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Free Oktoberfest Singalong lessons
Word is from Bayern 3 this monstrosity of a song will be the next hit at this year’s Oktoberfest. If you don’t want to look like a ninny standing on the Bierbank with the WTF look, I suggest you start with daily views of this video until the beer guzzling begins. It even has some Bayerisch text to follow along. Whee!
Why is viola called “Bratsche” in Germany?
Because that’s the sound it makes when you sit down on it.
It’s been 12 years since I’ve played my viola in public. I had forgotten how much fun it was to make music with a group of people. Even though my performance Thursday night may have lived up to every viola joke there was ever invented, I’ll take it. All in all my super critical side would say, ‘not bad for starting back up late February of this year.’ One listener later told me I was too timid. If only he knew. I’m just really glad I didn’t let Mark, the magic man behind this shindig, too down with the solo part that Frances was supposed to play.
The TT Orchestra and Singers gave their first full public debut on by far the hottest evening of this summer. The 60 some people who came to hear us must have conjured their Tibetan monk mojo to sit so relaxed in that heat and still had the energy to applaud as long as they did.
Ever since I moved to Germany I really wanted to start playing again. A little part of me unraveled the summer I decided to let my instrument lie dormant through my last years in college and remained that way the years that followed. I don’t regret that I put music aside while life’s bs took over. I got to work in a really good job doing semi-good deeds and life brought me to Germany to a wonderful man. Now I have a new language to my bag of trick and a slippery degree to tame and to eventually add to it. I’m thinking it was worth the wait.
Our orchestra is still missing quite a few instruments (i.e., cellos, basses, trombones, percussion). If you play or have played and you live or are coming to Munich do join us! Everyone is also encouraged to not only play but also conduct, arrange or just help out. You can get details here www.tt-orchestra.de or at Toytown Munich.
We are a fun and enthusiastic group and I promise it’s pretty spiffy to get kudos from your friends and loved ones even at around my age.
It’s Starkbier-drinking, dirndl-wearing time!
Lucky me, a sunny day has lured me out of my lair along with the curious prospect of tasting my first Mass of a brown potion known as Starkbier.
I must say it has taken me awhile to get the hang of this winter thing. I chalk my first winter season experience up to happy-go-lucky ignorance. You could have locked me with a beach towel in a freezer full of Fischstäbchen and told me this was a typical German ritual.
I would’ve gone with it. And in some respects, I did and it was difficult to find any joy in it.
That’s probably why I haven’t been to a Starkbierfest in the time I’ve lived in Munich. The grey and cold keep me indoors.
In subsequent years, I grew more the wisers. Life in the winter months has taught me to stay active or end up busting a knee ligament and more recently, to also get over being shy about public naked-time on Sauna Saturdays. My cold loathing has been reduced for those few days when the sky is so depressing it feels like the dark crystal is hovering above Munich draining the life essence from all who dare to gaze outside the window.
Alright. It’s not that bad. Especially now.. because it’s Starkbierzeit.
The former monastery at Nockherberg, now the Paulaner brewery and gastronomy wonder park, offers a mini version of what it’s like to be in a beer tent during Oktoberfest. See all the Lebkuchen Herzchen, ribbons, and balloons? The one advantage: there’s no smoking. The disadvantage: there is a cover charge to get on the grounds.
So this Keferloher or Steinkrug I’m holding contains the Starkbier called, Salvator. Also known as “liquid bread”, it was invented by hunger-driven monks because fasting it old-school was just too hard to bare. They also supported their habit by selling the stuff to outsiders.
It needs to be served ice cold because it contains 7.5% alcohol (normal beer has 4.7 to 5.1%) otherwise it tastes bitter and flat. I thought the Salvator was just a tad sweeter than wheat beer and palatable, which was to my delight because I had a liter of it to kill.
After awhile the picture above sums it up: Life in a Mass surrounded by a bunch of empty mini-masses.. and a chicken with a knife in it.
At the end of the evening, the long, cold winter is merely a faint memory along with the uncomfortable tightness the dSo a schoener Tag – Fliegerlied by Die Jungen Zillertalerirndl of two seasons ago is putting on your rib cage. Eventually you find yourself happy and holding a bouquet of radishes! (or perhaps I’m speaking from my unique perspective) All in all, good times.
So a schoener Tag – Fliegerlied by Die Jungen Zillertaler
Tell Me Something Good
What da ya know, it’s snowing again and four degrees above freezing! I mean really snowing.
I wish I could ignore this thing which I’ve come to learn is known as Smarch weather, but I can’t. I frequently find myself glancing out the window with a stink eye. And those few precious minutes of glorious sunshine just aren’t enough. Visits to the human roaster, aka sauna, aren’t cutting it either. So tell me something good.
I mean, is it me, or is the whole world biting down on raw garlic bulbs? Well if that is the case, it’s time for a new perspective. I must admit raw garlic does look pretty good from this angle.
And even better, when roasted with thyme and rosemary.
What else could I say is good? Let me look around the house..
Hey! My heart-shaped Kerrii plant has finally grown a stem after 3 years of waiting. Ah, patience.
So got anything good to share?
