Saturday it's a Saturday

Using the eye mask and unplugging all phones, I got a decent sleep and proceeded to breakfast with Mogan and Raj. Took things fairly slow and bought a present for Jamie downtown, before getting to the event around 5pm. Had a TV interview for Thailand then checked out SweetTalk, a bunch of artist presentations including EbOY and Steve Lawler - hot stuff!

Abi showed up again and later Pascal, so I fed the boys Tigers and we hung out and shot the breeze - awesome to see these guys after 10 years worth of life experiences! After the event wound down at 10pm and I said my thank yous and goodbyes, we walked down the street to get some great pizza (so cheap!) and then to a great East Berlin bar, one of the originals after the wall came down. Real nice beer and whiskey while we caught up and reminisced about the crazy stuff we had got up to in Dunedin a decade earlier.

Aiming for and executing a relatively early night, we proceeded to the final location, an extremely underground club called Hangar where I danced, spent, to some more techno beats. Left around 3 and had a wind down glass of juice and samosas back at the hotel with Mogan, Anni, Steve, Ann and Yin. Primo people and great times all round. Berlin, we salute you.

Achtung Baby!

Operating on a few hours sleep, I had breakfast at the hotel and made it to the press conference where my piece went well. The Danish crew had been partying just as hard and turned up as well. Bought myself some great new jeans in the most strategic jeans purchase of my life, before heading back to steal an hour's nap.

Friday night and the event was on! Had a great durum (kebab) and a coke, injected myself with a cocktail of chicken essence and Undaberg to try and bring my energy on, but mainly got by on reserves. Great DJs and a real party atmosphere between 11 and 1, the place was jumping with people creating their own shirts, artist collaborations, a great mix of people from art, music, media and clubbinmg scenes.

Abi turned up around 1am and I gave him a massive bear hug! Joshua from our hotel also turned up and we took the party to the next level with Mogan as everyone got ready to move on. Staying till the end at 3am, we proceeded to Panorama, a pumping club in an old power station. This place has dark rooms on some nights but the vibe tonight was just a really party dance vibe, people throwing looks around left and right, the DJ getting up on guitar and vocals at some points to banging techno beats. Had one beer and then a bottle of water as drinking seemed to have lost its appeal. Could see the sun creep through the blinds but kept on rocking with Abi and his sister's boyfriend Kim till the wee hours.

Strategic exit around 5.30, tired but happy, the crisp morning air outside woke me up instantly. Got home for a decent sleep to jam another day.

On Time

Getting to the money end of the week, we started with a great breakfast of customised tosai from the Sri Lankan chef. Got some work done then headed to the venue for the final walk-through and tweaking - looking great! Took part in the press conference briefing at 3pm - all the artists (Rikus, Nomad, Stefan Marx and Luke Bennett) seemed really cool.

Took the train to Samariter Strasse and met up with Pascal Engel after 10 years! Had a coffee in his neighbouthood, the last district to be renovated after the GDR days, and checked out his pad, a great one-bedroom walk-up on the fifth storey with a coal stove and only EUR240 per month! His girlfriend's squirrel had died the day before but he seemed ok. We had a beer down the road and he filled me in on the last 8 years of his life studying to be a psychologist, and how he was finding a job and looking at becoming a coach.

Zoomed across town back to Q Hotel and proceeded to dinner with the Asian media and artists, Christian, Chong Lee and our Danish distributors. Had a very slow dinner at a trendy but tasty place called Bangaluu, then to Sage Club where we had a private lounge overlooking the dance floor, rock night, and our own fridge full of Tiger. Worked our way through it with determination as everyone other than the beer boys faded. One yum seng and many hours later, we traversed town again (Mogan and I re-interpreting U2 to the car radio) to a house-like bar and met a cat from the Dominican Republic. Made it home as the sun rose.

Non-Wednesday

Worked pretty much all day in the hotel, save a late lunch with Mogan and Raj in the neighbourhood, yummy pesto gnocchi. Met Christian for dinner at 7.30pm in Mitte - sashimi, red duck curry and Tiger. Proceeded to a bar named White Trash for a beer after dinner, needless to say I felt very at home there - the rock played over the crackly mono speakers really worked. Tested one more bar and was introduced to the cult beer from the South that is enjoying real popularity now with zero marketing. Slept well.

Prenzlauerberg

Worked in the hotel while the rain started and stopped, got out around 4pm and went over to Prenzlauerberg to meet the Flora & Fauna folks. Found a bruin cafe down the road and sampled a Kraft Malz (non-alocoholic and sweet, d'oh!) together with Steve, Tanya, Mogan and the artists from Bangkok and Beijing.

Mogan found us some felafel and kebabs for dinner, before we dropped off the jet-lagged crew. Mogan and I headed out to Cookies around midnight, apparently the best club in Berlin. Perched at the bar we got into some Pilsener Urquell while the crowd filled up, then hit the floor for a serious dance. Fun, good-looking crowd with a pretty good attitude. Got out after 4am and slept till 10.30.

Oranienburger Strasse

Worked for half a day in the Q Hotel, headed east to check out the venue (grungy!) and then avoided the rain in a cozy place with a hundred German beers. Got through a handful of them including some Bratwurst on sauerkraut and the rain kept coming. Headed to a stylo little bar across the street for some great whiskey and a madly friendly bartender. Aiming for an early night we couldn't face turning in, so had a "wind-down" half litre of beer back on the west side and a Shadow session back in the hotel room - primo.

A Sunday Afternoon in Mitte

After working hard to get a decent sleep, I rewarded myself with a good breakfast in the hotel, which to my delight was accompanied by a killer DJ playing beats over Sunday brunch - how can you argue with a little jazz over your smoked salmon and eggs!

Jumped on the train and switched lines at Zoo Station in order to get to East Berlin to meet Mogan and Anni - spent the afternoon wandering, having beers, tea, checking out the beautful old town, churches, Humboldt University and Berlin Dome. Gorgeous.

Chilled out on the grass in more than one park, then found a great spot for dinner (the first place to open in East Berlin after the wall came down in 1989) - indulged in a plate of antipasto and a couple of Bavarian beers.

Die Tiger Kommen!

Barely scraping it together through the week, I made it onto a midnight plane from Changi to Frankfurt. My first experience in Germany, at 7am on Saturday morning (doing my best human imitation of working at a table waiting for my connecting flight) was an elderly woman photographing me. I must have looked (or smelt) exotic.

Berlin struck me first as a beautiful, sprawling green city, low rise but developed. Made it to my home base, Q Hotel, then met up with Mogan and Annika for a slow wander along a river on the city's east side. After my first beer and weiner schnitzel we joined a roaming band of 24 jammers, dancing to quality beats while they directed traffic around them in the 6 o'clock sun.

Adjacent to the Kaiser's army bakery, we had dinner at a massive warehouse space on a river in industrial East Berlin. Christian from Tiger Europe joined us for a drink and took us to Sage Club after that, where we made our initial sortie into the Berlin club scene. Though semi-delirious from exhaustion, I sucked it in and had a couple of beers while the dance floor filled up. Nice warm sound and fat beats.

Hook Starr Turns 30!

Koh Samui, 27-30 April

Three nights in the tropical paradise of Koh Samui with Messrs Hook, Peacocke and Kahane - an all-star lineup and a recipe for trouble.

Nothing if not consistent, our portfolio consisted of Singha beers, Thai whiskey buckets, tom yum goong, barbecued prawns and minimal sleep. The 24 Jam scenario started on Friday night with a low-key dinner, Luke lulling us into a false sense of security, before proceeding to drink over a few games of Connect 4 then hit the club.

Brad made friends with the disappearing Rasta crew and I took the only swim all four of us would make at dawn on Saturday. Wandering up and down the main street, sulphur was my overriding sensory memory.

Saturday afternoon saw the 4 of us hang out kampong style and engage in almost proper conversation - luckily beast wars and the prospect of Reno vs a polar bear soon overtook any semblance of sanity.

Sunday I got slower and slower as the water:alcohol ratio in my bloodstream approaced one to three. Luke proved at dinner that we can order with the best of them - ridiculously.