Saturday, September 1, 2012

David Holler: Odeon

It's a great honour.

Some time ago American singer/songwrite David Holler read my post on Zurich's Cafe Odeon.  He was inspired to write and record a song about the city's most famous cafe, meeting place for all sorts of bohemians and literati. This week the song has been released, which you can download on iTunes. The official video has been released too, and I'm honoured to be listed among the credits at the end.  David has done a fantastic job: charming, punchy music with a great sequence of historical photos. I love how he rhymes "literaries and Mata Hari's".  And not many contemporary pop songs can boast of lyrics like these:
"Artists painters, sinners and sainters
People paradin’ on the sidewalk down the boulevard
We’ll drink espressos, write manifestos
Chill with Dadaists, expressionists and the Avant-garde"

Enjoy the video.


6 comments:

  1. Hello:
    How absolutely splendid - we are thrilled for you.

    And we love the images but, unfortunately, the whole video has been 'blocked' before we have reached the end. This, alas, often happens in this country for no apparent reason.

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  2. Such a shame Jane and Lance. You'll have to watch it when you are in Brighton.

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  3. Congrats on keeping such august company. Good song and video. We shall have to celebrate at the Odeon one of these weekends. P.

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  4. Heyyy you are famous at last :)

    I think the images on the video are super, except for one thing. If the Odeon opened just before WW1 started and had its heady days of popularity/fame/infamy in the inter-war era, 1890s art nouveau images seem oldfashioned. I would like to imagine Herman Hesse, Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht etc enjoying a more modern, bohemian and progressive atmosphere than 1890s taste.

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  5. The Odeon opened in 1911 as a self-styled Art Nouveau cafe. It is true that the decor was certainly not cutting edge, as that style was just dropping out of fashion. So it did have its hey day between the wars, yet with a distinctly pre-war feel to it. Well spotted Helen!

    (And today it is still a Jugendstil Cafe)

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