Henry de Winter - At Last: his Website !!!

Since I discovered this man and his music a couple of years ago I have written regularly about Henry de Winter:-

http://rayfrenshamworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/bratislava-hot-serenaders.html ,

http://rayfrenshamworld.blogspot.com/2009/07/bratislava-hot-serenaders-henry-de.html
and
http://rayfrenshamworld.blogspot.com/2009/04/so-who-is-henry-de-winter-quest.html

But there was such scant information about him, I felt helpless when responding to all the enquiries I received from my friends (not just in Europe but from America, where HdeW is now gaining a growing fan base, mostly thanks to his two YouTube recordings with the Bratislava Hot Serenaders - links above). [Again, click on the pics to get larger versions, then click again on That pic to get the full  sized versions].

I knew he had released 3 CDs (see my previous blogs for photos), all of them very difficult to obtain and a trifle expensive [I am still looking for Volume 1 myself], as were the postage costs from Germany via amazon.de . Sometimes the odd item might appear on ebay.de, as I recently bought this card (below) dated December 1997, but these were very rare occasions. And hard information was still proving elusive.


He did have a website presence, but that had been dormant for years (possibly unactivated). All it showed was a photo of Henry gardening with his dog Bobby - Peter, his original dog, and the one who appears in the YouTube videos and on the cover of his 2nd CD - having passed some years ago.

…even when gardening, he still looks immaculate!


Things started to change earlier this year (2010) when my chum Imants, who runs the Eccentric Club (http://www.eccentricclub.co.uk/ ), gave me his home address. In typical fashion, Henry has an e-mail address but is not online himself. [They have a term for “these people” now: Digital Refuseniks… and their numbers are growing!].

And so began our mutual efforts to bring this Legend to the UK. We had to start with the complex negotiations with Pet Passports and forms for Bobby (Henry goes everywhere with his canine companion, you may have realised by now). Unfortunately, at the very last moment, illness intervened and any planned gig had to be postponed.

HOWEVER, now - At Last!, Henry’s Official Website has been launched and here it is:-
http://henry-de-winter.de/

It’s in German (for the present), so here’s a link to Google Translator, which may help you:-
http://translate.google.com/#deen
[[Henry has since been in touch, to tell me that an English version is being worked on]].

                                                                                                    

Sir Henry and the BHS are also now on FaceBook:-
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Henry-De-Winter/194716343888147

and
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bratislava-Hot-Serenaders/58985520945
…and their FanClub page:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53174855459

- And even on MySpace:-
http://www.myspace.com/henry-de-winter

http://www.myspace.com/bratislavahotserenaders

…and here’s the official website for the Bratislava Hot Serenaders (in English):-
http://www.serenaders.sk/?lang=en
 
Here are four pictures from Henry’s website, to give you an idea of the quality...

Also posted up on the site are his two YouTube recordings with the BHS + details of his CDs. There are lots of photos in the Medien section (no, you can’t ‘grab’ them, but you can on the FaceBook page), including a particularly splendid shot of Henry and the BHS on the Orient Express.

I am now in contact with his [new?] agent (Diana Enders) and have asked whether we can buy his CDs direct from the site (it’s not specified).

Over the recent months I have been sent a selection of random photos of Herr de Winter from various sources, which follow. Firstly, a couple of shots of Henry and the BHS on their 2002 debut in the Netherlands … and of the Morning After (Henry still impossibly immaculate! - how does he do it?):-

The Trocadero Ball in Wuppertal, Germany, 2003:

Dancing at Berlin’s Club Sauvage in 2007:

A candid photo at the Berliner Kunsthall (November 2009):

A shot from an Art Gallery, unknown date, but probably 2009/2010:



Two shots with a German Vogue magazine link (from 2010?): a shot from the magazine itself and one taken a few months later at that issue’s launch party:

And perhaps the two most recent photos of the man (?): one taken a few months ago, with Bobby again, when he played a Benefit for a young Leukaemia patient named Lisa:

And one taken on 29th August, 2010, out for a pleasant Stroll in Berlin [look at the faces on the people passing-by…hilarious! They just don’t ‘get’ it]

So, the website is active. Henry is active and performing: he’s currently working on a new show (which will be touring 2010 and 2011) and a new album of recordings is promised. His next immediate live show is part of the Berlin Story Salon (which, it seems, is also a TV series) on October 6th. Here’s the link + details:-
http://www.berlinstory.de/salon/programm-salon/henry-de-winter.html

I will finish this blog entry with what, I think, is my favourite shot of Henry (and just look at those trousers: Double-braided seams!!…fantastic). It epitomises everything about the man and his music...

[[ For those interested in this type of music, Henry is at the forefront of a whole new wave of German performers (mostly based in Berlin) like the Trio Ohrenschmalz, Daniel Malheur, Max Raabe & his Palast Orchester, Robert Kreis etc. (I shall no doubt get round to covering them at some point) - but I discovered Henry de Winter first and in This household, the man is a Legend!]]

From Berlin… to the World!