34 East Ramona Ave. Colorado Springs, CO

Edelweiss is everything an authentic German restaurant should be. There’s traditional costumes, accordion playing entertainment, deer heads and cuckoo clocks lining the walls, pitchers of crisp dark Dunkle, black forest torte, and huge, heaping plates of heavy meats and potatoes.

It’s been the spot for brat in my hometown of Colorado Springs since before I was born and after a family friendly dinner last night, I can tell you it’s still the same. And that’s a good thing!

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Posted on March 17, 2013

A blog mainly about odd German 45 rpm records. New records every Thursday.

I have the quite interesting site, Berlin Beatet Bestes to thank for this week’s song, but there’s much more the in pages of this German based collection of odd records. There are high res images of albums you’re very unlikely to see anyplace else as well as information about the artists and illustrator when blogger Andreas is able to find it. He also made a visit to our very own neighborhood record/junk shop The Thing! I’ve posted just a handful of personal favorites below/after the jump, but the extensive archives are worth browsing yourself. A great random find during a google image search.

Click here for the rest of Berlin Beatet Bestes

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Posted on July 11, 2010

from Bamberg, Germany

Schlenkerla Smokebeer is not just some mammy pansy “smoke” beer in name, it truly smells of campfires and liquid smoke – a curious and sublime way to begin a mug of dark, strong beer. According to the website the interesting (and admittedly acquired  taste) is made thusly:

Its smoky flavor is being achieved by exposing the malt to the intense, aromatic smoke of burning beech-wood logs at the Schlenkerla-maltings. After mixing it with premium-class hops in the brew, it matures in 700 year old cellars, deep down in the hills of Bamberg, into a mellow, magnificent-tasting beer, best drunk directly in “Schlenkerla”.
The Schlenkerla they speak of is the original ale house in Bamberg where the beer is brewed – the brewery has been around, under different ownership (of course) since the 14th century! Visitors (which I hope to be one of some day) can still stop by, and who wouldn’t want to after reading the site’s inviting description:

There is far more to Schlenkerla than delicious food and drink. If you would rather drink you beer by yourself, be forewarned: it is almost impossible to avoid relaxed, cheerful conversations at the wooden tables. In everyday life the ordinary Franconian acts somewhat reserved when dealing with strangers, but that characteristic is left outside when entering the Smokebeer paradise.
And that is a tradition. For centuries the tasty, dark brown brew has made our guests happy and loosened their tongues. As in the past, when high clerics sat at the same table with farmers, today the musician from the Bamberg Symphonic Orchestra drinks his beer next to the factory worker. Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer levels the differences between classes. It brings together the stranger with the local.

Click here for the rest of Schlenkerla Smokebeer

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Posted on February 21, 2010

by Holderlin (1972)

Take a base of traditional folk, add one part Jethro Tull, a generous drop of Nico, a splash of Amon Duul II, and a garnish with Peter and the Wolf, and you’ll end up with Holderlin’s Traum, a musical concoction perfect for a handcrafted clay goblet. It’s a beautiful and gentle first album by the German band that has recently made a sort of comeback with a new album.

This early seventies effort is as appealing and ethereal as the album art and title (Traum translates “dream”) and worth a listen for anyone with a soft spot for folk, krautrock, lilting female voices, and the flute. The songs will stay in your mind, even as you hum along to the unknown lyrics (well, unless you speak German of course). I am surprised this band has not been as rediscovered as others of the genre, but with recent accessibility (amost of their albums are now available on iTunes) I think that might change. Like several former Brix Picks, I might soon hear it playing over some brunch in Brooklyn.

Click here for the rest of Holderlin’s Traum

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Posted on November 29, 2009

Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant was my introduction to Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and it was an introduction long time coming. I've always been intrigued by the covers in video stores of beautiful pained women and the titles like Beware of a Holy Whore and Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. Still, I hesitated for years to watch one of his films, but once most were available to me on netflix on demand, I no longer had any excuse.

I've learned that the controversial director with a complex personal life (check out the drama on his wikipedia profile) has a certain style of directing which equals twenty five minute scenes of people talking. It may sound trying, but because the characters are talking about the gossip of their lives as their relationships rise and fall apart, and the acting is so superb, the visuals so stunning – it's riveting.

Fashion wise, the film is beyond incredibly inspiring. See a collection of stills here and long for theatrical wigs and makeup, intricate dense beading, and wild necklines. Petra's apartment bedroom/workspace too,?in which the entire film takes place will haunt your aesthetic dreams. A fully covered floor with white bear skin? I've certainly heard worse ideas.

Even if the setting is stunning, the limited scope gives a claustrophobic portrait of a manic woman locked in her own mind and world with little interaction with reality. It's hard to interpret who you are meant to have sympathy for, if anyone at all. Even Marlene (played by Irm Hermann, once Fassbinder's lover and victim of abuse), the movie's most beaten down and enigmatic (especially when we learn she's been packing heat the whole time) is not wanting for your pity.

It's a slow and challenging movie if you're not in the right frame of mind but it's a rewarding and haunting experience. My curiosity to see more of his prolific career has been piqued.

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Posted on August 3, 2009

I was so lucky to grow up with such an amazing german pastry shop in my home town. We had the cake pictured for Jim's birthday.
mmmmmm

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Posted on December 12, 2005