Sunday Times’ Berlin Sex & Drugs Shocker
Sunday Times video clip of 'decadent Berlin'
Hugely influential and usually respected British newspaper the Sunday Times published a hysterical ‘not safe for children’ expose on Berlin night life this week which suggested that ‘not since the 30s has Berlin experienced such decadence.’
Echoing the entertaining, if usually fictitious prose style pioneered by the Times’ notoriously sleazy deceased sister title the News Of the World, crack reporter Christopher Goodwin said‘ mass orgies’ involving hundreds of strangers are routine while ‘in every Berlin nightspot you openly see people snorting speed or cocaine’.
“I watched thousands of drugged up clubbers dancing in their own dreamscapes,” he continued, “and saw hundreds of anonymous bodies desperately clutching for flesh in the dark sex rooms”. Visions, he added, which left him ‘profoundly depressed’. (Sunday Times: http://thetim.es/wQ9tMb )
Apparently dreaming up his fantasy sex stories after a brief trip to Berlin’s (admittedly open-minded) fetish club the Kit Kat, Goodwin also claimed to have visited Berghain (‘Berlin’s most notorious club’) and ‘The Wilde Renate’ (known to Berliners as Salon Zur Wilden Renate, or more commonly ‘Renate’).
American Berlin scene DJ and journalist Beaner, a regular at ‘the Wilde Renate’ and resident at both KaterHolzig and (now closed) Bar 25, two of the other clubs prominently discussed by the Times, was puzzled.
Berghain's home page; clear proof of ubiquitous Berlin orgies (click for more; NOT SAFE FOR SUNDAY TIMES READERS)
“I actually skimmed through that article, a friend of mine from London sent it to me, in the context of another friend moving here. She asked me what I thought of it,” Beaner told Skrufff, chatting in a decidedly non-sexual, non -drug crazed, though down-at-heel chic bar three days later.
Clearly sex crazed KaterHolzig/ former Bar 25 resident Beaner; click for more
“To me it’s just the basic London journalism,” he shrugged, “You know, it’s using vague second hand non-facts to prove a story that you set out to write already.
Canadian Cops’ Ecstasy Death Wish Slammed
Breaking Bad (click for more)
British Columbia police who refused to reveal details of a rogue batch of ecstasy linked to five deaths were roundly criticized this week, for risking the lives of more people.
Specific pills containing PMMA have been linked to the deaths of three men and two women since the beginning of last year, though BC police spokesperson Lisa Lapointe told reporters they were refraining from posting photos online.
“We don’t want to give the impression that these are the tablets that are risky, and other tablets are safe,” she told reporters, “At any time, any tablet can be contaminated with anything.” (Huffington Post: http://huff.to/AukIc7 )
Civil liberties campaigner Scott Morgan described their response as ‘sick logic’.
“Listen, if you don’t want people to think you’re sanctioning the other pills, then say something like, “we’re not sanctioning the other pills.” What’s so hard about that? But for the sake of saving human lives, at least tell people what the poison pills look like,” the DRC.net expert urged.
“Drug users are people, you know. They don’t want to kill their friends. If everyone knows what the poisoned pills look like, they can help get them off the street,” he said.
Koh Panghan Clubber Killed By Fridge
Click for more about Danny's disappearance
A 36 year old British man who was holidaying on Thailand’s Full Moon Party island Koh Panghan died this week about being electrocuted after touching a faulty wired fridge as he reached for a bottle of water.
The death of keen Middlesborough fan Grant Harrison provoked hundreds of messages from friends and fans on a football forum.
‘He told me he was going travelling for a bit in the New Year, over to Thailand and more, to enjoy life for a bit.” ‘LisbonLegend wrote.
‘He was relaxing by the pool, decided to go for a bottle of water and it cost him his life.” (Daily Mail: http://bit.ly/AsTI0v )
India’s Totally Drug Resistant TB 2012 Threat
Click for more TB symptoms
Doctors in India confirmed this week that they’re treating 12 cases of people suffering from total drug resistant (TDR) tuberculosis (TB) prompting news organization DNAIndia to declare ‘this is as scary as it can get’.
The apocalyptic potential of the new antibiotic resistant strain of the deadly disease comes because “each person with active TB can infect 10 to 15 people a year’, the Times of India reported, noting that the six men and women currently identified with the disease (one of whom has already died) have an average age of just 32.3.
“TB is a contagious disease,” the Times added, “Like the common cold, it spreads through the air.”
Infectious disease specialist Dr Om Shrivastav from Jaslok hospital, where the patients are currently isolated, was similarly apocalyptic.
“TB is no longer a poor man’s disease. I am seeing more and more people from all sections of society suffering from TB,” the Doctor told DNAIndia.
“The manifestation of the disease has changed and it is no longer restricted to the chest. We are seeing TB infection in scalp, skin and even nails,” he added.
Swedish House Mafia’s Vigilante Vengeance
Classic New York graffiti (click for more)
Sebastian Ingrosso reminisced fondly about the pop dance trio’s delinquent childhood growing up together in Sweden this week, boasting that they ‘maybe’ stole teachers’ cars and crashed them into walls in between terrorizing local graffiti taggers.
“We were very rowdy, doing stuff kids shouldn’t do,” Ingrosso told the Sunday Mirror.
“We had a blast doing it,” he continued, “We would hunt down the guys doing graffiti and throw stones at them to protect our neighbourhood.” (Mirror; http://bit.ly/xnBJsr )
Their merciless targeting of local graffiti artists contrasted markedly with the youthful experiences of numerous international DJs including Richard Bronx Dogs Sen, Abe Duque, Sandy Rivera, Roger Sanchez and Laidback Luke, all of whom sprayed and all of whom got caught.
Chatting to Skrufff in 2007 about his brushes with the law, Dutch star Laidback Luke was philosophical.
“I was 17 years old when I got arrested. It was actually the first piece I did outdoors and the artwork itself went great,” he recalled.
“But we did it as a group and one sorry guy was really picky so he worked on it for three days in a row. He was the one who got caught in the act and then he told our names to the police.”
“Looking back I’m glad it happened though, because after getting caught I decided to focus more on music.”
New York techno type Abe Duque was caught painting on walls in the then gang infested neighbourhood of Jamaica, Queens when he was just 14, and was convicted of ‘criminal mischief and vandalism’, he told Skrufff in a separate earlier interview.
“Gang violence was inescapable at that time. Either you knew how to deal with that situation or you were in a lot of trouble,” the nowadays Berlin based producer told Skrufff in an interview several years ago.
“Though the gangs were more important in the 70s, with gangs such as the Latin Kings. In the 80s they started to become crews and became more about artistic expression, such as graffiti and break dancing,” he said.
ADE’s Cook-Off Returns (October 17-21)
Seth Troxler & Ali Dubfire @ ADE 2011 (click for details on 2012)
Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is expanding to add a 5th night to their program this year after the wildly successful business conference and clubbing festival sold out for the fifth year running.
Announcing the expanded program festival chief Richard Zijlma confirmed that the superstar DJ cooking competition will definitely be happening again after Seth Troxler snatched the 2011 trophy with a simple but devastatingly tasty serving of Cajun spare ribs.
“The standard of food cooked by Seth and runner up chefs Ali Dubfire, Marcella, the Stafford Brothers, John Acquaviva and Olivier Giacomotto was first class,” said ADE general manager Richard Zijlma.
“We had no idea quite how many DJs pride themselves on their culinary skills when we came up with the Cook-off concept. We’re already looking forward to this year’s tasting.”
Revealing that this year’s event will also include expanded versions of the ADE University (aimed at inspiring and educating students and young music industry professionals) and ADE Playground (showcasing technology and technological innovation), Richard confirmed that ADE 2012 is expanding generally.
“Two years ago we included the Wednesday in order to accommodate a growing list of conferences and parties,” he said. “And in 2012 – because there are now so many events throughout the whole of the weekend – Sunday is now officially included in the ADE dates.”
Click here for reduced price ‘early bird tickets’.
Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff
Germany Calling Joins France’s Radio FG
click on the picture for program schedules
Leading French dance music station Radio FG have added Jonty Skrufff and Fidelity Kastrow’s weekly BLN.FM radio show Germany Calling to their station, broadcasting each edition three times a week.
The one-hour weekly show is being broadcast on Tuesdays at 8am (CET), Thursdays at 17.00 and Sundays at 14.00 on Underground FG, the cutting edge channel of the massively successful radio group, said station administrator Nicolas Chanel.
“Underground FG was launched in 2004 at the same time as Paris’ Techno Parade began, which FG DJ Radio cofounded together with Technopole,” he explained.
“The channel is specialised, similar to how FG was in its early days, focusing on house, techno and new genres, with a wide variety of radio shows, DJ live sets and a playlist featuring both classic and cutting edge music,” he said.
“I’d say the channel is aimed at electronic music lovers. From early Warp records to the latest Skrillex, you got it all on Underground FG.”
Fidelity Kastrow & Jonty Skrufff
Germany Calling (with some Warp tracks but almost certainly no Skrillex) joins a roster of DJs including mainstream stars Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold and Sander Van Doorn and alternative ‘underground’ DJs including M.A.N.D.Y., Jesse Voorn and Adam Beyer.
“The DJS we feature on Underground FG are either historical ‘big name’ scene DJs or underground DJs that might not have a sound that is “easy listening” enough for an FM broadcast,” Nicolas continued.
“But because today’s underground and mainstream scenes seem to be blending more and more together all the time, it’s getting hard to define who is underground or not, especially with all the niches of genre of the electronic music scene out there today.”
“Basically there are many criteria we use for selecting shows, with quality being the main show. And Germany Calling fits perfectly. We’re very happy to welcome Jonty and Fidelity to the FG team,” he said.
Click here to listen: http://bit.ly/aayywD (clicl the ‘ecoute/ listen’ button): Underground FG showtimes are Tuesdays at 8am (CET), Thursdays at 17.00 and Sundays at 14.00 (CET: ie Berlin/ Paris mainland Europe time).
Germany Calling also continues to be broadcast on BLN.FM at the regular times of Friday evening (20.00 CET) and Saturday nights (23.00 CET): http://bln.fm
Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff
Paris Hilton Promises ‘Perfect Party Music’
International party girl Paris Hilton talked up her superstar DJ ambitions this week, telling FHM magazine she’ll be devoting her full attention to promoting her soon to be released second album.
“I have a huge passion for house music. It always has been my passion. I just haven’t been able to focus on it, because I have been doing reality TV for so long now,” the billionaire heiress claimed.
“I’ve been working on the album with lots of other top DJs for a while now and I think people will be really surprised. It’s very modern and very catchy; perfect party music.” (Digital Spy: http://bit.ly/AuNriq )
Resident Advisor, Mixmag, DJ Mag, DanceTrippin & Ralph Simon @ Sochi 2012
Sochi's Day time panels
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Sochi Winter Music Conference (SWMC) have unveiled final details of the international panelists and speakers attending this year’s upcoming event which takes places in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi between February 9 and 12.
Mobile entertainment strategist Ralph Simon, who advises leading tech companies as well as pop stars including Madonna, U2 and Lady Gaga, will be delivering a keynote presentation while Swedish avant-garde performers Six Drummers will be showcasing their everything-but-the-kitchen-sick audio/visual unconventional art.
Joining them are international editors from DJ Magazine, Mixmag, Resident Advisor and tv web company DanceTrippin as well as Amsterdam Dance Event boss Richard Zijlma and Exit Festival founder Bojan Boskovic. Plus previously announced synch experts from Sony Playstation, Pitch & Sync and Anger Music as well as the DJ agencies Bullitt and Elite Music Management.
Bee Gees’ Staying Alive Lifesaver Campaign
Click to access the American Heart Association
Wimbledon football player turned Hollywood hardman Vinnie Jones is starring in a new advert for the British Heart Foundation BHF) which aims to teach people how to resuscitate heart attack victims by thumping their chests in time to the Bee Gee’s Staying Alive.
Announcing Jones’ new TV campaign the BHF said they’re hoping viewers will forget about the ‘kiss of life’ and instead focus on delivering ‘hard and fast” compressions in the centre of the chest, meaning that more cardiac patients can survive.
“The fact that you have enough oxygen in your blood to keep you alive as long as someone keeps it pumping around your body by pushing your chest until an ambulance arrives was news to me,” BHF’s Head of Policy and Advocacy, Maura Gillespie wrote on her blog this week.
“Having done CPR training some time ago I, like many, could not really remember how many pushes or breaths you needed to do during CPR. Hands-only CPR immediately seemed like a great technique, one I would be much happier doing on a stranger,” she added.
