The Love is Back!

I knew I would be lost for a few days, but I have to say that I survived it well. I went to see Damian Marley with Fritz, who loved it by the way. We went to small venue with about 200 people tops, and despite the lack of air and 100 degree sauna-like conditions, it was one of the best shows I have seen from him. He played for well over 2 hours and I was jumping up and down like a crazy woman. Everyone of Fritz's friends went to Summer Jam, which is a huge event with about 60,000 people and over 100 bands, so the fact that we were 100 feet from the stage made us all that much cooler. I was so excited, that I went out to the squatter's bar and hung out until the sun came up. This is a famous building that was abandonded and taken over by squatter's and artists some time in the 80's. It is a multi-level place, with art, music, about 8 bars and a beach with tiki torches out the back for the summer. Some local developer wanted to buy it, destroy it and get the prime real-estate dollar because it is in a posh area, but there were protests from all kinds of Berliners, so he gave up and it stands as part of the culture of the city. Thank goodness, it's really cool.

Next day, Friday, I met with Spikey, Bolton, Babs, Lo's and Disco (yes, you must understand that ALL Australians have nick-names...) and we got tickets to a party called "The Love From Above" which was a kick off for the Love Parade. Paul Van Dyk came back to finish the event and it was awesome. I lost the Aussies some where in the crowd but ended up meeting some hilarious Dutch guys (Isn't that weird) and hung out with them all night and then went to breakfast. We met up again later at the parade, which was nothing like I imagined.

LOVE PARADE

The love parade started sometime in the early 90's as an event that would bring East and West together and show solidarity for both sides of the city. It starts at the Brandenburg Gate, wh