Back To The Office

 

Now that I have been retired for four months, I will be returning to my former workplace for the last time this afternoon. The reason for this is that every year the employer invites all employees celebrating an anniversary and those who have retired in the current year to an evening together.

Not that I didn't enjoy working and had many pleasant colleagues, but I broke off contact with many of them because it was clear to me that I could only start a new phase in my life if I had completely left the old one behind me. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to seeing familiar old faces again for a few hours and hopefully having some good conversations.

Looking back, I can think of many conversations in which I tried to broaden the musical horizons of my colleagues. Often unsuccessfully. 

Zeltinger Band - Müngersdorfer Stadion

Belle & Sebastian - The State I'm In

Echo and the Bunnymen - Do It Clean (Live 1983)

Three One After Another

 

Each day I go to work I have to travel for almost one hour with public travel. During this time I check the news on my mobile phone and listen to music. Sometimes on Spotify but mostly what is on the hard drive. I have to admit that I am surprised when I use  accidental reproduction and what forgotten gems appeared. So I decided to start a series of three songs that appeared in a row. No thoughts if it will fit to a theme or makes sense - just a short reflection what came to my ears. 

The first one was a song by Vic Chesnutt an American singer-songwriter who was a cross-border commuter between country, folk and a bit of punk. He collaborated with Bob Mould and a lot of other musicians from Athens, Georgia. I really love his version of the Southern gothic murder ballad of Bobby Russels' The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia not only because it is a sad story fantastic told.

The next one is by Matt Berninger, an American singer-songwriter and known as the frontman of The National. Loved So Little is a track from his first solo album released last year and superb like many of the songs on this album. A little gem that I rediscovered earlier this year.

The last one is by the only Cologne based artist I really enjoy during the last decades. While most Cologne artists to themselves feel fine in her native slang and declare nothing else than Cologne is the best, Jürgen Zeltinger with his debut album has put to himself a monument while he has interpreted many classics in new versions and in the Cologne dialect. This is probably the best cover version of the Ramones classic Rockaway Beach.