Photo: Bedburg cultural scene at the "Remember Woodstock" festival in summer 2019.
It's such a pity, I would have liked to have looked at Gerd Köster. That singer who can mitigate the tristesse of an annoying nicotine withdrawal – you just don't think about it anymore. The powerful poet of the Kölschen dialect, who in his performances also shows himself visibly as a connoisseur of the upper fermentofe of the same name, casts a fine, as salutary look into the madness of the everyday in his texts. In a trio with guitarists Frank Hocker and Helmut Krumminga, he had actually invited to the new program called "Wupp" in the Pulheimer Köster-Saal on the first Thursday in November. It would have been about infused cover versions of their favorite songs, from Ray Davis, Rod Stewart to Iggy Pop and Tom Waits to Frank Zappa. Would he have found suitable words for the cultural crisis?
Corona in spite of
The partial lockdown for November hits all those who promise pleasure and entertainment live and those who are looking for it. This means that concert, museum and cinema visits will be off the table in the near future. And doubts characterize the scene as to whether it really will continue at the end of November.
Especially in the last few weeks, it became apparent how organizers met their obligations with great care to make safe offers. Either outside on meadows and at open-cast mine edges or in well-ventilated cultural temples, churches and castles, the required distance was the required distance. They registered their visitors and sent them with neatly disinfected fingers to avoid head-on encounters in signposted one-way streets. Infection with the corona virus by means of droplets and aerosols or lubricating infections probably had no chance.
'I don't understand. People come to the Medio, stay at a distance, experience the demonstration in the steady air of our supply and exhaust air system, then get into their cars and drive home. So far, I have not noticed any chain of infection that would have started here," said Schobbe Vois, program director at Medio Rhein-Erft.
With the large lawnmower, the federal government is closing all venues. A differentiated examination may be an appropriate way to maintain the cultural and event business, despite the pandemic, says Schobbe Vois. The Federal Government, in the new lockdown, emphasizes that the industry is being spared, but that the number of employees in the music, stage and event industry is greater than, for example, in the construction industry.
Schobbe Vois recommends the video mail of the trumpeter and photographer Till Brönner, who postulates "culture as a human right" but also mentions the many money that the exercise of the right flushes into the treasury:
Till Brönner's Appeal for Solidarity
"Bach at four"
A glance at the Wednesday page of the regional daily newspaper reveals in fragments what pleasures will be in the next few weeks. There would have been "Bach um vier" in the Brühler Schlosskirche, www.schlosskonzerte.de or the duo "Hellrick" in the Quadrather Bürgerhaus, www.veranstaltungen-bergheim.de , i.e. the guitarist Michael Rick and singer Christine Hellweg with their lyrics set to Rockchansons by German poets, or the reading of crime writer Horst Eckert in the Wesselinger Rheinforum. Maybe you can still hear "Bach um vier", a permanent series always on Sundays at four, which is planned until February.
Talk, Music and Culinary
Dieter Kirchenbauer from the castle town of Bedburg also returned with "News from Bedborough". He had considered a new format to help the local musicians through the winter.
Every Sunday between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. he wanted to moderate talk and music in the old town rooms with one guest from each scene behind a Corona-safen glass panes, while a strictly limited number of guests, set at a reasonable distance, are allowed to indulge in the culinary delights of the house. Airing should be carried out every 30 minutes. A plan that could still work from December.
For the opening on the current, last Sunday of October before the lockdown, he invited the singer Christine Ladda, whom he actually wants to ask about her first steps in the music, the most violent stage fright and the most beautiful goosebumps on stage.
The Last Waltz
In view of the November lockdown, it has now become "The Last Waltz". The four artists: the first rounds of talks will be played together on Sunday in two sets for the last live performance of the year: Christine Ladda, Julia Kropp, Wulf Hanses-Ketteler, the tenor Norbert Conrads and Kirchenbauer himself.
Online living room concerts
The city of Elsdorf had already announced before the new Corona dive trip that it would return to the spring event series from this weekend in place of music in the presence format, and offer online living room concerts every Saturday. It starts on Saturday, October 31 at 8:30 p.m. with the country singer Jolina Carl.
Jolina Carl, who lives in the tranquil village of Berrendorf, has been on stage with musical greats such as Mark Alan Cash (nephew of Johnny Cash), Stan Perkins (son of Carl Perkins) and W.S. "Fluke" Holland (drummer by Johnny Cash). "Handmade and unplugged" she last sang hits of the last six decades at the summer concert series "Musik mit Aussicht" at the Forum :terra nova.
As in the spring, online concerts are about continuing to take responsibility for cultural workers and not leaving artists alone, according to Mayor Andreas Heller.
Saturday concerts will be streamed live from 8:30 p.m. on www.facebook.com/stadtelsdorf. Dieter Kirchenbauer (07.11.) and the 90s tribute band "Westpak" (21.11.) play in the concert series. Information can be found at www.facebook.com/stadtelsdorf