bumbling in berlin: Some Skinhead Soul

The H&M Billboard you can see from our Balcony...sheer.

I had it, all I wanted was a night dancing Techno-free. We looked online and found an event that struck our fancy: "Soul Night" at some place within walking distance from our apartment, guaranteed Soul & 60's music and it was only a 3€ cover - unlike all these other clubs that are 8-15! So Jess and I got dolled up and made it over to the place determined to spend only 15€ collectively...well we didn't really have a choice because that's all we brought.

We walk in and the first section of the clu...no pub was pretty empty, but still like everywhere here, there was a cover. Ok that's 9 Euro left. Walking in further...sure enough the music is very good...round the corner to the dance floor: the only people in Berlin that don't want to dance to Techno apparently, 4 skinheads and one cute blonde girl. In fact we look around the entire establishment and realize everybody has a shaved head/suspenders/wife-beaters on, and there are only a couple other girls--one with a Chelsea haircut.

Yeah, we were in a skinhead bar.

Me, Guido (real name), & Tubby w/ the best moves

Me and Josephine

We came to dance, but we weren't ready yet. The sparse dance floor was bordered by benches, so Jess and I awkwardly sat in a corner observing the skinheads amazing moves contemplating if these were the bad skinheads that are Neo-Nazi types or just Punk Rock skinheads. We watched these boys jollily dance to Soul Music and a couple reggae hits in there, so we established that they couldn't possibly be Neo-Nazis.

Well we came there for a reason, and so we would dance. Getting up on the floor, still unsure of whether it was coincidental or not, it emptied completely. It was Jess & I, alone on the floor, but I insisted that it would look more dumb if we ceased so we continued as spectacles for the entire bar's population. Literally the people in the far corner playing fuss-ball and those that were initially on the dance-floor - all watching us.

I guess we proved to be good enough because the rest soon joined in. Being that we were the obvious outsiders of this community, we did not want to give the impression that we had come there to seduce these dancing men...we just came for some good tunes! And so we tried to just to remain a duo, at first only dancing with each other to set our story straight.

Jess sat down for a bit, but I decided to continue dancing. Swaying my hips, boogying with 4 skinheads. The girl approached Jess. Her name was Josephine and she just knew the DJ's. She too had come there for some good music and an opportunity to dance. FINALLY, here were some other people with some dance moves! There was one girl dancing and we assumed she was friends with these boys.

"Those guys seem to really like your dance moves!" Josephine tells us.
"Yeah well we just came here for the music. We're sick of techno"
"Yeah I just love to dance!"
"Ohhh Ja...this is much betta than technoo!"

We danced the night away, with some solos on the floor for myself. This bar being one that closes earlier than most in Berlin. We made it back home at 4 AM to catch an intoxicated live viewing of the debate....God help us if Obama doesn't win. McCain does a real great job of avoiding eye contact and describing how Obama falls short instead of explaining why he is a positive candidate. Oh and don't even get me started on Palin's interview with Katie Couric, and her not being "one of those girls whose parents handed them a passport and a backpack"

Below are Photos from Watergate from the previous weekend, where I danced the night away with Serena & Melody 'til sunrise......to techno