Not many people have heard of Kraan. Myself, I was more into Novalis (you’ll remember Novalis from a previous post). But Kraan was for really cool people. If you didn’t know Hellmut Hattler, their bass player, and if you were not able to play his divine Nam Nam solo on your air bass guitar – mmhhh, you were probably listening to T.Rex and Marc Bolan, Alice Cooper, Uriah Heap, KISS or, worse, to Peter Maffay. Stuff for glam rockers. Kraan was for those in the know, those who didn’t have to try to please. Playing the bass solo wasn’t easy. It went on for several minutes and it required complete concentration as well as a finger movement that was so complex that it could only be mastered after long hours of practice.

Today, Pádraig managed to fight the tea time battle himself, without the help of a respirator. Having been turned, the oxygen dropped, but with a bit of help getting out at least most of the secretions in his throat, he managed to bring it back up. No news about the thrombosis, which is good news. The other good news is that they tried out a speech valve today, for about 20 minutes. That allows him to breathe in trough the trachea, and to breathe out through his mouth. Apart from the sensation of air going through his mouth and windpipe, it also allows him, and this is the most amazing bit, to make sounds – which he really experimented with today, we were told. They had tried this a few times in Beaumount, just before he left. With that exception, he has not heard his voice for more than seven months (and neither have we). It must have been an amazing experience, and another step forward to some kind of normality.

A colleague told me today that life does the most amazing things to us, most of which we have absolutely no control over. Psychologists have described the phenomenon of people not accepting this as a condition of illusion. The Illusion of Control is ok as long as it can be sustained. But as soon as the bubble bursts, as soon as things happen that take over, and you realize that it is not us who have control over all that is going on with us and around us, people can easily fall into depression. Stuff happens, he said, what matters is how you deal with it.

When we were playing Nam Nam on our air bass guitars, supporting Hellmut Hattler, there was nothing, absolutely nothing that we could not have achieved. We were young. Life had not struck us. It’s not supposed to do that until you are old(er). Although – life sometimes does stuff that it is not supposed to do, and seems that it couldn’t care less.

Again – and do not forget: one of the most amazing concerts of the year is coming up. It will take place this coming Wednesday:

Ceolchoirm ar son Phádraig i gColáiste Eoin

Wednesday, 7 February at 8:00 p.m (doors 7.30)
Among these musicians are:
– Liam Ó Maonlaí
– Na Casadaigh
– The Bonnymen,
– Skipper’s Alley
– UCD Choral Scholars
– Grúpa Siansa Choláiste Eoin & Íosagáin and the young musicians of Coláiste Eoin.

Thank you to the organizers for all their hard work, to the musicians for their enthusiastic support, and to all who will attend!

Today’s German Music Tip
Kraan, Nam Nam (recorded live 2005 at Rockpalast).
Peter Wolbrandt – guitar, vocals
Hellmut Hattler – bass, backing vocals
Ingo Bischof – keyboards, backing vocals
Jan Fride – drums

KRAAN Nam Nam Part one (7:29)
It really takes of at 1:30

KRAAN Nam Nam Part Two
Listen at 06:15: das Finale: Dedee domdom dedede dodom
BASS SOLO. 9:52

What’s hot
Speech valves
What’s cold
tea time
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Ab in die Falle.

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Upcoming events: http://www.caringforPadraig.org/events