Generation Expat

Duncan Shiels R.I.P

Photo by Zoltan Kerekes

It is with great sadness I write with the news that our dear friend Duncan Shiels, pioneering expat journalist in Budapest, died just over a week ago in London of cancer. Please share your memories of this great man in our comments field, if you wish. More details of his life in a rememberance in the Budapest Sun, as well on an excellent site for his memoriy put together by friends, DuncanShiels.com.

A memorial for Duncan is planned for November 18 in Budapest. For details, please consult DuncanShiels.com.

 

Milio Puszi Budapest Week-re

I know my Hungarian sucks, so if anyone wants to correct my headline for this item, please feel free. The point is, the Budapest Week reunion party, and after-party, rocked long and hard! What an awesome collection of people.

Steve Carlson said it best: "Budapest Week was a newspaper that knew how to throw a party."

Sam Worthington wrote a great letter days before the reunion that Rick read aloud at the event. Many commented on how aptly it summed up the mood of the event:

Hi Steve and Rick

I had no intention of coming to the party but suddenly a week ago a little nostalgia over took me as I ate a lonely curry and for all of about 24 hours I was coming. But in the end that went tits up: so a message is all I can contribute to the proceedings.

It would have been interesting as most of you have now seen enough to understand the realities of the World. Things always look different with the benefit of experience, as well as hindsight. The Bud Week was probably doomed from day one but it did, for a while, make a significant contribution to many lives. At the time I was new to publishing and you guys were well new to about everything so in some sense the fact we did what we did was a major achievement. There are as always a million what ifs: but none will really supply the answer. In a way failure, if it was indeed that, made people get on with something else: something that in many cases has proved to be much bigger and better than Bud Week ever was, or would be. That is what I would say when on my tenth korso and 10 tenth Unicum: just is case you wonder!

So have a good one and if anybody ever gets to Bangkok let me know and I can point you in some directions. Bring a bottle of Unicum because ……I miss it!

Tim

More coverage on Pestiside.

Photo by Franc Anderson. Others by Rick Bruner
(except where Rick is featured, and then those are
also Franc's with Rick's camera).

Budapest Week Reunion Bash, This Saturday!

I've been woefully remiss in updates to the most important event in the history of this blog (but insanely busy in my real life). Nonetheless, I'm giddy with anticipation for this Saturday's reunion of more than 100 friends from the era of Budapest Week. Details in a podcast interview with yours truly courtesy of Drew Leifheit excellent Budacast

CentralBudapest.com

I just came across this site that is an aggregation of lots of Budapest-oriented blogs in English.

Budapest Week 15-Year Reunion, Sept 9 2006

Yes, folks, that's right, it's been 15 years (and six months or so) since the first issue of Budapest Week newspaper, and we are seriously overdue for a party!!! To help facilitate the reunion and put people back in touch with one another, Steve Carlson and I have founded an email discussion forum using Google Groups (if you're interested in joining, click that link and request to join; make sure to use your name, not just your email address, and remind us who you are, so we don't start opting in spammers, stalkers and other freaks). Here's how Carlson introduced the list to members:

Hello All,

Rick E. Bruner and I set up this mailing list to bully and cajole you into purchasing an airplane ticket and schlepping out to Budapest to join us on September 9 for the 15th annual Budapest Week reunion party.

Yes, those of you in the know are already thinking 'wait, wasn't our beloved rag launched on March 15, 1991? That is correct. And in order to collect your prize you must travel to Budapest and meet us on September 9th.

Fifteen years after the fact, the definition of 'us' has become distinctly blurry. For example, we've included Bart Edes on this mailing list despite the fact that he was an agent of our sworn enemy, the Budapest Sun (or was it the Post?). I don't believe we ever published Matt Welch or Ken Layne (however much we might have wanted to). Who the hell is Gregory John McIlvaine?

Fifteen years after the fact a LOT of things are blurry. What I am still doing in Budapest? Do I know you? Did we meet somewhere at a party?

Feel free to follow Christian Heppinstal's example and fill us in about those missing years. Where do you work and who are you sleeping with? How many of your friends and colleagues can actually locate Budapest on a map?

I will now count to 'five' backwards. When I reach 'one' you will awaken with a burning desire to immediately purchase an airplane ticket and travel to Budapest to relive your glory days in Eastern Europe following the fall of Communism.

We are waiting for you.

Steve Carlson

Currently, members include:

Adam LeBor
Adrienne Haspel
Alison Rose
Bart Edes
Bess Rattray
Bob Dent
Brent Schimkie
Bruce Lewis
Bruno Bourel
Caren Chesler
Chirstian Heppenstal
Colin Woodard
Daniel Langenkamp
Dave Rimmer
David Landry
David Sterling
Desmond McGrath
Desouza
Dick Bruner
Dork Zygotian
Doug Arallenes
Doug Merrill
Drew Leifheit
Dunkcan Shiels
Edwin Tuil
Elysia Gallo
Emmanuelle Richard
Esther Holbrook
Gabor Burt
Gabor Vajda
Gregory John McIlvaine
Hadley Kincade
Henry Copeland
Hugues Martin
Ian Macdonald
Jannes Hartkamp
Jeff Taylor
Jennifer Clemente (nee Brown)
Jim Lowney
Joan Stein Schimke
John Nadler
Julius Strauss
Kate Carlisle
Kati Szephegyi
Ken Kasriel
Ken Layne
Ken Pasternak
Kester Eddy
Kevin Ebbutt
Kinga Bartfay
Kip Bauersfeld
Laura Chappell-Brown
Lucy Hooker
Marianna Csuka
Matt Welch
Michael Jordon
Nick Denton
Pablo Gorondi
Paul Hockenos
Pearl Gluck
Peterjon Cresswell
Rachel Elson
Rick Bruner
Rodney Jefferson
Sam Loewenberg
Shari Spiegel
Sherri Hay
Simon Evans
Simon Hamer
Steve Carlson
Steve Saracco
Strick
Szilvi Csorba
Theressa Agovina
Tibor Szendrei
Tim Randall
Tom Popper

Here are folks we're still trying to find or otherwise cojole into joining the list:

Andras Torok
Balint [Photog]
Blake Steinberg
Cathy Connolly
Cathy O’Connor
Cheryl Loof
Curt Clemens
Dave Del Torto
David Finch
Eileen Brown
Eric Kuhn
Evan Ballinger
Gergely Poharnok
Istvan Butala
Jim Michaels
Judy Sollosi
Mike Stone
Miles Graham
Milorad Krstic
Richard Rifkin
Robert Toth
Ryan Tutak
Sandor Lazko
Serge [zany Russian/French]
Steve O’Connor
Susan Milligan
Susan and Rob Luke
Tibor Vidos
Tim Knox
Tim Smart
Todd Williams

Have we forgotten you? (So sorry! Just drop a note.) Do you know of one of the above people's email addresses? If you're in doubt as to how to proceed, drop me a note at rickbruner at gmail dot com.

Simon Hammer at the Beeb

I got a note today from Simon Hammer after he found our site. He's a producer for the BBC's Today  program (or "programme," as he wrote). Google turned this up:

The pressure is on for studio producer Simon Hamer, who's responsible for making sure that everything from outside interviews to the pips at the end of the program go out on cue.

Christian Heppinstall's Alive and Well and Living in Alaska

Just a quick shout out to direct all of your attention to the web site of our long-lost brother in arms ChristianHeppenstal.com. Seems that he's living, acting and directing his heart out in Ankorage, AK.

Lebor on Milosevic Legacy in NY Times

Our dear Adam has a op ed in the NY Times on the legacy of  Milosevic. Not only does he, of course, plug his excellent biography of the late dictator, but in true LeBor fashion he also manages to work in a mention of his earlier book on the tie between Swiss banks and the Nazis. Way to go, Adam!

The Guardian on Szimpla and Other Kerts

The Guardian has a cute piece on the kert nightlife movement in Budapest. Reminds me I have some kert photos of my own. See also Szimpla's web site.

Continue reading "The Guardian on Szimpla and Other Kerts"

Most akkor bulizunk!

Sziastok, the Budapest International Press Center and associates! Matt and I will be in Budapest from Friday to Sunday, January 5-7, and we want to kiss the hands of each and every one of you. Where's the buli? Email us at emmarichard-at-gmail.com, or mleewelch-at-gmail.com. Can't wait to see you!

Emmanuelle