I Dream a Highway just had their 2nd birthday gathering.
(If you don’t know yet, it’s a funky retail outlet on the Northcote Hill opposite the Wesley Anne, with clothes and cds and lovely arty stuff.)
Ben and Rhi laid on the liquor and some scrumptious Mein Leibe pizzas for all their friends, family and neighbours.
Zeena dragged me reluctantly along to an evening at Bar 303 on Northcote High Street. “Harmony on High” they called it.. and if i’d known what it was called i wouldn’t have gone because i have a strong repulsion for all the shops that call themselves whatever “on High”.
How very prejudiced and resistant of me.
Because this was a beautiful gig.
Zeena’s friend Matt is in a band called Vocal Agents. They started the night with some lovely and innovative harmonies. Some of the arrangements were better than others. The crowd loved their version of Mad World.. it wasn’t my favourite. However, even though it wasn’t to my taste, i had to admire their talent and strengths.. and risk-taking. Really good voices, blending well. The bass guy had a solid deep line going throughout. Different people led various songs. They were a good intro to the night.
The Hazelman Brothers were delightful. 2 out of the 3 brothers made sweet harmonies together, and captivated the audience. Nice lyrics too, although i couldn’t tell you what they sang about now. Relationships and stuff.
Cadmium Waking have changed their name to Aluka.. they’ve been snapped up by Clare Bowditch’s management to tour with her, and i’m not surprised. Sweet strong voices, wonderful harmonies and really, really good arrangements. When the timid blonde girl next to the wall hit her bassy lines in the final song, i was thrilled.. why didn’t she sing in that lower register all along!! Enchanting sounds.
Could have stayed for the stars of the night, but we skipped away to catch the final number from Woohoo Revue at Open Studio. Ooh they were good. We walked in and the crowd was dancing like kids in a jumping castle. Fun.
i wish i could have been at both gigs really.. and i heard the Wesley gigs were good too: missed The Boys (clarinet jazz), but will try and catch them next Saturday evening. Apparently there were 4 part harmonies on the Wesley stage too.
Music music music.
Northcote is jumping !!
Cross the river if you have to.
Yum.
Extraordinary moments.
For the Melbourne hall of fame 2009, i would nominate the Flying Scribble percussion artist gray taylor for her one-armed drumming set at the Wesley Anne, sunday 28th June.
Not only did she valiantly play with her left arm out of action, she played one song blindfolded. Go gray! You are a star and a legend. We love you.
Oh and Louise was good too. You both rock.
PS
Ooh look here’s Lou and gray again playing at Anytime Place in July, filmed by the Qua on his mobile phone. Video is lame.. get closer man, but it sounds good. This was a really good set. Many people dancing.
And guess what! Update! They’re having a CD launch (single) next Thursday evening 10th September at Wesley Anne.
Woo hoo. Can’t wait.
PPS:
yes Flying Scribble was magnificent:
Here’s a review of the single already over at Mess and Noise where you can listen to the song.. in one piece if your bandwidth will do it. Oh and read the comments as well as the review.. you’ll find a funny NZ story and Ben Butcher’s shoot of the ladies gettin glamorous on a Northcote monkey bar.
Fly scribble fly.
“Golf Course Do you remember? Of course you do..”
Well i never saw The Ears back when they were one of Melbourne’s shambolic fun-times charismatic underground driving forces..
i did see Sam Sejavka on countdown once when Beargarden caught Molly’s attention, and of course we all went to see Dags in Space over and over again. So for people who witnessed the world of music through the mainstream filter of countdown, when Dogs in Space hit the cinemas we had graduated from suburban living rooms to the wild world of big white volkswagens.
i remember driving around in the back of Meredith’s VW, pretending we were in the movie. Pretending we had some connection with the musical underground, but always knowing that Hutchence wasn’t the real Sejavka.. that this was a mid-eighties commercialised and dressed-up version of the real thing. That we were playing at being in a fictional reality.
So yes i knew the hutchence/ lowenstein versions of the songs..
(For those who don’t know or haven’t worked it out by now, the band of the movie Dogs in Space is loosely based on this Melbourne group from the late 70’s, early 80’s).
Lovely to get to this reunion gig of The Ears and experience a bunch of people re-living the wild exuberance of the original times.
Recognising folk from the “Living on Dog Food” movie.. so i give Sam a big smile as i walk by.. can’t help acknowledging the star of the show, and he asks if i’m Steve. That was funny. No i’m michael… but you look familiar too.
Great show. He’s a fully energetic performer with that lush flamboyance that i adore..
i knew i’d love The Ears’ version of The Ears.
Sean kelly came on and played with them. That was cool. Some of the support acts were fun too – David Bridie has a lyrical voice – and Steve Kilbey was amazing of course.. but i really had to listen to St Kilda get done by Essendon on the radio outside didn’t i. Ouch.. should have stayed in the gig!
Stop press: huge thanks to Brendan of Brilliant Films for the live footage he’s posted on youtubie. Here is the one and only Dogs in Space by The Ears Live:
Plus: Sagging Insects Live:
..and an original video from way back when: Leap for Lunch:
Loads of links related:
How much delight can a melbourne music goer bear?
On a night when the rest of the world was huddled around the s/MCG watching everyone from Kylie to Wolfmother and Split Enz, Annie and i headed for Northcote’s Wesley Anne to see the ethereally magnificent Flying Scribble with Pikelet playing solo.
Louise and gray are in very fine form; their new magic shines wonderfully just like the old numbers. gray’s drumming always astonishes and Louisie somehow manages to play 15 instruments at once, pumping out eg bass, organ, accordion and macbook samples.
Yes i was transported again by their beautiful rhythmic genius.
Here they are caught on video back in ’07:
Great News: they’ve finished recording the new album! Bad news: Shame the wesley still shuts down sound at 11pm.
Who’s Flying Scribble?
Lou and gray are one amazing melbourne duo. Find out more:
My beautiful old iRiver died while i was travelling in Cambodia. It disappeared from my luggage on a bus. Device death by disappearance.
i was sad, i was disappointed. But sooner or later i had to have another music player**.
So i chomped on the ammunition and stole an iPod classic from JB hifi. They took $325 from me but it felt like a steal anyway.
Heaven.
Glamor-tech.
Charming.
and no i don’t have to run iTunes. So Relieved About That!!
Yes, Winamp manages an iPod just fine.
Just drag the files across and there they are.
Yay Winamp.
PS: not perfect, this device.
**Yes i have the iRiver e100, but that’s a kind of joke really. When you put the micro SD card in, all the screen writing reverses to mirror image. Fortunately i can read mirror writing just like da Vinci.
photo credit: Themis Chapsis
A Masquerade Ball is always the way to feel fabulous. This was fun.
Melbourne’s Underground folk turned out in their finest dress-ups to celebrate the powerful mystique of our local music scene. What could be better than dancing to the Barons of Tang and then Spoonbill.
Hobo Piano in the foyer .. tattooed glamour from wall to wall.
Zeena and Cam and i danced the night away, revelling in everything. i just wish i’d taken me camera ;-[
This is too hilarious.
Never heard of it before, but microsoft has a program called songsmith, which puts a backing track to your vocals. So people added in vocals from famous songs to find out what would happen. Here’s the murder of one Radiohead classic.
You’ll find more examples of songicide over on the original article in the Times (uk). (And more on youTube of course.)
Seriously the company should be charged with songslaughter. (is that songs-laughter or song-slaughter?)
Unlike garage band from apple which i’ve heard inspires creativity. go microsoft, go far.
Plus, someone’s had a go at songsmithing one of Obama’s speeches.
i love searching winamp media library for songs relating to a word, and then listening to the mix. The other day i found 68 songs relating to the word black.
Nick Cave Black Betty .. such a good cover. Kicking Against the Pricks is always my favourite album from the Caulfield genius boy. Listen to that song over and over. The Spiderbait version was fun in its own way, but doesn’t really compare. .. and then i listen to Tom Jones version, and it’s shit. In a good way. But compared to the Cave? Shite.
Tom Waits has the record for a single artist in my collection .. 7 songs with “black” in the title.
Radiohead Black Star, of course. OMG what exquisite pain and pleasure in their music. Just recently Radiohead became my most-listened artist of all. i have been catching up .. to the rest of the world.
Nikka Costa Black Seed, Goldfrapp Black Cherry .. Nina Simone Black Is the Colour of My True Love’s Hair. i admire the brilliance and passion behind all these songs.
Public Enemy Fear of a Black Planet, Queen Latifah Black Hand Side, and *The
Spent a Saturday last week indulging whims.
Started off watching films at the HRAAF festival (Human Rights) ..about disappearing islands in the Pacific (eg the Carteret Islands off Bougainville). One of Georgie’s films was featured.. her NGO Pacific Black Box got young people to make films about the local effects of climate change. (Mentioned this on my work blog.)
The session was called: “Reel Change”
Really good films that could have an impact. There was a woman from Tuvalu and a man from the MakePovertyHistory campaign. They held a forum and spoke after the film.
Anyway i felt i needed to make a change, and stimulate the economy .. ok i just went therapy shopping. And came back with the latest in
Must Read Now.
Not only that but when i arrive home, i remember that there are many new CD’s in my bag from recent CD launches. eg
gray taylor was magnificent at the Qua / Mountains in Sky album launch, supported by the Stars of the Night Pikelet. i would have bought the Qua CD too but they’d run out.
i go now .. i Prepare 2Listen.
ooo.
