—  Shaky Tour Europa (2016)  —

September 23, 2016 (Friday) - Moving from Paris to Hamburg on Wednesday, Thayer Sarrano & Company trekked some 568 miles, or 9 hours. Fortunately, the distance traveled today from Hamburg to Berlin was more abbreviated, some 180 miles, or 3 hours. Thayer again fulfills her duties as dream grunge ambassadress / Botschafterin, this time in the capital of Germany, the economic motor of the European Union. Diplomatic duties are offered this evening at the court of the Posh Teckel -- or the "Posh Dachshund" (depicted above). For Indie Berlin -- a blog dedicated to music, art, fashion, and lifestyle in the German capital -- Noel Maurice writes: "If the world came to its senses and decided that a bar should be president, Posh Teckel would win by a landslide." While we aren't sure if that is meant as a slight to incumbent President Joachim Gauck, it is certainly a compliment to Posh Teckel. Maurice underlines that, apparently, some rather famed individuals and canines hang out at the Posh Teckel. First, for us, there is "their mascot sausage dog." A distant second in our book -- for who can outdo a sausage dog in popularity? -- there are former members of Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as The Smiths. Regarding the Banshees, we could not help but wonder if that might possibly also include even Robert Smith of The Cure, since he once played guitar in their touring ensemble, at least long enough to lift his trademark smeared-lipstick look from Siouxsie herself. Regarding the Smiths, we can only hope this means Johnny Marr, carrying with him possibly a few extras of his signature edition model Fender Jaguar, which he might well wish to loan en permanence to the Guildwater Schola Cantorum. (Limited Edition Black, please.) That would be best. If it were instead Morrissey, we would be less thrilled. He was a talented wordsmith, to be sure. But a simple sip, if not a mere waft of the vapors of a hefty mug of Hefeweizen offered by the Posh Teckel mascot -- we Guildwater Scriveners are of the cloth, and not accustomed to such elixirs, and are only speaking hypothetically -- and we can easily imagine ourselves poking that particular Manchesterian insistently in the chest, slurringly reminding him that he owes back-royalties, amounting to more than a few quid, to Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce. In response, the wily Wildean might intone "I Don't Owe You Anything," "I Didn't Get the Paperwork (Hobnobbing in L.A.)," which is an as yet unreleased Smiths song from the vaults, or "What Difference Does It Make?" To which we might parry: "Still Ill," "Miserable Lie," "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," and "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore."

The stage of the "Posh Dachshund" is located about three miles from the famed Brandendburg Gate, and a few hundred feet from Hohenstaufenplatz, for anyone who may dare care to remember our Frederick Barbarossa reference of yesterday. Despite this "plazt proximity" of the Hohenstaufens, Berlin was more richly connected, from the twelfth century onward, with the Hohenzollern family, who, as one of the original seven imperial electors of the Holy Roman Empire, controlled the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and then eventually, through personal political union, the Duchy of Prussia, elevated to the status of kingdom as of 1701. The Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg-Prussia were eventually responsible for the political unification of Germany in 1871, as guided by future Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

Considering all this, and almost needless to say, the diplomatic stakes are high this evening in the Federal Republic of Germany at the court of the Posh Teckel. Yet we feel certain that Ambassadress / Botschafterin Thayer Sarrano and her fellow musical envoys / attachés Ted Kuhn (bass) and Jason Nazary (drums) will represent her independent and sovereign dream grunge state with dignity, and a rock-like statecraft, worthy perhaps of Willy Brandt.   

September 22, 2016 (Thursday) - Thayer Sarrano arrives in the northern regions of Mitteleuropa to play the Grüner Jäger ("Green Hunter"), as part of the Reeperbahn Festival, in Hamburg, Germany. Established in 2006, this Festival is a 3-day series of events, highlighting the fine arts, film, literature, food, music, and more. It boasts some 700 events, among which figure 400+ concerts, taking place across 70 venues, attended by some 32,000 spectators. Spread out across Hamburg, events are still centered, as the festival's name might suggest, along the Reeperbahn, a famed avenue. Located in the St. Pauli quarter, clubs and concert halls along this boulevard figured in the early 1960s as home to some important early watershed performances -- residencies -- of an as yet undiscovered group from Liverpool -- known as the Beatles. In commemoration, a square known as Beatles-Platz is now situated at the intersection of Reeperbahn and Groß Freiheit. Hamburg is itself situated along the Elbe River, and has for centuries bordering on a millennium been a commercial hub of Europe, especially the North Sea and Baltic trade regions, and now the world. Hamburg was an early member of the Hanseatic League, a coalition of merchant guilds, fully formed in the thirteenth century, but with roots extending back still further into the medieval period. (The name "Reeperbahn" means something along the lines of "Rope Street," and likely derives from the rope that was once made in the shops there for water vessels.) Hamburg was a free imperial city still earlier, under Frederick Barbarossa, a Hohenstaufen, and remained so under the later Holy Roman Empire of the Habsburgs. It was incorporated into the newly unified state of Germany in 1871. Then, 1momentously, in the year 2016, on September 22nd, a Thursday, around 9:35 pm, local time, the city of Hamburg welcomed the Shaky Tour Europa of Thayer Sarrano -- dream grunge ambassadress / Botschafterin. She steps onto the stage of the Grüner Jäger, with her fellow road companions Ted Kuhn (bass) and Jason Nazary (drums).   

September 20, 2016 (Tuesday) - Espace B in Paris welcomes Thayer Sarrano and her Shaky Tour Europa. Thayer performs once again with her fellow road companions Ted Kuhn (bass) and Jason Nazary (drums). Cosmopolitan flair befitting Sarrano is in full-effect this evening: Thayer's Southern rock psych dream grunge, on a Gaulois-Latin stage, intermixed with Scandinavian elements, courtesy of the Norwegian singer-songwriter Moddi, performing a tune by Slavic political dissidents, in a set of his own. Moddi released his new album, Unsongs, just days ago (September 16th on iTunes) via Propeller Recordings. It is a handpicked collection of twelve, which, for one reason or another, have been banned in twelve countries, from Chile, to Israel, from Algeria, to Russia. Its lead single, "Punk Prayer," is a song by Russian female dissidents -- Pussy Riot -- a collective of musico-politico-protesters. Back in 2012, members -- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Ekaterina Samutsevich -- were arrested and subsequently served out a two-year prison sentence, for performing it in protest against then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The group was outraged by the support the Russian Orthodox Church -- formally recognized as autocephalous since the sixteenth century -- had extended to Putin. Putin was then making a bid for the presidency, an office which he had held twice previously. The feminist punk rock collective chose as its impromptu performance venue the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, in the very shadows of Moscow's Kremlin. They then turned footage of the ensuing fiasco into a music video: "Punk Prayer -- Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!" Not surprisingly, state punishment was harsh. (View contemporary news coverage from Reuteurs.) Later, at the 2014 Winter Olympics, on Russian soil, in Sochi, members of this same collective staged another protest, and found themselves whipped and pepper-sprayed by a host of Cossacks. (View coverage from 2014 from USA Today.)