Radio GDR Podcast: Attila the Stockbroker

In my latest contribution to the Radio GDR podcast, I had a chance to speak with Attila the Stockbroker, an English poet, musician and songwriter with roots in the punk movement and socialist politics. During his forty year career as independent artist, Attila has produced numerous albums and books and performed more than 3,800 shows including many in the GDR and, after unification, eastern Germany.

In this conversation, Attila vividly recalls his visits to the East, the people whom he met there and aspects of the Workers and Peasants State which were an inspiration and other which left him disgusted.

You can hear our chat via your preferred pod platform or by visiting the new Radio GDR website at: https://radiogdr.libsyn.com/attila-the-stockbroker.

Radio GDR Podcast: Punk Rock, Revolution and the Fall of the Berlin Wall

I was back on the Radio GDR podcast for an episode featuring a conversation with Tim Mohr, author of Burning Down The Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution and the Fall of the Berlin Wall. For this chat, I was joined once again by Dr. Edward Larkey, an expert on GDR music and with a particular expertise on the East German underground in the country’s later years.

In this episode, Tim tells us about the emergence of the punk movement in the GDR, the challenge it posed to “real existing socialism”, the lengths authorities went to in order to neutralize the threat and the role punk played in bringing the Wall down in November 1989.

To hear this episode, go to: https://radiogdr.com/burning-down-the-haus-punk-rock-revolution-and-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-with-tim-mohr-42/

For a Spotify playlist of some of the artists and songs mentioned in this episode, click here.