Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson, Blind Willie McTell, Leadbelly, Jesse Fuller, Woody Guthrie, Derroll Adams, Bert Jansch, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Ray Charles, J.J.Cale, Bob Marley, John Fogerty, The Beatles, The Kinks, Ben Harper...
After I had discovered the freedom and life-style of a professional busker, there was no turning back. My old Citroen van was converted into a rolling home, and off I went as a One Man Band. I travelled around Europe and played where ever possible.
1983
I left for the United States of America. I bought an old school-bus and travelled up and down the west-coast for six months, playing on the street and markets. I was very surprised by the success I had and the warm welcome I received almost everywhere I went.
I was invited to perform live at various radio stations such as KPFA Berkeley, where Chris Strachwitz, founder of the prestigious Arhoolie Records label presented new talents.Up north I participated in several colourful festivals like the Oregon Country Fair or Bumbershoot in Seattle.
1984-1985
With fellow One Man Band College Chris Lejeune I flew to Bangkok. As the Hot Feet Brothers (a double One Man Band act) we made our way through Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and in the summer I came back to the US to team up with the Old Time New Age Chautauqua, a travelling Vaudeville Show presented by the legendary folk-singer and story-teller U.Utah Phillips. It was a great honour to travel and perform with personalities like him, Faith Petric, Tom Noddy, Artis the spoonman, The Flying Karamazov Brothers or Jazz musicians like Peter Apfelbaum or Steven Bernstein and many more creative, funny and wonderful people.
We met on Ken Keasy's Farm ( the famous Merry Prankster and author of One flew over the cuckoo's nest ) and then this colorful caravan took me to many exiting places in the north-west, from small venues like the Blackfoot Indian Reservation near Browning, Montana, one horse towns like Salmon, Idaho to big venues like the Vancouver Folk Festival.
The winter saw me back in East-Asia, where I stopped off to make some money in Japan, then on to the Philippines,Indonesia and back to Thailand, where I met up with Chris again.
On the island of Koh Samui, then still a low budget travellers.. paradise, we happened to meet two other One Man Bands, Bernd Meyer-Snyder and Jim Franklin, who where travelling the world individually and, like us, played wherever their fancy took them. We called ourself the Ko Samui Allstars and performed up and down the beaches of this gorgeous little island.
Later I went to the Peoples Republic of China to explore some rather unknown busking territory. Secretly accompanied by a chinese girl named Yi, I ventured through Southern China, playing music in the streets for nothing but idealistic reasons and causing quite some uproar. Although I was sure I would be the very first One Man Band Busker in history I was wrong. Another One Man Band whom I actually never met, had been to some of the very same cities that I played, only 2 weeks earlier. His name was Jimmy Jimmy.
Back in America I ran into guitarist Michael Hedges, whom I had met the year before and became friends with. He liked my act and invited me to his studio up in Mendocino. California and offered to produce my first cassette tape: "Hot Feet" for free.
1986-1987
After a longer stay in Boulder/Colorado I decided to cross over to the east coast, where in Quebec, Canada I met Odette, a French Canadian lady with a fascinating street show involving dance and juggling. We got together and performed as "The Honeymoon Roadshow" in Europe and America.
As a solo-performer I was invited to the Buskers 87 Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where, overwhelmed by the positive response, I got a rare taste of stardom: huge cheering crowds, lots of money and nation-wide coverage on TV, radio and newspapers.
1988-1989
A new chapter. I went down south to Mexico and fell in love with Latin-America. Every town has a central square where it was very easy to gather an audience. I never had a problem to make enough for some basic meals and a cheap hotel.
In Guatemala I spend a long time at the magical Lake Atitlan, performing amongst other musicians in the town of Panajachel. Every week end you would see my in the "Circus Bar", owned" by a wild German Flamenco Guitar player named Rene Zimzick.
There I recorded my second album "Live in the circus", which contained 10 songs in 8 different languages. I also met my future life time partner Annelis from Switzerland there, with whom I travelled all over South-America in 1989. Via
Costa Rica we flew to Colombia, then
overland to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentinia, Chile and overland back to Colombia.
We arrived in Guatemala exactly one year after we had left, New Years
Day 1990, not knowing yet, that soon another important chapter in the
book of life was to be opened: Our daughter Soluna
Samay was born. We settled down at the lake-shore just outside of
Santiago Atitlan for 2 years, building a house, growing our own vegetables,
baking bread and washing dirty diapers. Without electricity or running
water, but lots of free time to spend in, on or by the lake. Only when
necessary I left for an occasional tour to Mexico to perform amongst
many other cities at the Music and Theatre Festival Cervantino in
Guanajuato.
1992-1993
First summer in Europe since 10 years. I borrowed some money, got an old camper and started up
my old european busking routine again. I discovered East Germany and
other newly opened cities like Prague where, on the Karls Bridge, I did some of my best shows that summer.
In Germany I got invited to play on several TV Shows and suddenly no matter where I went somebody already knew me. Not that this kind of fame lasts a long time. By the end of 1993 I met up with my old friend guitarist Dagobert Böhm, who helped to produce my first CD "One Man Bandstand."
1994-1996
In 1994 I finally made it up to Norway for the first time. I met a lot of legendary buskers, some of whom I already knew from working in Switzerland, Munich or Amsterdam before going overseas, like Don Partridge, Phil Free, Lawrence Glaister, Des Bader or Dr.Harmonica. Others like Jim Pizza, Leo Gillespie or Moti Rymarczuk I met for the first time after hearing about them for years.
After the season in late August we all met in a little mountain resort, in Beitostølen, Norway, for a tiny buskers festival. In October I recorded my second CD "Rockin' the
Rhythm, Rollin' the Blues" .
In January 95 the travelling family left for South-Africa.
In Johannesburg we bought an old Mercedes and took off to Cape Town.
There I performed everyday at the famous Waterfront and after six weeks
of hard work had saved up enough to explore the rest of the region.
We drove up to Namibia, visiting this country..s incredible nature reserves and drove through the Caprivi strip westwards to Zimbabwe.
From there over horrendous roads to Zambia, Malawi,
Mozambique and back to South-Africa. 6 months and 20.000 unforgettable
kilometres.The street shows I did in those countries were fantastic. And often an African Street vendor would trade me a beautiful handcrafted object for one of my CDs or Cassettes.
In October..95 I left for a solo-tour to Israel
and Egypt and in January ..96 we embarked for yet another long trip,
this time to Asia. After a few weeks on the beaches in
Goa, India, we worked our way on through the Indian
subcontinent on public transport, from Rajastan to Varanasi and
on to Nepal. After that we went on to Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra, Bali
and Lombok before we came back for our annual European tour.
1997-1998
Back in Guatemala in winter time, on the road in Europe in the summer.
In between several more solo trips to Israel and in February I went
to Cuba for the first time with fellow performer Shy
Almagor. Being the first western busker many Cubans ever saw, I
gathered enthusiastic crowds around me with only a guitar and harmonica.
Very little money, but an overwhelming response of warm, heartfelt happiness.
1999
Another busking tour to Israel. This time overland iv my own Camper Van. Later in the year recorded my CD "Roadsongs", which saw my daughter's record debut. On the song "I've been everywhere" she sang and played drums. You can hear it at:www.myspace.com/geegeeandsoluna
2000-2001
Looking for a base in Europe but not knowing where, we happened to visit
my long time friend Danish/Brazilian singer and composer Maria Hiort
Peterson who had settled down on Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. We found
a beautiful old farm on this idyllic little island and decided in half
an hour that this was it. Time to settle down in Europe.
Soluna had picked up and learned to play the bass in the winter and a few months later we performed a new show
of what became to be one of the smallest complete bands in the world: My daughter Soluna on Bass and Vocals and , as she puts it when introducing me to our audience: her father on the rest of the band. (drums, guitar, harmonica & vocals).
Since her progress on bass and vocals was going quite fast, we not only
recorded our first entire CD The Beat Goes On together, but also won first price out of 57 contenders
at the first international Street Music Festival in Ludwigsburg, Germany
in Spring 2001. With the release of our new album on Ozella Records
this well publicized event was perfect timing.
Dagobert Böhm, owner of Ozella Music invited Soluna to sing on one of the tracks of his latest album "Sounds for a blue planet". The song with Soluna's guest appearance caught the attention of severla radio stations. "Dago" decided to produce the CD Single I wish I was a seagull , and so at the age of 11 Soluna held her first Solo CD in her hands. It was also released on Ozella Music the same year.
2002-2003
Trips to Thailand, Cambodia and Central-America in the winters. In summer our Norway routine was broken up by a two year in a row invitation to the famous Ferrara Busker Festival in Italy in late August. We got exposed to a whole differnt crowd of audiences and all the great musicians who do the southern European circuit. The Cosmic Sausages, Abi Wallenstein, Laliya, Carlos Vamos, The Cloghoppers, and many other great talents.
This well visited festival brought us other engagements in Italy and was a wonderful experience but also hard work. There is strong competition, but Soluna's charme and talent won over the Italian audiences very easiely.
The year 2003 also saw the release of our album"Thinking Of You" , featuring 3 of my own songs plus Soluna's first self composed song.
2004-2005
In summer of 2004 we decided to explore Northern Norway and drove all the way up to Tromsø, way beyond the Artic Circle. There are not many towns to play, and not that many people around, but where ever you stop and play you can be sure of a good audience, good money and a breathtaking landscape. Especially the Lofoten Island rank amongst the most beautiful places I've seen on this planet.
The footage from this trip plus material from previous tours and performances in Bergen, Norway, where we play every summer led to the production of our DVD "heading north." Check it out on:www.myspace.com/geegeeandsoluna/videos
2005 saw us in Norway again but also Germany and once more Ferrara, Italy, where people remembered us well but were completely surprised by Soluna's change from a little girl with a bass guitar almost as big as her to a young woman and a skilled performer.
On the way home she decided spontaneously to invest some of her money in a genuine Double Bass and only 2 months later we already recorded our new CD "movin' on" in our very own "funky farm" studio on Bornholm Island in Denmark. Listen to the song " The Cuckoo" right here.
2006, 2007, 2008
Same pattern: On the road in Europe in summer half of the year, both alone as a Solo One Man Band ( usually spring and fall ) as well as a duo with Soluna on Double Bass and Vocals. ( July and August ) So look out!
it's amazing to think that so many years have passed since that little tour in Italy...it's nice to know you are till out there and that you still sounds so good and still put your heart and soul into it...it's also nice to feel the connection across time and place...your a good man Gerd.
Hello Gee Gee & Family ! I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST For the new year to come !! KEEP ON MOVIN', LUCKY YOU ! I Am Listening To Johnny Cash Right Now.:-) He Was GREAT !! Kind Regards From Nini
I Was At the NOTODDEN Blues Festival THIS Year As YEARS Before, Together With My Dear Friend Mona, As I Told You I Would Be,... I HEARD AND SAW YOU Gee Gee And SOLUNA... BUT, The ATHmosphere Around Me AT THAT TIME, Causing Walking "GhostTraumes" At Notodden From My Past Way Of living, Made It VERY Difficult To Take Contact WITH YOU And Your Very TALENTED Daugther, At That Time... I AM SO SORRY... BECAUSE I Looked Forward To MEET Yoy Again... :-(
ANYWAY...
I HOPE WE WILL MEET ... SOME DAY
You Both, With Your LOVE To MUSIC, Which MAKES IT SOOO Much EASIER To LIVE ON THIS PLANET EARTH !!!
THANK YOU Again My Friends !!
HUGS To You AND ALL The PEOPLE AROUND YOU THAT MAKEs IT EASIer TO LIVE !!!!!
Hallo Gee Gee!!
Danke fürs adden!! Vielleicht treffen wir uns ja wiedermal in Kiel!!
Bin letztes Jahr mit Des ( the old man) 5 Wochen gemeinsam durch Norwegen gefahren. Haben gedacht wir treffen Dich in Molde!!
Good Luck
Frank
Hi Gee Gee,
I tried to call you at least three times a day but you were"temporarily not available" so I have no Idea how the xmas busking was for you, I hope it was good. Call me- mail me or Skype me.
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