#111: Blackouts, porn, Tesla
A new book on Berlin's international music culture
Dear 20 Percent,
I just finished the lovely new(ish) book Coming to Berlin, a labour of love by writer and podcaster Paul Hanford. A non-linear first-person account of falling in love with the city is interwoven with a stream of interviews with extraordinary musicians, DJs and producers who have come from elsewhere.
Syria, South Africa, the United States, England — Hanford shows to what degree the music and club scene’s magic is generated by the confluence of shining, talented people from across the globe. The story spans decades, from the Bowie-70s and Nick Cave-80s to the present and artists like DJ Fuckoff from Auckland and KMRU from Nairobi (to name a couple) and the sudden closure and uneasy reopening of nightlife in the pandemic.
Coming to Berlin is told with a boundless passion for the independent, the experimental, the uncompromising, the surprising — everything I and many of you, I suspect, came here for. As that Amazon tower grows out of the ground at Ostkreuz — casting its shadow over Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg — and rents in the inner city rise and rise, it’s easy write Berlin off as “over”.
But the spirit, the beats, the extraordinary people from around the world — you, the 20 Percent — are still here, still fighting, still creating, still dancing. This book helped me see today’s Berlin in another light. Thanks, Paul!
The news is below.
Maurice
PS: If you’re looking to learn German, visit our sponsor Expath below or here.
The Berlin corona stats for Tuesday, September 20
New cases in one day: 2,096 (1,289 Friday)
Total deaths: 4,796 (+10 over Friday)
🔴 7-day Covid-19 incidence (cases per 100,000): 206.2 (209.8 Friday)
🟡7-day hospitalization incidence (also per 100,000): 7.7 (7.6 Friday))
🟢 Covid-19 ICU patient occupancy: 3.8% (3.3% Friday)
Source: Berlin’s corona page
Blackouts this winter?
Berlin’s state interior minister Thorsten Akmann (SPD) said he couldn’t entirely rule out “rolling power cuts” this winter. Speaking before a committee in the state parliament, Akmann explained that in the unlikely event that the natural gas supply is interrupted, meaning no heating for many, Berliners could decide to turn on their electric space heaters (which have been selling like — pardon us — hotcakes) or try to heat their apartments with their electric ovens, which could, in turn, overload the grid, triggering said “rolling power cuts.” Meanwhile, fire chief Karsten Homrighausen said Berliners should keep supplies for three-to-four days in their pantries.
Public porn?
Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) complained that three public German TV channels (ZDF, ARD, Phoenix) simulaneously covering the Queen’s funeral was wasteful and evidence of “significant savings potential” and called for a freeze on the Rundfunkbeitrag which we pay every month to finance public media. Meanwhile, the Berlin-Mitte chapter of the SPD introduced a motion for the novel idea of spicing up public media: these organisations should buy feminist and anti-racist porn content and offer it online. Read the full document packed with suggestions on how to “revolutionize” the porn industry (in German).
Tesla battery plans not on ice
Last week, we and everyone else cited a Wall Street Journal article that suggested Tesla might scrap its plans to build a battery plant alongside its Brandenburg auto factory in order to take advantage of a US subsidy programme. Turns out that’s not really the case. What is happening appears to be a shift in strategy rather than an exit from the Grüneheide site. Brandenburg economy minister Jörg Steinbach told Tagesspiegel: “A change in the timetable can’t be ruled out, but the expansion in Grünheide, both in terms of equipment and personnel, will continue unaffected.”
World Car Free Day
For the third consecutive year, Berlin is participating in World Car Free day Wednesday (Sept. 22). It’s closing 0.0008 of its road network to cars AND bikes to show Berlin how nice the city can be without cars. Or at least 0.0008 of it. More importantly, public transport in the A and B zones will be free that day, which means it will be a good day to ride your bike unless you like packed public transport. Plus it won’t be hard to avoid the roads suddenly closed to bikes.
Big new climate-tech fund
Get out those pitch decks! A Berlin company called Extantia has unveiled two venture funds worth a total of €300 million focusing on decarbonising the economy, with the stated aim of achieving “net zero” emissions. The firm wants to plough the money into “energy, industrial processes, buildings, transportation, and carbon removal technologies”. Read the full story.
Factoid
On September 17, 1922 the first German language talkie, Der Brandstifter (The Arsonist), premiered at Alhambra- Lichtspieltheater on Ku’damm. It was the first movie worldwide in which the audio track was integrated into the film strip. Hollywood didn’t begin producing talkies til 1927. “The voice rises from the breast of a person in the flesh,” commented Vossische Zeitung. The film is thought to be permanently lost.
Early weekend event recommend:
Being in your 20s is glorious; being in your 30s is a joy. Being in your 40s sucks, because your 40s are when you finally realize all the things you’ve fucked up so far. Middle Rage is a new, one-hour, one-man comedy show, premiering in Berlin after a run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Nir Gottleid, an Israeli English language comedian shares his feelings about turning 40 – and talks about the fun sides of depression, anxiety, cats, hate crimes, dating as a single old man, and the bitterness, rage and feeling of acceptance that can only come with a life exhaustively lived. Usae use the coupon code 40isthenew20percent for 20 percent off your tickets - available here.
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