Back in the USSR!
Today we went <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunsthaus_Tacheles">to Kunsthaus Tacheles</a> for a visit, while walking around Berlin. Although it doesn't say in this article, Tacheles was apparently a squat for a long time after the Berlin wall came down, before it became an art center. Some parts are nice-- the gift shop, and the cafe', but the rest smells like a squat, that is, like pee, and is covered with graffiti. Check out the <a href="http://www.bushtrash.com/bilder/tacheles/tacheles.htm">pictures if you have a chance.</a>
A story from my bro-in-law: In East Berlin, many people fled to the West after the wall came down, as they were worried that the wall would go back up any moment. They didn't go back for a while, so western artists and squatters just moved into these furnished houses, thinking that they had been abandoned.
One of the coolest places I've been to.
Thanks for the updates from abroad!
The reason why I thought they might be interested is that here are a lot of young punks here. Mum got stuck on a train car with a bunch of them yesterday-- a couple of mowhawks, a couple of geeks along for the ride, black nailpolish, FUCK (in English) written everywhere, pins with a stick figure putting a swastika in a trashcan, yellling and laughing and drinking the German version of PBR. I think they were in some kind of anti-neo-nazi gang, as all of them had anti-stuff written all over their clothes. It warmed my heart. Of course, one of them had a Dropkick Murphy's patch on their sweatshirt, so maybe they were a little young for the Minutemen. Who knows.
Maybe you should write a book about Bauhaus next-- that would go over well here.
The bro-in-law and I were wondering if the Minutemen ever played Germany. We looked online and found one show. True? While looking online, he (who had never heard of them) said that there were a lot of German-speaking fans here, even if the punks on the train probably hadn't heard of them.