Julian Schnabel. Polaroids Tour 9th July

Julian Schnabel. Camera

A new show opens on May 30 - July 11 at the NRW-Forum

Julian Schnabel, American painter, sculptor, writer and filmmaker likes things big.
His paintings are huge. The rooms at his home in Manhattan are enormous, the place he built is a real Venetian palace in the West Village.
He has also taken numerous photographs using a massive 20 x 24 inch 1970's Polaroid camera on wheels, weighing over 200 pounds. Portraits of family and friends, including Lou Reed, Mickey Rourke and Placido Domingo, scenes from his life, shots of his home, Palazzo Chupi in New York; some photographs he has painted on. Many of these large photographs, measuring 51 x 61 cm, are being shown for the very first time.
I'm intrigued by this exhibition and look forward to the press conference on Friday. Then I can tell you more.

Julian Schnabel. Polaroids runs from 30th May until 11th July.
After 6pm entry to both this exhibition and the
Robert Mapplethorpe Retrospective is reduced to €3.80.
There is a free tour in English of the Mapplethorpe show at 9pm.


The Opening
The great thing about the NRW-Forum is the spontaneity in which it often works.
Tours are generally not offered for the shows upstairs, but I found that Schnabel had so much to share with us at the press conference that I was keen to offer a mini tour of this exhibition.
So on July 9th RhineBuzz will give a special tour in English. Cost €2.00.
We are at the NRW-Forum every Friday from 8pm until midnight.

©RhineBuzz
Julian signs autographs for the press "lay the posters all out on the floor" he tells us

At first he seems reluctant to speak about the photographs. Then he peers at them and shares with us that he is seeing them hung in an exhibition this way for the very first time. So now he is discovering aspects in the images that he is also seeing for the first time. He is very pensive as he looks at his work. It is almost as though together with him we are able to share, quite intimately, scenes and stories from his life. He even tells us what he dreamt about last night, in his hotel bed in Düsseldorf.
These photographs are special. Their size, appearance, and themes have a great sense of nostalgia about them. And yet, they actually offer a rare glimpse into the life of one of the present arts world's most talked about artists, who also just happens to be an award-winning director. There's much to say about Mr Schnabel.

©Ralf Goertz, filmmaker based at the NRW-Forum, visited Schnabel in New York

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The tour at the beginning of June went very well. We had 31 guests followed by an very entertaining
evening on the lovely terrace and in the bar. 
Thank you all for turning up.



Here a very nice piece about the show by Felisworld

A Soulful Voice, A Gorgeous Smile, Laura Vane at the Jazz Rally


Setting Stone on fire on Sunday night

Laura Vane and the Vipertones, voted best r&b newcomers on UK itunes in February 2010, treated a packed, jumping audience to a concert bursting with energy on Sunday in the legendary club Stone in the Altstadt, rounding up the sunny weekend Jazz Rally.


Laura takes time to chat with us after the soundcheck
©RhineBuzz

I met Laura during the soundcheck at Stone and afterwards asked her if she could ever imaging doing anything else. Immediately shook her mass of blonde curls and answered a definite 'no'. Then she gave this question a moment's thought and said that at some point she might have thought about taking care of sick dogs but no, not really. She grew up with music, both parents are musicians, she loves performing and so of course singing was all she'd ever wanted to do. Seeing her on stage this becomes so very obvious. She is fabulous at what she does, her voice is real, clear and very funky and in no time at all she had the crowd lapping up every moment.

The allure of Laura also comes from an attractive simplicity and friendliness about her. We talked about their performance at WOMAD in the Canary Islands last year where she appeared before an audience of 1000s without having anticipated that the crowd would be so huge and welcoming. Having experienced WOMAD myself for many years I too know how extraordinary these festivals can be.
She's realistic about how tough it is to make it in the music business without being jaded; her goals are grounded and very modest, even though she has performed with big names such as The Streets, Omar and Carleen Anderson. I do hope your wish comes true Laura. I'm sure it will!

As we left the club we heard more than one new, beaming fan exclaim that the gig had been the highlight of the weekend. I could easily see why some said this. Laura and her Dutch band just had the greatest time on stage - their joy, musicality and soul oozed effortlessly over to the crowd. They were obliged to play several encores, the keen crowd just wanted to groove on and certainly didn't want to let them go.

Let's hope that we will see more of Laura Vane and the Vipertones in Düsseldorf. They are signed to the Düsseldorf label Unique so please Henry Storch, founder of Unique, there must be a plan to bring this smiling lady from the south coast of England back to us soon ...


I gave Laura a RhineBuzz Robert Mapplethorpe Retrospective postcard. She seemed very amused by it, just as many of the ladies are!



























Jazz Rally Dusseldorf May 21 - 23

Omar, Burgplatz on Sunday Night

Candy Dulfer played Burgplatz on Friday night - it was an electric night!
So much more to follow Saturday and Sunday ...


RhineBuzz had a great time at the Jazz Rally.
We met musicians, experienced wonderful concerts - took 100s of photos. Roll on Jazz Rally 2011!
Bernd Ahrens and Caroline at the Jazz Rally

30 stages all over town, more than 70 concerts, movies, djs, free open air gigs
An eclectic, festive weekend in it's 18th year!
Full details here

The 2010 Jazz Rally kicked off with a preview concert in Kaiserswerth

Ottorino Galli Gipsy Swingtett

Venues and acts as diverse as the Scott Hamilton Quartet at the
Opera House
and The Vipertones at Stone



Rigoletto May 16th and Rhine Ballet Auditions


RhineBuzz are returning to the opera on May 16th to see Verdi's Rigoletto. One of the most well-known and most performed operas of all time.
Whether you are an opera lover and regular visitor or a complete novice, the RhineBuzz opera events are a great way to enjoy the first class opera house that we are fortunate to have in our city. Usually there are around 20 of us in the group, generally a good mix of regulars and new faces so it's a great way to also meet new people if you perhaps know few people here.
Due to our our great partnership with the Rhine opera we benefit from excellent seats at a discounted rate in the stalls, very reasonable tickets for students and au-pairs and we are doing our best to arrange another English tour of the historical house especially for you all as we were able to do last year. Not an easy task, as with some 300 performances the Opera House is a busy, busy place. But we are trying ...

To all you budding ballet dancers out there, Martin Schläpfer, the award-winning director of the Rhine Ballet is on the look out for fresh, new talent - auditions for 7 to 16 year olds are being held in Düsseldorf on May 8th at 2pm. Further details here.

Check out the Rhine Opera's new site in English.

Email us at opera @rhinebuzz.com to reserve your place for Rigoletto, the performance begins at 6.30pm.

Long Night of Museums


Markus Vater and Das Metapherproblem


Saturday May 8th is the annual Long Night of Museums when over 40 city museums and cultural institutions open their doors to the public until the early hours. Many until 2am! Special events are happening all over town; one of the many highlights is an iphone concert by Kreidler at the NRW-Forum and light installation on the building facade.

Interview by Feli Hackmann
There will also be a live broadcast of all that is going at the NRW-Forum over the web and I have been asked to say a few words about RhineBuzz, you can watch this here. We are scheduled for between 8 and 9pm. The broadcast will go on until at least midnight, various people from the world of arts and culture will be interviewed, most of it will be in German, but our interview will be in English.

The museum kunst palast also in the Ehrenhof, will be staging a vibrant program including a skate show in the courtyard, a huge painting event also outside with the aid of paintballs and amongst the varied exhibits inside the building you can enjoy a fabulous animated installation by Markus Vater, a piece he describes as a "walk-in painting." In contrast, in the Hentrich Glass Museum, in the building opposite you can admire some of the most exquisite paperweights you are ever likely to see. Real treasures!


Tickets are €12 and allow entry to all exhibits and events and the use of shuttle buses that take you to the various venues. You can purchase tickets on the night at booths in the city and at all participating houses. The main bus crossroads is at Grabbeplatz which is outside the Museum K20 in the centre of town.
Blue booklets which list all that is happening - and is too vast to list here - are available at all venues, ticket offices and the tourism office.
It's a very busy night. Be prepared to queue and we really don't recommend you go in a big group!


It was a great night! The Ehrenhof was the place to be with the iphone concert broadcasted on the building of the NRW-Forum, the fabulous Men in Blech who entertained regularly throughout the night outside mkp.

For those that understand German read Feli's highly amusing report of what went on backstage at Museum TV that night on Felisworld.



Mapplethorpe




Robert Mapplethorpe: PhillipPrioleau, 1980 (c) 2010 Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, used by permission

Final tour August13

Robert Mapplethorpe Retrospective
Shocking. Authentic. Desperate. Obligated. Graceful.
Mapplethorpe’s eye was all this and more. So much more.
RhineBuzz at The NRW-Forum every Friday until midnight. 
Free tour in English at 9pm.

February 6 - August 15 2010

Mapplethorpe was an artist of endless superlatives.

The talent, the search, the obsession and the honesty produced masterpieces to some and startling offensive images to others.
He opened up dark, secret worlds and at the same time paid homage to the great classics as he described photography "the perfect way to make sculpture."
This artist produced perhaps the world's most graceful still life photographs of flowers; strong, sometimes fragile, spell-binding portraits of royalty and the world's greatest artists and in parallel sparked controversy and ground breaking judgements dealing with sexuality and the question of what public funding of the arts should be.
Mapplethorpe never leaves you without emotion.

Final RhineBuzz Friday Nights at the NRW-Forum Tonight
Every Friday from February 12th. 
Everyone welcome even if you do not wish to visit the exhibition
Museum entry €3.80
Free tour in English 9pm
Ehrenhof 2
40479 Düsseldorf
U Bahn Tonhalle/Ehrenhof


METRO Group Marathon Dusseldorf






On May 2nd a bunch of RhineBuzz friends, Naoki, Pedro, Patrick and Peter from Japan, USA, Switzerland, Germany, Portugal and UK will be running in the City Marathon as the Super Mario Runners, start number 1043, so do along and cheer them on!

They are running in the relay marathon that begins at 9.50 at the Rheinterrasse. The course is here.

Participation in the various marathon disciplines is still possible by late registration.
Billed as one of the 'one of the fastest routes in the world with great views of the Rhine and a fantastic public' let's hope the weather remains clear and beautiful for this great day out when the city takes on a truly festive atmosphere.

The guys did just great finishing in a time of 3h 27, coming in at position 187 of over 2400 participants - great stuff, very well done!
Training for next year begins next week I'm told ...
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