Jen Osborne's portraits of Indian hobbyists

"Indians" and others in Hungary, 2013. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Mother Jones magazine has published a series of stunning portraits of Indian hobbyists in various European countries by the Berlin-based photographer Jen Osborne. I don't have copyright permission to repost the pictures -- but do follow the link!

In them, Jen shows the seriousness of the approach taken by people in the scene.

On her web site, Jen discusses her experiences.

From 2011 until 2015, I photographed the elusive "Indian Hobbyists" situated in Hungary, Poland, Russia, Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as film sets and stills from the popular Winnetou series and other Eastern European Native American films. The subjects in my series are not "ethnically" First Nations, but Europeans who use cultural mirroring, as practiced heavily in the sixties and seventies, to claim "Indianess", as well as present themselves as sympathetic to Native Americans. This hobby was once used as a form of psychological escape from gruelling dictatorships embraced behind the iron curtain.

She also photographed some of the  locations in Croatia where the Winnetou films of the 1960s were shot.

I of course have also been photographing people and places in the wild west scene -- including Indian hobbyists -- for more than a decade, and the photos on this page are mine, not Jen's.

Karl May Festival, Radebeul, Germany, 2008. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber

Tepees at a Tramp Potlach in Czech Republic

And my interest, too, goes well beyond Indian hobbyists and reenactors to include the wide range (pun intended) of people included in the Imaginary Wild West scene -- the fantasies, the yearnings, the music, the wild west theme parks, the saloons and all those elements that see-saw between the commercial and the sublime (or sublimated).

"Jim Bowie" and his wife, and "Indian maiden" at the Pullman City wild west theme park.

Czech Indian hobbyists at the German wild west theme park Pullman City

Czech frontier hobbyists at the private wild west town "Beaver City"

 Click here to see a photo gallery of some of my other Imaginary Wild West pictures


 

Yee-Hah! Berlin Country Music Messe next weekend!

I photograph the stands, at the 2010 messe. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The annual Country Music Messe (fan/trade fair) in Berlin takes place Feb. 1-3 -- and once again it will bring together scores of mainly European country music acts and thousands of fans, along with dozens of vendors of Wild West hats, duds, boots, gadgets, gee-gaws, housewares, decorative items, and more....in a raucous, real imaginary world that spans the borders between fandom and fantasy, dream and desire.

See the full program HERE.

As every year, there are four separate stages where acts seeking bookings and promo play simultaneously, while fans, festival organizers and booking agents traipse around the huge halls.

I haven't been able to get to the Messe for the past couple of years, alas, but I always find it great fun.

Here are some earlier posts from the blog where I talk about it.

And again, the iconic Don Jensen, performing his iconic song, Sauerkraut Cowboy, at the 2008 Messe:

Germany -- Country Music Messe in Bayreuth this weekend

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

OK. I lost track of things. The annual Country Music Messe in southern Germany, this year in Bayreuth, snuck up on me -- it's this weekend. That is, today and tomorrow.

My friend Willie Jones, who's based near Munich, and his German band are playing both days. And  Michael Lonstar, from Poland is also on the program, along with several other folks I've met, photographed, interviewed and video'd over the years, like Daniel T. Coates, who has long been based in Germany but hails from my own home state, Pennsylvania.

Dan's band won the German Country Prize this year.

I've never been to the Country Music Messe in southern Germany -- it's a spin-off of the event that is held every winter in Berlin, which I've attended several times.

Lots of artists go and perform on three (simultaneous) stages, both for the public and for booking agents, festival organizers, et. al. who come to size up acts for the coming year.

Meanwhile, dozens -- scores? hundreds? -- of stands sell country music and wild west stuff, ranging from CDs and DVDs to clothing, housewares, hobbyist supplies, and lots of kitschy tschachkas. Many people who attend are hobbyists of various stripes who dress up to fit the mood and theme. Lots of line-dancing.

Here's some video I shot at the Country Music Messe in Berlin, in 2010

And of course in 2008 -- Don Jensen sang his iconic "Sauerkraut Cowboy" onstage at the Berlin Messe...

Movies -- True Grit, a Western, leads off Berlin Film Festival

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

What is it with people who keep getting surprised that westerns can -- and often are/have been -- good? And not just good, but worthy of viewing by those who do not live where the antelopes roam (or roamed). I liked and enjoyed (but didn't love) True Grit -- which is apparently heading now to be the highest grossing western in history.

The movie, nominated for multiple Oscars, opened the Berlin Film Festival this week -- just days after the  annual Country Music Messe (and rival Country Music Meeting) took place in Berlin -- festivals where, in at atmosphere scorned or ridiculed by many of those people who enjoy True Grit, thousands of fans dress up in cowboy gear to hear performances by dozens of (loud) bands.

BBC runs a nice interview with Jeff Bridges, the star of True Grit, who makes no apology for liking adopting a cowboy guise. His part in the movie -- one-eyed Rooster Cogburn -- was made famous by John Wayne in the original True Grit movie in 1969.

Bridges was more concerned about filling some bigger boots - those of his father, Lloyd Bridges, who acted in many Hollywood Westerns.

"I love dressing up as a cowboy," he says. "It reminds me of my childhood - my father was in so many of those films and I'd remember him coming through the door, in his boots and hat.

"He'd let me wear his things, and I'd call up my friends to come and play."

          [...]

Bridges dismisses the idea he has helped make the genre fasionable again.

"I think these things are cyclical and the Western is just part of American history and could never really go away," he says.

"I think this is more to do with the Coen brothers and what they will do with a script.

"Also it's unusual, because there's not many hard-hitting films with a 14-year-old girl who is the central character. None of us can quite believe how well it's done though," he adds.

As it stands, True Grit could become the highest grossing Western ever. That should remove Jeff Bridges from the shadow of even the Duke himself.

Berlin -- Rivalry in the German Country Music scene this weekend!

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I always try to get to Berlin for the annual Country Music Messe (trade/fan fair). It's being held this weekend -- but I won't be able to make it, as I am in the United States on a fellowship at Brandeis University. Too bad -- as this year, there's a bit of drama! TWO such fairs will be taking place, thanks to the split a few years back between the two original organizers of the event, Frank Lange and Kai Ulatowski. The "Messe" (Kai) will be taking place at the Postbahnhof hall next to Ostbahnhof where it relocated four years ago. But the first -- and rival --  "Country Music Meeting" (Frank) will be taking place at the original venue -- the Fontane Haus in the far north of Berlin, where the American Western Saloon is located.

Here's the announcement of the Country Music Meeting:

It finally took 4 long years, but now we are able to say: Welcome back für 3 days "Weekend Jamboree" with good friends at the best of Country Music at the Fontane Haus - a big meeting in the district Reinickendorf, the old Country-Music-Home of Berlin.

Because of his long time cooperation with the departement of Berlin-Reinickendorf and after extensive construction works to follow the necessary fire protection regulations, the owner of the American Western Saloon Frank M. Lange, who was one of the organizers of the Country Music Messe until 2006, decided to arrange a revival event for Country Music at the Fontane Haus.

The swinging doors of the Fontane Haus will be opened from February 4th til February 6th 2011 to give the many friends and fans the chance to celebrate their annual highlight in familiar atmosphere which will be titled "Country Music Meeting". The attractions of this venue are the well known ambience, its large exhibition areas and the big music halls - many reasons to bring back the fans of America's most famous music back to the north of Berlin.

Every visitor of the past Country Music Events at this venue might remember that getting through the crowds sometimes seemed impossible. That's why the organizer decided to allow only a limited amount of visitors per day. This will be guaranteed during the Pre-Ticket-Sale for the Country Music Meeting 2011 with a priority of weekend tickets. Day tickets are only available in limited quantities.

It all seems pretty ridiculous, and I would love to see how the fans and exhibitors break down. (For one this, it is much easier transportwise to get to the Messe venue). Looking at the line-ups, it appears that some artists have sided with the  Messe, while others are only playing at the Meeting. A couple of groups look like they will be performing at both. And I think one or two former regulars decided to give both a miss....

I posted pictures, video and description on previous editions of the Messe, both at the Fontane Haus and the new Ostbahnhof venue: click HERE to see these posts.

Music -- Different approaches to Don't Fenc(ing) Me In

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

"Don't Fence Me In" is one of the iconic songs of the Wild West; the quintessentially Singing Cowboy's ode to the open range and all the aspirations and cliches that that embodies.... it was popularized by Roy Rogers (my biggest childhood TV cowboy crush) years before I was born. Here's Roy (and Trigger) introducing it in the 1944 movie "Hollywood Canteen."



Far from originating on the prairies, the song was an early offering by the ultra-urban, ultra-urbane Cole Porter, who wrote it in 1934 for a movie that was never produced.

Over the years, there have been a zillion covers of the tune -- including this, on German TV, by Ken Curtis -- in his costume from his days as "Festus" on Gunsmoke.



Gunsmoke, and the Festus character, were popular in Germany -- one of the folks I would see at country and western festivals in Berlin affected the Festus look and went by the moniker Festus Junior.

Festus Junior at Berlin Country Music Messe 2008. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Below -- a different take on the song by another ultra-urbanite, David Byrne:

Berlin -- Modern Earl and Gentle Line-dancers at the Country Music Messe

One of the bands I liked a lot at the Berlin Country Music Messe was a Berlin-based, mainly American group called Modern Earl who play a sort of demented country rock -- and, after starting up here just 2 years ago have proved very successful, touring all over Europe and playing at all kinds of venues ranging from clubs and saloons to country and biker festivals.

There are four stages at the Country Music Messe, where acts perform simultaneously. The scene was quite different on this stage -- just minutes after the end of Modern Earl's performance -- where things were more...traditional. Similar hats, but gentle line-dancing to a band called Duo Diesel that plays "country, oldies & more."

Yeehaw Berlin -- Country Music Messe Scene Video

Here's a quick video showing some of the scene in one corner of the Country Music Messe in Berlin. I love the "YeeHaw" advertisement....(the ad is for a German Trucker magazine)

Berlin -- Asleep at the Wheel Turns 40 (and I'm at the Country Music Messe)

 I look into the somewhat distorting mirror at the Country Music Messe in Berlin. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

As I'm currently at the annual Country Music Messe in Berlin, Germany, country music is on my mind... and here's a nice, long piece in Billboard magazine about the Austin, Texas-based Western Swing band Asleep at the Wheel celebrating its 40th birthday.

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - When Asleep at the Wheel frontman Ray Benson started a band in Paw Paw, West Virginia, in 1970, he had no idea that 40 years later he would still be at the helm of one of America's most adventurous musical outfits.

During a four-decade career, the band has earned nine Grammy Awards, launched a critically acclaimed theatrical production, performed with everyone from Willie Nelson to President Obama to the Fort Worth Symphony, released more than 25 albums and had an airport roadhouse named after its frontman.

"At times it feels like it was yesterday and at times it feels like a hundred years ago," Benson says. "If I look back to 1969 when I quit college and said, 'This is what we're going to do,' it's hard for me to believe that it all happened way beyond my expectations." 

Read full article

I've know Ray since we were teenagers in suburban Philadelphia: he went to Antioch College for a bit while I (and Ray's brother) were at Oberlin, and we had a memorable time once hitch-hiking back to Philly together. We two hippies got a ride with a truck-driver who claimed to be "Col. Frank Savage" -- or General Frank Savage -- who was actually a character in the movie and TV show "Twelve O'Clock High". He scolded Ray when he said 'damn" or "hell" or something, telling him "not to use language like that in front of a lady" (i.e., me). He didn't like the fact that I was hitch-hiking (even if accompanied by a 6'7" man) but told me my Daddy should rest easy because Col (or Gen.) Frank Savage would take good care of me during the drive.

Ray Benson and me in Interlaken, Switzerland during the Trucker Festival, 2004

I've   seen Ray and the band perform many times over the years, most recently in Craponne, France in 2008 during the Country Rendez-vous festival. And I wrote a profile of him at that time -- click HERE.

Ironically, the fact that I knew Asleep at the Wheel became a factor, many years later, in my connection to the country music scene in Poland, and with Michael Lonstar -- whom I saw last night at the Berlin Messe.

Michael remembers that we first met in December 1982 at a party in Warsaw, where I was the UPI correspondent. I have to say that I don;t recall the occasion -- but Michael remembers that we "were sitting in the kitchen on stools, and we were talking about Asleep at the Wheel."

Berlin -- More Getting Ready for the Country Music Messe

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Just heard from my friend, the Polish country singer Michael Lonstar, whom I have written about several times on this blog. We'll be meeting up tomorrow and over the weekend at the Country Music Messe in Berlin, where he will be performing (among dozens of other bands).

In past posts I've mentioned his song "What's This Country Thing," responding to skeptics who are turned off the by the rowdy Sauerkraut Cowboy get up that many country fans here affect.

Here is a video of him singing the song at last year's Messe (taken from Lonstar's myspace page):

Michael Lonstar at CMM

RockInBerlin | MySpace Musikvideos

Berlin -- it's Country Music Messe Time

I'm in Berlin for the annual Country Music Messe (Fair) -- 10,000 or more sauerkraut cowboys, and maybe 100 or more bands, most of them from Europe. I think my first post on this blog was a little snippet from the last time I attended, two years ago:

Feb. 8-10 (2008) saw me in Berlin for the annual Country Music Messe, which this time was held in a new venue -- the "Postbahnhof" right next to Ostbahnhof. Til now, the fair had been held in the so-called Fontana Haus, a sort of community center in a concrete development way up on the northern edge of Berlin. Apparently, the Fair was moved out of there because of safety and security concerns. The new venue is much easier to get to, and this was reflected in the huge numbers of people who crammed the space on Saturday. Most appeared to be from surrounding areas of (former) East Germany; it was easy to come into town, arrive at Ostbahnhof and then just stroll across the street to the Fair -- rather then ride the Metro and bus for nearly an hour to get to the former venue. It led to the amusing scene of cowboy figures hanging out in the train station or jamming the fast food joints at the food court there -- the catering opportunities at the Fair left a lot to be desired. I waited for 20 minutes in line to get a Bratwurst and then decided to walk the 3 minutes to Ostbahnhof, where I had my choice of the finest in fast food offerings....I settled on actually quite good, freshly made Pad Thai at an Asian noodle joint.

Will try to give at least brief reports on a daily basis.

Meanwhile here again is a classic scene: Don Jensen singing his song Sauerkraut Cowboys from one of the Messe stages -- it still is my favorite evocation of the scene. Tom! Dagmar! Truckstop!

Sauerkraut Cowboy -- Don Jensen Sings the Song

I posted this more than a year ago on my youtube channel -- but I've finally got to post it on this blog.

Don Jensen, the American-German country singer, performs his iconic song "Sauerkraut Cowboy" live at the Country Music Messe in Berlin.

Berlin versus Buehl... country music and bluegrass in Germany

Roland Heinrich at the Country Music Messe, Berlin, 2008. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

I had a hard choice for this weekend -- whether to attend the annual Country Music Messe (Fair) in Berlin, a noisy extravaganza of scores of bands, which I have attended I think four times in the past, or to try something new -- the European Bluegrass Summit in Buehl, Germany, a meeting gathering about 30 promoters, entrepreneurs and musicians from a variety of countries to discuss the state of bluegrass music in Europe.

It's really too bad that these events take place on the same weekend.... this year I opted for bluegrass, just to see something new. (More on the "summit" later.)

But I'll be thinking of Berlin, and in particular some of my friends who will be playing, like Roland Heinrich, Daniel T. Coates, and Lonstar....

Country Music - Questions (and answers?)

At the Country Piknik, Mragowo, Poland, 2006. Photo (c) R. E. Gruber

I came across a question and answer session on answers.yahoo.com pegged to the question Why don't most people like country music?

"im 13 years old, live in california and i personally LOVE country music (and i mean REAL country). i dont see anything wrong with country music even though growing up in a family who only listened to rap. i just dont understand why some people despise country!"

The replies (and the question) made me think of my friend, the Polish country singer Lonstar, and his recent English-language album called "What's This Country Thing?" -- which is also the name of the title song, the first part of which you can hear on Lonstar's myspace page.

Lonstar performing at the Berlin Country Music Messe, Feb. 2007. Photo (c) R. E. Gruber

The gist of the song is Lonstar's answers to a "lady" who asks the question, "What's this country thing" -- i.e. what is the appeal of country music. In Europe, where hardcore fans often dress up in wild west attire (and drink a lot... and line-dance a lot...), country music is often scorned by the mainstream. Lovers of pure American country music are sometimes embarrassed by the raucous "scene" -- such as that associated with the trucker festivals and other big events, where a carnival atmosphere can prevail. Many country music fans scorn, in particular, local-language country music, sung by local musicians in German, Czech, Polish, French.....

For example, in his book Das Neue Grosse Buch der Country Music (Koenigswinter: Heel, 2005), my friend Walter Fuchs, a staunch country music fan and one of Germany's most serious experts on the genre, wrote:

"[T]hat the German language country song, [. . .] with its interpreters dressed up like cowboys and its partly banal to infantile text has brought the altogether serious German Country Music scene into discredit is undisputed. Numerous friends of country music often do not dare to 'out' themselves in front of their friends for fear of being identified as a fan of German language country songs. [. . .] The German language country song and the original country song from the U.S.A. are worlds apart."

All photos (c) R. E. Gruber.

In his song -- which he sings in both Polish and English versions, Lonstar sets out to show his skeptical questioner that there is more to country music (and "country") than that.

He sings: "you criticize it, saying that it's kid stuff, backward and bad taste, stuff we should grow out of, dirty trash and waste."

"Country's not about a boot or a cowboy hat, you should learn about it just a little more than that. It's a life that prides every word to the music of your laughter, crying, joy and hurt. A friend you can rely on, faithful to the bone. If it feels like home, then it's country.

"Simple man and scholar, granny, dad and son; poor man and a rich man, there's room for everyone. And you insinuate it's isolated, 'cos pearls and swine don't mix. You claim it's a pastime, good for fools and hicks -- which is a lie, 'cos we have loving couples, and the cheatin' wives, those who've just got fired, and those who've won a prize, united in the country music circle, good as daily bread. Why don't you drop this line of accusation, lady, join our bunch instead. And see for yourself...."

(Earlier this year, I posted a video of Lonstar singing at the Mragowo Country Piknik.)

Germany -- Country Music Messe Nuremberg

This weekend I'm missing (or as it's already Sunday night, I guess I already missed) the annual Country Music Messe, or Fair, in Nuremberg, Germany.

It's a smaller, shorter, sister Messe to the big Country Music Messe in Berlin, in early February, that I have attended for several years. I've written about the Berlin Messe in previous posts and articles (and also radio reports).

Nuremberg started up two or three years ago, and I wanted to go to there this year, to see how this fair differs from that in Berlin. It is smaller, with two rather than three days and three, rather than four, simultaneous stages; but the line-up of acts seems to have been very similar to that in Berlin. Mostly local German groups.

Still, it would have been fun to see friends such as Lonstar from Poland


and David Lee Howard who divides his time between Washington state and Europe.

Roland Heinrich sings at Berlin Country Music Fair

I thought I would post some videos of a few of the performers who took the four stages at the Country Music Messe in Berlin last month... It's taken me a little while to download the video clips, but I'll add them one by one.

Here is my friend Roland Heinrich, singing a Jimmie Rodgers song. Roland calls it Betrübter Jodler #3 (Evening Sun Yodel) but it sounds to me like a combination of the Evening Sun Yodel (Blue Yodel #3) and Muleskinner Blues (Blue Yodel #8).

Roland put out a wonderful CD of Jimmie Rodgers songs -- in German, his own translations --a couple of years ago, on Bear Family Records. It's called Einsam und Ausgebremst: Lieder von Jimmie Rodgers, BCD 16733 AH. This song is one of 14 tracks on the album. 

While I was in Berlin, I also saw Roland perform in a musical/play about Johnny Cash called "Johnny Cash: The Beast in Me,"  by James Lyons. Described as a "musical portrait," it has three characters -- Johnny Cash, June Carter, and a sort of Jimmie Rodgers/spirit of country music figure, played by Roland. The performance I saw was sold out -- as apparently are most performances of the play.