Endenich. The Harmonie club will host the WDR Rockpalast's Crossroads Festival for seven days in a row, with 14 international bands. For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the audience will be able to enjoy newcomers from all genres of rock. 

Trixsi, which is advertised as a kind of supergroup of the German indie scene kicks things off with a punky and rough style. By contrast, Steiner and Madlaina are more in the pop genre with their rather soft sound. Other bands have a much stronger impact, such as the brute crossover metal band April Art, with booming bass and drum patterns, as well as the Berlin band D'Angerous, and Massive Waggons with their no-frills rock 'n' roll. The Mönchengladbach band Motorjesus is clearly influenced by Motorhead. The longest-serving band in this edition of Crossroads is probably The Hangmen. For 30 years, the L.A. band has stood for sometimes dark and always uncompromising rock, which they sometimes play at a reduced tempo. Mother's Cake, meanwhile, are reminiscent of Limp Bizkit with a few rap references. The Holy are a bit more experimental. The Finns like to play with sounds, which they lay over a stoic beat generated by two drums, and thus create hypnotic progressive rock numbers. The line-up is completed by the Danish-Swedish quartet Vola, the bitter-sweet vintage indie-pop of Donna Blue, the fascinating singer-songwriter L.A. Salami, who mixes folk, blues and also rap, and Shirley Holmes, who could be the rebellious punk daughters of Wir sind Helden.  

(Original text; Thomas Kölsch)  

Bonn. Following the death of a petrol station employee in Idar-Oberstein who was shot by a customer who refused to wear a face covering, petrol station operators are urging caution and are changing the rules of conduct. One female employee at a Bonn petrol station says that the tone of her clientele has become harsher during the pandemic. During the week it's quite relaxed, but on weekends from 3 to 4 p.m. things are at their worst for customers becoming aggressive if they don't like something. The goods most commonly sold are cigarettes, energy drinks and high-proof liquor. The face-covering requirement, in particular, is a point of contention. The Corona Protection Ordinance of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia requires conformity to the coronavirus rules and those who fail to do so face fines of up to 1,000 euros. 

The murder in Idar-Oberstein has apparently caused petrol station operators to rethink their approach. According to information from station operators in Bonn, the service instructions have been softened. Each tenant is responsible for their own petrol station, explains a spokeswoman of the Aral group. However, the operator should always consider the situation on site, she said. "Against this background, we recommend de-escalating critical situations and always putting your own safety first," a spokesperson for the Jet Group also points out. 

In the restaurant business, the situation doesn't seem to be as acute. Rolf Hiller has been running the brewery at Friedensplatz for 16 years and has yet to experience guests becoming abusive when he pointed out to them that they were not wearing a face covering. 

Bonn business owner Karina Kröber, who is on the board of City Marketing, has yet to hear from any downtown shopkeeper that there have been serious problems with customers not wanting to wear face coverings. 

(Original text; Nicolas Ottersbach and Lisa Inhoffen)  

Königswinter. The city of Königswinter, the Siebengebirgsmuseum and other project partners have now presented the plans for the third part of the interdisciplinary research project "Witnesses to Landscape History in the Siebengebirge", which aims to shed light on the economic and cultural-historical significance of viticulture. The results will be published and a special exhibition in the Siebengebirgsmuseum will take place, parts of which will then move to the museum in the old guardhouse on the Petersberg. Franz-Josef Lersch-Mense, a member of the NRW Foundation's board of directors, emphasised, "We're happy to see it get underway. It's a meaningful project. Viticulture has existed in the Siebengebirge for centuries”. 

Historian Christiane Lamberty and biologist Barbara Bouillon, who were already heavily involved in the first two parts of the project have given an initial insight into their work, which is to be completed in 2023. Geographer Joern Kling was responsible for evaluating and creating maps. Barbara Bouillon is working with Dieter Steinwarz, who also wants to study the impact of landscape use on fauna. 

Christiane Lamberty explained that copper beech trees were cut with a hatchet; the cut branches then became stakes to which the vines were tied for single-stake training, which was common at the time. The trees sprouted again, and after twelve to 14 years the shoots had again sufficient strength. She said that more than 70 per cent of an estate's land consisted of forest, and up to ten per cent was used for viticulture. In addition to wood, litter from the forest was important for livestock. The winegrowers had maybe two goats and a cow, to provide manure for the vineyard.  

(Original text; Roswitha Oschmann)  

In an interview, Bonn sociologist Professor Clemens Albrecht explains why the mood among the population is becoming more irritable and people no longer adhere to some coronavirus rules.  

Mr. Albrecht, why is the mood in the population currently more irritable? 

People are quickly overwhelmed if nothing changes in their everyday lives, but also if too much changes. It's the same with behavioural rules. We speak of overregulation when there are too many rules, which happened in the pandemic: Many new rules were added to the usual rules of behaviour, such as keeping distance or wearing face coverings, and we had to adjust rapidly. The increased density of new norms can mean that rules in other areas suddenly become questionable. If, out of weariness, you don't adhere to the coronavirus rules, some people also no longer adhere to traffic rules or good manners. This is the general phenomenon of norm inflation in the case of overregulation, which is currently happening. 

How does this manifest itself in the individual? 

Some people are quite enthusiastic about the many rules, but others say, "I'll just follow rules that I think are reasonable." These can also be doctors, managers or politicians. My observation is that the higher one's social rank, the less one follows the rules when unobserved. Many people are intelligent enough to embed norm violations in such a way that they do not attract attention. 

Should others be reprimanded if they don't follow rules like wearing face coverings? 

It's a bit like in other areas of life. If someone parks in a no-parking zone, you don’t stick a note on their car, but assess whether a violation of the law has serious consequences for the general public. It is similar with wearing a face covering: You have to weigh it up in everyday situations. Moral guardians who watch out for everything tend to belong to the unpleasant social types, whether in traffic, the environment or pandemic control. 

(Original text; Nicolas Ottersbach) 

(Translations; John Chandler)