March 14th: Lest you need the reminder, today's the sixth anniversary of the Dirty Bombing of Wall Street. Seems more like sixty years ago. When you think about it, it's amazing that New York City still had a population of roughly four millions at that point and more amazing still that there were two million a month and a half later even after the Easter Revolt. Anyway, this is a photo from the archives from March 14th six years ago. Make looks calm but friends of mine who were there talk of the anarchy and of couse three people died from the bombing (not counting residual deaths) while 327 dies in the chaos that ensued, which pretty much sums up life on earth if you ask me. March 13th: I received an e-mail from Motorsoft's lawyer to ceases and desist my web site as it is unauthorized. That's gotta be a joke, right? Motorsoft has a lawyer? I don't think so. My way of thinking is this is a little road warrior move from the Russian Motorsoft's fan site. If so, "Hey Dima, there's room enough for both of us, man, take it easy." Besides, I don't suppose he actually grew up with Rockwell Rockwellian, did he? March 8th: Here's another great shot from my Lenape friend. Brooklyn Bridge, of course. That's real no man's land, he tells me. Squatters don't move South of Canal as a rule and the Lenape's are not interested in Brooklyn except to move in supplies from the port at Red Hook. That's how he got this photo, as part of a convoy in and out of Brooklyn. "Brooklyn at night," he writes me, "is like one giant haunted house. I just got use to Manhattan at night, but out there, it not just a different kind of world it's another world altogether and there's plenty of ghosts to go around." March 7th: Yet again I'm being called in by our beloved government immigrants services here in Berlin. Just wondering whether I should be packing my bags for an internment center. I'd be glad to rennounce my American citizenship if they're willing to give me a German one but I'm not in the mood to be a man without a country -- not on the verge of a third world war. Anyone know a good lawyer? March 3rd: This little broad sheet went for 280,000 Euros last night at Sotheby's London. This is one of the actual broadsheets aerially dropped on Manhattan after the quarantine was raised and it dawned on the egg heads in Cincinnatti that perhaps not everyone had joined the big migration off Manhattan. According to the press release, this particular broad sheet (they're quite a few floating around Europe) value is drawn because it's double printed and blurred. March 1st: My fellow American friends seem awful anxious these days in Berlin. Personally I don't feel it. Maybe it's because I've been here ten years already. I don't doubt that if a few things went wrong, a few American bombs dropped on the wrong country than maybe we have a problem. We're beginning a weekly Wednesday night American Ex-pat dinner at GŽmŽs S+U Insbrucker Platz, S-Bahn SchÝneberg. February 27th: Sorry, I'm flooded with E-mails about the memorial I posted yesterday and so correction: Guy Gailan memorial is in Straussburg, not Mairselles. February 26th: Check out this great Motorsoft memorial that Guy Gailan set up in Mairselles for the one year anniversary of Rockwell's demise. He's promised to send me detail photo and I'll post them as I get them. February 22nd: This is the image that hung in Valley Forge, Motorsoft's garage bungalow. Still does, as far as I know. On that note, Danny, Marike and Marnie played out recently at 1775, which is a big club down on Hester Street (check your maps) but they are no longer the "Motorsofties", now they are known as "Moondance, the Holy Duchess" and offer up a healthy portion of personal material that rocks all the same. Don't know what that means in regards to bringing the trio over to Berlin to record a posthuemous album. February 21st: Anyone know the origin of this image? It's circulating on bootleg copies of Motorsoft albums and not just one, but a few from a wide range of sources. One thing I am sure of: that images is from Berlin, East Side. Judging by the bus I'd say it was taken a long time ago, maybe in the '70's. February 20th: The Motorsoft retrospective book will be released in Britain next month. Some talk of a ban. Certainly it's got to be somewhat embarassing for the Prime Minister who for years has been insistent that no people lived in New York when a 245 page coffee book replete with big glossy photos and audio card will be available for 35 pounds. February 19th: Can't believe I have yet to post this but this is a photo of Motorsoft's first show at Leo Koenig Inc. That was back in the first years of the Quarantine -- first six months, actually. Rockwell wrote about the show in his diary: "Happy with the show but there's a lot more to this act if it's going to work ultimately and I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to carry it off when you got petition the Lenapes for scraps of Satin. Anyway, it's a start. And the band is solid so I guess I should be happy, but I'm not." February 16th: That's Rockwell as I knew him, age 10. Check out the whistle around his neck. He always was a disco dandy. I remember he actually took a disco class and as was his style, was way too serious about it. What a braggat he was when it came to dancing. What ten year old brags about being a good disco dancer? One birthday, I don't remember which, he had a disco party in his garage and no one danced. February 13th: D and F, the Motorsoft cover band I mentioned yesterday, we're actually really great last night. The singer has put on some weight since I last saw them. Their, "Unbridled" was a stunner and they played a song Rockwell wrote called, "A Hole Dug for Me" which I didn't even know existed. Those guys are hardcore. Their talking about trying to organize a Motorsoft symposium during the next Squatter Scene conference. February 12th: D and F, a Motorsoft cover band from Bremen will be playing tonight at the Brauhaus in Spandau. I've seen them before and their sound is credible but their Rockwell is stick thin -- good voice but it's a little hard to get in the mood unless your squinting. February 11th: Although Renata, the winner of the essay contest for a free trip into the quarantine has yet to deliver he promised diaries from her trip, she did send me this photo last night. Again more proof of the strangely high temps. in the city as of late, this is a small Squatter party on E. 7th Street. Renata wrote: "When I pulled out my camera all these Squatters were fascinated, which surprised me. I guess none of them had even seen a digital camera before. It got me into their party and as much bathtub gin I wanted but it also ran the batteries of my camera into the ground so I've ended up with a bunch of closeups of drunken Squatters and not the documentation I was hoping to get." February 10th: NEWS FLASH! I have it from a reliable source that three heretofore unreleased Motorsoft songs have been located at Marcata, the far flung Harlem-located studio the band recorded at. They're apparently strong tracks, one including bagpipe and Cathedral organ (no idea how they managed that) and the other two songs hinting at the musical Rockwell was writing at the time of his death. Very exciting. Soon to be circulated on the web world wide. I'll post a ink as soon as it becomes available. February 7th: For sure now the American Embassy has shut it's door -- probably in the nick of time, too, considering the size of protest and threats of violence that surrounded it in the last week. I'm afraid it will mean war for sure, though there's still hope that England will be able to contain the big beast. Mixed feeling today: Sad to see my last link with America to go; a little unsure about where that lands me here now. Everyone is very nice as it stands, but a few bombs falling on Berlin and I wonder what might happen to all that good will. Probably should be working on my accent and vocabularly or at least a decent backstory on how I'm actually Canadian. February 4th: The Lenape Work Stoppage Strike has grown to five thousand, which is nearly half of the registered mercanaries the LLT has on the island. It's still not clear to me what the work stoppage is about and what the strikers are demanding. There's talk of a renegade Colonel who's making a bid for power on the island and even talk of this group splitting off from the Land Trust altogether. That's a little hard to swallow and clearly would not bode well for the Squatters. In light of the recent turmoil it's a small wonder that the Lenape's would hold onto the island. They must know something the rest of the world does not. All you have to do is check their sinking stock price to witness that. February 3rd: Here's a pretty cool picture of midtown at night that one of my Lenape buddies was good enough to send back in the Manhattan dispatch. Surprising how many vehicles they have on the streets at night. My mercanary buddy said that was pretty standard and the bounty of midtown streets were lit up with jeep and tank and troop transport nights. He said that for awhile they were running spotlights from high floors but getting the electricty to them via gasoline generators proved too complicated. January 28th: Sad news from the big city: The NYPL caught fire last week and the entire second floor was cinged. There were three deaths, two of them Lenape firemen. January 27th: Below is the patch of Rockwell's "Mastered" jacket. It just went for 780 Euros in an online auction. January 27th: Okay, so Renata the contest winner is e-mailed to say that she was getting her diary of her Quarantine trip together and will send it in a few days. Included therein are rumors or dead Rockwell's resurection, details of her meeting with Marike and her affair with a former Motorsoft roadie. Turns out she's a real fan. Meanwhile, here in Berlin, all American ex-pats are supposed to report again to the Naturalization Organization. Not looking forward to that. BTW: Anyone driving to Colonge next week? I need a ride and will split gas costs. January 25th Here's picture of the Lenape work stopage. Apparently the strike has grown to be a thousand strong. No one sure what their demands and the Lenapes have sent replacements but that might prompt a strike here in Berlin. Note that most of these mercanaries are shirtless which lends credence to reports that it's been upwards of seventies degrees in the city this January. January 24th There' some talk that the Lenapes will be smuggling the three remaining Motorsofties to Berlin for a commemoration of the famous Berlin concert of three years ago. No way to know yet if it's possible and of course that's a November date so if they're going to make it happen they'll probably had set things up pretty soon. Funny, but now the Fez in Kroningburg won't be big enough -- Motorsoft with two less members but a legendary reputation. I guess it takes real loss to emerge in the kind of world we live in. January 22nd Just got this photo in via Sangyo Global Imaging. Note the recent fire on the west side on Penn Station. The Lenape's have yet to make a statement on it and there are rumors it's a sign of a revolt festering amongst the exiled Squatters in Hollow Town. Also note the the remnants of fire from the Transcontinental blaze on the lower left. January 21st: This morning I received a letter from R.E.O. He reports that there's some talk about cutting together the video footage shoot for the "I Also Like the Rain" but only, of course, if a generator is allocated for the project. There's also the small problem that the footage reveals that the band shot it in Central Park. We doubt the Lenape's would be very pleased to learn that. A few Lenape heads might roll when it discovered exactly how the band got the access early one Sunday morning. And there there is the matter of the generator. But the film could go bad soon and the idea would be to cut it then send it overseas in a Lenape tanker and then we could preserve it here in Berlin. There's actually been talk of the remaining 3, the so-called "Motorsofties", being sent on a good-will tour to help the Lenape's pretend to foreign investors that the Quarantine is chuggin along and that if anything, the recent Repatriation Massacre has only steeled we remaining half to the cause. What utter BS. January 19th: Things here in Berlin are getting a little strange. Heard just the other day that the population has topped eight million and the running joke is that all those numbers are displaced New Yorker, though of course that's hardly the case. As a matter of fact, the exile community seems in Mitte seems to be dwindling as couples couple and have kids and move down to Colonge and Munich. Meanwhile, I can't get my citizenship papers -- probably because I continually petition the Lenapes for a poistion in the Quarantine and the government finds that suspicious. So just yesterday to naturalization agents visited me, asked me a ream of meaningless questions. The one of them obliquely said, "Mr. Christensen, there may be a consolidation coming. It would be something of an inconveience but it would in no way be a long term threat. This, of course, is contingent on whether the war comes." Yes, the war. January 16th: Okay, I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out, but clearly Motorsoft's inspirations for the making of the flags comes from the Commodore Perry Flag. As we learned from R.E.O.'s liner notes, "Don't Give Up the Ship" was recorded the reel at present is lost. I've also since found out that it was one of their first songs. The logical conclusion to draw is that Rockwell saw the flag and drew inspiraton from it. Note: During the war of 1812, the motto was the dying words of Commodore Perry. It was then taken and emblazened in a flag. How fitting, then, that Manhattan, so much like a battleship, should use this as it's own Quarantined mantra. January 15th: Why didn't I move to New York when I had the chance? Why didn't I move to New York when I had the chance? Why didn't I move to New York when I had the chance? Why didn't I move to New York when I had the chance? Why didn't I move to New York when I had the chance? Why didn't I move to New York when I had the chance? Why didn't I move to New York when I had the chance? Why didn't I move to New York when I had the chance? Why didn't I move to New York when I had the chance? January 14th: This morning the mail from the C of AS arrived in Berlin, which for me means mail from Boston. I don't know if you picked your up yet but I can tell you right now not to bother. Since the negotiations broke down, the thick black marker has risen back up. Only some one hundred disconnected works from the letter from my family survived the marker's stroke. It's times like these when all the dark comic books of our youth start springing errily to life. And yet life goes on, I write here and do my best to promote Motorsoft on behalf of my Quarantined friends, and the entires appear day after day, but I have to wonder... Years from now, when they look back -- and if they bother to find this -- won't they wonder at how calm and unknowing this all is. They'll be amazed that I couldn't see what was coming, that my only point of reference was a comic book scenario of my youth. Oh well... January 9th: Here's a fun fact from Rockwell's youth for those of you who haven't seen it. It's impossible to read at this resolution, but it's his high school freshman year report card -- 3 F's - 3 D's and a C+ (in Speech class). January 8th: Alright, alright, I've been floded with e-mail wanting stories about Rockwell's youth and I'm going to endeavor to do so, but bare in mind that we were close only before his family moved out of Melrose Mass, which is when we were both twelve. We kept up a bit through the years, but if you're going to get stories from me they're going to be about making fort and bruised knees. So don't blame me if I show you're favorite dark messiah breaking out in tears during a presentation he gave in sixth grade (yah, I'm not kidding). My buddy Annette got this for me on her last trip to Moscow: January 8th: The American Embassy shuttered today. Good riddance, I say. There was one last lame attempt to get expatriots to join in the exodus out of Germany -- leaflets were spread throughout Mitte imporing American Citizen to report to the Embassy, where they would be give safe passage home. It's not my home. There was even paranoid talk that the embassy had recently been stocked with PCA agents who would be dispatched in the dead of night, bust into our homes and forcibly take us back to the C of AS. I think of everyone I know only one person turned themselves into the embassy -- and he only because he has a wife and child living outside of Chicago. Poor bastard. We gave him a send off -- you can imagine how festive that was. January 5th: See below: Renata just e-mailed me about the below item and confirmed that she saw both Marnie and Marike living in the space but no sign of Danny. She told me the rumor going on about him was that he was trying to set up just outside of Newark with some crazy idea of expanding Squatter territory. Of course it should be noted that they all live outside of Seizure City and as such are rarities. And as promised, Renata is going to send her diary along just as soon as she has it transcribed. January 5th:Just got this: There's no way to confirm this, but this is supposedly the new home of what remains of Motorsoft. The winner of the Lenape Essay Contest (why I want to visit NYC in under a thousand words) was amazingly enough allowed to go, even in light of the Repatiration Massacre. I've spoken to her and she'd promised top send me her diary from those days. I'll post it as soon as possible. She (Renata Spiegel) wasn't sure if all three lived in this space or just Marnie, who she saw looking out the top window but failed to snap the shot in time January 4th: Anyone else heard this rumor that the American Embassy is closing down today? E-mail me.