Reminder of Summer

Today I heard a song I like a lot called "You Give Me Butterflies" by Gyptian and was thinking of a butterfly I took some time ago at our botanical gardens in a special exhibition while it was fluttering and feeding on this pink flower, that I have also seen in white. I don't know the name of it, so if you do please let me know. The butterfly is called Papilio demoleus or Lemon butterfly (Limetten-Schwalben-schwanz in German) and is at home in Southern Asia and Australia.

Here is the song I mentioned:

Reggae Nights # 108 on November 12. 2011

Oh, I cannot believe it's been October since I last posted! We had another Reggae Night last night but I have not even posted previous month's photos, so here they are!

The little place "Römer" was full on November 12 because the Reggae Nights promoters decided to make this evening "free entry for everyone". Lots of people stopped by and stayed because the vibes was right. Sounds of the evening were Roots Ashanti and Calabash. They kept us all on our feet dancing all night and were even palancing on the stage with us. What a great evening!

Reggae Nights # 107

Reggae Nights #107 took place at Weserstadion, Ostkurvensaal on a very cold October night, on the 8th to be exact. Perhaps this is why the venue never filled up to its capacity. Those attending were all in great spirits and full of appreciation of the set of one of the biggest sounds in Germany: SUPERSONIC SOUND.

Jr Blender did his thing as usual, a good mix and blend of all genres sprinked with one or ten wicked dubplates and the charismatic MC Spider had us smiling all the way. It was a wonderful night and I had a chance to reminsce with the previous promoters and to dance quite a bit.

The format of my slide show has changed for technical reasons. I do hope you like it anyway. So leave me a comment please! :-)

See you all next time!

Yumiko Tanabe Exhibiting in Bremen

Yumiko Tanabe

The lovely Yumiko Tanabe from Kobe, Japan exhibited at Galerie Herold here in Bremen last month. I was made aware of this by my MySpace and facebook friend and visual artist Fuke San who has been an inspiration to me for many years. I went to meet her on an open day of the whole Güterbahnhof artist community near the main station in Bremen (www.ga-art.de).

Building housing Galerie Herold amongst other galeries and individual artists

Communicating in English ...

... what the symbols mean

Fishbones are boiled several times then dried thoroughly and sprayed with white paint

The connection of nature and the arrangements

Beautiful bones

Backbones

Phalenopsis

Today I am just posting one of my favourite flowers, an orchid. This is a very common type called phalenopsis.

 

I am working on a few projects and my website at the moment an had a few private events too, photos of which I won't publish but are still taking time to process. Soon the photos of events I have attended will be ready for publication here.

Watch this space! :-)

Breminale 2011

Poster with a reference to the Bremen Town Musicians

Osterdeich Bremen, the embankment road

 Breminale is a local festival synonymous with the phrase “umsonst und draußen” which means “free of charge and outside”, which was originally held as an alternative city fest and is financed by private businesses, donations and sponsors. It is located right by the river Weser inside the embankment. The main acts are usually located in four tents of various sizes. Different styles of music are being played by bands and musicians from all over the world, you can expect anything from country to punk, chanson to ska, sometimes even reggae.

Osterdeich, the embankment - a local meeting point and hang-out in summer

Hal över - the local ferry circulating back and forth for about € 1.30 per person

In between the tents you can find lots of little stalls supporting charities, selling clothes or food from all over the world and of course lots of beer and other drinks, benches and tables invite you to chill out in beer garden style and enjoy the illustrous views. You might see walking acts or watch the children play in their designated areas. 

People on the embankment enjoying a mild summer night

Usually, there are several supervised activities for the little ones, some are carried on throughout the night like a steep Bobby-Car http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobbycar track down the embankment, which still caused much amusement in the late hours for everyone watching children and men – some of whom very intoxicated - while seated around on the embankment grass enjoying the lovely warm summer evening.

swb-Bühne im Bremen Vier-Zelt - Main stage and my destination for the night

Fetsum singing a mix of pop, soul, jazz and hip hop

Stall owner selling clothes and enjoying the view of the sunset

Most spotted item at Breminale - the Beck's beer bottle

I mainly went to catch the mood and to see Joy Denalane, a wonderful German soul and R&B singer, who had just released her third studio album called “Maureen”. She brought her band and a lovely vibe from Berlin and I must say, seeing her was my musical highlight for Bremen this year. Her performance in which she even sang a duette for a male and female voice, moved me to tears and I did see one or two young men wiping their eyes, too.

Joy Denalane moved people to tears with her soulful voice

Waterfront

I had been to this particular shopping centre a few times when it was called Space Park now it's called Waterfront.

I always thought I should take some pictures of the inside because the design is interesting. This time I had to be there on a Saturday and went when it was almost evening, i. e. the sun was going down. Here are some of the results.

The ice-cream parlour had lamps I noticed so I asked if I could take some shots of it.
The owner told me that he had assembled these expensive lamps himself part by part.
I guess if you have to do that you really do appreciate your interior decoration.
They look so very nice in motion, which is why I made this graphic:

There is one other restaurant with an interesting interior
I might photograph at a later date.

Here is a photo I took on my way out and
an exterior shot from almost the same spot but
facing the other way which I took quite a while back.

Reggae Nights # 101

Location: newly renovated Weserstadion, Ostkurvensaal on May 14, 2011
Starring: Uwe Kaa, Roots Ashanti with Kim of Calabash Sound and lots of lovely people
Evidence: here on my Slide to watch on Full Screen view for your best enjoyment!

 

Happy Birthday, Mareike! :-)

Conclusion: Wicked vibes, great night, to be repeated soon!

Thanks to Uwe Kaa for posing with the Help Jamaica!-flyer

Nuff love and thanks to all

Chrissie x

Reggae Nights # 100

Roots Ashanti

On Saturday April 9, 2011 we all got together at the Römer Club in the city center of Bremen to celebrate the 100th Reggae Night the organisation of which now is in the hands of Roots Ashanti.

Ranking Smo of Heckert Empire

We hardly had time to reminisce about the hundred previous events - which I have been documenting "seriously" with series of photos since June 2004 - as the small venue was buzzing with people and by the time I made it "to the back" the guests Heckert Empire were about to start their set.

Ronny Trettmann of Heckert Empire

I missed the fact that the doors had to be locked because of overcrowding and had a great time with the sound who put on the most energetic show I have ever seen from an all German sound! We all had a WICKED time and the night was done in no time! Check the pictures here on my Slide on Full Screen view for your best enjoyment! :-))

Calabash alongside Kid Gringo of Heckert Empire

Kim and Jao of Calabash played the last set - at least before I left. People were still dancing and it was still "ram" in the early hours!

So, I hope to see you all again next time at Weserstadion, Ostkurvensaal on May 14!

Nuff love

Chrissie x

Lightplanke

A new bar has opened at Sielwall, directly at the spot that I would usually avoid because it used to be a junkie hang out. Anyway, I was invited by Roots Ashanti MC Ben who plays some tunes there every Tuesday night now so I went there to take a few pictures which I posted in a little Slide show here.

To my surprise it's a lovely little bar with very colourful walls and a nice new owner who seems very easy going. You can actually smoke in there which is a relief to some - not me. But the vibe was nice and we had a chat with some mellow reggae chunes in the background. The music was so nice, some people got up to dance.

So, hopefully the bar will have a long future and many more happy guests to tell the tale!

One love

Chrissie

Reggae Nights # 99

The evening was not announced for some reason, yet a lot of people turned up for the dance and made it a lovely event! As usual you can see the photos of the event hosted by Roots Ashanti alongside Calabash Sound in my slide-show on full screen here.

Roots Ashanti

Calabash Sound

 The next event will take place in the same venue April 9 and will be the anniversary edition.

Hope to see you all there!

Nuff love

Chrissie

Launch of Reggaespace.com

On March 5, 2011 the new reggae radio site www.reggaespace.com was launched by numerous DJs from around the world playing sets of one or two hours each.

The line up was: Pablo P (UK), Lady Coopz (UK), DJ 745 with DJ Wanted, Rootical, Black Vinyl Magic and Mr Feelgood at his studio in the UK, then Queen Easy with Mighty Howard (Germany) followed by Yendis (UK) with several interviews with Damas (JA), Mamadee alongside Born Free (Germany) and Don Minott (US). DJ Coolmo (US) took over after that, then MassiveR (NL), Williams (UK) and Idread (UK) who played till the night was done.

I recorded the whole session and you can listen to it here: Launch Of Reggaespace. I think you can also download it from there (on the left) and cut out your segment of the show if you so wish since the whole file is 719 MB large and 13 hours and 6 minutes long. Let me know how it goes!

I did make one segment for my friends from Leicester, UK and you can listen to it or download it here.

For the future I wish the management who are Queen Easy from Hamburg and Yendis from Telford, UK and their station much success and many listeners. It was wonderful meeting most of you at Reggae By The River in Hamburg and I look forward to meeting again soon.

Keep the vibes alive!