Downtown Sports Bar: Screens Everywhere. Best for Superbowl.

Tamás’ favorite Superbowl moments were Tom Brady’s long drive, nearly from one finish line to the other. He also liked the suspension around Brady’s final incomplete Hail Mary pass, i.e. the last pass of the game which could have won the Patriots the Superbowl if completed.

My favorite Superbowl moment was Madonna’s opulent halftime show, ha!

Cheers! Tamás, Sina, and American Microbrewed Beer.

I first encountered Yelawolf at the SAMLA conference where I heard an inspiring presentation by Erich Nunn on the ways in which he subverts the image of Southern white trash (yes, rednecks). So if you are a German Americanist still looking for a topic on the 2013 DGfA conference on rural America, you should definitely check out his videos that draw on rural imagery and Southern gothic…

The concert took place at a place called Wild Bill’s in Duluth, a 30 minute beamer ride north of ATL. It boasts to be biggest “night club” in the States (5,000+ people) and reminds me of a Großraumdisko with a “rural” audience Yelawolf deliberately mocks in this performances.

Wild Bill's, Duluth.

The concert started with the MC CyHi the Prynce from Stone Mountain who warmed up the crowd for the delayed Yelawolf extravaganza.

Local Hero: MC CyHi the Prynce.

Yelawolf took the crowd the moment he stepped out on the stage. The crowd was cheering even before the first beat started. This does not come as a surprise, considering the fact that he lived in Cabbagetown for a couple of years and still holds ties to ATL. Yelawolf sticked to his White trash theme by wearing a blue jeans overall, a camouflage T-shirt, and an Alabama basecap.

Hard White: Yelawolf.

Yelawolf’s hard emceeing, shrill voice, and spitting rhymes dominated his performance. I think his redneck performance only works because he knows how to rap and because his tattoos provide him with street credibility. Yet, in contrast to urban African American rappers, his hood is not in the projects, but in a trailer park in the ‘bama countryside. His is an experience of White poverty and marginalization in the rural South. His use of the N-word, thus, seems to emphasize class and culture over ethnicity. His tattoos convey the aura of a rough rapper and this is probably also the reason why he took off his T-Shirt after a couple of minutes into his performance. His tattoos were clearly visible and without them his mimicking and subversion of White trash culture would not work.

We really liked Yelawolf’s eclectic sense of music. He told the audience that he is often asked about his musical influences. He then played some of them with and for his audience. He started with The Doors, went on to play Johnny Cash, Eminem, Outkast and even some metal tunes which again signify his white (trash) background. The audience honored this musical excursion with many cheers and lights.

I Just Wanna Party. Yelawolf.

He really enjoyed being on stage. Towards the end of his roughly one hour performance he animated the crowd to rap along while he was watching them partly startled and partly extremely satisfied and happy. He seems to have remained a humble character despite his enormous success in the past few years. All in all, we were really impressed with his performance. We enjoyed the concert a lot. Too bad that it was over so soon.

Finally, here’s a video Tamás took. This is Yelawolf’s latest single; it was the encore of the concert.

"Marianne"

Her family settled in Ohio where she went to school and had her first experience with the American culture and English language. She went on to do her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in German Studies in the 1960s. After that she came to Atlanta to work at Morehouse College for more than 40 years. Morehouse College is Martin Luther King Jr.’s alma mater.

A week ago, we were invited for a Sunday lunch at her house. Her fondness of flower patterns both natural and material,  heavy patterns, expressive colors, flouncy cushions reminded me a lot of my grandmother’s style. Her fondness of art is displayed in her many paintings, partly her own, ranging from water color to expressive oil painting.

Her German American identity was revealed in the choice of food as she served a blend of delicious European and Southern food. We talked about what it means being German, American, and German American. We shared our story of being East German in America. We elaborated on American politics from Reaganomics to Obama. We had a wonderful time and stayed all afternoon. When we left her house, we had the impression that we had done trip around the world and not just eaten lunch.

Explorers.

Sina's Birthday Cake by Tommy G.

Shout Outs and Thank You to Ian, Jake, Makiha, Nicole, and Thomas!

The current conditions, however, remind me and many Atlantans not of crisp winter, but of spring. According to TV News, it is too warm for the season with about 18 degrees Fahrenheit above average. This warm temperature then results in very wet, grey, and humid weather conditions.

Saturday morning I awoke to thunderstorm, lightning, and heavy rain. The severe weather continued until the afternoon with lightning, heavy rain, hail, flash flood warnings for downtown ATL, and Tornado warnings for southwestern and southern Georgia. I spent almost half a day, standing on the window watching the wet spectacle. I was especially amazed how the skyscrapers vanished behind the thick clouds. I would marvel at the curtains of rain that weaved downward on our 22-story apartment building to the downtown streets. The juxtaposition of nature (severe weather condition) and civilization (skyscrapers) was truly daunting.

Today it is dry, but the heavy fog remains which reminds me of a gothic setting. Seeing the half of the city disappearing behind the fog is a really eerie sight.

Tomorrow, Monday, new thunderstorms and tornadoes are expected for the region.