Ferris Wheel at Spreepark Plänterwald
RA: Showdown in Spreepark
ey folks, a few weeks back I mentioned that I would be writing a feature story for Resident Advisor on the Luna Land party that took place in late August. Well, here it is! It looks at the story behind the party and the messy “scene politics” of Berlin EDM at that moment. It includes discussion of the location itself (Spreepark, an abandoned amusement park), Bar 25, Minimoo (an event promoter from NYC), Berlin’s “post-tourism,” gentrification, and the controversy around the Luna Land party itself. Check it out!
LMGM, The Blog 
hey, i dont remember if i wrote a comment on RA about the article, but it was extremely refreshing to see an even handed and well written account of what was (for me personally) a fiasco/friendship & work minefield as a resident DJ at Bar25 and one of the people who was booked, but ended up not playing. Thank you for that, and I have greatly enjoyed your other essay work. Oh, and btw, while i agree that being a local DJ can offer some forms of privilege, it has totally stabbed me in the face work-wise.
Hey thanks, Pablo! I really appreciate it. I remember you once gave a really insightful description of how the door works at Bar25. Something about how the doorperson addresses you in German and sees how you react…which doesn’t necessarily have to do with being a German-speaker.
And yeah, I deliberately wrote that other essay about privilege “against the grain,” so to speak. There is already a lot of talk about how local DJs and resident DJs are never appreciated at home, so I wanted to dig up some more subtle forms of advantage and disadvantage. Also, it gave me an opportunity to talk about how privilege works.
oh, yeah, i remember telling you that! and it is totally true. unless steffi is in a really bad mood her confrontational nature is more the quickest way to find out whether or not youll “fit in” with the club.