"I wanted to try something else, but I came back to security because it's something I can visualize. Although he didn't jump instantly from the military to nightlife, it became a seamless transition for him. When Baldwin's military duty finished, he found himself wondering about his next steps. Monthly GI Disco music nights are also held at the 260 Grad club in Berlin, where he stands at the door. For instance, in 2013, he helped organize an exhibition at the Allied Museum in Berlin that looked back on American music in Germany from the late 70s to the early 90s. By bringing their favorite music with them, African-American GIs largely contributed to introducing these sounds to Germany.īaldwin became part of that scene and is still committed to preserving the GI discos' cultural legacy to this day. The GI discos fused different genres: club music, jazz-funk, rock and roll, soul, R&B, hip hop or Motown hits. He also had a combat role, but "nothing happened," he assured.Ĭheering up the Cold War drab, a club scene for American troops developed in West Berlin in the late 70s and 80s. The whole atmosphere kind of fit to me like new 501 jeans."Īs Baldwin was stationed in the divided metropolis, he acted as a military policeman patrolling and securing the American sector. And within two weeks I knew this would be my new home. "People got a first-hand, front-seat position on the political and governmental policies the Americans were doing."Īfter his first encounter, he knew that he wanted to return to Berlin, so he devised a way to make it happen: "I applied to come back to the city to be stationed here and I won the application. And I got such a great feeling," he told DW. Read more: Berlin's Berghain no longer Germany's best nightclub Sven Marquardt, Frank Künster and Smiley Baldwin are featured in "Berlin Bouncer" Image: Flare Filmīaldwin was attracted to the German city's Cold War atmosphere: "I visited Berlin as a soldier for a weekend trip - it must have been in 1984-85. And while each of their stories is related to the Berlin Wall, the fact that Baldwin landed in Germany is directly tied to it: He was stationed in West Berlin for the United States Army. The film starts with the fall of the Berlin Wall and features Baldwin, as well as two other prominent doormen, Sven Marquardt, the iconic Berghain bouncer with the heavily tattooed face, and Frank Künster, who famously managed former clubbing hotspots including Delicious Doughnuts and King Size.ĭirector David Dietl navigates the film with Berlin as a vibrant, pulsating backdrop set against the personal lives of each bouncer. The final bullet of his Powerpoint interrogation was a blunt, "Where are you coming from?" "Errr…London."I try to avoid the dry, uptight behavior that's normally associated with this job," explains doorman Smiley Baldwin in the documentary Berlin Bouncer. Later, a man approaches Baldwin at a club entrance and says to him, "You're a legend."īerlin Bouncer, released on April 11 in Germany, takes audiences on a journey through Berlin's recent history by portraying three legendary - and powerful - nightlife guardians of the front door. This time around, for reasons only my future analyst will know, I fluffed it. Normally when I'm asked my age I'm pretty certain that I'll have said "26" within a good half-second of the question hanging in the air. Which is probably why I felt panicked and nervous when it came to sauntering up to the digitized doorman who was glowering at me through my browser. It was a fun night, but it wasn't an authentic experience by any stretch of the imagination. Just once, mind, and even that was on a press trip, so I got to saunter past Sven and the lads and straight into the garden to bang pints of prosecco with other braying journalists and a really tired looking Bernard Sumner from New Order.
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