five by five » friends

This Most Ancient Land – Emma Bathgate & First Chorus

mic — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:20:50 +0000

I’ve tracked down this recording of Emma Bathgate with the first chorus band of singers from the Fairfield Amphitheatre. It’s a pretty good recording i think. This was a hilarious day. We debated for some time about whether to perform because of the rain. During this song, the umbrellas all came out. Emma waved away an umbrella when it was offered.

Via Soundcloud: This Most Ancient Land – Ema & First Chorus Band of Singers by EMA..

Singing in the rain (first chorus meets emma bathgate) It was windy, raining and cold.. but the show must...
fIRST cHORUS excitement (a fringe festival event) First Chorus is part of the Melbourne fringe festival, this...
Awesome evening of magic and gorgeousness Finally we made it to the performance night. “first chorus:...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Dancers in a 3 way mistletoe dress

mic — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:29:57 +0000

Now here is a remarkable performance, for both dance and costume.

You’ve got Zoe and Bronwen and Priscilla dancing in Rebecca Mayo‘s mistletoe dress.

Looks like Some Kind of Art to me.

I work with Zoe. She is an amazing person to have around the office. Really brightens your day.

via Precarity on Vimeo.

It’s A Pony Ooh Look, Nathan and Shelley made a movie. It’s funny....
Circus by Susy Blue on Vimeo This was a really fun day, helping out Susy and...
nearly there .. thanks to angelic friends Lucky me to have such wonderful friends and colleagues helping...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Circus by Susy Blue on Vimeo

mic — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 04:31:36 +0000

This was a really fun day, helping out Susy and her band by dressing up at the Toff in Town one Sunday afternoon in September. They won a competition to have this video made, and ran a Pozible campaign to fund extra bits like the catering. The cello belongs to Anto, and there were a couple of moments when i was roughly in tune with the music, but no.. i am pretending to play.

Above all, it’s a beautiful song. Enjoy.

via Circus by Susy Blue on Vimeo.

Susy Blue is a burning star Well take a look at this. It’s only a tiny...
hi vibes completely mental, fun What a beautiful day. i am completely blessed .. as...
It’s A Pony Ooh Look, Nathan and Shelley made a movie. It’s funny....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Junk City 5×5 – the final set list

mic — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:19:25 +0000

It was so much fun to be involved in Tim and Sam’s radio show. The whole process of choosing songs, trying to find stories for each of them, burning them to CD.. and then driving off without the CD. As we were leaving Elphinstone, Tim drove off without an essential set of headphones. Then we got caught behind a learner driver, already behind schedule. Ah yes.. all part of the adventure.

The open mic can be a little terrifying.. even though we suspect there’s an audience of somewhere between 1-6 people. However these two wonderful people do their very best to make their guest feel comfortable. They are hilarious together, and are building up such a lovely new radio show.. i heartily recommend you listen in (fortnightly Wednesday evenings, wmafm.com).

Okay, here’s the set list i finally selected for Tim and Sam’s Junk City. Well not exactly.. i originally wanted to play Chemical Brothers’s In Dust we Trust.. but on the spot i chose Hand Made Hope from Emma Tonkin’s Cave of Lights feat. first chorus band of singers, because it brought me so much joy to be involved in the singing and production – and it’s a beautiful song.

But they don’t have either Chemical Brothers or Emma Tonkin on Grooveshark, so you’ll get Marc Bolan who was next on the list.

The stories? Well.. most of the first 5 – the melancholy ones – involve being a teenager in the eighties, filled with morose longing for adventures and safety all at once.

And the second 5 are all about the joys of moving to the rhythms of an unruly dancefloor.

There you go.

—————————————-
Of course i only got to #11 (skipping #10 in the moment), but here’s the full top20 list if you can’t get that grooveshark player to work for you:

01 – Billie Holiday – I Cried For You
02 – Eurythmics – Here Comes The Rain Again
03 – Split Enz – One Step Ahead
04 – The Reels – Quasimodo’s Dream
05 – Depeche Mode – Enjoy The Silence [Reinterpreted]
06 – Feist – Inside and Out
07 – b(if)tek – Wired For Sound
08 – madonna – Hung Up (The Album Version)
09 – bob marley vs funkstar deluxe – sun is shining
10 – Chemical Brothers – In Dust We Trust
11 – Emma Tonkin with first chorus band of singers – hand made hope
12 – Marc Bolan And T-Rex – Children Of The Revolution
13 – Fingers Inc. – Can You Feel It (Spoken Word – Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.)
14 – b(if)tek – We Think You’re Dishy
15 – Black – Wonderful Life (Original Audio 1987)
16 – Cyndi Lauper – True Colors
17 – Scissor Sisters – Filthy Gorgeous
18 – Patti Smith – Smells Like Teen Spirit
19 – Scissor Sisters – Take Your Mama Out
20 – The Reels – Pleasure And Pain

PLUS there is more

If you’ve never heard this remix of Can you feel it (the Larry Fingers Chicago house original).. tap into it here: The Martin Luther King remix, released in 1988:

Junk City demands joy and melancholy Been listening to Tim and Sam on Castlemaine community radio....
hello lovely friends in new york city i am very envious.Here is a pic of Tim, Fiona,...
dvd winter Many people know that i’ve spent the entire winter holed...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Junk City demands joy and melancholy

mic — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:46:42 +0000

Been listening to Tim and Sam on Castlemaine community radio. They have a delightful session of stories about melancholy and joy, called Junk City. Each fortnight a guest will come on and talk about their top 5 songs in each category, songs that moved you or touched you in some way. Helen’s an artist in Castlemaine, and i loved her choices of Cat Empire, Paul Kelly’s Billy Baxter and yes Tim Deee-lite Groove is in the Heart.

..and now they’ve asked me to join them. The show is coming up: 9:00-11:00 pm AEST Wednesday 21 September. [you can stream live at wmafm.com] The thing is to choose songs that have affected me deeply, songs that have a story. How will i choose? Here’s the long-list (below).

[Note, post-script: this long shortlist is out of date already. You'll see from my Last.fm profile what i've been listening to and loving in the last 24 hours - a better indication of what i'll be playing. And there's even a list of my most recently loved tracks, or sorted by all time.]

So i’m thinking: what would be my top 5 songs that spoke to my melancholy? Tough one to answer because i just wouldn’t listen to songs like that, i was so prone to depression.

1) Melancholy

Hang on, what am i saying. The Eighties. The Smiths. Joy Division. Dogs in Space. We were fully self-indulgent in that melancholy stuff.

The Smiths: That song about the double decker bus. Of course. When we were 20 and all thought we’d be dead by the age of 37, i decided to have a mid-life crisis early, get it out of the way. I remember driving somewhere with Jude, singing this at the top of our voices. Probably through a tunnel on the way back to North Melbourne.
Heaven knows i’m miserable now, girlfriend in a coma, how soon is now.. etc!!
Lithium by Nirvana was one of the first songs i ever learned to play on guitar, the first time i actually felt i could play a musical instrument. And even though i have no idea what he’s singing about, even thought he starts off with “I’m so happy”.. it just isn’t happy.
Culture Club, Victims. i had no idea what it was about, but it was dramatic and heartfelt, inviting much interpretive dance. My gender was up for grabs, and boy George spoke to many parts of me.
Midnight Oil Short Memory. No wait, that’s not melancholy – it’s despair and fury.
That song from the movie Once – Falling slowly. I remember Jon Murphy singing us this in the basement flat at James street the house on the hill. It was so beautiful i had to see the movie.
“Rooms for the memory” from Dogs in Space, as well as Marie Hoy’s version of Shivers
Mad World, the remake from Donnie Darko
Don’t Dream it’s Over, Crowded House
Quasimodo’s Dream by the Reels.
Cold Chisel: Four Walls, Breakfast at Sweethearts, Cheap Wine, Flame Trees,
Tainted Love
Cyndi Lauper: Time After Time
ABBA: SOS, Knowing me, Knowing you.
split enz: i got you, one step ahead
The Verve: the drugs don’t work
Radiohead: creep, paranoid android
Paul Kelly: to her door (is that the one i’m thinking of?).
..and the very magical Billie Holiday: God Bless the Child, Good Morning Heartache, I cried for you.

Here’s Jose Gonzalez with “Love will tear us apart”:

Songs that bring joy.

Back in the eighties when i was a wee teenager i had a mix tape full of songs to give me that uplifting feeling. Oh it was super-daggy.

Everything’s All Right from JC Superstar,
Black: Wonderful Life: “Look at me standing here on my own again”
Shona Laing: Glad i’m not a Kennedy, and You are the one,
That song.. [from that movie], (by that guy).. hm. What was it?
When Jimmy Somerville and Marc Almond sang I feel love mixed with Johnny Remember Me
The Housemartins: Caravan of Love
Lou Reed: Perfect Day of course – this one because it’s from a day i spent with my friend Annie. We walked around Albert Park Lake and laughed and talked for hours on end. As we drove back along the North South Highway of St Kilda Road, she played a version by the Frogs (or was it the Trogs?).
Toyah Wilcox: i want to be free.

Yeh i was in bad shape, and needed plenty of holding on.

And now i’m looking back across my life, thinking of all the songs that have brought me so much joy and hope:

Blondie: I’m on E, I didn’t have the nerve to say no, X offender, Kidnapper, Man Overboard, Love at the Pier. Blondie’s version of New York Post-Punk was really a bunch of pure and lovely pop, and their first couple of albums are full of songs that don’t really mean much but totally spoke to me at the time.
Come on Eileen wasn’t on the tape, but i can think of many dancefloors where it’s got us all up dancing. Including the other night when DJ Sean M Whelan ripped up the Willow Bar for the High Noon festival.
Eurythmics came out with song after song that were inspired and genius. There Must Be An Angel, Miracle Of Love, Here Comes The Rain Again, Love Is A Stranger, Who’s That Girl, Right By Your Side, It’s Alright (baby’s Coming Back), Thorn In My Side, Sweet Dreams (about half of these belong in the melancholy section don’t they)
Golf Course by the Ears, the time when the band came back for their reunion gig at the Corner hotel.

True love, the marching girls

There are a few albums that it’s really hard to pick any track from, because they form such a powerful and coherent whole.

Koyaanisqatsi (oh all right, the opening track)
Soundtrack from the film Diva, especially La Wally and Promenade Sentimentale
Joni Mitchell: For the Roses is an album that speaks directly to my heart and always has. Recently Lou and i sat and listened to the whole thing together, which was such a special experience – delightful to have someone listen along with me, when it’s usually a solitary affair.
Cocteau Twins: Treasure
Not Drowning, Waving: the Cold and the Crackle
Evolutionary Vibes vol1
b(if)tek: 2020 (maybe Wired for Sound is the stand-out because of its cultural reference to the original.)
Blondie: Plastic Letters is their best in my heart, an early one.
Urban Brazil compilation (Future World Funk Presents Urban Brazil)

Joni Mitchell, “I am a woman of heart and mind”, from the heart-speaking album “For the Roses”:

Since then:

Chemical brothers: Brothers gon work it out, Block Rockin Beats
Mr Fingers: Can you feel it? (the Martin Luther King remix especially)
Underworld: Born Slippy
War Pigs (version by cabaret band, what are they called, with that woman who tattoed her eyebrows back on.. come on help me out here
Dos Gardenias from that movie, Buena Vista Social Club

So many songs bring me joy. How can you choose just five.

Madame Zuzu singing “Besame mucho” at Open Studio.
Flying Scribble playing “Anyway” or Animation in my head.
Martin Martini “take your skin off and dance”.
Half a lamington by Spoonbill, first heard at bar 303.
Paul Kelly “Leaps and Bounds”.
Sweet transvestite from Rocky Horror, Touch-a touch-a touch-a Touch me.
Nick Cave: Wild Roses (no wait, that’s melancholy. Actually it’s melodrama, scratch that one).

Shona Laing was on my original anti-depression mixed tape back in the late eighties. This is such a classic – and totally dated song: Glad i’m not a Kennedy.

photo credit: DrawPunk (Thanks dude). and photo credit: bjornmeansbear

..and another joyous track. This one was playing a lot at the turn of the century. Emma threw an amazing and glamorous dinner party, where Annie and Bruno were on French television as the Antipodean midnight reporters. Hilarious. And we kept playing this track, Sun is shining – the remix. And dancing. “Makes you wanna move your dancing feet.”

Junk City 5×5 – the final set list It was so much fun to be involved in Tim...
Delights of Castlemaine One of the highlights of the Castlemaine festival was the...
Flap! is beautiful I’ve seen this bunch of diehard jazz freaks play a...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Launch of the 8 foot felix

mic — Sat, 21 May 2011 20:04:58 +0000

We all know there’s no shortage of mad latin/gypsy pirate bands at Open Studio in Northcote.

Just when you thought the world could brook no more such narrative, along comes the wonderful 8 foot felix. Their shtick is that of a group of sailors setting off on a wild and perilous journey, with adventurer Will Tait at the helm. On this night* they set sail, gradually building up to a rollicking, fast-paced mayhem, that had the crowd jumping, stomping and crying out for more.

Brendan’s carousing trumpet plays first mate to Will’s captain Tait. And there’s the masterful Kirri on fiddle, Francesca playing a soulful cello, as well as Steve on perčussion and others on delightful French horn and double bass.

This is meant to be a video from their myspace, but i’m not sure it’s working.
Excerpt from Amorcito Corazon

8 Foot Felix | Myspace Music Videos

..and here’s their performance of “Biggalong”:

Will wrote the final piece for first chorus by first chorus, so I’m familiar with his work, having sung it before. A brooding and dramatic number it was.

[Links]

Upcoming gigs on their own WordPress site; plus
they’re on Myspace, and faceboo of course.

* ‘this night’ was the launch at Open Studio, mid-May.

Vibing it, high style Totally feeling the vibe of the 2009 High Vibes festival....
Vocal harmonies at 303 Zeena dragged me reluctantly along to an evening at Bar...
Madame Zu Zu at Open Studio Madame Zu Zu plays classic old cabaret numbers with a...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Barons of Tang go wild in the usa

mic — Thu, 12 May 2011 22:54:00 +0000

I love the Barons of Tang!

Ok for a few years I’ve found them too hard core, and they were always playing at the same time as spoonbill, so I would never stay and listen.

But tonight* they hit the spot like never before. They are extraordinary. And they’re going to the usa. i don’t think i’ve seen them properly since Aviva joined – her clarinet and bass clarinet riffs added a lot to the sound for me. Loved it.

Dance! Did we? I love those gigs where you start out kind of half-hearted, an you wind up jumping like a mad thing and shouting for more.

*When i say tonight i mean: Northcote Social Club 30 April.

spoonbill gets the crowd dancing Sat 24 Mar – Spoonbill, miso i’ve never seen the...
Vocal harmonies at 303 Zeena dragged me reluctantly along to an evening at Bar...
Vibing it, high style Totally feeling the vibe of the 2009 High Vibes festival....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

dr brown heals what ails ya

mic — Wed, 11 May 2011 06:55:00 +0000

Lou and I went to see dr brown play the tuxedo cat. It was the final night of the mammoth comedy festival and our last chance to catch this californian doctor clown this year.

He is insane. We hooted with laughter, and I can’t even remember why. He’s just really silly, and open, and ridiculous.

But the lovely thing was this: the week before i’d been to his “clowning with doctor brown” workshop, and as i saw him in performance – it all made sense. Everything he’d been trying to teach us, all the wisdom he’d aimed to impart; it all fell into place.

The workshop was crazy. I went because Lynne and Ahmarnya were going, and i’d wanted to try this for a while. The thing about simple clown is not that you have to make people laugh, which is good as I have no skills in physical comedy, but that when you fail – people need to see and feel your genuine emotional response. You need to connect authentically. To be vulnerable.

We all try to act upset, or show our masks of distress and failure, but the clown can simply be open and present, and let the whole world in.

It feels impossible, the more you try, the more you fail even at failing.

And then comes a moment of extreme frustration where you surrender completely, and the doctor calls out, “Yes you’re beautiful right there, we love you there!” Ah, thank heavens i got it finally, the surrender moment.

of course, if you can make people laugh.. it’s a whole lot better.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Sew Funky presents Beasty Beats

mic — Fri, 06 May 2011 09:13:23 +0000

And the next day – after the Castlemaine festival madness – we all supported the legendary Sam Downing in her Sew Funky event “Beasty Beats” at the Elphinstone Hotel.. an awesome day of monster-making. Around 80 people, children and their parents, designed and created their own monsters in all shapes and sizes. At the end we had a monster monster dance. Fun.

Delights of Castlemaine One of the highlights of the Castlemaine festival was the...
hi vibes completely mental, fun What a beautiful day. i am completely blessed .. as...
Funky Brassroots do Radiohead Ah, Saturday morning. The dripping sounds of night rain outside...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Delights of Castlemaine

mic — Thu, 05 May 2011 07:37:56 +0000

One of the highlights of the Castlemaine festival was the Baroqu-eoke performance, “So you think you can Prance”. This was a very fun event. We’d seen them dressing up in the early part of the day, and i was looking forward to finding out more. The costumes were magnificent, as were the instruments and their players. Genuine harpsichord, viol-de-gamba, mediaeval flute and fiddle.

For the first part of the show, the MC taught us a range of emotional expression, Baroque-style. When expressing emotions in the world of Baroque (restoration?) one must always place the weight on one foot or the other. Never evenly balanced.

After teaching us the basics, we were asked to dance these emotions to a series of classic karaoke numbers: Dancing Queen, Don’t you Want me Baby? and You Should be Dancing. Classic! At one point, there were no volunteers for the karaoke, so Tim in his role as Barry Fluff the festival host pointed at Sam and me, calling out, “They’ll do it! Choose those two!” Nice one Tim – clearly we were being too shy. Sam and i belted out a raucous version of ‘Don’t you want me baby’, and were awarded a free jug of Pimms next door at Madame Brussels. Sam mentioned later on that perhaps we might have attempted to sing in a more refined way, however i’d been following the lead of the “Village Idiot” character who would sing in the most tuneless and hopeless way.

Tim made a quick video, you’ll get the idea. Oh boo, it doesn’t work. Why not? Oh well you’ll have to go over to their site to watch it.

airport disco adventure Sam and Tim went to Tasmania. i went to the...
delights of brunswick Oh thank heavens i’m back home. G Love and Special...
Junk City demands joy and melancholy Been listening to Tim and Sam on Castlemaine community radio....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Ajak Kwai is astounding

mic — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:34:04 +0000

i’ve seen this woman before somewhere. She plays a very good innocent character, pretending to be no-one in particular, who then goes on to take the audience’ breath away with her incredible voice. So as well as buying her cd, i went out hunting on the youtubes and found these live performances, from a show in Melbourne in 2008: “Yego Luelku (Leave Me Alone)”

Wait, there’s another one: “All My Wives”.

And here is a video where she’s interviewed on her experience of being Sudanese in Tasmania. (Just skip past the hokey travelogue at the start.)

She appeared as the game show guest in Trent McCarthy’s “Dr Game Show”, showing at the Northcote Town Hall. Kevin Kropinyeri was the other third of the show, giving us his Aboriginal Game Show. He’s very funny, and more than a little bit wrong in his comedy.

[Spoiler warning: after the break]

We all went because the wonderful Sam and Booshie were also in the show. That’s right Samara “Hotseat” Hodson owes all her success (on Eddies Hotseat show) to the advice she received from Trent McCarthy. Apparently. According to the promo on the big screen above the stage.

Hilarious.

Trivia: Trent is also a Greens Councillor for Northcote.

Links: Kevin Kropinyeri

A review of the show in the Leader.

dr brown heals what ails ya Lou and I went to see dr brown play the...
Delights of Castlemaine One of the highlights of the Castlemaine festival was the...
hi vibes completely mental, fun What a beautiful day. i am completely blessed .. as...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tasting Treasure by Roundangle

mic — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:11:48 +0000

I love the work that Roundangle does. Their multi-sensory adventures are challenging and fun. This one was at the Melbourne museum, and made for the under-five crowd. So i invited Isabella and Lynne to join me and we had a lovely day.

At the beginning of the show, we were invited to crawl past the cardboard city, through the plastic-filled tent into the forest of the senses. Most adults thought this was a children-only affair, but Ilan and i agreed that we were definitely going to join in this adventure.

Plus the stage manager insisted that i “Crawl Through the Tent Michael!!”

(i paid my $2 and i’m not missing a single moment!)

They taught us the Indigenous phrase for ‘welcome to country’ – WoMinJaika – and as each group called out their part of the word, we were called to our part of the journey.

A forest fairy made us all into seeds, growing us with sun and water and love, sharing the treasures of native Quandong and Lemon Myrtle. An old woman of the mountains showed us how to make soup with Mountain pepper leaves and Old Man’s Weed.

A delightful honey bee took us into the flower forest and showed us how to sprinkle our pollen on the flowers. This was really fun.. huge flowers that opened up and produced fruit as we showered our pollen.

And then the spirit of the rocks, who brought his very small puppet mate along to share wattle seeds. (Really yum seeds and great puppet work!)

Afterwards Lynne said one thing she liked was that they weren’t doing that hyper-energetic, super-lively “children’s theatre” thing, but rather playing to a crowd of all ages, and telling warm engaging stories with a sense of kindness and humour. i think by the end of it, most of the adults had learned to join in as well.

i wish it was on again soon: i’d tell you to go and see it. Especially if you can take children along with you. Great work Roundangle people!

Bunjilaka: WhatsOn Display Page.

Multi-sensory theatre .. anticipation i am a huge fan of Roundangle theatre .. the...
hi vibes completely mental, fun What a beautiful day. i am completely blessed .. as...
Theatre twice in one day Some days are just brilliant. The Melbourne theatre scene is...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The magical funkiness of Jamie Lidell in Brunswick town

mic — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 08:31:19 +0000

So Amarina and i went to see Jamie Lidell at the East Brunswick club. i’m still reeling with the pleasure of the experience. He is funny, fabulous and so funky! Did we dance? Oh Yes. Everybody danced.

A good, well-balanced set of old and new. i’m so glad he played one or two of the solo numbers – the ones where he builds up the entire song using his voice and some kind of loop pedal / electro board thingie. The one i recall is “The City”.

The rest of the set, he plays with a fantastic drummer and this astonishingly energetic keyboard guy, who went topless and sweaty at the first opportunity (it was a hot evening). In contrast Jamie kept the black and silver vinyl jacket on all night, occasionally flashing us the neon heart blinking away from the inner lining.

————

Here are some videos showing his enchanting and soulful vocal beats. Not as good as live, but hey.

The official vid of Multiply

“What’s the Use?” (also not live)

Ooh, but seriously, look at this video for “A Little bit of Feel Good (goes a long way)” ..with the Unicorn !! Funny but also kind of spooky and wrong. Actually disturbing. What is he on..!?

And with Gonzales, playing Multiply live

(unknown venue? Thanks unknown uploader. Ugh, the audio and video are horribly out of synch. Is that Feist on backup vocals??? Yes. Oh wow, i wish i was there.)

Gonzales – Multiply ft. Jamie Lidell by taodan

Ooh and take a look at a different song from that Gonzales concert with Feist and Mocky. Really interesting collaboration.

jamie lidell is good Hello Paul, this is the Jamie Lidell guy i was...
Gas Stew & Dump .. rock Brunswick Laundromat Now i really feel part of Brunswick. Invited to a...
Gorgeous art in Brunswick Went to see Jessie Tucker’s exhibition at the Brunswick Arts...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.