Before I start bitching about Vienna, a short note about a trip that I undertook in between the move from Dublin to Vienna - an Interrail journey I did in 1993, which lead me first of all to Morocco and then what was left of me to the south of France and to Amsterdam.
First rule in Morocco - don't trust anyone and don't believe anything anyone tells you. Get out of Tangier as quickly as possible if you happen to arrive there, and stay away from the typical tourist destinations on the coast (unless you have booked an all-inclusive holiday in a resort - here an advice that goes contrary to my normal travel philosophy: don't leave the resort!). Don't ever flash your money or credit cards and be very careful with what you're eating. If you have never travelled in a third-world-country before (and are possibly young and naive like my travel-companion and me were - we went into almost every possible trap) then Morocco should not really be your first choice for a travel destination. Leaving the country with aforementioned food-poisening the rest of the trip remains less mentionable; Amsterdam was nice, however :-)
Ok, what comes next... oh yeah, bitching about Vienna! Well, after spending a year with the friendly irish people immersed into my beloved little music scene in Dublin my move to Vienna was like constantly getting thrown a bucket of cold water over my head. From questioning other province-people who moved into Austria's capital I can verify that this is widely shared experience. Vienna does not exactly welcome you with open arms. It takes some years (at least) to get into whatever you can get into when you move to a new place... or well, maybe it is one of these cities that you either love or hate (although I have not actually met anyone who loves Vienna, except for tourists). The options are rather hate or not dislike. Over the next 8 years I would be kind of living there, always looking for the next chance to get away.
But, changing my mind now - I won't be going into details with the bitching (if you're interested you can send me an email and I can elaborate on why I dislike Vienna - maybe you want to live there so I'd advise you to at least find out before what possibly expects you) , no, I will rather focus on what I liked in Vienna. .... hmmm.
I liked the Stadtzeitung FALTER, which is the only paper I ever read regularily, and still read if I'm lucky enough to have visitors who bring it over. It's critical, it's informative and it's very well written (you cannot actually read the articles here, but you can look up events in Vienna on www.falter.at).
I also adore the best radio station in the world (which is based in Vienna): Radio FM4. I am not a fan of superlatives, but in this case I can say I have done my research and I can verify it :-) In all the places that I lived in I have checked out the local radio stations and there was none that even came close to what FM4 offers. FM4 has emerged 10 years ago, at first only broadcasting after 7 pm in the evening on the frequency of Blue Danube Radio. Over the past 10 years they have become hugely popular, even over Austria's borders (how often did I meet someone from Bavaria who "revealed" to me that he has discovered this small Austrian radio station that plays really great music and not the usual commercial stuff). At the beginning they even broadcasted their programme without any commercials, but that (unfortunately) has changed. Well, they have to make some money as well, I guess. Anyway, FM4 became the musical bible, the musical educator of a whole generation in Austria (and now most young Austrians have an excellent taste in music ;-) And, not to forget to mention, my favorite show in the programme "Salon Helga", presented by the two outstanding radio celebrities: Dirk Stermann and Christoph Grissemann. Later in my life, I would cross their paths in a rather unexpected way - they did regular shows in a theatre I worked in, which was in Berlin. El mundo es un panuelo (die Welt ist ein kleines Brot =-)
Some time ago, FM4 finally became available over the internet and you can listen to it on www.FM4.at . You're at home baby!
Something else I was very much fond of was a party-series that took place in one of my favorite venues, the B-72 on the Gürtel, and was called Hot Lotion. Unfortunately always on a Monday, which was sometimes a bit counterproductive for my studies and jobs. It was a party you'd definitely would not want to leave early. The two crazy DJs Drehli Robnik and/or Peter Hörmanseder would play records that you would not even dream about listening to at home (well, not all of them, but you could easily end up shaking away to your parents favorite Schlager), would comment in real "conferencier-style" on the next song or on the guests or on their dance moves... absolutely unique. However, don't try to look for this party now, as far as I know, it has been discontinued quite a while ago. They would resurrect it for New Year's Eve occasionally I have heard.
For clubs I can only recommend the Flex ... or the Flex. So far, Vienna hasn't achieved a great variety in clubs, maybe there is more to come or it is already happening, which I wouldn't know about. Last time I was there (New Year's 2004) the Flex still seemed to be where everybody eventually ended up. And for the sake of completeness: www.flex.at
The local music scene was rather uninteresting when I moved to Vienna, I think I saw bands like Pungent Stench at the beginning (and missed my irish music scene to bits). Over the years the Kruder & Dorfmeister phenomenon happened - those were the times when they DJed on Tuesdays or Thursdays in the Flex in the Dub or Sub-Club for a ridiculously small entry fee...
I cannot say what's happening at the moment in the Viennese music scene. When I left in 2001 I was rather fond of a band or rather these 2 guys called Christoph & Lollo, who sang Schispringerlieder, which are well worth checking out (if you speak German). I think this is the only Austrian band I ever passionately liked. (I'm really getting into this linking-business now; you can check them out at www.christophundlollo.com)
During my last years in Vienna an event called "Soho in Ottakring" evolved, which I found to be really different - very unlike Vienna, more Berlin-like. It takes place every June in Ottakring (obviously), which is the 16th district, and it consists of art shows, music and performances makeshift bars/clubs in unusual locations (basically every empty space would be used for something and the people and shops of the district can participate in the festival). I think it has become much bigger over the years but it's still highly recommendable. For more information check out http://www.sohoinottakring.at/ .
So I was studying away in Vienna with the aim of getting away asap, which resulted in my move to the Spanish capital in 1997 to study and get to know to the spanish language & culture (more the latter than the first, I have to admit) . It's getting late so I will tell about this experience some other time - good night, people!
