MLT Club Member Jürgen
MLT Club MemberForum Replies Created
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Oh boy, Jung. Tough stuff. „Why?“, I’m going to take the question a little bit further than Mona and Lisa did: Whole generations of brilliant thinkers have grappled with this question. At this point I could quote the ancient Greek masterminds, if I had read them. I could refer to the brilliant philosophers and thinkers of our time, if I had understood them. Or also pioneering psychologists and epistemologists, if I only had the time. To make a long story short: two thinkers of the very special kind have particularly impressed me with their answer to the big „Why” question: First, Stephen Hawking. He has concluded in the sense that the answer to the big question about the origin of the universe and thus also about the sense of the whole which hangs on it, would hold ready a quite simple solution if we could approach with our understanding only near enough to the origin of the big bang. Second, Douglas Adams: He had an endearing and quirky way of presenting complex issues simply. If we ever found the answer to the big question “Why?” we would not be able to understand the answer because we did not actually grasp the essence of the question (and thus could not formulate it correctly). Well, the answer 42 does sound somehow reassuring: short enough not to be forgotten and yet not so complex as to be confusing.
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A somewhat unusual world record, with an even more unusual musical instrument:
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And when I first heard “Waterloo Sunset” by the Kinks, I could have sworn Paul McCartney had a hand in it. Maybe it’s the sound of the voice at the beginning of the song, or the guitar sound, the duet singing as accompaniment …
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The Knickerbockers. Where do you always get music like this David? 😀 Yes, the song is pretty close to the Beatles. I think the Hollies often sounded a bit like the Beatles as well. Probably it was really hard in those days not to be influenced by the Beatles.
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And speaking of Vienna, here are a few impressions of the wintry city:
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“Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht” (“Silent Night”). This Christmas carol was first performed on 24 December 1818 in the church of St. Nikola in Oberndorf near Salzburg. The song has been translated into around 320 languages and dialects and was recognised by UNESCO in 2011 as an intangible cultural heritage in Austria.
I have chosen the following video as a tribute to Mona’s and Lisa’s birthplace Vienna. The presentation of the Christmas carol “Silent Night, Holy Night” took place in the Vienna Hofburg („Wiener Hofburg“). The Vienna Hofburg is one of the largest palace complexes in the world. The oldest parts date back to the 13th century.
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“Leise rieselt der Schnee” (“Snow falls softly at night”) is probably one of the best-known Christmas carols in the German language. It was written by the Protestant pastor Eduard Ebel in 1895 in Graudenz (a town in former West Prussia) and was published under the title „Weihnachtsgruß“ („Christmas greeting“). Eduard Ebel himself originally described his poem simply as “a children’s song”. I would like Mona and Lisa to record this song completely in german language at some point. In my opinion, a translation is not absolutely necessary, as the melody of the song speaks its own language.
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Wanderlust 🔔🎺„Christmas Special“ 🎺🔔
– Why wander far and wide when the wonderful is so close at hand? –
What comes to mind when you think of Christmas, snowy landscapes and open fires? Sure: the Mona and Lisa Christmas album. I would like to talk about two of the songs from this album that are particularly close to my heart, because they are traditional Christmas songs from the German-speaking countries and I associate them with wonderful childhood memories. But to get you in the right mood, let’s start with some beautiful winter impressions from Austria:
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Hello Sara,
a beautiful idea. I spontaneously think of the song “Sowing the Seeds of Love” by Tears for Fears. In an interview Roland Orzabal mentioned that the whole album should be a departure from the 80s sound of the band and at the same time a homage to the Beatles. The singing of the title song reminds a little bit of “I am the walrus” and the horn section again a little bit of „Penny Lane“. Maybe too much has been interpreted into this song, but it is a nice and interesting song in any case.
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Just like these crazy little guys here:
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Okay, more of a mellow tune than a rock song, but the atmosphere in the video reminds me of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”
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Yeah Daryl, those are extreme temperature fluctuations that you described there. I know that you can get used to the cold but nevertheless, I can’t imagine what it’s like to be outside in extremely cold weather. My mother and my grandparents came from the former East Prussia. The winters there were just as cold as you have in Canada. But my mother always raved about the landscape there: the snow-covered forests, the large lakes transformed into a fairytale scenery of snow and ice in winter. Otherwise it was probably a rather sparse and simple life. I can’t even imagine something like that today. I’m more of a warmth-loving person, but at 40 degrees in summer, which we’ve had here in recent years (even if only for a few days), the fun stops at some point.
On the subject of a self-felled Christmas tree, I spontaneously have to think of the Griswold’s and their weird Christmas experiences. We like to watch the movie “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” at Christmas time.
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Hi David, your idea opens up completely new possibilities for experimental music: natural sounds of a road combined with traditional instruments. For example the song “Route 66” could be remixed and interpreted in a completely new way. And who knows, maybe even a gap in the market: as a nice souvenir or memory of a road trip on your personal favorite route. And for the tough ones: the most beautiful potholes in Dolby Surround. John Cage doesn’t ring a bell, but maybe I’ve already heard one or the other of his compositions.
Yeah and the matching beat from the windshield wipers. Suitable for the respective traffic situations: In hectic city traffic maybe a somewhat slightly calming beat and on long drives on an endless highway a slightly faster beat, so you do not fall asleep. So, for example, Bobby McGee with a slightly more groovy beat.
PS: there are already first attempts to adapt the rhythm of the wipers to the individual driving style. These are still initial test phases, so the control is still mainly manual. However suitable control electronics should already be under development… 😀
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Hi Jung, we’ve talked about the „Miniaturwunderland“ before. I visited this place many years ago and it was fantastic. The complete facility is located on the top floor of a former granary at the port of Hamburg. The whole thing has been expanded quite a lot in the meantime. Walkable Alps have been added, in the Scandinavian fjord computer controlled ships swim in a huge water basin. Italy is new and the Provence has also been added. In the meantime, a second neighboring granary has been rented and the two buildings will be connected by a glass bridge. The next construction project to be realized there will be South America. Central America and Asia are to follow. I will definitely pay a visit to the whole place again.
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Yeah David, you’re right: the effort must have been enormous. Just the number of countless glasses and then to tune them in fine work. Impressive. Also remarkable because the people working there are actually model makers and not musicians.