This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker "We are very sad to confirm that Holger passed away yesterday, in his home, the old CAN Studio in Weilerswist. His wife U-She passed away only weeks before. Holger was devastated by the loss of his beloved partner, but was looking forward to making more music and was in good spirits. His passing has come as a shock."— Can the French-born New York DJ François Kevorkian a drummer who had proved his mettle as a dance-floor remixer took the opportunity to make a record of his own for Island Records It would be a collaborative work with an all-star lineup that included Public Image Ltd bassist Jah Wobble and U2 guitarist The Edge as well as the rhythm section for the already mythical German avant-rockers Can; the sessions would yield the EP Snake Charmer a young woman making waves of her own in the city's clubs asked Kevorkian to mix her new single He turned it down — as Kevorkian told author Tim Lawrence in Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor 1980-1983 he was "so taken with this other project" that there simply wasn't time Madonna — when Can's bassist Holger Czukay said yes to simply identify Czukay as "Can's bassist." Holger Czukay was the band's co-founder (along with keyboardist Irmin Schmidt and guitarist Michael Karoli) its radio knob turner (more on that later) Can was dedicated to collective improvisation — as Czukay put it last year to Mojo you have to reach a common accident." At its best Czukay was born in 1938 in the then-Free City of Danzig, was educated in Berlin alongside John Cage and David Tudor, and studied in Cologne under Karlheinz Stockhausen, all before moving to Switzerland in 1966 to become a music teacher. At that point, Czukay had barely heard rock music, much less understood and appreciated it. "I never intended to become a rock or pop musician," Czukay said in 1994 "What I wanted to become was like from childhood on I thought I was a creative person." That changed after meeting a young student named Michael Karoli "But he was trying to teach me something about music He knew something that I didn't know." When Karoli played The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" for Czukay It sounds sometimes more [akin] to Stockhausen than to The Beatles!" he told Mojo ("Stockhausen later told me how proud he was that the Beatles have put him beside W.C though he would edit the tapes for 1979's Can and participated in short-lived group reunions in the late '80s and late '90s The classic early Can sound — as heard on Monster Movie (1969) the monumental double-LP Tago Mago (1971) and the dryly funky Ege Bamyasi (1972) — was both stark and airy with Karoli's needling guitar hanging over the groove like cobwebs in a haunted house The title of Soundtracks wasn't just suggestion — the tracks had actually come from film-score commissions — but its suggestion of filmic vistas was also a guiding principle for both the band and its bass player Not for nothing did Czukay dub his first solo album Movies (1979) — a perfect example of the whimsy Czukay displayed in his later years .. along with all the goofy-uncle faces he made in photos during the '90s.) Czukay's shortwave sound-grabs on Movies — a kind of proto-sampling — would prove prophetic David Byrne and Brian Eno would borrow the idea for their My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) which hip-hop producer Hank Shocklee of the Bomb Squad (Public Enemy Bell Biv DeVoe) would cite as a key inspiration for his own sampling adventures Can runs through British post-punk and indie like fish through a river. The Fall, in particular, has flaunted the Germans' inspiration, most explicitly on "I Am Damo Suzuki," from 1985's This Nation's Saving Grace; drums a la Tago Mago's "Oh Yeah," guitar a la "Bel Air" from 1973's Future Days bassist Steve Hanley hammering a couple of notes and daring you to blink The Jesus and Mary Chain's Barbed Wire Kisses featured a version of Tago Mago's "Mushroom"; the great Irish drone-rockers Th' Faith Healers covered "Mother Sky" on their 1992 debut Primal Scream has paid explicit tribute twice: "Movin' on Up," the opener of the beloved 1991 album Screamadelica directly quotes "Yoo Doo Right" ("I was blind / Now I can see / You made a believer out of me") while 1997's "Kowalski," from Vanishing Point samples the drums from Tago Mago's "Halleluwah." Can's skittering rhythms haven't been sampled at the level of James Brown (a primary inspiration to the German band) but especially in recent years the group has made its mark on hip-hop: "Vitamin C" was utilized as theme music for Jaden Smith's character Dizzee on Netflix's The Get Down while A Tribe Called Quest sampled "Halleluwah" for its Phife Dawg tribute "Lost Somebody" on last year's We Got It From Here Other DJs made hay with Czukay's grooves as well During the early British rave scene of the late '80s DJ Harvey was pushing the acid-house envelope: "He was really experimenting and bringing in all kinds of radical stuff," his fellow DJ Thomas Bullock told me a few years ago "I heard [him play Czukay's] 'Cool in the Pool' and 'Persian Love' [from Movies] both [in one] night and I thought it was all a part of the very same tapestry when James Murphy wanted to send up himself and his fellow record geeks (in that order) on the first LCD Soundsystem song it wasn't an accident that his first false boast was "I was there in 1968 / I was there at the first Can show in Cologne" — or that the track's galumphing rhythm puny at first before ratcheting up to a series of explosions could have come straight off Monster Movie or Soundtracks But the most resonant place to understand Czukay's place in the post-rock musical continuum may be at the end of 2009's The Grandfather Paradox Âme & Dixon subtitled "A Journey Through 50 Years of Minimalistic Music." There "Sunday Jam," a Czukay-edited track from 1979's Can Young Marble Giants and minimal techno innovator Robert Hood This is Holger Czukay's immersive circularity in a nutshell: looking back both from Can and from the many artists the group influenced Become an NPR sponsor The pulse of Can’s propulsive sound is inescapable Insistent percussion and driving basslines form the backbone for their motorring psychedelia – a key ingredient that remains part of the modern music language were part of an emergent faction of avant-garde musicians dubbed ‘krautrock’ by a decidedly un-PC British music press four-piece line-up eschewed convention at every turn weaving music as captivating as it was confounding built around a dedication to repetition that bordered on obsessive Can’s creations were like nothing ever heard before and have left an indelible mark on everything that has come since the experimental music rulebook would surely list them as its co-authors It’s testament to the resilience of Can’s music that despite the loss of some of its key members present and future looks set to remain undeniable – everyone from dance acts like Caribou and Four Tet through the countless indie and post-punk groups that populated the last decade to more experimental newcomers like Boy Azooga and Sorry owe Can’s rhythmic qualities a great creative debt One such devotee is Primal Scream icon and another Another Man cover star Bobby Gillespie whose own hypnotic sounds draw extensively from the Can manifesto To celebrate the release of All Gates Open: The Story Of Can co-written by Rob Young and the band’s own Irmin Schmidt Bobby Gillespie shares his sleeve notes for the 40th anniversary edition of Tago Mago I’ve loved the Can ever since I was a teenage punk rocker I bought Cannibalism in a fire sale ‘cos it had a weird spacey cover and sleeve notes by Pete Shelley from the Buzzcocks The music was like nothing I’d ever heard before John Lydon was always checking for them and I loved PIL when I played in The Jesus & Mary Chain we did a creepy crawl version of Mushroom that twinned William Rieds white hot sheet metal symphonic feedback guitar violence with Jim Morrison reincarnated as Jim Reid in a black leather rock and roll fantasy death rattle low moan blues – I was born and I was dead perfect a chance meeting in Cologne with Sarah Lowe leads me and Mani being invited to dinner with the Can (Michael I gave Jaki a copy of the new Primal Scream single Kowalski Jaki came to our London studio to play drums on some new music we had recorded One track was an insane Kevin Shields staring at asteroids psycho freak out guitar O.D instrumental (untitled and unreleased) the other was our version of the 60s garage classic the Third Bardos ‘I’m five years ahead of my time’ we were spellbound in the presence of a true master Halfway through the session Liam Gallagher and his friend Brian Cannon turned up Michael Karoli on guitar and Liam Gallagher on one finger piano hard and heavy on a two chord Karoli groove We all fell out of the studio arm in arm and walked up the road high and happy All Gates Open: The Story of Can by Rob Young & Irmin Schmidt The man who helped give the German psychedelic rockers their driving rhythm section was found at his apartment Holger Czukay, co-founder and bassist with pioneering German rock band Can He was found by a neighbour at his apartment, converted from Can’s old studio in Weilerswist near Cologne. The cause of death is currently unknown. His wife Ursula had died in July, while his former bandmate Jaki Liebezeit – with whom he created Can’s fabled driving rhythm section – also died this year Czukay played on nine of Can’s albums as well as engineering them including their celebrated Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi Czukay is also celebrated for his experiments with sampling before the advent of digital samplers cutting up and splicing tape into recordings He also pioneered what he called “radio painting” using shortwave radios to record random snippets of sound and pasting them collage-style into recordings; “rhythm boxing” was his description of how he used drum machines His most recent solo album was Eleven Years Innerspace in 2015 Can partly reformed in April without Czukay – Irmin Schmidt and Malcolm Mooney performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore and others as The Can Project NRW debates dog poo data bank to track down repeat offendersBookmarkBookmarkBy Abi CarterJul 30, 2023The mayor of the small municipality of Weilerswist in North Rhine-Westphalia has sparked a debate by proposing to set up a “dog poo data bank” The idea is to use DNA comparison to track down owners who repeatedly fail to pick up their dogs’ mess in public places Mayor Anne Horst said that the municipality has a “long-running issue” with dog excrement in public green spaces She said that the mess was not only a nuisance for members of the public but primarily also for city employees that maintain these areas Poo “literally flies around the ears of employees when mowing [the grass],” Horst said Failing to pick up your dog’s mess is illegal in Germany and is punishable with an administrative fine it’s clearly difficult to catch people in the act and so it’s not always clear who is responsible for the little piles of mess Horst’s idea is to create a database of DNA samples from all the dogs that live in the municipality the DNA can be compared with the database in order to issue a fine to the owner The mayor has already written to the leaders of the North Rhine-Westphalia state government asking them to create a legal basis for the database at the state level “The measure is not generally directed against dog owners or dogs,” Horst wrote on her website, acknowledging that the majority of pet owners know “how poop bags work.” She said she was primarily acting out of concern for the hygiene of municipality workers and people who want to enjoy public green spaces The idea has precedence: since January 2022 the South Tyrol region has obliged dog owners to submit a sample of their pet’s saliva for DNA analysis. The town of Béziers in France also recently required dog owners in the city centre to have a genetic ID card created for their pets. In April this year, the city of Wiesbaden in Hesse was also reported to be looking into the idea of a database privacy advocates have expressed concern that the idea might be difficult to implement in Germany it would require a court to examine each individual case before issuing approval “There is currently no special legal basis for taking and storing DNA samples in reserve,” a spokesperson for the NRW data protection officer told dpa. They said ultimately it would be up to the state parliament to decide whether the effort and cost of creating and maintaining such a database would be worth it. The topic will be on the parliament's agenda this autumn BookmarkAbi CarterEditor in chief at IamExpat Media By 2023-05-18T10:19:00+01:00 a logistics company located in Weilerswist near Bonn has incorporated three Mercedes-Benz eActros vehicles into its distribution operations are utilized for supplying 15 branches of the “dm” drugstore company within the Bonn city area the trucks’ batteries are charged at the DSV depot DSV Road DACH  communicated, “This innovative fleet expansion is another step towards responsible and sustainable logistics supply chains This is a task that we are consistently pursuing as a company and with our long-standing partner dm we are using the largest cohesive eActros fleet for deliveries to branches.” “With environmentally friendly deliveries to our dm markets in Bonn using three eActros trucks we are strengthening our commitment to forward-looking and sustainable transport logistics at dm we have set ourselves the goal of supplying our branch network in the Bonn city area from the Weilerswist distribution center to our dm markets completely emission-free,” says Christian Bodi Managing Director responsible for logistics at dm Mercedes-Benz Trucks has announced that it will unveil the series version of its previous eActros LongHaul truck on October 10 is making strides in reducing its environmental impact by introducing one of the first all-electric Mercedes-Benz heavy trucks to its fleet Britain’s first fridge-bodied eActros electric truck has taken to the roads after Mercedes-Benz Trucks teamed up with Solomon Commercials Site powered by Webvision Cloud These flights at Cologne/Bonn Airport are cancelled on Sunday The situation for passengers at Cologne/Bonn Airport has eased somewhat in recent days The past weekend was free of chaos and the queues at the security checkpoint have recently been significantly shorter individual flights are still cancelled and there may still be longer waiting times at the counters and security checks at Cologne/Bonn Airport at other times The airport administration therefore recommends arriving at the airport at least 2.5 hours before the scheduled departure time Travellers should also check the check-in times with the airlines beforehand The following connections at Cologne/Bonn Airport have been cancelled on Sunday Further cancellations are to be expected in the coming days Not only Cologne/Bonn Airport is affected by cancellations but also the airports in Düsseldorf and Frankfurt The shops on the ground floors of the Kaiserpassagen are still sparsely tenanted especially on the outside of the former showpiece shopping mile Rubbish also accumulates quickly in the corners of the sometimes winding corridors and stairways This is particularly intense when the weather is hot cafés and restaurants in the arcades between Münsterplatz and Kaiserplatz Shop windows are emblazoned with posters saying they are for rent At least a few shops still attract customers an optician or the Asian food market that has moved into the former premises of the dm drugstore chain The Café Extrablatt in the former Roses also brings life to the area Ralf Franken is planning to reopen the designer fashion shop Chin's in September after completing some formalities died suddenly at the beginning of the year (the GA reported) has also brought more foot traffic to the Kaiserpassagen A hairdresser has also opened on the corner of Kaiserplatz She had to move out of the former Hotel Residence What is planned there has so far not been announced Andrea Forst-Raasch’s pharmacy is a few doors down from the bus station "We not only struggle with the problem that we often have to clean up dirt and broken bottles in front of the entrance doors in the morning," she tells the GA during a tour of the Kaiserpassagen It also happens time and again that homeless people lock themselves in the arcade in the evening If someone then accidentally fails to close the door properly when leaving the underground car park the uninvited guests can enter and leave the building unhindered despite the locked entrances Then there is the dirt and the stench: traces of urine can be seen in quite a few places on the façade "We residents already have enough problems with the ever-growing homeless and addict scene around Kaiserplatz," says Forst-Raasch Added to this is the pollution of the passages - at least in some areas Ralf Franken is more relaxed about the situation in the Kaiserpassage He told the GA that he thinks things have improved considerably in terms of cleanliness recently the Zurich insurance company said that a new cleaning services was commissioned at the beginning of the year and they are on site every day cleaning away despite the well-known challenges Zurich spokesperson Bernd Engelien said that the company would take further measures to remedy the problems in the Kaiserpassage "We can see for ourselves that the situation there is not yet okay," he said in an interview with the GA It was well known that the scene had shifted more and more around Kaiserplatz from the Bonner Loch "Additional precautions will now be taken to ensure that no one can stay in the arcades overnight," he promised After all it is also in the company's interest that residents and passers-by feel at ease in the building new gates are to be installed at the Martinsplatz 2a entrance (next to Extrablatt) and at the Wesselstraße entrance The underground car park entrance had already been secured months ago with an additional mesh door Engelien said that the general conditions for new lettings were "not optimal" not least because of the Coronavirus situation and now also because of the new traffic routing The city centre is becoming more and more difficult to reach for motorists which does not exactly make it easy to rent out the shops "First the university garage was closed for years because of the refurbishment then came the lockdowns and the capping of the City Ring." In addition online retailing has definitely ensured that businesspeople have become more cautious when it comes to new openings "There is a lot of uncertainty overall," Engelien says Regarding the persistent rumour that Zurich wants to sell the Kaiserpassagen Engelien explained: "There are no sales talks going on Zurich definitely wants to develop the building it is still a good and attractive building." The pictures from the scene of the accident have caused some amazement: How could the tractor in the field in Klein-Vernich near Weilerswist collide with the pole of the overhead power line on Thursday the crash in the field resulted in a secondary accident as a couple from Weilerswist drove their car into the live power cables A 51-year-old woman in the passenger seat was injured in the accident said that he had not seen the power cables because of a dark cloud of smoke The fire had probably been caused by flying sparks in an area next to the road had the appropriate driving licence and had been properly instructed He was driving the machine with trailer for work-related reasons he is employed or undergoing training by the agricultural company responsible "There are no indications of technical failure," explains police spokesperson Franz Küpper the youth is now being investigated for negligent bodily injury in road traffic Küpper did not comment on the question of how the 16-year-old explained the crash the police are only dealing with the tractor accident insofar as it is linked to the accident with the car "Everything else is a civil matter," explained the spokesperson who could not yet put a figure on the amount of property damage to the car The damage to the electricity infrastructure of Westnetz GmbH is likely to be incomparably higher The grid operator is still investigating the amount involved the distribution network operator erected a new temporary electricity pylon The special feature of the temporary mast system that Westnetz has now deployed is that the mast consists of a modular construction system that can be used quickly and flexibly this modular system can be used for any height and terrain The company hopes that the mast with the power lines can go into operation on Sunday evening it can be assumed that the grid will be safe again The company emphasises that the grid is already back to normal