[Dixielandjazz] Dresden

[Jim Kashishian]

Bert wrote:
>Dresden had a big trad jazz festival long before the curtain dissapeared.
This was possible since one influential person there loved it and said that
jazz was the music of the poor African American slaves. So music from the
people, not the American government.In Dresden they even invited Western
European bands.


We (our band from Spain) played the Dresden festival in May, 1989...later
that year the wall came down.  We were flown from Madrid to Rome, and then
on the Russian airline to East Berlin.  We came back to Madrid on a Chec
airline called "OK"!  We stopped in Prague, and were subjected to
one-at-a-time-please-in-a-private-room-with-an-armed-guard search. 

I had seen East Berlin from the West, looking over the wall in the
mid-sixties.  Impressive to see it again from "inside".  

Both East Berlin & Dresden:  huge wide roads in town, with no traffic.
Still, everyone stood at the traffic lights not crossing until the green man
appeared on the pedestrian crossing.  Noticed unprotected glass windows in
shops with the most expensive of cameras, etc.  No one broke into these.
Everything very orderly!

The festival:  a monster festival with huge crowds.  We played to 10,000 at
one concert.  A band representing the U.S. was there, but it was obviously a
"pick-up band"  ("Hey, I got this gig in Germany.  Can you make it?")  I
wondered why a properly formed & working band could not have been found in
the whole of the U.S.  ??

The festival was so obviously a way for the people to have some freedom, but
under tight control.  Really enjoyable, without any threat of danger,
naturally!  We were paid handsomely, but had to spend all the money there,
as it had no worth outside.

At a shoe shop, there was a line of people outside waiting to go in.  We
stood in line, and as it turns out, only one, two, or three people were
allowed in the shop at a time, depending on the help that was available!  

We had "guides" who were with us at all times.  They spoke Spanish, but it
was so obviously a book learned Spanish, so our slang left them with their
mouths hanging open.  We wondered what they reported to their bosses when
they returned each nite to the HQ.  If you opened your hotel room door,
there was one in the hallway ready to "help you"!  

You can just imagine, after those few stories, what the euphoria must have
been when the wall came down several months later for the people there.
.....and, the chaos later from trying to adapt to a life without so many
rules!  

Funny story:  when I heard that we were going to Dresden, I told my wife.
She said, "oh, china", referring to the fame Dresden had from making table
settings of china.  Me, being the International American I was at the time
said, "Oh, I thought it was in Germany!"    :>

Jim