17 Classic Performance Tales (Well, actually only six)

·     We were invited to play in a small village south of Berlin. They were planning to tear the whole place down to make way for an open pit mine. When the concert started we counted 52 sad spectators. To be honest we had expected much more people to turn up. During the concert everything was very quiet, but afterwards everyone laughed, and cried. It was very moving… especially once we found out that every single town person had come.

·     Stepping off stage in France, we were quite often asked where we were from. Saying Berlin, a frequent reaction was “I didn’t know Germans had fun.” Once though, playing at a Jewish museum in Paris a lady said: “You are not allowed to make people laugh! Ever again.”

·     When playing in Moscow, we were asked to play on a breakfast TV show. This looked like any other show you’d expect anywhere in the West. Then came the first question: “Today is the anniversary of the German invasion of Russia, during the last war. What do you feel?”

·     While in Austin, Texas for SXSW in 1998, we were invited to a Texas-style barbeque by a family of Ukrainian origin. The idea was music for food. Anyway, we soon found out, that they were looking for a European husband for one of their daughters.

·     One Christmas eve found us playing in one of Berlin’s dismal railway stations (the notoriously famous Bahnhof Zoo) before they were refurbished. We were playing for free; after all, it was Christmas! Of course. the railway police thought otherwise, and chucked us out. A gentleman witnessing the scene approached us, and invited us to a Russian Christmas party!

·     While on the set for the movie Halbe Treppe, (where we were recording the original soundtrack), shot near the Polish border, the director Andreas Dresen asked whether one of our accordion players would double as a busker in a scene. We persuaded him to use someone playing the German bagpipes. So he played on the street, in the dead of winter, at five in the morning, accompanied by a freezing ukulele player. It was such a success that the tune became the main theme for the film score.

Additional Info
17 Hippies Storm North America: Top Secret Acoustic Rock from ...
Performance Tales
About the Songs on 17 Hippies’ Heimlich
Introducing the Band Members

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