Monthly Archives: September 2019

A couple of new and old songs

Recently the idea came to my mind to share a couple of songs that I deem good / are important to me. Might even make this a recurring category here. No specific style or genre, just good music that has some meaning (for me).

Here we go:

Gil Scott Heron – I’m new herehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV_astp3BjM
I had the wonderful opportunity to get to listen to a live (!!!) concert by Gil Scott-Heron around a decade ago at a the Nova Jazz & Blues Festival in Austria. I went there with friends who happened to be colleagues (ok we met in the office) and I had no idea what to expect, what the line up was etc. So we went to this outdoor festival, had some food and drinks, weather was good. Then some bands played and some clouds came and dusk was setting in. It started raining a bit and the crowd tried to pack under the ‘roof’ to be safe from water. Then an old guy came on stage, sat at the piano, lighted a cigarette and started playing some tunes. And began to speak. Gil. Scott. F***ing Heron. I had no idea who he was and what his role in the history of music was (check out his wiki entry – shame on me I didn’t know him before). Wow. Just wow. The voice. The roughness. The coolness. Absolutely stunning and amazing. And the perfect weather for this. I’ll take care of you was the song he started with and oh my god – I still love this song and showed it to so many people (incl. women of course). Check it out and let me know what you think 🙂 However, since I had some rough months in the past year, I chose the song “I’m new here”, because lyrics:

I did not become someone different
That I did not want to be
But I’m new here
Will you show me around?

No matter how far wrong you’ve gone
You can always turn around

Gil Scott-Heron, I’m new here

Die Orsons – Dear Mozart – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9UnRh1Fmqs
German rap song. Basically asking Mozart what he thinks about German rap and this whole autotune hype. He replies along the lines of ‘chill guys, the music is cool and now autotune is Mozart approved. Bam.
Got to know this song through a friend who happens to be a bartender at my local (favorite pub). Thanks & shout out to Nepo!

Juju – Vermissenhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHbYAUs9JCo
A woman showed that song to me. Juju is a team of the singer of SXTN (female German rapper main focus feminism) and Henning May from Annenmaykantereit.

Die Toten Hosen feat. W̦lli РKein Grund zur Traurigkeithttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLtPkwXxmDc
Since Die Toten Hosen are one of my favorite bands (and my first album was Im Auftrag des Herrn live), I came across this gem. Someone I showed this song to said: Wow the German Johnny Cash! Amazing lyrics… along the lines of “I got blood of you in my heart / that’s all that remains / desire in my heart / still no reason to feel sad”.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Otherside – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn_YodiJO6k
Know this song since ages but only since a band of some friends recently played a cover version of this masterpiece I had a look at the lyrics and… yeah… nothing to add to these lines

How long, how long will I slide?
Separate my side, I don’t
I don’t believe it’s bad
A slit in my throat, it’s all I ever
I heard your voice through a photograph
I thought it up and brought up the past
Once you know you can never go back
I’ve got to take it on the otherside

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Otherside

Turning a siri mistake into lovely mashed sweet potatoes

So recently I had some friends over for dinner and I was having a vegetarian week, since I’ve been to Alsace with my dad and there we had enough meat for a month. But that’s a story for another time.
My plan for the dinner was this:

  • My Coriander-Tomato salsa along with some nachos
  • Pimentos de Patron – those lovely mini peppers that you get in Spanish or Portuguese tapas bars
  • Filled bell peppers à la Chakall – grilled and filled with dried onion, usually some bacon pieces (which I left out this time obviously), an egg and some cheese on top
  • Sweet potatoes, half cooked in a pressure cooker, then sliced up, seasoned, put on the grill and then set them on fire with some whiskey etc
  • A nice salad with some vegetables of the current season

So all went good, my friends were enjoying the salsa when I asked my friend ‘Hey man can you set a timer for 10 minute please?’ ’Sure, I’ll let Siri know.’ Then he had a quick chat with Siri but I didn’t really pay attention any more since I was preparing the salad.
Fast-forward 10-15 (or 20?) minutes, I ask my friend ‘Hey what’s left on the timer’ ‘Ehhmm.. Siri how much time is left on the timer?’ ‘You don’t have a timer running at the moment.’
Darn.
Okay so I take the pressure cooker off the heat, put it on the floor to cool down but think already that they might be well too much cooked through, so no chance of slicing or grilling or setting them on fire.
Once the pressure was gone and I opened the pot, my fears were confirmed: you basically could use your hands to mash the sweet potatoes.
What now?!
Ok I can easily make mashed potatoes.
Spices? Oof, maybe some maple sirup? Salt, pepper? Ah I still have those ‘long pepper’ thingies… why not. And hell, I’m even gonna set this freaking mash on fire! Got some cheap old (not aged, just an old bottle) of scotch. And I set it on fire.
And the result? My friends loved it. The girl said something along the lines of ‘Wow!!!! I need the recipe! And the whisky really added some nice touch to it!!’
Here we go – first sweet potatoes mash of my life.
Cheers!