A beautiful summer day in the German capital. The Funk Doc and the Old Man hopped a train to the city center and joined in the biggest party this side of Gleneagles, Scotland.

The Berlin Live8 concert was expected to attract about 100,000 people but we were there for other reasons.

Finding a nice grassy spot not far from the stage, we unpacked our tortilla chips, lime soda, and bourbon and pressed "record". Topics of conversation ranged from reasons for being at the concert and perceptions of US generosity to Enlightenment universalism and why we should even care about people starving in Africa.

(In case you're wondering, unlike in the States, there are no "open container" laws in public spaces in Germany. Home of the free, indeed.)

The musical selections didn't represent a very wide range of styles. We only played three tracks, but they were tight. First was The Roots with the song "The Next Movement". The Funk Doc appropriately described the group as a "transcendental hip hop" act with broad appeal.

Later we played Bud Powell's "John's Abbey" from the album Time Waits - a review of which can be read here on the Casual Arts website.

The last track of the show was from Mos Def (another hip hop track) called "Habitat".

The Funk Doc among the Green Day fans

The Old Man's Mic

Between Bud Powell and Mos Def was an interlude of three brief interviews I (The Old Man) conducted to see why the Germans were at the Live8 concert. After the first two interviews, an eight year old boy from Berlin approached me and asked what I was doing, so I asked him the same question. Our short chat is in the podcast, but if you don't speak German here's the gist:

Old Man - "So what are you doing here today?"

Oliver - "Huh?"

Old Man - "What are you doing out here in the park?"

Oliver - "My brother and my buddies are here and I want to see Green Day and I just saw Die toten Hosen."

Old Man - "Oh, yeah. They were just on stage weren't they?"

Oliver - "Yeah."

Old Man - "Was it a good show?"

Oliver - "It was really cool. Great atmosphere."

Old Man - "And are you thinking about the people in Africa?"

Oliver - "Yeah. We donated some money already and...yeah...I hope it goes well, you know, that they will survive."

It was really cool that the kid wanted to talk and he had a brilliant Berlin accent.