lifestyle THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2014 FEATURES Members of the East German ( GDR ) founded band “The Puhdys” (from left) Klaus Scharfschwerdt, Peter Rasym, Dieter Hertrampf, Dieter “Maschine” Birr and Peter Meyer pose in front of the Brandenburg in gate 25Berlin years on October 29, 2014. after(Right) Dieter “Maschine” Berlin Birr of the East German Wall founded band tumbled“The Puhdys” performs on stage, atEast the O2 Arena in Berlin.—bands AFP photos rock on Berlin hey have been rocking arenas nearly as of Neubrandenburg. “What Route 66 is to longer just ban it-they needed to co-opt it. So favorite film, the Puhdys in their heyday cap- young people when they came on the scene,” long as the Rolling Stones but unlike America, that’s what the Puhdys are to us east the Puhdys and other stars of the so-called tured the zeitgeist. said Edeltraud Arndt, 56, at the Berlin concert. TMick and Keith, they’re from a country Germans.” In an interview ahead of a sold-out German Democratic Republic (GDR) had to Their mix of guitar-hero rock and sing- “After reunification, it wasn’t easy for them so that no longer exists. Meet the Puhdys, East show at Berlin’s O2 arena, a 17,000-capacity perform a high-wire act-making music that along pop also translated across borders and we stuck with them and now people my age Germany’s most successful band, who are still venue big enough to host superstars like would get past the all-seeing, all-hearing Stasi the group won permission to perform in West still love them.” The fall of the Berlin Wall was performing to capacity crowds 25 years after Beyonce and Lady Gaga, the band said this secret police and the official censors while still Germany and even the United States, making disastrous for many eastern bands, with fans, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. With was their last hurrah before retirement next ringing true to the country’s citizens. them one of East Germany’s few successful finally given a choice, running out to buy their headbanger hair, black leather jackets year. They are going out with a bang, touring “We had scissors in our own heads so we exports. Juergen Juergens, a radio disc jockey albums from acts like Genesis, Tina Turner, and and motorcycle boots, the look of the kings of throughout the former East Germany in a knew what we needed to cut out,” said lead in West Berlin who promoted Ostrock, told the Stones. “Ostrock” hasn’t changed much although the show complete with fog machines, fireworks singer Dieter Birr, who goes by the nickname AFP the Puhdys were one of the first bands to “After the Wall fell, I played in small clubs to core members are 70 and over. and flame-throwers, and linking up with two “Machine” and whose scratchy bass vocals are write rock songs in German. just a few people. But then after a few years, And with more than 20 million records sold other huge acts under communism, City and the band’s trademark. “There were subjects He said the bonds among musicians and people remembered us and thought ‘yeah, over their 45-year-long career, neither has Karat. “We Ossis never really learned competi- that were taboo like environmentalism or the with their fans were so strong because they they were pretty good’,” Birr said. Later the their sound, which taps a rich vein of tion-that’s why we get along so well,” Puhdys Wall-and we had a song about gays. But all the were forged in hardship. “They all had to help Puhdys managed to put out relevant songs in “Ostalgie”, nostalgia for East Germany, a coun- keyboardist Peter Meyer said, using slang for Ostrock bands found ways of singing between each other because the equipment was so the post-Wall years too, such as the anthem try which only managed to see its 41st birth- easterners. the lines. “The word ‘flying’, for example, was a bad-they borrowed amps from each other “Was bleibt” (What’s Left) and “Frei wie die day. “We were constantly on tour and on tele- synonym for freedom.” Simply a mention of when theirs were broken,” he said. Geier” (As Free as the Vultures), which critiqued vision and so we were always in people’s sit- ‘Scissors in our heads’ “Deutschland” (Germany) raised red flags due greed in capitalist society. Birr said the band is ting rooms-we probably seem like family,” lead The Puhdys got their start in 1969 in the to the country’s division, keeping one Puhdys ‘Didn’t toe the line’ still beloved-it even has a stone monument in guitarist Dieter Hertrampf told AFP. Saxon town of Freiberg, with their name song off GDR television and the radio. With Loyal listeners say that after so much in the its honor in Freiberg-because it trod a path But their act is now drawing younger fans, derived from their first names’ initials. Demand hits like “Ikarus”, “Alt wie ein Baum” (Old as a east was simply subsumed by the west with familiar to so many east Germans. “We were many of whom have hardly any memory of for rock music had mounted to such an extent Tree) and “Geh zu ihr” (Go to Her) from the cult unification, the Puhdys’ concerts feel like a never revolutionaries in the GDR, but we didn’t the Wall. “They’re icons,” said Christian Conrad, among East Germany’s disaffected youth by 1973 movie “The Legend of Paul and Paula”- homecoming. “We didn’t have a lot of rock toe the line either,” Birr said. “We’re just normal a 34-year-old ambulance driver from the town the late 1960s that the authorities could no which Chancellor Angela Merkel has called her groups in the east so it was exciting for us musicians who’ve had a lot of fun.”—AFP Safat Home celebrates the introduction of International brands Blue-chip offerings at NYC fall art auctions he fall art auctions are about to sizzle. Coveted paintings by Andy Warhol and Edouard Manet - Tnever before offered at auction - and works from single-owner collections with boldface names like Mellon and Bacall are expected to fire up bidding at the sales of impressionist, contemporary and modern art beginning Tuesday. “The fall auctions represent a rare opportunity for contemporary collectors to add not only quality but also pedigree to their collections,” said Sarah Lichtman, direc- tor of The New School’s master’s degree program in the history of decorative arts and design. The exceptional quality of the works could mean a record-setting autumn, said Pat Berman, professor of art at Wellesley College. “The heights reached by Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” rom October, Safat Home has as fashion leaders. or Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucien Freud” - once renovated its flagship store in Alf Italia has been making wood- beyond comprehension - are certainly attainable, and FAl-Rai to improve the lifestyle en bedroom and dining furniture in potentially eclipsed by these rare art trophies,” she said. feel with the growth of its ranges Northern Italy for over 50 years. A “The Scream” sold for nearly $120 million in 2012, only to featuring heritage solid wood collec- family business still, they are proud tions, Asian fusion walnut furniture to be regarded internationally as one and Scandinavian style across the of the leaders in luxury modern home. Now, Safat Home is proud to design bedrooms and dining rooms. launch a new area in the store with Luxury wood veneers, modern the addition of International brands Italian design and the use of the who lead the furniture market glob- highest quality fittings on every ally with leading reputations in piece make the purchase of an Alf design and quality. room a very special experience Sotheby’s auctioneer takes bids on Vincent Van Gogh’s “NATURE MORTE, VASE AUX MARGUERITES Leather editions by Natuzzi pro- which we have mirrored in the pres- ET COQUELICOTS” at Sotheby’s autumn evening sale of Impressionist & Modern Art yesterday in vides luxurious leather sofa collec- entation in our showroom. New York. — AFP photos tions, made in Europe appealing to Last but not least the traditional every style of home. Every sofa is cut British look of Alexander & James; from the finest leathers produced Leather sofas and high quality fab- Giacometti sells for from Natuzzi own Tannery in Italy. rics which are so well known in the The sofa frames are all handmade furniture industry of Britain have and the leathers all stitched and been updated and given a fresh $101m at NY auction upholstered by hand to make the look. Their range can now be seen quality of sofa that Natuzzi has been around the world in the combina- A reporter looks at Andy Warhol’s “Self-Portrait” famous for around the world. tion of the finest leathers with luxury during a media preview October 31, 2014 at rare 1950 bronze sculpture by Swiss artist most desirable works of art,” said Shaw last week. The Marie Claire Paris collection is velvets and other contrasting fine Christie’s in New York. Alberto Giacometti sold for $101 million A third highlight of Sotheby’s sale was Vincent across the living room and dining fabrics to create a very modern look Aat auction in New York late Tuesday. The van Gogh’s “Still Life, Vase with Daisies and room and brings together the latest but with the durability of leather and be surpassed a year later by the Bacon which set a record sculpture, “Chariot,” is one of the seminal Poppies,” which fetched $61.8 million, surpassing in European colors, styles and fabrics strong sofa shapes and designs.