One Night in Zurich

It's Music Week in Tallinn. Everybody is there. Except I! Before total desperation hit me I saw a poster advertising some m4music.ch event, which by the looks of it was some trance party event. I forgot about the poster, but by weekend I got nice summaries of concerts in Tallinn and after some searching I found the poster and the web address again. After about 30sec. of thinking I bought the online ticket for 45CHF (single day pass, festival pass 4 days, including demo tape presentations and some discussion panels about internet music, would have been 88CHF, so must be smarter next time). Getting online ticket was as easy as back in Estonia, except for the stupid pin calculator requirement that comes with the postbank card. With 40 minutes left I printed out the ticket and left to find the old ship building factory (called Halle) which hosted the event. Actually there were several stages in different parts of the building (Box, Moods) as I learned later. Finding the place was kinda easy, since everybody was going that way, except the guy I was secretly following at first...

Beer is 6CHF +1CHF for the bottle and smoking seems to be mandatory indoors. These swiss can smoke like chimneys, but ok, this is what we had back in E some 5-6 years ago. The first band was a German group covering Kraftwerk (pic above from Das Modell). I must point out the excellent sound quality - no loose object resonating, whole sound spectrum was audible - just great, but ok the band wasn't energetic enough, so more beers were required... last songs seemed to be quite good :) Original Kraftwerk was better of course!

Then came Bonaparte, a swiss group, the reason I was there, because when quickly listening to band demos I found this stuck between electronic music bands and decided to buy the ticket. Crowds were gathering... bout 4 times more than for the previous group... looked promising :)

Well this was something else, better than good. It started with solo, similar to the Eldest Rocker Harald from Livonia, and just got better as the band members appeared with costumes :) Finally it was totally punk! pointless to try to describe, a verry small part of it can be seen below in the video... :):):) Be going back next year!

Systeem

On juba h2mar. Ilm on sygiseselt sombune ning tuul yritab esimesi kollatund lehti akna taga sirguva puu ladvast 2ra rebida. George vaatab tuules 66tsuvat puud kuid ta m6tted on hoopis kaugemal puust ja aastaaegadest. George'i m6tted paiskavad segi l2henevad jooksusammud koridorist.

"George! George, keegi on meie burgerid ara varastanud," hyyatab Jane ahmides uksepakul 6hku. George juurdleb veidi olukorra t6siduse yle ning kysib: "Oled sa kindel et j2tsid nad sinna ennist?"

"Kindel"

"No siis on asi t6sine! Tuleb piirid kinni panna."

George hakkab viivitamatult valima telefonil numbreid. Pikad kettat6mbed ei j2ta kahtulust millisesse osakonda ta helistab.

* * *

"Sir, teretulemest sir. Palun astuge siia k6rvale. Sir, tehke palun suu lahti! See v6ib tunduda ebamugavana..."

Pagana p2ralt, see oli v2gagi ebamugav, kui sulle n2pud kurku pannakse, olgugi et sul on t6end et sa oled oma eine seaduslikult saanud, aga juhusilk turvakontroll v6tab keskmiselt iga 7-da siseneja vahele ja teeb p6haliku l2bivaatuse.

Tekib kohe tahtmine burgeripatrullil n2pud 2ra hammustada, kuid sellega halvendaks ainult oma hammaste olukorda, sest patrulli standardvarustuses on kevlarist kindad mis on titaanr6ngastega tugvendatud ning hammastele on nad t2iesti l2bimatud.

"Nii, sibul - olemas. Porgand! porgandit pole deklareeritud! Kuidas see siia sai, kust te te selle saite? Kas keegi andis teile? Kes???"

* * *

"Sir, palun liikuge edasi, kiiremini!"

Naljakas, juba teist tundi j2rekorras seisnule 6elda kiiresti, see k6lab pigem huumori valdkonda kuuluvana. Ja ausalt eriti ei t6mba ka sinna karuselli peale. Nyydsest on Burgerimaale sisenemise v2ravas uus tehnika, mis v6imaldab maotyhjenduse v2hem kui 6 minutiga. Tulnukas seotakse jalgadest suure ratta kylge mis kogub kiirust.... keegi pole kauem kui 6 minutit veel vastu pidanud. Keskt6mbekiirendus toob esimesed seedimata palud vastu kurgunibu mis vallandab okserefleksi ning puhastus ongi tehtud. Edasi v6ib minna, paljajalu loomulikult, et ei oleks v6imalik midagi sokkide ja kingade sisse peita. K6igile on kohustuslik selle l2bimine 2 korda. Keegi ei m2leta selle tsirkuse algatamise p6hjuseid enam. Kui systeem on piisavalt suureks paisunud siis pole enam tegelikud p6hjused olulised, sest systeem muutub j2igaks, paratamatuks, Systeemiks. V6imetus kogu Systeemi olemust m6ttesse haarata, teda liigitada, ratsionaliseerida tema suuruse t6ttu j2tab ainult v6imaluse tema yksikuid omadusi valikuliselt esile t6sta ning neid vastavalt olukorrale kiita v6i laita. Sellises situatsioonis on Systeem valitseja - paindumatu, karm, isegi 6iglane? Igalyhel on tema oma Systeemid, mis teda juhivad ja piiravad ning siis kaovad kui saabub t2ielik arusaamine Systeemist. Loodame, et need kes meie hulgast on v2lja valitud meid juhtima on piiratud suuremate Systeemidega kui meie ise...

Feeling the Breeze

Post bout downhill coming up...

Closer to the Sun

I love mountains, I really do. The view from top, the effort of getting to the top, the power you feel the nature has over man and just the plain thrill of being next to a mountain (don't have them back home), these are all very exciting feelings. Never have I felt that coming downhill on skis or with a snowboard is something like an achievement - it sounds and looks too simple. If you are there for the view then why do you need the skis for? I think this was the main reason why I tried downhill but it didn't stick to me. After learning how to get down from nicely groomed black track without getting hurt it didn't seem interesting any more.

I have changed my mind.

Why? The view from top, the effort of getting to the top, the power you feel the nature has over man and just the plain thrill of being next to a mountain AND the fact that you can rush downhill on a giant slope covered with fresh powder. On top of it, if you can share this experience with the best of your friends, then what can be better? It's all in the state of your mind, no logic I guess...

If you sit somewhere between ground and the sky and the ground is soooo far, then it makes you wonder how close is the Sun now!? At 3842m I felt for the first time that the air is thinner up there. Having visited Mt. Evans (4348) and Piz Languard (3262) I didn't notice it, but at Aguille du Midi I was breathless. Now back close to sea level, I think breathless from the view, for sure.

View you ask? Well look at the pics! The small hill with visible skiing tracks at the end of the valley is 1900m high. There are some good wide pistes and even an unused crosscountry classical ski track for high altitude training up there. And next to it (left, out of frame) is Le Mont Blanc. Don't belive? Look, the final pic is made from this small hill!