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.
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”.
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So i’ve been looking for photographs of the Bohemian Ball. Luckily there are some really good photographers hanging around with this crowd. There’s even a new book coming out that seems inspired by the ball and its coterie of performers – “This City Speaks to Me“.
The shows have been hit and miss over the years. i think i went to the first one at the Regal Ballroom in Northcote, and the music was decidedly non-boho. Disappointing in fact. But they’ve settled on a combination of Spoonbill and the Barons of Tang for recent years, and also for their whirlwind tour of Australia last year.
Found a set of (NSFW!) photos from the March 2010 ball, by Luke David Kellett over at flickr.
i just found this entry from Dellywood. Yay for Dell she caught the photo finish at the [Secret Location] Cup Day Derby. i have some photos too from last year’s Billy Cart Rally but haven’t put them anywhere public yet. i heard rumours that the guy who won had been training for months. He was a wild-card re-entrant after being knocked out early on. He is also the one who filmed all the other races by following on his skateboard; and for that i think his victory was so well-deserved.
Eastment St Derby 2010 on Vimeo on Vimeo
Here’s some footage from 2009, shot by Man Monkey Durphy. The winner that year was top3 in 2010 as well, i believe.
Dan also has 2009 shots on flickr, here in a slideshow.
The Age has photos from 2009 here.
Hope they run it again and again.
Too much fun.
Sleepy from dellstewart on Vimeo.
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?
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!
This is Melbourne, there’s always a dozen amazing exhibitions to visit.
I reckon these two could be really good.
..
Lauren Simmonds (had) an exhibition opening Thursday 3 June at the Napier Hotel – Skin and Bone –
It’s always good to remember how incredibly lucky i am, living in a developed country, having a roof over my head, access to public transport, and some kind of employment, as well as amazing social support networks. Many people around the world don’t get this lucky.
There’s been so much going on in my life lately:
But telling stories here on the blog.. haven’t had the follow-through lately. Too busy enjoying life, too nervous about writing in public, too stressed about moving house and finding new workplaces.
So there’s the overview.
Maybe i’ll come back with some detail, one day soon.
photo credit: cloud_nine
It was windy, raining and cold.. but the show must go on, isn’t it!
Emma Bathgate opened this extraordinary gig at the Fairfield Amphitheatre
Totally feeling the vibe of the 2009 High Vibes festival.
Of course i must kick off with the very wonderful Flying Scribble, my favourite band in the whole world. Mal Webb at 303 was hilarious, doing mad things with his beat-boxing, a loop pedal and several trombones.
Then i bumped into some extremely glamorous and funky dancers from the first chorus band of singers, who’d created an impromptu dance floor outside Subterrain. Good venue!
