Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Munchen II

So.

I had some free time Friday night, so I did some wandering around the city, looking for something to do.  There was a poster on a wall by the subway that said there was a Jazz Jam, so I followed the signs and ended up at the University- which, Nelia, happens to also be called LMU, except it's Ludwig Maximilian Universitat, not Loyola Marymount University.  Fast, though.


Anyway.  There was a strike and a student demonstration, there- Christian told me later that it was because the Stadt wanted to raise fees for going to university, and the students didn't like that.  I can see why.  Anyway, the building was totally taken over by students- I don't think I saw a single person over 25 there that night.  There was a big central hall, with maybe 200 students in it, and they had a big demonstration in there talking about their rights and their plan of action and their objections and all sorts of fun stuff.  It was funny, though, how absolutely un-American that was: every single student had a beer in hand, and ninety percent were smoking.

Anyway.  In all the hallways kids had set up little booths either with information on the strike or with food, so I have some nice literature now.


In the other end of the building the jazz band was setting up.  Check out the guy's sweet bass in this picture... it was very cool.  Anyway, they weren't ready right when I got there, so I left and bought a beer, and talked to some of the students in one of the main halls.  Anyway, by the time they did get going they were really good.  It was these three in the photo, but later a trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and another guitar came.  They played a lot of songs I knew, too, which was cool.  They opened with Chameleon!


Anyway, they were literally playing in a hallway- it wasn't a concert hall or anything.  After they started playing, kids started flowing in.  By 10:30 it had gotten sort of crazy- not like, out of control, but just in the sense that I had no idea what was going on.  I mean, everyone was still smoking and drinking, but all the sudden there were dogs running around, and everyone was dancing, and some guy was yipping into a portable microphone, and then the lights went out, and there were fire dancers, and then fire dancers with more fire... I have no idea where all of the stuff came from, but it was a really good time.  A really great night.  I took a video, here's a link.

From Munich

4 comments:

  1. Hey Tim,
    In response to your question, Me, Sean and Vic are the main set builders now for the kids, but Perillo, Emily and Kerry + Jordan all pitch in a little bit. The thing thats different is that this year for the musical, the parents have completely taken over. It kinda stinks that they run everything since we dont get to design as much, but it also helps having more guidance, and expert builders there. Also, yeah the stupid stuff really is the best part of Lynnfield, and yes we still do it every weekend.
    Peace,
    Jimmy

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  2. Ooh, we played Chameleon in jazz band last year. That's awesome.
    One of the funniest things I saw in Germany was a (not-very-good) high school band covering "Sweet Home Alabama."
    Anyway, yay Muenchen; glad you had fun. :] I've never been to northern Germany, but I know southern Germany is very US-like as far as shops are concerned. It's a bit strange to see many of the same chain stores as you would in your typical American mall.

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  3. Hey,
    I was looking through your albut the other day and I laughed when I saw that you and your exchange dad have matching leather jackets. Also I am very jealous that you were able to tour the BMW Museum in Munich.

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  4. Hey Chris, how's life treating you?

    The picture you saw (I think) is me and Christian, my host mother's brother-in-law. We stayed in his house in Munich. I don't think that Alex (my host dad) owns a leather jacket.

    Anyway, Christian is cool too.

    And yeah, the BMW museum was really cool- thinking back, I forgot to mention it in my blog. But it was really neat- the architect really took a theme and ran with it. The museum's layout and stylistic elements were practically as cool as the cars and bikes themselves.

    Not quite, though ;)

    You and Rhett where the two people I thought about when Christian asked if I wanted to go, actually.

    I also saw a display room of Aston Martins in Munich, but there were no cameras allowed. That was cool, too.

    Anyway, thanks for saying hello! I hope all is well in Lynnfield.

    Tim

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