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The Accidental Tourist: Flula, a German DJ, gives tour for Allen City TV
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
A song by a techno hip hop musician from Germany about Dallas Mavericks superstar Dirk Nowitzki led to the city of Allen finding a tour guide for its cable station and YouTube channel.
Confused?
Don't be, it's actually quite simple.
This was Flula's, who has branded himself with the singular name, first time in Allen.
"I was excited to explore the city; it's like show and tell," he said. "I knew we were going to go to a lot of different places, but I wanted to stay naïve to it all and be surprised, like when a baby seal sees the glaciers for the first time."
Flula's style of conversation and love of analogies is unique, but also one of the reasons he has built a rabid following with more than 18 million video views (youtube.com/user/djflula). The most popular of those videos is "German Moses," Flula's ode to Nowitzki, whose hometown (Wurzburg, Germany) is just 35 minutes from Flula's hometown (Erlangen).
Flula, who moved from Germany to Los Angeles two years ago in an effort to further his music and potentially TV career, was in Austin in 2011 when he came across the crew from ACTV.
"We had seen 'German Moses' and of course we loved it," said Mark Kaufmann, ACTV executive producer, "so we wanted to do something with him."
Flula's interview with ACTV about the Texas state capital became the channel's most-watched video ever.
"I guess they thought the interview was not horrible and wanted to do more stuff together," Flula said. "It was like we are dating now. They showed me the love and I wanted to return it."
Ensuing videos proved popular enough for the city to eventually bring Flula to Allen.
"We obviously have something here," Kaufmann said. "So why not try to change the way we look at government TV."
Flula came in Friday after a brief stay in Austin for South by Southwest.
"I love Texas," he said. "But before this the only part of the state I had really seen much of is Austin, which I'm guessing is not like the rest of Texas. Lots of hipsters there with tight jeans, even tighter than mine."
Filming began Saturday, but first Flula had an opportunity to go to Friday's Mavericks game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It was there that Flula met his hero in a post-game exchange that included a handshake, conversation in German and autographed jersey from Nowitzki himself. That experience left Flula at a loss for words ... at least momentarily.
"It was like someone telling you that you get to do a layup," he said. "But instead you get to do a blindfolded dunk from half court. It was so incredible."
Flula also attended Sunday's game versus the Oklahoma City Thunder and made multiple radio appearances on 105.3 The Fan. Those segments had listeners questioning whether Flula was an actual person or a character.
"That's definitely the way Flula is; this is not an act," Kaufmann said. "He is very genuine with everything he does and is very giving."
That was evident to the ACTV people as Flula spent the entirety of Saturday and most of Sunday touring the city. Flula made stops at Rodenbaugh Natatorium (where he swam in the pool), the Joe Farmer Recreation Center and Amphitheatre, the Allen Event Center (where he rode a zamboni while singing "Ice Ice Baby and viewed "a very tense" Allen Americans' practice) and The Courses at Watters Creek (where he drove the machine that retrieves golf balls).
"I cannot believe how many great facilities Allen has," Flula said.
But his highest praise was reserved for Rudy's Country Store and BBQ.
"Holy cow ... the food was just so, so good," Flula said. "I wanted to eat there like eight more times. I wish I could have gotten a sleeping bag and just lived there."
Flula departed for Atlanta, to record a song with friends, on Monday before returning to L.A. Once home, Flula will continue his music career, but don't think of him as a DJ in the traditional sense.
"Plenty of people know me as DJ Flula, but I think of myself as just a musician," he said. "Being a DJ in the club is boring; are they doing something, we don't know. Maybe the DJ just pushes play and he is pretending the rest of the time."
Flula has also been asked to audition for Auction Hunters, but those potential commitments won't deter from his partnership with the city of Allen.
"I love Allen and I will definitely come back," Flula said. "Every city needs a hype man and if this is my purpose, then I am happy with it."
For continued news and coverage on the local sports scene, follow @OThankKevin on Twitter.
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