A Birthday Boys Adventure

Yesterday it was Todd’s birthday. He was five years off being 39 and his birthday treat was a trip to the theatre. More precisely it was a Darren Hayes concert.

The evening started with drinks in Roof Bar. I gave him his pressie (he loved the two books I had wrapped for him) while we drank champagne with strawberries. Dinner followed after we descended the single floor to Sky Phoenix Chinese restaurant. Rachel and Eve joined us for dinner and we feasted on chicken and sweetcorn soup, Peking duck, prawn sesame toasts, pork dim sims, Singapore style king prawns, Mongolian lamb, shredded beef and mixed veggies. We also polished off a couple of bottles unwooded chardonnay.

With only minutes to spare before the 8pm start we dashed the half block to the State theatre. The support band came on about three minutes after we had sat down. If you want the review, read the next entry, I’m reviewing our night here, not the bands. Anyway, we didn’t really want to see the support band so we all went out into the foyer and had another sparkling tipple or two. Just before Darren was due on, Eve and I convinced Todd that a true groupie/stalking would throw their pants onstage, so a quick trip to the Gents saw Todd pantless, but it fell to Eve and I to write his name and phone number on them with foundation. When the foundation hadn’t dried nearly thirty minutes later, I blotted it with my shirt…god I hope it comes out. Well, he couldn’t scrunch them up and throw them at Darren if they were all smudgy.

The concert was great. Lasers, moveable set and back up singers. The works!

Afterwards I collected a little of the paper that fell from the rafters as part of the finale, then Todd announced he was going backstage. We all looked at him in disbelief as he got up and walked towards the door marked ‘Authorised Personnel Only’, we quickly followed. He walked straight through; we said ‘we’re with him,’ and got through too. That’s where we stopped, but he just kept on going, bold as brass, past the wall of black transport cases before disappearing around the corner and out of sight.

The three of us stood like lemons in the corridor for about ten minutes before Eve said she had to go home and left, leaving Rachel and I standing there. Rachel had a mini breakdown at this point and started crying about how much she missed Todd and didn’t want him to leave etc. I consoled her until a guy asked,’Are you with the party?’

I wasn’t quick enough and said, ‘Nope, we’re waiting for a friend.’ D’oh! I must learn to fib quicker.

Having not heard from Todd after about fifteen minutes, Rachel and I decided to leave too. When we reached the top of the stairs, I looked at my mobile to see that I had missed three calls from Todd. At that point Rachel picked up a call from him saying ‘I’m in his room!’ before the call dropped.

We got back inside to be met by a rather giddy and very excited Todd. ‘I got kicked out!’ he shouted at us, but he was so happy about it. “I was one drink away from serving Darren Hayes!’

Further investigation (when he’d calmed down a bit) revealed that having got to DH room there was about 70 people in the room, but the bar was unmanned. So, being the resourceful old bastard that he is, he played bar tender. He served a lady who didn’t drink Merlot and spent ten minutes talking to Darren’s parents (his dad took two beers). He got rumbled just as Darren was about to be served.

When I asked why Darren was queuing for a drink at his own concert Todd replied,
‘Well, he’s not Madonna is he.’

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.

/Fit In

So this makes three sets in two days. I could die happy right now;-)

The Basics with The Bawdies
The Hopetoun Hotel, Surry Hills
23rd June 2007

After peeling myself off the sofa and wrapping up warm to keep out the cold, I walked the five blocks to the Hopetoun Hotel just in time to catch the Basics going on for their first set of the evening. They started nice and slow, so slow in fact that drummer Wally De Backer didn’t need to take off his grey suit jacket until the third song in, which was a lovely soothing cover of ‘Old Man’ by Neil Young. The audience finally took some notice of what was going on, on stage when they rolled out ‘Three Cool Cats’ and ‘For Girls Like You’. It seemed that the crowd was out for drinking and socialising instead of watching bands which was a shame, because they were on form for the last night of their most recent tour.

When the The Bawdies came on stage, all the Japanese fans pushed their way to the front and jumped about with as much enthusiasm as the band. The heat in the room meant that soon the long fringes on all four band members were sticking to their foreheads in the ohh so attractive way that sweaty fringes do. It didn’t reduce the energy coming from guitarist Jim or lead singer/bass player Roy. And there was never any question of the lines of their brown matching suits being broken. From the beginning to the end of the set they played original songs including their most recent single ‘Baby Sue’, except for a grooving version ‘Mustang Sally’ before closing with ‘I Beg You’. For the first time ever, I saw a support band play an encore, the demand from the crowd meant they weren’t getting off the stage before they gave in and the crowd could die happy, but only after The Basics had come back to play their second set of the evening.

Bawdies Guitarist Jim - quite clearly high on life or something (maybe Lift Plus)

The Three Cool Cats resumed with the full crew wearing the grey suits, black ties and brown big toed boots. After just one song the jacket was off again, and the crowd started jumping in time to the R’n’B and reggae sounds. It was a shame it didn’t last. It seemed that the crowd had paid their money to gain entry to a Band Pub only to stand around and chat. When Kris Schroeder, the bassist sang a song called ‘No Winters Here’ accompanied by only an acoustic guitar the audience didn’t listen or show him the respect of listening to the song he had written and was clearly close to his heart, despite being asked to keep it down by the others before they left the stage. Granted, the song, a beauty by the way, didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the set, but that really didn’t justify the lack of attention.

They rounded the set off with more songs from their new album and even mentioned that ‘Bitten by the Same Bug’ wasn’t a favourite of one of the girls in the audience. A bit of banter later and they finally came back to do an encore of four songs. ‘Call it Rhythm and Blues’ ended the evening on a high note, just after midnight with stacked up chairs appearing as if by magic almost as soon as the last note was played. This is quite possibly the first time I have ever seen chairs in the Hopetoun, there certainly isn’t ever any to sit on and I’m sure it’s not the last ‘We’re Closed’ I’ll ever receive.

This review was sent to the Brag - Here's hoping this time!

After being given a drum stick by Wally in Newcastle, I was just a tad happy and while at the Hopetoun last night Edna asked me when he was there ‘Which was my least favourite Basics song?’ I revealed it was Sound Off and that I always skip it on my iPod, Edna said her choice was Bitten by the Same Bug. As they started playing it Wally said ‘this song isn’t for Frances’ friend, ‘cause she hates it’.

After the gig, I got a poster for Edna and she got all the Basics to sign it and all of the Bawdies. So she’s dead chuffed too! ;-)

Stand Out

So it was to be that only June and I made the journey to Newcastle to see the Basics and the Bawdies. Sally was still suffering from work miseries and felt she would be a wet blanket. Edna was required to stay at work and be bored to within and inch of her life.

After leaving Sydney at just after four we finally rolled into Newcastle for 7.30 and into the Lucky Country. What a grotty place and the barmaid defied belief. I was in a town of bogans. After a single drink we decided to go have a look at the Pasha Baulker that got beached a couple weeks back on Nobbys Beach, just a five minute drive from the city centre. It was amazing! Only about fifty metres from the car park and at just right the angle to catch every single wave that hit the side with a crashing pound. Must go back in daylight before they move it.

Back at the pub, the bands started to play after June and I had got autographs from all the band members.

Bass Guitar - Kris Schroeder

Drums - Wally De Backer

Lead Guitar - Tim Heath

The Basics with The Bawdies
The Lucky Country, Crown Street, Newcastle.
22nd June 2007

Only an hour late, the Bawdies started their set with an energetic rendition of Have Mercy. The music was great and the brown suits with ties looked the biz but the sound of Merseybeat and Mustang Sally (brought the popularity by Wilson Picket in 1966) just seemed wrong coming from four lads from Japan. They were good, very good infact and throughout guitarist Jim gave the whole forty-five minute set the dynamism that had the whole audience bopping with little care for those around them. The choreography of the band was well planned and executed precisely, all adding to the over all affect of banishing the initial jolt of oddity.

After a short delay and change of instruments The Basics took the stage and welcomed all present in Japanese. The hand written notes held still by the mike stands gave away their source and their fellow musicians looked on proudly at their efforts. Money followed by Have Love started the set with slightly less pep than the band before, but everyone was glad of the rest. Soon though the beat stepped up a notch with a cover of All Day and All Night and once again the crowd was dancing the night away. Halfway through their time on stage they sang Hey Rain. In light of the recent events in Newcastle it may not have been the wisest choice but surprisingly it went down very well with a slight sway taking over the people and the biggest cheer of the evening marking the end. With an encore of four songs it was one of the longest set I have ever seen them do at nearly 90 minutes. At this rate they will be able to play bigger and better venues than the dive that is the The Lucky Country.

Runlist for The Bawdies
1. Have Mercy
2. Shake It
3. Hips
4. Little Girl
5. Baby Sue
6. (no sure, it written in Japanese)
7. Oh! My Soul
8. Mustang Sally
9. Stop Your
10. Rosie
11. Whip It
12. I Beg You

Runlist for The Basics
1. Money
2. Have Love
3.
4. Hey There
5. Just Hold On
6. All Day and All Night
7. Second Best
8. Memory Lane
9. Hey Rain
10. Looking Over My Shoulder
11.
12. Rattle My Chain
13. If I Was Wrong
Encore
14. 3am by Cold Chisel
15. Come Together by Beatles
16. Together
17. Call it Rhythm and Blues

New Band

Edna and I went out for our usual Wednesday night dinner at Sushi Train followed by drinks at the Brighton tonight. Sushi Train did us proud again with plenty of our type of $3 plates sailing past us along with the pickled ginger and wasabi.

The Brighton (corner of Riley & Oxford Street) was quiet, only half a dozen patrons nursing beers and smoking. When someone decided it was time to play rap on the juke box we decided it was time to move to the Macquarie (corner Goulburn and Wentworth) for some real band action.

Our Wednesday night consist of a few ciders accompanied by much over analysis of boys, work colleagues and anyone else who may cross our paths. We also reminisce about past loves and debate about the merits of future ones. Anyway, to night we were talking about email flirtations and past loves in great detail.

While we listened to the new resident band I remembered and told a story about a fella’ I had around for dinner when I was about 17 or 18. I though Edna was going choke. She certainly released some cider back into the world via her nose…Anyway…I invited this guy (can’t remember his name) around for dinner, I cooked a salad with grilled chicken and boiled egg…practically a Caesar without the funky sauce. He arrived for the dinner bearing gifts. A large pot of yoghurt. Blackcherry, my favorite.

After dinner we had yoghurt for dessert then took the dog for a walk. When he lent in for a snog he put his hand on my boob. That was my cue to say ‘so time for home then’. I never saw him again.

Ohh… the innocence of youth and how times change!

What are the Odds?

UPDATE : 11.4.07 - 10.55 Deleted content due to unsubstantianted and possibly offensive claims

Intentional Groupie Action

The Basics
The Hopetoun
Tuesday 3rd April

With a supporting act like The Saturns it’s very hard not to be upstaged. They have all the right moves for an emerging rock band and have a pretty faithful following, including the main act that will be playing with them at least twice, over the next month, during their tri-state marathon. Fronted by Danny Holdsworth, The Saturns gave a performance that is full of frenetic energy that infected the crowd. With some of their influences being more visible than others, it was made easy for the newcomers who had never seen these local boys before, to enjoy the 60s to today inspired rock and roll sounds until their all too short set came to an end in a demonstration of pure rock star moves by the entire band. Think Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and Beck.

After a brief interval and set up, The Basics took command of the stage with the opener ‘Rattle my Chain’ from their upcoming, second album ‘Stand Out/Fit In’, (out 5th May). A stream of new and old songs followed including a few covers thrown in for good measure, all received with equal cheering and roars from the gathered fans. A bit of banter between bass player, Kris Schroeder and drummer, Wally deBacker resulted in a request from the crowd being honoured. They joked that this was the last time this particular song was being played; but then said ‘a request is always performed.’ Who would have dreamed of hearing ‘The Right Stuff’ by New Kids on the Block played in a pub in Sydney by a band from Melbourne dressed like the Beatles?
That said, it received one of the biggest cheers of the evening. Three encores and 80 minutes later the Basics left the stage to ‘Money, That’s What I Want,’ by Barrett Strong (but covered by The Beatles in the 60s) and a promise to ‘see you all next week’.

You can count me in and judging for the reaction from the rest of the room, you can count in everyone else too!

(343 words)

I sent this review to The Brag today in the hope of publication, but we’ll see. I wanted to say that I stood and watched Wally with the eyes of a true groupie and only just noticed the others playing. He’s had his hair cut since I last saw him.