Shooting Spires

On this special occasion, BJ Warshaw from Shooting Spires kindly wrote a few words about his personal relationship with Vienna:

“My Grandma Mary was born on July 21st, 1920, at Castellezgasse 10, Vienna. On my first trip to Austria, performing as Shooting Spires, I decided to stop and visit her birthplace. I’m happy to have had They Shoot Music Don’t They accompany me on this genealogical outing. I was strangely jittery singing two of my songs in the courtyard of this building. I don’t think the cameras caught my anxiety, but it was truly something, singing these humble songs where my grandmother had surely played as a child. I emailed my grandmother to get some details about her life there, and here’s what she had to say (Aunt Nany is my grandmother’s sister, my great aunt):

“I lived in that old building until I was 10 years old. Some years before then my father had come to America and only my mother and I lived there. We left to come to America to see my father. We could only come on a visitors Visa and were able to stay only for 2 and ½ years. We then had to return to Vienna and that’s when Aunt Nany was born. I left Vienna for America in 1936 alone to join my father before the Nazi hordes took over Austria. Unfortunately, my Mom and Nany were caught there for a short while and joined us in July of 1937. Hope that makes sense to you.”

I feel lucky to have glimpsed this place. And I’m tremendously thankful to They Shoot Music Don’t They, both for their hospitality and for helping me to document the visit.”