Won't You Take Me To...Krustie-toooown!

There's not much to say about this gig, except that it was another adventure in Krustie-town (and beware, I do a little political ranting towards the end). Krustie-town is not a place, it's a state of mind. Krusties are white activist hippie punk rastas. They live communally in pretty dirty conditions, with little or no source of income, play music and grow dreadlocks and weed, and generally try to make sure the facist/racist/antisemitist ideologies of old Deutschland never return. They're mostly good kids, a few obnoxious fucks among them, but I'm surprised at how strong their culutre is and how many of them there are. Almost every club we play at, there's a good contingent of them hanging around. At the Leipzig show and tonight in Schwarzenberg, they were running the show. One guy, Leister (sp?), took good care of us in both places, making sure we were fed and happy with the sound system.

We had a vegetarian dinner of unknown substances (very reminiscent what we ate on the ashram), but it was homemade, good and free. This club (I'm not sure if it's a squat or not) is also home to a bunch of these kids. The artwork and posters decorating their home are very intense, making strong anti-establishment statements: "Delete the Elite" and other slogans, mocking portraits of the military and materialism, but all very exagerrated and graphic; essentially, just a bunch of different ways to say "fuck off, I'm doing it my own way". I didn't get a chance to talk to people too much, as we weren't there for long and most of these kids don't speak much English, but as I said, almost everyone was pretty cool to us.

OK, here comes the ranting, skip to the pictures below if you don't want to hear it. I'm struck by the contrast in the youth cultures between Germany and Amiland (German slang for the good ole US of A). I wish kids in the US had an activist culture like this. I wish they had the opportunity to express their desires and ideas instead of rebelling against their spoon-fed suburban existence by doing badly in school and becoming dependant on drugs. I wish our kids had something to believe in and work for, like preservation of freedom, instead of what college they will go to and which stock they should buy. I wish we had ideals that were more about humanity than just about instant gratification and personal gain. There's nothing wrong with having money or being successful, and there's no way I would go back to the communal living existence, but I fail to be passionately motivated by spending most of my waking hours in a cubicle so people can know where to plunk down $15 for a martini. I believe your job should be your life, and vice versa. Working to pay the bills is a flawed concept. I want to work because I enjoy every moment of it and believe strongly that my work will have greater benefits than what I myself receive. Still, I'd shower daily. I'm not idealizing the Krustie culture - I'm sure some of these kids are just lazy - but I think our kids could do with some more idealism and less selfishness. End rant.

	That's our man Leister on the far right with his band. That's a female singer on the left, and she could scream out the hardcore better than some of the guys I've seen this tour.
Ring my bell, Noli. And yes, I'm wearing a hat. It was a bad hair day (read: no shower in 3 days).
	Noli, Jerry, and some scary Krustie artwork.
Jerry and the same scary Krustie artwork.
	Travis making love to his bass.
Alles zusammen.
Tuesday we're off in Mannheim, and we will finally meet with our promoter Marc. Unfortunately, Freddie leaves us to do a tour with some surf-rock band (really popular over here, as is swing - go figure). I don't know what we'll do without that crazy hippie, but we'll survive. I would say "kudos to Freddie" but only the bourgeois elite say words like that. No, I'm kidding, I think it's a good word, but the candy bar of that name sucks. I digress. We've 5 gigs left in 6 days. It's gone by fast. I wish it were to go on longer, but I also miss my friends and my bed. Going back to work will be extremely difficult. Oy, I won't think about it. Best, Shambo