springseven festival - a short review

Here is a recent photo update for all who have missed the extraordinary springfestival this year. The festival was a big success and many locations had to be closed temporarily because the venues reached the maximum capacity of people. It was great fun to meet so many different people. It doesn’t matter if someone is a superstar or just a local DJ – The personality is important!

The festival was running very smoothly this year. No organizational problems and a pleased audience have let us reach again a new level at the 7^th year of the springfestival series. The challenge next year, beside of the line-up, will be to find new venues that are bigger and accepted from the audience.

Because the festival was for me a maximum fun and pleasure please check the following links for more detailed information about the festival. Check out also the audio and video streams from the festival.

Links:

Official Homepage: http://www.springfestival.at

Radio FM4 Blog: http://fm4.orf.at/springseven

Radio FM4 Video Blog: http://fm4.orf.at/connected/218293/main

R4NT Blog: http://r4nt.com/blog/category/music/springseven

Photo gallery:

springseven festival - may 16th to 19th

Exciting!! Just a few hours away and the annually springfestival is back again! This time I don’t have to travel - The world of music is coming to Graz!

springseven, the biggest festival for electronic art and music in Austria, is going into its 7th year in 2007, and will once again transform Graz from May 16th onwards into a throbbing metropolis of vivid pop-culture.

The springfestival is not only the only festival in Graz which takes place on a regular basis but it is also unique in Austria: * 5 Days * 4 Nights * 12 Locations * 250 DJs, Live-Acts and Visual-Artists * 18.000 Attendants make springseven one of the most important events for DJ- and club culture in Central Europe.

2007 will once again see a sensational and unequalled line-up, including the likes of Grandmaster Flash, Turntable Rocker, EZ Rollers, 4 Hero, Shantel, Plump DJs, Jazzanova, Carl Craig, John Acquaviva, Jazzanova, Rainer Trüby, Stacey Pullen, Etienne de Crecy, Alex Gopher and many more. Find more information about the festival and the line-up here: springfestival.at

During these days I’ll take care of the top acts and also ensure that the festival runs smoothly. As usual there will be almost no time to sleep because the venues close in the early morning and the first artists come/leave Graz. It’s great to meet all these open and friendly creative artists and I already look forward to spring 08.

Shuttle bus:

Morocco - Review and pictures

Finally I'm home again. It was not easy to get to the airport in Casablanca in time but with a bit flexibility everything is possible.
Morocco was a great experience: Friendly people, rural areas, strange offers… all packed in a week long road trip. Every day at least five people wanted to sell me hash - Top quality - (00) and they call it chocolate. I have also met a few people with international travel experience - Drug couriers with international clients.

Another daily experience was that some man wanted to be very "friendly" with me. I think they want to fuck everything blond with blue eyes - even it’s a sheep ;) As usual I haven't bought any presents or souvenirs. Without pressure I could sit down with the trickiest carpet sellers and have a cup of mint tea. Travelling Morocco is still very adventurous if you are on your own. Since I'm not fluent in French it was an extra challenge for me. The Moroccans speak many languages (Berber, Arabic, French..) but English comes on 4^th place if you are lucky.

The most importing thing is to know to whom you are speaking. There are many locals who just want to take advantage over travellers. There are also many fake guides who just want to offer you their service. The best thing to answer is always "emshallah". Then you always can rely on god's will if things happen or not.

I have set up a little photo gallery with the pictures of the trip so you can have a few impressions where I have been.

Photo gallery:

Morocco, May 2007

Essaouira

This is my final post from Morocco. I can type now quite well on the French-Arabic keyboard and its now also quite easy for me to get around. I have just been at the market and bought me some supply for the beach: Water, Oranges, Nuts and something to smoke. Essaouira is a very old town with a long history for trade. In former times with goods from the Sahara and now it became a really busy fishing port. There are very many tourists in town but its still low season - The high season is in summer when it gets really hot in Morocco. Then Marrocians from all over the country to this place because its so windy here. The wind blows constantly all the time and the Atlantic sea is also colder then any other place in Morocco.

Yesterday I had a very special dinner. I met a Marrocanian guy and invited him for dinner. We went together to the market and bought some fresh fish. The we also bought all the ingredients for salad and side dishes. After that we went to a special restaurant where you bring all the stuff that you want to have cooked and the cook makes a perfect and authentic meal out of that.

After the Internet cafe I will go to the windy beach and enjoy my last days in Morocco. On Friday I travel back to Casablanca (6-8h) and then directly to the airport. At the weekend I prepare the pictures for the photo gallery.

Marrakesh - Heart of Morocco

Yesterday evening I took the overnight bus from Fes to Marrakesh - It was scheduled for 20:00 and arrival 8.5 hours later. In Morocco you alwas have to add the word: en'shallah (as God will). The trip was in a modern bus but without heating - After all I have spent 10 hours in a moving freezer. Finally arrived the next challenge was waiting for me. I didn't have a hotel. But it was not a big problem. Because the sun was already out and the streets got busy I found very quick a nice Ibis hotel. The only problem was that Check-in was at 12:00. I decided to check out the city in the early morning - Also a big challenge for me! After walking around i had to rest 2 hours in different parks because I felt quite smashed after two nights with only little sleep.

After having a rest in the hotel I went back to the city - after a nice one hour power walk I've reached the Medina and "La Place" The big square in the old Medina - unique in Morocco. Between hundreds of tourists there have also been many locals to see artists performing (Drums, belly dancing, story telling, snake teasing and so on..). After watching the performances I had a very long walk through the souks (bazaar). I got a little bit lost but after two hours I was back on the square and ready to eat a nice bean soup. After the Internet cafe I will head home and have again a rest. Maybe on the way a mint tea or some coffee.

Tomorrow I plan to travel to Essaouira. This place is located at the Atlantic ocean and should be quite fine. Jimmy Hendrix and Oscar Wild have been there - also some scenes from the movie "Alexander" have been shot there. I'll probably stay there for two days if it's OK. I have to be back in Casablanca at Friday night to catch my plane - en'shallah

Fes

After having some interesting experiences in Casablanca I've decided to travel to Fes. This is one of the oldest cities in Morocco and located in the central northern part. Getting out of Casablanca was not so easy and I decided to take a train. Buying a ticket is easy to get proper information when the train is arriving is almost impossible. Its best just to go there and wait. Almost five hours in the train I arrived in Fes. My main idea was to find a hotel and then have a walk through the city. In the city I have met Omar - a crazy guy and member of a local gang. With him I had a crazy time in several old houses of old Medina. Its too much to explain in detail what happened but the day ended at 5 in the morning in a "disco". I've learned that a "piano bar" is like a western disco and a "disco" is a pricey area with traditional live music.

After arriving in Fes my camera displayed a message with "card error" all pictures are lost - but I have managed to get a new one. After Cyber Hatim the next challenge is to get to Marrakesh. It will be a pretty long travel and I will arrive late at night. So long for now and I try to slow down a little bit.

First Impressions

I had a rough start on Friday. Because of the renovation of a runway in Frankfurt the plane unable to start for two hours. People started to behave strange and begun to sing and shout through the plane. I am now in Casablanca and writing this blog on a French keyboard - I think they call it clavier ;) Today I strolled through the city and met many crazy people. The most loony one had foam at his mouth and tried too touch my hair by shouting salaam alaikum. I have met also several drug dealers and have seen some of the suburb slums. Tomorrow I plan to take the train to the city Fes at northern Morocco. I hope that my french is good enough to manage everything for the travel. After Fes I might go to Marrakesh.

There is of course much more to write but Internet after midnight is expensive and I will have my next thè at a proper Internet cafè!

Morocco - Here I come!

Morocco: المملكة المغربية

I'm now preparing to go to Morocco today. I have done all my preparations: buying a Lonely Planet and making a reservation for a hotel in Casablanca. Usually I check the hotels on site but because I arrive quite late (midnight) I took the easy way and booked a nice cheap hotel in advance. It will be a standard travel for me - I don't know exactly what to do but I will ask people there to help me around. I want definitely to see some spots around Casablanca. Swimming, or better surfing, would also be nice. Depending on the number of internet cafes I try to give a regular update what's going on.

Finally getting started!

Inspired by a good friend who also travels a lot I've decided to start my own blog. This should help my friends to keep track of me, where I am and what I do all the time. It happens to me myself when I reflect the last few months that I forget some places where I have been. Distributing photos should also be much easier since I don't have to send them via email.

I always have the feeling that I'm not travelling so much and that I need to go out and see something new in the world. In future I would love to visit much more my friends over the world. Sometimes that is very difficult without proper planning because of visa restrictions. I'll start my blog with a short travel report from last month when I was snowboarding with friends in Obertauern.

Snowboarding in Obertauern (April 07)

This was one of the rare times of the year when I manage to go on a short vacation with friends. We decided on short term to go snowboarding to Obertauern (Salzburg/Austria). It was just a few days ahead of Easter when we received our booking confirmation for a "special" penthouse. Mathias and I had the honour to get the key from the receptionist. She advised us to be careful when we enter the room because of the tiny door and to get drunk before we see the room - And she was right! The room was a crappy emergency room with a low ceiling and everyone has hit his head on the door frame. The worst thing was the price: 40€ per night and person! Next time we will book a place in advance!

Beside the room everything other was great. We had perfect weather conditions (always sun) and just enough snow for snowboarding. In the morning the snow was compressed and hard. Later on it turned to be perfect until noon. At the late afternoon the snow got wet and heavy. But nevertheless it was really nice to be there. We had also a nice time at "Après-Ski". Just the drinks there have been much too sweet and strong for me.

The evenings have also been very nice. It was entertaining for all of us! Stefan and Mathias had fun to talk with new friends and I have enjoyed also the night life. For me it’s a bit strange to see all these "sportive" people at night at the bars to see them hanging out, getting drunk and trying to get laid.

So, that was the first report for a quick start. I have yesterday decided to go to Morocco for a week to do some nice things. I want to see the great history of this country and travel around. At the evening I expect to chill out with a shisha (water pipe) and have something nice to eat.

Picture gallery: