Lustig!

lustig is a fun German word. It technically means funny or amusing, but can also mean something along the lines of joyous, cheerful, or my favorite, "frolicsome."
So: Gestern abend war sehr lustig! Last night was really frolicsome!
The Mountain Goats show was at Magnet Club, right down the street from my office. So instead of going home, I hung out at a friend's place in the neighborhood, Prenzlauer Berg. P-berg or Prenzelberg is known for being kind of yuppified--lots of middle class families and expats. It's a pretty nice area--lots of cute restaurants and shops--but kind of expensive. However the delicious Lebanese veggie wraps with mango sauce that we grabbed for dinner were, at 3eur, a total steal. yum!
I bought a teeny-tiny bottle of questionable whiskey and stashed it about my person and then we headed to the venue. It was small, and packed, and the opening act was on when we got there--a New Zealand guy with a guitar and a strangely whiny voice. We pushed to the front (I've noticed that if you act like you're going somewhere, people in concert crowds just let you do what you want) and had a great view for the main event.
John Darnielle is the core of Mountain Goats, and he didn't even bring his band on this tour. It was just him and a keyboard, then him and a guitar. And it was fan-bloody-tastic. My god. It was such a totally and completely epic show. I could not stop grinning. He claimed not to have played 'This Year', probably his most famous song, yet on this tour, so we lucked out getting to hear that (see video on last post for that song). When he asked for requests I, and several other people, was yelling for 'No Children' (see video below). Eventually he said, "No, I can't play that, I forgot the little machine, I haven't been able to play that all tour." Somehow someone knew that by 'little machine' he meant a capo, and handed him one from the audience. And then he played the song!!! And then he handed the capo back to the guy. It was marvelous.
Not only are his lyrics amazing, but the guy is charming as all hell. The things he says between songs, his little intros, they're all so darn cute! And then when he was taking requests, he would say things like, "No, I don't know that one, I haven't played it in a year" or "I know the HELL out of that one!!!" and then launch right into it.
So yeah it was an epic show.
Afterwards we went to an Erasmus party in Mitte. Erasmus is a student exchange program, and this was their "international semester kick-off party." When you go in, you're supposed to get a sticker of your country's flag so people know where you're from. We skipped that bit, though I still ended up with an American flag on my cheek by the time we left, haha. I believe it was bestowed upon me when I demonstrated my Brooklyn dancing skillz, hahaha. But it was fun to hear some hip-hop for once. And songs with more of a beat goin on then the typical Berlin house music, which is so monotonous it's hard to truly break it down. You just end up kinda swaying. Which is sometimes ok, but I was thrilled to have a chance to really let loose.
Aaaand then it took me two hours to get home. Know how I mentioned that Berlin is so cool cause there's a party every night of the week? Well there isn't a way to get home from said party every night of the week, as the U-Bahn is only 24hours on Fridays and Saturdays. And the night buses during the week run every half hour or so. So it kinda sucks.
Not to mention it was raining. Again. And my shoes got soaked. I can deal with cold, but this constant rain is not fun!
But with a belly full of whiskey and a heart full of Mountain Goats and dance music, I was still feelin fine ;)
Bis bald,
D.