Last week, I travelled to Hamburg, near Germany, on business. As Mark Burgess (lead singer of The Chameleons) now lives there, I took the opportunity to send an email to one of my all-time heroes (even though he is a City fan).

Unfortunately, I guess Mark must be busy with his musical commitments as I haven’t had the courtesy of a reply (yet).

Hi Mark

Excuse the intrusion but I am coming to Hamburg tomorrow on business. I’m staying at the SIDE hotel and need to know:

  1. Location of Sports Bar that serves Boddies or strong German lager and will be showing MUFC versus QPR (Carling Cup).
  2. Music venue with decent indie live music. My favourite bands are The Smiths, The Fall, The Chameleons, Pixies, Nirvana, Joy Division, Interpol, Editors, R.E.M though not necessarily in that order. Bands doing cover versions of any of the above are automatically excluded.
  3. Decent bar where I can get a pint without being ripped off or beaten up.

PS. Enjoyed your book (which you kindly signed) a lot apart from the last chapter that left me a bit cold.

Peace, love, empathy - Andy