Well, this is the end of show... And, I'd like to say that was all well worth the effort!..
KURSAT
On Tuesday night, Gokhan and I took a train,
this time to Izmir. So I was getting some familiarity with the railway
personal day by day. We arrived in Izmir on Wednesday and then directly
went to the concert place to see what's going on there. Phil, Andy and
Eddy were there so we were in the right place... After seeing the concert
place, Gokhan and I decided to go around the city 'cause Marian, KP and
the band were not there. In fact, they had already gone to a tourist and
a historical place called as Ephesus, about two hours far from Izmir. Later
on, Marian told me that he liked Ephesus very much and then, I invited
Marian to come to Turkey in the summer to Mediterranean region. And, he
said he'll think do so and mentioned that Rainer (Bloss) came to a place
near Antalya (a beautiful tourist place in Turkey) for a vacation last
year. Gokhan was wondering about Marian and was often reminding me promise
of meeting him with Marian. About 8.30 pm we were again in the concert
place, Atlas Pavyon. It was a really big and nice place. KP and musicians
then appeared and I was really happy to see them once again, in Izmir.
I introduced Gokhan to KP and he became a KP maniac later on. KP told me
that he might need my help for merchandising stuff. In fact he wanted me
to sell them inside the concert place before and after the concert. So
I thought that I would have some contribution to their concert activities
by selling some of the CDs, posters, vinyls, etc. to Turkish fans as well.
Gokhan was very happy for that and was willing to help me. Then, we prepared
all the stuff near to the stage so that we would watch and sell some material
at the same time. And some of the fans had already seen what we were doing
and come to near us. Some of them were really very enthusiastic for Alphaville
and were asking many questions about the albums, our trio, even about Frank
Mertens. After about an hour, there were almost more than 1500 people in
the concert place and we were doing a good job for selling the merchandising
stuff. The time was about 11.30 when musicians were on the stage and playing
the intro to the Fools... Then, Marian came and we're listening to the
voice of the dolphin! Well, due to merchandising, I was unable to reach
Marian before the concert and it was KP's request that I'd like to do for
him. I was taking some photos in the 'forbidden zone' of the stage while
Gokhan was in charge of selling the merchandising stuff. And, he was doing
so while I'm in charge. The songlist was the same as the ones in Istanbul.
The show was going well and Marian was again singing, dancing and wandering
on the stage. Local TV channel Sky TV was filming the show to be shown
in Izmir. And, this was the end of show Alphaville in Turkey, ending up
with A p o l l o... I felt really good, cause I had joined all of the concerts
of our band in Turkey and had very good times with Marian Gold, the musicians
and KP while they're in my country... After the concert, Marian signed
for the fans and then I congratulated him, together with the band. I was
very gald to see Marian again! Then, I introduced Gokhan to him and took
some photos with him. I asked Marian when they would leave Turkey and he
said that they would be leaving the hotel about 8 o'clock in the morning,
cause the plane would take off at 10 o'clock. Then, I saw Seyfi again.
Yes, he was in Izmir too. While Marian was signing some posters for Seyfi,
Gokhan and I were picking up the merch. stuff together with KP. Then, KP
asked me where we would stay at that night. Since, Gokhan had already found
a suitable hotel for us, I mentioned about the case and since we're in
Turkey he accepted our case. Gokhan and I then left Marian, KP and all
the others on that night and went to the hotel at about 3 o'clock or so
in the morning. Well, I had already decided to go to the hotel where Alphaville
were and send them off before they leave Turkey. Gokhan had the same idea
with me so we got up about 7 o'clock in the morning and went to Izmir Princes
Hotel. We were there about 7.30 and KP, the musicians were appearing one
by one in the lobby. Then Marian came about 8.30 and was surprised a bit
after seeing me and Gokhan in there. After wandering around the van a bit,
he got on to the van and called me with his hand into the van. The others
were placing the luggage so Marian and I were in the van only. We again
talked about fifteen minutes or so. It was really hard for me to know that
they were leaving Turkey. So I asked Marian to send my best regards to
Bernd and Ricky (so famous last words on the air...) He shook my hand again
with his generous smi2le and said BYE... Then I said goodbye to KP, musicians
and technicians...
Well, this is the end of show... And,
I'd like to say that was all well worth the effort!..
KURSAT