Whom we thank

For three years now we have had the amazing luck of having loads of amazing volunteers helping us, who were on the scene with fun, joy and drive. Every year there are between 80 and 100 valiant helpers to whom we direct our warmest THANKS. All those, who agreed to help once again or for the first time in this fourth year, we already want to give our thanks.

 

Special thanks also go to the fire fighters of Amaliendorf, the mayor of Amaliendorf, Karl Prohaska, to the Woodquarterian Blues legend Zappa, to the municipality of Amaliendorf in general, and to all our friends, who have been aiding us incessantly.

 

Especially we owe thanks to the Viertelfestival - Waldviertel 2006 and to Willi Lehner from the Kulturvernetzung Niederösterreich - without their aid we would not have gone very far. For the years following the first one we want to thank Kultur Niederösterreich and Hofrat Mag. Andreas Lebschik, without whom we would have had a difficult time over the last few years.

 

Last but most important we send a tremendous, barking-madly-felt thanks to all the wonderful audience, who, from the very first moment, have made the festival unique.

 

About the Wackelsteinfestival

Soon we will, for the fourth time, rock until the stones start singing. Our joyin the festival is unblemished, our amazement about how everything works out each year is undiminished. Like on the first day we take delight in your reactions, in the wonderful atmosphere at the festival itself.

 

By now we can say quite a bit about the festival. The story how everything began has, of course, stayed the same. In the summer of 2005 Pauli came up with the idea to organize our own festival. A festival with cheap prizes, not caring about profit but still intended to get the audience the greatest possible music.

 

Well, right then in the beginning it was not yet "our" festival, because first Pauli had to tell us his idea. Some beers later that was done and the planning had begun. We set out with a lot of dreams and enthusiasm but with not too much of an idea of how reality related to them. The product of all our "pipe dreams" and vague ideas led by growing confidence and many helping hands was the first Wackelsteinfestival.

 

It was the most wonderful, satisfying and surprising experience when we found that the first festival became an immediate success. So much that, at least on the first day, it took our breath away and we could not do much more than stand there (when we had the time ;-)) with round eyes and stare in naked wonder. Well, we found it hard then to say how overwhelming the feeling was - we still do.

 

It seemed surreal what happened here and therefore even more wonderful that the following years did not rank behind the first. Even more lovely people came, that many more, in fact, that all our planing was put to the test for over and over again. The first two years both times we nearly ran out of beer - just in time the additional delivery arrived - guests just sprang up to help us carrying the barrels - right through the dancers, who let us through in midstep smiling. The third time we had acquired enough beer - but that might be just because the weather was not quite as hot as during the first two years because, in fact, the onrush of guests to the festival once more surpassed our expectations by far.

 

There's much, much more to be written about but it's the experience that counts, and you best get that first hand.

About us

We are the gals and guys having fun in realizing and organizing the Wackelsteinfestival.

Paul Dangl Pauli is the great guy who had the idea to try and make this festival. He is a musician himself and has been on stage at many a festival. The Wackelsteinfestival is his journey to the other side - to contribute to the music scene in Austria not as a musician but as the organizer of a music festival. We followed his idea and now we walk that road together.

Madeleine Kufner Actually, Madeleine is the one of us who really knows how to organize things. Without her talent for organization we would still be drinking beer while talking about a festival. She is a good mixture of a realist and a dreamer. Madeleine gave us both: imaginative impulses but also one or the other slight shove from phantasm into reality.

Andreas Neumeister a rock poet with a passionate heart and a sharp mind - the strong voice in our pack, be it to the out- or the inside. Like Pauli he was also born for the stage, and the Wackelsteinfestival is his detour to the other side of the looking glass. You are free to choose (more or less figuratively) whether you want to join him to roam through the night, to steal a horse or to play a game of chess while discussing medieval history. I suggest a mixture of all these things.

Klara Schiffermüller In this third year our team has again become a bit larger. After Klara has already been helping us with know-how, thought and deed during the first two years we are happy to finally be able to count her fairly and squarely to our bonny lot. We've again been enriched a bit in joy and sense for music.

Michael Reiter One of the moments, which the sun usually chooses to rise, is when Michi enters the room. Its so seldom to see him without at least the hint of a smile on his lips that I sometimes hard to remember his face without it. Apart from the fresh breeze and a basket full of ideas, which he has brought into our group, he is a graphics designer, artist and photographer, who has designed all the folders and posters for the festival (well, unfortunately he had no influence on the poster for 2006). Since January 2007 (from the point of view of Austrian law) he finally has been a member of our gang.

Rainer Kaltenbaek when somebody writes about himself there is always the danger that he over- or undervalues himself - therefore, I will leave it at a rather general characterization of myself, which fits to the photograph:   Thou shalt not separate me from my cigarette.

Alexander "James" Würrer finally, after a long time in Vienna James managed to flee the maelstrom of the city and to move his life back into the Woodquarter, where he endeavors to realize his dreams. While Pauli, Michi and me are also from the Woodquarter, James is the one with the most direct connection to this wonderful piece of land, where our roots go deep. Together with Zappa he came up with the idea for the festival to take place around the Wackelstein of Amaliendorf.