MaWa_

Pictures from Salzburg: ConFused5, So What, Gisel De Marco

Video: Natalia Safran - Gimmi all your lovin

Video: Lady Haidee - Untiteled

Video: MaWa 2007 - the year that was

Roll over Austria

Salzburg, 9th of November 2007

What the heck am I doing in Austria ... again?

MaWa meets Almelo

Festival 10/11th of August 2007 in Almelo

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

And the Picture Book directly on YouTube.

One night in Vienna

Solid Tube gig 29.06.2007, Casablanca

 

From the book: “Little MaWa travels the world”

 

When I arrived at the Casablanca, the famous crazy cracker docnik and his sister mandala where already there. They welcomed me and the other "believers" Namor, Walter Braunsteiger and trashradio (who have I missed?) with our own Solid Tube fan T-shirts, with our Sellaband Names on the frontside. Brilliant idea and black is anyway the best colour for me.

Michael and Gary turned up shortly afterward and Michaels and my initial off-topic talk about "Storage Area Networks" made me feel home immidiately.

 

The gig started at about 11pm inside the Casablanca, a location, which I would best describe, well, as a small bar. docnik had reserved an even smaller corner in the crowed place, build for probably 30 people, with about 60 in it that it felt like more than a hundred.

So, at this place you need to be resistant against a couple of things: the crowd, the cigarette smoke (not yet banned in Austria, I may want to relocate here sometime) and, well, what is called "Austropop". Solid Tube played for 4 hous a mix of their own songs, cover versions and these "Austropop" songs (these have to go mostly on Michaels conciousness). As far as I understood, is "Austropop" not a style in itself, just a name for all music completly ununderstandable outside of Austria. Well, especially these songs, mostly played towards the end, had a rather disturbing effect on the natives, causing a couple of them turning into half naked chanting and breaking a couple of beer glasses on the way. Fairness demands, that I have to tell, that one of these natives turned out to be from Munich, and I can saying nothing to help this) As far as I understood most of these songs circleled about hot chicks and looser guys, the rest may be forever lost in translation.

I'm personally not a big friend of cover versions, as they usually remind me to much of the original, but my change of heart came, when Solid Tube turned the cheesy Britney Spears song "do it one more time" into a deep reveleation of pure emotional rawness. (docnik, you have to put this song up somehow, somewhere). Ahhh. Annother Martin, which we met, was as well rightfully impressed of the version from "Farewell". He was impressed to an extend, that he wanted to buy all remaining parts of Solid Tube immediatly after we briefly explained the concept. I left the Sellaband URL and my private bank details with him. I just hope, he doesn't mixes the two up, when he recovers from his massive alcoholic intoxination. (docnik, get these flyers ready!)

My personal highlight and the reason to come to Vienna was the live performance of Solid Tubes original songs. That was multo impressive. Period. It is such a shame that mp3s even more than CDs suck so much on these basses, which make your stomach crumble, not talking about the e-gitar (Michael’s play does that as well), no, the voice of mandana hits you direct there, that it hurts in a brilliant way.

You would never imagine that, when you see that delicate 1.58 meter person, but the voice turns the whole room into some raw county blues feeling very deep inside you. On Solid Tupe’s first CD are at least 4 songs with the original quality of instant world wide classics and mandana sang at least 3 of them last night (I blurred out partly at some time). Impressive for me wasn’t only the voice itself, but also all these intelligent turns in the songs and the interpretation which was carried along this beautiful melancholic but strong melodic baselines.

One very very special thank you to Michael playing Zappa's "Bobby Brown" as last song of the night for me - and to the guy, I've paid 22 years ago in Nice for playing that song: "guy, if you read this, THAT is the song and that is HOW it is to be played! And I still want my money back!"

Last but not least, Gary's harmonica play is great and when you are doing it, Gary, you are the coolest guy on this planet.

So, when you are Vienna or somewhere in the same universe, look out for the next gig of Solid Tube! - see you there.

 

And visit Solid Tube!

Out of context: What others say about MaWa

Vegas Dragons         May 06 2007 10:58 AM GMT
"You have all the cool quotes."
[true, and?]

Walter M.                May 27 2007 02:17 AM GMT
"O yes, you are #1 most underrated believer on SAB!!!!"
[Walter, you are such a killjoy]

Mandyleigh Storm         May 12 2007 03:05 AM GMT
"Sellaband breeds such mischievous behaviour!"
[Very true]
"You are a naughty man"   May 21 2007 02:58 PM GMT
[Hehe }:> ]
"Oh, thats why I lurve MaWa"  Jun 14 2007 04:19 PM GMT
[Spellchecker suggestions: 'larve', 'curve', 'curse' ?]

Lidewy    May 22 2007 07:07 PM GMT
"you always have the right words"
[yes, yes, we got that, whats about the "yellow stream test"?]
"Go away, [...] I need to finish [...] horrible images of [...] yours" May 25 2007 04:58 PM GMT
[OH! Ah, when can I see them?]
"I think we're not having the same discussion here" May 27 2007 02:28 PM GMT
[Aber das hat doch so schoen geprickelt in meine Bauchnabel]

 maitreya         May 16 2007 10:54 PM GMT
"Oh and for the record..,
U R DA MAN! "
[True, hm when I think about it, maitreya, could I be the 'coming teacher'?]
"Hahaha! "    May 23 2007 09:55 PM GMT
"haha"          May 23 2007 10:29 PM GMT
"hehehe"      May 23 2007 10:29 PM GMT
[maitreya: should we start to worry now?]

Lily             May 17 2007 02:16 PM GMT
"you're too much"
[True, I actually hear that a lot recently]
"I will not forget what you did"   May 22 2007 06:12 PM GMT
[Oops]

Nearfield™ ®       May 24 2007 12:29 PM GMT
"ThaT was quick! WOW"
[Didn't I tell you, didn't I tell you]

docnik for Solidtube      May 17 2007 11:04 PM GMT
"You´re a awful guy!"
[Have I actually ever mentioned, that they are from Austria - and people think I'm funny]




MaWa's collected words of enduring and inflated wisdom
(you can look up the words if you like, if you don't find them, it must me mine)

If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes.

I must confess, I was born at a very early age.

Try not! Do or not. There is no try.

I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member.

Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others.

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they’ve tried everything else.

I'm a big Maggy Thatcher fan (I wish Germany had one) - (does this make me unpopular? Great.) Check these words of wisdom out:
- I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.
- I love argument, I love debate. I don't expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that's not their job.
- No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions - he had money, too.
- Platitudes? Yes, there are platitudes. Platitudes are there because they are true.

What else, oh yes: "HURZ!" (thats a German only joke)


------------------------------ ------------------------------ --------------------------


Well, the old forum is gone now. Thank you Lucretia for doing it as long as it lasted. So I have decided to but my very first 'introduction' up here:

1. What name do we know you by on Sellaband?
MaWa
http://www.sellaband.com/belie ver/mawa3

2. What are you on Sellaband? (artist/believer/both)
Believer/Investor/Clown

3. Tell us something about yourself.
Do I know you? I prefer to preserve a certain amount of privacy in the moment. For the rest of what I've decided to make "public", check out my profile (step over the parts where I proove, that I'm nuts). I just dislike the idea, that a simple Google search reveals my whole life togehter with all my stupid opions from yesterday.

4. How did you find out about Sellaband and what convinced you to sign up?
Heart about it somewhere, weeks later clicked by accident on a link on "Ehrensenf" (funny German Internet video blog: http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt /ehrensenf/ ) after work, about 6 hours later I was still reading and listening to the music, when I said to myself: ah, what the f..., you've have made so many "strange" type of investments in your life, now lets make one in something you really enjoy. I was very positivly surprised about the quality of some of the artists, well noticing their limited technical abilities, but also their wide range of presentations in just 3 songs. Not this type of radio lalala, which all sounds the same. Well being rather a business person I would say, that, what was available in terms of "business case" and "terms and conditions" for all 3 parties was - far from being comprehensive enough - at least convincing and thoughtful enough to give it a go. Well, and I decided to go in with "real" money - and I decided to try to have fun spending it.

5. What do you like/dislike about the concept?
A devils advocate could say, that the SAB concept is one of the oldest there is:
- the artists are the "whores"
- the believers are the "punters"
- the SAB people are the "pimps"
(are here any censors around? I can't find the "acceptable behaviour policy" anymore)
Well there is a couple of discussions going on, whats good, what not, what can be improved. One very strong sentence which I heart a couple of times goes: "It is (or should be) ALL about the music". Truth for me is, it isn't. SAB as of now is in a quite volatile state (some events during the last "competition" proove this) and based on the concept it will probably always be a very "on the edge" type of thing. Well for me it looks like this: if good, dedicated and hard working artists are allowed to get their chance here, thats fine. If I get good music, some fun AND a return on investment, this is good enough for me. SAB needs to solve the problem of getting more "believers", it needs a constant stream of fresh money coming in. If it really is able to "make" money, there may be a kind of self-propelling effect, but as of now it needs to get to a "critical mass", as well as to proof itself, and as well without "killing" the community which has gathered here so far. The SAB people indeed have quite an interesting job And I hope they have good lawyers, at the time they'll need them.

B1 How do you decide what artists to support?
I'm in business, I can't affort to have too many principles. Sure, I initially prefer my own taste in music.

B2 Who are your current top 3 recommendations of artists to support and why?
Mandyleigh Storm: / the voice and the music hooked me on to the whole SAB system / she is already quite close to get her chance to record her CD, which should do a big deal to bring out the best of her and her music / she's working her butt of / she and Gary (her husband) really deserve it, if not only for their sense of humor - I think, the stuff with the "shaving legs" and the fart jokes really cracked me up
http://www.sellaband.com/mandy leigh
Solidtube - because they are from Austria (unlike me )
http://www.sellaband.com/solid tube/
Matt Byers - beautyful compositions, delivered with honesty from the heart
http://www.sellaband.com/mattb yers/

B3 Any other artists you're currently interested in?
Quite a lot, look at my page: http://www.sellaband.com/belie ver/mawa3/

B4 What advice would you give to artists who have just signed up to Sellaband?
1) Delete your entry immediatly. Listen to your mom and dad, get a decent job and go on with your live. Being an artist is one of the hardest jobs there is just for making a living. For becoming "famous/rich/whatever" your chances are much smaller than the jackpot in the lottery. Walk away, don't look back.
2) If you are still reading this, maybe because you're doing what you are doing already for too long, its going to be very tough. Get all the information you can get, ASK for help, if you don't know what to do. You have to give 120 % in this, or you will not make it. Then there is the real world, here your other 120% are required.
3) If after a month on SAB you still have no parts, go back to point 1). You lack talent, dedication and luck. Or you're plainly stupid, go feed yourself to the dogs.
4) If you are still here: It will get much harder in the future, consider point 1) again. If you do not listen, my advise does not matter anyway. Other brainless people may start believing in you.

So far...