After more than 2 years since I had met him for the last time at the beautiful german city of Worms, a pre-Roman foundation and one of the oldest cities in northern Europe, which is situated on the Upper Rhine, about 60km south-southwest of Frankfurt and which has approximately 85 thousand inhabitants today, my great friend Frank-Joachim and I met each other again today in an online conference.
My friend (we know each other now for incredible 52 years) Prof. Frank-Joachim Grossmann & I during our today`s Zoom conference
Actually since I met Frank for the very first time at my new highschool “Liselotte Gymnasium” in Mannheim, I took the respectless and ignorant freedom to appreviate his name in this way. The day we met for the first time was a memorable and very important day in my life.
Grown up on the agricultural countryside in a small village of less than 1000 living souls, I accompanied my mother and my elder sister and brother to the “big” city of Mannheim when my familly moved there in the middle of 1972. On my first schoolday there I had just completed my fifteenth birthday, but was already a certain distinct personality compared to my well-behaved new classmates.
In the middle of the forest , like many of the local boys, I had started smoking cigarettes and drinking beer secretly at the age of 12 – for sure without the consent of my unhappy mother – and I was also a wellknown fanatic rock music fan (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Pink Floyd…) in our small farming village with long hair, round glasses with metallic frame and always wearing a big wooden Che Guevara pendant aroud my neck. And I recall that several times elder villagers, when crossing their path, spit to me “if Adolf was still here, he would have cut Your hair”, which I always proudfully took as a great compliment.
The small village in the middle of the forrest where I grew up.
Thus wonderfully prepared for my new high school career in Mannheim, I made an extremely important and valuable initial life experience there. Somebody showed me the limits. When – during my first math class – I started to perform clowning, my teacher brought this quickly to an end by throwing me out of the classroom to the loud applause of my classmates.
To summarize this for You, our math teacher Mr. Kinzig afterwards became the teacher I most admired and from whom I have learned the most at school until my successful graduation a couple of years later. Actually much later we made peace and friends and I had the enormous pleasue to meet again with him a few times many years later at class reunions, when I managed to plan business trips to Germany in such a way that I could take part. He always was proud of himself and of me because of my success in my professional carreer. I owe him a lot of respect and thanks.
Well so far. Now to Frank. Frank and I and another classmate made friends immediately, mainly because they were also rock music fans. This brought us together and let us spent endless hours of listening to our beloved rock music records and later-on tapes and cassettes.
My closest friend was always Frank. We were so different in many aspects, that we firmly needed each other for experiencing and learning important things for life from each other.
Frank and I (on the left) at the age of 15 on our balcony in Mannheim
We were sticking together like twins during all the years until we finished school and we shared almost all our leisure time and several vacancies.
Selling no longer needed belongings on the local “flea market” became an important cash source for us for buying cigarettes, beer and tickets for live rock performances
The more our school years progressed, the more often we studied together for exams. When I had arrived at Mannheim from my village, Frank was already a very well organized student with a lot of know how for all kinds of helpfull things for school and for life, while I was absolutely the contrary. Frank`s schoolbooks were very beautifull while mine were just a messy nightmare. But with the progress of time I learned the methodology and systematics of my friend and started little by little to practice these as well.
We were an unseparable unbeatible party task force team – Frank took care of the music equipment and I took care of the beer
Today I am fully aware that in a certain non-exagerated way it is fully true that Frank with his extremely positive influence on me during our shared years at “Lieselotte Gymnasium” in Mannheim had helped me to develop who I am today.
During the last 20 years my very systematic and extremely disciplined, old fashioned but never failing self-organisation, which allows me to maintain full own control of even the most challenging and complex management and leadership challenges and thus gave me an incredible strength and power as a leader.
All my direct reports at “my” several different companies in Spain, Mexico and Brazil outspokenly admired and feared this. Thanks again, my good friend Frank!
Back to beautiful Worms, where we had personally met for the last time back in abril 2022 and where Frank and his wife life. When we finished school in Mannheim in 1976, Frank and I went totally different paths.
While Frank went to the university and studied graphic arts, I went to the military and from there to my university where I studied chemical engineering. And from then on the wind blew me to many different places in many different countries on several different continents.
The mighty dome of Worms, consacrated as cathedral in the presence of the emperor in 1018, place of the nomination of pope Leo IX in 1048
Frank and I only met again, more or less by chance, aproximately 30 years later. For sure for both of us this was a very exciting moment. None of us had any longer the long hair from when we left school and each other behind. But our deep and close friendship was immediately back and alive.
Our meeting 2022 and visit to the ruins of the old jewish synagoge at Worms
While I did what I did, went where I went and became what and who I am today, Frank after his studies practised a dual career life. He has always teached arts, grafics and media students at universities and he is also, since he received his university degree, working permanently as an artist, writing books and exhibits his own artworks at vernissages allover Europe.
Two pictures showing Frank in his atelier at home
Below picture shows the cover page of Frank`s latest book (not produced for commercial purposes, only for teaching and science) with the very German name “Stoermeldungen” (“fault reports”)
Below You can find one of the graphic arts pages in this wonderful book:
As Frank explained to me today, the idea for this book was born in his head, when he was printing out several design arts pages on his printer and the printer spit out such things. That`s what I call ingenious creativity. What a wonderful book. Thanks again, my friend, for having presented it to me. I love it.
My great friend and inspirer over decades – Frank-Joachim Grossmann at his studio at home in Worms.
Now You might ask me, for whom and why I write all this. Like always – clear questions merrit clear answers. First of all for myself. Because I enjoy writing and because I am proud to have all these beautiful memories, experiences and interesting (as I see it) histories.
Secondly because I firmly believe that many – especially all younger readers of this blog – of You can learn some utile and spiritual things from me, which would even more increase my pride, pleasure and honor.
If You thought You could escape from my today`s post without some music video clips, then you are devilishly mistaken.
Here below You will find the link to the beautiful original classical piano suite in ten movements version of “Pictures of an Exhibition” written by the russian composer Mussorgsky in 1874.
And next below You will find – what drove Frank and me and many young people in the 70s crazy with delight – the “progressive rock” version of Mussorgsky`s “Pictures at an Exhibition” played by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released in November 1971 in a live version recorded at Newcastle City Hall.
Do You think that younger people of today endure it to listen to such stuff? Clearly no! But I frankly admit I either want to listen to this more often today.
But thats absolutely normal. Generations, cultural customs and social behaviours change and You seriously cannot judge this by saying “right” or “wrong”, “good” or “bad”.
I am firmly convinced that – in analogy to Einsteins great discoveries in physics – that there exists something like a “cultural relativity”.
I`d be more than happy if You thought about all this and told us – in the comments below – Your own thoughts, findings and experiences about it.
Did You like it? If not, this does NOT keep me from continuation of my posts here.
See You soon. Enjoy the weekend. Relax and have fun.
Uma resposta
Klasse mein Lieber Klaus!!
Tolle Geschichte und super Erinnerungen…
Mit den Haaren ist es bei mir auch nichts mehr…
Aber die Erinnerungen an super Rock Konzerte bleibt…
Ich war und bin immer noch für die Getränke zuständig… haha
Gruss
Hoffe wir treffen uns am Freitag auf einen “grünen Tee”
Michael