BMA Mag 366 Mar 02 2011

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#366MAR02

DIZZEE RASCAL He likes to party

ZOM PROM ROM COM! With The Last Prom

SIDESTEPPER They’re here too!

Get up, Get out, you’re already here

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Moustache-querade

# 3 6 6 M A R 0 2 Fax: 02 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 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 Ashish Doshi T: 02 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com Super Sub Editor Josh Brown Graphic Design Cole Bennetts Exhibitionist Editor Yolande Norris E: exhibitionist@bmamag.com Film Editor Melissa Wellham Principal Photographers (The Flashbulb Posse) Andrew Mayo Nick Brightman NEXT ISSUE 367 OUT MARCH 16 EDITORIAL DEADLINE MARCH 7 ADVERTISING DEADLINE MARCH 10 Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA is independently owned and published.

Opinions expressed in BMA are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.

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The Treble Clef Canberran Paul Gibson has built a free website www. thetrebleclef.com specifically designed to support the live music industry. The site is used by fans of music so they can communicate Facebook style.

The site also supports page creation for bands, venues, retail stores, teachers, agents, studios and rehearsal spaces with an added bonus of automated gig guides. Community groups can also be created with forum support. The site has only recently gone live and there’s still lots to do, like giving bands the ability to upload their songs, but Paul is receiving great support from ACT venues who have already created their pages as well as the ACT Live Music Association. Register now and become part of a great online musical community.

Music for Queensland The ANU School of Music will be holding a fundraiser concert at Llewellyn Hall with all proceeds to be donated to the Queensland Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal on Friday March 4. It will be an evening of Strauss, Rossini, Villa-Lobos, Brahms and Kats-Chernin in Llewellyn Hall, conceived and organised by Honours year piano student, Andrew Rumsey. For the full program and performers see the website www.music.anu.edu.au .

8 Ball Aitken at Canberra Irish Club 8 Ball Aitken is back with his fourth album The Tamworth Tapes. He takes a swampy alt/country/blues turn at the Country Music Capital of Australia, recording straight to tape in Tamworth’s famed Enrec Studio, producing and playing every instrument on the album himself, including guitars, banjo, harmonica, bass and percussion. 8 Ball Aitken is the redneck preacher at the shotgun wedding between country and blues. It doesn’t matter which part of the family you’re from – what does matter is the funky foot-stomping hullabaloo at the all-night party afterwards. Catch 8 Ball

Aitken at The Canberra Irish Club on Sunday March 6 from 2pm.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The CMC’s newest venture is Bang! Bang! Bang! Each week roughly six new, inexperienced, or otherwise unfamiliar with performance artists will throw themselves on the mercy of a small and hopefully very (possibly overly) friendly audience, followed by a set from a special guest. Situated in the delightful confines of the famous non-collapsible back veranda of 64 Burn St, Downer (doing its best to resemble a filthy opium den), Bang! Bang!

Bang! is to entertainment what beautiful loving sexual congress is to a quick wank in the toilet.

It’s intimate, it’s right there in the room with you and it doesn’t matter if you fuck up. 7-10pm, $5, BYO. New artists are required. Email ourcmc@gmail. com or phone 0401 084 773 (ask for Dr Jim).

Cockroach Cockroach is a damning exploration of the need for resilience and adaptation in the modern world, striking Darwin’s theory of evolution straight into the heart of a group of students, trapped in an after school biology detention class – a microcosm of the long and bloody war happening outside the school walls. Dark, uplifting, confronting and stark, if you don’t see anything else this year, don’t miss this. The season runs from Wednesday March 9 to Sunday March 13 at C-Block Theatre at Gorman House Arts Centre. Head to www.cytc.net for all the info, or call 6248 5057 for bookings.

Lavers local gigs Introducing Lavers, a homegrown acoustic duo described as a cross between Big Star, Crowded House and The Beatles. The brothers are embarking on a tour of Canberra to stamp their name on the local music scene (check the gig guide). With Sebastian’s natural talent for

Cockroach

Where are you?

YOU ARE HERE!

Moustache-querade is a CMC supported EP fundraiser for Pocket Fox (formerly Lady Grey). Don your best moustache and come to the backyard of 21 Fox Place to help them raise money for and celebrate their upcoming EP. Entry is $5, it’s on March 5, and it starts at 5pm (like the devil’s younger brother). There will be five amazing acts: the likeable James Fahy, the lickable Fun Machine, the lovely Julia & the Deep Sea Sirens, and the unlikely Robin and Thom. And, of course, the ladylike Pocket Fox. Come ready to sway, dance, eat baked goods and fall in love.

There will be chai for sale and maybe even a kissing booth.

a multitude of instruments and Dominic’s catchy melodies and showmanship, the songs of Lavers are sure to take up a residency in your head. Be sure to come to one (or all) of their shows; with a debut EP in the works and a rumour they are soon to become a four-piece, we expect big things from these boys. www.myspace.com/ thelaversbrothers .

FROM THE BOSSMAN Hard though it may be to believe, there are many similarities between being a newly minted father and following Iron Maiden on tour. One such shared axiom is thus: absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder.* Back in 2008, it had been some 15 years since metal’s scintillating sextet broke the touring drought in our sunburnt country, and didn’t we show our pent up enthusiasm as a result.

At every city’s show, a rainbow of black swirled and roared and cheered in an outpouring of love and enthusiasm I had ne’er seen before, and thought I would never see again. Fortunately, it wasn’t to be as long between Stellas this time, with 2011 offering up yet another visit from the aging rockers. Once again I found myself gallivanting across the country with bearded blackswathed older gentlemen, including the poster manchild for such a group, my partner-in-time Mr Scott Adams. Having only recently returned, it is safe to say that the piss-stained y-fronts of rock ‘n’ roll are hanging rather low this week.

With my little daughter Isla Sophia now two months old, Maiden saw the first time I was allowed out of the house since her birth.

The advent of a Maiden tour – or indeed any old school metal act where the core fanbase are now safely ensconced in family life – is a chance for family men and women the world over to reach a joyful accord. As soon as tour time is announced, men start to curry favour with their dearly beloved – a mother-in-law’s 70th birthday instead of a boozy night with the lads at the rugby here, swapping the pub for junior’s cricket practice there – so that when the time comes, one can cash in and skip largely guilt free into a maelstrom of metal ‘n’ mirth, booze ‘n’ kebabs.

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 contain original spellings] To a certain ACT stripper, I can’t believe you get paid to do what we witnessed at the Hen’s party on Saturday night. Rolling around on the floor while holding onto your coke-bottle glasses, then spreading your legs in the air while removing your Lowes G-String, revealing your sack AND crack was amazingly far from sexy. Also, I’m not an expert, but a ‘hardcore show’ means after handing your belt to the hen and offering your backside up for a whacking, you’re supposed to take it, not squeal and run away.

Finally, sort out your music before entering instead of stopping completely nude to proclaim ‘Oh, I don’t do this song anymore’.

Your uneven tan, inability to achieve basic rhythm, undercut, and a-typical nerd facial structure screamed ‘Virgin’. Know this… you have chosen the wrong path.

I hope this burns a hole in your retinas as severely as your outrageous act did to ours, perhaps even make you cry as your act did to the poor 18 year old girl who ran sobbing out of the room. Blame also goes to the boys who stitched us up by hiring you… so to the male collective involved in the whole thing - you pissed us off! Expect a fat-o-gram for the Buck’s.

As those with kidlets will well know the early stages of babydom, undeniably miraculous though they may be, can lead to one occasionally feeling a little stircrazy around the house. So whilst I love my family more than life itself, Maiden presented a welcome chance to don the black strides, the grotesque tour t-shirt (both in design and smell), and hit the trail once again.

Looking somewhat like the Unabomber after my many weeks of seclusion (and thus blending in nicely), off we eagerly set.

Needless to say, mirth was had, and Maiden fans’ thirst was greedily slaked by the giddy alacrity of Messrs Dickinson, Smith, Harris, Murray, Gers and McBrain. But despite my enjoyment, a deeper absence for home increasingly crept into the splendours of tour life, despite the always amusing moments that inevitably occur, such as leaving such alarming chili sauce stains on the pristine white hotel sheets during a 2am kebab session that it looked as though an animal sacrifice had taken place; being hit on by a chin-shifting gay air steward (yes, they have gay ones now) during the flight from Melbourne to Sydney, a man with eyebrows that had been stitched on that morning and a repertoire of flirty high-larity that included “Ooo! You can’t go in there! That’s the Ladies!” about the unisex toilets, and “Ooo! You’re on the wrong flight!” after you’d buckled in… Seriously, it was enough to make your toes curl into question marks; having a fruity Pakistani takeaway worker pile half a constituted cow into Scott’s kebab, making it so tumescent with meat that not only could he not finish it (a world first) he was seen later lovingly spooning it on his way to sleep…

Stains, vomiting, not getting to bed until 3am, unholy screaming – there’s a lot of similarities between a Maiden tour and having a newborn, but returning home with the equivalent enthusiasm of 3000 screaming Maiden fans is undeniably the best. So while the piss-stained y-fronts of rock ‘n’ roll are hanging low, it doesn’t beat the drool-encrusted milky shoulder from my baby daughter.

ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com *And after those booze ‘n’ kebab filled few days, ‘an abscess makes the heart grow fatter’ my doctor tells me. Obviously a Bublé fan. Git.

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and

another thing…

When I return to the house, something isn’t right. In the driveway, hard against the entrance hall, are two vans belonging to the window cleaning firm we employ to at least attempt to keep all the windows in the place clean and sparkly. The front door is open wide, but there’s no one around and all the ladders and other window cleaning stuff are still lashed to the van roofs or stowed safely inside.

Something is clearly amiss.

Bobby isn’t a bad man – despite the rumours he’s never been a practising Satanist, although he’s admitted to me on a couple of occasions that he quite fancies a go at Freemasonry – but he has a highly polished sense of mischief and, because he gets bored, he’s always happy when new playmates arrive. Following the sound of voices, I arrive in the games room to find Bobby – still clad only in his dressing gown, despite it being nearly midday – holding court with the six window cleaners, most of whom are joining our hero in a preprandial snifter. I glance questioningly at Bobby. I, you’ll remember, am in possession of the keys to the drinks cabinet.

“I couldn’t get hold of you. It’s past opening time, so the lads offered to go and get a couple of wets in to start the day!” beams my boss.

There are three cases of export strength lager on the floor under the pool table. Bobby’s train set is running and, worryingly, in his drink free hand he is brandishing an air rifle I thought I’d hidden from him.

To the huge amusement of the assembled tradesmen, he is by turn slurping at a lager, regaling the lads with bawdy tales and letting off rounds at the train as it makes it’s increasingly precarious way around the track.

I waved the shoe box at him and jerked my head upstairs.

“I got some shoes for you for Denmark. Do you want to try them on?”

“Sure!” he says, inviting me to throw him the box. He obviously missed my subtle inference.

“I’m sure the boys need to get on with their work before it rains.

Besides, you’ve got stuff to do.”

Everyone is annoyed with me now for breaking up the fun, but honestly, the prospect of Bobby wandering around in his pants with a gun whilst several half cut men shin up and down ladders is too much of a risk. When we get upstairs I promise Bobby he can invite ‘the lads’ for a go on the quad bikes around the grounds when they finish what he’s paying them to do, which seems to satisfy him for the time being. The shoes fit, and thus, at five past 12 in the afternoon both of us are at a loose end. There’s an awful lot of this in Bobby’s life these days. Godhammer are still a big draw on the nostalgia circuit and most summer weekends the band can be found at one of the big Euro rock festivals on one of the side stages trotting out their greatest hits to an audience whose bellies are expanding in inverse proportion to their hairlines. But these people aren’t interested in hearing any new music from Bobby, and so neither are the record companies. There are no albums to write, or recording sessions to attend, or video shoots to endure, which makes for an awful lot of Bobby Shrubbs down time. Occasionally he’ll pick up his favourite Les Paul and you’ll see his eyes light up, but it’s all too hard.

“Fancy a pint?”

Here we go again… scott adams - thirtyyearsofrnr@hotmail.com

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WHO: D’Opus & Roshambo WHAT: Momentum gathering gathering WHEN: Sat March 19 WHERE: Transit Bar

D’Opus & Roshambo release their sophomore album Past Time through Mercury Switch/Inertia on April 1. The future looks bright for the fellas with JJJ’s Dom Alessio heaping praise on promotional single Come Find Out and album features from the likes of Muph, Hau and Dialectrix. With an official first single on the horizon and a new live line-up, come help them gather momentum for the official album launch and a get a sneak peak of the Past Time sound.

Supported by Raw City Rukus and The Rock Steady. First 20 payers receive a D’O & Ro Question EP. $10.

WHO: National Film and Sound Archive WHAT: The Nippon Modern Series WHEN: Sat March 5 – Sat March 26 WHERE: Arc Cinema, NFSA

The National Film and Sound Archive’s Arc Cinema is offering Canberra residents a rare opportunity to see one of Japan’s few still-active benshis (silent film narrators), performing live in March.

Also on offer is the unique opportunity to experience some of the rare gems of Japanese cinema’s distinct silent filmmaking of the 1920s and early 1930s. The Nippon Modern Series, Arc’s bi-annual silent film showcase, features a selection of recently restored films from major Japanese film archives, and performances by Japanese benshi Mr Ichiro Katoaka, on Thursday March 10 and Friday March 11. For more info head to www.nfsa.gov.au .

WHO: Graveyard Train WHAT: Spooky Men WHEN: Thurs March 17 WHERE: Transit Bar

When a bunch of bearded fellas get together and bash out slightly macabre tunes on acoustic guitars and slightly strange percussion while all singing at the top of their lungs you know you’re in for a good time. Graveyard Train play unorthodox old timey instruments and with their six part baritone vocal delivery they’ve created a unique sound and an equally unique way to deliver it. They’ll be playing tracks off their new LP The Drink, The Devil and The Dance at Transit on Thursday March 17. Check out myspace.com/ graveyardtrain3051 to have a listen.

WHO: You, yes you!

WHAT: Seed Project WHEN: Now! WHERE: www.seedproject. org.au

“Eyes! Eyes! Eyes! Brothers! Sisters! Lend me your eyes! Please, though, put away your ears. This little piece of paper [inkblots one and all] is a tiny herald! We are shouting at you! Yes you! And we ask only for your eyes! Why you ask? Because we wish for you to join us in planting seeds! To do this though, our little parcels of ideas and perspectives require you! Yes you! We require your eyes!

Oh Brother! Oh Sister! Lend me your eyes, and we’ll give you our world in return! With a skip and a jump, the [seed.project] awaits! www.seedproject.org.au .”

WHO: Rock ‘n’ roll legends WHAT: The Ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll Jam Session WHEN: Thurs March 3 WHERE: Canberra Theatre Centre

One electrifying day in 1956, when four of America’s top recording artists met and forever changed the face of popular music, is re-created in a new Australian show produced and directed by the same team behind the Helpmann Award winning The Man In Black (Best Australian Contemporary Concert 2010). The Ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll Jam Session stars James Blundell, Nick Barker, Doug Parkinson and introduces Ezra Lee. They all perform the songs of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. How these mega-stars came to record together for the first and only time is told in The Ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll Jam Session.

WHO: The Trip WHAT: Energetic, fun and inspiring music WHEN: Sat March 12 WHERE: Transit Bar

Sounding like the love child of Hugh Hefner and MC Hammer, The Trip bring funky uplifting sing along tunes wherever they travel. The boys from Bondi Beach are excited to announce the completion of their debut record, and their first single On The First Time. Playing for the very first time at Transit, the lads are hoping to inspire a small riot and throw out the invitation to all good people of Canberra who dare let their inhibitions stay dormant for a few hours and are willing to strap on sturdy dancing shoes for a night of fun and games. Check out www. thebandthetrip.com .

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E M e K MA ZEE

Z Z I D tim galvin

“I am looking forward to coming back. Australia is like my second favourite country in the world,” DIZZEE RASCAL crackles down the line in his unmistakable drawl. I can hear a party going on in the background; people laughing over late evening conversations, music is playing. This is the life of Dizzee Rascal, a decadent red carpet existence that seems a long way from his modest roots as a teenage delinquent on the streets of East London.

“But the way I see it is that life is just one big party, you know what I mean?”

Nobody should ever want to be a hip-hop star. You get shot at, you get stabbed, demonised by the press and overlooked by the majority of the music industry hierarchy. In the early ‘90s, Dylan Mills, aka Dizzee Rascal, was just another kid growing up in the outskirts of London. The terrace houses in his hometown Bow were filled with factory workers and lower middle class criminals. It was a pocket of East London which had one of the highest crime rates in the city; all of these factors provided an interesting muse for his interest in hip-hop and rave culture.

I could never see myself doing anything else, nothing other than doing what I’m doing now

After joining a local garage crew, he developed his MC skills and transformed himself into a poster boy for grime, a new offshoot of street hip-hop. His first proper single I Luv You became an urban anthem and in 2003, at just 18 years of age, he released his first full length album Boy in Da Corner, which dropped at a time when the scene hungered for a new sound, something which he delivered in spades. Boy in Da Corner saw him awarded the coveted Mercury Prize for best UK album, something unheard of for such a young urban artist, and along with his relatively overnight success came a lot of unwanted media attention.

“To an extent I think I’ve done really well with it all. I mean you always have this stupid shit that they make up but it’s all been pretty positive,” says Dizzee. “I mean you get to know the places where that can get you into a lot of trouble and you just avoid them and go get on with shit. I think it all started to get better when I left the rave scene, some of the shit I was into back then seems kind of a joke to me these days.”

Two more successful albums, Showtime and Maths and English, followed, but it wasn’t until 2009’s Tongue N’ Cheek that the world really stood up and took notice of the Rascal sound, mainly due to a couple of killer pop collaborations with Armand Van Helden (Bonkers) and Calvin Harris (Dance Wiv Me, Holiday).

“It was colourful, you know, rough at times,” says Dizzee. “Some parts were exciting as well, you know what I mean. Starting out in pirate radio and things like that was really fun man, starting off in the underground – it was cool back then.”

“It just came out of nowhere really. I wasn’t even at home – I was in Colorado and [Armand] sent it to me and when I listened to it for the first time I thought it was a bit different to what I was doing but I understood it, you know? It reminded me of a beat from the ‘90s when I was a kid, like a big house track, so I wrote the lyrics.

From then I kind of slept on it until I tried it out at one of my shows in Liverpool and it got an absolutely crazy reaction!” he says.

School work never interested Dizzee – he found it hard to concentrate in class and earned his famous moniker from an indignant teacher who found that his incessant misbehaviour deserved him a suitably derogatory label, something which he has used quite profitably in a kind of pseudo revenge on his former tertiary nemesis.

“Calvin was a different story altogether. We met at a festival and thought ‘yeah, let’s do something together’. He gave me some beats and I sat there for an hour just looping it and looping it and really absorbing it. It was such a gamble because of the whole trance theme but it really paid off. I love performing those songs on stage man!”

“Half of [my name] does, yeah. Last year I ran into one of my teachers at a small film festival and found out that she was a comedian now. She was in magazines and stuff too so I couldn’t really say anything about it! I thought that was pretty funny.”

From buoyant street thug to A-list pop prince, Dizzee’s transformation hasn’t changed the way he thinks about music – a rare and gratifying quality that shines through in his live shows.

Through a combination of boredom and a sense of exclusion from the establishment, Dizzee turned to making beats on a school computer. He followed the drum and bass scene heavily and started focusing on finding a way into the burgeoning UK underground music scene. “Since I was a kid I heard music in my head, you know what I mean. I could never see myself doing anything else, never see myself having a real job, nothing other than doing what I’m doing now.”

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“I think it’s because my main purpose is still the same, you know?

I just wanna get people jumping”, he says. “I like the money and the perks that come along with it but my main driving force is the music. I’m always chasing that one perfect track – it’s always on my mind, you know? You have to keep it fresh and exciting. You just have to absorb it and go with it and give something back to the world.”

Catch Dizzee Rascal live at the UC Refectory on Friday March 4. Tickets are $60.60 + bf and are available through Ticketek.

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ALL AGES Atlantis Awaits and Drawing North have gained the approval of Canberra’s public over the last couple of years and are now the Capital’s two favourite rising pop-punk acts. They are joining forces once again, and are playing their final shows in their hometown before embarking on a three month long tour of Australia and New Zealand. Remaining loyal, as they always have, to their underage fans, you will have a chance to witness the two acts at the Woden Youth Centre on Saturday March 5 with their special guest act The Dream The Chase, all the way from Brisbane. Doors open at 6pm, tickets are $10 at the door.

Rock/metal/hardcore spectacular Youtunes #3 is now to be held

at the Palmerston Community Centre, as opposed to the Kaleen Community Centre, on Saturday March 19. It will feature a massive line-up of home grown talent including Venom Eyes, Reigner, Killing Birds, Imperial, Scattered, Prospects, Mushmellow, Psychic Asylum and Asylum. Tickets $10 at the doors.

On Saturday March 12 the fine folk at GigNinja, who last year brought to you Indie-Cent Exposure, are this year presenting the ever so anticipated funkfest they have dubbed Nightshift. Featuring locals Pleased to Jive You, Astrochem, Paqman, The Heroines, Doctor Johnson, Makeshift and Pete Akhurst, this line-up is bound to leave you with aching, throbbing limbs. It’s all happening at Woden Youth Centre for $10 at the door, and doors open at 5pm.

On the fine eve of Sunday March 13 you will have a chance to see Sydney mosh/hardcore fivepiece Hand of Mercy and One Vital Word as they stop through Canberra on the Fallout Tour. The event, which was to be held at the Axis Youth Centre, has been relocated to the Tuggeranong Youth Centre, with the date remaining the same. This is a great relief to see that so many events are taking place at this venue, considering the recent rumours that made their way through the masses, suggesting that the Tuggeranong Youth Centre is no longer going to host live music events again in 2011.

Pheww *wipes sweat from brow* – they’re back again!

One of the biggest festivals for 2011, Groovin the Moo, is right around the corner. This year’s line-up on Sunday May 8 will feature big names such as Architecture in Helsinki, Birds of Tokyo, Bliss n Eso, Cut Copy, Drapht, The GO! Team, Gyroscope, The Holidays, Horrorshow, House of Pain, The Jezabels, Washington and The Wombats, along with many more Australian and international acts.

Tickets are on sale now for just $99.90 (+ bf) through Moshtix or www.gtm.net.au. The Meadows at the University of Canberra is the place to be. The first act starts at 11am!

NAOMI FROST allagescolumn@gmail.com

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LOCALITY

That’s what fishing is all about. Yeah that’s what fishing is all about.

Cast out me line, pull back in a trout. That’s what fishing is all about.

This is what’s been stuck in my head the past week. These four lines, over and over, sung in a broad Australian accent. But then it augments and more voices join in, and then there are harmonies, and then it morphs into a reggae version, but it’s still just these four lines, over and over, so it’s actually pretty excruciating. But it makes me smile every time.

At the end of the first day of Summer Rhythm Festival an extraordinary thing happened. In the chai tent a circle of about 30 people formed. Three of them, Drew Walky, Rafe Morris and Joe Oppenheimer, played guitars. Somebody strummed a banjolele.

Somebody blew a kazoo. Everybody sang.

Led by the three men with guitars the circle sang for hours. Joe Oppenheimer steered the ship. The emcees of Raw City Rukus provided the rhymes, and the rest of us the chorus. Folk singers sang with rappers, massage conga lines harmonised, and the rhythms of a distant drumming circle drifted through. It was a mighty big jam with a mighty fine chorus, and I won’t forget about it in a long time.

Cos that’s what fishing is all about. Yeah that’s what fishing is all about. Cast out me line, pull back in a trout. That’s what fishing is all about.

Summer Rhythm was wonderful. Singing circles don’t happen at major festivals. Nor does the chance to run into friends at every stage without having to frantically text them first. And nor does the opportunity to discover amazing music that’s being made in your own backyard.

Summer Rhythm was a joyous weekend, but it was woefully under attended. The well planned out location was perfectly set up to accommodate a few thousand people, but the numbers didn’t come close. Why? It can’t have been the ticket price; just under $100 for two days of music across three stages plus camping is reasonable.

It can’t have been through lack of promotion; the summery hues of the festival’s poster were splashed all over Civic and the pages of this rag. Was it the lack of bigger names? I admit The Beautiful Girls headlining didn’t excite me greatly, but a bill that seemed to be half local did.

As KG espouses in her review of the fest on page 49, “Had you known the quality of the diverse range of roots, reggae, funk, folk, electro, dub, hip-hop and some downright bizarre outfits spread over three stages, would you have made a more concerted effort to support the local scene?”

I can only hope Summer Rhythm returns for a third year in 2012.

From little things big things grow. Cos that’s what fishing is all about.

JULIA WINTERFLOOD julia@bmamag.com

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DANCE THE DROP Are you sitting at home alone again on a Saturday night with only a half eaten bag of Doritos and season one of The Vampire Diaries to dull your pain? Are you ready for a change? In only a few short weeks you could be lying beside the pool on a Balearic Island where your only worry in the world is which Kardashian sister gets to rub oil on your feet. All this and more awaits you in your new career as a professional club DJ! Swap those heavy and impractical textbooks for a pair of shiny headphones and an oversized novelty pendant and join me in a Learjet with the Olsen twins. 4 Sound Productions can help you realise this life of pure indulgence with their new DJ school, run by Raw FM presenter B-Tham and a mix of local dance music identities.

If you are sick of lining up to pay for your drinks, don’t waste any more time and contact James at 4soundproductions@gmail.com.

Both beginners and intermediate disc jockeys are most welcome.

Most famous RnB singers have found that dance music is an attractive way to present their auto-tuned beer and boob monologues to teenagers, and the era of the club crossover record began with artists like Dizzee Rascal. The UK rapper has become a massive main room drawcard since he hypnotised Calvin Harris and Armand Van Helden with his magical bling pendant and coerced them into smash hit collaborations like Holiday and Bonkers. Dizzee delivers this trademark swagger to Canberra fans on Friday March 4 at The UC Refectory. Come and Dance Wiv Me! Friday nights at Academy have provided us with a lot of massive names over the years and 2011 is just starting to heat up. Fresh from his win at the ‘Guy from Balls of Fury’ look-alike contest, Tommy Trash returns to the club on Friday March 4 with a bag of future classics.

Look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No its hipster demi-god Steve Aoki! Rumour says he can obliterate conformity with a single calumnious sneer. Some even say he owns the world’s only pair of tattered Converse All-stars that can walk on water; who knew Jesus was from Miami? The Dim Mak label boss is making a special appearance at Trinity Bar on Friday March 4 and this event also doubles as the official Dizzee Rascal after party, holy moly!

I love turning up to work on a Friday with bloodshot eyes and an Alec Baldwin day beard, don’t you? Thursdays are the new Fridays with events like the new Sinful soiree at Monkey Bar, presented by your pals at 4 Sound. The regular residents are back in new surroundings including your old favourites Team Wing, Kimosabi, The Zizz and B-Tham. If you want a seriously good soundtrack to fuel your Friday hangover, don’t miss the opening night on Thursday March 3!

TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

myspace.com/pangnight

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STEPPING STONES palimah panichit In the modern age, this era of hyper convergence and nigh infinite amounts of previously inaccessible information, there is as much possibility. Hybrids upon hybrids crawl out from the woodwork and you can almost hear the sweet agony of a million purists caterwauling from the unbearable vexation. SIDESTEPPER is one such product of the internet age; a British concept through Colombian basis, a collective that trail blazes through previously unheard of trails. Latin rhythms go hand in hand with dub and electronica dates Caribbean dance; drum and bass flavoured hip-hop welds itself to dancehall’s roots. It’s as if disparate elements exist only to be conquered.

Sidestepper’s leader, Richard Blair, notes that even this berserk concept was a natural evolution. “What I was trying to do really, at the very beginning, was to do to these fantastic Latin beats and Latin dance music [similar to] what people had done to ‘70s funk to make it hip-hop. I was trying to look into Colombia and find musical equivalents in dub reggae or drum and bass or electronica or hiphop. They’re different branches of the same tree.”

Richard speaks in a fantastically droll There’s something about this band British manner, straight-laced and very that, on a good polite. It’s hard to imagine him display night, it’s the best the sort of Latin passion that their high thing in the world energy Colombian music bleeds, yet he seems to exude that kind of zeal in his own quiet manner. His reasoning behind the initial concept is simple yet transcendental: “Musicians have a lot of music in them.” Richard comes from a studio background, having once been a producer for Peter Gabriel, which was one of the highlights of his career.

However, with his new collective Sidestepper, he is able to explore previously restricted avenues. “More than anything, I’m a sort of studio person and I love making studio records and getting them absolutely right. Having said that, there’s something about this band that, on a good night, it’s the best thing in the world. I’m very happy to do both, and I’m glad to have them together.

“There are a lot of improvisations and we try and make it different every night. There’s a basic form of the tunes, but then we tend to, and it happens all the time, to have long improvisations and dub breaks and solos and vocal improvisations. They can go on for weeks up there,” he says jokingly. “Anything can happen.

“There’s definitely something unique about the way Colombians approach their music. I think it’s one of those countries that punches above its weight musically, like Cuba or Jamaica or even England.

The way they approach it here is very kind of humble and punk-y in a way, very street-wise. There’s never been the academic, sort of salon version that you get in Brazil. They play for the event they’re at, whether it’s a backyard or on a stage. It’s like ‘whatever it’s for, we’re here to do this together.’”

Catch Sidestepper live at the Urban Latino Laneway Party at NewActon on Wednesday March 16. Tickets are $20 + bf and can be purchased via outincanberra.com.au .

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TEN DAYS IN THE CITY BETWEEN CITIES, AN ARMY OF DREAMERS AT YOUR FRONT DOOR. GET UP, GET OUT, YOU’RE ALREADY HERE. you are here

1 0 TH – 2 0 TH M A R C H 2 0 1 1 YOUAREHERECANBERRA.COM.AU

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TH U

10 FRI 11 S AT 12 SUN 13 MON 14 TUE 15 WED 16 TH U 17 FRI 18 S AT 19 SUN 20

A L L D AY

A L L D AY

10AM –5PM

6 . 3 0 – 7. 3 0 P M

7:30PM

George Edwards staircase mural Akuna St stairs

Stella Rae Zelnik Club X Exhibition, Northbourne Ave

Exhibitions Elements CraftACT Craft & Design Centre

Theatre 1: How To Sex Smiths Alternative Bookshop

The Displaced ImproACT The Street Theatre

9AM–5PM

12–6PM

4-5:30PM

6.30-8PM

6.30-10PM

9-11PM

Here & There Collective Artist Sweatshop The Mall

Sexy Urban Design Team SmithDick

Urban Theatre Projects Artist Talk SmithDick

Theatre 2: Mashing-Up Plays Smiths Alternative Bookshop

Dinner At Our Place: Slow Food Banquet Garema Place

The Last Prom SmithDick

A L L D AY

12–6PM

12-8PM

3.30-5PM

6-8PM

8-10PM

George Edwards staircase mural Akuna St stairs

Sexy Urban Design Team SmithDick

Carpark Festival Melbourne Building

Theatre 3: Pub Crawl PJ O’Reillys Pub, Melbourne Building

Here & There Collective Artist Sweatshop The Mall

Traverse Poetry Showcase SmithDick

A L L D AY

A L L D AY

12–6PM

12-9PM

3-5PM

George Edwards staircase mural Akuna St stairs

Stella Rae Zelnik Club X Exhibition, Northbourne Ave

Sexy Urban Design Team SmithDick

Luke Chiswell Pop-up Shop The Mall

Canberra Bike Round-Up Garema Place

A L L D AY

A L L D AY

12–6PM

12-9PM

12-2PM

6-9PM

George Edwards staircase mural Akuna St stairs

Stella Rae Zelnik Club X Exhibition, Northbourne Ave

Sexy Urban Design Team SmithDick

Luke Chiswell Pop-up Shop The Mall

Roller Derby Rally City Walk

Overhead Projector Jam SmithDick

12–6PM

10AM –5PM

1PM-2PM

5-6.30PM

6-8PM

8-9PM

Sexy Urban Design Team SmithDick

Exhibitions Elements CraftACT Craft & Design Centre

Close Listening Concert SmithDick

Theatre 4: Roasters After Hours Barrage Roasters Cafe, Braddon

Exhibition Opening Lee Grant: Belco Pride The Mall

Theatre 5: After Dinner Theatre SmithDick

7-8PM

7. 3 0 - 1 1 . 3 0 P M

Theatre 6: Brave New Everything SmithDick

Bad! Slam! No! Biscuit!

The Phoenix Pub

A L L D AY

A L L D AY

George Edwards staircase mural Akuna St stairs

Stella Rae Zelnik Club X Exhibition, Northbourne Ave

you 1 2 - 6 P M are 1 - 2here PM Exhibition Lee Grant: Belco Pride The Mall

Close Listening Concert SmithDick

1-2PM

6-7PM

6–8PM

6-9PM

7. 3 0 - 1 1 P M

9-10PM

Close Listening Concert SmithDick

Theatre 7: SmithDick

Talking Art Precincts Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre

Bally Artist Jam The Bally, City Walk

New Young Canberra Showcase SmithDick

Theatre 8: Bluey The Bally, City Walk

12.30-2PM

5-7PM

6.30-7PM

7-8PM

8PM-11PM

10PM-1AM

Dance Jam The Bally, City Walk

Nathalie Natiembé The Street Theatre

Bluebird The Bally, City Walk

Theatre 9: Swallowed Up In Victory SmithDick

ACT Comedy Showcase The Red Herring Cafe

Lights! Lights!

Lights!

Garema Place

10AM-5PM

1-2PM

3-5PM

6.30-8.00PM 7:30-8:30PM

Re-loved Design Hub The Mall

Close Listening Concert SmithDick

Stuttershine The Street Theatre foyer

Theatre 11: School Is Out SmithDick

A L L D AY

A L L D AY

10AM-4PM

12–3PM

George Edwards staircase mural Akuna St stairs

Stella Rae Zelnik Club X Exhibition, Northbourne Ave

Re-loved Design Hub The Mall

Sexy Urban Design Team SmithDick

The Gadjo Family Adults Show The Bally, City Walk

8.30PM-12AM FriendlyFire Petrie Plaza

P R O G R A M C O R R E CT AT T I M E O F P R I N T I N G

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E X H I B I T I O N I S T

What should I check out?

WHERE ARE YOU? Artistic Producer David Finnigan answers some burning questions about those three little words that just keep popping up everywhere…

What is You Are Here?

The idea of YOU ARE HERE is to cram the city full of theatre, music, visual arts and performance events, to enliven unused city spaces in Canberra’s CBD and to profile independent and experimental artists. It struck a chord with Centenary of Canberra’s Creative Director Robyn Archer, who wants to promote greater awareness of local artists and creatives in the lead-up to Canberra’s big year in 2013. It’s an opportunity to showcase some of the crazy weird energy of Canberra’s alternative art scene and a way to let people know that They Are Here.

Where is ‘Here’ and when will I be there?

You Are Here will take place over ten days from Thursday March 10 – Sunday March 20 in vacant shop fronts and found venues along City Walk. If you look at the venue map on the website, You Are Here takes place in a nice arc – at one end is the Melbourne Building (home of the Carpark Festival on Saturday March 12) and at the other end is a vacant shop front near Akuna Street entitled The Mall – the home of You Are Here’s visual arts stream. Along the way, we will drop in to spaces such as the chess pit in Garema Place and Petrie Plaza on either side of the Merry-Go-Round. Most importantly and ridiculously exciting the Saraton Building, looking out onto the Civic Interchange, houses SmithDick, the You Are Here hub.

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Swing by SmithDick any time to see what’s going on – pick up a program, chat to the team about what’s coming up soon, and check out the ever-evolving wonder that is Applespiel’s Sexy Urban Design Team Canberra. A collective of performing arts graduates from the University of Wollongong, Applespiel have spent the last 12 months presenting one extraordinary work after another at festivals throughout NSW: from Peats Ridge to Underbelly Arts, from the Sydney Fringe to This Is Not Art. Sexy Urban Design Team Canberra starts with a 3D map of Canberra’s CBD – a colourful Canberra diorama - in SmithDick. Over the course of the festival, members of the public can submit development applications for proposed changes to the city, which Applespiel will assess and implement.

Communal vegetable gardens in place of car parks, skate parks instead of cafes, or whatever your dream for this city, this is your chance to see how it might really look.

Music You Are Here features a spiky series of music showcases; from the opening night kickassery of The Last Prom to the cerebral boogie of the New Young Canberra Showcase, to the mellow jazz and classical sounds of the lunchtime Close-Listening; and of course, the festivalwithin-a-festival-within-the-Melbourne-Building that is the Car Park Festival.

Visual Art Wander down City Walk – past the Merry-Go-Round, past the Fountain – on your left, just before you hit Akuna Street, is The Mall, You Are Here’s visual arts hub. Over ten days, this former NRMA shop front will host a swiftly changing series of exhibitions for your delight. Dig the Here and There Collective’s artistic sweatshop, experience selected photos from Lee Grant’s stunning Belco Pride series, or swing past one of the pop-up shops and grab some unique wares from independent designers and makers including boutique label Luuk.

Theatre One of the integral limbs of the You Are Here program is the Theatre stream, which features an array of extraordinary performers from around the country (and beyond). Ten short works by ten different artists and companies will be presented in back-to-back doubleContinued on page 23

WHERE ARE YOU?

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bills. Alongside such lynchpins of the ACT scene as Hadley, Jay Sullivan and Freshly Ground Theatre, You Are Here is proud to feature touring works by performers such as Jess Bellamy (Syd) and The Landlords (Melb). Highlights from the theatre program include: Ira Gamerman (USA) Baltimore writer/performer Ira Gamerman’s plays have been produced around the United States and Australia by companies including Washington DC’s Source Festival, the Chicago Dramatists and Fort Point Theatre Channel. He was awarded the Columbus Dispatch’s 2008 Best Play of the Year Award and the John F Kennedy Centre’s Legacy Award. Ira is bringing his solo show Dated (A Cautionary Tale for Facebook Users) directly from Chicago’s Sketchbook Festival to You Are Here.

storytelling session, offering a number of incomplete answers to the same curly question: How can we imagine the unimaginable?

How do I get amongst it, internet-wise?

The You Are Here program and all info can be found online at www. youareherecanberra.com.au .

You can also stalk us on: Facebook: search for YouAreHere Twitter: YouAreHere_Fest

Phil Spencer (Syd) Glasgow-via-Sydney performer Phil Spencer’s autobiographical work Bluey re-imagines the absurd but true stories of his father: an RAF sergeant who served in Iraq in 2003. With the help of a threefoot chimp, Spencer stages his father’s shocking and humorous tales from a summer spent in Basra.

Tom Doig (Mel) Boiling the enormous quagmire of climate change science, politics and psychology into 43 hot, wet and confused minutes, Melbourne performer Tom Doig’s Selling Ice to the Remains of the Eskimos is part theatre show, part brainstorm-in-a-teacup, and part intimate

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ROLL UP yolande norris Bicycles. You love them. They’re the past, the future and the present, what with their wheels and forks and spokes and chains, from untouched specimen to mud-crusted corrosive death machine. You’ve got four bikes in the carport, two frames in the shed and one shiny beastie that has the honour of living in your bedroom.

Canberra is one of the bike capitals of the world, encompassing all aspects of bike culture. Carefully cultivated bike paths send us snaking from North to South, the bush is laced with world-class trails and our skate parks have the rest of the country pressed enviously against the glass. We are spoilt and we’re loving it.

As if that wasn’t enough this city also manages to host a crazy number of bike events. From the Mountain Bike World Championships and the BMX games to 24-hour races, pump tracks, naked bicycle rides and the welded fury of The Rat Patrol. Despite all the action on offer it’s still often just enough to be around like-minded folk who share your obsession; sizing up, swapping scars, showing off.

It’s moments like those that this month’s You Are Here festival wants to help facilitate, and on Sunday March 13 the organisers invite all bike-loving folk to converge on the CBD for CANBERRA BIKE ROUND UP, to show off their pride and joy, to network, and to advocate for Canberra’s riding culture. Townies, road bikes, fixed gear, single speed, BMX, mountain, vintage and more will meet at the Garema Place chess pit in a mobile spectacle that demonstrates just how many folk are doing amazing things with bikes in the ‘Berra, helping to ensure bike-related events are given due consideration for funding in future ACT events, including Canberra’s Centenary year in 2013.

You Are Here is particularly interested in revealing the vast array of small businesses and individuals in Canberra who build or restore bicycles or produce cycling related goods. These aspects of bike culture have exploded from hobby to booming back-yard industries that encourage the DIY aesthetic, personalising the practical, melding design and demand, promoting sustainability, innovation and supporting local handmade products. Designers, builders and repairers are encouraged to bring their wares along on the day to promote what they do.

Whether you hurtle yourself down mountains, fling yourself over jumps that you and your mates dug yourselves, get out on the road in the morning to race the climbing sun or just give dinks home from the pub, there are still some days you just wanna cruise into town, catch up with friends, see what everyone else is riding and where two wheels will take you next. Sunday March 13 is one of those days. Bring your most excellent ride – it’s time to show off.

You Are Here’s Canberra Bike Round Up takes place on Sunday March 13.

Meet at Garema Place chess pit, 3pm.

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Raw Comedy is a great chance to stretch your laughing muscle and be served by waitresses wearing ties. And what could be a nicer venue than Tilley’s in Lyneham? And who could be a nicer MC then Dave Thornton, who is a three-time Raw entrant and has hosted it, as he says, “A fair amount”.

Thornton is a well-travelled comedian despite having never won Raw. “To all those kids that are out there, don’t be disheartened, I went in it three times and never got past the first round. It hurts sometimes when you host and you’re watching kids that are already more successful than you.” Thornton himself has been nominated for Best Newcomer at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and in 2009 he took a show over to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

RAW ‘N’ READY HOLLY ORKIN Let’s all agree that one of the greatest things about being from the nation’s capital is that, if you win RAW COMEDY, you go straight to the finals. No need for those pesky semis that people from real states have to attend. Pah! Yes, we’re all about comedy here in the ACT. We’re the place where well known comedians come to try out their new material. So it’s only fair that we use our discerning audiences to support our own newcomers to become comedy legends.

Raw Comedy is about people getting up on stage and trying to make people giggle regardless of their previous success in the matter. This is about emerging talent, it’s about watching people fly into the rafters or fall flat on their faces, all the while supping on delicious beverages.

Though he has at times felt a bit “like a human Piñata” thanks to the less classy of audience reactions, Thornton says that Raw Comedy is different. “Raw’s a lot of fun because most of the audience are really up for it. They know a lot of the acts are going to be fairly new so they’re pretty supportive.” says Thornton, “I mean, I don’t wanna freak the kids out but I have a few horror stories. One time I was performing in Edinburgh and it was one of those nights where you just can’t make them laugh. I was about half an hour in and there was one group that was getting into it, they really belly laughed at a joke and a spokesperson from the rest of the audience actually leaned over and shushed them, for laughing... at a comedy show.”

It’s doubtful that anything quite that British will happen at Raw Comedy, but it’s almost certainly going to be a lot of fun, as the press release says: “come and see them now so you can say you saw them then.”

Tilley’s is the place, Friday March 5 is the date and 8pm is the time. Tickets through the venue.

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ARTISTPROFILE: Elena Kirschbaum

What do you do? Circus, sideshow, and I’m a producer.

When did you get into it? I got started through Warehouse Circus, which I joined when I was 17. I realised when I was 19 that I might just be able to make a career out of it, and have been doing it ever since!

Who or what influences you as an artist? Some of the Australian contemporary companies that are around at the moment are doing some amazing work, and I am very inspired by that – The Candy Butchers, The Burlesque Hour and Circus Oz. But I love drawing from the older styles as well, in particular old style sideshows really fascinate me, and a lot of the work I’ve created over the last few years has had a lot of throwbacks to that style, and that era.

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? My proudest moments are when I throw myself into something that scares the hell out of me. When I did my first street show in Europe I sat for an hour talking myself into it. I sang onstage last year for The Blue Marquessa at The Street Theatre, which I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do. I like jumping headfirst into things that freak me out – it’s how I learn the most and move forward as a performer.

What are your plans for the future? So many plans! The Gadjo Family, which will be premiering at You Are Here on March 17, is a project I’ve been trying to get off the ground for years, so I’m excited to see where that will go. I’ve got an act that I am developing with a Melbourne circus performer at the moment, and I am planning to put together a tour for The Bally for 2012 as well.

What makes you laugh? Anecdotal comedy. Performers who combine their comedy with an element of sweetness and quirkiness.

What pisses you off? When performers make lazy work.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? I think Canberra’s arts scene is so vibrant and unique, I work so much in Melbourne and interstate, and I love coming back to Canberra. The artists here are driven so much by the passion for what they’re doing rather than focussing on creating mainstream or corporate friendly work, that what comes out is very unique and creative. It just deserves to be matched by the same level of passion by audiences!

What are your upcoming projects? Back to Melbourne after this for some street shows, then in Canberra for the National Folk Festival where I’ll be doing a trio street show as well as hosting the circus cabaret show and late night Not For Kids Kids Show.

Contact info: elena@highwire.com.au, 0407 267 239

YOUTH IS... mark russell “A new film is cutting a tech-savvy path through schoolyard indifference. WASTED ON THE YOUNG (or WOTY, as the press kit so aptly shortens it) concerns bullying and high school hierarchy in an age with no time for anything longer than an acronym. Alex Russell plays Zack, a boy who rules the halls of his private school with a closed fist and an open pharmacy. But providing a convincingly sinister antagonist to the film’s main character Darren (Oliver Ackland) was no mean feat for a guy who confesses to being the brunt of much bullying in his own formative years. “I had to ground him. Find the light and shade rather than turn him into a moustachetwirling villain. I thought it was important to show that he’s also afraid. Whether or not he’s feeling guilt, I think that he, along with everyone else in the world of high school, is desperate to survive.”

Underscoring a Shakespearean web of alliances, betrayal and deceit, WOTY supplies a much more modern riff on the dangers of modern social networking. In the film, embarrassing and painful adolescent moments circulate near instantaneously, creating gods and monsters with a few mere keystrokes. Coming from the private school system himself, Alex feels the film plays on common emotional experiences.

“No one was probably as bad as him at my school – he’s the height of what you’d expect from a bully. But the film is set in a heightened reality: rather than depicting the actual reality, it depicts what the reality for the kids is. It depicts how they feel.”

A strong part of this effect comes from having no adults appear on screen. The characters are caught in a bubble of influence that even Zack can’t escape. This reflects the perceived schoolyard reality: the inmates truly run the asylum. “[In real life] obviously a teacher might intervene here or there but ultimately, nothing changes. If there was a slapdash solution to a bullying situation on a Tuesday, on the Wednesday the victim is still going to be made to feel worthless.”

These hefty themes are carried screen-wards by a group with little feature experience. This lacking was counteracted through tireless preliminary rehearsals, a cache of ‘homework’ films for all concerned and a set that was run “like clockwork”. Every level of the script and its characters was explored and dissected in pre-production. “It was a collaboration – the beautiful thing about Ben is that he had a great vision but, like all great directors, he knew when to let things spark between actors.”

And WOTY certainly sparks. The noir-ish plot is laced with an ever-present thought – is this what our schools could become? “It would make my day if there would be more of an awareness towards the dark time kids go through at school. Sadly, I think it’s really underestimated and overlooked.”

WOTY opens at Dendy Canberra Centre on Thursday March 3.

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UNINHIBITED Recently I bought groceries on credit. It was a pivotal moment, and as I swiped that plastic I experience a flash forward montage detailing the beginning of the end. I’d always scoffed about people shopping on credit, never thinking for a second that I’d be doing the very same. But only recently I’d taken a huge and startlingly uncharacteristic gamble – I’d left my day job to go it alone as a writer. Self-employed, freelance, an entrepreneur, an idiot. All those fancy terminologies for people who work in their pyjamas.

I’d like to say I wasn’t naïve, but I confess to having a fantasy that fell quickly short of the mark. Rather than merrily typing away the days in my (non-existent) study, pausing only for sunning sessions in the garden and coffee drenched meetings with clients, I was instead lying awake nights fretting about my rent and now standing here, in the IGA, putting my muesli on credit.

It was during this future flash point that I came to accept that one drastic move might have cause to lead to another. I needed funds, but I wouldn’t return to the day job, no. I would turn to the next best thing – a shop job.

Ah retail. Some folk like the organised chaos of hospitality, others the lone wolf appeal of dish-pigging or shelf-stacking. Myself, I’ve always felt an affinity for the cling of the register and chorus of ‘no you don’t look fat in that’.

And so I returned to my roots, and I again had one of those magical days when money appears in your bank account. But there is a creeping guilt that somehow I’m cheating. Luckily, while in theory anybody could walk into the shop and expose my secret shame, it’s not really the shop everyone would walk in to.

As a comfort I think about a dear friend of mine, who understands it’s all in the packaging. She’ll introduce friends as photographers, even if they make coffee six days a week, or as musicians, despite their public service contracts. She focuses on the dream, not the reality, practicing one of my all time favorite sayings “fake it ‘til you make it”. And that’s just what I intend to do – stuck in a shop while the rest of the world imagines me living my writerly life – coffee, cats, chin-stroking and chain smoking. Never you mind how I pay for my rent, or my groceries, for that matter.

The next time you stumble across a creatively inclined acquaintance in an unexpected context – be they delivering your pizza, pulling your beer or asking, “did you want fries with that” - don’t judge, don’t ask what they think they’re doing. Give them a smile, a nod, or even a tip – just any reassurance that you endorse this secret other life that keeps the dream alive.

This is my last Exhibitionist for the moment, as my ‘career’ gains momentum, running out of control like a rusty billycart, and anyhow, the shop needs me. yolande norris exhibitionist@bmamag.com

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WHO: Natalie Mather WHAT: Exhibition Soft Peaks WHEN: Opens 6pm Thursday March 3 WHERE: Canberra Contemporary Art Space Manuka

bit PARTS WHO: Austin Buckett WHAT: Stuttershine WHEN: 3-5pm Saturday March 19 WHERE: The Street Theatre Produced by local label HellosQuare, Stuttershine introduces a new chamber work by young composer and improviser Austin Buckett, involving piano, string quartet, and electronics. This works incorporates members of emerging classical, indie rock, and experimental jazz groups Spartak, Pollen Trio, Kasha and Voss.

Stuttershine is based around conflicting and unified fragments that play on the listener’s memory, as layered single pitches develop into intricate and spontaneous textures. The concert also features a set by local heroes Spartak involving new sounds and special guests. Glass Splinters from Buckett’s upcoming album Stuttershine (to be released in July) is available for free download at hellosquare.bandcamp.com. Bookings are essential for this event. Call The Street on 6247 1223. www.austinbuckett.com, hellosquare.bandcamp.com .

The countdown has started for Natalie Mather’s Soft Peaks, an exhibition that will take you on an intergalactic journey opening up new experiences of space and time. All with your feet planted firmly on the ground. As one of the artists in CCAS’s prestigious Studio Residency program for emerging artists, Natalie has dedicated six months of hard work to these elegant and absorbing works. Soft Peaks is a vibrant exploration into the world of science fiction, architecture, geomety and form. Set against the flat and flawed grain of laminated plywood, Mather’s paintings contrast the natural with geometric lines, forms, depth and colour. On show until Wednesday April 13.

WHO: Photographic portraitists WHAT: National Photographic Portrait Prize WHEN: On now until Tuesday April 26 WHERE: National Portrait Gallery Every year the National Photographic Portrait Prize presents the best of amateur and professional photo-portraits from around the country. This year the National Portrait Gallery received over 1200 entries for the Prize, which were then combed through by the judges: Louise Doyle, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Curators Dr Sarah Engledow and Dr Chris Chapman, and invited guest judge, Dr Domenico de Clario, Director of the Experimental Art Foundation in Adelaide. A shortlist of 55 portraits were selected as finalists to be exhibited, including works by Canberran Lee Grant and former Canberran, (now Hollywood) Mia Wasikowska. The perfect show for both photo lovers and people watchers.

WHO: Hard working artists WHAT: Artist Sweatshop WHEN: March 10 - 12 WHERE: The Mall vacant shop front space, Citywalk The Here and There collective are a group of local artists making use of non-traditional spaces for showing art, such as public parks or suburban living rooms. As part of March’s You Are Here festival Here and There has assembled a formidable list of artists to present their latest project in a vacant civic shop front. This time ‘round it’s an artist sweatshop. Yeah that’s right, working 9 to 5, punching out the artwork. Pop in to the shop front from March 10 to 20, keep tabs on their productivity and quiz them about their progress, before checking out the final showing of goods on the Saturday afternoon.

WHO: Canberra Philharmonic Society WHAT: 42nd Street WHEN: March 10 - 26 WHERE: Erindale Theatre

WHO: Graduate dancers WHAT: Performance (in)human WHEN: 7pm Friday March 4 and Saturday March 5 WHERE: QL2, Gorman House Arts Centre

Canberra Philharmonic Society presents 42nd Street, the classic toe tapping, high energy musical about Peggy Sawyer, a small town girl who wants her name in lights on Broadway. Playing at Erindale Theatre from 10-26 March, the Canberra cast of 42nd Street will blow audiences away with its famous songs and spectacular dancing. Tickets can be purchased at www.philo.org.au or from 6257 1950. 2011 also happens to be the 60th birthday year for the Canberra Philharmonic Society – isn’t it about time you got acquainted?

QL2’s Soft Landing program gives graduate dancers from tertiary courses around Australia a chance to find their feet in a mentored development project in Canberra. It’s a unique opportunity to share knowledge and skills with interstate graduates, forge creative partnerships and launch a creative practice for the future. If you’re interested in the development of dance, dancers, and performance —this is for you. (in)human will be an informal dance performance by eight dancers, developed by research and response to four weeks of new ideas and challenges that have surfaced during the project. The performance is free, but please RSVP by emailing rsvp@QL2.org. au or calling 02 6247 3103. A discussion with the artists will follow the showing.

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ZOM PROM ROM COM

ELECTRIC CARPARK VIBES

Chiara Grassia

holly orkin

You could sit at home, alone, on Friday night, don something purple and taffeta, gather all the B-grade horror films you can find and settle in for a peculiar combination of glorious trash interspersed with scenes from ‘80s teen flicks. Or, you know, you could get out and get down to the apocalyptic sounds of THE LAST PROM, a two hour extravaganza of seriously epic proportions. Embedded in the over-hyped American prom phantasm, The Last Prom is set to incorporate all that hysteria with schlock horror goodness to produce a spectacularly unique and fantastical event.

The CARPARK FESTIVAL – part of the You Are Here Festival program – includes, but is not limited to: eight hours of live music, the ACT Chess Club, three people getting their heads shaved on stage for leukemia, live art, graffiti, milk crates to bounce on and a lot of food.

“I wanted to make the most dramatic night possible, with the most dramatic bands possible,” says Nick Delatovic, the event’s mastermind. “So I thought what are the two most angsty, over the top, melodramatic concepts I could come up with?” High school prom and the apocalypse were what sprang to mind. “When people have been asking me what type of apocalypse it is, I’ve just been saying it’s every single type happening all at once. On the same night, you go to the prom, you break up with your girlfriend and you’re miserable about that. Or you finally reveal your feelings to your true love, whichever end of the spectrum. At the same time zombie plague, nuclear holocaust, second coming of Jesus, aliens invade – everything’s happening at once.”

Zombie plague, nuclear holocaust, second coming of Jesus, aliens invade – everything’s happening at once

The night will be capped off by the quintessential prom ingredient – the high school band. Delatovic has penned songs constructed around the night’s theme and has assembled a talented group of local musicians, dubbed The Last Prom, to perform. Of course they’ll all be dressed up – expect the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as well as The Anti-Christ. “I’m really encouraging people who come to the night to dress up and get into a character, and bring a character to the night… Everything about the night has the same focus which is just to make people feel as free to party as hard as possible and to be as uninhibited as possible.” Everything will be crammed into the two hours and at the stroke of 11pm, “all time and eternity will cease, what with the whole apocalypse thing… There will be no time for a warm up, it’ll be two hours of straight prom night apocalypse.”

Alongside The Last Prom band, the rest of the evening’s line-up is studded with Canberra favourites. Between sets from bands, there will be, “short, ten to 15 minute dance sets, punctuated with ten minute dance parties… It’s going to be a very intense, whirlwind experience in a really cool space.” The vacant Dick Smith at the interchange in Civic will be taken over, swamped with a sickly sweet prom night gone horribly wrong. “I just like the idea of having something that will be very visually arresting in such a high profile spot. The random person walking won’t really be able to miss the fact that something quite extraordinary [is happening].”

The Last Prom will take place in Civic from 9-11pm on Friday March 11.

More details can be found on the Facebook page or at You Are Here’s site, youareherecanberra.com .

The eight hours are broken into two halves; the first half is the brain-baby of Birds Love Fighting, who brought us the Electric Lake Festival. It’ll be more focused on bands, mostly pretty relaxed and in the theme of “Saturday afternoon chess competition”. The second half is being brain-birthed

by UniVibes and has a more DJ/produced feel, however Dave Caffery of UniVibes was quick to point out how important it was that the two groups work together. “It’s not a band, band, band and then electronic thing. We’ve really made it a point to work together across all aspects. When the bands finish up at around four we’re having a Melbourne producer come and play live with a jazz band to ease the transition!”

We don’t want something that’s a direct copy – we want to make it ours, Canberra’s

It’s not only the music and art that Caffery is excited about, it’s the venue too. “I don’t think anyone has thought laterally about how beautiful Canberra is. I mean how many people have gone to the Melbourne Building and thought ‘we could put on an event in this back area’? Dave Finnigan has, not many other people would.”

For those of you not in the know, Dave Finnigan is one of the directors of the You Are Here Festival along with Yolande Norris.

He also lives at double the pace of a normal human being and would like everyone to know how bloody amazing the Melbourne Building retailers have been. Smiths is having live painting on the day and a market stall, La Posada is opening a cafe in the carpark, PJ O’Reilly’s is hosting the theatre event from 3.30-5.30 on the day and Crest Apartments and Blue Olive have also been very supportive. Finnigan says “word up Melbourne Building retailers”.

It’s a little ironic that it’s being held at the Melbourne Building, as many people would attribute this kind of event with the city itself, Caffery among them. “Canberra doesn’t have these more Melbourne inspired events. It’s a seedling event; it’s an opportunity for Canberra to start trying out these kinds of events before Canberra Centenary in 2013. So if this is a moderate success and people like the approach we’re taking, next year we can build on it. Hopefully this is an opportunity for us to start defining our own culture in Canberra.

Especially with the You Are Here Festival as a whole, we don’t want something that’s a direct copy – we want to make it ours, Canberra’s.”

Sounds like a spiffing idea to me. So come along. Play a game of chess, watch art happen and feel excited about living in this city.

Catch all the action at the Carpark Festival, held from noon until sunset on Saturday March 12 at the Melbourne Building laneway. Entry is free.

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People in

THE YOUTH IS STARTING TO CHANGE

alistair erskine

One of the fascinating facets of the upcoming You Are Here festival is the NEW YOUNG CANBERRA SHOWCASE of experimental musicians, curated by Shoeb Ahmed. A gig that from the outset looks like one of the most traditionally organised portions of the fortnight long festivities – a showcase of local musicians. But on the other hand, the music on display is challenging, difficult, noisy and unusual. As he has been running these types of shows for a while via label nights for his record label hellosQuare, I start by prodding Shoeb on how this type of music gets received by Canberran audiences. “People in Canberra are generally always looking for new and interesting things,” he says. “The problem really is that they are interested but there’s no exposure to this stuff. All in all, people are supportive and happy that it’s out there if they know that they can keeps tabs on hellosQuare to find out what’s happening.”

So when it came to selecting the four artists for this showcase of young Canberran talent, Shoeb found the job satisfying based on the talent pool and its ability to fit his vision. “I kinda basically wanted four

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artists who encompassed Canberra are the hellosQuare sound to a generally always tee,” he explains. “Of course, looking for new having myself performed with Spartak makes half that job and interesting easy but I think as a label we’ve things always stuck by the idea of doing whatever we want and however we want so the people playing work well wonderfully together as a thought out evening of music but also on their own, they are all fairly intriguing. Anyone who stays for the whole night I think will be in for a treat and a really good, diverse night of improvised madness.”

And now for the fun bit – get the curator of an experimental music night to try and explain how and why the music is, well, music to a layman. Shoeb answers with aplomb. “The easiest way to explain it is to use relevant concepts and notions with the person you are explaining to. In my mind, even with the little chord progressions I come up with for the various improvisations, I think of them as pop songs – just fairly skewed and messed up for my own interest and to keep it fresh to my ears. I think of that artist Pole, who made really steady dubby minimal techno with just crackles, pops and tones but it still grooved hard in its own way. I think if people can understand those basic concepts of music, then the more difficult elements only become a minor issue in understanding what’s going on as a whole as there’s already a tangible thing to hold on to.”

With the acts Spartak, Reuben Ingall, Kasha and Orbits locked in, the music will be diverse, challenging and amazing, and completely show off just how inventive, thoughtful and dangerous the youngsters of Canberra really are.

See the abovementioned acts live at SmithDick, Civic bus interchange from 7.30-11pm on Thursday March 17. Head to youareherecanberra.com for all the info.

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The Canberra Festival is brought to you by the ACT Government and sponsored by ACTTAB.

N CALL 81 INFORMATIO FOR MORE CONNECT ON 13 22 CANBERRA

CELEBRaTE IN THE PaRK Monday Mar 14, from 2pm Stage 88, Commonwealth Park leez & Justice Crew With Jimmy Bar nes, The Potbel berra Festival’s flagship Celebrate in the Park is The Can ther families of the toge ging brin of aim the event, with ic, visuals, high-octane mus of day a for region and beyond ething for the kidlets. som powered daredevil trickery and ie rock to headAuss true and tried of bit a Deciding on e Jimmy Barnes hors work ing line proceedings, stoic tour the ‘something for wing Follo t. even the g linin head will be s Sydney-via-Ireland club everyone’ mantra, the ubiquitou orm, as will hip-hop kings The Potbelleez will also perf ers of 2010 Austrawinn the , Crew ice Just dance troupe be 2011 Toyota will bill the out lia’s Got Talent. Rounding n Idol local favourite ralia Aust er form and er winn Starmaker entertainment wouldn’t be Luke Dickens, and the musical ymakers Hancock complete without ACT’s go-to part s.

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down, the sky will light To cap off the day, as the sun goes tacular fireworks spec a be to ised prom t’s wha up with display. der under the Little Big And let’s not forget Bob the Buil show for the kids” but d -fille Top stage. They call it a “fun ng “CAN WE FIX IT!” yelli e ther be will me of s all 28 year ssed daughter insists arra emb my and until my voice is dry amusements added and s we leave. With face painting, ride g, and the young-atyoun the for t men rtain ente into the mix, heart, is well provided for. food and beverages Note to patrons: you can BYO, but s will be available. erie courtesy of local wineries and brew on 13 22 81 or visit nect Con a berr Can call ils For more deta www.events.act.gov.au .

e will be gravity defying But it’s not all about the music. Ther tesy of the always cour ts stun BMX skateboarding and Melbourne. We have in popular daredevils from The Shed available also are s shop work that been informed . throughout the afternoon

LIGHTS! CaNBERRa! aCTIoN

Friday March 18, from 7.30pm Garema Place, Civic.

Canberra-centric short film com petition

Now in its eighth glorious year, the Lights! Canberra! Action! filmmaking festival once again give s our local moviemakers the opportunity to produce a com pletely Canberra-centric short film and show it off to the pub lic on the big screen.

Filmmakers are given a list of ten items to include in their movie, with only ten days to shoo t, edit and produce a seven minute film. The films mus t also fit with this year’s theme – ‘Invitation’ – chosen as it marks the 100th anniversary of when invitations to the competition to design Australia’s capital city were anno unced.

!

Due to its success in 2010, the scre ening of the top 12 finalists will again take place outd oors in Garema Place, with the award winners announce d immediately after the screening. The Lights! Lights! Ligh ts! events will commence after the awards ceremony, featu ring local DJs from 10pm – 1am, as part of the pilot You Are Here initiative.

2010’s competition saw a record 42 film entries, and a crowd of 1,500 flock to Garema Place.

Make sure to bring a chair, bean bag, blanket and movie snac ks, and settle in for a great night of film viewing.

GRam, To VIEw THE FULL PRo T.GoV.aU .

VISIT www.EVENTS.aC

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n a m o p e r n o i accord matt petherbridge

and he loved it and it was all cool!” Yankovic laughs.

If you think WEIRD AL YANKOVIC is weird, wait until you see the world’s greatest musical satirist credited as the definitely not weird and merely mortal ‘Al Yankovic’ on his latest project, a rhyming children’s picture book titled When I Grow Up.

For most artists, “leaking” half of a record three years before its official release date could be a hindrance, but Yankovic prefers to see the positive aspects of the “Internet Leaks experiment”.

He explains, “I’ve never before released anything digital only. It allowed me to be more topical than I had been in the past and certainly that’s an option I have in the future.”

When I Grow Up, which has hit number four on the New York Times Best Sellers list, follows the tale of Billy, an eight year old boy who enthrals his classmates about the “crazy, wild, imaginative things he wants to be when he grows up” during show and tell, much to the chagrin of his hapless teacher, Mrs Krupp. The book has been a passion of Al’s for many years, inspired by the wise words of his parents whilst writing the book.

“My Dad always used to say that the true definition of success is being able to do what you love to do for a living, which was great for me because it gave me permission to follow my muse and go towards what I was more passionate about.

The message [of the book] is that you don’t have to limit yourself to anything.”

I mean, how often do you get to be directed by Rob Zombie?

Despite the time lag between finishing the book and its publication, when it comes to a Mexican standoff of one liners, Yankovic is quicker than a Wild West gunman, quipping “The book is 850 words long, so I wrote one word a day for two and a half years!”, adding “I couldn’t believe it when I first got the memo saying it would be out in February 2011. I was like ‘oh no, there’s a typo in your email, you obviously meant 2010’ and they were like ‘uh no, it’s out in 2011.’”

Yankovic takes comfort in knowing he’s one song away from delivering his first studio album since 2006’s Straight Outta Lynwood. “All the artwork is done, I’ve got 11 songs produced and mastered and it’s really just waiting for me to come up with a hit single. That’s all I gotta do!” he laughs.

It is important to note that Al’s digital only release of 2009’s Internet Leaks EP – which featured the global economy crisisinspired T.I. parody Whatever You Like just three months after the release of T.I.’s original song – was always touted as part of his upcoming, as yet unreleased album.

Another song from Internet Leaks, Craigslist, is a stylistic homage to ‘60s psychedelic band The Doors that saw Yankovic “revelling in his inner lizard king” to portray The Doors frontman Jim Morrison screaming at the top of his lungs about America’s favourite online classified advertising service. So how on earth did you rope in The Doors’ keyboardist Ray Manzarek to contribute his unique trademark style to the song?

“I come from the school of thought that it never hurts to ask! I hadn’t even written the song yet, but I told him the concept. He said ‘sure, let’s do it!’ I think he started to get cold feet because he asked me ‘I think I want to see the lyrics first’ – so I wrote the song

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Yankovic notes that his label Volcano Records prefers to release physical albums, and he sees the music industry becoming more “singles driven”, like it was in the ‘50s and ‘60s. “If it does become more singles driven then it opens me up to being more topical and timely and maybe that will be a more viable option for me to start releasing songs as soon as I come up with them.”

It’s been a while since fans have seen Yankovic as a film protagonist (1989’s UHF, in fact) – so I decided to pitch him my movie idea right down the phone. During my research for the interview, I found out Weird Al previously worked as an “Accordion Repo Man”, repossessing loaned accordions from students who bombed out of lessons at a music school Al taught at. I encouraged him to call actor Emilio Estevez and start working out the details to the sequel of his 1984 cult film Repo Man. “Yeah, Repo Man 2! I love that movie, yeah that’d be fun!” Al laughs salaciously. “I’d definitely love to [make more movies]. I’m actively trying to get more work in feature films but it needs to be the kind of thing that makes sense creatively for me.” A film idea that did appeal to Weird Al was Rob Zombie’s offer to appear as a talk show guest beside Malcolm McDowell’s character Dr Loomis in Halloween 2. “[Rob] called me up and asked me if I would like to do the scene with Malcolm McDowell. I thought ‘yeah!’. I mean, how often do you get to be directed by Rob Zombie and curse at Malcolm McDowell?

It was just the most surreal thing to do a

scene with him and get all up in his face.

After they’d yell ‘cut’, Malcolm would just tell me these stories, like the last time he had a dinner party at Peter Sellers’ house, all these amazing anecdotes – I was just hangin’ with Malcolm, it was very cool.”

Catch Weird Al Yankovic live at The Royal Theatre on Saturday March 12. Tickets are $99.90 + bf and are available through Ticketek.

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LIVE FOR THE MUSIC

ACTING UP

ALEX WATT

zoya patel

Connoisseurs of the Canberra music scene will have experienced the intimate groove of local acoustic three-piece HASHEMOTO, or may have known them in their previous incarnation as Trouser Trouser. The core of that outfit – Damo Flanagan (guitar) and Potsy Webber (double bass) – have in recent years combined their talents with those of Melbourne trained classical pianist and composer Alan Lee to create an exotic harmony of folk songwriting and classical traditions.

Sebastian Field, vocalist for CRACKED ACTOR, is no standard interview subject. From the very beginning of our chat, it’s clear that I won’t get run of the mill responses from this local muso. Talking over the phone, both of us bemoan the fact that our plans to meet for a face-to-face chat were foiled by timing issues. “It’s strange talking on the phone,” Sebastian confesses. “I’m a little bit nervous.

But you have a nice voice, at least.” Cracked Actor have been doing the rounds in Canberra for just We’re all over a year now and are local music standard human veterans in a way. Though he is a onetwo with gs, bein band-man, Sebastian points out that arms and two the rest of the band, comprised of legs Graham Thompson (drums) and Nick Delatovic (bass), have been around the block in terms of playing in bands. “Our guitarist [Matt Lustri] has just left, but when he was here, there were 14 bands between the three of them,” Sebastian says.

We unplugged and the whole pub went quiet.

If that happens you know your melodies work

“Our experience as Hashemoto has been accidental and different to Trouser Trouser.

We are playing a lot of small gigs at lots of different venues.

Sometimes there might be only ten people...” Potsy is wearing a hairy brown jacket and knocking back a schooner. “The local scene is so exciting at the moment. Because there are no venues... the Canberra Musicians Club is doing Backyard Bacchanalia [monthly gigs in private backyards] and there are all these house gigs which are based on a really trusting arrangement. It could only happen in a city this size where you can drive everywhere. It will have all changed again in a few years. Don’t miss out on it while it’s happening.”

A spontaneous gig at the ruined Yale-Columbia Refractor on Mt Stromlo was nearly scuppered when observatory staff found out about it. “Someone made a Facebook page for the event and word began to get ‘round when suddenly we found that the people at Stromlo weren’t that happy about it... but we managed to make some calls and smoothed things over.” Fans assembled in this odd concrete astronomical relic were treated to a unique acoustic performance complete with trolleyed-in piano and sunset over the Brindabellas.

So are there plans for an album? “People sometimes come up to us after a gig asking if we have a CD and we have to turn them away, saying we’re just a live band. But we recently booked a room in the School of Music and Duncan Lowe from Infidel Studios came in and set up a mobile 16 track studio. We invited a small audience from the mailing list and just played through everything we had. But it was six weeks before I listened to it,” says Damo. Making some kind of recording available to fans one day is grudgingly entertained, if only to attract more people to their live performances.

Potsy recollects, “I remember the time when we discovered the thing. It was a rock and roll night. But we unplugged and just sat on the piano with the guitar and the double bass. And the whole pub went quiet. If that happens you know your melodies work. Because you can’t keep 100 people quiet in a pub… you couldn’t do it if you went there with that aim. That was one of the most amazing moments of my life.”

Hashemoto will play at The National Folk Festival, held over ThursdayMonday April 21-25, where they will be joined by cellist Rebekah Plueckhahn. Tickets are available through the event’s website.

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With that kind of musical involvement, it’s no surprise that I assumed their band name was a musical reference to the 1974 David Bowie short film of the same name. Not so, as it turns out. “It wasn’t intentionally a reference to David Bowie,” Sebastian explains. “The statement is that a lot of people are depressed and are acting their way through their lives, hence being ‘cracked actors’… And then there’s the David Bowie thing.”

Well, that concept certainly makes sense when you listen to Cracked Actor’s music, all of which has a distinctly melancholy tone. Was it all part of the same plan? “I don’t think we did that on purpose, it’s just kind of what came out,” Sebastian says, denying my conspiracy theory. “I think there’s definitely a melancholy edge [to our music], but it’s just what it is.” When I find out shortly after that Sebastian works with children at a primary school for a living, I wonder if perhaps that’s the reason for the melancholia – god knows spending time with children makes me depressed! Sebastian, however, laughs at my silliness. “I’ve never noticed any direct influence from working with children on my music style,” he gently disagrees. “It colours my views on a lot of things, though.”

Although there’s not much out there in terms of recorded material from Cracked Actor currently, there is an EP in the works, with hopefully an imminent launch. When I press for details, Sebastian is charmingly vague. “[The EP] sounds pretty exciting to me! It’s nice to hear.” Is there a title yet? “‘I have an idea of a name, but I haven’t talked to the other guys about it yet, so I don’t think this is the best avenue to bring it up!” Well, the mystery only adds to the suspense – we can expect more from Cracked Actor yet. In the meantime, their triple j Unearthed page hosts some tantalising downloads to satisfy listeners for now. What else do you need to know about the band?

“We’re all standard human beings, with two arms and two legs.” What more do you need, right?

Catch Cracked Actor live at The Phoenix from 8pm on Wednesday March 9 as part of the new label night Gigmund Freud. Entry is free.

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Ball Park Music’s biggest gig so far has been the triple j Aus Music Month party at The Hi-Fi in Brisbane. Of the gig, Cromack says “The capacity of the place is about 800 and it was sold out and full when we got on stage. We’re not used to playing to that number but it was exciting to do so.” At this gig they got to play with Dave McCormack (of Custard fame) which was “surreal and overwhelming but a lot of fun.”

GET THE BALL ROLLING Clare Butterfield As I sat nervously awaiting the phone call that would begin my first ever phone interview, questions started running through my mind.

Did I do enough prep? Do I know We’re not used enough about the band? Will they to playing to 800 people but sense that I’m nervous? What if they it was exciting to don’t like me? What if they think my do so questions are silly? What if I mess it up and my editor gets cranky? As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. After a few minutes chatting with BALL PARK MUSIC’s frontman, Sam Cromack, it was clear that there are no delusions of grandeur and if the rest of the band is anything like Cromack, they’re open, honest and friendly.

The six-piece group that describe their sound as alternative/ breakcore/pop was announced as the Queensland winner of a triple j Unearthed competition in November 2010 and have played with Cloud Control, The Boat People, Philadelphia Grand Jury, and Hungry Kids of Hungary to name a few.

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The band’s sound has often been compared to Custard and it’s a comparison Cromack doesn’t mind. “There are a lot of worse bands that we could be compared to,” he says. “We definitely can’t complain about that comparison.”

The band’s songs have been on high rotation on triple j for a while now, however Cromack says he still gets excited when he hears them being played. At the coffee shop in which Cromack works during the day, his boss turns the radio up so the customers can hear.

They often congratulate him on his success.

Ball Park Music have been spending a lot of time in the studio recently, recording songs as often as they can. They plan to put an EP together in the next few months to “keep the ball rolling” and by the end of the year they hope to put an album out. Cromack says this requires “more money and more commitment” though.

Very soon the band has some deciding to do, according to Cromack.

They’ve had offers to do more tours and to go overseas, and they now need to work out what they can afford to do. Whatever they decide, the band will definitely be keeping busy. They’re touring currently and are itching to release some new music.

Ball Park Music is performing at Transit Bar on Saturday March 5 with We Say Bamboulee as part of the Triple Rainbow Tour, a co-headline tour that was developed as a result of the triple j Unearthed competition. Tickets are $5 on the door.

METALISE

THE REALNESS So, did you hear Radiohead have a new album out? Ha! It seemed the wonderful wide world of the interwebs went crazy with Radiohead fever ahead of the initial digital release of their new (eighth) studio album The King Of Limbs. Bagged myself a copy and listening as I type… on first listen sounding very nice, as expected. Head online to catch a barrage of further opinion and comment on this one (as well as over the page - Ed.).

There’s a nice little batch of fresh new US hip-hop on the horizon from some of my faves. Firstly Strong Arm Steady are following up their Stones Throw release of last year with a new full length on Talib Kweli’s Blacksmith label. Arms & Hammers features production from Blaqthoven, Khalil, Nottz, Terrace Martin, Madlib, 1500 and Jellyroll. All the usual west coast suspects show up to help out – I’m talking the likes of Chace Infinite, Planet Asia and The Game. Also poppin’ up on the release are legends like Krs-One, Too Short and Kweli himself.

After floating around in label hell, poor Saigon is finally getting a release for his much delayed The Greatest Story Never Told through Suburban Noize. I think the record has been finished for at least 3-4 years! Regardless, it is finally dropping and boasts production from Just Blaze, Kanye West and Red Spyda. The guest list is never ending and features appearances from Fatman Scoop, Q-Tip, Jay-Z, Swizz Beatz, Devin The Dude, Black Thought, Bun B, Faith Evans and many more.

On the more leftfield tips is the debut album Outmind from Matthewdavid on Flying Lotus’ in form Brainfeeder label. Due Monday April 18, the record features collaborations with Flying Lotus, Niki Randa, Blank Blue and Dog Bite. The California resident’s music could never be described as immediate, and much like his label boss FlyLo, it takes repeated listens to really let the subtle nuances of his textured sound sink in. Really looking forward to the release and what proves to be another forward-thinking slice of future music from Brainfeeder.

On a similar tip is the much touted duo Hype Williams (no, not the video director!) whose forthcoming album One Nation through the elusive (and always fresh) Hippos In Tanks label. The duo released a couple of awesomely otherworldly lo-fi electronica releases last year taking influence as much from a vast multitude of genres as what is going on inside their own heads! Not much is known about them but One Nation promises to be another evocative trip into their unique world.

Finally, arriving this month is one of my most anticipated full length albums for 2011. Following a multitude of bass driven excursions across a variety of tempos Instra:Mental are set to drop their first artist album proper in April. Resolution 653 will continue the duo’s extensive mining of the territory that exists between d‘n’b, dubstep and techno. According to press release info on the record, the album will further showcase the duo’s “flexibility, with bits of juke and acid thrown into the mix and tempos falling anywhere between 120 and 140bpm.” Can I get a hell yeah!

To hear music from all of these releases and much more tune to The Antidote on 2XX 98.3FM every Tuesday night from 9.30pm for the best in all your fav genres.

ROSHAMBO roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au

Brutal greetings.

As the ringing in the ears of metal fans begins to subside postSoundwave and associated fruits, don’t forget there’s plenty more on this fortnight to keep the neck muscles inflamed from overthrash-itis.

Thursday March 3 at The ANU Bar is a MASSIVE bill of underground heavy gems in the form of France’s Monarch and the USA’s Unearthly Trance, Eagle Twin and Iron Lung being joined by our craziest four-piece 4 Dead on the Heathen Earth tour. I’ve harped on about this show the last couple of columns, and while Monarch’s brand of crushing doom is well known with many recent visits, you simply must, must, must go to this show to see this bill. Big props to Heathen Skulls.

This weekend The Basement boasts a huge local bill on Saturday March 5 with performances from The Sacred Truth, Conspiracy, Looking Glass, Taliesin and Tranquil Deception.

Locals Inside the Exterior have been rolling up their sleeves and have a new EP they’re launching on Friday March 11 at The Basement with a big bill of local talent including Red Bee, Nobody Knew They Were Robots, CHUD and Tranquil Deception. Looking forward to hearing the new work from this always interesting band! The Basement also has a show from Sydney band Engage The Fall on Saturday March 12.

Kyuss Lives! supports were announced last week with Tumbleweed hitting the Sydney show and Byron Bay stoner rockers Fort kicking off the mothballs to do the rest of the shows.

Timely that the excellent doco on Lemmy has been through town in recent weeks ahead of the Motorhead tour for their new album The World Is Yours. The Sydney show is Monday March 28 at The Big Top in Luna Park. With seemingly every pub in Sydney rocking pokies, I’m sure he’ll be happy!

I was saddened to see an obituary in the Canberra Times last week marking the passing of Alec Hurley. Alec was to turn 40 next month, but he spent the last 21 years requiring full time care following an incident in Civic which left him with a severe brain injury. Due to conflicting stories over the incident, his family received a pittance of the compensation Alec needed to look after him comfortably. This prompted his friends Joel, Matt and Lucy from all time local legends Armoured Angel to organise a benefit show for him with eight odd bands that went on to become the country’s longest running heavy music festival, Metal for the Brain.

I went to every one of those shows and had the honour of playing about half of them. Alec’s family took him every year and I hope the fest went some way to help the Hurley family. On behalf of the Australian heavy metal community, I want to extend our condolences and respects to Alec’s parents Liz and Gareth and his family. Vale Alec.

Josh NP: Dragon Time – Saint Vitus – Mournful Cries JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

41

the word

CROSS E X A M IN A TION

on albums

album of the issue pj harvey LET ENGLAND SHAKE [island]

As political unrest burns across the Middle East and North Africa, PJ Harvey’s eighth album, Let England Shake, expounds the human face of bloody conflict in times past and present. Despite its thematic threads of murder, death and “soldiers shot out beyond belief”, it is not a protest album, nor one of political comment.

It is a heart-wrenching picture of the fadeless memories and human viewpoint of her homeland’s war-torn history, and the bloody events abroad in which it has embroiled itself.

What is remarkable is the record’s seamless amalgamation of centuries old styles – the melodies and arrangements echo English folk and vernacular music – with modern flourishes.

A bugle in The Glorious Land, which laments England’s deportation of deformed and orphaned children, sits perfectly alongside a sample of Blood and Fire by Jamaican Niney The Observer in Written on the Forehead, a song of gypsies, fetid rivers, date palms and tangerine trees. Closer and album highlight, The Colour of the Earth, puts a lump in the throat late at night. A soldier’s dearest friend thinks of him still, 20 years on, his bones lying in the earth. As many parts of the world rage, Let England Shake is a beautiful, brutal and poetic reminder of the human faces of war.

JULIA WINTERFLOOD

42

radiohead the king of limbs [self released]

radiohead the king of limbs [self released]

Benedictum Dominion [Riot]

Radiohead made an unsurprising pounce on the internet last week, announcing the sudden release of their eighth studio album. Notions of it being the world’s first ‘newspaper album’ (which is still yet to be fully understood) coincided with thick worldwide anticipation. Fast-forward slightly, and millions of faces around the globe are simultaneously painted in light provided by Youtube and the hyper-expressionistic dance of Thom Yorke. The video is the terribly rhythmic Lotus Flower; a marriage of Yorke’s falsetto and the bands off-centre ability to haunt. The video planted puzzled looks around the traps, but it was soon marred with acceptance as the rest of TKOL trickled into existence.

Bloom opens shop, delivering a Steve Reich influenced display of pouring horns, strings and electronic echoes. The percussion pulsates maturely throughout the song – as it does throughout most of the album.

Saying that, some sections feel like dance music cloaked in Radiohead, allowing the quieter numbers to stand out. As the first syrupy half is seemingly Warp records influenced, it’s the last four tracks that truly glow. Codex burns with furious minimal intensity, halting the momentum charmingly. Give up The Ghost is next, a true example of genius crescendo.

The slow-motion layers seep into closing track Separator swimmingly. The optimistic melody is akin to an early morning, and closes the swift 37 minutes of TKOL on an unusually upbeat tone. All in all: grand.

It comes as no surprise that The King of Limbs is a surprise.

An album of swells rather than climaxes, Radiohead’s newest finds them shadow boxing from all angles, choosing carefully meditated peaks over gloves-off confrontation.

Detached but never indifferent, the dark ambition of this inimitable record truly blooms and unfurls with enough patience, and while the payoff is remarkable, the need for absolute attention is one that the unfamiliar may not choose to give. TKOL demonstrates clarity through considered cohesion, where songs intertwine root-like, elevating the art form of the album in its gorgeously thematic tapestry.

For the first half of the record, cold electronics are braced by masterful multi-limbic percussive drive; tense rhythms punctuated by nether-worldly ambience, with understated bass and guitars used to maximum effect. Instrumental Feral is a nod to the bass blasts of London’s dubstep, closing the beat-centric first half in a brief summation. The second half is sublime, all restrained passion and wide-eyed future soul, stray melodic passages leaping out from the cover of darkness every so often. The shaky swoon of Codex is dreamily complemented by the quietly apocalyptic strains of album zenith Give Up the Ghost; this one-two punch is among one of the finest in their career. This is their most abstract; they show a willingness to delve further into even more unconventional structure and atmospherics.

Brilliant.

Female fronted metal bands are surely the phenomenon in ‘our kind of music’ of the last decade; so much so entire record labels have been formed purely to release ‘product’ of this nature, so what, if anything, separates Benedictum from this sea of general pulchritude?

palimah panichit

scott adams

travis heinrich

Not much, as it goes.

Benedictum are a bunch of US veterans (you know what I mean by that, right?) dedicated to upholding the values of traditional metal, whilst still acknowledging that it’s 2011.

To this end, what you, the end user, receives is a sleek, well oiled production (supplied by former Dokken bassman Jeff Pilson) that pushes the guitars of Pete Wells to the max whilst still adding enough bleeps and processed beats to keep the interest of the young people piqued throughout the album.

Pride of place, of course, goes to vocalist Veronica Freeman, and it’s her sandpapery growl that keeps things interesting through even the most workaday material (of which there is a fair amount it has to be said). They save the best ‘til last – Epsilon is an excellent slab of icily efficient space metal that really rewards anyone who’s managed to get through the rest of the sturm und drang, whilst lucky owners of copies of Dominion with the bonus track Sanctuary on it will be counting themselves truly fortunate, because that song, which somehow brings to mind Uriah Heep at their very best, may well be yet the best thing this band ever record. Seek it out.

singled out

with Dave Ruby Howe

dali’s angels nightswim [Point Studios Productions] In their time away from silky missions on behalf of the mysterious phone-voiced Dali, these concerned young Angels have put together an enjoyably pumping album. The ten tracks are impressively diverse, thoughtfully played and well conceived with the proud stamp of popular song.

Main vocalist, Luke Costelloe, is endowed with a clear and beautiful voice which brings shine to every verse. The album begins with the grooving title track, a buoyant ode to the teasing loveliness of she who unreservedly nightswims. The proud ABBA-esque bounce of its opening moments quickly gives way to a tight indie rock deployment in which the Angels have an easy fluency, and proves to be the album’s sonic bedrock.

The ultimate unattainability of our nightswimmer prefaces the habitually brooding themes of the later songs: at the heart of Microscopes is a troubled frustration at the allocation of human resources, I Don’t Believe is a loudspeaker call for the reappraisal of popular information and its sources and the fierce Pulse Goes Up explores personal decay and a crippled exhaustion – “I had a battery but she drained away.” Dali’s serious face is dropped for some musical wit in the penultimate tale of Ethyl and her damaging gambling habits; a story proceeding with solemn detail. The energy of these stern social comments is concentrated by the solid production quality, resulting in an album with both flesh and discernible bones. joe oppenheimer

Scaramouche Access Denied [Independent] Once Melbourne based, Scaramouche are now firmly entrenched in the ACT scene.

Victoria’s loss is our gain as Pat Little and the boys are frequently seen gigging at venues such as The Maram and ANU. These local lads made good have delivered Access Denied as their debut EP of retro fuelled garage rock.

The influence of their quoted sources of inspiration, Queens of the Stone Age, Led Zeppelin and Faith No More comes through clearly in the tracks.

Scaramouche’s sheer energy bounds ahead in the opener Set Sail. Pat gives a screaming countdown before the band launches into the berko licks from the lead guitar and raging vocals that make this an EP highlight. With its ever varying melody and tempo the track is a musical journey through the age of long hair, fluoro colours and flares.

The score then flips over to the down and dirty blues of the title track, beginning with some juicy bass lines and a riff that’s a real foot tapper. Fistful is a psychedelic masterpiece, with just a tang of Wolfmother in the mix that follows a hippy trail of cascading riffs to a reverberating finish. Midnight Itch is another winner, starting with slow, mellow riffs before morphing into a complex web of sound with a hint of Zeppelin influences in the vocals.

Scaramouche are still in a productive phase as their website promises more to come with work on the next release already underway.

RORY McCARTNEY

Sonic Youth Simon Werner a Disparu [Sonic Youth Recordings] After an almost three decade career that has delivered a string of critically acclaimed albums, Sonic Youth could be forgiven for taking things down a gear. Busily pursuing solo projects and still riding the success of their outstanding 2009 album The Eternal, the band somehow found time to score French film director Fabrice Gobert’s new thriller Simon Werner a Disparu. The film represents the ninth release in the bands Sonic Youth Recordings series.

Started in 1996 as an outlet to release less ‘traditional’ album oriented material, the Sonic Youth Recording Series has flourished into a pleasing series of noise experiments and improvised collaborations.

Each release in the series brings something new and exciting and is a welcome supplement to the commercial studio albums put out by the band.

Clocking in just short of an hour, Simon Werner a Disparu is more suited to those with an interest in experimental music as opposed to the casual listener.

The compositions often sound stark and somewhat haunting, marked by feedback and piercing guitars. Tracks such as Jean-Baptiste et Laetitia serve to break up the hum, employing soft piano that heightens the suspense and atmosphere. Au Café is the standout, where trademark effects-laden Sonic Youth guitar is allowed to run free on top of a restrained and gentle beat. Whilst an enjoyable listen, the album is best heard in full and slips down on a track by track basis.

Liam Demamiel

Chromeo Hot Mess [Turbo] Chromeo’s pristine retro pop is still rattling my cage and Hot Mess is another air-tight little jam. Synth squiggles wound up and let loose like slinkies, bouncy drum machines and some trademark talk-box all collide for, well, a hot mess. The La Roux feature is certainly a nice touch too.

Coupons Driving To Your House Party [Disco Texas] Sydney youngsters Coupons make their first impression count with this Disco Texas release, whipping up a nodding adventure in kaleidoscopic electronica. Far from a rave-up, it builds and builds to a tasty little finish.

Dash & Will Animal [UMA] This could’ve been better. The little ‘doo doo doo’ hook works but Dash & Will don’t seem particularly comfortable being pop stars. It’s not dreadful, it’s just... adequate. And nobody wants a hooky pop tune to be like a visit to Big W.

Lady Gaga Born This Way [UMA] So Lady Gaga spent the last 12 months holed up in a German gay club listening to hardfloor remixes of Madonna and David Guetta? Actually, that’s probably not far off for her. But anyway, this blows chunderous, cheesy chunks. And not in a good way.

43

the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

The winners of the BAFTAS (basically the British equivalent of the Oscars) have been announced! Not surprisingly, The King’s Speech swept the awards, winning Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Leading Actor (Colin Firth), Supporting Actor (Geoffrey Rush), and Supporting Actress (Helena Bonham Carter). The King’s Speech was a good film – in an obvious, feel-good, AcademyAward-wannabe kind of way – but Bonham Carter’s award seems odd. Were people honestly so surprised by seeing her act normal for once, that they were tricked into thinking hers was an especially challenging role?

quote of the issue

“Hey there, Aron!

Is it true that you didn’t tell anyone where you were going?” Aron Ralston (James Franco), 127 Hours

127 Hours

Hereafter

No Strings Attached

The ever-diverse Danny Boyle’s latest film is 127 Hours: a gutwrenching, stomach-churning, nail-biting, body part-affecting film based on the true story of Aron Ralston. In brief, a young rock climber (James Franco) gets trapped under a boulder in the Utah desert for five days, and eventually saws off his own arm to escape.

Here’s an idea – instead of seeing Hereafter, go and watch your neighbour mow the lawn.

Or watch an ant drag a crumb to its nest. Or... well, you get the picture.

No Strings Attached is satisfying in a standard ‘onenight stand’ sort of way: there’s some perfunctory charming involved and the whole thing is entirely enjoyable, but ultimately it’s a little bit forgettable.

Although the film is ostensibly about the 127 hours that Ralston spends trapped under a rock, it actually covers far more ground, showing the ways in which Ralston has been separated from the people around him – his friends and family – for a far longer period of time. It’s the emotional journey involved that really allows Franco to show what he’s made of. The subtle interplay of emotions across his face – and the fact that he carries the film almost entirely by himself – shows that Franco is a force to be reckoned with.

Boyle’s typically exuberant directorial style has been criticised for the unreality it lends to Ralston’s story; rather than a slow-paced and depressive slog towards death, 127 Hours presents a hyperactive hyper-tense race towards the finish.

But the frantic and frenetic editing actually enhances the experience. The ecstatic direction allows the audience to feel some of Ralston’s rush of adrenalin.

Thanks to Boyle’s direction, 127 Hours flies by – though the gory arm-sawing sequence feels a bit like it lasts a lifetime.

Melissa Wellham

44

Hereafter is dull and pointless.

The script is terrible – drawn out, full of clichés (“It’s not a gift, it’s a curse!”), and frustratingly stupid. The ending is contrived, and overall I was left bewildered.

There are three storylines in the film – Marie Lelay, who has just had a near-death experience; George Lonegan (Matt Damon), a psychic whose ‘gift’ is just too much of a burden; and the young Marcus, who has suffered a terrible loss. We’re supposed to connect with these characters, and ponder deep thoughts about life itself and the afterlife. Sadly, the film just makes you wonder what the hell Clint Eastwood thought he was doing with this film, what’s up with Bryce Dallas Howard’s hair, and how many scenes of Damon eating by himself does Eastwood think we need to make us understand that he’s lonely.

About halfway through, I’d well and truly given up any hope of dramatic tension or an effective climax, and just wanted the credits to roll.

For a film that’s meant to be deep and meaningful, Hereafter doesn’t actually inspire you to think about the big issues at all.

Utterly forgettable, only bother with this film if you’re sick of doing worthwhile things with your time.

MEGAN McKEOUGH

Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) are casual acquaintances who become casual sexpartners, deciding to keep their relationship strictly ‘no strings attached.’ But as their friendship deepens, being friends-with-benefits becomes more difficult, and they find themselves falling for each other. What a conundrum!

The obstacle keeping Emma and Adam apart – i.e. their own obstinacy – is so insubstantial that it’s difficult to care about their problems. They’re going to be together, and the heartbreak on the road to happiness will be minimal. As such a brief synopsis would imply No Strings Attached has about as much plot as Portman has height – that is, not much.

Conversely, the ratio of seminaked romps the audience is shown is closer to representing Kutcher’s towering frame.

(Seriously, Kutcher is freakishly tall. He is like some sort of overgrown man-child, what with his youthful schoolboy face, yet unnaturally large hands.)

Still, Kutcher is less annoying than usual, and it’s nice to see Portman doing comedy. Though the difference in talent and attractiveness between the two is widely divergent. I’m just saying, if I had to have a onenight stand with either of them…

I’d pick Portman. (Hot. -Ed.).

MELISSA WELLHAM

the word on dvds

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work [Madman]

Jersey Shore – Season 2 [MTV]

Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam: Series One and Two [Madman]

Joan Rivers was a trailblazer. As much as she demurs from that accolade – not out of any sense of reserved humility but more a defensive “I’m still alive, you fucker” – there she was in the mid ‘60s spewing taboo jokes about abortion, women’s rights, her husband in a society where women were meant to be in the kitchen, pregnant and silent.

There’s little that can be said about Jersey Shore except that it is a train wreck of a show that is so bad it’s good. Despite the controversy that surrounded season one, Pauly D, Snooki, JWOWW, Sammi, Ronnie, Vinny, Angelina and The Situation are back – out to have a good time while MTV picks up the bill.

Despite the explosion of TV chefs over the last decade there are very few personalities with actual skills. Rick Stein is one.

On the surface, a dotty bumbler spilling ingredients and drifting into tangential anecdotes about rivers, underneath lays an encyclopaedic knowledge and a damn good chef. Anthony Bourdain is another. But he’s more an international caustic wit/brand/travel writer/ad for smoking into your ‘40s than actual chef. Luke Nguyen, however, is the real deal: a respected chef running a successful restaurant who also happens to be a natural, affable screen talent.

When Johnny Carson, the doyen of Late Night television, said “you’ll be a star”, it set into motion a train of events that was self-fulfilling. Doors opened where once they slammed, projects dropped in her lap and through it all Rivers continued as the ribald voice of a generation of female comics.

But when she made the fateful decision to use that notoriety and dive head first into one of those projects (a talk show, natch) Carson disowned her for life – never once speaking to her again before his death in 2005.

During the course of this ‘all access’ doco, Rivers lands a gig on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice with her daughter.

She wins, launching another round of press attention and career momentum she so needs and craves to survive. Rivers would probably drop dead if she ever stopped, a point she makes early; an empty calendar is one of her worst fears.

Although A Piece of Work provides a comprehensive review of Rivers’ intriguing and troubled background it largely sidesteps the issue that has come to define Rivers in her twilight years – plastic surgery.

Maybe the subject doesn’t deserve that much attention; it’s simply who she now is, the source of a cheap gag. But the deeper personal, psychological wounds she carries and the superficial physical ones on public display and how they are so obviously intertwined is either ignored or addressed in passing. For all the bluster, there are clearly some areas still off limits for Joan Rivers.

JUSTIN HOOK

For those who steer clear of reality TV and trashy magazines, Jersey Shore is about eight ‘guidos’ and ‘guidettes’ – allegedly typical Italian-American 20-somethings – spending the summer away from home at a beach house on the Jersey Shore. They are filmed constantly as they go about their days, and have to work crappy retail jobs to help pay for the beach house. Their primary activities are GTL – gym, tanning and laundry. Secondary to these are getting drunk and being twats. The latter part is the joy of Jersey Shore.

Season two sees the gang heading to Miami to escape the winter cold of Northern America. All the housemates return and the tensions from season one have built to an unsustainable point. Sammi and Ronnie are continuing their off again, on again relationship and his behaviour in nightclubs leads the other girls to take action to help gal pal Sammi.

This backfires and ends up in a series of intense fights and bitching sessions. The other boys continue to search for hot chicks to ‘smush’ whilst avoiding ‘grenades’.

Season two isn’t as good. The newfound popularity see the gang as instantly recognisable, often spending nights in the VIP areas of clubs rather than mingling with the masses. Also because of their fame they have to put in very little effort to attract men and women and watching them routinely strike out and have their massive egos shattered was half the fun of season one.

Clare Butterfield

One of the most appealing aspects of Nguyen – and both his SBS series – is his respectful treatment of the willing local props. We’re all used to images of celebrity chefs barging into kitchens to get their hands dirty, but when Nguyen does it there’s a palpable sense of respect and awareness. Not only does he converse freely in local dialect but he’s willing to cede the cooking utensils to those who spend almost every backbreaking waking hour at the grill for the sake of the dish. Contrast this to another local chef of Asian origin who could barely string a ‘thank you’ together in native tongue.

Of course, all of Nguyen’s charisma and self-deprecating goofiness would count for nought if his recipes and skills were off. I’m no expert in Viet cuisine but my other half and her family – who settled in the same Sydney suburb as Luke’s family in the mid ‘80s exodus – confirm their authenticity.

Although some of the more challenging stunt dishes (still beating snake heart) are at best, localised delicacies. This is as close to that aromatic smell of charcoal grilled pork, sweet aromatic fresh herbs and nosetingling rich fish sauce as you’ll ever get onscreen.

JUSTIN HOOK

45

the word

BLACKBOX

on games

Top Gear Where’s Stig Seller: BBC Worldwide Platform: iPhone Length: 1-2 hrs Rating: Take or leave Price: $3.99 Tired of trying to find some red and white stripey jumpered dickhead, his bong smoking wizard friend and that other brown and yellow c**t? Well wish no more as you can now look for the Stig, his wanker mates, and James May. You won’t be entertained for hours on end by this one, nor will you really be challenged by it either, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. The game has a playful style to it and like the books it’s based on, it’s strangely addictive. It would be nice if there was a bit more to spot and a bit more depth to the actual gameplay, but at least it doesn’t mess up this classic formula.

Pinball HD Seller: Gameprom Platform: iPhone Length: 1+ hrs Rating: Take or leave Price: $1.19 Ironically, repetition is probably my most used word throughout all my reviews, but on this occasion it’s definitely necessary. Not only does Infinity Blade consist entirely of consecutive one on one duels, when you’re inevitably popped off by the head honcho, you do it literally all again… and again, until eventually you can return the favour. I was amazed, though, how long such a format kept me gripped. While of course the steady upgrading and game centre achievements help to keep things interesting, it’s the feel and diversity of the combat, along with the inherent desire to master it that kept me hooked. So whilst a single play through (or bloodline) will take less than half an hour, all up there’s still a few solid hours of play here.

Camera+ Seller: Inventive Platform: iPhone Length: N/A Rating: Worth grabbing Price: $1.19 Camera+ improves on Apple’s camera app in many ways. The hang time after taking an image is shorter, allowing the user to take images more rapidly. You can also use your second finger to set the white point, meaning you can finally get a good pic even when the background is freaking bright. It also allows for cropping and provides enough filters to keep any fucking hipster happy (although you can only apply one per image). Whilst the interface also looks great, it’s also a little clumsy. The app also doesn’t really integrate with the photo collection much (an issue Apple are no doubt to blame for). As such, whilst this is probably the best of the camera substitutes, I do still find myself using Apple’s when I just want a quick and easy pic.

TORBEN SKO

46

History as a telly subject usually conjures up images of war films, costume dramas, pointed Englishmen telling you about the saucy goings on in palaces, sepia toned photographs of heroic figures and nothing after the end of World War II. Of course some of the most interesting parts of history are much more pedestrian – the way normal people lived their lives in centuries past, the tools they used to do it and how technology developed. Why, for example, were four different electrical plugs invented and how did people find this out before Wikipedia? This is what makes low budget gems like Turn Back Time: The High Street (ABC2, Thu Mar 10, 8.30pm) so worthwhile. The show sees five shopkeepers and their families set up shop and conduct their lives exactly as merchants did in six earlier eras, beginning in the 1870s and moving through to the 1970s.

The shops include The Butchers, The Bakers, The Ironmongers, The Chemist, The Dress Maker, The Record Shop and The Convenience Store Owners. Not sure what a record shop sold in the 1870s (pianoforte rolls?) or what the Ironmonger sells today. Let’s hope they do a second series moving from the 1970s to the 2010s.

The folks at WIN are ‘revamping’ This is Your Life (WIN, Mon, 8.30pm) to make it more contemporary. There’s only one way to turn a self-congratulatory bio-pic interesting – make it funny and Star Stories already did that. WIN have chosen to chuck in some musical numbers (probably from stars with an album to sell) and more Hollywood celebrities (ditto). Whites (ABC1, Thu Mar 10, 9.30pm) is a new BBC comedy that shouldn’t be missed. Set in the kitchen of a country hotel, it’s written by comedic actors Oliver Lansley (FM) and Matt King (Peep Show) and stars Alan Davies and Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd). Not one-liner, laugh out loud funny but good for a chuckle.

Also coming are Harry’s Law (WIN, Sun Mar 6, 9.30pm) – a new legal dramedy (go figure) from David E. Kelley starring Kathy Bates as a curmudgeonly patent lawyer, and new seasons of Deadwood (ABC2, Mon Mar 14, 9.30pm), Being Human (ABC2, Fri Mar 18, 8.30pm) and The Tudors (ABC2, Fri Mar 18, 9.30pm).

Re-enchantment (ABC2, Sun Mar 6, 4.30pm and 10.30pm) is a new cross-media documentary that explores why fairytales continue to enchant and horrify adult audiences. They will be aired on TV as three minute animations between programs, with an interactive online documentary available at www.abc.net/tv/re-enchantment and sound recordings of the fairytales on ABC Radio National’s Sunday Story (ABC Radio National, Sun, 8.30am).

Other docos to look out for include How Earth Made Us (ABC1, Tue Mar 8, 8.30pm), a five parter about how the Earth’s natural forces have shaped human civilisation, The Stonewall Uprising (SBS1, Tue Mar 15, 10.05pm) which looks at the beginning of the gay rights movement in the US, Jennifer Byrne Presents: Cult Reads (ABC1, Tue Mar 15, 10pm) and Raw Opium (SBS1, Sun Mar 6, 9.30pm) which charts the history of opium.

Dog lovers will be happy to see Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan (ABC1, Mon Mar 7, 6.30pm). Blackbox is particularly keen to see the ferocious chihuahua in episode one. Hot tip: avoid GEM on Thursdays unless you are watching with your Nanna. It’s heavy on the old lady comedy with As Time Goes By (GEM, Thu, 7.30pm), The Golden Girls (GEM, Thu, 8.30pm) and Hot in Cleveland (GEM, Thu, 9pm). Saving grace? Judi Dench and Betty White.

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyheffernan@bigpond.com

47

the word

Summer Rhythm Festival - Day One Goolabri Resort Saturday February 19

on gigs

I may be getting old, but the unmentionable festival I attended last year did nothing but leave me highly annoyed, broke, avowed to never camp with anyone below 23 years of age and despaired at the police state today’s youth have grown accustomed to at prevailing, so-called indie festivals.

So, it was incredibly refreshing to be able to go to a local festival where I didn’t have to line up in various interminable queues for every conceivable basic need: drinks, food, toilets, kebabs. And where I wasn’t dogged by security for bringing in, not a weapon or illicit substances, but an innocuous water bottle.

The third instalment of the Summer Rhythm Festival this year raised funds for beyondblue, an organisation committed to addressing mental health issues. Despite the great cause, the plentiful line-up and the scenic venue, it was woefully disappointing that many Canberrans failed to come out and support this local, not for profit initiative.

It definitely wasn’t for want of good music, the best of which came mostly from local acts. Canberra’s own Raw City Rukus, for example, were an early highlight on That Stage. With a funk-exuding live band providing the grooves, the two MCs, Jizzy and Big RIB, plus Imogen Spong on vox drew a sizeable mob of dancers despite the persistent rain on day one.

Sydney’s Xannon Shirley, aka The Tongue, performing alongside party DJ extraordinaire Joyride, kept the hip-hop heads nodding. The former triple j presenter even broke into a pizza themed freestyle as suggested by a punter.

On the Other Stage, located next to an increasingly regular phenomenon at Aussie festivals, the chai tent, the quirky charm of Big Score impressed. The warped folk-pop five-piece were followed by the melancholy tones and romantic presence of Julia & The Deep Sea Sirens.

By the time latin rock/ska/reggae powerhouse Los Chavos hit This Stage, the heavens took pity on us and the rain made way for some impious gyrations on the grassy dancefloor. The diminutive frontman, originally hailing from Bolivia, punched well above his height, delivering an energy driven and charismatic performance.

Then, after stocking up on Perky Jerky and beer (paid for with recycled cans a little embarrassingly scouted for by my trusty sidekick), I was immediately back on the dancefloor for the Red Eyes.

Although I was keen to check out Modular’s deep dub disco duo Canyons performing on That Stage (who I heard were amazing), it was literally impossible to tear myself away from the Eyes’ hypnotic reggae rhythms and melodies. Yep, I’m making the call: the Melbourne-based monster band is the best dub/reggae outfit I’ve seen in Australia to date.

PHOTOS: Astrid Breuer

Headlining on That Stage, the man behind Katalyst, Ashley Anderson, and Curtis Mayfield-channelling Steve Spacek as Space Invadas were impressive with their tight, dynamic and soul-filled set. The duo far eclipsed their performance at said unmentionable festival last year. (They also gave me a shout out for having “sweet moves”. Aw yeah. -Ed.).

Sydneysiders The Beautiful Girls finished the night off aplomb as the rootsy, folksy, pop­­py final act, after which the obligatory festival fire twirlers and drumming circles broke out.

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Summer Rhythm Festival Goolabri Resort Saturday-Sunday February 19-20 Day two’s first (ahem… natural) high came on That Stage with local outfit Readable Graffiti, whose catchy electro pop, punchy ‘80s drum machine beats and crazy genius lyrics were definitely pushing the fun buttons.

the word

on gigs

Another comic frontman was that of the quirky, theatrical, gypsyinspired Mr Fibby. Bedecked in 19th century garb, the Canberrabased act featured a trio of violin, cello and guitar pluckings, while the Estonian accented narrator spun dark, spidery tales of death and peculiar comedy.

Meanwhile on This Stage, popular native outfit Dub Dub Goose attracted a jiving crowd as the brass-heavy band and lead singer Beth Monzo oozed their jazz, ska, funk and reggae beats.

Closing the curtains on This Stage were Bondi reggae veterans King Tide, now regulars at the Summer Rhythm Festival. Lead singer Tony Hughes may be old enough to be an enviably cool grandpa, but he’s got a stage presence that leaves you more electrified than that weird earthing problem in the laundry and a voice so hoarse and honeyed, you know you’re listening to some truly regal reggae.

A highlight on the hip-hop front, Melbourne emcee Phrase generously handed out a six pack on That Stage to eager punters.

But in the humble opinion of this narrator it was his manager and back up turntablist DJ Flagrant who really had ears buzzing with his absurd scratching abilities and choice as beats.

Even though most of these bands played to much smaller crowds than they’re probably used to, they were all so humbly appreciative and supportive of the festival organisers. They certainly didn’t hold back on giving us top shelf performances.

The sound setups were great (especially for the bands that brought their own sound dude), and the stages and general layout were well thought out. The only thing missing was you, you lazy, insolent excuse for people.

Had you known the quality of the diverse range of roots, reggae, funk, folk, electro, dub, hip-hop and some downright bizarre outfits spread over three stages, would you have made a more concerted effort to support the local scene?

Sadly, one feels that although the festival proved that Canberra does indeed have a rich base of local acts, it’s unlikely any of you spoiled, over indulged, apathetic folk would’ve taken the plunge without the attraction of some bigger names.

But then with the bigger names comes the masses, the queues, the totalitarian rigour of crowd control and the increasingly disturbing element of the festival bogan. So yeah, you vapid, parochial so called music buffs, you throw your money away at your Big Days Out and your Splendours in the Grass, and leave us to the smaller, far more vibing festivals and the dark arts of reverse psychology.

KG (with help from KB and Julia Winterflood)

PHOTOS: cole bennetts

49

GIG GUIDE March 02 - March 05 wednesday march 02 Arts Blaze 5

Emerging Artists Showcase. Running until April 2.

Something Different Fame Trivia / $5 Night

Round up your smartest friends and show them off with Fame Trivia every Wed night.

TRANSIT BAR

thursday march 03

Pacific Arts from the Solomon Islands.

‘Til May 29. Free.

Arts

National Photographic Portrait Prize

Exhibition of elegant and absorbing works by Natalie Mather. ‘Til March 13.

Opening 6pm Thurs Mar 3.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

The best of amateur and professional photo-portraits from around the country.

‘Til April 26.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Paper, Scissors, Rock

A cross media exhibition by Suse Illschner and Liz Igoe-Taylor. ‘Til March 11.

BELCONNEN GALLERY

comedy Open Mic Comedy Night 8pm, free.

POT BELLY BAR

Gabriel Gilmour and The Monotremes

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

The music of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.

Bookings: 6275 2700.

Open Mic Night 9pm, free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Varilaku

The Ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll Jam Session

Soft Peaks

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

POT BELLY BAR

Chicago Charles

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Monarch

7.30pm, $15.

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

Dance 4Sound Presents Sinful Thursdays

THE PHOENIX PUB

friday march 04 Arts (in)human

An informal dance performance by 8 dancers and discussion. Free but RSVP by emailing rsvp@QL2.org.au .

Open Decks

HIPPO LOUNGE

Mario Gordon

Ben Marston

8pm.

D’Opus

Wednesday Lunchtime Live

Faux Real

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

With Tommy Trash.

Kid dynamite on the wheels of steel.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Rock Nation Unplugged

Live

8pm, free.

THE HUSH LOUNGE, PHILLIP

Darren Hanlon

Our nation’s most wonderful wordsmith, presented by yours truly, BMA. But it’s sold out, of course! .

THE STREET THEATRE

Captain, My Captain THE PHOENIX PUB

Spooky Germans Haunt the Wesley Music Centre 12.30-1.30pm, $2.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Peter Akhurst

Cherie, Love; Sage, Pleased to Jive You. THE PHOENIX PUB

Guineafowl

The Hello Anxiety EP tour with Readable Graffiti and Crash the Curb. $10+bf pre/$12 door.

TRANSIT BAR

The Bridge Between 6-10pm.

BELGIAN BEER CAFE

BNatural

Lounge music from 7-10pm.

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

Dirty Rascalls HIPPO LOUNGE

Elder statesman archivist.

With Rachel Thorne.

Oh Mercy

Great Barrier Grief tour. Tix through Moshtix.

THE MARAM, ERINDALE CENTRE

Music for Queensland

An evening of Strauss, Rossini, VillaLobos, Brahms and Kats-Chernin. www. music.anu.edu.au .

LLEWELLYN HALL

saturday march 05 Arts (in)human

An informal dance performance by 8 dancers and discussion. Free but RSVP by emailing rsvp@QL2.org.au QL2 THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE

Academy Fridays

Comedy

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Raw Comedy

Belzebass [Italy] THE CLUBHOUSE

Sculpture Bar

Enjoy the smooth sounds of Frank Madrid and Jonty Hall with some Veuve Clicquot on the side. 5pm.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Soul B In It

Let Buick and the crew lay down only the finest soul drenched grooves to ease in the weekend.

TRANSIT BAR

With MC Dave Thornton. Tickets at the door. 8pm.

TILLEY’S DIVINE CAFE

Dance Jemist

HIPPO LOUNGE

Nathan Frost

The long arm of the cocktail law.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Academy Saturdays With Jared de Veer.

Live

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Chicago Charles

Your weekly indie/alt dance party. $5.

Rev

Free live from music 8pm.

BAR 32

Atlantis Awaits

R&B, hip-hop, oldskool, anthems with DJs Karma Stylez and MC Tee. 10pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

With Bellusira. 7pm.

ANU ARTS CENTRE

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KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

QL2 THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE

MONKEY BAR

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

Special K

CASINO CANBERRA

With Rubycon, Evan Packard. 9pm, free.

Dance

Adam Cook – piano. 12.40.

UCU REFECTORY

Tonight Alright

Ft. B-tham (RawFM), Team Wing, The Zizz, Kimosabi. $5 from 9.30pm.

LOT 33

With The Subs (Belgium) and Tai (Germany). Tickets through Ticketek.

Lucy Jamison

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Live HIPPO LOUNGE

Dizzee Rascal

7.30pm.

Comedy Comedy Fundraiser

Versatile electronic sounds ranging from minimal to progressive. Gabe is BMA’s favourite DJ! 7.30pm.

Urban Playground MONKEY BAR

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GIG GUIDE March 05 - March 11 saturday march 05

monday march 07

Fame Trivia / $5 Night

live

Live

The Sacred Truth

Sam McLaren

THE BASEMENT

Moustache-querade!

Drew Walky, Andriano Tedde, Mudpie Princess.

A Pocket Fox EP fundraiser with James Fahy, Fun Machine, Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens. 5pm, $5.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Brass and Things

THE PHOENIX PUB

21 FOX PLACE LYNEHAM

With Brass’ere, Raw Honey Choir, Hall Village Brass Band. 4pm, free.

MT STROMLO OBSERVATORY

Francesca Sidoti

She’s old school, eclectic and pumped to be back at The Front. 8pm, $5.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Kooky Fandango

Sam McLaren, Drew Walky, Adriano Tedde, Mudpie Princess. 8pm, free.

something different Hospitality: Nurse Your Wounds

Come nurse the wounds of a working weekend with Canberra’s finest start-oda-week shindig.

TRANSIT BAR

tuesday march 08

The Fuelers

THE PHOENIX PUB

Sun drenched harmonies and shimmering melodies. What more could you want? $5 on the door.

TRANSIT BAR

sunday march 06

Live Karaoke Love

A cross between Big Star, Crowded House and The Beatles with Cam McLennan in support. 7.30pm, $5.

HOLY GRAIL, KINGSTON

Jimmy Carr Aaron Peacey.

THE PHOENIX PUB

thursday march 10 Arts 42nd Street

Open Mic Night 9pm, free.

POT BELLY BAR

Dos Locos

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

The classic toe tapping, high energy musical. Tickets: www.philo.org.au. ‘Til March 26.

ERINDALE THEATRE, WANNIASSA

The Displaced

7.30pm, $25/$18 concession and groups of 5.

THE STREET THEATRE

Cockroach

A damning exploration of the need for resilience and adaptation. Info: www. cytc.net .

C BLOCK THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE

friday march 11 Arts Master & Servant

Bookings: 6275 2700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au . ‘Til March 19.

COURTYARD STUDIO, CTC

The Displaced

7.30pm, $25/$18 concession and groups of 5.

Dance

THE STREET THEATRE

Trivia Night

Open Decks

THE PHOENIX PUB

LOT 33

A damning exploration of the need for resilience and adaptation. Info: www. cytc.net .

TRANSIT BAR

Every Tuesday!

wednesday march 09

8pm.

Funk’n Gonutz

Deep funk, breaks, and more with Buick and crew.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Sunday Sessions On The Deck

Arts

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

Cockroach

Pro Blues & Roots Jam

TRANSIT BAR

Lavers

Come. Sing. Win. Be Awesome.

live With 8 Ball Aitken. 2pm, free.

Round up your smartest friends and show them off with Fame Trivia every Wed night.

The Bootleg Sessions

CASINO CANBERRA

Ball Park Music and We Say Bamboulee

Something Different

A damning exploration of the need for resilience and adaptation. Info: www. cytc.net .

Live Chain Gang Feelin’ Crazy Tour

Cockroach

C BLOCK THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE

Dance Party By Jake

Everybody’s fav party. By everybody’s fav Jake. Bring your A-game to the floor.

Free Entry.

TRANSIT BAR

C BLOCK THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE

Come and witness the thunderous pop doom of Sydney’s much loved Chain Gang. Tickets $8 + BF.

Live

Thousand Needles in Red

No comment.

Half Italian, half English, the four-piece band is a tight combo that will make you jump and dance.

The Art

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

D’Opus

Soiree

HIPPO LOUNGE

Featuring Chris Mawer Band. 2pm, free.

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

Sunday Best 5-7pm, free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Teddy Bros Bunch

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

7pm.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Ben Marston

Classic hits from 1-3pm.

Wednesday Lunchtime Live

Irish Chill Out Sessions

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

HIPPO LOUNGE

Jemist

7pm.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

You Are Here Festival

5pm-8pm.

Turn to page 21 for the calendar, or head to youareherecanberra.com.au for all the info.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

HIPPO LOUNGE

Young Blood

Presented by Peking duK. ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Teegan Peemoeller – harp. 12.40.

Velvet

HIPPO LOUNGE

Live

Rock Nation Unplugged

Lavers

Inside The Exterior

8pm, free.

THE HUSH LOUNGE, PHILLIP

Gigmund Freud Label Night

Killing Birds, Cracked Actor, Orbits, Waterford.

THE PHOENIX PUB

52

TRANSIT BAR

Touch of Soul

A cross between Big Star, Crowded House and The Beatles with Cam McLennan in support. 7.30pm, $5.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Red Bee (NSW), Nobody Knew They Were Robots (Syd), Chud and Tranquil Deception.

THE BASEMENT

GIG GUIDE March 11 - March 16 friday march 11 live Live at the Sculpture Garden

Cockroach

A damning exploration of the need for resilience and adaptation. Info: www. cytc.net .

Dance

Rennee & I

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

HIPPO LOUNGE

Free live music from 8pm.

You Are Here Festival

Turn to page 21 for the calendar, or head to youareherecanberra.com.au for all the info.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Enlighten: George Benson Only Australian show. enlightencanberra.com .

COMMONWEALTH PLACE

Canberra Festival

Celebrate Canberra’s 98th birthday with music, food, film, theatre and special events. ‘Til March 20 VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Lavers

A cross between Big Star, Crowded House and The Beatles with Cam McLennan in support. 7.30pm, $5.

SOUL BAR

Lachlan Coventry Duo CASINO CANBERRA

The Last Prom

Including Crash The Curb, Assassins 88, Readable Graffiti, 9pm.

OLD DICK SMITH, CIVIC

Lock Stock

Faux Real

The dynamic sounds of the craft fox.

Mark Crunch MoR

THE CLUBHOUSE

Academy Saturdays With Jacob Levi-Howes.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Rev

Your weekly indie/alt dance party. $5.

BAR 32

Urban Playground

R&B, hip-hop, oldskool, anthems with DJs Karma Stylez and MC Tee. 10pm.

The Displaced

7.30pm, $25/$18 concession and groups of 5.

THE STREET THEATRE

Arts

Jimmy Barnes, The Potbelleez, Justic Crew and more. 2pm, free.

Cockroach

A damning exploration of the need for resilience and adaptation. Info: www. cytc.net .

C BLOCK THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE

STAGE 88

You Are Here Festival

Turn to page 21 for the calendar, or head to youareherecanberra.com.au for all the info.

Dance

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Architect DJs Present Glasshouse (Re)Presents

An exhibition of photographs by Natalie Spring. ‘Til March 25.

Scape

BELCONNEN GALLERY

Sunday indie-mayhem featuring Canberra’s hippest party-starters.

TRANSIT BAR

tuesday march 15

4Sound Presents B-tham

The one and only. Tix through Ticketek.

Killing The Sound

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Live at the Sculpture Garden

Enjoy the burlesque, racy performance of Six Quick Chicks. Nga.gov.au .

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

New World Artists Presents The Trip

Supported by DJ Jammin. Three young men on a journey and never looking back. Free entry.

Enlighten: INXS

MONKEY BAR

With Kooky Fandango. 2pm, free.

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Snez

Snez is back with new songs written on the road as well as some of her old favourites. 8pm, $8.

5-7pm, free.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Karaoke Love

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Come. Sing. Win. Be Awesome.

You Are Here Festival

Turn to page 21 for the calendar, or head to youareherecanberra.com.au for all the info.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

TRANSIT BAR

Trivia Night

Every Tuesday!

THE PHOENIX PUB

wednesday march 16

Soulful jazz from 1 to 3pm.

Irish Chill Out Sessions

Arts

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! Wild. WILD! 7.30pm, free.

monday march 14

THE PHOENIX PUB

Alliance Française French Film Festival

dance Hospitality: Nurse Your Wounds

A night of music and mayhem for the weekend worker. Monday is the new Friday!

TRANSIT BAR

Turn to page 21 for the calendar, or head to youareherecanberra.com.au for all the info.

Something Different

Sunday Best

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

Turn to page 21 for the calendar, or head to youareherecanberra.com.au for all the info.

You Are Here Festival

Sunday Sessions On The Deck

Sophisticat

WODEN YOUTH CENTRE

ROYAL THEATRE

Live

Nightshift

Pleased to Jive You, Astrochem, Paqman, Doctor Jonhson, The Heroines, Makeshift and more. 5pm.

Eddie Vedder

Incomparable.

COMMONWEALTH PLACE

You Are Here Festival Arts

Canberra Festival: Celebrate in the Park

Nathan Frost

Only Canberra show. enlightencanberra. com .

saturday march 12

THE PHOENIX PUB

Live

Something Different

THE RED HERRING

8pm, free.

sunday march 13

live

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

A night of creativity, performance, art, dance and music to celebrate women.

7pm.

The Bootleg Sessions

Supports Team Wing, LYLT and more. $10 from 9.30pm.

MONKEY BAR

TRANSIT BAR

C: 100th International Women’s Day

Live

ROYAL THEATRE

Live in concert! Tix through Ticketek.

C BLOCK THEATRE, GORMAN HOUSE

Gabby Millgate followed by Monica Trapaga and The James Valentine Quartet. Nga.gov.au .

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Weird Al Yankovic

Running from March 16 to April 3 at various locations. Head to www. frenchfilmfestival.org for info.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS

Comedy

The King Hits

Shayne Hunter

THE PHOENIX PUB

POT BELLY BAR

Kong Fuzi, The Professor.

And friends. $5, 8pm.

OUT mar 16

d’opus & roshambo the ellis collective gareth liddiard sparkadia ...and more!

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FIRST CONTACT

SIDE A: BMA band profile

JOEL HARRISON Describe your sound: Acoustic pop surf rock.

On the surface it’s easy listening music with relaxed grooves, but if you dig deeper you’ll find organic lyrics and motives from experiences in my life.

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise? Musically some of my main influences include Matchbox 20, Diesel, Brooke Fraser, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Keith Urban, Sam Cooke, Brad Paisley, James Taylor, Zac Brown Band and John Farnham. Otherwise my family, Michael J. Fox (circa 1980s) and Will Smith.

What’s the weirdest experience you’ve had whilst performing? If you play enough gigs you see pretty much everything from Dirty Dancing-style lifts gone wrong right through to break ups and fights. The weirdest though is getting a B guitar string go through the side of my thumb and up under my nail like a fish hook. I then performed surgery to remove the string in the pub’s office, played two more hours solo then spent another two hours at the hospital waiting for a tetanus needle. A long night.

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? Three things come to mind: playing and writing music (not many people get to do what they truly love in life); writing, recording and financing my independent debut album Thinking Over, Over Thinking; and being accepted, studying and becoming a Brett Manning associate vocal coach in Nashville, USA. What are your plans for the future? Work towards building a bigger fan-base and securing a management/publishing deal while continuing to write, record and play my music… and also continue teaching vocal students at my studio SingSingSing.

What makes you laugh? Seinfeld, How I Met Your Mother, Cougartown and (my own) bad jokes.

What pisses you off? Rude, disrespectful people and magpies.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? As a recent immigrant to Canberra I’m still working on my opinion, but so far all the musos I have met have been great.

What are your upcoming gigs? For the latest news and gig dates or to contact me please visit joelharrison.com.au .

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Aaron Peacey Aaron 0410 381 306 Activate Jetpack activatejetpack@ hotmail.com 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 Annie & the Armadillos Annie 6161 1078/0422 076 313 The Ashburys Dan Craddock 0419 626 903 Aria Stone, sax & flute, singer/ songwriter (guitar) Aria 0411 803 343 Australian Songwriters Association (Keiran Roberts) 6231 0433 Arythmia: Ben 0423 408 767/ arythmiamusic@gmail.com Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422 733 974, www.backbeatdrivers.com Big Boss Groove Andrew 0404 455 834, www.bigbossgroove.com.au Bill Quinn Overheard Productions bill@overheard.com.au, Ph: 0413 000 086 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 Caution Horses Nigel 0417 211 580 Chris Harland Blues Band 0418 490 640 chrisharlandbluesband@yahoo.com.au Clear Vision Films rehearsals/film clips/stunts - 0438 647 281 wcoulton.clearvisionfilms.com Cole Bennetts Photography 0415 982 662 /colebennetts.com Cris Clucas Cris 6262 5652 Crooked Dave 0421 508 467 Danny V Danny 6238 1673/0413 502 428 Dawn Theory Nathan 0402 845 132 D’Opus & Roshambo hifidelitystyles@yahoo.com DJs Madrid and Gordon 0417 433 971 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 Fighting Mongooses, The Adam 0402 055 314 Final Warning Brendan 0422 809 552 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410 381 306/ Lachlan 0400 038 388 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 Groovalicious Corporate/Weddings/ Private functions 0448 995 158 groovalicious@y7mail.com Guy The Sound Guy live & studio sound engineer, 0400 585 369, guy@ guythesoundguy.com 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 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 Jim Boots 0417 211 580 Johnny Roadkill Paulie 0408 287 672, paulie_mcmillan@live.com.au Karismakatz DJ Gosper 0411 065 189/ dj@karismakatz.com Kayo Marbilus myspace.com/kayomarbilus Kurt’s Metalworx (PA) 0417 025 792 Little Smoke Sam 0411 112 075 Los Chavos Andy 0401 572 150 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 Words for You: writer/publicity/events Megan ph 6154 0927, megan@wordsforyou.com.au 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 MuShu Jack 0414 292 567, mushu_band@hotmail.com MyOnus myonusmusic@hotmail.com/ www.myspace.com/myonus No Retreat Simon 0411 155 680 Ocean Moses Nigel 0417 211 580 OneWayFare Chris 0418 496 448 Painted Hearts, The Peter 6248 6027 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 Rafe Morris 0416 322 763 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 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 Super Best Friends Matt 0438 228 748 Surrender Jordan 0439 907 853 Switch 3 Mick 0410 698 479 System Addict Jamie 0418 398 556 The Morning After (covers band) Anthony 0402 500 843/ myspace.com/themorningaftercovers Tiger Bones & The Ferabul-Zers Danny feralbul@aapt.net.au 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 Zero Degrees and Falling Louis 0423 918 793 Zwish 0411 022 907

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