July & August 07

Ether
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Vienna’s community webmagazine for English speakers!

This month: Summer Special European Resistance

Archive Picnic Secrets Nova Rock Festival Your Views
Expats Tell Their Stories Vienna Calling Book Reviews
Band Of The Month and plenty more...
Ether Welcome - 2 Ether Content - 3

Welcome This
Summer is here at last!
Month...
Picnic Special! - page 11

Here at Ether we are going to be ta- Info and

king a well-deserved break to enjoy
the good weather and all that Vienna Services
has to offer. I hope you enjoy this July/ see page 30
August issue and find the features and
listings inspiring.
  The Ether Team
We will be back in September with the
usual stuff and a special announce-
ment!
Editor: Katie Binns

Best wishes, Arts Editor: Anja McCloskey Greetings from the Editor 2 ImPuls Tanz 30

Web Editor: Andy Harris Content 3
Katie Binns
Contributors: AMA, Sharron Au-
Editor brey, Sandra Boran, Alex Fanta, Viennese View 4 The Test: How
Jerusha Frost, Ted Geary, John Austrian are you?
Hodgson, I-LIB, Barbara Mollay, Expat of the month 5 32
Richard Rees Jones, Eva Rein-
bacher, Lynn Sikora, Rian van
Spaandonk, Thomas Wicky
Vienna in Pictures 6 Student Pages 34

Contact: European Resistance Archive 8

Marktgasse 8/50, Around Town 36
1090 Wien, Basket Cases Ahoi 11
Email info@ethermagazine.at Next Month 37
www.ethermagazine.at Dirty Dancing 14

Vienna Calling 16
Enjoy our Summer Special!
Your Vienna 27
Ether Views and Opinions - 4
Eva Reinbacher The Viennese View
On the National Holiday in Vienna, you
get a military show-down at Heldenplatz,
a field day in Wienerwald and free entry
to museums. Read the following about my
secret investigations into Independence
Day festivities on the other side of the
Pond. I only say: IFOCE!!
Imagine being in the USA on the 4th of
July. What would you do? Basically, you’d
have a day off. You’d go for a picnic.
You’d BYOB. Maybe you’d be wearing a
stars-and-stripes-bikini or similar subversive
clothing. After finishing YOB, you’d see the
fireworks. I’d qualify this way of celebrating
as rather unoriginal unless – and here co-
mes the exciting part – you were present
at the IFOCE: the International Federation
of Competitive Eating. And unless there
was ‘Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest’.
Believe it or not, there are some people in
this world who compete in the task of ea-
ting a maximum number of hot dogs within 12
minutes. On Independence Day in New
Issue of the moment
When sum-
mer heat
reaches the
city it´s time
to consi-
der leaving.
Luckily, with
Ryanair and
the likes, it´s
easier to get
to the seaside
places than it
used to be.
In the long-
passed days
of the early 20th century people did just
the same. Instead of the Canaries and
Greece, the places to be were Ischl and
Baden. The tradition of ‘Sommerfrische’
started about 150 years ago, when the
Viennese bourgeoisie flocked to the coun-
tryside in an attempt to emulate the no-
bility. Kaiser Franz Josef and his Bad Ischl
in the Salzkammergut region to the West
York you
can watch
monsters
like Patrick
“Deep Dish”
Bertoletti,
Joey “Jaws”
Chestnut,
Takeru “Tsu-
nami” Ko-
bayashi the
current world
champion
and Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas
(yes, there are female food annihilators as
well) stuffing themselves with up to 53 hot
dogs in less than a quarter of an hour!
This madness started in 1916, when four
immigrants had a hotdog eating contest
to settle an argument about who was
the most patriotic. As there’s an alarming
hype around patriotism in Vienna let us
just watch out for the first Bratwürschtl ea-
ting contest in the Prater!
Alex Fanta
were particularly hip among rich mer-
chants, lawyers and the growing urban
elite. People back then never actually
reached the ´real´ countryside, instead
they brought urban cafés, the opera and
metropolitan style to the deprived Sou-
thern and Western provinces. Only in the
days of mass tourism in the latter years of
the 20th century did the tradition slowly
die out, leaving the ‘Kurorte’, the famous
spas, to rich foreign holidaymakers. Former
chanceller Bruno Kreisky had the same
sentiment in mind when he claimed that
he went to Mallorca because ‘Carinthia
is too expensive’. These days summer va-
cation in the country is coming back. But
with the majority of Viennese being immi-
grants, or people actually originating from
the provinces, the seasonal exodus to all
the rural areas in Styria, Tyrol or Vorarlberg
has more the sentimental character of
a homecoming for those who grew up
there. Yet they bring a bit of Vienna to
Kapfenberg, Kufstein or Klagenfurt just like
times gone by...
Goodbye Sydney, Hello Vienna!
Every month we’ll be featuring
an expat from a different part
of the English-speaking world to
tell us why they are in Vienna.
This month we have
Sharron Aubrey
I know it’s an Aussie cliché, but I was born and
bred in Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia and led
a different life to the one I have now. While ho-
lidaying in Queensland in ´99 I fatefully met my
future husband who was travelling around Aus-
tralia. About a year later, I left Sydney on a high
after the 2000 Olympics to follow my heart.
At the time Austria had made international
news regarding the coalition between the then
Peoples Party and The Freedom Party. The con-
troversial news that sanctions against Austria
were being imposed by the EU was broadcast
around the world. Many of my family and friends
were slightly concerned that I was moving to a
country where `those people` live with `those
attitudes`. These ideas are foreign for most of us
Aussies who come from a place where nearly
everybody originated from another country.
Ether Expats - 5
However, apart from the shock to the system
that came with my first winter, the obvious langu-
age barriers (Ich bin eine schlechte Auslanderin)
and being exposed to the very special Viennese
cautiousness and their interesting charm, I found
Austria to be and still do a pretty fantastic place
to live.
Austria’s social system is second to none, educa-
tion is practically free, they support the arts and
culture, the landscape and its natural beauty
is amazing, architecture beautiful, great lifes-
tyle and standard of living, food and wine-YES
please!! And it’s close to Italy - what more could
a girl want!
Very early on I was pleasantly surprised to find
out that these Austrians spoke English bloody
well, so I adopted my new role as the walking
English lesson. Thus my new career as an English
trainer began. I found work all over the place
from language schools, high schools, universities
to training in companies. I trained as a CELTA
teacher and began a Masters in Education.
In the last few years I have tried to tone down
my teaching in order make way for my real pas-
sions: acting, producing and theatre. Some of
my personal highlights have included studying
at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London
- a hop, skip and a jump away in Aussie terms
- performing with The Vienna Theatre Project in
the Vagina Monologues and successfully per-
forming an Australian play last autumn with my
co-founded theatre group, The English Players.
After many readings this year we have finally
found fruitful and exciting material that we hope
brings an interesting 2007/8 season. Theatre
keeps opening doors for me to interesting and
inspiring people and keeps me looking forward
to the future.
People often ask me will my husband and I ever
move back to Oz or don’t you miss Australia and
so on. Apart from the beach, the beach and
the beach that beckons me back every 12 to
18 months or so and that the fact that winter is a
bit too looong at times I  gratefully and thankfully
respond  that Austria is a very hard place to give
up living in and that I am happy and lucky to call
it my home.
Would you like to feature in Expat of the
Month and tell your story? Contact us at
ether@ethermagazine.at
 Ether Vienna in Pictures - 7

A photo a day in the life

of an expatriate in Vienna
Self Service Flowers
‘Blumen selbst schneiden’ means ‘Cut Your Own Flowers’. Sunflowers and gla-
diolas are available in full bloom to cut yourself. The box tied to the sign serves as
the cash register.  Flowers cost EUR 0,70. The honour system is in full effect. Knives
and hacking tools are made available to patrons free of charge. This takes the
“Honey I’m home!” (bouquet of flowers in hand), to a whole new level... because
you actually searched, found, and cut them yourself. That’s a very cool thing... 
Ladies from around the world should be jealous ;)

Austrian Trio
Mother, father and daughter lined up on the tarmac.  Your
favourite local carrier, Austrian Airlines Group, is a triumvi-
rate consisting of three brands ( Austrian Airlines, Austrian
Arrows, and Lauda Air) all rolled under the Austrian flag.
Austrian Airlines is the main red & white brand that is slowly
being taken over in mind share (and routes) by upstart Lau-
da Air. Lauda Air was established in 1979 by ex-Formula One
motor racing champion Niki Lauda. Lauda was founded in
1985, originally operating charter flights. In 2005, the flight
operation of Lauda merged with Austrian Airlines.

Photos by Thomas Wicky

Copyright 2004 - 2006
More at www.ZoomVienna.com
Ether Features - 8
The European Resistance Archive
Eva Reinbacher looks back on
her work for the EU-wide project
aimed at keeping history alive.
s that show what remembrance work can and
Austria is a strange country. In tourist terms
we’re still living in Mozart or Habsburg times, in
political terms we prefer to look forward into
the future. The establishment of the “Future Mi-
nistry” around the same time as the 60th anni-
versary of the end of World War II and the 50th
anniversary of the Republic speaks volumes.
Frankly, the “Year of Remembrance 2005” was
a disaster. The government didn’t fail to cele-
brate themselves as national heroes, but they
failed to deal with the greatest misunderstan-
dings in Austrian contemporary history and cur-
rent political practice. Such as the still popular
concept of Austria as “Hitler’s first victim”. Such
as the criminalisation of resistance fighters as
“traitors of the fatherland”. Such as the open
affinity of some high political functionaries to
SS-squads. Such as the long history of suppres-
sion of the Slovenian minority in Carinthia. For-
tunately there are non-governmental initiatives
should be like.
The online platform European Resistance Ar-
chive, opened only recently, is an example of
best practice – one of which I am proud to say
I contributed to.
In its own words ERA is ‘a space in which indivi-
dual stories of people having resisted against
the terror, humiliation and despair fascism
brought over Europe are kept alive and visible
for everybody.’ Stories have been collected
in the form of video interviews that can be
streamed and downloaded by everyone at
www.resistance-archive.org. Furthermore, the
platform offers other features, such as transcrip-
tions and translations of the interviews, scientific
historical texts, interactive
maps, a glossary, photos
and other personal do-
cuments of the witnesses
and. finally, a contact
form, where activists can
participate in extending
the archive.
ERA is a project funded
by the European Commis-
sion and emerged from
the cooperation of diffe-
rent partner organisations
engaged with historical
research, remembrance
work and youth issues. For
now, partners based in
six EU countries, namely
Austria, France, Germany,
Italy, Poland and Slovenia,
are involved. An important
aspect of the project is
that the main work has been done by young
people, following the objective that in talking to
the witnesses, they can develop an understan-
ding of a common European history and in par-
ticular of the historical importance of resistance
against fascism and nazism.
Manuel Mendez, a member of the French ERA
section, believes the ERA is of hugh importance:
“If we don’t deal with our history we will be for-
ced to repeat it one day.” And in dealing with
our history, nothing can replace the opportu-
nity of listening to the testimonies of witnesses.
The witnesses of World War II will all disappear in
the next few years. The ERA platform is a means
of collecting testimonies while it is not too late,
of keeping the stories alive for the next genera-
tions and of presenting the archive to the inter-
national public.
Case-study Austria: ‘The Making of ERA’
For more than half a year, around 10 people
(some of whom are members of the Green Al-
ternative Youth (GAJ)) have been working on
the Austrian section of ERA. Having decided to
focus on the resistance activities of the Slove-
nian minority in Carinthia – by the way the best
organized resistance movement in Austria, but
still hushed up or even criminalized – we had to
travel a lot in space and time.
September 2006. First official meeting with all
project partners in Reggio Emilia (Italy).
October 2006. Acquisition of volunteer partici-
pants in Austria.
Ether Features - 9
November 2006. Preparation seminar in Styria.
Working on the historical background with Va-
lentin Sima, University professor for contempora-
ry history. Choice of the three interview partners:
Romana Verdel (partisan child), Ana Zablatnik
(unarmed resistance) and Lipej Kolenik (armed
resistance), all members of the Slovenian mino-
rity in Carinthia.
December 2006. Individual research on the
three eyewitnesses’ stories. First meetings with
the eyewitnesses in Carinthia to get to know
each other.
January 2007. Three days of video interviews in
Carinthia with a professional Italian film team.
Hours of setting up, recording, chatting and ea-
ting with the eyewitnesses and their families.
January – April 2007. Selection of video mate-
rial and final cut of the interviews, transcription
and translation, production of historical texts,
biographies, maps and supplements for the
website.
April 2007. Memorial trip to Krakow and Auschwitz
(Poland). Meeting with the international ERA
participants. Visit to the memorial sites with eye-
witness Henryk Mandelbaum.
May 2007. Official presentation of the project in
Berlin with all participants.
The chronological overview may read as a clear,
straightforward project description, easy to fol-
low and easy to integrate into one’s ‘normal life’.
What neither the overview nor this short report
are able to capture is what happens behind all
this - and what it really means to engage with
Ether Features - 10
eye witnesses. It was a basic requirement that
all of us participants (none of whom studies or
had studied history) had to read historical books
and do a lot of research on WWII, on the history
of Carinthia and on the eye witnesses’ biogra-
phies before doing the interviews.
I found that it is not possible to just read a few
books, then trot along to the home of an 80-
year-old resistance fighter in Carinthia, do the
interview and take the next train back to Vien-
na. You cannot just take a train to Auschwitz-
Birkenau, walk around the extermination camp
for a few days, travel back home and get back
to daily life. On the contrary! We all learned a lot
about the resistance struggle and about the
hushed up parts of our country’s history. But
more than that, we had to open up oursel-
ves and engage with some amazing people.
Through their stories we engaged with history.
But it was not always easy - especially in Au-
schwitz. It is not easy to sit and listen to an eye-
witness telling how he was forced to burn the
bodies of Jewish prisoners murdered in the gas
chambers. It is understandable that rather than
listening to the reports and looking at the histo-
rical sites one might feel like running away from
the horrible truth. But in long conversations with
fellow participants, we agreed somehow that it
is our duty to look at and to listen to that horrible
truth. Indeed, it is the least that we can do.
Ether Features - 11
Basket Cases Ahoi!
Against the background of my own experien-
ces, I can only agree with the international par-
ticipants’ conclusion. After the final meeting in
Berlin, the general feeling was ‘we’re comple-
tely exhausted, but proud’, ‘we’ve learned so
much!’ and ‘this is only the beginning!’. The key
organisers are already working on the follow-up
project. For now, the platform awaits its users.
As Sophia Schmitz, member of the German
ERA section concluded: ‘Now it is up to you to
explore, spread and extend the platform! All
contributions are welcome!’
www.resistance-archive.org
Steffen Kreuseler
c/o Metrogap, Lausitzer Str. 10
10999 Berlin - Germany
+49 (0) 30 70071871
era@resistance-archive.org
Grünalternative Jugend (GAJ)
Lindengasse 40
1070 Wien - Austria
+ 43 (0) 1 52125 242 or 243
info@gajwien.at
www.gajwien.at
W.H. Auden once wrote Picnics, what we know to be informal
gatherings for an outdoor meal, origina-
that “Death is the sound ted, as fancy, schmancy indoor French
of distant thunder at a potlucks. Potlucks, for the control-freak,
are just as risky as a picnic. Trusting the
picnic.” Pretty hyperbolic cooking abilities of others can be quite
and inflexible, oder? Of hazardous. But this risk, the surprise, is
what makes a potluck so exciting. Why
course soggy sandwiches not extend this to how we plan our pic-
and muddy blankets are nics? Do not look up the weather fore-
cast for this weekend – plan a picnic,
not pleasant, but who- pack your lunch and go!
ever said dancing in the If it rains, embrace it. How often do you
get to dance around in an outdoor sho-
rain wasn’t? Especially wer or smooch your sweetheart while
if you packed plenty of the heavens pour out their blessings on
you? It is also a good chance that you
Grüner Veltliner and Po- could get the Burggarten to yourself.
tato Salad. So, invite ‘Death’ to your picnic and just
remember not to wear white or jeans
Jerusha Frost a – trust me, there is little more uncomfor-
Ether Features - 12
table than the sopping, heavy, chafing
mess they become.
There are some fabulous products that
have been made to make your picnic
more enjoyable and less messy – rain
and all. WMF, in addition to producing
fabulous cooking and baking products,
also has a great assortment of covered
cheese trays and a handy travel silver-
ware set - the ‘NOMAD’. For carrying
your lunch, those masters of design,
the Swedes, have out done us all again
with Sagaform’s insulated picnic back-
packs. Yatego.com offers a great selec-
tion, in all price ranges, of blankets with
a waterproof bottom (Search: Wasser-
fest Picnic Decke), as well as charming
picnic baskets and the more practical
picnic backpacks.
If you would rather not invest in picnic
gear, you can keep your food fresh a
variety of other ways. Unless you are li-
ving in a nice, big house auf dem Land,
it is likely that your freezer was made for
Lilliputians. However, if you can make
room, freeze a water bottle before lea-
ving; it will keep things cold and melt for
later drinking. Try to avoid packing soft
fruits, meats or dairy items. Cheese how-
ever is fine. Hard vegetables and dips,
such as carrots, celery and hummus
hold up well. Do not carry your items in
a paper bag, just in case it rains.
What to do? Bring a ball or a Frisbee.
If you have a large group, why not try
to organize a game of kickball? There is
less equipment involved than baseball
and unlike soccer, or Fussball, it is wel-
coming of all athletic abilities. Picnicing
one on one with your boy or girl? Bring
a book and read to each other. This
is especially delightful if you are both
non-native speakers of each others’
language.
So, grab your basket, ball and book,
head for the vineyards, the mountains,
parks or even a rooftop. And if you are
adventurous, secretly wish for rain.
Austrian Potato Salad
4 servings
For the Austrian Potato Salad it’s best to use
new or fingerling potatoes. New potatoes
are any kind of potato that has been har-
vested in the spring or early summer and are
easy to recognize by their almost paper thin
skins, which are quite easy to peel off. These
potatoes have not yet converted all their su-
gars into starch, giving them a higher mois-
ture content and making them less likely to
fall apart. This is ideal for the Austrian potato
salad, which requires slicing the potatoes
rather than dicing them.
450g of waxy yellow potatoes (new or finger-
ling),1/4 cup of plain or red cider vinegar, 1/8
cup of Sunflower or Rapseedoel, 1/3 cup of
minced onion (preferably white, but red will
do – or if you prefer 2 minced shallots), Salt
and Pepper to taste, 3 Tablesppons chop-
ped fresh Parsley, **Optional** 1 minced
garlic clove (only because I love it in every-
thing – though purists would never dare)
Wash and boil the potatoes until fork tender.
Though hot, try to peel immediately. Let cool
before slicing into small rounds. Lightly season
with salt and pepper Combine remaining in-
gredients in a small bowl and gently mix into
potatoes. Garnish with parsley sprigs. Cover
and let sit at least an hour before serving.
Rarely are there leftovers of this salad, be-
cause as I have experienced, Austrians
would rather, despite their otherwise con-
servative nature, throw away any uneaten
salad than risk eating it the next day - who
knows what might happen to it in the refrige-
rator! However, should you be lucky enough
to not have eaten it all, I believe it is, like pas-
ta sauce, better the next day. Overnight, the
flavors of the parsley and onion (and garlic, if
you wish) have had a chance to permeate
the dressing, which in turn has a chance to
seep into the potatoes. Delicious!
Patty’s American Potato Salad
4 servings
For the Patty’s Potato Salad any potato will
do. I still prefer the texture of the new po-
tatoes, though big white ones make a truly
American looking salad.
Ether Features - 13
500 kg of potatoes, any kind, 1/4 cup chop-
ped onion, 1/4 cup chopped celery (use
some leaves, too), Dill or sour pickles, as
many as you like, but they can’t be sweet or
Cornichons, 1/4 cup of mayonnaise, squirt of
mustard or pinch of dry mustard, dash of dill
pickle juice, 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh
dill, 2 hard boiled eggs, cut in quarters.
If using large white potatoes, you may wash,
peel, and dice them before boiling. How-
ever, if you choose to do this, make sure they
are uniformly diced. If using new or fingerling
potatoes, prepare as for an Austrian Potato
Salad, peeling while still hot. When pota-
toes are cool, lightly season with salt and
pepper. Gently mix in onions, celery,
pickles and dill. In a separate bowl, mix
together mayonnaise, squirt of mustard,
pickle juice, then mix into potatoes. Gar-
nish with chopped eggs and dill sprigs.
Cover and refrigerate before eating.
This salad is best the day of, but is still
good as leftovers.
Spiked Raspberry-Mint Lemonade
This twist on the Mojito is perfect for any
occasion. It can also be made without
the raspberry vodka, in which case it
would really be a Minted Johanissbe-
eren Lemonade.
Per serving
2 oz Raspberry infused Vodka (a shot
glass size), 4-8 fresh Mint leaves, 1-2 Ta-
blespoons of sugar, Juice from 1/4 of a
lemon, Johannisbeeren syrup (or Cran-
berry juice, if you can find it), Lemona-
de
Mash the mint with the sugar and lemon
juice. Top with about 2/3 cup of lemo-
nade/water. Add a splash of Johannis-
beeren syrup or cranberry juice. This is
only for color, so do not add too much.
If you are taking this on a picnic, freeze
this in a leftover water bottle, or any tra-
vel bottle, but leave room for the vodka!
Before leaving add vodka, by the time
you arrive at your site, it should be all
mixed in.
Ether Features - 14
Dirty Dancing ...
... gets a whole new meaning
when you decide to visit one
of the festivals this summer.
They usually last for three days
because any additional hour
would evoke the danger of an
epidemic. However, a festival
also contains a few hazards for
the human body when it lasts
so long. Sandra Boran reports
from the Nova Rock Festival.
The first thing you get when you are not careful is
sunburn. Usually, the car and the tent are about
a twenty minute walk apart from each other.
There is no shade whatsoever, so it is essential to
bring sun-block. Also remember to bring some
cold beer on the first day, so the walk and the
putting up of the tent are easier to do. But do
not drink too much because another very
dangerous ‘disease’ you could suffer from is un-
consciousness. It is especially common amongst
the younger generation and it spreads very
quickly. Unconsciousness is rather contagious
and sometimes you can literally watch people
fall down. The only way not to get infected is
to stay out of the sun and drink as little beer as
possible before the sun goes down.
There are Red Cross wagons but the chances
that anyone will take you there are slim. The
most unusual case of the disease has been
observed at the Nova Rock last month when
a guy fell comatose and still continued to walk
around. He shrank like a flower that needs wa-
ter but still managed to save the beer he was
holding. I observed three girls passing by him,
one of whom wanted to help him. The second
declared he couldn’t be helped there while
the third one decided she wanted to help him
too because maybe he had cute friends...
The second retorted: ‘Always remember one
thing, ugly guys never have cute friends.’ What
a piece of advice!
There are many strange people at festivals.
When you are a woman, you should never
walk anywhere alone if you want to avoid ha-
ving beer all over you, invitations for the night,
comments about your boobs and other body
parts and attacks with water pistols filled with
everything but water. If you walk past a tent
at night and someone asks you if you want to
spend the night with him, always say no. As far
as my experience goes, there is not a single
thing you do not regret the next morning.
If you are a guy, you have to do everything to
get attention and people have the most crea-
tive ideas the more drunk they are. Mini skirts with
no underpants, giant ugly red hats, megapho-
nes, shopping carts, make-up and many other
things. If you are a guy and decide to take a
micrphone, please think of more than one good
joke you can tell the whole night. And, by the
way, ‘this is Wolfgang Priklopil speaking, Nata-
scha, please come back in the basement’ is not
funny, not even the first time.
Nonetheless, the second and third day are much
more hazardous than the first one. It starts when
you get up around eight in the morning. The only
way to sleep longer is to bring earplugs and if the
festival is well organized, they even give them
away for free at some stands. It is important to
wear shoes everywhere always because you
could hurt your feet on empty beer cans. It is
unbelievable how many cans lie around on
the first morning and difficult to imagine the
people who have drunk all of them.
On the first morning, all you can think of is a sho-
wer and a nice bed to sleep a bit longer. The lat-
ter is not possible but there are, believe it or not,
showers. For men it is easy, they just go there and
have a shower. If you are a woman, this beco-
mes a lot more complicated. If you want to take
your shower in the morning, there will be a very
long line of girls who had the same idea. Again,
you take risks of getting sunburnt and/or dizzy
due to the heat. Therefore, it is not recommen-
dable to shower between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The best time to do that is in the afternoon. There
are no queues and you feel great (and clean!)
before the first significant band starts to play.
Men do not seem to take showers at all during
festivals which is why there are no queues. The
downside is that you have a collective smelli-
ness, no matter where you go. Some people say
that this is because of the beer cans and all the
other rubbish but this is not true. In the morning,
when all the dirty people are still asleep, the air
smells nice and clean. In the evening, however,
the smell becomes worse and worse. For some
Ether Features - 15
reason, it gets smellier the closer you come to
the stage. So, if you want to enjoy a concert in
the wave breaker, you should not be clean at
all or else you will not be able to stand the smell
of others.
The next topic is best introduced by the sentence
DIXIE – WENNS UM DIE WURST GEHT. Dixie is a brand
for mobile toilets and, well, the rest is self-explana-
tory. If you really decide to use one of the Dixie
toilets, never go alone. There are always people
waiting to knock an occupied toilet over, only to
laugh their heads off. The water-flushed toilets near
the showers are much better. There are cleaning
ladies at every hour of the day and you can just
wait until they are done and go in right after.
This brings me to the last point. The reason why
people actually go to festivals: The bands. Con-
certs at festivals are so much better than single
ones. There is a huge crowd, it is open air and
everyone dances all night long. It does not mat-
ter, where you are, you always here and see the
bands playing, so there is no need to stand in line
for hours or fight to get in the first row. The atmos-
phere is amazing, everyone seems to be happy
and to have fun. It is the only reason why people
go there. The music just makes any suffering worth
it and after three days you will look back on a dirty
but great holiday!
Music Festivals 2007
Nuke 13th -14th July Sankt Pölten
www.nuke.at
The line-up this year includes The Prodigy, Beastie
Boys, Amy Winehouse and Wir Sind Helden
Frequency 15th - 17th Aug Salzburgring
www.frequency.at
Performances by Kaiser Chiefs, Manic Street
Preachers, Falloutboy and Nine Inch Nails to
be enjoyed
Festivalgelände Wiesen Burgenland 2nd - 5th Aug
www.wiesen.at
Huge Austrian electronic music festival
KlangBogen 1 Jul - 31 Aug 
The annual Vienna KlangBogen celebrates
its 10th anniversary this year. For opera lovers.
Takes place at the wonderful Theater an der
Wien in the heart of the city. 
Seefestspiele Mörbisch Neusiedlersee
12th July - 26th Aug
www.seefestspiele-moerbisch.at 
Modestly describes itself as the Mecca for
opera lovers.
 Vienna Calling... Vienna Calling...
Ether brings you the July & August City Guide... Ether brings you the July & August City Guide...

Africa Days Restaurants of the month...

27th July - 5th August HAWIDERE
Africa days Vienna 2007! For ten days Africa’s “Hawidere” is a typical Austrian expres-
spirit and joy of life will be celebrated. The heart sion, in fact a short version of “habe die
of the event is the big bazaar with art and craft ehre” and is used as a salutation. HAWI-
from Africa, drum and dance workshops and a DERE is a traditional wirtshaus + bar, run
colourful children’s programme with story tellers by some folks from deep Burgenland.
and a creative and play corner. Hot rhythms Located at Ullmannstraße 31, 1150 Vien-
await Africa lovers at the open air concerts na (pass all the porn and tatoo shops in
with traditional and modern African music. And Sechshauserstraße and turn left).
food and drink is also available – there are bars The website doesn’t do it justice, it ac-
Hawidere Restaurant
with African meals, cocktails and drinks. tually is a really cool place. And they
Monday to Friday 2 pm til midnight. Saturday also seem to be one of the few bars/
and Sunday 11 am til midnight. Entry: 5 € paya- restaurants who are relaxed about the
ble at the entrance. Children under 12 go free. closing of the outdoor aera at 11 p.m.
The day ticket gives you access to the festival They ususally let you stay and just ask
area, includes the Africa Day music program- you to be quiet.
me and participation in many activities. www.hawidere.at

Danube Island
Floridsdorfer Brücke
www.afrika-tage.at/seiten/w_programm.htm
The Britsh Bookshop
Harry Potter launch party
a KENT
20th July, 10 p.m.
A Turkish restaurant at Brunnenmarkt.
Join the British Bookshop from 10pm on Friday Huge and quiet gastgarten with trees
20th July for the countdown to the launch of and fountain.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Sit outside until 11 p.m. Food is served
To pass the time there’ll be magicians, a Harry from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Kent Restaurant
Potter quiz, a general knowledge trivia quiz,
refreshments and lots more. There’ll be 2 pairs www.kent-restaurant.at
of free tickets to the new Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix movie for the winners of Am Nordpol 3
each of the competitions! (Presented by the
Burgkino Vienna). And the book officially goes A very cool restaurant, comfortable
on sale at 1.01am! You can buy your copy at with good traditional bohemian food
the special launch party price of € 19,90! (Re- and Gastgarten.
commended price € 28,90). Go to the website Right next to Augarten. Czech beer, a
to download your invitation. lot of schnaps and vodka.

Weihburggasse 24 www.toptipplokale.at/05lokal.
A-1010 Wien php?id=W171853
www.britishbookshop.at
Africa Days © maxVita 2006
 Vienna Calling...
Ether brings you the July & August City Guide...

Open Air Cinema Silent Film Festival

Kino unter Sternen
Until 12th August
Where: inside the augarten park
What: classics: e.g. “Casablanca”, “The Third
Man”, “Le Mepris”, “La Dolce Vita”, Fassbinder
films
Last year’s hits: “Dans Paris”, “Volver”, “The
Science of Sleep”
Premieres: “Prater” (Ulrike Ottinger, AUT) and
others from Finland, Morocco and Japan
Tribute: jerry lewis
www.kinountersternen.at
Stumm & Laut 2007 This month we’re going to...
16th - 18th August
Desert Dreaming, Australian Aboriginees’ Art
Where: Erholungspark am Laaerberg
What: FIlms by Ernst Lubitsch, Fritz Lang
and Buster Keaton
“DESERT DREAMING - Australian Aboriginees’ Art” is an exhibi-
tion of contemporary art of the Australian aboriginees from
Last year’s website: the collection of Donald Kahn. 40 works of extraordinary visu-
al power by 34 artists, who live in the desert region of central
www.stbalbach.at/veranstaltungen/
stummundlaut.html
Australia, are on display.
Albertina Museum
until 26th August

www.albertina.at
 Vienna Calling...
Ether brings you the July & August City Guide...
Editor’s choice...
Swimming pool at Döbling
There are three open-air swimming pools and
a smaller hydrotherapy pool with play areas
for children, outside restaurant and ice-cream
stand. Enjoy the fantastic view of the UNO city
as well as a panaramic view of Vienna’s sky-
line.
6, Gewaygasse
Tel. 01 318 01 40
Ride with the Critical Mass
Every 3rd Friday of the month
Happy collective bike ride through the
city, dropping flyers and demonstrating
somehow for more respect and space for
bicycles. After roughly two or three hours,
finish at some bar like FLUC or lefty open
Vienna Calling...
Ether brings you the July & August City Guide...
Fancy going further
afield?
spaces like TÜWI, in the summer sometimes
collective swimming in the danube.
Meeting point: 4.30 p.m. Marghareten-
platz
Kick off: 5 p.m.
www.criticalmass.at
Viva Musica Festival,
Bratislava
26th July - 3rd August
This is the second year of the festi-
val of contemporary classical music
in Slovakia’s capital. Situated near other
classical music heavyweights - Vienna,
Budapest and Prague - the city has a
monumental task as organizers hope to
elevate Bratislava to the level of other
famous European capitals and to high-
light the Slovakian capital as a dynamic
culture and fashion destination. Whether
the festival will achieve its goals remains
to be seen but the festival was heral-
ded a success last year with its 10 days
of events, 40 hours of music, a special
children’s opera, masterclasses and an
open air amphitheatre. Bratislava’s past
has been characterized by the strong in-
fluence of various nations, including Slo-
vaks, Germans, Hungarians and Jews - all
of which have been incorporated in the
festival’s spirit. A festival worth checking
out and supporting.
The Karlovy Vary Inter-
national Film Festival in
Prague
29th June - 7th July
This is one of the oldest film festivals in the
world (began in 1946). For more than 40
years the festival was organized under
the pressure of the political situation in
socialist Czechoslovakia. After the social
changes in 1989 the festival struggled for
several years with lack of interest from
the state as well as the public. However,
in 1994 the organization of the festival
was taken up by a new team, led by the
well-known Czech actor Jiří Bartoška who
decided to transform the stagnant show
into a film forum of international impor-
tance. Within a few years, the team ma-
naged to return the festival to the presti-
ge and interest of both professional and
lay public. More than 200 new films from
all over the world are shown.
www.kviff.com
 Vienna Calling...
Ether brings you the July & August City Guide...
Hungarian Spas
Known as the land of spas, Hungary’s
famed thermal and mineral waters offer
unparalleled therapeutic benefits.
Salzburg Festival
27th July - 31st August
‘Routine, run of the mill performances
have no place here,’ said Austrian dra-
matist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and for
more than 80 years Salzburg has done
its best to obey. Last year inevitably
brought a deluge of Mozart... This year’s
highlights include the world premiere
of Jan Fabre’s boundary-crossing Re-
quiem for a Metamorphosis, the Berlin
Philharmonic’s performance of Mahler’s
Symphony No.9 and a double perfor-
mance by Placido Domingo.
www.salzburgfestival.at
Tel. 0622 8045 500
Innsbruck Festwochen
3rd July - 26th August
Rene Jacobs’ early music festival inclu-
des ‘Socratic’ Telemann and Handel’s
Acis and Galatea.
www.altemusik.at
Tel. 0512 561561
I-LIB
Graffiti artist/ Illustrator
I am I-LIB (I Lurk In Bushes) i am a graffiti artist/illustrator who loves to paint large scale organic intricate
patterns and characters in black, white and gold on old decaying surfaces like mouldy walls, found
paper and fabric and hand engrave patterns into old wood and rusted metal. I work from memory
so every pattern i produce is different and a one-off design. I am about to be on a new site cal-
led www.stelladore.com alongside Eine, D*face, Kid Acne and Paul Alexander Thornton plus some
other great artists, where limited edition prints and originals of my work will be available from the be-
ginning of August. And when i am not painting you can usually find me drunk in a bush somewhere
with a can ofhairspray doing my massive hair.
www.myspace.com/i_lib www.stelladore.com
Ether Band of the Month - 24
Band of the Month
Glam and glitter - Perfect words to describe Zeronic
Introduced by Barbara Mollay
The band consists of five members and
was founded towards the end of the 1990s
in Güssing (a small town in the southern
part of the most eastern province of Aus-
tria). After winning the local band contest
‘America is waiting’ in 2000 they became
increasingly popular all over Austria. Due
to their reputation, they were then hired to
do a couple of support shows for a consi-
derable number of well known internatio-
nal acts such as The Queens of the Stone
Age; Bryan Adams, Three Doors Down.
Zeronic is a band definitely worth spending
some time and even money on to see live
on stage if they come to a venue near
you. Firstly the amazing voice of the singer
(Mik) sounding, on the one hand, strong
and fragile, on the other. This band always
seems to manage to creating a relaxed
atmosphere infusing humour with serious
music-making. During their concerts there
is always a lot of audience interaction and
they also tend to squeeze in some anec-
dotes from behind the scenes in between
their songs. This is, of course, not everyone’s
cup of tea; Ilove it personqlly. Lately, their
shows are said to have become a bit ex-
aggerated in terms of lighting and props
– but remember the leitmotif for this month:
glam and glitter.
To stay with those two words - glam and
glitter - is not only appropriate when des-
cribing their shows but their music as well.
Listening to their music may bring one
word to mind: ‘British’. I mean ‘British’ in the
sense of Pulp or Placebo. Some people
may even argue that Zeronic is actually
‘Britrock’ made in Austria…
The band has already released two full
length albums titled ‘High Life’ and ‘Feel
the Nothing’. Their latest single ‘Images of
Girls’ came out in November 2005 (quite a
while ago) followed by a couple of shows
in Great Britain and Austria (last year’s No-
varock festival among others). Unfortuna-
tely one has not heard much of them since,
but rumour has it that they are currently
working on new material.
www.zeronic.net
www.myspace.com/zeronic
Music Box
By Richard
Rees Jones
The live music scene in
Vienna, like that of any
major city, tends to quieten down during
the summer months, as the city empties
and the outdoor festival circuit takes over.
Thankfully, however, there are still a few
interesting events taking place in July and
August. First up, and buried deep among
the shockingly conservative line-up of
the Vienna Jazz Festival, is a concert by
the veteran American free jazz musician
ARCHIE SHEPP. Shepp has a long and
distinguished history as a saxophonist; he
played in Cecil Taylor’s band in the late
50s, before joining John Coltrane’s group
in time to appear on Coltrane’s seminal
1965 album Ascension. Stepping into the
limelight under his own name in the late
60s, Shepp’s music began to embrace a
passionate Afrocentricity on sides such
as Fire Music and The Magic of Ju-Ju. At
the same time, like many black American
musicians of the period, he felt the pull of
Europe, where free jazz was – and remains
– far more appreciated than at home. He
recorded no fewer than five albums for
the important French label BYG Actuel,
and has in fact made France his adopted
home. Shepp’s frenetic avant-garde sax
Sonic Youth
Ether Music Box - 35
lines, coupled with the rhythms and ideo-
logies of Africa, make his music an exci-
ting proposition. Demonstrating a conti-
nued willingness to experiment, he will be
accompanied in this performance by two
rappers and electronic beats.
The other big summer highlight is the visit
of veteran New York avant-garde song-
smiths SONIC YOUTH, playing an open
air concert in the relatively intimate sur-
roundings of the courtyard at the Arena.
Sonic Youth have seemingly been around
forever, constantly varying and refining
their avant-edged brand of alternative
rock. Emerging in the early 80s from the
New York post-punk and No Wave scene,
the band has never entirely abandoned
their roots in experiment and confronta-
tion. The signature Sonic Youth sound is a
maelstrom of squally, guitar-driven noise,
tempered with a clever, hookwise pop
sensibility. Having enjoyed a degree of
commercial success since the release of
their 1988 album Daydream Nation, they
are now in the rare position of being ma-
jor label artists who have retained wide
critical respect and the freedom to expe-
riment more or less as they please. Day-
dream Nation itself has now almost achie-
ved ‘classic album’ status, with the result
that the band has recently taken to play-
ing it in its entirety at concerts. This de-
velopment may surprise those who never
expected Sonic Youth to yield to the cur-
rent fad for complete album performan-
ces; but, given their rich history
of making boundary-breaking
rock music, you can hardly
blame them for exercising their
rights to a little nostalgia. Besi-
des, it’s a dead cert that they
will continue to confound their
audience’s expectations for a
good while yet.
Archie Shepp plays at the Rat-
haus Arkadenhof, as part of the
Vienna Jazz Festival, on 6 July.
Tickets: 408 60 30. Sonic Youth
play at the Arena, Baumgasse
80, on 26 August. Tickets: 798
85 95.
Ether Books of the Month - 26
Our favourite books this month...
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
‘For the past five minutes
I’ve been parked outside
my cousin Vinnie’s bail
bonds office in my crapol-
la car, debating whether
to continue on with my
day, or to return to my
apartment and crawl
back into bed. My name
is Stephanie Plum, and
Sensible Stephanie wan-
ted to go back to bed. Loco Stephanie was
thinking she should get on with it.’ Stephanie’s
life hasn’t been the same since she got fired
from her nice safe job 12 books ago. To make
some good quick money to keep her and
hamster in food, she took a job as a bounty
hunter and things just haven’t been easy ever
since! Not only does Stephanie’s car usually
end up getting blown up every book but she
also has some relationship issues. Will she ever
decide if she wants sexy hard cop Morelli or
No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong
Jamie Vegas knows quite a bit about
showbiz. She is one of the most well known
celebrity mediums on Television. So when
things start to go wrong while participating
in Death of Innocence, a TV special that
hopes to raise the ghost of Marilyn Monroe,
she is glad she has her new hunky werewolf
boyfriend at her side. The 44-year-old nec-
romancer who can reanimate the dead,
faces her biggest career challenge yet—
freeing the trapped ghosts of six murdered
children. She will need a lot of help from
her ‘Otherworld’ friends and ends up cal-
ling on her personal angel, Eve, and Hope,
the well-meaning chaos demon.
This is Armstrong’s 7th book in the ‘Women
of the Otherworld’ series and it has been
getting better and better with every book.
It all started with ‘Bitten’ were we found
out about werewolves and then the cat
was out of the bag and witches, warlocks,
Ether Features - 27
See it through their eyes...
As the evenings have got lighter we ask people on the street:
the mysterious dark Ranger? What is your favourite place to hang out in during the sum-
With Lula the gun happy ex-hooker at her mer in Vienna?
side and a crazy grandmother who keeps
managing to find guns in her handbag. Life is
never dull for Stephanie. In this newest adven-
ture the New Jersey gal is reunited with her
two timing ex-husband lawyer, Dickie, only to
have him go missing. Missing isn’t too bad but
the blood and bullet holes left behind make
Stephanie look like a suspect until she finds
out what Dickie has been up too in his spare
time.
This series never gets boring and this 13th edi-
tion to the club of ‘Plum’ will have fans beg-
ging for number 14 and newer readers going
back to the beginning, ‘One for the Money’,
to see where it all began. Evanovich has kept
Stephanie going and until she gets bored or
the readers get fed up there is no reason for
her to stop.
www.evanovich.com
Erkan Celebi Maria Klein
Tuerkenschanzpark! The Badeschiff on the danube
vampires and eve-
rything else that
My favourite park! I love channel... I work near there.
goes bump in the the place... There’s an open air swim-
night came out
to play. Although
ming pool on the ship and I
best read as a am looking forward to coo-
series each book
can be read on its
ling down there after work
own and this new- Joseph McNamara with friends and cocktails!
est book is the first  
time ‘Jamie’ has
had a book all to
Is it too predictable to say the
herself. With the Museums Quarter? I meet
release of ‘No Hu-
mans Involved’,
friends there. I love being sur-
Armstrong became a New York Times Best- rounded by such a high density
selling author and she is already releasing
another new book ‘Exit Strategy’, her first
of culture and art... I can work
non-paranormal mystery. with my laptop there too, have
www.kelleyarmstrong.com
a drink, relax in the sunshine on
those big seat things... what do
Reviews by AMA they call them?
Ether Features - 28 Ether Features - 29

Gerhard Wieser
 
The bars on the danube is-
land are still largely undis-
covered... it is nowhere near
as busy as it could be at the
weekend, I don’t understand.
I will do different sports there
during the day - rollerblading,
biking, running, I want to try
kite-surfing too - and pro-
bably make it my mission to
check out all the bars by the
end of the summer!

Eva Obenaus bars, great atmosphere, Tur-

kish eateries nearby...  I will
I have recently discove- definately spend alot of my
red Yppenplatz... Plenty of free time there this summer. 
Ether Features - 30
ImPulsTanz
Vienna International Dance Festival 2007
“Thousands of professional
dancers, choreographers and
teachers from all over the world
meet and work together for five
weeks in one city.” This is how
ImPulsTanz describes itself. The
Vienna International Dance
Festival takes place from 12th
July until 12th August. Rian van
Spaandonk talks to Karl Re-
gensburger, founding director of
Europe’s biggest contemporary
dance festival.
ImPulsTanz started life in 1984 as the “Internationale
Tanzwochen Wien” (International Dance Weeks
Vienna). The initiative came from arts manager
Karl Regensburger and choreographer Ismael
Ivo. The festival consisted of twenty workshops with
six teachers. “We wanted to give contemporary
dance in Austria a voice,” explains Regensburger.
“It was the beginning of a new dance culture. The
workshop festival became increasingly successful,
so in 1988 we were able to add a performance
element.” And with that the Vienna International
Dance Festival was born. It featured works by Wim
Vandekeybus, Marie Chouinard and Mark Tomp-
kins, all names that are still closely connected with
ImPulsTanz. In 2007, it is Europe’s biggest contem-
porary dance festival.
ImPulsTanz in numbers: 85 performances, 31 com-
panies, 195 workshops and research projects, 88
instructors.
Contemporary dance is not everyone’s cup of
tea. However, during the five weeks of the festi-
val, ImPulsTanz manages to attract the Viennese,
tourists as well as dancers and choreographers
from as far away as South Korea and Australia.
“The festival offers a wide range of workshops
for absolute beginners,” says Regensburger.
“People who would love to dance, but haven’t
dared to so far. Also, our festival programme of-
fers a wide variety of performances. Contem-
porary dance is closely related to the visual and
multimedia arts, as well as theatre, so we have
a chance to attract people with this mixture of
dance and other arts.”
Vienna may be best known for its opera, but its
position in contemporary dance is also unique.
Regensburger: “ImPulsTanz has become a mel-
ting pot for the international dance scene. As a
workshop festival it is unique in its scope. I gathers
the currently internationally celebrated com-
pagnies together, focusing on the exchange of
ideas and knowledge, unrestricted by national
borders. It is a constant search for the latest trends
and tendencies in contemporary dance.”
Highlights this year include several premieres.
Regensburger is excited: “Canadian Édouard
Lock and his compagnie La La La Human Steps,
known for their exceptionally pacy and virtuoso
choreographies, will present ‘Amjad’, which is
based on the classical ballets ‘Swan Lake’ and
‘Sleeping Beauty’. Another premier is ‘Survive
Cycle’ by RoseAnne Spradlin, winner of the New
Yorker Bessie prize. Her dance is technically ad-
vanced, cool and touching at the same time.”
Other highlights are pieces by Vincent Dunoyer,
Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Meg Stuarts.
Of course, the Austrian dance scene will be re-
presented as well.
Ether Features - 31
For those who are curious about the theory be-
hind contemporary dance, ImPulsTanz offers
talks hosted by UK choreographer Jonathan
Burrows. Burrows is present at the Festival as a
performer as well as mentor of the danceWEB
scholarship programme. He will discuss the past,
present and future of contemporary dance with
renowned artists of the Festival in an intimate set-
ting. The talks are open to everyone and abso-
lutely free.
ImPulsTanz takes contemporary dance directly
into the city. Performances take place in various
locations, like the Burgtheater and Semperde-
pot. “The choice of the different theatres allows
us to choose the right stage for the right piece,”
Regensburger explains. “On the other hand, the
tension that arises from the contrast between
contemporary pieces and historic sites is some-
thing that makes the festival thrilling. It is a delight
for audiences, who enjoy performances in diffe-
rent theatres as well as for the compagnies, who
can use all the possibilities offered by the diffe-
rent stages. It’s fun to be all over the city.” ImPuls-
Tanz even provides transport for people who
need to travel to and from the various locations:
audiences can rent ImPulsTanz bicycles from the
Arsenal, the main base for the workshops, for 5
Euros a day.
ImPulsTanz Locations: Burgtheater, Volksthea-
ter, Schauspielhaus, Semperdepot, Kasino am
Schwarzenbergerplatz, Arsenal art-for-art werk-
stätten.
ImPulsTanz - Vienna International Dance Festival
12th July until 12th August 2007
See www.impulstanz.com for the workshop and
performance programme.
Ether Features - 32 Ether Features - 33

How Austrian are you? Results

b) Standing in the pouring
rain, watching 22 men cha-
sing a ball around a wet 1-4 Points
field, whilst the manager You haven’t calculated it correctly have you?
Whether you choose to spend case anyone thinks you’re pushing in, thus mar- has a heart attack on the Go on, go back and do it again….
king you as a social pariah. touch line.
your days lounging around one c) Tread on another persons foot accidently,
of the open-air pools, sunba- and get sued for 10 million dollars by a high-class c) A sport that only your
up town lawyer for emotional damage. country plays, but for
thing on the danube island, pic- which the championships
nicking in one of the city’s parks are called the world series,
and which you insist on
or having a cool beer on a ter- calling ‘football’, despite
rasse somewhere maybe you using a funny shaped ball
to the rest of the world.
will have time to do this short 4-8 Points
quiz by John Hodgson. We’ve all 5. What’s your idea of a fun night out? Well done! You’re Austrian. You stay neutral in
been living in Vienna for a while a) A few glasses of wine in a
wars, have a well developed social state and
have contributed Mozart (or was that Germa-
now and with immigration and café, maybe with a coffee ny?) and the Schnitzel to the world. Give yourself
too.
integration always a hot topic of b) Get so drunk you can’t
a pat on the back.

discussion, the English-speaking
community should also also ask
themselves how well they have
integrated into Austrian society...
How Austrian are you?
1. What’s you idea of a nice breakfast?
a) Some coffee, black
bread and jam.
b) Sausages, bacon (hmm,
bacon), black pudding, fried
bread, baked beans, black
pudding, bacon, eggs, ba-
con….
c) A cow, covered in syrup.
2. You’re are standing in a queue at the super-
market, when you see a gap enter in front of you,
what do you do?
a) Push quickly in front of everyone else, and de-
mand that the person whose place you stole go
to the back of the queue.
b) Wait quietly in line until your turn comes, in
3. What’s your idea of a funny movie?
a) Something really depressing and black, pro-
bably involving suicide, death and madness,
where everyone hates each other and the
world is an evil place.
b) Some slight romantic comedy, probably in-
volving Hugh Grant bumbling around a picture
postcard Cotswold village where its snows at
Christmas and everyone has 4 by 4s.
c) A thinly disguised morality play, where a slight
quip by the leading character results in the au-
dience falling about in gales of laughter.
4. What does your favourite sport involve?
a) Putting on some day-
glo red outfit, putting two
sticks on your feet and
going hurtling down a
mountain at 100mph.
stand up,
stumble
around
the pub
threatening
people, vomit
outside the pub, then eat a rancid
kebab. And then repeat for the
whole weekend.
c) Drink some awful beer, hmmm
6. A Middle-Eastern country starts throwing its
weight around, what do you do? 9-13 Points
You’re English, so almost European, but not
a) Stay well out of it - the last time you had a war quite. Try driving on the wrong side of the road,
it didn’t go to well (even though it wasn’t you or treat skiing as a real sport, you may feel more
anyway). Austrian then.
b) Wait to see what ‘Big Brother’ does, then jump
in unequivocally on his side, despite the huge
unpopularity of the war.
c) Invade the country with ‘overwhelming for-
ce’, blow up a few buildings, round up the bad
guys, administer justice, then ride off into the sun-
set hombre.
Scores
14-18 Points
Oh dear, you’re American. You are a very long
A= 1 point.
way from being Austrian.It will take something really
B= 2 points
extreme, like putting on a pair of Lederhosen,
C= 3 points.
yodeling in the Tirol, eating some Emmantaler
and spinning around on a mountain meadow.
Picture ”Cafe” by Rita Juliana
Ether Student Pages - 34
Looking back on a fantastic and
inspiring time in Vienna...
For my final article for Ether
before I leave Vienna, I’d
like to reflect on my time
here in the city and con-
sider what life here has
meant to me and what effect
it has had on me.
Ted Geary
Looking back at three years in Vienna, I
can definitely say that the city has had
a profound effect on me and I have to
wonder about what connection I will
have to it in the future and whether I will
ever return. As it is with any place any-
one has called home, Vienna has meant
too much to me to just move on without
stopping to reflect on the city’s impor-
tance to me.
First of all, it’s interesting for me to think
that I had no clear association with Aus-
tria or strong desire to come here before
I arrived. I was a German major and had
to choose between studying abroad in
Munich, Berlin, Graz or Vienna. At the
time I figured I knew less about Austria
than Germany and so therefore I could
get more out of an experience in Aus-
tria. Since I was already at school in the
countryside, being in a big city sounded
more appealing. In that sense it was al-
most coincidental that I ended up here.
But once I started working on my Ger-
man, learning about Austrian history and
enjoying all that the city has to offer as I
tried to immerse myself in Viennese cul-
ture, I was hooked. Now it seems as if I
was meant to come here.
My three years here studying, resear-
ching and teaching have changed me
more than any other combination of
years in my life. First of all, gaining the
experience of living abroad is an inva-
luable one. Being here has really broa-
dened my world and forced me to look
at world affairs differently and become
more of a global citizen. Before I came,
I wasn’t ignorant but my world was cer-
tainly smaller than it should have been.
There is something about looking at the
world from other peoples’ perspectives
which can really enlarge your percep-
tion of the world. But this can happen to
anyone who spends time abroad. What
was specific about Vienna?
Well, in many ways Vienna is a model
city. Not many cities can boast such a
high standard of living, low crime rate
as well as such a central location in Eu-
rope. Also, the city has such a residential
atmosphere that it never feels overwhel-
ming or too fast-paced. It is amazing
that it is able to maintain such a relaxed
mood as a big city, but the great thing
about this is that it allows you to stop
and enjoy all it has to offer quite easily.
These are some of the reasons why it was
so easy for me to settle in here. In my
opinion there are lots of things that other
cities could learn from Vienna.
The international flavour of Vienna is
something else that was so appealing
to me. I have met people from so many
different countries here, many of whom
were just here temporarily like me. These
encounters and friendships are ones that
I probably never would have had if I had
never decided to come abroad. Mee-
ting other foreigners and using German
as a common language was always an
exciting experience for me and some-
thing I will miss.
Lynn Sikora goes back to school...
I’ve always felt that
part of my purpose in
life is to raise Ameri-
cans’ awareness of a
modest little country
called Austria.
It goes far beyond
“there are no kan-
garoos in Austria.
Austria is not Germany. Austrian is not
a language—well not officially.” Then
there’s the whole “Sound of Music”
theory to debunk.
Ever since Herr Katzenmayer, my 7th
grade German teacher, drew a tadpole
shaped country on the blackboard, I’ve
been hooked. I can’t really explain it,
but I suppose I don’t have to.
I know plenty of people who have fallen
in love with Austria, but no one who has
been drawn back as often as myself.
Ether Student Pages - 35
Vienna also taught me to really love city
life. Having lived here, it’s hard for me to
imagine not living anywhere other than
a big city. It’s tough to beat living in a
city with all of the cultural opportunities
being so accessible and not being reli-
ant on a car the entire time. I’ve had so
many great experiences here in Austria
that they are hard to count. Highlights
for me include picking grapes at a Lower
Austrian vineyard, the Wachauer half
marathon, ‘Eisbär’ runs at the Prater, the
Rathausplatz in the summer, the Donau-
inselfest, hiking in Salzburg, the opening
ceremony of the Life Ball, the TU Ball and
many nights out in the city. It’s these me-
mories of things that were only possible
here that I will value the most.
As for whether I will return, there have
been times when I’ve thought I would
like to settle down here and stay. The
city will always be the site of some of my
most cherished memories and where I
probably changed the most. I would like
to think that I could return someday to
work, but that will remain to be seen. An
eventual return visit will surely be in or-
der, and I will really be looking forward
to seeing how the city that has meant so
much to me will have changed.
On a high school band and orchestra
tour, I fell in love with Vienna—Schil-
lings, Mozartkugeln, and Spar.
As a Chicago area native, Vienna was
the city that made me love cities. And
now, six years later, Vienna is my (tem-
porary) home. I studied in Innsbruck for
one year and often miss the Alps, but I
know Vienna was where I was supposed
to end up.
There aren’t sufficient words to describe
how excited I am to spend the sum-
mer months at home after almost nine
months of missing my bed, my dogs,
and a good steak.
But I think part of the reason I’m so
happy to go home is that I know I get
to come back to Vienna in time for the
Sturm season. I’ll admit that the Vienna
I’ve experienced isn’t the same Vienna
that originally drew me in, but that just
makes me like it even more.
Ether Fun Pages - 36 Ether Next Month- 37

Around Town... Until next time...

Quotes of the month...
Deep summer is when laziness finds
respectability.
Sam Keen
 
 Summer afternoon - summer after-
noon; to me those have always been the
two most beautiful words in the English
language.
Henry James
 Ah, summer, what power you have to
make us suffer and like it. 
Russel Baker
Photo competition
Last month’s photo was the top of the
AKH - Vienna’s monster hospital which
is incidentally the biggest hospital in Eu-
rope. Where are we this month? Can
you guess?
Where are we?
If you want to send in suggestions to the Ether
Enjoy the summer!
team email katiebinns@ethermagazine.at. Here at Ether we are taking a well deserved
If you have any pictures that you would like to
break. We hope you enjoy your summer
be printed for our ”where are we” competi- break and we will be back in September with
tion email ether@ethermagazine.at. the next issue and a little surprise announce-
ment...
Tip of the Month
A recently launched geo-political ema-
gazine worth checking out.
www.diplogo.at
Goodbye Ted!
Many thanks to Ted for his contribution to
Ether over the last 10 months and lots of luck
for his return to the US.
Hello Rian!
Vienna welcomes Rian as she makes the
move from London, leaving the BBC, the Big
Smoke, the high rents and settles into Austria.

Plus the usual...

Tom Wicky’s photoblog, The Viennese View,
expat of the month, book reviews, Richard
Rees Jones’ gig recommendations, band
of the month, Vienna Calling... Surely you
don’t need reminding?

Would you like to write for Ether?

We are always happy to hear from
aspiring journalists as well as il-
lustrators and artists who want to
showcase their work. Contact us at
ether@ethermagazine.at
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