Happy new year

Looking forward to 2014???

Hell yeah! 😉

Sarah Connor – Christmas in my heart Tour

It’s been quite a while ago since I last saw Sarah Connor. I think the last time was ten years ago when I accidentally bumped into her on the Echo After-Show Party and we had a small chat. Well, that’s also a funny story, but maybe another time… So when I read that she will be coming to Munich with her “Christmas in my heart”-Tour, I decided to go. She played at the Philharmonie Gasteig together with Andrej Hermlin and his Swing Dance Orchestra.

Her “Christmas in my heart“-album was already released in 2006, but she explained during the show that it had been a dream of hers ever since to bring it on tour. She also recounted how they had already started to rehearse in September when it was still summer outside – now, so close to Christmas, the decoration with a huge, American-style Christmas tree and a manger of course fitted the season. Sarah herself looked very festively in her long dress and blonde curls. Is it just me or does it have a touch of Marilyn Monroe? Most of the songs throughout the concert were, of course, Christmas songs, mostly traditional ones, but she also slipped in a few soul classics as well es some of her own tunes. With “Too close to crazy” and the encore “Little love”, which she sang sitting on stage with some of her fans, she introduced two new songs from her forthcoming album. My personal highlights were the always beautiful “Have yourself a merry little Christmas“, her rendition of Etta James’ “Something’s got a hold on me” (girl can SANG!) and the improvised, from traditional over jazzy to souly version of “Leise rieselt der Schnee”, which funnily was the song that brought her a record deal, as a tape of her singing the song made a record executive call her.

A surprise during the show was the appearance of David Hermlin, son of orchestra leader Andrej. He not only duetted with Connor on “Santa Clause is coming to town” and stepdanced, but also sang a solo song (“Christmas dreaming”). This 13-year old boy could have a career ahead of him. He can sing, dance, looks cute and is such a natural on stage. He kinda reminded me of little Michael Jackson. Google showed me that that was not a coincidence.

All in all a very enjoyable evening with great music, a very likable and natural Sarah Connor, who obviously still has a close connection to her fans, and of course with Christmas in our hearts! 😉

News and olds from Mariah Carey

I just watched Mariah Carey perform at the Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting. Her “Merry Christmas“-album is like the ultimate Christmas album to me and “All I want for Christmas” definitely a classic.

I also enjoy her newer album “Merry Christmas II you“, especially “Oh Santa”.

Ok, let’s make this easier: Actually I love most of her songs, Christmas or not. She’s one of my favorite artists. I don’t know how many of you have noticed that Mariah recently put up a new song on her Facebook account called “The Art of Letting Go”.

She describes it as a first glimpse of the new album, and after this track I ‘m looking forward to it even more because this song is so NOT mainstream, so original, so Mariah and still so new, I really can’t wait to hear more! One thing with Mariah is that I also can often relate to her lyrics. I love it when an artist is able to touch me not only with his/her music but also with his/her message in songs. And that’s the way it should be, because I think that vocal music is about both, music and lyrics. And sometimes I enjoy a song because of its melody or bass lick or rhythm or feel, but to really really get me a songs needs to convince me with its lyrics as well. I mean, why not use a song to give a message, why waste it with stupid nonsense?

There are so many Mariah songs with a meaning that they can kind of lead you through life and give you strength when you need it. At least they have done that for me. Of course everyone knows “Hero” or “One sweet day“, but there are also a lot of her less known songs that transport a message. Personally one of my favorites is “Can’t take that away“.

I think there’s a big misconception of Mariah out there. Many people don’t even know she writes her own songs. She’s seen as some kind of puppet on a string that can sing but is acting like a diva. Few people know that she’s very accessible and she has a good sense of humour, too. About a month ago she surprised some of her fans on the Jimmy Fallon show. Afterwards she gave a little private, impromptu performance.

From my experience it is often the other way round: Those artists who are – according to their reputation – completely inaccessible, are very much accessible and those – often rather small – artists, who seem to be very open and down to earth, are completely the opposite. I know that can not be generalized but there is a tendency… Anyway, Mariah definitely is very close to her fans. I had the chance to speak a couple of words with her a few times and she was always very nice, very caring. She always made sure to take her time to greet her fans, sign autographs, talk a few words, shake hands. She even sometimes referred to letters or presents she got and told the fans how much she loved those or took them with her to talk to her privately. It always seemed important to her what her fans told her. The moment I remember most was after her “Charmbracelet”-concert in Munich when she returned to her hotel. I thanked her for all the strength she had shown and said that it was really an inspiration. I will never forget the way she looked at me and thanked me! It was so obvious that she really appreciated my comment and that this whole situation of her talking to her fans was not an annoying duty to her but something she enjoyed and wanted to do.

Her concerts, of course, are awesome. She’s just an amazing singer and it seems she sounds even better live than on her albums. She cannot dance, but the stage is filled by her presence. I hope she will come to Europe again with her new album! For now, here are some pictures from her “Charmbracelet-Tour”-concerts in Hamburg and Munich 2003. Quite some years ago so these are scans of some of my photos.