Epilogue: Chris Cutler and his wife Kersten stayed with me and my wife in Leningrad, and I remember clearly a heated argument we had with him and Christoph Anders, Cassiber’s vocalist. Of course I was aware of my new friends’ leftist political views, and sympathised with their opposition to their own Western establishments, but I could by no means acquiesce to their predilection for socialism. We knew better, we had lived our lives under this socialism, and thanks, but no thanks. But in spite - or perhaps because - of such political arguments, those few days marked the beginning of long friendships. A few months later I was in London, visiting Chris Cutler in the empty school in which he lived in Clapham Old Town, and it was there that I met Amy Denio, a saxophonist from Seattle. This contact, in turn, allowed me a year later to take two Russian jazz bands to the Good Will Games Festival in Seattle. And when, in the following year, the Frankfurt based Ensemble Modern came to Russia with a programme featuring Stravinsky, Ligeti and Kagel (with Kagel conducting) they included a piece in the programme by Heiner Goebbels - and Heiner came along. We got together, of course, and Sergei Kuryokhin could think of no better entertainment than to take Heiner to a wedding party. The guitarist of Sergei’s band, Popular Mechanics, was going through a heavy metal phase at the time and was celebrating his (fifth) marriage in full black leather gear: jeans, jacket and cap - all picked out with chains and studs. His new wife, a tiny Oriental woman from Eastern Siberia had, as her only guests, her parents and a couple of brothers who had traveled thousands of miles with a supply of the local moonshine (alcohol was hard to come by in St, Petersburg then), meanwhile, the only guests from the groom’s side were Kuryokhin, myself and poor Heiner who didn’t have a word of Russian. I was petrified, but Heiner drank exotic beverages and ate no less exotic food, seeming especially to enjoy it when the Siberians started singing their ethnic songs. It’s been more than twenty years now, but every time I see Heiner, he invariably, and warmly, reminds me of that evening.
Christoph Anders
<p>GIGOGRAPHY</p><p>Cassiber En Route</p>Mostly, we toured in Heiner’s car. Somehow we got all the equipment, including Heiner’s full size Yamaha electric grand, his PPG synthesiser, all the amplifiers, guitars, metal sheet, Korg, saxophones, trombone, accessories and my entire drum kit (which I used to send out to Frankfurt in advance on the train) into, and on top of, his car, with the four of us, and space to spare, inside. We flew to Brasil - with all the equipment in a container (courtesy of the Goethe Institute) and to Japan, London, New York and Newfoundland, of course, but mostly it was car and autobahn.
CC
GIG LIST
as far as we have all been able to put it together.
1982
AUGUST
5-16. Sunrise Studio, Kirchberg. Switzerland (Man or Monkey).
OCTOBER
1. Frankfurt, 18 Deutsches Jazzfestival,
3. Hannover
4. Berlin, Musikhalle
8. Nancy, Jazz Pulsations Festival
10. Zurich
12. Hamburg, Markthalle
17. Schwabinger Brau, Munich (recorded by radio)
NOVEMBER
1. Mannheim Jazzfestival
10. Koln, Kolner Jazz Haus Festival
DECEMBER
3. Wurzburg
5. Frankfurt
7. Bremen (Radio Bremen)
12. Neuchatel
14. Thalwil
15. Biel
17. Basle
18. St.Gallen
1983
FEBRUARY
19. Berlin, Festival des Politischen Liedes
21. Leipzig
22. Prague, Alternativa
MAY
14. Reims, Musiques Traverse
20. Duck and Cover at Moers Festival
JUNE
2. Strasbourg, Jazzpressions Festival
3. Pforzheim, Musik U Theatre festival
10. Innsbruck
11. Burg Maur
12. Goppingen
13. Bamberg
JULY
1. Unna
25-29. Recording Studio Workshop at the Cantiere Internazionale D’Arte, Montepulciano with Cassix
30. Concert in town square
AUGUST
23. Copenhagen, Medborgerhuset
27. ICA London, Actual Festival
28. ICA London Actual Festival (Duck and Cover)
30. Stockholm
31. Oslo
SEPTEMBER
5. Helsinki
OCTOBER
23. Hannover, BAD
24. Kassel
28. Berlin, Loftfestival
29. Berlin Jazz Festival (Duck and Cover)
1984
FEBRUARY
6. Milan, Teatro del Elfo Musica Theatro Festival
15. Berliner Ensemble quartet, with Heiner, Dagmar, George Lewis, Chris Cutler
16. Berliner Ensemble, Duck and Cover
17. Paris, Rock Avantgarde Festival
18. Lille, Goethe Institute
APRIL
