THE AULD FELLA IRISH PUB
１１月４日（木）
前日の１１月３日に親しい友人、ダーク DIERK が亡くなって、彼を偲ぼうとカルバー シテイーにあるアイリッシュ パブ、オールド フェラ にアマンド ARMANDO と行ってきました。
ダークとハンスは６０年来の仲でドイツに住んでいたときからの仲良し、この６ヶ月ほど脳腫瘍のガンで手術が不可能な状態でしたから私たちはじっと彼の悲しい進行を見守ってきたのです。
初めて行ったパブでしたがまず名前はアイルランドのパブですが、言葉は、あの「蛍の光」で有名な別れの歌、「オールド ラング ザイン」AULD LANG SYNE と同じ、スコットランド語のオールドを使って、「旧い友」と言う店名。
そしてハンスとダークは若いときからお互いに「アルター」ALTER （ドイツ語で旧友）と呼び合う仲でしたので、偶然にもぴったりのお店だったのです。
予期していた最期だったのでハンスはぼーっとしているだけで、泣いたりはしませんでしたが、アマンドの気晴らしのパブ行きは良い外出の機会でした。
まずはハンスとアマンドはギネスのビールで、ワタクシはダーテイー マーテイニでダークを送る、乾杯「トースト」をしてから、ハンスはマトンが入った肉パイ、アマンドはフィッシュ アンド チップス、ワタクシは、バッファロー カリフラワーとフィッシュ チャウダーを頂きました。
どれも美味しかったのですが、バッファローは、やけにスパイシーで典型的なパブやバーのお酒をガブガブ飲ませる一品。
ダーク、ハンス、アマンド、３人とも音楽が大好きなので、音楽の話が中心となって、いざ外に出るとストリート ミュージシャンがギターで弾き語りをしていました。３人でしばらく音楽を聞いたのもダークの引き回しだったような、しんみりとした夜となったのです。
「オールド ラング ザイン」の歌詞、ハンスが４時間かけて書き上げたダークへの悼辞と４月２７日の二人の最後の写真を載せましょう。この写真を撮った翌日、ダークはオフィスで倒れ、そのままもとのダークには戻らなかったのです。
ダークへ、合掌。
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| アマンド、ワタクシ、ハンス |
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| 「オールド ラング ザイン」１７８８年ロバート バーンズが歌詞を作ったそう。 |
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| お店の外側（ネットから） |
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| ミートパイ （ネットから） |
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| フィッシュ アンド チップス （ネットから） |
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| ギネスビール「ネットから」 |
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| 店内のバー （ネットから） |
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| 壁にはオスカー ワイルドなどの肖像画が。（ネットから） |
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| お店の外で、後ろにミュージシャン。 |
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| なんとなく寂しい風景となりました。 |
「オールド ラング ザイン」の歌詞。
Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
On old long syne.
Chorus:
On old long syne my Jo,
On old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
On old long syne.
Long-time HFPA member Dierk Sindermann passed away on Nov. 3, 2021, after a six-month battle with brain cancer. He was first diagnosed at the end of April and fought valiantly against the disease that doctors had declared inoperable, but to no avail. Chemotherapy and radiation did not improve his condition, and the patient spent the last days of his life at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank.
Dierk was born on March 19, 1945, in Herne, an industrial city in the Rhine-Ruhr area in Western Germany. He grew up comfortably in Herne as the only child of well-to-do parents. It was there, in Herne, that in 1965 I ran into him. I was a young reporter for the local paper, and Dierk was still a student and a drummer in a rock ‘n’ roll band that was practicing that day. The first time I saw him he was sitting behind a drum kit, pounding away. My assignment was to write a story about this up-and-coming band. One can say music brought us together. It was the time of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones which we both loved, and that was the beginning of a life-long friendship. Over the years we spent many a night listening to our favorite artists on and off the stage.
I don’t know if it was me that inspired him to become a journalist but he did follow me into that line of work quite naturally. He learned his craft at the largest daily in the Ruhr area. In the ‘70s he reported on the automobile industry, which included testing many new cars and motorcycles. But, like myself, Dierk always had a knack for the entertainment industry, and soon he was writing about the stars and celebrities of his home country. The Kölner Express, a flashy daily in Cologne, hired him in that capacity, and Dierk rose up to be deputy chief editor of the paper. Around 1980, he left it all behind and moved his wife and son to Los Angeles to become part of the entertainment capital of the world. I was already here, so once again he followed me.
Dierk was a freelancer now but he brought with him some solid contracts with several high-profile publications: Kölner Express, tz in Munich, Kronenzeitung in Vienna, and Blick in Zürich. Until recently, he supplied all of them with news from Hollywood on a daily basis. After he had joined the HFPA, his activities became even bigger, and his editors loved the star interviews he would deliver. For a while, Dierk also arranged for Hollywood stars to appear on German TV shows, accompanying them on their flights across the Atlantic. One actor he was very fond of was Kirk Douglas, whom he counted among his friends. As an active member of the HFPA, Dierk served on several committees, the last one being the roundtable committee.
I will miss my friend Dierk, and I know I’m not the only one. He was a man who loved life, and he lived it to the fullest. Having survived a heart attack and prostate cancer before he contracted the disease that killed him, he knew how precious life was. My heart goes out to his three sons and his wife Patricia who was with him until the end. I raise my glass to you, my friend. Long live rock and roll!
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