Writhe and Shine

From Writhe’s journal:

I hung out at the hostel today, mostly sleeping and eating and sleeping again. The nightlife here in Berlin is going to kill me, but I love it. I went to another club tonight to see some bands and make some contacts. I took the subway and then the bus to the venue. I waited for the bus under a doorway in the rain. Fortunately, it dropped me off right outside the club. I went in, paid 15DM and got a spiderweb stamp on the back of my hand. Upon entering, I got this immense feeling of walking into a really cool place for the first time, kind of like I had when I first stepped into the Bastille in New Orleans. It’s a cool venue, quite large, reminds me of a few places I’ve been to in Chicago, but bigger. There were a number of people there and I was happy to see that I wasn’t the first in the door like last night. It was almost 9 when the flyer said the bands start. I immediately buy a CD for the headlining band and exchange information with the singer’s girlfriend. I try to get a CD from one of the opening bands, trying to get it on the DJ discount, but the merch girl doesn’t understand English very well. She tells me that I need to talk to her friend (who is the singer in the band), although she’s not around at the moment. I come back two times and she’s still not there. I wander around and listen to the first band, who are metal and not really to my taste, while drinking a Berliner Pilsner. I asked for something different, but didn’t want to argue with the bartender. It seems like a lot of the people here only speak German. I wish my German was better so I could fit in a little more. I feel like I stick out a bit. I don’t know anyone here so it’s not that comfortable.
So I wander around and find the bathroom to piss and get another beer. I end up watching one of the video screens that’s playing the original version of The Time Machine. I see that there were some vendors around so I browse. I hear two girls speaking English (who I think I saw last night at the first club) and I talked to them for about 3 minutes. I was pulled away when the girl I was supposed to talk to about the CD had come up and took me to see the owner of the record label at the front desk. I talked with him for a bit and we exchanged info.
I ended up in one of those chain conversations you sometimes get at parties, you know when you start out talking to one person, then another joins and the first one leaves and so on… I talked to two or three other deejays and some really fucked up girl that was rather… strange. I exchanged many addresses with people who said they would stay in touch. I went back into the main hall to watch the other bands and found a vendor with a bunch of magazines and some CDs. I saw one band’s CD that I recognized and asked if they knew M. Apparently, he played in the first and second band. Later, that person brought M. up to me and we talked for a while. He said I could have one of his CDs no problem. He left to play n the second band. I’m supposed to call him tomorrow so that I can go hear him and his band practice. That will be cool!
The third band was fucking incredible. They were so good that I had to go back to the label guy and tell him so. I was astounded. I knew I was a little drunk when I approached the singer after the show and tried to tell her I thought she was great. She didn’t speak English at all and it was awkward. I had enough drink in me to attempt my German, but I don’t think it went that well.
Then the headliner went on and it was a good show. Great stage presence. I really hope the crowd in New Orleans likes the tracks I’m going to be playing for them when I get home… if I go home… Oh hell, I don’t know what’s going on. Not after what happened last night.
People here at the club are dressed a little better than what I saw last night. Some hair styles made me think I was in the 80’s. I bumped into one of the girls I had met at a previous club and she invited me to go to an after party with her and her friends at some other club. I had to pay 10DM at this place and I got that feeling again of walking in to a cool place for the first time. They only played dark electronic music at this place and it was decent.
I got pretty tired and took a cab back to the hostel.

I woke up late, doing my laundry, and listening to all the new music I got last night. I am going to blow the shit out of the water with this stuff when I get home!