Lutz Leichsenring
Appearances
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
I think she might, but it was also quite some time ago, so maybe you can fill me in again.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
Or $10 on a can of beer. Yes. Without a glass. Exactly.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
This decision is like almost 80 years old and it happened right after World War II. So 1949, you had already a divided city between the eastern sector and the western sector. The eastern sector controlled by the Russians and the western sector controlled by the British, the French and the Americans. And in the eastern part, there was a curfew at 10 p.m.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
So all the restaurants, bars, hotel bars, cabaret bars, they had to close at 10 p.m. in the eastern part. In the western part, it was 9 p.m., so an hour earlier. And there was this, let's say, representative, a spokesperson of the hotels and restaurants of Berlin. His name was Heinz Zellermeyer.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
The story is that he brought a bottle of whiskey to that meeting. So they met and they were talking about it. And General Howley said, yeah, the British and the French, they're not really supporting any idea of losing this curfew. They say it's a security issue. So you have to give me an argument that I can give to French and the British.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
And the problem was that at that moment in the Western part, people had to go out of the bar and then they went to the Eastern sector for another hour, which was also not really liked by the Americans, you know. So he said, if you kick Germans who are partying at a certain hour, you kick them out of the street, you're going to have a security issue. So you have to better find a solution for it.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
He said, okay, let's try this out for two weeks. And since then, 1949, we have no curfew.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
The perception that people in government had says a DJ is not a concert. People are going there to have sex or to drink or to whatever, but not because of the DJ. They even sent people to clubs and documented that people were not facing the artist. They were talking to each other. Oh my God. Stuff like that. Yeah, to kind of prove the point that this is not a concert. Wow.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
Exactly. But they said, clubs is different. People go there to meet people, not because of the artist. They don't even know who's playing. These kind of argumentations.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
I don't know if you're aware of zoning, what that means in cities. So there are different zoning laws which says in certain zones of the city, there are certain allowances. So for instance, you cannot build an amusement venue, like a leisure venue in a residential area.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
The problem with this categorization is that you're only fully legal in the very center of the city, where also the prices are very high. So if you want to do it properly, you have to be very commercial to survive. Oh.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
And now that we are more flexible in what areas of the cities we can establish music venues, we can also maybe turn a former restaurant or bar into a club, possibly, which we could not before because it was in the wrong zone.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
Well, very friendly, maybe queer person, very soft, happy. He's wearing some kind of top that doesn't really say anything. It's like, what is it?
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
I think it looks authentic to him, but this person looked very innocent. Yeah. And you also want to save some people for, you know, to getting into something that they maybe don't expect.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
Yeah. Yeah. I would probably send them to Schwurz. What's Schwurz? It's our oldest, best known gay club. And it's the perfect vibe for those two guys.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
They don't look like hard, you know, like standing in the middle of a sweaty club and going for hours and enjoying this. And, you know, they're standing with like having a chat, you know, like, and that's okay to have some of those folks in the venue. It's really about getting out of your inner self and showing your animalistic side of yourself.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
That's really him. I think the first question you have to ask yourself, are you a participant or are you a visitor? And it shouldn't sound sophisticated or arrogant. It's just like a club. The definition of club is being part of a club. If you're not part of the club, why should you be able to enter? I think the idea of just buying myself in is the opposite of a club, what it should actually be.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
A club should bring people together who have similar interests, similar preferences.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
My tip that I usually give is make a plan of exploring Berlin, maybe from the outskirts. Go to venues that are not very known. Go to places that are somehow interesting for you because you did your research and you saw some artists that you want to see and yet they're playing. So go there. And you get in very easy. Because venues that are not very known don't have this kind of level of selection.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
Usually there's not even a queue. And then you get friends with the bartenders, you make friends with the DJs there, and you have an amazing time in an unknown venue with unknown artists, basically. And the next time you're coming, you're going to reach out to them. And because they like you or they connected to you, they will ask you to start in their home with dinner.
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Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? (Part 1)
Maybe you go to a bar, you make more friends. And even maybe they make sure that you get on a guest list of some venue that they're going at that night. But I think it's It's part of that journey that you also have to make to be part of the scene.