Candy Bowers in Who’s that Chik? (“A hip hop tale of a brown girl with big dreams”).. Candy B is probably best known as Rasheda Eda MC of Sista She.. and now she has ventured into the world of the solo show.

Hip hop superstar.

With sister Busty Beats on sound (and video perhaps).

i don’t want to give too much away, but this show draws on the lady’s life history. Hip Hop etiquette 101 meets Candy B’s ethnicity. If you’ve ever wanted to ask her, “So where are you from?” (Dandenong!) this show will give you the answer. She is not happy about the lack of cultural representation given to minority people and particularly people of colour. One act features Candy on fire (metaphorically?) with anger. This was really strong and emotional and courageous and beautiful and it hit me bang in the heart.

Full on. Go Candy.

..

“But where is your hair from?”

“Uh.. my head.”

..

Ooh look here she is in a preview:

and here’s some more publicity shots:

if that doesn’t convince you, please note that in the tags for that second video on you tube, the lady herself lists “velurejumpsuit” and “hoodie”

..

So anyway, What Was i Thinking sitting in the front row? All on my own?

i was thinking.. “this show is going to be righteous! and Somebody has to sit in the front row. What is wrong with you people!”

You do feel a bit vulnerable in that position, but fortunately for me when Candy singled me out for some audience participation, it was for the final dance, when my heart was already jumping from her “on fire” closing number.

Ka boom.

Sweet.

..

other links

• Candy B was on Q & A recently (vodcast links here).
• Melbourne fringe site Chik page.
• A recent interview at same same.
• Review from when the show was in Sydney.

..but wait here’s more.. an interview where she talks about a different show that i wish i’d seen now, where she had young people and senior citizens on stage in Footscray earlier this year:

Plus, one more.. via Defamer Australia: the Lionel Ritchie “All Night Long” video clip (which Candy incidentally showed as a video during the show).

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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.

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• 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.)

—————————————-

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.

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“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.

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Bum Creek set a really good tone for the night. They are utterly weird, yet strangely good fun. Noises and growling merge with instrumental random-ness to produce a nice kind of bizarre. Kind of like Bad Taste by Peter Jackson. Horror music.

At the end of their set they switched over by pulling the jack out of the amp .. and the next guy plugged in. Some artists i could have listened to for much longer, while others were unbearable at the two minute mark.

Most fascinating instrument of the night went to the guy who’d built a box out of metal springs and coils. There’s no way i could describe either his action or the sound that emerged .. it was entertaining.

Pikelet i love. Great loops, driving rhythms .. endlessly creative.
Qua brought people to life with some dancey beats.

It was fun watching the host attempting to give each band their two minute warning .. most artists were fully absorbed in the experience, so she would have to creep up quietly and make a play for eye contact. Everything went smoothly.

Until the final segment, where everyone jammed together. This was ugly .. and got the most walk-outs. Intriguing, entertaining, but just noisy. i stayed out the distance, to test my endurance.

PS: Qua and Pikelet are playing with Mountains in the Sky, 8th November at the Corner.
gray is playing with Qua, plus it’s my birthday – who wants to come along?
(now here’s a test to see if anyone’s reading ;-]

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• Deceased Estate by Roundangle
• Don’t Cut my Fringe Straight at 3RRR
• the fully enjoyable dance-athon 6000 from the Town Bikes and known associates ..

oh the Town Bikes .. how ever did the world manage without them, way back in the 20th century?? That’s right, we had the Butt Funky troupe of mischief-makers. Along with their buddies .. the magical dj marieke, the hot slush puppies and more, they roused the crowd into a wet and wild state of krumpy frenzy. Yum.

( What’s this video .. a Town Bikes showreel? They are fun. i love them. )

Deceased Estate was insanely wonderful. Many old stories from the history of an East Brunswick house. Blindfolded sessions, of course, down the side of the house. Shadow theatre, hot milo and monsters in the backyard, a neighbourly dinner party in the front yard with the original family back in 1946.

Harry pours scotch for the gents and tells us he’s delighted that Chifley’s at the helm. The 1940′s couple freeze, as we flash forward to a teenager climbing out the window and listening to Joy Division on her walkman.

.. the live event at 3RRR was a thoroughly weird adventure. Pikelet and Qua were on the bill, so i’d thought it would be fun. Bum Creek started off the action with their bizarre journey into sound .. and the night looked promising. One guy had invented an instrument made out of old coils and springs .. he was hilarious and i wish i’d gotten a photograph.

Ah Melbourne – joy and delight and wonderful weirdness at every turn!

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