But for all the wrong reasons. If you don’t understand German, consider yourself lucky. I guess the lyrics aren’t too bad. Maybe it’s just the delivery.

I hope this sign isn’t important, because I can’t read it.
Before I had a working grasp of the German language, I had some moments like that when faced with evil looking signs. The sign at the other end of the link would make me really nervous though.

This is from a guy named Seth Golub’s site who, with a bunch of other people, decided it would be a good idea to unicycle through Laos. The pictures and video along with the travelogue are very impressive. (via)