2004 in retrospect

The cool thing about using a personal journal is that not only you’re having someone you can tell whom you’re secretly in love with (Flinz!) and who you’re secretly wishing was dead (Flinz!). No, the bigger benefit is that you can look up things later… Do any of you jerks remember a single day of your miserable lives in 2004? See, I don’t either, but I can look all of them up… So, when you’re getting older and more wisdomous, your children and grandchildren can look up the life of their fantastic grandpa Dexter on their computers. Or maybe I’d even print it out for them… Also, as soon as I’m famous, I can make big fucking $$$ selling the shit I write in my journal as a highly anticipated autobiography.

So much for the future, right now in the present I’ll use some of my notes and photos for a short 2004 retrospect. Never too late for that. Please note I started writing my journal on April 30th, so the year begins at that date for me. Anything before probably wasn’t worth mentioning anyway.

Tragedy of the year — War in Iraq? Abu Ghraib? Tsunami? Yeah, but… more saddening, on a personal level, was – at least for me – the rise and the fall of the nfo.stadttheater in Erding. It was a great joy to see a good concept actually work, with many people embracing the opportunity to experience a nightlife in Erding that was very different to the usual places (Sunrise etc.) and introduced many youngsters to a kind of music more advanced and edgy than what they’re usually treated with. But what’s even worse than seeing a concept fail is to experience its success – and eventually having to give up anyway due to technical reasons and unresolvable little arguments… A shame, really.

Clubbing in 2004 — So what was going on dans les discothéques? Me and Flinz discovered in May that not all of Munich’s hipster’s locations are to be avoided on a constant basis, with the Erste Liga actually being a nice spot to get drunk, dance and meet ppl, not quite the ideal location for a claustrophobic person though. It’s conveniently located right across the Vorraum, a cozy little bar where also many fun nights were spent, such as Flinz’ very own birthday. Meanwhile the Garden as well as the Registratur became almost impossible to go to, too many idiots & bitches in the former case, too many people in general in the latter. So Munich got a little depressing in late 2004, the old Schall was still greatly missed, but with the Woandersclub opening in December things are beginning to look better. Nice, trashy location, absolutely beautiful lineups (Perlon, Festplatten, Konzept Schall and the likes, if you know what I mean) and people behind it that seemed to be just as fed up with club culture in Munich as many of us and are now trying to stir things up a bit. Good luck from the bottom of my heart! Favourite bar in 2004: The K+K-Klub, where it’s not unusual to find ppl like Hans Platzgumer spinning a set during the week, for free… My personal favourite club nights were Jeff Mills at the Badeanstalt in April, Le quatrième click at the Registratur in October, the Woandersclub opening in Dec as well as Gayle San and Angela Flame at the Kranhalle (May, Dec), both being absolute eye candy and delivering fantastic sets. Also definitely worth mentioning: Kowalski & Bartz at the Gematix 2, Carl Cox and let’s not forget the great Bavarian Open 04. Oh, and probably the best of all: DJ Hulk, Stockholm. Can’t beat this guy. No way.

Pawtee — Good things were happening outside of any clubs too… Nice birthday celebrations were held by Flinz (Vorraum), Dexter (K+K), the Madmiss (stadttheater), massive drinking was done at the Klenze 17, the Vorraum + Atomic Café (an evening Mike won’t forget) etc. and many a night was wasted at the personal homes of me, Mike and Flinz. Good stuff there. Killed off plenty of those lousy braincells.

Finally, I conclude with one of my favourite pictures (god, is she going to hate me for this). If you expected a more detailed insight into what happened in 2004 politically, economically and in any of those other affairs that actually matter, you sadly chose the wrong place to look.

Now, feel free to add your own mustard (does that Sprichwort work in English?) in the comments… What rocked your box0rs in 2004, what sux0red to the 3tr3m33?

Looking forward to an eventful 2005..