Eggs Benny Salmon

Over the last few months I have spent a number of nights in a small town called Bungendore. It is in New South Wales, but just, as it sits on the border of the Australian Capital Territory and home of Our Nation’s Capital, Canberra. Yes folks, Sydney is NOT the capital, and neither is Melbourne.

Canberra was designed as the Nation’s capital in 1912 by Walter Burley Griffin to be a bridging city between Sydney and Melbourne as they argued about who would be the capital once it actually became a county. Funnily enough, most Aussie’s still have that argument, most overseas visitor can’t tell the difference and don’t really care.

Anyway, back to the plot. A night out and good sleep should always be followed by a hearty breakfast, and in Bungendore you go to The Woodworks, a cafe attached to a gallery.

I have developed a liking for this place, somewhat like the Bungendore company (Miss Wyked, Miss Rose and the shadow), it is always warm and welcoming. They also do a kick-arse Eggs Benedict or as it’s called on the Woodworks menu, Eggs Benny Salmon. There is a bacon option as well, but I have to confess to being predictable every time and opting for the fishier choice. I also order an Earl Grey tea which comes, loose leaf, in a tea pot big enough to enjoy six times over.

The two poached eggs come out top of a toasted English muffin sliced in half, wilted spinach and a grilled fillet, skin removed. The homemade hollandaise sauce of lemon yellow is drizzled over the apex with a sprinkling of chopped chives. If that mental picture doesn’t do anything for you, add this, when you slowly slide the blade of the knife into the yolk of one of the eggs, the rich orangey centre pours out over the rest and onto the plate. The second one is just waiting for the puncture to let its runniness out onto the bed of salmon.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I’ve got to point in the narrative where I no longer care about whom designed Canberra or why, or how cold it gets inland on a winter’s morning; all I care about is when do I get to eat Eggs Benny Salmon again?

Eggs Benedict

Rivers Restaurant, Mylestom NSW
Eggs Benedict $16.00
Juice $6.00

A slight detour off the Pacific Highway and it was time for breakfast. I’d already been to the Mylestom beach and seen a diamond back python disappearing into the brush. On my way out of town I saw a sign, ‘Big Brekkie $18.50’, that made me stop at Rivers Restaurant.

I walked up the stairs and was shown to a seat on the balcony. I was then presented with a menu, a glass and a bottle of water. As I am a creature of habit I had my heart set on the advertised Big Brekkie, but ended up ordering the Eggs Benedict. I always end up ordering the Eggs Benedict. The menu promised leg ham on focaccia with poached locally grain fed eggs, and it was too much to resist.

Shortly after ordering my eggs in the form of Benedict, the waitress informed me that they were out of hollandaise sauce. Did I wan t anything else? She asked. I said, I’d still have the EB, sans the sauce. Next, my juice arrived. Carrot, orange, apple and ginger combined in perfect proportions to make a refreshing morning beverage, sweet, but not acidic.

The waitress came back and informed that the chef was making the sauce and it would be a few more minutes.

I was content to wait. I had an uninterrupted view of the Bellengen River, the fishermen, the water-skiers, and inappropriately dressed holiday makers, considering the foul weather. Ben Johnson was serenading me from the stereo and I felt relaxed, for the first time in a while.

When my breakfast was finally placed before me I was supremely chilled out.


I cut into the egg and the saffon yellow yolk poured out, covering the ham and toast, mingling with the pale yellow hollandaise. A half grilled tomato avoided being touched, but that could wait til later.

The flavours blended together perfectly. The sauce, which can lean towards lemony, was delicate and smooth. The eggs, the ham, the sauce and toast combined together into a month watering dish. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because I was starvin’ marvin, but purely the skill of a chef in a sleepy holiday town six kilometres of the Pacific Highway (between Nambucca Heads and Coff Harbour).

Billy Elliott

On his last night in Sydney I took Todd to see Billy Elliott the Musical. I saw the movie ages ago and have seen it many times since its release in 2000. It makes me cry every time I see it.

So I booked tickets. I booked ticked for the opening night as a gift for Todd’s birthday. When the tickets arrived, they weren’t for opening night and amazingly enough just so happened to be for the last night he was in town. Phew!

After a last supper of sushi and a couple of glasses of wine we made our way to the Capitol Theatre just in time for the last call of take your seats. We were in the dress circle, slightly to the left of the stage. Not bad seats. It was sold out.

The show started with a Pathe newsreel showing the mining industry in the 30’s during the ‘good’ times. The singing started early with the whole cast coming onto stage in 80s garb singing about keeping the community together and deciding to strike.

The sets were amazing. There was the generic room set that slid in from left and right, the ‘Elliott’ house set that spiralled up from a hole in the stage with a bed on top of a set of stairs with a little kitchen at the bottom. The toilet block at the gym pulled out of the side of the room set. All very clever and beautifully put together.

The stage version ran along the same lines at the movie and included a few of the more memorable lines, such as;

Mrs. Wilkinson: This'll sound strange, Billy, but for some time now I've been thinkin' of the Royal Ballet School.
Billy: Aren't you a bit old, miss?

And

Debbie : don’t you fancy us, Billy?
Billy : Nah!
Debbie : I’ll show us me fanny.
Billy : Nah, you’re alright.

The musical was directed by the same guy who directed the movie Stephen Daldry, the lyrics by Lee Hall (he wrote the script for the movie) and the music was written Elton John. It was surprising that none of the songs had a hook, but then they are used to writing spoken word, not sung. Neither Todd nor I left humming, thinking we’d have that tune stuck in our head for a while. Shame really because from what I can remember the songs were pretty good.

The dancing however was completely memorable. I was concerned about the thought of watching a precocious little bugger on the stage for several hours, but I was completely entranced. I’m not sure which of the four Billy’s was playing on Tuesday night, but he was amazing. There was a scene (the bit in the movie where his Dad finds him dancing in the gym with Michael) where he was dancing Swan Lake with his older self. There was dry ice, wire work and ballet. It made me cry. I forgot how much I like ballet. The kid and the guy floated around the stage for maybe four or five minutes, it was beautiful.

Anyway, despite the un-catchiness of the songs I would say go see it, the dancing is amazing, but watch the movie first.

PS. Todd has arrived In Washington ;-)

Weekend Festivities

So I fitted most of what was on into one weekend. I did however, miss out on Supanova ‘cause I was too knackered form the day before. I stayed home and relaxed on Sunday with a little telly and some uni homework.

How many bands are too many to see in one day? This is the question I asked myself on Friday night when planning out my Saturday. I was off the Price Alfred Park and the Surry Hills Festival to see Watussi and bLuejuice before wandering up the road to the Hopetoun Hotel for the Slip into the Sun Festival. In total I had ten bands to see, eight of them I had never seen before.

Watussi played Jamaican influenced jazz that fitted perfectly with the sun, beer and outdoor style of the gig. I can imagine that at an indoor gig it would get annoying really quickly, but outdoors it was just chillin’ man.

bLuejuice came out to a very appreciative crowd wearing their trademark checked shirts, jeans and t-shirts and other random accessory. This time it was a leather face mask. They rocked the marquee and had a little help from a drunken audience member how insisted on getting onstage on three occasions. Finally, she was escorted from the premises just as the boys were finishing their sixty minute set.

After a quick walk up the road I arrived at a very quiet Hopetoun Hotel. There was the door Punk with attitude, the bar staff and a couple of others watching the first band of the day. It was broad daylight outside, being only four fifteen in the afternoon, and natural flooded the bar. It was actually quite pretty.

Dead Farmers was a three piece local band that played a classic Aussie rock set, loads of drum sounds and overbearing guitar. I can’t say I remember any lyrics, but that was because I couldn’t really hear the vocals.

Hand Me my Jet Pack the second three piece of the day. They had an odd mic set up. Rather than facing out to the audience they faced into toward each other, it gave the impression they were singing to each other and left little room for engagement with the audience. The drummer had impeccable comic timing, but that was ruined by the bands reliance of feedback, guitar shaking and tap tap of strings. Shame really because I would have liked to have heard ‘Our Cars Run on Maths’.

The Sky Falling was under prepared for their slot as three out of eight. The lead singer /guitar player had issues with both his six string and twelve string being out of tune as well as his singing. He was terrible. They didn’t even look like they played together. A mixture of jeans and t-shirts was highlighted by the good-looking guy dressed in head to toe ivory cotton wear (could have been hemp) with wooden beads around his neck. He looked like he was off to the ashram straight after the gig. Afterwards the lead singer said to me, ‘we’re normally better than that’, Punk with Attitude said, ‘No, they’re not.’

Skull Squadron looked the part and sounded better than any of the proceeding three. All three members were dressed in black, good, they looked they were together. They liked instrumental sections and there were plenty, heaps of waha’s and lots of kneeling resulting in pedal fiddling. Their songs all blended into one, but that may have been clever segues or just that they all sounded the same.

I didn’t like Sound like Sunset at all…it’s forty-five minutes of my life that I will never get back. All I could hear were the drums. I felt like Quasimodo and that’s never a good feeling to instil in your audience.

The place had filled up a bit.

Richard in Your Mind came on about 9pm. I had been watching bands since just after one. But this was a band I actually wanted to see. I’d seen back in June when I first saw bLuejuice and I wanted to see if they had changed. They had, they were even better than I remembered. With mixture of bird song, folky electro-pop and Indian soul they worked their way through their set. A strobe light lite up Richards Buddy Holy glasses very well and it was at that point that I realised every member of the band was wearing similar glasses. They were good.

Up next was Holy Soul. The lead singer was geeky looking but somehow it worked with the Pink Floyd crossed with Squeeze psychedelic sound. I’d had enough by this point and had stopped taking notes. I had decided to go with the flow and enjoy myself and the last two bands of the evening. The Punk with Attitude was having a time of it too, he’d been up since Friday morning and was hanging out til midnight for a couple of cans of Redbull before heading off to his second job, DJing at a club on Oxford Street.

The final band of the evening was Red Sun Band. They were good.

(844 words)

Evil Genius

Imagine if you will that you are an evil genius. You know someone witnessed you murder a good guy and you also know that all attempts to silence that witness (kill) have failed. You also know that said witness is on his way to testify against you and they are travelling by plane. You still need to silence the witness, do you;

A. Wait ‘til he reaches the other side of his journey and have a snipper waiting outside the airport.
B. When he reaches his hotel (that the FBI is putting him up in) send in a small Russian assassin, posing as a waitress and a natty little knife in her shoe
C. Fill a box with deadly snakes, spray them with pheromones that make them super aggressive, set a timer to release the snakes mid flight and just hope that your snakes get to the witness before the bad-ass FBI agent gets really pissed off.

As you probably guessed I’m talking about the fabulously imaginatively named Snakes on a Plane, starring Samual L. Jackson.

I saw it last night while doing the ironing and what a heap of poo. It’s so bad it’s good. A B-movie with a big budget and big star. Go see it even if only for the gratuitous nudity, shameless biting of cocks and the pompous English businessman being consumed whole by the randomly placed boa.
See it, have a laugh, don’t take it seriously and most importantly remember to have a pre-set on your microwave for snake cooking.

4 taipans out of a possible 5

Happy Birthday to Me!

Hinder with Small Mercies
Luna Park Big Top
4th October

In June I booked my tickets to see Hinder on my birthday. The fourth's my birthday you see, and I wanted to see a band that I liked on the day I officially became middle aged. So I thought a US rock band with a passion for foul language and a rather nice song about an affair was the way to go.

I arrived at Luna Park just after 7.30 with my mates, Small Mercies had just started playing. After I’d had my mints throw away by security (no food allowed, since when did mints make a meal?) and a bright orange band confirming that I was over 18 secured around my wrist I was allowed to go and watch and listen to the music.

Small Mercies, a band from Brisbane are travelling around Australia and making quite a name for themselves. With a deep guitar sound and a lead singer that can sing rather than relying on shouting, they had the audience captivated. They sang about being ‘Innocent’ and looked anything but. There was the guitarist in a black t-shirt and bleached hair tips, the drummer with longish hair dressed in jeans with a black t-shirt and the singer was of course, wearing khaki. The crowd loved them and I thought for one minute that they may even come back for a second go, but that just isn't done by the support. Shame really.

After a short break and quick change of instruments, the lights faded, everyone cheered, then the lights came back up again. Everyone booed! The house technicians having worked out how to use the lights, turned them down again and Hinder appeared on stage.

Something I have been noticing about gigs is the diversity in the audience. There are old girls, old boys with biker beards, young fellas wearing jeans showing a bit of butt crack and girls with blonde streaks dressed in more bling than Mr T. With a band like Hinder I would have expected black shirts and jeans, maybe the odd girlie on account of their flame burning Lips of an Angel hit. But this crowd was a diverse as it could get.

Lead singer Austin Winkler was wearing jeans and a waist coat with a beige scarf, his hair was hanging over his face and as he screamed ‘Hello Sydney’ he did a little jump and upsided the mic stand. Very Rock’n’roll. Through out the set he looked like he didn’t know what to do with his arms. He would put them up in the air, down by his sides and do the little teapot. He looked just like sixties Mick Jagger.

The guitarists Joe ‘Blower’ Garvey and Mark King and bassist Mike Rodden moved around the stage freely dancing with the crowd and Austin. The drummer, Cody Hanson, was of course, hidden at the back. They worked their way through their album starting with ‘How Long’, ‘Better than Me’ and ‘Homecoming Queen’ before playing a slower, acoustic new song. It sounded ok, but the sound in the Big Top, may be suited to dance parties a little better than rock gigs, I hardly heard a single spoken word unless it was shouted/and or a swear word.

You could clearly see the Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones influences in their performance, but that at no point diminished the overall effect. They had the audience in the palms of their hands for the duration. They threw the odd momento into the waving arms and played the whole of the Extreme Behaviour’ album. They saved ‘Get Stoned’ and ‘Lips of an Angel’ for the encore and closed on an up note. The audience called for a second encore, only to be disappointed. No doubt the band had already started celebrating Mark’s birthday backstage. Beers all-round!

Star Wars on Ice

I have been a fan of Jeff Wayne’s musical version of War of the Worlds since my Mum brought the LP (that’s the big round black vinyl things, before tapes and way before CDs) back in the late 70s. I was just a wee nipper and parts of the soundtrack sent me hiding behind the sofa, but I loved it. I was devested when the voice, Richard Burton passed away in 1984 and listened to the album as he was buried in Switzerland.

Now image my excitement when I heard that the team behind the album had decided to take it all on the road. I drove into the car park at the Acer Arena with my friend Todd sat next to me, the complete War of the World virgin. He was laughing so hard when I told him I didn’t want to miss the opening and then did my best Richard Burton impression. He kept asking me about it and I had difficulty explaining it as anything other than a rock opera based on the HG Wells book. ‘Ohh my god…you’ve taken me to Star Wars on ice’.

The sell out crowd gathered and waved at the camera projecting shots into the eyes of the Tripod on the screen. I knew it was a Tripod, but those that didn’t looked confused. The lights went down and a hush descended with them. The stage had a string section sat on the right and a full on rock band on the left, behind them was a huge landscape screen. I was expecting the sound of the Narrator (Richard Burton) to open with famous first line but instead we got a three minute screen presentation of the Martians discussing taking out earth. It was not what I had been expecting, but then, I wasn’t really sure what I had expected, so went with the flow.

There was a brief pause before the stage went dark and a hologram projection of Richard Burton appeared and then, ‘No-one would have believed…’ you could have heard a pin drop. It was amazing. From that moment on the entire audience was hooked and held captive. There were a few deviations for the original soundtrack, but these only added, like the harp, it didn’t appear in the original but it sound blended perfectly to highlight a few key areas. The overriding bass was key to the arrival of the Martians and a clue to the sound of many bands playing around Sydney.

- Richards Hologram (on the left)

Justin Haywood and Chris Thompson appeared in their original roles as the sung thought of the narrator for ‘Forever Autumn’ and the voice of humanity for ‘Thunder Child’ while a Aussie cast gave voice to the rest of the characters. Micheal Falzon did a reasonable job as the Artilleryman, Rachael Beck past muster at Beth, the Parson wife. Surprisingly though was the Parson himself, played by the gravel voiced Phil Lynott (who past away in 1986) all those years ago, was being channelled by Shannon Noll. Todd reckons he always sound like that, but no.

The art work throughout on the screen was mixture of new digitally produce stuff that moved and the original artwork produced by Peter Goodfellow, but by far and away the most impressive was the enormous fighting machine that came from the high rigging and stood centre stage with menacing eyes and red laser heat rays.

- The Tripod

All it all it was excellent and I was anything but disappointed. Todd came away keen to hear the original and I even managed to get my boobs signed by the Artilleryman, he’s no David Essex, but he’ll do ;-)

I Will Go Out Alone

I walked the few blocks from my house to The Hopetoun Hotel just as I have many times in the past, only this time I was alone, not meeting anyone and going to a see a random band. Okay, so the random band thing wasn’t so new but the rest was. I was kinda nice though, the punk with attitude was on the door and welcomed me, as did the owner and a couple of regulars. I wasn’t alone after all.
__________

I walked into the Hopetoun blind. You can image my surprise and pleasure to see Des Miller on the bill. I had already missed Berkfinger and the curiously named If It Bleeds It Can Be Butchered. Shortly after my arrival the Melbourne based Plastic Palace Alice began to play. A six piece band that had driven ten hours to play a forty-five minute set before turning around and going home again. Lead singer Rob wore braces for the occasion and Emily one of the two girls in the band and the percussion queen wore a paper clip to hold her belt in place. They opened their set with ‘Murakami’ followed by ‘Karaoking’, an early Bowie inspired song with Emily also showing her vocal range. It was such a shame she looked so bored.

After the fifth song ‘Carrion’ they finally decided it would be a good time to talk to the audience. It may have been a bit late to admit that they had brought too much stuff with them, we could see that. On the small stage were six people, eight guitars, a drum kit, a harmonica, two keyboards, a xylophone, a tambourine, one of the little shakers that looks like a seedpod and the biggest brass triangle you have ever seen. Despite the over profusion of instruments the music was surprisingly simple with a heavy emphasise on guitar and Bob Dylan sounds. It was an extremely likable set that ended with the very catchy ‘Girl Who Cried Wolf’ and a well deserved and loud round of applause.

After the quickest turn around I’ve ever seen Des Miller came on stage. Now despite the name, none of the band members is actually called Des, unless you count lead singer and guitarist John ‘Desmond’ Miller. With short curly hair and a red cowboy shirt under his jacket, he soon lost his Cat Stevens look in the heat of the room and took on a look of sweaty pop idol, as in fact did the entire band. A full house meant the temperature in the room had shot up to the late thirties and it became very clear to me as sweat dripped from the end of Johnno’s nose why so many performance artists wear those awful sports headbands. The only one looking cool was keyboard player Robbie Moore in his Ziggy Stardust t-shirt while everyone else struggled with western style.

The set started with ‘On the Surface of Solitude’, as soon as it was done they took the time to thank the support bands and praise the talent they were following. It gave the crowd something to relate to and even if Des Miller hadn’t been in full favour before, they were now. ‘Lucy’ and ‘3pm’ showed the bands country Travelling Wilbys style crossed with a little Pink Floyd mixed in with a splash of Buddy Holly. It’s a confusing sound that pulls you in with it hypnotic sound, the lead singer being down on one knee praying to the gods of rock and roll doesn’t hurt either.

The set continued with ‘Borderline on Fire’, before they pulled Lucy from the audience to help them out with a little feminine vocal on ‘Time’. Is this the Lucy they told to ‘close your eyes and make it go away’ earlier? They wound-up the set with ‘Sorry’ and ‘OK’ before playing the finale, ‘Knife Edge’ a really catchy if slightly disturbing tune that had the entire crowd bopping in the aisle. Okay, so the whole place is one big aisle, with everyone dancing and generally having a great time. An encore was requested but kindly declined due to the shear amount of water that had to be drunk to stop the guys turning to dust and I don’t think I’m the only one who doesn’t want that for a very long time.

Sosumi Sushi

I had to go to Martin Place at lunch today for a couple of reason so I decided I would sample the wears of Sosumi Sushi, downstairs in No1 Martin Place. It’s been there a while and for one reason and another, this sushi monster had never got to eat there.

So I sat down on the tall small topped metal stool which is not ideal for my wider than average backside to a train that seemed to chuffing around with plenty of black plates ($7.10) a few blue plates ($5.50) and no white plates ($5.10). I ordered Miso Soup and green tea then helped myself to wasabi and soy sauce. Then I waited for just the right thing to come around which took a hile due to the plates being spaced fifteen centimetres apart.

The first plate was a black with a Crab and Avocado Big Roll, very nice. The second a blue with Seaweed Salad (aka carrot and lettuce with a little seaweed on top) then the only white plate that had Deep Fried Bean Curd (didn’t have batter on it and looked like all Inari but smaller) finally the California Roll I ordered arrived on a black plate and seemed to be made with salmon rather than seafood stick. I have NEVER had a California Roll made with salmon before and worse, it was smoked salmon.


In total my four plates, green tea and miso soup cost me $31.70. At the Sushi Train in Oxford Square on Oxford Street I could have eaten 10 plates, plus the extras. And you know what, despite the fish being Brain Spike killed (apparently it reduces stress and makes the flesh more relaxed) I would rather cram myself the corner in Sushi Train with the plates piled high and take my chances on whether my favourite was going to come round. And you know what…the Miso’s better too.

I Just Work Here Man

Last weekend feels like an age away because of the events of the last week but I feel like I should revisit a part of it. Namely the parts were I went and saw Gotye on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at the Metro Theatre on George Street in Sydney.

On Saturday I went with Edna. We saw queued outside for the doors to open, the man himself said ‘Hi’ as he was on his way to grab some food before the gig. We waited in the foyer by the door and then we grabbed a spot on the front railing to the left of the stage. We had a great view. We could practically see his nose hair (if he had any;-).

But first we had to get through the support band that we had neither heard of nor seen before. Mountains in the Sky were a two piece band that came out onto stage wearing white hoodies. One sat behind a drum kit the other stood at a keyboard and proceeded to explain that a technical hitch meant he was using a strange keyboard and any odd sounds that emitted were not meant to happen. Edna and I looked at each other and said a sarcastic ‘Ohh goodie!’ As it happened there were no odd sounds (I think) and their entire set flowed seamlessly from one track to the next. I wasn’t sure it that was because they all sounded the same or because of clever playing. It was kinda hypnotic though and brought the CD for further listening.

- The Only Way

After a forty-five minute break and a chance to buy merchandise (yes, I got a t-shirt) the lights dimmed again and the first beats of ‘The Only Way’ saw the crowd roar and me melt. I love this song! The next one up was equally as loved, off his Boardface album ‘Out Here in the Cold’. Considering the way he made the album Like Drawing Blood (all sampled) I was interested to see how this would be done. The poster boasted a mini orchestra and there were indeed violins, cello, saxophones, flutes and more drums than you can poke a stick at. Gotye himself (Wally de Backer) was seated up front centre (unlike at Basics gigs were he’s hidden at the back) behind a drum kit. But didn’t I hear him say in interviews that even the drums were sampled? It appears that he has sat down and written out all the music. Of course I know nothing all about music, except what I like and what I don’t, so please correct me if I’m wrong. If this is what’s happened, what a clever little bugger he is!

- The drums get a beating

The stage was back dropped with a giant screen and the data projector suspended from the roof was giving me the jitters but I relaxed once I saw the quality animation and films that matched perfectly with the music. Ink in water, cartoons of boys with balloons and the mostly black and white (there was a bit of red in there) alien abduction fitted perfectly with ‘Coming Back’.

- Singing 'Thanks for you Time'

The time that he was on stage passed in a flurry. He introduced those playing on stage with him one at a time and thanked the audience at least three times for coming to see him. I get the feeling that he is still surprised that he is getting to play the packed houses of over a thousand at a time. Edna and I left the theatre on a high and with the feeling that he does this for love and nothing else. I also get the feeling that the lyrics of ‘Thanks for your Time’ will never be issued while he’s working.

Sunday was very much the same except for the company. Syms Covington was there, as was June and Hubby. Once again we were front row but to the right this time, different angle for the photos. Mountains in The Sky had a different energy from the night before, maybe less of whatever then had to give them bounce, after all it was only three in the afternoon. With a daytime crowd, the audience had a younger feel and the screaming proved the crowd was very much younger. It gave the concert a glow it hadn’t had the night before. Both concerts were great and I would without a moments hesitation go and see this exceptionally talented and rather strikingly good looking fella play again.

I Predict A Riot

Kaiser Chiefs
Hordern Pavilion
5th August 2007

So I went to see the Kaiser Chiefs. I won’t say they are my favourite band in the world I certainly wouldn’t shed clothing for them as some of the girls in the audience seemed to do, but I do quite like their music.

I was feeling a bit crap before leaving home and wasn’t really in the mood for the Mosh Pit, but Edna, my fellow concert goer and die-hard fan was determined to get as close the front as possible. We ended up in the middleish of the stage about five metres back. We were squashed, stood on and pushed. Edna was jumping up and down with the thongs on people, I was giving dirty looks to the Jack Russel next to me who had bricks in her bag and kept wacking my in the hip and elbow, I’d move and she’d follow. The music was great though and the lead singer (see I don’t know his name) made plenty of attempts to interact with the crowd. He talked, asked questions and even invited us all to take part in the filming of an advert for the BBC Electric Proms.

They started with ‘Everyday I Love You Less and Less’ and moved on through the hits and the not so well know. I don’t know all their song titles, but I do know they also played ‘Angry Mob’ and ‘Ruby’ and I even knew the words to some, that surprised me. Also, and I have to confess this before I get outed by Edna…I wore earplugs. Well, I’d had a headache all day and I didn’t want to make it worse. Poor excuse I know, but tough! ;-)


After it was all over we tried to get backstage. I have met the manager before at a friends party and I thought I push my luck for the benefit of Edna (I’m sure if she’d been closer it would have been her shirt on stage) But it was not to be. My name wasn’t on the list despite being told by the brother’s best friend’s cousin (or whatever) that our names were on the list. The beefcake at the door in the yellow shirt was not to be budged and he didn’t know were the list was. We left autograph-less.

Anyway, I had a good night. The walk home was nice too. I flopped into bed feeling relaxed and ready for the sleep ahead.
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I won't be sending this review the Brag 'cause we missed support band Operator Please and listened to Wolf and Cubs from the lobby.

Gotye High

What with moving and everything, I haven't written my review for last weekends shows yet, but I'll try and get it done very soon!

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.

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 ;-)

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.

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?

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.

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 ;-)

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

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.