Weisser Loewe und Weisses Bier

I lived for a number of years in Munich, and must admit I spent more time in Mathäser, in the winter, and Hirschgarten, in summer, than in the Englisher Garten. However, one beautiful, warm, spring afternoon in 1987, after completing my day's research in the bayerische Staatsbibliothek, I decided to take a short stroll through the Englisher Garten. Naturally I stopped by the Chinesische Turm for a refreshing Weißbier and to my amazement I noticed that a large, Weiße Loewe (African lion) was lounging in the middle of the lawn, also contemplating a Mass of beer.

Now I must admit that the alpine folk are their own type of people, and even when they occassionally drop down to the city, they are thirsty, but I've never seen any come with wild animals. This time was an exception. There was this large, white lion. He most certainly did not appear to be native; he must have been a tourist, but then even tourists yearn for a Bavarian mass, Radler Mass, or Russ (a Radler made with Weißbier).



As I read the Abendzeitung that evening, I discovered that sure enough, this lion was a tourist, belonging to a magician named Mark Stevens (actually Lakota), who was performing for the week in the Deutsches Theater. This was logical, - I guess. If two Germans, Sigfried and Roy can perform in Las Vegas, why can't a native American Indian perform in Munich. After a little additional research, and not in the bayerische Staatsbibliothek, I discovered that Mark was one of the top ten magicians in the world and that he too had his entourage of lions, tigers, and bears, with an excellent magic show. However, before I could get to meet him, he had disappeared, just as he had made his lion disappear, not even leaving his beautiful, blond wife; she also had disappeared.

The next day a follow-up photo was printed of Mark, his wife, and O'Keepa, the lion ( Sioux for "New Life"), and after that mass, I thought that his name ought to have been "Andreas Suds." In any case, he should have disappeared from the Englischer Garten sooner, see below, but as with most tourists, he too could not handle a full, Gauweiler mass.



Well, as evidenced in the above photo, in a true, professional manner, "Andrea Suds" was clearly saying

DER SHOW MUSH GO ON !

Equally delightful are the related quotes in the Munich newspaper, the Abend Zeitung, relating to O'Keepa, and his Mass, obviously from a true Bavarian, as follows;

"I glaub i träum" and "Des is doch a fauler Zauber"

Years later, I learned that for seventeen years Mark had travelled the world with O'Keepa and others, and had a very successful magic act. However, I believe that Mark pulled one too many disappearing acts; for the time-being he too has disappeared.

But is Andrea-Suds ready to join PA for an Edelweiss?

Addendum:

THE ILLUSIONARY INDIAN ARTISTRY OF LAKOTA

I know that you are now at least as intrigued as I was. Here follows a small insight into Mark, the American Indian artist, and magician from the Lakota Sioux tribe of the northern plains (that's Nebraska, north and south Dakota and Wyoming to you dumb clucks like me). His tribe was the one that wiped out Custer.



His true Indian name is TaChanka (swift one), although he went by the name of Lakota (warrior), - easier to pronounce for foreigners, both U.S., and international. Can you imagine a German using their guteral "CH?"

In the above photo, Mark personally made his full regalia by hand, in itself no mean feat, - and most certainly not only time-consuming, but also absolutely splendid.

He still has a bobcat called Dakota, and a white artic wolf called CoHese, another difficult Mescalero Apache name for us, taken from the famous warrior and chief, CoHese - the predecessor of Geronimo.

Well, here's a little, very little, insight into our sadly lacking and disappeared history. Let's hope that TaChanka re-appears as swiftly as his name implies.

NO MORE DISAPPEARING FOR TACHANKA AND O'KEEPA!

We apologize for any discrepancies in the spelling, and the meaning of the various authentic Indian names. We are aware that of the many and varied tribes, both the spelling as well as the meaning varies.

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