Things I know about Aurich, DE:
1) It’s in the northwest corner of Germany
2) They speak the Plattdeutsch
3) I am booked there tonight
4) It’s about 30 minutes away from me.*
I have a nice brief catch up with Nico at Heike’s and am then on my way to Aurich, which I do not pronounce correctly, not even once.**
I get to Jann’s house and he is waiting for me. I am late. Not just “German Late”*** but proper late, like 2 hours. The ride to Aurich is full of stau (traffic), construction and also me getting lost looking for a restroom. I swear the sign said there was a gas station/ rest area and I drove for too long down a road that had nowhere to turn around.
Anyway.
I met Jann a few years ago when he was at a show of mine and we stayed in touch. He sent me a song that he wrote that was inspired by my song “Massachusetts” and starts with “Eichhörnchen is a funny word when you’re drunk”. Which is just awesome.
Tonight’s show is in a theater. The theater was having trouble keeping a consistent venue and so a local construction guy gave them one of his buildings to turn into the theater. I guess it used to be a large storage building. Inside has been built out beautifully, large stage, large backstage area, comfy seats and atmosphere.
Tonight is the inaugural “songwriter” night at the venue. They’re trying something with different types of themes for each month and this month is songwriters. It’s me, Jann Janssen and Gent Salverius.
They are already waiting for us when we arrive a little after 5. We have soundcheck to do and all that type of stuff. Tillmann is doing the sound and he has a green hat that I make no secret of wanting to steal. It’s a big, wide room with expensive Bose wall mounted speakers. No, not the Bose speakers you see in churches - these are the nice ones. It is a very wide spread and it’s actually hard to hear yourself in the room because they are so far right and left away from you but it sounds very living room like in the best type of way.
But there is an ugly sound in the PA. Like a cat coughing up a hairball with a Gollum type of hardness punctuated by the sound a PA makes when you unplug something without muting the channel first. We spend a long time going through cables, cords and wireless things before it is determined to be a ghost in the mixing board. We’re also skipping the wireless microphone so I’m asked if everyone can use my microphone.
As we’re sussing this out, Gent’s guitar breaks a string. No one is playing the guitar. It’s in a guitar stand and about five feet away from us. Weird. We take a break while Jann runs home to get something to fix it and comes back with Tillmann’s other mixing board. The PA now works fine. As we’re in the green room and running over a song to play as a finale - I break a string. This theater seems way too new to be haunted but here we are.****
The format allows for a presenter for the evening who also asks a few questions of us, the room fills up and we’re ready to go. They have a couch set up to the left side of the performer and Jann and I sit there while Gent performs. It’s a different set up than I’ve ever been in. This is the time when I usually do a set list or sort of mentally prepare for my own set, maybe warm-up a bit but there’s none of that. You’re sitting here. Pay attention. I can’t say I dislike it, it is just new to me.
Gent is on first and, from what I understand, he’s more in the traditional “Liedermacher” style of songwriter. It’s all in German so it’s difficult for me to follow but they are all story songs and his playing is very deliberate and spaced out. It’s beautiful when you can listen to someone that doesn’t feel the need to fill up space. His third song in has this gentle descending guitar part and he sings while the notes ring out. It’s a style I would like to try to write and a style that you just know would not work in a pub or whatever. It absolutely needs the listening room environment.
The rain on the tin roof is so loud, I take video so you would believe me.
Jann’s songs are in both English and German (see video) and have a more singer/songwriter pop format to them and I love that there’s a range even between just the two of them to hear vastly different styles of folk-ish music being played. I take video of him and after they play, there is a 10 minute break before I start.
During the break the venue’s wifi goes down. The PA is connected to the mixer/app via wifi. The PA is now not working. People are in their seats, I’m standing there but no PA. Tillmann asks me to give him a second while they reboot stuff. I tell him I can start acoustically in the room if that’s easier. He says sure and he’ll let me know when the wifi is back up and PA and all that.
I step beyond the microphone and just launch in full busker style. I really don’t know how I’m doing as this is one of those quiet and respectful audiences. I finish up my first song and get a good cheer and applause. Alrighty then. We are off and running.
The PA starts working in about my fourth song. I go over to the mic but I’m kind of wishing I was back busking style. It’s a hard room to read. I tell them I’m going to make a bit of noise and use my looping pedal and finish with me on my knees tweaking the time knob on the delay and I get a big cheer and whooping clapping.
Sometimes I know what I’m doing, sometimes I have no idea.
About 3/4’s of the way through the show I feel a heat wave coming on. It starts in my lower back and overtakes me like a match and I sweat right through this shirt too. Such a strange phenomenon.
During the interview portion of the show I’m asked why a singer songwriter from Anaheim California would even come to Aurich. “To learn Plattdeutsche.” I say matter of factly and that gets a good reaction.*****
I clearly go over my 45 minutes of set time but the folks keep wanting more. As an encore Tillman (double bass), Gent (acaustic guitar) and Jann (snare) join me for a rocking version of APB. They have already learned it and 1.5 times through in the green room before the show is all we need. We get them singing along and it’s a great end to the evening.
Post gig is a spaghetti dinner at Jann’s with his wife. We have a great chat and hang out. I learn about the challenges of a dentist (his wife) and the national health insurance from a providers point of view. No system is perfect but no one here is going bankrupt from medical bills is still a better system. And it’s moments like this that are completely different than traditional touring. They brought me into their home, made me food and we talked about life for a couple of hours. I don’t know if I will ever get to Aurich again but they informed my life and I learned from them and I think they got a bit of a snapshot of me and my experiences as well.
I leave about 1 am and drive for near 20 miles before I see another car on the road. This town is shut down at night. It’s a dark, rainy night and my speed is slow on these roads. I still can’t dim the dashboard lights enough but I can cover them up with a hat. I get back to my hotel at 3 am and am asleep before I finish undressing.
*This is not accurate. It took me about two hours to get there.
** Aurich (ostfriesisches Platt: Auerk; saterfriesisch: Aurk). There is a hard sound in the middle of the word that I cannot do.
***”German late” is five minutes before you’re supposed to be there.
****Thespis?
*****Some words in Plattdeutsche sound like a middle ground between English and German even though the origins are more likely Dutch. Like “Five” is “Fiver” and “Twenty” is “Twintig” which almost sounds the same.