Flap! is beautiful
August 19, 2011
I’ve seen this bunch of diehard jazz freaks play a few times now: at the Village in Edinburgh Gardens, supporting the inimitable Bohjass at the Northcote Social Club.. and now headlining at the East Brunswick. And each time i see them, i love them even more.
Such brilliant musicianship, such joyful playing, such contained energy in the singing. It’s modern Northcote music that draws on the traditional jazz styles of the 30′s and 40′s. Songs of love.. songs about the chicken truck that goes up High Street late at night.
My dad was mad for a bit of trad jazz, and i think he would have approved of this crowd as well. Read the rest of this entry »
The magical funkiness of Jamie Lidell in Brunswick town
March 14, 2011
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.
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Here are some videos showing his enchanting and soulful vocal beats. Not as good as live, but hey.
The official vid of Multiply
Awesome evening of magic and gorgeousness
December 14, 2010
Finally we made it to the performance night.
“first chorus: a retrospective” was a celebration of the first 4 years of Virginia Bott’s amazing Band of Singers. Such a joy to be involved with a magic and gorgeous bunch of good people.
The venue: Anytime Place in Brunswick. Gray Taylor and her team of speakeasy angels worked hard to get the venue looking its best. They are incredibly adept at adapting their environment to suit different kinds of performance.
The acoustics and sound engineering: Simon did a truly amazing job with the sound setup. What a dude. Thanks to Marianna and Ro for pointing out the need to turn down the band and the solo singers. Amazingly, we really had a good balance of volume from choir and soloist/band. (i heard later on from someone who sat both back and front that it was still pretty quiet out back in the standing room.
The audience: what a delightful and generous audience we had, filling out the space with warmth and focus.
The director: everyone knows now that Virginia Bott is a complete genius.
The new CD: Cave of Lights, the collaboration between Emma Tonkin and first chorus: band of singers is now available, hot from the CD burning presses. Launch should be around February. So lucky to have a preview copy that we gave a good spin last night after the gig.
Woohoo. Wish we’d recorded it.
Did anyone video?
3 wise jellyfish at Abbotsford Convent (must see!)
November 1, 2010
You won’t believe it but Jessie Tucker is having her 3rd exhibition this year, and it’s a beauty.
Another round of 3D painting-style sculptures, this time focussing on fables like the 3 wise jellyfish, the pigeon and the birds of paradise, the tiger and the moth. Gorgeous, magical pieces.
Get yourself to the nunnery and drink in this splendour.
C3 Gallery, Abbotsford Convent, until 14th November – hurry!
Exhibitions approaching.. paper & paint and acetate
June 3, 2010
This is Melbourne, there’s always a dozen amazing exhibitions to visit.
I reckon these two could be really good.
..
Skin and Bone
Lauren Simmonds (had) an exhibition opening Thursday 3 June at the Napier Hotel – Skin and Bone - upstairsatthenapier.org/ Lauren also had a huge piece at the Trocadero in Footscray recently which was astounding and beautiful.. her work draws you into its intriguing depths.
..
The World at Large
Plus i’ve just had a sneak preview of Ahmarnya Price’s latest collection. Ahmarnya’s opening at Gilligan Gallery on the 12th June, a Saturday matinee session. There’s a whole year full of diptych works that had me staring in wonderment for as long as i could. Each month echoes the themes and motifs of the month before, telling a story of hair and skirts and transformation.
Don’t you love that delicious sensation of being surrounded by genius artistic people!
While you’re out cruising the interwebs, take a look at Ahmarnya’s blogspot: she’s collected bundles of her past work:
Gorgeous art in Brunswick
May 15, 2010
Went to see Jessie Tucker’s exhibition at the Brunswick Arts Space last night. She’s made a thoroughly gorgeous set of “rare birds” – Avis Rara – in the style of trophies on the wall, with beautiful colour and design.
i wish i’d taken some photos, because all the pieces sold within the first 90 minutes, and who knows when i’ll get all the way back to old Brunswick town again.
An owl, a flamingo, a couple of love birds, some kind of hummingbird with a unicorn – all with lovely old world titles. My favourite was definitely the owl and i was thinking of investing, but i took too long thinking about it and bam, someone else grabbed it.
Would definitely recommend you pop into the gallery and see the birds before they fly off to their new homes.
The only reference i can find online is via BrunswickArts’ facebook page with Jessie’s flyer here . (Brunswick Arts in Breese Street, off Hope.)
Music videos from Barkly St (wealth of nations)
November 16, 2009
Wealth of Nations – the fringe festival experience – is all over, but i managed to grab some photos and videos. Lachlan’s uploaded them to places like youtube and flickr.. and there they are.
Pete and the Tar Gang were one of my favourite performances from the season. Pete is such a bold character on stage, with his old sea shanties.
They played the following week at the Fringe Club in North Melbourne, and followed up with the Tar Pit Men’s Choir. One of the guys sang a truly amazing solo piece which got the whole crowd turning their heads (at the Fringe CLub). Talk about upstaging!
Mamushka were hilarious and jazzie. Aviva is so stunning up front, and when she pulls out that bass clarinet, you know you’re in for some rollicking.
(i saw them again last week at Open Studio.. without all the costumes. They leap from their circus jazz into a bit of rock thrash every now and then.. and back again. What a blast.. but why was nobody dancing?)
The Kurtletts of course were thoroughly gorgeous.. Kirri and Sofiya play so beautifully together.
Links:
- more videos from the Tar Gang, and their myspace
- mamushka on myspace
- sanctum theatre (main site, youtube, flickr)
Oh, and the photo slideshow, which has some of my photos mixed in with other people’s too.
Spontaneous Tram Choir !!
October 3, 2009
Ah this could make you smile.. the Spontaneous Tram Choir on the Lygon St Tram.
i hope we’ll see more from this bunch:
from You tube of course.
Ha ha. Thanks Logan for this video.
Neon Toast for dinner and a dance
September 29, 2009
Neon Toast opens in darkness.. but i won’t tell you why. Let’s just say the lighting arrives unexpectedly.
There are plenty of surprises in this delightful piece from Brunswick trio Eleanor Riley, Kerrily Aitchison and Rachael Dyson-McGregor.
A series of diverse dance pieces touching on life in a bakery, urban dating, the thrill of the chase. Such a beautiful sense of nostalgia in some of the scenes. Although there’s no time setting, it feels like the past, with jazz from the twenties and a bath before dinner. Gorgeous humour in the words and movement. Sifting flour through socks as all three women move so gracefully.
i really enjoyed this show.
Anytime Place has a strong record for astounding performance..
and Neon Toast builds on that tradition.
.
Links:
- Melbourne fringe festival show page.
- Don’t just take my word for it: Also reviewed over at Simple Things, and the Arts Hub.
Mind-blowing soundscapes, Quiver
September 25, 2009
An astonishing evening of the musical kind. A program including 2 world premiere performances. This was delightful, and strange. i don’t have the musical vocabulary to describe what happened.
Quiver | New Music Ensemble | is a group that plays some kind of Alien Spacecraft Contemporary Classical music. Plucking the strings of a grand piano, playing tuba without the mouthpiece, blowing the clarinet reed into a bowl of bubble bath.
Such beauty.. in the church setting, with the organ up on high.
One chapter of the performance used the full organ to great effect.. a drummer who would intermittently cease drumming to cry out his quotes from cinematic history (or was it comic-book history?).
Nothing ordinary about this performance.. very enjoyable.
Links:
Can’t find any link to Quiver online, but Aviva the magical clarinet player also plays with Mamushka who have some great tunes online.. and who are playing Wealth of Nations this Thursday 1st October. i can’t wait!!
Listen.
Extraordinary music!!
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fIRST cHORUS excitement (a fringe festival event)
September 25, 2009
First Chorus is part of the Melbourne fringe festival, this time featuring in
- an event with Emma Bathgate
- at the Fairfield amphitheatre.
- More details, plus book tickets at the Melbourne fringe site.
- (This Sunday 27 September at Fairfield Amphitheatre, near the Boathouse.)
- (Here’s the faceboo event page if you have a residence in that place.)
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Plus, from the Victoria hotel event in August:
The choir i’ve been singing with had our big big night.. seven original songs by the songwriters in the choir. Songs in genres including folk, pop, jazz, operatic and gothic-epic, the arrangements all worked by Virginia Bott the amaazing musical director.
i wish i could put up the video right now, but it’ll take ages to be ready. i’ve heard the bootleg recording came out well.
The first show was electric and intense.. while the second was more sedate, laidback, and somehow harder work. Probably because we were already exhausted. As Lou said, it was as though we had a whole season, from opening to closing night .. in the same evening.
The Victoria Hotel has really picked up its game, reshaping into a kitschie Melbourne style classic. Upside-down lampshades hanging from the ceiling.. which any self-respecting Melbourne bar must have.. since the Night Cat started the tradition back in ooh 1990-something.
Really great to be involved in such a dynamic and powerful performance, eh!
Lovely people.
Gas Stew & Dump .. rock Brunswick Laundromat
September 23, 2009
Now i really feel part of Brunswick. Invited to a special performance by the one-and-only Gasoline Stew and the Dump. Lou and Anto put on their magic rubbish dump costumes and transform themselves into the essential oil of Grunge Itself. Where else but Andy’s Laundromat. Killer gig. Loved every minute.
Big thanks to the Stew and the Dump.
Plus, special treat .. Anto hands me their brand new freakishly amazing camera and says would i mind taking some shots. So i pretend to be a rock photographer. Yes this was back in late october 2008, but i’ve just tracked down the video:
and here’s their mad backyard video clip for “put that thing on”:
Wealth of Nations approaching (a festival show)
September 22, 2009
“You are invited to join Sanctum Theatre and Fenestra Productions in celebrating the 233rd anniversary of Adam Smith’s seminal work, Wealth of Nations as part of this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival. The ship may be sinking, the ‘invisible hand’ might have lost its grip on the invisible wheel, but there is an alternative. For two weekends in September Sanctum and Fenestra break away from the globular economic system to realise Smith’s ideal of a true and unfettered market on a small patch of turf in Brunswick – ‘Wall Street on Barkly’.”
Lachlan read us the Business Age yesterday, because the economical journalists there had noticed the number 233 in connection with Adam Smith. They suspect theatrical shenanigans. They would be correct: here comes the Nut Economy. The roller coaster of free trade.
- Opening Thursday 24th September. 6 evenings only. (1, 2 + 3 October still to come!)
- Music, performances and more. Street hawkers, snake oil merchants.. etc:
- Mamushka (Thursday 1st October!)
- Suitcase Royale, the GFC dj masters (Grand Funk Connection).. Pete & the Tar Gang.
- Visit Sanctum Theatre dot org for full details.
Here are some photos from the previous incarnation back in May ’09
Oh and here’s the official publicity line: ‘Merchants of mania, hawkers of hubris, snake oil salesmen and peddlers of useless pendants’ peddle their wares in the Wealth of Nations market place. Do you have anything to offer? Come up with a product and a pitch, fill in a Trader’s Application form, get in for free and earn your peanuts to buy drinks for the evening. Get your Trader’s Application form from Sanctum Theatre.
WARNING: MAY CONTAIN PEANUTS!!
Each night will feature a different band and guest performer. Bands include:
- Pete and the Tar Gang, Sex on Toast, Mamuska
- The Kurtletts, Minstrels of the Revolution, The PANTY CHRI$T$
Guest performers include
- Suitcase Royale, Daniel Oldaker, Cabaret Existenz, The Gibbon Twins
- The Sewell Family Cabaret, An Inconvenient Spoof, The R.S.P.F.C.L.B.H.M
How exciting! Can’t wait.
