GOLDRAUSCH SESSIONS vol 1 Bob Rutman & Band
This post comes late in many ways, Bob being gone for well over a month now and the video this is about shot in 2017, almost 4 years ago.
But then again I figure the dead worry over time even less then we do:)
I got to know Bob Rutman about 25 years ago and saw him pretty much once a week, as he was a regular, if not THE regular at Hackbarth's Bar in Berlin.
He would often be there before me when I opened the place in the morning and later, when I switched to working at night, he not seldom was among the last to leave.
Though some warned me in the beginning, I was victim to his bad moods only once or twice and by then already used to much worse behaviour than his. More often he was very funny and seemed to become ever more so the older he got, rolling a spliff before setting out to his usual round through Berlin-Mitte, after having a piece of cake and a Latte macchiato with me. I knew little of his music, though he must have invited me to his shows a hundred times over, handing out little black and white flyers, never tiring of the hustle to coax someone to come and see him play. When we decided to have him at the Popschutz Studio and do the first Goldrausch Session ever, the whole idea already had the connotation of something you better do now, before it’s too late. There is one incident that evening in 2017 that stays with me all the time and somehow feels like a summary of the Bob Rutman spirit to me. Shorty before the concert started I accompanied Bob to the restroom. He was holding on to my arm, walking was already giving him trouble and we climbed up the stairs that led to our destination. Half way up he stopped for a moment, slightly shook his head saying: “Man, it’s a drag getting old.” and then started to chuckle the way only he did. After that, he moved on and ten minutes later played a concert that left me speechless. He shared the stage with Yuko Matsuyama, Yoyo Röhm and Kristof Hahn that night while Uli M Schueppel and I filmed and Arne Bergn