the magnificent

ute lemper opened her set at admiralspalast last night with a cover of hildegard knef's für mich soll's rote sosen regnen“. after a long day spent flying to nuremburg (with air berlin losing the luggage), driving an hour into the countryside to the customer site, returning the same way, then racing down the the goethe institut for the initial meeting of my evening conversation course, it was luxury to settle into the soft velvet seating and enjoy her sweet singing. while more than once during the peformance she and the band made most unwelcome incursions into jazz territory (one one occasion resulting in an unfortunate drum solo) her chansons flowed like a honeyed nectar over my outraged sensibilities...