THE BOX TOPS TO BE FEATURED ON GERMAN TV SPECIAL!

Memphis blue eyed soul legends, THE BOX TOPS, will be a featured act on Gottschalk's “1968” TV special on September 6, in HAMBURG GERMANY. Hosted by well known German presenter Thomas Gottschalk, THE BOX TOPS will perform their worldwide megahit, THE LETTER. Also scheduled for the show, folk rock icon, DONOVAN, and PETER FONDA, star of the ultimate hippie generation culture film, EASY RIDER.

Since re-forming just 2 ½ years ago, THE BOX TOPS have performed to tens of thousands of fans all across America, and have ascended to the top echelon of their genre. They were featured artists on 2017's HAPPY TOGETHER TOUR, and played on the sold out CONCERTS AT SEA in 2018. They are also slated to play two shows on the already sold out FLOWER POWER CRUISE in 2019. In late 2017, the band signed to Paradise Artists, one of America's premier booking agencies, to handle their engagements exclusively.

In late 2015, original founding members BILL CUNNINGHAM and GARY TALLEY teamed with veteran industry musician/manager RICK LEVY and two top professional musician friends to explore live show potential. In 2016, they hit the road, performing at casinos, fairs, clubs, performing arts centers, and festivals. The show, augmented by Cunningham's chart arrangements and a horn section, features hits from THE BOX TOPS' catalogue, including THE LETTER, CRY LIKE A BABY, SOUL DEEP, NEON RAINBOW, SWEET CREAM LADIES (forward march) and CHOO CHOO TRAIN, plus album cuts and special tributes to Memphis artists. Historical video footage and personal stories of the '60s Memphis scene make the BOX TOPS show a HIP music history experience. THE BOX TOPS are also part of the AMERICAN POP SHOW, with favorites, The Buckinghams and The Grass Roots.

Upcoming shows:
August 3 - CAFÉ WHA? - New York City
August 4 - DARYL’S HOUSE CLUB - Pawling, NY
August 8 - CAPE MAY CONVENTION HALL - Cape May, NJ
August 25 - KOOL DEADWOOD NIGHTS - Deadwood SD
September 6 - GOTTSCHALK'S “1968” television show. Hamburg, Germany

For more information:
www.boxtops.com
www.facebook.com/Box-Tops-141531413031/
instagram: theboxtopsband

GURU GURU CELEBRATES 50 YEARS AS GERMAN MUSIC LEGEND

German Music Legends Guru Guru Celebrate 50 Years With New CD “Rotate!”

50 years of Guru Guru – that’s 50 years of Krautrock!

Dudenhofen, Germany – If you hadn’t believed possible that Mani Neumeier and his Guru Guru still rank among Germany’s most active and prolific rock bands, well, then you’d be proven wrong!

Founded in 1968, the year of the student’s revolt in Germany, Guru Guru has reached their 50th anniversary and still maintains their innovative spirit. Where many a musician made it big as a one-hit-wonder just to fade into oblivion soon after, Guru Guru carved their way outside the mainstream and short lived trends by blending experimental rock, avant-garde, jazz and world music into an unique, original form of rock ‘n’ roll.

No one will deny that there were ups and downs, but nowadays, Mani (Drums/Percussion/Vocals) shares the stage with two long-standing companions. Roland Schaeffler (Guitar/Saxophone/Vocals) and Peter Kuhmstedt (Bass/Vocals) have been with Guru Guru for more than 40 years. The passing of Hans Reffert, aged 69 (Feb. 21, 2016), was a severe blow, but with newly recruited guitar player Jan Lindqvist they overcame this tragedy and proved that they are not in the least tired of creating music.

Those four “Krautrockers” are living legends and next to the Rolling Stones among the longest-serving rock bands on this planet. Mani and Mick are in fact standing next to each other in the Tokyo House of Wax! Mani Neumeier and his Gurus are the epitome of a band that defies musical trends and fads and transcends limitations and genres even on their newest CD called “Rotate!”

After more than 40 releases (LP, CD & DVD), Guru Guru demonstrates that the “overhauled Flagship of German rock” – as they have been called by the German magazine Musikexpress – have not lost their ability to entrance and provide an extraordinary spectacle. Songs like “Ooga Booga Special” span the decades, from the early days of “Magic Tree” to their latest studio album “Rotate!” which has been released to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary in 2018. Never to be missed of course is the immortal “Elektroluch”: The underground hit that has written “Krautrock” history and is, to this day, an intregal part in the band’s live performance.

Whoever thought that Guru Guru would slow down or that Mani would retire to a quiet life in the countryside couldn’t be more wrong. After 50 years they continue to go their own way because they’ve always been – and still are unique!

To purchase Guru Guru’s “Rotate!”:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7gh80xxfsl5jwNtUZJrzRQ
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rotate/1376597257
https://www.amazon.de/Rotate-Guru/dp/B07BF3V4PN

THE CRAZY THEFT OF THE HESSEN CROWN JEWELS

The Recovery of the Hessen Crown Jewels

Began watching a film about The Hessen Conspiracy today on youtube today and wondered why I had never heard of this crime before..

Late on the last day of October 1944 princes Wolfgang and Richard of Germany’s illustrious House of Hesse gingerly lowered a large wooden box into a hole in the basement floor of Kronberg Castle outside Frankfurt. Roughly two feet square and lined with zinc, the box held the bulk of the Hesse fortune—packets of rings, tiaras, necklaces, loose diamonds, and other jewels—which the princes hoped would form the basis of the extended family’s postwar prosperity.

The treasure was worth some $2.5 million (roughly $31 million today). The box included items belonging to several members of the Hesse clan, including the reigning matriarch, 74-year-old Princess Margarete of Prussia, and Margarete’s four sons and their wives. The princes and their mother were the scions of a German principality dating back to the 17th century.

As the war in Europe wound down, a trio of drunken, brazen, and almost comically inept thieves—all of them, regrettably, U.S. Army officers—managed to pull off one of the most lucrative wartime thefts in history.

Frankfurt Bound to Stand Trial for Kronberg Jewel Theft. Washington, D.C.: Col. Jack W. Durant and his wife, WAC captain Kathleen Nash, board an air transport corps plane which will take them back to Frankfurt, Germany to stand trial for the theft

The Hesse Crown Jewelry Heist

In Germany, during the years of WWII, three American Army Officers committed one of the world's most infamous jewelry heists in all of history. The jewelry stolen by the Americas was not an ordinary collection, but happened to be the Crown Jewels of Germany, which at the time belonged to Princess Margaret of Hesse, daughter of the then German Emperor, Frederick III and Queen Victoria, Princess Royal.

Schloss Friedrichshof at Kronberg

At the time, the jewelry was believed to have a value of over $2.5 million USD, but today this would be equivalent to well over $30 million US dollars. Indeed, with jewelry increasing in value over time, the value of the collection today would be much more.

Dozens of friends, colleagues, and family members sent pleas for clemency in Watson’s case beginning with this letter from Lt. Col. H.T. Peery, a vice president at Bank of America. Ultimately, Watson was sentenced to three years, but paroled early. Nash received five years and Durant fifteen. More of the story can be found in the Hesse Crown Jewels Case description.

THE AMAZING ELTZ CASTLE IN GERMANY

Eltz Castle (German: Burg Eltz) is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family (the Eltz family) that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. Bürresheim Castle (Schloss Bürresheim), Eltz Castle and Lissingen Castle are the only castles on the left bank of the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate which have never been destroyed.

Eltz Castle in Trier, Germany

Eltz Castle is considered the German knight’s castle par excellence. It has remained in the possession of the original family and was never destroyed. Its history is a wealth of myths and events, famous personalities and great art. A short portrait of the castle with the most important dates and facts as well as many interesting stories and information:

9th to 13th Century
The development of medieval castles, which we admire so much today because of their beauty and their fortifications, began in the 9th and 10th century. What used to be small manor houses surrounded by earthworks and palisades now became castles fortified with heavy walls. The prime period of castle construction was from the 11th to the 13th century – the period of the Stauffer dynasty. This eventful period also saw the first mention of the name Eltz.

NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLE IN BAVARIA!

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany.

Neuschwanstein Castle (German: Schloss Neuschwanstein, English: "New Swanstone Castle" is a nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany.

The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner. Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds.

The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886. Since then more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle..Myself included in 1972.

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany.

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany.

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany.

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany.

THE BERLIN WALL WAS TORN DOWN 24 YEARS AGO TODAY

The Berlin Wall was a massive cement wall built after World War II (August 1961) between West and East Europe. Bolchevik ideology in East Germany and Europe lead to unhappiness, and this triggered a mass escape of people to the west side. Soviets built it and equipped it with weapons and wire fences, and killed anyone who attempted to cross it.

This spread families and friends apart. The tense situation lasted long, and finally in November 1989, the wall, and its darkness was destroyed forever.

CHECK POINT CHARLIE MUSEUM