Teufelsberg Projekt

While I was on tour in Berlin, I ventured out to Grunwald Forrest to visit Teufelsberg, an abandoned, Cold War-era American spy station. Slowly deteriorating and rich in graffiti, the former intelligence headquarters, reminiscent of the Packard Plant in Detroit, sit atop a hill made out of the rubble from post WW2 Berlin, at one point used also as a recreational ski slope. Currently this incredible building complex serves as a breeding grounds for various works of art & music projects by an artist colony running the tours of the station. I made a point to speak with the organizer of the Teufelsberg Projekt about the work he was doing to rejuvenate the area, and upon discovering I was a musician, he promptly invited me to perform at his artist party BBQ the following week, literally one day before I was to leave for Denmark. I couldn’t have been more thrilled to have been offered such an epic welcoming into the inner workings of the artist collective. Not to mention another chance to explore the radome towers, where the radio signals were collected for furtive listening. Did I mention that the tallest radome of the station is the highest point in Berlin? Or that its dome-shaped encasement is made of the most reverberant acoustic materials? Of all the concert halls, opera houses, & cathedrals I’ve ever visited and tested, the stunning echo of Teufelsberg’s tallest radome is the most radiant. So of course I made it my business to use my second visit to record a new Berlin-inspired, sultry vocal piece called “Cherish” inside of it. After my mini recording session, I found myself fortunate enough to participate in a spontaneous and totally enrapturing group vocal improvisation with complete strangers. To be in that space and then head down to the yard to perform for a crowd of avid listeners amidst huge bonfires on the grounds of a pivotal piece of the world’s past made for no doubt my most historic show thus far. Pun intended.