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.

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:

• • Fab to see gray double-armed again.
  • And Louise’s new fully electric hot red mini-organ sounds just as good as the 6-ton-slider.
  • The Bon Scotts were fun too.

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.

Here’s a song i think you’ll like.
From the xxteens (via imageyenation), a warning. With a funky beat.
It’s called “How to avoid becoming a terror victim”.

The accompanying video (below) could be hilarious, unless you are Easily Scared, or on the lookout for Seditious Material; in which case it would be Terrifyingly Insulting to your Sensitivities. Beware: attempted humour and satire.

And this is how i felt after watching the video.

I feel a bit nervous
I feel a bit mad
I feel like a good time that’s never been had
I feel a bit fragile
I feel a bit low
Like I learned the right lines
But I’m on the wrong show

(I’m Living in the Sensitivities.)

Best lines in the xxteens lyric?

“store a decent amount of cash someplace in case ATM’s malfunction“
“try to fly on wide-bodied planes, terrorists often avoid hijacking them“

But they sound better in the song than they look in text.

Hope your whole week goes really well.
i’m staying indoors.

Next up, we need a song called “How to avoid becoming a terror suspect”. Any ideas?

Hello Paul, this is the Jamie Lidell guy i was talking about .. wild electro soul ..

performing multiply live

Video clip for you got me up

Thank you Sasha and Paul for your great DJ story!! and Sam for sharing your funky videos.

the musical highlight for me would have to be the night of farewell for housemate Louise and gray. It was their party really, and they did some amazing setup, including candles down the alleyway, and a genuine earth-mapped pinyata, with roaming dinosaurs hanging off the hills hoist.

Lu made her room into a band room, with drum kit, amplifiers and all sorts of electronic connections to complement the Farfisa organ. She was so thrilled when people brought their instruments to play (but not so thrilled when Ben played so hard that he bled on her guitar).

Now there’s blood on my guitar you @**& .. and it’s all your fault ..

My favourite moment was in the back yard, under the summer tent, Renato on piano accordion, Kiri on the fiddle and Tarquin playing clarinet. Sublimey!

Rhiannon said at one point, “We were expecting the usual michael quiet evening, and we arrive to a Genuine Northcote Party.” People kept played until five am; but by then i was asleep, having watched the very final episode of Buffy downstairs with Sam and Booshi.

(They watched the whole seven series in around ten weeks! Now that’s an achievement.)

Now, post departure, the house on the hill at James street is still its usual mess of cables flying from room to room. Louise has moved out and headed over to San Francisco; she and gray started their adventure by seducing their way into the qantas lounge, ha ha ..

much love to youse all, michael

So Paul and Fiona left the wintry shores of Melbourne and headed to a small fishing village on the Atlantic, to become fishermen. It had been their dream for a long time, and they looked forward to the opportunity to hit the high seas during major storms.

no, wait Halifax isn’t a fish, it’s a university town. (i’m thinking Halibut with Gravlax)

Sorry .. so the Martini-Maher bunch departed the cloudy village of Melbourne, and headed off to enjoy a huge new experience lecturing peasants in the way of the first world.

i’m not getting this right, you’d better tell your own story.

Melbourne is getting a bit springy, and the darebin music feast has leapt into being with its first night in the new old town hall. Eloise’s very new bar across the road picked up the late night scragglers with a wild evening of gypsy music, clarinet and tuba.

sorry to make youse all jealous, says michael