Pay-TV
in Hamburg, The Academy
pictures by Dani, and Nini
It's Joe's birthday. If you believe in what Jamie has been telling, it's the 16th one. Let me start the evening's review earlier with our preparations for that event. Of course Joe will get a birthday cake. Okay, you could just bake an ordinary one, put some candles on top and that's it, but some of you might remember the pool-cake I baked for Clemens' birthday in September. So this time my idea was to bake something resembling his guitar. In the end I decided to take the Gretsch tailpiece.
Next we needed an idea for a present. "Does Joe drink wine? We could design a label." - "Hmm, I don't know." Finding a present that is useful but also funny was a bit difficult. Suddenly we remembered an old story about Joe and a horny sheep - you better ask him about that - and I said: "Hey, let's buy a sheepskin rug and write on it: This happened with the horny sheep!" By the way, until that moment the only Swedish sentence I knew was: "I am a horny sheep." Dani and I liked this idea and so on Saturday evening Martin and I took off towards a well-known Swedish store and carefully chose one sheepskin. It's name is " Ludde", what made us laugh immediately, because the German word Lude is slang for somebody who has girls working for him on the Reeperbahn... The explanation is easy, the Swedish word "luddig" means hairy, fleecy, woolly or linty. So in various Blogs Ludde got the German Codename "Fussel" so we could talk about it without anyone understanding too much.
Okay. Now we've got Ludde, the idea for the cake, and an Elvis-birthday card. In addition Dani found a very small black sheep we could use for the present. During that I tried to find out some more Swedish words and grammar so we can label the sheeps in a way nobody except Joe can understand if he doesn't want it. On Sunday morning I suddenly got a strong desire to bake something. Instead of starting with the cake that I really needed, I started with cookies. First I formed ordinary cookies, then round ones, then treble clefs, and in the end I even tried to write with the dough. To write Joey was easy, Jamie was a bit more difficult and Wolfman nearly didn't fit on the baking tray (just the word!!! I would never try to put the Wolfman into the oven). Here you can see the results, but unfortunately we ate them all...
Martin and I picked up Dani at the station on Sunday evening. We ordered some Pizza and finally I started preparing the dough for the cake. Dani and Martin seemed to like the cookies, the treble clefs were eaten in a few minutes, and we decided to eat the Rockhouse Brothers for dessert. We even managed to portion them without having to play paper scissors stone. Unfortunately Jamie was the first to crack. Next, Joey broke apart. Martin proudly told us, that Wolfman was still in one piece. The next we heard was a sound like hail because Wolfman had been flying in pieces and was now spread all over my kitchen floor. Nevertheless Dani said later, that Joey was very tasty! And just for the record: Jamie was tasty, too...
On Monday Dani and I went shopping for groceries first. We also tried to order the new Pay-TV album at a media store, but you could just find the old one when you looked for "Spicey No. 11" from "Pay TV". Okay, there is no further need to wonder why nobody was able to order even this CD. When we came back I cut the shape of a Gretsch tailpiece out of the cake and iced it. Luckily Jamie had told us the evening before, that Joey doesn't like marzipan... In the meantime Dani prepared our lunch. Then we put Ludde into a box with a transparent film saying "Jag var en kåt får" on it. The little black sheep should get a sign around it's neck telling that it wants to be a horny sheep when it is grown up, in Swedish. But because it was so small I decided to make it the other way round: A sign, the sheep hanging on it, and a cord to hang the whole construction around Joey's neck.
preparing a Gretsch-cake... and the final edible version of the tailpiece
Unfortunately the day is very rainy so in the evening I am forced to find a way to make the present waterproof because we don't want to give Joey a wet sheep. So I wrap the box again, which makes it look like a giant candy, and finally Dani and I take off. We meet Martin at the metro station where we remember to take a picture of the Downtown Bluesclub poster. "Lee Rocker. Very Special Guest: Pay-TV!"
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Half an hour later we reach St. Pauli. Our appearance must be so funny, strolling down the Reeperbahn with all those bags and Martin carrying the Ludde-candy. When we reach the Academy it is rather empty and Ole is doing his soundcheck. We attack Joey immediately by singing (singing?) "Happy Birthday". Then Dani puts the little sheep around his neck and he tries to read the sign: "I... want a.... horny goat?" what sounds like "I want a horny girl" at first. Oops, there must be something wrong with my feel for language or the online grammar.
The Rockhouse Sisters' birthday card is also written in Swedish but this time the sentence seems to be right and the boys like the moving Elvis who is surrounded by beautiful girls in bikinis. Next we give the giant candy to Joey and watch him unwrapping it. He finally manages to get a grip on Ludde, and now guess what he does first: He throws the sheepskin over Wolff's back and plays a short game of Sven Bømwøllen with him. Dani's camera must like the Saint's good reputation very much, since exactly at this moment the batteries go dead. So we have no picture of that scene, just the everlasting films in our heads. |
Unwrapping a present for runaways ;-)
Joey and the giant waterproof candy
He has no idea what might be in the box.
And we help to increase his scepticism by saying:
"Be careful, don't hurt it!"
This is the non-waterproof wrapping.
The next challenge for our curious birthday boy.
He finally manages to get a tight grip on Ludde...
...and everything that happens to Wolff in the next minutes
will never again leave our heads. ;-)
The last part of our birthday-attack is the cake. Joe starts posing with a knife (and the cake!!!) for our pictures. It seems that he doesn't trust his eyes seeing an edible Gretsch tailpiece. However, he cuts the cake in small pieces and shares it with the surrounding people. Have you ever seen Jamie spitting out his bubble gum for anything? Well, for cake he does. The boys enjoy the cake - the best birthday cake ever, as someone says - and we eat it within a few minutes. But because one single cake is not enough to satisfy two hungry Rock'n'Roll brothers and their wolf with a meal we leave the Academy again to get some more food. Dani, Martin, and I want to eat a Spicy No. 11. Unfortunately the Bella Italia is closed so we aim at another pizzeria and are back at the Academy some minutes after Ole has started to play.
We have never seen the Academy this empty. There are lots of candles standing on the bar, including Joe's birthday candle which is a present from Sonja and Tina. Even though it's unfamiliar I like the whole atmosphere very much. You must keep in mind, that tonight is just the second Singer and Songwriter Night and that it's a Monday. Nearly all the other locations at the Hans-Albers-Platz are closed. Inside the Academy everybody is relaxed and right from the beginning we feel, that the evening will be very enjoyable.
Pay-TV play two wonderful sets in a very well chosen mixture of old and new songs. Dani and I dance in front of the stage all the time. We even manage to move to all parts of "Days are oceans". Since Cathy can't be there tonight we call her on our cell-phones so she can hear "Ordinary Girl" live. During the second set Joey even dedicates "Emma & Julian" to her, but at that moment she doesn't answer the phone because she has gone to bed earlier. For "Safety Line" we need more than all our talent as actors. Joey wants us to be sitting on the floor crying during the verses and happily jumping around with the refrains.
Suddenly Duncan comes to the front, too, and Joe says: "Duncan just wants to see, if the girls can dance to that!" Well, if he expects us to leave we prove him wrong because after "Days are oceans" the song "Beautiful Babies" isn't that difficult to dance to. I'm sorry I can't tell you much about what is happening on stage. Because of dancing all the time I don't watch the boys that intensely. Luckily Martin takes lots of pictures that will give you an impression of what you have missed. You can see them all on www.rockhousesisters.de.
The fun goes on afterwards. When Dani crouches in front of the stage to take pictures of the instruments, a little silver heart is glittering from right above her skirt. That's why Ole asks me, if I can take a picture of him biting Dani's thong. Perhaps he has expected to be slapped in the face but instead of doing that, Dani agrees. So I press the button. Later I'm forced to show this picture to absolutely every man inside the pub and it's a very sad story that nobody takes pictures of the reactions. I swear I have never seen so many men with open mouths and their eyes popping out of their heads.
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We enjoyed all these songs: 210 |
Outtakes:
Some amps are rather hollow...
you can even see the light shining through.
Or are the lights just confused by pretty James?
In the end they make the Wolfman loosing his head!
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