Disclaimer: this edition of The World According to Ward bears no resemblance whatsoever to the great Charles Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities. For starters, I read that book back when I was a sophomore in high school, back in nineteen humph harumph, so I don’t remember it so well. I do remember really liking it. I also remember that it was set during the French Revolution. I remember that, in the last few pages of the book, ***SPOILER ALERT*** an important character gave the soliloquy: “Tis a far better thing I do now than I have ever done…” or some such thing before he/she was beheaded by the guillotine. That’s about it.
There is one similarity: both TTOC and TTOW take place in Europe.
So. Do you know any girls named Wiebke? I’d never met any, until this tour through Germany. Then, during 2 days, I met two of them!
That’s averages out to one Wiebke a day!
Here’s Wiebke #1:
She’s on the left; her friend Jenny is on the right. They helped us sell CDs in Mainz.
Then we went to a Cuban Cocktail Bar:
I got a Margarita. Yum! and then a Sidecar…..weeeeeeellll, let’s just say I’ll not be ordering any more sidecars in Germany.
Mainz had a special power: it made all of us want to impersonate inanimate objects:
Vienna and Alex reenact a wedding stock photo
I imitate Friederich Schiller writing the lyrics to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
This was in Schillerplatz. What a coincidence, right?! Someone just happened to put a statue of Schiller in Schillerplatz. Total synchronicity!
We played in the Frankfurter Hof. I can’t quite remember the first time I came to Europe, because it was the summer after my sophomore year in college, back in nineteen sumpn sumpn. But I kind of think that the NCSA International Music Program Orchestra played here as well. Or maybe I just did chamber music here. (Any 1992 IMP alumni out there who remember?) Either way, I think I may have been to Mainz before. But I sure as hell didn’t meet any Wiebkes.
Before we left, I wandered around the town. And I actually bumped into Wiebke and Jenny again! But my dumb ass didn’t take a picture, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. I did take some other pictures of the town, though:
Does anyone know what kind of trees these are?
I’ve seen them around Germany a lot. Never in the U, S and A. I’ll try to get some better shots of them
After a nice stroll in Mainz, we drove to Mannheim. Here’s where we performed:
Der Altes Feuerwache-which means old Firestation. Old Factory, Old Pawnshop, Old Firestation. I’m sensing a pattern…
Five Points Music Hall in Birmingham, AL (RIP) could have been called “Altes Piggly Wiggly”
Guess who worked at Altes Feuerwache:
THAT’S RIGHT: WIEBKE #2, THAT’S WHO!!!
I asked both Wiebkes if “Wiebke” was a common name in Germany.
“Nein, ” they both replied. “Nicht really”
Oh, kind of like Ward in the states. Interesting. So people probably screw up your names all the time. Like for me, 75% of people who first meet me will, at some point in time, call me “Wade”. So, what do people call the Wiebkes after first meeting them? Time for an SAT question:
Ward::Wade as Wiebke::
A. Vodka
B. Wonka
C. Bupkis
D. Wade
All you Wiebkes out there, get back to me and we’ll set the record straight! We’re Ward and Wiebke, not Wade and Wonka (or whatever the equivalent of “Wade” is for the Wiebkes)! Get it straight, people!
Between Mannheim and Munich, we ran into some SNOW!!!
These were taken at the best gas/rest station ever. Check this out:
Hell Yeah!!
Damn right that’s a Jack and Coke….in a can!!!!! I’ll just have one for the road, Fraulein. Vielen Dank!
After waking up from a Jack Daniel’s infused nap, I arrived at the club in Munich:
Jazz Club Unterfahrt! Heh heh, he said Fart!
I was greeted by the soundtech, Robert:
…in a typical Munich fashion: He gingerly cupped my nutsack. Guten Tag to you, Herr Robert!
This was on the wall near our dressing room. Great band name.
We had a delicious dinner upstairs next door. And they also brewed their own wheat beer:
with these:
(hops)
Delicious.
We destroyed Munich with the power of our rock. The following morning, I took a stroll in the cold and snow and took some pictures of the city:
The first picture is of the Neues Rathaus (which means New City Hall{I guess the old City Hall is now a rock club}). The rest are from the Munich Residence:
Yeah, gettin yer learn on in the World According to Ward!
Before I go, I’d like to show y’all an email I got from Thomas, the Dutch guy who saw us in Amsterdam and Gronigen:
Hey Ward,
How are you? Did you have a nice everning in Amsterdam?
I’ve been very busy, but I finally have some time to write you something about the New York trip.
Last year I bought tickets for a music festival in the summer. Then I saw on their website that people who already bought tickets could win a trip to New York. I never won something but I tried it. A few months later there was an email from the organisation. At first I thought it was some annoying spam. But they told me that I won the trip to NY! Which was pretty unbelievable. Then I saw my name on the website and got some information from them.
It was a four day trip to NY. Never been out of Europe, so I was pretty excited. Me and my girlfriend stayed in the Soho Grand, a very good and expensive hotel. Been to Time Square, Central Park, Top of The Rock, Statue of Liberty, some cd stores and of course we wanted to see a concert in NY. We are both addicted to music and going to live gigs. I heard from a friend that there are many small clubs where you can see singer songwriter concerts, so we just went to the Knitting Factory, which was also near our hotel.
That was the place where we saw a really nice concert of Christina Cone and some funny dude, making jokes all the time. Ward Williams. That was in october. A couple of months later Vienna Teng (one of my favourite artists) announced their European tour and I bought tickets for the dutch shows. In the city full of bikes, Groningen, I saw a new member of the band which seemed very familiar. After the show I asked him if he ever played in New York with Christina Cone. And he looked at me very surprised and said yes I have.
Well that’s the story, nothing more, nothing less. Just really cool and random.
Enjoy the rest of the tour through Europe with the great musicians Alex Wong and of course miss Vienna Teng.
Cheers,
Thomas ‘The Random Dutch Guy’ Spiekerman
Alex, Thomas and Me
Dig it! What a teeny tiny world we live in!
Coming soon, we head back into the snow to Austria!! I had so much fun in Austria, I can’t wait to tell you about it!
Till next post, Auf Wiedersehen!