two days ago we happily celebrated the German Blues Challenge and the German Blues Awards, then today we receive the sad news that

Andreas “Desche” Johannsen

passed away yesterday morning (Nov. 1st).

With Desche we lost far more than a board member of our Baltic Blues Society.

As one of the owners of the “Alte Mühle” (“Old Mill”), a well known music restaurant in Eutin, he started presenting blues concerts there in the 80s - long before the first blues festival took place in Eutin. So it wasn’t much of a surprise that he supported the International Bluesfest Eutin with all his might right from its start and became one of the founder members of this open air festival. At the same time he developed the ‘Mühle’ into a home for those legendary blues parties that gave an atmospheric finish in a superb club surrounding to the open air blues festival.

Be it a world famous artist or a ‘nobody’ – Desche would warmly welcome each musician and make him a member of the family at the “Mühle”. And even when the club demanded his full attention he always took some time to talk friendly and warmly to all the musicians.

His warmth, his love for the blues and his spiritual and materialistic commitment in this field made him a unique personality in the international blues world. This way he made friends and established close contacts all over Germany and far beyond – and by doing so on the long run he laid the foundation for the small town of Eutin to become kind of a blues mekka with a variety of blues activities nowadays nearly all year long.

His commitment not only shaped Eutin’s blues scene but many more events in Eutin like the Stadtfest (“City Festival”) and the Kleinkunstfest (“Festival of minor arts”). Only time will tell what a huge gap Desche is leaving in Eutin.

No matter how deeply we grieve at this moment, the picture below shows how we wish to remember Desche: having a beer in his “Mühle”, sitting close to his wife Maria amidst friends, staff, musicians and guests!