"Guildo hat uns lieb" or What the heck is up with the Germans these days?

Have you ever heard of the Grand Prix d'Eurovision de la Chanson? Have you ever heard of Guildo Horn? Me neither, until now. Well, the Europeans have a little singing contest that they put on every year (namely, the Grand Prix d'Eurovision de la Chanson) and the Germans have gone crazy over it this year. The reason: Guildo Horn, known to Germans as der Meister. Guildo was voted to represent Germany this year and ever since the country has been in Guildomania. This singing contest brings together "Schlager" (Pop/Hit) singers from all over Europe to compete with one another. "It's very Olympic" according to Guildo. Anyway, European Schlager is not so good, which is why all Europeans listen to American rock music (did you know that the French have a law so that at least 20% of the music on radio stations has to be French?). The majority of Schlager-singers sing about love and happiness and singing and kissing and dreaming little dreamy dreams, and they seem to be very serious when they do this. Guildo, however, is a surprisingly successful combination of semi-serious Schlager (e.g., he sings about a time of tenderness when it was ok to cuddle and kiss and love) and Schlager farce (he sings of the true symbols of love: i.e., nut croissants and rasperry ice cream). Other songs from Guildo: "I Like Steffi Graf" and "I Think Schlager is Great". He is total 70's throwback with platform shoes and velvet suits, but he's no Andy Gibb! He is irony and satire personified... and he's German. Wow, the Germans are all of a sudden funny and good humored, taking themselves not very seriously at all (compare Guildo to the Nazi singing group in "The Big Lebowski"). But perhaps all is not exactly as rosy as it seems. In a recent election in the former East Germany the right-wing extremist party won an astonishing 13% of the vote. Apparently Guildo was not on the ballot. Yes, Germany still has it's problems with 20% unemployment in the former East and a persistant racism against the Turkish minority here, but I think there's a kinder, gentler, and funnier Deutschland somewhere in there too, at least wherever Guildo is.