Fargo, Spargo, Embargo

Spargo with Dead Letter Chorus and John Columbus
The Hopetoun Hotel, Surry Hills
Thursday July 26

As the five-piece John Columbus started to play their Dylan and Radiohead inspired songs I was forced to ask myself why are three of them wearing hats. There was bowler on the bass player, a cloth cap on the guitar player and what can only be described as JR Hartley inspired trilby hat seated neatly on the noggin of the keys. Despite the odd number of head adornments the sound coming from the stage bathed the audience in a cross between The Animals and Nick Cave, if he were on anti depressants. With titles like ‘Einstein’, ‘The Toll’, ‘Supermarket’ and ‘Absolutely Frozen’ I was left with a feeling that the next time I see these guys they would be topping the bill.

- JR Hartley on Keys aka Ben for John Columbus

Next up were Brisbane based Dead Letter Chorus. After a heavy week of gigs, Cameron, lead singer was feeling the effects of too much of a good thing. His voice was croaky and he had to rely on Gaby, the only girl in the purple crinoline dress and multi-taskier (singing, keys and guitar) to fill in the gaps. To be fair, if he hadn’t of said anything, the crowd would never have known he was suffering. Their set included ‘Magnolia’ and ‘Laces’ which sounded a bit like Counting Crows and Jewel, but guitarist Matt seemed to be jamming in an entirely different band, Rolling Stones maybe. The second to last song was ‘Misery’ which saw Gaby on stage alone with her guitar while the rest of them stood on the sidelines and watched as she suffered just what she was singing about. Don’t leave her there alone guys, give her some support so you can keep up the good work.

- Gaby from Dead Letter Chorus

The evening started with so mush promise and kept on giving. The five lads from Melbourne that call themselves Spargo arrived on stage just after ten thirty. Most of the crowd that had gathered for Dead Letter Chorus started to drift away by the end of their first song of the evening ‘Jack the Blacksmith’, and in the words of Lachlan, the lead singer ‘better a small but appreciative crowd, than a massive disinterested one.’ They continued though their country music inspired set to a new song called ‘Ballad of a Young Married Man’ that made Rawhide and 19 spring to mind, but you know what, it was fun, toe tapping stuff that made you want to dance.

- Spargo.

It was one of the few times I actually thought to myself, these guys are having fun, they enjoy being on stage even if they only get a couple of hours sleep, if any before getting on a plane at 6am. That feeling of joy is infectious and so are the songs they play, maybe because they talk to the audience, maybe because they are just really good and maybe because at the end of each song guitarist Andy said into the mike, in his best Elvis voice, ‘thank you very much’. ‘Loverman’, ‘Live and Learn’ and ‘Sweet Therese’, despite having a distinct blues/country feel inspire you to sing along even if you don’t know the words. These are songs you’d have on you iPod for strolling, relaxing and running and that’s hard to achieve.

- Dancing the night away

The last song on the evening was a cover of the Johnny Cash classic Folsom Prison Blues. They asked everyone to dance and feel the beat, and you know what they did. The folks of Surry Hills got down and bopped along like I have never seen before, they stopped talking and danced. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a few Stetsons and a cry of Yee hah! The small crowd was indeed, appreciative.

ANTM - 8:7

Guest Judge – Bennie Medina

Challenge – Pink a Supermodel name and then go to a high rollers party and impress a group of celebrities, plus Tara’s agent, publicist and a other ‘influential’ peeps. Winner – Dionne

Photo Shoot – by Kareem Black and each girl had to do four sides of her personality.

Bottom Two – Sarah and Whitney

Went Home – Sarah ‘it’s OK to be myself.’

Note – 50Cent pushed Jael in the pool after she annoyed him.

Triple Zero

The other night I had a conversation with my mate Miss Eudoxia about the circumstances under which a call to 000 is appropriate (we also chatted about boys and had a naked pillow fight in the less serious moments). It turns out that a bin in the middle of the road just requires you to get off your arse and move it. A driver hassling you and driving dangerously is just cause, as is having your husband sectioned ‘cause he’s threatened to kill himself or you.

So having had this conversation I was unpleasantly surprised last night as I left the office I had to make a call to 000.

On the steps outside my office were two guys (Caucasian, wearing beanies and other shabby clothes) holding a lighter under a coke can. As I stepped over them to get home I smelt a smell that was decidedly not natural. The hypodermic needle next to them was also a dead give away. It was only 6.30pm.

I rang Miss Eudoxia after and she confirmed that drug taking did indeed qualify as a 000 call as at least four laws were being broken.

Note: 000 is the Emergancy number in Australia. 999 in the UK. 911 in the USA

Gotye Pending

This weekend is a big one! Gotye [Goatee-yeah] is in Sydney for his mini orchestra tour. So whilst having YouTube up and running I looked him up and found a few things you MUST see.

Firstly, a two part mini documentary/interview by AudioTechnology Magazine about how he makes his music – Part One and Part Two.

Secondly, there are the music videos for ‘Hearts A Mess’ and ‘Out Here in The Cold’

And lastly there is an episode (16 at Golden Plains Festival) of Beat TV (yes, those that printed that review I did). For the Goyte bit you need to go to 5 minutes in.

Enjoy!

PS. to get back to me, back out of YouTube. ;-)

VW Ad

After following a link from a random blog to another blog and then to the ‘Ohh so evil, therefore banned at work’ YouTube I found the advert that had sparked my interest.

This Volkswagon advert that was banned from British TV’s for either the use of the word ‘Bollocks’ or that a small child is seen to be reaching above shoulder height. Either way it’s quite a clever advert.

Whilst looking at banned adverts I also found this one. Again, it’s for Volkswagon, but an independently made one that has nothing to do with the Volkswagon Corporation. Not very PC, but funny.

Masters...So Far

I got my results for this semester today. In a weeks time I will be starting the second to last semester of my Masters in Writing and here’s how I’m doing so far. For someone who only did any good at art in school, I’m quite proud of myself.

Advanced Narrative Writing – Distinction
Book Publishing and Marketing – Credit
Non-Fiction Writing – Credit
Writing Poetry – Distinction
Professional Editing – Distinction (got a higher distinction for my last paper)
Theory and Writing – Distinction

Only Writing Seminar (were we write and workshop) and the Professional Writing Project to go. So by this time 2008 I will (all being well) finished my edumacation! ;-)

But... it's not Jazz!

The Charlie Parkers and Modern Life
The Spectrum
Wednesday July 18

After completely missing the first act due to their early start and my tardy behaviour I settled in to watch the substitute support act while Modern Life tuned up. She was small, blond and wearing the highest black stilettos I’ve ever seen. She was also quite clearly hammered!

Just before starting, singer Charlie Smith came on stage and slid the drums slightly to the left, drummer Michael was clearly unimpressed and the set start time was delayed slightly be the rearranging of the drums so he could comfortably sit behind them and play. But all was well with the world because they started with ‘Daffodils’ and moved rapidly onto they own theme song ‘Modern Life’. With the progression of the set I was starting to think they sounded a bit like Duran Duran and Roxy Music, with Michael Hutchins’ brother on vocals (the hair, the low cut t-shirt and the moves), then they played a cover of ‘Love is a Drug’ by Brian Ferry. All became clear, they do sound like Roxy Music. There was plenty of interaction with the small crowd when it was revealed that Charlie knew the blond girl and for a brief moment the show became strictly adults only. They played ‘Sensation’ and ‘Without a Trace’ to close the set, then came back when asked, to wrap up with ‘Monkey’ when it was clear that not all of the headliners had arrived yet.

Watching the complete change of set left me thinking how much harder the drummer has it than everyone else. It took Dug, the aforementioned hard done by, drummer of The Charlie Parkers ten minutes to set his kit up and then another five to sound check. The keys and guitarists all took about two minutes to do both.

They started their set on-time with the rocking guitar riff of ‘Venus’ which had everyone in the now greatly expanded crowd, dancing. As the set continued with guitar heavy ‘Katie’ and the synthesiser dominated ‘Step Back Forward’ the temperature in the room rose as the dancing continued. Bass player, Eben, maintained the look of the cool bass player, even when a change of pace in the middle of the set saw the girls in the audience getting a good look at lead singer Jason’s bare shoulders as he removed his shirt and switched to an acoustic guitar for the slower ‘Something Wry’.

With barely a hint of jazz influence and more Kaiser Chiefs and Powderfinger showing through they played ‘Blackheart’ and ‘Dr Zeus’, a song aimed at having a go at the pharmaceuticals companies, but even with that announcement the enthusiasm of the crowd never waned. The multi tasking Joel switched with ease between his guitar and keyboards, all the time keeping up with the backing vocals. The music rapped up with ‘Just a Kiss’. Oddly enough, despite the requests and shouting, they played no encore. They did however, spend a large amount of time with the fans who stayed behind. Which is best, encore or time cultivating fans? I’m guessing by the queues of people being greeted with smiles and claps on the back, the cultivation of fans is all part of the fun for the Charlie Parkers and sod the encore after a twelve song set.
__________________________

Had this one brewing for a while. Went out with the girls the other night and wasn't gonna review, but though that I should even though I missed the first act. Gotta keep in practice never know when The Brag will call and send me somewhere ;-)

Bessy

Bessy is my hard working, kilometre chewing white, old cow of a Subaru Outback. She is four and half years old and has 215,000 kilometres on the clock. Roughly every six to eight weeks she goes and visits the health clinic for a tune up and oil change, she’s had three sets of Yokohama tyres and she has only let me down once, when her cam belt broke on the F3.

She’s just had to have her gear box striped down and a few bearings replaced and a new differential. Not bad when you think that in human years she’d be getting on for 70.

Even the mechanics like her. This time after mending her, they gave her an extra special treat and washed her!

How Excited - Part Three

This week Brag published this one ;-)

ANTM – 8:6

Guest Judge – Cathy Gould – CEO of Elite Models

Challenge – In groups of three the girls had to make a Sears window display with them in it. Sarah, Renee and Dionne won the challenge after another (better) group got disqualified. Sarah won the personal prize.

Photo Shoot – The girls were dressed up as boys and they had to pose with drag queens. There were couples of the; nautical, outdoorsy, glam rock, bohemian, power, rocker, frat, hip hop and red carpet couples.

Bottom Two – Diana and Whitney

Went Home – Diana ‘ehh just ‘cause’

Mans Man

I work in a very male dominated office. Most of them are true blue Aussie blokes on the older end of the scale. None fits this description better than John. He’s worked here for 35years and sits in his little corner doing his stuff and only peeking out when talk comes round to footie, cricket or baseball. He’s a tough cookie that knows everyone in the company and has in the past told stories of the days when swearing, smoking and fist fights were the norm in the office.

Over the last couple of months I have had to replace my tube of hand cream that sits on my desk next to my computer, twice. I’ve been confused by my rapid use of the stuff but this morning I found out what’s been happening.

I caught him ‘cause I got a little earlier than usual. There he was standing next to my desk, pink tube in hand. He looked really guilty…and he made me promise not to tell anyone, then promised to buy me a refill when this one was gone.

John’s been putting it on his hands in the morning and again after lunch everyday. He told me that because he was often around when no one else was he had tried it shortly after I’d started ‘cause his hands felt ‘a bit odd’ one day. He’s been doing it ever since.

I Like...

What with yesterday morning being the coldest since the early 80s it got me thinking this morning (my brain slows when it’s cold, it’s like putting maggots in the fridge (it’s a fishing thing)).

There are a few things I like about the cold and a few things I don’t.

Like being tucked up in my nice warm bed
Don’t like having to get out of said warm bed
Like Puss cuddling up with me
Don’t like the fact Puss paws me to get attention before cuddling up
Like being able to see my breath as I walk
Don’t like not being able to feel the ends of my fingers
Like the low winter sunshine
Like the steam coming of the dams
Like the covering of frost that melts as the sun hits it
Like that i have to wear the brightly coloured scarf
Don't like that I have dress and undress several times a day as I walk from inside to out and vise-versa
Like the amazing light you only get in winter with frost and fog
Don’t like having to get up to see it
Like the clear skies and frosty air, it reminds me of the UK in spring
Love the way the stars look so much brighter in a clear winter sky

The Catholics

So I’m feeling a bit down on religion at the moment, more so than usual. It all started with the World Youth Day interview and it just seems to be getting worse.

Before I go any further I know some very lovely people with religious beliefs, and this is not aimed at you.

Last night I watching the news (BBC World Service, Thank you very much) before going to bed and there was a story about Portugal bringing in a law that allowed abortion up until 10 weeks. Before now, women such as the 40 year interviewed with a black box over her eyes had to either do dodgy back room versions or travel overseas. I’m not necessarily for abortions, but I am pro choice…anyway the reason for mentioning this law in the first place. The Bishop of Whatever town in Portugal was interviewed and his quote was, ‘we must stop women from benefiting from this law.’

Yes, I kid you not, he used the word BENEFITING!

Much bad language was used by me and I think the cats went into hiding.

So it brings me back to WYD2008 (notice no link, there will be no encouragement from me!). This event takes place every four year and moves around the world. It’s a month of bible bashing and this year hundreds of thousands of brainwashed youth will descend on Sydney. If you aren’t interested in meeting any of these people, be out of town for at least 18 – 20th July 2008 ‘cause there’s gonna be nearly half a million of them. Anyway, on the 20th July there will be a closing Mass led by none other than the ex-Hilter youth Pope Benedict at Randwick Racecourse.

Now, consider this…the Catholics believe that gambling is a sin and one of the many actions of the devil, and yet they are asking the NSW government to give them nearly $50m so they can have their Mass on private land that is devoted to and purpose built for the pursuit of Gambling!

Here endeth the rantith

Sex Sells

You have got to love business enterprise and the secret life of women.

News Item from today Sydney Morning Herald

Wind and Sun Burn

After drive all day on Saturday I repeated the experience on Sunday. This time it was just under 500 kilometres and heading north to Gloucester. There was an alpaca meeting, starting at ten. The wind was blowing a gale, but the sun was shining its little heart out. So twenty odd people, including the entire executive committee gathered on a veranda to have the last OGM with the current bunch of work horses (aka committee).

Being outside in the wind and sun for four hours isn’t a good idea in Aussie, even in the middle of winter. I had on four layers of jumpers, gloves, a beanie and sun glasses and I still managed to burn my lips. They currently have that, I’ve eaten too much chilli feel and people at work have commented I look a bit pink. Nice!

I’m at work now and feel like I haven’t had a weekend at all. I’ve driven (or been passenger) for over a 1000 kilometres and sat through several hours of meetings. I been bone chilling, teethe clatteringly cold and got sun burnt. I’ve been roped into doing another year as newsletter and I didn’t manage to offload the convening of Flora Fest in September.

It’s also looking like the next six months are going to be so busy at work that I may have to take a leave of absence from my Masters so I can fit everything in

How am I ever going to get rid of all this alpaca stuff? Ideas gratefully received.

Ammonia

Over 500 kilometres and seven hours in the drivers seat I got home after picking up the girls from Canyonleigh and driving them to Ourimbah. Only ten minutes to go and Wispa, Arabella and Bertie decided that it was time to have a pee.

It was seven degrees outside and I had forgotten my coat earlier so I was driving in shirt sleeves, but still I drove with the windows down!

- Bertie (foreground), Arabella and Wispa are unimpressed by the prospect of a couple of hour in teh back of a van

Two outta Four Ain't Bad!

The Dawn Collective with Tobias Cummings and the Long Way Home, The Smoking Muskets and Des Miller
The Hopetoun Hotel
Friday 13th July 2007

After fleeing from Wagamamas to escape the strange person who had sat next to me and ordered Chilli Crab without any chilli I walked into a nice warm pub brimming with people rocking to the first act of the evening. Des Miller, namesake and lead singer, looked like Cat Stevens circa 1972 and even had the wool fisherman coat. The sound, however, of the five piece band was more akin to the Travelling Wilbys and Pink Floyd. With Buddy Holly on the drums (aka Chris Rudge) doing his best to add some tempo to songs that I image would be flat without him. Shortly before singing the last song of the evening, a little ditty called ‘Borderline on Fire’ they announced they would be back with an album that ‘should be out before next Autumn’.

- Is it just me of were Des and theCat separated at birth?

After a short break, two fifths of The Smoking Muskets appeared on stage. Singer Angie Who and acoustic guitarist Chad Mason had made the effort to turn up for a booking that had no doubt been made but, apparently the others couldn’t make it, even though they reside in Sydney. The two of them struggled through a seven song set that included a version of Fleetwood Macs ‘Dreams’ that would have Stevie Nicks rolling in her grave, if she was dead. And that’s all I have to say about that!

With a tune up that lasted forever, I was starting to think that was the sound of Tobias Cummings and The Long Way Home. No, it was worse. The opening song for the band from Melbourne, ‘Oh Joe!’ started with a lengthy acoustic solo followed by a wail, then the delightful lyrics ‘giving birth to a devil in a cocktail dress‘. I have to confess to thinking about leaving at this point. But the next song lifted the tone a bit, and the next again ‘Sunny Disposition’ had a sound that matched the title. ‘Folding In’ took a turn back to the Franz Kafka lyrics, but I knew I only had to persevere for about ten more minutes to get the main act of the night. It did mean of course that I also had to cope with the feedback and wahwah pedal that marked the end of their set. Ohh... ear drums I’m sorry to put you through it.

The wait was worth it though and I was glad of the prime position I had got myself because the room was filled with fans. People who had come to see the music of The Dawn Collective, not just drink and chat over the artistes. I watched as suited gents sat at the electric cello (Simeon Johnson), loosened the waistcoat and tie behind the drums (Robby Fernandez) and straightened shoulder lines under guitar straps (Greg Bell – Guitar and Andrew Bennett vocals and guitar). The odd one out was the fifties suburban housewife on bass complete with floral dress and wide headband (Stacey).

- Poetry in Motion
- Am I wrong? Please tell me if I am...

They started the ten song set with ‘All those Pigs and Enemies’ before moving one too ‘A Park Covered with Trees’ and ‘A Handful of Moments’. At which point Simeon, who had been bowing like a dervish was required to tend to his bow to remove broken fibres before continuing onto ‘Eat, Drink for Tomorrow We Die’. These had even perfected the song with false ending for two rounds of applause. Masterful. By the end of the set the room had heated up and the sweat had started to pour off multi tasking Robby with his bongo, drums and rattle, so no encore was played. It was a shame, I would have like to see more as any type of classification was escaping me. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wanted the Hopetoun to break curfew.

- Really they were enjoying themselves!

After the concert I was walking home and saw a poster from the bLuejuice concert I went a couple of weeks ago. I stopped to point out the outrageous pink fishnet top the lead singer was wearing when the guy shutting up shop asked me if it liked them. I responded in the affirmative and was told they were crap, before the bass player revealed himself counting creditcard slips behind the counter. He recognised me as the person who had asked for the set list that night and asked my name. I gave him my real name, then he asked if I had written a review, I said yes, then he said he thought he’d seen it on a blog, but the names didn’t match. I asked was if it was a green blog, he said yes and there was Rachel mentioned.

I confessed we were one and the same person, he confessed to a vanity search on Google. He thanked me for a good review. I received my first payment for a review tonight, a bar of Toblerone.

My First Blog

First I would like to clarify that I am NOT, I repeat NOT clucky (Muv, all your grandchilden will have fur, fleece or feathers!).

Second, I still think all babies look like miniature old people (with wrinkly skin, little hair and issues with bladder and bowel control) but I found this blog this afternoon and thought it was nice that it’s written from the point of view of the baby, rather than the parents.

Go Gotye!

Would have been nice if they'd spelt the name right...but as they, say any publicity is good publicity.

Goyte (yes that's how the Sydney Morning Herald seem to think it's spelt!)

How Excited - Part Two

A couple of weeks ago I got a Basics review published and wrote about being very excited. Well it happened again. I rang and asked a Melbourne Free gig paper called Beat if they wanted a review of the Basics I wrote about their Athenaeum album launch. They only wanted 600 words so I had to cut out the comedian bits, but they did publish one of my pictures too, so once again...

How excited am I?

ANTM - 8:5

Guest Judge - Mike Rosenthal - photographer

Challenge – every girl had to Vogue pose though a maze of lasers in two minutes. Whitney won a $40,000 bracelet. Renee was the only girl disqualified. Benny Ninja (Posing Instructor) officiated.

Photo Shoot – Crime Scene Victims. – drowned, stabbed, strangled, shot, electrical accident, decapitated, poisoned, push off rooftop, pushed down stairs, organs removed…

Bottom Two – Felicia and Dionne

Went Home – Felicia ‘Nothing at all gonna keep me from following my dream’

Notes – Renee’s hubby is as daft as she is. When she was on the phone crying her eyes out asking him to come and pick her up he asked her if she’d had a good day. D’Oh!

Mixed Fortune

So I thought ‘Ohh… Ohh… Gotye new album Mixed Blood is out…I shall go and get a copy at lunch time so I can listen to it this afternoon at work instead of listen the to voice of the annoying b*tch in the pod next to me all afternoon (the woman is shrill, loud and never stops talking).

So I left the office with a spring in my step (I’m also in training for City2Surf on 12th August) and headed for the Red Eye Records on Pitt Street. Sold Out in both stores!
Then I popped into Citymark, they have two records shops…one only sold Chinese music (well, it is Chinatown) and the other one Hip Hop, eww!
Next stop, Sanity in Market City. The chickie looked Gotye up on the computer after asking ‘who’s that then’ and after a brief time of looking confused at my disapproving looks and consulting the computer, she informed me that Sanity Sydney (that’s all stores in Sydney) is still waiting for its stock to arrive.

Shocking!

Another Test

Anyone seen Firefly or the movie Serenity? Maybe you’ve seen both. In which case you’ll like this quiz found on the intermanet by The Other Andrew. If you haven’t seen either…nothing to see here!

According the the quiz…I’m an 85% match to Zoe Washburn second in charge. I’m an 80% match for Captain Reynolds himself. Shame they took this show of the air after only one season.

Your results:
You are Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)

Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 85% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 80% Inara Serra (Companion) 70%

Dependable and trustworthy. You love your significant other and you are a tough cookie when in a conflict.

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test

Lucky Twice in a Week

On Tuesday I got a phone call inviting me out that evening. Trixy and Rachel were going to the Imperial for the evening and insisted I go too. Well I had to go if they insisted!

So I met them at Trixy’s place and we were joined by a forth. A stranger to the pack – Andy – ohh my god how lovely was he?…shame he’s the new gay bestfriend. Moet was drunk and City2Surf was booked. Only later did Trixy reveal that she was going to be in Bali from the 9th August for a week. So she’s promised sponsorship but can’t actually do the walk.

After a couple of glasses of bubbles to celebrate good exam results for three of us (I got a distinction for Theory and Writing) we bundled into a taxi to go and play Bingay! More commonly known as Bingo, at the Imperial it is called by Mizti McIntosh, the resident Drag Queen and all-round star of the Sydney gay community. The rules are the same as more straight laced Bingo establishments except if you make a mistake (call Bingo instead of Bingay! not have the right numbers etc.) you have to wear a penis hat with hairy testicles included.

Rachel was the first to wear the hat from our group, then I got to wear the hat and a pair of Mitzi fake breasts. Turns out though that shouldn’t have been wearing either I had the right numbers but I did call ‘Ohh Bingay!’ so maybe I deserved it anyway.

The thing is, you have to book now and we hadn’t. So really we were lucky to get in at all.

- When the 54 ball is drawn, Mitzi sculls a Vodka Criser while the ball girl sings a disco song. A example of the high class action to be had at Bingay!

The second luck this week was last night. Edna had booked Harry Potter 5 movie tickets weeks ago and the cinema on George Street had f*cked up. Somehow they had no idea how many tickets they had sold for the 8.30pm showing. So we had to join the back of the queue. Now, I’m not kidding or exaggerating when I say the queue was about 60metres long…it lead from the cinema door down four flights of stairs, round the corner, down the corridor and round the giant supporting pillar. Edna and I were at the end of the corridor next to the supporting pillar. I have never seen Edna spitting feathers like she was last night, ‘any other film this would be acceptable,’ ‘this is a joke,’ ‘I think we should resolve ourselves to not getting in.’ When I suggested we go and see Shrek the Third she got her spirit back and starting thinking it was a possibility that we may get in.

After the long walk from the back of the queue to the front, we did indeed find seats. They were towards the back and to my surprise (I really must stop being surprised at the way people behave) people were still sitting with a single seat between groups. So after I had established that no-one was sitting on either side of a group of lads I asked if they would move up one. The lad in the middle said,’good thing were nice’. My response was, ‘good thing I’m bigger.’ I thanks then and we settled into to watch the movie. Which, by the way was very good.

- - - - There be spoilers below - - - -

Harry, Ron and Hermonie have grown up. They all have and Dudley has grown into the role both figuratively and literally. There are great big chucks missing but nothing that takes away from the story too much. The demise of a key character could have been way more dramatic and the lack of fan-fair for the passing kinda took away from the rest of the drama.

The removal of certain parts of the book does mean that it all moves very quickly from one idea to another meaning that loss of concentration will result in loss of plot. There are also a few things left unanswered. So read the book (if you haven’t already) either before or after.

The casting of Loony Luna Lovegood and Bellatrix Lestrange was insightful and both actresses did an amazing job. Helena Bonham-Carter looked kinda like she does at Hollywood functions, but this time the outfit and makeup works. Ralph Fiennes is great as He who Must Not be Named, the makeup helps there is something so evil about having no nose.

The sets and locations are impeccable as are the costumes. The script is dark and Daniel Radcliff has improved as an actor considerable since the first movie. The humour is light on, but perfectly placed to lift the whole thing, just as it’s getting a little heavy.

I will be seeing this at least twice more at the movies. Hubby wants to see it, Edna wants to see it again and I’m sure Trixy and Rachel will want too. And for the first time in a long time, I won’t mind paying to see a movie again.

Talents to watch – Gary Oldman, Jason Issacs, Daniel Radcliff (currently underage but give him a couple of years) Alan Rickman (that one’s for Edna) and Ralph Fiennes.

Sailors, Surfing and Driving

I woke up on Saturday morning before nine thirty with that ‘you’re awake and no matter how much you lie here you’ll stay that way’ feeling. Hubby was asleep so I got in the shower, then dressed and went for a walk, all before ten. Maybe it was because I wanted to play with my camera or maybe I was fuelled by the beautiful weather and the prospect of seeing the USS Kitty Hawk in the Harbour. Actually I think it was a bit of both.

- The Archibald Fountain at the North end of Hyde Park

So I walked down my street, across Liverpool Street, slowly through Hyde Park and even slower through Sydney Botanical Gardens, taking pictures all the way (where I took pictures of some of the last flowers of the season and flying foxes). I was very reserved and only took sixty or so. Even when I saw the plethora of people all heading the same direction as me I was undeterred.

- Sleeping Fruit Bats (aka Flying Foxes) in the Botanical Gardens

- Bumble Bee on Daisys

- Flying Fox, ehh flying...

- Just a few of the crowds going to see the USS Kitty Hawk

I took more pictures and even ended up taken some wedding photos for a small group that had no official photograph person. I also got a shot of a gaggle of US sailors showing zero respect for Mrs Macquarie’s sandstone, but having fun. How did I know they were sailors, you ask? Well, they had American accents, they were chewing gum and they seemed to be wearing clothes out of sync with Aussie fashions.

- Hero's from the USS Kitty Hawk

- The USS Kitty Hawk

The ship itself was a little disappointing. It was grey! And OK, it had jet planes and helicopters and tanks and all sorts of other high tech gadgets and bells and whistles but you couldn’t really see any of it and it all looked (I may have said this before) grey.

A walk home with a detour into David Jones and a new shirt or two later, Hubby picked me and we went to Sara and Pete’s place for the viewing of the wedding videos and looking of the wedding pictures. After a few hours of that accompanied by curry and traditional Indian sweets we left and went to the movies.

Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer was exactly what I needed. Mindless entertainment with good-looking hero’s and bad guys all dressed in tight fitting costumes and lame dialog. A simple story with plenty of action and nice locations meant that the hundred and twenty odd minutes passed with very few brain waves interfering with the enjoyment. Marvellous!

This morning I had a slightly harder time waking up. Puss had disturbed my sleep a bit and I had ended up sleeping head to toe with Hubby. But Edna was driving me in her new Mazda 3 Neo today and I had to be ready.

We drove out of Sydney over the bridge (first 1) and then out to Hornsby shopping centre (first 2 – car park) then onto the freeway (first 3 – 110kph). A brief stop at the Brooklyn Bridge rest stop for a photo shoot (first 4) then onto Bucketty. On the nice long straight stretch near Peats Ridge, Edna developed lead foot for a brief time (first 5 – over 110kph) before pulling it back for the 60 zone. First 6 was when we drove up my driveway which happens to be a dirt track. The final first was filling him up with fuel. You'll have to go to Edna's blog for pictures!

All in all a good day.

Today wasn't a pretty weather wise, as yesterday, so I thought include this pretty hibiscus flower ;-)

Wandering Star

You moving out, Ben?

No.

Me neither, I guess there’s two kinds in the world, people who move, people who stay. Ain’ that true.

No, that ain’t true.

What’s true?

Well, there’s two kinds of people, them going somewhere and them going nowhere, and that’s what’s true.

I don’t agree, Ben.

That’s because you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. On an exodus to nowhere, sometimes I get mighty homesick.

***

I love this scene in Paint Your Wagon when Ben Rumsom is talking to the town judge about leaving town for winter. It's just before he sing I Was Born Under A Wandering Star (about 2hours in).

ANTM - 8:4

Guest Judge – Neeko, hairstylist to the stars

Challenge – Make Up from the new summer Cover Girl range was scattered around a garden and the girls had to apply it themselves. The winner of the challenge was Brittney and she picked Jael and Sarah to share the prize of a photo shoot for Seventeen Magazine.

Photo Shoot – Saw the girl being body painted from head to toe like sweeties (lollies, candy). They also had jelly beans stuck in their hair and cream in their hands.

Bottom Two – Diana and Cassandra

Went Home - Cassandra

Notes – The looks that Renee gives Brittney are those of pure hatred. I can see things getting real nasty between those two.

My David

I got my camera back from the menders today. I was so happy that i have decided it deserves a name, so I have decided to call it David.

Hubby suggested that I picked that name because is a word that starts and ends in D for digital and has a AVI in the middle which means Amazing Visual Imaging. It really so much simpler...

David Bailey is a photographic hero!

How Fresh...

... is our beef?

I took this picture in March when out and about doing alpaca stuff. I laughed so much I had to stop the car.

Email

My work Outlook stopped from sending anymore email until I had cleaned up my mailbox today. So I started with my ‘Sent Items’ and the email I have sent to Edna. There were 645 emails sent since 20th September last year.

So being curious about what we could have possibly talked about in that many emails I had a look at some of the titles. Such gems as Weird Cheese, Annoying Me, Fluffy Squirrels and Is Vomiting Preferable had content that cannot be shared it was just too random. Less Babies and More Booze however, was fairly self explanatory.

Finally there was Chocolate, Genius and Men! Three things that girls have to talk about, oddly enough there was not one called Shoes.

Odds On

In times of extreme boredom (usually at work) or my lunch hour (also at work) I will go to Wikipedia and push the random article button. This is the result of Hubby telling me about it after he was bored at work and discovered it

Now, as some of you may know I made a New Years resolution to go and see more bands play live in 2007. In fact I set myself the goal of 30 bands that I had never seen before, but I could see any I liked more than once. Currently I sit at 14 bands 23 times.

So what are the chances of the Random Article today, being about a band? I’m sure there is a smartie-pants out there somewhere that could work out the odds for me.
Anyway, it was indeed a band, Nuclear Death to be exact.

Unfortunately they are from the States and broken up, but a band none the less.

How Excited?

So the sun is shining like it’s spring already and on my way into work I picked up my weekly copies of The Brag and Drum Media as I do every Tuesday. Like a good girl I didn’t peruse these ‘til lunchtime.

When I did I found that The Brag had published this review I wrote last week.

How excited am I on a scale of 1 – 10 do you think?

PS. Thanks Edna for the typo advice;)

PPS. Those that didn't already know my real identity will if you actually take the time to read the review in The Brag ;-)

Is Porridge the New Cement?

During the warmer months I stop at my local café on the way to work and pick up a freshly cut fruit salad each morning. There is something so refreshing about pineapple, melon, raspberries and other seasonal fruits that really get me started in the morning.

So now that Winter is well and truly here, with the coats, hats and scarves comes another, warmer morning food. On a Mondays I buy a bottle of milk and each morning I make myself a nice hot bowl of steaming porridge with a sprinkling of brown sugar.

This is not the first year I have done this, I’ve been doing it for many years but there is something I forget each year about the porridge bowl once you have finished eating it. You must wash it immediately!

Yesterday for some reason I didn’t and one thing led to another and before I knew it, it was home time. This morning a came in and the remaining oats had stuck to the insides like a limpet. I put my bowl into soak in the kitchen for three hours, and I still had to chip the buggers off with my fingernail.

The Concert (long, but hopefully worth it)

The Basics with various other artists
The Athenaeum Theatre
30th June 2007

The flyer invites you to join Wally, Tim and Kris as they launch their new album, Stand Out/Fit In. Launch it where, into the stratosphere? With four support bands and three support comedians they certainly put in a pretty good effort at making an impression that lasts.

First up at eight o’clock was Little Red, a five piece garage rock and roll band from Melbourne. They sang a short set of five songs, as did all the supports bands of the evening, including a very catchy and infectious ‘Coca Cola’. Lead singer Tom Hartney worked his way through the set with the sleeves of his grey suit pushed up and shirt open to his navel, but with the style of tunes, it worked well. With influences that list Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen and Shane Warne there is very little to dislike about these guys. Had the foyer announcement not warned everyone against dancing in the aisles ‘this is a theatrical performance’ I think the dancing would have started there and then.

- Little Red -

The first comedian of the night appeared to be wearing a blue velvet jacket and bow tie. Need I say more? I suppose I should. He also came out carrying an electric ukulele. Ok…I think I’ve said enough. But I will just say he had a very interesting and amusing take on the how to fix the hole in the bucket that Liza bought. His name, Oliver Clark.

- Oliver Clark -

Emma Heeney is a small woman who disappears on stage until she starts to sing. Her voice lends the songs she writes a weight that put her in firmly into the category of ‘Watch Out World’. Simple songs that burst with emotion are played by Emma on her acoustic guitar and backed up on vocals by Tess Hildebrand, bass and drums are provided by those affectionately known as the Daves (Kleynjans-drums and Rogers-bass). She came, she sang ‘No Colour Here’ and ‘Top Shelf’ amongst others and she conquered.

With the music cue stuffed up for the entrance of Andrew McClelland, he had to walk onto stage instead of his planned dangerous dancing entrance. He did reveal that despite the warning of the foyer announcer early that ‘there is no mosh pit at the Athenaeum’ he did dance in the aisle during Little Red and was asked to move on as he was a fire hazard. I though I was going to choke, he’s not a small guy. A scissor jump or two later and an extremely funny bit about The Beatles being the best and comparing the Rolling Stones to cheese he left the stage to major applause.

Then came Spargo, the second five piece from Melbourne fresh from time spent in the UK. A blend of country and blues filled the theatre and set a new, slightly more sombre tone with ‘Jack the Blacksmith’. They went on to play the more upbeat ‘Lover Man’ and ‘Sweet Terees’ before rounding off the first half of the concert ‘Goodbye Girl’.

- Spargo Lead -

The intermission of fifteen minutes saw the acts from the first half mingling with the audience and selling and signing CDs. There was a girl hanging out that was the spitting image of Paris Hilton, but quite clearly it wasn’t her ‘cause she can’t leave California for at least eighteen months.

Tokenview welcomed everyone back from the break to the rockin’ sounds of guitar and drums. The four piece band from Sydney whos age averages twenty took the stage by storm and ‘Broken China Doll’ couldn’t have sounded sweeter. ‘Beautiful Disguise’ saw lead singer Brett Clemensons biceps rippling as he plucked the strings. I’m sure there were many weak knees in the theatre apart from mine.

The final comedian of the evening was Lawrence Leung. First he attacked the Asian stereotypes of all knowing technology geeks than he starting talking about ideal chat up lines from a book called The Game. I thought I was going pee my pants and choke all at once. I haven’t laughed so much in a long time. He went on to explain why the The Sensitive and Manly Attractiveness of Colin Firth is a Myth. He did this with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation. He took screen shots and voice recordings from Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones Diary and then played them down the phone to girls looking for a flat mate. When he played the ‘Would you like to come fishing in my trout stream,’ one poor girl said ‘go away you freak’ and put the phone down. It doesn’t sound that funny written, I suppose you had to be there.

- Lawrence Leung -

Finally, The Basics took to the stage and with this being the launch for Stand Out/Fit In they played the album in order from start to finish. Kris Schroeder, suffering from a bad cold resulting in throat problems, sang his way through all the tracks he leads on despite the problems. Drummer Wally De Backer, made it to ‘Hey There!’ (song four) before having to remove his trademark grey jacket. A technical issue slowed things down at the start of ‘(Love, Love) Speak To Me’ when the wrong acoustic guitar was brought onto stage and had to be tuned on the spot, but between the three of them they made it into a opportunity to talk to the audience and Wally thanked his Dad for making the sign and the techs for putting the lights on it. The set continued with jokes about which song came next and how Dave Bramble seemed to be the only one who knew ‘cause he always appeared on stage when it was his song. Tim Heath took the bait when Kris put his arm around one of the cardboard cut out from the album cover by saying, ‘Hey, that’s my Mum’.

They didn’t get away with just playing the entire album, they played three encore songs, but ‘Hey Rain’ missed out, unlike the audience who had only paid $16-22 for the pleasure of one of the most entertaining, all round, evenings in a very long while and the certainly achieved a launch that will be remembered for a very long time.

- Finally, a halfway decent picture of Tim Heath, he moves around a lot -

- Tecnical Error -

- Kris Schroeder on Bass -

- Wally De Backer on drums -

(988 words)

PS. Go have a look at their video for Lookin' Over My Shoulder

Never Too Far

After a leisurely waking on Saturday morning, and a laid-back packing of an overnight bag I got into a taxi with Hubby and asked to be taken to the airport. We were off to Melbourne for the next 36 hours. Crazy I hear you say! But this was my chance to prove that I really do like the music of an elemental band so much I was willing to travel to them rather than waiting for them to come to me all the time. I had of course proved it a bit by driving to Newcastle last Friday, but to take a flight was the next step.

We arrived at Avalon Airport after what I’m told was a seventy-five minute flight. I slept the entire trip, so I have to believe what I’m told. The drive into the city was uneventful except for the wrong turn which took us about ten kilometres out of the way, but seeing as nothing about the weekend was planned (except the concert at 8pm) we really didn’t mind.

We met a friend of Hubby’s for a drink in the same pub as about a million rugby fans waiting for the Bledislow Cup to begin. She was nice, her hubby was pleasant and their friend was very odd. He thought it would be appropriate to start off by slagging off technology to a group of IT people. Good job I don’t work in IT really.

After the drink and chat we went for dinner. We had planned to go to Tappenyaki, but it was fully booked and we weren’t on the list, so we went to the Bistrot de’Orcy (yes, the sign on the window said Bistrot, not my bad spelling) next door. It was like stepping into a Parisian café with its little burgundy shaded lights, painted ceilings, Moulin Rough posters and smell of great cooking. It was very good. Pork medallion with haricot beans and spinach followed by vanilla crème brulee for me. Gnocchi with beef ragout followed by white chocolate panne cotta for Hubby. I also had a glass, okay, two of a divine Coonawarra Cab Sav.

With tickets for seats A19, A20 and A21 we made our way into the theatre at about twenty to eight. Dave Bramble was playing the grand piano in the foyer and surprisingly everyone was ignoring him. The either A) had no idea who he was B) didn’t want to disturb, or C) all of the above. I on the other hand, knew who he was and knew he wouldn’t mind if I said Hi. As it turns out, he was quite chatty.

The concert started on time and was amazing. Due to the detail I wish to go into there is a whole separate entry about it called The Concert. I will say for now thought that it was (let me just swallow the thesaurus) great, excellent, wonderful, terrific, the best, top value, stand out and momentous.

After a leisurely waking on Sunday morning, breakfast was consumed at the Rydges breakfast bar at 10.30. It was a busy weekend and they failed to live up to the expectations of a five star hotel. I think all the miserable All Blacks fans had eaten all the eggs at the ‘world famous egg bar’.

A walk round the ‘best shopping in Australia’ lead me to believe that maybe it would be better if more of it was open on a Sunday. I did get to go into a Swatch shop and purchase the 2007 Valentine watch so It wasn’t all bad. I had a Trinidad White Hot chocolate in Max Brenner’s and I brought a sexy red scarf. Ohh… and I forgot to mention, yesterday I got the best t-shirt in the world.

We met up with a friend of mine that I haven’t seen for about a year and his new wife. It was short but really lovely and as it turns out they’re coming to Sydney in late July, so maybe we’ll see each other again then.

Hubby and I then collected the car and took a drive down to St Kilda. There was one more groupie activity to be done while down in Melbourne before we could leave. This is where you get to play ‘where’s Jodie’.

A walk along the jetty and breakwater left us reminiscing about the UK and impromptu walks along the beach in the middle of winter. As our ears lost all feeling we talked about my mum suggesting taking the dog for a walk at West Wittering. As the feeling in our toes disappeared we talked about Brighton Pier and how no-one should ever be 50 metres out to sea on a wooden jetty in the freezing cold without a cone of steaming hot chips covered in ketchup. Shortly after we jumped in the car and drove to the airport for our flight back to Sydney.

While in the car we decided that Melbourne is nice to visit, but despite the land be cheap and plentiful, the public transport being fairly efficient and the music being kick arse, we couldn’t live there. Thanks for a great weekend Melbourne!





PS. Incidentally the Wallabies won 20 – 15. Bad luck All Blacks.

Friday Night Hip Hop

I went out with Rachel on Friday, it was a good night despite only having two glasses of wine.

bLuejuice with Richard on your Mind
29th June 2007
Spectrum, Oxford Street

When three bespectacled boys and a tall drummer took to the stage and was surrounded by bird song, I was lulled into a false sense of security for how the rest of the evening would go. I wasn’t wrong about Martin on Your Mind. They played a set of seemingly Neil Young crossed with eletro-pop inspired folk songs that included ‘Trombonne’ and ‘Shame about the Brain’ to a crowd that liked what they saw. Drummer, Elston had a look on his face that at time gave off the impression that he was either concentrating on the beat really hard or he was thinking, I’m a good drummer, get me outta here. The small but effective pyrotechnics display, showering the audience in blue and pink glitter was a pleaser. It was a pity really; that the clarity of the words they were singing was lost by the reverb coming from the speakers. But if the music was anything to go by, then the words were good as well.

After a short break the back wall of the stage lit up with a video of the main attraction for the night. bLuejuice had filmed themselves performing ‘Vitriol’ in Pitt Street Mall recently and the reaction of the passing shoppers was not the same as the audience in the Spectrum, there the looks of confusion and distain rained. Here they clearly love the band that dresses in white robes and rolled around the street. Here when they appeared wearing white robes and walked through the crowd a huge cheer greeted them and hands stretched out to touch. They started with ‘The Truth Is’ a Sid Vicious type song with a hip hop background. Not at all what I was expecting after the folksy support band. Not the ideal match, but I went with it and got more and more into the band that had two lead singers (Jake and Stav) with springs in their shoes and way too much Red Bull in their blood stream. The Bass player (Jamie), had a touch of Slash about him, with hair down to his nose I was surprised he could read the extremely organised set list at his feet (full instructions on the set including which bass to use for which song). The drummer (Ned) was so relaxed he played in his socks.

Stav took off their smocks and reveal a bare chest and pink fishnet t-shirt to sing ‘Vitriol’ on stage and the crowd gathered an energy that had been smouldering. The guy with dreadlocks saw this as his chance to jump on stage and put his white slouch hat on keyboard player (Jerry). The Ian Dury inspired hip hop continued with ‘Phantom Boogie’ and ‘All Out’ until a shot break was called. ‘Motorbike Accident’ and ‘Mad Bounce’ followed, which surprisingly saw (Stav) lying on the floor rather than jumping up and down like a mad thing. Again a talented band was spoiled slightly by less than ideal sound mixing of the house, but sixty minutes after walking out they closed the set with ‘The Reductionist’ to huge applause and a new fan waiting in the corner nursing a glass of wine. Note to self, wine is not the ideal for bLuejuice, jagerbombs may be better.