Der Graf - The 550th Anniversary of an Undead's Death

with: Julia Kemp (performance)

"Der Graf" is one of Bela B's best-known songs and his personal tribute to a cult figure that has fascinated him since childhood: Count Dracula. Bela's stage name traces back to Bela Lugosi, the first talkie Dracula actor and a film icon he has revered since childhood.

This is just one of many connections to the brilliant vampire myth that began exactly 550 years ago - with the death of the feared Transylvanian ruler Vlad III, better known as Count Draculea or Vlad the Impaler, named after the brutal execution method he devised.

Ever since Bram Stoker borrowed Vlad's nickname for his vampire count, the figure has haunted nights, dreams and stories as an undead creature, leaving literary and pop-cultural traces and remaining to this day a symbol of the aristocracy of night and shadow - far beyond the horror genre. It's high time for Bela B to delve into this fascination, to tell of his preoccupation with the myth, his vampire research and discoveries.

On 29 September, he reads from various Dracula stories at Hamburg's Laeiszhalle and leafs through his favourite chapters. He is accompanied in various roles by actress Julia Kemp, who will also play Dr. van Helsing.

Bela B Felsenheimer, born in 1962 in West Berlin, is a drummer, guitarist, composer, singer, actor, voice actor and audiobook narrator, former comic book publisher and had his own radio show. He is best known as a member of the punk rock band Die Ärzte. As an author, he has published several short stories, a film screenplay and two novels, Scharnow and FUN, both of which immediately entered the SPIEGEL bestseller list and were praised by critics.