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November 26, 2006
Smoke anyone?
In Germany the tabacco lobby is very strong including politicians of all parties. This leads to a ridiculous backwardness when it comes to the protection of non-smokers. If that bothers you then visit this site.
Posted by Ralph Ammer at 03:12 PM
November 02, 2006
Here and now
As you might know, Munich is one of the happening places on this planet. For instance last night there was a show by Esbjörn Svenson Trio at Zirkus Krone. I love the music by E.S.T. so my expections were ridiculously high. Still they managed to top them. This band ist EX-CEL-LENT! If you have any chance to see them buy a ticket NOW.
The atmosphere on stage was also carefully designed. The lighting changed over time in a very subtle and supporting way. There was at times a projection in the back with variations of live camera footage of the musicans' hands. And even though the visuals were stylish, unobtrusive and beautiful I... hated them. I still try to figure out why. At first I thought that these images deliver me some kind of interpretation which sort of blocks my own. But then the lights and the smoke (oh yeah!) also interpreted the music and that did not bother me at all. So I came to a different conclusion: Pictures have a tendency to point to "somewhere else". The german word for TV is "Fernsehen" (= "far-seeing") which is a nice expression for what virtual worlds in pictures do. They transport you somewhere else. And this is what I hate about TV screens in bars, VJ visuals in clubs and TV in general: They distract you from what is here and now. They point to a canned world behind a window pane. And as live jazz is so much better than recorded jazz BECAUSE you can feel the "here and now" I found those VJ visuals particularily disturbing.
Posted by Ralph Ammer at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)