BMA Mag 324 30 Apr 2009

THREE24 April 30.09

THE GRATES GRATE EXPECTATIONS!

Ratatat

Quan

Bob Evans

ALSO INSIDE: EXHIBITIONIST, LITTLE BIRDY, CHILDREN COLLIDE, DREADNAUT AND MORE!

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FREE STUFF editorial@bmamag.com and we'll see if we can do a little stimulating ourselves.

Barbers Adagio, José Gonzáles’ Heartbeats and Mylo’s In My Arms.

It also features local favourites including Angus & Julia Stone’s Paper Aeroplane, Empire of the Sun’s We Are the People and Lior’s This Old Love. From lush downtempo house to deep electro, from obscure acoustic gems to ambient standards, Chilled is the quintessential guide to chillout and a perfectly serene antidote to a big night out. To snag a copy tell us what makes you most chilled.

Wraaaaaaaaggggghhhh!

Chilly Billy!

Following on from the unstoppable 2008 retrospective Anthems, Ministry of Sound has just released its sister album Chilled. A definitive history of chillout music from 1991-2009, Chilled brings you the finest sounds of the genre in the perfect relaxation soundtrack.

Featuring 60 stirring tracks Chilled is an authoritative list of classics that will bring memories flooding back whilst transporting you into a state of pure bliss.

Highlights include The Orb’s Little Fluffy Clouds, Everything But The Girl’s Missing, Jakatta’s American Dream, William Orbit’s

The WWE Legends of Wrestling Series One and Two includes coverage of some of the biggest names in the history of sports entertainment; a veritable who’s who of professional wrestling immortality. All the big guns are here: Hulk Hogan, Andrew the Giant, Ric Flair and many more. It’s one of the most popular shows on WWE’s on-demand channel, with discussion panels featuring WWE Hall of Famers Jim Ross, Dusty Rhodes and many others.

The life and times of wrestling legends are closely examined while the panellists offer unique perspectives and entertaining anecdotes. Each series contains three DVDs, with Volume One featuring “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Terry Funk, Hulk Hogan and Bob Buckland, and Andre the Giant and The Iron Sheik, while Volume Two covers Jerry “the King” Lawler ad Junkyard Dog, Ric Flair and Sgt Slaughter.

We’ve got five enormous packs including both series to fling at ya, so if you want one, tell us what your wrestler’s name is.

30 tracks of solid dance winners, there’s enough motivational music on here to tire our Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda’s love Across the Universe From director J.J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III, Lost and Alias) and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Transformers, MI: III) comes a new vision of the greatest space adventure of all time! Paramount Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment and Bad Robot present Star Trek, featuring a young, new crew venturing child! We’ve got five copies of Sweat it Out Volume 2 to give away. For your chance to win, tell us your top five workout tunes.

You’ll be getting your grapevine on in no time.

Pick It Up

boldly where no man has gone before (except in the first one of course). It stars Chris Pine (Just My Luck), Zachary Quinto (TV’s Heroes), Eric Bana (Munich), Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), Winona Ryder (Girl, Interrupted), Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz), Zoe Saldana (Get Over It), Karl Urban (LOTR) and Chris Hemsworth (Home and Away), and thanks to Paramount Pictures we’ve five double in season passes to shoot your way.

To nab one, prove to us just how big a Trekkie you are. www.startrek.com.au .

Only at the Movies from May 7.

Make Yo Sweat Get out the roll on and slap on some spandex because Sweat it Out Volume 2 is here.

Act Yo Age steps into shoes previously filled by Ajax and Miami Horror, mixing a long list of hot house artists including Armand Van Helden, South Rakkas Crew, Bobmo, High Powered Boys, Dan Haaksman and Oliver $. You’ll find a very special all-star Disc 2, packed with remixes from the label. With

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Swoon. Verb. “To pass out from weakness, physical or emotional distress due to a loss of blood supply to the brain.” You might not conk out when listening to this second LP release from Silversun Pickups, but you’ll definitely fall in love. The L.A. quartet has emerged from the depths of the recording studio with Swoon, an album described by the vocalist as sounding like a nervous breakdown, with tight songs embellished by string arrangements and lyrics that narrate beauty and aggression.

Panic Switch, the first track released off the album, is finding itself all over radio stations and in teenager’s download files. So if you’re keen for some physical distress, loss of blood supply to your brain, or having a nervous breakdown, get involved! For your chance to win one of five copies of the album, give us your best

COPYRIGHT © 2009 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. STAR TREK AND RELATED MARKS AND LOGOS ARE TRADEMARKS OF CBS STUDIOS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Still unstimulated? Lack of your piece of the package getting you down? Winners are grinners, kids, so send answers to

STRUTH BE TOLD Cricketers are the masters of retiring. No sooner does their form start slipping and the knives appear than they’re up on the press conference podium confidently announcing ‘they know it’s time.' It’s a good attitude. Get out while you’re on top, or at the very least once your ship is full of holes. Entertainers would do well to follow suit. Here’s a few candidates for those who should seriously take the redundancy package and scram.

KING O'MALLEY'S

THE SIMPSONS The Simpsons are more than an institution, they’re a member of the family. For the last 20 years they’ve joined us for dinner in Homerlicious instalments, and are responsible for some of the greatest one-liners of all time. (Homer: "I know you can read my thoughts boy: meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow.") But for the last five years a doomed realisation has set in: we’ve seen the old episodes a hundred times, while most of the new episodes look like they were written by Ralph Wiggum. At first, no-one wanted to say anything out of respect, but with the rise of Family Guy and the Adult Swim roster, it just seems cruel to let The Simpsons go on not aging.

HALF PAGE COLOUR

SUGGESTED OUTCOME: Give the episodes a break on Channel Ten so we can stop completely taking them for granted. Re-release the DVDs series by series so they can get the ‘watch back to back’ treatment and reignite our passion for this ground-breakingly clever and relentlessly funny show.

MADONNA Having first experienced it as a nine year old eating Nutri Grain in front of Rage, I still find Like A Prayer to be the most emotionally rousing and complexly sexual of all pop songs. Similarly, Cherish and Express Yourself are such wonderfully realised recordings that despite the latter channeling the erotic power of females, I still associate it with sun drenched mornings dashing off to Surf Club. Madonna’s career graph looks like her cone bra, full of peaks and troughs. Since then the decline has been rapid, with a JT film clip romp and Britney pash only adding to a new air of desperation. (She’s now dating a 22 year old guy called Jesus?! What’s that rule about half your age plus seven?)

SUGGESTED OUTCOME: If only the entertainment industry was like cricket and Mads could move into commentating. I think she’d do well talking us through the latest Beyonce clip, getting the pen out and analysing her moves. What about a Robbie Williams style foray into classic show tunes?

BERT NEWTON While I was at Uni Good Morning Australia was the perfect backdrop to breakfast and procrastination. Bert’s trademark innuendos and self-aware cheesiness won over oldies and provided ironic-chic for youngsters. GMA was axed in ‘05, and Channel Nine promised to give the people the Bert they wanted in ‘07, but bafflingly, in a climate where Australia would thrive with a regular tonight show, Bert was trapped at the helm of Family Spewed. Now we’re seeing the dark side of the moonface with the vacuous mess of 20-1. It’s not fair letting Bert go out to pasture when we know what he’s capable of.

SUGGESTED OUTCOME: To come full circle, I’d like to nominate Bert as Richie Benaud’s replacement as the face of cricket - ‘Caught behind’ would never sound the same again. Failing that, a tonight show Everybody Berts.

Justin performs as The Bedroom Philosopher and writes for Frankie, Jmag and The Big Issue. www.bedroomphilosopher.com

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NEWS Watt a Team!

What’s Your Story?

There is always much excitement when an artist takes their debut on tour, so imagine the pomp and hoo-ha when there are two artists and two debuts! Luke Watt (pictured below) and Tom Richardson are teaming up in May to bring their bluesy grooves to you. Richardson’s onstage energy combines with furious slide guitar, deep powerhouse vocals and foot stomping rhythms while his LP, Evolution, also shows a more intimate side with melodic lapsteel and acoustic tracks. Watt’s music speaks honestly and unpretentiously to lovers of contemporary blues/folk. His song writing is personal and emotive, whilst still focused primarily on a solid groove, melody and the belief that there’s nothing wrong with the odd sustained 7th! Luke’s debut album, Examples of farewell speech, is a collection of blues grooves, folk melodies and slide subtleties. They’re at Filthy McFaddens on Tuesday May 5 and Phoenix Bar on Wednesday May 6.

Short Story Big Screen is a film festival initiative developed by the Australian Federal Police and the ACT Filmmakers Network and is supported by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. It offers Australian communities the opportunity to tell their story through film by providing workshops for aspiring filmmakers to develop their stories, as well as assisting with the filming process, editing and delivery for the big screen.

Two workshops will be held; Tribal Workshop is a six-day intensely personal exploration of the word ‘tribe’ and the role it plays in forming original and creative story collaborations beginning May 2, while in the Collaborative Workshop, beginning May 23, 16 participants will decide on two stories which are to be created into a short film. Head to www. shortstorybigscreen.com.au for more info, but applications close today so get on it NOW! Rose Amongst the Thorns

I’ll Roshambo You For It! It’s called Jan Ken Pon in Japan, Roshambo in South-western US, Shnik Shnak Shnuk in Germany, Ching Chong Chow in South Africa and Farggling in the US, but in Oz it’s known simply as Rock Paper Scissors. The ACT Qualifying Heat and ACT Grand Final of the Australian Rock Paper Scissors Championship will be held at the Canberra Irish Club on Thursday May 7, with the Australian Qualifying Round and Australian Open Grand Final on August 1 on the Gold Coast. In addition to the surfeit of back-slapping and wealth of fame and admiration that comes from taking the prestigious title, there’s $20,000 in cash and prizes to be won including a trip to Canada to compete in the 8th annual World RPS Championship. Call (02) 6288 5088 or email admin@airguitaraustralia.com for details.

Black Across The Field is the exceptional new album from Lucie Thorne. Brimming with her intricate guitar work it combines her spacious, gritty rock and roll with startlingly original dark folk. Thorne uses her songs to distil the poetic from the everyday, and each new song opens onto an unlikely world of characters and emotions. From the dark childhood visions of Alice underpinned by swelling rock guitars, the hopeful girl-in-the-crowd dreaminess of When

The Lights Go Down, through to the melodic pop defiance of The Basic Rules, Thorne’s songs are compelling in their intimacy. Lucie Thorne will play Ainslie Hall on Saturday May 23.

Anti-Guitar Hero The search is on to find ‘the greatest guitarist in Australia who never played’! The 8th Annual 2009 Australian Air Guitar Championships ACT Qualifying Heats 1 (May 25), 2 (June 4) and 3 (June 11) are being hosted by the Canberra

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Irish Club, with the Australia and NZ Grand Final on June 13 right here in the capital, so somewhat unfortunately if you win, you miss out on free flights and accom! The major prize is a trip to Europe, including digs, to compete in the 14th Air Guitar World Championships in Finland in August ’09. Judges pay close attention to air guitarists’ showmanship (originality, charisma, artistic expression) and technique (strum and chord synchronisation), so practice ’til yer fingers bleed! Phone (02) 6288 5088 or head www. airguitaraustralia.com to register.

A Very Special Splendour Indeed!

By the time you get your chilly mitts on this ish the first Splendour in the Grass 2009 lineup announcement will be about a week old, which is how long a cockroach can live without its head. If the first Splendour lineup is news to you I suggest you go and eat a few, as you’ve somehow remained ignorant of the euphoria-inducing announcement and probably need a dose of roach. The people of Tanquinho in Brazil use the little beasties to treat severe social ineptness, which you must be suffering from. A more palatable antidote however would be scoring tickets to Splendour and catching (big breath in) Bloc Party, MGMT, Jane’s Addiction (pictured below), The Flaming Lips, The Specials, Hilltop Hoods, Midnight Juggernauts, Grinspoon, Little Birdy, Sarah Blasko, Augie March, Josh Pyke, Bob Evans, Birds of Tokyo, Decoder Ring, Leader Cheetah and a scrumptious stack more, with further announcements to come. Tickets on sale at 9am on Thursday May 14 at www.qjump.com.au. Head to www. splendourinthegrass.com for all the delicious details. And if you can’t make it to Splendour, when it comes to the roach, the Tanquinhos roast ’em and turn ’em into tea, so at least you can add a little honey.

AND ANOTHER THING

YOU PISSED ME OFF Has someone yanked yer chain recently? Well, send an email to editorial@bmamag.com and have your sweet vengeance. And for the love of God, keep it brief! ALL ENTRIES CONTA CONTAIN T IN GENUINE SPELLINGS. TA Brainless Bicycle Haters

If you were paying attention last time, you’ll remember I mentioned in passing that I’d been talking to one of my all-time favourite guitarist/ songwriters Stevie Blaze, erstwhile founding member of American metallers Lillian Axe, whom you will remember from such albums as their self-titled debut (1988), 1992’s Poetic Justice and 1989’s titanic, epoch-defining Love & War, an album which fused the glam rock assault of the likes of Warrant with the more epic sensibilities of Queensryche to such telling effect that people are still talking about it to this day.

Well, me and Stevie are, because that’s one of my favourite records of all time, that is. I remember at the time that it looked as if the band would become huge… what happened?

“The time around the recording of that album was a very special time.

That’s just how it felt. We knew we were making a special album; I felt I was really coming into my own as a songwriter and the band was carving a unique niche for itself. But if you ask what happened, well, we seemed to be on the verge of a big breakthrough when [our label] MCA dropped the ball in a big way.”

Damn those cocaine-addled chimps at ‘the record company'. It’s no coincidence that at the time keen eyed ‘media commentators’ suggested that MCA stood for Music Cemetery of America, as the ‘Axe were just one of many acts on the label who found themselves stymied by this particular set of men in suits – buy me a pint some time and I’ll reel off a whole list of bands ‘done for’ by MCA – but that’s for another time. Because, ladeez an’ gennelmen, the good news is that there’s a new Lillian Axe album on the way, scheduled for release on June 16 entitled Sad Day on Planet Earth, and, in the best tradition of these things, I’m allowing Mr Blaze a little bit of plug time. How different is recording today to, say, the time of Love & War? “The new album is different in that I am working with my engineer and very close friend Rob Hovey. We did the same for [2007’s] Waters Rising.

Years ago, we would spend two to three months in the same studio 'til it was done. Now we record in different places and approach things one song at a time. We are also more prone to experimentation as well.”

And of course the band will be touring in support of this new meisterwerk – though of course no Australian dates were planned at press time (although the band has just announced its first European tour in aeons, so here’s hoping the net may be cast further afield…)

– why put yourself through the pain, Stevie me ol’ china?

“What keeps me going is the fact that Lillian Axe has created our own piece of history and gained many fans around the world who have been moved by our music. We have made many friends and that in itself is a great accomplishment. We haven’t even scratched the surface yet. There is so much more to come…”

And finally, Steve, Brian Pithers – “I didn’t know Brian had passed. What a complete shame. He was such a great guy. He was the true, consummate rock fan. I remember having dinner with him, [Axe throatsmith] Ron Taylor, and a bunch of label people in London. He had so many great stories. The music world is a lesser place without him.”

You heard the man. Anyways, I’m off to do a bit of reminiscing with L&W now – more tales of metal next time.

SCOTT ADAMS - thirtyyearsofrnr@hotmail.com

bma :: Issue324 www.bmamag.com "bma: holiday! celebrate!"

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bma is independently owned and published Opinions expressed in bma are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.

PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608

This is to the couple of twats that thought it was a great idea, with almost no other cars on the road, to closely accelerate high speed past my bicycle (which at the time was only travelling 12kph) on Sunday Morning 08:40 08/02/09 on Eastern Valley V Way, endangering my life for no fucking reason. When I got to the intersection lights that were 50 metres ahead, which you had just slammed on the breaks to stop at, you angrily started swearing at me through the window telling me I was ‘in your lane’. I had been in a good mood, it was a nice day... so tell me, how was my little bicycle a danger to you? I was obeying the road rules, and also riding very close to the gutter, you haemorrhoidal sphincters. The

roads are government roads; you don’t own any lane. You Y and your mate seem to think that bicycles can’t ride on the side of the road? Markers at the previous intersection even indicate it’s a bicycle lane. Read the fucking road rules you dumbass pieces of chicken shit.

How your Mum managed to get enough brain-cells together to buy you that vomit white 4wd you were begging for because you wank with tweezers, is beyond me. It’s a sad indictment of ACT’s road authority and police that an apathetic, useless, venereal tick fart like you who has no clue about the value of life on this planet, has actually managed to get behind the wheel and treat transport like it’s a killing machine.

FROM THE BOSSMAN Feeling a tad sluggish these days? Find peeling yourself out of bed of a morning as “easy” as peeling the price stickers off JB Hi-Fi items? Maybe your brain is feeling as dusty as a Scottish library?

Y everyone and everything is sick at Yes, the moment; people, the economy, and even animals are back in the news with their ailments. Humans have become walking germ factories. The economy’s liquidity is bunged up with the mucas of fear. And farmers have swapped Bayticol* for Berroca.

First it was bird flu, then the horses got the sniffles, and now the wonderful world of swine has an Influenza named after them.

It’s the animal’s fault really; it only takes one of them to “battle on” at the farm and infect the rest of the stock. If I were the farmer, I’d send the sniffling pig home with strict orders to dress warmly, include as much garlic and echinacea in their trough as possible, and stick a nice hot water bottle under their trotters. So if you’re feeling ill, take a stern farmer’s advice – shoot to kill. Or something like that <sniff>.

ALLAN “RECOMMENDS EQUINE-GRADE FACIAL TISSUES” SKO * it’s a brand of livestock dip. Geez, do your farm comedy research, people!

Fax: 02 6257 4361 Publisher Scott Layne General Manager & Advertising Manager Allan Sko: T: (02) 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com Editor Julia Winterflood T: (02) 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com Accounts Manager Fahim Shahnoor : T: (02) 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com Arts Editor Naomi Milthorpe

Advertising Executive Danika Nayna Super Sub Editor Josh Brown Graphic Design Jessica Condi Film Editor Mark Russell Principal Photographers (The Flashbulb Posse) Andrew Mayo/Nick Brightman/John Hatfield Issue 325 Out May 21 Editorial Deadline May 1 Advertising Deadline May 14

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TIDBITS

WHO COMIC BOOK LOVERS. WHAT FREE COMIC BOOK DAY WHERE IMPACT COMICS, GAREMA PLACE WHEN SAT MAY 2

Bam! Whomp! Kablooie! Find yourself muttering these in your sleep? Well then get excited gorgeous, ’cause Impact Comics is one of thousands of comic book shops around the world celebrating the fine art form that is the comic book on Saturday, May 2. On Free Comic Book Day, over two million comic books will be given away by participating stores worldwide, introducing as many people as possible to the wonders of comic books. “We’ll be giving away thousands of comic books to lucky visitors to Impact Comics on Free Comic Book Day, ” says Mal Briggs, manager of Impact Comics. Now in its eighth year, Free Comic Book Day has proven to be a smashing worldwide success, spreading the word that comics are indeed terrific reading. “Every year hundreds of people, including those that have never picked up a comic in their life, flood to the shop and we make sure we have free comics to suit wide and varied audiences.” Free Comic Book Day kicks off at 9am and runs until 6pm at Impact Comics in Garema Place, Civic. JULIA WINTERFLOOD

WHO YOU & YOUR PENCHANT FOR PRETTY THINGS WHAT CERAMICS EXHIBITION WHERE WATSON ARTS CENTRE WHEN MAY 1 TO 31

Canberra Potters presents a fresh interpretation to the age-old art form of blue and white ceramics. A Secret History of Blue and White: Contemporary Australian Ceramics is an Asialink and JamFactory Contemporary Craft and Design exhibition toured nationally by Object Gallery.

The potency and historical weight of this form of ceramics is common to nearly all cultures – be it the leaping fish patterns of Asia or the delicate willow of Europe. A Secret History of Blue and White subverts our preconceived notions by applying a contemporary edge and taking this classic practice to a completely new place. While each of the artists’ work expresses a diverse personal aesthetic, a commonality between all five is the success at which they challenge cultural clichés and previously held assumptions about the predictable nature of blue and white ceramics. The exhibition will be opened by Robert Bell, Senior Curator, Decorative Arts and Design of the National Gallery. Pictured is Garry Wedd's Thong Cycle 2006.

Photo by Grant Hancock. JULIA WINTERFLOOD

WHO THE STABS WHAT BLUES INFLECTED POST PUNK WHERE BAR 32 WHEN THU MAY 7

WHO YOU & YOUR DANCIN' SHOES WHAT HOUSE & AERIAL CLASSES WHERE GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE WHEN FRIDAYS, 7.30PM

Anyone who attended one of this year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festivals would, at the behest of Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds, have been treated to a disgustingly early showing by Melbourne three-piece The Stabs. Their abrasive, menacing brand of dirty, blues-inflected post-punk was a rude awakening for the mountain folk at the Mt Buller event and, looking distinctly uncomfortable in the light of day, the band delivered a similarly pulverising set on day two at Sydney’s Cockatoo Island. Formed in 2003, The Stabs gained infamy early on after more than a couple of their shows disintegrated into onstage brawls, but these days they tend TO direct their anger more at their instruments. Between biffs, they have supported Mudhoney, Rowland S Howard, The Scientists and Lubricated Goat, and released one LP and three 7” singles. While their last Canberra show got shut down after noise complaints, this time around, in the more hardened-eared surrounds of Bar 32, The Stabs and fellow Melbourne noise merchants Deaf Wish will settle in for a full evening sonic delights. PETER KRBAVAC The dance floors of Canberra are about to get a lot more styled if Adnane “Haryuken” Nemri has anything to do with it. Hailing from the streets of Paris this long time dance teacher has brought his moves to DNA Dance Studio and is offering classes that incorporate moves from house, break dance and aerial. This class is the most unique of its kind in Canberra scene. For those of you with no experience worry not, the classes are taught at beginner level. Lessons start in Term 2 and are held every Friday at 7.30pm – 9pm, $15 per class. It may not be Paris, but get your moves on and take it to the streets anyway. Call (02) 6247 3150 or 0418 425 799, email info@danceaerial.com.au or check www.danceaerial.com.au for more details. KATY HALL

Ever wondered what it might be like to go to a Boston club and dance to the finest DJs? Well wonder no more folks because those lovely lads and ladies at Lexington Music are bringing the WHO Boston sound to you. Armand Van Helden, the man behind My My My, the tune everyone has WORLD'S TOP DJS heard at least several thousand times, is set to headline this year’s highly anticipated follow up WHAT to last year’s sold out Winter Warehouse Festival. This veteran of vinyl is taking a break from his WINTER WAREHOUSE FESTIVAL current collaboration with Dizzee Rascal to come and visit us and make you dance ‘til you can’t WHERE dance no more. If you haven’t caught this year’s Winter Warehouse lineup by now you’ve surely AIS ARENA been spending too much time under rocks, but it’s back at the AIS for another year with a bigger WHEN set up and an even more impressive lineup. It features N.A.S.A, James Zabiela, Laidback Luke JUNE 7 and Art Vs Science to name just a few. For further info check out www.lexingtonmusic.com/ warehouse. Tickets can be purchased from Landspeed Records or online. KATY HALL

WHO YOUNG WRITERS WHAT PUBLISHING FORUM WHERE TUGGERANONG YOUTH CENTRE WHEN CIVIC LIBRARY

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Have you always wanted to be published but don’t know where to start? Is your inbox full of polite (and not so polite) rejections? Want to find out how successful writers get noticed? Transverse Poetry’s Getting Published: Secrets From the Writers & Editors is a free event supported by the ACT Government where young writers will have the chance to ask established Canberra writers and editors of fiction, non-fiction and poetry firsthand what it takes to get published. The panel will feature Paul Magee, the Senior Lecturer of Creative Writing at UC, Jack Heath, the astoundingly young author of bestselling novels The Lab (written at age 13), Remote Control and Money Run, Rachel Longhurst, essayist and editor of young women’s mag Lip, Julia Winterflood, the editor of this fine rag, George Poulakis, essayist and editor of twenty600 magazine, and Emily Stewart, poet and member of Block journal editorial team. For info contact Julian Fleetwood on 0403 885 873, email poetry.slams@gmail. com or hit www.traversepoetry.org . JULIA WINTERFLOOD

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Grated Cheese Josh Brown Chatting with Patience Hodgson – the tutu-wearing, impossibly energetic frontwoman of Brisbane rock band THE GRATES – is similar to watching her perform on stage. She’s cute, quirky and interesting, but can quite often be all over the shop. This is not necessarily a bad thing as I discover during the course of our second interview. After speaking with her for 20 minutes, I feel a bit scatterbrained. She has this uncanny ability to make you feel like you’re catching up with your best friend about nothing in particular, yet afterwards, when I go back and listen to the interview, I realise that somehow, in amongst all the random tangents and chatter, I’m able to tick off all the major subjects I wanted to speak to her about. Topics of conversation swing between culinary skills (the secret ingredient in her signature dish, spaghetti bolognaise, is grated apple... what?), how second album Teeth Lost, Hearts Won has been received by fans, playing at massive US festival South By Southwest, the band’s success at the annual triple j Hottest 100 music poll and microblogging on Twitter.

Last time I spoke with Hodgson Teeth Lost, Hearts Won was days away from release and she was fretting. I remind her that she confided in me that if the album release didn’t go well, she threatened to cry. Well, were any tears shed in the end? “No,” she responds with a laugh. “It’s been very good. We didn’t seem to lose any fans and it actually got a much more positive response than I had imagined. I really liked what we’d made and I was really hoping that I wasn’t just delusional and that a couple of other people out there would, you know, agree, [to prove that] I wasn’t just living in a fantasy world! I’m very relieved.”

If anyone, Hodgson included, needs evidence that Teeth Lost, Hearts Won has been embraced with open arms by fans all over the country, the proof is in the pudding. And by pudding I mean triple j’s 2008 Hottest 100 result. Hodgson and fellow purveyors of red-cordial-overdose-inspired stage antics, guitarist John Patterson and drummer Alana Skyring, clocked in an impressive three mentions in last year’s countdown (Carve Your Name came in at #83, Aw Yeah at #80 and massively catchy lead single Burn Bridges led the charge at #34). Other bands that scored three songs or more include Vampire Weekend, The Presets, MGMT and Kings of Leon. An impressive little club to be a part of, huh?

“I was very excited about that! It felt like we were the little band playing with the big boys,” agrees Hodgson modestly. “When I looked at the bands that had gotten four and three songs – they were really big bands!” I ponder out loud whether such an outstanding result for such a ‘little’ band is testament to the devotion of said band’s loyal fanbase. “I felt like our fans had pushed us into competition with the big guys all of

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a sudden,” she chimes in. “I do definitely think the Hottest 100 result was directly because of the dedication of our fans and it was excellent.”

Dedicated Grates fans can now take their fandom that one obsessive step further by following the band’s every move on suddenly-all-therage microblogging website, Twitter. As soon as I mention the T word, Hodgson lets out a slightly bashful laugh, similar to one I imagine she would let out if I was instead quizzing her about her (hypothetical) collection of mint condition Star Wars action figures. It just has a very novel and nerdy feel to it, doesn’t it? “I don’t do it as much as John,” Hodgson is quick to state, passing the nerd baton to her bandmate without hesitation. “There needs to be a reason why you’re following someone. Like ike if you’re not in a band and you follow your favourite bands, it’s really exciting. John follows Travis Barker from blink 182 and he gets a massive kick out of it because he gets these tweets from Travis that are like ‘I’m at Disneyland with my little son and he’s the man and he’s pushing his little sister around’. He writes it in hilarious Travis Barker style and John gets super pumped about it, as lame as that is.”

One ne thing the band used its Twitter account for recently was to post updates from South by Southwest (SXSW), an enormous annual music festival held in Austin, Texas where bands from all over the world jostle for industry and media attention. “It’s massive,” confirms Hodgson. “You “You Y cannot walk around Austin City during SXSW and not hear music. They close down all of the streets and everywhere turns into a venue –we’ve played out the back of a pizza parlour! And when you’re playing a gig, the loading in and out is nuts. We’d try to park as close as we could to the venue but because the whole city centre was shut down, you have to put all of your gear out on the road and you might have to carry it three blocks through like 100,000 people. It was just mental, but it was amazing.”

The Grates are now home from their overseas jaunt and are busily preparing for their upcoming national tour. Recent achievements such as playing at SXSW and scoring such a stellar Hottest 100 result are surely proof that The Grates’ star is on the rise. Hodgson attempts to put it into perspective with the following analogy: “We played fairly early at Big Day Out ut [this year] but we got to play on the main stage. Maybe that reflects how we are as a band: we played early, but we played on the main stage.” At this point in their career, that’s definitely not a bad situation for The Grates to be in.

The Grates, with support act Children Collide in tow, will play the ANU Bar on Wednesday May 6. Tickets through Ticketek.

“We’ve played out the back of a pizza parlour!”

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ALL AGES What up gee. The next few months are going to be epic with heaps of bands popping up to put on a show for us.

But not only do we have heaps of gigs, we have a massive dance party for you techno lads and lasses out there, also, The Presets have upgraded their show to all ages, yay! So get out, have a mosh, have a dance and have fun.

As mentioned in previous issues, May will see Hot Pink Sky, Please to Jive You, Slovac, Bleached Academy and Mercury cruising into the Woden Youth Centre. Tickets are really cheap, only $5 at the door, so there’s no excuse for not being there. The show runs between 6 and 10 pm.

Canberra’s very own 'blokey folksters', The Ellis Collective will be joining Hot Water Music’s ex-vocalist Chuck Ragan and Against Me!’s former frontman, Tom Gabel at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre on May 10. The Ellis Collective are the perfect example of a couple of Aussie blokes playing a simple and unpretentious brand of traditional acoustic music, with a modern and unexpected twist. Tom Gabel and Chuck Ragan are two amazingly talented Yankee lads so make sure you don’t miss this musically astounding trio.

And now for something for all you little techno boppers, INC and MySpace are teaming up to put on the biggest underage dance party Canberra has ever seen. INC Under 18s is introducing a brand spanking new monthly party, and it all kicks off on May 15 at the Woden Basketball Stadium between 6 and 11 pm. DJs Adam, Enz, Bricksta and many more live acts will captivate the crowds at one of Canberra’s biggest underage dance events. Including a full sound and light show, it’s going to go off. Tickets are $20 from Landspeed Records or $25 at the door. This is just the start of a new monthly dance phenomenon taking place at the Woden Basketball Stadium.

The Presets, Australia’s very own dance punk duo, have upgraded their show from the ANU Bar to the AIS Arena, which, lucky for you kids, means that the show is now all ages! Hoorah! Tickets are already on sale for the May 27 show, so get out and grab one or you’ll miss out on the spectacle that is The Presets.

Also on May 27, everybody’s favourite hardcore lads Carpathian and Have Heart are appearing at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre. Have Heart are one of America’s favourite straight-edge hardcore punk bands, so you’d be nuts to miss it. Meanwhile, Carpathian are one of Australia’s favourite straight-edge hardcore bands of the moment. So get your pretty little selves down to the Tuggers Youthie for a roaring good time.

It’s a while off, but my favourite band at the moment, House Vs Hurricane, will be rocking out for us at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre along with the very attractive boys from Nazarite Vow. House Vs Hurricane are Melbourne’s hottest new addition to the hardcore scene and have steadily been making a name for themselves, along with a rapidly increasing fanbase. This six-piece have come together with a vision of creating a fresh sound to add to the hardcore scene and so far they have succeeded. Having supported such iconic bands as The Devil Wears Prada, Mourning Tide, Amity Affliction, Bullet For My Valentine, Parkway Drive and Behind Crimson Eyes, House Vs Hurricane have proven themselves to fans and critics alike. The six lads put on an energetic show infusing roaring vocals, tearing beats, energetic riffs, and crazy synths; keep your eye on these boys as they’re fast making their way to the top.

That’s all from me boys and girls! Tune in in three weeks time for more super rad AA news!

LIZ ROWLEY elizabeth_rowley@live.com.au

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LOCALITY The winter months are encroaching, and the temptation to rug up at home with the latest season of Scrubs will soon be high. But hold faith! The gig scene in Canberra is only just hotting up, with a raft of launches and lineups to toast your toes on.

Locality was fortunate enough to catch Margaret Helen King playing the Commonwealth Park Amphitheatre earlier this year, and was mightily impressed by their halting, haunting indie pop. We therefore urge you in the strongest possible terms to get along to their EP launch on May 9. It’s on at John Lingard Hall in Red Hill, a venue that Locality isn’t familiar with, but we’ve seen what this band can do in unconventional surrounds, and it’s quite magical. Show starts at 8pm.

The Ellis Collective will be playing gracious host to Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music fame, with a staged love-in at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre on May 10 at 7pm. Also featuring Tom Gabel, this should give southsiders a rare chance to enjoy original music without leaving the secure proximity of the Hyperdome, so don’t miss it.

MARGARET HELEN KING

Hard-living hard rockers Earwig Mantra are launching their twelve-track debut album Nested at the ANU Bar on May 1, and the scuttlebutt is that it’s a fire-breathing cyclops of a record. Support is by the similarly teeth-rattling Escape Syndrome and Loud and Clear, so you should get along there while the Uni Bar’s still standing.

The Hard ACT to Follow project has been out and about, recording live performances by Canberran rock, punk, metal and hardcore bands, for inclusion on a forthcoming compilation CD. By all accounts the resources being brought to bear on this are mighty and impressive, so if you’re at a heavy gig and see the boys at work, throw them a high five.

And now, this fortnight’s round-up of Domus Adultus @ Hippo events, brought to you by those rakish scamps from Cardboard Charlie and the unquenchable Canberra Musicians Club: May 7 from 8pm: Bridie Hill, Michael Lemmer, The Bluffhearts, Lachlan Coventry. May 14 from 8pm: Teddy Conrick, Lloyd AllisonYoung, The Wedded Bliss, Starfish Hill.

Maketh it alongeth!

The CMC is also presenting another round of Oh Captain My Captain at The Phoenix on May 6. The formidable lineup includes Tom Richardson, Luke Watt, Beth Monzo and The Astrochemists.

Gangbusters is muscling its way into Bar 32 again with a show on May 7. The Stabs, Deaf Wish and Hoodlum Shouts will be fulfilling all of your rock’n’roll needs and hip desires. Kicks off at 9.

You can send all your local gig and band info to locality.bma@hotmail.com .

NICK DELATOVIC AND KITTY JAMES bma magazine 15

DANCE: THE DROP To the near sober drinker with only silver change left in his pocket, yes he can. To the nightclub princess with no shoes to go with her new dress, yes she can. To the sweaty DJs who swear to the birthday girl that they forgot to bring their only copy of Britney’s latest hit, yes they can, and to the thousands of young music enthusiasts struggling their way into the month of May, together, yes we can.

Steer your glistening skulls into the warm shower mist and recharge for another month of booming dark parties starting with everyone’s favourite R rated TV show come club night The Aston Shuffle N Friends at Lot 33 on Friday May 8.

The dubious duo have just returned from an extended tour of our planet (and beyond, Mikah tells me after one too many nights on the absinthe mind wagon) and for this event they are joined by the music manipulating man train of Hubert, Bruisa, Mig.L, Ronnie Gordon, Scott Fischer and Shunji.

Due to popular demand, Academy are bringing back one of their more successful interstate superstar guests in May. Club shaking, record making, drink card taking all round nice guy Tom Piper returns on Saturday May 9 followed by the One Love sound machine CD tour featuring sexy sound siren Minx on May 23. Both are ably supported by residents Sean Kelly, Staky and Ashley Feraude.

If you promise not to tell anyone, I’ll give you the hot tip on the next big thing in crossover dance. I came across this awesome small time electro act called ‘The Presets’ while I was in Sydney the other week and… who I am kidding, its not 2006 anymore.

If you haven’t already bought your tickets to the charismatic chart toppers last Canberra show for 2009 at the AIS Arena (note: no longer at the ANU Bar) on Wednesday May 27 I suggest your only option would be to stand outside the throbbing arena yelling “OMG Julian and Kim I love you, your catchy lyrics and your wacky sense of dress!” because I dare say it, as this goes to print the show would have already sold out. Oh and they are being supported by Van She, just to rub it in a little bit more.

For those that have a hunger Pang for some underground international action, May is another excellent month to get your late night fix at Lot 33. Friday May 1 sees Brazilian duo The Twelves playing a live set, while May 7 is Round 4 of the Pang DJ Comp, so grab LEE MORTIMER your pom poms to cheer on your local undiscovered superstar friends then back it up on Friday May 15 with the Canberra debut of fidget star Lee Mortimer (UK).

Mingle’s back to break in the new term this Thursday April 30 at Transit Bar, featuring techno extraordinaire Alex Caminer (Syd) and with support from Cheese, Nolly, Biggie vs Gabe Gilmore, Yohan Strauss and Chrisye.

Witness Canberra’s best VJ crew - RTFM - with their camera helmets and hectic lighting by Aztech Productions.

Finally to leave this issue’s column with a bit of an interstate taste in its mouth I would like to give a big shout out to ex-Canberran promoter Paul Azzopardi whose club the Chinese Laundry has just been named #67 in international monthly music bible Mixmag’s Top 100 Clubs in the World. It was Australia’s top ranked club in the globe and is my personal home away from home when I’m not sipping margaritas poolside in the capital. To celebrate this along with myself getting a year older, I will be playing a special birthday set there on May 9 so if you happen to be harbourside come say hello and supply me with some liquid gifts and a toasty Canberra hug.

TIM GALVIN bma magazine 16

tim.galvin@live.com.au

Hey Guy! "I always find emotion in music" Tim Galvin Out the front of the quick stop in downtown Israel stands a man clutching a small laptop with one arm and a cool glistening bottle of imported beer with the other, his pristine record bag pressed up neatly on the wall beside him. Next to him leers a stocky bearded figure in a long black trenchcoat wearing a backwards baseball cap and smoking a cigarette. That was my picture of GUY J and Guy silent Bob. In actual fact my daydream image is only a half-truth, as Guy J is more the international superstar DJ and less the loitering aimless layabout with mute overweight sedentary sidekick.

Along with artists such as Guy Gerber and Sholmi Aber, Guy J has spearheaded the Israeli dance music revolution with a new wave of stirring progressive records, an art which he has cultivated through experience. “I’m not trying to put myself in any group or keep myself out, I’m trying to improve myself in each production and each track,” J muses. “I think I’m still rising and directing myself to somewhere. I always find emotion in music. The most special part, if it’s happy, sad or angry – it means it’s done with a reason, with feeling. I try in each track to express something; sometimes it’s hard and sometimes it’s easier.”

After releasing a handful of tunes in 2006, he caught the ear of electronic overlord John Digweed who made the releases part of his essential mix playlist and eventually signed the artist to his own label, Bedrock Records. This led to work on his seminal long-player Esperanza that was released this year to much acclaim.

“I was always preparing myself for an artist album, so all the time I was working on different material as well, so it was fun,” says J. “Also to get out from the routine of making club music – it’s good. Each track from the album is expressing something and I think the way the album [is] built and the order make it sound like a story that each listener can find something in. There is opening, there is sadness, there is anger, there is happiness and there is finale with Esperanza.”

The collection has been likened to Nathan Fake’s masterpiece Drowning in a Sea of Love, which tops the list of many epic sonic soundscape fanboys’ wishlists and is indicative of the sound you could expect from one of his DJ sets. “My sets are very melodic and I always try to keep up with a good build up to get the crowd into the music. I use Ableton live sometimes but I still wouldn’t call it live as for live sets you don’t need only a computer – there is more to do, but I’m working on my live show.”

In 2009 Guy has taken his driving beats and shimmering synths to all corners of the planet and heads back to Australia soon for a series of shows that are a welcome return for the globetrotting artist. “I’ve had a great time in Japan, South America, Holland is always fun and Australia – I can’t wait to come back! I have new material including new remixes and editing for tracks, warm sound and of course lots of emotions.”

Catch Guy J at Trinity Bar on Sunday May 10..

A Ratatat on Your Door Peter Rosewarne New York’s experimental electronic duo RATATAT are not new.

Establishing themselves firmly in the music scene over the last nine years, Ratatat have built a rapport and toured with the likes of Interpol, Björk, Daft Punk and Cansei de Ser Sexy. They’ve released three albums and an array of reputable remixes (check out how much they amplify the energy of Björk’s Wanderlust).

Every time they release something they take a progressive step forward. Last year’s release LP3 saw them move beyond the synthesizer and guitar and introduce instruments like organs, harpsichords and even a mellotron. This playful process is something Ratatat plan to continue, as Evan Mast, the producer and synthesizerplaying side of the duo explains. “There are a lot of instruments I’d still like to use. I like to get really unfamiliar stuff around because when you’ve centred on guitar and keyboard for so long you’ve developed all these habits. Picking up an instrument that I have no idea how to play forces me to think differently about melodies and chords.”

The focus on playing around with different instruments may stem from the simple fact that Ratatat are an instrumental band. Though initially Evan had attempted to write songs with vocals he found that he and bandmate Mike Stroud were more comfortable with the instrumental. Given their love of remixing, particularly hip-hop, would they ever consider guest vocals on future albums?

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"Creating something new from the ground up - that's my favourite thing about music" “I’m interested in working with rappers and vocalists,” Evan reveals, “but I think probably not on our own records. I don’t want to be one of those producer bands that just add a different guest on every song. I would find that style of compilation album pretty uninteresting.” Ratatat won’t shy away from collaborations though, and have recently played live sets with rapper Despot.

Ratatat’s success sees them touring a LOT over the next few months in numerous venues across the United States, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia. “[The tour to Australia is] going to be different than the last couple of trips,” Evan considers. “We’re playing these regional shows and festivals outside the major cities. Every time we’ve been there it’s always just been for the major cities. We’re also going to have a couple of days off. Usually it’s show, show, show and we don’t get any time off. I’ve heard so much about the beaches and the Great Barrier Reef.”

While Ratatat love the, er, liveliness of performing live, Evan admits they have a propensity for the studio. “Generally we prefer recording and writing to touring. They’re both fun and completely different experiences but the feeling of creating something new from the ground up, that’s my favourite thing about music.”

With their fourth album on the way Ratatat’s future is as promising as the past has been and while they continue broadening their musical horizon, the positive response to their live act continues to mount. Despite his preference for the studio Evan’s excitement from one of his first big events is undeniable. “I never went to any festivals growing up. The first big festival we played was Coachella. That was awesome ‘cause we’d never been in an environment like that.

Everything was coming together at one time. There was this massive audience; it was a really good response! It was a good day…”

Ratatat will be performing at ANU Bar on Sunday May 10, supported by Quan. Tickets through Oztix at www.oztix.com.au .

QUAN-TUM LEAP

"There's no way I could have put this record out in the way I did 15 years ago" Alistair Erskine This is kind of personal, but that’s okay – so is QUAN’S solo record.

You might know the guy from a band that he was in, that did the rounds and stole so many of our hearts. But around three years ago he moved to Hong Kong and started working on a solo project. Bits and bobs came over time, until it all came together and The Amateur album was released around December last year. Quan was added to the Big Day Out bill and was easily the best thing there on the day. Yes. better than Fantomas even. He’s a bit more humble than my raving fanboyism had expected.

“It was kind of weird playing the first shows of this solo project at the Big Day Out and with the Prodigy,” the softly spoken guy opines. “I almost felt like I didn’t deserve it – obviously I had played the Big Day Out many times before with a pop band, but launching [the solo project] on this kind of stage kind of felt like forcing it down people’s throats.”

So the show basically was a drummer and Quan on stage rapping, singing, playing guitar and messing about with boxes. Quan had rung up a session drummer in Hong Kong, they practiced their live show and unleashed it this year, which was a slightly daunting experience.

“Having had the security and routine of performance of a band for so long, this involved a lot of unknowns – but it went quite well.” And having a vision about the shows has been quite interesting. “We have tried to have different visuals for our shows each time and piecing that together has been a really rewarding experience.”

The question of difference settles upon talk of the internet. Just how different is it now being a musician releasing stuff compared to when he first started out? “Well there is no way I could have put this record out, even made the record in the way I did 15 years ago. Back then you relied upon a record label to help promote your stuff on radio and the other thing you would rely on was word of mouth. These days, the record label’s role is really diminished and the word of mouth is everything. But due to the nature of it – so many people sharing so many links to so many songs – you have your potential audience’s attention for a far shorter time, seconds now before they can click and find something else, so you have a lot of pressure to hope your first four bars are good, but it makes it much more democratic I guess.” Is this a good or a bad thing? “It’s just a thing”.

Quan quickly points to The One as his favourite song off The Amateur, which both makes sense and confronts – it’s definitely a very r’n’b track and certainly the most holistic departure from his previous style.

“That’s actually the sound I like the most, being able to add some darkness into r’n’b in a way that never really is, and that’s what I really want to make more of.” And it was one of those things – at his Sydney show, watching the rock loyal and even hip-hop heads hearing Quan busting out a relatively sweet, seksay r’n’b tune was quite full on. “So much of r’n’b has such saccharine lyrical content to go with the killer production values, I really want to explore adding more horror.”

So Quan’s solo shindig isn’t going away. But the best bit is that it’s coming to Canberra for the first time. Supporting the immense Ratatat, he thinks he will be a pretty good match. “Those guys have the amazing dynamic of using visuals to spice up their shows as well as their music, so it’s going to be quite a good fit.” And it will be.

Don’t miss out on the awesome double header of Quan and Ratatat at the ANU Bar on Sunday May 10. Tickets through Ticketek.

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EXHIBITIONIST X+Y Carrington Clarke I was reading an article in the paper on the weekend which was discussing how the GFC (Global Financial Crisis- though everyone loves using the acronym these days) was going to affect Generation Y. One of those interviewed seemed to be rubbing his chubby middle aged hands with glee at the prospect that finally those arrogant and lazy youngsters would finally get their comeuppance. For so long they had existed in a world of endless credit and opportunity with all the power in their smooth wrinkle free hands (hands which had never been hardened by the need to dig the foundations of society or be dried out by washing their stained labourers uniforms... ).

Well if you, like this member of Generation Y, would prefer to spend an evening listening to the music that was the soundtrack of the years of our gestation and rise to adulthood instead of the bleatings of a bitter old man then I suggest you put down that weekly and get your still-optimistic and taut young body off to the Street Theatre for a performance of Hayden Tee's Generation whY?.

Generation whY? features re-jigged versions of some of the most influential music of the Generation Y era (roughly 1980 -1994), performed by cabaret star and generation Yster, 28-year-old Hayden Tee. Hayden performs works from the back catalogues of Michael Jackson (when he was still more genius than freak), Enya, Cyndie Lauper and Crowded House (Tee is from New Zealand, after all). The performance isn’t a set of karaoke numbers but instead sees Hayden use a disc and video jockey to mix the works live.

Hayden explained that the initial idea for the show sprung from a discussion with a musical director in London who suggested that Hayden “start looking at some '80s material as a possible match for my voice type. He brought a CD in of some of his favourite songs and I realised that these were actually the songs I grew up listening to, the songs that were played on the radio, in the car.... the memories started flooding back." From this discussion the seed was planted which would eventually grow into not only the stage show but also the accompanying CD (also title Generation whY?). “There were a few things I wanted to do differently for this album; the main thing was recording it live in front of an audience in order to capture the emotion and performance aspect only seen and heard when there are people to react to.”

This is not to say that the show has stayed stagnant since its inception.

“The show has gone through a lot of changes since that recorded performance in Sydney in February; the most drastic being the script and show concept. During my recent time in New Zealand doing My Fair Lady I have had the chance to research and discover some of the deepest, darkest, brightest and funniest information about my heritage and family and this is now where the show has found a life of its own, not just a selection of songs from the era of 1980-1994 but a look back at over 100 years of my family and comparing each generation and therefore examining Generation Y and future generations to come.”

This then begs the question, what is it exactly that makes Generation Y different from others? “As the show illustrates Gen Yers are very unique.

We are a group of computer savvy, uninhibited individuals who just like every generation before us have flaws such as the fact that we live in the communication revolution with the invention of the internet, mobile phones etcetera, and yet we are communicating less than ever on a personal basis, choosing text and email over conversation.

At the same time we are the most socially conscious to date with over 80 per cent of Generation Yers volunteering for charity in the last five years.” Points that were obviously missed by the previously mentioned poisoned-pen-pusher.

So come to the Street Theatre and connect to the music that was probably playing on the car radio as you were transformed from “a glint in your father’s eye”. Generation Xers are also obviously welcome (this was the music of your youth after all), as are Baby Boomers - so long as they leave their Generation Y bashing at the door. Come on, it’s good for the economy.

The Street’s Cabaret Crème Trailblazers presents Hayden Tee’s Generation whY? @ the Street Theatre, Monday May 5 @ 8pm. Tix $35/Gen Y $25. For info and to book call the Street B.O. on 6247 1223 or visit the website at www.thestreet.org.au .

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PHOTO: COLE BENNETTS

EXHIBITIONIST

ARTIST PROFILE: MIN MAE What do you do? I create tableaux vivants (living pictures). I use other people’s naked bodies as my medium because they’re the most powerful conduit of thought and emotion that I can access.

When did you get into it? Two years ago Who or what influences you as an artist? Copulation, decay, my mental state, and the habits of my friends.

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? I’m proud when I manage to leave the house. Anything more than that and I blow my own mind! I do feel very proud when my work changes people, when they become braver as a consequence of posing nude, and when they cry because they’ve been touched by bearing witness.

What are your plans for the future? I don’t have any plans. Should I get some? Really I just want to keep doing it.

What makes you laugh? The fact that I spent so much time trying to think of a witty answer to this question, and failed. Ha! Oh I’m a funny lady! Ahem, sorry.

What pisses you off? I do.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? Busy! The beauty of this town is that pretty much anyone can do what they like, art wise. It’s very unpretentious.

What are your upcoming performances/exhibitions? Tableaux Vivants – Akin to. This will be held at The Front Gallery & Cafe on May 15, 7pm. Tix $20 at the door. Audiences can expect the usual frozen tableau style living nude installations, this time following a zoomorphic thread.

Feel free to bring your sketch pad.

Contact info: min.mae@gmail.com

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EXHIBITIONIST

VIVA VOCE Cecilia Pattison-Levi

“It was a new personal experience – Big Voice,” says Moya. “And it’s become a remarkable and original new show.” Moya Simpson, singer, actor, comedian, leader of voice workshops and choirs, discovered she could sing in the early 1980s at the tender age of 35. Since then she has carved out a career built upon her extraordinary vocal versatility, comic timing and energetic delivery of whatever she takes on. After the hectic time of the Multicultural Festival and the Folk Festival, her new “concentration” is her show Big Voice, a story about finding your voice and your own way in life.

“You know I stopped singing at around 13 years of age because of some bad experience at school. I got chucked out of the choir. I didn’t sing again for 20 years,” says Moya. “Everyone I have told that story to says that they have had some similar experience – told that they can’t do something – well, this new show is to let people know that you can change that and you don’t have to take that negative criticism.”

Big Voice is the personal story of a life in story and song. Moya has written and performed in her own one-woman show before, with Close Your Eyes and Think of England, but Big Voice is more personal. Big Voice is about trying to tell the truth about a life’s story – not just a performance.

It is a glimpse of childhood, the people and events that happen in your life, those changes of direction that happen and the risks that you take,” says Moya. “This new show is a big risk as it exposes my life and my own self to the audience. But, I think everyone has their own story to tell and that experience is, in essence, similar to most people and I hope that others will be able to relate to it.

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“I was really lucky to work and develop this show over two years with John Bolton and some really talented musicians, Sandy Evans and Ian Blake.

The show was a wide open blank canvas and I wanted to explore new musical directions and challenge myself in the acting and singing. Ian is an electronic musician and I have never worked with that style of music before. It is unusual and exciting and he will be making a soundtrack,” says Moya.

“I believe that we need to share the joy of music and singing and pass it on to people. It is a human right to have, make and enjoy creative expression.

I hope that the audience of Big Voice will take away from the show the universal human story about lives lived and the joy of singing – its humour, joy and sadness.”

Big Voice is about “exploring the humour, joy and light and dark places in someone’s life journey,” says Moya. It will be a theatre experience to challenge and delight Canberra audiences.

Shortis & Simpson presents Big Voice at the Street Theatre from May 14 to 24 @ 8.30pm. Tix $35/$30. Preview May 13 tix only $22. For info and to book call the Street on 62471223.

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EXHIBITIONIST FROM LITTLE THINGS, BIG THINGS GROW Emma Gibson In The Seed, the critically acclaimed and much awarded play by Kate Mulvany, three generations of a family reunite in an exploration of family, loyalty and betrayal. Examining war, an immigrant’s story and family idiosyncrasies, the drama hinges on a prodigal’s return. In the director, Iain Sinclair, Canberra sees its own prodigal son return. Iain’s had an impressive journey since leaving his post as Artistic Director of Elbow Theatre in Canberra in 2003; he directed Killer Joe and My Arm for B Sharp at Belvoir Street Theatre while his other directing credits include Beyond the Neck, Lord of the Flies and Hurly Burly.

“It’s been a good run. I’ve worked with interesting actors,” Iain reckons.

He’s also worked with Sydney Theatre Company where he’s been assistant director to Max Stafford Clark, Jean Pierre Mignon and Gale Edwards, which Iain says was “pretty cool”. He’s benefited from the experience, and the influence. “Every time you work with an artist of that caliber, there’s always something to steal from them. There’s nothing like watching a master at work.” So then, how was the seed planted for, y’know, The Seed? “Most of my success has been with new writers and Kate is one of them,” Iain explains. “I’ve known Kate for a while — met her at a National Playwrights conference in Canberra and made a good artistic friendship. We first started working together, developing a musical about an embalmer!”

It was only logical that Kate later approached Iain with her idea for The Seed and Iain enthusiastically got behind the project. “We got started on the play two years ago as an independent production downstairs at Company B Belvoir. They liked it and transferred it upstairs (to the main stage), which was a big deal because we managed to break the glass ceiling for the first time in years!”

Not only did Kate write The Seed, she also appears in it as an actor, putting Iain in an unusual position as a director. “It’s traditional for a director to not have playwright even in the room when you’re getting the show together! Normally having the writer as an actor might cause problems but because Kate’s such an expert at changing hats, she knows when to take a note as writer and actor. That’s all part of the rare, special artist that Kate Mulvany is.” So what can the audience expect to see on stage? “It’s a profoundly moving story. Kate tells strong and important stories with an eye to entertainment. The Seed presents a strong subject with many layers. It’s also an immigrant’s story, and it taps into the million weird idiosyncrasies family life has,” Iain says. “It’s a great opportunity to see one of our young writers right on the crest of the wave. Kate will be a writer that you read about in history books. I’m really excited to have a show from outside come back to my home town.”

The play is touring across Australia, and will finish in Kate Mulvany’s home town of Geraldton in Western Australia, marking a prodigal return for the playwright and actor, as well as for a play rooted in the ideas of home and family, peace and war, and leaving and coming back.

The Seed sprouts at the Street Theatre from May 12 to 16 at 8pm. Tix $19$39. For info and bookings call the Street B.O. on 6247 1223. bma magazine 26

NO REST FOR THE WICKED

Catherine Woods Multi-award winner and choreographic delegate for the World Dance Alliance project in Taiwan, Cadi McCarthy is a talented and driven performer. The recipient of two Canberra Critics Awards, McCarthy brings her latest choreographic journey, Restless, to the Courtyard Studio this fortnight.

McCarthy graduated from the prestigious West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 1996 with a BA (Dance). She went on to perform with Paige Gordon and Performance Group and was a key member of Buzz Dance Theatre.

With a rich resume of independent work including performance and choreography, McCarthy took the brave step of establishing Cadi McCarthy and Company in 2002. Sell-out audiences flocked to the three full length works that the company has so far produced: Awkward, Restless and Lick Sip Suck. In 2004, the Canberra Critics Award went to Restless and in 2006 they won the Award for Awkward.

Canberrans now have the good fortune to witness the energy, innovation, passion and unique talent that McCarthy and her performers channel into their live performances. Restless delves into the world of what keeps us awake at night – the obstacles that force one man to remain painfully awake when all he desires is cruelly elusive sleep. Over one night, we explore his attempts to get some shuteye, experiencing shattering ups and downs and every scale of emotion and physical sensation as he becomes more and more determined, more and more desperate. Counting sheep, meditating, drinking chamomile tea and going mad: it might not make for a comfortable experience, but for lovers of dance and theatre, it guarantees a night of masterful and memorable entertainment.

McCarthy’s inspiration came from “a period in my life when I couldn’t sleep for a long period and I realised just how much effect insomnia had on you emotionally, physically and psychologically.” To conceive the work, she gathered her dancers in a process of collaborative improvisations, involving provoking dancers to consider thematic statements and words and to explore their personal responses, stories and feelings.

“Working collaboratively with the dancers provides the intensity and integrity to the presentation. I aim to challenge my dancers: physically, emotionally and theatrically,” she says, “whilst encouraging them to also challenge me.” Restless is a physically demanding work. Rehearsals have been full time for four weeks, with the dancers training daily to be in optimum physical condition for the performances. “The dancers do not leave the space for the full hour,” admits McCarthy. “It has complex choreography. The dancers have to act and that is exhausting also.”

McCarthy is convinced that anyone can enjoy the spectacle of dance.

“Dance is universal,” she explains. “Everyone dances. Look how popular dance shows on TV and film are, or the way people flock to a dancefloor at a nightclub when they hear a popular song. Dance theatre is extremely accessible and that is my goal, to make work that everyone will understand and enjoy. If my dad enjoys it I know that I am on a winner,” she reveals. “I know he will enjoy this one.”

Restless performs at the Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre. Wednesday April 29 – Saturday May 9 @ 8pm, Sunday May 3 & 10 @ 6pm. Tix $25/ $15.

Groups of five or more $10.

UNINHIBITED To paraphrase Conor Oberst, I’m hunched over this Macbook Pro – I guess you’d call that painting in a cave. The close relation between arts writers and Cro-Magnon Man hasn’t been extensively explored, but it’s analogous enough – the long nights huddled over a faint glow, frantic in the attempt to appease the gods (theatrical, musical, or paintbrushy) with feeble, scratched-out likenesses, offering supplication and adoration if they meet one’s needs or, if not, curses… plus there’s all the grunting, consumption of raw meat and general tendency to be hirsute.

Luckily for this Neanderthal, the gods more often than not offer enlightenment. This fortnight there’s plenty of creative illumination to spark interest, with cabaret, blue-ribbon indy theatre, a smorgasbord of music, exhibitions small and large, and tableaux vivants. And to paraphrase Lou Reed, I’m beginning to see the light. This issue of Exhibitionist has tried to cover all bases but as usual in the Can, there’s so much on that it’s well-nigh impossible to fit everything in. But you’ll find cabaret in the form of Hayden Tee’s Generation whY?, part of the Street Theatre’s Cabaret Crème 2009 series and Moya Simpson’s Big Voice, also playing at the Street. There’s theatre big and small, from local company Freshly Ground’s showcase of one-acters, Every Base Covered to Company B Belvoir’s The Seed, directed by prodigal N.C. son Iain Sinclair. Profiled tableauxeuse Min Mae tells us why she got into displaying naked, motionless bodies, while dance pro Cadi McCarthy explains moving ones. And as usual there’re opportunities for creatives around the place to get stuck into with the Street Theatre’s Made In Canberra initiative.

As for what isn’t covered in these sparing pages, to paraphrase Snow Patrol (!), open your eyes. From Fyshwick’s M16 Gallery’s drawing prize exhibition running ’til May 31, to house dance classes at DNA (starting May 1, get your socks on at www.danceaerial.com, the Splendid artlab operating in conjunction with Splendour in the Grass (www. spelndourinthegrass.org.au) and the regular Poetry Slam night at The Front (last Friday of every month), there’s something on in Canberra, or something you can contribute to, every day and night of the week. You just need to take a look around.

IN REVIEW

Silently Stirring @ The National Gallery of Australia Children’s Gallery, March 21 – June 8 Upon entry to Silently Stirring, owl eyes peer out and you know you are in for a creature feature. I got extremely quiet as I entered the space and felt like a five-year-old in my anticipation. If this beginning was anything to go by I was going to have fun in this space. Free from bright wall distractions, the Children’s Gallery lives up to its aim of creating an environment that enriches children’s experience of art.

Many artists are attracted to ideas of movement, change and transformation. Real animals and magical beings are favourite subjects when depicting these ideas in works of art, not just for their beauty but as symbols and vehicles for transformation. Silently Stirring explores these themes through prints, drawings, photography and sculpture, such as Australian artist Lionel Lindsay’s cat and frog prints and Indigenous artist Dennis Nona’s bronze Apu Kaz (baby dugong), displayed underneath a digital ocean surface to create a special locality.

The cross-section of artist representation – individuals and groups from Australia and internationally – is a highlight.

What I love about Silently Stirring is the added interaction embedded in the display. Action questions alongside the labels add layers to the visual process of interpretation, and wall verbs (swimming, hovering, twitching, buzzing etc) create mobility in the stationary animals in the exhibit. There is even a computer game to create your own magical creature, but again this program enhances the thinking around the magical beings in the exhibit and does not detract from the actual works on display.

These methods of presentation (label questions and interactive programs) make the themes tangible and inviting to a younger audience. So if Silently Stirring is aimed at children and their families why would I recommend it to BMA readers? The chance to see great artworks that don’t get to see the light of day much? No (but that is a really good reason). I recommend this exhibit for a different viewing experience. Be a child, get your young on. Enjoy thinking about creatures in a slightly different way – the nature of animals as restful, patient, watchful, wild and beautiful, speaking a completely different language to us if we would care to listen.

AMY MIDDLEBY

Someone recently asked me rhetorically, ‘Why do we do it? Why is the arts important?’ For creatives the cynical answer could be that nothing is better than adulation and applause, but I think for arts makers and audiences alike there’s something (hopefully at least) a little deeper than the lure of adoring and being adored (and for Uninhibited, the hope of free booze and canapés). What we hope to get from and achieve with the art forms that we turn to – whether it’s music, performing arts or the NGA’s Soft Sculpture exhibition, featured next issue – is that lightbulb moment in our heads and hearts. Art – of whatever form – has the ability to cause in us a transformation, from grunting club-wielding unwaxed savages to something hopefully better (and if anything, a lot wankier).

And the first step, just like ol’ Bright Eyes tells us, is to knuckle down in our caves and start painting.

NAOMI MILTHORPE princessnaea@gmail.com

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EXHIBITIONIST

BIT PARTS

WHO: Musicians aplenty WHAT: Canberra International Music Festival WHEN: May 7 – 17 WHERE: Beautiful locations around Canberra

WHO: Australian Classics WHAT: Going Down and Age of Consent WHEN: Saturday May 2 and Saturday May 9 respectively WHERE: Arc Cinema, National Film and Sound Archive, McCoy Cct Acton.

From May 7 to 17, Canberra plays host to a panoply of music, thanks to the 2009 Canberra International Music Festival. The festival is celebrating both music and architecture, with performances programmed in the many beautiful buildings we have in the N.C. There’s a bunch of radness on in this festival, from the rarely-performed Peter Sculthorpe work Rites of Passage, to the Australian premiere of Arvo Part’s Symphony No. 4, both performing at the Glassworks, and a free Mother’s Day concert at the NGA celebrating the gallery’s permanent collection, featuring didj maestro William Barton, the TinAlley string quartet, and Synergy Percussion among other fabulous musos. For full details of the CIMF programme, check out the website at www.cimf.org.au .

For serious film buffs, a couple of interesting little bites are out this month at Arc Cinema. On Saturday May 2 you can head down to Haydn Keenan’s 1983 indie classic, Going Down, an examination of boho excess in Sydney (and there’s nothing we at Exhibitionist love better than excess). The following week will be pretty exciting also with Age of Consent, Michael Powell’s 1969 adaptation of Norman Lindsay’s novel about a painter and a vixenish kittenish thing, played by a young Helen Mirren. Peter Sculthorpe’s original score has been restored and the film will be introduced by the legendary composer.

WHO: Freshly Ground Theatre WHAT: Every Base Covered WHEN: May 20 – 30 @ 8pm WHERE: QL2 Theatre, Gorman House Arts Centre, Braddon Everywhere in the world there’s some precocious wunderkind doin’ it for themselves. In Canberra, one Sam Floyd fits the bill. His company, Freshly Ground, are producing a ‘showcase’ of one-act plays all written by young Floyd, including The Disclaimer (pictured abpve), which won a slew of awards in last year’s Canberra Festival of One Act Plays. Tickets are only $14 for adults and $10 for concession. Featuring young’n’emerging performers and directors, Freshly Ground certainly have every base covered. Ba doom ching. More info can be got by calling 0450 067 322 between 6 and 8pm.

WHO: Denise Higgins WHAT: Abyss: an installation WHEN: Now til May 3. Opening hours Wed – Sun, 12 – 5pm WHERE: ANCA Gallery, Rosevear Place, Dickson “When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes into you.” So waxed that most exclamation-point happy philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche on the darkness that can be found in each of us. Nietzsche’s disturbing observation forms the focal point for a new installation work

by Denise Higgins showing at the ANCA Gallery, Abyss. Higgins’s crossmedia installation contemplates ‘finding stillness through motion’.

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WHO: You! WHAT: Made In Canberra 2009 WHEN: Proposals due May 9 WHERE: The Street Theatre Last year’s Made In Canberra festival at the Street saw a bunch of fabulous art, music and theatre created and developed. This year it could be your turn! The Street is calling for proposals for the 2009 Made In Canberra, a curated season of independent works by locals. All the info you need to make a proposal is up on the Street website so head to www.thestreet.org.au and follow the ‘Artists’ and ‘Opportunities’ links.

WHO: N.U.T.S. WHAT: Alice, directed by Zoe Tuffin WHEN: May WHERE: ANU Arts Centre Main Stage “Here, it takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place.”

Theatregoers in the Can are in for a treat with the latest offering from N.U.T.S., an original play by Zoe Tuffin and Shane Pike titled Alice, a meditation on darkness and temptation adapted from Lewis Carroll’s nonsense masterpieces Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Directed by Tuffin, the play opens at the ANU Arts Centre in May. Off with your heads!

Lil' Wayne Brady “Australian audiences are very improv-savvy”

Tim Galvin Everybody makes shit up. From “I’m sorry officer, I thought this was a 140 kph zone” to “my dog ate my homework and then regurgitated it onto your desk with the wrong answers.” The art of improvisation is a skill that cannot simply be learned, it is a rare quality ingrained in a chosen few who are destined to either become terrible politicians or extremely convivial comedians. WAYNE BRADY is from the latter.

For those of us who survey their widescreen TVs from beneath a Foxtel dish, he would be most well known as the star of the hit ad lib show Whose Line Is It Anyway? alongside Drew Carey, Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles, although he has spent the last 12 months touring his extemporization spectacular Making S*#t Up all across the globe, including a stint in Las Vegas.

“Vegas was wonderful, it’s such a great place for entertainers to be.

Everyone that comes through there loves it!” explains Brady. “The tour itself has been amazing. I have done shows all over the world and I’m coming back to Australia. Australian audiences are very improv-savvy, if that makes sense, in that if I make a literary reference or something like that, people tend to get it every time which is great. You can expect improv like on Whose Line, audience participation, physical humour, a few songs from my album – we have dancers and a live band so it’s pretty much like having a Vegas show wherever I am on stage.”

Growing up, one would assume that Wayne would have been the centre of attention, utilising his quick wit to impress the ladies and entertain his friends. Not so, says the talented performer, although it did land him a role as Tigger at Disney World.

“I think that’s a general misconception. People think ‘surely you were the guy always trying to be the centre of attention.’ I was not that guy at all! I think people would want to punch that guy,” he laughs. “When I auditioned at Disney World, you had to audition in general rather than for an actual character. They look for animators who would suit each character individually and I played everyone from Captain Hook to Tigger, it was great being in a costume and being able to become someone completely different each day.”

raising the bar Peter Krbavac Written and Directed by Toby Gough, THE BAR AT BUENA VISTA pays homage to the famous quarter of Havana, which saw rise to such legends as the late Compay Segundo and Ruben Gonzalez. Premiering in Perth six years ago, the show has enjoyed sell-out tours around the world, bringing the vitality of Cuba’s rich, cigar-smoke infused musical history to the stage.

“The idea was to tell the story behind the social group Buena Vista - not the music phenomenon, but the bar,” explains Carlos Bustamante, the show’s touring translator. “This is a small bar that, back in the ‘40s and ‘50s, was gateway for so many young musicians and performers that 40, 50, 60 years later became internationally famous.”

The cast, comprising members of the four biggest shows out of Cuba, including The Buena Vista Social Club and the Afro Cuban All-Stars, is spearheaded by the unstoppable Reynaldo Creagh, who at 93 is considered Cuba’s last remaining living legend.

“He walks very slowly, and I said to him one time, 'it's good that you walk slowly now that you’re old because you’ll fall,’” Carlos says fondly. “He said ‘No Carlos, I walked very slowly when I was 15!’ He has this internal tempo, this way of being - he’s a very calm, relaxed guy. He gets this energy from work: he loves making music, and he loves making people happy.”

Musically, audiences can expect a handful of well-known standards but, pleasingly for any Cuban music aficionados, the show will introduce a raft of more obscure tracks.

“The rest are traditional songs that were not international hits or anything like that, but are still beautiful songs,” Carlos explains.

“The major element of The Bar is Cuban traditional dance,” Carlos continues.

“There are only three or four guys in the world that can serve this style, and we have them at The Bar - we are very happy about that.”

The Bar at Buena Vista plays Canberra Theatre on Friday May 15 and Saturday May 16. Tickets from Canberra Ticketing.

More recently Wayne has had worldwide success as the host of the US game show Don’t Forget the Lyrics, and I mention how much I enjoyed the special episode starring one of my boyhood sentimental favourites Boyz II Men. “It really was one of those times when I just thought ‘I love my job.’ The show has been so great, its been so well received in other countries like Australia as well and people just love it. It’s also just about to air in New Zealand and Asia and there is even a French version – it’s very funny to see the show being performed in French. It’s a great gig!”

With a professional resume so long it should be rolled out on a papyrus, it’s hard to make time in the interview to go over all of his achievements although there was one burning issue that I just had to touch on: his hilarious Chapelle Show cameo.

“There is always that one person per day who thinks they are the first person to ever come and say it to me. I have had ten year olds who have come up to me and said ‘are you really going to choke a bitch?’, it’s weird.

But people always get it wrong though, so I have had people come up to me and say ‘is Wayne Brady gonna tie someone up with rope?’” he laughs.

“At least watch it and get it right!”

Emmy-winning actor, Grammy-winning R’n’B singer, TV host, Broadway actor, pseudo pimp – Wayne Brady has it all. Is there anything he can’t do?

“Well I don’t cook as well as I would like, I can’t play the piano and I haven’t had much luck with relationships so they are all things I would like to work on.” You heard it here first ladies.

You can see the hilarious Wayne Brady perform live at the Royal Theatre on Saturday May 16. Tickets through Ticketek.

bma magazine 29

THA REALNESS Who is John Robinson? He is Lil Sci, formerly of Scienz Of Life and he’s finally got a release through High Water Music for his much talked about Who Is This Man? LP recorded in 2005! Thankfully for us, it has finally seen the light of day because it is absolutely stunning! Entirely produced

by MF Doom, and with cuts by DJ Rhettmatic, the album showcases both Doom’s sublime signature sound bites and production style and Robinson’s lyrical range, diversity and microphone prowess! An essential and classic release!

After years of writing and reviewing hip-hop (most predominantly on ozhiphop.com) it’s great to see G Force getting his first solo LP Clouded out and about with distro from Obese Records. Drawing on an extensive range of influences and experiences, the album is produced by Xcise and features full-bodied and soulful backdrops which propel G Force’s lyrical narratives. With cuts from Doc Felix and appearances from Maundz, A-Diction, Vida Sunshyne and SBX legend Hunter, Clouded is an impressive debut. Check www.myspace.com/gforcehiphop to preview tracks.

Also gaining Obese distro is the impressive debut solo album from Thorts. Bleeding Heart Muzik is just that – an introspective record that documents a young man’s coming of age, his metamorphosis and the promise of a triumphant new beginning. By collecting the best possible soundtrack from Australian beat-makers Saint Surly, Simple Simon, Crixus, Geko, Must and Crytearia, Thorts has shed all trappings of the 'battle emcee', preferring to talk about real issues and life’s struggles – using the record to purge, cleanse and reach a positive, therapeutic outcome for himself. With killer artwork from esteemed designer April77 and guest verses from Crixus, Urban Monk, J.Waters, Esvee, JP, Mata & Must, 1/6 and Class-A, the album is highly original, consistently honest and always engaging.

NY’s Jadakiss – dope rapper and dope birdcall aficionado – has just released his first LP on the legendary Roc-A-Fella label. All the A-listers are on board, including Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Pharrell, Ghostface, Raekwon, Nas, Mary J Blige, Swizz Beats and Ne-Yo. He’s got beats from Buckwild, The Inkredibles, The Neptunes, Mr. Porter, Needlz, Don Cannon and The Alchemist. You already know how it’ll sound so go grab yourself a copy – how mainstream hip-hop should sound in 2009.

Soul Jazz Records can do no wrong – they’ve just released a new triple CD pack of their singles highlights from 2008-'09, showcasing a variety of dub-influenced genres and artists such as Kode9, Kutz, Cotti, Secondo, Pinch, Ramadanman and many more. It’s brilliant, versatile, relevant and 100% dope – you need it!

London’s dub-step pioneer Caspa is due to release his debut producer LP Everybody’s Talking, Nobody’s Listening on Fabric at the end of the month. With all the bass and wobble you’d expect from Caspa, the LP is for the most part very nice, although a few tunes, like Rat-A-Tat-Tat for example, border on the ridiculous and are a touch over the top. Still there is a lot to offer here, some killer sounds proving that Caspa is still a true leader and furthering the dub-step sound. Definitely worthy of your time!

Crookneck head-honcho Raph Boogie has just released his brilliant new record Le Bump out through Shogun/Crookneck and it features production from The Nextmen, DJ Design, BVA and Koolism’s Danielsan! In exciting news, Raph will be in town with Danielsan in tow to launch the album at Transit Bar on Saturday May 2! Axe Aklins and Omar Musa are in support!

To listen to music from all the above and much more, tune in to The Antidote on 2XX 98.3FM from 9:30 pm, Tues nights.

ROSHAMBO roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au

bma magazine 30

“It’s important to deliver the songs live and connect with people”

blame it on the boogie Catherine Woods

RAPH BOOGIE has channelled all his talent and energy into a hiphop CD to get revellers on the dancefloor and listeners nodding their heads. With an awesome array of talented contributors adding to the latest album, Le Bump is bound to raise Boogie’s profile.

The Nextmen are credited with production work on the album – the Cambridge natives having honed their hitmaking skills with acts including Blackalicious and Public Enemy. Not to overlook our own Aussie master crafters though, Raph Boogie has also worked with Danielsan from Canberra to create the opening manifesto Boogie Bump. Danielsan will be known to hip-hop fans from his work with Koolism. Other contributors include Plutonic Lab from Melbourne, Californian DJ Design, BVA from Mnemonic Ascent and Detroit’s Phat Kan. Tracks range from the heartfelt and personal I Know through to family baking on Tea Cake.

“One of my favourite songs is Tea Cake, which is a song about cake and also features my lil boy Tyke on the chorus,” he reveals. Along with releasing an album, as if that weren’t demanding enough, Raph Boogie has put his passion for photography and writing into producing the published ode to hip-hop culture, Behind the Beat. The book is a photographic ode to the home studios of some of the most high profile hip hop artists, including DJ Shadow, DJ Premier, The Nextmen and DJ Spinna.

“Everything that I do affects everything else,” says Raph, discussing the numerous endeavours he juggles daily. “Everything is related. My other projects help me think in different ways. Where I used to be only concerned about the way the song felt to me, I now think about the way other people might perceive my work.”

Raph Boogie continues to be a proud member of Crookneck Records, avid supporters of some of Australia’s finest: A-Love, DJ Ransom and J-Red to name a few.

Raph is bringing his party-starting bass sounds and MC antics to the Canberra dancefloor on May 2. Joining him at Transit Bar will be Danielsan to bring the big beats of Le Bump to the live arena.

“The response has been cool,” he says. “I took the songs out on the road last year with Muph and Plutonic and the feedback was really positive.

I have never really been a touring artist, not because I didn’t want to be, but I was just too focussed on being in the studio. I really like doing shows and touring around, it’s important for me to deliver the songs live and also connect with the people.”

Along with the booty-shaking sounds, Raph Boogie brings a down-toearth attitude with him to Canberra. “Hip-hop for me is about being an individual and retaining my integrity. Life is too short to be making music for a target audience.”

Transit Bar will be hosting Raph Boogie and Danielsan on Saturday May 2.

Free entry, as usual!

bma magazine 31

PUNKSKA

Coming from town, your face turned to this sound. On your way up or on your way down, I want you to turn to this station for identification. For your musical headucation, it’s the punk ‘n’ ska news.

Legendary limey punks The Varukers have confirmed they’ll appear at the ANU Bar, Friday June 5. Being their 30th anniversary tour, they will have a limited edition tour CD on sale.

Sydney band Rust and local troublemakers Bladder Spasms, All In Brawl and Eye Gouge will kick things off. Tickets available at the door ONLY and they’re opening at 7:30 pm. Don’t miss out.

I’ve previously mentioned the squabbling in the camp of The Specials 30th anniversary reunion tour. Well, incredibly, they’re on their way downunda for their first ever Oz tour but disappointingly, it appears founding member, keyboardist and creator of the iconic 2-Tone label, Jerry Dammers, won’t be coming – his name being conspicuously absent from any reports I’ve read. That’s the only change to the 'original lineup' of the band though, as Terry Hall (vox), Neville Staple (toasting, backing vox), Lynval Golding (rhythm guitar/vox), Sir Horace Gentleman (bass), Roddy Radiation (lead guitar) and John Bradbury (drums) are all coming. Any self-respecting ska fan will want to see this. Two shows only, at the Enmore Theatre, Sydney July 28 (AA) and The Palace Theatre, Melbourne, July 30 (18+). They're also playing Splendour. in the Grass. Tickets are already on sale and for the UK leg of the reunion tour, they sold out in a day! So be quick and slick and don’t bring your walking stick. Visit www.ticketek.com.au for details.

Anti-Flag’s new LP will be called The People or the Gun and is out through Side One Dummy on June 9. The ten-track collection is the band’s seventh full length release. Visit anti-flag.com for details or check www.sideonedummy.com for presales. BTW the Special Presale Package Bundle includes the album, exclusive t-shirt, poster and a limited edition EP, with a portion of the proceeds from every preorder donated to Amnesty International. All preorders will receive an advance download of the unreleased song Bring Down Their Wall Again.

The new NOFX album, Coaster (Fat Wreck Chords/Epitaph) is in stores now. The track Creeping Out Sara can be heard on the youf network, triple j, but visit their myspack to hear The Quitter. http://www. myspace.com/nofx .

What’s with this 30th anniversary tour thing!?! US protopunks, San Francisco band Flipper (right), are bringing their grungy interpretation of punk rawk to the ANU Bar on Friday June 12.

Finally, the longawaited Porkers DVD, Persistence is Futile, is back on track and should be out this year.

Oi Oi that’s yer lot!

SIMON HOBBS Next deadline is May 1. Send news, views, gig promos and abuse to rudebwaay@gmail.com

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Tropical Inferno "It will bring the flavour of a real Latin dance party” Katy Hall As the dreaded winter approaches and Canberrans begin to pull on the woolens it seems impossible to think of much else but blankets and tea. One Canberran though seems to be seeing things differently. Mario “Brujo” Gordon, organiser of the upcoming Latin dance and music show TROPICAL INFERNO is determined to bring the fire and heat of a real Latino street party to our very own. “There are missing elements of Latin music and dance in the Canberra scene. Tropical Inferno will shake things up and make people want to party. It will bring the flavour of a real Latin dance party,” says Gordon enthusiastically.

Originally from the streets of Panama, Gordon has been DJing in Sydney and Canberra for almost a decade and finally decided it was high time Canberrans learnt how to really shake their hips and feel what a real party is like. The show comprises of two acts and includes salsa music, reggaeton, DJs and most importantly a lot of dancing. “It’s all about feeling like a party.” And what if you are, say, like me, inexperienced in the Latino dance and music world? “It doesn’t matter how much you know,” Gordon reassures me. “The street parties are just all about the energy. There is so much of it. Everyone is smiling and dancing and having fun to the music. That is what Tropical Inferno will be.”

This is the first show of its kind to be run by Gordon and Bel Barrio Productions; the concept though has been on the cards for a while now. “After DJing a lot and playing so much Latin music I wanted to do something with it. There was a long time when I was DJing that I didn’t play any Latin music, it was all just the current hits, but I came back to it because it has so much to it; so much energy and excitement. People will feel this on the night even if they are not from a Latin background.”

The dance floors are set to come alive if Gordon and his troupe of musicians have anything to do with it. DJ sets will be provided by DJ Angel and Gordon himself, followed by the famous Pochoman and the dancers of Kokoloco studio. But the real draw card of the evening is Uruguay sensation Gonzalo Porta and the recently formed Sydney Salsa All Stars. Coming together from all across South America, the Salsa All Stars are guaranteed to make the party an evening to remember. Porta himself is an eight time gold record artist in his own right.

After speaking with Gordon and realising how sincere his passion is for what he is doing I begin to wonder if even I, with my complete lack of dancing ability could enjoy a show such as this? After a while I decide I would. Absolutely. Because after everything that Mario Gordon has told Me Tropical Inferno sounds a lot more fun than staying inside trying to avoid the Canberra cold.

A shake-a shake-a! Get those hips gyrating on May 8 at the Southern Cross Club in Woden. Preseold tix are $35 and are available at Kokoloco Dance Studio and the venue, while they’re $40 on the door. Doors from 7.30pm, and if you get there early you can catch the free Reggaeton lesson from the lovely movers and shakers of Kokoloco Dance Studio. Feelin' hot hot hot!

ROCKIN' THE SUBURBS

“Quote here!”

“When you have three albums, you can fill the set with all killer and no filler” Sarah O'Connor For those not in the know, BOB EVANS is the solo artist pseudonym of Kevin Mitchell, lovable frontman of Perth indie rock scallywags Jebediah. Goodnight, Bull Creek, Evans’ third solo effort, hit the shelves earlier this month and the man found time out of his busy schedule to chat with BMA about the recording process, amongst other things.

The record’s title is taken from the lyrics of the first song on the album, Someone So Much, which indicates an intention to leave behind aspects of the past. Bull Creek, in the literal sense, is the suburb in Perth where Evans grew up. The initial interest in using the line “goodnight, Bull Creek” was Evans’ self indulgent chance to namecheck his childhood suburb. “[I got a] cheap thrill out of naming my suburb because I thought it’d be funny,” explains Evans. “On a deeper level I was trying to suggest letting go of things from my past.”

Lyrically Evans’ third album focuses on political and personal issues that he has dealt with during the course of his life and is reflected in numerous songs on Goodnight, Bull Creek. “Hand Me Downs is a personal and realistic little description of the realities of my life trying to scrap together a living as a musician,” reveals Evans. “Brother O Brother started off as an observation of the issue of reconciliation in Australia, inequality and disadvantage in general.”

Goodnight, Bull Creek takes Evans’ style of recording to a different realm.

The songs no longer just feature one man singing to a sound track – alternatively the songs were recorded live. Signalling the distress of an indie rocker at heart, Bob Evans new album blends electric guitar rock with soothing harmonies. “When I was writing and preparing for the record I was missing the electric guitar a little bit, because Jebediah hasn’t put out a record since 2004,” says Evans.

The album’s release created an opportunity for Jebediah to produce a new album. Evans elaborates: “Hopefully by the end of the year we might be close to finishing a record. I’m going over to Melbourne in July and hopefully doing some recording with them.”

Bob Evans will be touring throughout May and June, playing songs from his three albums and taking the time to please the crowd with his energetic and impulsive performances. Evans’ response to what the audience should expect is: “It has a vintage rock and roll vibe. The odd, spontaneous stage jam could happen.” Incorporating the Order of the Guilded Bevans, his touring band, Bob Evans is expected to prevail with a crowd pleasing show. “When you have the third album you can fill your set with all your own work, it’s all killer and no filler.”

Bob Evans intertwines captivating melodies together with rock and roll music. Goodnight, Bull Creek is an exceptional album not to be left unheard.

Evans will grace the stage at the ANU Bar on Saturday May 16. For tickets, hit up the man’s website at www.bobevans.com.au . bma magazine 33

SINGLED OUT WITH DAVE RUBY HOWE

Black Eyed Peas Boom Boom Pow (UMA) I’m surprised and even impressed that will.i.am saved one of the forward thinking productions that he usually farms out to those with open cheque books to replace the generally lazy and derivative tracks the ‘Peas are used to fronting on, but for all the fun of the subterranean drums and the mainstream-appeal-killing glitchy quirks, this track is mud once Fergie brings her worthless self to the show. Swing and a miss. I’ve got a bad feeling about this issue…

Eminem We Made You (Interscope/UMA) For the guy who shocked millions with his first couple of albums, We Made You sees Eminem lash out at the softest of the soft; Sarah Palin, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse and Britney (again) all get a run. This is about as edgy as an orange.

Flo Rida Sugar ft. Wynter (UMA) How can you rip Eiffel 65? Seriously!

That shit is like untouchable, because it is both amazing and ridiculously bad.

We’ve all acknowledged that. So who thought this was a good idea? The cartoon rapper that is Flo Rida or one of the scores of string pullers behind him?

Kanye West Amazing ft. Young Jeezy (Rocafella/ UMA) Usually I’m a big supporter of Kanye’s thoughtful and future-gazing hip hop, but this is total rubbish. Even Jeezy gets bogged down in the tepid doze-fest of a beat, and that’s no easy feat. Despite his insistences in the song’s chorus (?) that this is “amazing, it’s amazing, so amazing”,‘Ye, it’s not, it’s not, it’s really not.’

Short Stack (UMA) Shimmy A Go Go If I had a dollar for every time I heard this kind of nauseating, cringetacular faux-punk, I’d have enough money to go out and buy a gun...

The Presets If I Know You (Modular/UMA) I guess this is what happens when you build up an album to be something it’s not and then you’re stuck releasing the second rate camp joints from it.

Bat For Lashes Two Suns (Parlophone Records) To begin bluntly, Two Suns is by far the most beautifully addictive follow up album to have been produced in a long time. Bat for Lashes is the nom de plume of British

DISCOLOGY singer-songwriter/all round temptress Natasha Khan. Her 2006 debut, Fur and Gold, received critical acclaim and comparisons drawn to female greats Kate Bush and PJ Harvey. In Two Suns Khan explores duality, both musically and characteristically. Synth drenched pop songs like Daniel and Pearl’s Dream (Pearl being Khan’s blonde haired alter ego) show the beating lightness to one of Khan’s halves, while The Big Sleep with Scott Walker exposes a darker and heavier side. Teaming up with New Yorkers Yeasayer for the production side of things, Two Suns builds on what Fur and Gold created, but takes the marriage of earthy folk and electronica to a new level. The album can in places feel a bit mish mash as you’re left wondering at the beginning of each track what Khan’s mood will be. However the instantaneous switches between light and dark and her appeal of part earth mother, part brooding siren is what makes Bat For Lashes such a great artist. Two Suns is the type of album that mystifies you and makes you wonder how Khan managed to create such a harmonious sound and match it with such poetic lyrics, but by track eleven it’s likely you won’t really mind how but just be thankful she did.

KATE HALL Eleventh He Reaches London Hollow Be My Name (Inertia/Goodcop Badcop) In how many ways can you say I hate my life? In the case of Eleventh He Reaches London’s debut album Hollow Be My Name, it’s quite a few. This hour long epic comes across, intentionally or otherwise, as a rock opera about the misery of convict life, with other factors such as rejection of God and rebellion against the father thrown in for good measure. In spite of the consistently black themes, the music is addictive. Its secret is a core of heavy indie rock with underlying folk inspired tones. Plus, metal and hardcore elements are used to good effect, coming in as the level of rage rises. Son, You’re Almost an Orphan and Oh, Brother spin tragic tales of a toxic family while Hill of Grace celebrates the seeking of oblivion through alcohol. The power and passion in this album overcome the depressing themes and the music is captivating. The enigmatic messages that run deep in the lyrics are only partly revealed, with meanings open to individual interpretation, though a few sacrilegious lyrics in Gaze to the North and Girt by Piss, where the convict rails against his being abandoned by God, will offend some listeners.

RORY MCARTNEY MV & EE Drone Trailer (DiCristina) If I ever decide to see what it is like being duped, then I will start listening to Lily Allen. But until then I will continue to satisfy music cravings with psychedelic explorations of the highest calibre which can be found on this latest offering from MV & EE. If Neil Young one day decided that he was going to put his recent overt politicising to one side and turn inwards with the assistance of the improvisatory cosmic blues of The Grateful Dead, the end result might sound a little like Drone Trailer, the latest recording in a lengthy

discography from this two piece. Some years back Matthew Valentine (formerly of sonic free-form devotees Tower Recordings) and partner in lysergic sound sculpting, Erika Elder, were lumped in with a contemporary strain of psychedelic music labelled New Weird America by writers who probably care way too much about such things. This was a shorthand way of saying that obsessing over outsider music from pioneers like Royal Trux, Skip Spence and Sun Ra could turn a little weird if creative types devoted themselves to taking an array of strange sounds even further out than previously imagined possible. But maybe the ‘weird’ definition is an appropriate one as this music will always reside beyond the comfortably familiar. MV & EE extend boundaries with ease across the six unique excursions comprising Drone Trailer which at times almost recall the ragged acoustics of Dinosaur Jr’s 1991 album Green Mind. But this is really something else altogether. What often begins as restrained lo-fi blues or folk (apart from the opening track Anyway which sets Erika Elder’s beautiful, emotive voice against a torrent of guitar noise) eventuates in loosened moorings and opened up sounds which confound expectations and transport listeners to a better place.

DAN BIGNA Primal Fear 16.6 (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead) (Frontiers/Riot Distribution) German power metallers PF are back and, largely, burning. The trouble is, of course, that you know exactly what you’re in for here and, though the likes of Black Rain and Hands of Time offer a break in the usual double kick/falsetto scream mayhem, there’s probably just a little too much mundanity going on here for most ears to withstand. That said, Smith and Wesson is as good a mid-tempo cruncher as the band has ever committed to wax and album opener Ride the Eagle will certainly dislodge that crusty earwax that’s been annoying me every time I’ve talked to you over the last couple of weeks. Gut in den Teilen, as they say in Germany.

NAMBUCCO “ANGEL IN BLACK” DELIRIA

Spoonbill Zoomorphic (Omelette Records) Jim Moynihan is a quirk-lovin’ glitchy electro boffin from Melbourne town. His sonically textured atmospherics and squelchy soundscapes are beloved of his dedicated fanbase. Armed with a sampler and a CV packed with industrial, art and conceptual design experience, Moynihan has brought his curiosity for improvised electronica and obscure samples to the table and cooked up a strange but delightful follow up to his 2005 debut Megafauna. If those crazy Spanish chefs who make foams out of seaweed and risotto from cauliflower took their experimentalism to music, they would probably sound a lot like Spoonbill. You love it, even though you’ve never tasted anything like it before. There’s a manic but cohesive collection of disco beats, synth, instrumental samples and computer game sounds. Moynihan has identified Amon Tobin as an influence and for lovers of Tobin’s mystical and indulgent electronica, Spoonbill’s style isn’t far removed. He has toured with acts such as Kid Koala and performed at cult event, the Burning Man Festival, in Nebraska. Out on his own label, Omelette Records, Zoomorphic is electronourishment for the spirit. Bon appétit.

CATHERINE WOODS Various Artists Kings Of Reggae (Rapster/Inertia) Two dignitaries of the oeuvre have compiled this two-disc collection of reggaelicious tunes. London DJ David Rodigan has been championing the genre for over 30 years while Sting International made Shaggy a multi-platinum artist as well as working with reggae legends like Shabba Ranks, Sean Paul and Elephant Man. It’s a good mix of contemporary and classic tracks, covering various flavours of reggae, from roots rock to deejay dancehall. From The Abyssinians, Dennis Brown and Marcia Griffith to Yellowman, Lone Ranger, Toyan and Tenor Saw. Includes many harder to find tracks. Irie!

SIMON HOBBS

Me And The Grownups Knowing Lovers, Naive Lovers (Planet/MGM) The musical pendulum of Me And The Grownups swings inside an ornate yet humble grandfather clock. The intricate carvings are charming and enchanting, though the tall clock itself is neither ostentatious nor grandiose. It is something to be cherished like a wise and modest friend; its pendulum swinging deftly yet gently, confidently yet gracefully. The splendour of the wood work, the simplicity of the mechanism and the overall feeling of awe the clock instils can be heard in every second of The Grownups’ sophomore LP. If you ever heard Anita Lester softly singing to herself you would, completely spellbound, without doubt try to surreptitiously follow her; while Dreyfus' sometimes ticklish, dragon fly-like and mischievous, at other times shadowy and sombre strings reveal the true extent of his exceptional skill. While all this magic is occuring, Adrian Sergovitch's faultless guitar never ceases to provide the magnificent framework of this exquisite, and timeless, timepiece.

JULIA WINTERFLOOD

BLACKBOX The recent trend towards setting drama in the mid-late 20th century, in Blackbox faves such as Life on Mars (SCTEN, Fri, 10.30pm), Mad Men (SBS, Thu, 8.30pm) and Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (WIN, Mon, 8.30pm) begs the question: are writers trying to turn a mirror on the past to show us why we should be thankful for today or are they just fed up with the political correctness that underlies every word they write in a modern drama? Mad Men in particular echoes outrageous sentiments that were the accepted norms of the time – so much so that there was no need to articulate them in shows made in the 1950s and ‘60s. You don’t see Darren from Bewitched remonstrating about the fact that his wife’s place is at home, in the kitchen, as a homemaker.

And witch or not she dutifully accepts that as her role. And she does it without a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. Whether a serious social message is at their heart, these shows must be loads of fun for the writers. There are loads of tongue-in-cheek jibes at cultural icons. And the costume and set designers must have a blast. Blackbox feels another round of vintage dressing approaching…

On the topic of Life on Mars, it appears fans of long-running crime franchise, Law and Order, in particular Law and Order: Criminal Intent (SCTEN, Thu May 14, 8.30pm) will see their icons back on the regular timeslot with Life on Mars heading to Friday nights. Jeff Goldblum joins the Criminal Intent cast as rockstar detective Zach Nichols.

Harper’s Island (SCTEN, Sun May 10, 9.40pm) is one of those revolutionary ideas that spends so much time on the revolutionary it falls flat on the delivery – a little like the BBC’s Wallpaper/Echo Beach duo (ABC). Harper’s Island is a teenage horror series set around a wedding on an island. It is a 13-part series with a finite end and the promise of at least one character dying each episode – sort of a modern horror version of Agatha Christie. There is a companion web series, Harper’s Globe – the story of a new reporter at the island’s newspaper that gets drawn into the drama.

Talkin ‘bout Your Generation (SCTEN, Tue May 5, 7.30pm) which looked like a promising social challenge just turns out to be a formula for a new quiz show.

Refugees from Perth who miss the music scene back home (or anyone who is interested in the culture behind music) should tune in to Something in the Water (ABC2, Wed May 13, 9.30pm).

Wildlife lovers shouldn’t miss Christian the Lion (Prime, Tue May 5, 7.30pm) which tells the 1960s story behind last year’s Youtube star or Foreign Correspondent: Queen of the Mountains (ABC1, Tue May 5, 8pm) about breeding snow leopards in the Himalayas. Snow leopards also feature in the return of The Zoo (Prime, Tue May 5, 7.30pm).

Other shows to watch out for over the next three weeks include The Brothers Warner (ABC2, Sun May 3, 8.30pm) about the movie studio siblings, Jeff Tweedy: Sunken Treasure Live in the Pacific Northwest (ABC2, Mon May 4, 9.55pm) which follows the Wilco frontman on his solo tour, Dave in the Life (SBS, Mon May 11, 8.30pm) which follows the guy imbedded with Sheikh Hilaly into other people’s lives, Cyber Guerillas (SBS, Tue May 12, 8.30pm), When Borat Came to Town (SBS, Tue May 12, 10pm) about the Kazakh village Sacha Baron Cohen depicted, Mumbai Calling (ABC1, Tue May 12, 9.35pm) the latest Sanjeev Bhaskar comedy about a call centre in Mumbai and the return of Thank God You’re Here (Prime, Wed, 7.30pm) in its new home, Lipstick Jungle (Prime, Tue May 5, 10.30pm) and Top Gear Australia (SBS, Mon May 11, 7.30pm).

And yes The Logies (WIN, Sun May 3, 8pm – Red Carpet at 7.30pm) are on. Blackbox thinks they should include a category for best TV critic/commentator/columnist but of course that would be against the sycophantic nature of the awards (and BMA isn’t controlled by Channel 9).

For much more fun with awards shows, try Eurovision Song Contests Semi Final 1 & 2 and Final (SBS, Fri May 15, Sat May 16, Sun May 17 7.30pm).

TRACY HEFFERNAN - tracyheffernan@bigpond.com

the grateful dread "There’s not one person that doesn’t have an influence" Charlie Howard With a career spanning close to two decades and a discography six records deep, Melbourne’s DREADNAUGHT have used experience and longevity as a means of refining and diversifying their sound, while harnessing a respected name and determined fanbase in the Australian metal community. Speaking to drummer Matt Racovalis in the lead up to the release of their latest self-titled album, it quickly becomes apparent that the band are more unified than ever and committed to asserting their status as a driving force in the local scene.

Matt, who joined Dreadnaught in 2008 and was closely involved in the recording process of the band’s latest work, found adjusting to drumming duties in Dreadnaught to be a natural and seamless process and he attributes this to the general “good vibe in the band” as well as the comfortable and inclusive working relationship of the members.

“There’s not one person that doesn’t have an influence,” he tells me, adding that each member is “open minded” and respectful of “what other people are bringing to the table.”

Matt is also quick to point out that the forthcoming record is the band’s most vital and accomplished statement yet. “It’s without a doubt the best album that the band’s produced to date” and a significant “leap forward for Dreadnaught,” he indicates in anticipation of its release.

This conviction seems to closely reflect Matt’s experience of the band’s writing and recording process. Dreadnaught is the “most flexible band” he’s been involved with and the productive manner in which the band makes use of the skills and input of each individual creates an environment where contributions are varied and “the best sounding idea wins.”

Supporting Matt’s observations, there is an unrelenting urgency to be heard in the band’s new work. Drawing as always on the dextrous craftsmanship and hook-based focus of classic thrash influences, lead single The Push also effectively channels the fiery energy, crashing volume levels and probing sense of adventure found in more celebrated acts in today’s metal landscape. In addition to generating enthusiasm amongst the old guard of Dreadnaught fans, the new record is likely to find its way into the listening rotation of a whole new audience, attracted to the dynamic flavours and possibilities of metal in 2009.

Next up on the agenda for Matt and Dreadnaught is the task of reacquainting themselves with audiences nationwide and bringing the chemistry of their new dynamic to life on stage. This is a challenge that Matt is extremely optimistic about.

Conscious of playing to both old and newer fans, the band plans to integrate “all the favourites” with at least five tracks off the new album in their set. With shows already scheduled for Melbourne and Canberra and an infectious enthusiasm in the Dreadnaught camp to triumphantly announce their return, future performances should find the band at the height of their powers.

Dreadnaught’s self-titled album will be released on the band’s MySpace page aon May 1, and they'll no doubt thrash the hell out of The Basement in Canberra on Saturday 9 May, with support from Kill For Satan, Spoil and Johnny Roadkill. Tix through moshtix

READY, WILLING AND GABEL Ewan Hoosahmi Without a childhood musical mentor, TOM GABEL was left to make his own early listening choices untarnished by parental or peer pressure. “I didn’t really get into music with a group of friends or under the influence of an older brother so I had no one really guiding me,” says the 28-year-old leader of American punk outfit AGAINST ME!. “All I could ever really go off was whether I really liked the song so I didn’t have the prejudices of what was cool and what wasn’t cool.”

Consequently, Gabel was a kid with diverse musical tastes that ran the gamut from New Kids On The Block to Guns & Roses. He later discovered The Doors and Led Zeppelin and in his mid-teens he awoke to the endless possibilities of punk rock. “I got really into the protest singers from the ‘60s through punk music,” he says, “and it was through that I wanted to strip it down and play more acoustic music.

Which I guess was a really backwards way to get into it.”

It’s a journey Gabel’s fans can appreciate on his first solo outing, last year’s striking mini-album Heart Burns, recorded in LA last August in between Against Me! tours. It finds the versatile singer/songwriter trading amplified punk fury for largely acoustic-based personal and political manifestos, an approach that similarly gave birth to Against Me! back in 1997. “Yeah, that’s where Against Me! started,” he nods.

“Just me and an acoustic guitar and it grew in a very organic way from there. So it’s not so much a stretch of the imagination for people

I’m just a really strong believer that if a song is a good song then it can be played with just a guy and a guitar "

to accept that presentation of just me and the guitar up there. I’m just a really strong believer that if a song is a good song then it can be played with just a guy and a guitar and then you can add in an orchestra, a full band, whatever. But it has to able to exist as just that bare bones structure first.”

On his first solo tour to Australia this week to promote Heart Burns, Gabel will be sharing the spotlight with friend and fellow Floridian punk veteran Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), just two guys with hollow-bodied guitars and plenty of mutual respect. They plan on performing plaintive versions of HWM and Against Me! songs as well as collaborating on each other’s compositions with a few choice covers thrown in for good measure.

“What you hear on the solo record is a little bit different to what I usually do live,” says Gabel, who toured with Ragan last October in the US. “All I can really bring is just me and a guitar so the songs will sound a little different when I play them. I’m definitely not playing along to a drum machine or anything. It’s also different to Against Me! in that it’s probably a little bit looser when I’m playing just by myself. I have a certain amount of flexibility where if someone yells out in the middle of the show that they want to hear such and such a song then I can launch right into it as opposed to having to make sure four other people know the song.”

Tom Gabel and Chuck Ragan play the Tuggeranong Youth Centre (All Ages) on Sunday May 10. Tickets from Moshtix outlets, moshtix.com.au.

Cell Out

With Mark Russell; his pen pal was an imaginary friend... who feigned illiteracy.

Adam Elliot must have the patience of a goddamn saint. It reportedly took him five years to produce the hour and a half long Mary and Max. Moving those intricate figurines a fraction of a degree each frame is just that little bit more impressive than pointing a camera and yelling “action!” I s'pose that ‘artistic differences’ would be a little less likely at least. And if you weren’t happy with the casting you could just smush the lead and start over. Kind of what most directors would like to do with Orlando Bloom.

Mary and Max

Mary and Max is a film that traverses loneliness, mental illness, love, growing up, homosexuality and friendship; in plasticine. It’s the feature debut for Harvie Krumpet creator Adam Elliot and focuses on the written correspondence between eight-year -old Australian girl Mary and middle aged New Yorker Max, a man who feels no connection with the human race. He moves through life misunderstanding them and being reciprocally misunderstood. When he receives a chance letter from Mary all the way over in Australia, he comes to realise that maybe there is a person he can

Let the Right One In

Very rarely does a film manage to horrify, move, amaze and disturb you – all during one five-minute scene. But Sweden’s Let the Right One In is one such film – poignant, sometimes terribly violent, and full of some beautifully sad moments.

Young Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is a solitary young boy, bullied at school and just a little bit odd. When he meets the soulful and elusive Eli (Lina Leandersson) in a playground one night, the two soon form what would usually be an innocent and sweet friendship – except that in this case, ‘twelve-year-old’ Eli is actually a

Dragonball Evolution Once upon a time, there was this crazy Japanese cartoon series called Dragonball that rocked the socks off every weekday morning. It featured weird alien characters, fight scenes that stretched over many episodes and an odd white supremacist streak that saw black-haired, black-eyed fighters turn into blonde-haired, blue-eyed fighters as they got better. This Hollywood adaptation – Dragonball Evolution – has mostly ignored these first two elements but has hyped up the third, making the main star, Goku (Justin Chatwin), white.

Goku’s not the sharpest katana in the dojo as he seems not to have noticed his own ethnicity is at odds with his clearly Asian grandfather. Luckily there’s a wave of inconsistencies, plot holes and good old fashioned deus

Babies come from eggs which are laid

by Rabbis. If they're not Jewish, they're laid

by Catholic Nuns. If the baby is atheist, they're laid by dirty prostitues."

Max (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) Mary and Max

talk with. For her part, Mary has found a guide to help her through a world her parents are unwilling to explain and ill-equipped to face.

Elliot has created a brilliant harmony between the claymation and his story.

The bleak and surreal look of the characters and their environment sets the tone of the piece. As the events unfold and Mary and Max lose their already flimsy support networks, all that’s left is the unconventional friendship they share.

Unfortunately, this all eventually becomes a drag. Dipping a toe into a vast well of cinematic pessimism is always a fun momentary trip but you

need a reprieve. These guys never really get their heads above water. They learn and grow at a snail’s pace and the story crawls with them. Mary and Max looks great and has some superb moments but will make you count the rays of sunshine in your life.

vampire (and not the brooding, ‘vegetarian’ kind). She kills unapologetically and calculatingly – but is not without her fair share of inner turmoil. Oddly enough, the relationship between Eli and Oskar, while often perplexing, still manages to be sweet in its own way.

Let the Right One In takes you out of your own world and transports you right into Oskar’s. The cinematography is magnificent – sometimes striking, sometimes bleak, but always using the snowy landscapes to their best advantage. The visuals of Let the Right One In wonderfully accentuate this unconventional story of ‘childhood friendship’.

Sometimes (quite often, in fact) you’re

not entirely sure what’s going on -what the characters are thinking, where the film is going or what it’s alluding to.

This is part of what makes it memorable – the questions you’re left asking and the theories you begin forming.

There is a lot of ambiguity to this story.

Let the Right One In is a unique and sometimes confronting film. When combined with flawless atmosphere and clever direction, the result is a film that will resonate with you for days – one that is as confusing as it is intelligent, as beautiful as it is horrific, and as sad as it is triumphant.

ex machina (read: where-the-fuckdid-that-come-from-???) moments to distract us into a similar level of cluelessness.

This film is terrible. There’s about five minutes worth of plot and even this manages to contain massive gaps in logic. An evil alien named Lord Piccolo (James Marsters) has escaped his inescapable prison deep within the earth, where he’s been kept for two thousand years by very powerful magic. This incredible getaway sounds like something you’d show or explain to the audience, doesn’t it? Nope, he just got out – we don’t know how.

Anyway, he wanted to destroy the earth before... just, ‘cause he did. But now he has a reason, and it’s a good one... ‘cause of the inescapable prison, which wasn’t so inescapable in the end. Goku has to fight him. And get

his dragonballs. And there’s this girl he likes. Who’s with a real dickhead jock.

But it’s okay ‘cause Goku beats him in a fight. And she realises she doesn’t like jocks. She likes weedy, kinda-biracial karate kids. Oh yeah and Chow Yun Fat’s here. He’s a dirty old man. But he can fight too. But Goku’s got more potential. Unlike this story. Did I mention the white kid hasn’t noticed he’s got an Asian grandfather?

Dragonball Evolution is only eighty minutes long but makes you earn every second. Watch it if you’re a ridiculously hardcore fan of the series, or if have sworn to sobriety and want to find a new way to punish your brain.

MARK RUSSELL

MEGAN McKEOUGH

MARK RUSSELL

CAUTION: CHILDREN COLLIDING “The second album will be deep house and progressive trance” Shailla Van Raad

shower of confetti "A lot of people said that we sold out with Hollywood, but we were just making something we were happy with at the time"

Katy Hall Rewind to this time three years ago, to when all of the major music festivals for the summer had just finished, students had begun to realise it was assessment crunch time at uni, and gigs began to become fewer and far between. The only band left on the touring circuit it seemed was Perth band LITTLE BIRDY. In the 18 month period between releases of the debut album Big Big Love and its follow up Hollywood, there seemed to be nowhere to go without seeing advertising for one of their gigs. Fast forward to today and things couldn’t be more different.

It’s been three years since we’ve seen a release from the band and they’ve now returned with their third studio album Confetti. Guitarist Simon Leach explains,“There wasn’t a break between the first two albums because we wanted to go straight into it. With Confetti we didn’t take a break as a band but decided to take some personal time and it worked.

We got into the studio and it was fresh. We were just hanging out and it wasn’t about the bigness of being a band it was about playing together."

Recorded in Melbourne’s Sing Sing Studios, Confetti comes across as being a lot more personal than previous albums. The bass lines are deeper, Steele’s vocals sound naturally relaxed, the sounds of the '60s songs that Leach says Little Birdy loves so much are all there, and the overall production has an air of minimalism to it.

"It definitely feels good," says Leach. "It feels different. It has a really good vibe about it when we’re playing the songs. The whole album was really instinctive. We trusted ourselves and just tried to enjoy the process.” The first two release tracks from the album Brother and Summarise have been met happily by the critics and fans and the band is feeling confident.

After mixed reviews being received for the 2006 release Hollywood, the band has returned with a purity to the sounds fans know and love but also show their maturity. “A lot of people said that we sold out with Hollywood, but we were just making something we were happy with at the time. It was the best album we could make at the time and now we’ve made Confetti and this is the best album we could make at this time”.

The 11 track album also sees a guest appearance from Australian music legend Paul Kelly. Playing guitar and helping Katy Steele with vocals on Brother, Leach says the experience of working with him was a great one.

“For him it’s still all about the music. It’s a real, soulful thing for him. It would be great to have half of what he has when we’re that age”.

And the idea of touring and being back on the road again? “We’re actually really looking forward to it” Leach says with a laugh. “We just do what we do. We just do it day by day and hope things change for the better... going on and up”..

Little Birdy play ANU with Oh Mercy at the ANU Bar on May 14.

For a band that has been described as raw overdriven rock,

CHILDREN COLLIDE feel it is just one of their guises when playing live. Boasting influences such as Silver Apples and Kraftwerk, with reference to electronic music through a rock idiom, and Nick Cave and his finely crafted musical abilities, Children Collide bring a whole new world to fruition.

The two original members, Heath Crawley (bass) and Johnny Mackay (guitar/vocals), made the offhand hitchhiking journey from Lismore to be based in Australia’s musical Mecca, Melbourne. “Heath and I met at uni in Lismore,” explains Mackay. “One day we just decided to hitchhike to Melbourne. Back then we didn’t know any better, we used to hitchhike all the time.”

The band started in a natural rock progression on a Halloween night at Bar Open in 2004. Sporting grunge tactics interlaced with Chemical Brothers beaten electronic basslines and stop-start rhythms, it took the band a while to find a drummer. “We’re currently on our fourth drummer, Ryan [Caesar], who auditioned for this gig,” reveals Mackay.

Now a happy band family, Mackay, the unofficial leader of the troupe, still hasn’t lost his sense of humour. “Taking the piss out of society is just part of the annoying person that I am. I’ve been criticised that this album is too simple. The next bunch of songs we make will be much more complex.”

For a band, going both backwards and forwards, paying tribute both to a Nirvana-esque style and developing their own, Children Collide seem to have the right attitude. “Musically we’ve gotten more complicated as our music has progressed, but that will come full circle and we’ll return to simplicity,” says Mackay. “We’ll rely on songs more than sounds.

We’ve finally accepted that this is our career; we’re not in a financially successful location – we’re still living below the poverty line but we’re serious about it. We work on graphic design to help us pay the bills.”

Gaining inspiration from a variety of media, the song content stems from a range of interesting origins – from Martian space missions in Brave Robot from the 2006 EP Glass Mountain Liars to their 2008 debut album The Long Now. “The Long Now is named after a clock in the Science Museum in London. Every millennium, the clock chimes by a cuckoo coming out. It really makes me think outside of the human lifespan. It helps me realise that a moment in time stretches out indefinitely.”

Besides the highly metaphysical, social commentary content stuffed compactly in simple lyrics, Mackay believes that it’s not to be taken too seriously. “I do what I do and try not to analyse myself too much,” he offers. “Everything that the band creates is a work in progress. We’re happy with what we’re doing but we’re always moving forward.”

When asked about the future and the second album, Mackay jokes sardonically, “The second album will be out tomorrow. It will be deep house and progressive trance.” Earnestly he continues, “we hope to get started on the second album after our tour in the States in June. If everyone doesn’t get their act together after this tour I’m going to leave the band. I’ll wear a brown robe and wander around the desert, like John the Baptist, except I’ll create my own disorganised religion. This is because I don’t believe in organised religious institutions.”

It is obvious Mackay can’t stay earnest for too long. An attitude like that deems that all musical pretentiousness should fly out the window.

Children Collide play with The Grates at ANU Bar on Wednesday May 6.

Doors open at 8 pm. Tickets through Ticketek.

FIRST CONTACT:

BMA BAND PROFILE

DOUBLE ON HEARTS Where did your band name come from?

Pokies addiction…

Group Members: Simon (guitar), Sean (guitar/vocals), Matt (drums) and Jerome (bass).

Describe your sound: A fusion of ‘80s, ‘90s and modern rock turned all the way to eleven.

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise?

Chris Cheney, Scott Owen, Slash, Zakk Wylde, Flea, Devon Townsend, Alice In Chains, Metallica and Iron Maiden.

What’s the weirdest experience you’ve had whilst performing?

Having people actually sing along to our songs…

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far?

Playing our first gig last year (as Bi-Polar Protocol) to a packed out Pot Belly Bar. What are your plans for the future?

Shows, shows, shows. Perhaps an EP? What makes you laugh?

The British…

What pisses you off?

Certain big name bands that take fourteen years to bring out shit albums.

What’s your opinion of the local scene?

With the loss of a few key live venues recently the scene seems to, unfortunately, be dying.

What are your upcoming gigs?

Friday May 8 at The Basement in Belconnen with Friend or Enemy, Earwig Mantra and Corporate Takedown. Bands from 9 pm, $10 at the door, 18+.

Contact Info: doubleonhearts@live.com.au www.myspace.com/doubleonhearts

Aaron Peacey Aaron 0410 381 306 Adam Hole Adam 0421 023 226 Afternoon Shift Adam 0402 055 314 After Close Scotty 0412 742 682, afterclose@hotmail.com Alcove Mark 0410 112 522 Alice 0423 100 792 Allies ACT (Oxfam Group) alliesact@hotmail.com/ myspace.com/alliesact Amphibian Sound PA Clare 0410 308 288 Amplif5'd Classic rock covers band Joy 0407 200 428, joybarac-heath@ hotmail.com.au Annie & the Armadillos Annette 6161 1078/0422 076 313 The Ashburys Dan Craddock 0419 626 903 Aria Stone singer/songwriter(guitar), sax & flute Aria 0411 803 343 Australian Kingswood Factory Sharon 0412 334 467 Australian Songwriters Association (Keiran Roberts) 6231 0433 Arythmia: Ben 0423 408 767/ arythmiamusic@gmail.com Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422 733 974, www.backbeatdrivers.com Bastards Jamie 0424 857 282/ www.bastards.altpro.net Big Boss Groove Andrew 0404 455 834, www.bigbossgroove.com.au Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows - bookings@birdslovefighting.com Black Label Photography Kingsley 0438 351 007 Blister Bug Stu 0408 617 791 Bridge Between, The Rachel 0412 598 138, thebridgebetween.com.au Bruce Stage mgr/consultant 6254 9857 Casual Projects Julian 0401 016 885 Catchpenny Nathan 0402 845 132 Caution Horses Nigel 0417 211 580 CD and Website Design Brendan 0404 042 574 Chris Harland Blues Band 0418 490 640 chrisharlandbluesband@yahoo.com.au Clear Vision Films rehearsals/film clips/ stunts - 0438 647 281 wcoulton.clearvisionfilms.com Cold Heart Projects Andrew 6294 5450 Cole Bennetts Photography 0415 087 833/colebennetts@gmail.com Colourful Racing Identities Josh 0410 135 605 Cool Weapon Luke 0410 983 450/ Josh 0412 863 019 Cris Clucas Cris 6262 5652 Crooked Dave 0421 508 467 Cumulonimbus Matt 0412 508 425 Dance With Amps Marcus 0421 691 332 Danny V Danny 6238 1673/0413 502 428 DayTrippers, The Reidar 0414 808 677, daytrippers@grapevine.com.au (dp) New Media Artists Mal 0414 295 297 Dogact dog-act@hotmail.com, Paulie 0408 287 672 D’Opus & Roshambo hifidelitystyles@yahoo.com DJs Madrid and Gordon 0417 433 971 DJ/MC Bootcamp Donte 9267 3655 DJ Latino Rogelio 0401 274 208 DJ Moises (RnB/Latin) 0402 497 835 or moises_lopez@hotmail DNA Vic 0408 477 020 Drumassault Kate 0414 236 323 Easy Mode Daz 0404 156 482, easymodeband@gmail.com Entity Chris 0412 027 894 Epic Flagon band@epicflagon.com EYE eye@canberra.teknet.net.au Fighting Mongooses, The Adam 0402 055 314 Final Warning Brendan 0422 809 552 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410 381 306/ Dan 0410 480 321 FirePigs, The Danny 6238 1673/0413 502 428 4dead Peter 0401 006 551 Freeloaders, The Steve 0412 653 597 Friend or Enemy 6238 0083, www.myspace.com/friendorenemy Funk Shui Dave 0407 974 476 Gareth Hailey DJ & Electronica 0414 215 885 GiLF Kelly 0410 588 747, gilf.mail@gmail.com Guff Damian 6230 2767 HalfPast Chris 0412 115 594 Hancock Basement Tom 6257 5375, hancockbasement@hotmail.com Happy Hour Wendy 0406 375 096

Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com Hitherto Paul 0408 425 636 Infra Retina Kyle 0437 137 775/Michael 0430 353 893/www.infra-retina.com In The Flesh Scott 0410 475 703 Inside the Exterior Nathan 0401 072 650 Itchy Triggers Andrew 0401 588 884 Jacqui Seczawa 0428 428 722 JDY Clothing 0405 648 288/ www.jdyclothing.com Jenn Pacor singer/songwriter avail. for originals & covers, 0405 618 630 Jennifer Versatile singer looking for band; 0422 158 362 Jim Boots 0417 211 580 Karismakatz DJ Gosper 0411 065 189/dj@ karismakatz.com Kayo Marbilus myspace.com/kayomarbilus Kurt's Metalworx (PA) 0417 025 792 Lenders, The Tim 6247 2076 Little Smoke Sam 0411 112 075 Los Chavos Jules 0413 223 573 los.chavos@yahoo.com.au Manilla Green Herms 0404 848 462, contactus@manillagreen.com, Mario Brujo Gordon world/latin/reggae/ percussionist and DJ. 0405 820 895 Martin Bailey Audio Engineer 0423 566 093 Malumba Dan 6253 5150 Meatbee Ben 0417 492 560 Mercury Switch Lab Studios mercuryswitch@internode.on.net Missing Zero Hadrian Brand 0424 721 907/hadrian.brand@live.com.au Moots aspwinch@grapevine.com.au Huck 0419 630 721 Murder Meal Combo Anthony 0419 630 721 MuShu Jack 0414 292 567, mushu_band@hotmail.com Myriad Kath 6253 8318 MyOnus myonusmusic@hotmail.com/ www.myspace.com/myonus Neptune's Necklace Mark 6253 1048 No Retreat Simon 0411 155 680 Ocean Moses Nigel 0417 211 580 OneWayFare Chris 0418 496 448 Painted Hearts, The Peter 6248 6027 Para 0402 277 007 Petra Elliott Petra 0410 290 660 Phathom Chris 0422 888 700 The Pigs The Colonel 0422 412 752 Polka Pigs Ian 6231 5974 Premier Audio Simon 0412 331 876, premier_audio@hotmail.com Redletter Ben 0421 414 472 Redsun Rehearsal Studio Ralph 0404 178 996/6162 1527 Rhythm Party, The Ross 0416 010 680 Roger Bone Band Andy 0413 483 758 Rob Mac Project, The Melinda 0400 405 537 Rug, The Jol 0417 273 041 Samsara Samahdi 0431 083 776 Sansutra J-Ma 0403 476 350 Sara Vancea Sara 6247 9899 Sindablok Duncan 0424 642 156 Simone Penkethman (Simone & The Soothsayers, Singing Teacher) 6230 4828 Soundcity Rehearsal Studio Andrew 0401 588 884 Solid Gold Peter 0421 131 887/ solid.gold@live.com.au Stalker and Liife Darren 0413 229 049 Super Best Friends Matt 0438 228 748 Surrender Jordan 0439 907 853 Switch 3 Mick 0410 698 479 System Addict Jamie 0418 398 556 Taboo Bamboo Greg 0439 990 455 That ‘80s Band Ty 0417 265 013 The Morning After (covers band) Anthony 0402 500 843/ myspace.com/themorningaftercovers Tim James Lucia 6282 3740, LUCIAMURDOCH@hotmail.com Top Shelf Colin 0408 631 514 Transmission Nowhere Emilie 0421 953 519/myspace.com/transmissionnowhere Udo 0412 086 158 Undersided, The Baz 0408 468 041 Using Three Words Dan 0416 123 020, usingthreewords@hotmail.com Voodoo Doll Mark 0428 650 549 William Blakely Will 0414 910 014 Woden Youth Centre Jeremy 6282 3037 Zeitgeist www.zeitgeist.xwave Zero Degrees and Falling Louis 0423 918 793 Zwish 0411 022 907

GIG GUIDE April 30 - May 9 THURSDAY APRIL 30

THURSDAY APRIL 30

ARTS _____________

LIVE _____________

ARC: Life to the Scaffold Adultery and class-war riff off each other in Louis Malle's feature. 7.30pm ARC CINEMA, McCOY CCT, ACTON The Alchemist Bell Shakespeare and Queensland Theatre Company combine for this new play. 'Til May 9. Tix 6275 2700 CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE John Mawurndjul Survey 1979 - 2009 Until May 24 DRILL HALL GALLERY, ACTON Cotter Heritage Story, Containing Pasts - Sustaining Futures: Works Inspired by the Cotter Running until May 27 CANBERRA GLASSWORKS, KINGSTON Gabrielle Powell: New Works in Crucible Showcase Until May 2 CRAFT ACT GALLERY, CIVIC SQ Jay Kockel: Touch Me Gertrude Stein Exploring object-making. Until May 2 CRAFT ACT GALLERY, CIVIC SQ An Act of Surrender Celebrating 20 years of self-government. Until Jun 14 CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY, LONDON CCT, CIVIC A is for Animals Exhibition The A to Z of animals in warfare.

Until late July AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL, TRELOAR CRES, CAMPBELL Alexandra Gillespie: Collars/ Dionisia Salas Hammer: A * C Odyssey/Mat De Moiser: Damaged Goods An exhibition triple bill. 'Til May 20 CCAS, GORMAN HOUSE Primary Colours by Fiona Little Opening 6pm. 'Til May 3 CCAS, FURNEAUX ST, MANUKA Tiffany Parbs: cosmetic Until May 2 CRAFT ACT GALLERY, CIVIC SQ Andrew Powell: Remnants Opening 6pm. 'Til May 10 M16 ARTSPACE, MILDURA ST, KINGSTON Merle Higman: Leafscapes Opening 6pm. 'Til May 10 M16 ARTSPACE, MILDURA ST, KINGSTON Spooky Action at a Distance Collaborative art installation coinciding with the NGA's Soft Sculpture exhibition. 'Til July 12 NEWACTON, EDINBURGH AVE, CITY WEST National Portrait Gallery Contemporary Australian Photographic Lecture Series: Who are you?

Bookings essential NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Rather Large Local DJ night TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC The Bandits From 10pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC The Bridge Between From 9pm to midnight ERINDALE VIKINGS CLUB Wolf From 9pm to midnight THE CHISHOLM TAVERN Domus Adultus Featuring Brannan, Beth Monzo and Second Sun. 8pm-midnight, $7/$5 (CMC members) HIPPO BAR, GAREMA PLACE, CIVIC The Drones With Qui (USA) and Witch Hats ANU BAR, ACTON

DANCE _____________ Ashley Feraude From 9pm TRINITY BAR, DICKSON Jemist KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE Trash Thursdays Cheap drinks and tunes ACADEMY, CIVIC UniVibes Presents Mingle Feat Alex Caminer (Syd), Cheese, Nolly, Biggie vs Gabe Gilmore, Yohan Strauss and Chrisye TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Free Salsa Lesson From 6:30pm KOKOLOCO DANCE STUDIO, COLBEE CRT, PHILLIP Carry On Karaoke PJ O'REILLY'S, CIVIC Karaoke With Grant PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Karaoke CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Jumptown Swing West Coast Swing and Jumptown Jitterbugs (9-15 years olds) term starts today. Call 0404 849 463 or 0412 127 168 THE SPACE DANCE STUDIO, CIVIC Sydney Hotshots From 8:30pm, tix 6253 0390 THE LIGHTHOUSE, BELCONNEN

FRIDAY MAY 1

LIVE _____________ Rev Canberra’s weekly alternative club night with two levels of DJs playing rock/indie/dance/punk/pop BAR 32, SYDNEY BUILDING, CIVIC Weekend Kickoff With Charles. 5.30-7.30pm ALL BAR NUN, MACPHERSON ST, O'CONNOR Funky Brothers From 9pm THE CHISHOLM TAVERN Downtown Brown KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ House Dance Classes With world leading house dancer Nemri. 7.30-9pm. Bookings: 6247 3150 DNA, GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE, BRADDON Elodi Magazine Launch New local art/fashion/lifestyle publication that's been in the pipeline for 1 1/2 years! 6pm iTRIP iSKIP, LONSDALE ST, BRADDON Sydney Hotshots 8:30pm, tix 6293 2029 OJO CAFE AND BAR, GREENWAY SATURDAY MAY Saturday May 2 2

ARTS _____________

A Secret History of Blue and White: Contemporary Australian Ceramics An exploration of the traditional blue and white ceramic form in a contemporary light. Opens 6pm. 'Til May 31ay 24 WATSON ARTS CENTRE, ASPINALL ST, WATSON

ARC: Le Feu Follet Based on the real-life story of French writer Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, this was Malle’s first great statement on the guilt that WW2 had left in the heart of French intellectual life. 4.30pm ARC CINEMA, McCOY CCT, ACTON ARC: Going Down An Australian Classic. Haydn Keenan's feisty take on the bohemian excesses of early '80s inner suburban Sydney. 7.30pm ARC CINEMA, McCOY CCT, ACTON artistmotherteacher A group show by Jo Howard, Jo Brannigan and Linda Knight.

Opening 3pm. 'Til May 23 THE GALLERY, CANBERRA GRAMMAR SCHOOL, RED HILL

DANCE _____________

DAY PLAY _____________

Who's Ya Daddy?

From 7pm TRINITY BAR, DICKSON Ug Beats Free entry TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

Gorman House Markets GORMAN HOUSE Burley Griffin Antique Centre KINGSTON FORESHORE

LIVE ____________

Sneaky Sound System On the Poptronica tour. Tix through Ticketek. 15+ UC REFECTORY Academy Saturdays ACADEMY, BUNDA ST, CIVIC Shakedown!

Indie/alt/dance action.

Free before 10pm BAR 32, SYDNEY BUILDING, CIVIC Candy Cube With DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse. From 10pm til 5am CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC

Friday May 1 1 FRIDAY MAY

ARTS _____________

Hard ACT to Follow Featuring Earwig Mantra's album launch, Escape Syndrome, Serenik and Loud So Clear.

Bands will be recorded for possible inclusion on the Hard ACT To Follow compilation. $10, 8pm ANU BAR, ACTON After Work Jazz From 5 to 8pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Kye Cole From 10pm to 2am KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC The Bandits From 10pm HOLY GRAIL KINGSTON

SATURDAY SATURDAYMAY MAY22

DANCE _____________

Kottonmouth Kings Featuring Sen-Dog ANU BAR, ACTON Itchy Triggers From 10pm HOLY GRAIL KINGSTON Hoodlum Shouts With local-lads-on-the-rise Kasha PHOENIX BAR, EAST ROW, CIVIC Natalie Magee Trio Afternoon jazz featuring Luke Sweeting and Bill Williams. 47pm. Free entry MINQUE BAR, MANUKA Oscar 10.30pm-2.30am KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC D'Opus KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Free Comic Book Day Thousands of free comics. 9am IMPACT COMICS, GAREMA PL, CIVIC Sydney Hotshots From 8:30pm, tix 6257 7074 CASINO CANBERRA, CIVIC Acting for the Fun of It! Adult course. 'Til June 6. Phone 6205 6979, email peter.wilkins@ narrabundah.act.edu.au NARRABUNDAH COLLEGE SUNDAY Sun May 2MAY 3

ARTS _____________ Hayden Tee: generation whY? Outstanding vocalist delivers inspired re-workings of pop songs from 1980-1994. 8pm THE STREET THEATRE, CHILDERS ST, CITY WEST

DANCE _____________ Cube Sunday With DJ TJ. From 10pm 'til late CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC

LIVE _____________ Raph Boogie Le Bump album launch with DJ Danielsan, Axe Alkins, Bagdad and 2Deadly TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Bucky's Blues Session From 4pm HOLY GRAIL KINGSTON The Bridge Between PANGAEA RESTAURANT, MANUKA Lisa Mitchell ANU BAR, ACTON Irish Jam Session From 5pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Sunday Sessions ALL BAR NUN, MACPHERSON ST, O'CONNOR

MONDAY MAY 4 THURSDAY MARCH 19

WEDNESDAY MAY 6 19 THURSDAY MARCH

DANCE _____________ Hospitality Night Featuring UniVibes DJs TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Chrome Tasty morsels of sonic distemper, featuring debut of local DJ I.D.O.C. 9pm, $6 HOLY GRAIL, CIVIC

LIVE _____________ Bootleg Sessions THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Meat Raffle Buy a beer, score a raffle ticket THE DURHAM CASTLE ARMS, GREEN SQUARE, KINGSTON TUESDAY MAY 5

LIVE _____________ Chuse Jazz Tuesdays (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON Musical Madness @ Filthy's Double launch of debut LPs of Tom Richardson and Luke Watt, with Jonno Zilber. Free entry FILTHY McFADDEN'S, KINGSTON Joe Lloyd Band CD launch TRINITY BAR, DICKSON Hospitality Night TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Trivia Night PHOENIX BAR, CIVIC Fame Trivia From 7:30-10:30pm THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Pot Belly Trivia POT BELLY BAR, BELCONNEN Carry-On Karaoke TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Trivia Night PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Trivia Night HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON WEDNESDAY MAY6 6 WEDNESDAY MAY

LIVE _____________ Live Entertainment Complete with Happy Hour PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG

The Grates With Children Collide and Tom Ugly ANU BAR, ACTON Captain My Captain With Beth Monzo, Tom Richardson, Luke Watt and The Astrochemists PHOENIX BAR, CIVIC The Vampires From Sydney. From 9pm. $10 HIPPO BAR, GAREMA PLACE, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Fame Trivia PJ O'REILLY'S, CIVIC Carry-On Karaoke From 7:30pm. $1000 grand prize THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Karaoke Night HOLY GRAIL KINGSTON Wednesdays at Transit 2 pizzas and a pint for $15 running all day. It's also $5 night!

TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC THURSDAY MAY7 7 THURSDAY MAY

ARTS _____________ ARC: Lacombe, Lucien Louis Malle’s carefully detached study of how one French farmer’s son casually switches sides from Resistance to the Vichy during the Occupation.

7.30pm ARC CINEMA, McCOY CCT, ACTON Rosalind Lemoh Opening 6pm. 'Til May 17 CCAS, GORMAN HOUSE

LIVE _____________ Charles Chatain From 9pm 'til midnight KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC Dan Hanrahan From 8pm to 11pm THE VALLEY TAVERN, WANNIASSA Domus Adultus Featuring Bridie Hill, Michael Lemmer, The Bluffhearts and Lachlan Coventry. 8pm-midnight, $7/$5 (CMC members) HIPPO BAR, GAREMA PLACE, CIVIC The Stabs Recently played All Tomorrows Parties. With support from Deaf Wish. $10. From 9pm BAR 32, LONDON CIRCUIT, CIVIC

THURSDAY MAY 7 THURSDAY MARCH 19

MAY 8 20 FRIDAY MARCH

DANCE _____________

DANCE _____________

Rather Large Local DJ night TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Trash Thursdays ACADEMY, CIVIC Ashley Feraude KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Vinyl Only No laptops, no CDJs, just two turntables and maybe even a microphone and stacks of vinyl TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC The Aston Shuffle & Friends A monthly night featuring locals, international and interstate guests. $20 on the door, 10pm LOT 33, KINGSTON Live Funk Band & Jemist From 7pm (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON Nathan Frost KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Karaoke From 9-11pm CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Swing Dance Class Free taster for kids 9 - 15 years, run by Jumptown Swing SPACE STUDIO, EAST ROW, CIVIC Karaoke With Grant PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG FRIDAY MAY88 FRIDAY MAY

ARTS _____________ Bodys in Trouble by Peter Maloney and Careful Messenger by Tim Plaisted Opening 6pm. 'Til June 20 CCAS, GORMAN HOUSE

LIVE _____________ Hot Pink Sky With Pleased to Jive You, Slovac, Bleached Academy and Mercury.

6-10pm, $5 WODEN YOUTH CENTRE The Drop Bears HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON Jarrah Thompson From 8.30pm THE CHISHOLM TAVERN Double On Hearts With Friend Or Enemy, Earwig Mantra and more. Doors 8pm. $10.

THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Tropical Inferno Presold tix $35 at Kokoloco Studio, or $40 on the door. 7.30pm.

SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB, WODEN Rev DJs playing rock/indie/dance BAR 32, SYDNEY BUILDING, CIVIC After Work Jazz From 5-8pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC The Cool From 5 to 8pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC

SATURDAY MAY 9

LIVE _____________ Young & Restless A Y&R Transit gig is always a corker! Free entry TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Shakedown Featuring Gameboy/Gamegirl DJs and DJ Ross (Y&R). 10pm BAR 32, N'OURNE AVE, CIVIC The Concert That Never Was Tribute to Sinatra and Streisand VIKINGS CLUB, ERINDALE Melinda Schneider YASS SERVICES CLUB Margaret Helen King Launch their new EP with support from PJ Wolf and Cathy Petocz. 7.30pm, $7 JOHN LINGARD HALL, CANBERRA BOYS GRAMMAR JUNIOR SCHOOL The Bridge Between HA HA BAR, BELCONNEN The Dunhill Blues With The Volatiles THE PHOENIX BAR, CIVIC Three on a Tree From 9pm to midnight THE CHISHOLM TAVERN Italian Opera Gala To raise funds from ANU School of Music students and Rotary youth programs. 7.30pm NLLEWELLYN HALL, ANU SCHOOL OF MUSIC, ACTON Dreadnaut With Kill For Satan, Spoil and Johnny Roadkill. Doors 8pm. Tix through moshtix THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Lior Tix through Canberra ticketing TILLEY'S, LYNEHAM The Remnants From 10.30pm to 2.30am KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC

GIG GUIDE May 9 - 20 SATURDAY MAY 9 DAY MARCH 21 APRIL 18

SUNDAY MAY 10 IL 22 19 SUNDAY MARCH

TUESDAY MAY 12 Y24APRIL 21 MARCH

THURSDAY MAY 14 APRIL 23 MARCH 26

ARTS _____________

LIVE _____________

ARTS _____________

DANCE _____________

ARC: Age of Consent Adaptation of Norman Lindsay's novel about a famous Australian painter who meets his match.

4.30pm ARC CINEMA, McCOY CCT, ACTON ARC: A Star Is Born Techicolor-saturated, quasimusical remake of the 1937 Hollywood insider melodrama.

7.30pm ARC CINEMA, McCOY CCT, ACTON

Sunday Sessions 5-9pm.

ALL BAR NUN, MACPHERSON ST, O'CONNOR Ratatat With Quan of Regurgitator ANU BAR, ACTON Chuck Ragan and Tom Gabel With support from The Ellis Collective. Tix from Moshtix. All ages, from 3pm TUGGERANONG YOUTH CENTRE Lior Tix through Canberra ticketing TILLEY'S, LYNEHAM Irish Jam Session From 5pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC

The Seed

By Kate Mulvany. Three generations of a family reunite in an exploration of loyalty, betrayal, and war. Until May 16 THE STREET THEATRE, CHILDERS ST, CITY WEST

Ashley Feraude From 9pm (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON Vamp Dark alt/pop/electro/industrial/ gothic/EBM/heavy stuff with DJ Robot and guests. 8pm KREMLIN BAR, N'BOURNE AVE Rowan Marshcroft KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE Trash Thursdays Cheap drinks and tunes from DJs Adam and Esscue ACADEMY, CIVIC

DANCE _____________ Tom Piper In the Main Room with Ashley Feraude, Sam Kelly n' Staky and Michael O'Rourke ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Candy Cube With DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse. From 10pm til 5am CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC DJ Marty Faux & DJ Adam Miller From 9pm KREMLIN BAR, 65 NORTHBOURNE AVENUE, CIVIC Shunji KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Out In Canberra Race & Taste Food & Wine Festival Dress: casual. Entry: free THOROUGHBRED PARK, MITCHELL Hospitality Night feat Univibes You there! Come and supple from the brand new Tiger on tap TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC MONDAY MAY MAY 11 MONDAY 11

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________

DANCE _____________

'80s Music With DJ Craig PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Dance Week: Free Lesson Samba and mixed reggaeton from noon. kokoloco.com.au KOKOLOCO DANCE STUDIO, SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB, WODEN Public Cello Masterclass Email onewithyoursound@ hotmail.com or phone 0404 499 348.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE, NATIONAL CCT, FORREST

Hospitality Night Feauting UniVibes DJs TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

SUNDAY MAY 10

DANCE _____________ Cube Sunday With DJ TJ. From 10pm 'til late CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Guy J With Club Junqe, Scottie Fischer, Matt Hoffman plus local DJs. Beats kick at 7pm!

(TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON

TUESDAY MAY TUESDAY MAY12 12

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Jumptown Swing: Lindy Hop/Swing Classes Beginner classes start tonight.

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB, NARRABUNDAH Carry-On Karaoke TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Fame Trivia THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Pot Belly Trivia POT BELLY BAR, BELCONNEN Trivia Night PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Trivia Night HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON Trivia Night Free entry THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC

LIVE _____________ Chuse Jazz Tuesdays With Leigh Miller (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON Musical Madness @ Filthy's Free entry FILTHY McFADDEN'S, KINGSTON WEDNESDAY MAY 13

LIVE _____________ From the South With Found at Sea and A Streetlight Song THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC Juke Kartel W/ Townhall Steps, Stone Parade ANU BAR, ACTON

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Jumptown Swing: Lindy Hop/Swing Classes Beginner classes start tonight.

No experience or partner required WHITE EAGLE POLISH CLUB, TURNER Fame Trivia PJ O'REILLY'S, CIVIC Carry-On Karaoke THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Karaoke Night HOLY GRAIL KINGSTON Wednesdays at Transit 2 pizzas and a pint for $15 running all day. It's also $5 night!

TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Baila Social Club Best salsa, bachata and cha cha in town. 9pm. kokoloco.com.au MONKEY BAR, CIVIC THURSDAY MAY1414 THURSDAY MAY

ARTS _____________ ARC: The Voss Journey: Overlord A celebration of the fictional journeys of novelist Patrick White’s Voss. 7.30pm ARC CINEMA, McCOY CCT, ACTON

LIVE _____________ Little Birdy With Oh Mercy ANU BAR, ACTON Villians The L.A. remix duo are a party machine! Free entry TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Domus Adultus Featuring Teddy Conrick, Lloyd Allison-Young, The Wedded Bliss, Starfish Hill. 8pm-midnight, $7/$5 (CMC members) HIPPO BAR, GAREMA PLACE, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Free Salsa Lesson C'mon twinkletoes, learn how to light up a dancefloor with your hotsteppa. From 6:30pm KOKOLOCO DANCE STUDIO, COLBEE CRT, PHILLIP Carry On Karaoke PJ O'REILLY'S, CIVIC Karaoke With Grant PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Karaoke CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC FRIDAY MAY15 15 FRIDAY MAY

DANCE _____________ Crankee From 9pm (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON Cheese '80 and retro-a-rama. Free entry TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Jemist He of the silky fingers KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE SeaMen Come dressed as a sailor or pirate for free entry. 9pm CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC

SATURDAY MAY 27 16 ATURDAY FRIDAY MARCH

SUNDAY MAY 17 Y APRIL SATURDAY MARCH 28 25

TUESDAY 19 30 MONDAY MAY MARCH

LIVE ____________

DANCE _____________

DANCE _____________

LIVE _____________

The Trivs Launch their new EP ANU BAR, ACTON After Work Jazz From 5 to 8pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC The Cool From 10pm to 2am KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC The Rhythm Method From 10pm HOLY GRAIL KINGSTON Jonno Zilber & The Zilberfish Little Big Band From 9pm. Free entry OLD CANBERRA INN, MOUAT ST, LYNEHAM Prog Fest Ne Obliviscaris, 11th He Reaches London, Aeon Of Horus, ...Like Foxes and more THE BASEMENT, BELCONNEN Rev Canberra’s weekly alternative club night with two levels of DJs playing rock/indie/dance/punk/pop BAR 32, SYDNEY BUILDING, CIVIC

Cheese!!!

'80 and retro-a-rama. Free entry TRANSIT, CIVIC Candy Cube With DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse. From 10pm til 5am CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC Shakedown!

Indie/alt/dance action.

Free before 10pm BAR 32, SYDNEY BUILDING, CIVIC Frankie Madrid Madness As hot as the spanish capital KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE Candy Cube With DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse. From 10pm til 5am CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC

Cube Sunday With DJ TJ. From 10pm 'til late CUBE NIGHTCLUB, CIVIC

Chuse Jazz Tuesdays (TRINITY) BAR, DICKSON Musical Madness @ Filthy's With Sean Smeaton, Second From the Sun and Amax.

Free entry FILTHY McFADDEN'S, KINGSTON Adam Guzowski TRINITY BAR DICKSON

FRIDAY MAY 15 27 MARCH

SATURDAY MAY SATURDAY MAY1616

ARTS _____________ ARC: The Voss Journey: The Movie That Was Never Made A look at what the film might have been. Free admission. 2pm ARC CINEMA, McCOY CCT, ACTON ARC: The Voss Journey: The Night, The Prowler Based on one of his own short stories, this was White’s only produced screenplay. 4.30pm ARC CINEMA, McCOY CCT, ACTON ARC: The Voss Journey: Providence One gothic, confused, paranoid night in the wine- and ageaddled imagination of a famous English novelist. 7.30pm ARC CINEMA, McCOY CCT, ACTON M16 Drawing Prize Opening 6pm. 'Til May 31 M16 ARTSPACE, MILDURA ST, KINGSTON

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Free Rap Session 1 With MC Feline. 12+. Bookings essential at www.library.act.gov. au . 2.30pm BELCONNEN LIBRARY

LIVE _____________ Bob Evans The Suburban Kid has left the 'burbs ANU BAR, ACTON Wednesday Lunchtime Live From 12:40-1:20pm. $2 WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE, FORREST Live Entertainment Complete with Happy Hour PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG triple j presents United Tour MC Tara Simmons, Edward Guglielmino, McArtney, Coby Grant and Simon Kelly. Free entry TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC The Drunk Uncles THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC Wayne Brady Tix through Ticketek.

ROYAL THEATRE Zorro's Reunion Party THE BASEMENT

DAY PLAY _____________ Gorman House Markets GORMAN HOUSE Burley Griffin Antique Centre KINGSTON FORESHORE SUNDAY MAY1717 SUNDAY MAY

ARTS _____________ ARC: The Voss Journey: The Opera In Two Acts Jim Sharman’s original production of Meale and Malouf’s opera. 1.30pm ARC CINEMA, McCOY CCT, ACTON

LIVE _____________ Sunday Sessions 5-9pm ALL BAR NUN, MACPHERSON ST, O'CONNOR Paul Kelly Tickets: 6257 2700 CANBERRA THEATRE Canberra Blues Society Jam Bring an instrument and your voice and join in the fun. From 1 - 4:30pm THE ITALO-AUSTRALIAN CLUB, 78 FRANKLIN ST, FORREST Irish Jam Session From 5pm KING O'MALLEY'S, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ $10 Schnitzel Sunday THE DURHAM CASTLE ARMS, GREEN SQUARE, KINGSTON MONDAY MAY MONDAY MAY18 18

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Poetry Slam With new kid on the block Bad! Slam! No! Biscuit! You read that right. From 7:30pm THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC Fame Trivia From 7:30-10:30pm THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Pot Belly Trivia POT BELLY BAR, BELCONNEN Carry-On Karaoke TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC Trivia Night PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Trivia Night HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON WEDNESDAY MAY2020 WEDNESDAY MAY

DANCE _____________

ARTS _____________

Hospitality Night Featuring UniVibes DJs TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

Every Base Covered: An anthology of short plays Presented by Freshly Ground Theatre. Tix $14/$10. Wed-Sat, 8pm, 'til May 30.

QL2 THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE

LIVE _____________ Bootleg Sessions THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Trivia in the Trams From 7.15pm TRADIES CLUB, DICKSON Meat Raffle Buy a beer, score a raffle ticket THE DURHAM CASTLE ARMS, GREEN SQUARE, KINGSTON Public Cello Masterclass Email onewithyoursound@ hotmail.com or phone 0404 499 348.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE, NATIONAL CCT, FORREST

LIVE _____________ Live Entertainment PJ O'REILLY'S, TUGGERANONG Charlie McMahon W/ Kim Churchill, Lisa and Tony THE PHOENIX, EAST ROW, CIVIC James Ryan Trio From the US. 9pm. $7 HIPPO BAR, GAREMA PLACE, CIVIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT _____________ Fame Trivia PJ O'REILLY'S, CIVIC Carry-On Karaoke From 7:30pm. $1000 grand prize THE DURHAM, KINGSTON Wednesdays at Transit 2 pizzas and a pint for $15 running all day. It's also $5 night!

TRANSIT BAR, AKUNA ST, CIVIC

DVDEVOTEE

Journey To the Centre of the Earth (Roadshow Films) Brendan Fraser has recently inherited amusing action hero status in the mold of Harrison Ford. And like Harrison Ford’s latest film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, this one is plagued with problems. As a film, it was originally shot in 3D. You remember 3D, the brief and exceptionally forgettable movie fad of the ‘50s. Well in some ways it’s back, only to be forgettable once again. And that is one of the issues with this film; its hook is the 3D gimmick so there is an over-reliance on things popping out of the screen at the expense of plot, character development and a script that really delivers. Fraser plays Professor Trevor Anderson who is asked to look after his nephew Sean, played with teenage boredom by Josh Hutcherson, for a few days.

Inspired by the Jules Verne novel, they head to Scandinavia after finding a shitload of loose change sitting in jars (is that as implausible as it sounds?), as opposed to skiing in Canada and meeting the exceptionally pretty Hannah, played by Anita Briem, who is fourteen years younger than Fraser in real life. There is a bit of fun and witty dialogue with the three of them and they fall down a mountain and before you can say “shit, isn’t this The Mummy 4?”, they wind up somewhere near the centre of the earth. From there it seems to be about Hannah and Trevor hooking up – making many a viewer vomit in their mouths – while they find a way home. This film never really seems to get out of first gear and even the supposed action bits are lackluster, with the flick putting all of its eggs in the ‘wow 3D’ basket. The direction is competent from Eric Brevig, a former Xena: Warrior Princess director, but let’s make sure he never gets near a film camera again. While the three leads are all passable, the issue comes in with the relationship between Fraser and Briem. He looks old enough to be her preacher in church and that is truly scary. It would have been way more appropriate to see young love blossom between Sean and Hannah with Fraser doing some witty asides to camera. I guess the truth is, this could have been a lot worse – it could have been The Mummy 4.

GEOFF SETTY

Next Issue:

The US Vs. John Lennon (Roadshow) At various times so far in my life, I’ve had ‘older’ relatives tell me that The Beatles were a great band in the early days when churning out variations of I Want To Hold Your Hand, but interest waned when they started coming up with ‘weirder’ sounds later on. John Lennon is usually named as the culprit responsible for steering the band down the path of both unusual behaviour and music. Could that be right? This engaging documentary checks out John Lennon’s introduction to the late 1960s radical protest movement in the United States which coincided with the first term of the troubled Nixon administration. After watching it, I wondered whether or not I preferred sitting back and getting good vibes just from classic solo albums of the early 1970s like The Plastic Ono Band and Imagine or also seeing the dude develop as a political activist. The film makers flash on to the counter culture struggle of the ‘60s and ‘70s and Lennon’s growing political activity which included supporting activist groups like the Black Panther Party, for which he was seen as a threat to US national security.

It seems that John Lennon was not merely content to sit in some mansion somewhere, but wanted to use his public profile to engage with common humanity while at times writing and recording great music. The narrative doesn’t get bogged down while mapping out such things as John Lennon’s determined efforts to gain permanent residency of the United States after the break up of The Beatles, and the many obstacles placed in his way from tentacles reaching to highest levels of the US Government. With the other stuff, some good visuals and interviews drive the story as well as cool early post-Beatles music and much footage of John Lennon expressing his passionate libertarian views with the stoic and faithful Yoko Ono always at his side.

DAN BIGNA

WAREHOUSE FESTIVAL HAVE HEART COG BLISS N ESO AND MUCH MORE

Slumdog Millionaire (Icon Films) There is an expectation that the film awarded the Best Picture each year at the Academy Awards is going to have a reasonable stake to be just that, the best picture of the year. And this year as in several others – I’m looking in your direction big boat movie and southern retard film – the Academy of motion pictures stuffed it up. That’s not to say that Slumdog Millionaire is a bad film, in fact it’s a very good film, just not as good, in my opinion as Frost/Nixon. Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of Jamal who as the film opens is being interrogated for suspected cheating on Who Wants to be a Millionaire – thankfully the Indian version as I couldn’t do with anymore Eddie Maguire. The story on how he knew the answers to all of the questions are told in flashback, extracting emotion from each one, until we find out exactly how this 'slumdog' rose from zero to almost conquering hero in a small matter of time.

Interwoven with this story is the love triangle between Jamal, his brother Salim and the beautiful Latika, who unfortunately is used as a pawn in Indian society. The film progresses rather predictably towards a bit of an all singing all dancing finale. If this sounds like its Hollywood doing Bollywood, you’re just about spot on. That said, the direction from Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) is excellent and the young cast are doing a fantastic job of making you feel every moment of their love, pain and triumph at seeing this one through.

Slumdog Millionaire is in interesting film, as like Gump it rewards the underdog. You can actually smell the shit rising off the streets. All of that said though, Slumdog is far from the greatest film of 2008, and shouldn’t be lauded as such. But, if you want an entertaining couple of hours with a bit of singing thrown in, Slumdog is just the ticket.

GEOFF SETTY

OUT MAY 21